BRITTANEE DREXEL: STILL MISSING ON 18TH BIRTHDAY

BRITTANEE MARIE DREXEL ...MISSING, VANISHED, GONE
WHERE IS BRITTANEE DREXEL???

If you have information about Brittanee Drexel, please contact:

The Myrtle Beach Police Department (843)918-1000 or

The Polly Klaas® Foundation (800) 587-4357

Rachael Stein, friend of Brittanee Marie Drexel, hangs a missing poster across the street from the Bar Harbour Motel on Ocean Boulevard in Myrtle Beach. Drexel was staying at the Bar

Family braces for Brittanee Drexel's 18th birthday
Monday, October 5, 2009
By Kurt Knapek - kknapek@thesunnews.com

The pain and uncertainty of the last 163 days have been agonizing enough for the family and friends of Brittanee Drexel, the New York teen who has not been seen since leaving a Myrtle Beach hotel room in April.

But Wednesday - Drexel's 18th birthday - will likely be the most difficult of all, her mother said.

"Brittanee loved birthdays, and she loved a big deal being made about her birthday," Dawn Drexel said. "She couldn't wait until her 18th. We had a lot of plans ... a lot of things she really wanted to do."

Brittanee Drexel is still missing. She was last seen April 25 leaving the Blue Water Hotel on Ocean Boulevard, and investigators remain puzzled as to her whereabouts. Another search will take place later this month, according to the Community United Effort Center for Missing Persons in Wilmington, N.C.

Family members and investigators were encouraged to learn in late August that a missing California girl was found 18 years after she was abducted at a bus stop.

Drexel's family is planning a balloon launch next week in Rochester, N.Y., to coincide with her 18th birthday and the six-month anniversary of her disappearance.

While Drexel has missed several family holidays - Mother's Day, Father's Day and her brother's 6th birthday - along with her high school's homecoming this past weekend, Wednesday will be one of the toughest for family and friends, said Monica Caison, who has been the Community United Effort group director for 16 years.

BRITTANEE, COME HOME!
http://www.thesunnews.com/news/local/story/1101901.html

BOCA RATON TOWN CENTER: $350,000 REWARD FOR KILLER, OCT 2009

NANCY BOCHICCHIO AND DAUGHTER JOEY BOCHICCHIO-HAUSER

RANDI GORENBERG

IDEY ELIAS, RANDI GORENBERG'S MOTHER

$350,000 TO CATCH A KILLER!
Boca Raton Town Center mall murders, update October 2009
by CHOMP

Boca Raton Town Center is one of South Florida's hottest shopping malls. It is still thriving, still busy, still enjoyed by shoppers and lookers. Christmas and Hannukah are coming soon, and the mall will be packed with gift-shoppers. No one will be thinking about the three disturbing murders that happened outside in the parking lot. You know, the killings where the killer was never identified, never caught.

The families of those murdered at this mall will not be shopping here. They still suffer from the brutal, senseless killing of their family members. They still wonder why Randi Gorenberg, Nancy Bochicchio, and her daughter Joey never came home from the mall.

Randi Gorenberg, 52, was seen leaving the mall March 2007, and she was murdered soon after. She was found at Gov. Lawton Chiles Memorial Park in suburban Delray Beach, where she was shot in the head, and dumped from her black Mercedes-Benz sport utility vehicle. Her Kooba purse and Puma sneakers have never been found.

The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office found Gorenberg's bloodstained Mercedes abandoned behind Home Depot at Jog Road and West Atlantic Avenue.

She was "thrown out of her car into the street like an animal," says her 78-year-old mother, IdeyElias. "I'm her mother. I wasn't there to protect her."

Randi's son turned to drugs after his mother's cruel death, and went to rehab. Her daughter, Sarie, is a teacher in a New York private school, and she continues her education.

August 2007, another woman was adbucted from the mall parking lot, and robbed at gunpoint with her child in the back seat. She lived. She did her best to tell the police sketch artist what the abductor looked like.

December 13, 2007, Nancy Bochicchio and her daughter Joey were abducted in the mall parking lot. The gunman took both of their lives. Mother and daughter were found bound and shot to death in their idling SUV outside the Boca Raton Town Center. The two victims were last seen on mall video entering and leaving the mall.

"My sister was always singing and dancing. She, the fourth of July, I think of her singing 'Yankee Doodle Dandy' and dancing... every month has something," says JoAnn Bruno, Nancy Bochicchio's sister.

"Sometimes I see him in faces all over," says Bruno. "What could he have done? Did he come up to her friendly-like? Was he hiding in the car? Did he just show up with a gun? What would Joey thought?" adds Bruno.

POLICE TASK FORCE FORMED...AND DISSOLVED

An investigative Task Force quickly formed to follow up on almost 1,750 leads. The investigators did their best since logging 9000 investigative hours, but the crimes have never been solved.

"The Task Force has officially been disbanded, but that doesn't mean that we are not still working the case. We are," says Officer Sandra Boonenberg, Boca Raton Police Department Spokesperson.

"Once the cases were seperated forensically, the Gorenberg and our cases, and the fact that the number of leads had, you know, over time significantly gone down, there was no practical purpose to keep the Task Force," says Boonenberg.

"Our detectives have been working with other agencies locally throughout the state, throughout the country. Anything that looks like there may be a connection, they have followed up, and there's, at this point, it looks to be unique," says Boonenberg.

Boca Raton homicide detective Jeff Clare remains on the case.

BOCA RATON TOWN CENTER SAFETY

Town Center at Boca Raton, owned by Simon Property Group, took steps to increase security.

The Boca Raton mall will offer special parking areas Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. for parents and grandparents accompanying children age 12 and younger.

Over the past year and a half, new surveillance cameras have been installed on mall property, and there is now a police presence.

Simon Property Group, owners of the mall, have partnered with Crime Stoppers and other grass roots community safety organizations.

POLICE NEED TIPS

Seventeen months after Randi Gorenberg was murdered, two men used her credit card number. It was the first time anyone used her credit card number since she was murdered in March of 2007. What investigators don't know is who the men are, or whether they had Gorenberg's card or had a stolen clone of it.

The sheriff's department said the men purchased two portable Playstation hand-held game systems from the Holyoke Mall Sears, Holyoke, Mass., north of Springfield. The men also purchased food in Springfield, and a Playstation 3 from a Toys R Us in Newington, Conn.

Anyone with information about the murders can call Boca Raton police at (561) 368-6201ORPalm Beach County Crime Stoppers at (800) 458-TIP (8477)

A $350,000 reward is still offered for information leading to an arrest in the case.

ANTWAN PITTMAN: ARRESTED FOR MURDER OF 6 WOMEN

ROCKY MOUNT AND TARBORO / EDGECOMBE COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA

Antwan Maurice Pittman: arrested and charged with Taraha Nicholson's murder

Antwan Pittman, charged with murder, makes first appearance in an Edgecombe County courtroom in Tarboro on Wednesday. His court-appointed attorney, Tom Sallenger, is at right.

Taraha Shenice Nicholson: remains found March 7, 2009, on Marriott Road in Edgecombe County. Nicholson, 29, had been reported missing on Feb. 22, 2009.

Diana Nicholson, the mother of homicide victim Taraha Shenice Nicholson, is comforted during a news conference at the Edgecombe County Sheriff's office in Tarboro, N.C. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)

Man charged in one of a string of slayings in rural N.C.
The Associated Press© September 1, 2009
By Alysia Patterson / TARBORO, N.C.

A man has been arrested and charged with murder in the slaying of a woman who was among six found dead in rural North Carolina since 2005, authorities said Tuesday.

Three other women are still missing. Authorities haven't said if or how the cases may be linked, though all six dead women came from similar backgrounds and had numerous arrests on charges related to drugs and prostitution.

Edgecombe County Sheriff James Knight said Antwan Maurice Pittman, 31, was charged with one count of first-degree murder in the death of 28-year-old Taraha Shenice Nicholson. Her body was discovered north of Rocky Mount in March. Pittman did not yet have an attorney.
Wright would not comment on a possible link between Pittman and the other five women, saying only that the investigation is ongoing.

Pittman is a registered sex offender, convicted in November 1994 of taking indecent liberties with a 2-year-old. Correction Department spokesman Keith Acree said Pittman received probation for his three-year sentence, but the probation was revoked. He went to prison in January 1996 and was released in April 1997.

(snip)

Pittman's mother, Gloria Pittman, told TV station WRAL that her son is not capable of murder. "I truly believe he did not do what they're saying he did," she said.

LOTS OF QUESTIONS ON THIS CRIME...WHEN, WHERE, HOW, WHY?

http://hamptonroads.com/node/521672

CAYLEE ANTHONY: STAINS IN CAR TRUNK SHOW BODY OUTLINE???

Caylee Anthony (Florida State Attorney's Office)

Papers: Stain in Casey Anthony's trunk looks like child outline

Wed September 30, 2009 / By Ashley Hayes / CNN

(CNN) -- What appears to be the outline of a child in a fetal position can be seen in a photograph of the trunk liner from the car driven by Casey Anthony, a Florida woman charged with killing her 2-year-old daughter, according to documents released in the case.

"A very interesting photo exists of the trunk liner ... which highlights the very large stain," FBI Intelligence Analyst Karen Cowan writes to a colleague in a September 2008 e-mail contained among nearly 1,000 pages of documents released Tuesday.

"If you look closely at this photo, there appears to be the outline or silhouette of a child in the fetal position. You can make out what may be the back, bottom and legs most clearly."

An FBI supervisory photographic technologist replied in a later e-mail, "We do not report conclusions about what may or may not have left any marks or impressions in cases like this -- it is too speculative. Others can draw their own conclusions about that."

Watch Nancy Grace report on the documents »

STAY TUNED. MORE NEWS TO COME ABOUT CAYLEE ANTHONY...

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/09/30/florida.slain.girl/

JESSICA LUNSFORD: JOHN COUEY DIES BEFORE EXECUTION

Jessica Lunsford, age 9, victim of John Couey (AP)

Jessica Lunsford's murder prompted Florida and other states to pass new laws to improve tracking of sex offenders through databases and satellite positioning devices.

[AP Photo/Larry W. Smith]
Mark Lunsford speaks about the abduction and killing of his daughter, Jessica, during a S.A.F.E. Kansas Task Force panel discussion at Wichita State University.

John Couey: convicted rapist and killer of Jessica Lunsford (AP)

Records show that John Couey had no visitors while in prison.

Convicted child killer Couey dies in prison, Florida officials say

Wed September 30, 2009 / CNN.com/crime

CNN's Rich Phillips and Susan Candiotti contributed to this report.

(CNN) -- A Florida death-row inmate convicted of abducting and murdering 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford in 2005 has died, prison officials said Wednesday. John Evander Couey, 51, died at 11:15 a.m. ET of natural causes, a Florida Department of Corrections spokeswoman told CNN. He had been taken to a Jacksonville, Florida, hospital from Florida State Prison in Starke, Florida.

Because of privacy laws, no further information could be released by the Department of Corrections.

A source close to the case told CNN that Couey's death was not unexpected and he had been ill for some time.

"I never dreamed it would happen like this," Jessica's father, Mark Lunsford, told CNN. He said he never thought he would live long enough to see Couey put to death because of the lengthy appeals process.

He said he was sad when he heard the news of Couey's death. "To me, death is sad," he said. "But her death, Jessie's death, has been redeemed ... I'm relieved. I'm glad it's over with."

(snip)

"I am not shedding any tears," the girl's grandmother, Ruth Lunsford, said on Wednesday. "I don't feel sorry for him. I think God said, 'John Couey, it's time to go.' "

"I don't feel sorry for him that he had to suffer," she said. "He didn't have any mercy on my granddaughter when he murdered her. I'm glad we didn't have to wait years and years for his appeals and execution, and the taxpayers no longer have to pay for him. I'm glad that God took a hand in it."

Citrus County Sheriff Jeff Dawsy, who led the investigation into the girl's death, told reporters he wished Couey could have faced the death sentence handed down by the jury.

JOHN COUEY IS DEAD; DON'T FORGET JESSICA LUNSFORD!

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/09/30/florida.couey.dead/

HALEIGH: KRISTINA PREVATT LETTER SAYS SHE DIED FROM OVERDOSE

Misty Croslin with Ronald Cummings. (From the Florida Times-Union)

HaLeigh Cummings (Family photo)

Kristina Prevatt (Booking photo)

The letter was sent by Kristina Prevatt from the Putnam County Jail where she was taken on drug charges.

Prevatt is reportedly a close friend of Haleigh’s stepmother, Misty Cummings.

In the letter Prevatt wrote:
"We were all over at a party at Chad's house and Haleigh got a hold of some OxyContin and died. We supposedly freaked out and Greg put her (Haleigh) in a black bag in my car, and we took her to a pond by the Mondex."

THERE ARE TOO MANY UNANSWERED QUESTIONS...

AND NO ANSWERS... HALEIGH CUMMINGS IS STILL MISSING
Why did Ronald Cummings marry Misty Croslin so soon after Haleigh vanished?

Misty Croslin flunked polygraph test. She tells the news that she passed the test???

Was Misty Croslin even home the night Haleigh disappeared.

If Misty was home, did she take time to make up all the beds before she called 9-1-1?

Where was Misty Croslin the night Haleigh Cummings went missing?

How many people were in the home that evening? Who were they?

Did all these people leave the home, and where did they go?

Did one of these people take or kill Haleigh?

Why did Misty wait so long to call 9-1-1?

SUSAN ATKINS: MANSON-GANG KILLER GOT HER DEATH SENTENCE, DIES IN PRISON

Atkins and Charles Manson appear in court on Oct. 13, 1970, in Santa Monica to enter pleas in the July 27, 1969, stabbing death of musician Gary Hinman, 34, at Hinman's Topanga Canyon home. (Associated Press)

Susan Atkins, center, appears at hearing at the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla on a gurney. She recited the 23rd Psalm as her statement. Attorney James Whitehouse, her husband, is at right. (Ben Margot / Pool Photo / September 2, 2009)

Susan Atkins dies at 61; imprisoned Charles Manson follower
California's longest-serving female inmate, she was involved in one of modern history's most shocking crimes -- the 1969 Tate-LaBianca murders that terrorized Los Angeles.

By Elaine Woo / September 26, 2009 (Copyright © 2009, The Los Angeles Times)

Susan Atkins, who committed one of modern history's most notorious crimes when she joined Charles Manson and his gang for a string of killings in 1969 that terrorized Los Angeles and put her in prison for the rest of her life, has died. She was 61.

Atkins was diagnosed in 2008 with brain cancer and was receiving medical treatment at the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla, where she died at 11:46 p.m. Thursday, said Terry Thornton, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

(snip)

Atkins confessed to killing actress Sharon Tate -- the pregnant wife of director Roman Polanski -- who was stabbed 16 times and hanged; Tate's nearly full-term fetus died with her. The next night, Atkins accompanied Manson and his followers when they broke into the Los Feliz home of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca and killed them.

"She was the scariest of the Manson girls," said Stephen Kay, a former Los Angeles County deputy district attorney who helped prosecute the case and argued against Atkins' release at her parole hearings. "She was very violent."

READ MORE...GHASTLY CHARLES MANSON MURDERS ARE FINALLY ENDING...
http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-susan-atkins26-2009sep26,0,4180642.story

ANNIE LE: RAYMOND CLARK, ARRESTED, MORE THAN "PERSON OF INTEREST"

Raymond Clark III, 24, has been considered a 'person of interest' in the death of Yale student, Annie Le. Clark did custodial-type work, mostly cleaning the cages of the lab mice. (Yale University Police) (Photo of Clark courtesy of MySpace)

RAY CLARK ARRESTED FOR MURDER OF ANNIE LE.BAIL SET AT $3 MILLION !!! Raymond Clark III is taken into custody by police at the Super 8 Motel Thursday morning. DNA results released this morning connected him to the murder of Yale graduate (CLOE POISSON / HARTFORD COURANT / September 17, 2009)

Annie Le Case: Police Arrest Raymond Clark
Clark Swiped Identification in Lab Where Le's Body Found, Exchanged Texts With Le
By LEE FERRAN / Sept. 17, 2009

Police swooped in on Yale lab tech Ray Clark today, arresting him in connection with the murder of graduate student Annie Le, whose battered body was found stuffed in a wall on the day she was supposed to get married.

Investigators have gathered more than 250 pieces of evidence in the case, sources told ABC News, including text messages exchanged between Clark and Le arranging to meet on the day she disappeared.

Clark was taken into custody by police early today after investigators stood vigil all night outside a motel in Cromwell, Conn., where the suspect had retreated to room 214 on Wednesday. Earlier Wednesday, police had taken DNA samples from Clark, searched his apartment and then let him go.

A convoy of police and FBI cars pulled into the motel parking lot with lights flashing about 8 :20 a.m. while others blocked off the intersection. FBI agents ran up stairs at the back of the motel. Clark was arrested minutes later.

The arrest warrant charges Clark with murder and set bail at $3 million.

READ STORY: Raymond Clark arrested for murder of Annie Le..
http://abcnews.go.com/US/annie-le-case-police-arrest-ray-clark-murder/story?id=8598755

NEW HAVEN: ANNIE LE DEAD OR ALIVE? VANISHED BEFORE WEDDING

( Cain/APA ) Flyer bearing photos of Annie Le is posted outside the doors of the New Haven, Conn., building that houses her lab.

ANNIE LE (Facebook Photo)

ANNIE LE

(Yale University Office of Public Affairs) A 2007 graduate of the University of Rochester who is now studying for a doctorate in pharmacology and molecular medicine. Le is of Asian descent and has brown hair and brown eyes. She is 4-foot-11 and weighs 90 pounds.

Anyone with information on Annie Le’s whereabouts is asked to contact

the Yale Police Department at (203) 432-4400.

YALE SCHOOL OF MEDICINE, New Haven, Connecticut

Yale University Graduate Student Disappears Days Before Her Wedding
Thursday, September 10, 2009 By Harrison Korn, Colin Ross, Paul Needham and Florence Dethy Yale Daily News

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A 24-year-old graduate student at Yale University's School of Medicine vanished days before her wedding and has been declared missing by campus police.

Annie Marie Le, who is supposed to be married on Sunday, has not been seen or heard from since Tuesday morning, according to the Yale Police Department.

Deputy University Secretary Martha Highsmith, who oversees campus security operations, said there is no evidence of foul play in Le's disappearance but declined to elaborate because the investigation is ongoing.

The FBI and the Connecticut State Police are assisting the Yale Police Department in the search for Le. State police with bloodhounds combed the area where Le was last seen, Yale Police Chief James Perotti said in a statement.

Investigators went to the missing student's last known location, 10 Amistad Street, late Wednesday night but didn't find her.

READ STORY, LOOK FOR CLUES. CAN YOU HELP FIND ANNIE LE?
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,548904,00.html?loomia_ow=t0:s0:a16:g2:r1:c0.241776:b27640608:z0

ROCKY MOUNT,NC: NINE WOMEN MISSING...OR DEAD...REWARD!!!

A billboard shows information about 9 women who are missing or dead in Rocky Mount, N.C.


North Carolina Town on Edge After 9 Women Disappear
Friday, August 14, 2009 / Associated Press

ROCKY MOUNT, N.C. — They spent their nights jumping in and out of strange cars, trolling otherwise empty streets lined with decaying storefronts and boarded-up homes. Many sold sex to support drug habits or children left in the care of worried, hardworking grandmothers.

Even when they were picked up for drugs or prostitution, nights in jail looming, they called home to let their families know they were OK. Then, one by one, the calls stopped.

Since 2005, nine women who lived at the edges of the poor community in this small North Carolina city have disappeared. Six bodies were found along rural roads just a few miles outside town, most so decomposed that investigators could not tell how they died. At least one of the women was strangled, and all the deaths have been classified as homicides.

Three women are still missing.

Police will not say whether they suspect a serial killer, but people in the community about 60 miles northeast of Raleigh do, and they're impatient with law enforcement efforts to investigate the slayings.

After the latest body — that of 31-year-old Jarneice Hargrove — was found in June behind a burnt-out house that was once a crack den, local law enforcement and state police formed a task force.

In July, the FBI got involved.

PHOTOS: Women Mysteriously Vanish From N.C. Town

READ MORE: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,539355,00.html?test=latestnews

PENSACOLA: ASHLEY MARKHAM TO CARE FOR 13 CHILDREN OF MURDERED PARENTS

Mari Darr~welch / AP
Ashley Markham, 26, lower right, told a Florida newspaper that she and her husband intend to care for the children, saying it was her mother's wish.

AP / Booking photos provided by the Escambia County Sheriff show suspects in the home invasion and murder of Byrd and Melanie Billings found shot to death July 9, 2009. From top left: Leonard Patrick Gonzalez Jr., Leonard Patrick Gonzalez Sr., Wayne Thomas Coldiron, Gary Lamont Sumner, a juvenile whom police did not identify; Frederick Lee Thorton Jr., 19; and Donnie Ray Stallworth, 28, who was arrested in Alabama but lives in Florida.

AP / July 14: Ashley Markham, 26, daughter of Melanie Billings, is comforted by Sheriff David Morgan after his announcement of a seventh arrest in the robbery and murders of her mother and stepfather Byrd Billings. Masked suspects, some dressed as ninjas, stole a safe and other items during a deadly break-in at the sprawling Florida Panhandle home of the couple, known for adopting children with special needs.

This 2005 picture shows Byrd and Melanie Billings with their children, 10 adopted and two biological, at their home in Beulah, Fla. Melanie is holding a photograph of their late child, Bailey. In all, the couple had 17 children, 13 of them adopted. / AP

Slain couple’s daughter to care for 13 children
She says it’s what her mother wanted, plans to move into parent’s home

AP Associated Press / Sun., July 19, 2009

PENSACOLA, Fla. - The adult daughter of a slain Florida couple known for adopting 13 special needs children said she is planning to move into her parents' home and raise the children as her own. Ashley Markham, 26, told the Pensacola News Journal in Sunday's editions that she and her husband intend to care for the children, saying it was her mother's wish.

A phone message was left by The Associated Press on Sunday with her attorney, Crystal Spencer.

Markham also defended her parents, Byrd and Melanie Billings, whose lives and deaths had gained national attention since the July 9 attack.

Byrd Billings, 66, was an entrepreneur who had dabbled in used cars, boats and the adult entertainment industry. His 43-year-old wife was a country music lover who fed the homeless and was devoted to her MySpace page. They adopted 13 children with autism, Down Syndrome and other developmental disabilities and lived in a sprawling home west of Pensacola.

Markham said her father was able to build a comfortable life for the family through a lifetime of hard work and planning.

"My dad is a very smart businessman. My dad worked from 6 in the morning to 8 at night Monday through Saturday," Markham said.

The two were found slain at their home in what authorities described as a well-executed invasion captured on surveillance video. Nine of the couple's children were in the home during the attack, though none were injured. Eight people have been arrested in the case, including a teenager, an Air Force Sergeant and an antique mall owner.

READ...TRAGIC STORY OF BYRD AND MELANIE BILLINGS AND THEIR 16 CHILDREN...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31995634/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/

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

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