Coloorado Sex Assault Suspect Killed

6-3-2009 Colorado:

Sometimes all we have is a News Video which is the case here. So we post it and hopefully someday find further information on the person mentioned. This one has been very elusive, so if anyone can find anything please let us know where.



Colorado authorities say a man found shot to death in a park earlier this week was facing child sexual assault charges. Investigators say they haven't ruled out his accuser or her family as suspects in the case. (June 3)

Women shocked by brother's death

The news story does not explain why this is listed, but, once you read the court case of the prosecution of the person who killed him, then it comes to light.

QUOTE: "Defendant‟s blood test was negative for alcohol and positive for methamphetamine. During his blood test, defendant commented he had to “take care of a rapist.” At his arraignment on March 9, 2009, defendant bragged he had “popped” the victim “in the chest three times” for “molesting.”

B. Defense Evidence
Defendant was born in Guam. He testified that, between the ages of 9 and 14 years old, he was molested by his Uncle Tony, who fondled him and forced him to engage in oral sex. Defendant and Nick were friends for many years. Defendant testified that he killed Nick to protect his family because he believed Nick was going to molest and rape the women. Defendant acknowledged Nick had never harmed defendant‟s sister or his niece."

2-20-2009 California:

Two women whose brother was shot to death said Friday that they would never forget his singing, or his smile or his generosity.

Gina and Fatima Nick were shocked to learn that a family friend who had grown up in the same Riverside neighborhood had been arrested Thursday on suspicion of shooting their brother, Qaddafi Nick, 35.

Their brother had been living in the 6200 block of Hillside Avenue for about 18 months with the family of his best friend, Gina Nick said.

Riverside police Sgt. Derwin Hudson said someone saw Ivan John Cepeda, 47, put a person with bloody clothing in the back of his truck Thursday morning, and when Cepeda returned to the house, his truck was empty.

Hudson said the body was found nearby a couple of hours later.

Gina and Fatima Nick said their brother and Cepeda's brother were best friends.

"I was scared and hurt at the same time because we all grew up together in the same neighborhood," Gina Nick said. "It was a good family."

Gina Nick said her brother had been working in construction and laying carpet. He had two daughters, 14-year-old Pasha and 13-year-old Tasia, she said.

His older daughter called him just days before his death to tell him she earned all A's in school, Gina Nick said.

The sisters said their brother was known for his bad singing.

"We always teased him that we were going to put him on American Idol," Fatima Nick laughed.

He would laugh too, when they teased him about his singing; he was always eager to have fun, his sisters said.

"He was loved by a lot of people," Fatima Nick said, motioning to dozens of people who were gathered to wash cars to raise money for his funeral. His family and friends will return to the parking lot of Nichols Park at 5505 Dewey Ave. today to continue to raise money. ..Source.. by JESSICA LOGAN

Lawyer: Slain radio newsman lured teen to NYC home

10-18-2010 New York:

NEW YORK—A teenager accused of fatally stabbing a radio newsman he met through Craigslist was lured to the man's apartment for illegal sex, his lawyer said Monday at the start of the boy's trial on a charge of second-degree murder.

John Katehis went to George Weber's Brooklyn apartment in March 2009 believing he was going to earn $60 to help move boxes, defense lawyer Jeffrey Schwartz said in state Supreme Court in Brooklyn.

Instead, Weber gave Katehis, then 16, alcohol and what the teen believed was cocaine and offered him the money in exchange for smothering and binding him for sexual gratification, Schwartz told jurors.

"George Weber was a 47-year-old drunk predator of an underage boy by the name of John Katehis," Schwartz said. "He lured this 16-year-old boy to his lair."

Katehis wasn't legally old enough to consent to sex with an adult. The age of consent in New York is 17.

Weber, 47, pulled out a knife during the encounter and Katehis, "feeling jumpy, nervous and paranoid," defended himself, Schwartz said. Weber was stabbed more than 50 times, prosecutors said.

Weber had been working as a freelancer for ABC News Radio. He also had worked at WABC in New York, and at stations in California, Colorado and Pennsylvania.

Investigators found no cocaine in Weber's apartment and toxicology tests done when Katehis went to the emergency room for cuts on his right hand found no traces of the drug in his system, the prosecutor said.

Prosecutors portray Katehis as a willing participant who placed a Craigslist advertisement offering sex for money. Weber, who had a sexual fetish for being smothered "to the point of where he was close to passing out," responded to the ad, said prosecutor Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi.

The two exchanged e-mails and pictures before agreeing to meet at Weber's apartment, the prosecutor told the jury.

"This was a vicious, brutal, intentional attack," the prosecutor told the jury, adding that the motive may "never be quite clear."

"He wasn't warding off any attack. He wasn't high or drunk," she said.

Police officers discovered Weber's body on his bedroom floor covered by a blanket with his pants and underwear at his ankles, which were bound with duct tape, an officer testified. The officers had gone to his apartment after Weber's employer called police and said he hadn't been to work in two days.

In Weber's blood-splattered apartment, investigators found a vodka bottle, a bottle of whiskey, duct tape, scissors, lubrication and an empty cardboard box for a camera, detective Thomas O'Brien testified Monday.

Katehis is being held without bail. If convicted he faces a maximum sentence of 25 years to life in prison. ..Source.. by MARCUS FRANKLIN

Jury finds Grammer guilty in murder of homeless man

9-2-2010 Texas:

Jurors met late into Wednesday night before finding a homeless Bryan man guilty of fatally beating a sex offender with a steel pole.

The panel of nine men and two women deliberated for about eight hours in the Brazos County Courthouse. Their verdict came during a tense moment in the courtroom.

As night fell and the jury hadn't reached a decision, lawyers on each side had begun discussions of their own. It's unclear whether they were negotiating a plea deal or any other arrangement. A knock on the jury room door indicating a verdict interrupted their talks.

Danny Grammer and the lawyers were called into the courtroom and District Judge Steve Smith read the decision around 8:40 p.m. Grammer showed no emotion as he stood with his hands clasped in front of him. He retired into a side room to speak with his lawyer while District Attorney Bill Turner turned and shook the hand of Dale Ellis' crying mother.

The punishment phase of the trial is expected to begin at 9 a.m. Thursday. Grammer could face up to a life sentence.

He entered a plea of insanity on the first day of the trial. The main focus of the six days of testimony wasn't whether Grammer killed 20-year-old Ellis -- both sides conceded that -- but what his state of mind was when he did.

Ellis, who was also homeless, was found in an abandoned downtown Bryan Laundromat in February 2009 with multiple large gashes on the front and back of his head.

Grammer told witnesses that he randomly encountered the man in the building and struck up a conversation. The pair knew each other, and it was well known in the homeless community that Grammer disliked Ellis for being a registered sex offender. Grammer was raped as a young child and told residents of a homeless shelter that he wanted to hurt Ellis, witnesses testified.

As they talked, witnesses testified, Ellis began to describe raping a 6-year-old girl and Grammer snapped. He beat Ellis repeatedly, evidence indicated, and left.

Jurors were asked to determine Grammer's mindset when he committed the crime, and lawyers on both sides called experts who gave conflicting opinions. To be successful, Grammer's lawyer needed to convince jurors that Grammer didn't know the difference between right and wrong at the time of the killing. If they found him insane, Smith could have ordered Grammer to enter a treatment facility.

Davis, the defense attorney, called a psychologist, Kim Arredondo, who testified that the killing was spurred by a post-traumatic stress disorder reaction. The pain Grammer carried from when he was raped was so strong that it caused him to enter a dissociative state when Ellis began to describe a similar crime, she said.

"What do you think that would do to a man that has been through what he has been through," Davis asked jurors during his closing argument. "He lost it. He was out of his mind."

Grammer told both psychologists that he blacked out and doesn't remember anything about his crime -- other than picking up the steel pipe and hearing it clang against the ground after he dropped it.

Randall Price, the psychologist called by prosecutors, said he believed Grammer's story. But, Price said, about a third of murderers block their crime from their memory. Forgetting such a traumatic event isn't unique, he said, and it doesn't mean Grammer was insane at the time of the murder.

Turner told the panel that common sense should make their decision clear. Grammer attempted to wipe clean the murder weapon after Ellis died and he lied to investigators in the aftermath of the killing, Turner said.

"Danny Grammer had a reason to be mad at the world," Turner said. "I bet if we look at all our lives there is a reason we can be mad at the world. But for us to survive, we have got to hold that in check." ..Source.. by MATTHEW WATKINS

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Grammer Sentenced to 25 Years

9-2-2010 Texas:

A homeless Bryan man was sentenced Thursday to 25 years in prison after his murder conviction.

Danny Grammer was convicted late Wednesday in the February 2009 beating dath of Dale Ellis. Jurors deliberated almost eight hours before returning their verdict.

Under the sentencing guidelines, Grammer, 24, must serve at least half his sentence before he is eligible for parole, and will get credit for a year-and-a-half of time served.

Ellis’ body was found in a vacant Bryan building; both men were homeless at the time.

Grammer’s responsibility was not in question, but whether he was of sound mind at the time was.

Defense attorneys argued Grammer was criminally insane when he attacked Ellis because Ellis was a known sex offender and Grammer had been sexually abused as a child. ..Source.. by Chace Murphy

Linda man's death ruled a homicide

7-29-2009 California:

Malmstrom died from stabbing, sheriff says

A Linda man whose body was found in his North Beale Road apartment was a homicide victim, Yuba County Sheriff Steve Durfor said Wednesday.

The body of Scott Dana Malmstrom, 47, was found Saturday at the Beale Star Apartments.

An autopsy Tuesday showed Malmstrom was stabbed with a sharp instrument, Durfor said.

The state Department of Justice positively identified the decomposed body through fingerprints.

"Investigators consider the case a homicide and believe there are additional witnesses who have not come forward," Durfor said.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Sheriff's Tip Line at 530 749-7930. Callers may remain anonymous.

Department of Justice investigators are still processing evidence found at the scene, Durfor said.

Department spokeswoman Melanie Oakes said she could not comment on a possible motive or suspect in the case.

A Beale Star Apartments resident, Noreen Weems, said she saw Malmstrom uncharacteristically arguing with a man about five days before he was found dead. The other man, who had long, braided hair and appeared to be in his 40s, had been seen at the complex a couple of times before, she said.

The argument may have been over something in a brown paper bag that Malmstrom had just bought at a nearby liquor store where he was a frequent customer, said Weems.

Weems said Malmstrom once fixed her vacuum cleaner and used to walk her dog for her. He did not work and apparently received some type of public assistance, she said.

According to a California Megan's Law Web site, Malmstrom was also a registered sex offender who'd been convicted of lewd and lascivious acts with a child under 14 by force. ..Source.. by Rob Young

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Murder trial starts in 2009 Linda stabbing

7-13-2010 California:

Jury selection began today in the trial of a Marysville man charged with the July 2009 fatal stabbing of Scott Dana Malmstrom at a Linda apartment.

Todd Allen Cole Jr., 26, allegedly stabbed the 47-year-old Malmstrom 17 times. He is charged with first-degree murder.

Malmstrom's neighbors at the Beale Star Apartments, 1485 North Beale Road, called authorities after noticing a foul odor. According to testimony at Cole's preliminary hearing in December, Malmstrom's body may have been in his apartment for as long as five days in 90-degree-plus heat. ..Source..


Mistrial declared in Yuba County murder trial

7-23-2010 California:

A Yuba County judge declared a mistrial Friday in the second-degree murder case of Todd Allen Cole Jr. after jurors said they were "completely torn."

A prosecutor called the evidence against Cole "pretty compelling," but jurors deliberated two days without reaching a verdict.

Cole's fingerprints and footprints were found in the blood of victim Scott Malmstrom, whose decomposed body was found July 25, 2009, in his North Beale Road apartment.

Asked by Judge Kathleen O'Connor what the vote breakdown was without saying which way jurors voted, the jury forewoman said before O'Connor cut her off that there were 10 votes to convict Cole.

The forewoman declined comment as she left the courthouse, as did other jurors.

The lead prosecutor, Deputy District Attorney John Vacek, said Cole will be retried. A trial date is scheduled to be set Wednesday.

Cole's attorney, Chief Deputy Public Defender Brian Davis, and Deputy District Attorney Shiloh Sorbello met with jurors behind closed doors to discuss their votes.

Davis asked an Appeal-Democrat reporter to leave at the request of some of the jurors.

Jurors had the option of finding Cole guilty of voluntary manslaughter instead of second-degree murder, an option opposed by prosecutors, Sorbello said. But the issue that led to the hung jury was more of "who done it," he said.

The two jurors who voted not to convict apparently were not sure beyond a reasonable doubt that it was Cole in Malmstrom's apartment, not someone else, even though they didn't seem to have any particular person in mind, Sorbello said.

One witness said that shortly before Malmstrom's death, she saw him having an argument with a lanky, ponytailed Hispanic man. Cole told a fellow inmate in Yuba County Jail that he and his brother had stabbed a child molester.

Malmstrom was convicted of child molestation in Placer County.

Sorbello credited Davis with planting enough reasonable doubt in the minds of some jurors to cause the hung jury.

"He did what he needed to do," Sorbello said.

In his closing argument to jurors, Davis said state Department of Justice investigators should have taken more blood samples from the apartment. Some of the blood could have come from someone else, he said.

"Everything seemed obvious to them, so why go to the bother?" Davis said.

Malmstrom was stabbed or slashed 17 times. Blood was on the floor, walls and ceiling.

"No one knows beyond all doubt that happened in Scott Malmstrom's apartment. There are other ways this reasonably could have happened," Davis said.

The prosecution's case consisted entirely of circumstantial evidence — no witnesses, no videotape, he said.

Davis called one prosecution witness, Brian Brand, a white supremacist gang member, "a snitch. He didn't even have the guts to sit here in front of you and tell you what he has to stay," Davis said.

At a December preliminary hearing, Brand testified Cole talked to him in jail about stabbing a child molester. In the trial, he said he couldn't remember.

Vacek said Brand feared retaliation for being a snitch.

By talking to Brand, Cole may have been stupid or bragging or "a punk sucking up to the real deal" whose white supremacist gang, the Peckerwoods, might protect him in prison, Vacek told jurors.

Vacek acknowledged that evidence was largely circumstantial, including forensic evidence such as Cole's fingerprints and footprints in Malmstrom's blood.

"But it's a pretty compelling circumstantial case when you look at it," he told jurors.

Cole's fingerprints in Malmstrom's blood were found on the control rod for vertical blinds on the living room window, evidence that he didn't want anyone to see what had just happened, said Vacek.

"What other reasonable explanation is there" for the bloody prints, Vacek asked. "What reasonable person goes inside and wades in blood? Who sees this and doesn't call the cops?"

The struggle apparently was the most violent near the window and door, with blood spurting from Malmstrom's severed carotid artery, Vacek said.

A bloody knife blade, broken from its handle, was found near the window. That apparently happened when Malmstrom was stabbed in the back of the neck and the blade hit bone, he said.

When Malmstrom's body was found, the left pants pocket was turned out and he had no wallet. Malmstrom liked to flash a roll of cash, a Yuba County detective testified earlier. ..Source.. by Rob Young

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No retrial, defendant pleads no contest in East Linda slaying

8-25-2010

Facing retrial on a second-degree murder charge, Todd Allen Cole Jr. has pleaded no contest to the voluntary manslaughter of an East Linda man.

Scott Malmstrom was found stabbed and slashed to death July 25, 2009, at the Beale Star Apartments on North Beale Road.

Cole entered the plea Monday before Yuba County Judge Kathleen O'Connor and faces a 14-year prison sentence, said the lead prosecutor in the case, Deputy District Attorney John Vacek.

Vacek said Cole's knowledge that 11 jurors voted to convict him "may have softened him up a bit."

At the end of the July trial, a jury foreperson told the judge that 10 jurors had voted to convict.

"We were ready for a retrial when this came up" on Monday, Vacek said about the plea.

Malmstrom was killed "in the heat of passion," Vacek said.

"I never thought (Cole) went into the apartment with the intent of killing Scott Malmstrom. Something happened to set him off," Vacek said.

A pathologist testified that Malmstrom had 17 wounds on his body, including a slashed carotid artery. Blood was found on the floor, walls and ceiling.

Cole's fingerprints and footprints were found in Malmstrom's blood.

Jurors in the July trial had the option of convicting Cole of either second-degree murder or voluntary manslaughter but deadlocked after two days of deliberation.

Some jurors thought someone else may have been involved in Malmstrom's death, Deputy District Attorney Shiloh Sorbello said at the time.

Earlier on the day he is believed to have been killed, Malmstrom, a convicted child molester, mentioned to Cole that they shared the same parole agent. Cole became angry, according to testimony.

A white supremacist gang member testified that Cole bragged in jail about killing a child molester.

Malmstrom was known to carry a roll of cash. His pants pocket was found turned out on the day his decomposed body was found.

The day after Malmstrom apparently died, Cole and his girlfriend had enough cash to move into an East Marysville apartment. The girlfriend and Cole's brother testified the cash came from other sources.

Cole is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 20. The 14-year sentence includes time for two prior convictions and for using a knife in Malmstrom's killing, Vacek said. ..Source.. by Rob Young

Fort Bragg man shot and killed during dispute

4-7-2010 California:

A Fort Bragg man was shot and killed Sunday night after an argument at his rural trailer on Sherwood Road, according to Mendocino County sheriff’s authorities.

The suspect, Aaron Joseph Vargas, 31, allegedly shot 63-year-old Darrell Rae McNeill once with a large caliber handgun at about 8 p.m.

After waiting until he knew McNeill was dead, Vargas took apart the gun, a ball and powder pistol, left it on the counter and left, a witness told deputies.

The witness was not threatened or harmed, authorities said.

Vargas reportedly was angry about an unspecified abuse case that had occurred years earlier, sheriff’s authorities said.

He was arrested without incident at a relative’s home following the shooting, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

The case remains under investigation. ..Source.. by GLENDA ANDERSON, THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

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Vargas pleads no contest to killing

4-7-2010 California:

A 32-year-old Fort Bragg man who was charged with murder in a February 2009 shooting pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter in the Superior Court of Mendocino County Tuesday afternoon.

Aaron Joseph Vargas was arrested on suspicion of shooting Darrell Rae McNeill, 63, and then holding McNeill's wife hostage until McNeill died. The case has received broad media attention due to claims that McNeill had molested Vargas and others in the community.

Vargas may be sentenced to 10 years in state prison or probation, said Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Norman.

"If he were to violate probation he could be sentenced to 21 years in state prison," Norman said. Vargas' attorney, Tom Hudson, told Judge Ronald Brown that he wants probation for Vargas.

"It is our position that Mr. Vargas, having spent a little over a year in custody, would make a strong probation candidate," Hudson said.

Brown stated that Vargas did not have a criminal record, the factor of Vargas' post traumatic stress and that questions remained about the facts of the case.

"In general," Brown said, "the community, Ten Mile and Fort Bragg have been supportive of Mr. Vargas."

Norman said a no-contest plea and the mid-sentence of 10 years seemed to be a fair resolution to the case. Both the District Attorney's Office and Hudson received letters about the case.

Correspondence included numerous options of what the criminal justice system could do, Hudson said. "It is a case that generated a lot of feeling and thought," he said.
A preliminary hearing last April included testimony from Vargas' fiancee, Selena Barnet. She said that McNeill called Vargas continually and had stopped by the couple's home.

Vargas shot McNeill during a confrontation at McNeill's fifth-wheel trailer, according to testimony at the preliminary hearing.

After Vargas' plea was entered, a press conference was held in front of the courthouse, with TV crews from out-of-the-area taping interviews with those close to the case.

In talks with the media afterwards, Norman said she had received multiple letters from people who stated that McNeill had molested them.

"I received letters from three men and a woman who claimed they had been molested by Mr. McNeill," Norman said. The letters, some from people who had never met Vargas, stated what it is like to be a victim of molestation, she said.

Vargas' sister and his mother said that they are hoping Vargas gets a probation sentence. Robin Vargas, Vargas' mother, said she is feeling some relief in contrast to where the case was one week ago.

Mindy Galliani, Vargas' sister, said after Tuesday's hearing that she will be pleased when her brother returns home.

A hearing to establish the facts of the case before it goes to the Probation Department is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. April 20 in courtroom B at the Ukiah courthouse. ..Source.. ZACK CINEK The Daily Journal

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INSIDE STORY: Molestation Victim Who Killed His Alleged Tormentor

After Aaron Vargas endured years of sexual abuse, it seemed inevitable that something would finally have to give. One night in February 2009, he downed beers and vodka, drove to a mobile home in Fort Bragg, Calif., and shot the man he says was his tormentor once in the chest.

"You're not going to hurt anyone again," Vargas, 32, allegedly said as 63-year-old Darrell McNeill lay dying.

The fatal shooting in the quaint town flanked by redwood forests and spectacular coastal views has sparked a debate over whether Vargas should be treated like a hero for killing a man who many, including his own family, considered a danger to children, or a criminal for allegedly taking the law into his own hands.

Initially charged with murder, Vargas's attorney Tom Hudson contends the gun went off by accident during a scuffle, although his client got too drunk to remember. Prosecutors earlier this month agreed to a plea deal for voluntary manslaughter. They cited evidence that McNeill had molested Vargas as far back as when Vargas was 11 years old, along with Vargas's clean record and the sentiments of McNeill's family, who have come out in support of Vargas.

Petition of Support

But Vargas can still get anywhere from probation to 10 years in prison at the sentencing hearing, which starts June 14 in Mendocino County Superior Court.

"That boy should be out right now – time served – and should get an award for what he did," says Richard Masingale, 51, of Fort Bragg, who claims his brother was another molestation victim of McNeill's. Masingale says his brother had contemplated shooting McNeill four years ago – but killed himself instead.

Vargas's supporters have collected thousands of signatures for a petition saying he has suffered enough and deserves leniency. Supporters also have rallied in the streets of Fort Bragg, Calif., shouting "Free Aaron," and "End the Silence," and carrying signs saying things like "It is time for justice for all the many victims."

Other Victims

Vargas says he was first molested by McNeill during a fishing trip. His family says McNeill continued to abuse him as a kid, and stalked and harassed Vargas as an adult. Vargas tried to stay away from McNeill, at times even moving to other states, but family and relationships kept bringing him back. In 2008, family members say, the stalking got worse, with McNeill calling Vargas a dozen times a day and showing up at his doorstep with a handful of diapers, offering to babysit Vargas's newborn daughter, Rosie.

About a dozen people have now come forward to say they, too, were molested by McNeill, and they're glad he won't hurt anyone else. McNeill's family doesn't dispute that McNeill was a child molester. His second wife filed a police report after her divorce, complaining McNeill molested her son, but she said police took no action because the case was too old.

Despite police complaints over the years, McNeill was never arrested or charged. Authorities now say that, in each case, either the alleged victim couldn't be located or the statute of limitations had expired.

Family Supports Him

McNeill's third wife, Elizabeth, who witnessed the shooting, went so far as to attend the first fund-raiser for Aaron's defense.

"I do believe that something having to do with Aaron's childhood sexual abuse caused Aaron to snap, and do what he did," Elizabeth wrote in a letter to prosecutors.

Assistant Mendocino County District Attorney Beth Norman says her office hasn't yet decided what sentence to recommend – but she's glad that the case has ended with a felony conviction, which should send the message that "violence is not the answer." ..Source.. by Howard Breuer

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Supporters say Vargas has suffered enough

6-14-2010 California:

Fort Bragg man who killed his molester could face 10-year prison sentence

People wearing “Free Aaron” buttons packed a sentencing hearing in Mendocino County Superior Court Monday to seek leniency for a Fort Bragg man who killed the man he says molested him.

Family, friends and even some strangers attended the hearing in Ukiah to demonstrate their belief that Aaron Vargas is the victim in the case, not Darrell McNeill, 63, whom Vargas shot in February 2009.

The sentencing hearing is expected to conclude Tuesday.

Vargas, 32, who pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter, faces a maximum of 10 years in prison.

His supporters believe he has suffered enough.

“I think he should go free,” said Danielle Hruby of Cloverdale, a friend and family member. “He's the victim.”

“I could be Aaron Vargas,” said Carol Martino, a Santa Rosa resident who said she attended the hearing because she is a survivor of sexual abuse.

Vargas has said McNeill began molesting him while on a fishing trip when he was 11 years old, and the abuse continued sporadically through adulthood. McNeill was a family friend who lived next door.

On Monday two other men testified they had been molested by McNeill.

McNeill's stepson, John Clemons, said he was a victim. He said his stepbrother started having latent memories of being molested by his father, and the three men shared their experiences for the first time a few days before Vargas shot McNeill.

At least a half dozen men have come forward since the shooting to say they had been molested by McNeill when they were children.

One of McNeill's victims made a police report in 2001, but the statue of limitations had expired, authorities said. A woman also reportedly went to police with suspicions about McNeill but walked out in frustration when told it had been too long since the incident to prosecute.

Clemons said police reports were made, but nothing happened. “The system failed,” he told the others that night.

Vargas' fiancee, Selena Barnett, testified Vargas was especially agitated after the meeting with McNeill's sons. She said the night of the shooting, he was pacing and consuming alcohol to the point of intoxication.

Barnett said Vargas never spoke to her about the abuse, but he mentioned a sexual encounter with McNeill that occurred in 2006. As time went on, she guessed the truth.

She noticed that Vargas went on drinking binges when McNeill came around and called. She told McNeill to leave them alone and changed her phone number, but McNeill continued to harass them. He called frequently, stopped by and offered to baby-sit their infant daughter.

Barnett said she didn't know that Vargas had continued to work odd jobs for McNeill.

McNeill's widow testified about the night of the fatal shooting. Liz McNeill said her husband was standing in the open doorway of their trailer when he was shot. Vargas came inside and told her not to phone for help.

She said it took about 15 minutes for her husband to die from being shot with a .44 caliber cap and ball pistol.

The bullet entered his upper abdomen, piercing his diaphragm, liver, stomach and aorta before stopping at his spine, according to testimony from forensic pathologist Dr. Jason Trent. He estimated it took between five and 20 minutes for McNeill to die.

As McNeill lay on the floor dying, Vargas swore at him and kicked him, said Assistant District Attorney Beth Norman.

The defense on Monday portrayed Vargas as harmless to anyone other than McNeill. His family said he hadn't intended to kill McNeill, only scare him away.

Norman countered that Vargas had been violent in the past. He choked his fiancee, took out his frustrations on property and fought with another inmate in jail, according to testimony. He also had several arrests for driving under the influence.

Psychologist Kevin Kelly said he would not expect Vargas to be a danger to anyone else as long as he received counseling and treatment for depression, post traumatic stress and substance abuse.

“He has treatable problems,” Kelly said. ..Source.. by GLENDA ANDERSON, THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

CO- Sexual Assault Suspect Shot and Killed by Police

I cannot find any reason, in any version of this story, indicating why they killed him. It cannot be just because someone said "He will not go down alive," after all those are just words not actions.

3-11-2009 Colorado:

PUEBLO - A suspect wanted for two counts of sexual assault against a child has been shot and killed by police, concluding a manhunt in Pueblo that placed seven north side schools on lock-down Wednesday afternoon.

The Pueblo Sheriff's office is handling the investigation, since it involved two Pueblo Police Officers. Details about the shooting are still not being released, pending the investigation.

Police have confirmed the man shot and killed is 55-year old David Wiggs. Officers shot and killed Wiggs on the 4th street Bridge, near Erie on the east side of Pueblo around 4 p.m.

Sgt Eric Bravo with Pueblo Police tells NEWSCHANNEL 13 that the search for Wiggs began around 12:30 Wednesday afternoon, after an off-duty Florence Police Officer spotted him near the Safeway Grocery Store off 29th and Elizabeth.

Pueblo Police and Sheriff, along with the State Patrol conducted a search of the area. They took extra precaution while searching for Wiggs because he reportedly told family members and officers, "I will not go down alive," earlier in the day.

The search turned up a tent along Fountain Creek where Wiggs was believed to have been living for the last few days. K-9 units searched the creek bed on foot, and a police helicopter from Freemont County circled above the area throughout the afternoon.

Pueblo schools that were placed on lock-down status were Haaff Elementary, Irving Elementary, Morton Elementary, Somerlid Elementary, Freed Middle School, Heaton Middle School, and Centennial High School.

Students we spoke with say they were scared after an announcement was made on the intercom system. Bus services for those schools on lockdown were also stopped until D-60 got word about the suspect's death.

Dive Teams spent the night searching Fountain Creek near the shooting. Sgt Bravo won't says what investigators are looking for, but sources tell NEWSCHANNEL 13 that it could be a 9mm gun Wiggs apparently was carrying with him.

Teams called off the searched about 7:30 Wednesday night after temperatures dropped and the sun was setting. ..News Source.. by News Channel13.com

OH- Man Stabbed to Death on West Harrison Street

8-25-2009 Ohio:

The city of Newark has recorded its second homicide of the year. The latest happened around 10:15 Monday night on West Harrison Street.

A disconnected 911 call alerted authorities to a problem at 59 West Harrison Street. When police arrived they found the many residents of the rooming house, but didn't see a victim.

"They did a very good job It would have been easy turn around and say well there's no disturbance, but they did an excellent job in continuing the call and locating the victim," says Sgt. Scott Snow, Newark Police Department.

After searching the house, 25-year-old John Stouffer was found stabbed to death in his room. For neighbor Donna Queen, whose boyfriend lives at the home the discovery was shocking.

"I was scared, because I live here by myself and I was scared. I mean that's too close to home," says Queen.

Neighbors say with people going to and from the house it's hard to tell if there's anything suspicious going on.

"Sometimes it's kind of scary because you don't know who's going in and out. There's always quite a bit of traffic. You don't know who lives there and who don't," says Queen.

Sgt. Snow says the public should not be worried, because they don't believe this was a random act of violence, they are interviewing multiple residents of the house.

"The investigators are kind of wading through the scene and wading through the evidence and they'll be doing extensive interviews with each resident," says Snow.

Neighbors say it's some of the homes residents they're concerned about.

Authorities say the victim Stouffer was a convicted sex offender who was arrested for propositioning a child.

Queen says several residents of the home are criminals and she'd like to see the buildings owner take action.

"For the owner to like know the person that's going to be renting there, to know their background, you know a little bit more about who she's letting rent there."

Licking County Crime Stoppers is offering a reward up to $1000 for information leading to the arrest of Stouffer's killer. If you have any information on the murder call the Newark Division of Police Detective Bureau at (740) 670-7215. ..Source.. by Kelly Gilmartin

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4 Arrested In Stabbing Death

8-28-2009 Ohio:

NEWARK, Ohio — Four people were arrested Thursday in connection with a man's stabbing death in a rooming house.

Police were called to the home on West Harrison Street at about 10 p.m. Monday, 10TV News reported.

Residents at the home told the officers that nothing was wrong, but they searched the house as a precaution and found John Stouffer's body in an upstairs room.

He was stabbed several times and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police arrested Beth Anne Doty, William Withem, William Snyder and Jason Stone in connection with the murder.

Stone, 20, was charged with murder. Doty, 29, Withem, 45, and Snyder, 33, were charged with complicity to murder.

All four people were expected to be arraigned on Friday. ..Source.. by 10TV News

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5th Stabbing Suspect Held On $1M Bond

9-25-2009 Ohio:

A 5th suspect arrested in connection with the stabbing death of a Newark man is being held on a $1,000,0000 bond.

Licking County Municipal Court officials say the case of 20-year-old Nicholas Wallace will now go before a Licking County Grand Jury next week.

Newark Police Sgt. Scott Snow says Wallace was arrested Thursday afternoon around 4:30.

He's being charged with aggravated murder and tampering with evidence in the death of 25-year-old John Stouffer.

He's currently being held in the Licking County Justice Center.

Stouffer was found stabbed to death at a West Jefferson Street home in Newark on August 24.

Four other suspects, Jason Stone, William Snyder, William Withem and Beth Doty have all been charged in Stouffer's death and are being held in the Licking County Justice Center. ..Source.. by WHIZ News

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Man Sentenced in Newark Murder.

12-18-2009 Ohio:

A 20-year-old Newark man will spend 18-years-to-life in prison in connection with an August murder.

Nicholas Wallace was sentenced Friday in Licking County Common Pleas Court on charges of murder, aggravated murder, aggravated burglary and tampering with evidence in the stabbing death of 25-year-old John Stouffer on August 24 in Newark.

Four other co-defendants in the case have yet to go on trial. ..Source.. WHIZ News

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Man gets 18 years to life in stabbing death

12-18-2009 Ohio:

NEWARK — A 20-year-old man, sentenced to 18 years to life in prison for his role in the stabbing death of a Newark man, addressed the court with regret and gratitude.

“Thank you very much for showing me some mercy,” Nicholas B. Wallace said at his sentencing Friday.

Wallace, last known address 33 S. Sixth St., pleaded no contest to aggravated murder and murder, both unclassified felonies, aggravated burglary, a first-degree felony, and tampering with evidence, a third-degree felony.

Licking County Common Pleas Judge Thomas Marcelain sentenced Wallace to 15 years to life for aggravated murder, which merged with the murder and aggravated burglary counts, and three years for the tampering with evidence charge. Wallace could have faced up to life in prison and a $55,000 fine, Marcelain said.

On Aug. 24, Newark police were called to a rooming house at 59 W. Harrison St. after reports of screams coming from John Stouffer’s room, Licking County Assistant Prosecutor Dan Huston said.

Police found Stouffer, 25, dead on the floor after being stabbed 29 times, allegedly at the command of leaders of a “Death Demon” club, Huston said. The reported leaders have not been charged.

Wallace gave the weapon to co-defendant Jason Stone, who stabbed Stouffer multiple times after co-defendant William Snyder got Stouffer to open the door under the pretense of talking about Stouffer’s truck, Huston said.

Co-defendant Beth Doty, who believed she was pregnant with Stouffer’s child, solicited the “Death Demons” to “take care of him,” Huston said. William Withem, also charged in connection with the killing, drove his co-defendants to and from the crime scene, according to court records.

Wallace also burned blood-soaked clothing after the stabbing in an attempt to remove evidence, Huston said.

“He was a very young individual being influenced by people he should have known not to be influenced by,” said Wallace’s attorney, Matthew Dawson.

Wallace said had time to think about the events while in jail and expressed regret for not going to authorities at the first sign of trouble.

“No amount of apologies can end the pain or hurt this has caused his family,” Wallace said.

Wallace was the last of the five to be indicted in Stouffer’s stabbing death but the first to be sentenced. Wallace’s case was expedited because he did not ask for a competency hearing, admitted to his role and expressed remorse, Huston said.

“Mr. Wallace takes full responsibility for his actions,” Dawson said. ..Source.. by JESSIE BALMERT, Advocate Reporter

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Attorney wants second evaluation for man charged in stabbing

1-6-2010 Ohio:

ARK -- The attorney for a 46-year-old man charged in connection with the fatal stabbing of a Newark man asked for a second assessment of his client's mental competency.

The first assessment declared him mentally retarded but fit to stand trial. Visiting Judge Jon Spahr accepted the reports that indicated William F. Withem, last known address 39 S. Sixth St., Newark, was able to understand his alleged actions were wrong and participate in court proceedings.

Withem's attorney, Diane Menashe, asked Spahr for an additional assessment because the report indicated her client is mentally retarded.

Withem has an IQ of 65, cannot read or write adequately and has records with the Department of Developmental Disabilities dating back to age 16, Menashe said.

"I have a real concern about his ability to retain information," she said.

Withem and his four co-defendants were charged with aggravated murder and murder, both unclassified felonies; and aggravated burglary, a first-degree felony.

On Aug. 26, Withem drove his co-defendants to a rooming house at 59 W. Harrison St., knowing a resident, John Stouffer, would be killed there, according to court records.

Withem drove a witness to buy cigarettes to get the man away from the scene, according to court records.

After reviewing Withem's mental-health records, Menashe wrote that she had grave concerns about Withem's ability to understand the nature and objectives of these proceedings and assist in his own defense.

One of Withem's co-defendants, Nicholas B. Wallace, was sentenced to 18 years to life in prison in connection with Stouffer's death.

Co-defendants Jason C. Stone, Beth A. Doty and William C. Snyder were found competent to stand trial. Withem's attorney was the only one to ask for a second evaluation. ..Source.. by JESSIE BALMERT, Advocate Reporter

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Woman Learns Fate In 'Death Demons' Stabbing

2-3-2010 Ohio:

NEWARK, Ohio — A woman was sentenced Wednesday after admitting her role in a fatal stabbing that was apparently linked to a cult called the Death Demons.

Beth Doty, 29, said she asked fellow members to kill her boyfriend, John Stouffer, in August, 10TV News reported.

Police found John Stouffer, 25, stabbed to death in a rooming house after someone reported screaming.

Doty received a 20-year prison sentence for her role in the slaying.

Three other men are awaiting trial in the case, while a fourth man is already serving 18 years to life in prison. ..Source.. by 10TV News

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Woman Guilty of Murder

2-3-2010 Ohio:

A Newark woman will spend at least 20 years in prison for a murder last August.

Wednesday in Licking County Common Pleas Court 29-year-old Beth Doty pled guilty to one count of aggravated murder and one count of aggravated burglary.

Doty is believed to be the organizer of a group that stabbed 25-year-old John Stouffer to death August 24 on West Harrison Street in Newark.

Licking County Assistant Prosecutor Dan Huston says Doty is 8 months pregnant and believes Stouffer is the child's father. Huston says Doty has another child that she does not have custody of and was concerned she would lose custody of her unborn child, because Stouffer was a convicted sex offender.

For her actions Judge Thomas Marcelain sentenced Doty to 20 years in prison before she has the possibility of parole.

In December, 20-year-old Nicholas Wallace was sentenced to 18-years-to-life in prison on charges related to Stouffer's death.

Other people believed to be involved in the crime 20-year-old Jason Stone, 34-year-old William Snyder and 46-year-old William Withem have yet to go on trial. ..Source.. by Kelly Mills

WVa inmate charged with killing fellow prisoner

The second and third news stories explain more about the violent nature of Joshua Welty Whitehair. However, why the prosecutor charged him with "premeditated murder" makes us wonder if there is even more to this case which is not part of the news articles.

9-22-2009 West Virginia:

WEST UNION, W.Va. (AP) -- An inmate at the North Central Regional Jail has been charged with killing another prisoner.

State Police charged 21-year-Joshua Welty Whitehair of Morgantown with premeditated murder on Monday.

Whitehair is accused of killing 43-year-old Darryl Eugene Burton on Sept. 15 after the two men argued while eating breakfast in a common area.

According to the criminal complaint, Whitehair punched and kicked Burton several times and then pushed him backward. Burton fell and hit his head on a block wall.

A state medical examiner determined that Burton died from head injuries.

Burton was serving 10 to 20 years on a child sexual abuse conviction in Harrison County. Whitehair is serving one to five years on an unlawful assault conviction. ..Source.. by Charlston Daily Main

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UPDATE: State Police: Inmate Died From Head Injuries

9-17-2009 West Virginia:

GREENWOOD -- A North Central Regional Jail inmate died from head injuries, investigators say.

Darryl Burton, 43, of Clarksburg, died in an ambulance on the way to the hospital, after getting into a fight with Joshua Whitehair, 21, of Morgantown, according to Corporal Mark Waggamon of the West Virginia State Police.

The West Virginia Office of the Chief Medical Examiner completed Burton's autopsy today, Waggamon says.

The fight happened just after 6:30 Tuesday morning in section F8 of the jail, according to Waggamon.

Waggamon will meet with Doddridge County Prosecuting Attorney Brooke Fitzgerald Friday to discuss the charges Whitehair will face.

Whitehair was in the jail on charges of malicious assault, unlawful assault, and probation violation, according to State Police Sergeant Michael Baylous.

Morgantown Police arrested Whitehair last October for allegedly stabbing his mother in the side after an argument.

At the time of that arrest, officers said Whitehair was already on probation on a different malicious wounding charge.

Burton was sentenced to ten to twenty years in March for sexual abuse by parent, guardian, or custodian, according to Joe Thornton, Deputy Cabinet Secretary for the Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety, and wouldn't have been eligible for parole until October 26, 2018.

Thornton's department is also conducting an internal investigation to look into how the jail handled the incident.

"When you're in a jail situation, inmates will be around each other," Thornton says. "It's virtually impossible to prevent any kind of altercation." ..Source.. by Jessika Lewis (See Comments following story on that site)

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Police: W.Va. man stabs mother, asks her to follow him so he could bury her

10-29-2008 West Virginia:

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- A West Virginia man is accused of stabbing his mother, then asking her to follow him into the woods so he could bury her if she died.

Fifty-seven-year-old Lilly May Whitehair survived the Oct. 15 attack. Her son, 20-year-old Joshua Welty Whitehair was in court Monday, charged with malicious wounding.

Monongalia County Sheriff's Deputy N.C. DeMedici says Whitehair got into an argument with his mother after coming home irate over a situation with his girlfriend.

DeMedici says Whitehair hit his mother on the head with a bottle of O'Doul's nonalcoholic beer, then punctured one of her lungs with a nearly 7-inch kitchen knife.

After trying to get his mother to follow him into the woods, Whitehair apologized and professed his love for her. ..Source.. by DailyMail.com

FL- Franklin inmate stabbed to death

9-22-2009 Florida:

CARABELLE - A 43-year-old convicted sex offender was stabbed to death in his cell early Monday morning at Franklin Correctional Institution.

Nathaniel Taylor died from wounds inflicted by a shank, a homemade weapon, while he was in his cell around 4:55 a.m., according to officials.

The alleged perpetrator is his cellmate Christopher Lunz, 41, who is serving a life sentence for a first-degree murder committed in Pinellas County in March 2003.

Lunz is also believed to have stabbed a second inmate this morning, although his wounds were not life-threatening. Prison officials declined to release the second victim’s name because of medical privacy regulations.

Gretl Plessinger, spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Corrections, said the second victim was not a cellmate of Lunz’s.

“Because it just happened this morning, we’re still investigating, but some details are blurry at this point,” she said.

Plessinger said a captain approached Lunz after the stabbing, talked him out of the weapon and got control of the situation. The facility, located just outside Carrabelle, then went into restricted movement status.

According to authorities, Taylor was convicted in March 1996 in Volusia County on two sex-related offenses: lewd and lascivious assault on a child under age 16, and coercion of a sex act on a child by an adult.

He served about 7 1/2 years for the crimes, and was released in December 2003. Taylor returned to prison in June 2006 after violating his parole and was expected to be incarcerated until September 2016. ..Source.. by DAVID ADLERSTEIN / Florida Freedom Newspapers

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Pinellas murderer commits suicide after fatally stabbing cellmate

NEW PORT RICHEY - If taken at his word, Christopher Lunz wanted to die.

After being convicted of first-degree murder in the slaying of his father, Lunz begged a Pinellas County jury to sentence him to death in 2006. Instead, jurors recommended life in prison.

But Lunz, 41, made good on his death wish today, killing himself inside Florida State Prison in Raiford. His suicide came roughly 30 hours after he stabbed his cellmate to death and injured a second inmate while at Franklin Correctional Institution in Carrabelle, authorities say.

Lunz had been housed at Franklin since August 2006. He was only taken to the more secure Raiford facility after prison officials found convicted child molester Nathaniel Taylor dead Monday morning in the cell he shared with Lunz.

Taylor, 46, was serving time for violating parole on convictions out of Volusia County. He was scheduled to be released in 2016.

Prison officers opened cell doors at 4:55 a.m. Monday and immediately heard Lunz say he had a hostage and warn officers to stay back, said Department of Corrections spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger. An officer talked Lunz into surrendering a shank and noticed Taylor's body.

Officials did not identify the injured inmate but said his injuries were not life-threatening.

Plessinger said she didn't know how Lunz made the shank or the manner of his suicide.

"The details are all pretty sketchy until the investigation gets a little further along," she said.

Lunz and co-defendant William Westerman were charged with first-degree murder in 2005. Authorities said the men drove from their home in North Carolina to Palm Harbor in March 2003 to kill 56-year-old David Lunz. Investigators said Christopher Lunz wanted his father dead so he could inherit his estate, which was valued at nearly $400,000.

The case made headlines when it went to trial in June 2006, partly because Lunz acted as his own attorney for most of the proceedings. Westerman made a deal with prosecutors and testified against his former mentor and roommate, admitting that he shot David Lunz but saying he did so on Christopher Lunz's orders.

Westerman, 29, is serving a 30-year sentence.

Lunz brimmed with confidence during his trial, even planning a press conference to announce what he thought would be a not guilty verdict. It wasn't to be. His dream of vindication shattered, Lunz pleaded for a death sentence during the trial's penalty phase.

"I don't mind," he testified. "I'm not too happy. I'm 38 years old, and I've never been in love, never been on a date."

He also testified that his father was killed for raping him as a child and beating his mother. Lunz called himself a serial killer and said he had killed more than 20 other men who had raped children.

The jury still refused to recommend death.

"I should have known better," Lunz said after he received the life sentence. "I should have known if you ask for death, they give you life." ..Source.. by TODD LESKANIC | The Tampa Tribune

Father accused of murdering man who allegedly sexually abused his child

1-2-2010 North Carolina:

CONCORD, N.C. -- A father is behind bars, accused of shooting a man to death.

Cabarrus County Sheriff’s Deputies say the case could be related to the alleged sexual assault of his child.

Sheriff’s Deputies say 46 year old William Ballance once lived with a family just outside of Concord.

He moved out once the father in that home accused Ballance of sexually abusing his child. For the sake of that child we’re not reporting the family’s name, address, or picture.

Deputies gathered enough to take out a warrant against Ballance on December 31 for those sexual abuse charges, but on January first, deputies found Ballance dead at his mobile home from apparent gun-shot wounds.

“I heard three dense fires,” explains one neighbor who did not want to be identified.

He says the noises that came from Ballance's home early New Year's morning sounded, “more like a weapon than it did anything else. It was two shots then another one.”

Deputies arrested the father of the child Ballance is accused of sexually assaulting.

They charged that father with Ballance’s murder.

Neighbors say the allegations make it sound like a revenge killing, and have a tough time faulting the father. “I just hope that they get to the truth of it.”

But they don’t like to see justice handled outside of the courtroom. “You can’t take action into your own hands, you have to let the courts take care of it.”

Deputies say the father was aware that Ballance was a registered sex offender. He was convicted of taking indecent liberties with a minor in 1998 in Guilford County. That was a surprise to neighbors.

By law registered sex offenders are not allowed to be left alone with minors, but they are not prohibited from living in the same house with them.

Deputies say they had explained the laws to Ballance when he first moved in with the family.

The father accused of shooting Ballance is being held without bond in the Cabarrus County Jail. ..Source.. ALEX REED / NewsChannel 36

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Suspected child molester murdered

1-3-2010 North Carolina:

CABARRUS COUNTY, NC (WBTV) - A man is charged with murdering a suspected child molester who preyed on his family.

Cabarrus County officials say Chris Hartsell,32, shot and killed William Ballance,47.

It happened Friday inside Ballance's home inside the Oakland Glen Mobile Home Park.

Arrest records show Ballance was a registered sex offender. He was convicted in 1998 of taking indecent liberties with a child and served five years probation. Most of his neighbors were aware of the prior conviction.

"Everybody pretty much kept an eye on the kids around here," said neighbor Robert Holmes.

Neighbors say Hartsell moved out of Ballance's house about a week ago. Around that time, allegations surfaced of Ballance allegedly molesting Hartsell's young relative.

"He seemed like a pretty nice guy, the sex offender thing just don't fit," said neighbor Clarence Williams.

Sheriff's deputies issued warrants for Ballance Thursday for sex-related charges, including 1st degree rape of a child. But before they could arrest him, they say Hartsell got his revenge.

"I guess you can only take so much and then you react," said Holmes.

Neighbor Clarence Williams says he never felt threatened by Ballance and even let his grandchildren visit.

He was shocked to hear about the shooting.

"I really don't know what to think at this point, it just don't fit what I knew of him," said Williams.

The Cabarrus County Sheriff's office verified Ballance's address in October.

According to the law, sex offenders can be around children, just not by themselves.

WBTV has chosen not release certain details of this story, because it is our policy not to identify sexual assault victims.

Hartsell is now being held without bond in the Cabarrus County Jail. He's charged with murder. ..Source.. by Sarah Batista

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Suspected child molester slain in Cabarrus County

1-3-2010 North Carolina:

Concord, N.C. — The Cabarrus County Sheriff's Office says that a man charged with murder sought revenge on a man suspected of molesting a child.

WBTV, a CBS affiliate in Charlotte, reports that Christopher Michael Hartsell, 32, shot and killed William Lee Ballance, 47, in his residence in a small mobile home park early Friday.

Neighbors told WBTV that Hartsell had lived with Ballance, a convicted sex offender, until about a week ago. Around the same time that Hartsell moved out, rumors started that Ballance had molested a child.

On Thursday, the Cabarrus County Sheriff's Office issued warrants for Ballance's arrest on sex-related charges, including first-degree rape of a child. Ballance was slain before they could be served.

More details of the case aren't being reported to protect the victim's identity.

Hartsell was being held in the Cabarrus County Jail Saturday without bond.

Ballance was sentenced to 20 months' probation for a 1998 conviction for taking indecent liberties with a minor in Guilford County, according to state Department of Correction records. DOC records show he also got probation in 2007 for possession of a firearm by a felon. ..Source.. by WRAL.com

Huntington man found stabbed to death

12-22-2009 Texas:

A registered sex offender was found apparently stabbed to death outside his mother's Huntington home Monday afternoon, law enforcement said.

Gary Lynn DeFratus' mother discovered his body around 2:20 p.m. and alerted the Angelina County Sheriff's Office, according to Lt. Bryan Holley. The 47-year-old lived next door to her on Shadowood Drive off U.S. Hwy. 69 north.

DeFratus was convicted of molesting a six-year-old girl in 1993 when he was 20 years old, according to the sex offender registry. It is unclear whether the conviction played a role in his death, Sheriff Kent Henson said.

The murder was a violent crime, according to Holley.

It did not appear DeFratus' home had been burglarized.

Blood splatters throughout the front yard lead investigators to believe the man was chased from his home to the carport, where the body was discovered between his mother's vehicle and her home, Henson said.

"It looks like he was trying to get away," Henson said. "He lived by himself and kept to himself from what family told us."

This murder makes the fourth in Angelina County in two weeks.

The case is under investigation by the Angelina County Sheriff's Office and the Texas Rangers, Henson said. ..Source.. by JESSICA COOLEY, The Lufkin Daily News

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Stabbing death is Angelina County's 4th murder in 2 weeks

12-22-2009 Texas:

ANGELINA COUNTY - by Steve Stewart/KJAS -Officials in Angelina County are investigating their fourth murder case in the last two weeks.

The Lufkin Daily News is reporting that 47-year-old Gary Lynn DeFratus was discovered stabbed to death on Monday afternoon by his mother. Officials say his body was under the carport of her home, located on Shadowood Drive, just south of U.S. Highway 69.

According to the report, Defratus lived alone next door to his mother.

Angelina County Sheriff Kent Henson said a trail of blood is leading investigators to believed that Defratus was attacked at his own home, and he tried to reach his mother's house before he collapsed and died.

According to the Texas Department of Public Safety Sex Offender Registry, Defratus was convicted in 1993 of aggravated sexual assault of a 6-year-old girl. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison, and was currently out on parole. The database did not indicate when Defratus was released from prison.

Sheriff Henson said it is not clear if Defratus' sex offender status played a role in the crime.

Investigators pointed out that it appeared to be a violent murder, and yet there were no signs of forced entry into the house.

The Texas Rangers are assisting the Angelina County Sheriff's Department in the investigation.

Officials in Angelina County are investigating their fourth murder case in the last two weeks.

The Lufkin Daily News is reporting that 47-year-old Gary Lynn DeFratus was discovered stabbed to death on Monday afternoon by his mother. Officials say his body was under the carport of her home, located on Shadowood Drive, just south of U.S. Highway 69.

According to the report, Defratus lived alone next door to his mother.

Angelina County Sheriff Kent Henson said a trail of blood is leading investigators to believed that Defratus was attacked at his own home, and he tried to reach his mother's house before he collapsed and died.

According to the Texas Department of Public Safety Sex Offender Registry, Defratus was convicted in 1993 of aggravated sexual assault of a 6-year-old girl. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison, and was currently out on parole. The database did not indicate when Defratus was released from prison.

Sheriff Henson said it is not clear if Defratus' sex offender status played a role in the crime.

Investigators pointed out that it appeared to be a violent murder, and yet there were no signs of forced entry into the house.

The Texas Rangers are assisting the Angelina County Sheriff's Department in the investigation. ..Source.. by Scott Lawrence

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Taken from the appeal of the person who killed Gary Lynn DeFratus:

Gary Lynn Defratus, the victim, lived at his mother’s home. Defratus’s friend, Jay Hines, frequently visited Defratus to play guitars with him. In December 2009, Hines visited Defratus, and when he arrived, Appellant, his girlfriend (Mindy Wood), and their child were already at Defratus’s residence.

When they all left, Appellant told Hines that he was upset and that he was going to return and confront Defratus because he flirted with Wood. Hines later received several text messages from Wood stating that she was concerned that Appellant returned to Defratus’s home to confront him. Hines then went back to Defratus’s home after midnight and saw Appellant there.

Appellant was frantic and told Hines that there had been an altercation and that he needed to leave before the police arrived. Hines believed there had been a simple fight and left. He thought Defratus had gone to call the police, and that, as a result, Appellant made a hasty escape. Hines did not realize that a more serious crime had occurred. Later, the police discovered that Defratus had died from a vicious knife attack.

After conducting an investigation, the police arrested Appellant. He claimed that what started out as a simple fistfight escalated and that Defratus struck him with a large metal flashlight and charged him with a knife. According to Appellant, he fought back in self-defense. Appellant was indicted and tried by a jury for murder. The jury found him guilty and sentenced him to life imprisonment. This appeal followed.

DISPOSITION
We affirm the judgment of the trial court.

Update: 2 arrested in slayings of missing men

Posted in Related Deaths

12-18-2009 Alabama:

GADSDEN, AL (WAFF) – Etowah County Sheriff's Department will hold a press conference Thursday morning to discuss information on the human remains found believed to be those of two missing men and the Attalla couple arrested in connection with the slayings.

Investigators said Robert Wayne Kelley, 35, has been charged with two counts of capital murder in the deaths of James Bachelor, 38, and Rocky Morgan, 55. His estranged wife, Margie Morgan Kelley, 35, was charged with first-degree hindering a criminal investigation.

Etowah County officials did not disclose a motive in the deaths, but said that the Kelley's knew the two men.

According to the Etowah County Sheriff's Department, the bodies thought to be those of Bachelor and Morgan were found near Center Road in Attalla. That location was pinpointed by evidence recovered during their investigation, authorities said.

Bachelor and Morgan had not been seen for a week. Both men were last seen heading to Marshall County for a fishing trip.

"After they have been missing for several days, a family member came concerned and brought it to the attention of the sheriff's office," said Etowah County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Natalie Barton.

Investigators said the location where the remains were found is believed to be a random disposal site for the bodies.

Bachelor was a registered sex offender, but investigators said the deaths don't appear to be related to his sex offender status.

"It was pertinent information, we first believed, when they were just missing, but we don't believe it has anything to do with them being deceased," Barton said.

Investigators with Alabama's Department of Forensic Science will examine the pieces of remains to try to conclusively identify the bodies. ..Source..

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Burned bodies double murder in Etowah County: Cadaver dogs to help search

12-18-2009 Alabama:

ETOWAH COUNTY, Ala. -- Cadaver dogs are expected to help search a field where burned remains of two men have been found south of Attalla in Etowah County, investigators tell the Gadsden Times.

The biggest piece of bone found so far is about 4 inches, Sheriff Todd Entrekin said in a news conference Thursday. The burned remains are believed to be those of Rocky Morgan, 55, and his nephew, James Bachelor, 38, Entrekin said.


Morgan's daughter, Margie Morgan Kelley, 35, is charged with hindering prosecution, and her husband, Robert Wayne Kelley, 35, is charged with 2 counts of capital murder, Etowah County District Attorney Jimmie Harp told the Gadsden Times.

Robert Wayne Kelley was arrested by sheriff's investigators late Wednesday at a local hospital after he went there earlier in the week.

The men were reported missing on Dec. 11 and were last seen on Dec. 2 where they lived at Rocky Morgan's home on Rocky Hollow Road, Entrekin said.

It is believed the men were shot and killed at the Rocky Hollow Road home, left there for several days, then taken in a van during a period of a few days about three miles to the field on Center Road, just off U.S. Highway 11, Entrekin said.

..Source.. by Press-Register staff

WI- Slain man, Kenneth Irving, was set for residency hearing before sex offender board

10-26-2009 Wisconsin:

The Green Bay Sex Offender Residency Board recently was called upon to consider an appeal from a sex offender who allegedly was murdered before his appeals hearing was scheduled.

Kenneth Erving, 51, appealed to move to 617 Bodart St. from his home on Newhall Street. But before the residency board was scheduled to meet earlier this month, Erving died of a stab wound to the heart. Nawanna Polk, 41, is charged with first-degree intentional homicide in Erving's death. The balance of her preliminary hearing in Brown County Circuit Court is scheduled for Nov. 13.

Erving's appeal to the residency board was administratively withdrawn because of his death. He had appeared before the board three times previously.

The first time was in April 2008, when the board granted him permission to move from one apartment into another in the same building on Main Street. The following February, the board denied his appeal to move to Day Street, because four other sex offenders already were living nearby. Erving came before the board again in June, when he was granted permission to move to 517 Newhall St.

Police say he was fatally stabbed Oct. 11 at Polk's Velp Avenue apartment. The sex offender board met three days later to hear his appeal.

He had been convicted in 1987 of having sex with a 16-year-old girl. ..Source.. by Paul Srubas

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Nawanna Polk, Green Bay, charged with fatal stabbing of boyfriend, Kenneth Erving, at Velp Avenue apartment

10-13-2009 Wisconsin:

Less than a month after asking a judge to lift a no-contact order against his on-again off-again girlfriend, Kenneth Erving was fatally stabbed in the chest in the woman's Green Bay apartment.

Nawanna Polk, 41, was charged Monday with first-degree intentional homicide in Erving's death. She is being held in the Brown County Jail in lieu of $250,000 bail.

Erving, 51, was found dead on the floor of Polk's upper apartment at 947 Velp Ave. at about 12:15 a.m. Sunday. He was stabbed several times in the chest; a 9½-inch knife was found under his body as well as two other utensils. Police officials said Monday it is unclear which item was used in the stabbing. An autopsy is set for today.

Detectives found blood smeared around Polk's apartment, on her clothing and hands when she was arrested a short time after Erving's body was found.

Erving's sister said Polk and her brother had a two-year "abusive relationship."

"He was beating on her and she was beating on him," Alfreda Erving of Green Bay said outside of intake court on Monday. "I wish he would have stayed away from her when I asked him to."

Polk was charged with misdemeanors three times this year for disturbances involving Erving. Two of the cases are still pending. On Sept. 15, Erving asked Brown County Circuit Court Judge Mark Warpinski to cancel a bond restriction that kept Polk from having contact with him. Warpinski granted the request the same day.

Police arrested Polk at a South Chestnut Avenue home about 12:45 a.m. Sunday.

Police learned of Erving's death when Polk's brother told officers that his sister called him and said the two got into a fight and she thought she had stabbed or cut him and that he might be dead.

Antonio Polk said his sister told him that "he jumped on me, I think I might have killed him" and "she didn't mean to do it," according to the complaint.

Polk is due back in Brown County intake court Wednesday. If convicted on the homicide charge, she faces life in prison.

Erving's death is the first intentional homicide in Green Bay this year, police said. ..source.. by Andy Nelesen

FL- Sheriff: Prisoner Used Shoestring To Strangle Cellmate

10-14-2009 Florida:

Detectives Say Victim's Cellmate Called Him 'Pervert'

INDIANTOWN, Fla. -- A 29-year-old prisoner at the Martin Correctional Institution used a shoestring to strangle his cellmate because he was "a pervert," according to an arrest affidavit.

Martin County sheriff's detectives said Ricky Silva killed Terry Bell, 45, in their cell early Wednesday morning.

Bell's body was discovered at about 2:40 a.m. while a corrections officer was conducting his hourly cell checks. A shoestring was tied tightly around his neck.

According to the affidavit, another prisoner told detectives Silva had stated to him in the last few days that he was "going to kill (Bell) with a noose made from a shoestring." Silva told the prisoner he was upset because Bell was "a pervert."

Prison records show that Bell was serving a life sentence for sexual battery on a victim under the age of 12.

A prison nurse who checked on both cellmates told detectives that Silva's right hand was swollen from the "rope tied around his hand."

Silva was taken to the Martin County Jail and charged with first-degree murder. ..Source.. by WPBF.com

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Inmate: Cellmate 'needed to be killed'

1-29-2010 Florida:

STUART, FL — Prison inmate Ricky Silva thinks the death penalty is too severe a punishment for strangling his cellmate with a shoestring. In fact, he’s proud of what he did.

And he wants you to be proud of him, too.

“It’s not like I killed an innocent citizen or somebody who was undeserving,” said Silva, 29, of Terry Bell’s Oct. 14 homicide at the Martin Correctional Institution, where both men were serving life prison terms.

“Under my belief system, there’s still some people in the world that need killing and he was one of them,” he said. “I don’t believe I should pay for killing somebody that needed to be killed.”

Bell, 45, was convicted for raping a young Marion County girl after entering her bedroom through a window while her parents slept down the hall, said to Jerry Burford, a former state prosecutor who tried the 1999 crime. Bell left behind a palm print on a windowsill, he said, and Bell’s DNA was found on the victim.

Silva told several investigators he caught Bell committing an inappropriate act while holding a photo of Silva’s young niece. Silva said that prompted the attack.

But a fellow inmate has said Silva’s attack on Bell was racially motivated, and he’s threatened to kill again, said Assistant State Attorney Nita Denton, who said putting him on death row might be the only way to prevent Silva from harming anyone.

Silva, a former Fort Lauderdale laborer and landscaper serving life in prison, was no stranger to violence after twice brandishing a knife during a 2007 crime spree in Broward County. He has been convicted of armed-robbery, armed-carjacking kidnapping and other crimes.

During an interview at the Martin County jail, Silva recited details of Bell’s death.

“I stepped off the bed, I hit him, when he hit the door he fell to the ground,” he recalled, his voice flat. “I continued to hit him a couple of more times and then I wrapped a noose around his neck and I strangled him.”

A guard found Bell on a bottom bunk lying on his stomach with a black shoestring wrapped around his neck — the other end attached to a metal bed frame. , He was reported dead at 2:40 a.m.

“If you had kids, you would understand,” Silva later told a prison nurse treating wounds to his right hand. “You should thank me for it.”

Despite confessing to the grisly crime, Silva has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder. He said it’s wrong for state prosecutors to seek the death penalty against him.

“I don’t believe I should be punished,” he insisted. “I believe people should be celebrating and clapping their hands.”

Denton couldn’t disagree more.

“He has no respect for human life,” she said.

She said based on a stack of confession letters he’s written to her office, she alerted jail authorities that he’d threatened to kill again.

“He was asking for the death penalty,” Denton said, “and that he would continue to kill not only inmates, but the people he came around if he in fact did not get the death penalty.”

Silva in his letters, she said, railed on the prison system and claimed he killed Bell as a message to prison officials.

“I’m tired of the system,” Silva wrote. “They feed us like little kids, they won’t pay us for work ... there is no reason for me not to kill again.”

He’d keep killing, he wrote, until correction officials “give back everything they took from us: packages, weights, hobby crafts, paying jobs and three decent meals a day, or until I am dead.”

“I suggest (Bell) be taken as a warning,” Silva threatened, “because next time it will not be a black inmate who is killed.”

Silva, too, was accused by another inmate of killing Bell, an African-American, because of ties to a white supremacist group.

“He stated he’s made it his mission — from now on — to murder any blacks he gets access to inside the prison system,” George Warner wrote to prosecutors. “That was his chief motive for strangling his black roommate.”

But in a letter Silva wrote to Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers, the New York native presented himself as a struggling drug addict who was abused by an alcoholic mother until at age 3, he and his sister were separated and bounced from one foster family to another. By age 16, he was alone and often in trouble.

“I had no family,” he wrote, “I started using drugs and by 19 I was an addict.”

By age 27, he was sentenced to life in prison for a series of crimes including breaking into a Fort Lauderdale man’s apartment, forcing him at knifepoint to drive to an ATM to withdraw cash before returning $20 to the victim and stealing his SUV. He was arrested shortly after committing an armed carjacking at a 7-Eleven.

Then, while in prison and suicidal, Silva reconnected with his long-lost sister.

“She sent me a picture of my niece and two nephews,” Silva said. “Here is the family I craved, but never had.”

He kept the photo at the edge of his bed. On Oct. 14, he woke up, saw Bell holding it and went into a rage.

“Here was someone violating the only people I have in my life,” Silva said. “I am not trying to justify murder but if people could see it through my eyes they might understand and hopefully agree I don’t deserve the death penalty.”

Meanwhile, Denton’s not buying it.

“If he had such a hatred of Bell because of the crime he committed, he could have asked to be moved,” she said. “He could have asked to be transferred to another prison.” ..Source.. by Melissa E. Holsman Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers