GASTONIA, N.C.: SERIAL KILLER, PATRICK BURRIS, SCARY, WEIRD, SHOT

41-year-old Patrick Tracy Burris, described as unpredictable, scary, weird. Died in shootout with police in Gastonia, North Carolina.

Police sketch of alleged serial killer of five people in Gaffney, South Carolina. Now identified as Patrick Tracy Burris, 41, has been slain by police in Gastonia, North Carolina.

SC cops ID serial killer suspect slain in NC
By MITCH WEISS / July 7, 2009

GAFFNEY, S.C. (AP) — Law enforcement officials have identified the man they think is the serial killer who shot five people to death in South Carolina in recent days.

Authorities identified the suspect Monday night as 41-year-old Patrick Tracy Burris. They say bullets in the gun found on Burris after he was killed by police in Gastonia, N.C., matched those used to kill residents in and around Gaffney some 30 miles away.

Authorities did not immediately say where Burris was from.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

GAFFNEY, S.C. (AP) — A man suspected of killing five people and terrorizing a South Carolina community was shot to death Monday by police investigating a burglary complaint at a home 30 miles away.

Ballistics tests on a gun and bullets found with the man in Gastonia, N.C., match those used in a weeklong killing spree in and around Gaffney, said State Law Enforcement Deputy Director Neil Dolan.

"We have him. He's our serial killer," Dolan said Monday night.

Authorities did not release the man's name, but said he has had several encounters with law enforcement over the years.

Dolan said the physical evidence leaves no doubt the slain suspect was the person who shot five people to death over six days. But investigators still have no idea why he started the killing spree June 27.

"He was unpredictable. He was scary. He was weird," Dolan said.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/%20ALeqM5im79T95cXdhCPB5JETCLpoGL9MDwD9999SS80

BRITTANEE DREXEL: STILL MISSING FROM MYRTLE BEACH, S.C.

Three officers in Myrtle Beach are continuing to monitor the case

and follow up any potential leads they receive

Anyone with information is asked to call

the Myrtle Beach Police Department at 918-1382 or 918-1952.

Crime Stoppers is also offering a reward for anyone with information leading to finding Brittanee Drexel.

Call 888-274-6372.

Brittanee Marie Drexel: New York teenager who disappeared during spring break to Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Missing Brittanee Drexel's family still hunting for answers
By Kurt Knapek - kknapek@thesunnews.com
The Sun News.com / June 23, 2009

In the hours following her daughter's disappearance, Dawn Drexel said she wanted answers to several questions, most importantly "Where is Brittanee?" and "Who is searching for her?"

When 17-year-old Brittanee Marie Drexel disappeared April 25, many of her family members and friends made the 800-mile trip from Rochester, N.Y., to Myrtle Beach to learn those answers from police.

"They were working on tips and leads," Dawn Drexel said. "They were doing what their protocol follows."

While the search for Brittanee Drexel was widely publicized, even drawing national media attention, her disappearance is just one of the 141 cases of missing persons between the ages of 15 and 25 reported so far this year in Horry County. Thirty-nine cases have been reported this year in Georgetown County and 55 in Brunswick County N.C., according to the FBI National Crime Information Center.

(snip)

"It's not like the old days when you had to wait for 24 hours before police would go looking," Knipes said. "Those first 48 hours are a crucial time to get out there before the case goes cold."

When a case is considered suspicious, the subject's name immediately is placed into an FBI missing persons database.

Family members or police officials can also notify the CUE Center for Missing Persons in Wilmington, N.C., which has 1,852 open cases across the country as of June 17.

"With Brittanee, we hit the ground running because there was hope, and there still is, that she could be alive," said Monica Caison, founder of CUE. "Finding her was vital immediately."

DON'T LET BRITTANEE DREXEL DISAPPEAR FOREVER. CAN YOU HELP FIND HER?
http://www.thesunnews.com/142/story/949982.html

GAFFNEY, S.C.: ABBY TYLER, FIFTH VICTIM OF GAFFNEY SERIAL KILLER

The serial killings in Gaffney, South Carolina, have resulted in a massive police response that includes more than 100 investigators and crime scene specialists from multiple local, state and federal agencies.

Anyone with information is asked to call

Cherokee County CrimeStoppers at (864)489-2746.

Abby Leigh Tyler, 15, of Wind Farm Road, died at 11:25 a.m. at Spartanburg Regional Medical Center

Fifth serial killer victim dies in hospital
Teen was shot along with her father during Thursday attack
TIM GULLA /Ledger Staff Writer / tim@gaffneyledger.com

A teenager critically injured in a Thursday night shooting incident linked to a serial killer died Saturday morning.

Abby Leigh Tyler, 15, of Wind Farm Road, died at 11:25 a.m. at Spartanburg Regional Medical Center, where she was being treated, Cherokee County Coroner Dennis Fowler confirmed during a 3 p.m. press conference at the Cherokee County Law Enforcement Center.

Friends reacted to the news, which had been spreading in the hours before the official confirmation, with both shock and sadness, remembering the rising Gaffney High School junior as genuine, funny, faithful to God, and for having a big heart.

Abby Tyler and her father, Stephen Tyler, 48, were both found shot inside the family business, Tyler Home Center, on East Frederick Street in Gaffney. Stephen Tyler was pronounced dead at the scene. Abby Tyler was airlifted to Spartanburg.

"God knows what is best and he has the master plan," Beshada McGregor wrote in a response to an open request for memories of her. "Abby and her father are in a much better place. They were angels on Earth and now they are with God being angels in Heaven."


READ THE "GAFFNEY LEDGER" FOR UPDATES ON GAFFNEY SERIAL KILLER...

http://www.gaffneyledger.com/News/2009/0703/Front_page/000001.html

SOUTH CAROLINA: DO YOU KNOW THE SERIAL KILLER FROM GAFFNEY?

As of 2009, Gaffney's population is 12,945 people. The median age is 38.2. The US median is 37.6. 49.80% of people in Gaffney, SC, are married. 10.37% are divorced. Gaffney, SC, violent crime, on a scale from 1 (low crime) to 10, is 6. Violent crime is composed of four offenses: murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. The US average is 3.

Police released this sketch of a suspected serial killer who they believe is responsible for four deaths in South Carolina. They describe him as a white male with salt and pepper hair who is about 6 feet 2 inches, approximately 250 pounds. The suspect's vehicle is a 1991 to1994 Ford Explorer Sport: a two-door SUV with faded paint that is gray or champagne in color. (Cherokee County Sheriff's Office)

Suspected South Carolina serial killer may be driving a light-gray or champagne tan 1991-1994 two-door Ford Explorer.

• Man fatally shoots 4 people in less than a week near Gaffney, South Carolina
  
• "Under the FBI's definition of a serial killer, yes, we have a serial killer," sheriff says
  
• 100 investigators from North and South Carolina working the case
  
• Woman apparently kills self after police stop her while looking for shooter

'Serial killer' sought in South Carolina
CNN / Friday, July 03, 2009

(CNN) -- The Cherokee County Sheriff's Office on Friday released a second sketch of a man believed to have fatally shot four people in less than a week near Gaffney, South Carolina.

"Let me say that, under the FBI's definition of a serial killer, yes, we have a serial killer," Sheriff Bill Blanton told reporters in Gaffney, a town in the county of about 54,000 residents some 50 miles southwest of Charlotte, North Carolina.

He would not detail what has led investigators to conclude the shootings are linked or how they received the description of the suspect that has led to the two sketches. In addition, he said he did not know whether the shooter knew his victims or whether he may have chosen them at random.

Police said he may be driving a light-gray or champagne tan 1991-1994 two-door Ford Explorer.

The first shooting happened Saturday, when peach farmer Kline W. Cash, 63, was found dead by his wife in their home, said Leigh Caldwell, a victims services coordinator for the sheriff's office.

Blanton said Cash's home may have been robbed.

On Wednesday, the bound and shot bodies of 83-year-old Hazel Linder and her 50-year-old daughter, Gena Linder Parker, were found in the mother's home, where she lived alone.

"We're still trying to determine if anything's missing from there," Blanton said.

Thursday night brought two more shooting victims -- 45-year-old Stephen Tyler was found shot dead and his 15-year-old daughter wounded in the family-run furniture and appliance store, Tyler Home Center, said Chief Rick Turner of the Gaffney Police Department.

He would not say whether the Tylers were bound.

The daughter remained hospitalized Friday, Caldwell said.

Leave has been canceled for all members of the Police Department and the Sheriff's Department, said their respective chiefs, who urged residents to take precautions.

About 100 investigators from North and South Carolina were working the case, Blanton said. "I think our community has a right to be concerned," he said. "We're concerned. We're dealing with a man that's killed four people."

READ ABOUT SERIAL KILLER ON THE LOOSE IN GAFFNEY, SOUTH CAROLINA...

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/07/03/south.carolina.killings/index.html

MICHAEL JACKSON: DID DR.CONRAD MURRAY DELIVER THE DEATH DRUG?

July 7, 2006: Dr. Conrad Murray poses for a photo as he opens the Acres Homes Cardiovascular Center at the Tidwell Professional Building, in Houston. A woman who answered the phone Friday, June 26, 2009, at Dr. Conrad C. Murray's clinic in Houston confirmed to The Associated Press that Murray was Michael Jackson's cardiologist. Los Angeles police say they want to speak to the doctor, but stressed he was not under criminal investigation. (AP Photo/Houston Chronicle) - AP

"We do not consider him to be uncooperative at this time. "We think that he will assist us in coming to the truth of the facts in this case." — Police Deputy Chief Charlie Beck on Jackson's doctor, Conrad Murray, after police seized Murray's car, saying they believed the car may contain drugs or other evidence.

Questions swirl around doctor in Jackson's death

By GILLIAN FLACCUS,

The Associated Press / June 27, 2009

LOS ANGELES — Elvis had one. So did Anna Nicole Smith and Marilyn Monroe. They are the doctors who cater to celebrities, dispensing powerful painkillers and sedatives to some of Hollywood's best-known entertainers.

Now, as police investigate Michael Jackson's sudden death, questions are swirling around the King of Pop's personal cardiologist – and any other doctors who may have cared for the superstar in his final days.

Dr. Conrad Murray had apparently been living with Jackson for about two weeks and was with him when he stopped breathing Thursday. The doctor reportedly performed CPR until paramedics arrived. An ambulance crew worked on Jackson at his home for 42 minutes before rushing him to UCLA Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

The cardiologist has hired a Houston-based law firm, and on Saturday, an attorney there said he was cooperating.

(snip)

Doctors can become enchanted by the glamour of the celebrity lifestyle and may find it hard to refuse potent painkillers for their clients because of their wealth and power.

"It's a big issue with people who are used to getting what they want. And if someone says no, they can pay someone else to get what they want," said Karen Sternheimer, a sociologist at the University of Southern California who is writing a book on social problems and celebrity culture.

"The physician is not immune to that heady feeling of being in a celebrity's inner circle."

In other instances, the doctors themselves may have questionable pasts or significant debts, and caring for a celebrity allows them to make large amounts of money, said Julie Albright, a sociologist at the University of Southern California.

http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/jun/27/us-jackson-doctor-062709/?features&zIndex=123671

RIVER RAISIN: NEVAEH BUCHANAN, 5, FOUND; FAMILY DEVASTATED

Shaun Lawson, cousin of Nevaeh Buchanan, gets a hug from girlfriend Brooke Ashworth as dozens of searchers and supporters gather at the Charlotte Arms apartment complex in Monroe, Mich., on Thursday June 4, 2009. The body of a missing 5-year-old Nevaeh Buchanan has been found near a river in the southeast part of the state, one of the girl's relatives told a newspaper Thursday night. (AP Photo/Brandy Baker / The Detroit News)

NANCY GRACE SHOW

Confrontation with Navaeh's Buchanan's mother

DNA confirms body found is Nevaeh
Mich St Police Crime Lab confirmed asNevaeh
Tuesday, 09 Jun 2009

NORTHVILLE, Mich. - The Michigan State Police Crime Laboratory in Northville, Mich., said they have made a positive identification of Nevaeh Buchanan.

Investigators said DNA testing confirmed that a body found June 3 buried along the River Raisin in Rainsinville Township is 5-year-old Nevaeh.

Family and friends filed in and out of the family's Charlotte Arms apartment building Tuesday evening, all stopping to lend support and comfort. A private vigil for the family was also held.

(snip)

Nevaeh was last seen the day before Memorial Day in the parking lot of the Charlotte Arms on Macomb Street. A multi-jurisdictional task force comprised of city, county, state and federal police received upwards of 1,000 tips and conducted intense coordinated searches throughout the city. Hundreds of family members and volunteers also assisted in separate searches.

On Friday, authorities said the body found encased in cement by fishermen belongs to a child the same size, gender and age of the missing girl and they had "reasonable suspicion" it is Nevaeh. A shirt resembling the one she was wearing when she vanished also was discovered.

Authorities said Monday the identification hinged on DNA results, the Detroit Free Press reported. An autopsy was being performed by the Wayne County medical examiner's office in Detroit.

Who would kill this beautiful child? Who would kill any child? Who would kill Navaeh Buchanan?

http://www.foxtoledo.com/dpp/news/michigan/wupw_%20MSP_positively_ID_body_as_Nevaehs_060909

NYPD: GARY McGURK KILLS MICHELLE LEE, LEAVES WITH PASSPORT

Michelle Lee, 24, murdered by Gary McGurk, 23. Queens District Attorney Richard Brown issued a statement calling Lee a "young woman with a bright and promising future which was abruptly cut short by her brutal and senseless murder..."

Gary McGurk has been arrested for the grisly murder of his ex-girlfriend, NYPD CSI Michele Lee. Police say Gary McGurk, an Irish citizen, was walking out of a side door carrying a passport and a bag of clothes.

Gary McGurk appears in a New York court charged with the murder of his former girlfriend, Michelle Lee, whose naked body was discovered in her apartment last month. McGurk is charged with 2nd degree murder, tampering with physical evidence, and criminal possession of a weapon. He is being held without bail.

Former beau Gary McGurk busted in grisly slay of NYPD CSI Michele Lee
BY Nicole Bode and Alison Gendar / DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Friday, May 22nd 2009

An ex-boyfriend who conned thousands of dollars from his NYPD girlfriend was arrested Thursday in her grisly murder, sources told the Daily News.

Gary McGurk, a handsome Irish soccer player at CUNY John Jay College, is accused of stabbing his former girlfriend Michele Lee in the throat and searing her chest with a hot iron after she was dead.

He was arrested Thursday night at his mother's house in Woodside, Queens, and is being held at the 108th Precinct stationhouse on second-degree murder charges.

Detectives had zeroed in on McGurk in the days after Lee's naked body was found stabbed, bound and brutalized in her Sunnyside apartment on April 27.

Investigators were afraid McGurk would flee to his native Ireland and escape justice, sources said.

CAUTION: DISTURBING CRIME SCENE DETAILS OF GARY MCGURK MURDER OF MICHELLE LEE ...
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2009/05/22/2009-05-22_scamming_exbeau_busted_in_nypd_csi_slay.html

MICHELLE LEE: NYPD FORENSICS INVESTIGATOR, BRUTALIZED BY GARY McGURK

Michelle Lee, 24, met Gary McGurk at John Jay Criminal College. Forensics ties McGurk to the crime scene.

Gary McGurk, 23, accused of slaughtering ex-lover, Michelle Lee . (Iudici for News)

NYPD forensic investigator stabbed to death
Ex-lover charged with second-degree murder in 24-year-old's killing
ASSOCIATED PRESS / Sat., May 23, 2009

NEW YORK - Michelle Lee's career was solving crimes. Working as a forensic investigator for the New York Police Department, she was training to do the type of "CSI" work made famous on television.

But the 24-year-old became a victim of a crime herself, stabbed to death in her bed, her naked body found in a pool of blood. Using the same investigative techniques Lee was learning, authorities on Friday arrested her ex-lover Gary McGurk in the case, charging him with second-degree murder.

McGurk pleaded not guilty and was being held without bail. His attorney, Joseph Corozzo said his client was innocent.

"This is a gruesome crime, but my client is not responsible for it," he said. "We look forward to seeing the purported evidence in this case."

Lee had recently moved out of her parent's home and was living in Sunnyside, Queens, a quaint neighborhood of working-class families. She started working for the NYPD last September and was training in forensic investigations at a police lab analyzing evidence like hair samples, drugs, gunshot residues and bodily fluids. She was going to specialize in narcotics.

CAUTION: THE DETAILS ARE GRUESOME...GARY McGURK ARRESTED http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30905437/

MELISSA HUCKABY: KILLED SANDRA CANTU, POISONED OTHERS

Melissa Huckaby in a prior court appearance (Sandra Cantu in upper right) AP

Slaying suspect charged in 'Jane Doe' poisoning

Fri May 22, 2009 / CNN.COM/CRIME

(CNN) -- Melissa Huckaby, the former Sunday school teacher accused of kidnapping, raping and killing 8-year-old Sandra Cantu, will face additional charges that she tried to poison two people, including another 7-year-old girl.

A revised complaint against Huckaby, 28, of Tracy, California, was made public just hours before she was due back in court on Friday.

The new charges caused another delay in the murder case, CNN afiliate KRON reported.

The complaint charged that Huckaby "did willfully and unlawfully mingle a harmful substance with food or drink" with the intent to harm the child, identified only as "Jane M. Doe."

Another alleged poisoning victim was identified as Daniel Plowman, but no age or other information was immediately provided.

The latest charges also include one count of child abuse endangerment relating to the unidentified child, who was allegedly in Huckaby's "care and custody."

Read the complaint (PDF)

HOW MANY PEOPLE AND KIDS HAS MELISSA HUCKABY HARMED?

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/05/22/california.slain.girl/index.html

DREW PETERSON: BODY FOUND, STACY PETERSON OR LISA STEBIC?

Chicago is on right side of map. Follow green line to center of map to reach Bolingbrook, and go a little farther down green line to Plainsfield, Illinois.

STACY PETERSON
Missing from Bolingbrook, Illinois, since October 28, 2007

LISA STEBIC

Missing from Plainfield, Illinois, since Monday, April 30, 2007

Illinois State Police investigate a site where badly decomposed body was found in Des Plaines River near Channahon, Ill. The remains were found by a cleanup crew working May 20 on the Des Plaines River. State police today said the remains were "severely deteriorated" and "mainly skeletal," adding that DNA testing may be needed for positive identification. (Tribune photo by Zbigniew Bzdak / May 21, 2009)

Will County officials transfer a body found along the Des Plaines River to an ambulance Wednesday.

(Michael R. Schmidt/Sun-Times Ne)

Body's identity unknown: Families of Lisa Stebic, Stacy Peterson among those awaiting DNA test results / Remains discovered Wednesday in Des Plaines River
By Erika Slife and Steve Schmadeke Tribune reporters / May 22, 2009

The families of two missing Will County women might have to wait up to two weeks to learn the identity of the human remains discovered Wednesday in the Des Plaines River.

DNA testing is being done on the partial skeletal remains, which consisted of a rib cage, spinal column, and partial left and right femur bones, according to Will County Coroner Patrick O'Neil, who said results likely won't be known for two weeks. But sources close to the investigation said the results could be returned as early as next week.

A preliminary autopsy performed Thursday could not determine whether the body was that of a man or woman, its race, or identity. The remains included shreds of jeans containing a small amount of money, and the person had been dead for several months or more. The coroner's office said it was unclear how the body parts were severed.

Stacy Peterson vanished from her Bolingbrook home in October 2007, and Lisa Stebic disappeared from her Plainfield home in April 2007. Both lived not far from where the remains were found.

"We know the identity is not going to be known until they do DNA testing," said Melanie Greenberg, a spokeswoman for Stebic's family. "We're cautiously hopeful that it might be Lisa. If it's not Lisa, our second wish is that it would be Stacy Peterson so that at least one of our families could get closure."

On Thursday, Illinois State Police continued searching for further evidence in the area where the body was found, along the river near Channahon just west of Interstate Highway 55.

WHAT WILL THE DNA PROVE? LISA STEBIC OR STACY PETERSON? WE ARE ALL WAITING...

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-body-found-22may22,0,2618060.story

GEORGIA: GEORGE ZINKHAN BURIED HIMSELF, COMMITTED SUICIDE

Georgia Bureau of Investigation official seal: Crime fighters get their man!

Authorities swarm wooded area in Bogart, Georgia, where cadaver dogs found a body.

Law enforcement agents worked near a wooded area where the Jeep belonging to murder suspect George Zinkhan was found. (Vino Wong/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via Associated Press)

Phil Skinner / pskinner@ajc.com
Athens police cordoned off an area of the Cleveland Road Elementary School playground after reports that a body was found near where George Zinkhan’s car was found.

Alpha K9 Search & Rescue cadaver dogs Circe (left) and Madison located the body of George Zinkhan Saturday. PHIL SKINNER /pskinner@ajc.com

Zinkhan’s body found in grave he dug
Police searched two days near elementary school
By Rhonda Cook, Kent A. Miles , Chip Towers
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution / Saturday, May 09, 2009

Fugitive murder suspect George Martin Zinkhan III dug his own grave and covered himself with debris before firing a single bullet into his head, investigators said Saturday.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigations’ state crime lab confirmed early Saturday evening that the body discovered earlier that day in the woods outside Athens was Zinkhan, authorities said.

“A person not accustomed to the woods would not have found it,” Athens-Clarke County Police Chief Jack Lumpkin said. “The body was beneath the earth… The body was purposely concealed in a manner not to be discovered .”

Searchers found two handguns in the grave.

Zinkhan’s well-hidden body was discovered Saturday by cadaver dogs — an Australian shepherd and a German Shepherd — at 9:50 a.m. Saturday. The civilian Alpha Search and Rescue Team was working woods beyond the initial search area.

Zinkhan’s temporary grave was in thick woods about 1,000 yards from an elementary school and about a mile from where his red Jeep Liberty was recovered more than a week ago. Zinkhan’s home in Bogart in Clarke County is not far away.

BIZARRE ENDING TO A BIZARRE MAN...

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/2009/05/09/%20body_found_near_zinkhan_car.html

GEORGE ZINKHAN: BODY BURIED IN GEORGIA; WHO KILLED THE KILLER?

MAP OF ATHENS, GEORGIA. TOWN OF BOGART IS TO THE LEFT.
Cadaver dogs found the body about 10 miles west of Athens in Bogart, where Mr. Zinkhan lived.

Police have discovered a body said to resemble University of Georgia professor George Zinkhan, who they say shot and killed three people, including his estranged wife, at a theater group picnic April 25. (Richard Hamm/Athens Banner-Herald/AP Photo)

GBI (GEORGIA BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION)
The GBI released these sketches of wanted triple-murder suspect George Zinkhan that show how he may appear today.

Authorities Identify Body in Georgia Woods as That of Fugitive Professor Wanted in Killings
Saturday, May 09, 2009 / FOX NEWS

A body found hidden in dirt and brush Saturday in the north Georgia woods is a professor accused of killing his wife and two others, authorities said.

A massive manhunt had been under way for University of Georgia marketing professor George Zinkhan, who vanished after the April 25 shootings at a community theater near the Atlanta campus.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation State Crime laboratory confirmed Saturday evening that the remains discovered earlier in northwest Athens-Clarke County were those of Zinkhan.

Athens-Clarke County Police Chief Joseph Lumpkin announced the news of the identification of the fugitive professor's body.

The guns matched those described by witnesses to the shootings, though police did not say how they believe Zinkhan died.

Authorities hoped to have a cause of death by the end of Saturday.

Cadaver dogs found Zinkhan's body about 10 miles west of Athens in thick woods in Bogart, where he lived.

Searchers — as many as 200 at one point — had been scouring the woods since his Jeep was found wrecked and abandoned in a ravine about a mile away a week ago.

HOW DID GEORGE ZINKHAN GET BURIED IN THE GEORGIA WOODS?

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,519625,00.html

DREW PETERSON: HOW MANY WIVES CAN YOU KILL BEFORE BEING CAUGHT?

AP / May 7, 2009 / State police Lt. Carl Anderson with a fellow investigator escort Drew Peterson into District 5 State Police headquarters in Lockport, Ill.

Peterson’s fiancee, Christina Raines, 24: ‘I just don’t believe it’

Feb. 13: Drew Peterson, who is suspected in the disappearance of his fourth wife and the death of his third, and his fiancee, Christina Raines, talk about their plans for the future.
Today show

Drew Peterson Charged With Murdering Third Wife, Held on $20M Bond
Thursday, May 07, 2009 / FOX NEWS

After pursing Drew Peterson for 1 1/2 years after the disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, authorities in Illinois closed in Thursday, arresting the former Chicago-area police sergeant on two counts of first-degree murder in the drowning death of his third wife.

Peterson — who launched into the national spotlight after Stacy Peterson's suspicious disappearance in October 2007 — is being held on $20 million bond, police and prosecutors said Thursday night at a news conference.

Peterson, 55, hasn't been charged in Stacy Peterson's disappearance. But he now is criminally accused of killing Kathleen Savio, the third wife, who was found at home dead in a dry bathtub on March 1, 2004.

Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow said at the news conference that a judge granted his request for $20 million bond "without question."

"This is an extremely grave and serious matter, and I think that's reflected in the bond," Glasgow said.
An arraignment is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. CDT Friday in Joliet, Ill.

Glasgow said he intends to introduce evidence at trial that would allow Savio "to testify from the grave" through third-party statements uncovered during the investigation.

A recently passed law, spurred by the Savio and Stacy Peterson cases, would allow the statements to be admitted as an exception to hearsay rules if they are proven in a pre-trial hearing to be reliable, probative and relevant, he said.

"We're very confident in our case," Glasgow said.

Police said the arrest and indictment were the result of 18 months of intensive police work that garnered hundreds of leads and produces thousands of pages of investigative reports.
The search continues for Stacy Peterson, police said.

Drew Peterson is being held at the Will County Adult Detention Facility in Joliet, Ill., under supervision of the Will County Sheriff's office. His children were taken by police and transferred to family services.

STUNNING ARREST OF DREW PETERSON... http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,519392,00.html

SKYLAR DELEON: "WELL-DESERVED DEATH" FOR DROWNING TOM AND JACKIE HAWKS

TRUSTING VICTIMS
Thomas Hawks, a retired probation officer, was a victim in a chilling 2004 murder. He and his wife, Jackie Hawks, were spending time on their yacht, the Well-Deserved, when they were forced by assailants to sign over the boat and then tied to an anchor and thrown into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Catalina Island. The suspected murderer is former child actor and one-time Mighty Morphin Power Rangers extra Skylar DeLeon, who has pleaded not guilty and is currently under trial for the crime. Neither body has been discovered. (Courtesy of the Hawks Family)

Tom and Jackie Hawks (top) were murdered by Skylar Deleon, (bottom left) while at sea on their yacht, the Well-Deserved. (Courtesy of the Hawks Family/Skylar Deleon)

THE MASTERMIND AND LURE
Skylar James DeLeon, 26, and former wife, Jennifer Henderson, 24. Pregnant Jennifer convinced the Hawks to believe her husband wanted to buy their yacht by bringing their 9-month old baby aboard the yacht. Jennifer Henderson received two life terms without parole.

ACCOMPLICE
Myron Gardner, Sr., 45: Suspect accused in the murder of Thomas and Jackie Hawks. Myron Sandora Gardner had been a longtime member of the Insane Crips Gang in Long Beach. His gang moniker was "Fly." (JACK E. HANCOCK, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER)

ACCOMPLICE AND STAR WITNESS FOR PROSECUTION
Alonso Machain, 22: Machain explained in court that his assignment was to restrain Jackie Hawks above deck. Machain said Skylar Deleon asked him to tape the couple's eyes and mouths shut. He watched as Skylar Deleon grabbed an anchor and some rope, tied the Hawks to the anchor and brought them to the back of the boat.

ACCOMPLICE

John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 40: Jury recommends execution. Deleon threw the anchor overboard while Kennedy pushed the Hawkses down toward the water until the anchor pulled them overboard.

Skylar Deleon gets death sentence in Newport Beach yacht murders
-- Christine Hanley / 12:14 PM / April 10, 2009

A Long Beach man was sentenced to death today for lashing Thomas and Jackie Hawks to the anchor of a yacht and throwing them overboard off the coast of Newport Beach in a plot to steal the vessel and plunder the couple’s life savings.

Skylar Deleon showed little reaction as Orange County Superior Court Judge Frank Fasel explained that mitigating factors -- including any abuse Deleon suffered while growing up -- were outweighed by the “horrors” of the 2004 murders of the Hawkses and the earlier 2003 slaying of John Peter Jarvi in a Mexican desert.

Deleon was convicted of all three murders.

READ MORE...
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/04/skylar-deleon-gets-death-sentence-in-newport-yacht-murders.html

READ BACKGROUND OF HOW A CHILD GROWS UP WITH NO CONSCIENCE...

'Yacht' Killer Mom: Deleon's Home of Drugs, Orgies
Drama in Courtroom as Killer's Mom Recounts How Son Almost Drowned
By LEE FERRAN and KIMI CULP / Oct. 29, 2008
http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/story?id=6137048&page=1

MORE OF SKYLAR DELEON'S DEMENTED MIND...

While awaiting trial in jail, Deleon was also charged with soliciting another inmate to murder his father and cousin. He was also accused of killing John Jarvi, a resident of Anaheim who was found dead in Mexico in 2003.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skylar_Deleon