DES MOINES: JENNIFER WALSTRAND, 28, HOMICIDE. PLEASE HELP

UPDATE: Murdered 28-Year Old Des Moines Woman Identified

Posted by Scott Schaefer on Thursday, September 2, 2010 at 11:06 pm

According to The Seattle Times, the King County Medical Examiner’s Office has identified the woman who was found murdered in her Des Moines apartment Tuesday as Jennifer L. Walstrand, 28.

Walstrand apparently died from multiple stab wounds and blunt-force injury to the head.

As we reported Tuesday (Aug. 31st), police found her body in a triplex apartment in the 24000 block of 25th Ave South, near Highline Community College.

Police say that the landlord of the complex, who lives in an adjacent unit, called 911 just after midnight, after hearing “thumping” sounds a short time earlier. The landlord also stated the dogs inside the unit were barking excessively, which was unusual.


READ MORE: JENNIFER WALSTRAND MURDERED. HELP  FAMILY FIND THE KILLER. 
http://www.waterlandblog.com/2010/09/02/update-murdered-28-year-old-des-moines-woman-identified/

MITRICE RICHARDSON: REMAINS FOUND IN REMOTE MALIBU CANYON

Remains found in Malibu Canyon identified as Mitrice Richardson
By Alan Duke, CNN
August 13, 2010 10:55 a.m.

Los Angeles, California (CNN) -- Skeletal remains found in a remote area of Malibu Canyon on Monday are those of Mitrice Richardson, a California woman who disappeared last year, Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca said Thursday.


Richardson, 24, was last seen leaving a sheriff's station in Malibu after being detained by sheriff's deputies on a citizen's arrest complaint made by a restaurant manager in September.


"We have no indication of a homicide at this point," Baca said. "I don't believe that the remains are capable of telling us a story."


The remains, which included a human skull, were found Monday by park rangers searching the area for marijuana groves, said Los Angeles County Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore.


"It's incredibly treacherous terrain," Whitmore said of the remote site. "There is no road, no trail even if you know exactly where you are going."


Whitmore describes the terrain while families wait for word


The woman's father reacted angrily after watching the sheriff's news conference from the rear of the room.


"Now you guys are going to see the real Michael Richardson come out," Michael Richardson said.


Richardson said he was holding sheriff's deputies responsible for his daughter's death, either because of negligence or criminal intent.


READ MYSTERIOUS DETAILS: HOW DID MITRICE RICHARDSON DISAPPEAR FROM JAIL?
http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/08/12/california.remains.found/index.html?eref=rss_mostpopular&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_mostpopular+%28RSS%3A+Most+Popular%29

PHILIP MARKOFF: CRAIGSLIST KILLER COMMITS SUICIDE IN JAIL

Alleged 'Craigslist Killer' Philip Markoff found dead in jail: police
BY Beverly Ford In Boston AND Helen Kennedy In New York
DAILY NEWS WRITER
Originally Published:Sunday, August 15th 2010, 1:32 PM

The Boston medical student who preyed on Craigslist escorts and murdered a Manhattan model last year was found dead in prison Sunday - an apparent suicide on what would have been his first wedding anniversary.


Philip Markoff, 24, was found dead Sunday morning in his Nashua St. Jail cell in Boston, where he was awaiting his March murder trial.


He may have died Saturday, the exact anniversary of his canceled wedding.


A prison source told the Daily News that Markoff was found with a plastic bag over his head, stabbed in the neck and legs. There was a lot of blood.


Prison officials would not confirm that report.


A separate source, a guard at the prison, told the News that Markoff's training in anatomy might have helped him beat anti-suicide measures.


"He's one step beyond other inmates and can do things other inmates can't, because he knows about the human body," the guard told the News. "He's a medical student so if he gets a sharp instrument, he might be able to bleed himself out."


Markoff was arrested in April 2009 for the murder of Julissa Brisman, 26, a model and aspiring actress from the Upper West Side.


Brisman, who moonlighted as an erotic masseuse, was shot dead when she fought Markoff's attempts to tie her up and rob her in the plush Marriott Copley Place hotel in downtown Boston.


Police said Markoff had answered her ad on Craiglist.


When Markoff, a native of upstate New York, was arrested, he was about to start medical school and marry Megan McAllister, his college sweetheart at the University of Albany.

They had a ritzy Jersey Shore wedding planned for Aug. 14, 2009.


READ MORE: PHILIP MARKOFF, JULISSA BRISMAN KILLER, DEAD
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2010/08/15/2010-08-15_alleged_craigslist_killer_philip_markoff_found_dead_in_jail_police.html

3 KILLERS CONFESS: BEAT, THREW WALTER HULL OFF BRIDGE 20 YRS AGO

Janet Jensen Staff photographer
The Yaquina Bay Bridge stands at the edge of the Pacific Ocean in Newport, Ore. Three people recently admitted playing a part in tossing 16-year-old Walter Thomas Ackerson Jr. of Puyallup off the bridge in 1990. His body was never found.

Killer's confession caps 20 years of lies
SEAN ROBINSON; Staff writer /thenewstribune.com
Published: 07/04/10

For a long time, Karen Hull stopped saying she was the mother of a missing child. It was easier not to tell the story. The dreams came less.

For a long time, she didn’t know what happened to Walter in 1990. She knows now.

Walter Thomas Ackerson Jr., an undergrown Puyallup boy of 16, was beaten to death, or close to it. He was 200 miles from home, a student at a federal Job Corps center on the Oregon Coast.

His assailants: three older boys, fellow Job Corps students. After the beating, they carried Walter, perhaps still alive, to the second southbound pillar of Newport’s Yaquina Bay Bridge, a crescent of cable and steel looming 10 stories above the edge of the Pacific Ocean.

They shoved Walter over the rail and watched him fall.

They lied for 20 years.

THE FACTS

Confessions came in August 2009. Charges of first-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter were filed Wednesday in Lincoln County, Ore., Circuit Court: trial to follow, date to be determined.

The defendant: Troy Culver, 40, of Prineville, Ore., a one-time classmate of Walter’s at Job Corps. In multiple statements to police, he admitted killing the teen and throwing him off the bridge. Bail: $1.25 million.

Read facts about the senseless murder of Walter Hull in Oregon...
http://www.thenewstribune.com/2010/07/04/1251726/killers-confession-caps-20-years.html#ixzz0ssNgsBdy

OREGON: KYRON HORMAN, MORE MYSTERIES, MORE QUESTIONS

Mystery 911 Call to Kyron Horman's Home Adds to Police Case
Step-mother Terri Horman Pleaded Guilty of 'Reckless Endangerment' of Her Son
By NEAL KARLINKSY, SARAH NETTER and DEAN SCHABNER
June 30, 2010 / ABCNews.com

A call to 911 from the home of Kyron Horman's father and stepmother has been added to the police investigation of the 7-year-old boy's disappearance.

Sheriff's officials would confirm only that someone had called 911 from Kaine and Terri Horman's home late Saturday, the same day that Kaine Horman reportedly moved out, taking the couple's young daughter with him.

The reason for the call has not been released, and police said the call is now part of their case into Kyron's disappearance. Two days later, Kaine Horman filed for divorce and a restraining order against Terri Horman, the last person known to have seen Kyron alive nearly a month ago.

A records search of Terri Horman under her current, maiden and previous married names turned up a DUI conviction in 2005 in which she pleaded guilty not only to driving under the influence, but also to "reckless endangerment of another."

(snip)

The divorce papers cite "irreconcilable differences."

But to file the type of emergency restraining order that he did, Kaine Horman would have had to made the case that his wife posed an immediate threat to him or their 18-month old daughter, according to former FBI special agent Brad Garrett.

The restraining order prohibits Terri Horman from having contact with her other children, an older son and the toddler daughter. Kaine Horman is asking Oregon courts for sole custody of the little girl.

READ: WHERE IS KYRON HORMAN?
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/kyron-horman-family-crumbles-amid-explosive-court-documents/story?id=11050953

JORAN van der SLOOT CONFESSES: "I DID NOT WANT TO DO IT..."

Police: Van der Sloot Confesses to Peru Killing
Published June 08, 2010 / FOXNews.com

Dutchman Joran van der Sloot, long the prime suspect in the 2005 disappearance of a U.S. teen in Aruba, has confessed to killing a young Peruvian woman in his Lima hotel room last week, a police spokesman said.

Peru's chief police spokesman, Col. Abel Gamarra, told The Associated Press that Van der Sloot admitted under police questioning Monday that he killed 21-year-old Stephany Flores on May 30.

According to La Republica newspaper, Van der Sloot told officials he broke Flores' neck in a rage after he discovered she had used his notebook computer without permission and learned he was involved in the disappearance of Holloway.

"I did not want to do it," La Republica quoted him as saying. "The girl intruded into my private life."

Asked about the Van der Sloot confession, a brother of the victim, Enrique Flores, told the AP "we are not going to make any comment. This is in the hands of the police, of the justice system."

(snip)

Gamarra said the case would now be turned over to prosecutors to present formal charges and Van der Sloot will be assigned to a prison while he awaits trial. Murder convictions carry a maximum of 35 years in prison in Peru and it was not immediately clear if a confession could lead to a reduced sentence.

READ: JORAN van der SLOOT CONFESSES TO KILLING STEPHANY FLORES...
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/06/08/report-van-der-sloot-confesses-peru-murder/

WA: MICHELE ANDERSON, JOE McENROE ELGIBLE FOR DEATH PENALTY

Judge OKs death penalty option in Carnation killings
By Matt Markovich & KOMO Staff
Story Published: Jun 4, 2010

SEATTLE -- Prosecutors can seek the death penalty against Michele Anderson, the woman accused of killing six members of her family in Carnation on Christmas Eve 2007, following a judge's decision Friday.

Anderson and her former boyfriend, Joe McEnroe, are both of killing Anderson's parents, her brother, her brother's wife and her nephew and niece.

The two defendants' attorneys argued the prosecutor over-stepped the law by seeking the death penalty in their cases. They'd hoped the judge would find the state's death penalty laws too broad, making the two defendants ineligible for the punishment.

But in a lengthy decision that took Superior Court Judge Jeffery Ramsdell 40 minutes to read, he disagreed with their argument.

"Given the magnitude of these alleged crimes - the slaying of three generations of a family and particularly the slaying of two young children, I find that there are not sufficient reasons to keep the death penalty from being considered by the juries that will ultimately hear these matters," said the judge.

The judge's ruling validates a decision made by King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg to seek the death penalty against both defendants.

"I think the judge affirmed what Mr. Satterberg has been saying all along, and this doesn't change the nature of the case for the last two and half years," said Deputy Prosecutor James Konat.

Throughout the whole hearing, McEnroe rarely took his eyes off the judge. Anderson, on the other hand, stared away and rarely looked up.

READ: MICHELE ANDERSON AND JOE McENROE ELGIBLE FOR DEATH PENALTY FOR SLAUGHTER OF FAMILY...
http://www.komonews.com/news/local/95663319.html

WA: LINDSEY BAUM GONE ONE YR, PEOPLE AND DOGS SEARCH FOREST

New search in disappearance of Lindsey Baum
by TRICIA MANNING-SMITH / KING 5 News
KING5.com / Posted on June 5, 2010

MCCLEARY, Wash. - The first anniversary of Lindsey Baum's disappearance is nearing. Crews are meticulously picking through different forested areas around McCleary this weekend, using new tactics to find evidence of her or her captor. Shoulder to shoulder, volunteers wield rakes, picks, even machetes. They're looking for anything that shouldn't naturally be there.

"This is probably the hardest part of the searching part for evidence, especially when you have to go through all the brush as these folks," said volunteer crew boss Doyle Wenzel. "Its amazing what you can find out in the forest that people have discarded. We found a safe earlier this morning, clothing, blankets, gloves.... "

Wenzel marks and categorizes every bit of potential evidence. This weekend's hunt through the brush around the Grays Harbor town of McCleary is a combination of old and new: Volunteers use old-fashioned hand tools to search out areas defined by new technology. Analysts sitting in offices have cross referenced computerized tips, GPS images and reports to narrow down the search field.

The lack off any solid evidence surrounding Baum's disappearance last June at least leaves hope that she might still be living. Yet, cadaver trained dogs also join the hunt for clues.

READ: NEW SEARCH FOR LINDSEY BAUM IN MCCLEARY, WASHINGTON...
http://www.king5.com/news/local/New-Search-in-Lindsey-Baum-Disappearance-Case-95697559.html

CHOMP: I live in Washington state, so this missing little girl is close to my heart. The searchers had a good day to search on Saturday, but today, Sunday, it is raining. One thing I learned about Seattle people, the rain doesn't make any difference; they keep on going and doing like it's a normal, summer day. So the rain won't delay the search for Lindsey Baum.

ILLINOIS: SEARCH FOR STACY PETERSON AT HUNTING GROUND

Following New Lead, Illinois Authorities Dig for Body of Stacy Peterson
Published June 05, 2010 / FOXNews.com

DEVELOPING: Authorities in rural Illinois began digging Saturday for the remains of missing woman Stacy Peterson, Fox News has confirmed.

Following a new lead in the woman's disappearance, authorities are searching for "human remains" in an area east of Peoria, Ill., the Chicago Sun-Times reported Saturday.

Sources reportedly told the newspaper that investigators, using dogs, searched a hunting ground east of Peoria on Friday and then returned Saturday to dig in a specific area.

Peterson disappeared in October 2007. Her case drew national attention after her husband Drew Peterson, a 56-year-old ex-cop, was named a suspect in both her disappearance and the death of a previous wife.

"There is a search underway for human remains, however no human remains have been located at this point," Peoria County Coroner Johanna Ingersoll told the newspaper.

As state police scoured the rural area on Saturday, Peterson's attorney, Joel Brodsky, called the situation "patently ridiculous."

Brodsky said Peterson's position is that Stacy ran off with another man.

"The current report about Stacy Peterson is just another in a long line of baseless allegations against Drew Peterson," Brodsky said in a statement Saturday.

"Ever since Stacy disappeared there have been numerous rumors, gossip and reports about Drew Peterson. The one thing all of these stories have in common is that they always prove to be false and there are never any facts or evidence to back them up," he said

Peterson is scheduled to go on trial next month on charges of killing his third wife, Kathleen Savio. No one has been charged in Stacy Peterson's case.

READ: WILL STACY PETERSON EVER BE FOUND?
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/06/05/following-new-lead-illinois-authorities-dig-body-stacy-peterson/

RENO: JAMES BIELA, DEATH FOR KILLING BRIANNA DENISON; I APPROVE!

Death penalty for James Biela
posted on: June 3, 2010

Death for James Biela. Justice for Bri.

The blue-ribbon-lined buttons bearing Brianna Denison's smiling face that appeared on the lapels of dozens of people in the courtroom after the verdict summed it up."It's what we wanted," said Lauren Denison, Brianna's aunt.

"It turned out right," said Barbara Zunino, Brianna's grandmother.

"Justice was served," said retired Reno police Detective Adam Wygnanski, one of the lead investigators on the case. "The jury had a tough job and they did it."

After three-and-a-half weeks of trial, testimony from 60 witnesses and nine hours of deliberations, the seven-woman, five-man jury rejected his lawyers' calls for life without parole and sentenced Biela to death for the 2008 rape and murder of 19-year-old Denison.

On the verdict form, the jurors acknowledged that Biela experienced a cruel and painful childhood but still agreed that he should die by lethal injection.

After the decision was announced, Judge Robert Perry told everyone in the courtroom: "My heart goes out to all of the innocent people who have been touched by this tragedy." He set July 30 for sentencing Beila on the kidnapping and two counts of sexual assault on other women.

READ: THIS SITE IS DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF BRIANNA DENISON...
The Bring Bri Justice Foundation will use all available resources to help our community and their families by raising awareness about violent crimes, personal safety, and ensuring justice is served.
http://www.briannadenison.org/

JORAN van der SLOOT: CAPTURED FOR DEATH OF STEPHANY FLORES IN HIS ROOM

Joran Van Der Sloot ARRESTED In Peru Murder Case
FRANK BAJAK and FRANKLIN BRICENO
06/ 3/10 09

Associated Press writers Eva Vergara in Santiago, Chile, Carla Salazar in Lima, Kendall Weaver in Montgomery, Alabama, Mike Warren in Buenos Aires and Michael Melia in San Juan, Puerto Rico, contributed to this report.

LIMA, Peru — He was the last person to see two young women alive – one in Aruba, one in Peru exactly five years later, police say. Joran van der Sloot was caught in a taxi Thursday, several days drive and a country away from the Lima hotel room where the second woman was found face down with a broken neck.

A fixture on TV true-crime shows after Natalee Holloway's disappearance in Aruba, the 22-year-old Dutchman did not speak or even turn his head when photographers shouted his name as Chilean police escorted him, without handcuffs, into a Santiago office for questioning.

Aruban authorities didn't prosecute van der Sloot even after he was caught on video saying he had asked a friend to dump Holloway's body. The Alabama woman's family was outraged by how Aruban authorities handled the case, and now the family of another young woman wants justice.

Van der Sloot was arrested the same day he was charged in Alabama with trying to extort $250,000 in return for giving the location of Holloway's body and describing the circumstances of Holloway's death. Federal prosecutors did not say who was allegedly extorted but filed a sworn statement saying that van der Sloot got a partial payment of $15,000 wired to a Netherlands bank.

"This isn't a coincidence, this murder," Stephany Flores' anguished father, Lima entertainment impresario Ricardo Flores, told reporters after van der Sloot's arrest.

READ: JORAN van der SLOOT AND THE MURDER OF STEPHANY FLORES...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/03/joran-van-der-sloot-prime_n_598881.html

BERESFORD-REDMAN: MEMORIAL FOR MONICA, BRUCE LEAVES MEXICO

Memorial for Monica Beresford-Redman
Husband, Bruce Beresford-Redman, questioned.
Reporter: Christina Gonzalez / Text Story by: City News
MyFOXla.com / Monday, 31 May 2010


Culver City - A private memorial service was held Sunday afternoon to honor Monica Beresford-Redman, whose husband is considered a person of interest in her death in Cancun.


Dozens of Beresford-Redman's friends streamed into the service at the Agape International Spiritual Center, which was closed to the media. But outside Agape, her sister and friends remembered her as a wonderful person a vowed to see that "justice is done."

Beresford-Redman's body was found beaten and strangled in a sewer April 8, on what would have been her 42nd birthday. Her husband, former "Survivor" producer and "Pimp My Ride" co-creator Bruce Beresford-Redman, has been questioned in the killing, but no charges have been filed.


Despite reports Bruce Beresford-Redman had been ordered to remain in Mexico pending the outcome of the investigation, he returned to Los Angeles last week and was spending time with his two children at the family's home in Rancho Palos Verdes.

READ UPDATE: SURVIVOR PRODUCER LEFT MEXICO, WHO KILLED MONICA BERESFORD-REDMAN?
http://www.myfoxla.com/dpp/news/local/monica-beresford-redman-memorial-service-20100530

BRIANNA DENISON: JAMES BIELA GUILTY ON COUNTS 1-2-3-4-5

Serial Rapist Found Guilty of Rape and Murder of Nevada Coed
Published May 27, 2010 / Associated Press


RENO, Nev. -- A Nevada man was convicted Thursday of raping and strangling a 19-year-old college coed during a string of attacks that had the city of Reno on edge two years ago.

A Washoe County District Court jury found James Biela guilty of all five counts tied to the murder of Brianna Denison and sexual assault of two other young women.

Biela showed little emotion, standing with his hands crossed in front of his waist as the verdict was read.

"It's a good verdict, well deserved," District Attorney Dick Gammick said. "Cases like this always strengthen my faith and belief in the jury system."

The same jury that took about six hours to reach a verdict now must decide whether the 28-year-old pipe fitter from Sparks should be sentenced to death.

The sexual assaults began in the fall of 2007 around the University of Nevada, Reno campus just north of the downtown casino district and culminated in Denison's strangulation in January 2008.Detectives said it was the work of a serial rapist who stalked petite women and had a fetish for thong underwear.

Fueled by thousands of tips and calls to an anonymous hot line, a nine-month-long manhunt led them to Biela, who was arrested in November 2008 after his ex-girlfriend let police take DNA from their son.

Biela's public defenders called only one witness during the trial.

READ MORE: JAMES BIELA, SERIAL KILLER, MURDERED BRIANNA DENISON...
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/05/27/man-guilty-rape-murder-nevada-coed/?test=latestnews

MICHELLE LEE: GARY McGURK PLEADS GUILTY TO BRUTAL KILLING

Gary McGurk pleads guilty to brutally killing NYPD criminologist and ex-girlfriend Michelle Lee
BY Lisa L. Colangelo, Staff Writer
NY DAILY NEWS / Friday, May, 2010

A 24-year-old Queens man pleaded guilty Thursday to the brutal 2009 slaying of his ex-girlfriend, an NYPD criminologist.

Gary McGurk admitted to slamming Michelle Lee in the head with an hammer, stabbing her in the neck with a knife and burning her body with an iron.

He then posed her battered, naked body in an effort to throw off investigators.

"I positioned her on the bed," McGurk told Queens Supreme Court Judge Gregory Lasak. "I positioned a knife in her neck."

Investigators said McGurk, who bilked the 24-year-old Lee out of thousands of dollars by pretending he had cancer, may have become enraged when she decided to cut him off.

McGurk told cops he had an on-again, off-again sexual relationship with Lee since meeting her at the CUNY John Jay College gym in 2004, where he played soccer.

"Sweet girl. Friends first, herself last," McGurk said in a statement. "She told me that she made bad decisions. I told her that I was a bad decision, joking."

Read more:
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2010/05/21/2010-05-21_guilty_plea_in_horror_slay_of_nypd_criminologist.html

GREELEY, CO: KAYLEAH WILSON FOUND IN DITCH

Autopsy of body found near where Kayleah Wilson was last seen complete; ID to come soon
By Howard Pankratz and Monte Whaley
The Denver Post / Posted: 05/19/2010

Weld County medical investigators have completed the autopsy of a badly decomposed body found in an irrigation ditch this morning near where Kayleah Wilson was last seen on March 28.

Chief deputy coroner Mark Ward said his office is working with local experts using fingerprint, DNA and dental analysis to made a final determination on the identity of the body found by a ditch rider at about 6 a.m.

He hopes to make an identification soon.

"People are waiting," Ward said. "They are holding their collective breath over the identification of this body."

Greeley Police Sgt. Joe Tymkowych said investigators also are looking at evidence collected today in and near a ditch south of Sunset Memorial Cemetery.

"At this point, its a matter of putting together information we got from the body," Tymkowych said.

He said it is unlikely that identification will come tonight.

The body was found about a mile west of the Greeley Mall, where 12-year-old Kayleah was last seen as she walked from her home to a friend's birthday party a few blocks away.

About 10 a.m., the body was removed from the ditch and taken to McKee Medical Center for identification.

This afternoon, Kayleah's mother, April Wilson returned to her home evidently distraught. Her grandmother, Brenda Jamison, said the family had been contacted by the Weld County Coroner, but would not say whether they had been told the body was Kayleah.

READ UPDATE ON KAYLEAH WILSON...
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_15117338

MELISSA HUCKABY PLEADS GUILTY TO KILLING SANDRA CANTU, AGE 8

Calif. woman pleads guilty in Sandra Cantu murder
By TERRY COLLINS and MARCUS WOHLSEN (AP)
May 11, 2010

TRACY, Calif. — A local Sunday school teacher's guilty plea in the killing of an 8-year-old girl has brought relief to residents of this small California city, even as disturbing questions remained — including how, where and why the girl was murdered.

Hours after 29-year-old Melissa Huckaby admitted on Monday to killing Sandra Cantu, police stood guard at the entrance to the mobile home park where both the victim and the defendant lived.

Evelyn McClelland, 61, a neighborhood resident for 26 years, believed the plea in last year's killing will bring some measure of peace to the victim's family and to a Northern California community striving to overcome the mistrust that descended after the girl's disappearance.

"The children are back outside playing again. This all closes a very painful chapter in Tracy," McClelland said.

A 10-day search after Sandra — a playmate of Huckaby's daughter — went missing in March 2009 ended when her body was found stuffed in a black suitcase pulled from an irrigation pond a few miles from the mobile home park.

Huckaby was arrested less than a week later after telling a reporter that the suitcase that contained Sandra's body was hers, but it had been stolen out of her driveway the day Sandra disappeared.

Her guilty plea in San Joaquin County Superior Court to first-degree murder with a special circumstance of kidnapping came in a deal with prosecutors.

All other charges — including two involving rape and lewd or lascivious conduct with a child under 14 — were dropped under the agreement, according to court spokeswoman Sharon Morris. Huckaby would have been eligible for the death penalty if convicted in a jury trial.

Morris said Huckaby now faces 25 years to life in prison without the possibility of parole when she is sentenced next month.

READ MORE ABOUT MELISSA HUCKABY'S GUILTY PLEA ...
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hTgIBQMy%20R5y2qNQNgf0qhvaroXQQD9FKGDS00

SEATTLE: JIM SANDER'S WIDOW FORGIVES CRAIGSLIST KILLERS

Widow of murder victim forgives his killers
by LORI MATSUKAWA
KING 5 News / KING5.com
Posted on May 6, 2010

PUYALLUP, Wash. - Charlene Sanders is a woman of great faith who says she will carry on the mission of her late husband, Jim Sanders.

"That is my mission now," she says from Bethany Baptist Church where she worships. "To finish what my husband started with witnessing (for Christ). He wanted to see people come to Christ, even murderers."

Jim Sanders was shot and killed April 28 in front of Charlene and their two sons during a robbery in their home. Four people are in custody in what's being called the Craigslist robbery because the suspects pretended to be interested in buying a diamond ring Sanders advertised on Craigslist.

When Charlene saw the female suspect, Amanda Knight, during her arraignment Wednesday, she said it was "chilling."

"I remember thinking, 'Your phone call to my husband, the female voice, is what probably made him let his guard down,'" said Sanders.

She says she'll never forget the look on her husband's face.

READ AND WATCH VIDEO: JIM SANDER'S WIFE CHARLENE SANDERS...
http://www.king5.com/video/featured-videos/1-on-1-with-Charlene-Sanders-93033134.html

SEATTLE: CRAIGSLIST SUSPECT AMANDA KNIGHT SOBS IN COURT

Female suspect in Craigslist murder cries in court
by DREW MIKKELSEN
KING 5 News and KING5.com / Posted on May 5, 2010

TACOMA, Wash. - Twenty-one-year-old Amanda Knight cried as she made her first court appearance Wednesday, pleading not guilty to murder, assault and robbery charges in a deadly Craigslist home invasion robbery.

Bail was set at $2 million.

Knight is charged along with 22-year-old Kiyoshi A. Higashi, 20-year-old Joshua N. Reese and 23-year-old Clabon T. Berniard in the killing of Jim Sanders, who had offered a ring for sale on Craigslist.

Members of the Sanders family were in court for Knight's arraignment.

"I'm thinking, 'she's crying,' what do you think you put my family through," said Jim Sanders' wife, Charlene. "I mean, really, you guys made that choice to come to my house."

"There's consequences to every sin. You took my husband, you think I don’t cry?"

"I was supposed to be in the Dominican Republic on a beautiful vacation with some of my family and instead my vacation time turned into bereavement time," she said.

According to amended charging documents on Knight, Reese told Pierce County detectives that "he was involved in the events at the Sanders residence."

Knight also "confirmed that she was involved in the events at the Sanders residence."

Investigators also say they have linked Knight to a similar home invasion in Lake Stevens.

READ ABOUT AMANDA KNIGHT...
http://www.king5.com/news/local/Police-Edgewood-suspect-pawned-ring-taken-from-Lake-Stevens-home-92891024.html

CRAIGSLIST MURDER AGAIN: 4 INVADE EDGEWOOD, WA HOME, $1000 REWARD

Reward offered in Edgewood home invasion murder
by DREW MIKKELSEN / KING 5 News
NWCN.com / Posted on April 30, 2010

EDGEWOOD, Wash. - A $1,000 reward is now being offered in the murder of an Edgewood man who was shot while protecting his family during a home invasion robbery Wednesday.

Pierce County detectives say the robbery that ended in the death of Jim Sanders has genterated a lot of tips from the public, but none of the tips have helped them find the killers. Detectives say a tip from the public will be the only way to catch those responsible.

Sanders, 43, was selling a diamond ring on Craigslist. A woman contacted the family, saying she wanted to buy it for a Mother's Day gift. The woman came to the home with three armed men wearing bandannas. The house was ransacked. The family was tied up and beaten up. Sanders was killed after he tried to defend his family, said police.

Investigators believe the same group of robbers hit a home in Lake Stevens last weekend. In that case, the homeowner was tied up and robbed after posting an ad on Craigslist for a big screen TV.

Tacoma-Pierce County Crime Stoppers is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and charges filed in the case. All callers can remain anonymous. Call (253) 591-5959.

EDGEWOOD, WA: SEE SKETCHES OF CRAIGSLIST KILLERS...
http://www.nwcn.com/news/washington/911-tapes-released-in-Craigslist-home-homicide-92506054.html

LAURA GARZA REMAINS ID'd: SEX OFFENDER MICHAEL MELE IN JAIL

Laura Garza's Remains Found: Michael Mele Seen Leaving Club Marquee With Aspiring Dancer Night Of Disappearance
JIM FITZGERALD / 04/26/10 / HUFFINGTONPOST.COM

MIDDLETOWN, N.Y. — Remains found two weeks ago in Pennsylvania have been identified as those of an aspiring dancer from Texas who disappeared after leaving a New York City night club in 2008 with a registered sex offender, state police said Monday.

A DNA analysis confirmed the identity of 25-year-old Laura Garza of Brooklyn. She had moved to New York from McAllen, Texas, five months before she disappeared.

A group of ATV riders found the remains April 11 in Mount Cobb, Pa., several miles outside of Scranton, said Capt. Wayne Olson.

A watch described as one Garza was wearing when she disappeared was found on the remains, Olson said. Forensic experts will be brought in to examine the skeleton and determine how Garza died, he said.

"We've been in mourning since Friday, when the police told us," said a cousin, Isela Villalobos of McAllen, Texas. "It has been very difficult for the family. Laura's mother was expecting for her daughter to come in the door until that dream was shattered Friday afternoon.

"All we do is think of Laura. We have moments when we cry. We have moments when we laugh," Villalobos said in a phone interview from her restaurant in Mission, Texas. "Nothing has changed in her home in McAllen."

Garza left the bar on Dec. 3, 2008, with registered sex offender Michael Mele. He has been investigated but not charged in the case.

Mele is being held at Midstate state prison in Marcy, N.Y., for an unrelated offense. A board denied him parole in March, citing his "history of sexually deviant behavior."

READ MORE: LAURA GARZA FOUND, WILL MICHAEL MELE BE CHARGED?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/27/laura-garzas-remains-foun_n_552626.html