UPDATE: Psychologist says registry contributed to death
By Dr. Charlene Steen -- Letters to the Editor
Article Last Updated: 11/27/2007 10:48:49 PM PST
Thanks to the internet registry, which has done nothing to decrease recidivism, a client of mine is dead murdered in Lake County, simply because he was a sex offender whose name and picture were on the registry.
He had recently been released from the hospital after years of treatment. He had changed his life, and, at age 68, had plans for a positive future, family love and support, a job, etc. A man broke into his trailer, stabbed him numerous times someone he didn't even know, only because he was on the registry.
I am sickened, not only because of his murder, but because we have not condemned the stigmatization of offenders through useless laws which will not decrease reoffense, and may even increase offending.
I am sickened by our lack of humanity. How many more such murders will there have to be? Will no one stand up and change these draconian laws which protect no one, and cause pain, suffering, and even death to persons who have committed no new crimes?
Charlene Steen, PhD, Licensed psychologist, Napa ..more..
ORIGINAL REPORT: 11-26-2007 California:
LAKEPORT -- The victim of a homicide last Tuesday morning had served time behind bars for sex offenses he committed prior to 2001, the Lake County Sheriff's Department (LCSD) confirmed. He also was committed to a maximum-security hospital reserved for patients who are categorized as sexually violent predators, mentally ill, not guilty by reason of insanity or incompetent to stand trial.
The murder of Michael A. Dodele, 67, took place in his residence at Lakeport's Western Hills Mobile Home Park on Lakeshore Boulevard. Dodele, who also went by the alias Michael Salta, was dead when deputies arrived shortly after 10 a.m.
"Dodele was a registered sex offender but his status as such has no impact on the manner in which we conduct the investigation," Lake County Sheriff Rodney Mitchell said Monday.
Dodele was convicted by Sonoma County Superior Court on Nov. 29, 2001 for rape by force and oral copulation with a person under 14. He was listed as a registered sex offender on the office of the Attorney General's Megan's Law Web site. Dodele was in compliance with his registration and was listed at the Lakeshore residence where he was found dead.
The only suspect, Ivan Garcia Oliver, 29, was booked on suspicion of murder and parole violation. Oliver had previously been convicted of assault with a deadly weapon in San Diego County. No other arrests were made. "We do not anticipate that our investigation will reveal any others (suspects)," Mitchell said.
Witnesses reported hearing the victim and suspect arguing before Oliver was seen leaving Dodele's residence that morning with blood on his hands and clothing. Deputies arrived at Oliver's residence and immediately detained him. At that time, Oliver made several incriminating comments, essentially admitting to attacking Dodele, LCSD said.
Oliver was taken to Sutter Lakeside Hospital and treated for a minor cut on his hand before being booked at LCSD's jail, where he is currently being held.
A knife believed to be the murder weapon was recovered at the scene, according to reports from the Press Democrat. An autopsy set for today will determine the cause of death.
The investigation is ongoing. Mitchell estimates more than 200 staff hours were spent investigating the case. "I am satisfied with the progress of the investigation and proud of the way that my staff has handled this case. I am confident that we will submit a solid case to the district attorney for prosecution," Mitchell said. ..more.. by Elizabeth Wilson at ewilson@record-bee.com
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Man Serving Sex Assault Sentence Killed
Inmate Died From Head, Chest Trauma
11-26-2007 South Carolina:
RIDGELAND, S.C. -- Department of Corrections officials said that a Spartanburg man who was serving a sentence for sexual exploitation of minors was found dead at the prison.
An autopsy found that Thomas Walter Turner, 40, died of head and chest trauma.
Authorities said that they had initially thought that Turner died of natural causes. He was found dead at Ridgeland Correctional Institution about 8:45 p.m. on Nov. 20.
South Carolina Department of Corrections Communications Director Josh Gelinas said an investigation was begun immediately after the autopsy results were released.
In October 2005, Turner started serving a 16-year sentence for criminal sexual conduct with a minor.
Ridgeland is a medium security facility.
Turner was arrested in May 2005 after State Law Enforcement agents found pictures of boys and girls having sex on Turner's home computer.
At the time of that arrest, Turner was a registered sex offender, having been convicted of criminal sexual conduct with a minor in 1998. ..more.. by WYFF4.com
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Inmate found not guilty of murder
8-19-2010:
RIDGELAND - An inmate accused of killing another prisoner at the Ridgeland Correctional Institution was acquitted on murder and armed robbery charges at trial last week.
Wendell Wilkins, who was 20 when he allegedly beat, choked and stabbed Thomas Walter Turner, 40, at the Ridgeland prison on Nov. 20, 2007, was found not guilty after a three-day trial.
Another inmate, Thomas Lee Pelzer, 20, is also charged and scheduled to go to court in October if there is enough court time following a separate murder trial.
At the time of the slaying, Wilkins was serving 10 years for an armed robbery in Spartanburg County and Pelzer was serving six years for assault with intent to kill conviction in Orangeburg County.
Turner was serving 16 years for criminal sexual conduct with a minor.
Wilkins and Pelzer allegedly robbed Turner for a watch at the medium-security facility in Ridgeland which houses about 1,300 inmates.
The attack allegedly happened in a cell while other inmates had freedom to move around within the pod. ..Source.. by Stephanie Ingersoll
11-26-2007 South Carolina:
RIDGELAND, S.C. -- Department of Corrections officials said that a Spartanburg man who was serving a sentence for sexual exploitation of minors was found dead at the prison.
An autopsy found that Thomas Walter Turner, 40, died of head and chest trauma.
Authorities said that they had initially thought that Turner died of natural causes. He was found dead at Ridgeland Correctional Institution about 8:45 p.m. on Nov. 20.
South Carolina Department of Corrections Communications Director Josh Gelinas said an investigation was begun immediately after the autopsy results were released.
In October 2005, Turner started serving a 16-year sentence for criminal sexual conduct with a minor.
Ridgeland is a medium security facility.
Turner was arrested in May 2005 after State Law Enforcement agents found pictures of boys and girls having sex on Turner's home computer.
At the time of that arrest, Turner was a registered sex offender, having been convicted of criminal sexual conduct with a minor in 1998. ..more.. by WYFF4.com
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Inmate found not guilty of murder
8-19-2010:
RIDGELAND - An inmate accused of killing another prisoner at the Ridgeland Correctional Institution was acquitted on murder and armed robbery charges at trial last week.
Wendell Wilkins, who was 20 when he allegedly beat, choked and stabbed Thomas Walter Turner, 40, at the Ridgeland prison on Nov. 20, 2007, was found not guilty after a three-day trial.
Another inmate, Thomas Lee Pelzer, 20, is also charged and scheduled to go to court in October if there is enough court time following a separate murder trial.
At the time of the slaying, Wilkins was serving 10 years for an armed robbery in Spartanburg County and Pelzer was serving six years for assault with intent to kill conviction in Orangeburg County.
Turner was serving 16 years for criminal sexual conduct with a minor.
Wilkins and Pelzer allegedly robbed Turner for a watch at the medium-security facility in Ridgeland which houses about 1,300 inmates.
The attack allegedly happened in a cell while other inmates had freedom to move around within the pod. ..Source.. by Stephanie Ingersoll
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Body found near stolen vehicle
No case has more people and events involved than this one (See below).11-20-2007 Minnesota:
Body, Porsche both burned; man arrested
A suspected sex offender found dead and burned next to a flaming sports car north of Windom was living in Mankato before he was killed, according to the mother of a man who she said was arrested and jailed in Blue Earth County as a result of the murder investigation.
The death of 20-year-old Alberto Samilpa Jr. is being investigated by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, the Cottonwood County Sheriff’s Department, the Blue Earth County Sheriff’s Department and other agencies, said Mike Mauer, Blue Earth County chief deputy.
Samilpa’s death was discovered after a family traveling north for the Thanksgiving holiday saw the car burning near the intersection of Highway 71 and Cottonwood County Road 3 and reported it to the Sheriff’s Department sometime around 1 a.m. Monday, authorities said.
The 1999 Porsche that was found burning next to Samilpa’s partially burned body had been stolen from a house north of Mankato. Another vehicle that had been stolen from the same Lime Valley Road house, a 2000 Lincoln Navigator, was found burning in Watonwan County at 5:17 a.m. Monday, or about four hours after the Porsche fire was reported, authorities said.
“It was the Porsche that was found at the murder scene,” said Doug Storey, Cottonwood County attorney. “Why an attempt was made to burn the body with the car, we don’t know.”
About 15 guns, cash and other items also were missing from the rural Mankato house when that incident was reported by the owners just before 9 p.m. Saturday, a Blue Earth County Sheriff’s Department report said.
Hans Paul Hottel, 20, formerly of Windom, was booked into the Blue Earth County Jail on a second-degree murder charge at 10:18 p.m. Monday, according to the jail roster. Capt. Rich Murry of the Sheriff’s Department said Hottel was being transported to Cottonwood County Tuesday night. Murry said he couldn’t comment about the reasons for Hottel’s arrest.
“At this point, our investigation is ongoing and in conjunction with the BCA,” Murry said.
Hottel’s mother, Lita Hottel of Windom, said her son’s arrest was connected to Samilpa’s death. She said her son, who volunteered to serve in the military in Iraq and recently returned from a tour there, lived with Samilpa and other roommates at an apartment in the immediate Mankato area.
“He was his friend and he was his roommate and he was trying to get him a job,” Lita Hottel said, describing her son’s relationship with Samilpa. “Hans was the only one who was arrested because the other ones involved are gone.”
Hans Hottel recently started working at Corporate Graphics in North Mankato and had applied to enroll at Minnesota State University, Lita Hottel said. He plans to start classes next semester if he’s released.
Samilpa was scheduled for trial next month in Nicollet County District Court for a felony charge of third-degree criminal sexual conduct and a gross misdemeanor charge of fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct. The charges were filed on Oct. 17, 2006, two days after a Sleepy Eye woman reported he had raped her at a party at a rural residence about three miles north of North Mankato on Oct. 15, 2006.
About a week after he was charged, Samilpa was released on $25,000 bond. His trial was scheduled to start on Dec. 19 and service papers for several subpoenas that had been issued to potential witnesses for the trial were returned to Nicollet County Tuesday, according to court records.
The victim in that incident was at a party with a friend, also from Sleepy Eye, when she was approached by Samilpa, the criminal complaint said. Samilpa allegedly separated her from her friend, forced her into a car and raped her before leaving with a group of his friends.
She was able to identify Samilpa as the man who attacked her by looking at his picture in a Madelia High School yearbook, the criminal complaint said. ..more.. by Dan Nienaber, Free Press Staff Writer
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Witness reaches plea in '07 murder case
1-28-2009 Minnesota:
WINDOM — For his part in a 2007 murder that left 20-year-old Alberto Samilpa Jr. stabbed, shot and burned on a roadside north of Windom, Hans Paul Hottel will pay a fine of $3,000.
In exchange, Hottel, 21, has agreed to become a key witness against three other Mankato men who are now facing first-degree murder charges for the Cottonwood County killing. The men were scheduled to go to trial early this year for the murder, which is directly connected to a burglary near Mankato.
The trials were postponed after a grand jury handed down first-degree murder indictments. Those indictments wouldn’t have happened without Hottel’s cooperation, so it was in the county’s best interest to reach a plea agreement, said Douglas Storey, Cottonwood County attorney.
The agreement was worked out between Hottel’s attorney, Michael Kircher of St. James, and Assistant Minnesota Attorney General Alfred Zdrazil, who is assisting with the prosecution, Storey said.
“It was what the attorney general’s office felt they had to do,” Storey said. “Without someone at the scene who was involved, it was difficult to prove premeditation. We did what we felt we had to do to strengthen our case.”
Hottel was the first suspect arrested and charged after the Nov. 19, 2007, murder. Gerard Irving Holt, 23, Lionel Benavidez, 22, and Axel Rene Kramer, 21, all of Mankato, were arrested and charged later. Holt and Kramer were arrested after being spotted in a car parked at a hotel in Albert Lea. Benavidez was arrested in Texas.
Hottel was arrested in Mankato the same day as investigators found Samilpa’s body next to a burning Porsche 911 car off Highway 71 near Delft, a small community north of Windom. The 1999 sports car and a 2000 Lincoln Navigator, which was found burning in nearby Watonwan County, had both been stolen during the burglary of a Lime Valley Road residence north of Mankato two days earlier.
Hottel became a suspect after investigators learned he had used his credit card at a convenience store in St. James. A surveillance camera showed he used the card to pay for fuel pumped into the Porsche, Navigator and a car Hottel owned. When Hottel’s car was found in Mankato and searched, Samilpa’s wallet was found inside, court records said.
Interviews with Hottel’s roommates in Mankato eventually led to the arrests of the four suspects.
Hottel pleaded guilty to a gross misdemeanor charge of aiding an offender on Dec. 22. Prosecutors agreed to not request jail or prison time and have charges related to the Blue Earth County burglary dismissed, Storey said.
On Jan. 7, a grand jury was called in Windom to examine the remaining second-degree murder charges against Holt, Benavidez and Kramer. On Jan. 16, four days before Holt was scheduled to go to trial, all three men were indicted for first-degree premeditated murder. The second-degree murder charges, which allege there was intent to kill without premeditation, also remain for the three suspects.
New trial dates have not been set, but Hottel will likely be called as a witness when they do take place, Storey said.
“He is going to be testifying at the trial,” Storey said. “He will be an important witness.”
Both Storey and Kircher said they couldn’t comment on whether Hottel was called to testify before the grand jury. A grand jury indictment is required to file first-degree murder charges in Minnesota.
During the plea hearing, Hottel admitted to driving the three other men back to Mankato after Samilpa’s murder, Kircher said. Hottel also admitted to stopping with the others to burn the Navigator.
A second-degree murder charge that had been filed against Hottel was dismissed in May after Cottonwood County District Court Judge Bruce Gross ruled there wasn’t enough probable cause to justify the charge.
Hottel witnessed the murder, then went along with the others because he was concerned about his own safety, Kircher said.
Hottel also was charged with aiding and abetting the Blue Earth County burglary. Benavidez and Hottel’s 24-year-old brother, Lars, are also facing felony charges for the burglary, which also involved Samilpa, according to court records.
In addition to the two vehicles, a total of 21 handguns, rifles and shotguns; a diamond bracelet and other jewelry; electronics including televisions, DVD players and computers; ammunition; $150 in cash; and passports were allegedly stolen from the house. ..Source.. by Dan Nienaber
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Man shot in head after breaking clutch on hot Porsche
11-22-2007 Minnesota:
A stolen Porsche, an SUV and firearms led to a killing, questions and an arrest near Windom, Minn.
For breaking the clutch on a stolen Porsche he was driving, Alberto Samilpa Jr.'s conspirators in crime shot him four or five times in the head, stabbed him in the neck and set his body and the car ablaze on a rural highway early Monday.
"It's just sad to think that somebody would kill somebody for that," said Nick Anderson, Cottonwood County assistant county attorney.
Hans P. Hottel, 20, of Mankato has been arrested and charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and aiding an offender, according to the county attorney's office.
Two other men have been charged via warrant but remained on the lam Wednesday night: Lionel Benavidez, 21, of LeCenter is charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and aiding an offender.
Gerald Holt, 23, of Madison Lake is charged with second-degree murder. Holt is also known as Ivan Lopez and "Latin."
A fourth suspect, known only as "Alex," is implicated in the case but has not been arrested or charged, Anderson said.
According to the criminal complaints filed Wednesday:
The Porsche, a sport-utility vehicle and eight firearms were reported stolen from a Mankato home on Nov. 17. The suspects' roommate later told authorities that he saw Samilpa and Holt at their shared Mankato home with firearms and a television.
The next day, Samilpa, Holt, Hottel and others were at the residence, where they talked about moving the stolen vehicles, according to the charges. Hottel was supposed to pick up the five men after they stored the vehicles, Anderson said.
The group stopped to get gas and discovered that Samilpa had somehow broken the Porsche's clutch, angering Holt.
According to the charges, Holt, "Alex" and someone named "Blaze" (Benavidez's nickname) shot Samilpa and burned the car.
Samilpa's body was found at 1:39 a.m. Monday lying on the ground near the car on County Rd. 3 just east of U.S. Hwy. 71.
When Hottel was arrested Monday, he had small stains consistent with blood on his tennis shoes, sweatshirt and T-shirt, according to the complaint.
The county coroner told authorities that Samilpa, who was dead on the scene, was shot at least once in the back of the head and that the bullet came out his right eye socket. Authorities describe Holt as Hispanic, 5' 6" and 185 pounds with brown hair and eyes. Benavidez is Hispanic, 6 feet and 185 pounds with brown hair and eyes. ..Source.. by Chao Xiong , Star Tribune
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Murder victim's wallet found
12-10-2007:
MANKATO — A wallet with identification for a man found shot to death and burned in Cottonwood County Nov. 19 was discovered in a car confiscated in Mankato the following day, according to court documents filed this week in Blue Earth County.
The 1997 Oldsmobile Delta 88 was the same car 20-year-old Hans Hottel allegedly used to drive three other men to Madelia after Alberto Samilpa Jr. was killed and two stolen vehicles were burned. Hottel was arrested the same day as Samilpa’s murder in Mankato. The car was found parked at 429 Warren St. in Mankato, where investigators kept it under surveillance until three juveniles attempted to leave with it Nov. 20, according to a search warrant application.
Investigators had been hoping to catch 22-year-old Gerald Holt, one of three men now charged with murdering Samilpa, with the car. However, the three teens inside told them they had been instructed to pick Holt up at a nearby park. Holt ran from the area before he could be arrested, the affidavit said.
The car was towed to a Blue Earth County evidence garage, then transferred to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Forensic Science Laboratory in St. Paul. During a search, BCA agent Micheal Anderson found Samilpa’s wallet, blood stains, a gas can, .22-caliber cartridges, a laptop computer, jewelry and other items in the car, the affidavit said. Tread impressions also were taken from the car’s four tires.
Samilpa was found dead after travelers reported seeing a burning car off Highway 71 north of Windom at 1:30 a.m. Nov. 19. The flaming Porsche 911 found next to Samilpa’s burned body had been stolen from a house on Lime Valley Road north of Mankato on Nov. 17. A 2000 Lincoln Navigator, stolen during the same burglary, was found burning in Watonwan County about four hours later.
Hottel was arrested later that day after investigators identified him through a credit card that was used to buy gas for the Porsche, Navigator and Oldsmobile in St. James. The investigation shifted to Mankato after Hottel’s mother, Estralitta Hottel of Windom, told BCA investigators he was living there.
They later learned Hottel, Samilpa and Holt were living together in the Mankato apartment. A fourth roommate, Colt Bergendahl, told them his roommates and two other men had been planning to move the two stolen vehicles on Nov. 18, and Hottel was going to pick them up in his Oldsmobile so he could bring the men back to Mankato.
The two other men were later identified as 20-year-old Axel Rene Kramer of New Ulm and 21-year-old Lionel Benavidez of Le Center. Holt and Kramer have each been charged with second-degree murder. Hottel and Benavidez have each been charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder.
Holt, Kramer and 18-year-old Aimee Jo Palmer, charged as an accomplice after the fact, were arrested in Albert Lea on Nov. 23. Benavidez was arrested in Crystal City, Texas, on Nov. 24.
During interviews with suspects and witnesses, investigators were told Samilpa was shot and stabbed after he broke the clutch on the Porsche. His body was burned along with the Porsche, then the Navigator was driven into Watonwan County and burned. The four men allegedly stopped at a Madelia apartment to get rid of bloody clothing before splitting up, court records said.
The affidavit filed Wednesday also includes a list of all the known property stolen from Richard Kakeldey’s residence at 23525 Lime Valley Road.
The items stolen included a total of 21 handguns, rifles and shotguns; a diamond bracelet and other jewelry; electronics including televisions, DVD players and computers; ammunition; $150 cash; and passports. ..Source.. by Dan Nienaber
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Gun stash linked to car theft-murder
12-13-2007 Minnesota:
MANKATO — Guns and other valuables stolen during a burglary related to a murder in Cottonwood County last month were found last week at a house in Mankato.
The house at 626 N. Fifth St. was searched Dec. 4 after Blue Earth County Sheriff’s Department Detective Paul Barta received a tip from Denise Rients, a probation officer with the county. Rients reported that one of her clients, 30-year-old Bradley Scott Junker, told her he had been asked to store a stolen Porsche at the house for people involved in the Nov. 17 burglary of a Lime Valley Road house north of Mankato.
The Porsche stolen during that burglary was found burning in Cottonwood County at about 1:30 a.m. Nov. 19. The body of 20-year-old Alberto Samilpa Jr. of Mankato was found next to the car. He had been shot in the head, stabbed in the throat and burned.
Investigators were no longer looking for the Porsche but reported finding at Junker’s house several handguns, ammunition, a 46-inch plasma television, computers and other items matching the description of items stolen in the burglary. They also found an address book with a business card for lawyer Richard Kakeldey, the owner of the house burglarized, court records said.
Samilpa, 22-year-old Gerald Holt and brothers Lars John Hottel, 23, and Hans Hottel, 20, were identified as suspects in the burglary, according to the search warrant affidavit citing probable cause to search Junker’s house.
Hans Hottel, Holt and two other men, 20-year-old Axel Kramer of New Ulm and 21-year-old Lionel Benavidez of Le Center, were identified as suspects in Samilpa’s murder. Kramer and Holt have been charged with second-degree murder. Hans Hottel and Benavidez have been charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder. No charges had been filed as of Wednesday for the burglary.
On Dec. 4, Junker allegedly told Rients he had heard about Samilpa’s murder after being asked to store the Porsche. He told her he hadn’t heard back from the people involved in the burglary since the murder and was concerned about being hurt by the suspects or getting into trouble with police. Rients told Junker to report the information to the Sheriff’s Department just before 10 a.m. When the search warrant request was being made more than two hours later, no report had been made, Barta reported.
Junker’s house was searched about six hours after he met with Rients. Investigators originally planned to search a house across the street, but realized they had the wrong house when they called Junker on his cell phone shortly before executing the search.
Junker was released from prison a year ago after serving four years behind bars for selling methamphetamine in Cottonwood County. He was scheduled to remain on supervised release through Oct. 10, 2008. Junker is in the Blue Earth County Jail on a Minnesota Department of Corrections hold.
Investigators actually had a cellular telephone number that would have led them to Junker Nov. 23, the day Kramer and Holt were arrested in Albert Lea. Kramer told an agent with the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension that Holt had taken his cell phone from him shortly before their arrest, the search warrant affidavit said. He told the agent Holt called someone named “Brad” and told him to “keep the guns as an early Christmas present.”
Kramer also told investigators Holt had removed the guns from a residence in the 100 block of State Street and moved them to another location in Mankato.
On Nov. 30, investigators received a search warrant to check the record of phone numbers on Kramer’s cell phone. A call to someone identified on the phone as “Brad Jay” was made at 3:37 p.m. on Nov. 23.
A subpoena requesting information about the number listed for “Brad Jay” was sent to Alltel, but the cell phone company had not responded before investigators received the report about Junker from Rients, court records said. Rients reported Junker’s cell phone number was the same as the one found on Kramer’s phone. ..Source.. by Dan Nienaber
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Another plea deal reached in murder after Porsche theft
1-4-2010 Minnesota:
Holt to serve 30 years in prison for 2007 case involving stolen, burned cars, murder of accomplice
WINDOM — Prosecutors have reached a plea deal with the second of four Mankato men arrested in 2007 after a fifth man was found shot to death and burned with a stolen Porsche.
Gerard Irving Holt, 24, will serve 30 years in prison according to a plea agreement reached in Cottonwood County District Court last week. He pleaded guilty to murdering 20-year-old Alberto Samilpa on Nov. 19, 2007, and leaving his body next to a burning Porsche 911 that had been stolen from a residence north of Mankato.
A Lincoln Navigator that had been stolen from the same residence was found burning in Watonwan County later the same day. Holt was arrested along with Hans Hottel, 22; Axel Rene Kramer, 22; and Lionel Benavidez, 23; after surveillance video from a St. James convenience store showed Hottel had used his credit card to purchase fuel for the stolen vehicles and his own car. When Hottel’s car was found in Mankato, it was searched and Samilpa’s wallet was found inside, court records said.
Witnesses later told investigators the suspects said Samilpa was stabbed, shot and burned because he had broken the clutch on the Porsche.
Hottel was arrested in Mankato shortly after his car was found. Holt and Kramer were arrested after being spotted in a car parked at an Albert Lea hotel. Benavidez was arrested in Texas. Authorities had launched a nationwide manhunt for the men after they became suspects in the murder.
In exchange for Holt’s guilty plea to a second-degree murder charge, prosecutors agreed to dismiss a second charge of first-degree murder. They also agreed not to oppose Holt’s request that he serve his sentence in an Indiana prison. His sentence will run concurrently to a sentence he will receive for a burglary conviction in Blue Earth County, which is related to the vehicle thefts.
Trials have not been scheduled for Kramer and Benavidez, who are still facing first-degree murder charges. Both men had originally been charged with second-degree murder, but the charges were increased to first-degree murder shortly after Hottel reached a plea deal in December 2008.
Hottel pleaded guilty to a gross misdemeanor charge of aiding an offender on Dec. 22, 2008, and was ordered to pay a $3,000 fine. In exchange for Hottel’s plea and promise to testify against the remaining defendants, prosecutors agreed to not request jail time.
Without Hottel’s cooperation, prosecutors would not have been able to get the grand jury indictments required by Minnesota law for the first-degree murder charges.
“Without someone at the scene who was involved, it was difficult to prove premeditation,” Cottonwood County Attorney Douglas Story said after Hottel’s plea. “We did what we felt we had to do to strengthen our case.”
Hottel was arrested on Nov. 2 in Anoka County for an unrelated incident. He has been charged in that county with third-degree criminal sexual conduct and obstruction of the legal process. A trial has been scheduled for June 28. ..Source.. by Dan Nienaber
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Holt gets 30 years for Samilpa murder
2-5-2010 Minnesota:
MANKATO — A former Mankato man has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for his role in a 2007 murder in Cottonwood County.
Gerard Irving Holt, 24, was sentenced Thursday for killing 20-year-old Alberto Samilpa and attempting to burn Samilpa’s body with a stolen Porsche.
Holt, who pleaded guilty to a charge of second-degree murder on Dec. 28, is the second of five suspects arrested after the murder to enter a plea.
The Porsche 911 had been stolen from a residence north of Mankato. It was found burning with Samilpa’s body on a road near Delft, a small town north of Windom on Highway 71, on Nov. 19, 2007. A Lincoln Navigator stolen from the same residence was found burning in rural Watonwan County later that day.
Hans Hottel, 22, was arrested in Mankato after he was identified as the person who paid to fuel the stolen vehicles and his own car in St. James. Hottel, who testified he witnessed the murder, pleaded guilty to a gross misdemeanor charge of aiding an offender in December 2008. He promised to testify at the trials for Holt and the others in exchange for no jail time.
With Hottel’s testimony, prosecutors were able to charge Holt, 24-year-old Lionel Benavidez and 22-year-old Axel Rene Kramer with first-degree murder. Benavidez and Kramer are scheduled to go to trial in June.
A woman who was arrested outside a hotel in Albert Lea with Holt and Kramer, 20-year-old Aimee Jo Palmer of Eagle Lake, also is scheduled to go to trial in June for felony charges of aiding an offender. The three were arrested after investigators put out a statewide notice saying they were wanted for their connection to Samilpa’s murder.
Benavidez was arrested later in Texas after investigators found him there.
Holt’s sentence for the murder will run concurrent with a 38-month prison sentence he received in July in Blue Earth County for an aiding and abetting burglary conviction. That charge stemmed from the burglary where the burned vehicles were stolen along with jewelry, electronics and cash. ..Source.. by Dan Nienaber
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Convicted murderer returns to Mankato to face burglary charges
6-5-2010 Minnesota:
MANKATO — A Mankato man who was sentenced to 24 years in prison Monday for a November 2007 murder in Cottonwood County made a stop in Blue Earth County Tuesday before going to the correctional facility in St. Cloud.
At the request of Assistant Blue Earth County Attorney Chris Rovney, Axel Rene Kramer will be staying at the jail in Mankato for awhile.
Kramer, 23, was scheduled to go to trial this month for murdering 20-year-old Alberto Samilpa Jr. on Nov. 18, 2007. The trial was canceled in March after he reached a plea deal.
Samilpa’s body, which had been both shot and stabbed, was found north of Windom next to a Porsche sports car that had been stolen from a residence north of Mankato. A Lincoln Navigator stolen from the same residence also was found in nearby Watonwan County.
Four men were charged with murdering Samilpa after investigators learned Hans Paul Hottel of Mankato, who was 20 years old at the time, had used a credit card to purchase gas for his car and the two stolen vehicles. Hottel later pleaded guilty to reduced charges and was fined. He also became the witness prosecutors needed to file first-degree murder charges against the remaining three men, including Kramer.
All three men have since reached plea agreements that reduced the charge to second-degree murder again.
Kramer appeared in Blue Earth County District Court Tuesday for felony charges related to taking the vehicles and other valuables from the residence outside Mankato. Rovney asked District Court Judge George Harrelson to set bail for Kramer as a technicality. Rovney said Kramer had no chance of being released, but setting bail would keep him from being turned over to the Department of Corrections.
It’s cheaper for the state to keep Kramer in Blue Earth County than to keep him at the prison in St. Cloud, then transfer him to court hearings, Rovney said.
“It’s a roundabout way, but we’ll save the court money,” he said.
Rovney expects the case to be resolved quickly. Whatever sentence Kramer receives for the Mankato burglary will run concurrently with the prison sentence he received for Samilpa’s murder. That’s required by state law, Rovney said.
The remaining two men also have been sentenced for the murder.
Lionel Benavidez, 24, of Mankato was sentenced to 25 years in prison in May for the murder. He has not yet appeared for the burglary charges.
Gerard Irving Holt, 24, of Mankato pleaded guilty to the burglary charges about a year ago and was sentenced to three years in prison. He pleaded guilty to the murder charge in February and was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
The victims of the burglary are requesting restitution. One man has filed a claim saying he lost more than $41,000. Another victim estimated his loss at $2,000 for an insurance deductible, and his insurance company is estimating losses at nearly $54,000, court records said. ..Source.. by Dan Nienaber
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Jailed sex suspect dies
Guards Taser man who had performed as clown
11-17-2007 Illinois:
SPRINGFIELD - Accused sex offender A. Paul Carlock, who performed for children as Klutzo the Clown, died Friday morning at St. John's Hospital following a struggle with Sangamon County jailers.
Officials first described the death as the result of an undetermined medical problem.
However, Sangamon County Chief Deputy Tony Sacco said Friday afternoon that Carlock began experiencing problems after a struggle with correctional officers in which he was subdued with a Taser.
Sacco said he didn't receive a report on the incident from the jail until the afternoon, and neither did the U.S. Marshals Service. Carlock was being held on federal charges.
The report indicates corrections officers were in the midst of trying to get Carlock ready to go to St. John's Hospital to be checked because of recent erratic behavior.
Carlock resisted, Sacco said, when jailers tried to get him into a restraint chair. Carlock was wrestled to the ground, but continued to fight.
When he wouldn't cooperate, he was Tasered on the leg, Sacco said.
"The Taser had little effect, but did allow them to put the leg shackles on," Sacco said. "As they sat him up, they saw a change in his facial color."
Officials put ammonia under Carlock's nose to try to revive him, but then noticed a weak pulse and a change in his breathing, Sacco said.
An ambulance had been called earlier to handle the hospital transfer, but when Carlock's condition became obviously serious, jail officials asked that the ambulance respond faster, the report said.
Carlock died at St. John's Hospital.
"This all happened between 7:30 and 8 a.m. and at 9:28, we got a call that he'd passed away," Sacco said.
Bruce Harmening, U.S. Marshals Service supervisor in Springfield, said the marshal's office will investigate the death.
"We're going to be looking into this," Harmening said. "The main thing is to wait for the autopsy report."
The autopsy is scheduled for today, according to the coroner's office.
Carlock had been in the jail since his arrest Oct. 9 on charges of sex tourism and possession of child pornography.
Carlock originally was stopped by immigration agents at the San Francisco airport as he was returning from a trip to the Philippines in June. Travelers to the Philippines often are scrutinized because the nation has gained a reputation as a high-risk destination for child sex tourism.
According to an affidavit filed in federal court, Carlock said when stopped that he had been working as a clown at an orphanage in San Isidro.
Because he had had direct contact with children, the officers searched Carlock's digital camera and his computer and allegedly found numerous pictures of nude young boys. He also was accused of having had sexual contact with three of the boys.
Carlock had held a variety of jobs and did volunteer work over several decades in central Illinois. Many of those roles put him in contact with children.
In addition to performing as Klutzo, Carlock worked in at least two local daycare centers. He also entertained as a magician.
Carlock had been a police officer in Springfield and Grandview, at one time serving as a juvenile officer. He also had worked as a minister, a marriage and family counselor and for the state, including a job with the DuPage Boys School in Naperville. He had volunteered with the Boy Scouts and with Big Brother Big Sister.
Those agencies conducted background checks, but results were negative because Carlock had never been arrested until this year.
Carlock was moved to a padded cell in the county jail last month, reportedly after fighting with corrections officers. He had been Tasered twice during those incidents, according to previous reports.
The U.S. magistrate in charge of the case also had ordered Carlock's medicine to be monitored to prevent him from harming himself.
"There's no appearance that this happened because of injuries from a suicide attempt," Harmening said today. ..more.. by SARAH ANTONACCI, GATEHOUSE NEWS SERVICE
Carlock dies after struggle in jail
Jailers used Taser on alleged sex offender
11-17-2007 Illinois:
Accused sex offender A. Paul Carlock, who performed for children as Klutzo the Clown, died Friday morning at St. John's Hospital after struggling with Sangamon County jailers.
Initially, officials attributed his death to an undetermined medical problem.
About six hours later, Tony Sacco, chief deputy in the Sangamon County Sheriff's Office, said Carlock had begun experiencing problems after a struggle with correctional officers in which he was subdued with a Taser.
Sacco said he didn't receive a report on the incident from the jail until Friday afternoon, and neither did the U.S. marshal's office. Carlock was in jail awaiting disposition of federal charges of sex tourism - traveling to the Philippines to engage in sexual conduct with minors - and possession of child pornography.
The report indicates correctional officers were trying to get the 57-year-old Carlock ready to go St. John's to be checked because of recent erratic behavior. Carlock resisted, Sacco said, when jailers attempted to get him into a restraint chair. Carlock was wrestled to the ground but continued to fight.
When he wouldn't cooperate, a Taser stun gun was used on his leg, Sacco said.
"The Taser had little effect, but did allow them to put the leg shackles on," Sacco said. "As they sat him up,
they saw a change in his facial color."
Jailers put ammonia under his nose to try to revive Carlock, but then noticed a weak pulse and a change in his breathing.
An ambulance had been called earlier to handle the hospital transfer, but when Carlock's condition became obviously serious, jail officials ask that the ambulance respond faster.
Carlock died at St. John's.
"This all happened between 7:30 and 8 a.m., and at 9:28, we got a call that he'd passed away," Sacco said.
An autopsy is planned today, and Bruce Harmening, a supervisor for the U.S. marshal's office in Springfield, said the marshal's office will investigate the death.
"We're going to be looking into this," he said. "The main thing is to wait for the autopsy report."
The sheriff's office opened its own investigation Friday afternoon, Sacco said. One issue to be examined is how Carlock was shocked with the Taser, which shoots electrically charged darts that carry 50,000 volts for several seconds.
People hit are overwhelmed by the electric current and temporarily immobilized.
The correctional officer's report indicates he shot the probes into Carlock's leg from a distance. However, information downloaded from the Taser indicates it was pressed up against Carlock's leg in what's called a "drive stun" and deployed next to the skin.
"I think the (correctional officers) sometimes get screwed up on the terminology," Sacco said.
Carlock, of the 2300 block of Hedge Lane, had been in the jail since his arrest Oct. 9. On Oct. 18, jail officers twice used a Taser on Carlock when he allegedly was uncooperative and combative.
The first incident occurred when he became angry after being refused use of the phone, authorities said. The second occurred that evening, after Carlock allegedly began screaming and pounding on the window of his cell again.
Carlock was stopped by immigration agents at the San Francisco airport as he was returning from a trip to the Philippines in June. Travelers to the Philippines often are scrutinized because the country has gained a reputation as a high-risk destination for child sex tourism.
According to an affidavit filed in federal court, Carlock said when stopped that he had been working as a clown at an orphanage in San Isidro.
Because he had had direct contact with children, the agents searched Carlock's digital camera and his computer, allegedly finding numerous pictures of nude young boys. He also was accused of having had sexual contact with three of the boys.
Carlock had held a variety of jobs and did volunteer work over several decades in central Illinois, much of which put him in contact with children.
In addition to performing as Klutzo, he worked in at least two local day-care centers. He also entertained as a magician.
Carlock had been a police officer in Springfield and Grandview, at one time serving as a juvenile officer. He also had worked as a minister as a marriage and family counselor and for the state, including a job with the DuPage Boys School in Naperville. He had volunteered with the Boy Scouts and with Big Brother/Big Sister.
Those agencies conducted background checks, but results were negative because Carlock had never been arrested until this year.
Carlock was moved to a padded cell in the county jail after the earlier fights with corrections officers. The U.S. magistrate in charge of the case also had ordered Carlock's medicine to be monitored to prevent him from harming himself.
"There's no appearance that this happened because of injuries from a suicide attempt," Harmening said.
Sarah Antonacci can be reached at 788-1529 or sarah.antonacci@sj-r.com.
Chief deputy defends use of Tasers
Critics say police are often too quick to give shocks
By SARAH ANTONACCI, STAFF WRITER
Use of Tasers has reduced injuries to both personnel of the Sangamon County Sheriff's Office and to people deputies and jailers are trying to restrain, according to chief deputy Tony Sacco.
But at least one international organization contends that law enforcement has come to rely too much on Tasers, and that the shock devices can sometimes be dangerous and even deadly.
"Tense situations is when they are used," noted Sacco.
Sangamon County has been using Tasers for about three years in various situations. Sacco said court security officers use them in courtrooms when defendants or others get out of control. Deputies use them on the streets rather than fighting. And corrections officers use them in the jail.
"We want to use the least amount of physical contact we can for a person being arrested without causing injury to ourselves or the people we're attempting to take control of," he said.
"We were always having officers going hands-on with people they were trying to arrest. They'd end up with cut fingers, broken hands. There were worker's comp cases."
The people the sheriff's office comes into contact with generally suffer fewer injuries, too, Sacco said.
He said he is aware of cases in which people involved in confrontations with authorities have been stunned with Tasers and then died, including one in Chicago in 2005. But he said there often are other contributing factors, including pre-existing medical conditions or drug and alcohol use.
Dori Dinsmore, Midwest regional director for Amnesty International, said her organization has documented 288 cases since 2001 in which people have died after Tasers were used on them.
"I think this case exemplified one of the main problems with Tasers and Taser usage in general, and that is the issue of how police officers are deploying these as weapons," she said, referring to A. Paul Carlock, who died Friday after he was Tasered during a struggle with Sangamon County jailers.
"What we see in so many departments is police officers are using Tasers in situations when they'd never draw their guns," Dinsmore said.
Amnesty International supports the use of Tasers only as an alternative to lethal force, she added.
"Nobody really knows for sure what leads to the death of some people after being Tasered and not others," she said. "In situations like this, where the officers weren't intending to use deadly force, if they knew it was likely to have this adverse outcome, would they have used the weapon?"
The manufacturer, Taser International, on its Web site cites several studies that have shown Tasers to be safer to use than most traditional methods of force. ..more.. by Sarah Antonacci can be reached at 788-1529 or sarah.antonacci@sj-r.com.
11-17-2007 Illinois:
SPRINGFIELD - Accused sex offender A. Paul Carlock, who performed for children as Klutzo the Clown, died Friday morning at St. John's Hospital following a struggle with Sangamon County jailers.
Officials first described the death as the result of an undetermined medical problem.
However, Sangamon County Chief Deputy Tony Sacco said Friday afternoon that Carlock began experiencing problems after a struggle with correctional officers in which he was subdued with a Taser.
Sacco said he didn't receive a report on the incident from the jail until the afternoon, and neither did the U.S. Marshals Service. Carlock was being held on federal charges.
The report indicates corrections officers were in the midst of trying to get Carlock ready to go to St. John's Hospital to be checked because of recent erratic behavior.
Carlock resisted, Sacco said, when jailers tried to get him into a restraint chair. Carlock was wrestled to the ground, but continued to fight.
When he wouldn't cooperate, he was Tasered on the leg, Sacco said.
"The Taser had little effect, but did allow them to put the leg shackles on," Sacco said. "As they sat him up, they saw a change in his facial color."
Officials put ammonia under Carlock's nose to try to revive him, but then noticed a weak pulse and a change in his breathing, Sacco said.
An ambulance had been called earlier to handle the hospital transfer, but when Carlock's condition became obviously serious, jail officials asked that the ambulance respond faster, the report said.
Carlock died at St. John's Hospital.
"This all happened between 7:30 and 8 a.m. and at 9:28, we got a call that he'd passed away," Sacco said.
Bruce Harmening, U.S. Marshals Service supervisor in Springfield, said the marshal's office will investigate the death.
"We're going to be looking into this," Harmening said. "The main thing is to wait for the autopsy report."
The autopsy is scheduled for today, according to the coroner's office.
Carlock had been in the jail since his arrest Oct. 9 on charges of sex tourism and possession of child pornography.
Carlock originally was stopped by immigration agents at the San Francisco airport as he was returning from a trip to the Philippines in June. Travelers to the Philippines often are scrutinized because the nation has gained a reputation as a high-risk destination for child sex tourism.
According to an affidavit filed in federal court, Carlock said when stopped that he had been working as a clown at an orphanage in San Isidro.
Because he had had direct contact with children, the officers searched Carlock's digital camera and his computer and allegedly found numerous pictures of nude young boys. He also was accused of having had sexual contact with three of the boys.
Carlock had held a variety of jobs and did volunteer work over several decades in central Illinois. Many of those roles put him in contact with children.
In addition to performing as Klutzo, Carlock worked in at least two local daycare centers. He also entertained as a magician.
Carlock had been a police officer in Springfield and Grandview, at one time serving as a juvenile officer. He also had worked as a minister, a marriage and family counselor and for the state, including a job with the DuPage Boys School in Naperville. He had volunteered with the Boy Scouts and with Big Brother Big Sister.
Those agencies conducted background checks, but results were negative because Carlock had never been arrested until this year.
Carlock was moved to a padded cell in the county jail last month, reportedly after fighting with corrections officers. He had been Tasered twice during those incidents, according to previous reports.
The U.S. magistrate in charge of the case also had ordered Carlock's medicine to be monitored to prevent him from harming himself.
"There's no appearance that this happened because of injuries from a suicide attempt," Harmening said today. ..more.. by SARAH ANTONACCI, GATEHOUSE NEWS SERVICE
Carlock dies after struggle in jail
Jailers used Taser on alleged sex offender
11-17-2007 Illinois:
Accused sex offender A. Paul Carlock, who performed for children as Klutzo the Clown, died Friday morning at St. John's Hospital after struggling with Sangamon County jailers.
Initially, officials attributed his death to an undetermined medical problem.
About six hours later, Tony Sacco, chief deputy in the Sangamon County Sheriff's Office, said Carlock had begun experiencing problems after a struggle with correctional officers in which he was subdued with a Taser.
Sacco said he didn't receive a report on the incident from the jail until Friday afternoon, and neither did the U.S. marshal's office. Carlock was in jail awaiting disposition of federal charges of sex tourism - traveling to the Philippines to engage in sexual conduct with minors - and possession of child pornography.
The report indicates correctional officers were trying to get the 57-year-old Carlock ready to go St. John's to be checked because of recent erratic behavior. Carlock resisted, Sacco said, when jailers attempted to get him into a restraint chair. Carlock was wrestled to the ground but continued to fight.
When he wouldn't cooperate, a Taser stun gun was used on his leg, Sacco said.
"The Taser had little effect, but did allow them to put the leg shackles on," Sacco said. "As they sat him up,
they saw a change in his facial color."
Jailers put ammonia under his nose to try to revive Carlock, but then noticed a weak pulse and a change in his breathing.
An ambulance had been called earlier to handle the hospital transfer, but when Carlock's condition became obviously serious, jail officials ask that the ambulance respond faster.
Carlock died at St. John's.
"This all happened between 7:30 and 8 a.m., and at 9:28, we got a call that he'd passed away," Sacco said.
An autopsy is planned today, and Bruce Harmening, a supervisor for the U.S. marshal's office in Springfield, said the marshal's office will investigate the death.
"We're going to be looking into this," he said. "The main thing is to wait for the autopsy report."
The sheriff's office opened its own investigation Friday afternoon, Sacco said. One issue to be examined is how Carlock was shocked with the Taser, which shoots electrically charged darts that carry 50,000 volts for several seconds.
People hit are overwhelmed by the electric current and temporarily immobilized.
The correctional officer's report indicates he shot the probes into Carlock's leg from a distance. However, information downloaded from the Taser indicates it was pressed up against Carlock's leg in what's called a "drive stun" and deployed next to the skin.
"I think the (correctional officers) sometimes get screwed up on the terminology," Sacco said.
Carlock, of the 2300 block of Hedge Lane, had been in the jail since his arrest Oct. 9. On Oct. 18, jail officers twice used a Taser on Carlock when he allegedly was uncooperative and combative.
The first incident occurred when he became angry after being refused use of the phone, authorities said. The second occurred that evening, after Carlock allegedly began screaming and pounding on the window of his cell again.
Carlock was stopped by immigration agents at the San Francisco airport as he was returning from a trip to the Philippines in June. Travelers to the Philippines often are scrutinized because the country has gained a reputation as a high-risk destination for child sex tourism.
According to an affidavit filed in federal court, Carlock said when stopped that he had been working as a clown at an orphanage in San Isidro.
Because he had had direct contact with children, the agents searched Carlock's digital camera and his computer, allegedly finding numerous pictures of nude young boys. He also was accused of having had sexual contact with three of the boys.
Carlock had held a variety of jobs and did volunteer work over several decades in central Illinois, much of which put him in contact with children.
In addition to performing as Klutzo, he worked in at least two local day-care centers. He also entertained as a magician.
Carlock had been a police officer in Springfield and Grandview, at one time serving as a juvenile officer. He also had worked as a minister as a marriage and family counselor and for the state, including a job with the DuPage Boys School in Naperville. He had volunteered with the Boy Scouts and with Big Brother/Big Sister.
Those agencies conducted background checks, but results were negative because Carlock had never been arrested until this year.
Carlock was moved to a padded cell in the county jail after the earlier fights with corrections officers. The U.S. magistrate in charge of the case also had ordered Carlock's medicine to be monitored to prevent him from harming himself.
"There's no appearance that this happened because of injuries from a suicide attempt," Harmening said.
Sarah Antonacci can be reached at 788-1529 or sarah.antonacci@sj-r.com.
Chief deputy defends use of Tasers
Critics say police are often too quick to give shocks
By SARAH ANTONACCI, STAFF WRITER
Use of Tasers has reduced injuries to both personnel of the Sangamon County Sheriff's Office and to people deputies and jailers are trying to restrain, according to chief deputy Tony Sacco.
But at least one international organization contends that law enforcement has come to rely too much on Tasers, and that the shock devices can sometimes be dangerous and even deadly.
"Tense situations is when they are used," noted Sacco.
Sangamon County has been using Tasers for about three years in various situations. Sacco said court security officers use them in courtrooms when defendants or others get out of control. Deputies use them on the streets rather than fighting. And corrections officers use them in the jail.
"We want to use the least amount of physical contact we can for a person being arrested without causing injury to ourselves or the people we're attempting to take control of," he said.
"We were always having officers going hands-on with people they were trying to arrest. They'd end up with cut fingers, broken hands. There were worker's comp cases."
The people the sheriff's office comes into contact with generally suffer fewer injuries, too, Sacco said.
He said he is aware of cases in which people involved in confrontations with authorities have been stunned with Tasers and then died, including one in Chicago in 2005. But he said there often are other contributing factors, including pre-existing medical conditions or drug and alcohol use.
Dori Dinsmore, Midwest regional director for Amnesty International, said her organization has documented 288 cases since 2001 in which people have died after Tasers were used on them.
"I think this case exemplified one of the main problems with Tasers and Taser usage in general, and that is the issue of how police officers are deploying these as weapons," she said, referring to A. Paul Carlock, who died Friday after he was Tasered during a struggle with Sangamon County jailers.
"What we see in so many departments is police officers are using Tasers in situations when they'd never draw their guns," Dinsmore said.
Amnesty International supports the use of Tasers only as an alternative to lethal force, she added.
"Nobody really knows for sure what leads to the death of some people after being Tasered and not others," she said. "In situations like this, where the officers weren't intending to use deadly force, if they knew it was likely to have this adverse outcome, would they have used the weapon?"
The manufacturer, Taser International, on its Web site cites several studies that have shown Tasers to be safer to use than most traditional methods of force. ..more.. by Sarah Antonacci can be reached at 788-1529 or sarah.antonacci@sj-r.com.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Man defends attacks on sex offenders
Article Tags:
Registry Vigilante - Lawrence Trant Story
Crusader gets jail term
12-5-2004 New Hampshire:
CONCORD, N.H. -- Lawrence Trant sees himself as a righteous crusader who put muscle behind his boiling outrage against pedophiles.
The state of New Hampshire sees Trant differently. He is serving a 10- to 30-year sentence in New Hampshire State Prison after pleading guilty to attempting to murder two convicted sex offenders whose names and addresses he found on an Internet registry posted by the state.
"I don't want people to steal the souls of little kids," Trant, 57, said in an interview in prison last week. "I'm doing 30 years for something I think is morally justified."
But prosecutor John Weld says Trant is one of the most cold-blooded criminals he has encountered. If Trant had not been arrested, Weld said, the native of Cambridge, Mass., probably would have killed someone convicted of a sex crime against children.
"He doesn't seem to have any conscience about violence to other people," Weld said. "These people have as much right to justice as anybody else."
The case has become more complicated than a simple question of right and wrong. The sordid histories of Trant's victims, his impassioned testimony on the witness stand, and his use of an Internet list to track down his targets have infused the case with controversy and conflicting senses of justice.
He is not considered the hero he thought he would become in April 2003, when he stabbed one man and lit fires at two buildings where at least seven convicted sex offenders lived. But he was able to persuade a Superior Court jury not to convict him of attempted murder in his trial on the stabbing charge, even after he took the witness stand and admitted he used a kitchen knife to assault Lawrence Sheridan, who had been convicted of sexually assaulting a child in 1999.
On trial in June for the stabbing, in a half-hour, uninterrupted speech from the witness stand, Trant looked directly at the jurors who, he believed, sympathized with him.
Trant recalled that he pointed a finger at the jury and said: "I wasn't about protecting anyone from my family. This was about protecting you!"
Three of the 12 Superior Court jurors refused to convict him of attempted murder. The judge declared a mistrial on that charge; the same panel of jurors eventually agreed that Trant had committed first-degree assault.
Prosecutors realized they would face a problem trying to convict Trant of attempted murder in the other cases: He had targeted a class of victims for whom a jury of his peers had no sympathy.
"Experienced prosecutors learn that verdicts are based almost as much on emotion as they are on fact," Weld said.
In a change of strategy, prosecutors offered Trant a plea bargain on the seven remaining charges of attempted murder. Trant, who said he was weary of the court process, agreed to plead guilty to two of the charges.
"I think I'm a good guy; I don't think I should receive this kind of punishment," Trant said Tuesday in his first interview since his arrest on the night he stabbed Sheridan. "I thought that people would accept it. But I was wrong."
In Trant's eyes, the penalties for sexually assaulting children are scandalously lenient, and the public is not adequately protected against pedophiles who return to the streets after prison.
"I hope I've done a service to the community," Trant said. "These guys are sexual terrorists."
While Trant's ability to avoid a murder conviction rankled prosecutors, rights advocates were concerned by another aspect of his case: his admission that he had downloaded the names and addresses of convicted sex offenders from a state Internet site.
Claire Ebel, executive director of the New Hampshire Civil Liberties Union, said the list on the State Police site indelibly stigmatizes offenders and shatters the lives of their families.
Although 43 states post information on sex offenders on the Net, vigilante acts against them are rare, said David Finkelhor, director of the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire.
However, Trant's crimes were the kind of reaction that convicted sex offenders in Massachusetts feared when they asked the state's Supreme Judicial Court to ban a sex-offender registry the Commonwealth posted on the Internet. The Massachusetts high court swept aside those concerns and found that the information on the website could benefit the public. The Massachusetts site began operation Aug. 4.
Prosecutor Weld defended New Hampshire's decision two years ago to post the names and addresses of state residents convicted of crimes against children. The warnings the site provides children and their families, he said, far outweighs the potential for vigilante crimes.
Weld's stance is shared by state Representative William Knowles, a Dover Democrat who cosponsored the bill that established the Internet registry. Previously, New Hampshire residents needed to visit local police stations to discover where pedophiles live.
"Probably about 80 percent of people have access to a computer, so they can find this information a lot easier," Knowles said. "They can find out who these sex offenders are, alert their children, and keep them aware that they are in danger."
However, the registry has encountered some problems, including the posting of addresses where convicted offenders no longer live. Now, authorities are ordered to regularly check addresses, which convicted offenders are required to keep up to date.
The registry lists 93 names for Concord, including 10 people who live at a building on North Main Street. There, in April 2003, Trant lit newspapers outside the apartment door of one of the convicted sex offenders. Located directly across from the state Capitol, the building also houses the headquarters of the state Republican Party, as well as an adjacent shop for lingerie and sex toys.
Trant also lit a fire at a boarding house on nearby Spring Street, where six other convicted sex offenders lived. He said he was not trying to kill anyone, but to generate publicity about the tenants.
"If bin Laden moved into the house next door, wouldn't we tell people about that?" Trant asked.
Trant, who has spent 15 years in Massachusetts and New Hampshire prisons, said he was molested several times as a teenager by a youth worker at a Back Bay church. The memory was tucked away, Trant said, until news surfaced about the clergy sex-abuse scandal in the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston. At the time, Trant was on parole after serving a sentence for receiving stolen goods.
"I just freaked out when I started reading all that," Trant said. "It tore my soul apart, and I guess I decided to do something about it."
Trant said he saw Sheridan walking to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting in his neighborhood on April 25, 2003. Trant returned to his home, grabbed an aluminum baseball bat and kitchen knife, and confronted Sheridan after the meeting.
As a bystander looked on, Trant stabbed Sheridan in the back and then in the arm.
Trant denies he was trying to kill Sheridan. "If I wanted to murder the guy, I would have stabbed him in the heart," Trant said.
"I wanted to tell him . . . 'Stay out of my neighborhood,' " he said. "I started to say something, and then I just snapped."
Trant was arrested that night. Later police discovered in Trant's apartment a manifesto he had written, which appealed for the help of like-minded people "genuinely committed, willing to sacrifice ourselves if necessary, to bring about the results that can [ensure] that our children will be protected." Police also found a downloaded list of sex offenders with check marks next to the names of residents whose apartments had been hit recently by fire.
Trant was charged with eight attempted murders.
"I had this fantasy that I'd be getting lots of letters from people," Trant said. "Doesn't anybody realize why I did this? I could have lived the rest of my life, become an old man, and lived happily ever after. But here I am, in . . . prison.
When he wrote his manifesto, Trant said, he had hoped to set up a "Protect Our Children Foundation." "I wish I had found another way to do it," he said.
That's one sentiment that Trant and the prosecutor share.
"It's scary when you have someone who has no conscience about inflicting violence on other human beings," Weld said. "He wanted the limelight. He wanted the soapbox of the first trial." ..more.. by Brian MacQuarrie, Globe Staff
12-5-2004 New Hampshire:
CONCORD, N.H. -- Lawrence Trant sees himself as a righteous crusader who put muscle behind his boiling outrage against pedophiles.
The state of New Hampshire sees Trant differently. He is serving a 10- to 30-year sentence in New Hampshire State Prison after pleading guilty to attempting to murder two convicted sex offenders whose names and addresses he found on an Internet registry posted by the state.
"I don't want people to steal the souls of little kids," Trant, 57, said in an interview in prison last week. "I'm doing 30 years for something I think is morally justified."
But prosecutor John Weld says Trant is one of the most cold-blooded criminals he has encountered. If Trant had not been arrested, Weld said, the native of Cambridge, Mass., probably would have killed someone convicted of a sex crime against children.
"He doesn't seem to have any conscience about violence to other people," Weld said. "These people have as much right to justice as anybody else."
The case has become more complicated than a simple question of right and wrong. The sordid histories of Trant's victims, his impassioned testimony on the witness stand, and his use of an Internet list to track down his targets have infused the case with controversy and conflicting senses of justice.
He is not considered the hero he thought he would become in April 2003, when he stabbed one man and lit fires at two buildings where at least seven convicted sex offenders lived. But he was able to persuade a Superior Court jury not to convict him of attempted murder in his trial on the stabbing charge, even after he took the witness stand and admitted he used a kitchen knife to assault Lawrence Sheridan, who had been convicted of sexually assaulting a child in 1999.
On trial in June for the stabbing, in a half-hour, uninterrupted speech from the witness stand, Trant looked directly at the jurors who, he believed, sympathized with him.
Trant recalled that he pointed a finger at the jury and said: "I wasn't about protecting anyone from my family. This was about protecting you!"
Three of the 12 Superior Court jurors refused to convict him of attempted murder. The judge declared a mistrial on that charge; the same panel of jurors eventually agreed that Trant had committed first-degree assault.
Prosecutors realized they would face a problem trying to convict Trant of attempted murder in the other cases: He had targeted a class of victims for whom a jury of his peers had no sympathy.
"Experienced prosecutors learn that verdicts are based almost as much on emotion as they are on fact," Weld said.
In a change of strategy, prosecutors offered Trant a plea bargain on the seven remaining charges of attempted murder. Trant, who said he was weary of the court process, agreed to plead guilty to two of the charges.
"I think I'm a good guy; I don't think I should receive this kind of punishment," Trant said Tuesday in his first interview since his arrest on the night he stabbed Sheridan. "I thought that people would accept it. But I was wrong."
In Trant's eyes, the penalties for sexually assaulting children are scandalously lenient, and the public is not adequately protected against pedophiles who return to the streets after prison.
"I hope I've done a service to the community," Trant said. "These guys are sexual terrorists."
While Trant's ability to avoid a murder conviction rankled prosecutors, rights advocates were concerned by another aspect of his case: his admission that he had downloaded the names and addresses of convicted sex offenders from a state Internet site.
Claire Ebel, executive director of the New Hampshire Civil Liberties Union, said the list on the State Police site indelibly stigmatizes offenders and shatters the lives of their families.
Although 43 states post information on sex offenders on the Net, vigilante acts against them are rare, said David Finkelhor, director of the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire.
However, Trant's crimes were the kind of reaction that convicted sex offenders in Massachusetts feared when they asked the state's Supreme Judicial Court to ban a sex-offender registry the Commonwealth posted on the Internet. The Massachusetts high court swept aside those concerns and found that the information on the website could benefit the public. The Massachusetts site began operation Aug. 4.
Prosecutor Weld defended New Hampshire's decision two years ago to post the names and addresses of state residents convicted of crimes against children. The warnings the site provides children and their families, he said, far outweighs the potential for vigilante crimes.
Weld's stance is shared by state Representative William Knowles, a Dover Democrat who cosponsored the bill that established the Internet registry. Previously, New Hampshire residents needed to visit local police stations to discover where pedophiles live.
"Probably about 80 percent of people have access to a computer, so they can find this information a lot easier," Knowles said. "They can find out who these sex offenders are, alert their children, and keep them aware that they are in danger."
However, the registry has encountered some problems, including the posting of addresses where convicted offenders no longer live. Now, authorities are ordered to regularly check addresses, which convicted offenders are required to keep up to date.
The registry lists 93 names for Concord, including 10 people who live at a building on North Main Street. There, in April 2003, Trant lit newspapers outside the apartment door of one of the convicted sex offenders. Located directly across from the state Capitol, the building also houses the headquarters of the state Republican Party, as well as an adjacent shop for lingerie and sex toys.
Trant also lit a fire at a boarding house on nearby Spring Street, where six other convicted sex offenders lived. He said he was not trying to kill anyone, but to generate publicity about the tenants.
"If bin Laden moved into the house next door, wouldn't we tell people about that?" Trant asked.
Trant, who has spent 15 years in Massachusetts and New Hampshire prisons, said he was molested several times as a teenager by a youth worker at a Back Bay church. The memory was tucked away, Trant said, until news surfaced about the clergy sex-abuse scandal in the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston. At the time, Trant was on parole after serving a sentence for receiving stolen goods.
"I just freaked out when I started reading all that," Trant said. "It tore my soul apart, and I guess I decided to do something about it."
Trant said he saw Sheridan walking to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting in his neighborhood on April 25, 2003. Trant returned to his home, grabbed an aluminum baseball bat and kitchen knife, and confronted Sheridan after the meeting.
As a bystander looked on, Trant stabbed Sheridan in the back and then in the arm.
Trant denies he was trying to kill Sheridan. "If I wanted to murder the guy, I would have stabbed him in the heart," Trant said.
"I wanted to tell him . . . 'Stay out of my neighborhood,' " he said. "I started to say something, and then I just snapped."
Trant was arrested that night. Later police discovered in Trant's apartment a manifesto he had written, which appealed for the help of like-minded people "genuinely committed, willing to sacrifice ourselves if necessary, to bring about the results that can [ensure] that our children will be protected." Police also found a downloaded list of sex offenders with check marks next to the names of residents whose apartments had been hit recently by fire.
Trant was charged with eight attempted murders.
"I had this fantasy that I'd be getting lots of letters from people," Trant said. "Doesn't anybody realize why I did this? I could have lived the rest of my life, become an old man, and lived happily ever after. But here I am, in . . . prison.
When he wrote his manifesto, Trant said, he had hoped to set up a "Protect Our Children Foundation." "I wish I had found another way to do it," he said.
That's one sentiment that Trant and the prosecutor share.
"It's scary when you have someone who has no conscience about inflicting violence on other human beings," Weld said. "He wanted the limelight. He wanted the soapbox of the first trial." ..more.. by Brian MacQuarrie, Globe Staff
Monday, November 12, 2007
Prosecutor: 'Thrill kill' led teens to murder, decapitate man
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NORTHVILLE TOWNSHIP -- In announcing the arrests of two teenagers today, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said they stabbed Daniel G. Sorensen to death, sawed off his head and used a blow torch to burn his body simply for the thrill.
"All of us have seen every type of crime available and why someone would kill for the thrill of it amazes us," Worthy said at a press conference at the Northville Township Police Department.
Sorensen, 26, of River Rouge, was found dead Thursday at the end of a yet-to-be-developed subdivision cul-de-sac in Northville Township off Ridge Road just south of Maybury State Park. His severed head was found Saturday in a section of Hines Park located in Dearborn Heights.
Jean Pierre Orlewicz, 17, of Plymouth and Alexander James Letkemann, 18, of Westland, were arraigned via video today in Romulus District Court on charges of premeditated murder, felony murder and mutilation of a corpse. The homicide charges carry sentences of up to life. A preliminary exam is set for Nov. 19 at 35th District Court in Plymouth.
Sorensen had owed Orlewicz "small amounts" that weren't a factor in the premeditated killing, Worthy said. The men were acquaintances, but she declined to further detail their relationship. The pair killed Sorensen in a Canton Township home owned by Orlewicz's grandfather, Worthy alleged.
"They lured him into a garage where a space had been prepared to kill him," Worth said.
Worthy said the pair stabbed Sorensen in the back multiple times, then sawed off his head. The garage had been prepared with a tarp on the floor and cleaning supplies standing by to clean up the blood. She called the killing "bone-chilling."
It is alleged the pair tried to conceal the identity of the victim by using a blow torch to burn his hands and feet. Gasoline was used to set the body on fire after it was dumped in the empty lot in Northville Township.
"I'm very shocked," said Jack Ryan, 59, out walking his dog Monday on the same block of Holly Lane in Canton Township where the slaying allegedly took place on Wednesday. Although he noticed police in the neighborhood this morning, he didn't see detectives and crime scene technicians collecting evidence from the garage near his home over the weekend.
"Nothing goes on in the neighborhood. At night, you don't hear anything," Ryan said about the working-class street where he has lived for 25 years.
He added that he didn't know the victim or his grandfather because his neighbors all work hard and keep to themselves.
Worthy said Sorensen's status as a sex offender had nothing to do with his death. His name is listed on registries in Michigan and Illinois for a 1998 incident in Illinois.
State Police forensic science technicians were able to identify Sorensen with one clear fingerprint. Tips from unnamed sources led police to find Sorensen's head and his pickup truck Friday night in the parking lot of a Meijer store at Newburgh and Warren in Westland.
Policed announced Friday night three persons of interest had been identified and arrest warrants were being sought. Police declined to confirm whether anyone was under arrest. Worthy said only Letkemann and Orlewicz are under arrest, but the investigation of the potential involvement of others continues.
"Investigators have worked tirelessly, virtually around the clock, gathering information, developing leads, collecting evidence, and executing search warrants," said John Werth, director of public safety for Northville Township.
"By putting the pieces together, we were able to determine who was responsible for this terrible act and where the death took place. Due to the incident's complexity and the numerous details that have arisen, no further information will be available until the preliminary examination."
With help from Michigan State Police, Livonia, River Rouge, Wayne County Sheriff's deputies and Canton and Plymouth townships, it took detectives just 34 hours to solve the case.
"As a result of a multi-jurisdictional collaborative effort by numerous law enforcement agencies the Canton Police were able to arrest and charge two individuals for this horrific and heinous crime," said Director of Public Safety, John Santomauro.
Northville Township Police needed just 17 hours to unravel the homicide of Cheryl Lynn Boeskool, 44, of Garden City, who found floating on Aug. 7 in a retention pond at Country Club Village on Haggerty near Six Mile. Police determined she had been had killed by multiple blows to her head and face and her body dumped in the pond.
Her boyfriend, Thomas Joseph Roe, 62, awaits trail after allegedly confessing to the slaying.
The killing is at least the second in Metro Detroit involving decapitations. In Macomb County, Stephen Grant faces an upcoming trial on allegations he strangled his wife in their Washington Township home and dismembered her body before strewing it in a nearby park. ..more.. by Doug Guthrie (734) 462-2674 or dguthrie@detnews.com.
See Background Articles for more information on this case!
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Burned, headless body found in Northville ID'd as sex offender
Article Tags:
Noteable Deaths
11-10: Head found: See update below.
11-12: Teens charged with murder! See update below.
11-8-2007 Michigan SEE UPDATES
Northville police have identified the burned, headless body found on a cul-de-sac as a 26-year-old River Rouge man.
Nothville police, with the assistance of the Michigan State Crime Lab, used a fingerprint to identify the man as Daniel Sorensen.
Sorensen was decapitated and his body was severely burned, police said.
A sewer and water department crew found his body at 9:32 a.m. on Hidden Ridge Drive.
A records check indicates Sorensen was a registered sex offender in Illinois.
His cause of death remains unknown. The Wayne County Medical Examiner’s Office is conducting an autopsy. ..more.. by BEN SCHMITT, FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
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Body of burned, decapitated man found at Seven and Ridge
11-8-2007 Michigan:
Workers performing fire hydrants checks this morning in Northville Township found the badly charred and decapitated male body.
The man was identified as Daniel Gene-Vincent Sorensen, 26, of River Rouge, formerly of Westland, a registered sex offender on the Michigan Public Sex Offender Registry.
Sorensen was convicted of fourth degree criminal sexual conduct involving a victim between 13-17, according to the registry.
Personnel from the township’s water and sewer department found Sorensen’s remains at 9:32 a.m. at the end of a cul-de-sac in Hidden Ridge, an undeveloped subdivision west of Ridge Road and south of Seven Mile Road, according to Director of Public Safety John Werth.
The three men found the body lying on the side of the road.
Even though search dogs were brought to the site, the head of the body has not been found.
Township police were assisted by the Michigan State Police, whose mobile crime trailer was at the scene, Plymouth Township Police and Wayne Police.
After canvassing the area, talking to nearby residents, police believe the body was burned at the site sometime between 7:30 and 10:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
Witnesses noticed something burning in the area during that time.
Police think the murder took place elsewhere, with the body being brought to the township location.
Police believe the murderer decapitated and burned the victim in an attempt to conceal Sorensen’s identity.
“His hands were actually burnt, but we were able to get one fingerprint,” Werth said.
Police matched the man’s fingerprints in the state police database within three hours after the body was found.
Werth added that police learned from talking to residents in the area that fires are evidently started in the undeveloped area all the time, but no one calls the police or the fire department.
Second body found
This was the second body found dumped in Northville Township in less than four months.
A passing motorist who stopped to look at the ducks found a woman’s partially-clothed body in a retention pond by Country Club Condominiums about 3:40 p.m. on Aug. 7.
Police were able to identify the body within hours as 44-year-old Cheryl Lynn Boeskool of Garden City. Thomas Joseph Roe, 62, also of Garden City, who allegedly tried to help the mentally-challenged Boeskool at one time, was charged with first degree murder in her death on Aug. 10 in 35th District Court.
Roe, who pleaded not guilty on the murder charge, is currently in jail, awaiting trial. ..more.. by Pam Fleming can be reached at (248) 349-1700, ext. 105, or pfleming@gannett.com.
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Autopsy Conducted in Beheading Death of Sex Offender
11-9-2007 Michigan
NORTHVILLE TOWNSHIP, Mich. — An autopsy was being conducted Friday morning on a beheaded, burned corpse found on a cul-de-sac about 20 miles northwest of Detroit and identified as a 26-year-old convicted sex offender.
Police are searching for a burgundy Chevy S-10 pickup truck belonging to the victim, Daniel Gene-Vincent Sorensen, 26, of River Rouge, Mich., after state police used fingerprints to identify the body.
"We believe it's an isolated incident," said Det. Lt. Michael Wildt of Northville Township Police. "We have to find out who did it, why and where did it happen. This is where we found the body, but we don't believe the person was murdered there."
Sorensen had been convicted of the criminal sexual abuse of a teen between the age of 13 and 17 in Tazewell County, Ill., according to that state's sex offender registry. But investigators weren't sure if that had anything to do with his brutal death.
"As of right now we don't have anything that says it is; we don't have anything that says it isn't," Wildt said. "We don't know."
The body was found Thursday morning by Northville Township public works employees along a road in Hidden Ridge, a subdivision under development. The body was set on fire Wednesday night between 7:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m., police said.
"It burned for a long time," Wildt said.
Sorensen's head has not been found and a cause of death has not been released.
"Who would do something like this to my son?" his father, Jim Sorensen, told MyFOXDetroit.
Click here to watch the MyFOXDetroit report.
Sorensen worked odd jobs doing construction and landscape work, police said. He was last seen alive on Wednesday.
His pickup truck has the Michigan license plate BBV 9503.
FOXNews.com's Sara Bonisteel contributed to this report. ..more..
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Sewer crew finds man's mutilated body
11-9-2007 Michigan
Investigators believe someone tried to hide the identity of a murder victim found burned and decapitated Thursday at the end of a suburban cul-de-sac.
But a single fingerprint copied by State Police forensic evidence experts from the victim's burned hands confirmed the man as a River Rouge resident with an Illinois sex abuse conviction.
The torso of Daniel Gene-Vincent Sorensen, 26, was found about 9:30 a.m. Thursday by a three-man crew from the township's sewer and water department checking the operation of a fire hydrant.
"Somebody went a long ways making an effort to obscure the identity of this man," said Northville Township Public Safety Director John Werth.
Sorensen was convicted in 1998 in Illinois of criminal sexual abuse of a teenager, according to the Illinois Sex Offender Information Web site. He is listed on both the Michigan and Illinois sex offender registries.
Sorensen's torso was found next to the curb of a new street in a yet-to-be developed subdivision south of Maybury State Park. His head is missing.
Werth said he didn't have a motive for the slaying and has no indication the death is related to Sorensen's status as a sex offender.
Sorensen apparently was killed and perhaps decapitated elsewhere, before his body was dumped near the curb. An autopsy to determine the cause of death is set for today.
Investigators said Sorensen appeared to have suffered numerous stab wounds.
Police said a neighbor reported seeing a fire at the end of the unoccupied road about 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. Another witness said the fire could still be seen about 10 p.m. Werth said a flammable liquid appeared to have been poured on the already headless torso.
Sorenson worked as a bar bouncer, his father told WJBK-TV.
"Who would do something like this to my son? It's not real to me right now," said Jim Sorenson.
The criminal sexual conduct charge stemmed from a relationship with an underage girl, his father said. His sex offender status was "a cloud that hung over his head," his mother Kim told WXYZ-TV.
"He was a good person ... but he had a rough life," she said. ..more.. by Doug Guthrie / The Detroit News
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Police still have no solid leads in murder of River Rouge man
11-9-2007 Michigan
Search on for roommate’s 2001 Chevy S-10 truck
Northville Township Police still had no solid leads Friday afternoon in the murder of a 26-year-old River Rouge man whose badly burned and decapitated body was found Thursday morning in an undeveloped subdivision.
The body of Daniel Gene-Vincent Sorensen, formerly of Westland, was found lying by the side of the road in a cul-de-sac at 9:32 a.m. Thursday by township water and sewer workers.
The workers were performing routine fire hydrant checks when they found the body and called authorities.
Police are searching for Sorensen roommate’s vehicle, a burgundy 2001 Chevy S-10 pickup with the Michigan license plate number BBV-9503.
The vehicle is not registered to Sorensen but is what he was last seen driving.
The pickup is registered to the man’s roommate in River Rouge, according to Lt. Greg Rhodes, Northville Township Police Department.
The license number has also been listed in the nationwide law enforcement database as a wanted vehicle, Rhodes said.
Sorensen’s sex offense conviction took place in 1998 in Illinois, according to police. He was 17 at the time, and the victim was 15, according to news reports.
It appears the sex conviction was more of a statutory indiscretion, according to police.
Investigators are continuing to interview the murder victim’s family members and friends.
Police have learned that Sorensen didn’t have steady employment but that he did have a girlfriend.
According to news reports, he was an only child.
Anyone who sees the vehicle in question can call the township police department at (248) 349-9400. ..more.. by Northville Record staff writer Pam Fleming can be reached at (248) 349-1700, ext. 105, or pfleming@gannett.com.
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Man likely died before head was severed:
26-year-old's autopsy says stabbings were the cause of death of burned body left in subdivision.
11-10-2007 Michigan:
NORTHVILLE TOWNSHIP -- Daniel G. Sorensen, 26, likely was dead long before his head was cut off and his torso set ablaze on vacant lot No. 5 of a new subdivision south of Maybury State Park.
An autopsy performed Friday by the Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office determined Sorensen was killed by multiple stab wounds probably hours before his body was discovered Thursday morning by a Northville Township crew checking on the operation of a fire hydrant in Hidden Ridge Estates.
Sorensen's head has not been found.
Investigators also are looking for a missing pickup truck. The burgundy 2001 Chevrolet S-10 with an extended cab and black fender flairs had been driven almost exclusively by Sorensen but was registered to a friend. The Michigan license plate number is BBV 9503.
Sorensen's body was doused with a flammable liquid, and particular attention appeared to have been paid to the hands, said John Werth, Northville Township director of public safety. He speculated that the killer tried to hide the victim's identity.
Werth said detectives Friday had discovered promising and fast-developing leads in the case.
Police said the area's neighbors reported seeing a campfire-like blaze at the end of Hidden Ridge Court about 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Sorensen was convicted in 1998 in Illinois of sexual abuse involving a teenager. He was on both the Michigan and Illinois sex offender registries, which friends said haunted him.
"It was a consensual relationship with a girlfriend who was a couple of years younger than him, which made her underage," said Jennifer Furie, 22, of Chesterfield Township.
"Every time he applied for a job, it came up. My dad this morning when he read it in the paper was angry because this was the boy who used to come over and watch movies at my house. It was unfair and now this monstrous thing happens to him. Whoever did this had a lot of hatred."
Furie said she and Sorensen attended Livonia's Franklin High School. He was several classes ahead of her.
"He was a teddy bear. A big guy who could tell a joke and was always open to easy conversation," Furie said. "He had a hard time getting jobs, even getting a car, because a teenage relationship got him branded for life." ..more.. by Doug Guthrie at (734) 462-2674 or dguthrie@detnews.com.
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Tazewell Co. sex offender found dead in Michigan
11-10-2007 Illinois:
PEKIN — Police in Michigan continued their investigation Friday into the grisly death of a man once convicted of molesting a teenager in Tazewell County.
The beheaded, burned corpse of Daniel Gene-Vincent Sorensen, 26, of River Rouge, Mich., was found Thursday in Northville Township, Mich., about 20 miles northwest of Detroit. Police told reporters they believe Sorensen was murdered at another location and dumped on a cul-de-sac.
Tazewell County State’s Attorney Stewart Umholtz confirmed that Sorensen was convicted of criminal sexual abuse of a minor in 2000. He was placed on 12 months of probation for the misdemeanor offense.
Police identified the badly burned victim by using an automated fingerprint identification system. An autopsy was conducted Friday but a cause of death has not been released.
A search was under way for Sorensen’s truck. The victim was last seen on Wednesday. He worked odd jobs doing construction and landscape work. ..more.. by Edith Brady-Lunny eblunny@pantagraph.com
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Dad begs: Help find who killed my son
11-10-2007 Michigan
Jim Sorensen is not only coping with the image of his 26-year-old son's decapitation, he's trying to defend his son's reputation surrounding a sex offense conviction.
As Northville police continued to search for suspects in the killing of Daniel Sorensen of River Rouge, his father begged Friday that anyone with information call police or turn themselves in.
"If you know anything, look at what this person did to my son," said Jim Sorensen, 51, of Westland. "If you were involved, turn yourself in because you will be caught."
Police, with the assistance of the Michigan State Crime Lab, used a fingerprint Thursday to identify Daniel Sorensen's body. It had been found Thursday morning on Hidden Ridge Drive in Northville Township.
Sorensen was decapitated and his body was severely burned, police said. His head has not been recovered.
Jim Sorensen said the sex offender conviction occurred when his son was 17 and dating a 14-year-old girl that he met on the Internet. Daniel Sorenson thought the girl was 16 and went to Illinois to meet her.
"He's not a pedophile," Jim Sorensen said. "This was consensual touching. We have a son who has been murdered violently, but we have a view of him as a sex offender, and that is not fair."
He said he does not believe his son's death is related to the sex offense.
The conviction on the fourth-degree sex offense dogged Daniel Sorensen when he applied for jobs, his father said. Most recently, he told his parents he was driving a truck.
"Dan was a social being," his father said. "We called him 'Bear,' because he was like a big old teddy bear."
Northville Township Public Safety Director John Werth said police followed up on leads Friday. They are searching for Daniel Sorensen's red Chevrolet S-10 pickup.
"We are clueless at this time," Jim Sorensen said. "We need the public's help." ..more.. by BEN SCHMITT at 313-223-4296 or bcschmitt@freepress.com.
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Three 'persons of interest' ID'd in gruesome Northville Twp. slaying
11-10-2007 Michigan
NORTHVILLE TOWNSHIP -- Investigators have identified three persons of interest in the case of the burned and beheaded body found Thursday at the end of a suburban cul-de-sac.
Northville Township Public Safety Director John Werth declined to say whether the three are in custody, but confirmed Saturday an unspecified number of arrest warrants are being sought in connection with the slaying of Daniel G. Sorensen, 26.
The River Rouge resident's body was found early Thursday in a vacant lot at the end of a street in a yet-to-be-developed subdivision near Ridge Road, south of Maybury State Park. Police believe an effort was made to hide the victim's identity by removing his head and burning the torso, particularly the hands. Sorensen's head wasn't found with the body.
The Wayne County Prosecutor's office is expected on Monday to consider evidence and information detectives collected late Friday, including Sorensen's missing pickup truck. The burgundy 2001 Chevrolet S-10 was found shortly before 10:30 p.m. in the parking lot of a Meijer store at Warren and Newburgh roads in Westland.
Northville Township Police executed search warrants at five locations on Friday and early Saturday with assistance from officers in Livonia, Westland, Plymouth Township, Michigan State police troopers and detectives from the Wester Wayne County Special Investigative Task Force. Werth declined to identify two other communities where warrants were served.
"We have additional evidence that was used in the crime that is being processed right now," Werth said. "We have a lot of loose ends to tie up, but we are confident with who we have."
Werth declined to discuss his investigator's theory of the motive for the killing. Sorensen had a 1998 sex abuse conviction as a teen in Illinois, stemming from a relationship with an underage girl, according to his friends. His name and address were listed on both the Illinois and Michigan Sex Offender registries.
"It's a complex case and we are being very careful. We are continuing to follow leads that have developed very quickly," Werth said. "This was a horrendous crime and I don't want to jeopardize prosecution of the case by speaking about that before the prosecutor has time to review the evidence."
Officially, police released only a brief statement on Saturday morning: "The Northville Township Police Department is continuing to actively investigate all the leads in the case. Due to the incident's complexity and the numerous details that have arisen no press release will be made until all leads have been investigated and arrest warrants are obtained." ..more.. by Detroit News
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Truck of slain man found in store lot
11-10-2007 Michigan
Late Friday night, police recovered the red Chevrolet S-10 pickup belonging to a River Rouge man who was found decapitated and his body severely burned.
Northville Township Public Safety Director John Werth said the victim's pickup was found at a Meijer grocery store at Newburg and Warren in Westland at about 10:20 p.m. He said it was being towed to the department's impound lot for processing.
Werth declined to say whether arrests were imminent in the case but did say, "We are talking to persons of interest."
Meanwhile, the man's father, Jim Sorensen, said he is not only coping with the image of his 26-year-old son's decapitation, he's trying to defend his son's reputation surrounding a sex offense conviction.
As Northville Township police continued to search for suspects in the killing of Daniel Sorensen of River Rouge, his father begged Friday that anyone with information call police or turn themselves in.
"If you know anything, look at what this person did to my son," said Jim Sorensen, 51, of Westland. "If you were involved, turn yourself in because you will be caught."
Police, with the assistance of the Michigan State Crime Lab, used a fingerprint Thursday to identify Daniel Sorensen's body. It had been found Thursday morning on Hidden Ridge Drive in Northville Township.
Sorensen was decapitated and his body was severely burned, police said. His head has not been recovered.
Jim Sorensen said the sex offender conviction occurred when his son was 17 and dating a 14-year-old girl that he met on the Internet. Daniel Sorenson thought the girl was 16 and went to Illinois to meet her.
"He's not a pedophile," Jim Sorensen said. "This was consensual touching. We have a son who has been murdered violently, but we have a view of him as a sex offender, and that is not fair."
He said he does not believe his son's death is related to the sex offense. ..more.. by BEN SCHMITT at 313-223-4296 or bcschmitt@freepress.com.
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Human head found in Hines Park
11-11-2007 Michigan
DEARBORN HEIGHTS -- The Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office has confirmed that a head was found at Hines Park in Dearborn Heights on Saturday.
However, it is yet to be determined if the head belongs to 26-year-old homicide victim Daniel Sorensen, whose decapitated body was found earlier this week.
The River Rouge resident's body was discovered early Thursday in a vacant lot at the end of a street in a yet-to-be developed subdivision near Ridge Road, south of Maybury State Park. Police believe an effort was made to hide the victim's identity by removing his head and burning the torso, particularly the hands.
Sorenson's head wasn't found with the body.
A press conference on Sorensen's death is planned for 10:30 a.m. Monday at the Northville Township Police Headquarters, 41600 Six Mile Road, according to the Northville Township police.
Other law enforcement agencies and the Wayne County Prosecutor's office are expected to attend.
Investigators have identified three persons of interest in the case.
Sorensen had a 1998 sex abuse conviction as a teen in Illinois, stemming from a relationship with an underage girl, according to his friends. His name and address were listed on both the Illinois and Michigan Sex Offender registries.
His body was identified by a partial fingerprint. ..more.. by Christina Stolarz at (586) 468-0343 or cstolarz@detnews.com.
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2 Detroit-area teens charged in the slaying, mutilation of a man
11-12-2007 Michigan
DETROIT -- A high school senior and another teenager were charged Monday in the slaying and mutilation of an adult acquaintance, whose burned torso was found last week and severed head discovered this weekend in a local river. Prosecutors say the teens killed the man for the thrill of it.
Canton High School student Jean Pierre Orlewicz, 17, of Plymouth, and Alexander James Letkemann, 18, of Westland, are charged with one count each of first-degree premeditated murder, felony murder and mutilation of a corpse.
They are accused in the planning, ambush and slaying of 26-year-old Daniel Sorenson last Wednesday in a Canton Township garage owned by Orlewicz's grandfather, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said.
"They lured him in the garage where they prepared a space to kill him," Worthy said at a news conference.
A tarp had been spread on the garage floor, and Sorenson was stabbed multiple times in the back. His head was sawed off and his body wrapped in the tarp, authorities said.
His hands and feet were burned with a blowtorch, possibly in an effort to conceal Sorenson's identity, the said.
His torso was driven in a pickup truck and dumped in a Northville Township cul-de-sac where it was set on fire with gasoline. A utility crew found it the next morning, police said.
His head was dumped in the Rouge River near the border between Dearborn Heights and Detroit. It was found Saturday.
"They made plans on how they were to clean up the blood," Worthy said. "They made plans on how they were going to dispose of the body. No matter how malicious we all think it may be, it was very thought out and very methodical."
The investigation is continuing and involves other persons of interest, she said.
"We've all seen a lot. We've seen it all," Worthy said of the case's investigators. "Still, a crime like this surprises us all.
"Anytime anyone kills just because they want to, and that's what the evidence seems to suggest here, is bone-chilling. Why anyone would want to do that, especially being 17 years old, it makes us think and ask a lot of questions about our society."
Sorenson's history as a registered sex offender in Michigan and Illinois and that he may have owned his attackers a small amount of money appears to have had nothing to do with his death, Worthy said.
Orlewicz and Letkemann were arraigned Monday in a Romulus courtroom.
The murder charges carry mandatory sentences of life in prison. Mutilating a corpse carries a maximum prison sentence of 10 years. ..more.. by WOOD-TV
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2 Mich. Teens Charged in Dismemberment
11-12-2007 Michigan
Two thrill-seeking teenagers stabbed an adult acquaintance, took a blowtorch to his corpse and threw his severed head into a river, prosecutors said Monday as they charged the pair.
Canton High School senior Jean Pierre Orlewicz, 17, and Alexander James Letkemann, 18, ambushed 26-year-old Daniel Sorenson last Wednesday in a garage owned by Orlewicz's grandfather, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said. A tarp had been spread on the floor, she said.
"They lured him in the garage where they prepared a space to kill him," Worthy said at a news conference.
Sorenson, who had worked as a bouncer, was stabbed multiple times in the back, his head was sawed off and his body was wrapped in the tarp, authorities said. Orlewicz and Letkemann burned his hands and feet with a blowtorch, possibly in an effort to conceal his identity, Worthy said.
"They made plans on how they were to clean up the blood," Worthy said. "They made plans on how they were going to dispose of the body."
The teens loaded Sorenson's torso in a pickup truck, dumped it in a cul-de-sac and set it on fire using gasoline. A utility crew found it Thursday morning, police said.
Sorenson's head was found Saturday in the Rouge River.
Sorenson's history as a registered sex offender in Michigan and Illinois and the fact that he may have owed his attackers a small amount of money appear to have had nothing to do with his death, Worthy said.
"We've all seen a lot. We've seen it all," Worthy said of the case's investigators. "Still, a crime like this surprises us all.
"Anytime anyone kills just because they want to, and that's what the evidence seems to suggest here, is bone-chilling. Why anyone would want to do that, especially being 17 years old, it makes us think and ask a lot of questions about our society."
Worthy did not immediately respond to a message seeking more information, including whether the defendants had lawyers.
Orlewicz, of Plymouth, and Letkemann, of Westland, were arraigned Monday in a Romulus courtroom on one count each of first-degree premeditated murder, felony murder and mutilation of a corpse. The murder charges carry mandatory sentences of life in prison. Mutilating a corpse carries a maximum sentence of 10 years.
The investigation is continuing and other people may have been involved, Worthy said. ..more.. by COREY WILLIAMS
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Soldier. USF student. Now, an inmate. Man who accidentally killed friend gets 15 years
Article Tags:
.Florida,
2007,
Age Unknown,
by Acquaintance,
Death/s US - Not Justifiable,
Death/s US - of RSOs,
Gunshot,
StatusO-RSO-C
11-6-2007 Florida
BRADENTON -- Never in her life did Maria Ruiz think that her brother would be here, shackled in a courtroom, a killer facing a possible 30-year prison sentence.
Not Jesus Ledezma, the student who made A's and B's at the University of South Florida. Not the former soldier moved by young children he met during a peacekeeping mission to Bosnia. Not the loving son who bought extra presents for neighbors on Christmas.
"We called him the miracle child," Ruiz said.
Yet here Ledezma was on Monday morning, handcuffed and crying before a judge who sentenced him to 15 years in state prison for shooting a friend in the head, killing him.
Ledezma, 31, argued with his sister's boyfriend in a car outside their home on Seventh Avenue East last November. Prosecutors say Ledezma wanted to kill himself, but pulled a .45-caliber pistol and accidentally shot Jose Delval. Ledezma called 911 that night and told a dispatcher the shooting was an accident, his attorney said.
Ledezma and Jose Delval were friends, and spent the evening drinking together. Authorities say they argued about Ledezma's sister, who began dating Delval -- a sex offender who spent seven years in prison -- after he was released in 2003.
Prosecutors initially sought a second-degree murder conviction and a 20-year sentence; a jury convicted him last month of manslaughter.
Circuit Judge Diana Moreland may have been swayed by family members who talked about Ledezma's work on a finance degree at the USF campus in Sarasota, and his sparkling record of military service.
A psychologist who examined Ledezma in jail also said he suffered from a thyroid condition, and a prescription medication likely caused him to struggle with bouts of depression.
A former Army soldier, Ledezma bounced between jobs in Manatee County and seemed to worry about his future, according to his mother.
A former employer said Ledezma was a conscientious worker. "He was always very respectful, very considerate," said Mike Stewart, of Douglas-Knight and Associates, a collections agency where Ledezma once worked.
Moreland cut the sentence down to 15 years and included an additional 15 years of probation.
Once he is released, Ledezma must also complete 100 hours of community service by giving talks about the dangers of gun violence.
While his family was relieved that the sentence was not 30 years, Ledezma understood that his fall -- from top student to state inmate -- was remarkably fast.
"I wish I could go back in time," Ledezma said, "and take it back. I don't know what to say for myself." ..more.. by ANTHONY CORMIER
BRADENTON -- Never in her life did Maria Ruiz think that her brother would be here, shackled in a courtroom, a killer facing a possible 30-year prison sentence.
Not Jesus Ledezma, the student who made A's and B's at the University of South Florida. Not the former soldier moved by young children he met during a peacekeeping mission to Bosnia. Not the loving son who bought extra presents for neighbors on Christmas.
"We called him the miracle child," Ruiz said.
Yet here Ledezma was on Monday morning, handcuffed and crying before a judge who sentenced him to 15 years in state prison for shooting a friend in the head, killing him.
Ledezma, 31, argued with his sister's boyfriend in a car outside their home on Seventh Avenue East last November. Prosecutors say Ledezma wanted to kill himself, but pulled a .45-caliber pistol and accidentally shot Jose Delval. Ledezma called 911 that night and told a dispatcher the shooting was an accident, his attorney said.
Ledezma and Jose Delval were friends, and spent the evening drinking together. Authorities say they argued about Ledezma's sister, who began dating Delval -- a sex offender who spent seven years in prison -- after he was released in 2003.
Prosecutors initially sought a second-degree murder conviction and a 20-year sentence; a jury convicted him last month of manslaughter.
Circuit Judge Diana Moreland may have been swayed by family members who talked about Ledezma's work on a finance degree at the USF campus in Sarasota, and his sparkling record of military service.
A psychologist who examined Ledezma in jail also said he suffered from a thyroid condition, and a prescription medication likely caused him to struggle with bouts of depression.
A former Army soldier, Ledezma bounced between jobs in Manatee County and seemed to worry about his future, according to his mother.
A former employer said Ledezma was a conscientious worker. "He was always very respectful, very considerate," said Mike Stewart, of Douglas-Knight and Associates, a collections agency where Ledezma once worked.
Moreland cut the sentence down to 15 years and included an additional 15 years of probation.
Once he is released, Ledezma must also complete 100 hours of community service by giving talks about the dangers of gun violence.
While his family was relieved that the sentence was not 30 years, Ledezma understood that his fall -- from top student to state inmate -- was remarkably fast.
"I wish I could go back in time," Ledezma said, "and take it back. I don't know what to say for myself." ..more.. by ANTHONY CORMIER
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