TigressPen's Surmisals

Donald Greenslit and The Death of Stacie DeSantis-Dorego

2012-01-27T21:17:00.003-06:00

.
.

From what I can gather the fire department and police were called to a home in Johnston, Rhode Island. Smoke was billowing from a chimney and neighbors were concerned. When the firefighters arrived, they found Donald Greenslit standing in the driveway screaming profanities, saying he didn’t need them, he was just burning wood in his fireplace. Firefighters put out his fire but what they found wasn’t just wood burning. They discovered the remains of a dismembered female wrapped in cloth and burnt. The deceased was found to be 39-year-old Stacie DeSantis-Dorego mother of Greenslit’s two small children Jake, 5; Lily, 3 and another daughter Mackenzie, age 14. The children were at home when Greenslit allegedly killed and dismembered then attempted to destroy her body but thankfully didn’t witness the events that led to her death. The police also discovered Donald wasn’t supposed to be at the home. He’d committed a couple DV incidents against Stacie and a no contact order had been issued on him. Now Donald is charged with her murder, violating the no contact order and child abuse. Child abuse because he endangered the children with smoke inhalation when he attempted to destroy Stacie’s body by burning it in the fireplace.

Donald Greenslit confessed to killing Stacie but he says it was self-defense because she attacked him. I hope he never sees sunshine without stripes hindering his view from behind bars. This is a case I will keep an eye on so my readers and, me too, will know when it goes to trial. Stacie was a wonderful young lady who was an aspiring writer and loved her children. She deserves justice. Stacie said her children were her soul. I wish I had gotten to know her better. My deepest and most sincere condolences go out to her children, family and friends.

Police Oficer deaths

2012-01-02T11:09:00.000-06:00

I’d started 2011 with a piece on police officer deaths. Sadly the year was horrific for LE. More officers were killed in 2011 than 2010. I pray 2012 is a better year for all officers. But too, I pray less, lots less officer related intimate partner crime is committed during this year. Both these, the murders of officers and DV crimes are horrible for LE everywhere. Sadly on New Year Day this year I read of a park Ranger killing in Mt Rainier National Park. Her husband and children get to spend their year with a huge hole in their heart without her to fill it.

The Police Officer Related DV Death of Leslie Morin

2011-12-15T09:08:00.000-06:00

.
.

Sometimes police officers break the law. On Monday, December 12, 2011 Jose Gonzales III, an officer with the Alice, Texas police department broke the law in a big way. He committed the ultimate sin. Murder. Jose was dressed for work when he drove to the home in Annaville where his ex girlfriend and common law spouse Leslie Morin was staying with her son and mother. Leslie and her mom hid in the closet when Jose arrived but he broke the door and entered the home, pulled her from the closet and shot her numerous times before taking their 8-year-old son and leaving. Leslie had left Jose, ending their relationship approximately two weeks earlier.

Gonzales fled to a home in Alice but LE was able to talk him into freeing the child and finally giving himself up to them. He exited the home with hands in the air to face his punishment. At least he gave up voluntarily and didn't start a gunfight with other officers. Or shoot himself.

Leslie's father, a pastor, has allegedly stated the family has forgiven Jose. I wonder if Leslie's mother is included in that statement. I don't know if I could. Her daughter was shot in front of her. Multiple times. That's rage. Allegedly no known domestic violence happened in the couple’s home prior to Leslie’s leaving. But surely something happened to cause her to fear for her life and leave. Subtle hints from him perhaps?

Jose Gonzales has been charged in the murder and given $250,000 bail. He, according to his lawyer, can't afford that bail. Good! The lawyer says Jose is still in shock and is emotional. Yeah, well, his son and Leslie's other child are likely still in shock and emotional also. Too late for regrets Mr. Gonzales!

The You Shoot Me, I'll Shoot You Back . . . Later, Mindset

2011-11-04T09:38:00.000-05:00

.
.

I get upset anytime I read of children being the innocent victim of violence. Drive by shootings happens daily across this country. Durham, NC is no exception and that was proven in a harsh and violent way recently.

On the afternoon of Oct 23 Troy Lee Howard and two children 1-year-old Au-Nestii Hagans and 3-year-old Anaryiion Hagan were struck by bullets in a shooting on Driver Street. The children were inside their home and Howard was outside at a neighbor’s home. When police arrived they were told '3 masked men' drove up in a car and began shooting. However, at that time the police did not know if Howard was the intended victim or not.

Apparently a few days earlier on Oct 17, Tavarez Brown of Spruce Street was on Fern Street when he was the target of a shooting. Allegedly the shooting was perpetrated by John Tarver. So Brown decided you shoot me, I'll shoot you back. Later. So, on the Oct 23rd Tavarex Brown allegedly gathered his buddies, Jaunarais King and Arthur Clendenning and drove over to Driver Street and began shooting at John Tarver. The bullets missed Tarver but did hit the 2 children who were inside their nearby home. John Tarver shot back but his bullet struck Troy Lee Howard instead of his intended victims.

Residents of the neighborhood complained that shootings were becoming commonplace yet noone would give names of anyone who could have been involved. When police made a public plea -Help us help you - they received tips of possible shooters’ names.

Now, after the arrest of the alleged shooters, it seems a cousin of the victim Troy Howard says Arthur Clendenning was not a part of the foray of the 23rd. Allegedly Clendenning was at a home across the street from the Hangan's house. Even mom of the children. Dominique Hagans, says he couldn't have been one of the 3 shooters in the car because he was with her sister across the street and was the one who called to report the shooting. (Okay fine, but was he involved any way in some other manner such as contacting Brown and advising Tarver was outside his home?) I'd like to know how long he had been at Chandria Myers home. Had he arrived at the time the shootings happened or was there already? He could've been in the car, exited, then hotfooted it over to Myers home to make himself a part of an after the fact reaction and not the shooting action. Remember folks LE was told the day of the incident there were 3 Masked Men in the car - So if it wasn't Clendenning in the car, who else was involved?

The sad fact of all this is, all four of the accused have previous convictions on drug charges and Arthur Clendenning, Tavarez Brown and Jaunarais King also have convictions for carrying a concealed weapon. Brown was convicted of a couple assault charges previously. He was on probation. John Tarver was also on probation. Had all four still been in jail perhaps these children and Mr. Howard would not have been shot.

Even sadder is that two small babies were victims’ of others violent lifestyles. I am glad Mrs. Hagans is moving her children away from that street. They need to move forward and not be afraid in their home. I 100% agree with her comment as stateed in http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/10294259/
- "People just need to sit down and think about their actions sometimes. They actually don't affect (just) themselves. They affect other people (and) other people's families and children."

I'm also glad tips came in to police. I hope each of those involved goes to prison and serves a long full sentencing term without parole and is not given a short term sentence then probation. It's time to stop the violence in that neighborhood. Apparently two previous shootings occurred there over last 6 months when the victims were sitting on their porches. The residents need to move past this, whether Clendennings is an innocent bystander of the incident where Howard and the children were shot or not. He has a violent past so let him deal with his own legal problems and take back your streets! Gather neighbors and friends and make a pack to involve police with cleaning up the neighborhood of violent offenders. Keep the tips coming. Make it known, If you come on our street, to our neighborhood with your weapons and intent to harm, we'll turn you over to police - Then you are on your own. If the people believe Clendenning wasn't one of the shooters and knows who the alleged 3rd person in the car was, they need to call LE and advise them. After all, the police can't read minds. Let the cops do their job.

The Topeka 8

2011-10-14T18:37:00.000-05:00

.
.
.
The past few days I have been unable to put feelings in word with this horrific event. Even now, I feel I haven't expressed myself the way I want over this. I feel I could never really do so but thought I must try to at least say something on the matter - for the victims’ sake.

Due to all I have read and heard about the sham of a city council and the mayor I call these 8 persons ‘Enablers’. ( And it’s hard to call them persons) They need tee-shirts printed, declaring ‘I am one of the Topeka 8 - You Do Not Count. The 8 are facilitators of domestic violence and in essence have become abusers themselves. It’s not alleged but a fact -the vote the 8 cast this month takes away the victims’ right to assistance with the horrors they face. It’s said 30 abuse suspects were freed after the decriminalizing of domestic violence. And I am angry. I hope the citizens of Shawnee County, Kansas are angry too. I have a right through the constitution to speak my opinion of these ‘things’ called Topeka mayor and council members and I am doing so. You, too, have a right to contact them and speak your anger about this demoralizing victims of domestic violence. The victims have been thrown to the wolves.

I laughed when I googled Topeka, Kansas and came across their city government pages.

http://www.topeka.org/tpd/crime_victims_assistance.shtml

Here is a list of what is on the page listed above:

Types of crime we can offer assistance with:

Domestic Violence
Burglary
Battery
Identity Theft
Robbery
Sexual Violence
Assault
Criminal Damage
Stalking
Child Abuse
Theft
Hate Crimes
Workplace Violence
Graffiti

All the above can be ~~struck~~ through. Because You Do Not Matter. This list needs to be wiped off the web page because it’s a farce. None of the list is applicable now, not since the Topeka 8 legalized domestic violence in the name of allegedly saving money. Each one of the crimes listed are part of how abusers operate. Not all abusers, but far too many to not strike through the crimes listed. Women and children of Topeka Kansas and yes, even men are no longer protected.

I cringe when I think of a child in Topeka crying because mommy and daddy, or mom and her boyfriend are screaming at each other. I think, maybe the abuser hitting the child’s mommy- demoralizing her verbally as mom cringes in a corner. I think of an elderly person silently screaming inside, why are you doing this to me? I wonder if she is thinking, I am your mother while she is being screamed at, threatened or hit. Perhaps both the child or elderly citizen reaches for a phone then yanks their hand back as if being struck by lightning because it dawns on them- There’s No One to Help. No One Cares. I Do Not Count. You want the names of the Topeka 8 abusers who do not care about the children or elderly, nor the spouses, girlfriend/boyfriend who are abused? Warning! Be ready to be shocked, Women Are On The List. Go Here: http://claudinedombrowski.blogspot.com/2011/10/topeka-voted-tonight-to-decriminalized.html

Keep this abuse by the mayor and members of the city council forefront in the news. Do Not Forget come election time.

Religiously Motivated Medical Deaths Among Children

2011-09-16T17:34:00.003-05:00

There is a tension between competing rights in cases that involve faith-based medical treatments. The First Amendment declares religious liberty and the states' duty to protect the welfare of children are competing issues. As advances in medicine evolved into an accepted science, claims of religious liberties became more prominent. With time, public views on the matter have supported that the courts are the place to solve such matters; particularly when they result in the death of a child. Subsequently, the court has become the foundation on which these tensions are resolved, or in many states, unresolved. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, nearly 30 states have specific exemption laws that permit parents to allow their children to die if they were using prayer as treatment. You don't need to have a criminal justice degree to understand the complications that this controversial topic has caused within the legal system of America.

Although public consensus seems to favor decisions of the courts to punish these parents, there are many places in the United States where the laws simply do not support that opinion. This is a cause for concern in the state of Idaho where two children have recently died as a result of faith-based healing beliefs.

In fact, according to an online article from the KATU by Dan Tilkin, in March of 2011, two very sick children died in Caldwell, Idaho. The children were from two separate families and likely died from pneumonia, although the medical examiner is not sure since they were never actually taken to a doctor. The article stated that “for more than 99 percent of the community of Idaho, not taking their children to a doctor when he or she is sick could be considered a crime.” For one group, however, it is perfectly legal in Idaho for parents to choose prayer as treatment for sick children, even if they are gravely ill. If the child dies, the parents are not prosecuted. Idaho is not the only state that has been in the news for children falling victim to their family's belief system.

The same issue surfaced in Oregon in 1998. Reports from an Oregon newspaper reported that of 78 children buried in the Followers of Christ church graveyard, 21 most likely would have lived with medical treatment; something as simple as a prescription for antibiotics. The cemetery may represent one of the biggest concentrations of faith-healing related fatalities in decades.

However, the laws are changing in Oregon. In the past two years, Oregon has prosecuted two couples for failing to provide medical care for dying children. Two other couples are currently awaiting trial for criminal mistreatment and second-degree manslaughter. It has taken decades, but the state is finally addressing the issue of neglect among faith-healing parents. Both prosecutors and lawmakers endorsed a bill on Feb. 21, 2011 that removes special protections for parents who use faith-healing instead of providing medical treatment for their children. The bill was a response to the aforementioned Followers of Christ, an Oregon church with a long history of children dying from treatable medical conditions. On March 10, 2011, the bill passed unanimously.

To have children die needlessly in a society that has become so medically advance seems counterproductive. Although we do have religious freedom and the right to choose, many of these children do not have the mental capacity or the ability to choose for themselves. They can make that choice as adults. Meanwhile states should protect these children just as they protect the lives of every other resident of the state. All in all, its important to be respectful to a group's religious beliefs, but when it can become a danger to an individual or members of society sometimes actions must be made.

Bill Phillips and Fred Bailey's Domestic Abuse Assaults

2011-08-11T13:03:00.000-05:00

.
.
These victims certainly need Time’s Up: A guide on How to Leave and Survive Abusive and Stalking Relationships by: Susan Murphy Milano

Bill Phillips was arrested for domestic assault Saturday, August 7, 2011. Seems Mr. Phillips didn’t want to leave the home after an argument and his wife asked him to because he proceeded to physically struggle with his brother. Mr. Phillips was summarily taken to jail and placed under a 10,000. dollar bond. The sad news is, allegedly Phillips’ son advised them he was scared his dad would get his guns and he feared for his own safety. Mr. Phillips had done so in the past apparently.

After his arrest, and free on bond Phillips went back to his wife’s home. This time he didn’t hang around to battle; he took her car without her permission. Again, LE was contacted and they came to the rescue. The police were still at the residence when Bill Phillips called his wife. Phillips allegedly seemed distraught (poor guy) and threatened to kill himself. The police put out a call to be on the lookout for him. He was spotted in Union Co., and police followed him to a bridge where he stopped the car, exited and proceeded to climb over the railing. An officer was able to get close enough and grab him before he jumped. Phillips was again charged, this time in Union Co., with Violation of Conditional Release then taken to the hospital for a possible mental evaluation. (Yep, mental evaluation - that works to solve the problem every time! Yes. I am being sarcastic.)

Mr. Phillips is an ex school board member. Sure glad to see he is an ex! I wouldn’t want such a man (I hesitantly use ‘man’ there) deciding anything connected to my children’s schooling.

Hopefully when he is released from the hospital his bond will be forfeited and his wife and son can breathe a sigh of safety relief. But I certainly will not hold my breath to see if that happens. Mr. Phillips allegedly has committed domestic abuse in the past: he also, allegedly had issues with drugs in both Knox and Union Counties. He admitted taking Ambien pills and Lexipro the day of the DV incidents.

Equally important is that it seems domestic assault in Knox Co. TN is nothing more than a misdemeanor!

I give you the alleged case of Fred Bailey's intimate partner assault as an example.

Fred Bailey and his girlfriend, Kelly Hoffman, began arguing in the early morning hours of Tuesday, Aug 9, 2011. Kelly attempted to leave the motel where they lived but Fred prevented her from doing so. At some point that day she was able to lock herself in a room but Fred’s anger allegedly hadn’t abated so he kicked the door in causing bodily injury to her and causing her to have seizures. Later that day, Kelly was able to escape and asked a neighbor for help. Police were called and Kelly was transported to the hospital. Mr. Bailey fled, allegedly taking a shotgun and 22 rifle with him behind the motel where he crawled under a camper.

LE called in K-9 but when the dog bit him, he threatened to shoot the dog. The standoff began and negotiators talked with him for around two hours before he gave up. Fred Bailey was taken for treatment for the dog bite then to jail and charged with domestic assault. He was placed on a 15,000. dollar conditional bond but didn’t bond out. (guess he was broke) Bailey goes for arraignment today but - What court division will he be taken too? Misdemeanor! What happened to the threatening an officer? ( A K-9 dog is a police officer too.) What happened to flight from arrest? Since when is domestic assault of any kind a misdemeanor?

A domestic assault that caused bodily injury is more than a misdemeanor to me! And I just bet many victims who have been physically harmed during an intimate partner violence attack would beg to differ with it being considered a misdemeanor too!

Please someone advise Bill Phillips’ spouse and Kelly Hoffman about Time’s Up. Susan Murphy Milano’s book is a roadmap for assistance with how to safely remove yourself (and your children) from toxic intimate partner relationships. It can help save lives!

The Alleged 'Twilight Rapist' Billy Joe Harris Is Going on Trial

2011-08-04T07:55:00.000-05:00

.
.

Billy Joe Harris, the accused Texas Twilight Rapist, is headed to trial in Jackson County, Texas. He is charged with rape of a 59 year-old disabled woman on January 8, 2011; and he’s charged with home invasion of that home; also a home burglary where evidence was recovered from December 4, 2010.

On September 12, 2011 jury selection will begin. This is his first trial and hopefully will set the tide flow for others to come. Harris’ lawyer, Alan Cohen, for the Jackson Co., trial is wanting DNA samples reexamined. Cohen is questioning the chain of custody handling of the samples and wondering if there could be contamination. DNA has linked Harris to 6 of the rapes of elderly women in Texas. He is also charged with numerous counts of home invasion, burglary, and assault. His alleged crime spree of terrorizing elderly citizens spanned 2 years and through 9 counties, from Jan 21 2009 until his capture Jan 8 2011. DNA and other forensic evidence were collected at numerous scenes; which is a good thing since the victims are elderly and their memories could naturally fade. The DNA links him to five of the assaults in Bell, Falls, and Leon counties and in Yoakum. Yoakum is where the first rape occurred on January 21, 2009. His second alleged rape in Yoakum in Feb of 2009 is when they collected DNA samples.

Oddly, Mr. Harris worked for the prison system in Texas for years so he should’ve known crime doesn’t pay. He was a food service manager and corrections’ officer for different TX prisons between 1999 through 2010. I don’t think if he is found guilty of crimes in which he is accused his food service business will be responsible for seeing he’s well fed. When Harris was in court recently for the Falls County charges he allegedly yelled bible verses and rolled his head. ( An insanity attempt? Remember, Harris allegedly told Quanell X that someone apparently broke into his home and stole his clothing then spread his DNA all over the place. I say he can play dumb-dumb if he wants, I have no sympathy for him)

His Falls County lawyers’ Hoagie Karels and Stan Schwieger entered not guilty pleas to the charges. All his lawyers in each town and county have an uphill battle, (hopefully a losing one) DNA, forensic evidence and the fact missing items from the home invasions were discovered in Harris’ home screams guilt to me.

Yoakum, TX seemed to be the Twilight Rapist favorite crime center. In that town alone he had allegedly perpetrated 2 rapes, an assault, 3 home invasions and 2 attempted burglaries. In the rape of Feb 27 2009 and the assault on November 9, 2009 DNA was collected. Allegedly one victim in Yoakum is also the one raped on 2 different occasions and it’s believed he attempted a third attack but she had moved. All the rapist victims were between 59 and 91-years-old.

my previous post on Twilight Rapist:

http://tigresspenssurmisals.blogspot.com/2010/01/texas-twilight-rapist.html

Two Recent Cases: Spouse/Boyfriend Allegedly Couldn't or Didn't Want To Let Go

2011-08-01T10:34:00.000-05:00

.
.

In Houston, TX at the home of Robyn Hightower, a 22 year-old mother of 3, an apparent argument broke out over the phone between her and her abusive boyfriend, Ervin Jones, of several years. It’s said Robin wanted to end the relationship and move on with her life. Allegedly Ervin wasn't wanting to let go and later that same night stormed into the home. It’s said that another argument ensued and several shots were fired, one hit Robyn in the chest, causing her death. Ervin fled the scene.

Robyn's brother, standing outside the home with the children, heard the gunshots and ran into the home. Robyn was lying on her stomach in a pool of blood. He grabbed his sister up and rushed her to the hospital but she died a little later.

Ervin was later discovered at a gas station with a gunshot wound and was transported to the hospital. Whether or not he was accidentally shot during a struggle or deliberately is unknown. But one weapon was found inside the home. He was charged with murder in Robyn’s death. Ervin has a long history of violence, including assault of 2 female family members and murder of a man in 1989.

*****************

A mother of 2 and school teacher, Irene Mickens, had apparently filed for divorce from her controlling husband in hopes of moving on with her life. But, ( the buts always show up) on Tuesday July 12, 2011, her estranged husband and father of her 7 and 5 year old children, called her. Allegedly he told Irene in that call their daughter was seriously ill. Irene drove to his apartment in Sandy Springs but her daughter wasn't there, Jamal Mickens was and he had a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun.

Both their bodies were later found. Irene had been shot in the head.

Of note: I think Jamal and Irene's relationship was doomed from the beginning. He allegedly controlled her movements, who she was in contact with and who she couldn't see. She had filed for divorce and a restraining order in 2009 but had stopped it and tried to make a go of their marriage. Jamal had gone to anger management classes.

But back in November of 2010 she decided it was over and again filed for divorce. At that time she moved in with her sister in Charlotte and began putting the pieces of her life back together.

Both of these cases are tragic and examples of how bad relationships spin out of control. Had both read and utilized Time's Up: A guide on How to Leave and Survive Abusive and Stalking Relationships by Susan Murphy Milano just maybe their lives could've been saved. Why is it always too late? This book needs to be available to all victims and/or potential victims of domestic violence.

James David Clarke and the Alleged Murder of Amber Chantel Elkins

2011-07-31T11:29:00.001-05:00

.
.

Amber Chantel Elkins, a 20-year-old mother from Spring, Texas has been missing since July 24, 2011. Events in the search for her moved quickly.

On Monday July 25, 2011 in the early morning hour (around 3:30 a.m..) Amber’s mother, Shani Kilpatrick received a call from Amber’s cell phone but allegedly said she missed the call because she was asleep. She called the number back about an hour later and a man answered but hung up and turned the phone off. ( one report says Amber’s father received a call from her Sun evening and when he tried to call her back got no answer) After the hang up call Shani received strange text messages from someone saying they were Amber and stated she needed gas money.

Later that morning a man contacted LE to report a vehicle with a window smashed out and blood inside parked at a car wash. As law enforcement began searching for the owner they discovered it was registered to Amber and she was due in court Monday and had not shown. Amber was in a custody battle with Frank Ferrata for her 9- month-old daughter, Ava Nicole. Frank said that it’s heartbreaking because Ava calls for her mama and is too young to understand. He and Amber had lived in Midway, TX until she moved back to the Houston area.

Amber also had a new boyfriend named James David Clark, age 31, and on Saturday, July 30, 2011 Harris County law enforcement arrested him and charged him in her death. The police say they have enough evidence to charge him.

James Clarke allegedly has a long history with LE dating back several years.

At this time, Amber’s body hasn’t been found. But, Texas Equusearch has been in Spring and Humble doing an extensive search for her. The search status has changed from missing person search to recovery.

The Alleged Attack by Steven Ford on Ladonia Burns

2011-07-29T10:15:00.001-05:00

.
.

Steven Ford broke the glass door to gain entry after stomping a puppy to death and brutally attacked his girlfriend, Ladonia Burns. His brutality was, according to him, because she wouldn’t go get him more beer. He used knives to hold her hostage, beat her about her head and could’ve drowned her when he stuck her head in the toilet tank. Ford admitted to breaking in the door and ‘stepping’ on the puppy but had the nerve to blame his violence on alcohol!

There is no excuse Mr. Ford!

Mrs. Burns said beer wasn’t mentioned, he came home and began demanding she obey him. She said she went into the house. And that was when he stomped the puppy’s head, broke the glass door in front of her home, and attacked her. Mrs. Burns said he was also threatening to kill her and he may have done so if her parents hadn’t arrived.

Steven Ford is charged with assault and domestic violence. But, I sure hope they add animal abuse to those charges. He’s under a 50,000 dollar bond. I pray Ford doesn’t bond out, go whining back apologetically and her take him back. Sadly, that has happened in many cases after attacks of domestic violence even when it's as vicious as this alleged attack. Please someone purchase a copy of a book for her called: Time’s Up: A guide on How to Leave and Survive Abusive and Stalking Relationships by Susan Murphy Milano

I Don't Hate Casey

2011-07-17T11:23:00.000-05:00

.
.

Yes. She, the most hated woman in America, is free. But is she? She is Free from the early morning wake up, eating at a certain time, showering only when told, living in a very small room with bars for doors. She isn't free in the sense of true freedom; she will never be. What she is, is hated throughout America and other countries by extreme numbers of people. She can't really 'Be Free'. Of course media would give a mint to have her as their talk show guest or be allowed that a private interview but I don't see that happening as it did with OJ. I don’t see it happening for a very long time.

I will not call Casey a murderer or a killer; she wasn't legally found to be one. But, I don’t call her innocent either. The verdict and the definition of innocent aren’t the same; it’s simply unproven.

I refuse to fall into that ‘I Hate Casey’ fan club. Do I apologize for it? No. I can sleep at night without thinking of unmentionable things I’d like happen to her. I do hate that Caylee died and will never grow to become a woman, to cry and laugh or feel love and hate herself. I hate that images of a skull and duct tape, a hair mass and a child's playhouse are forever imbedded in my mind. But then, so is an image of 4-year-old, Sean Paddock, with blankets wrapped so tightly around him and duct taped (so they would stay put) he couldn’t breathe and suffocated. I don't hate Lynn Paddock either; hate simply isn't something I feel.

I do call Lynn Paddock a murderer. She was legally found to be one.

I certainly don’t wish Casey harm. I don't want innocents harmed by some crazy minded ‘I Hate Casey’ person who tries to kill her. (Just as the woman in OK was attacked because she resembled Casey and a dumb person thought she ‘was Casey’ then tried to harm her.) A form of hate such as that is defeatism and, to me, puts those people in the same category as the person they hate. I don't want to socialize with Casey or have her live in my neighborhood but I don't want her dead. I want her to live with herself.

And live with herself she eventually will.

The media attention will die. It'll die after a new hated person comes along and commits an unmentionable crime. That will happen because media attention will focus on the new hated person and she will fall into the recesses of memory. Of course as with OJ every book that is written will be major news for a while but as with OJ trial the attention with that, too, will only last a few days. (Image the hordes who would flock back over to the ‘I Hate Misty’ thread if Haleigh Cummings’ body was found.) Scratch that because Misty wouldn’t become a replacement because she was hated even as I hate Casey grew to insurmountable odds and she is still hated. Comparisons would be made to the two. Talk about no conscience, and yes, more of the pathological liar debates would ensue.

No. I don't Hate Casey Anthony. I am one of the minority.

Cases I have blogged on set for jury Trial

2011-07-12T17:55:00.001-05:00

.
.
.

I’ve been trying not to write any new post about other alleged killers because I have been watching the activity concerning previous cases I’ve written about on my site. I pray for justice for all these victims.

Those coming to trial this year is: Curtis Leon Copeland, Christopher Ray Shockley, Tony Randall Woods

Curtis Leon Copeland
Capital Murder of a person under six years of age
Copeland’s trial is set for August 15, 2011
Victim: Jessie F. Fisher, age 3.
Died: March 31, 2010 in Fort Worth, TX after a short stay in the hospital suffering from a head injury, a broken vertebra, a broken hip, bruises all over his body and sexual assault.

My post on Copeland and Sharon Nicole Worthy (Sharon’s trial date hasn’t been set):
http://tigresspenssurmisals.blogspot.com/2010/10/sharon-worthy-and-death-of-jesse-f.html

http://tigresspenssurmisals.blogspot.com/2010/04/rage-and-child-abuse.html

********************

Ray Christopher Shockley
First Degree Murder
Trial date: Sept 19, 2011
Victim: Tonya Michelle Turnmire
Reported missing: June 4, 2010 Albertville, Alabama
(body found Sun June 20 2010 wrapped in blanket and air mattress)

My post on Tonya’s murder:

http://tigresspenssurmisals.blogspot.com/2010/06/to-late-for-tonya-michelle-turnmire-to.html

***************

Tony Randall Woods
Capital Murder
Trial Date: Oct. 17, 2011
Victim: Tammie Woods (spouse)
Death Date: July 13, 2010 Gravely Springs, Alabama

My post on Tammie’s murder:

http://tigresspenssurmisals.blogspot.com/2010/08/ploys-of-tammie-woods-accused-murderer.html

http://tigresspenssurmisals.blogspot.com/2010/07/intimate-partner-domestic-violence.html

Jason Young: A Chameleon In Hush Puppies?

2011-05-21T14:28:00.002-05:00

.
.

A chameleon was allegedly what Allen Fisher, Michelle’s father, called Jason. He is to have said Jason was what you wanted him to be.

I have to wonder if his feet hurt during those hours Jason Young allegedly stayed at the motel in Virginia. When they photographed his feet, he had blisters on them and that, according to a podiatrist, is usually from wearing improperly sized shoes. Was he wearing his size 12 Hush Puppies then or the alleged size 10 shoes? I don’t know. (Well at least we won’t hear tales of Bruno Magli shoes!) They discovered bloody prints of Hush Puppies and size 10 Franklin athletic at the crime scene on Birchleaf Drive in Raleigh, NC where he’d resided with his wife.

The Hampton Inn in Hillsville, Virginia was where Jason Lynn Young says he was at the time his wife, Michelle Fischer Young, was brutally murdered. But, he is seen leaving a side door heading toward a stairway exit of that motel around 11:58 PM on November 2 2006 and at or about that same time he allegedly made a phone call. And a newspaper carrier saw an SUV that looked similar to Jason’s vehicle parked near the Young’s home at an angle like it was there to load or unload something. This sighting was between 4 and 5 AM on November 3. The carrier also stated all the inside and outside home lights were on, which was unusual.

Security camera videos in the lobby area show him twice wearing ‘different clothes’ within hours of each other. (Hmm, another flashback there, Nelson Serrano was twice seen on lobby security cameras in Atlanta, GA., only he was wearing same clothing!) The first viewing of Jason was 10:49 to 10:51 PM and he was wearing a light colored, long-sleeve pullover shirt with buttons. Another viewing shows him wearing different clothing. Still, at 11:59 pm they see him again in the front desk area wearing a dark colored long-sleeve pullover with a lighter colored thin stripe on the chest area. And he is headed toward the side entrance on the southern end.

However, it seems the hotel exit door from the southern end (which led to the parking lot) was kept open by a rock (Blast, yet another flashback! Does Misty Cummings and the brick ring a bell?). These videos were from November 2 2006 and November 3 2006, the latter was the day Michelle’s body was discovered. Also on that fateful day of November 3 it was dicovered that someone had pointed the security camera, that would’ve shown who used the stairwell, up toward the ceiling. So anyone going up or down the stairs couldn’t be seen.

The state contends that Jason Young left Virginia, drove back to his home in NC, heavily medicated his 2-year-old daughter with a liquid extra strength adult Tylenol (her DNA was found on the dropper) then brutally beat his pregnant wife to death in their bedroom. They discovered two different bloody shoe prints on a bed pillow. I look for defense to heavily question this evidence and use the 911 call where her sister states she moved a pillow. One was from a Franklin style athletic shoe which had a number 10 inside in the bloody print; they declared the other print unidentifiable until 2008 when it was found to be a Hush Puppies brand shoe. The Hush Puppies style had been discontinued and could have been either a ‘Sealy’ or ‘Bellvile’ model of the Hush Puppies. Later discovered was that the out sole design of the shoes was also used in the Hush Puppies ‘Orbital’ model. Records show that Michelle and Jason purchased a pair of Orbital Hush Puppies In July 2005; these shoes were size 12. We know he was back at the hotel at 7:40 AM November 3 because he made a call to Meredith Fisher at 7:40 AM.

Other conundrums in this case are at the crime scene. When Meredith Fisher received a call from Jason asking she go to his and Michelle’s residence and check for fax printouts about a purse he’d purchased, she did so. The purse allegedly was bought as a belated anniversary gift for Michelle.
(How sweet of him to consider giving his wife an alleged non existent purse since he was allegedly having an affair and phoned or text his mistress 980 times within a month from Oct 4 2006 and Nov 3 2006. )

Back to the conundrums, when Meredith arrived at Birchleaf Drive she discovered Michelle dead and tiny footprints all over the bedroom, she also found the baby under the sheets of her mother’s bed. Michelle’s baby girl had apparently walked all around her mother’s deceased decomposing body and the room. Of course Meredith called 911. Over the next few days, weeks, months and years police discovered more about what had taken place in and outside the home prior to and before the murder. One conundrum was the bloody shoe prints on the pillow. Another was the amount of blood in the bathroom and a trace of blood found on the hallway carpet between the baby’s bedroom and Michelle’s bathroom.

Also, a set of Meredith’s car keys was found on the hood of Michelle’s car parked in the garage. They discovered Michelle’s car keys in the kitchen on a counter. And too, bloody shoe prints were found on planks of the deck boards and these prints were from a Franklin athletic shoe.

Even more confusion is that the baby’s feet had little to no signs of blood on her feet when she was found inside the home with her deceased mother.

Much evidence will be heard in this trial. Including eye witness account of Jason purchasing gas but driving off without getting his $5.00 change. And evidence of Jason’s DNA on the master bedroom wall sixteen inches from the floor and that could show it was put there as he and Michelle fought during the beating. Also, his DNA was found on a jewelry box. Computer evidence will be a big part of the trial also since Jason allegedly did searches on anatomy of a knockout, head trauma knockout, right posterior parietal occipital region, and ischemia. The one he should have carefully read (if he’s the killer) was the search query on ‘divorce.’ I’ll be interested how many clicks he made on that particular search and how long he stayed on each site/article.

This will not be a dead-on-cue trial for sure. It’s one filled with circumstantial evidence and one where the jurors will have to pay close attention to all the evidence presented to reach a verdict.

I pray for eventual Justice for Michelle Young.

Still, guilty or not, I wonder ‘if’ Jason did kill his wife and leave his child to find her body, does he still think his mistress was worth it; since Oct 28 2006 he allegedly stated in one of his text to her- ‘but you are so worth it, even if it's only for a 'blink' in time.’

　

The Murder of Crystal Gigliotti

2011-05-10T21:09:00.000-05:00

.
.

I was absolutely heartbroken when I read of a Crystal Gigliotti’s being found dead by her mother in the early morning hours, around 2:30 a.m., inside her apartment at 4524 Newby Drive in Durham Co., N.C; Crystal’s three-year-old baby son was in the home. Police said Crystal was found lying in a pool of blood; the thought of her baby possibly seeing his mother like that makes me ill. The day, Wednesday, May 4 2011 that she was found, her mother had advised the officers that someone had slashed Crystal’s car tires two nights before she was found. She had gone to Crystal’s home because her, (mom’s) husband had gotten a call from Crystal’s ex-boyfriend, Silvestre Alvarad Chaves, about Crystal and he’d mentioned slashed so they felt she should check on their daughter.

Police said they had received three previous calls about disturbances in the past year. Two of those calls were in March and April 2011. The police in Memphis, TN charged Mr. Chaves with offenses not related to Crystal’s death on May 7 2011 and they booked him in at Shelby Co., TN jail. His booking shows he was due in general sessions court in TN (a misdemeanor court) on charges of fugitive from justice w/o warrant at 8:30AM Tuesday May 10, 2011. I presume at that time they will put him on hold for Durham N.C. since the media reported that Monday, May 9 2011, Durham Co., N.C. police charged him with murder. When they will transport Mr. Chaves from TN to NC for arraignment on the murder charge, is unknown.

No details are out yet with how Crystal died. However, law enforcement stayed at the apartment and collected evidence from it and the SUV in the parking lot for several hours. I have this sick feeling in my stomach that since Mr. Chaves allegedly mentioned ‘slash’ when he called Crystal’s dad, and the report she was lying in a pool of blood, that her killer slashed her throat. We will have to wait for Medical Examiner’s report before we know for sure. I pray not, what a horrific way to die; I also pray that her son was asleep and did not see his mother’s body that way.

I really wish people who have domestic violence, and obviously Crystal was, in their relationships had a copy of Time’s Up: A guide on How to Leave and Survive Abusive and Stalking Relationships by Susan Murphy Milano it could give them so much valuable information how to escape and protect themselves.

You can read about this horrific murder at: wral.com and newsobserver.com

Elijah James and Danielle T. Brown's Death

2011-05-09T17:23:00.000-05:00

.
.

I’ve written a couple posts and shared them here on the disappearance of Danielle T. Brown and the arrest of the man believed to have been responsible. However, I want to share another one. Leon Co., Fl police have charged Danielle’s alleged killer, Elijah James, with first degree murder but at this time he is fighting to have his arson trial verdict, in the state of Georgia, overturned.

Danielle’s demise happened sometime after 11:30 PM Friday, February 5, 2010 and before 5AM on Saturday, February 6, 2010. Danielle and Elijah had been friends since 2006, and were allegedly once intimately involved. Mr. James has a history of arrest for drugs and other offenses (allegedly including violent crimes) before and since they had become friends.

Elijah’s prior drug arrest doesn’t reflect on the person Danielle was though.

The night of February 5, Danielle was taking Elijah to a residence that belonged to his mother on Kings Post Way located in northeast Leon Co., FL off Miccosukee Road. Come to discover, this residence was allegedly empty and had no working utilities; which begs the question - why did Elijah want her to take him there? Did he know his mother no longer lived at the house and was in fact living in Pavo, GA? Did he really intend residing at that home since she’d advised him he was no longer welcome to stay at her and her mother’s house with them? Or was it a ruse to cause Danielle to disappear? It’s been said dissidence existed between the two on that fateful day. Reportedly, the Leon Co., police did find some things belonging to Danielle scattered in the yard at that house. And too, when her cousin called Danielle at or about 11:40 the night of Feb 5 she stated she could overhear Danielle and Elijah arguing. Allegedly, the phone call was abruptly disconnected; voice mail answered any later calls to Danielle’s cell.

Mr. James was apparently as busy as a bee that early morning of Feb 6, 2010 as his lawyers have been since his arrest for arson, and since his trial and sentencing. During those early morning hours February 5, 2010 he allegedly managed to take Danielle’s life, hide her body and pick up his cousin before driving her car to a store and buying beer. Was it celebration time? It was said that he was pushing stuff around on the back seat and advised his cousin to wait before getting in the car - so, was he covering up the blood later discovered inside the car? From Feb 6 early morning hours and Monday, Feb 8 2010, Mr. James had a grand time visiting family, sleeping and going to the Lowe’s store with family members to purchase, a gas can, a sponge, the carpet cleaner, a bottle of windex cleaner, a new chainsaw, pair of gloves, trash bags and a shovel. The new chainsaw was said to have been needed for his work as a tree doctor.

During this time he had possession of Danielle’s car.

We know that because he’s seen on the store camera video when he and his cousin purchased beer. Oddly at some point in time Monday the 8^th, Mr. James was no longer in her car, he was seen walking near the Pavo, GA dump; Danielle’s car was found at the dump burned. How, I ask how did he lose possession of the car Monday? Some unknown person or persons stole it from the family member’s home where he was and took it for a joy ride then drove it to the dump and torched it? I highly doubt that scenario. Forensic evidence during his arson trial in GA showed they discovered blood inside the car trunk and in the interior. Also, a gas nozzle was found in the car inside a sponge. Ut-oh, Mr. James just happened to have needed a sponge and gotten one at Lowe’s along with a gas can! That is evidence of guilt to me.

Although defense tried, the ‘someone else did it because two other people were seen in the car’ strategy, Elijah James was found guilty of theft and arson and sentenced to 20 years in a Georgia prison. However, his court dates are far from over; he has a first degree murder trial to attend. Despite Danielle’s body not having been discovered yet or how the appeals process goes in his bid for a new trial, he will go to trial in Leon Co., Florida for Danielle’s murder.

In Mr. James’s bid for a new trial, in GA., he says the verdict in his arson trial is contrary to evidence and no evidence supports the verdict and sentence that he was given. (Boy do I smile at that piece of astoundingly ridiculous defense news!) I hope Superior Court Judge James E. Hardy will see through the illogical aspect of that claim and deny his motion at the hearing set for June 13, 2011 at the Jail-Justice Center courtroom. If the judge does decide he deserves a new trial then, sadly, they will likely delay the murder trial.

Elijah James really needs to make up his mind about that car. His claim was, (when LE spoke to him during their search for her as a missing person) that Danielle dropped him off at the house off Miccosukee, Rd., in Leon County and left driving her car. He said he then hitchhiked and a white man who only called himself Chuck picked him up on Miccosukee Rd. and gave him a lift to Pavo, GA. I asked myself then and still do ask, if that is a truth then how did he regain possession of Danielle’s Buick LeSabre? He was surely in her car when he picked up his cousin and at that store buying beer. If she was alive and gave him permission, then why was her blood found all inside it? Why was a piece of her driving license, and her cell phone found on the side of the road in GA?

I await a date being set for this murder trial and Justice for Danielle T. Brown.

The previous posts can be located here:

http://tigresspenssurmisals.blogspot.com/2010/03/disappearance-of-danielle-t-brown.html
http://tigresspenssurmisals.blogspot.com/2010/08/danielle-t-brown-may-have-justice-after.html

My Pledge During Casey Anthony Trial

2011-05-08T09:53:00.000-05:00

.
.

Casey Anthony’s murder trial and what I have come to believe an obvious need she has for the 'attention spotlight' to be on her, only her, will not consume me. Thank God for the mute button on televisions and videos, and the ability to drop view to the toolbar on computers! Although I will give some of my listening attention to the testimony in the trial, I will not miss all my favorite Zeus radio shows or ignore my blog or favorite internet sites. I will pay attention to other people who have crimes committed against them; those people are ones whose voice deserves hearing. Casey Anthony and her need will not define my internet life. My internet life is not about her. When the medical examiner and forensic experts testify, I will un mute my view of the trial to hear the 'testimony of truth'. My internet life is about truth and not Casey’s apparent mendacious tales, but I will listen to Levi Page’s evening radio shows for updates on the witnesses testimony. I will however, if an end ever comes, watch the juror’s verdict and gladly focus my total attention to Justice for Caylee. Caylee is the only one who deserves my time and attention!

Serial Rapist of Children is in Phoenix, AZ

2011-04-26T10:09:00.000-05:00

.
.

Rapists are the scum of the earth to me, and calling a rapist that is an insult to real scum.

Once again a serial rapist is wandering the streets. This one, unlike the Detroit rapist who abducted young women at a bus stop then raped them, and the "Twilight Rapist’ who raped elderly women in their home, is raping children. The child rapist’s area of choice, South Phoenix, AZ.
Young girls walking to school are his prey.

Monday, April 25, this scum found another victim, a teenager, and forced her at a knife point into a vacant home. His previous victims, one in November of 2010 and another in January of this year was of the age 10 and 12. One of those victims’ was bound; as in the more recent case and other one, he also held her at a knife point, took her into a vacant home and raped her. Now, doesn’t that just make him a big man? ( Yes, that is sarcasm) I hope and pray law enforcement canvasses the area and flood it with units to protect the children.

DNA has connected the rapist in the November and January cases. A physical description of him at this time is black male in his early 20s, 5 feet 9 to 5 feet 11 inches tall with a thin build and dark skin; his hair is short. Obviously this scum slime knows his favorite area of attack. He knows where the vacant homes are and how to enter them. (A history of burglary maybe?)

If you want to read more about these cases go to: http://www.abc15.com/ And http://www.kpho.com

Michi Nogami-Marshall's Domestic Violence Arrest and Brandon Marshall

2011-04-23T15:08:00.001-05:00

.
.

I'll be interested to see what the outcome is of Brandon and Michi Nogami-Marshall's newest domestic violence incident. Trouble has allegedly spewed between these two for several years, both have a part in it.

Brandon’s been arrested several times with domestic-related incidents over the past few years; most of those charges were either dismissed, reduced or dropped. Allegedly his football career suffered in 2008 with a one-game suspension. Also in 2008, he received is said to have suffered a serious injury after smashing a television in his home.

Again allegedly, back in 2009 they arrested both Brandon and Michi Nogami on charges of disorderly conduct, after having a lively 'argument' and kicking and punching each other on the sidewalk. Those charges were also dropped.

Sadly, they have apparently dropped charges with too many arguments and neither Brandon or Michi Nogami have learned from them. This time Michi Nogami allegedly stabbed Brandon with a knife. Brandon had said he was hit with a vase, but his wound spoke differently.

Michi Nogami Marshall is facing aggravated battery with deadly weapon charges. Hopefully, this time, the courts will answer with, ‘no, we will not drop or reduce charges, you will go to court and answer for your crime’.

This incident will likely not hurt Brandon's career in football, many DV incidents in famous people's families don't. What a shame someone with talent like his, he irrevocably stains it with so much violence. If the DV incidents are true, not only does his stain his career, he allows and continues to participate in violence at his home.

I think these two have some serious anger going. So, Perhaps these two should agree to part ways permanently with all the 'what's good for the goose is good for the gander' ceasing post-haste.

Michi Nogami is out on a bond at this time. Hopefully we won’t discover Brandon perpetrated violence against her that night too. But, would anyone really be surprised?

The DV Murder of Michael Taylor

2011-03-19T21:30:00.001-05:00

I have wondered at times if people who die in the early morning hours noticed the sunset, the stars, or nature’s beauty the night before. I wondered that about Michael Taylor, a 39-year-old maintenance supervisor for Fogelman Management Group, in Memphis, Tennessee when I read of his early morning death.

Wednesday, December 23, 2009 Michael was shot twice, once in the heart and once about two inches behind the right ear, allegedly during an argument. When his wife, Pamela Taylor contacted police around 9 A.M., she advised a man had been shot in the chest. The police arrived to discover her husband deceased. They took Pamela to the station and charged her on Christmas Eve with second degree murder. On December 28, 2010, they arraigned Pamela via video.

In March of 2010 during a preliminary hearing in domestic violence court, the Judge amended the second degree murder to voluntary manslaughter charge. Pamela’s bond was set for 100000.00.

According to a nearby resident in the apartment complex the visit that fatal morning wasn’t the first time police units had been to the home. His comment has me wondering if domestic violence was an ongoing issue. I haven’t discovered anything concerning it- if that was the reason for previous police presence at the Taylor home.

The DA’s Office sent the case to the grand jury and they indicted her on premeditated first-degree murder. Missy Branham, the state prosecutor, asked for a bond increase and more restrictions to be placed on Pamela. Apparently in a few short months she’d moved several times. Pamela’s lawyer, Andre Wharton, argued that his client had kept up with the bonding agent as ordered by court and wasn’t a flight risk. Wharton allegedly stated Pamela wants her story told. Criminal Court Judge Paula Skahan increased the bond to 150000.00. Pamela has to check in with court authorities three times per week and wear a GPS monitor.

This case has premeditation written all over it to me, the reason she made the decision to shoot her husband twice is a question only she can answer. But allegedly she purchased the gun the day before her husband was shot; he was shot twice, allegedly she had the gun in the sleeve of her sweatshirt and shot him. And too, I wonder why Pamela neglected to advise police that her husband had been shot in the head as well as the chest when she made the call that fateful morning.

A Disturbing Case of Extreme Compassion

2011-03-18T08:59:00.000-05:00

.

.

Back in January a young woman was at her home and in the shower. A masked man, Christopher Bayer, welding a knife pulled back the shower curtain, pulled her out the bathroom and put her on the bed, held her down and cut her face when she struggled. Bayer is 21 and the young woman apparently around 19/20. I surmise the age since she mentioned in her impact statement that she didn’t have previous relationship with Bayer but they did go to same high school. Bayer was 2 grades ahead of her. Bayer told the police she and he were face book friends. In her statement she wrote that her family and the defendant’s family were acquainted and his family was kind, caring and supportive people. She did not verify their FB friendship.

The whole impact statement is very disturbing. I have to wonder why so soon after the attack Bayer was before a Judge and sentenced. I am worried that the victim had pressure from both families to agree to allow him to pay such a small price for his crime. And do it so soon, get it over with. He was violent, obviously knew who she was, and masked himself; probably in hope she wouldn’t recognize him. The Judge at the request of the victim and family sentenced Bayer to 6 months in jail, gave her a restraining order and gave him 5 year probation. He cannot contact her before 2019. The defendant stated she wanted him to have a chance to rehabilitate. The Assistant DA said the family wants Bayer to get psychiatric treatment; according to what I read he may have to go through sex offender counseling if the jail counselors feel he needs it.

Her impact statement details classic victim PTSD, including panic attacks and I pray she can go back to college and continue her education after they release him. She couldn’t read the statement herself, after a couple sentences her mother had to take it and read the statement for her.

This is a PDF of her statement: http://www.whec.com/whecimages/shower.attack.vic.statement.pdf

Although I believe in compassion in some cases, this ‘extreme’ compassion disturbs me. I think they should have given him a much longer sentence in jail and still be on probation after release. Bayer apologized, said he was sorry for the 'victim’s family' and his family for his actions. But that doesn’t read like an apology to his victim. Just her family.

The Accused Edwin Coello’s Violence and Tina Adovasio’s Death

2011-03-17T10:13:00.000-05:00

.
.

This is a classic case with domestic violence prominent in the accused previous and present marital history.

Hello! Warning signs!

Edwin Coello lost his police officer job in 2000 due to domestic violence allegations during his first marriage.

In 2006 Tina Adovasio contacted police about Edwin’s violence against her, they charged him, but he was allowed to plea and got a conditional discharge. In 2007 he attacked her and she was hospitalized. UGH!

According to an article written in http://www.nydailynews.com/ Tina’s mom said Coello had beat Tina a couple years ago so badly she had to get stitches and had two black eyes.

In one of the cases of Edwin Coello attacking Tina she was holding their then one-year-old child in her arms; he grabbed the phone from her and threw it against the wall a couple times. His rage wasn’t abated yet so he proceeded to knock the stereo and trophies to the floor. He admitted to this later and excused his actions, including the hole in the wall as ‘I was pissed off.’ Yep, now isn't that just the greatest of reasons to cause such damage, frighten a baby and cause extreme emotional harm to his wife!

In Feb of this year Tina filed for divorce and got an order of protection.

Edwin Coello contested the divorce.

On March 11 of this year Tina disappeared.

On Monday 14, 2011 police picked up Edwin but released him hours later after they asked to search his car. The cops had wanted to search his car.

On Tuesday the police were able to seize his car for search.

On Wed Feb 15 Tina’s body was found in woods in Westchester County.

Folks, if you are in a violent relationship, know anyone who is going through abuse of any kind including emotional abuse then please, advise them or see they get a copy of the book: ‘Time’s Up: A guide on How to Leave and Survive Abusive and Stalking Relationships by Susan Murphy Milano

Many books exists on abuse and many organizations can help abuse victims. Including the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233)

Yes, I do recommend you contact an organization. But Susan’s book is a must get, must read book in my opinion.

Nancy's Demise and The Trial of Bradley Cooper

2011-03-15T13:17:00.000-05:00

.
.

During the last three years, I’ve read articles depicting circumstantial evidence pointing toward Nancy’s husband, Bradley Cooper, as the one who strangled her. Nancy Cooper was killed July 12, 2008.

However, it is what I’ve heard in the trial from friends of Nancy and Brad’s that have led me to believe the circumstantial evidence is painting a vivid picture and growing in strength; I’m leaning toward believing Brad was the one who caused Nancy’s death.

We’ve heard much about Nancy’s marriage and the night her friends last saw her.

On Saturday, July 12, 2008, Nancy allegedly left her home for a run with a friend, which was common for her to do. She was an avid runner and trained for marathons. However, Nancy had made plans for 8a.m. Saturday morning to paint a friend’s, Jessica Adam’s, dining room and later had plans with another friend. For Nancy to not keep her appointments were not usual. All her friends were immediately suspicious. Jessica had spoken with Brad a couple times on the phone that Saturday but it was she who called police to report her friend missing.

On Monday, July 14, 2008, they discovered Nancy’s body 3 miles from her home in an area where a newly developed subdivision was to be built, and lying on the bank of a storm water pond.

Some of the things we’ve heard at trial so far:

Nancy and Brad’s marriage was in dire straits.

Nancy often spoke with friends about her concerns of her marriage and the trouble it was in.

Nancy hired a lawyer to help her with her marital separation.

Nancy had filed for separation and allegedly had intention of divorcing Brad and moving back to Canada.

Brad had refused to separate.

Brad put Nancy on a strict weekly allowance to cover the household needs, groceries etc., but it wasn’t enough to cover all the needs.

Brad at times would follow Nancy to the gas station and put the gas in, just enough to get her where she had to go and back home, to the children’s schools, the grocery etc.. (Also it was testified to that he did this so Nancy couldn’t get cash withdrawals with the payment charge.)

Nancy and Brad had an argument in hearing of neighbors. (This wasn’t normal.)

Brad had an affair with one of Nancy’s friends.

Brad made passes at another close friend of Nancy’s.

Brad talked about sleeping with a woman to his male friends.

Brad was negative about Nancy’s paint job when he came to pick up the children the day Nancy painted at Jessica Adam’s home.

Brad did not report Nancy missing, Jessica Adam did.

A friend, Jessica Adam, saw Nancy’s purse and cell phone in her car on the passenger seat the day she disappeared. (The car was at home parked in the driveway)

After Nancy was reported missing, Brad cleaned out the garage.

They always parked both vehicles in the drive, but suddenly the car was inside it.

Brad actions, and the way he carried himself was suspicious to neighbors and friends the day Nancy went missing, and the days following her disappearance.

One suspicious thing to me, and I question, is why Brad walked over to Diana Duncan’s house and asked she help look for a ‘black dress’ Nancy was wearing Friday night. (Nancy was wearing a green dress with black designs in the fabric. Diana concluded that Brad was putting the thought in her mind that Nancy wore black so it was a black dress she searched for. We’ve heard testimony that the dress allegedly had a stain due to Nancy spilling something on it but friends attending the dinner party didn’t remember that happening.)

Nancy had a diamond necklace that she wore and never removed from her neck. (Apparently, we will hear she wasn’t wearing the necklace when they discovered her body. )

Violence Over A Parking Space

2011-03-07T10:10:00.000-06:00

.
.

I will never understand how someone can commit horrific violence of rage against others, and due to that lack of understanding, I see negatives when reading of it. On February 25, 2011, in New York, Lana Rosas decided to stand in a parking space and wait for her boyfriend to arrive so (according to reports in news) they could dine out. She wanted to save the parking spot for him.

Oscar Fuller wanted to park his car in the spot Lana was standing in so he could (according to reports in news) attend a birthday party. According to his account he ‘politely’ asked Lana to step aside so he could park and she refused. Mr. Fuller then exited his vehicle and she began punching him in the eye and face. Fuller claims self defense and reflex action for hitting Lana so hard it pulled her off the ground and caused her to drop to the concrete. Mr. Fuller fled the scene but Lana’s boyfriend saw the altercation and rushed to Lana’s defense. He also got the tag number of the car Fuller was driving.

Paramedics rushed an unconscious Lana to the hospital; she is still in a coma and fighting for her life. Doctors have removed part of her skull due to brain swelling. As they were treating Lana at the scene and later rushing her to the hospital, Mr. Fuller calmly went to that birthday party.

Fuller says he regrets hitting her and wishes it’d never happened. He blames his reflex actions on his teen years when he was attacked and cut on the face. The scars of that cut are still visible on his face today. However, it seems Mr. Fuller has a history of committing assault and drug possession. Fuller is a big man, 5-feet-7 weighing at least 150 pounds. Lana weighs 100 pounds and is 4-foot-11.

I do not know if the altercation was caught on a camera or if Lana’s boyfriend or some other bystander just witnessed it, but ‘no excuse’ is a good excuse for doing what he did. So far as I know, we only have his word that Lana attacked him first. He claims he is a man of God and does not hit women. I ask, if she did throw the first punch, why did she? Did Fuller threaten her and that was why he exited his car, to carry out that threat? I personally see no reason he should have left his car if he did not intend to harm her in some way.

I am a bit upset that while Lana lies in a hospital bed fighting for her life, Oscar Fuller is out on bail living his.

A 'Monster' Rapist is in Detroit

2011-01-19T10:10:00.000-06:00

.
.
.
I’ve been breathing a sigh of relief since the TX rapist of elderly women, dubbed ‘The Twilight Rapist’, was apprehended earlier this month. I thanked God and felt appreciation that his victims and others who lived in fear could now go about their life knowing he was in jail. Any person who violently abuses the elderly is the lowest of the human race to me and doesn’t deserve to walk freely with the good people of this country.

My happiness over the ‘Twilight Rapist’ capture was short lived after reading of yet another serial rapist. This predatory rapist is stalking the streets of Detroit’s east side, and he uses a gun to abduct, rob and rape his victims. Several young women, aged between 17 and 33 have become victims of this excuse for a human being. Earlier on LE wouldn’t give out the number of women this lowlife had terrorized and violated. But they reported in http://detnews.com/ that he’d robbed and raped seven women since January 1, 2011. These ladies, according to reports, abducted near bus stops were taken to a secluded area. Most of the victims were walking alone but one was in her vehicle when her car was bumped from behind. She exited her car to check for damage; it was then that he abducted and attacked her.

This rapist is terrorizing the women in Detroit’s east side and I pray the ‘Monster’, as the police chief appropriately called him, is caught soon. The police have distributed several sketches of him from descriptions his victims have given them. He is a black man believed to be in his 30s with a slim build and is about 5' 9" tall. The rapes occur between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m.. Fortunately, everything that can be done to find him is being done. Volunteer citizens and activist groups are watching as their family, friends and other women go to or arrive at bus stops; so are the police.

I am appalled that such disgustingly violent people live among us but also well aware it's a fact they exist. These victims are trying to live an honest life the best they can, just as the TX victims were doing, but violence of a coward with a gun disrupted their life. I do not know what the minimum (or maximum) sentence is for rape in Michigan but if a weapon is used, I feel it should be, at the least, imprisonment for life. These women deserve no less. They need to know the justice system didn’t ignore or throw away the violence against them with a five or a ten-year sentence where the rapists can be paroled after 2 or 3 years to violate another woman. That, to me, would be re victimizing the victims.

Our Officers Are Dying At An Alarming Rate

2011-01-03T09:15:00.000-06:00

.
.

During 2010 the instance of police officers dying in the line of duty was up 37% from 2009 and previous years. This is not a stat to be proud of for sure. Our police are out in force daily defending us, helping us in times of need and put their life in the line of fire to protect innocent people from the vile among us who have no regard for human life. And sadly, police departments and sheriffs’ offices across the country are having to ‘downsize’ due to financial cutbacks.

Cop killings from the last week of 2010:

On December 26, 2010 in Woburn, Mass, Officer John Maguire was chasing two robbery suspects when he was shot four times. The suspect who fired the fatal shot, Dominic Cinelli, was also shot and killed. Two other suspects, the other robber and the getaway driver were apprehended later and charged accordingly. Officer Maguire was 60 and planned to retire in a year.

Monday, December 27, 2010 in Atlanta, Georgia, Trooper Chadwick LeCroy pulled over a car with its headlight out and exited his vehicle. The driver, Gregory Favors sped away and Trooper LeCroy gave a chase. Favors hit a mailbox during the chase and Trooper LeCroy approached the vehicle. As the Trooper reached the driver’s window, Favors fired a gun and shot him in the neck. Favors then left his vehicle with the gun still in his hand and tried to free the mailbox from his car but didn’t succeed. He then took Trooper LeCroy’s police unit and left the scene.

Tuesday, December 28, 2010, Officer Jillian Michelle Smith a 24-year-old policewoman was shot and killed. Officer Smith died protecting a 11-year-old girl from the shooter. The young girl survived but the shooter killed himself after shooting Officer Smith and Kimberly Carter. Officer Smith had gone to the apartment to take a report of domestic violence. The killer wasn’t there when she arrived but came back with the gun a few minutes after she arrived.

The First officer to die in 2011:

On January 1, 2011, I read of yet another officer dying in the line of duty and of a second officer being wounded. Reading those articles is not how I wanted to start my year.

Deputy Sheriff Suzanne Hopper was sent to a campground in Enon, Ohio to investigate a reporting of shots fired. Deputy Hopper noticed a camp trailer with a window shot out and discovered footprints. She was about to take photographs of the scene and footprints when gunfire erupted. Deputy Hopper died at the scene. A policeman, Officer Jeremy Blum, also at the scene, was hit in the shoulder by a shotgun blast. During the gun battle the shooter, Michael Ferryman was killed.

The shooters in the murders (and it was murder) of Officer Jillian Smith and Trooper Chadwick LeCroy had previous run-ins with the law. They had released Trooper LeCroy’s killer, Gregory Favors, from jail a short two weeks prior to the murder. He had 18 previous arrests. He’s in jail now, and charged with murder and aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer. When located, Mr. Favors was still wearing the same clothing he’d worn when killing Trooper Chadwick. He also had blood on his hands but explained it away by saying it was a fight with his girlfriend. I don’t think he’ll bond out this time. I certainly hope not anyway. I was angry that he’d use intimate partner violence as his excuse for blood on his hands! Officer Smith’s murderer, Barnes Samuel Nettles, had a previous violent episode of assault. He’d allegedly assaulted Kimberly Deshay Carter's sister and her mother in September and was out on bail when he murdered Kimberly and Officer Smith. He’d also allegedly phone harassed Miss Carter in August of 2010. Had Mr. Carter not been allowed to bond out on the assault charge, he’d not been able to return to the scene of another incident of domestic violence and murder two people.

Dominic Cinelli, the murderer of Officer John Maguire, died from a gunshot wound. Officer Maguire was shot four times during the foot chase to apprehend him. Scott Hanwright, Kevin Dingwell and Cinelli had allegedly robbed a Kohl’s Department Store. Dingwell was their getaway driver. Hanwright is charged with first-degree murder and Dingwell with accessory after the fact. Seems to me, Dingwell should not have the luxury of bonding out, but he has a very small bond set on him. Hanwright is being held without a bond. I am not aware at this time if Cinelli or his alleged coconspirators had previous arrest.

The murderer of Deputy Suzanne Hopper, Michael Ferryman, was killed at the scene. According to the news, it was stated he had a history with the sheriff's office. What that history is, I am unaware and do not know why he shot windows out the camper or opened fire on Deputy Hopper and Officer Blum. But I do know it’s frustrating that someone would commit such a senseless and deliberate cold-blooded murder. Since the gun battle and ensuing death and injury of Officer Blum, eight officers are on leave while the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification & Investigation is investigating the shootings.

It’s sad that any officer dies on the job. Every time a police officer clocks in on duty, each traffic stop, each crime scene they respond to, each call they’re sent on, our officers are putting their life on the line. I’d call all the deceased officers and Officer Blum heroes. But I doubt if they’d consider themselves heroes. They’d likely say they were just doing their job, nothing more.

Officer Jillian Smith was the last officer killed in the line of duty in 2010 and Deputy Suzanne Hopper was the first officer killed in 2011. Sadly, before we celebrate another New Year, we will read of many more officers wounded or killed while on the job.

Danielle Santangelo's Death and the Accused Mom's Love, Blindness or Fear

2010-11-11T11:26:00.002-06:00

Today, six words again make me wonder just how far a parent will go to stand beside their child. Those words are ‘in pain’ ‘bloody clothes’ and ‘a body’ and allegedly spoken by the mom of a suspect. I try hard not to speculate negatively on family members who stand beside a child accused of a violent crime, whether that child is an adult or teen. But I do sometimes have to wonder about how a parent can have knowledge, at least suspect an act of violence is in progress or has happened, and does nothing to stop it or call for help.

The more recent case that brings these thoughts to mind is the death of Danielle Santangelo in Volusia Co., Florida. All that is available to the public so far is what’s written in media articles and short news clips. And it is what they mention in those articles that have my brain working overtime. The question, ‘could have they saved Danielle?’ is tops in my thoughts. Monday, November 8, 2010, Danielle left her mother’s home driving her mom’s car and did not return. The police were contacted and over the next couple days searched for Danielle. On Wednesday Willie Hicks' mom allegedly contacted the police and reported she’d seen the missing woman’s car at her home on Monday and advised them of other events that took place. Mrs. Hicks was to have said on Monday she heard what sounded like a woman moaning as if she was ‘in pain’ inside Willie Hicks home. The media also reports her to have said later that same night she witnessed her son putting ‘bloody clothes’ in a burn barrel and set fire to them; also that Willie told her he had ‘a body in the red car and didn’t want her to look inside. My questions are why did she not call 911, do ‘anything’, when she heard a woman moaning like she was in pain? If she had, could Danielle's life been saved? Why did she not call police before her son drove away in the car after she saw him with bloody clothes? Did she wait until after she saw a news media announcement about Danielle missing along with a description of the car she was driving before contacting police? Why not call immediately after Willie said ‘a body’ was in the car?

We do not know the extent of Danielle’s injuries and exact cause of death and won’t know until after the autopsy. But Danielle was someone’s child too, just as Willie Hicks is Rose Hicks child. Did Danielle not deserve her consideration? Did Danielle not deserve help when she was heard moaning? If the articles I read on Danielle’s gone missing and alleged murder at www.wftv.com/news/index.html and www.myfoxorlando.com/ is factual, I wonder, is mom now questioning her own self? Was her lack of quick thinking and action a case of parental love, parental blindness or fear of her own child?

How Danielle and Willie allegedly came to be together that fateful night, how she allegedly came to be at his home is unknown at this time. Perhaps they were acquainted, she trusted him and willingly drove to his home. That doesn’t matter in the fact that she did not deserve to die. And for sure, she didn’t deserve to die, no one does, not in a violent way such as her death occurred.

If it’s a fact that information from Rose Hicks contributed to Danielle’s car and body being located, then I am thankful to her. I do not want to condemn Mrs. Hicks alleged non action and I do not condemn her. But, God gave me a brain and I use it with my ‘what ifs’ and other wondering. May God be with her as she deals with the alleged crime her son committed and her own wondering.

Sharon Worthy and The Death of Jesse F. Fisher, Jr. - Age 3

2010-10-22T14:14:00.000-05:00

.
.

When I first wrote a very short piece on Jesse Fisher, Jr. back in April this year, I was so angry over his death that I couldn’t say much. Except to say he’d died and the killer made an excuse, mom did it. I’m still angry about his dying by the hands of torture but I do feel I can now write another piece to update.

Sharon Worthy moved in with Curtis Leon Copeland around March 25, 2010. She was due to give birth to her third child any day. I do not understand why she moved in with a known felon. She wasn’t supposed to associate with anyone with a felony record. Sharon was no stranger to CPS since they’d had several reports concerning Sharon and the children. Sadly, children protective services didn’t or couldn’t protect little Jesse from his fate. Back in 07 CPS had investigated her for child neglect and abuse of Jesse but found no neglect. Again in 09 they received a report of two children under her care and again found no reason to believe the report. In Dec of that same year someone made another report but CPS filed it as ‘unable to determine’. Then in early March 2010 physical abuse was reported and CPS was still ‘investigating’ that report when Jesse died.

Perhaps CPS and the abuse charges were why she moved from Bowie, TX to Sanger, TX to live with Curtis - who knows. What I do know is she had many living relatives she could’ve left both Jesse and his one-year-old sibling with while she gave birth to her third child. Sharon is barely 21 and was 20 when they rushed Jesse, barely living, and bleeding from his nose and ears to the hospital. None of her three children have the same father. Jesse’s father Jesse Fisher, Sr was allegedly in prison.

On March 30, 2010, Sharon went to the hospital to give birth to her third son and later that same day, a 911 call was made concerning Jesse, Jr.. Curtis Copeland had told a neighbor that Jesse had fainted and asked her to make the call. When paramedics arrived, he was unconscious and bleeding. Later it was determined he had a broken pelvis and broken thoracic vertebrae, and severe head trauma. An examination also showed sexual abuse. Mr. Copeland tried saying when Sharon brought Jesse to his home she’d made a statement that he’d fallen down stairs. He also said Jesse had a bruised eye and other bruising and a bump on the head. Sharon told LE she’d witnessed Curtis slap Jesse so hard it knocked him down but admitted that she didn’t seek medical attention for him.

While Jesse was hospitalized, a social worker was in his room with Sharon and she allegedly stated that at no time did Sharon shed a tear or seem to be genuinely concerned for her son’s welfare. Allegedly, children services is attempting to remove Sharon Worthy’s and both father’s rights to her two living sons. I hope that happens. Curtis Copeland is allegedly not a father to any of Sharon’s children.

They charged Curtis Copeland with murder and Sharon Nicole Worthy with reckless injury to a child.

Has Shock Worn Off - Or Are Anger and Shock Related?

2010-10-04T13:00:00.000-05:00

.
.

Sometimes my thoughts on the crime news events go quiet; I can't express my feelings of all I read and hear. No words of distress over the events are enough because I feel nothing is left to say. Only the continual 'why' plagues me and the tears in my heart for victims is all I can feel. I worry that if shock and anger are similar, does that mean the killers and attackers have a real excuse for their crimes? What is the difference in us feeling anger with them for doing the crime and theirs when they committed the act? Is the answer so simple that explanation is, ‘but we don’t act on our anger and they did?’

These murders, suicides and attacks of family on family, friends on friends, spouse on spouse appears to be to much to comprehend. Still, I sometimes feel my shock with it all is missing and that is sad; yet at the same time, I do feel anger and frustration. From the more recent suicide of a young New Jersey college student, to the Lester Street slaughter of a family in TN back in 2008 and alleged death of Stacy Peterson at the hands of her cop husband in 2007, the killings are egregious and horrific. I felt anger, and cried silent tears when reading about them.

I keep wondering how anyone can become so pathologically narcissistic that a child's life is worth nothing more to them than the trash a local sanitation department collects on a weekly basis. People like the Susan Smiths’ of the world who gave the life of her two sons to God because she wanted more in her personal life: a man who didn't want children. And the like of the alleged killer, Casey Anthony, who allegedly duct-taped and threw her beautiful daughter in a trash bag; then dumped her body in a woody area that’s filled with filthy water for months at a time. It's incomprehensible that parents like Joseph and Sonya Smith could beat and torture a beautiful son because he was too noisy and wouldn't quietly participate in bible study - Spare the rod! I can't close my eyes and pray for the missing to be found without seeing the beautiful face of Jaliek Rainwalker and wonder if suspicions of his stepfather being a killer will ever be found as a truth. I can’t help but see the special face, shadowed by one of her hats, of Lindsey Baum and feel tears in my heart for her. Or without the beautiful smile of Kyron Horman floating before my eyes and wondering if his stepmother really is responsible for his being somewhere feeling lonely and scared without his father and biological mother. I wonder, is he dead too, like Caylee? Is Haleigh Cummings dead? I can't help my thought that both are now in God's home and in the loving arms of Angels.

I worry because I now wonder if its shock I feel when I read of a murder at the hands of a parent or spouse or if I’ve become immune to being shocked. I worry because when I read of a new intimate partner beating, the emotions I have only feel like anger for the victim and ‘at the perpetrator’ that the atrocious act happened. I do actually admire defense attorneys who can stand before a judge and jury and battle for the most vile of the accused. I know it’s their job; the accused have rights to a fair trial. Still, I don’t have to like what they say and do and usually I don’t like it. I admit I sometimes want to reach out and slap some defense attorney at times; slap them ‘for the victim.’ Because it appears, they are making the victim the bad person.

Sometimes I want to scream out at the justice system for placing a bond on some individuals. One example of the need to scream out is a recent horrific attack on a woman in Mississippi. Freda Wilkerson was so severely beaten that she underwent immediate surgery to repair the wounds and she’ll need more surgery in the future. The attacker, her boyfriend, had left her where she lay, bruised, bleeding and broken and he ran. He was eventually located and charged with aggravated domestic violence but only placed under a $10,000 bond. Outrage seeped into the victim’s heart, and mine also when reading of such a low bond. She said they had placed a small price on her life, fear gripped her and her children that Bobbie Stewart would bond out and come after them. She was right to feel that fear to me. Fortunately the DA agreed and had a higher bond of $50,000 placed on Stewart. I still feel that amount isn’t enough either. No amount is enough for a person who so horrifically beats another human being and leaves them mangled and scared for their life, without help. But if Freda vocalizing her anger helps the police understand victims’ fears and points of view in the future then expressing her anger will not have been for naught.

I wonder, are the anger and frustration I feel with all these beatings, drive by shootings where innocents die (and not the person intended), spouse murders, girlfriend-boyfriend murders, and other tragic criminal activities the same as feeling shock that such an event can still happen? Even if it is the same, I still can’t help but wonder ‘why?’... Why haven’t we, in this day and age of high technology, found a way to come together as one species - the human race - and show respect for each other?

John Robert Kastner at Trial

2010-09-17T07:24:00.001-05:00

.
.

For two days this week, in District Judge Tom Gillert's court, they asked potential jurors question after question. This went on until both First Assistant District Attorney Doug Drummond and Chief Public Defender Pete Silva were satisfied that they’d seated twelve (plus the alternates) who could reach a just verdict without any prejudicial preconceived thoughts of the events they’d read or heard interfering. Wednesday when the trial began DA Drummond, in his OS, led them on a worded picturesque road of the events of that fateful morning Lori Moon Kastner lost her life.

Mr. Silva, of course, spoke of how of how John R. Kastner loved Lori. Mr. Silva apparently is arguing that the murder wasn’t at the devilish hands of his client but an intruder who came into the Kastner home, killed Lori, wounded John Kastner and stole a bag containing $5,000.00. (I truly wish him luck showing how the evidence fits that scenario.) Mr. Silva’s statement that some people are just numb and do not react is a truth but I ask, what was Mr. Kastner numb over? He purchased a gun, showed it to his adopted daughter and lied about why. Tests fired it and made sure she knew of that also.

Prosecutor Drummond is peeling away Mr. Kastner’s alleged plot one layer at a time. Law enforcement Officers David Moore, Mark Shelton, Detective Jeff Felton and Detective Kyle Ohrynowicz all have taken took the stand to tell the jurors what they saw and were told on that fateful morning of June 25, 2008. They testified how the scene was bloody and the family pet was on a pillow beside Lori’s head licking the blood from the bed. They spoke of how if an intruder entered the home he did not do so by forcible entry. They spoke as to how Mr. Kastner was lucid when they spoke with him. Kastner’s children spoke of how they were asleep when the murder happened and how their father told them he was an Israeli commando in the past. Mr. Silva’s statement that sometimes people are just numb and do not react is a truth but I ask, what was Mr. Kastner numb over? He purchased a gun, showed it to his adopted daughter and lied about why. Tests fired it and made sure she knew of that also.

( I personally am not surprised he expressed himself clearly that morning. He wanted to stress the intruder shooting him and Lori. He wanted to be a hero because he bravely fought a man with a gun. A man, in his story, who was asking about his adopted daughter’s whereabouts. I would've been yelling at the top of my lungs that police needed to go find the person who shot my spouse and myself. And also demand they go check on my daughter’s safety since the intruder was inquiring about her as he waved a gun at me.)

Although it may be a rather ominous forecast in Mr. Kastner’s defense and hopes of freedom, DA Drummond is using Kastner’s own words against in the trial. I think it’s significant that he is doing so. Mr. Kastner had written in his own words of how there was no next week. DA Drummond spoke of how Kastner wrote in his journal of how he puts things off and hoped things would cure themself. And how time does not slow or go backward.

DA Drummond has not only advised the jurors of Mr. Kastner’s lies to his friends, family and coworkers he had the foresight to have a man named Thomas Rowan of the Israeli consulate in Chicago testify that records do not show John Robert Kastner was an Israeli citizen nor that he was ever in their military.

( I wonder if J. R. Kastner could ‘go backward’ now if he’d still kill Lori or tell his students, coworkers and friends the Israeli commando story and that the ‘713 Corporation’ was nothing more that his fantasy, an entanglement of lies.)

Mr. Kastner lied to the police about the events that happened in the predawn hours before Lori was shot back on June 25, 2008. He lied about the race of the alleged intruder, and he lied about where he was in the home when that ‘intruder’ entered the home. He lied that the alleged intruder was searching for his adopted daughter. He lied to his adopted daughter about reasons on June 17, 2008 that he’d purchased a .22 caliber gun. And he lied as to why he tests fired the gun a couple days before the murder. He lied about the corporation he’d inherited from his father, and about the donations he was to make to the school. He lied about many things when he brought his fantasy world to life. And those lies came back to haunt him, and they are his demise. If indeed the jury decides he is the one who shot and killed Lori, he deserves all the sentencing punishment the Judge issues to him. Lying to family and friends is nothing more than a moral wrong. Lying to police to cover ones behind in a murder investigation is a legal crime. Police can lie to you but if you lie to them about facts involved in a crime, it hinders the investigation and, rightfully so, you pay the price.

I surmise that Mr. Kastner is still lying and wants to entangle jurors in his web, have them believe the lies just as he caught his friends, coworkers and family with his previous web. I think he has some serious mental issues with truth telling but he is not legally insane. (Although he isn’t contending that he is insane.)

One thing I am thankful for is that I have not read or heard any evidence coming forth that Lori fought for her life. So, she really was asleep as Mr. Kastner reportedly stated when she was twice shot. I am thankful she was unaware her husband ( I do still believe, due to all I have read and heard, that he killed her) and not an unknown intruder killed her. I am thankful their children were medicated and slept through the shooting. Lori by all I have read and heard was a beautiful soul and her children and family lost someone special. The Oklahoma Supreme Court Judges lost a good person too.

The Death of Diane Ward

2010-09-03T14:32:00.000-05:00

.
.
.
Last September I wrote of the death of Diane Ward, the wife of millionaire James Robert ‘Bob’ Ward of Isleworth, Orlando Florida. Diane Ward died of a facial gunshot wound beneath the eye. http://www.wftv.com/video/21765840/index.html All I could do is shake my head and pray for justice to prevail.

In the 911 call, of September 21, 2009, Bob Ward was said to have stated, ‘I shot my wife . . . she's dead .. She's on the floor of the master bedroom." When police arrived, they discovered Ward standing outside talking on his phone, he advised them Diane was in the master bedroom and the gun was on the bedside table. No other persons were at the home. They discovered broken glass and red stains on the patio and noticed red stains splattered on the back of Ward’s shirt. Upstairs near the north wall of the master bedroom, lying on her right side, was the dead body Diane Ward with a pool of blood around her head. The gun was found in a drawer of a bedside table.

Interestingly, (after they took him to the SO for an interview) when asked about the stains on back of his shirt, Bob asked if they were blood or wine. He also asked to speak to his attorney and that the number was in his cell phone. The lawyer Bob called was Liz Greene. (She’s not a criminal attorney but his bankruptcy attorney.) Bob also said he called his brother-in-law, Glenn Saare.

Since his arrest http://www.wesh.com/download/2009/0922/21061766.pdf Bob has laughed and showed off his jail uniform to his daughter and sister-in-law, made calls to his family to discuss family situations (monies) but never stated he missed his wife, shown he was grieving for her, or shown any remorse for what happened that fateful night. Mr. Ward is now out on $100,000. bond. (I don’t understand such a low bond. Perhaps it’s due to the second-degree murder charge and not first-degree. I think it should be first degree. ) During this past year Diane’s grown children, I personally believe, hasn’t shown any grief for the loss of their mother. (Again my beliefs are due to what I’ve read and the jail house phone calls and taped visits. Listen to the ones listed below - discussions about monies and properties ) I’ve wondered many times, did they truly love her at all? Or do they love the money and material things’ Dad can give them more? Where have the tears for mom been? Where has Diane’s sister’s grief been? She has not publicly shown any sorrow for her sister’s death either that I have seen. Did she love her sister? Does she want justice for Diane? Surely she can’t believe her sister’s death was truly accidental during attempted suicide; Diane’s DNA was found on Bob’s pants and shoes. His DNA was prominent on the gun grip and trigger, not Diane’s DNA. The entry wound location was not where it’d be easy for her to shoot herself. (ME testimony video listed below) Her alcohol level was over the legal limit. These things, to me, speak volumes of Diane being forgotten in that family and of Bob being the aggressor in the shooting that caused her death.

Mr. Ward and his wife Diane with their two daughters lived in a mansion ( since sold at an auction) in the exclusive Isleworth area which was home to such noteworthy and media known people as Tiger Woods and Arnold Palmer. The home and Mr. Ward’s personal finances while his business, Land Resource LLC’s move to Florida from GA and went bankrupt, was a point of contention in an investigation and the federal-court suit of the now defunct company. http://www.ajc.com/ajccars/content/printedition/2008/11/15/cumberland.html Glenn Saare has been fired from the board of directors of Cumberland Harbour, as have all the members hired by Bob, and a new board has taken over. The bond companies contend that Mr. Ward continued to pour monies into luxury cars, trust funds for his children, and paying off personal debts. Mr. Ward and his lawyer claimed the housing crunch and credit card freeze for the company’s failure.

The reason I mention the failure of an alleged booming business is that Diane Elizabeth Ward was allegedly soon due to give a deposition.

What I personally believe happened that fateful night is that Bob and Diane had a heated argument while on the patio. (Perhaps over the bankruptcy investigations?) Diane had too much to drink; (the ME report proves that as fact) she threw her drink at Bob while his back was turned (hence, the red stains on the ‘back’ of his shirt) and he became enraged. (Bob has an alleged history of violence against women) Bob followed Diane upstairs and a physical fight ensued. He took the gun, from her (after she grabbed it for protection) from the night stand or he retrieved it himself. (Which is what I believe, due to his alleged violent past against women) Diane couldn’t appropriately defend herself in her inebriated state but tried to fight him and he shot her?

Bob’s trial is set for Valentine’s Day of 2011. I think that date rather ironic.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/videobeta/75cb6858-1dcb-4f10-bbac-70fbe9484429/News/Dr-Garavaglia-Dr-G-shares-her-ezpertise-on-how-Diane-Ward-was-shot

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/videobeta/26346238-7e70-461b-b617-2e901ee22be7/News/Robert-James-Ward-s-videotaped-jail-visit-with-his-daughter-and-sister-in-law

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/videobeta/efa6990d-826c-4c8e-bcc0-6119f0396789/News/Mallory-Ward-amuses-father-during-jail-visit

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/videobeta/45779c7b-88e7-4199-9727-684635d225de/News/2nd-video-Ward-s-videotaped-jail-visit-with-his-daughter-and-sister-in-law

http://tigresspenssurmisals.blogspot.com/2009/09/current-events-bobs-life-and-death-of.html

Danielle T. Brown May Have Justice After All

2010-08-22T13:20:00.001-05:00

.
.

Back on Feb 5 of 2010 Danielle Brown left her home on Springhill Road around 8:30 p.m. and that was, allegedly, the last known time anyone, other than her passenger, has seen her. Danielle’s passenger was Elijah James, III and she was headed to take him to his mother’s house on King’s Post Way. We know she was still with Elijah later the same night because around 11:35 p.m. she spoke with a friend on her cell phone and told the friend that she was going to Apalachee Parkway to meet a friend after she took Elijah to his mother’s house. According to reports Elijah and Danielle were in a heated argument during that call and Danielle’s phone went dead. Subsequent calls were unanswered.

The police discovered several items belonging to Danielle on the grounds of his mother’s house so can assume Elijah James was there that Friday night or early Saturday morning. Whether Danielle was with Elijah at the time the items came to be there is unknown. What we know is that Mr. James was seen in possession of Danielle’s Buick in Wacissa and Waukeenah of Jefferson Co. between 1:30 a.m. and 4 a.m. on February 6. Also around 5:30 a.m. that Saturday morning Elijah and another man were at a Circle K store and Elijah was driving Danielle’s car. She wasn’t seen by anyone and wasn’t seen on the security camera video inside the car or store. The men purchased a case of beer. (I so want to say something caustic here, but will refrain) Elijah also made a trip to his sister’s home the morning of Feb 6 around 8:45 a.m. and allegedly stayed there until 11:30 p.m.. He allegedly slept. (I guess his alleged actions of Feb 5 and the wee morning hours of Feb 6 was very tiring for him.)

On Feb 7, the day Danielle’s family reported her missing, Elijah spent several hours at another sister’s home in Pavo, GA. The second sister’s home, according to LE records, is the address on police files in reference to his criminal background. Also of importance is that Elijah was seen on Feb 7, between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. in Monticello, and was later seen walking away from the city dump in Pavo, Thomas County, GA where Danielle’s car was discovered burned. They arrested Elijah for auto theft and later Thomas County GA police charged him with torching her car. He sits in the jail there awaiting the trial scheduled for September 27, 2010.

Leon County, Florida police and Sheriff Larry Campbell were determined in their efforts to find Danielle, and, with the help of other police departments, searched for her in Florida and Georgia for several weeks. However, sadly she wasn’t found. They later changed their investigative efforts from a search for a missing person to a homicide investigation. During the investigations her cell phone was found on the side of a road, as was two pieces of her driver’s license.

The good thing is due to the Leon County Florida police department, and Sheriff Larry Campbell plus the DA’s office dogged determination with their evidence gathering a grand jury was convened this month. The grand jury heard all the relevant evidence and testimony from numerous witnesses and brought back a true bill.

They charged Elijah James with robbery and first degree murder of Danielle T. Brown.

I am so thankful to Leon County Florida police, Thomas County, GA police and all the other police departments that assisted in the searches and investigation of Danielle’s case. Due to all their incredible efforts justice may happen for her.

To read more on Danielle’s case check out my other post and the files below.

http://tigresspenssurmisals.blogspot.com/2010/03/disappearance-of-danielle-t-brown.html

http://www.tallahassee.com/assets/pdf/CD151827212.PDF

http://www.leoncountyso.com/news.asp

Mr. Kastner Is Delaying Justice . . . Again!

2010-08-11T13:11:00.000-05:00

.
.
.

Jury selection was set to begin August 16, 2010 but John Robert Kastner is again attempting to delay his trial. Apparently, Kastner’s newest lawyer, Jill Webb of the County’s Public Defender Office, has filed a change of venue motion. Mr. Kastner seems to think he won’t receive a fair trial in Tulsa due to all the media interest in his case. Kastner also claims (if you can believe anything he says) that he never agreed to use an insanity plea or that he is suffering from schizophrenia.

Well, Duh! Guess what Mr. Kastner, had you not allegedly lied numerous times to not only your wife and children, but to your students, the principal and the district officials of the Webster High School, where you were a trusted coach and a teacher, maybe you wouldn’t have gained so much popularity in the media. And, more important, had your story that you had not shot and killed Lori Moon Kastner, an attorney who had worked for the Oklahoma Supreme Court, been found believable via evidence at the crime scene, perhaps the public interest in your alleged part in the murder would’ve waned. Perhaps if you hadn’t allegedly told law enforcement that the person who shot and killed your wife was looking for your 19-year-old adopted daughter and wanting money then this case wouldn’t have gained so much interest.

Heck, you allegedly couldn’t keep your stories straight with how the shooting happened. What we have known is factual throughout this whole ordeal is that Lori was shot twice in the head! And you allegedly told police different stories of how you woke and struggled with the assailant. From the time LE first arrived and spoke with you, and when you were at the hospital just a few hours later, the story allegedly changed. Does that not scream that the public would want to know all the facts of the alleged home invasion? Does it not scream the public would want answers to who killed Lori and shot a well-loved coach and English teacher in the hand?

I think perhaps it isn’t just the negative media attention concerning your alleged lies that bug you but the fact that you were a respected and trusted teacher and coach at the High School that is the problem. You have to know that you’ve likely lost all the accolades of that distinction and possibly now only seen as a con man (due to the alleged non existent 713 Corporation stuff), and an accused killer. I really don’t see the school rehiring you, should you be found not guilty. I do however feel the court can find 12 honest citizens to sit on the jury in your county who is willing to put aside anything they’ve seen or read of your case and impart a fair verdict. I’d even go so far as to say you likely ‘will’ find potential jurors who know nothing about all the publicity surrounding your past and who will also be willing to look at the evidence in a fair and impartial manner.

My personal thoughts, from all I’ve read and heard on this case, are that between the lawyer who allegedly gave that statement about the insanity plea and Mr. Kastner, I go with the lawyer. Considering all the other alleged lies of Mr. Kastner, and they are numerous, I believe, he could easily be lying that he never verbally told the lawyer, John Byrd, he’d agree to plead insanity. We’ll have to wait and see if Mr. Byrd confirms the verbal agreement to know for sure. But like Mr. Kastner’s alleged mountain of lies, and all the changing of attorneys, he changed his mind about that also. And just as he allegedly blamed a supposed acquaintance of his adopted daughter for the shooting of Lori Kastner and home invasion, he is blaming his ex attorney for an alleged plea he doesn’t want to use. And I think, due to all I have read and heard on this case, that he is using that as another ploy for delaying his criminal trial. I ask, why didn’t he file this motion sooner? For instance - back in Jan of this year when the judge agreed to remove Byrd as his attorney and ‘again’ agreed to the public defender’s office assigning one? Why the wait until a few days before jury selection was set to begin?

I have to admit, although I am of full awareness this ‘I didn’t agree to plea insanity’ claim is a serious matter - (it could damage a lawyer’s reputation with the bar association), that an accused liar is calling another person a liar is rather comical. If you look at it from a certain standpoint that is. The idiom - ‘the pot calling the kettle black’ comes to mind.

Yes, Mr. Kastner deserves a fair trial and one that makes sure no one violates his rights; I approve of that. However, justice for Lori is indeed slow.

The Death of Amanda Schafer

2010-08-07T12:45:00.004-05:00

.
.

Scott Myers spent August 5, 2010 drinking and arguing with Amanda Schafer at the home of her dad in Oviedo, Florida. A friend who had spent time at the home between 11:00 A.M.and 4:00 P.M. allegedly told the police about the arguments.

Amanda’s father had called her around 4:50 P.M. and she advised him Scott had broken a door at the home. A few minutes later Mr. Schafer called Amanda again but Scott answered the phone and he told him that Amanda was in the bathroom cleaning up and couldn’t come to the phone. Mr. Schafer attempted calling his daughter several times after speaking with Scott but no one answered. Mr. Schafer went home. When arriving he found his daughter’s rental car missing and his stiff, unresponsive daughter on her bedroom floor lying in a pool of blood. He called 911and with a distraught and panic stricken voice asked for help, telling the operator that he believed Scott had killed his daughter.

Thanks to his mother, around 9:00 P.M. Scott turned himself in to police in Winter Springs and they transported him to the Oviedo police department. The police noticed Scott had a cut on the inside area of his right hand. Scott allegedly told them Amanda had committed suicide but later, after they told him she couldn’t stab herself numerous times; not in some areas where wounds were located, he allegedly admitted he’d stabbed her. Of course Scott also allegedly blamed the victim to, he is said to have stated that Amanda had assaulted him as he was washing dishes and he lost control and stabbed her with the knife then took her car and left.

They have Scott Allen Myers charged with Amanda’s murder and grand theft auto and he is in Oviedo, jailed without a bond. I look for a self defense plea and blame the victim when this case goes to trial.

According to some friends of Amanda’s the two having arguments was allegedly a common thing and they had encouraged her to get away from him. In one article I read, http://www.cfnews13.com a friend of Amanda’s, Andrew Frederick stated, ‘he had her locked in the head, to the point she couldn’t really do anything.’ Yes, unfortunately, it’s too late for Amanda to make use of ‘Time’s Up: A Guide How to Escape Abusive and Stalking Relationships now. However, it isn’t too late for other victims if this guide were available in police departments, libraries and churches everywhere!

Had 21-year-old Amanda Schafer known of this book perhaps her life could’ve been spared. That couldn’t really do anything feeling is a sad view many domestic violence victims have, but help can be found. This book by Susan Murphy Milano, a well-known advocate for victims of domestic violence, is the help needed. The answer to people’s question 'why didn’t she just leave?' - when they read of domestic violence murders, has an answer in the book. One answer is a common sense one for those who have been through abusive relationships, fear. But Susan Murphy Milano has given fear a new definition, - Facilitate Ending, Abusive, Relationships. This can be accomplished!

http://www.cfnews13.com/static/articles/images/documents/Meyrs_Arrest_Aff..pdf

The Ploys of Tammie Woods’ Accused Murderer

2010-08-04T12:43:00.000-05:00

.
.

In July I wrote a post about intimate partner murders. One of those mentioned deceased was Tammie Woods, allegedly shot and killed by her estranged husband Tony Randall Woods. Tammie was shot several times as she attempted to drive away, escape, from Tony after a visit to his home.

When I first read of her death, I felt great sadness because there is a guide published that could have helped her understand the proper procedures to take. That guide is ‘Time’s Up’- A Guide How to Escape Abusive and Stalking Relationships. Tammie’s life could have possibly been spared had she knew of and utilized this book. Tony is charged with capital murder in her death. But, since Tony’s arrest I’ve been concerned about any real justice for Tammie’s death. Tony and his lawyer, Melinda Austin, want him to be freed on a low bond so he can continue receiving proper treatment for an illness. Tony allegedly is suffering harrowing pain and is being treated for multiple myelomas, a form of cancer.

One jail nurse recently testified in the bond hearing that Tony had said that he only had 24 to 48 hours to live due to his cancer. These things are sympathy ploys. Thankfully a doctor testified that his immediate death wasn’t a truth and informed the court of the medications Tony was taking for his cancer.

To me, the defense has proved nothing so far except that Tony is not only an accused killer but an alleged liar also. One reason I think of him as a liar is that, according to an investigator’s statement, he told them that he was attempting to shoot over the car and not kill Tammie. I think perhaps he could’ve accomplished that feat if that was a truth; he’s apparently a very proficient hunter. Tammie’s brother told a media outlet that Tony hunted all winter and killed six deer. Sorry Tony, but what about the terrorizing emotional pain Tammie must have felt as she rushed to speed away from the bullets hitting her car. And what about the pain from the bullets invading her body. Allegedly you do lawn care for a living and mowed your lawn the day before Tammie was killed; where was your agonizing pain? During the hunting season you apparently shot and killed several deer; where was the pain as you trampled though the woods? Did you climb into a tree stand while you were experiencing excruciating pain?

Although Tony does have cancer, I don’t think it is something that should give him freedom until his trial. I have no sympathy for Tony; he should have considered his treatments for cancer before pulling the trigger numerous times. I do however have hope of justice for Tammie. I can’t imagine the terror she must have experienced during the last few minutes of her life. And I have hope her family will stay strong during all these pretrial hearings and the trial too - if it ever happens.

For a few days, during postponement of the hearing for evidence gathering and waiting to read of the Judge’s decision, I couldn’t help but think to myself ‘the defense will be victor and Tony will be free on a bond.’ Those thoughts were a point of frustration for me. Thankfully, due to the wisdom of Judge Carole Medley and arguments put forth by prosecutors, Tony will remain in jail and have his treatment for the cancer during his incarceration.

I still think Tony’s cancer will continue to be a point of argument with his defense. I look for future hearings on Tony Woods medical condition and continued pleas for the court to allow him to bail out on a low bond due to the cancer.

Dear Justice System, It’s Time John Robert Kastner Goes to Trial

2010-07-28T10:42:00.001-05:00

.
.

Please no more delays! The trial is set for Aug 16, 2010 and that date should stand.

John Robert Kastner has played the system for past 25 months. He was appointed a lawyer because he filed paupers’ status, fired that lawyer, got a local lawyer, John Byrd, to defend him, fired him when it was nearing time for trial, then hired himself as his lawyer in Jan 09, fired himself in April of 09. The public defenders’ office is now back on the case. Please Judge, do not let this man play the system again. The local lawyer, John Byrd, who I was advised volunteered to take the case, had mentioned Kastner would plea insanity. Is Byrd back on the case? I do not know. Who knows what will happen next.

Recently, Kastner learned what he told LE the night of the shootings will be heard by the jury. I definitely hope all his alleged fantasy lies about coming into wealth and sharing it with the school athletic department will be heard also. He allegedly had a propensity to tell a whooper for sure!

A little background:

All of the alleged fight and John and Lori being shot took place as young children slept in a nearby bedroom.

On June25, 2008 the police were called to a home due to a report of home invasion and shooting. Little did they know when they arrived they’d find former Oklahoma Supreme Court Attorney, Lori Moon Kastner dead in her bed from two gunshot wounds. One was later found to be a contact wound. Kastner allegedly told a detailed story of how an intruder, a dark-complexioned white or American Indian man, was standing at the foot of his bed holding a gun, his gun, when he woke. He, Kastner, struggled with the intruder and during that struggle he was shot in the hand.

An interesting tale, huh? - It gets better; Mr. Kastner allegedly told LE that the intruder shot his wife as she slept and when he heard Lori moaning shot her a second time. After the struggle, the intruder proceeded to run from the home, leaving a living witness and the gun behind. The intruder apparently stopped in the kitchen during his flight and grabbed a bag with monies in it along with the children and Lori’s passports. The passports were found neatly placed outside on the driveway of the home.

Then Kastner’s story changed.

You can read my previous articles on this story here:
http://tigresspenssurmisals.blogspot.com/2009/04/alleged-lies-and-murder-of-lori-kastner.html

http://tigresspenssurmisals.blogspot.com/2009/12/john-robert-kastners-upcoming-trial.html

Domestic Violence: Fortunately, the Victims Lived

2010-07-19T11:38:00.002-05:00

.
.

Tuesday, July 13, Salih Kocher waited in his car on the corner of Meredith Drive and Beaver Avenue and followed his wife, Ayah Moneer, into a parking lot. Kocher then exited his car and with flowers in hand (that, allegedly, in Muslim faith, is something one give to someone who is about to die ) and walked toward her. He then broke the driver’s side window and dragged her from the vehicle. "Today is the day you are going to die and I'm going to die," he was said to have told Ayah. He told her this while holding a meat cleaver to her throat then attempted to push her into his vehicle. Fortunately a witness to the violent act called 911 and kept the dispatcher updated on what was happening until police could arrive on the scene. During the struggle for her life, Ayah received lacerations on her hand. But Ayah kept talking to Salih and he dropped the meat cleaver but he continued dragging her by the hair across the lot toward the courtyard.

When police arrived, he was arrested then charged with kidnaping, domestic assault with a weapon, and burglary causing bodily injury. And since Ayah had a restraining order out on him he was also charged with the violation of a no-contact order.

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/

If it is a truth that Salih has consent to kill his wife, I hope she takes the initiative and keeps herself safe from him or others who wish her fatal bodily harm. I would also highly recommend she read an article written by Anny Jacoby: Fight or Flight Response: We All Have It… Anny is a Certified PDR (Personal Defense Readiness) Instructor. The article can be read at her online blog site: http://annyjacoby.wordpress.com Salih needs to familiarize herself with the steps to defend herself and learn self-protection techniques in the event of another attack.

--------------------------------------

Tuesday, July 13 a Staten Island woman, Tammy Robinson, felt Douglas Parsley was unfit to drive because he’d had too much to drink. The two argued, and Tammy, with her daughter and a friend of the daughter, got out the car while they were at a gas station in Holmdel. Douglas proceeded to drive away and attempted to run over his wife and the children. Parsley then fled the scene. Police were called and they spotted Parsley’s car. When they tried to stop him, Parsley failed to stop and the police gave a chase. Once they apprehended him, he was charged with aggravated assault, endangering the welfare of a child, and drunken driving. Parsley is under a $100,000 bond. Apparently he also had active warrants out on him from Aberdeen Municipal Court for driving with a suspended license and Atlantic City Municipal Court for disorderly conduct.

I hope he stays in jail for a very long time and Tammy finds safety away from his violent nature.
http://www.courierpostonline.com

Both of these women need to run; it’s imperative they run as safely as they can from their abusers. ‘Time’s Up’- A Guide How to Escape Abusive and Stalking Relationships by: Susan Murphy Milano can help them do just that.

Intimate Partner Domestic Violence Deaths

2010-07-17T14:09:00.006-05:00

.
.

You can open the paper any day of the week and read of violent crimes but the ones of domestic violence ending in death of one of the parties involved are the ones that caught my eye recently.

Tuesday, July 13, in the Queens’ area of New York firefighters were called to a Springfield Garden home to battle a fire. Inside the home they discovered a 26-year- old deceased pregnant woman, Linda Anderson and her 2-year-old child, Ayden Hayes. The child was transported to the hospital but died later. During the investigation of the fire they discovered the origin of the fire was near the couch. Neighbors said they couldn’t the smoke or flames but could smell it.

The person who called in the fire was Jimmy Humphrey, Linda’s ex-boyfriend and the alleged father of her unborn child. During police questioning Humphrey allegedly admitted he’d pushed Linda down and knocked over a bottle of nail polish remover onto a candle which set her on fire. He called in the fire but he gave the wrong address. He also admitted he ran home to sleep. I have to wonder if the nail polish remover incident was a deliberate act. If the fire was unintentional then he could’ve easily put it out and called for help for Linda, her son Ayden, and perhaps have saved her unborn child too.

Humphrey is charged with arson and assault but at his arraignment on Friday did not enter a plea.

The next court appearance is set for August 2.

http://www.ny1.com
http://wcbstv.com

______________________________________

Tuesday, July 13 a call to 911 concerning a vehicular accident sent police to the Gravely Springs community of Lauderdale Co., Al. There they found the body of Tammy Woods in her car and dead from multiple gunshot wounds.

Tammy Woods, it's believed, went to the home to collect a few of her belongings but an argument ensued between Tammy and her estranged husband, Tony Randall Woods. LE believes Tammy ran for her life and Tony fired at her as she attempted to drive away; Tony fired at least five times, striking the car in the door, window, trunk and a tail light. The two had numerous domestic violence issues in the past.

Tony is charged with capital murder and is in Lauderdale County Detention Center without bail. He was arraigned on Wednesday and attorneys were appointed.

http://www.timesdaily.com
www.whnt.com

_______________________________________

Wednesday, July 14 in Huntsville, Madison Co., Ala., a 911 call sent police to Dan Tibbs Road. When they arrived on the scene, LE discovered the deceased body of Mary Jeffries. Her husband, Arthur Jeffries allegedly advised that he’d shot her. Domestic violence issues had been an issue in the past between the two. Arthur was charged with murder and is under a $50,000 bond.

http://www.waff.com

_____________________________________

Do I believe these women’s deaths could’ve been avoided? Yes. In at least two of the cases, they’d had previous domestic violence issues. Had Mary Jeffries and Tammy Woods read ‘Time’s Up’- A Guide How to Escape Abusive and Stalking Relationships they could’ve learned how to safely walk away and not look back. Had Linda Anderson read the book she’d have known how to spot the violent attribute her boyfriend possessed. Jimmy Humphrey has allegedly admitted he hit her; that admittance, considering she was pregnant, tells me that he had no caring for the unborn child or real love for Linda. I have to wonder if he’d abused her in the past, before that fateful day she died.

But what really bothers me are comments under the articles in media with some D.V. cases, including Tammy Woods death. Comments from posters allege that divorce is costly for men more than the wife and blame the spouse, court system, family court judges and others for spouses turning to murder. Claiming many women trap men into marriage and control the situation when children are involved! That type comment infuriates me and is totally ludicrous. Guess what, it takes two to say the vows and it takes two to make a baby! In fact, the reason women are being murdered is no ones’ fault but the murderer himself. His inability to control his anger is the reason, not the courts! Yes, the courts do need a wider look at, especially in child abuse situations (and too, when a husband abuses his spouse the children experience emotional abuse also) but that’s not to say the courts are the cause of intimate partner murders.

Domestic Abuse and Stephanie Lewis

2010-07-05T09:59:00.002-05:00

.
.

Domestic Violence is more than marital discord. It’s serious and often creates scenarios where a police search for missing spouse or girlfriend, presumed deceased. One such instance is Danielle T. Brown of Leon CO., FL. Her body has yet to be found. Her alleged killer is in jail for torching her car.

Fortunately for Stephanie Lewis of Jackson, TN., the outcome was that her life was spared - barely.

Stephanie Lewis’s estranged husband, Derrick allegedly kidnaped her from The Jackson Clinic Friday, July 2, 2010. Her Country’s Independence weekend celebration wasn’t spent enjoying good food and setting off fireworks with friends and family. She had fireworks of her own to deal with; mainly, surviving hours of horror in a hot closet of a vacant home with no electricity while she was hogtied and gagged.

Of course they looked at Derrick first as the POI because back in April of 2010 he was alleged to have attacked Stephanie, have charges brought against him and then bond out of jail.

When the police located Derrick Friday night he ran and they gave a chase on foot; after capture and during questioning he told them where they could find Stephanie. They di d find Stephanie around 2:00 Saturday morning at the location he advised she'd be, but she was dehydrated from spending hours in the dark hot closet, without water. We are yet to discover what else Derrick Lewis put her through in the hours before LE took him in for questioning.

Fortunately, the previous bond has been revoked; a bond of 500,000 has been set with the aggravating kidnaping charges though. Eluding a police officer should be added to those charges, if they haven’t already. And I feel he shouldn’t be allowed to bond out, to me he’s a flight risk since he ran from LE when they located him; more important, to me, he is a risk to Stephanie’s safety.

Sadly, prison time (if a true bill is found by the grand jury and in trial he is found guilty on all charges) will not be long enough, he won’t spend that many years locked behind bars. Not only will the sentence he’s given not punishment enough, it’s also possible Stephanie will not be advised of his release when his sentence in over or he is paroled. Nor will it mean he won’t stew while locked up and continue blame Stephanie for his faults.

Stephanie could do well to check out Susan Murphy Milano’s book, ‘Time’s Up’- A Guide How to Escape Abusive and Stalking Relationships. Although LE knows the history of Derrick Lewis’s abusive past - again sadly, it doesn’t mean they could find anything substantial should Stephanie go missing in the future and become another of the many unfound missing persons like Danielle Brown.

Too Late for Tonya Michelle Turnmire to Utilize 'Time's Up'

2010-06-23T12:39:00.003-05:00

.
.
According to the police, the relationship between Tonya Michelle Turnmire and Ray Christopher Shockley was riddled with domestic violence incidents. On Friday, June 4, 2010 Michelle (as she was called) left her job at Y-Mart in Boaz, Ala., and drove to the home she shared with Ray in Albertville, Ala..

Michelle was not seen alive again.

The next day Michelle’s family called the police and reported her missing. Law enforcement spoke to Shockley several times in reference to her missing but it wasn’t until June 19 when Shockley was taken in for more questioning that he confessed and led police to where he’d dumped Michelle’s body. Law enforcement converged on a wooded area just off U.S. Highway 431 in the Rockledge community of Etowah County that’s often used as a dump site. Michelle’s remains were taken to Huntsville for autopsy.

On Monday, June 21 after a press conference confirming Shockley had been arrested, close friends of Michelle’s released heart-shaped balloons in her honor. One balloon was gold star-shaped.

Tonya Michelle could have benefitted from a gold star -book by Susan Murphy Milano - ‘Time’s Up’- A Guide How to Escape Abusive and Stalking Relationships had she knew about it prior to June 4, 2010. Her case speaks loudly as to how valuable this book could be to domestic violence victims and how LE Departments everywhere need to utilize it. It reeks of the need for them to at least advise abused victims of its existence, if not give them a copy of Chapter 4: Declaration of Independence (Evidentiary Abuse Affidavit). I am of the belief that it’s imperative all domestic violence victims have access to this book, that even if they don’t believe their life is in danger from their abuser, (and sadly many do not believe they could die at the hands of their spouse or boyfriend) they need to keep records of the abuse and keep it in a safe place.

Joran and Thomas alike? Yes. But no.

2010-06-16T22:13:00.000-05:00

.
.

Thanks to the reader comment for a question and giving me the incentive to put my thoughts down: Joran van der Sloot, Thomas Pate; what is the difference in these two men?

I understand the image perception of Thomas and Joran being similar but in fact to me there is a large difference. Yes. Each killed and left the body, ran - Joran after killing Stephany Flores and Thomas after killing Micah. Yes. Each killed and reached out to Dad to help them. Joran, so dad could handle the situation with Natalee- the body. But I feel Thomas needed his dad to tell him what to say, like he needed Dad's approval before he admitted he’d shot Micah. Both Thomas and Joran are liars, Thomas lied about Micah's disappearance, he’s still lying about why she died, but I don’t 'think he rates being considered a consummate liar. Being a consummate liar is reserved for Joran and the alleged killer Robert Kastner. Thomas is still lying but that is self preservation, he doesn't want to die; he is an opportunist liar. And before the murder, he simply ( if you can accept the word simply in a murder case) wanted Micah out of his life. Joran is still lying also, he knows no other way, he is a media hoarder; I don't think Thomas wants the limelight . Thomas admitted, after his dad asked him, that he had done cocaine in the past but stated he’d quit a couple years earlier. He did say he had been drinking again of late. Joran uses drugs and alcohol as a way to get his victims to go with him. It was part of his MO; I believe that was a fact in both cases, Natalee and Stephany. To me, Stephany isn't walking straight in the video where they come into the motel. She is swaying side to side. But when you see her come into the casino she isn't swaying when she walks. I am not sure Thomas slipped Micah drugs, it's possible for sure, (but I don’t remember reading of them being in her system) I do feel he definitely had complete control of her that fateful night.

Joran became attracted to a woman and decided she was his victim, he is a hunter. Thomas had someone else and no longer wanted the one he had, he needed an out. Thomas used a gun, brought it from his home as his weapon of choice; it was a quick and easy kill, and then he discarded the weapon; Joran used his hands and a tennis racket on Stephany and his hands on Natalee ( he hasn’t bragged about using any other weapon on her). I believe Joran used what was handy when he was rejected. Joran didn’t premeditate; He acted on the moment. In my opinion Thomas had total premeditation with Micah’s murder, he planned it in full, he took the weapon with him, he took her where it wouldn’t be an easy find before he could go home and clean himself up and think of an excuse scenario of why she didn’t come home.

Joran will never cry for his victims, when he goes to court on all the charges he is accused, he will be stoic and likely we will see smiles at times; Thomas will cry, he has a conscience, guilt; Shoot, he even cried hearing his own confession. He will be tearful in court partly in hopes the jury will forgo the death penalty too, and sadly, it will probably work. Both will, however, blame the victims. Thomas’s lawyer will find a way; one will be that she walked in front of the gun with the self defense defending of Thomas. Joran has always blamed Natalee, she drank too much, she used drugs, she danced on a table and fell. He has with his defense of killing Stephany too, Stephany slapped him, she grabbed his computer and was searching for information on him. In his evil mind, How dare her! I don’t think Thomas is evil, he is just a lowlife killer who didn’t have the guts to say, this marriage isn’t working, I want a divorce. He probably is a selfish individual who didn’t want to share his possessions. They were his and not hers to him. That, if true, (and I feel it is, otherwise why kill and not just leave) makes him more bordering being more narcissistic than a psychopath. Yes. I do feel a narcissistic person can have a conscience and feel guilt. I believe that being self-serving doesn’t necessarily always define the no-conscience theory that’s thrown out to the media in describing some killers.

As a matter of fact I see Joran’s personality more similar to some other killers, in particular Dennis Radar; Other than one small difference - Radar wasn’t a consummate liar like Joran - the two have no conscience; They are true psychopaths. Saying that, I will admit that I am of the belief all killers who premeditate their murders are psychopaths to a degree. Some more than others, like Dennis Radar and the Albert Fish of the world. Obvious premeditation and murder were used when Radar used a ruse to enter his victims’ homes and kill them. Just as obvious rape was tops in Joran’s mind when he was attracted to a woman, he is, to me, a serial rapist like Profiler Pat Brown alluded too and not a serial killer. There are no other bodies out there of his but there are more victims out there.

I do, (and with hopes readers won’t think I am rambling and being indecisive with the serial killer angle) believe that as Joran drank his coffee and ate, the anger at her and the fear of what he’d done, killing her and fearing being caught with her body left him. He admired his kill (otherwise he couldn’t have stayed in the same room with her body very long) and at that moment he decided no woman would survive denying him what he wanted, at that moment he became a future serial killer. If he had not been captured, more bodies would have been found. I do not feel Stephany’s death was what Joran intended to happen, nor do I think it was robbery; It was due to her fighting his advances. The money he took was an afterthought and probably to set robbery up as a motive for some unknown to have killed her.

The Bomb and Near Demise of Jeanette Barouch

2010-05-14T16:23:00.008-05:00

.
.

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

2010-05-07T08:53:00.001-05:00

.
.

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

2010-05-04T09:01:00.000-05:00

Part 2
.
.

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/

Crowd Shots - instant terror creating mayhem

2010-04-30T13:07:00.000-05:00

.
.

Part One

Twenty-two is a killer. I will not use his name because I do not want this to be about his name in my files. I will use his age; I feel he does not deserve to have his name used by me or any other person.

April 20 is a date that many already recognize as a tragic one due to the Columbine shootings 11 years ago. And, too, it’s also Hitler’s birthday.

When I received an email with breaking news of a shooting in Wichita Falls, Texas, I immediately opened it and began reading. Of course the first email was the basic information of the possibility of several wounded in a shooting at local business. I opened a link with their local newspaper and waited for more information, praying as I did that no one had been killed. But, immediate response of the locals with comments was that a female at the bookstore was dead, and a couple posters making comments gave a name. Thankfully, those reports were false. Four women were shot but none at the store that night died because of Twenty-Two’s violence.

Eileen Levy was sitting at a table with a friend discussing God’s impact on their lives when she saw a man with a gun in the store. The man was Twenty-two and he was talking to a female near the door, he raised his gun and pointed it at the woman’s head. Gunfire sounded, people screamed and the woman went down; Eileen and her friend dove to the floor. Eileen injured her knee as she went down but thankfully didn’t sustain any bullet wounds; her friend, Leanna Duran, age 27, sustained gunshot wounds to her left arm and leg as the shooter walked around firing his weapon and spouting the words ‘white power.’ I am hopeful Leanna and Eileen’s belief in God and His love strengthened that night. Eileen is as much an innocent victim of the violence on April 20, 2010 as Leanna. We should remember Leanna Duran and Eileen Levy’s names.

Jade Henderson is a 33-year-old woman; she is from the Aerospace Medical Services at Shepard Air Force Base. Jade sustained bullet wounds to her head and hand. Jade’s choice of career shows she obviously cares for others and is a true American. Her name as an innocent victim of a violent shooter with an irrational idea that patriotism is ‘white power’ domination should be remembered.

Deondra Sauls is a 24-year-old also from Aerospace Medical Services at Shepard Air Force Base and sustained bullet wounds to her right leg. We should remember Deondra as an innocent victim of Twenty-Two’s night of terror. She, too, is obviously someone who cares about the well-being of others and didn’t deserve to become a victim of a lost soul’s violence. No one deserves to be a victim of another person’s fantasy as it becomes reality.

Mia Gant is an employee of the coffee shop and the only Hastings employee wounded that fateful night. Mia is also 22-years-old and sustained bullet wounds in her right hand and shoulder. Mia is the smile customers see as they’re served coffee and we should remember her as an innocent victim of a power trip executed in an act of terror.

The shootings happened quickly, they always do, but for all those who were there, dropping to the floor and trying to protect themselves, it likely felt a lifetime. Each person inside this store will remember this night. Each of the wounded, either from bullet wounds or while diving to safety, will have a road ahead of them with moments of terror still vivid in their minds.

Twenty-two does not need remembering; of course, they have written down his name on police reports and court records of this tragic event but, hopefully, in time people will forget him. Hopefully, we will only remember those who were shot, and the others who were at Hastings Store on April 20, 2010.

http://www.timesrecordnews.com/news/2010/apr/21/customer-hastings-decribes-nightmare-gunfire/

Love The Conqueror

2010-04-19T09:31:00.000-05:00

.
.
.

When I was a child, I was told that love was powerful, a conqueror; it surpasses the darkness of hatred. Now I ask, if love is so incredibly powerful that it can conquer all, why do we have so many killers and predators of small children in our midst? How do they see love? Do they see themselves as an individual entity with singular knowledge of love that only they can possibly understand its evolution? How is it that so much domestic violence exists? Why is domestic violence so prevalent in the homes of the very people we entrust our safety? Again, I question love being superior; I wonder if it can conquer all the feelings of regret and pain that grasp our heart when we cast ice-laced words and physical pain at those we most value. Can it conquer all the buried needs of our heart as we go about our day, or those harrowing thoughts that render us with a deep sense of helplessness when a loved one is missing or murdered?

After a silent debate, I’ve decided that maybe it can; for love gives us that sensation of good, the warm touch of being needed when we just know a smile is just around the corner. Love can take us to heights of unimaginable reach and bring us back on the soft pillows of gentleness, and contain us through thorns of strife; of the fear with what the future may hold.

What we know as true love cannot heal the physical body, but it can heal the distance and anxieties that such an event possesses; therefore, love can conquer. Love can keep a light in our eyes while taking roots in the deepest recesses as a joy we aspire to prolong, enclosing it in greatness. It can wake us in the morning with a peaceful song of bliss and lull us into rest at day’s end, settling us in the comforting arms of the happiness that we so often crave, conquering our fears.

So, due to love’s infinite power, the family of murdered and battered victims can delve deeper in their inner self and find strength to sit in courtrooms throughout this country while hearing all the horrible evidence of what the accused did to their child, parent, or a sibling. Due to the power of love, families can listen to vilification of their loved ones in court and still move forward with their lives; they know the truth, the love for their loved one is great; it conquers lies. Due to love’s greatness and human resilience we can move on with our lives when dissidence, the non physical pain, moves into our personal relationships; for not all relationships are meant to survive the ‘until death us do part,’ of vows. Due to love’s powerful conquering the abused can find strength to reach out for the safe harbor of freedom from their abuser.

We will always have murderers, domestic abusers, sexual predators, pedophiles and hatred in our country because not all people are good; some allow angry bitterness and violence depict who they are. However, the infiniteness of love is a true conqueror as it builds a solid foundation inside the heart and minds of good people, vanquishing remorse, lies, rejections and hatred, giving us new insight and keeping us strong throughout all our tribulations.

Time's Up - A Book of Distinction

2010-04-15T09:47:00.000-05:00

.
.
.

Until Susan Murphy Milano educated us all on the meaning of the term ‘Domestic Abuse,’ and it's long term effect on women and children of the abused, anytime we heard of LE going to a home where a husband and wife were 'arguing,' one slapped the other stuff is the way we viewed it. Marital discord, family spat, heated argument - those were the terms we read and believed was truth in these situations. The incidents were nothing more than a shrug and head shake of ‘shame on them disgust,’ and quickly forgotten.

I read another blog piece on ‘Psychology Today,’ praising this book and the author, Robin Sax, mentioned OJ Simpson. That mention got me to thinking; I can’t remember spouse abuse of any kind being seriously discussed on talk shows before the OJ trial. Before the murder trial, when OJ Simpson beat on Nicole and she called the cops, they basically overlooked and did not really see abuse for what it really was, domestic violence; they saw him as the great football hero, Nicole as the argumentative wife with an attitude. Unfortunately, we saw domestic violence that way throughout the US long before they made Nicole’s abuse public; wives had an attitude and they were just ungrateful. The first question spouses were and, sadly, often still asked is 'What did You do to deserve it?' That question makes my blood pressure rise! In truth, wives do nothing to deserve it! Nobody deserves to be hit or beaten in any way. Now we see 'marital discord' that becomes physical for what it is - Abuse! And it's abuse that could, and too often does, escalate to murder.

Women (and men who are abused) need ‘Time’s Up’. They not only need to read it, to think about their own situations, but need to be proactive and protect themselves and their children from an abuser. I think of Micah Pate, killed in April of 2009, and wonder how often or if she was abused by her husband, Thomas, prior to her murder. He claims accidental shooting but, (and that is a huge but) his story doesn’t add up in my mind. I think Micah could have greatly benefitted from ‘Time’s Up’ and it’s roadmap of advice.

‘Time’s Up’ is the best gift a person can give a friend whom they believe is in an abusive relationship. Teens need this book; teens abusing their girlfriend or boyfriend are more prevalent than many realize. Verbal, emotional and physical abuse is escalating in teens.

To quote Robin Sax - To say that Susan Murphy Milano has hit the nail on the head (again) is a total understatement! How true! That is more than an understatement; Susan has hit the nail dead-center, choreographed a life-saving-roadmap for the abused. No word can adequately express or exemplify how important ‘Time’s Up’ is for victims of abuse.

'Time's Up' is more than a manual, a handbook, it’s more than just another book, it’s a ‘Lifesaver,’ a surefire roadmap chocked full of ways to document evidence and protect yourself; in protecting yourself, you are also protecting your children from a life with an abuser. Hopefully, we will eventually see a copy of ‘Time’s Up’ in every library, every police department, every school, every church and every shelter where those who need help can utilize it and protect themselves from an abuser.

(I hope I haven't infringed on copyrights by using the 'Time's Up' bookcover graphic. If so, I heartily apologize and will be happy to delete)

Stray Bullets and Innocent Children

2010-04-12T14:21:00.000-05:00

I signed in today with my emails and the headlines of the first that I opened was of a small child caught in crossfire of a shooting in Brooklyn, New York Sunday, April 11. She is 5-years-old and the bullet penetrated her leg. Her mother saw her baby go down and a fear deeper than anything imaginable gripped her, I’m sure. As the spray of bullets continued, one man saw the child and grabbed her up taking her inside with him.

I do not understand how any person can be so cold and vengeful to shoot into an area where small children are playing outside. The child’s mother said Mimi is now scared to go outside. That is a tragedy. I pray Mimi’s family will seek help for her to overcome her fear.

Two young men were also shot, and fortunately, they didn’t have life-threatening injuries either. Whether or not they were the intended victims, I don’t know. According to the author of the article - Witnesses saw a gunman get out of a silver Nissan before firing. Police believe another man returned fire before both fled the scene.

http://wcbstv.com/local/child.shot.brooklyn.2.1625528.html

The number of shootings with little children in the line of fire has increased. Shooters are getting bolder, firing their weapons in daytime where many witnesses can see them. Stopping and exiting their vehicles to do their murdering deeds, walking into malls and shooting into large crowds and putting the lives of our children in danger is a deliberate and horrific act of violence. To rape, beat and murder a child is the act of cowardliness and those who perpetrates the act are uncaring individuals and should go to prison for the rest of their natural lives. I, for one, am sick of reading of stray bullets harming people, especially little children. When a person pulls the trigger of a gun, they are fully aware the bullet can harm and kill someone other than the individual they intended to shoot. The law should not allow child killers the privilege of ever knowing freedom.

I have conflicting feelings with the whole gun issue. I do believe people (law-abiding adults) have the right to own guns. But, how can LE win the battle against guns on the streets in the hands of young people when we read of rights to carry them in bars, malls, and churches are being renewed. This is not the 1800s! The more we make the guns readily available then the more for young people to have access to, and the more killings and shooting by stray bullets of innocent people we’ll read of on a daily basis. Young teens are not legally supposed to have a gun in their possession but that doesn’t mean they can’t get their hands on them. The more violence in the world, seemingly condoned since jail time is so few years, the more young people think the only way to solve problems is by an act of violence.

Rage And Child Abuse

2010-04-06T13:49:00.000-05:00

.
.
.

Self doubt can breed the seeds of anger and denial. And as anger fills pits deep inside the soul and rages, it solidifies itself into a wall of unconquerable insecurities, the need to control. I can't comprehend why; all I know is it’s all built around actions and reactions. Usually, it’s an action that breaks through already previously singed crevices. Sadly, the reactions to these self insecurities become harsher and define rage.

Perhaps, the self doubts begin as a fight in the soul and a person becomes frustrated, emotionally distraught? Oh well! Some things are burdens to carry but they are necessary burdens so we can grow and become better persons. We’ve all passed through that ‘what next’ channel but we cannot allow the negatives to become the defining factor in whom we are. And, for it to be used as an excuse, the cause, for people to commit unspeakable violence is unfathomable. It isn’t an excuse! No excuse exists for abusing or taking the life of innocent children.

Our children, all children, are the future of this world. Even as this piece is being read, a child is being abused, severely beaten, raped, or murdered. Think about it. It’s a true sad fact. And, I repeat my belief, absolutely no excuse exists for these despicable actions. No doubts, insecurities, anger nor rages are viable excuses to abuse a child.

--------

Matthew Wayne Lightbody, Jr., of Brick, N.J., has second-degree counts of aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of a child lodged against him. He let his anger take over common sense and compassion. The child is in critical condition. His precious victim: A nine-month-old female. His excuse - He was playing aggressively with the baby. (My immediate thought- how can a nine-month-old baby play aggressively?)

http://www.app.com/article/20100322/NEWS/100322091/9-month-old-girl-from-Brick-critically-injured-by-caregiver-police-say

-----------

Curtis Leon Copeland, of Denton Co., TX asked a neighbor call 911. He told the neighbor a child had fainted. When EMS arrived the child was unresponsive and bleeding. According to doctors, the child had severe head trauma, a broken pelvis and broken thoracic vertebrae. Evidence also suggested he had been sexually abused.

Copeland has been charged with capital murder. His precious victim: a three-year-old boy. His excuse - Mom did it. According to Copeland the mother had advised the child had fallen down a flight of stairs prior to her bring her children to his home. He stated in his police interview that the child was slower than usual, had a bruised eye, and he’d noticed an oval shape bruise on the child’s back when he bathed him. (My immediate thought- not a vulgar word was thought but it's still not repeatable on this blog)

http://www.timesrecordnews.com/news/2010/apr/03/man-charged-in-childs-death/

----------

Sharon Nicole Worthy, of Denton Co., TX was charged with injury to a child. She was at the hospital giving birth to her third son when the child was sexually abused and severely beaten. However, she was allegedly present when Curtis Leon Copeland pushed the child in the back and caused him to fall face first onto the floor. Allegedly, Worthy did nothing to protect the child or seek assistance for injuries. Her precious victim: Her three-year-old son. Her excuse: According to the article author, she gave several explanations. (My immediate thought: Her last name is not a hint that she exemplifies good parenting - more so it's - Is lack of maternal instinct an excuse? )

Worthy has had numerous dealings with the child protective services involving bad parenting due to her abuse and the neglect of her children. Her three children all have different fathers. The victim’s father is currently in prison. Worthy wasn’t supposed to have contact with Copeland because he was a convicted felon and had spent time in prison due to the convictions.

http://www.wfaa.com/news/crime/Murdered-childs-mom-arrested-in-Denton-County-89890672.html

----------

Jamille Hardy of Taylors, S.C., was charged with bodily injury on a child. The child is in critical condition. His precious victim: His four-year-old foster-son. His excuse - The boy wouldn’t eat.

Allegedly, Hardy was trying to get his son to eat his dinner but the boy tried to run away. Hardy said he pushed the child. His foster-son is in critical condition with brain and bodily injuries. (My immediate thought - From being pushed?)

http://www.wltx.com/news/story.aspx?storyid=85837&catid=2

Check the included links for more details on these tragic stories. One is just as appalling as the others.

The Disappearance of Danielle T. Brown

2010-03-06T14:21:00.000-06:00

.
.
.

Sheriff Larry Campbell is obviously being very careful with what he reports to the public concerning the searches and the ongoing investigation. So please understand if this piece reads scattered.

When Danielle T. Brown, age 21, was first reported missing (and for several weeks thereafter), they said she left her home on Springfield Rd. in Leon, Co., FL with her ex-boyfriend Elijah James around 8:30 p.m. on Friday, February 5, 2010. Danielle was allegedly taking Mr. James to his mother’s home on King Post Way located in northeast Leon Co., FL off Miccosukee Rd. The drive to that residence from her home would’ve taken approximately an hour depending on traffic flow and red light stops. To travel from King Post Way to Pavo, Ga dump site would take about another 20 minutes.

Katherine Poole, a long time friend of Danielle, stated that Danielle and Elijah James, age 35, had been friends since Danielle was around 16-years-old and they had lived together in the past. (Allegedly, and according to court documents, they lived together in 2007 on Sundown Road for six months. The police stopped Mr. James for running a stop sign and they discovered cocaine in his possession. He spent 15 months in jail. ) Miss Poole said he seemed such a nice guy (aren’t they all?) and she was shocked to learn of his arrest. Katherine stated James had been staying with Danielle and her mom but they were not presently romantically involved. Danielle was just trying to help Mr. James get back on his feet after they had released him from jail. They had arrested James for probation violation stemming from a drug charge. The probation violation charge was from back June of 09 when he lived with his sister on King Post Way near their mother, and they released him in November of 09.

Since Danielle disappeared, searches have spanned two states, two refuse dumps and several counties but she has not been found.

The known information on her was that she was in her Buick La Sabre, registered to her dad, when she left her home with Elijah James in the passenger seat. Around 11:35/40 she received a call from a friend (or her cousin) and the two were overheard having a heated argument. Danielle’s phone went dead during that call and any subsequent calls went to voice mail. Three days later the car was found with the license plate missing and one VIN number scratched off, in Pavo, GA at the dump. The interior of the car had been severely burned. Massive searches since have failed to bring her home.

Detectives located Elijah James and on Tuesday, February 9, questioned him about his last known hours with Danielle. He told them Danielle had brought him to his mother’s home and the last time he saw her she was in possession of her car and keys. When asked how he got to Pavo, GA (where he was seen walking near the dump) he stated he’d started walking and was picked up on Miccosukee Road by a white male that only identified himself as ‘Chuck.’

Danielle’s father decided to pursue charges against Mr. James on February 10 since he did not have permission to drive the car and signed approval for LE to search the car. They charged Mr. James with grand theft auto and first degree arson. Mr. James still presumably resides in the Leon Co. jail.

Leon County Sheriff Larry Campbell reported during a media update, Feb 25, that Mr. James was seen in possession of Danielle’s Buick in Wacissa and Waukeenah of Jefferson Co. between 1:30 a.m. and 4 a.m. on February 6. ( He also stated she and Mr. James left Danielle’s residence at 11:30 p.m. Feb 5, 2010 - confusing the earlier reports by his spokesman, Sgt. Tony Drzewiecki, and media of the 8:30 p.m. time slot..) Mr. James picked up a friend on Thomasville Road and stopped at a convenience store about 5:45 a.m. and purchased a case of beer. No one saw Danielle Brown with the two men. But her car was seen again in Pavo, Ga., at 8:45 a.m. at James’s sister's house and remained there until 11:30 p.m. on Feb. 6. James also went to another sister’s house on the 2000 block of North Roberts Street in Pavo and spent the night. On Sunday, February 7, James was seen between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. in Monticello, and was later seen walking away from the city dump in Pavo where Danielle’s car was discovered burned. How Mr. James got back to Leon Co., Fl. and his mother’s home is at this time unknown.

Besides searching two dumps looking for evidence of Danielle’s whereabouts, over a hundred law enforcement officers and firefighters of all these counties searched numerous areas in Jefferson Co., Thomas Co. and Leon Co., FL. Her cell phone was found, as was a piece of her driver’s license, in Beachton, Ga. on a roadside. Beachton, Ga. is south of Thomasville. The rest of the DL has not been found. Evidence has also been found at family residence in Pavo and at Mr. James mother’s home, they discovered items belonging to Danielle in the yard. They also removed evidence from the car. And allegedly found possible evidence at one or both the dumps. Also allegedly, at one dump they were searching for a paper or papers and her purse. They did find a purse but it was determined not to belong to Danielle.

I am not saying Mr. James killed Danielle Brown that night or any other night. I am saying I have read of nothing that tells me she would willingly destroy her own DL, discard her cell phone, and leave without her car. And Mr. James is high on my suspect list of assisting in or causing her death and/or disappearance. Mr. James’s friend has on a light-colored sweat in the video picture of him with Elijah James at the Circle K, and it appears either to be very dirty or to have shadows created by lighting. He, the friend, could’ve been completely unaware of Danielle’s demise or whereabouts when he was with Mr. James- The friend hasn’t been charged with any illegal activity in connection with her disappearance or death. But then, neither has Elijah James been charged. I do have my own surmises but at this time, am not going to highlight them.

http://www.tallahassee.com/assets/pdf/CD151827212.PDF
http://www.leoncountyso.com/missing.htm
http://www.tallahassee.com/article/20100226/NEWS0102/2260327/
http://www.tallahassee.com/article/20100218/NEWS0102/2180315/1010/news01/Missing-woman-s-friend-James-a-great-guy

The Shandra Rodems Case

2010-02-07T11:30:00.000-06:00

.
.

In May of 2009 Shandra Rodems and her husband argued outside a Fresno bank. Shandra keyed her husband's truck door. She and her husband were separated at the time but the truck was registered in both her and her husband's name.

Shandra Rodems works for the Fresno Fire Department and her husband, Kennan, is a Fresno police officer.

The DA charged Shandra with felony vandalism in with the incident. But, in July of 09 the Judge dropped the charges to a misdemeanor. She had offered to pay for the damages and wrote her husband a 1000.00 dollar check but the prosecution refused to allow her to pay the vandalism damages.

The felony charges, according to Shandra, stemmed from payback with her rating to internal affairs on her supervisors about harassment in 06 while she worked for the police crime scene team.

From what I gather from Lopez's articles on this case, Shandra's attorney had filed a motion claiming selective prosecution. He wanted proof from over 300 previous cases that they pursued those cases as diligently with felony charges as Shandra's case.

The Judge ruled that the Fresno PD and Fresno County DA's office must turn over any evidence that supports her claim. The prosecution didn't do that. They claimed it would be too costly and time consuming. The Judge set a Feb 4th date to see if the DA's office had complied.

Now, the DA's Office has dropped the charges against Shandra. But, what I am wondering is, will the DA still have to turn over all those investigative documents on the previous cases since Shandra's civil case against them will continue?

One other note of interest in this whole sham of charges is that in July of 09 they made and submitted an investigation to DA's office that Kennan Rodems harassed Shandra on the phone and banged on her window. Allegedly that was being investigated also. The Deputy Chief said: "When we submit a case for prosecution, we believe there is probable cause that a crime was committed."

Why hasn't the harassment been publicized like the felony (later dropped to misdemeanor charges) were? I've read nothing about whether they had put on Kennan paid or unpaid leave during the investigation of the accusations.

Even the previous DA stated the keyed vehicle incident lacked domestic violence -- but does the harassing calls Kennan made to her?

http://www.fresnobee.com/local/crime/story/1797825.html?storylink=mirelated

http://www.fresnobee.com/local/story/1799423.html?storylink=mirelated

http://www.fresnobee.com/local/crime/story/1752409.html?storylink=mirelated

Justice Prevailed For Rebecca McEnvoy

2010-01-28T07:30:00.000-06:00

.
.

I have said many prayers since first hearing of Rebecca McEnvoy a few years ago. On Wednesday, her voice spoke through the 12 jurors and they answered prayers of the many. Her abuser was found guilty and now she can rest in peace. Bob Ingle raped Rebecca when he was in a position of trust in her life. He was not only a police officer but her stepfather. Now he is a convicted pedophile.

Rebecca had great courage during her short life. She told her sister and a friend of her abuse and set into motion a long 3-year battle of court hearings and delays. Ingle’s attorney tried everything he legally could to delay the trial. After Rebecca’s death he said his client had a right to face his accuser and the family had a long wait before the courts made decisions. Sadly, Rebecca died due to a tragic car accident in 2008 as she was on the way to testify for the 3rd time for the grand jury. But her voice sounded loud and strong in an Alabama courtroom this week. The doctor she told about how Ingle abused her, her little friend, and her sister and parents all testified for her. They did not allow her previous testimony, the grand jury testimony she’d given on two separate occasions, at those hearings to come in but did allow her statements to the witnesses who testified. Thank you to her friend who sit in the witness chair and described what Rebecca had told her. She, too, is a brave child. She helped her friend find justice and possibly saved other innocent children from this vile pedophile’s sexual abusiveness.

The tears in Rebecca’s sister’s eyes; the quiver in her mom and dad’s voices all spoke immense volumes during an interview after they read the verdict. God Bless this family. May they now find inner peace.

Thank you, Becca, for your bravery. Because of you other children are safe from the pedophile, Bob Ingle’s, urges. Ingle is still walking a free man with a monitoring device until his sentencing on Feb 25, 2010. I admit I felt a growl building in my throat when I read of his walking free after the jury found him guilty of rape, sodomy and sexual abuse; I do, however, have hope he won’t be free after he stands in front of the judge on his sentencing date. The judge could sentence him to life in prison.

Justice is indeed shining victoriously in Alabama for Rebecca.

http://www.fox10tv.com/dpp/news/Former-officer-guilty-of-child-rape

http://wkrg.com/682392

.

The Texas Twilight Rapist

2010-01-19T12:53:00.000-06:00

I recently read a media article and was truly shocked with what it said. Just before opening that article, I'd read of the brutal killing of an 88-year-old grandmother in her Decatur, AL home. I was infuriated, especially when reading that a family member is the person of interest. I've read far too many articles of how elderly people are treated like trash; they’re raped, beaten and murdered, and usually by one of their family members. I don’t want to stop being horrified and angered; if I do, then I’m afraid I’ll start to shrug it off with an ‘oh well it happens’ and that would make me a cold, unfeeling human.

On Nov.23 2009 an 80-year-old woman was attacked in Houston between 2 and 3 in the afternoon. The victim was about to leave for physical therapy for a hip replacement she'd undergone a few months earlier when the attack happened. I was definitely angered when I read of the attack and how she was brutalized. He also stole her car and it was later found in a strip mall parking lot. On Dec. 21, 2009, also in Houston, a 64-year-old woman was attacked and raped. In these two cases, Police have a composite sketch of the suspect. During a media announcement Det. McMurtry said the suspect was needlessly cruel and sadistic. I happen to agree with that analysis. I believe the attacker to be evil.

During 2009 a rapist dubbed 'Twilight Rapist' raped elderly women in towns between Luling and Marquez, TX. The first rape, in Jan. 2009 happened to a 65-year-old in Yoakum. Law Enforcement has said they don’t have a positive sketch of the person committing the rapes; they only have a vague description. They do, however, have DNA and forensic evidence. Sadly, the DNA hasn’t come back with a match of any known criminals. These attacks were on elderly ladies between 65 and 91. Police also believe the rapist attempted to rob at least four other women. They’ve linked eight sexual assaults or attempted sexual assaults to this person. The last rape believed committed by the ‘Twilight Rapist’ was in Luling, TX in November 2009.

If a rapist is willing to drive nearly 200 miles to attack and rape between Luling and Marquez then to me it's feasible he'd make a 130-mile trip from Yoakum, TX to Houston, TX and rape. A difference is in the Houston rapes is the time of day the attacks happened. I do hope, however, the police in the rural towns of the 200 mile stretch contact Houston and compare forensic and DNA evidence.

The ‘Twilight Rapist’ apparently stalks his victims because he knows when they are home; he also cuts phone lines and unscrews light bulbs on porches. Can it be this person is a transport driver of some kind and through either deliveries to these residences or a nearby home he’s able to watch his victims, discover where they live, that they live alone and plan what day to attack them? He attacked one woman twice; after the first attack she moved and was again attacked at her new residence.

I feel these attacks are committed by a coward or cowards. Anytime an elderly person is beaten, raped and/or killed then they should jail the lowlife that perpetrates the crime for the rest of his or her natural life. They do not deserve to walk free, to work, laugh, or enjoy the pleasures of life law abiding people enjoy.

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/state&id=7224456

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/crime_tracker&id=7194312

Some Moans of Cherish Lewis’s Court Experiences

2010-01-15T13:45:00.000-06:00

I recently listened to a radio show and heard of a case out of Ohio about a jailed mother, Cherish Lewis. I admit the more I heard, the more angry I was with what I was hearing. Cherish is doing jail time because of what (I believe) she was doing to protect her child, Jaelyn Rice, from an alleged abusive father, Stephen Rice. She was accused of hiding her daughter and defying court orders to turn her over to the father. I scratched my head in confusion and with the strangeness of the Ohio justice system. As of today, I still feel angry. And too, I am still feeling a need to scratch my head; so if you have problems understanding this post I heartily apologize.

When these suspicions of abuse first came about, Cherish, as a smart mother should, took her child to a doctor. Her suspicions had begun when she saw too many bruises on her daughter after Jaelyn returned from a court ordered visit with Stephen, the child’s dad. A doctor checked Jaelyn. Cherish’s suspicions of physical abuse were deemed by the doctor, law enforcement and child services as credible and true, and suspicion became became allegations. What also was discovered during this time is that Jaelyn had been sexually abused, allegedly by her father.

I feel Cherish rallied her inner strength to do right by her daughter, because during a court proceeding she advised the court of the allegations. And too, she had a medical expert, child services evidence and law enforcement evidence to prove her case. What decision came from these allegations? Well, the trial court judge decided Mom Cherish was an overly protective mother and believed she had Munchhausen Syndrome by proxy. (Allegedly the lawyer of the child’s paternal grandmother sowed the seed of this idea) The court demanded Cherish seek psychiatric evaluation. This evaluation was to be at her own expense. As was all the court cost. And at a hearing, due to yet another question from the grandmother’s lawyer, it was mentioned that she could have Parental Alienation Syndrome. The judge didn’t question these suggestions; nor (from what I personally understand in the ruling of the appeals court) did he understand what they were, but sadly he allegedly took them as fact.

Although a few months later Cherish brought an expert before the judge and that expert stated that Cherish did not have Munchhausen Syndrome nor Parental Alienation, the trial court judge apparently did not believe the expert; he ruled against Cherish and her feelings about her daughter’s best interest.

In 2009 an Appeals Court upheld the expert’s testimony that Cherish didn’t have Munchhausen Syndrome or Parental Alienation. And, in their ruling, stated the trial court had abused its discretion. The Appeals Court also ruled that the child had not adjusted to her father’s home, preschool and community as the trial court had said.

However, Cherish is still in jail and has been in jail for the last seven months.

More background of the tribulations of this dedicated young mother. Jaelyn was born premature and spent her first six months of life in a hospital incubator. She also had to have physical therapy, speech therapy and developmental therapy at home after her discharge. Mom had genetic testing done to prove parentage of the child, and there began the years of her court hearings. Dad had left and joined the Marines.
(I will, in defense of Cherish due to critical comments of her asking for proof of parentage from the father that was made on forums, say that it’s my personal understanding when child services become involved and the state is helping support a child, they ‘highly recommend’ both parents be involved in support and rearing of a child)

Stephen decided when he was home on leave from Marines that he wanted to have his daughter over for a visit. Cherish didn’t approve of this since he had been away and had not bonded with Jaelyn since her birth. She didn’t feel he’d know how to properly care for his daughter. Jaelyn was then only a year old. Stephen’s mother decided to file for grandparents rights and the court granted them. They discharged Stephen from the Marines a few months later, allegedly for failing a drug test and he made his home in California. (Stephen has moved to several different states and cities during this long five-year ordeal.) He also decided that Jaelyn, at the age of 3, no longer needed therapy sessions and told the court he had taken her to a pediatrician and that pediatrician agreed she was healthy. (I can’t find anything on anyone ever saying Jaelyn wasn’t healthy, just that she needed continuing physical, speech and developmental therapy) However, I have not found any legal papers online showing Stephen brought forth proof from the pediatrician nor have I discovered this pediatrician’s name. I did read in the Appeals Court findings that some of Jaelyn’s therapists testified that it was not in the best interest of Jaelyn for her to discontinue therapy. I also did not see where the trial court judge ruled Jaelyn should continue her therapy sessions after that time.

Cherish Lewis, to me, has done everything she can do to keep her child happy and has given her the proper care she needed. She has, to me, also shown what any loving and caring mother would show, and do, when suspicions of abuse were suspected then declared factual. She put her child above herself and tried to protect her.

Sadly, the appeals’ court sent the case back to trial court so the same judge is still the sitting judge. The same judge after the appeals court ruling of April of 09 sent Cherish to jail in July of 09. But I pray that after the more recent filing in Aug of 09 of a petition of disqualification of the trial court Judge Frederick Crow III, the Supreme Court of Ohio will declare him disqualified. Hopefully a different and a non bias judge will hear the case and make a fair assessment of facts before ruling; more importantly, rule only on those facts.

Until then, and sadly so, Cherish, it seems will stay in jail. I am of the feeling that Cherish needs to be freed. She needs a fair hearing and by a non bias judge. Hopefully with all the support she now has, that will come to fruition soon.

http://www.supremecourtofohio.gov/rod/docs/pdf/4/2009/2009-ohio-1823.pdf

http://www.sciotocountycpcourt.org/calendar/..%5Cnxhist.exe?casen=04PD000736

The Death of Susette Werner

2009-12-29T14:21:00.000-06:00

Susette G. Werner, a 42-year-old divorced mother of two children was an easy-going person, intelligent and strong-willed. She kept a positive attitude and loved people and life. A friend of hers said she couldn’t get mad at anyone because she could easily be made to laugh. Her family said she stayed with friends but kept in touch; she’d call just to say hello; to hear their voice. Susie’s last night was spent at a local lounge where she was a regular at karaoke and listening to her favorite band. She stopped drinking after midnight but stayed until closing then called a friend for a ride, but he couldn’t come and drive her.

Sunday, Feb 8, 2009 around 1:30 to 3 a.m. Susie left the restaurant and lounge that she often frequented and was hit at the intersection of Cedar and Carlisle in Spokane, Washington. Susie’s body was dragged for a mile. According to evidence gathered she was dragged south on Cedar to Northwest Boulevard, west on Northwest Boulevard to Ash and south on Ash to Maxwell. Regardless of all the evidence and descriptions of two vehicles (the possible dragging vehicle and a witness’ vehicle) they have not solved Susette’s death; she has yet to find justice.
The automobile believed at that time to be suspects’ vehicle is a boxy green, sports utility vehicle or van. Witnesses say the driver was a heavy set, tall male wearing a light-colored mid-length jacket. A person driving a teal or turquoise station wagon may have witnessed the dragging, at the most, he may know the suspect. Witnesses saw both vehicles at Corky’s Radiator Shop on North Ash Street where the driver of the sports utility got out of his vehicle with a flashlight and looked down Ash Street. He then made a phone call, and a few minutes later the person driving the teal or turquoise station wagon drove into the Radiator Shop parking lot. The driver exited his vehicle, faced the suspect driver and then the suspect driver got back in his car and peeled out the lot headed south and turning east onto Sinto Avenue. The driver of the turquoise car backed up into a driveway and headed back toward the way he’d came.

The local police retraced Susie’s steps the morning she died. They believed she left the bar around 1:30 a.m. with two men, but have since talked to those men. The two men say they dropped her off near her home because she couldn’t explain where the apartment was. The police also believe she was lying on the ground when the suspect vehicle hit her. And that the driver was going at a slow speed. The suspect vehicle driver was said to have backed up at Ash and Maxwell where they discovered the body, and they believed that is when the body dislodged.

Sadly, they have declared the above witnesses’ information of the suspect vehicle backing up unreliable, as well as the information on the second vehicle. LE now regrets making the video public. The bartender said Susie left the bar alone and went to a convenience store where she advised the clerk she believed someone was following her. The store clerk told her that he didn’t see anyone suspicious and Susie left the store alone and walking.

Stories surrounding Susie’s last hours are unclear. The autopsy reports, (according to her family) states she had many broken bones, including her legs. According to media articles no broken leg is the reason LE thought she was lying on the ground when the car hit her. But LE states they meant her shins weren’t broken. Susie’s billfold wasn’t found on her person the night she died either, but a couple who was walking in an alley, the day after the discovery of Susie’s body, found it. The alley is near Cedar and Carlisle where it’s believed the vehicle first hit Susie.

I wonder if closure with this case, justice for Susie, will ever happen. Perhaps Susie had her personal demons, her father says she was an alcoholic, but that isn’t cause for someone to kill her. I agree it isn’t just cause. Perhaps her demons were because she had divorced and her children were with their father. Or maybe because she knew she was an alcoholic and couldn’t find the ‘want to’ to stop drinking. Perhaps her demons were because she was lonely and couldn’t find her niche in this world. None of these perhaps is proof she had personal demons. They are my speculation. I can think of other plausible scenarios that are just as believable as the ones in the articles. One thing I am sure of is that absolutely nothing is cause enough to run over a person and drag her more than thirteen blocks, a mile, and then leave that person’s mangled body lying on the roadside.

Somebody knows something about this murder; someone has to know and they need to come forward. Susie needs peace in her afterlife. Her family needs answers and they have a right to properly grieve knowing justice prevailed for Susie.

http://www.krem.com/

http://www.spokesman.com/

John Robert Kastner's Upcoming Trial

2009-12-27T10:59:00.000-06:00

A little background on this upcoming murder trial.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008 John Robert Kastner told a tall tale of waking to discover a man standing at the foot of his bed. The man, according to him, was looking for someone his daughter knew. The 19-year-old daughter wasn’t at home but his other daughter and son were sleeping when the shootings occurred. This intruder proceeded to fight with him and shoot Kastner’s wife twice in the head; during the altercation he was shot in the hand. The evidence did not pan out for law enforcement and on June 27, 2008 they arrested Kastner for the murder of his wife.

Lori Moon Kastner was a judicial assistant with the Oklahoma Supreme Court. She quit her job in May of 2008 to follow Kastner in a fictional world that he’d convinced her was a real world. She’d gone so far as contact a bank about opening an international account for a corporation called ‘713 Corporation’ which would handle millions of dollars. Sadly, Lori’s love covered over her legal training and analytic intelligence.

Since his arrest, John Robert Kastner’s story has changed. Justice for Lori has been fraught with delays due to her husband’s play with the legal system. He pled not guilty, fired his public defender lawyer, wanted to defend himself and then hired a Tulsa high profile lawyer named John Byrd.

More recent news.

Kastner’s attorney John Byrd didn’t show for a couple court hearings this month but before Christmas he did file a motion for yet another delay saying his client was entering an insanity plea.

This motion, if accepted by the court, will likely postpone the Jan 4, 2010 date that was previously set for jury selection to begin. The insanity defense strategy is odd to me since Byrd has mentioned that Kastner stated he did not shoot his wife. Who did then? Surely not the intruder, whose race changed from native American to white, since no such person has ever been found. And too, the alleged shooter must have walked on air since he managed to not leave footprints in the blood during his struggle with Kastner. Then again, maybe that 22-caliber gun Kastner bought a week before the shooting, and allegedly practiced shooting in his backyard, simply jumped in his hand and spoke to him, demanding that he shoot Lori twice.

The probable new trial date is looming large as yet another delay in the cry for Lori’s justice since the Prosecutor, First Assistant District Attorney Doug Drummond, said if Kastner changes his plea to insanity they’d need time to prepare and to have an expert to evaluate Kastner.

I am not saying Kastner is guilty of this murder; it hasn’t gone to court and heard by a jury. But, I do think this man has some mental issues. Is he criminally insane? My personal opinion is no; I think he opted to live in his fantasy world and not in the real world. Unfortunately, he didn’t put his fantasies onto paper as a fictional novel and chose to drag his wife into the fantasy also. Appearances can be deceiving, both physically and mentally, but that choice makes him appear guilty to me.

When this trial does actually go live inside a Tulsa court, it’s possible no cameras will be allowed. The judge has previously stated none would be and they have allowed no recording devices which mean live text updates won’t be available either.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/

http://www.newson6.com/

The Battle Concerning Col. Barfoot's Flagpole

2009-12-06T11:14:00.000-06:00

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/columnists_news/article/MIKE05_20091204-222205/309640/

The above article is one that somewhat bothers me. To say Col Barfoot’s battle to fly his flag on his flagpole is about stubbornness is just wrong to me. I appreciate that Mr. Williams gave both sides of the story, the homeowners’ association and Col. Barfoot’s too, but I do disagree with the homeowners’ association and Mr. Williams with this one. If it is indeed an attribute of stubbornness to want the proper height upright pole to properly fly his flag then I, too, say I join and applaud Col. Barfoot in his stubbornness.

Col. Barfoot’s flagpole is not an eyesore, it isn’t something like an overgrown weed-filled lawn, or discarded furniture that trashes the neighborhood and causes the price of homes to drop. What it is, is Honor. That flagpole is part of what America is about. The flag he waves is what America is about. His flag shouldn’t be flown on one of those aluminum poles tilted on the outside wall of his home. That flag should fly on his pole, a proper pole where he can continue to honor it and for what it stands.

I pray Col. Barfoot wins this battle and the extra week he was given to take down his pole becomes more than one week. It should become until death him and his flag and his proper height pole parts.

I think it’s an exhibition of shame for the US and, too, the homeowners’ association of Sussex Square when a decorated war veteran, a veteran of three wars, can’t fly his flag on a proper upright pole. The homeowners’ association should rewrite their rules and regulations to allow this pole to stay as it is, where it is. They should allow other homeowners to honor this country the same way too. The pride the people of that community and town could and should feel knowing a section of their county is filled with American patriotism is tremendous.

More articles on this brave battle of Col. Barfoot and his supporters can be found at the above link site, at face book support sites, and also at:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34261317/ns/us_news-life/

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,579338,00.html

http://www.wtvr.com/news/wtvr-veteran-flagpole,0,2550197.story

Current Events: Disturbing Recent Trials

2009-11-05T10:58:00.000-06:00

I haven’t been in the writing mode for a long time so I’ve neglected my blog. I still feel sadly inept with writing a new piece due to that lack of mode. So much has been going through my mind that I want to write that my mind refuses to allow just one to settle so I can focus only on it. I think it's because the trials are so disturbingly heinous and emotionally hard to watch.

One is the Christian/Newsom murders and the horrific way they were carjacked, violated and killed by five people. Letalvis Cobbins, Lemaricus Davidison, George Thomas, Vanessa Coleman and Eric Boyd. Boyd is in prison for his part in the carjacking, Cobbins was found guilty of the charges against him and was sent to a medium security prison. Vanessa Coleman and George Thomas trials have yet to happen. Thomas’s trial is in jury selection.

The medium security was an anger point for me and one reason I couldn’t bring myself to write about the Davidson trial as it happened. Since they transferred him (Cobbins) to that prison a Senator has taken charge and they moved him to a maximum security prison. If you read my other blog piece on Cobbins you know that I had, when they read the sentencing decision, felt a tiny bit glad they sent him up for LWOP - and I felt guilt for that glad feeling. When I heard he was at a medium security prison, I felt even more guilt and became angry because they sent him somewhere he could have a ‘good life’ behind bars. Cobbins does not deserve a good life behind bars or anywhere else. He should be behind lock and key for 23 of the 24 hours in a day and only let out for that hour to walk around in a cage for exercise. In truth, he should have gotten the death penalty.

Channon and Chris can’t walk around anymore. They can’t know what it’s like to breathe in fresh air or exercise at their leisure so why should Cobbins or any of the others.

Lemaricus Davidson was found guilty of all 46 charges against him, with three of those lesser degree charges connected to Chris, and they gave him the death penalty. Thankfully he will be shut up in a maximum security prison waiting for his death. Another anger point is all the appeals’ Chris and Channon’s families will have to endure before they finally put him to death.
People complain about the monetary cost of putting someone to death. I think that cost would go down quite a bit if we did not allow prisoners more rights than the victims. Victims are demoralized when they are killed and again in the court system. People like Davdison allow their attorneys to try and brand them as foul sewage-slime, useless people. The foul sewage-slime and useless people are the killers, not the victims.

Another reason I can’t focus on one blog subject is the Michelle Kehoe trial. Dear God in Heaven, the impression I got was that she, according to what an expert defense witness said yesterday, seems to have every depressive mental issue in the medical books. And it’s all because of thyroid medication. Ah, so since she took a dosage too high for her or something, it’s okay that she planned how to blame slitting her children’s throats on a ‘bad man?’ All I know is that, when I see her face, her little son’s words play over and over in my head. He asked what his mom was doing and he said, ‘she was hurting my little brother.’ I am worried about the son that survived. I’m worried about what his family is telling him. Are they saying, mom was sick, she didn’t mean to hurt you? I am worried about how he will view abuse as he grows older. Will he think it’s okay to hurt others if he feels sad some days? Will he be able to function in the real world? I hope he grows to become a positive influence on those around him and moves past these horrific events.

I don’t know if a defendant considered mentally insane at the moment of committing a crime can be sent to a mental facility for life. But, I sure hope if the jury decides she is insane and she is sent to one that she can’t stay there a few years and take medications as she should, convince some doctor she is okay to function in society and then released back in the public. She tried so hard to be a perfect mom, or so it was said. Anybody knows there is no such thing as a perfect parent. Does it mean that, in her strange sense of reality, she thought by saying a bad man did it, her children, husband and the public at large would still consider her a perfect mom?

We shall see (or hear) what the jury decides, they should have the case today after closings and they hear jury charges.

Many things are bothering me, running around in my head and wanting written. And because of that, I rambled in this piece and I apologize to my readers for that rambling.

Update:
Since I posted this piece earlier today the jury reached a verdict. Michelle Kehoe was found guilty of first degree murder and guilty on all the other charges against her children. I approve of that verdict.
　

Current Events: Bob's Life and The Death of Diane Elizabeth Ward

2009-09-28T14:08:00.001-05:00

James Robert ‘Bob’ Ward and Diane Elizabeth Ward were married in 1986.

Apparently, in 1997 James ‘Bob’ Ward founded a company called Land Resource. His business boomed and he became immensely successful. However, Ward’s company eventually failed, allegedly due to the housing crunch, and in 2008 he filed for bankruptcy. The bond company is suing Bob, claiming he moved monies he should have used to improve properties into trust funds for his children, paid off loans and bought luxury cars and bought a 4.3 million-dollar Florida home. The home is now in foreclosure.

September 21, this year, Bob Ward called 911 and allegedly said, ‘I just shot my wife - she’s dead.’ Diane Elizabeth Ward was found dead of a fatal gunshot wound to the head. A few days later, they charged Bob with second-degree murder in Diane’s death. Diane and Bob’s two children, Mallory and Sarah stand beside their father and the story that Diane committed suicide.

In a video from a jail house visit, Mallory jokes about his jumpsuit and he gives a thumbs-up as he dances and pretends to do a strip tease. Mallory giggles and dances with him while his sister-in-law Paula Saare laughs with him.

A little history on Bob Ward’s life:

During the late 70's, around 32 years ago, Janis Ward divorced her then husband, James Robert ‘Bob’ Ward, on claim of physical cruelty. Her claim was that he was dangerous and she asked for a restraining order to keep him from molesting or causing her physical harm. Allegedly, their later divorce papers do not mention these allegations. Janis died in a car wreck about 30 years ago.

A few years after the divorce of Bob and Janis Ward, Bob, then a loan executive, was in a relationship with a woman named Dianne. According to Dianne, although he was charming, he was also a jealous and possessive man and five years after their relationship began, she broke it off. Dianne intimated that he used drugs and drank and when he did she saw his darker side. After Bob’s arrest for murder of his second wife, Diane Elizabeth Ward, Dianne McClintock Callahan told a story of how in anger Bob had once punched a hole in a wall because he was late for a party. During one fit of jealous anger he hit her with a bedpost and pointed a gun at her. She ran to a neighbor for help. After she left him, Dianne said he had her arrested for stealing a dog he’d bought as a gift for her. Dianne talked about how years after the gun and bedpost incident, and just a few months before Diane died, he contacted her via email. She agreed to have lunch with him. During that lunch he apologized for his past actions, talked about his wife spending too much money and his legal difficulties with bankruptcy. Dianne, now a happily married woman said she had no interest in a new relationship with Bob.

Two years after Bob and Dianne broke up, Bob had married Diane Elizabeth and due to his future business ventures lived a life of luxury; Until, that is, the fateful events that happened inside the Florida mansion on September 21, 2009 where Bob allegedly claims Diane was trying to shoot herself.

I am giving a lot of thought to the question asked by Dianne McClintock Callahan: "So something happened with her, something happened with me and now the wife is dead," Callahan said. "Are you seeing a pattern here?"

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/orl-bk-isleworth-country-club-murder-092309,0,6200567.story

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/realestate/orl-isleworth-murder-background-092409,0,2042157.story

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orl-isleworth-ward-death-092709,0,985559.story

Quote found in article allegedly quoting Dianne Callahan found on page 2- http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orl-isleworth-ward-death-092709,0,985559.story?page=2

Personal Entry: I Care

2009-09-02T12:03:00.000-05:00

*
*

“Human action can be modified to some extent, but human nature cannot be changed.” Abraham Lincoln

I care about victims of domestic violence; they have seen and unseen bruises on their bodies; they walk around with sore or broken bones and sometimes make an excuse for their abusers. They blame themselves while living in fear of their spouse coming home, knowing he or she will find faults with the smallest of things. The abused person walks a thin thread; they hide in shadows of rooms and hallways while praying the abuser won’t notice them, that the abuser’s anger won’t rear its ugly head; praying he or she had a good day and no one from work caused them to be frustrated or made them have to go out their way to deal with a situation they didn’t like.

The victims are emotionally captive in their spouses’, their abusers darkness, victims of their environment. Sadly many - too many - feel alone, not knowing where to turn or where to go for help.

We cannot change the abusers’ nature!

I care about the abused child, the ones whose parents treat like an inanimate object that’s a possession not heard, only seen. The ones whose parent slides into their bed at night, those kicked, picked up and thrown against walls, onto furniture or on the ground. The child who lives with the pain of broken bones, the ones who live with both visible and invisible bruises they are scared to show, scared to talk about. The ones who don’t know who to trust because the ones they should trust are violent toward them. The ones violently yanked from their homes, off the streets, the school yards, in the stores and other places where they should be safe. I care.

I care that children and domestic violence victims are not safe because predators stalk the streets while the laws protect the abusers’ rights; I care that the children and domestic violence victims are second class to the abusers’ in the eyes of the laws. I care about all victims no matter their gender, race, economic status, or religious beliefs.

The time has come! The time to tell all the Aldermen, Members of Congress, District Attorneys, Governors, Judges, Mayors, Senators, and Town Council Members in every city, county, parish and town of this great free country that if they don’t care too, they will not get our vote in the future. The time has come to ask when they knock on our door asking for our vote what their stance on domestic violence and child abuse is; what they will do to help the victim, put the abused first. The time to tell all of them that if they don’t battle for laws to protect the victims, to help law enforcement deal with the violence of domestic abuse and child predators that they are not speaking for us. We voted for them to carry our voice, speak for us, and they are miserably failing us. The time has come to ask the President to stand up for victims; to stand on the floor of Congress and the floor of the Senate and demand a review of the laws surrounding domestic violence and child abuse; to tell the lawmakers he demands the victims’ rights heard and that to put victims’ rights first in their minds. Above all, that he demands protection laws written that will put the abused above the rights of their abusers! We cannot change an abuser’s nature!

Child predators will always be child predators, child abusers. They cannot change their nature! We cannot change who they are. The darkness is a volcano deep inside their heart and soul, sometimes the volcano is quiet and dormant but it is always there; its ashes the victims; its fire the rage. The time has come to keep child abusers under lock and key, to keep them off the streets walking in freedom! Likewise, the time has come to keep violent domestic abusers in jail, if they did it once they will do it again! We cannot change their nature! They live in darkness and that darkness is who they are inside, what they are. They are abusers!

The time has come to demand change. The time has come to make sure our children do not have to battle for their children’s rights against predators and abusive spouses. The battle is ours, for them, the ones presently abused and the future abused. The time has come to tell, to show, all the abused we care!

Giving abusers medicines and sending them to anger management and other counseling programs will not change the abusers’ nature!

Current Events: Upcoming Trials of Lemaricus Davidson and George Thomas

2009-08-31T13:16:00.001-05:00

-
-
-
-

The trial of Letalvis Cobbins is over; a jury gave Cobbins LWOP in August of 2009 but the State of Tennessee and Judge Baumgartner’s duties aren’t over. Today, August 31, the Judge is in Chattanooga, Hamilton CO, TN, presiding over a search for jurors in the case against George Thomas. Thomas is also a defendant in the Christian/Newsom murders and the State is seeking the death penalty.

George Thomas and Letalvis Cobbins, along with Cobbins’s girlfriend, Vanessa Coleman all was arrested the day after they discovered Channon’s body in a large trash can. According to Cobbins, Lemaricus Davidson, his brother, told Thomas he had to ‘prove’ himself. Perhaps like the days of old and the mafia ruling their paid killers, Thomas had to prove loyalty to Davidson. Perhaps Davidson had illusions of grandeur in his mind and thought himself the all-powerful one who could dish out orders of rape, torture and murder and have them carried out posthaste. I don’t know; I do know that Cobbins allegedly said both Davidson and Thomas left the house that fateful night that Chris Newsom was shot, burned and left where he lay on Cherry Street beside the railroad tracks. And I read that Vanessa made a statement Thomas had admitted the shooting of Chris Newsom to her.

Normally, I do not look forward to anything happening on September 21 of any year. That date has been ingrained in my mind since I was a small child, and not for good reasons. But this year that is different because this year, jury selection in the Lemaricus Davidson trial is set to begin.

On September 1 they will give out over 900 questionnaires to potential jurors in the Davidson trial. His trial was set to go live September 21, 2009 but Judge Baumgartner stated he felt it’d be near two weeks for the jury selection process. Here’s hoping they go live with opening statements and witness testimony by Oct 1, 2009 with Davidson’s trial; Thomas’s trial, hopefully, will begin on schedule on October 28 and again, hopefully, the public will have an opportunity to view both trials live on local video feed.

If in fact these two did violate and kill Chris Newsom and participated or committed the crime of rape, torture and murder of Channon Christian then I hope they get the death penalty. Channon and Chris had a right to live and their rights were, in many ways, violated and denied.

http://www.wbir.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=97386&catid=2

http://www.knoxnews.com/

Current Events: Thoughts on Letalvis Cobbins's Verdict

2009-08-27T16:48:00.000-05:00

I have watched many criminal trials in my life but I have to say the Christian/Newsom murder trial of Letalvis Cobbins is on my top ten lists of most horrific of 'adults killing adults' that I’ve watched. What the jurors and public heard was so tragically horrific that I do not believe I could write in a blog piece of what all took place the night Channon and Chris died. Therefore, I won’t say anything about the horror and terror Channon and Chris endured before Cobbins and his alleged co-killers took their lives.

This young person, Letalvis Cobbins, helped destroy so many lives with his vile, hideous actions. Not only did he help destroy Channon and Chris’s life but that of their parents and siblings and his family too. When his older sister was testifying for his behalf during the sentencing portion of the trial, my heart broke for her. She and her siblings lived a hard life of parental drug abuse, violence and pushed from this family member to the next. That the sisters love their brother is evident, and that they begged for this jury to save him is natural. Yet the cold fact is, Cobbins participated in kidnap, rape, and murder of two wonderful young people. Letalvis’s sisters bettered their life, and he could have also.

Letalvis did not have to follow his alleged co-conspirators in a night of rape and murder; he could have saved Channon. Letalvis, in a cowardly act, decided his personal safety (if what he said about Lemaricus saying he’d shoot him was true) meant more than her life. In fact, Letalvis did not have to follow his alleged conspirators from the car jacking scene to the house; he could’ve driven to the police station and told them what had happened and saved both Channon and Chris from the hideous nightmare they endured.

Cobbins deserved to go to prison for life, in fact he deserved the death penalty.

However, as much as I despise Letalvis Cobbins as a human being and his self-serving vile actions, I am, with mixed emotional hesitance, a little pleased the jury saved his life and decided life-without-parole; he will learn some hard lessons in prison. I say that I’m a little, very little pleased not for his sake, but for his siblings and other family members. They literally destroyed two lives on January 6, 2007, and two families are continually living with the heartache of their loss. The actions of Cobbins and his alleged co-conspirators impacted three families. One family can visit their family member in jail, hear his voice, his laughter and look into his eyes. Channon and Chris’s family will never hear their loved ones again, never hear their laughter or look into their eyes.

Channon’s family is living with guilt they shouldn’t have because they feel they let their daughter down and did not save her. My heart breaks for them; I want to take away that guilt; no way they could’ve known what she would endure when she last left them; no way could they have saved her. I pray the ‘if only’ doesn’t haunt them the rest of their life. I personally know that ‘if only’ vice; I’ve been there, lived it, and it’s emotionally draining and painful. Chris’s mom feels she let her son down because the jury did not give Cobbins a death sentence; she should not feel that emotion; law enforcement did get Cobbins, the justice system worked; they brought him before a jury to answer for his crimes, and due to the guilty verdict will never walk in freedom again. Mrs. Newsom found the strength to endure all the days and nights and meetings with police and prosecutors to fight for her son’s rights; when the battle became emotionally weary and physically draining, as I imagine it was, she looked deep inside and found the strength to keep fighting. She and Mr. Newsom along with the Christian family have battles to fight ahead of them with the three other trials on the docket; I have no doubt they all will find the emotional strength to stand in for their children and continue their battles for justice.

About the older brother, Lemaricus Davidson and his alleged actions the night of Channon and Chris’s death, I can’t say I want him to live; his trial is coming up next so I don’t know what I will feel except what I am now feeling - emotions that resemble hatred just from what I have heard in Letalvis’ trial. I feel total disgust for Letalvis, disgust for what he did and for what he didn’t do; disgust for his choice to take the road of criminal and not the road of a law abiding productive human being, but at this point my feelings for his older brother are on hold.

The trial of Letalvis Cobbins: http://www.wbir.com

Current Events: The Trial of Kathryn Nadal

2009-08-14T09:51:00.001-05:00

The trial of Kathryn Nadal is in closing arguments today. Yesterday, an investigator said Kathryn said she heard her baby whimpering and she went into the room to find Shorty on the bed licking the baby's genitals. She said she pushed the dog from the bed and went to a neighbor for help. She claimed the dog was again on the bed when she returned. DNA testing under one of Shorty's nails was too small to retest but they couldn’t exclude the baby’s DNA. (I assume they tested it but all of it was used up in that one test). Other witnesses had said that no bloody paw prints were anywhere in the house. Oops. Dogs clean themselves. But in one article connected to the case, Mr. Dega, Kathryn's neighbor, stated he saw no paw prints either. I don't know if the dog could've cleaned himself that quickly - seems residual blood would still be on the dog the day of the mutilation. But six days later, I can see why they would discover none.

Sure seems it's a battle of the experts. Two testified for State and both said the small Dachshund could not have caused clean wounds such as the baby had. A defense expert says a dog of Shorty's size and breed could've made the injuries. No weapon with DNA was found in the home. However, they discovered kitchen shears in Kathryn's bathroom. The news site mentions nothing in the articles of the shears having DNA on them.

I can't see how (from what I've read) Kathryn could not have blood on her clothing. According to one doctor, the baby had a severed artery in its leg and due to that, one leg may be shorter than the other as he grows. I think that since Holden had a severed artery then it wouldn't take long for him to bleed to death . . . and the paramedic did testify the baby was very pale.

Maybe I keep wanting to know more because I just don't see how Kathryn had time to clean herself up, discard clothing (where they couldn't be found), clean the shears and go to a neighbor for help and Holden not have bled to death. I keep wondering exactly what the paramedics did to stop the bleeding. Did they move the skin, clip away any, or did any come off on the bandages they used? Did the doctor who first treated him? The information in the write-ups doesn't give enough evidence in my opinion for any decision (by me) on she did/she did not do it. So, I will delay the mention of I think she is guilty or not guilty until I know more about what was said in court. I will say her shooting up the night before this happened doesn’t give me any supportive thoughts for her and her motherly abilities.

I just pray this jury listened carefully to all the evidence and comes to a just verdict. I hope enough evidence was presented.

An Aunt of Holden's (the dad's sister) stated that while at the hospital, Kathryn kept telling her dad (the father's dad) 'Don't have me, I didn't do this.' (That have should be hate?)

I keep thinking back to another dog mutilation case where they sent both parents to prison and later the defense discovered pictures that weren't presented in court or shown to the defense and they proved beyond any doubt that the parents did not mutilate their daughter.
　
　
I also keep wishing this woman was innocent, and that she simply was not strong enough emotionally to deal with a baby with colic to stay off the drug habit. But I can’t say with surety that she is innocent of the charges. I’m not sure if she is found NG that she should have another baby either. I just don’t want to think a mother could do such horrific things to her flesh and blood, her 5-week-old baby. But, I do know if I had all the facts to ponder and debate in my mind, then I’d reach a non prejudice or bias decision that I could live within my heart and mind. And one I’d believe would give justice to all concerned here.

One thing I can say for sure, if this woman did this horrible thing to her little baby, I don’t think she needs to ever walk in freedom again.

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=6964790

Current Events: The Trial of Kathryn Nadal

2009-08-11T16:34:00.000-05:00

Just a few updates I read in article about the evidence heard in the trial.

---------------------------------------------------------------

On Day 1and Day 2 of trial:

Camden Gothia testified his wife partied the night before her son was mutilated. She'd left on pretense of going shopping with a friend but went to a dope house. The jury also heard that Camden and Kathryn disagreed about circumcision. Camden was against it but Kathryn wanted it and had contacted a doctor to see how much it'd cost a few days prior to Holden's mutilation.

Camden said he and Kathryn have since parted ways.. they lived together and she was the one who wanted a dog. Mr. Gothia stated the dog would lie beside the baby but was never aggressive nor did he try to harm Holden.

Today, day 2, the jury heard from paramedics that attended to Holden at the home and it was said he was very pale and started to cry when examined. One said he couldn't determine the baby's sex. Also one paramedic said that the baby had a 6x6 inch injury on its upper thighs. And during the ambulance ride Kathryn only touched her baby once. He did say she asked if her baby was going to live during the ambulance drive.

At the hospital, Kathryn was asking how long the surgery would last and left the hospital to go have a beer with a friend. The Prosecutor, Oncken, stated that when Holden was in the ambulance a neighbor had to tell Kathryn she had to ride in the ambulance with the baby.

According to Allen Isbell, Nadal's attorney, the alleged sharp weapon was never found in the apartment. (But neither was the torn and bloody diaper Nadal claimed her baby was wearing).

Isbell said police examined the sink and the garbage disposal and found no DNA or blood evidence.

(Seems to me the blood evidence was all on the bed beneath Holden - I can't imagine why any would be anywhere else- perhaps he is saying Kathryn would've gotten boody. I've read nothing of whether she had blood on her when she reached out to her neighbor for assistance. But, I suppose I can see why the question needs answering. How did she mutilate her son and not get bloody? If she showered why isn't there blood in the drain or bathroom? ) Apparently to answer some questions an expert on dog behavior is to testify for defense.

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=6959274&cmp=emc-ktrk-Todays_News-081109-top2-6959274

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=6956791&cmp=emc-ktrk-Todays_News-081009-top1-6956791

Current Events: The Trial of Kathryn Nadal

2009-08-10T09:22:00.000-05:00

On March 13, 2007, a knock sounded on Edward Vega’s apartment door and when he opened it Kathryn Nadal, a neighbor, stated something was wrong with her son, Holden. Mr. Vega entered Mrs. Nadal’s apartment with her and found her 5-week-old son, Holden, lying in a large bed with blood surrounding his lower extremities. Kathryn stated her Dachshund, Shorty, had attacked the baby while she slept. Mr. Vega said he didn’t see any blood on the dog or dog prints anywhere. He also said he didn’t see a torn diaper. Mr. Vega called for an ambulance and grabbed a clean diaper and held it against the baby’s genitals until help came.

Animal Control took Shorty to a Veterinarian, Dr. David Rundell, for an examination. The Doctor stated he found no evidence of human blood on the Dachshund nor any human tissue in the dog’s mouth. Dr. Rundell also stated the wounds he viewed in the pictures of the child wasn’t due to an attack by an animal; the wounds weren’t ragged and appeared to have been caused by a sharp instrument. Shorty, allegedly falsely accused, has since been adopted.

The day after the attack on Holden, Kathryn tested positive for cocaine and methadone and allegedly had a history of prescription drug abuse. On May 15, 2009, they formally charged Kathryn Nadal with the mutilation of her son.
　
Today August 10, 2009, a jury will hear opening statements in the case against Kathryn Nadal. Her son, Holden, is with his father, Camden Gothia, and still on the road to recovery from his wounds.

　
http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/index

http://www.khou.com/topstories/stories/khou070511_ac_mutilatedbaby.5b9ef32a.html

http://www.khou.com/topstories/stories/khou070409_tnt_mutilatedbaby.724cdf7.html
　
　
　

Current Events: Another Child Molester Off The Streets? - For Now

2009-07-22T08:35:00.000-05:00

On Friday night July 17, 2009, Minorva Murillo was doing her laundry at the mobile home park near Greenfield Road and Apache Trail in Apache Junction, Arizona when she heard her baby Jenifer, age 2 ½, scream. Minorva ran outside to find Jenifer gone. She asked her other children where Jenifer was and they said they didn’t know. Minorva called the police. A search followed and lasted throughout the night. Minorva told the police of a man she’d seen about an hour before her child went missing and gave a description of him. The police learned he was staying at the mobile home park.

Jenifer was found at his house and police arrested the man, 21-year-old, Alec Holtz. Jenifer was in good spirits despite what she endured during her 19-hour stay with a now accused child molester. Sunday the 19th of July police charged Holtz with child molestation, kidnaping and child endangerment.

I pray if this man is guilty that he is put away for a very long time and not simply a few years. The sentencing of these criminals who violate our children is ridiculous. Yes, prisons are full; yes, they go through the required procedures but they do not need to be let back out on the streets to ‘re offend.’ Holtz allegedly has raped a 2 ½ year-old baby! Will an ankle bracelet be enough? I am not sure it will. These monitors are not going to tell an understaffed, overworked and underpaid parole officer the suspect is in the presence of a child; unless by fate’s intervention their monitor status is checked while they are abducting a child. They aren’t going to show the suspect is in the act of violating a child. All they will do is - ‘after’ a child has gone missing - show that the suspect was in the approximate area. Out of his or her required distance of a child.

http://www.abc15.com/content/news/southeastvalley/apachejunction/story/PD-Kidnapped-Apache-Junction-child-molested-by-21/iPACSpPdtE6tt7k9I5GGVg.cspx

Personal Entry: Hands of Friendship and Thoughts of Abuse

2009-07-09T07:55:00.000-05:00

　
As I sit here thinking of how friendship is special, I think of how it isn’t set on a time limit or penciled scheduling; it’s constant, vigilant and caring. I think of how it’s there any given time speaking words of encouragement, listening and understanding, that it’s not setting terms. I think of how it’s the hand held out in time of need, a hand saying I am here to help you shoulder your troubles, just let them go.

I sit here thinking of abuse and how I wonder if I’ll ever close the bedroom door again, if the fear someone could come up to it unseen will ever allow me to close it. And I think of that hand. I wonder if I’ll ever sleep with my back turned to the door again. I wonder if the need to have it wide open is so I can see down the dark corridor of the hallway. I wonder if the need to know, to see what and who is there will ever stop and peace will fill my nights again.

And while thinking I find a nervousness inside me begin to churn and that I need that hand of friendship to talk with. I think of how I must constantly move, not knowing true restfulness; of how I suddenly find myself awake and sitting in the middle of the bed or sitting with my feet on the floor, ready for a quick exit. I think of how the smallest of unrecognized sound brings my head up, my ears and eyes alert. I think of the need to shelter myself; I think of that need to self-protect emotionally by internalizing the actions of another. I think of the mind-set of an abuser, wondering why they can’t reach out their hands in love and caring and not resentfulness, anger or violence. I wonder if it’s something inside them that creates a spur of the moment action or if it’s been there all along and suddenly rages.

I wonder about the anger that stems from the abusers’ health, and how ones physical health causes personality changes. I wonder if a way exists to really understand what goes on in another’s mind; the ones who appear born without conscience and only know how to live with an urge to cause hurt to animals or their fellow human beings. I think about the ‘I’m in it for the long haul’ effect, that ‘till death us do part’ line. And I know I must be there for the long haul but also need help with that hand of friendship beside me.

While I sit in the middle of the floor with space around me, I wonder why I need that space; if the need to know there’s an escape is a persistent factor in back of my mind. Why small spaces are not an option. And, I think of the hand of friendship, that one friend, who with patience waited for me to talk, giving me time to speak between the tears that I was shedding. Who with so much caring held out a hand and said, let me help shoulder your troubles; don’t you remember the faith you often spoke of in the past, of how you leaned on that faith? Let the hand of faith reach you tonight, take that hand held out to you. Take my hand of friendship as it was His and let the light of His love fill your heart; know you have the strength to endure, you will persevere, you will become a stronger person. You will overcome the obstacles you feel are binding you.

I think of all the Advocates out there, those Hands held out like the hand of Susan Murphy Milano, Anny Jacoby and Delilah; I think of all the other advocates and how they daily reach out and help. I think of how, by being the shoulder for abused ones’ tears, they are true Hands. I think of the hand of friendship that reached out to me, of the shows I have heard, the tears I’ve shed for victims, the joy I’ve felt knowing an abused person has found just the right Hand.

And so, I sit here tonight and think of how friendship is mostly the hand of God at work, always waiting for me to take His hand and put all the worries on His shoulders.

But still, I wonder about that escape.
　

Current Events: Victoria Balfour and People vs. Ayers

2009-06-27T12:05:00.000-05:00

I have always believed a good defense attorney should argue vigorously for his or her client’s rights. If that argument includes adding a journalist, who was for all intent and purposes part of the investigation, to the witness list, then so be it. However, the more I read of the story, the more questions I had.

The facts appear simple - Victoria Balfour is a journalist for the San Diego Reader, and she wants to report on the People vs. Ayres trial and write a book on this case. For that reason she has kept a close eye on all the events surrounding its progress. You may say that just because she wants to write a book doesn’t mean they should allow her to sit in during trial. You would be correct to argue that view. Still, the system should not muzzle anyone’s right to freedom of speech. So, I believe, they should allow reporter Victoria Balfour to sit in court and report on the facts of this case. The book isn’t the issue, the journalist rights are at issue.

Victoria Balfour isn’t on the prosecution witness list, although, from what Robin Sax reports, Balfour did, as an investigative reporter, give the DA information that helped them in their decision to bring this case to trial. The fact she isn’t on the witness list for the prosecution tells me they do not feel she can add anything to their case during trial. I, too, wonder just what she can add to the defense case. I would think they’d feel she could harm their case, not help it. So I’m getting those hmm moments that make me curious. What are the reasons for adding her to the list of possible witnesses?

I am agreeing with Robin Sax, why hasn’t the Prosecutor come forth and argue that the defense show cause for adding Balfour to their witness list? Especially since they apparently haven’t contacted her prior or since including her.

One could argue that she could purchase a copy of the court manuscript to help write a book that includes the trial facts. But, I believe that is a wrong argument. A writer needs more than words spoken by a person. She (He) needs to give the reader such a clear picture that each reader is inside the witnesses’ mind so they can see how each witness became part of the events of the case. She (He) needs to see the defense attorney and prosecutor in action to write chapters that come to life on the pages and put the reader in that courtroom. Otherwise, the book would be clinical. Boring!

And, too, otherwise the book would leave the readers with questions about why the author calls her or himself an author or a journalist. If I were a juror, if I not only hear the witnesses’ testimony but pay attention to how they present their testimony before making a decision on whether to disregard parts or all of their testimony, I’d be well informed to do just that. A journalist is well informed when they pay close attention to the facts. They can then report truths and not opinion.

Again, I say, it’s not the book Balfour aspires to write that is at issue, it’s her right as a journalist to do her job and report on the trial. I have to wonder that if they exclude her from attending the trial so she can do her job and do it well, if they are muzzling her freedom of speech.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robin-sax/people-v-ayres-wheres-the_b_220910.html
　

Is Caring- That Human, And Parental Instinct, Out of Commission?

2009-06-21T09:20:00.000-05:00

So often we read of severe abuse and death of our children at the hands of parents . . . by a family member or a sibling. Have we become so mechanized that maternal and paternal instincts are extinct? Has brotherly love become a thing of the past?

We so often hear of a child gone missing, of an infant being found in a trash-dumpster or thrown into a body of water, and off overpasses. So often we read of a missing child believed deceased and buried in an unmarked grave somewhere unknown.

Sometimes I feel an overload and can’t center my thoughts or my prayers on just one missing child or just one missing adult. I can’t sit and write about just one bruised, battered body of an adult or child found murdered at the hands of those entrusted with their care. With the one who promised in marital vows to love, honor and obey (meaning to respect the others wishes) until death do us part - not until they cause the death.

Today, as I sit thinking of children, little Jaliek Rainwalker comes to mind - a child yet found but believed deceased by the many not the few, allegedly at the hands of a person supposedly to have loved and cared for him. I think of little Trenton Ducket - another precious child unfound but believed deceased. I think of Josef Smith- brutally treated like a a possession and killed by his parents in the name of ‘spare-the-rod' love. I think of Sean Paddock horribly abused by his adoptive mother and died due to her punishments. I think of Caylee Anthony believed killed at the hands of her mother. I think of Daisja Weaver, an infant, yet found but believed deceased, whose parent allegedly threw off a bridge into a body of water. I think of little Laycee Johnson a 13-month-old whom her babysitter brutally beat about the head so badly her abuser killer’s knuckle prints were allegedly visible when she reached the hospital. I think of Emma Lee Barker, 18 months, allegedly smothered at the hands of her mother and left in tall grass on the side of an interstate. I think of Alycia Mesiti, age 14, allegedly killed by her father. I think of Ebony Dorsey, age 14, sexually assaulted and murdered by her mother’s boyfriend.

I think of all the child victims’ at the hands of those entrusted with their care, those who should love and protect them - those whose names I only recognize when hearing them. And all those I do not know about, or whose names have vanished into my memory so deeply that I can’t recall their names. Sadly, I’ve read of so many murdered children that I can’t readily list them.

Is this our children their children’s future? Will what we have always thought of as ageless and undying - that natural and instinctive parental love - become obsolete?

Current Events In The News

2009-05-29T18:50:00.000-05:00

The Death of Constance Shepherd - Part 2
　

　
　
I am a little concerned that LE is sending the Constance Shepherd death case to the grand jury so quickly after the discovery of her body. Her husband, Stephen Shepherd, is accused of her brutal murder. Stephen allegedly used a sword, slashed her throat and then fled from the crime scene. He was found in the Catskills the day after they discovered Connie’s body.

But my worry is that this case is barely a week old, and LE is confident they have enough good evidence to send it to grand jury and get a true bill. Was there no DNA evidence at the scene, no trace evidence, or fingerprints on the weapon? How can they get results from forensics so soon, within a week? Is Stephen mentally stable?

Stephen pleaded not-guilty to second-degree murder Thursday the 28th of May. I pray LE isn’t overly confident and doesn’t rush this case. Constance deserves justice and to get that justice, she must have a well-prepared, solid case built so her killer will get his fair trial.

　
http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/Sword_killing_goes_to_grand_jury_20090529

http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/Suspicious_death_in_Town_of_Tonawanda_20090520

http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/tonawanda_man_charged_in_wifes_murder_090521

http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/man_accused_of_killing_wife_with_sword_090522

Current Events In The News

2009-05-23T09:35:00.000-05:00

The Death of Constance Shepherd
　

　
　
On May 19th around 11PM neighbor Aurelia Closser noticed something out of ordinary at her neighbor’s home. The home was dark, the bedroom and kitchen lights weren’t on as usual. The next morning a man knocked on Closser’s door and requested to use the phone, he was the new owner of the home that had been in foreclosure. The man called 9-1-1.

When police arrived, they discovered no evidence that anyone was packed to move out, and a deceased female. A few hours later they issued a warrant for a man named Stephen Shepherd, the other person living in the home. Mr. Shepherd was located in Shandaken, NY, about 80 miles southwest of Albany Thursday the 21st and police took him into custody. His truck was found at a place known as ‘fishing spot.’

On Friday, the 22nd Stephen Shepherd went before a Judge and did not enter a plea. They charged him with second-degree murder in the death of his wife Constance Shepherd. Mrs. Shepherd’s throat was slashed with a knife the size of a sword.

The neighbors of the Shepherds have said Stephen acted like he always had a chip on his shoulder and appeared domineering and controlling. One has to wonder, did he blame Constance for the foreclosure of his home or killed her to spare her the ordeal of being homeless? Or is he simply a selfish individual and murdered her from some revengeful and evil reason of his own?

http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/Suspicious_death_in_Town_of_Tonawanda_20090520

http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/tonawanda_man_charged_in_wifes_murder_090521

http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/man_accused_of_killing_wife_with_sword_090522

Personal Blog Entry

2009-05-20T12:43:00.000-05:00

Of Whom I Admire
　
　

　
You've heard people say, 'It's my nature’ - well, it's time to listen to your nature instinct, to stand up for the rights of victims everywhere who suffer from verbal and physical abuse. The wind's gentle breeze hears nature's whispers - and those of the lonely, the hurt, the lost, the defenseless. Susan Murphy-Milano listens to hers. Do you?

Go here - http://peace4themissing.blogspot.com/ read 'Blue Defends Blue' - take a moment to reflect on paragraph 8 and the part that reads 'I never compromise an investigation or a victim's life.' I am of the belief that a truer statement has never been written. Through all months I have followed Susan Murphy-Milano's Journal at http://murphymilanojournal.blogspot.com/, her articles on 'Women In Crime Ink', and listened to the BTR show 'Justice Interrupted' that she co-hosts with Robin Sax and Stacy Dittrich, I have never known her to say or write anything that I, as a follower and blogger, a non cop, feel could hinder LE in any way with an investigation. I have never felt she said anything on her show http://www.blogtalkradio.com/SusanMurphyMilano either. All I hear is how those in need of domestic violence help, how those spouses of abusing cops, can detail the abuse they experience on a daily basis and who to turn to for help to stop the abuse.

Susan is an advocate of the abused. She is there for them when others turn their back. She fights for them, the abused spouses of LE Officers - those cases that are clear-cut abuse cases, not just the accusations of someone who wants to dirty her or his spouse's name. And if in that battle it means taking down an alleged 'good cop's' name within his or her department if that cop is abusing his spouse and children, then so be it - Victims have rights too!

Let hope and pray that no one ever successfully puts a muzzle on Susan's voice or her pen.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/SusanMurphyMilano

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/justiceinterrupted

http://murphymilanojournal.blogspot.com/

　

Current Events In The News

2009-05-18T18:57:00.000-05:00

Child Rapist Have Too Many Rights!

They charged Cesar Najera-Zavala with molestation of a 10-year-old in Garland, TX today. The child was a student at the Amiel Christian School where Zavala, age 55, was working as a private school director. Although Zavala is under a 50 thousand dollar bond, and LE is looking for more possible victims’ ages 3-14 . . . when he goes to court, I wonder if he will get a similar sentence as David Harold Earls, age 64, got in McAlester, Oklahoma. Earls pleaded no contest to the rape and sodomy of a 5-year-old and sentenced to one year in prison.

Granted, Earls must comply with the law and register as a sex offender when he is freed but will that stop him from ruining another child’s life? Did he choose a small child because he knew her ability to testify would turn in his favor? Has he done it before and gotten away with it because no one reported the abuse?

I am upset over these cases! When will it stop? When will the laws protect our children? Men like Cesar Najera-Zavala and David Harold Earls should not walk the streets as free men again. I think Zavala’s bond should be higher than 50 thousand. He can pay a percentage of that and go free until his trial date.

http://www.koco.com/news/19492965/detail.html 　

http://www.myfoxdfw.com/dpp/news/Day_Care_Head_Charged_w_Moles

Current Events In The News

2009-05-15T11:25:00.000-05:00

Chat Rebuff Murder
　

　
Who are those faceless individuals on the other end of our chat screens? Does the option to allow others to see our personal information mean we are setting our self up as a possible stalking victim? Does the innocent action of sharing a picture of us speak of really knowing the one whom we shared with? Is it a fact that chat is more for fabricating our self than talking to an alleged 'friends’ list' person we meet? Can we really ever know that person?

Maybe a recent incident in New York is a reason to look more closely at what information we share regarding our real self - our real life.

Dennis Raymond, a 35 -year-old man met Nimzay (NIM'-Zay) Aponte in an online chat and when she rebuffed him, he allegedly tracked her down to New York Bronx Park and stabbed her to death.

Hopefully we will hear more of this murder in the future. Perhaps we will learn Dennis is mentally unstable and hates women, especially those who rebuff him. Perhaps we will hear that he is completely sane just mad because she rebuffed him. Maybe we will hear he is just evil and simply wanted to know what it was like to watch someone die and chose Nimzay as his victim.
No matter the reason he murdered, it gives us reason to think about our safety online.

http://www.ajc.com/news/content/shared-gen/ap/High_Tech/US_Chat_Buddy_Stabbing.html?cxntlid=inform_sr

Current Events In The News: Micah is dead - Her killer is free to leave state

2009-05-15T08:43:00.000-05:00

Micah is dead - Her killer is free to leave state

Apparently, while one neighbor stated that her daughter said while Thomas Pate was talking with a LE officer he didn’t appear sad, others said he was visibly upset and crying when they saw him. I do not know Thomas Pate nor did I know Micah. I do know her death was senseless and unnecessary. Life throws many obstacles at us but stooping to killing is not the answer to our troubles. That is not to say the admitted shooter deliberately killed his wife, it is to say I have a right to question his version in my mind.

I have tried and tried to imagine a scenario where someone can accidentally shoot another person in the back of the head. I just can’t do it. I suppose someone is seeing how it could happen - And/or they don’t feel they could gain a conviction on a higher charge because they charged Thomas Pate with second-degree murder and not murder one. They are much wiser than me and without a doubt more experienced in crime investigations for sure.

I am upset that they let out Thomas Pate of jail (shall I say for free) on a 250 thousand-dollar bond. Which, of course, means he put up a small percentage of that money, walked out of jailhouse basically free to go and do as he pleased until his trial. Due to the infamous wisdom of our legal system they allowed Thomas to not only be a free man but allowed him to move out of state and to Atlanta so he could work.

I am picturing this - a man and woman standing at or near a river, one leaves as a living breathing person, the other lies on the cold damp ground with her soul above her staring down on her body. Had Thomas and Micah argued, did they struggle for control of the gun? Why did they have a gun with them? Why did he have it with him? Was her death preplanned and he is a good pretender, an Emmy award actor who pulled the wool over some seemingly intelligent law enforcement officers? Over a Judge? Was she standing with her back to him and he raised his gun to shoot a snake or some other creature over her and about to endanger her life and shot her instead? Or was he the snake?

I do not know the answers to these questions floating in my head. Thomas Pate could be the most wonderful man on earth. He could be a lousy jerk. He could be a liar. He could be - just be. However, I know he is an admitted shooter, a killer who killed a woman, his wife, a lady who chose nursing as her profession so she could help others.

I do know I like the lady’s daughter that said "He was just standing out there talking to the cops and he didn't look sad he didn't look anything so he just looked suspicious... So automatically you had an uneasy feeling... Yes." the night he reported her missing. I think that person is very intuitive.

----------------------------

http://www2.myfoxmemphis.com/search/SERP?search_type=site&top_search_field=thomas%20pate

Quoted:

http://www.myfoxmemphis.com/dpp/news/050209_Thomas_Pate_Charged_with_Wifes_Murder

Current Events in The News: Another Husband Kills Wife Story

2009-05-03T09:27:00.000-05:00

Another Husband Kills Wife Story

No one, except Thomas and the police knows why Thomas Pate killed his wife, Micah Pate. No one knows why he used a gun that night. What friends, family and police know is that Thursday, April 30, 2009 around 10:30 P.M. Thomas Pate called Bartlett Tennessee police and reported his 26-year-old wife had gone for her jog and did not return home. Friday evening her body was found in the Loosahatchie River Bottoms about five miles from her home. Thomas had told police she had been shot accidentally and advised where he’d dumped her body. Micah’s reported missing, and later Thomas admitting he’d killed her, has the people of the neighborhood, her family and friends in shock.

Coworkers knew something wasn’t right when Micah didn’t show up for work Friday morning at a local OBGYN clinic. They became worried about their friend. The OBGYN clinic closed Friday afternoon and coworkers helped search for her, handing out posters and asking people if they had seen the young woman. One neighbor stated Thomas came to their home crying over her missing; another stated he didn’t remember seeing Micah jogging Thursday evening and if she had he’d likely have seen her.

Micah and Thomas seemed a happy and content young couple often working in their yard. She a nurse and he worked from home for a physician's recruiting agency. The news reports that neighbors said Micah often walked her dog, waving at neighbors and allowing the dog to stop and visit a few minutes. She was well liked and a friendly person.

They charged Thomas Pate with second degree murder but a date for his first court appearance hasn’t been set. As Thomas awaits his fate, Micah’s family is trying to deal with the tragic events that were thrust upon them. The family has not made arrangements for her funeral.

The Bile of Speculation

2009-04-17T14:25:00.000-05:00

　
The bile of speculation speed through the coarse similes of ruins in what was once beautiful days carrying the victims of words along for the bumpy ride.

We are human, and as humans we are sometimes cold and unfeeling. We are not perfect, and we show these negative qualities far too frequently.

Sadly, we take the rights given us by our forefathers for granted and do not always consider how powerful are the words we so easily use as knives. Does that make us different from a person who literally uses a material knife to harm others? Yes. However, it doesn't make us right nor does it always make the words right. While graves of discontent envelope others, we sit unknowing of the person they are inside and judge them with words. We speculate about them due to their lifestyle, their looks, the vehicle they drive, whether they smoke, drink and how they dress. We do all this conjecturing without really knowing them. Sometimes, the way people carry themselves, the way they act and react says a lot about them, but it doesn't mean they are truly worthy of total disrespect. And those actions do not mean they are trash, dirt bags, druggies, murderers or abusers.

Anytime tragic events encapsulate people with a family member unwillingly gone missing, the family left behind become instant suspects in the eyes of law enforcement. More often than not, they can’t fully vindicate no family member until proof that someone outside the family is a proven suspect, and charged with a crime. This is also what happens when someone abuses or murders a family member. We, the ones looking in from outside, suspect the victim’s family just as law enforcement does. We violate their rights in the name of right to know before law enforcement brings charges against them or some other suspect. We watch their every movement, add emphasis to their every spoken word, every eye movement, questioning them in our minds and searching for some deplorable evil being living inside their souls.

And unfortunately, later, if law enforcement has shown the people demeaned by the public's opinion as nothing more than victims of tragedy, we do not bother feeling guilt or remorse for our words and actions during their heartbreaking days of sorrow. More sadly is the fact that we blame them for our verbal attacks on their character, vindicating our actions as normal human nature because in our minds it was they who showed guilt. When in fact, all they were doing is showing hurt and pain and sorrow over the tragedy that blanketed their life.

Words can push people into shadowy corners cowering in fear, but they can also cause people to hold their heads high and give them strength to endure. I only wish more would aspire to use words to help others have that strength to endure. All families do not have killers and abusers hiding in their closets; they are truly victims of crime, just as, but not as horrific, as the one physically attacked, abused or murdered.

2009-04-10T11:33:00.000-05:00

http://www.bakersfieldnow.com/news/local/42705867.html

And he was being watched by whom? Just what was Riley doing in the group home? Was it for so called 'therapy' so he would be a good boy when out in public?

But an upside, somewhat, of the story of child molesters: http://www.news10.net/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=57610&catid=2

Hooray! Good work Placard County, CA! Still, I wonder how many years of that 16 year sentence this slime will actually serve in prison? This isn't the first time he's sexually attacked children. Justice for the victim, via his own guilty plea, of the recent child rape improved over a previous one- they only gave him 6 years in 1984 -

Alleged Lies and The Murder Of Lori Kastner

2009-04-07T12:42:00.000-05:00

　
　
When Lori Moon married John Robert Kastner in 1985, it was the beginning of the end for her. Lori, former Oklahoma Supreme Court attorney, died as she slept from a gunshot wound to the head, allegedly by her husband on June 25, 2008. John Robert Kastner was a Webster High School teacher and they arrested and charged him with her murder. There began the dissemination of an alleged life of lies.

When police arrived on the scene, they discovered Robert Kastner with a gunshot wound to his hand, Lori Kastner dead in her bed, and a home invasion scenario inside and outside the home.
Kastner told police an intruder, a dark-complexioned white or American Indian man, was standing at the foot of his bed holding a gun - belonging to Kastner - in his hand and asking ‘where is Whitney’ - the name of Kastner's adopted daughter. Whitney wasn't home. Kastner said he struggled with the intruder and in that struggle grabbed the barrel of the gun; it was then he was shot in the hand. He told them the intruder had shot Lori in the head and when he heard her moaning, shot her again.

Kastner's story of the intruder began changing with each telling of how his wife was shot twice. As he continued to live in his fantasy lies, the police lived in reality and became suspicious. Kastner's friends became suspicious too. Kastner had allegedly told them, the school administration and his students many stories over the years. One was that a philanthropist was going to make a large grant to boost academic programs, then that he'd gotten a huge trust fund and was planning to create a foundation. However, those alleged lies were only the tips of the iceberg. Kastner had convinced his wife Lori they were factual; she'd resigned her job and made plans to oversee the ‘713 Foundation’ with her husband.

Did love's rose-colored glasses have a strong grip on a seemingly intelligent woman and that love cost her life?

Kastner filed a pauper’s affidavit and represented by a public defender Marny Hill but wants to have the lead role in his own trial. His trial date is set for August 17, 2009.
　
　

Predators Among Us

2009-04-07T09:55:00.000-05:00

When hearing the media reports yesterday that Sandra Cantu was found in a piece of luggage on wheels floating in a pond, my heart broke for her, and her family. Some sick perverted person killed her and stuffed her in that bag. Although they had not preformed an autopsy then, the news gives me reason to believe she was sexually assaulted prior to her death. When are we going to stop allowing these predators to live freely in our neighborhoods where children live! Who cares that they’ve done their time, paid their due for a previous crime? You cannot, cannot, cannot, make a person who abuses children well! The urge will always be with them and they will do it again, and again despite any help with pills or therapy they receive.

Something needs done! Laws need to change in all states. LE needs more officers to handle these people at a moment’s notice; they need to keep a check on them several times a day. They need officers physically going to the predators’ homes and not simply depend on bracelets some must wear. Nor do they need to just accept that predators will check in with LE and parole officers. They need the right to check on them even after they’ve done their ‘time’ - ‘paid their dues’ for previous crimes if they are on the sex offender list. Perverted sex offenders should feel in prison even outside prison! These molesters are still molesters after they leave prison and do not need to live in areas where children live! To have them move blocks away, a mile away is not acceptable.

I realize it’s a pipe dream that victims could ever have more rights than rapists and murderers but the laws can’t take away our hope that the dream needs to become reality.

Motionless Fabrication

2009-04-05T10:49:00.000-05:00

　
The mind is a wondrous thing, a living documentary of all we have known, said, written and done. If we could pull up each minute, each moment of our life then we'd know that the good moments outweigh the bad, the sad, and the tearful; the happy moments would be there to replay at leisure. And we could be happier because we would remember what makes us happy and instantly work to keep that frame of mind alive in our hearts. We'd know how often those we care for - even strangers in a crowd - showed us love, caring and support; just how often single smiles from friends, strangers and loved ones made daily frustrations disappear. We would simply know what is right with our life and what isn't right because we would have all the past rights and wrongs as instant examples.

However, it doesn't work that way.

We begin our life in the nurturing arms of contentment, we feel safe and loved, we are innocent of real wrongs and give love to all people as naturally as they give it to us. But as we grow, we store all that contentment in a file of forgotten. Perhaps that is why we repeat wrongs more often than we repeat rights. Why we continually fail to be all that we can be, all that we are. Why we ‘fabricate’ our self.

When one feels caught in the throes of motionlessness, disappointed but more like we are a disappointment, then there is no stability in reaction to actions . . . it's a catch 22. We’re constantly on the defensive and that doesn't lead to an ease of mind and soul - to happiness, to allowing security to wrap around the heart - the soul. And because that security floats past and doesn’t settle, we question, why can’t we just be; just for a little while just be? Maybe, it’s because we don’t stop and think about past mistakes, past wrongs, those moments of not having compassion, of not understanding that we aren’t alone in this world. We think only of now, of our self, what is happening right now to us. We do not consider the times that we did not show compassion or love or a smile of assurance of faith in others; those moments go into that forgotten file.

Life can be full of obstacles creating a motionlessness and lack spark, and we wonder - what has happened to the purpose? What has happened to the duct that allowed our happiness breeze to tickle the heart - that makes smiles an integral part of life? What has happen to the upgrade of emotions just because that upgrade is an internal need, wanted.

In our mind, we are the one who needs, who wants, who deserves - and in that, we are selfish. But we are also the only one who can reconsider the right of showing compassion, of showing love toward others just as we would want them to give us. And in showing love and compassion change ourselves into a happier person, and into the person we emotionally strive to be. Perhaps we should look into the mirror and tell our self, 'I miss you, the real you, the happy you,' and then begin that change. Then when that trigger of happiness is feeling frozen in place - like a block of ice thrown into the shadows where no spark of light can filter - we will automatically know how we can just be ourselves and sweep away those shadows.

Caylee - The Child Lost

2009-04-03T09:48:00.000-05:00

I cannot write much on the seemingly never-ending Casey Anthony debacle because I believe there’s nothing but the verdict by 12 people left to say. We have already written all that we can write of her. I don’t believe she deserves to have the media flash her face on television; all she deserves is for us to forget she ever existed because showing her on TV and discussing her on talk shows is giving her what she craves - attention. Only Caylee deserves remembrance.

A child was lost in her mother’s heart before she was born, and a person of the lowest of the slime killed her; I wonder if the slime of the world would consider anyone calling Casey slime as a slap in their face, if even they would want her to be initiated into their crowd.

Caylee’s precious face will live forever in the hearts of Americans, loved more than she ever was when she lived. I believe she died at the hands of her mother, not a mom. Just as any man can be a father, any woman can be a mother but it takes a special person to be a dad or mom.
　
　
　
　
　

What Was Is No More

2009-04-02T09:21:00.000-05:00

Sadly, it seems that as the flag waves on we no longer stand for one Nation under God, indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all. We are divided - in the system, in our lives, in family, in all we do and say. We are victims of our thoughts, actions and reactions. Parents are killing kids, kids are killing parents, spouses are killing spouses and neighbors are attacking neighbors. We abuse our animals. We decide our way is the only way and go on shooting rampages because others disagree with us, we fail each other and ourselves daily. We fail our children.

And the Flag waves on.

Crime is rampant in America and the fate of the tragic events of the economy isn’t the cause. We were failing before this depressive economy caused families to lose their homes, their cars and their jobs. We were failing before price of gas went up, and before the cost of food rose. We are our own enemy. All anyone has to do is a search through the internet, the courts, and the local newspapers to see the sad truths of our failures. All one has to do is watch a few criminal trials to see how the definition of reasonable doubt is vanishing in the jury room of our courts. Read how laws made are being outlawed, how stiff penalties are becoming obsolete, how one state is trying to pass legislation to let prisoners go free due to their age. And if they pass the legislation then murderers, child rapists, wife killers, and husband killers that they sent to prison for life without parole will again walk the streets. Their victims’ family may as well stand on the corner and say ‘here I am, ready to be victimized again’ because that is what can or likely will happen.

And the Flag waves on.

Our soldiers die daily for the rights we wrongly use. Our law enforcement men and women die because hatred is more prevalent than understanding; drugs and violence mean more than another human’s life. The accused have more rights than the victims. Freedom of speech has become nothing more than a bile of speculation, destroying lives and reputations. The right to know is feeding curious minds a main course of disdain and frustration. And we enjoy it, feed off it, blog on it, discuss and debate and then sit back and smugly watch the backlash. We thrive on so-called reality shows where encouragement of new found friends to speak badly of each other and vote against them for the sake of network ratings is prevalent. Where we are forced to choose one talent over another because only 1 is deserving. Where we make cartoons in disguise of adult ratings knowing children will watch children bad mouthing parents and parents allowing disobedience. We make movies with violence in nearly every clip; With vulgar language heard in every sentence. We have lost our morality and what our forefathers dreamed for this country to become - where the Preamble to the Constitution is nothing more than archaic words on dingy paper.

But the Flag does wave on.