Man shot dead in car in North Philly was sex offender

3-30-2010 Pennsylvania:

A 35-year-old man found shot dead in a car in North Philadelphia has been identified as a neighborhood resident.

Police say Hassain Griffin was shot in the head and left side following an unspecified argument while sitting in an Oldsmobile Alero on the 1400 block of North 23rd Street Sunday night.

Griffin lived around the corner on the 2400 block of Sharswood Street.

No arrests have been made in the case.

Court records show that Griffin was scheduled to appear in court April 9 for violating his probation.

Griffin pleaded guilty last July to indecent assault and corruption of minors.

According to court records, he was to receive intensive outpatient treatment as a sex offender and to seek and maintain employment as part of his probation. ..Source.. by Inquirer Staff Report

Ann Street death investigated

3-25-2010 West Virginia:

PARKERSBURG - Parkersburg police have identified the victim of an apparent homicide early Wednesday morning on Ann Street.

Detective Sgt. Greg Nangle said 68-year-old Willard Rex Wright lived alone in Apartment 2 in the rear of 910 Ann St.

Nangle said Wright was a registered sex offender.

According to the West Virginia State Police Sex Offender Registry, Wright was convicted on Aug. 2, 1963, on charges of attempt to commit first-degree sexual assault and incest on a minor female. Wright served about seven years and five months in custody and was placed on four months parole. In 1988 he was convicted in Ohio of attempted rape of a female acquaintance between the ages of 6-12 years old and served 15 years.

Police said this was the first homicide in Parkersburg this year.

"We are not releasing the cause of death at this time," Nangle said. "This was definitely a homicide."

Nangle said Wright's family has been notified.

What appeared to be a wallet was seen in a storm drain on 10th Street, about a block from the apartment building, Nangle said. He said the wallet has been helpful, but declined to elaborate.

"This was a very violent crime," Police Chief Joe Martin said.

Investigators do not believe burglary was the motive. They do believe that Wright and the suspect knew each other, Martin said.

"We believe this individual knew the victim," Martin said.

Police have not released how Wright was killed; however, Martin said the evidence does not indicate a firearm was used.

"There were no guns involved in this case," he said.

Officers were dispatched to the apartment building shortly before 2 a.m. for a burglary call and were directed to the rear to Apartment 2, Martin said. The door was ajar and police went inside where they found Wright lying on the floor of the living room, he said.

Police are asking residents in the area if they have seen anyone walking or running north or south on Ann Street, particularly around 10th or 11th streets, Martin said. Witnesses can call the department at 304-424-8444, he said.

Police and firefighters were searching the area between Ninth and 11th streets for evidence Wednesday morning. Nangle said police have interviewed many people and are following leads; however, they do not have a suspect in custody. He said several items of evidence have been collected and sent to the state police lab.

Lt. John Young said Wright's body has been transported to the state medical examiner's office in South Charleston for an autopsy. ..Source.. by Jeffrey Saulton

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UPDATE: Jury Grants Anderson Mercy

1-10-2011

Updated 01/10/2011 @ 6:15 P.M.

A jury heard the mother of John Anderson say he believes her son deserves another chance.

"Once he gets in there, gets back on his counseling and medication, he'll do better when he gets out," Rose Hanes testified Tuesday morning.

And the jury apparently listened.

"We, the jury, make a reccommendation for mercy, signed by the foreperson," said Wood County Circuit Judge Robert Waters, reading the verdict reached just before 3:30 Tuesday afternoon.

But the jury also heard Anderson's mother describe his background: one which includes criminal convictions in adulthood, including, like murder victim Willard Wright, sex offender status. And in his childhood, he survived his parents being in an abusive relationship, three separate injury accidents, and what was supposed to be treatment in a state institution...during which a molestation incident occurred.

"They informed me that John had been raped by a 15-year-old boy," Hanes told the jury.

Hanes testified she suggested to Anderson's girlfriend, Tammy Wilfong, that she contact authorities when her daughter was inappropriately touched by wright, whom Anderson's attorneys called "the purple elephant in the room" in this case.

"At trial, he was just an old, frail man on oxygen," said Joe Munoz, Defense Attorney. "That wasn't the complete story, was it?"

"Willard Wright is a sex offender, but that gives no one the right to take his life away from him, argued Jason Wharton, Wood County Prosecutor. "Instead of calling law enforcement, he ended Willard Wright's life, by brutally murdering him."

Barring a successful appeal, the 30-year-old Anderson may be 45 by the time a parole board panel decides whether he gets that chance his mother argued for Tuesday. ..significantly more at link.. by Todd Baucher

A Wood County Jury Tuesday determined John Anderson should be eligible for mercy, after finding him guilty Monday of first degree murder.

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Testimony begins in Anderson murder trial

1-10-2012:

PARKERSBURG - After a day of jury selection, testimony began Wednesday in Wood County Circuit Court in the murder trial of John Eugene Anderson.

In May 2010, Anderson was charged with the March 24 stabbing death of Willard Rex Wright, 68, in his Ann Street apartment.

James Richard Claypool II testified for the state to his meeting and conversations with Anderson in the Washington County Jail where Anderson was incarcerated after his arrest in connection with Wright's murder.

Claypool, who was a member of the Pagans Motorcycle Club, said he was introduced to Anderson by a man named Jimmy, who claimed to be Anderson's nephew.

"He asked me to talk to him," Claypool said. "He (Anderson) told me he killed someone and he said he had it coming."

Claypool testified Anderson said Wright touched his girlfriend's daughter, but did not mention their names.

When asked by Wood County Prosecutor Jason Wharton if Anderson meant Wright, Claypool said he never heard the name before, adding he did not know anything about the case before meeting Anderson.

Later he said he saw Anderson's face on television but he was not in range to hear anything. He added he did not read any account of what happened in a newspaper or any other source.

Claypool said Anderson asked him questions about legal matters as to what the police would look for and if they could test what they found. He said Anderson was also concerned that police had the cell phone he said he used because it might have blood on it.

"He asked about what would happen if something happened to witnesses," he said. "He asked me if I could do something and if he couldn't pay if he could do me favors in jail or out of jail."

Under cross examination by one of Anderson's attorneys, Joe Munoz, Claypool said he never intended to do anything to any of the witnesses.

Claypool also disclosed he pleaded guilty in December 2009 to a federal charge of obstruction of justice with injury to an informant to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. He said as a member of the Pagans he was the sergeant at arms and his duties were as an enforcer of club policy and collecting dues.

Claypool said he left the club after his plea.

Claypool said he told his attorney about Anderson in a letter and was questioned later by Parkersburg Police. When asked why he wrote to his attorney about Anderson, Claypool said he had concerns about Anderson.

"I didn't like his demeanor and he wanted witnesses killed," he said. "He would laugh and grin about what he did. He talked about how he pinched Wright's oxygen line, made a motion like he strangled him, stabbed him and said 'I d-- near cut his head off.'"

Claypool said his decision to inform on Anderson would not help with his federal charges but he hoped it would show a state judge he had turned over a new leaf by cooperating with the state.

Testimony is set to resume today at 9 a.m. before Judge Robert Waters. ..Source.. by JEFFREY SAULTON

Arrest made in Pickens County stabbing death

3-24-2010 South Carolina:

PICKENS COUNTY — A 31-year-old Pickens County man told investigators he had rid the world of a pedophile as he was being arrested Wednesday morning in the fatal stabbing of his stepfather.

According to an arrest warrant, Travis Chad Davidson was quoted as saying, “Damn right I killed him. I rid the world of a pedophile.” An investigator said there was nothing to substantiate the accusation of pedophilia.

Richard Alvin Mulkey was pronounced dead in the living room of his home on Mt. Bethel Church Road in Sunset around midnight Tuesday, according to Pickens County Coroner Kandy Kelley.

He had been stabbed several times in the chest and head, Kelley said.

Kelley said he was stabbed with a kitchen knife and said a second weapon, possibly an awl, a small pointed tool used for making holes in wood or leather, was involved.

Investigators arrived at Mulkey’s home and found his wife, Debra Mulkey, 54, standing on the front porch.

She said Davidson had stabbed her husband and fled into the woods nearby.

Investigators said they found Richard Mulkey, 49, lying face-down on the living room floor with a knife sticking out of his body.

Debra Mulkey told investigators that the two men had been arguing when Davidson began choking Mulkey, who was sitting in a chair. She said Davidson then threw Mulkey face-down on the floor and began stabbing him in the head and body.

Pickens County Chief Deputy Sheriff Tim Morgan said there was nothing to substantiate Davidson’s allegation that Mulkey, who was Davidson’s step father, was a pedophile.

No one by the name of Richard Alvin Mulkey was found in the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division’s sex offender registry.

Davidson, who also lives on Mt. Bethel Church Road, was taken to the Pickens County Detention Center pending a bond hearing.

An autopsy determined the cause of death to be the stabbing, Kelley said.

Morgan said the investigation continues. .Source.. by Rick Spruill

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Sunset man arrested in stabbing death

3-24-2010 South Carolina:

A 31-year-old Sunset man faces a charge of murder in connection with the stabbing death of his stepfather who was found dead late Tuesday at a residence in the Sunset community, according to Pickens County Sheriff’s Office warrants and a release.

Travis Chad Davidson, of 236 Mt. Bethel Church Road, is charged in the death of Richard Alvin Mulkey, according to an arrest warrant.
The warrant states that Davidson stabbed Mulkey "multiple times with a knife in the head and body.

“The pair had been engaged in an argument when the defendant began strangling the victim while he sat in a chair,” according to the warrant. “He threw the victim onto the floor and on his stomach and began stabbing the victim about the head and body.”

According to Pickens County Coroner Kandy Kelley, Mulkey, 49, of 206 Mt. Bethel Church Road, was pronounced dead at his home shortly before midnight Tuesday.

The death has been ruled a homicide, Kelley said in a press statement, and an autopsy is being performed today to determine the cause of Mulkey’s death.

A release from the Pickens County Sheriff’s Office said Davidson is currently being held in the Pickens County Detention Center awaiting a bond hearing. ..Source.. by Julie Howle

Murder trial begins in south Pomona killing

3-19-2010 California:

POMONA -- A murder trial began today for a man accused of shooting and killing a romantic rival in the south side of the city.

Louis Wilson could face 50 years to life in prison if convicted of first-degree murder for the Dec. 6, 2008 shooting death of Michael McKee, 30.

A prosecutor told jurors in Pomona Superior Court that Wilson's motive was two-fold when he shot McKee six times in the 2500 block of South Virginia Avenue.

McKee's girlfriend rejected Wilson's repeated sexual advances the day of the killing, and Wilson believed McKee had molested their mutual friend's daughter, said Deputy District Attorney Stacy Okun-Wiese.

In testimony today from seven prosecution witnesses, jurors learned much about the case that links Wilson, 33, to McKee's killing.

The Pomona men argued and left McKee's home shortly before the shooting, McKee's girlfriend testified.

And in the hours after McKee was killed, Wilson reportedly washed himself and his clothes with bleach, then confessed to the killing and asked a woman to help him craft an alibi.

In his opening statement to jurors, Wilson's defense attorney, Steve Urias, said Wilson has been misidentified as McKee's killer and called the prosecution's evidence circumstantial.

The attorney said that of the 31 people on the prosecution's witness list, not one saw the shooting first-hand.

The morning of McKee's killing, Wilson arrived unannounced at the home McKee and his girlfriend shared in the 600 block of South Reservoir Street. McKee wasn't home when Wilson arrived, said the girlfriend, Julie Finneran.

According to Finneran's testimony, Wilson walked into the bathroom while she was showering, pulled back the shower curtain exposing her naked body, and demanded sex.

Finneran, who said she had sex with Wilson once in the past, said she turned Wilson down because one of her roommates was home and she didn't want to cheat on her boyfriend.

"I had a liking toward (Wilson), but it wasn't like we were dating or anything," Finneran said.

By the time Wilson left, Finneran had rejected his sexual advances two more times, the woman testified. Finneran later told McKee about Wilson's sexual advances.

When Wilson returned to McKee and Finneran's home that evening, McKee told him he didn't want him to visit anymore, Finneran testified.

McKee the offered Wilson a ride home even though the Mission Avenue mobile-home park where Wilson lived was within walking distance, Finneran testified.

Shortly before 9 p.m., residents in the 2500 block of South Virginia Avenue heard several gunshots, and a young woman returning home saw McKee slumped over in the driver's seat of his blue Chrysler PT Cruiser, according to testimony Friday.

McKee was shot three times in the head, and once each in the neck, shoulder and back, according to testimony from the medical examiner who performed McKee's autopsy.

All six shots entered the right side of McKee's body, and markings on some of the wounds indicate the shooting was at close range.

The description of the wounds is consistent with the prosecution's theory that McKee's killer was sitting in the passenger seat of McKee's car during the shooting.

In the hours after McKee's killing, Wilson returned to the mobile-home park where he lived and visited a friend's trailer.

A woman who lived in the trailer, Nohemi Sturgulewski, testified that she saw Wilson in the bathroom cleaning himself and his clothes with bleach.

"He was just standing there all wet with bleach," the woman testified. "... He was fully clothed."

Sturgulewski said she offered Wilson a change of clothes, and agreed to go with him when he left to drive to his aunt's house nearby.

As the two drove, Sturgulewski said Wilson told her he had just "crowned" someone -- meaning he shot a person in the head. Wilson also told her the person deserved to be shot because he was a child molester, the woman testified.

Though the two had met for the first time that day, Wilson told Sturgulewski he needed her to be his alibi.

Wilson told the woman to tell police they were together all day, and to say McKee had dropped him off at the mobile-home park in a blue PT Cruiser, the woman testified.

When Sturgulewski was interviewed by police about McKee's death, she initially repeated the story Wilson told her to tell.

But after police told her she could be charged as an accessory if she was lying to protect Wilson, she changed her story and told the truth about his alleged confession, the woman testified.

In his cross-examination of Finneran, Urias asked the woman numerous questions about her past drug use.

Finneran testified that she was high on methamphetamine the day of McKee's death, but went to rehab after the shooting and was now clean.

Urias also asked Finneran whether she and McKee were major meth dealers. Okun-Wiese objected to the question. Judge Robert Martinez sustained the prosecutor's objection and told jurors to disregard Urias' question. ..Source.. by Will Bigham

S.F. Man Fails To Register As Sex Offender -- Because He's Dead

This documents the death of Nicolas Chaykovsky.

Despite the police comments there is no doubt this man died because of California's residency laws! This was confirmed by a Newspaper Reporter.

3-15-2010 California:

According to the state's sex offender registry, Nicholas Chaykovsky has been in violation of registration requirements since Sunday. He has a decent excuse. He's dead.

Chaykovsky died at age 61 last month after suffering a heart attack. And though the San Francisco Police Department sex offender unit explicitly informed the Department of Justice about his demise, the DOJ hasn't deleted Chaykovsky's profile from the Megan's Law Web site yet. So, as seen above, Chaykovsky is still caught up in the red tape of the state's byzantine sex offender laws, even from the great beyond.

Chaykovsky was featured as "Mr. C." in our December story on how Jessica's Law forces nearly all sex offenders paroled to San Francisco into homeless, since they are forbidden from having an address within 200 feet of a park or school. Last month, the California Supreme Court upheld the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation's practice of forcing all San Francisco sex offenders paroled after the law's passage in Nov. 2006 into de facto homelessness, while punting objections about the law's overall constitutionality back to the lower courts to sort out.

The San Francisco Medical Examiner ruled Chaykovsky died from a heart attack stemming from heart disease and an infection brought about by a suicide attempt 12 years ago. (Official cause of death: "suicide.") But Chaykovsky's case managers and acquaintances say it was the constant stress of being homeless that "killed him."

"Basically, he wasn't used to the street," says Ron Sanders, his case manager at the Transitions Clinic, a city program for parolees run out of Southeast Health Center. "He had almost three years left living [homeless on parole]; there's no way he would have made it. When something like that happens to you, if you don't have the desire to live, you're not going to make it. He didn't have any fight in him."

Like the dozens of other sex offenders living in RVs, vans, or simply sleeping on the street, the 61-year-old Chaykovsky had spent many nights in a chair at the drop-in center at a homeless shelter on Bryant Street. (CDCR rules consider signing up for a bed at a homeless shelter as establishing a residence, while just falling asleep in a chair at the drop-in center is not.)

Another homeless sex offender wrote an e-mail to the Weekly, stating Chaykovsky "was always too timid to take a bed [at the homeless shelter] and risk a parole violation ... i can't help wonder whether 'sleeping' in chairs for almost 5 months caused his attack by sheer stress or deep-vein thrombosis .... his pathetic passing angers and depresses me while I'm struggling against the same pernicious pressures." (In the December story, SF Weekly agreed to withhold Chaykovsky's name and didn't print photos of his face due to his concerns about his own safety. Since his death is a matter of public record and his safety is no longer an issue, SF Weekly has decided to release his name.)

Inspector Jim Serna of the SFPD sex offender unit says the claims that extenuating circumstances of Chakkovsky's Kafka-esque existence killed him are unjustified. Since the death was ruled a "suicide," the inspector says Jessica's Law cannot be blamed.

"I wouldn't see any correlation between that at all," Serna says. He says the police find out that registered sex offenders die all the time. "It's usually age. Most of the guys who die [while on the sex offender registration] aren't affected by Jessica's Law because they've been off parole for a while."

Note the recognition that, Jessica's Law is a factor in causing deaths!

San Francisco parole supervisor Armel Farnsworth said among the sex offenders affected by Jessica's Law, "I can't recall anyone who's had their parole terminated in such a manner." Farnsworth, too, said Chaykovsky had other health problems. "He was rather rotund."

... ... ... ... After being caught, he attempted suicide twice -- once via shooting himself in the mouth, which deformed his face, and once from drinking a glass of antifreeze. He served nine years in state prison before making parole in October.

In a December interview, Chaykovsky said he expected to live about another 15 years, and wanted to follow his parole rules to the letter in order to avoid going back to prison. Asked about whether he was happy he survived his suicide attempts he said, "I'm kind of in-between. I'm hoping things will work out."

Chaykovsky had his share of medical problems after the suicide attempt and a massive weight-gain in prison. He said he had some short-term memory loss, and had broken tear ducts. While walking around the city, he had to stop often due to exhuastion and frequent heartburn-like chest pains. Both of Chaykovsky's older brothers died while he was in prison. Sanders recalled that Chaykovsky said his brothers had died of heart attacks, and Chaykovsky had made an appointment to get his own heart checked out at the clinic.

He never made it to the appointment. Billie Percy is a a case manager at the Northern California Service League, which runs a drop-in center for parolees where Chaykovsky spent many of his days. She says his eye had swollen up with fluid in the days before his heart attack. Before heading to the hospital for help in mid-February, Chaykovsky talked to her about how he had shot himself in the mouth years ago when the police arrived at his house to arrest him.

"He went on to say he was so remorseful for what he had done," Percy said, "and he said he wished his life could have been different. ...It was really like, man, did he know this was going to happen? I know I was the last person he had a conversation with."

Suffering from his eye condition, Chaykovsky got a ride to General Hospital from another parolee. While in the emergency room, he had a heart attack. Sanders says Chaykovsky was put on life support, but never regained consciousness. General Hospital officials called Sanders on Feb. 18th to say they were awaiting permission from the state to take Chaykovsky off life support. Sanders called Chaykovsky's social worker on the 19th and found out he had died while still on life support the night before. (General Hospital will not release details about his medical care, but the Medical Examiner says his time of death was 6:00 p.m. on Feb. 18.)

Percy says Chaykovsky's remains were cremated by the state. No funeral service was held. ..Source.. Lauren Smiley

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Better Off Dead?

3-31-2010 California:

Did Jessica's Law kill a homeless sex offender?

Earlier this month, Nicholas Chaykovsky failed to reregister with the police as a transient sex offender. He had a decent excuse.

He died.

Chaykovsky died on Feb. 18 at age 61. He was featured as "Mr. C" in our Dec. 30 cover story, "Perverting Justice," on how Jessica's Law forces nearly all sex offenders paroled to San Francisco into homelessness, because they are forbidden to live within 200 feet of a park or school.

The San Francisco Medical Examiner declared that Chaykovsky suffered a heart attack stemming from heart disease, and had an infection related to injuries from a suicide attempt 12 years ago.

But Chaykovsky's case managers and acquaintances say it was the constant stress of being homeless that killed him.

"Basically, he wasn't used to the street," said Ron Sanders, his case manager at the Transitions Clinic, a city program for parolees run from the Southeast Health Center. "He had almost three years left living [homeless on parole]; there's no way he would have made it. ... He didn't have any fight in him."

Chaykovsky was arrested in 1998 after making a videotape of a nude, 8-year-old girl, and was eventually convicted of continuous sexual abuse of a child and producing obscene material of a child. After being caught, he attempted suicide twice — he first shot himself in the mouth, which deformed his face, and later drank a glass of antifreeze. He served nine years in state prison before making parole in October.

Last month, the California Supreme Court upheld the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation's practice of forcing all San Francisco sex offenders paroled after the passage of Jessica's Law in November 2006 into de facto homelessness, while punting objections about the law's overall constitutionality back to the lower courts.

In a December interview, Chaykovsky said he expected to live about another 15 years, and wanted to follow his parole rules to the letter in order to avoid going back to prison. Asked about whether he was happy he survived his suicide attempts, he said, "I'm kind of in between. I'm hoping things will work out."

Obviously, they didn't.

Billie Percy, a case manager at the Northern California Service League who knew Chaykovsky, said his remains were cremated by the state. No funeral service was held. ..Source.. by Lauren Smiley

Preble County remains identified

3-12-2010 Ohio:

Dayton man's body was found near West Alexandria in July 2008

WEST ALEXANDRIA, Ohio -- The Preble County Sheriff's Office has released the name of the person whose remains were found July 18, 2008, on abandoned property near West Alexandria.

The victim was James M. Rembowski of Huffman Avenue in Dayton, Ohio. He was 54 at the time his body was discovered by two scrap metal seekers near a barn on the abandoned property in the 7000 block of Lexington-Salem Road. The preliminary period of death was estimated to be between fall 2007 and spring 2008.

In February, forensic scientists identified the remains by entering DNA information into a national database, revealed a match between the victim and a convicted sex offender.

Rembowski had a criminal record and was a convicted sex offender from Florida who had moved to Montgomery County.

The Preble County Sheriff's Office is handling the death as a homicide investigation and deputies have begun interviewing Rembowski's friends in Dayton.

Anyone who knew Rembowski or might have information about his death is asked to contact the sheriff's office at (937) 456-6262. ..Source.. by Palladium-Item

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Remains found in 2008 identified as that of Dayton sex offender

2-2-2010 Ohio:

EATON — The skeletal remains of a man found in July 2008 on an abandoned property near West Alexandria are those of a registered sex offender from Dayton, the Preble County Sheriff’s Office reported Tuesday, Feb. 2.

Sheriff Mike Simpson said his office is investigating the 54-year-old white male’s death as a homicide. He declined to identify the man, saying “we need to start our investigation on this end and backtrack what may or may not have happened.”

Simpson said someone found the remains July 18, 2008, inside a collapsed barn at 7016 Lexington Salem Road. He said the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office identified the man using a national database and DNA taken from his remains.

Simpson said the man lived in Dayton after moving here from Broward County Florida. He declined to reveal the manner of death. ..Source.. Anthony Gottschlich, Staff Writer

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Sex offender may have been murdered

12-12-2012:

DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) - The 2008 death of a sex offender may have been murder.

Dayton Police are expected to release new details about the death of James Rembowski in a news conference Wednesday.

Rembowski’s remains were found in the 7000 block of Lexington – Salem Road near West Alexandria in July 2008.

Sources tell 2 NEWS that police suspect Rembowski may have actually been killed at an address of Huffman Avenue in Dayton.

Rembowski was convicted of a sex crime in Florida before moving to Dayton. He was under indictment for failure to register as a sex offender at the time of his death. ..Source.. by WDTN.com