Police Investigating Overnight Slaying

4-26-2011 Kentucky:

Donald Thornhill Killed Early Monday Morning

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Louisville Metro Police detectives spent Monday morning in a Pleasure Ridge Park neighborhood after a call of a man down turned into a homicide investigation.

Police said the victim was 64-year-old registered sex-offender Donald Thornhill.

The coroner said he died of "sharp force injuries."

Thornhill was on Kentucky's sex offender registry. Police haven't said if that had anything to do with his death.

Now investigators are working to find the person responsible.

Police got the call just before 3:30 a.m. Monday. When they arrived at the home in the 9500 block of Cochise Way, they said they found Thornhill dead inside.

Investigators said it was obviously foul play.

"There were outwards signs of trauma," said Louisville Metro Police Department spokeswoman Alicia Smiley.

Neighbors said Thornhill lived at the home with his wife and mother-in-law.

"We're still trying to determine whether other people were inside the residence, whether it was one or more people. Right now, we just don't have those details," Smiley said.

Police said detectives went door to door in the early morning hours to try to get answers.

David Blevins lives next door to Thornhill. He said he didn't hear anything until his dog woke him up when police arrived.

"My dog paces the gates when something is going on. She was back there whining, wondering what all this activity is going on for," Blevins said.
As soon as the sun came up, neighbors peeked their heads outside their homes to watch police work. The overwhelming sentiment was fear and disbelief something like this could happen in their neighborhood.

"I don't think the neighborhood will ever get over this," said Catherine Brooks, who lives across from the crime scene.

Brooks said Thornhill treated her well and always said hello.

Brooks learned of his death when police knocked on her door around 5:30 a.m. Monday.

A couple of hours later, she still hadn't moved from the same spot on her couch.

"I've been sitting right here almost numb thinking about him, and I sure would like to know the whole story of what happened," Brooks said.

Thornhill is listed as being compliant on Kentucky's sex offender registry.

He was sentenced to prison on a first-degree sex abuse charge in 1990 and served his complete sentence from December 1990 to November 1992.

In 1995, he sentenced to prison on incest and second-degree persistent felony offender charges and served a complete sentence from October 1995 to May 2002.

Police have not released a motive in his slaying.

Anyone with information about the crime is asked to call the anonymous police tip line at 502-574-LMPD. ..Source.. by WLKY.com

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Murder victim was convicted sex offender

4-26-2011 Kentucky:


LOUISVILLE, KY. (WDRB) -- As family members gathered outside Donald Thornhill's home, leftover crime tape dangled in the wind just a few steps away, telling the tale of what happened there.

Police found Thornhill dead inside his home around 3:30 Monday morning. They were responding to a report of a home invasion. WDRB Fox 41 News has been told the 64-year-old had been stabbed in the stomach.

"It's a total shock," says Catherine Brooks, who has lived near the family for years. She says their kids grew up together.

"They were such good neighbors," she says. "She would always come on special days, she just came and brought me an Easter basket and they brought my dog a treat, and he did, too, when he was alive."

Neighbors say Thornhill stayed there with his wife and mother.

Neighbor Marie Wilson says, "He was a nice guy. When I'd walk by, he speaks to me every time and his wife does too."

While neighbors spoke highly of Thornhill, saying he was always polite and never caused problems in the community, they also spoke about his past. He was a convicted sex offender.

State police records show Thornhill convicted on four counts of incest in December 1990. He was sentenced to three years in prison and was up to date with the state Sex Offender Registry.

Police will not say whether his prior sex crimes are related to his death. They're also withholding who was at home at the time of the attack and who called 911, saying it's too early in the investigation.

Overnight, detectives combed the scene looking for those answers. There are still no suspects.

If you have any information on the murder, you're asked to call the tipline, 574-LMPD. ..Source.. by FOX41.com

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Registered sex offender found dead in home, police suspect foul play

4-26-2011 Kentucky:

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WHAS)--Louisville Metro Police were called out on a death investigation to the 9500 block of Cochise Way in southwest Louisville around 3:30 a.m. Monday, after receiving a call from a neighbor. When police arrived at the scene, they found 64-year-old Donald Thornhill dead inside his home. Thornhill lived in the residence with his wife and mother-in-law for more than 30 years. Several neighbors say the family had a troubled past. Thornhill is a registered sex offender and listed on the registry as serving four counts of incest in 1995. Since his time served, police say he has been compliant and has no other criminal history. Many residents in the neighborhood say they are shocked, because they say the area of Valley Station near the Greenbelt Highway is normally quiet. Police said Thornhill does have signs of outward trauma, but they are not sure at this time how he died. They also said they do suspect foul play and they are investigating the death as a homicide. Police said they have no suspects at this time. If you have any information about this investigation, call the anonymous tip line at 502-574-LMPD. ..Source.. by WHAS11.com

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KY- Victim of Lyndon area murder identified

10-7-2008 Kentucky:

LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) - The victim of a Monday afternoon murder in the Lyndon area has been identified.

Jefferson County Deputy Coroner Jack Arnold says that 45-year-old Francisco Fernandez died from multiple gunshot wounds to the head.

Fernandez was found around 4 p.m. Monday afternoon at a storage facility in the 8000 block of Warwick Avenue. Arnold tells WAVE 3 Fernandez was the manager at the facility and lived in an apartment above the business.

Few other details have been released about what led Fernandez's death. If you have any information about this crime, you are asked to call the Metro Police Crime Tip Line at 574-LMPD (5673). ..News Source.. by WAVE3.com

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Man found shot to death in Lyndon storage facility was a registered sex offender

The man found shot to death Monday in a Lyndon self-storage facility has been identified.

The coroner has identified the man as 45 year old Francisco “Frank” Fernandez.

The cause of his death was multiple gun shot wounds to his head.

WHAS11 News discovered that he is a registered a sex offender.

He is on the sex offender registry for committing federal and/or military sex crimes.

WHAS11 News asked police about this matter and they won’t comment at this time.

Police say they found Fernandez in the Extra Space storage facility Monday.

He was pronounced dead at the scene.

If you have any information call 574-LMPD. ..News Source.. by WHAS.com

Lexington Police Investigate Murder Of Convicted Sex Offender

12-6-2003 Kentucky:

Police were investigating the murder of a 78-year-old man found dead in his home Friday night.

Fayette County Chief Deputy Coroner Steve McCrown pronounced Joseph Pilger dead around 7 p.m. An autopsy found the cause of death to be multiple blunt force injuries, McCrown said.

Pilger, a 78-year-old convicted sex offender and retired catholic priest, was found murdered inside his Lexington home.

Pilger pleaded guilty in the early 90s to sexually abusing five boys he met through the church while working in the western part of the state. That abuse happened in the 1960s.

Neighbors say Pilger had a young man living with him for the last month, but that man's whereabouts now are not known. Pilger's car is also missing.

Police are looking for a suspect. ..more.. by WAVE 3 TV

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Priest Murder Suspect in Court

12-23-2003 Kentucky:

The man charged with the murder of a lexington priest appeared in court today. Jason Anthony Russell, 26, was arrested in Ironton, Ohio last week.

Lexington police obtained an arrest warrant for Russell last week from Fayette County District Court. Russell is charged with the murder of 78-year-old Joseph Pilger, who was found dead in his southeast Lexington home on Dec. 5. The Fayette County Coroner's office ruled Pilger died from multiple blunt force trauma injuries.

Police say Russell had stayed with Pilger at some point, but didn't know if Russell was living with the priest at the time of the murder. Russell, who was convicted in Henderson County in July 1997 of second-degree robbery and first-degree criminal conspiracy to commit robbery, finished a prison sentence on Oct. 13, state Department of Corrections spokeswoman Lisa Lamb said. Police recovered Pilger's car, which was reported missing, on Dec. 5 in the area in southern Ohio near where Russell was arrested.

Pilger pleaded guilty to sexual abuse in 1995 for abusing three brothers and their cousin in 1968 and 1969, when he was their pastor in Morganfield in western Kentucky. The victims were younger than 15 and serving as altar boys at the parish. ..more.. by WKYT TV

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Lexington man gets 30 years for killing pedophile priest

10-22-2005 Kentucky:

A Lexington man who fatally beat a retired priest and convicted sex offender with a pickax was sentenced to 30 years in prison after a judge received a letter from four of the cleric's victims.

Fayette Circuit Judge Gary Payne could have given Jason Anthony Russell, 28, life in prison without parole for murdering the Rev. Joseph Pilger, 78. Russell avoided a possible death sentence by agreeing last month to life without parole.

Under the sentence handed down Friday, Russell would be eligible for parole in 25 years.

The judge received a letter from Michael Long, now of Austin, Texas, that said Russell had "done a society a favor" by killing a "pedophile monster that preyed upon innocent little boys while in a position of authority and calling him self a man of God."

Long also wrote on behalf of three relatives who were also molested by Pilger.

"The damage a pedophile inflicts on young children is life-changing and lifelong," Long said in his letter. "The entire emotional and developmental wiring as a child is changed forever. Pedophiles are nothing but human debris. I have, for years, wished to do what Mr. Russell did."

In 1995, Pilger pleaded guilty to abusing four boys in Western Kentucky when he was their pastor during the late 1960s at St. Francis Borgia Roman Catholic Church in Sturgis. In exchange for the confession, prosecutors recommended probation.

Long, who sued Pilger in the early 1990s, wrote that he now regrets not fighting the plea deal.

"If we would have been more adamant about his sentence, we would not be writing you now, and Mr. Russell would not be where he is as well," Long said. "So you see, even now after his death, I still feel guilt."

Pilger was found dead on Dec. 3, 2003.

Russell, who alleges he was sexually abused as a child, had been released from prison about two months before the slaying and lived with Pilger.

Russell has said he decided to kill him after the retired priest offered $5,000 to have sex with Russell's then-6-year-old son. Russell also claims that he had twice walked in on the retired priest masturbating with photos of Russell's son and catalog clippings of other children.

Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Lou Anna Red Corn objected to the judge's sentence. "You have put us in a situation of knowing our recommendations are meaningless," Red Corn said. "And in a position of making it difficult to make recommendations in the future."

The judge said he agreed with prosecutors that a harsh sentence was appropriate, but not necessarily life in prison. "Knowing the facts, knowing everything involved, at least what little I know, I don't think that is an appropriate sentence," Payne said.

State law does not require judges to abide by recommendations from juries or, in the case of guilty pleas, prosecutors. They frequently accept them, however. ..more.. by Associated Press

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Man Claims He Killed Lexington Priest In 1993

11-20-2013:

It's been eight years since a man was sentenced to decades in prison for the murder of a former Lexington priest. Now, another man has written a letter to LEX 18, saying the wrong person was convicted.

Andy Turner, who's serving time in Eddyville for writing cold checks, wrote a five-page letter to LEX 18 taking responsibility for the 1993 murder of Joseph Pilger. It's a crime that Jason Russell already admitted to in 2005, and we talked to him right after his guilty plea.

The five page letter that was sent to LEX 18, the Governor's Office, Commonwealth's Attorney Ray Larson, the Innocence Project and Lexington Police's Homicide Unit, is titled: My Complete Confession.

Lexington Police and Commonwealth's Attorney Ray Larson confirm they received a copy of Turner's letter and they're looking into it, which is standard procedure.

In the letter, he writes that he had a sexual relationship with Pilger, who also supplied him pills. But when he got the feeling the 78-year-old was cutting him off, he writes that he grabbed a pick axe out of the garage and went back to the TV room. There, he hit Joe in the face, head, stomach and chest. Eight or nine times altogether, and stood there breathing hard realizing what he'd done.

But what makes this a little more complicated, is that Jason Russell, plead guilty to killing Pilger in 2005.He was sentenced to 30 years in prison. He claimed he killed Pilger after catching him masturbating to photos of his 6-year old son.

"I have a hatred for people who mess with kids, there's been a lot of sexual abuse throughout my life," Russell said in an interview with LEX 18 just after he plead guilty to the charges.

Turner claims Tussell took the blame because he'd threatened his son. For that, Turner says he's sorry, and it's time for him to come clean.

Larson says to remember that Russell took full responsibility for the crime already and is serving a 30-year sentence for it. ..Source.. by LEX18.com