The Bomb and Near Demise of Jeanette Barouch

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After a long five-year road battling for her freedom from an allegedly abusive husband, and finally gaining it about three years ago, life nearly ended on May 2, 2010 for Jeanette Barouch.

Jeanette had noticed a package from a Houston, TX address labeled ‘Salad Sweepstakes’ from ‘Salad R Us’ in a FedEx box on her porch before leaving for church. The box was placed on top a dollar bill. Since she often enters sweepstakes, she thought nothing of it and took the package inside her home. When she arrived home after church, she opened the package and discovered surrounded by shipping peanuts, was a homemade bomb; a 3-pound bag of powder, black/gray in color, 9mm projectiles, and wires running from the bag to a six-volt lantern battery was inside two salad bowls taped together. Wisely she took the package outside, alerted a neighbor and called the police.

When police arrived, she advised that she suspected her ex-husband, an expert marksman who reloaded his own bullets. Police, using a water cannon, disarmed it and sent its remains to an ATF office for analysis. They discovered the filament of an auto tail light was broken where he inserted it into the gun powder; the broken filament was the reason why the bomb did not explode when Jeanette opened it.

According to Jeanette and friends of hers, David Barouch was controlling and physically abusive to her and their son. Divorcing David was a long ordeal during which time she received threatening messages from David.

Colleyville police and ATF investigators spoke with David Barouch Sunday afternoon. Allegedly Barouch was nervous and sweating but never asked about his ex-wife’s well being.

Police traced the wooden bowls to a Hurst Bed, Bath and Beyond store. Sales records at the store showed only one customer had purchased two of the acacia round salad bowls, and a store video show a man matching David’s description making the purchase on April 14, 2010.

The police obtained a search warrant for David’s home located around 10 miles from Jeanette’s home. His neighbors told LE that David had lived in the home for about five years and seemed in a bad mood all the time.

During a search of his home, LE and ATF agents discovered packaging tape, and bullets similar to the ones used in the bomb; They also found a one-line will bequeathing everything he owned to his sons dated for May 2, a suitcase containing clothing and a note addressed to police that stated it was from a cruise he’d taken. They also discovered handwritten notes on improvised explosive devices. One note to his son stated he had a premonition that he was going to die. He would face death with courage. Allegedly, when they advised him that his fingerprints and DNA were found on the explosive device, (an untruth to attempt getting a confession) he said, “Oh great” and said he didn’t have anything to say about it.

David faces federal charges of manufacturing and possession of an explosive device, a charge that could send him to prison for up to ten years.  

 I have to wonder about the will dated the same day as Jeanette discovered the bomb, and his ‘premonition’ note to his son, if David intended harming himself before the police could arrest him. Or if he wrote that note in an attempt to make it appear he was under severe duress due to the financial setbacks from the divorce; I wonder if he intended to use it as a defense in event he was arrested.

I pray more charges than the federal bomb making and possession charge is lodged against David. He needs to spend the rest of his natural life in prison for attempting to do bodily harm to Jeanette by leaving the bomb at her home. Police believe the dollar bill left beneath the bomb was meant to send a message that it’d be the last dollar she’d ever get from him.


http://www.wfaa.com/news/local/ATF-agents-search-home-of-ex-husband-of-woman-who-received-bomb-92881434.html


http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/city/tarrant/stories/050710dnmetcolleybomb.2284f8b.html?npc

Micah Pate is dead, Thomas Pate headed to trial

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Since first writing about Thomas Pate and the death of his wife, Micah, I have read articles from sites to keep abreast of what was happening in the case. (Of course, that’s strictly from the author’s point of view, since we should take no media article as the truth of the matter. However, many are informational assistance for the public.)  Last year I was angry that the state allowed Pate to bond out; I was more angry that they allowed him to leave the state and go reside with his father, work, and be otherwise a free man.


Now I am concerned for Micah’s justice. Back when Thomas first reported his wife missing (April 30, 2009) and LE questioned him, he only wanted to talk with his father. LE agreed to allow it and Thomas finally told the investigators, in dad’s presence, where Micah’s body was at. The discussion was, of course, taped; Thomas told his dad that he was out with Micah at Loosahatchie River and they were going to shoot her gun. She walked in front of the gun; the shooting was an accident. What an odd scenario to recall since she was shot in the back of the head. Thomas went on to say that he asked if she were okay but she didn’t answer; he threw the gun in the river and took off. Allegedly during his interview, dad asked Thomas about an affair he was having, his cocaine use and alcohol; dad wanted to know if Micah knew about them. All Thomas would say is, ‘I don’t know.’ Thomas also, allegedly, told dad and LE that he had gotten off cocaine and alcohol a few years earlier but admitted he had been drinking again lately.

Now, it seems, the defense has asked for the interview to be withheld from jurors because Thomas’s dad was acting as an agent of the police when he convinced him to tell what happened to Micah. They, the defense, are saying his dad was using psychological pressure to get Thomas to confess, therefore, Thomas made the statements involuntarily. I really am not understanding the mind-set of the defense with that one; it also seems when dad asked Thomas, ‘did you kill Micah?’ Thomas said no. After he confessed to his version of how her death went down, he kept repeating it was an accident. Hmm, seems parts of the confession would help Thomas at trial. So, what defense will they use to keep Thomas out of prison for the rest of his natural life? It was an accident but we aren’t going to tell you how the accident happened? Ignore all the state puts forth since it’s all circumstantial ignorance on the part of law enforcement?

The prosecutor said that they had given Thomas Pate the Miranda; she reminded the court that he, Pate, was the one who asked to speak with his dad. I stand with the state on this one. That it was an accidental shooting just can’t find its way into a believable scenario in my mind. Micah was shoeless and the bottoms of her socks were clean. Yet, he wants us to believe she stepped in front of the gun while he was pointing it at a target, with his finger on the trigger, and turned her back to him?

We will learn on June 11, 2010 if the judge will throw out the confession in Pate’s first-degree murder trial. While we wait for that ruling, although he is wearing a GPS ankle bracelet, Thomas is still free to work with his dad, go to football games and play in a basketball league. I wonder, as I wait, if Thomas is in touch with his girlfriend. Yes. He allegedly admitted having one during his interview.

Thomas Pate’s trial was reset for March 07, 2011.


my previous post on Pate: 
http://tigresspenssurmisals.blogspot.com/2009/05/current-events-in-news.html

http://tigresspenssurmisals.blogspot.com/2009/05/micah-is-dead-her-killer-is-free-to.html


a couple articles used in my surmisals:
http://www.myfoxmemphis.com/dpp/news/local/042210-pate's-murder-confession-heard-in-court

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2010/apr/22/bartlett-man-seeks-keep-taped-statement-murder-tri/?partner=RSS

Crowd Shots - instant terror creating mayhem

Part 2
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Twenty-Two’s shooting of patrons’ and employee, Mia Gant, at Hastings Books wasn’t enough to satisfy his murderous mind. I think perhaps he has lost reality with himself, moved away from himself and into making fantasy real. So, Twenty-Two left Hastings and all the terror he created in the hearts and minds of those people and headed toward Toby’s Bar. He wanted more victims to remember him. At the bar was an employee, a young man, named Tim Donely. Tim was a 23-year-old vet of the war in Iraq. He served his country and served it well; now he was back home, working and making a future for himself. Tim was a door man at the bar; people had to pass him before entering; so Twenty-Two aimed his shotgun and gave himself another victim, another family to feel and live with the horrors of his mind. And he caused a good man to die.


Police were on their way; Twenty-Two fled the scene. I think he was a coward, couldn’t let the police find him standing with a shotgun in his hands. He jumped in his car and headed north. Luckily an alert officer saw the car, and it matched the description of the one driven by the suspect. The police pursued the car, followed it to a residential home. Twenty-Two exited his car and headed around the side of the home, officers followed but Twenty-Two had entered the house. Police surrounded the house, but as they did a gunshot rang out and a woman ran from it screaming her brother had gone into the bathroom and killed himself. Twenty-Two again took victims. His sister was the woman who ran from the home and her children were inside. I can’t imagine the horror and sadness she felt that fateful night. Twenty-Two was dead, he’d killed himself rather than face his victims, face himself.

After Twenty-Two killed himself and the mayhem settled, people keeping up with the event that night began questioning why he was free to commit such atrocities. Twenty-Two had a long criminal record. Back in 2008 he’d committed aggravated assault and given probation. In 2009, Twenty-Two’s violence escalated, they arrested him for attacking two people with a knife in October. In December of 2009, Twenty-Two again allegedly walked outside the law, accusations of attacking his girlfriend with a knife arose. But, his list of violence wasn’t over yet; he was accused of another crime; this time he allegedly threatened a man that connected him to the previous crimes. Twenty-Two had very large bonds set in all these charges. But bonds were later lowered to a more pliable amount so Twenty-Two could walk free outside the boundaries of a jail cell.

The whole thing with all the charges is conflicting since Twenty-Two’s girlfriend recanted her accusation of violence against her and the fourth charge was in doubt too; I think due to the theory that the accuser had also been one to threaten Twenty-Two in the past, with a gun. The reasons for those two charges aren’t really what matters in the whole scheme of things; it’s that those bonds and the ones where he was accused of stabbing two men were lowered and Twenty-Two was free to commit his night of horror against innocent people.

I feel no sympathy for Twenty-Two, don’t feel his health issue should’ve been reasons for lowering his bond. (He allegedly was having stomach and colon problems and could’ve been facing surgery) If he had health issues and needed medical treatments then the county could’ve transported him to the doctor. And he’d have still been a resident of the local jail and not free.

Oddly, or maybe not oddly, Twenty-Two has a GPS strapped to his ankle the night of April 20. He was also to not live in a home where weapons were located either. I feel the person(s) responsible for keeping an eye on Twenty-Two didn't do a very good job. He obviously had access to weapons when he wasn't supposed to have them in his home. Were there no follow-ups and checks on him? And who was responsible for the tracking device? I realize DAs and Judges have to follow the letter of the law, but I do question the apparent lack of follow-ups on Twenty-Two after they handed down the bond lowering judgments.

Still, the story does not end with Twenty-Two’s death or the controversy over bond lowering.

Since the night of horror he inflicted on others, his girlfriend, Pamela Sampley, has allegedly stepped into the void of her mind too; Sampley stated she intended finishing what Twenty-Two started. She was allegedly going to commit this atrocious crime in a large department store.

(Yes, I used her name. Check out her booking photo at the link below; she appears to be a woman with a question on her forehead asking - ‘what does face forward mean?’ An image of sunshine and brightness? Nope.) They charged the 33-year-old with a terrorist threat. She was in jail when she made her alleged comments; naturally, she is still in jail. I have to wonder though, will her bonds be lowered also? Did she know what Twenty-Two planned to do on April 20? She was in jail the night he went on his rampage and had been for about a week, but could they have discussed it prior to her being incarcerated?

No, I will not remember his name; I feel if I don’t think about his name, only the names of his victims, then his evil plans will all be for naught. He wasn’t a big man; he was a weakling; a follower and not a leader; one who had filed in March of this year to dissociate himself from his father by changing his name. Sadly, he had not decided to dissociate himself from his sister; if he had, then her home would not have become the scene of a bloody suicide.

During that night of death and mayhem many people became victims, the deceased vet Tim Donely, his family, those shot - Mia Gant, Leanna Duran, Jade Henderson, and Deondra Sauls, their families, those who witnessed the horror, Twenty-Two’s sister, her family, and Eileen Levy, her family. My condolences go out to each of them.


http://www.timesrecordnews.com/news/2010/apr/22/suspect-had-faced-felony-charges-in-4-pending/

http://www.timesrecordnews.com/news/2010/apr/23/family-sought-help-for-gunman/


http://www.timesrecordnews.com/news/2010/apr/29/woman-charged-threatening-continue-muehlberger-sho/