DREW PETERSON: DID STEPBROTHER HELP DISPOSE OF DEAD WIFE?

Drew and Stacy Peterson

Tom Morphey, Drew Peterson's stepbrother, has come clean about what happened in the time around the disappearance of Drew's fourth wife, Stacy Peterson. (Joe Hosey/Staff Writer /The Herald News)

Stepbrother Says He Thinks He Helped Drew Peterson Dispose of Wife's Body
Tuesday, March 10, 2009 / FOX NEWS

Drew Peterson's stepbrother fears that he had a hand in the murder of the former Illinois police sergeant's fourth wife, Stacy Peterson — telling a Chicago-area newspaper that he helped Drew Peterson dispose of a blue barrel that may have contained Stacy's remains.

Stacy Peterson disappeared in October 2007. Her husband has been the focus of a police and grand jury investigation, but he never has been charged.

Thomas Morphey, the stepbrother, told the Herald News that he thinks Stacy, 23, was in the blue barrel that he helped remove from the Petersons' home in Bolingbrook, Ill., and put into a car.

(snip)

Morphey told the Herald News that the night after meeting Peterson in the park, he met up with Peterson, who enlisted his help with the blue barrel.

Morphey was offered immunity by police to tell them what happened that night, but has yet to tell it to a grand jury, he said.

Peterson insists Morphey is lying.

"He’s hallucinating," he told the newspaper.

READ ENTIRE ARTICLE AT FOX NEWS...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,508386,00.html

ALSO READ THE INTERVIEW WITH MORPHEY...FASCINATING INFO
Click here to read more on this story from The Herald News.

CHANDRA LEVY KILLER FOUND: INGMAR GUANDIQUE

Chandra Ann Levy, left, poses for a photo with Rep. Gary Condit, D-Calif., and her friend Jennifer Baker in this November 2000 photo released by Baker, in the congressman's office in Washington. Levy vanished April 30, 2001, after completing a federal internship in Washington. / Associated Press Photo

AFP/Getty Images / This undated file photo released by DC Police authorities shows Chandra Levy, a 24-year-old intern who disappeared 30 April, 2001 without leaving any hint as to her whereabouts

This undated file photo was released by the D.C. Department of Corrections. Guandique has been imprisoned at the Federal Correctional Institution-Victorville, a medium-security facility northeast of Los Angeles, California. An individual close to the investigation into the death of Chandra Levy said a warrant was issued Tuesday, March 3, 2009 for imprisoned Salvadoran immigrant Ingmar Guandique in the 2001 slaying. (AP Photo/DC Dept. of Corrections, File)1:17 p.m. ET, 3/3/09

Federal Corrections Complex, Victorville, California, is located approximately 85 miles northeast of Los Angeles on Interstate 15.

Warrant issued in Chandra Levy case
Imprisoned Salvadoran reportedly is suspect in her killing in 2001
Associated Press / Tues., March. 3, 2009

WASHINGTON - An arrest warrant was issued Tuesday for an imprisoned Salvadoran immigrant in the killing of federal intern Chandra Levy, nearly eight years after the case captivated the nation's capital and ended the career of a congressman.

The warrant accuses Ingmar Guandique of killing Levy on May 1, 2001, as she walked her dog through Washington's Rock Creek Park, said U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Taylor. Guandique, 27, is already serving time in a federal prison in Adelanto, Calif., for attacking two women in the same park.

"It dawned on me that there's very little I can do or anyone else can do for the Levys other than to offer them justice," District of Columbia Police Chief Cathy Lanier said at a news conference. "This has been a long time coming."

The warrant is the latest development in an investigation that had gone cold for years after destroying the career of former U.S. Rep. Gary Condit of California.

Investigators in 2002 questioned Guandique in Levy's slaying after he was convicted in the other attacks, but he was not charged at the time.

Levy was 24 and had just completed an internship with the U.S. Bureau of Prisons when she disappeared in May 2001 after leaving her Washington, D.C., apartment. The Modesto, Calif., woman was wearing jogging clothes when she vanished, and a man walking his dog found her skull and bones in the park a year later.

CHANDRA LEVY: A COLD CASE FINALLY SOLVED... READ DETAILS
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29492110/

WAMPUM, PA: JORDAN BROWN, 11, MURDERS WOMAN, GOES TO SCHOOL

WAMPUM, PENNSYLVANIA

Eleven-year-old Jordan Anthony Brown. (Lawrence County Prison via Beaver County Times/AP)

The farmhouse where Kenzie Marie Houk was killed on Friday, is shown in Wampum, Pa., Saturday, Feb. 21, 2009. Eleven-year-old Jordan Brown is charged in the shooting death of the 26-year-old pregnant mother of two. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

(Kevin Lorenzi/Beaver County Times/AP) Police said that they found Ms Houk's body in the rented farmhouse in Wampum, northwest of Pittsburgh

Boy Shoots Dad's Pregnant Fiancee Before School, Police Say
Sunday, February 22, 2009 / ASSOCIATED PRESS

WAMPUM, Pa. — Fifth-grader Jordan Brown boarded the bus and headed to school like he did most other mornings in this rural western Pennsylvania community.

But before he left home on Friday, authorities say, the 11-year-old boy had shot his father's pregnant fiancee in the back of the head as she lay in bed. He then put his youth model 20-gauge shotgun back in his room before going out to catch his bus, police say.

Brown was charged Saturday as an adult in the death of 26-year-old Kenzie Marie Houk, who was eight months pregnant, Lawrence County District Attorney John Bongivengo said. Houk's fetus died within minutes due to a lack of oxygen, Lawrence County Coroner Russell Noga said.

Houk's family and friends, who gathered at her parents' house Saturday night, told The Associated Press that there had been past problems with the boy.

(snip)

The boy's father, Christopher Brown, is "a mess" and had no indication his son had a problem with Houk, Elisco said.

"He's in a state of actual shock and disbelief," he said.

The shotgun used is designed for children and has a shorter arm and such weapons do not have to be registered, Bongivengo said. Jack Houk, 57, said the boy and his father used to practice shooting behind their farmhouse, and the two enjoyed going hunting together.

WHY DID JORDAN BROWN, AGE 11, KILL?

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,498135,00.html

DID MISTY CROSLIN'S PEDOPHILE COUSIN NAB HALEIGH CUMMINGS?

HAVE YOU SEEN HALEIGH CUMMINGS ?

Missing Florida Girl's Family: Pedophile Cousin Took Haleigh Cummings
Friday, February 20, 2009
FOX NEWS

The family of a little Florida girl who apparently vanished while she was sleeping is afraid she was taken by a pedophile cousin.

The mother and paternal grandmother of 5-year-old Haleigh Cummings said Friday the man in question is a cousin of Misty Croslin, the teenage girlfriend of Haleigh's father, Ronald Cummings.
Police are questioning the cousin, who is from Tennessee and was visiting when Haleigh disappeared before dawn Feb. 10, according to MyFOXOrlando.com.

"What we've been told is that he's a sexual pedophile," said Haleigh's mother Crystal Sheffield. The child's grandmother, Teresa Neves, said Croslin described him as a "jerk" and she was worried.

"I couldn't tell you anything about him," a distraught Neves told reporters Friday, adding that she only knew of the cousin by his first name Joe. "I can't tell you how they could have taken her from a family that absolutely adores her."

The family's plea for the child's return came as news emerged about a tip from Tennessee called in by a woman claiming to have seen a man in a restaurant with a little girl resembling Haleigh, according to MyFOXOrlando.com.

The tipster, who reportedly phoned Knoxville detectives Sunday, said the man she saw was in a red Toyota RAV4 and appeared to be trying to shield the little girl with him.

READ THE DETAILS OF HALEIGH-GONE-MISSING...
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,497744,00.html

ARIZONA: VINCENT ROMERO'S 9-YR-OLD SON PLEADS GUILTY TO MURDER

Eryn Bloomfield, bottom right, told "Good Morning America" that her 8-year-old son loved his father, Vincent Romero, top left. The boy was questioned by police without his mother or an attorney present and later charged with murder in connection to the shooting death of his father and another man.

Arizona 9-Year-Old Pleads Guilty to Negligent Homicide
Boy, Accused of Killing Father and Another Man, Confessed to Police
By RUSSELL GOLDMANFeb. 19, 2009

A 9-year-old Arizona boy charged with the shooting deaths of his father and father's roommate pleaded guilty today to single charge of negligent homicide.

The plea deal allows that the boy undergo psychiatric evaluation with the possibility that he could avoid incarceration.

In the deal with state prosecutors, two charges of premeditated murder in the death of the two men were dropped in exchange for the admission that the boy shot and killed his father's friend.

In return, Apache County Attorney Michael Whiting wants the boy to undergo extensive mental evaluations and treatment. The plea agreement says any detention will be at the discretion of the court. The boy will also undergo diagnostic evaluations and mental health examinations when he's 12, 15 and 17. The reviews are intended partly to determine whether the boy will pose any danger in the future.

(snip)

Police said the boy, who was 8 at the time, used a .22-caliber rifle to shoot the two men. He patiently reloaded the weapon and fired multiple times after they returned home from work.

READ THE WHOLE STORY...
http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=6914252&page=1

HALIEGH CUMMINGS GONE: SEX OFFENDER, CHAD REYNOLDS, ALSO MISSING

AP / Haleigh Ann-Marie Cummings, age 5, of Satsuma, Florida, vanished on February 10, 2009, vanished from the bedroom of her home.

AP / February 10, 2009 / Crystal Sheffield (l), the mother of Haleigh Cummings, and grandmother Teresa Neves (r) comfort the child's father Ronald Cummings.

FNC / Misty Croslin, 17, was reportedly the last one to see Haleigh Cummings before she disappeared.

Chad Eugene Reynolds, 25. As a registered sexual predator, Reynolds is required to report to his mother's

house everyday. / Marion County Sheriff's Office

Authorities Searching for Florida Girl Notified of Missing Sex Offender

Sunday, February 15, 2009 / FOX NEWS

Police searching for missing 5-year-old Haleigh Cummings were notified about a missing Florida sex offender, but stopped short of calling the man a suspect in the girl's disappearance, Ocala.com reports.

Chad Eugene Reynolds, 25, was last seen Feb. 1 leaving his mother's home in Ochlawaha, Fla. — about two hours from Haleigh's home — police said. He was reported missing on Feb. 4.

Reynolds reportedly borrowed a car from a friend and then later called to say the vehicle had broken down near the Marion/Lake County Lines, according to the Marion County Sheriff's Office. The car was located in an undisclosed location south of Marion County, but Reynolds was nowhere to be found.

Reynolds was sentenced in Putnum County — the same county where Haleigh was reported missing Feb. 10 — to seven years in prison for armed burglary and lewd and lascivious molestation of a child younger than 12. The incident happened in September of 2002.

READ MORE...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,493230,00.html

Do you have information about Haleigh Cummings or Chad Reynolds? Call the Sheriff's Office at 732-9111 or Crime Stoppers at 368-STOP, or visit www.ocalacrimestoppers.com.

LANE BRYANT MASSACRE: YEAR LATER FAMILIES REMEMBER, NEED YOUR HELP

Mike Hudek holds a picture of his sister, Carrie Chiuso, in Chicago, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2009. For the past year, Hudek has grappled with the sudden loss of his older sister. Chiuso was one of five women fatally shot inside a Lane Bryant store Feb. 2, 2008, in Tinley Park, Ill. One year after the tragic events, many of the victims' families have tried to move on as a single male suspect remains at large. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

In this Feb. 3, 2008 file photo, Greg Zanis, of Sugar Grove, Ill., puts up five crosses and leaves flowers as police investigate the fatal shooting of five women the previous day at the Lane Bryant store at the Brookside Shopping Center in Tinley Park, Ill. One year after the fatal shootings, the crime remains unsolved and many of the victims' families have tried to move on as a single male suspect remains at large. (AP Photo/Jerry Lai, File)

Victims' families mark anniversary near Chicago
By SOPHIA TAREEN / Associated Press
February 2, 2009

TINLEY PARK, Ill. (AP) — Mike Hudek still longs for the 12:15 p.m. daily phone call with his sister. The short check-in at lunch was a time to recount the day's events with his best friend, get advice and indulge in a mutual love of celebrity gossip.

For the past year, Hudek has grappled with the sudden loss of his older sister, Carrie Chiuso. She was one of five women killed by a gunman in a Lane Bryant clothing store during a botched robbery on Feb. 2, 2008.

The lone gunman remains at large, even though investigators have spent 30,000 hours combing through 5,600 tips and have worked closely with the sole survivor — whose identity police have kept secret.

The killings rocked this quiet Chicago suburb, and the atmosphere on Monday's one-year anniversary was "eerie," said Mayor Edward Zabrocki.

"This one incident has changed the lives of literally hundreds of people," Zabrocki said by telephone. "You remember it. Your heart goes out to the family and friends of the victims."

Hundreds of people attended a community memorial service Monday. Members of the Tinley Park Ministerial Association offered prayers and scripture in remembrance of the victims.

Every morning for the past year, 12 investigators whose sole task is solving the crime have gathered in the "War Room" at the Tinley Park Police Department. Plastered to the walls are aerial maps of the shopping complex, enhanced digital photographs of the store and binders upon binders of paper.

Taped in one corner are photographs of the victims: Chiuso of Frankfort, Rhoda McFarland, 42, of Joliet; Connie R. Woolfolk, 37, of Flossmoor; Sarah T. Szafranski, 22, of Oak Forest; and Jennifer L. Bishop, 34, of South Bend, Ind.

"I come in every morning and I start my day by looking at the pictures of the victims. It gives you a renewed sense of cause," said Cmdr. Patrick McCain, a 21-year department veteran overseeing the investigation. "We don't discount anything. Nothing is trivial."

DON'T FORGET THIS CRIME! http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/%20ALeqM5g3UPsNkJWEzlSe0jvDk9sC9pdZvwD963R6VG0

PLEASE, HELP!
HELP IF YOU HAVE INFORMATION.
HELP IF YOU HAVE ANY IDEAS.
HELP!
Tinley Park Police: http://www.tinleyparkpolice.org/

For Mike Hudek, this time of year is bittersweet.

Just 12 hours after his sister Carrie died, his daughter was born.

They named her Carrie.

To honor his sister: Carrie's Fund: http://www.carriesfund.org/

MARIANNA: FLORIDA SCHOOL FOR BOYS, ABUSE AND KILLINGS INVESTIGATED

MARIANNA, FLORIDA

Don Stratton says he and others were abused at the Florida School for Boys during the 1960s.

Gov. Charles Crist has ordered investigators to determine who, if anyone, lies beneath these white crosses

Former residents of the Florida School for Boys say beatings took place in building called "the white house."

'Whatever is below those crosses is crying out'

Fri January 30, 2009

By Rich PhillipsCNN Senior Producer

TAMPA, Florida (CNN) -- Don Stratton says he's just a good ol' boy. He's simple and plainspoken. But he has a painful past he can't leave behind. When he talks about it, the old emotions surface.

Stratton attended a Florida reform school as a teenager in the early 1960s. Nearly half a century later, he's telling a chilling tale of alleged beatings, sexual abuse and violent death at the hands of reform school workers.

He said he believes the bodies of slain boys are buried in unnamed graves on the grounds of the former reform school in Marianna, Florida.

"These men are animals and need to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law," Stratton told CNN in an interview at his attorney's office in Tampa.

(snip)

"At 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning, you'd hear a boy crying," Stratton told CNN. "And then the door would open and you'd see these guys come in and come up to somebody they liked, and they'd just tell you, 'Come on with me, you're mine for tonight. You're my boy for tonight.' And they would take you and do what they wanted to do with you."

(snip)

Investigators said that, so far, the search for records from 50 years ago has been productive. They also have met with many of the men who have come forward.

When they meet with Stratton, they will hear his claim that he witnessed the violent death of one boy who exposed himself to reform school workers on a dare. The boy was taken to "the white house."

Stratton said that later, while he was working in the kitchen, he saw a brown 1949 Ford pull up. "They opened the back door and they carried him out and threw him in the back of the car," said Stratton, fighting tears.

"They took him out there and buried him in the woods," he said. "I know they buried him somewhere, 'cause he never showed up again."

READ MORE ABOUT THE INVESTIGATION OF ABUSES AT THIS FLORIDA SCHOOL FOR BOYS IN MARIANNA,FLORIDA...
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/01/30/florida.boys.school/

COCKEYSVILLE, MD: NICHOLAS BROWNING GETS 4 LIFE TERMS FOR KILLING PARENTS, TWO BROTHERS

AP
Undated file photo originally provided by the Browning family: Tamara, left, and John Browning, center, are shown with their children Nicholas, top right, Benjamin, left, and Gregory, right. (AP Photo/Browning Family)

Jan 23, 2009: Assistant State's Attorneys Ann Bropst and Leo Ryan portrayed Nicholas Browning, 16, as a cold, calculating killer. (Photo by Bryan Sears)

Md. teen who killed family gets 4 life sentences
By BEN NUCKOLS Associated Press Writer © 2009 The Associated Press
Jan. 23, 2009, 8:34PM

TOWSON, Md. — Two days before he was sentenced to four life terms for killing his parents and younger brothers, an honor student from an upscale Baltimore suburb joked about escaping from prison in a jailhouse phone call to a friend.

Nicholas W. Browning took a different tone at his sentencing hearing Friday, sobbing and telling relatives, "I'm so sorry."

Baltimore County Circuit Judge Thomas J. Bollinger sentenced 16-year-old Browning to serve two of the life terms consecutively, meaning he could be eligible for parole in 23 years with good behavior.

(snip)

Prosecutors also showed clips from Browning's videotaped interview with police the day after he killed his parents, John and Tamara, and his brothers, 14-year-old Gregory and 11-year-old Benjamin, then went to a friend's house to play video games.

The high school sophomore showed little emotion and confidently predicted that a jury would believe his story that burglars were responsible for the killings.

Ryan pegged money as the motive for the slayings, saying abuse would not explain why Browning also killed his brothers.

Browning ultimately confessed in the same interview. Asked why he killed his brothers, he said, "I thought if no one was there to say anything that my story would go, because I was the only one."

NICHOLAS BROWNING DESERVES LIFE. READ MORE...

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/6227709.html

EVE CARSON 2009 UPDATE: FEDS SEEK DEATH FOR KILLER ATWATER

Demario James Atwater, left, and Lawrence Alvin Lovette are charged with Carson's murder.


Feds Seek Death Penalty in Student President Murder
Friday, January 16, 2009 / ASSOCIATED PRESS


GREENSBORO, N.C. — Federal prosecutors say they will seek the death penalty against a man charged with killing the student body president of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The U.S. Attorney's Office said Friday that Attorney General Michael Mukasey has approved prosecutors' request to seek the execution of 22-year-old Demario Atwater. Atwater pleaded not guilty last month to four federal charges, including carjacking resulting in death, in the slaying of Eve Carson. His trial is set for November.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,480263,00.html




Eve Carson: a special friend remembered

There was nothing she thought she couldn’t do, no problem she thought she couldn’t help tackle, and no person she believed she couldn’t learn something new and valuable from. That was her special burden, her friends said, and her remarkable gift.

READ THE MEMORIAL TO EVE CARSON.

READ WORDS FROM FELLOW STUDENTS, HER FRIENDS, HER FAMILY.

THIS LINK IS TO THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA GAZETTE WHERE EVE WAS A STUDENT.

http://gazette.unc.edu/archives/08mar26/file.1.html

ARKANSAS: ANNE PRESSLY KILLER, CURTIS LAVELLE VANCE, ARRAIGNED

Anne Pressly, 26, was a news anchor at KATV in Little Rock, Arkansas. She was a graduate of Rhodes College in Memphis, Tenn., which has discussed establishing a scholarship to honor her, and worked as a reporter for WBBJ-TV in Jackson, Tenn., in 2004.

AP/Little Rock Police Dept. / Nov. 26
Curtis Lavelle Vance, 28, was formally charged in Pulaski County Circuit Court Thursday with capital murder and rape, and also faces additional charges of burglary and theft. Vance is slated to return to court on January 15th to enter his plea.

Suspect in anchorwoman's killing to be arraigned
Fri January 9, 2009

(CNN) -- The man accused in the brutal killing of Arkansas television anchor Anne Pressly will appear next Thursday in Pulaski County Circuit Court, where he will enter a plea in the high-profile case.

Curtis Lavell Vance, 28, was formally charged Thursday with capital murder, rape, residential burglary and theft, Prosecutor Larry Jegley said Friday.

Neither he nor police would discuss details of the case because of a gag order imposed by the judge. Jegley hasn't said whether he will seek the death penalty.

Jegley said Vance, who denies he was in Little Rock, Arkansas, when Pressly was killed, was being held at the Pulaski County Regional Detention Facility.

Vance was linked to the killing through DNA testing.

Lt. Terry Hastings, spokesman for Little Rock police, told CNN in December that investigators are "110 percent" certain Vance killed Pressly, 26, who was the morning news anchor for KATV, a CNN affiliate.

Pressly was found unconscious in her home October 20 and died five days later at a hospital.
"She fought for her life. She fought her attacker. Her left hand was broken from trying to fight this man off," Pressly's mother, Patti Cannady, told NBC.

"Six weeks ago this morning, I found my daughter beyond recognition with every bone in her face broken, her nose broken, her jaw pulverized so badly that the bone had come out of it; I actually thought that her throat had possibly been cut. Her entire skull had numerous fractures from which she suffered a massive stroke."

Hastings told CNN that DNA evidence also ties Vance to a rape in April in Marianna, Arkansas, about 90 miles east of Little Rock.

READ UPDATES OF HEINOUS CRIME AGAINST ANNE PRESSLY...

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/01/09/anchor.killing.arraignment/index.html

JESSIE DOTSON: LESTER STREET KILLER MIGHT GET DEATH

Accused killer Jessie Dotson appeared before a judge Monday, March 10 to face charges of six counts of first degree murder

Alan Spearman / The Commercial Appeal
Jessie Dotson appeared in Judge Ann Pugh's General Sessions Division 7 courtroom this morning.

Death Penalty Sought for Lester Street Murder Suspect Jessie Dotson
Contributor: Shane Myers

Email: smyers@myeyewitnessnews.com

Last Update: 12/29/2008 10:58 am

MEMPHIS, TN -- The Shelby County District Attorney says he will pursue the death penalty against Jessie Dotson, the man accused in the murder of six people -- including two children -- in a home on Lester Street.

The District Attorney's Office made the announcement after a grand jury indicted 33 year-old Dotson on six counts of first degree murder, three counts of attempted first degree murder and being a convicted felon in possession of a handgun, Thursday morning, December 4, 2008.

According to authorities, four adults and two children were found dead inside a home in the 700 block of Lester Street in March 2008. Police say three other children, who were stabbed, were taken to the hospital in extremely critical condition. All six of the murder victims were either stabbed or shot to death.

(snip)

The following statement was issued by the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office:

“In the case of Jesse Dotson, we have identified seven different factors which qualify him for the death penalty under our state law. That’s pretty extraordinary. The correct course of action is to give the jury in the trial of Jesse Dotson the option of imposing the death penalty,” said District Attorney Gibbons.The seven specific aggravating circumstances under state law include:

1. The murders were committed against victims less than 12 years of age and the defendant was 18 or older;

2. The defendant was previously convicted of one or more felonies involving use of violence (Jessie Dotson pleaded guilty to second degree murder on November 21, 1994 and was sentenced to 18 years in prison);

3. The defendant knowingly created great risk of death to two or more persons, other than the victims murdered, during the act of murder;

4. The murders were especially heinous, atrocious or cruel in that they involved torture or serious physical abuse beyond necessary to produce death;

5. The murders were committed for the purpose of avoiding, interfering with or preventing a lawful arrest or prosecution of the defendant;

6. The murders were knowingly committed by the defendant while he had a substantial role in committing the other crimes (attempted murders);

7. The defendant committed “mass murder,” which is defined as the murder of three or more persons.

First degree murder is a charged covered by the D.A.’s “No Deals” policy on violent crimes. Exceptions are made to the policy for legal or ethical reasons. First degree murder is punishable by life in prison with the possibility of parole after 51 years, life in prison without parole, or death.

WHAT WILL BE JESSIE DOTSON'S FATE?

http://www.myeyewitnessnews.com/news/local/story/Death-Penalty-Sought-for-Lester-Street-Murder/4aDFhpG1YEOAA-gsr9bcsw.cspx

GEORGIA: FRIENDS HONOR MEREDITH EMERSON WITH HIKER'S FOUNDATION

MEREDITH EMERSON

ELLA, MEREDITH EMERSON'S FAITHFUL FRIEND AND HIKING BUDDY

MISSION STATEMENT
Right To Hike, Inc. is dedicated to celebrating the life of our friend, Meredith Hope Emerson through raising funds and awareness for causes close to Meredith's heart. We hope to honor her memory by sharing her courage, love of the outdoors and belief that all people have the right to live without fear.

http://www.righttohikeinc.com/Home.6.0.html

One Year Later, Georgia Hiker's Murder Inspires Better Rescue Methods
Saturday, January 03, 2009

Associated Press

ATHENS, Ga. — Friends of Meredith Emerson were distraught when she disappeared while hiking in north Georgia on New Year's Day a year ago. They were devastated when the 24-year-old University of Georgia graduate was found murdered one week later.

But Emerson's many friends were determined to make sure she will never be forgotten. In the year since she and her dog vanished Jan. 1, 2008 near Blood Mountain, they have raised $35,000 for causes important to former resident of Longmont, Colo.

Friends who started the Right to Hike Foundation raised money through a restaurant promotion, a 5K race and a banquet. The foundation donated $5,000 to the university to help endow a scholarship to study in France, as Emerson did. The group also bought 15 GPS units and distributed them to hiking outposts in north Georgia, paying the $99 annual subscription fee for each. Lost hikers can use the GPS to signal rescuers.

A former drifter, Gary Michael Hilton, is serving a life term for killing Emerson. Hilton coldly described to investigators how he had kidnapped her, beat and eventually killed her. He also faces a murder charge in the killing and decapitation of a nurse in Florida.

(snip)

The 20 or so friends who began the Right to Hike Foundation have also gotten a trail named for her: Meredith's Trail, at the Gwinnett Environmental and Heritage Center. Karrenbauer said Emerson, who lived in Gwinnett County, often hiked there with her dog, Ella.

READ THE STORY...
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,475567,00.html

CHOMP RECOMMENDS THIS FOUNDATION.

THERE IS SO MUCH ON THIS SITE TO HONOR AND TO REMEMBER MEREDITH EMERSON. WE WILL NOT LET HER BE LOST AGAIN. PLEASE, CHECK THE "RIGHT TO HIKE" WEBSITE BELOW. BECOME A MEMBER, BECOME A SPONSOR, READ ABOUT MEREDITH AND HER BELOVED DOG, ELLA, JOIN IN HIKING ACTIVITIES.

In celebrating the life of Meredith Hope Emerson, friends and family have founded Right to Hike, Inc., a non-profit organization that plans to support causes that were close to Meredith's heart, including hiking safety.

http://www.righttohikeinc.com/Home.6.0.html

TEXAS: ERIN CAFFEY, 17, GETS PLEA DEAL, ELIGIBLE FOR PAROLE AT 59

Alba, Texas: Listen to father's 911 call for help from neighbor's house.

At 16 Erin Caffey murdered her mother and two brothers. At 17 Erin Caffey is sentenced to two life sentences plus a 25 year third sentence. "As for Erin Caffey, two life sentences, will she ever parole out? I can't answer that," said Rains County Attorney, Robert Vititow. "And if she did, she would still have another 25 year sentence to serve and so the odds are that she may never get out."


Teenage girl gets 2 life terms in family slayings
Associated Press
Jan. 3, 2009, 11:43AM

EMORY — A teenage girl has been given two life sentences and an additional 25 years in prison for her role in the murders of her mother and two young brothers in the family’s home.

Erin Caffey, 17, could be eligible for parole when she’s 59 under a plea agreement reached Friday, said defense attorney William McDowell. Her trial was scheduled for next month in nearby Hopkins County, and prosecutors had said they didn’t plan to seek the death penalty against her.

(snip)

Authorities said the murder plot was hatched because Erin Caffey’s parents didn’t want Wilkinson to date their daughter, who was 16 at the time of the crime.

In November, Wilkinson and Waid avoided the death penalty by pleading guilty for their involvement in the killings. McDowell said both will most likely receive life sentences with parole. All four defendants were initially charged with three counts of capital murder.

WHAT'S NEXT FOR THIS TEENAGE KILLER?
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/hotstories/6192597.html

TEXAS: ERIN CAFFEY AT 16 KILLED FAMILY WITH HELP FROM "FRIENDS"

Erin Caffey, shown in her booking photo, was 16 at the time her mother and two brothers were found slain in their Alba, Texas home. (AP Photo/Rains County Jail)

Courtesy Rains County Sheriff / Waid, Johnson, and Wilkinson helped Erin Caffey kill her family.

Caffey Murder Trial Moved, Date Set
By COSHANDRA DILLARD / TYLERPAPER.COM Staff Writer
Friday, December 05, 2008

EMORY -- The capital murder trial of a Rains County teen allegedly involved in the deaths of her mother and two young brothers has been moved to Hopkins County, officials said Thursday.

Eighth District Court Judge Robert Newsom officially transferred the trial, as the prosecution and defense agreed.

The jury selection for Erin Caffey, 17, will be Feb.2-5. Newsom also scheduled the trial to begin Feb. 9 and said it is expected to last until Feb. 17.

In November, Charles Allen Waid, 20, and Charlie James Wilkinson, 19, pleaded guilty to capital murder for their involvement in the killings.

Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty for Ms. Caffey, a minor at the time she allegedly helped kill her family. Prosecutor Lisa Tanner indicated that was the only reason they were not asking for the death penalty.

Ms. Caffey's father, Terry Caffey, 41, was shot five times but got out of his burning house and reached his neighbors, still conscious enough to tell them he recognized Wilkinson shooting him and his wife in their bed, sheriff's officials said. He has since recovered from his gunshot wounds.

(snip)

Penny Caffey, 37, a church pianist, and sons Mathew, 13, and Tyler, 8, were shot and stabbed to death.

Their bodies were removed once firefighters extinguished the flames of the home, which burned to the ground, officials said.

READ TYLER PAPER.COM FOR UPDATES OF CAFFEY MURDER, TRIAL, SENTENCING...

http://www.tylerpaper.com/article/20081205/NEWS01/812050338

READ ARTICLE BY TYLER PAPER.COM STAFF WRITER, LAUREN GROVER

http://www.tylerpaper.com/article/20080303/NEWS01/429461743

ASPEN, CO: JAMES BLANNING RUINS NEW YEAR'S EVE WITH BOMBS

James Blanning's mug shot was taken in 1996 by state corrections officials. (Department of Corrections). He was sentenced in Rio Blanco District Court in 1996 to 16 years in prison for racketeering and white collar crimes encompassing forgery of deeds and wills, fraudulent security sales and forged money, according to Colorado Bureau of Investigation records.

Photo by Aspen Times
Surveillance video by a Vectra Bank camera in Aspen captured suspect, Jim Blanning, at 2:37 p.m. Weds.

WRITING ON ENVELOPE LEFT AT FRONT DOOR OF THE ASPEN TIMES NEWSPAPER.Photo by The Aspen Times
An envelope containing a typewritten letter was left at the front door of The Aspen Times office. This handwritten note was on the envelope containing the typed letter.

TYPEWRITTEN LETTER LEFT AT FRONT DOOR OF THE ASPEN TIMES NEWSPAPER.

Photo by The Aspen Times
An envelope containing a typewritten letter was left at the front door of The Aspen Times office. This is the typed note and is not censored.

Police cleared a 16-block area of Aspen, seen here in this file photo, Wednesday afternoon after two banks reported receiving bomb threats and packages wrapped in holiday paper. (Reuters)

Photo by Janet Urquhart/The Aspen Times
Aspen Assistant Police Chief Bill Linn offers additional details on the bomb threats that forced the evacuation of much of downtown Aspen Wednesday, during a press conference Thursday morning.

Aspen police officer Bill Linn peers from behind a wall at a sled containing wrapped packages left in an alleyway between Hopkins and Hyman Avenue in Downtown Aspen on Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2008. (Aspen Daily News ZACH ORNITZ )

A photo of the clear plastic boxes containing holiday wrapped packages and pizza boxes in the bottom of this black sled. (Aspen Police Department)

Bomb suspect killed self; blasted Rove, Cheney and Bush in note

Associated Press
Published January 1, 2009

ASPEN — A man who left bomb threats and homemade bombs around Aspen on New Year's Eve, shot and killed himself in his car a few hours after his threats cleared much of the resort town, Aspen Police said.

Assistant Aspen Police Chief Bill Linn said James Chester Blanning, 72, walked into two Aspen banks Wednesday afternoon and left packages wrapped in holiday paper along with notes saying the boxes contained bombs. The notes threatened "mass death" and demanded $60,000 cash, along with criticisms of President George Bush, Linn said.

The Aspen Times newspaper reported that Blanning left a typewritten note at the newspaper's offices Wednesday evening. The profanity-laced note, which appeared to match those Blanning left at banks, said "Aspen will pay a horrible price in blood" if his demands were not met.

(snip)

Sixteen blocks, nearly the entirety of downtown Aspen, was cleared of holiday revelers Wednesday afternoon. Linn said that police bomb squads detonated the bombs once the area was cleared, and that one of the packages created a fireball outside a Wells Fargo bank when police detonated it. No one was injured.

Linn said the bombs were dangerous, containing plastic bladders of gasoline, but Linn did not describe exactly how sophisticated they were.

Blanning, who grew up in Aspen, was identified by the Pitkin County sheriff on a surveillance tape from one of the banks. Linn said the suspect was well known to police and that the sheriff remembered Blanning from a 1994 suicide threat atop the Pitkin County Courthouse.

WHAT TURNED THIS ASPEN RESIDENT INTO A BOMBER?
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2009/jan/01/suspect-dead-aspen-bomb-threats-last-will-sent-tim/

READ THE STORY IN "THE ASPEN TIMES" NEWSPAPER...
http://www.aspentimes.com/

TINLEY PARK LANE BRYANT: $100,000 REWARD IF YOU CATCH THE KILLER

It's way past time to catch this killer!
Someone, probably several people, knows this man. Won't you turn him in for $100,000 reward??? It doesn't matter if he is your husband, your brother, your son, your boyfriend. He is still an extremly dangerous killer!

Please, take another look at the sketch of the Tinley Park Lane Bryant killer of five women. Just in case that you really do not recognize the sketch, I am going to try an experiment. I have distorted the original sketch for a different view. Many sketches of criminals are not close enough to say, "That's him. That's the killer."

Detectives say this man killed five women and injured another in a brutal mass murder at a women's clothing store in a Chicago suburb. Police say the five victims were all women. They were found inside the store, bound with clothing and duct tape and shot execution-style in the head. A sixth woman was shot in the neck and miraculously survived.

Description:

Black male
Height: 5'9" - 6'0"
Weight: 200 - 230 lbs.
The killer had 3-5 puffy corn rows pulled back.
The killer had a braid over his right ear that had four light-green beads.
Cops say the suspect has a "husky" build.

Police describe the possible suspect as wearing a dark-colored, below-the-waist-length winter coat. They say he had black jeans on with embroidery on the back pockets similar to a cursive "g". The suspect was wearing a charcoal gray "skull" cap.


America's Most Wanted (AMW) has a comprehensive overview of this story. There are clues, analysis of evidence, videos, tiplines.
http://www.amw.com/fugitives/case.cfm?id=52877

Tinley Park Police Department has continued updates of this crime and other crimes in this area. Are any of these crimes connected? There are updates, reward money, past press releases.
Anyone having information regarding this crime, or who may have seen anything of a suspicious nature in or around the mall located at 191st & Harlem Avenue, between 10:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. Saturday, February 2, 2008, call the Tinley Park Police Department at 708-444-5394, or call the Cook County Crime Stoppers at 1-800-535-7867.
http://www.tinleyparkpolice.org/

Lane Bryant Tinley Park Memorial Fund
LuAnn Via, President of Lane Bryant stated, "We have received an incredible outpouring of concern, prayers and offers of help from the community and our associates. So many have asked how they can help the families of the victims of this horrible tragedy. I would like to personally thank each and every person who has telephoned us, emailed us, or visited our stores to relay their support. I thank you all deeply for your heartfelt words."

The Memorial Fund is being administered through Harris Bank, and is intended to provide financial assistance to the immediate families of the victims. The Lane Bryant Tinley Park Memorial Fund honors the women who lost theirlives in this tragic event:

-- Jennifer L. Bishop of South Bend, Indiana
-- Carrie A. Chiuso of Frankfort, Illinois
-- Rhoda McFarland, the store manager of the Tinley Park Lane Bryant store,
of Joliet, Illinois
-- Sarah T. Szafranski of Oak Forest, Illinois
-- Connie R. Woolfolk of Flossmoor, Illinois

Donations may be made by check or money order and will be accepted at all Harris Bank locations. Checks should be made payable to "Lane Bryant Tinley Park Memorial Fund", and mailed to:
The Lane Bryant Tinley Park Memorial Fund
Harris Bank
19500 S. Harlem Avenue
Frankfort, IL 60423
ATTN: Sandy Kozin

Thank you for stopping at my blog, and for reading this story.
CHOMP