MAN KILLS WIFE, TAKES KIDS: SOME MEN ARE HEROES, SOME ARE COWARDS!

Sofia Garcia's body was found Monday afternoon, April 21, 2008, at a home in the 1700 block of North Harding Avenue in Chicago. Police are looking for Benito Casanova, and issued an Amber Alert Monday after they say he picked up Garcia's three children from school Friday and hasn't been seen since. (Memorial photo)

A memorial for Sofia Garcia was put together Tuesday at Yates Elementary School where she used to take ESL classes. Garcia was found murdered and her three children are missing. (Tribune photo by Candice C. Cusic / April 22, 2008)

Benito Casanova is sought in the abduction of three children; Oscar Casanova, 6; Karla Casanova, 7; and Fernando Casanova, 11. Their mother, Sophia Garcia, was found dead in the 1700 block of North Harding Avenue about noon Monday with a plastic bag over her head. (Photo courtesy National Center for Missing & Exploited Children)

Oscar Casanova, 6, (from left) Karla Casanova, 7, and Fernando Casanova, 11, are reported to have been abducted at 2:30 p.m. on Friday from the 1800 block of North Richmond Street in Chicago. They may be in a a silver/gray Dodge Dakota with single Illinois license plate, No. 86196HB. (National Center for Missing & Exploited Children photo)

Slain Chicago woman had order of protection against husband
Amber Alert: Father sought in connection with children's abduction
By Angela Rozas, Ofelia Casillas and Dan P. Blake Tribune reporters
4:50 PM CDT, April 22, 2008

A mother of three found dead with a plastic bag over her head had an order of protection barring her husband from contacting her, according to court records.

Police are looking for the man, Benito Casanova, and issued an Amber Alert Monday after they say he picked up her three children from school Friday and hasn't been seen since.

The order of protection, granted by authorities in February 2007 and in effect until 2009, came after Sofia Garcia, 30, alleged Casanova choked her in her home and told her he would kill her if she wouldn't take him back."

He had entered my home and hid until I returned," she wrote in the petition, ". . .[choked] me telling me that he was going to kill me because I did not want to be with him. He ALWAYS tells me that he is going to KILL me if I don't take him back, then kill himself."

WHAT KIND OF MAN KILLS THE MOTHER OF HIS CHILDREN?

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-amber-alert-webapr22,0,2876911.story

(Tribune reporters Jeremy Gorner and Kristen Kridel contributed to this report.)

AMBER ALERT:

Benito Casanova, described as about 6-foot-1, 230 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes.

The children were identified as: Fernando Casanova, 11, Karla Casanova, 7, and Oscar Casanova, 6. Police said Benito Casanova is the father of Fernando and Oscar Casanova. Fernando is described as 5 feet tall and 130 pounds. Oscar is described as 4 feet tall and 60 pounds. Karla is about 4 feet tall and 75 pounds.

The three children are Hispanic with brown hair and eyes.

They may be traveling in a 2002 silver or gray Dodge Dakota,

with Illinois license plate 86196HB, police said. One plate is missing from the car.

ALASKA RANGER: US COAST GUARD INVESTIGATES SINKING

Ex-captain grilled at hearing on Alaska Ranger sinking
By Hal Bernton / Seattle Times staff reporter

Contact Hal Bernton: 206-464-2581 or hbernton@seattletimes.com

Saturday, April 19, 2008 - Page updated at 12:00 AM

Steve Slotvig is a burly veteran of the Bering Sea fisheries with a gold anchor earring and, as former captain of the Alaska Ranger, an insider's knowledge of the vessel and crew.

Slotvig said he quit the command March 5, less than three weeks before the Alaska Ranger sprung a stern leak and went down in the Bering Sea. His abrupt midseason departure was spurred by fatigue and a troubled relationship with a Japanese fishmaster.

"I needed the break. I had been up there a long time, and when he got angry with me, I asked to be put on another vessel," Slotvig testified to Coast Guard officials Friday in Seattle.

Slotvig is a high-profile witness in the marathon Marine Board of Investigation hearings into the circumstances surrounding the sinking that claimed the lives of five of the 47 crew aboard the factory trawler. The hearings began in Alaska on March 28.

His Friday testimony triggered some of the most testy, combative exchanges yet as Coast Guard investigators pressed Slotvig to describe the widespread ice during the winter fishing season and his relationship with fishmaster Satoshi Konno, a representative of Japanese seafood buyers who died when the vessel sank.

Konno's influence on the vessel has been a point of contention because federal laws require licensed American captains such as Slotvig to be in command. Seattle-based Fishing Company of Alaska, which operated the Alaska Ranger, has fishmasters assisting American captains to find and catch fish.

WHAT REALLY HAPPENED? THE INVESTIGATION CONTINUES...

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004359699_ranger19m.html

COLUMBIA, S.C.: TEEN HAD ALL THE SUPPLIES TO MAKE BOMB

South Carolina Teen Arrested for Alleged High School Bomb Plot
Sunday, April 20, 2008

COLUMBIA, S.C. — A high school senior collected enough supplies to carry out a bomb attack on his school and detailed the plot in a hate-filled diary that included maps of the building and admiring notations about the Columbine killers, authorities said Sunday.

Ryan Schallenberger, 18, was arrested Saturday after his parents called police when 10 pounds of ammonium nitrate was delivered to their home in Chesterfield and they discovered the journal, said the town's police chief, Randall Lear.

The teen planned to make several bombs and had all the supplies needed to kill dozens at Chesterfield High School, depending on where the devices were placed and whether they included shrapnel, Lear said. Ammonium nitrate was used in the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 that killed 168 people.

"The only thing left was delivering the bombs," the police chief said.

Schallenberger kept a journal for more than a year that detailed his plans for a suicide attack and included maps of the school, police said. The writings did not include a specific time for the attack or the intended targets.

He also left an audio tape to be played after he died explaining why he wanted to bomb his school. Lear wouldn't detail what was on the tape except to say Schallenberger was an angry young man.

SCARY STORY! READ ON...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,351894,00.html

BIMBO JIMBO...

LOS ANGELES: TWO OLD WOMEN GUILTY OF KILLING TWO OLD MEN

Luis Sinco / AP
Helen Golay, 77, listens as guilty verdicts are read against her in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom on Wednesday.

Pool / Getty Images file
Olga Rutterschmidt walks into Criminal Court last Thursday in downtown Los Angeles.

Elderly women guilty of conspiring to murder
Calif. jury convicts pair in scheme to insure homeless men, run over them
Associated Press / updated 2 hours, 9 minutes ago

LOS ANGELES - An elderly woman was convicted Wednesday of murdering two homeless men to collect insurance payouts, and she and a co-defendant were found guilty of counts involving conspiracy to murder for financial gain.

Partial verdicts were being read in the case against Helen Golay, 77, and Olga Rutterschmidt, 75. The judge decided to take five initial verdicts as the jury struggled with Rutterschmidt's murder counts.

Golay was convicted of the first-degree murders of Kenneth McDavid, 50, in 2005 and Paul Vados, 73, in 1999. Golay was also convicted of the conspiracy counts in both killings.

Rutterschmidt was convicted of conspiracy to murder McDavid for financial gain.

During the verdict readings, the jury was sent back into deliberations to clear up a finding. The panel had asked earlier in the day for readings of testimony by three witnesses, and jurors also asked for a laptop so they could review DVDs entered into evidence.

Prosecutors said the women collected $2.8 million from insurance policies on the lives of two homeless men who were killed in staged hit-and-runs.

Prosecutors said the women recruited their prey from among the homeless of Hollywood, invested thousands of dollars in insurance policies on them and in putting them up in apartments, then drugged them and ran them over in secluded alleys.

MY, WEREN'T THESE BUSY LADIES!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24167527/

ORDWAY, COLORADO: HUNDREDS FLEE FIRES, THREE KILLED

CBS4 News

Chris McClean/AP

Thick, black smoke rolls across a road near Ordway, Colo., during a grass fire whipped by high winds into a massive blaze that destroyed homes and fields in and around the small southeastern Colorado town on Tuesday. April 15, 2008. 12:44 a.m. ET, 4/16/08

AP/ Aspen Times

Colorado Wildfires Kill 3, Force Evacuation of 1,100
Wednesday, April 16, 2008

ORDWAY, Colo. — Wildfires in warm, windy weather burned into a southeast Colorado town and on an Army post Tuesday, and a firefighting pilot and two other people died.

All 1,100 residents of the town of Ordway were told to leave because of a fire that burned across 7,100 acres, or 11 square miles, authorities said. By 9 p.m. Tuesday, firefighters had contained about 50 percent of the fire, which damaged at least 20 buildings, four within town town limits, fire spokesman Chris Sorensen said.

Crowley County sheriff's deputy Bill Hamilton said late Tuesday he didn't immediately have details on the two deaths.

The pilot died when the crop duster-type plane crashed along a highway just east of Fort Carson, said Mike Fergus of the Federal Aviation Administration. A fire there had burned about 9,000 acres, or 14 square miles.

The Army said some evacuations were forced by the fire near Fort Carson, about 60 miles south of Denver. A shelter was being set up at a special events center on base, Capt. Gregory Dorman said.

One state highway was closed. The cause of that fire hadn't been determined.

Much of the state was under a National Weather Service red flag warning, signifying high fire danger. Gov. Bill Ritter declared a state of emergency, freeing up state resources to help fight the fire.

On the southeastern plains around Ordway, winds were gusting to 50 mph, humidity was low and temperatures reached into the 80s. Dry conditions on the plains and in some mountain valleys contrasted with deep snow at higher elevations.

Two state highways were closed to the town, 122 miles southeast of Denver.

READ MORE ABOUT THESE DANGEROUS FIRES...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,351404,00.html

ALASKA RANGER: SHIP SANK OFF ALASKA, INVESTIGATION HEATS UP

The Alaska Ranger is seen at a port in Dutch Harbor, Jan. 2006. The Coast Guard said four crew members died Sunday, March 23, 2008, and another was missing after the 184-foot Alaska Ranger began sinking in high seas off Alaska's Aleutian Islands. (AP Photo/Jim Paulin) (AP)

Company officials grilled in Alaska Ranger sinking investigation
By DAN CATCHPOLE
Associated Press Writer/ April 16, 2008

Federal investigators on Tuesday grilled two officials of the company that owned a fishing vessel lost in the Bering Sea, asking about previous reports of drinking on board, rips in survival suits and the condition of the ship's watertight doors.

The Seattle-based Fishing Co. of Alaska, which owned the Alaska Ranger, followed safety regulations to the best of its ability, the witnesses told the Marine Board of Investigation, which included Coast Guard and National Transportation Safety Board officials.

"We're fishermen but we're not dummies, and the North Pacific is a rough place to make a living," said William McGill, a former captain of the Alaska Ranger and now operations manager for the Fishing Co. of Alaska.

The investigation, which resumed Tuesday in Seattle after earlier hearings in Alaska, focused on technical issues and questions raised in previous hearings.

Five people died when the Seattle-based ship went down in rough seas about 120 miles west of Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands on March 23. The vessel was on its way to mackerel grounds when it began taking on water through the rudder room.

Forty-two crewmen were rescued by the Coast Guard and the Alaska Ranger's sister ship, the Alaska Warrior.

The Fishing Co. of Alaska also faces legal action, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported, noting five survivors of the sinking filed personal injury lawsuits Monday in King County Superior Court.

Some survivors had testified that there were rips in survival suits. There has also been conflicting testimony about drinking on board.

STAY TUNED FOR MORE INVESTIGATION NEWS...
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004351935_%20apwaabandonedship1stldwritethru.html

MICHEL VEILLETTE, KILLED FAMILY: COMMITS SUICIDE IN JAIL

A Beautiful Family, lost. May they rest in God's hands.

Michel Veillette, a Quebec man accused of killing his wife and causing the death of his four children, enters an Ohio municipal court Wednesday.(Malinda Hartong/Associated Press/The Cincinnati Enquirer)

Michel Veillettte, the Mason, Ohio father accused of killing his wife and causing the death of his four children appears before Judge D. Andrew Batche in Mason Municipal Court.
CNS file photo

Autopsy confirms Quebec man committed suicide in Ohio prison
Denise G. Callahan, Cox News ServicePublished

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

MASON, Ohio - Michel Veillette, accused of killing his wife and children in their Mason home, frequented a strip club in Canada and even asked one of the strippers to move to South Carolina with him, the Mason city prosecutor said Tuesday.

Prosecutors in Mason, Ohio Tuesday released details of some of the evidence they had planned to present at Veillette's murder trial, just hours after Veillette hanged himself in his cell with bed sheets early Tuesday morning.

Prosecutor Robert Peeler said Veillette, 34, also told another stripper in Canada he planned to leave his wife and their children.

Veillette, a Canadian citizen, had been in the jail since Jan. 18, after being charged with stabbing his wife, 33-year-old Nadya Ferrari-Veillette on Jan. 11. Police alleged that Veillette also started a fire in the house, killing their four children who were asleep upstairs.

His children - Marguerite, 8, Vincent, 4, and 2-year-old twins Mia and Jacob - died of carbon monoxide poisoning, according to coroners' reports.

Police said the couple had argued about Veillette's mistress and financial problems.

Records from the murder investigation remain sealed by court orders, but Peeler talked about some of the evidence after Veillette's death.

"There were two strippers at a club he frequented," Peeler said. "One of them said he creeped her out and she told him to knock it off. The other one said he was helping her get a divorce and bought her some expensive jewelry and he was getting a job in South Carolina, I think he wanted her to go down there with him."

READ SHOCKING UPDATE...

http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/news/story.html?id=2dd46f55-1ca4-4462-91e5-d766e3e43e58&k=7120

CHRIS PITTMAN: SHOT GRANDPARENTS AT AGE 12, APPEAL DENIED

Janet Sisk, founder of the Juvenile Justice Foundation of the Carolinas, shows a Free Christopher Pittman pin in Matthews, N.C., Friday, April 6, 2007. Sisk is an advocate for Christopher Pittman, a South Carolina teen imprisoned for murdering his grandparents when he was 12. (AP Photo/Jason E. Miczek).

(AP Photo/MARY ANN CHASTAIN)

Defense attorney Karen Barth Menzies contends the antidepressant Zoloft drove Christopher Pittman to kill his grandparents.

2001: Christopher Pittman, 12, killed his grandparents, Joe and Joy Pittman

Supreme Court Won't Hear Young Killer's Appeal
Monday, April 14, 2008

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court refused Monday to review a 30-year prison sentence for a teen who was 12 when he killed his grandparents in South Carolina.

Lawyers for Christopher Pittman wanted the justices to examine whether the long prison term for a child violates the Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment. With no possibility of parole, he will be 42 before he is released, they said.

Pittman is the only inmate serving such a lengthy sentence for a crime committed at such a young age, his lawyers said. The judge who sentenced him was prohibited by law from taking his age into account.

South Carolina contended the punishment is proportionate to the crime and said there is a national trend of increased punishment for young violent criminals.

Pittman used a shotgun to shoot Joe and Joy Pittman in their bed and then set fire to their home in 2001. During his trial four years later, Pittman's attorneys unsuccessfully argued the slayings were influenced by the antidepressant Zoloft — a charge the maker of the drug vigorously denied.

The Supreme Court appeal dealt only with the length of Pittman's sentence.

READ RECENT UPDATE...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,351241,00.html

OHIO: DERRIS LEWIS CHARGED WITH SHOOTING TWIN, DENNIS, DURING ROBBERY

Ohio Teen Charged as Accessory in Identical Twin's Murder
Saturday, April 12, 2008
ASSOCIATED PRESS

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The death of Dennis Lewis was shocking enough: The National Honor Society student and marching band member was shot in his bedroom while masked robbers held a gun on his mother in another room.

Then police arrested his identical twin, an advanced placement student also active in their high school band. Authorities are accusing Derris Lewis of taking part in the attack and being an accomplice in his brother's death, saying his bloody palm print was found in the bedroom where Dennis was killed.

The family, crushed by the death of one twin, is adamant the other is innocent.

"There's no way, shape or form that my brother was even in that house," said the boys' older sister, Diane Lewis, who lives two doors from where the shooting happened. "He would never put my mom in harm's way whatsoever — she didn't raise killers or criminals."

Derris is charged in juvenile court with being an accomplice to aggravated murder, aggravated robbery and kidnapping. Because he turned 18 two weeks after the shooting, prosecutors are seeking to have him charged as an adult.

TWINS? GO FIGURE! READ THE REST OF THIS STORY...
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,351014,00.html

Events in Identical Twin Slaying in Ohio
By The Associated Press – 7 hours ago

Some events in the case of Derris Lewis, charged as a juvenile with being an accomplice in the death of his twin brother Dennis:

_ Jan. 18. Masked intruders enter the home of the boys' mother, April Agee, and demand money at gunpoint. At least one attacker struggles with her 17-year-old son Dennis Lewis, beating him with part of a bar stool. He is fatally shot.

_ Jan. 24. Family holds funeral, during which Dennis is remembered as active at school, including in sports and theater. Derris sings a gospel song with a cousin that Dennis and Derris had sung together in the past.

_ Feb. 13. Police arrest Derris in connection with his brother's death after questioning him for several hours. A search warrant says Derris' bloody palm print was found at the scene.

_ Feb. 17. The Lewis family issues a statement saying police have made a mistake. The statement says, in part, "Derris truly loved his brother with all his heart" and "Derris would have no conceivable motive to do any of this."

_ March 12. After two hearings are delayed, Juvenile Court Judge Dana Preisse sets an April 30 hearing date for prosecutors' request to charge Derris as an adult.

Source: AP Research

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jUwd-bnBjgPaSGB-gmkiPxkA32LAD900E94G0

CESAR LAUREAN: CAPTURED IN VILLAGE OF TACAMBARO, MEXICO

Map shows location of Tacambaro, Mexico, where Cesar Laurean was captured.

Mexico Coat of Arms
Mexican Flag
Cesar Laurean: shows tattoo on arm

Capture of Cabin Dweller Cesar Laurean Shocks Mexican Villagers Who Knew Him
By TRACI CARL , Saturday, April 12, 2008
ASSOCIATED PRESS

SAN JUAN DE LA VINA, Mexico — People wondered about the bearded stranger with a foreign accent who moved into a rustic cabin weeks ago in the pine-clad mountains surrounding this picturesque village.

Some thought maybe he was a drug trafficker — something not unheard of in these parts. It was not until Friday when they saw Cpl. Cesar Laurean's photograph in the local newspaper that they learned he was a U.S. Marine suspected of killing a pregnant colleague.

Police arrested Laurean, 21, on Thursday as he was walking along the main street in San Juan de la Vina in the municipality of Tacambaro, ending a three-month manhunt. He is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Marine Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach, 20, who had accused him of rape.

Lauterbach's burned remains were found in January in the backyard of his home near Camp Lejeune, a coastal North Carolina base that is home to roughly 50,000 Marines.

FBI Public Affairs Specialist Amy Thoreson said FBI agents were present at Laurean's arrest in Mexico, but it was unclear what role they played.

Bearded and thin, Laurean told police he survived for months largely by eating avocados from the orchard in the mountains where he lived in Michoacan state.

COME ON HOME, KILLER...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,350834,00.html

DENISE AMBER LEE: 9-1-1 CALL COULD HAVE SAVED HER

DENISE AMBER LEE, 21

9-1-1 CALL CENTER
MICHAEL KING, 36, KILLER

911 Call Center Blamed for Young Mother’s Death
By Ted Moore / 18:30, April 11th 2008

The tragedy of losing his wife and the mother of his two children gives birth to an even deeper pain for Nathan Lee whenever he thinks that Denise Lee could have been saved if the 911 call center workers would have done their job properly.

Nathan thinks that the 911 call center acted with negligence. As a result, he and his attorney, Thomas Marryott , have announced their intention to file a lawsuit against the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Department in Florida.

It is hard for him now and it will be hard for him also in the future when Lee will have to explain to his two sons why their mother is not beside them. “Someday I’m going to have to tell our little boys, who have very few memories, if any, of their amazingly courageous and brave mommy. I will have to tell them that she died needlessly,” Lee told NBC News.

Denise Amber Lee died on January 17.

She was kidnapped at about 2:30 p.m. from her home in North Port, Fla. At 9 p.m. her murderer, a 36-year-old unemployed plumber named Michael King, was arrested for killing the 21-year-old mother. A ring and some hair which was found on his Camaro’s black seat linked King with Lee’s death.

However, the problem is that before she was killed, Denise called 911 several times. She managed to get the kidnapper’s cell phone, called the police and also left an open connection that allowed the Charlotte County Sheriff to know about the kidnapping.

Furthermore, 911 received calls from other witnesses who reported seeing the woman trying to escape a dark green Camaro.

Still, the 911 call center workers apparently forgot to pass along the information.

THIS STORY IS FAR FROM OVER...
http://www.enews20.com/news_911_Call_Center_%20Blamed_for_Young_Mothers_Death_07210.html

CESAR LAUREAN: FBI CAPTURES KILLER IN MEXICO

CESAR LAUREAN: Guess we wiped that smirk off his face!

Apr 10, 9:57 PM EDT
FBI arrests suspect in slaying of Marine
By ESTES THOMPSON
Associated Press Writer

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- A Marine wanted in the brutal slaying of a pregnant colleague who had accused him of rape was arrested in Mexico, the FBI said late Thursday. The FBI's office in Charlotte said special agents and Mexican authorities arrested Marine Cpl. Cesar Laurean, who is charged with murder in the death of Marine Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach. The FBI did not say when or where in Mexico Laurean was arrested, but said he is awaiting extradition to the U.S.

"Laurean's swift arrest in Mexico was due to the diligence and dedication of the Mexican government and our law enforcement partners," Nathan Gray, the special agent in charge of the FBI's Charlotte office, said in a statement.

"This was truly an international effort, and we will do all we can to ensure Laurean is brought back to Onslow County (N.C.) as quickly as possible to answer the charges against him."

GREAT NEWS FOR MARIA LAUTERBACH'S FAMILY...
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MISSING_MARINE?SITE=CADIU&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Thank you Mexico for assisting in the capture of this punk! Thank you FBI for your great crime work on this case, and for not giving up! I know this case is far from over, so I'll be writing updates tomorrow and all weekend. The next step will be extradition. This could take up to two years if Laurean fights it. He might as well just come back now.
CHOMP

JOHN CORNYN: WHAT I HEARD AT THE PETRAEUS-CROCKER HEARINGS

April 09, 2008, 0:40 p.m.

What I Heard at the Petraeus-Crocker Hearings
Seeing the mission through.

By John Cornyn

America's top military commander and chief diplomat in Iraq reported Tuesday that we are making significant progress there. They added that we cannot afford to squander our gains by losing our resolve. But was anybody really listening?

Just this morning, Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid said the following on the Senate floor: "Is the war in Iraq making America safer? By all accounts, the answer…is `no.'

"Senator Reid's statement stands in direct contradiction to Amb. Crocker's testimony on Tuesday. "Al-Qaeda is our mortal and strategic enemy. So to the extent that al-Qaeda's capacities have been lessened in Iraq and they have been significantly lessened, I do believe that makes America safer."

Gen. David Petraeus and Amb. Ryan Crocker said the advances in security are fragile, and we must be patient in securing them.

(snip)

We all want to bring our troops home — there is no disagreement over that goal. The question is whether they will return after defeating the threat, or whether they'll return to an America that is less safe and more vulnerable to another terrorist attack.

If we give up too soon, according to Petraeus and Crocker, Iraq would become a breeding ground for terrorists, much like Afghanistan before 9/11. Last month, Osama bin Laden declared Iraq would be a "perfect" base for al-Qaeda. But thanks to our volunteer military, we now have al Qaeda on the run, as Gen. Petraeus declared: "We have our teeth into the jugular, and we need to keep it there."

— Senator John Cornyn (R., Tex.), is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. He traveled to Iraq and Afghanistan earlier this year.

READ MORE OF THE TRUTH ABOUT IRAQ, ABOUT OUR TROOPS, ABOUT OUR COMMITMENT TO FREEDOM...

National Review Online - http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MjQ2MTBiMDQzNGViYWM2MzU4OWU0ODBlMmQwODZjZWI

POLYGAMIST CULT, HUNDREDS OF KIDS: A PEDOPHILE'S DREAM

AP/ Leroy Johnson Steed, 41, on charges of felony tampering with evidence in connection with the investigation at the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

AP/ Levi Barlow Jeffs, 19, who was arrested for interfering with the duties of a public servant during the investigation of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Court Documents Show Polygamist Sect Married Girls at Puberty
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
ASSOCIATED PRESS

ELDORADO, Texas — A polygamist compound with hundreds of children was rife with sexual abuse, child welfare officials allege in court documents, with girls spiritually married to much older men as soon as they reached puberty and boys groomed to perpetuate the cycle.

The documents released Tuesday also gave details about the hushed phone calls that triggered the raid, by a 16-year-old girl at the West Texas ranch who said her 50-year-old husband beat and raped her. Days after raiding the compound, officials still aren't sure where the girl is.

(snip)

• Click here for photos.

• Click here for Maggie Lineback's On the Scene blog.

Court documents said a number of teen girls at the 1,700-acre compound were pregnant, and that all the children were removed on the grounds that they were in danger of "emotional, physical, and-or sexual abuse." Another 139 women left on their own.

"Investigators determined that there is a widespread pattern and practice of the (Yearn for Zion) Ranch in which young, minor female residents are conditioned to expect and accept sexual activity with adult men at the ranch upon being spiritually married to them," read the affidavit signed by Lynn McFadden, a Department of Family and Protective Services investigative supervisor.

McFadden said the girls were spiritually married to the men as soon as they reached puberty and were required to produce children.

UNBELIEVABLE STORY...WHERE ARE THE MOTHER'S OF THESE CHILDREN? http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,348148,00.html

RELEASE INGRID BETANCOURT: FARCS SAY NO, FRANCE LEAVES

MS. BETANCOURT BEFORE CAPTURE BY COLUMBIAN FARCS

INGRID BETANCOURT, SICK AND DEPRESSED:
FARCS REFUSE HER MEDICAL CARE

6 April 2008 - The mission to save the French-Colombian hostage held by the FARC comes with a three point plan: the release of Ingrid Betancourt, an offer by France to accept a handful of rebel leaders held by Bogota and French support for FARC’s removal from Europe’s list of terrorist organisations.

France Ends Mission to Rescue Betancourt
By ANDREW O. SELSKY – 1 hour ago

ASSOCIATED pRESS/ 8 APRIL 2008

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — France called off a humanitarian mission Tuesday to treat and possibly free ailing hostage Ingrid Betancourt after Colombian rebels said they wouldn't unilaterally release any more captives.

France's Foreign Ministry said late Tuesday that there was no longer any reason to keep the mission by France, Spain and Switzerland in Colombia. A French government plane has been waiting on a Bogota airstrip for days with doctors hoping to reach Betancourt, who was said to be depressed and suffering from hepatitis C.

In a four-paragraph statement released Tuesday, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia repeated what they have insisted on since 2005: that the government demilitarize two counties as the first step toward a broad hostage-prisoner swap. Only as part of such an exchange, they said, would Betancourt go free.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy's office said he is "deeply disappointed" he was unable to save Betancourt, who holds French and Colombian nationality.

IS THIS THE END FOR MS. BETANCOURT? WHO CAN SAVE HER?

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jMdY0la2D68NjF07S0FOyxbXAl7gD8VU0VT05

ELDORADO: 400 KIDS TAKEN INTO CUSTODY FROM ISOLATED SECT

AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez

400+ kids taken from polygamist compound
Apr 7, 10:28 PM EDT
By MICHELLE ROBERTS / Associated Press Writer

ELDORADO, Texas (AP) -- More than 400 children, mostly girls in pioneer dresses, were swept into state custody from a polygamist sect in what authorities described Monday as the largest child-welfare operation in Texas history.

The dayslong raid on the sprawling compound built by now-jailed polygamist leader Warren Jeffs was sparked by a 16-year-old girl's call to authorities that she was being abused and that girls as young as 14 and 15 were being forced into marriages with much older men.

Dressed in home-sewn, ankle-length dresses with their hair pinned up in braids, some 133 women left the Yearning for Zion Ranch of their own volition along with the children.

State troopers were holding an unknown number of men in the compound until investigators finished executing a house-to-house search of the 1,700-acre property, which includes a medical facility, a cheese-making plant, a cement plant, a school, numerous large housing units and an 80-foot white limestone temple that rises discordantly out of the brown scrub.

(snip)

"Once you go into the compound, you don't ever leave it," said Carolyn Jessop, one of the wives of the alleged leader of the Eldorado complex. Jessop left with her eight children before part of the sect moved to Texas.

Jessop said the community emphasized self-sufficiency because they believed the apocalypse was near.

The women were not allowed to wear red - the color Jeffs said belonged to Jesus - and were not allowed to cut their hair. They were also kept isolated from the outside world.

They "were born into this," said Jessop, 40. "They have no concept of mainstream society, and their mothers were born into and have no concept of mainstream culture. Their grandmothers were born into it."

READ MORE OF MICHELLE ROBERTS ARTICLE...

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/P/POLYGAMIST_RETREAT?SITE=CODER&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

ELDORADO, YFZ RANCH: 200 REMOVED, SEARCH FOR DALE BARLOW

Authorities are looking for evidence that this man, Dale Evans Barlow, married and impregnated a 16-year-old girl.

Nearly 200 taken from sect's West Texas ranch
By BILL HANNA
Star-Telegram staff writer

ELDORADO -- After several anxious hours late Saturday, tensions appeared to be easing at the YFZ Ranch in West Texas as state troopers streamed past checkpoints and escorted another busload of girls from the secretive polygamist sect's compound.

(snip)

Earlier Saturday, officials said they had removed 137 children and 46 women from the ranch. Investigators said they planned to keep searching until every child was accounted for at the YFZ (Yearn For Zion) Ranch.

The second full day of searching at the property had investigators going building to building in the hunt for more children. State officials have blocked access to the ranch since Thursday in response to a report of physical abuse of a 16-year-old girl, law enforcement officials said Friday.

(snip)

Timeline of the sect

1890 - After the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints rejects polygamy, some followers defy the church's edict and continue to practice plural marriage.

1914 - Settlement begins in Short Creek, an Arizona town that becomes a haven for polygamists.

1953 - Arizona officials raid Short Creek in an attempt to prosecute polygamy, but the move is heavily criticized.

1961 - Short Creek is renamed Colorado City and grows across the border to include what is now Hildale, Utah.

1986 - Rulon Jeffs becomes the prophet of the fundamentalist sect.

2000 - Jeffs' son, Warren, orders members to separate themselves from nonbelievers and compels children to stop attending public school.

2002 - Warren Jeffs succeeds his deceased father as church leader.

2003 - David Allred, a member of the sect, purchases 1,691 acres in Schleicher County near Eldorado.

2005 - A Utah judge appoints Salt Lake City accountant Bruce Wisan as the special fiduciary of the United Effort Plan Trust, which controls the church's holdings in the Colorado City and Hildale area.

2006 - In June, Warren Jeffs is placed on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted Fugitives list. He is arrested in August during a routine traffic stop outside Las Vegas.

2007 - Jeffs is sentenced to two life sentences for the arranged marriage of a 14-year-old girl to her 19-year-old cousin.

2008 - Authorities enter the compound outside Eldorado.

Source: Star-Telegram archives
bhanna@star-telegram.com
Bill Hanna, 817-390-7698

READ MORE...
http://www.star-telegram.com/275/story/565539.html

HSER NAY MOO'S FAMILY CAME TO AMERICA FOR A BETTER LIFE

From Myanmar to U.S., trials follow girl's family
By Julia Lyon The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated: 04/02/2008 01:27:29 AM MDT

The family of slain 7-year-old Hser Nay Moo fled an authoritarian regime in Burma and spent 20 years as refugees in a camp in Thailand before arriving in Utah last summer.

More than 2 million Burmese, primarily ethnic minorities, have left since military leaders seized the impoverished country, now called Myanmar, in the 1980s, according to Human Rights Watch.

The Wah family are members of the Karen minority ethnic group. Karen villages were destroyed as part of the State Peace and Development Council's plan of "forcibly relocating" minorities, especially in areas with active insurgents or targeted for development, the international rights organization charges.

Utah has welcomed about 400 Burmese refugees, which include members of the Karen and Chin ethnic groups, since last year. Most have been in camps more than 10 years, according to Aden Batar with Catholic Community Services, one of Utah's resettlement agencies.

Camp conditions typically include limited schooling for children, no running water and primitive living conditions.

READ ABOUT THE LIVING CONDITIONS IN MYANMAR (BURMA)...
COULD YOU SURVIVE IN THESE PRIMITIVE CONDITIONS?
http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_8779273

HSER NAY MOO: PLEASE, HELP THE GRIEVING FAMILY

A donation fund has been set up for the family of Hser Nay Moo at Zions Bank. Donations can be made to a fund in her parent's names, Cartoon and Pearlie Wah.
You can donate at any Zions Bank location

Zion’s Bank
701 East 400 South
Salt Lake City, UT 84102

ref. Hser Nay Moo - donation

Read my Fellow Blogger's connection to Hser Nay Moo's Family, and his loving recollections.
http://bobaagard.blogspot.com/2008/04/my-personal-connection-to-hser-nay-moo.html

HSER NAY MOO: WHY DO MEN KILL CHILDREN? WHY!

AP/ A makeshift memorial made up of teddy bears, candles, flowers and notes lies outside the apartment complex of Hser Nay Moo.

Man Who Confessed to Causing Death of Missing 7-Year-Old Utah Girl Knew Her Family
Thursday, April 03, 2008 / Fox News

SOUTH SALT LAKE, Utah — The man who admitted to keeping a missing 7-year-old girl against her will in his apartment and later killing her knew the girl's family, police said.

Esar Met, 21, was booked on charges of aggravated murder, kidnapping and evidence tampering after confessing to the crime.

Police on Tuesday night found the body of Hser Nay Moo, who disappeared Monday from the apartment complex after an argument with her 10-year-old brother. Hser's body was found in the bathroom of Met's basement apartment, which is in the same complex where her family lives, MyFOXUtah reported.

Hser was killed within an hour of when she left her home, South Salt Lake Police Chief Chris Snyder said at a press conference Wednesday.

Hser went to Met's apartment, where she often played, according to police.

"We do not know how she got in, whether or not she was invited in or whether or not she asked to go in," Snyder said.

Met hid the body and left the apartment after a physical altercation with Hser that led to her death, Snyder said. Snyder would not release Hser's cause of death or if she was sexually assaulted.

READ AND CRY FOR THIS CHILD, AND PRAY FOR HER FAMILY...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,345708,00.html

UTAH: HSER NAY MOO, BODY FOUND

The South Salt Lake Police are looking for Hser Nay Moo (pronounced Sin-Na-Moo), a 7-year-old Asian girl. She is 3 feet 8 inches tall, 45 pounds, with long black hair, and is missing her two front teeth. She was last seen wearing a pink coat, blue jeans and black and pink sneakers. Hser Nay Moo was last seen Monday at 2 P.M. in the area of 2250 South 500 East.

Body of Missing 7-Year-Old Utah Girl Reportedly Found
Wednesday, April 02, 2008 / Associated Press

KSTU-TV in Utah is getting witness reports that the body of missing 7-year-old Hser Ner Moo was found Tuesday night. The television station is also hearing reports that three people may have been arrested in connection with the death.

A news conference on the case is expected Tuesday night.

Click here for more on this story from MyFOXUtah.com.

An army of volunteers joined police in the search for the girl who disappeared Monday after an argument with an older brother.

Police issued an Amber Alert for Hser Ner Moo on Tuesday.

SAD OUTCOME TO THIS AMBER ALERT... 5 ARRESTED!
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,344469,00.html

DITH PRAN DIES: SURVIVOR OF CAMBODIAN "KILLING FIELDS"

DITH PRAN

AN EXTRAORDINARY MAN

Dith Pran, Cambodian 'Killing Fields' survivor, dies of cancer at 65 BY ERIN EINHORN DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Updated Sunday, March 30th 2008, 10:21 PM

The daring New York Times photojournalist whose story became the basis of "The Killing Fields" - and the inspiration behind his "one-person crusade" to tell the world about the Cambodian genocide - died Sunday.

Dith Pran, 65, who suffered from pancreatic cancer, was best known for his work with Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Sydney Schanberg covering the murderous 1975- 1979 Khmer Rouge reign that killed as many as 2 million Cambodians.

Among the dead were 50 of Pran's own relatives - his father, his sister, three brothers and their families.

In a letter to Times staffers Sunday after Pran's death in a Jersey hospital, Executive Editor Bill Keller called Pran a hero.

"Pran reminds us of a special category of journalistic heroism - the local partner, the stringer, the interpreter . . . who knows the ropes, who makes your work possible, who often becomes your friend, who may save your life, who shares little of the glory, and who risks so much more than you do," Keller wrote.

Schanberg has credited Pran with saving his life and the lives of other journalists for insisting that he come along when the group was taken captive.

When Schanberg received the 1976 Pulitzer Prize, he accepted on behalf of Pran, who was in prison in Cambodia, where he endured four years of torture until fleeing to Thailand in 1979.

His reunion there with Schanberg was recreated in the 1984 Academy Award-winning movie "The Killing Fields."

"There was no way I could have done the work I did without him," Schanberg told Reuters. "We became more than friends. We became brothers."

Pran followed Schanberg back to New York and was hired by The Times, where colleagues Sunday celebrated his kindness and joy for life.

READ MORE OF DITH PRAN'S EXTRAORDINARY LIFE...

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2008/03/30/2008-03-30_dith_pran_cambodian_killing_fields_survi.html

VIRGINIA SNIPERS: SLADE WOODSON,19, SECOND TEEN,16, ARRESTED

AP / March 27: Virginia State Police investigate the scene of a shooting on Greenwood Station Road, near Crozet.

Slade Allen Woodson/ Virginia State Police Photo
Virginia Police Arrest Teens Linked to Random Shootings, Including Interstate
FoxNews/ Saturday, March 29, 2008

Two Virginia teenagers have been charged with several felonies in connection with a shooting spree along Interstate 64.

Authorities believe a pair of troublemaking teens were behind a series of random shootings in an area where memories of the Washington-area sniper shootings six years ago are still fresh.

One of the suspects, Slade Allen Woodson, 19, of Afton, Va., was taken into custody Friday morning. The other has been identified only as a 16-year-old boy from Crozet, Va.

They each face 10 felony counts that include malicious wounding and maliciously shooting at an occupied vehicle.

"We've taken some mighty big steps toward the resolution of this," Flaherty said at a news conference Friday. "Everyone can, I think, rest compared to the state that we were in overnight."

Investigators said they now believe the shootings that slightly injured two drivers were part of a long night of random gunfire in which the pair also shot at a credit union and a residence.

Woodson was charged in the shootings at the home and the credit union, as well as shootings along the Interstate 64 highway. He and the other teen were charged with two felony counts of malicious wounding, one count of attempted malicious wounding, two counts of the use of a firearm in a felony and five counts of maliciously shooting at an occupied vehicle.

State and county police searched Yonder Hill Farm near Crozet in Albemarle County just before 5 a.m. Friday. Another person confronted them with a handgun and was shot by a county law enforcement officer, police said. Woodson was taken into custody, and the man was taken to a hospital. It wasn't immediately clear whether the other person was the 16-year-old.

WHY DID THESE TWO TEENS TRY TO KILL?
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,342748,00.html

UPDATE...

ATF: Tests link casings to Va. suspect

USA Today/ Saturday, March 29, 2008

RICHMOND, Va.(AP) — Shell casings recovered near a series of six highway shootings in Virginia match casings found inside a suspect's vehicle, state police said Saturday.

The random shootings along Interstate 64 and potshots taken at a credit union and a home early Thursday led investigators to shut down a 20-mile stretch of the highway between Waynesboro and Charlottesville, reopening it around dawn. Two people were slightly injured.

The shootings stirred memories of the Washington-area sniper shootings six years ago that killed 10 people.

The ballistic analysis by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives linked shell casings from a Ruger .22-caliber magnum rifle to casings found near the interstate and in a 1974 AMC Gremlin owned by Slade Allen Woodson, 19, of Afton. The weapon was seized at a farm in Crozet where Woodson was arrested Friday. Authorities also charged a 16-year-old from Crozet whose name was not released.

READ...

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-03-29-va-shootings_N.htm

STEVEN SUEPPEL: KILLS FAMILY OF FIVE, COMMITS SUICIDE

Steven and Sheryl Sueppel with their children.

Police identified the children as Ethan, 10; Seth, 8; Mira, 5; and Eleanor, 3.
Suicidal Iowa Man's 911 Call,
Other DetailsOffer Possible Answers to Brutal Family Killings
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Associated Press

IOWA CITY, Iowa — An embattled former bank executive committed suicide by crashing his van after killing his wife and making failed attempts to asphyxiate their four children in a garage, then slaying them individually, authorities said Tuesday.

Steven Sueppel, who had been charged with embezzlement, was missing after his family's bodies were discovered Monday morning. His van was found wrecked and ablaze on Interstate 80 about nine miles away, and police said they used dental records to identify the burned body inside as Sueppel's.

(snip)

Sueppel left a long note in the family's kitchen addressed to no one in particular. He also left voice mail messages at the family's home, at the bank where he once worked and at the law office of his father and brother.

One of the messages indicated Sueppel believed his family was in heaven, Steffen said.

"He did indicate in his note that ever since his problems came to light that he was having trouble dealing with this issue, but again no specific incident or cause was identified as to why it happened now," Steffen said. "He apologized ... numerous times."

Police identified the children as Ethan, 10; Seth, 8; Mira, 5; and Eleanor, 3.

(snip)

Court records show that Steven Sueppel, 42, was indicted last month on charges of stealing about $560,000 from Hills Bank and Trust in Johnson County, where he was vice president and controller.

He pleaded not guilty to embezzlement and money laundering in U.S. District Court and was released on a $250,000 personal bond. The government was also seeking the forfeiture of the money he was accused of stealing.

CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS STORY!
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,341530,00.html

ALASKA RANGER: SEATTLE FISHING BOAT SINKS OFF DUTCH HARBOR

A crew member of the Alaska Ranger is taken on board the Coast Guard Cutter Munro. The Alaska Ranger began taking on water 120 miles west of Dutch Harbor. (March 23, 2008)
Credit: U.S. Coast Guard

The Alaska Ranger is seen at a port in Dutch Harbor, Jan. 2006. The Coast Guard said four crew members died Sunday, March 23, 2008, and another was missing after the 184-foot Alaska Ranger began sinking in high seas off Alaska's Aleutian Islands. (AP Photo/Jim Paulin)

The Ranger's sister ship, the Warrior (Courtesy photo)
Four dead, one missing after boat sinks off Alaskan coast
Sunday, March 23, 2008 10:47 PM
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A fishing boat sank off Alaska's Aleutian Islands today, leaving four crew members including the captain dead and another missing, the Coast Guard said.

Forty-two of the 47 crew members on board the Seattle-based Alaska Ranger were rescued, but the search continued for the missing person, said Chief Petty Officer Barry Lane.

The 184-foot vessel started taking on water shortly before 3 a.m. after losing control of its rudder 120 miles west of Dutch Harbor, which is on Unalaska Island.

In a statement, the ship's owner, the Fishing Company of Alaska, said it did "not have sufficient information to determine why the vessel foundered."

Seas with up to 8-foot waves and 25-knot winds were reported at the time the ship sank, Lane said. The Coast Guard was investigating the cause of the sinking, he said.

The company identified those killed as ship's captain Eric Peter Jacobsen, chief engineer Daniel Cook, mate David Silveira and crewman Byron Carrillo.

"They were incredibly brave, hard-working men. Our hearts are broken," the company said. The men's ages and hometowns were not released.

(snip)

The Coast Guard also told harbor officials to have an ambulance ready, but didn't specify the degree or nature of any injuries, Harvey said.

"I figure there's quite a bit of hypothermia going on," he said.

The Alaska Ranger is owned by Seattle-based Fishing Company of Alaska.

VERY SAD STORY FROM ALASKA...

http://www.columbusdispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2008/03/23/alaska.html

CHOMP: I feel such pain over this tragedy. I work with people who work with Anchorage and Dutch Harbor. I watch the Crab Boat shows on tv, and see how dangerous a job they have. Some of these boats come into Seattle after crabbing season. This vessel was based in Seattle, and the heroic Captain and his family live just north of Seattle.