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Friday, November 06, 2009

Casey Anthony Document Dump--November 6, 2009


Posted by Janet at 8:13 PM 0 comments Links to this post
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Casey Anthony case: syringe in bottle contained traces of chloroform


FBI lab tests detected the dangerous chemical in evidence from the area where Caylee Marie's remains were found.

November 6, 2009
By Walter Pacheco,
Bianca Prieto,
Rene Stutzman and
Anika Myers Palm,
Orlando SENTINEL


Lab tests in the Casey Anthony case show trace amounts of chloroform, a potentially deadly chemical, on some of the evidence collected by investigators, records released Friday show...

Authorities ruled her death a homicide but they [said] could not determine how she died.

An FBI report released Friday shows investigators had found a plastic Gatorade Cool Blue sports drink bottle near the child's remains. A plastic bag labeled "Disposable Syringe Kit" with a syringe was found inside the bottle...

A report generated in June and labeled "Summary of results" by Dr. Michael Rickenbach of the FBI's labs indicates chloroform, testosterone, ethanol and water inside the syringe...

In other prosecution evidence released Friday, an insect expert found "coffin flies" in a bag of trash found in the trunk of Casey Anthony's car...
That bitch. If I was 30 years younger and could get my hands on her I could save the state of Florida a lot of money. Now--who had access to steroids? Was Jesse? He would be likely, having lots of body training to enter the Police Force. Ricardo? He's a big guy, but looks a little bit flabby. No offense Rico, if you ever read this.
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Thursday, November 05, 2009

Raul Renato Castro, 14, admits to slaying Alex Christopher Mercado, 4


Suspect, 14, says he killed Mendota boy after molesting him.

November 5, 2009
The Fresno Bee
By Pablo Lopez
A Mendota 14-year-old confessed to killing a 4-year-old neighbor because the boy was going to tell his mother the teen had molested him, according to a court affidavit made public Wednesday.

The affidavit is in the criminal case file for Raul Renato Castro, who sat in shackles and showed no emotion in his first appearance in Fresno County Superior Court, where he is being tried as an adult...

On Halloween night, officials from the FBI and the Sheriff's Office searched the teen's home as part of a door-to-door operation and discovered Alex's body in the dryer. The 5-foot Castro is being held in the Juvenile Justice Campus south of Fresno. His bail is more than $2 million.

A criminal complaint charges Castro as an adult with first-degree murder and four special allegations associated with that charge -- that it was committed along with child molestation, sodomy, and kidnapping, and in order to silence a witness. Castro also faces separate felony charges of kidnapping, sodomy and child molestation...If convicted, the teen faces up to 47 years to life in prison...

Raul's mother Elsa Castro declined to comment. But Raul Castro's grandmother, Desidora Hernandez, said, "He's a nice kid. We don't know what happened." Elsa Castro has described herself as a single mother, and Riofrio has said the teen's father has been "out of the picture." According to a KFSN (Channel 30.1) report Wednesday evening, Raul Castro's father, Jose Antonio Castro, is a convicted sex offender who spent three years in prison...
Also read:
Posted by Janet at 10:19 PM 1 comments Links to this post
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Anthony Sowell's house of horrors

The Prairie Chicken
November 5, 2009
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In the wake of discovery of 11 (and counting) women found murdered in the house of Anthony Sowell of Cleveland, Ohio, women who escaped his attacks have been coming forward to the Cleveland Police Department.

Tomorrow the CPD will begin looking behind walls and other areas of the house that may look benign, but may still hold evidence of his five year murder spree.

One has to wonder--when 14 women go missing in one neighborhood and there is a stench of death in that same neighborhood, what are police thinking about when they are eating their donuts? Their golf game, or 14 MISSING WOMEN? For God's sake.

Read articles here:

Anthony Sowell's Neighbor Says Police Knew About Cleveland ...

Ohio woman: I got away from serial killing suspect - Yahoo! News

Anthony Sowell Cruised Sex Fetish Site While Dead Bodies Rotted in ...

Ohio rapist Anthony Sowell lived in rotting bodies of women he ...

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Baby Shannon Lea Dedrick Found Alive

The Inquisitr
November 5, 2009

The case of a missing 7-month-old baby girl took a strange twist yesterday when the child, Shannon Lea Dedrick was found unharmed beneath a sitter’s bed, and her mother was arrested along with the sitter and the sitter’s husband in the girl’s disappearance.
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Shannon Dedrick was reported missing by her parents Saturday, and the case quickly focused in on Shannon’s sitter, Susan Baker. (Baker is related to the child’s father.)
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The case is full of odd turns, as it was revealed that Baker not only wrote a letter to the Governor of Florida begging him to remove the child from her parents’ custody, but also that Baker was involved in a similar child abduction twenty years ago. The boy in that case, Paul Baker, has never been located...

Investigators found Shannon in a box (2'x3' coffin-like cedar box with a blanket, and nothing else but a box of baking soda to absorb any untowit odors) under a bed during a voluntary search on Wednesday night, deliberately concealed amongst household items. She was deemed healthy and placed into protective custody. Charges are pending for Mercer, Baker and Baker’s husband.

Left: Susan Elizabeth Baker


Also read:
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Wednesday, November 04, 2009

Melissa Huckaby's attorney asks to dismiss indictment, gets help with defense

November 4, 2009
By Sophia Kazmi
Contra Costa Times
Posted: 10/30/2009

STOCKTON — The defense of a Tracy woman accused of killing 8-year-old Sandra Cantu is getting some help, from Sanfrancisco attorney Michael Burt, experienced in defending high profile murder suspects joining the team...

The money to fund Burt will come from a special fund within the Public Defender's Office in death penalty cases, said Robert Himelblau, spokesman for the San Joaquin County District Attorney's Office...

Also today, Behar filed a motion to suppress evidence and a motion to dismiss the indictment charging Huckaby, 28, with rape and murder in connection with Sandra's death. Judge Linda Lofthus ordered those files sealed from public access because they contain information from the grand jury transcripts, which she also ordered sealed.

Huckaby has pleaded not guilty to all counts. The San Joaquin County District Attorney's Office will seek the death penalty if Huckaby is convicted...

Tracy police arrested Huckaby on April 10, four days after Sandra's body was found stuffed in a suitcase and submerged in a pond not far from the Orchard Estates Mobile Home Park, where Huckaby and Cantu lived.

Before she was arrested, Huckaby told a Tracy newspaper that she owned a suitcase similar to the one Sandra was found in. Huckaby said her suitcase disappeared the same day Sandra did.
read entire article here

Melissa Huckaby Indictment
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Mitrice Richardson's family presses Sheriff's Department to release videotape


By WIRE SERVICES
via laindependent.com
Nov 3, 2009
Los Angeles, CA--The sheriff's department Monday continued to withhold a station house videotape of a woman who went missing after being let go from the Malibu-Lost Hills sheriff's station, while public pressure to release the tape increased, and the missing woman's girlfriend and family sought public help to find her. What is there to hide? The longer they stall, the more po'd the rest of us get. well, me anyway.
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Sunday, about 70 people — many on motorcycles — rallied to have the videotape of Mitrice Richardson, 24, of South Los Angeles, made public.

Richardson was released on her own recognizance just after midnight Sept. 17 from the sheriff's Malibu-Lost Hills station after being booked on two misdemeanor counts for not paying her nearly $90 dinner tab at a Malibu restaurant...

...Her father, Michael Richardson, wants to see videotape from the sheriff's station, which he believes will show his daughter was too mentally ill to be released in the middle of the night in an isolated area 40 miles from her home...
...Sunday's rally and motorcade was held to make community members aware that Richardson may be on the streets of South Los Angeles, and to prompt the release of the videotape from the Lost Hills station, said family spokeswoman Jasmyne Cannick.

...The county Board of Supervisors is offering a $10,000 reward for finding Richardson, and the Malibu City Council was to vote on topping that with a $15,000 reward as well. Nevertheless, the girl's father blasted Malibu Police for refusing to waive fees to pay for sheriff's department presence at the rally.

Michael Richardson said he wanted to hold Sunday's rally in Malibu, but could not afford the city's fee to stage the rally, and could not get the mayor to waive the fee or reserve parking for the motorcade...Mayor Stern could not reached for comment, but state law does not allow him to waive fees or reserve parking without a city council vote. So vote. Do a group text message. That would take what, 10 minutes? It IS the 21st century. You don't have to go put your wigs and robes on.

...Richardson is black, about 5 feet 5 inches and 125 pounds, with tattoos on her lower abdomen and behind her neck. She was last seen wearing a brown Bob Marley T-shirt and blue jeans.

Her family asked anyone with information as to her whereabouts to call Los Angeles police at (213) 485-2531. Evidently the County Board of Supervisor's nor Malibu police or north LA County Sheriff's department want to hear from us, the unclean masses.
also read:
and a couple of links to sites with video:
Posted by Janet at 10:11 PM 1 comments Links to this post
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Chimp Victim, Charla Nash, Wants To Sue State For $150M

Attorney: State Knew Chimp Was Dangerous
By LAUREN PETTY
NBC Connecticut
nbcconnecticut.com
Nov 4, 2009

Claiming the Department of Environmental Protection knew Travis the chimp was a serious threat but failed to act, attorney's for his victim, Charla Nash, filed a petition Wednesday with the state's Claims Commissioner asking to sue the state of Connecticut for $150 million.

"This is a tragedy that did not have to happen, should not have happened," Nash's attorney Charles Willinger said in March, when a lawsuit was filed against the chimp's owner, Sandra Herold, for $50 million.

Nash's attorney's now are taking aim at state officials who were aware of concerns about Travis for years...

For the next two years, Charla Nash will go through surgeries as she recovers from a vicious chimp attack in Stamford in February that left her disfigured, blind and near death. Her brothers are by her side through her recovery...

..."It is an accident waiting to happen," that's what a DEP biologist wrote in a letter obtained by the Associated Press dated October 2008, five months before Nash was mauled by Travis in Stamford in February.

55-year-old Nash lost her hands, nose, lips and sight after Travis attacked her when she came to help her employer, Sandra Herold, get the chimp back into the house...Nearly nine months later, Charla Nash remains at the Cleveland Clinic....

...They say she is walking around and using primitive prosthetics. "Charla has accepted her losses. She accepts that she can not change this."

...The Attorney General says hundreds of claims are filed against the state each year and it could take months for the Claims Commissioner to rule on Nash's claim...

read entire article here
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Smell permeated Cleveland neighborhood where 11 bodies found, in Anthony Sowell's house

November 4, 2009
From Susan Candiotti,
CNN.com

Cleveland, Ohio (CNN) -- The smell permeated the neighborhood, turning the stomachs of residents and curtailing their outdoor activities..."We used to think that it was coming from out of Ray's Sausage," said one resident. "But you smell these smells, and I live right there and ... we used to come out here and oh, these smells would just be horrible."

Ray's Sausage Co. replaced a sewer line and grease traps, trying to rid the area of the stench. But Ray's wasn't to blame after all. Instead, police said, the foul odor had a much more sinister source.

Eleven bodies have been found inside and outside a home adjacent to Ray's -- six inside and five outside...

The first victim was identified Wednesday as Tonia Carmichael, who was 52 when she was last seen on November 10, 2008, police said. Carmichael was identified using DNA. She disappeared from Warrensville Heights, a Cleveland suburb near Sowell's home.

Seven of the victims died from strangulation by a ligature, said Frank Miller, Cuyahoga County coroner. A ligature can include a string, cord or wire. All seven still had something tied around their necks, Miller told reporters...

Some of the victims could have been missing for up to five years, Cleveland Police Chief Michael McGrath told reporters, and he doesn't believe authorities were able to discern any pattern relating to the disappearance of African-American women. Eleven women go "missing" in the same area and they have no pattern? b-s. I wonder if the eleven women were white, would there have been more of an effort to see what was happening? Just saying...

...Sowell showed no emotion during his hearing Wednesday before Municipal Judge Ronald Adrine. Asked whether he could afford a lawyer, Sowell responded quietly, "No sir."

read article here

Also read:
Death count at Anthony Sowell's home rises to at least 10 Metro ...
Ohio rapist Anthony Sowell lived in rotting bodies of women he ...
Anthony Sowell Cruised Sex Fetish Site While Dead Bodies Rotted in ...
Suspected serial killer Anthony Sowell held without bond - WTOL ...
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Raul Renato Castro confessed to putting 4 year old Alex Mercado in dryer

TRACIE CONE, Associated Press Writer
via The News-Herald
via hosted2.ap.org

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — A 14-year-old with a baby face told investigators he drowned his 4-year-old neighbor in a bathtub then hid the body in a dryer because the child was going to reveal the teen molested him, according to an affidavit released when he appeared in court Wednesday.

Raul Renato Castro, dressed in a purple T-shirt issued at the juvenile jail, appeared emotionless while staring at his hands in Fresno County Superior Court for the in his first appearance for the murder of Alex Mercado...

...Castro eventually told police he had enticed the dimpled, brown-eyed boy into his house across the street and sodomized him, the affidavit states. He said he killed Mercado after the child fell and hit his head, started crying, then threatened to tell his mother, the document states. "Castro said he panicked and decided to kill the victim by drowning him in the bathtub," the affidavit says.

...Castro had been scheduled for arraignment as an adult on charges of first-degree murder, sodomy, child molestation, kidnapping and murder to silence a witness...


Earlier the teen had nodded without expression when Judge Jon Kapetan asked him if he understood the proceedings."He told me he was scared," said Marousek, who spoke with the teen as he sat in the jury box. "He could be in shock."

Marousek said after the hearing that she doubted the teenager understood the Miranda Rights read to him by investigators, which could put his confession in doubt. He understood well enough when he raped, murdered and hid little Alex's body.

...Bail was set at $2.1 million. Castro, who turned 14 on July 29, cannot face the death penalty but could be sentenced to as long as 47 years-to-life if convicted.


Read entire article here
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Shannon Lea Dedrick, 'Please, please save that child'


Months before 7-month-old girl went missing, baby sitter
e-mailed Gov. Charlie Crist

November 4, 2009

CHIPLEY, FL — Months before a 7-month-old girl disappeared from her family’s home, her baby sitter, Susan Baker, pleaded with the governor to “please, please save that child” from her parents’ alleged pattern of drug use, abuse and “really strange things,” according to an e-mail obtained Tuesday by The News Herald.
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In response — on the third day in the search for little Shannon Dedrick — top officials with the state Department of Children and Families told The News Herald they were revisiting the case to see if they missed signs of danger...
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[From the parents] “The only things they can come up with is exactly what they’re saying: ‘I don’t know.’ ” (reminds me of Misty Croslin)
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...Susan Baker said she received a call from a Child Protective Services worker who said he would investigate...DCF, Digre said he received two reports on the family. The allegations included marijuana use around Shannon and a complaint that she had been shaken...
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Digre said...DCF would be poring over records for any signs they might have missed. Those records would become “totally open” if Shannon is found dead, Digre said.
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Baker identified the mother as Tina Mercer and her boyfriend as Rusty Dedrick. However, the Washington County Sheriff’s Office – which has released little information about the case – would not confirm those names...
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For days, investigators have feared Shannon is hidden in the woods or in one of many trash bins near her family’s trailer on a dirt drive off Brown Street. Dozens of searchers have labored there, hoping to find clues...
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More than 50 people and eight teams of dogs were looking through the woods. Helicopters were flying late into the evening.
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Baker said she had no clue where the girl could be, but she expressed a firm belief that Shannon often went ignored by her parents, who she said lived in the trailer among roaches.
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Baker told of an evening she tried to make Shannon’s parents notice her turning over in her playpen — a rare feat. But “Tina and Rusty couldn’t take their eyes off the TV long enough to see their child turn over,” she said...a night two weeks ago when Mercer sat on a bed and “said she wished that Shannon would disappear because Shannon’s not Rusty’s daughter, and she wished that Shannon was gone, so she could have a baby with Rusty.”
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It disturbed Baker to see Shannon’s parents so uncaring, she said. She claimed there were many times she was allowed to take Shannon away for “as long as I wanted.”
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But a stranger’s abduction was impossible, she said, as the family’s door remained latch-bolted shut every day, and “there was no way in this world that anybody could get in that trailer.”
...Call the Washington County Sheriff’s Office at 850-638-6111 with any information.
.
Read entire article here
Also read:
Posted by Janet at 7:59 PM 1 comments Links to this post
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Tuesday, November 03, 2009

Shannon Lea Dedrick, 7 months old, Missing From Home In Florida Panhandle


7-Month-Old Disapeared On Saturday
November 2, 2009

CHIPLEY, Fla. -- A 7-month-old infant has gone missing from her home in Chipley, a small town on the Florida Panhandle. The Washington County Sheriff's Office said Monday that Shannon Dedrick disappeared sometime between 3 a.m. and 11 a.m. on Saturday.

Since then, about 75 search and rescue workers from three counties have exhaustively scoured the surrounding area. They were joined by K-9 teams and volunteers from local fire departments in a 14-hour search beginning late Saturday morning, and continued nonstop since 7 a.m. on Sunday.

The arm-to-arm search has covered a 1/2-mile radius of Shannon's home, and deputies are expanding the area each hour.

Shannon was described as 2-feet tall and 11 pounds, with brown hair and blue eyes.

Posted by Janet at 6:41 PM 0 comments Links to this post
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Cleveland Police: Four More Bodies Found At Anthony Sowell's Home

Right: Rapist Anthony Sowell
November 3, 2009
by JOHN SEEWER,
Associated Press Writers
AP Photo/Cleveland Police Department

CLEVELAND -- More remains were discovered Tuesday at the Cleveland home of a convicted rapist, raising to 10 the number of bodies that have been found there, authorities said.

Four more bodies and a skull were found at the home, where the remains of six women were removed last week, said police Chief Michael McGrath. Fifty-year-old Anthony Sowell, who lives in the home, is in jail and was charged Tuesday with five counts of aggravated murder.
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"It appears that this man had an insatiable appetite that he had to fill," McGrath said.
He said the additional bodies were found buried in the backyard of the home. The skull was found in a bucket in the basement.

Authorities do not know whether the skull belongs to an 11th victim, said police spokesman Lt. Thomas Stacho. The search was to continue Wednesday, with fire department crews planning to search in the walls of the home, McGrath said...
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Police discovered the first six bodies Thursday and Friday after a woman reported being raped at Sowell's home, and Sowell also was charged Tuesday with rape, felonious assault and kidnapping related to her complaint. Sowell is to be arraigned Wednesday, Stacho said...

Sowell is a registered sex offender and required to check in regularly at the sheriff's office. Officers didn't have the right to enter his house, but they would stop by to make sure he was there. Their most recent visit was Sept. 22, just hours before the woman reported being raped...
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Posted by Janet at 6:17 PM 0 comments Links to this post
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Defense Says Casey Anthony Was Overcharged

Right: My favorite photo of Casey--in full chains.
Tuesday, November 03, 2009
Also read motion articles from cfnews13:
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ORLANDO -- In motions filed on Tuesday, Casey Anthony's defense team said police and prosecutors made mistakes in charging Anthony in her check fraud case.
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Anthony's defense is filing new motions, which legal analysts say means the defense are getting their ducks in a row. When a person's life is at stake, you can't leave any stone unturned, and if the case goes through an appeals process, these are the natural steps to take...
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A trial has been set for January and the defense is trying to move it out of Orange County...
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In September, the defense tried to get the death penalty thrown out. Motions were filed, but never argued in front of the judge. The state responded to that motion, and now the defense is responding back. The defense said the State does not have enough evidence for a first degree murder charge, let alone the death penalty.
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The last motion filed is regarding October 2008, when a grand jury indicted Casey Anthony. The defense said the indictment is "unconstitutionally vague." Florida law requires an indictment for a first degree murder charge...
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There are still a number of other motions that haven't been heard before the judge. There is no word on when these new motions will be heard.
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New Book Out On The Case Against Casey
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As these new motions are filed, there is word of a new book that is due on book store shelves Tuesday. It is called "Mommy's Little Girl," and is written by Diane Fanning.
Here is an excerpt from that book (from cfnews13):


"When they got within three feet of the white Pontiac, George smelled a distinctive unpleasant odor. He’d once worked in law enforcement. He knew that smell, and it filled him with dread. He thought of his daughter and granddaughter. Please don’t let this be what I think it is...
“Whoa, does that stink!” Simon exclaimed...
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News 13 has checked with several bookstores around Central Florida, and so far found only one store with copies -- but they only had six.
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Think I'll pass on the book. Maybe when the trial is complete a book will come out with things we don't already know.
Posted by Janet at 5:41 PM 0 comments Links to this post
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Friday, October 30, 2009

Solving the Somer Thompson Murder: Investigators Leaning on Community

Right: Sommer Thompson
By SARAH NETTER
Oct. 29, 2009

Sheriff Says Killer May Have Scratches, Unnatural Interest in the case.

As police continue their desperate search for the person that killed 7-year-old Somer Thompson experts say that even the most random memory from the day she disappeared may lead to her murderer.

"I'm a strong believer that the community is an incredibly underrated and important resource for solving crimes, especially when the crimes are fresh," forensic psychiatrist Dr. Michael Welner told "Good Morning America" today. "You get the public mobilized to say ... 'What do you remember?'" ...

"We're referring to people associated with the offender in this case," Clay County Sheriff Rick Beseler said. They likely don't realize they are associated with the killer, he said.

"Clearly there is a distinction between the pedophiles you see and the pedophiles you don't," Welner said. "The pedophiles you see may violate the children again and again and again. And the pedophiles you don't see violate and destroy."

...The sheriff urged people to alert detectives if they notice certain changes in people's behavior, like "an unnatural interest" in the girl's case, or hiding their vehicle in a shed or giving it away.
"You will recognize the change and even question them about it but not realize it is associated" with the Somer Thompson case, Beseler said.

Beseler said telltale signs of someone who could have been involved with Somer's murder would be a combination of several behaviorial changes, including:
1. Leaving the area unexpectedly.
2. Having missed work or other routine engagements, especially on Oct. 19, the day Somer disappeared.
3. Unexplained injuries such as cuts or bruises on the head, arms and hands.

read article here

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Mitrice Richardson--more sightings reported


LA Times
by Shelby Grad
October 26, 2009

Malibu/LA, California--Family members and community activists said there have been new sightings of Mitrice Richardson, who disappeared last month from outside the Mailbu sheriff's station.

According to Richardson's family, people said they saw the woman on Manchester Avenue and Denker Street, Manchester and Western avenues and Florence and Western avenues.
But none of the witnesses called the Los Angeles Police Department, which is searching for Richardson...

Detectives interviewed a group of Geoffrey's diners she joined uninvited -- who described her as odd but entertaining -- and her colleagues at the Mercantile Freight office in Santa Fe Springs who last saw her at work the day of her arrest. LAPD Det. Steven Eguchi said they told him that she was "giddy, really giggly. Out of the ordinary."
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Richardson's odd behavior -- as well as her failure to pay for a steak and a drink -- prompted restaurant staff members to call sheriff's deputies. Richardson was arrested, then released at 1:25 a.m., having no car, purse or cellphone...
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Authorities said they believe Richardson is still alive -- but they don't know where.
Posted by Janet at 7:35 PM 0 comments Links to this post
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Police probe conflicting alibis in Lindsey Baum kidnapping case


KOMO News
October 8, 2009

MCCLEARY, Wash. -- A man's conflicting stories to acquaintances were among the factors that led to the issuance of a search warrant in the Lindsey Baum case, according to an affidavit in support of the warrant obtained by KOMO News. The court documents identify as a person of interest a man connected to the properties searched last week.

Writing in the affidavit filed in Grays Harbor County Superior Court, a detective said he believed Lindsey had been kidnapped and that evidence would be found at the properties. Lindsey disappeared the evening of June 26 while walking home from a friend's house in the small mill town of McCleary.

...A person contacted investigators more than a month after the girl disappeared with information that led detectives to identify the man as a person of interest. The tipster said the man always drove a distinctive car with a loud exhaust, and found it suspicious that the man stopped driving the vehicle after Lindsey disappeared. Another person told detectives that they saw the vehicle near where Lindsey was last seen the night she vanished.

One person told police." (The person said) that his behavior had changed since the day of the disappearance. He had not come around as much," said Sgt. Steve Shumate with the Grays Harbor Sheriff's Office.

But what really sparked the detective's interest is what the young man allegedly told his girlfriend the day after Lindsey disappeared." (He) told her he could not believe that a girl had been taken and cut up and dismembered," according to the search warrant. At that point, however, even detectives didn't believe Lindsey had been a victim of a crime...
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Detectives have not found any evidence to indicate the missing girl is no longer alive. According to the court document, detectives have received multiple conflicting statements about where the person of interest was on the night of June 26. Investigators wrote that the man told them he was working a second job at the time, but the business told detectives he hadn't been there in weeks.

KOMO News is not naming the man since he has not been arrested. The search warrants were served Sept. 25 at several properties in the McCleary area.

At one site, FBI investigators in protective clothing were probing an area near an old, abandoned house and large shed about one mile southwest of McCleary. Among the Items seized were two sex toys, several used condoms, a bag of children's clothing, computers, bed sheets, blankets, and a newspaper with a story about Lindsey...

"It could happen to anyone, and (I) hope they'd be there for me, too," said Rebecca Watts. Volunteers from all over the region, from Packwood to Seattle have joined in the search. Jen Page is a mother who drove 90 miles to help look for Lindsey. "I can easily imagine how hard it is, and this is the least I can do," she said.

Some staff members of "The Oprah Show" met with Melissa Baum earlier in the month, but it is not yet known for certain whether the case will receive national coverage. (I believe it already has--I'm in the central midwest prairie.)

Posted by Janet at 7:03 PM 0 comments Links to this post
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Judge postpones hearing in Cameron Brown case

right: Cameron Brown
The Daily Breeze
by Denise Nix

A judge postponed a hearing this morning for motions in the wake of the second mistrial in the Cameron Brown Rancho Palos Verdes cliff death case. Brown's defense attorneys were expected to ask Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor to reduce Brown's bail and the charges. However, the written motions were not filed in time and the hearing was rescheduled for Dec. 17.

Deputy District Attorney Craig Hum said he anticipates re-trying the case some time next year.
Brown is charged with first-degree murder and the special circumstances of lying in wait and killing for financial gain for the Nov. 8, 2000, death of Lauren Sarene Key...

The last trial ended with a mistrial on Oct. 5. The first mistrial was in August 2006. Cameron Brown remains incarcerated.
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Chavira Brown murder earns Jonell Lloyd the Hard 50 + 10


BY HURST LAVIANA
The Wichita Eagle
Oct. 29, 2009
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A Wichita man was given a Hard 50 prison sentence Wednesday for the death of an 18-month-old girl who was beaten, tied up in plastic bags and left in an attic to die.
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In imposing the sentence, Sedgwick County District Judge Jeff Goering also sentenced Jonell Lloyd, 23, to more than 10 years for child abuse. He ordered Lloyd to serve the sentences consecutively.
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Testimony at Lloyd's trial in July showed that he choked and beat Chavira Brown on July 31, 2008, after she woke up with wet pants. Lloyd had been caring for Chavira at the time in a home he shared with his girlfriend at 15th and Green.
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Under Kansas law, a Hard 50 sentence, which requires an inmate to serve 50 years before seeing a parole board, can be imposed only in cases where the aggravating factors of a crime outweigh any mitigating factors...
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But he said the aggravating factors in the case "vastly outweighed" any mitigating factors.
"Chavira did not die quickly," Goering said in issuing his ruling. "She was left in the attic to slowly asphyxiate over a period of hours."
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...In a brief statement before he was sentenced, Lloyd maintained his innocence, telling the judge, "I didn't do it." Chavira's maternal grandmother, Sheervonda Johnson, said after the sentencing that the sentence was appropriate...
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She said Chavira will always be remembered. "We all love her," she said. "We all miss her.... I'm glad it's finally over with. We can go on with our lives."
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Death for Lemaricus Davidson


Knoxville News Sentinel
By Jamie Satterfield
October 30, 2009
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KNOXVILLE - A Knox County jury this afternoon sentenced convicted torture-slaying ringleader Lemaricus Davidson to death by lethal injection for the January 2007 murders of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom.

The jury of five women and seven men deliberated about four hours before returning its decision to a packed courtroom. “The punishment is death,” the jury foreman said.

The victims' families gasped at the verdict, but Davidson showed no reaction. Criminal Court Judge Richard Baumgartner admonished those in the courtroom to control any outburst.
“The murder was especially heinous, atrocious and cruel,” the foreman said, reading from the verdict form for Newsom...

Davidson's brother, Letalvis Cobbins, 26, was convicted in August and is serving life without parole. He is in a protective safety unit away from the general population at a West Tennessee prison after expressing fears for his safety.

Pending trial are suspects George Thomas, 26, who will face a Hamilton County jury Dec. 1, and Vanessa Coleman, 21, whose case is on hold pending a pre-trial appeal.

A fifth suspect, Eric Boyd, 37, remains uncharged in the killings but is serving an 18-year federal prison term for hiding out Davidson after the slayings...
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My own prediction is that "G" Thomas will end up with life without parole, although I can't remember what DNA evidence the state has against him. Both Cobbins and Coleman stated in the initial interrogation that they heard/saw Davidson hand Thomas a gun and said he needed to do something that would allow Davidson to trust him, leading me to believe it was Thomas who shot Chris Newsom. I don't find Thomas' statement anywhere--maybe he lawyered up fast.
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Coleman probably will end up with life with possibility of parole in 51 years. That will make her about 70 if she lives that long. OK with me. As I see it she deserves that for stupidity if nothing else. What I understand is she was running from a warrant in Kentucky when she left with Cobbins for Knoxville. She seemed to have been taught to 'know her place' i.e., do the cooking, cleaning and provide Cobbins with sex on demand. She would have us believe that from Saturday night until Monday morning she was in an 800 sq. foot house and never heard a peep out of the woman on the other side of a sheet who was being tortured for hours.
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Instead she said she was pissed off that Cobbins was in there having sex with another girl. Particularly stupid is Cobbins telling Coleman he was just checking to see if the girl was alright; Coleman said, "how could she not be alright? She was tied up. Common sense." Did it ever occur to her that simply being tied up made her NOT alright? Or did she just not care, one way or the other?
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And in all the statements, they all claim to have 'humanely' provided Channon with cups of water. And no one yet has claimed any responsibility for anything. Just pointing fingers at the others.
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