SHANNON HARPS: FIRST SUSPECT IN KILLING, SLAIN

Photo of Shannon Harps courtesy Cascade Chapter of the Sierra Club

William Francis Ball, first suspect in Shannon Harps murder

Convicted felon stabbed to death
Unclear how man got to Greenwood
By CASEY MCNERTHNEY AND SCOTT GUTIERREZ/ P-I REPORTERS

A man stabbed to death early Thursday has been identified as 29-year-old William F. Ball -- a convicted felon who was briefly a person of interest and later cleared in the New Year's Eve slaying of Capitol Hill resident Shannon Harps.

Ball's body was found face down just before midnight Thursday on a driveway in the 10300 block of Greenwood Avenue North. He had been stabbed once in the left side of the chest, Seattle police said.

A man who lived nearby called 911 after hearing what sounded like a body hitting the ground. He looked out to see Ball near a pool of blood, police said.

Ball struck the concrete with such force that some of his teeth were dislodged and remained in the driveway hours after he died at Harborview Medical Center.

Detectives were investigating Thursday, and police said they did not have a suspect or motive and had not found the weapon.

It was still unclear Thursday how Ball got to the homicide scene. Police were trying to determine whether he was thrown from a moving vehicle onto the concrete. A driver had reported seeing him on the ground shortly before midnight.

Police, who were called by firefighters at 12:01 a.m. Thursday to where Ball's body was found, said CPR was performed, but he could not be revived.

UNUSUAL, BIZARRE CIRCUMSTANCES...
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/352154_stabbing22.html

BRIANNA DENISON: HUNDREDS REMEMBER SLAIN STUDENT

Brianna Zunino Denison 1988 - 2008
Please, visit the Official Family Site dedicated to Brianna.
http://bringbriback.blogspot.com/

Mourners sing and pray at a candlelight vigil for Brianna Denison in Reno, Nevada, on Friday.

Mourners gathered Friday night near the University of Nevada-Reno for a vigil to remember slain college student Brianna Denison.

Slain student remembered as 'angel' at vigil

By Dan Simon/ CNN

RENO, Nevada (CNN) -- Candles illuminated the somber faces of hundreds of people who gathered Friday night near the University of Nevada-Reno for a vigil to remember slain college student Brianna Denison.

Students who never knew her joined Denison's friends at the spot on an empty field where her body was found a week earlier 10 miles from the school.

Handwritten posters said "We love you Bri" and "Shine on us Bri."

One of the speakers urged the community to stay vigilant and safe.

"For a brief moment in time, a beautiful young woman graced us with her presence," said Marc Klaas, whose daughter was kidnapped and murdered in 1993.

"But from now on, for all eternity, Reno, Nevada, will have an angel sitting on God's shoulder looking out for your children."

The horror and fear began on a cold winter night last month. A stranger apparently walked into an off-campus house and abducted the sleeping Denison.

She attended Santa Barbara City College in California, but had returned to her hometown of Reno to spend time with friends and family.

VIGIL FOR BRIANNA... http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/02/22/reno.serial.rapist/index.html

DREW PETERSON'S 3RD WIFE MURDERED: IS ANYONE SURPRISED?

(left) The grave site of Kathleen Savio at Queen of Heaven Cemetery in Hillside. (Tribune photo / Phil Velasquez)

Investigators have said Drew Peterson is a suspect in the disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy Peterson.

Drew Peterson's 3rd Wife Murdered by Drowning, New Autopsy Reveals
Thursday, February 21, 2008
ASSOCIATED PRESS

CHICAGO — The death of the third wife of former police officer Drew Peterson has been officially declared a homicide after another autopsy revealed she drowned, the Will County state's attorney said Thursday.

The second report on Kathleen Savio's March 2004 death included photos from the scene and reports from the initial investigation, along with results from microscopic examinations and toxicological tests, Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow said in a statement.

"We have been investigating this as a murder since reopening the case in November of last year," Glasgow said. "We now have a scientific basis to formally and publicly classify it as such."

Savio, 40, was found dead in her bathtub shortly before her divorce settlement with Peterson was finalized.

A coroner's jury ruled after the first autopsy that her death was accidental, but her body was exhumed last Nov. 13 after Peterson was named a suspect in the disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy Peterson. She has not been found, but Drew Peterson said she ran off with another man.

Drew Peterson told the (Joliet) Herald-News on Thursday that the results "shocked" him. "You're kidding me. Unbelievable. That's hard to believe," said Peterson, 54, a former sergeant with the Bolingbrook Police Department.

Peterson has denied any involvement in either case and he has not been charged with wrongdoing. His attorney did not immediately return a telephone call Thursday from The Associated Press.

Authorities were not prepared to name a suspect, said Charles Pelkie, a spokesman for Glasgow's office.

"The investigation continues at this point," Pelkie said. "We've got an active grand jury investigation, we've got an active state police investigation."

Savio's family members, who received the news from Illinois State Police on Thursday, were not surprised.

WOW...WHAT AN UPDATE ON THIS MYSTERY CASE...
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,331816,00.html

CHOMPING AT THE BIT...How did wife #1 and wife #2 manage to stay alive? I would like to hear from them about their life with Drew.

BRIANNA DENISON: RENO FRIENDS VOLUNTEER TO CATCH KILLER

On Thursday, Holladay said they now have connected all three attacks with DNA and were investigating the October rape of a woman who came forward on Wednesday to report she was attacked at gunpoint in a UNR parking garage within 100 yards of a campus police station.

Brianna Denison

Volunteers shift focus to find Reno woman's killer

By Sandra Chereb
ASSOCIATED PRESS
5:04 p.m. February 18, 2008

RENO, Nev. – Somber but determined volunteers Monday assembled small bundles of blue ribbons in memory of a young Reno woman while they made up new signs to be spread around the community seeking help in finding the serial rapist who killed her.

Blue was Brianna Denison's favorite color. Operating from a large fifth-floor office at Saint Mary's Regional Medical Center, about a dozen volunteers tied ribbons and heaped them on a table – making them available to anyone who stopped by.

At another table, workers made signs that read, “Bring Bri Justice.”

“Today's a day to get reorganized,” said Claudette Springmeyer, a spokeswoman for the small army of volunteers that has numbered close to 1,500 in the days and weeks since Jan. 20, when Denison, 19, was kidnapped while sleeping on a couch at a friend's rented home near the University of Nevada, Reno

(snip)

Family members said a public memorial service likely would be held later this week, though a definite date and time has not been set.

Based on the previous sexual assaults, police described the suspect as a white man, 28 to 40 years old, with a long face and square jaw. He is 5-foot-6 to 6-feet tall, of slight or medium build, with brown hair. Authorities said his pubic region was shaved.

His vehicle was described as a high, extended cab pickup or SUV with an exterior step up into the cab. The vehicle also had an interior dome light above the windshield, cloth seats, a narrow floor-mounted console, and a radio with a blue and red LED read-out.

READ...HAVE YOU SEEN THIS KILLER?

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/20080218-1704-nv-missingwoman.html