by JJ Rogers

I was born in Clarkston, Washington and grew up across the Snake River in Lewiston, Idaho.  The two cities are located in a deep valley at the confluence of the Clearwater and Snake Rivers.  They are not large cities and they didn’t traditionally experience the horrors of serial killers that metropoleis are known for.  That is, until the late 70’s and early 80’s when I was in my teens. That’s when everything changed.  That’s when one man, filled with loathing and complete disregard for human life, selected a series of girls and young women as the objects of his dark desires.

Every spring the Valley filled with excitement in anticipation of the Asotin County Fair, which was held on the Snake River just north of both cities. Everyone who possibly could attended. It was April 28, 1979. I was there. So was Christina White, a 12-year-old child.

At some point during the day Christina felt ill from the early spring heat, and her mother suggested she get a damp towel to cool herself down.  Christina went to her friend’s house, where she was apparently given a wet towel and also used the phone.  She reportedly called her mother, but no one knows what was said. After that, Christina was never seen again.  No one saw her leave the house at 503 2nd Avenue — she simply vanished.  The home belonged to Patricia Brennan, Lance Voss’s girlfriend.  Lance and Patricia were married 26 months later on July 24, 1981.

For the next two years the rumors concerning Christina White’s death swirled like eddies in the mighty Snake River. These rumors created fear in our closely connected region of small towns and cities. For the first time in our lives, our parents admonished us not to walk alone and began locking our doors, even in the daytime.

Kristen David

Then it happened again. It was unthinkable but it happened. On June 26, 1981, 22-year-old Kristen David vanished while riding her bike between Moscow and Lewiston-Clarkston.  About a week later, the dismembered body of the 22-year-old University of Idaho student was found in the Snake River. The rumors spread fast that her dismembered body parts were found in plastic bags floating down the river.

Then in September 1982 it happened a third time. Three people turned up missing who were last seen at, or near, the Lewiston Civic Theatre, where Kristen David, the dismembered biker, had once worked. These three victims were 21-year-old Kristina Nelson, her stepsister, 18-year-old Brandi Miller and Former Air Force Cpl. Steven Pearsall who was 35.

On her last evening on earth, Sept. 12, 1982, Kristina left a note in her apartment for her boyfriend indicating that she and Brandi were going downtown to do some grocery shopping at the Safeway store.  A logical route downtown would have taken them by the Civic Theatre.

Steven Pearsall

Steven Pearsall, 35, worked as a janitor there — he and Lance Voss had recently helped build a pirate ship that rolled on a dolly complete with several ropes for actors playing pirates to slide down.  Steven’s girlfriend dropped him off at the theater around midnight on Sept. 12th. Steven’s plan was to practice his music.  He may have walked in while Kristina and Brandi were being attacked. Steven was never seen again, nor was he ever considered a suspect. He is presumed dead.

The bodies of stepsisters Kristina Nelson and Brandi Miller were found 18 months later in March of 1984 at the bottom of a steep embankment near the community of Kendrick, along with rope that is presumed to have been “borrowed” from the Civic Theater’s pirate ship that Steven and Lance had built together.

The authorities noted that three of the four female victims had similar names: Kristin, Christina and Kristina, and that all three were about the same height.

One person of interest was interrogated by the police, twice. That person of interest was Lance Jeffrey Voss, a big man standing 6’ 5” and weighing roughly 200 lbs. Voss was not only seen at the theater, but actually admitted to being there at the time of the murders, working on the pirate ship for the play with the missing Steven. Voss had also, of course, dated (and later married) Patricia Brennan, the owner the house on 2^nd Avenue where the 12-year-old Asotin girl, Christina White, was last seen alive. In addition, Voss admitted that he often drove the same route taken by 22-year-old Kristen David when she met her grisly fate.

Lance is quoted as stating, “I was in the theater, but asleep; yes, I just saw Kristina.” 

Lewiston authorities believe the same person killed Christina White, Kristin David, Kristina Nelson, Brandy Miller, and Steven Pearsall.  One Lewiston Police Captain went as far as to say he’s “99 percent certain” who the killer is.  But law enforcement doesn’t believe they can prove who the killer is in a court of law. Lance Jeffrey Voss moved back to the East Coast and no similar murders have occurred since he left town. It’s no secret that authorities want to bring formal charges against him, but to this day, they have taken no action.

Voss is a self-proclaimed survivalist who enjoys listening to Rush Limbaugh.  Here is a quote by Voss that I came across while I was researching the case. Hunting is of course very popular in our part of the world but Voss’s quote is certainly not something we would expect a hunter to say:

“By the way, don’t neglect edged tools/weapons in your survival kit.  After you’ve shot your dinner rabbit, preparation is much easier if you don’t have to gut it with a rock.  It can be done, but it’s not fun.”

This case is still open and surfaces from time to time in the Valley. Many of us grew up hearing, telling and re-telling this awful tale and much as we would like to, these are murders we cannot forget.

by BJW Nashe

The George Zimmerman trial got off to a dramatic start when attorneys delivered opening salvos laced with jokes and profanity. Prosecutor John Guy’s first words to the jury were,  “Good morning,” followed immediately by a quotation of Zimmerman’s own words spoken just prior to the killing of Trayvon Martin: “Fucking punks. These assholes always get away.” Guy emphasized that “those were the words in that grown man’s mouth as he followed a seventeen-year-old boy.” To further drive home the point, Guy repeated the phrase “fucking punks” three times.

Zimmerman’s defense counsel Don West tried to counter by opening with a “knock knock” joke. “Knock knock… Who’s there?… George Zimmerman… George Zimmerman who?… Ah, good. You’re on the jury. West’s attempt at humor fell flat, and confused many of us. Zimmerman is no doubt hoping that West is a better attorney than he is a comedian. Louis C.K. will not be calling any time soon for tips on new material. West continued with a line of reasoning that presumed the sidewalk to be a weapon. How could Martin be considered “unarmed,” in other words, when he had the sidewalk at his disposal, which he could allegedly slam Zimmerman’s held against? With this kind of logic, we surely have nothing to fear.

Courtroom drama is nothing new. People have always enjoyed the theatricality of a good trial — especially highly publicized proceedings such as the State of Florida vs. George Zimmerman.The O.J. Simpson trial seemed to set a new standard for judicial entertainment in our era. Now more than ever — with cameras in the courtroom, feeding directly into our media-saturated culture — we expect pure conflict, raw emotion, surreal moments, strange outbursts, and just plain bad behavior. We seek the raw impact of reality TV, in all of its inglorious, trashy, and often ridiculous splendor.

In court, many Americans are more than happy to oblige. Compared to some of the recent antics seen in courtrooms across the country, the Zimmerman trial so far is rather tame. But there’s still plenty of time for scandal and drama to develop. Hopefully, reason will prevail amidst all of the antics. Meanwhile, consider the following bizarre incidents, which seem better suited to the Jerry Springer Show than to the Halls of Justice.

Nazi Dad in Court. Earlier this month, in the middle of a child custody battle, Heath Campbell decided to wear a Nazi uniform to court in New Jersey. Campbell was petitioning afamily court judge to allow him to see his youngest son. The father claims he lost custody of three older children because he gave them Nazi-inspired names. The state claims there is a history of violence in the home. Campbell was in the news back in 2008 when he raised a fuss because a supermarket refused to write his son’s name on a birthday cake; the kid’s name is “Adolf Hitler Campbell.” Asked whether his Nazi costume would help or harm his child custody case, Campbell replied, “If they’re good judges and they’re good people, they’ll look within, not what’s on the outside.”

Spastic Fits and Coprophilia in Court. On June 5, Tyler Lee Rodgers made a spectacle of himself in the Torrance courtroom where he was being tried for attempted murder. Rodgers ischarged with slashing a store clerk’s throat during a robbery in Manhattan Beach, California.  While three witnesses testified during the hour-long proceeding, Rodgers veered from appearing calm and composed, to rocking back and forth in his chair, demanding medication, smacking his forehead on the defense table, and then being unable or unwilling to rise and be escorted out of the courtroom. He kept repeating, “I want my radio.” The bailiff and deputy had to restrain and drag the spastic defendant off to a holding room. The District Attorney accused Rodgers of “putting on a show,” and pointed out that doctors had deemed the 19-year-old to be healthy and sane. Rodgers has a history of strange behavior in court. Last year, his trial was suspended for a psychiatric evaluation after he put feces on his face in the holding room. He also reportedly ate his own feces during a previous courtroom appearance. This is probably too much even for the Springer show. Other defendants must be wondering, if eating your own feces in court will not get you declared insane in Torrance, what will?

Courtroom Butt-Slap. Former NFL wide receiver Chad Johnson was reprimanded during an early June court appearance when he reached over to playfully whack his attorney on the rear end as they both stood in front of the judge. Johnson was at a hearing in Broward County Circuit Court after being charged with violating probation in regard to a domestic violence case. Johnson had reached a plea deal that would have kept him out of jail, in lieu of counseling and community service. One quick butt-slap in the courtroom, however, changed all of that. Judge Kathleen McHugh scolded the football star for goofing around in her courtroom, and sentenced him to 30 days in jail. There is no word on whether the attorney will file sexual harassment charges. Best to keep one’s hands to oneself in front of the judge!

Flipping the Bird in Court. Penelope Soto of Miami appeared to be struggling with anger management issues during a court appearance in February of this year. At one point she grew so agitated that she gave the judge the finger and blurted out, “Fuck you.” Judge Jorge Rodriguez-Chomat was not amused. He sent Soto to jail for 30 days on a contempt charge. Soto had been arrested for drug possession when she was allegedly found with Xanax. Her court hearing was only intended to determine the appropriate bail. But one thing led to another, the bird was flipped, the judge was irked, and Soto ended up spending time behind bars before her case was even heard. When Soto was subsequently released after apologizing to the judge, she explained that she was under the influence of alcohol and Xanax at the time of her outburst. Evidently the disinhibitory quality of these substances outweighed whatever calming effect they were supposed to induce!

Phone Sex in Court. American jurisprudence reached a new level of salaciousness when defense attorneys in the Jodi Arias murder trial played a lengthy phone sex recording for the jury. Among other things, the kinky conversation included the victim, Travis Alexander, telling Arias how he would like to tie her to a tree and sodomize her. The courtroom phone sex was a field day for the heavy-breathing press, but it failed to sway the jury in Arias’s favor. They found her guilty of first degree murder.

Defendant Punches Attorney in Court. In October 2012, Lamarcus Williamson of Charlotte, North Carolina, pleaded guilty to assault, robbery, and drug charges pertaining to an incident involving a female college student. When the judge announced a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison, Williamson turned and punched his defense attorney in the face. Despite being handcuffed, Williamson was still able to land a knockdown blow. This did nothing to improve his standing with the court. The judge tacked on some additional time to his sentence.

Refusing to Take the Oath. Last October, Otis Jackson Jr., the former General Sessions Court Clerk from Nashville, Tennessee, rejected an offer that could have led to the dismissal of official misconduct charges against him, preferring to go ahead and face trial. During the hearing, Jackson shocked the courtroom by initially refusing to raise his right hand and swear to tell the truth. Special Judge Walter Kurtz told Jackson: “In 30 years and six months, you’re the only person I’ve ever run across that refused to be sworn in court, which I find kind of odd and inexplicable.” After coaxing Jackson to go ahead and take the oath, and even threatening him  with contempt, the defendant simply stated: “I shouldn’t be here.” After several minutes of awkward drama, Jackson finally gave in, and said he would “do his best” to tell the truth.

Dazed and Confused, with Orange Hair. In July 2012, Batman shooter James Holmes made his first public appearance in a Colorado courtroom since his movie theater gun massacre. He looked strangely dazed and unresponsive, with his unruly hair still dyed bright reddish-orange. His demeanor alternated from a sleepy, nearly comatose expression, to a bizarre bug-eyed stare. According to Arapahoe County District Attorney Carol Chambers, there would be no information provided as to whether Holmes was on drugs or some kind of medication. Holmes was being held in solitary confinement and was brought to the courtroom via an underground tunnel. He was also wearing a bullet-proof vest.

The Judge is Packing Heat. In February 2012, a Superior Court Judge in Lumpkin County, Georgia, shocked the courtroom when he pulled out his pistol and brandished it in order to“make a rhetorical point.” Judge David Barrett was presiding over a case in which a woman brought charges of rape and aggravated assault against a former sheriff’s deputy from Fall County. When the victim took the stand to testify, Barrett told her that she was “killing her case” because she wasn’t cooperating fully. The judge then pulled out his gun and pretended to hand it over to her, reportedly telling her, “You might as well shoot your lawyer.” The District Attorney objected and approached the bench to ask the judge to put the gun down. Now that’s what I call a trial. It should be noted that Georgia law allows judges to carry concealed handguns in the courtroom, but it’s a crime to point a gun at another person if there’s no reason to do so.

Rage Against the Machine. In 2007, Anthony Viscussi from Everett, Washington, found himself in a Snohomish County courtroom facing charges of assaulting a woman. He displayed such bizarre behavior, including angry outbursts and screaming at witnesses, that the judge had to have him removed to a holding room, and then strapped to a chair so he could be wheeled in and out of the courtroom. Viscussi was also forced to wear netting over his head and a mask over his face, Hannibal Lecter-style, to prohibit him from spitting at corrections officers. In jail, officers reportedly needed to don riot gear in Viscussi’s presence. Pepper spray was often used to subdue him during his violent rages. A psychologist testified that Viscussi suffers from schizophrenia exacerbated by methamphetamine use. We might sympathize, were it not for the fact that he was accused of beating a woman with a metal rod in front of her 6 year-old son.

commentary by Patrick H. Moore

In trying to make sense out of the wobbly world of crime, we’re occasionally confronted by a case both gruesome and strange that makes us shake our heads and ask, “What was he/she thinking?” This comes up frequently in cases involving children whether it’s the schoolyard bullying syndrome or teens doing crazy things like locking their parents in their room and setting the house on fire.

Any of us who have experienced the great pleasure of raising a teenager know that it doesn’t matter if they’re boys or girls – either way as a parent you’ve got to be on your guard because sooner or later Jack or Diane will do something that keeps you awake at night. And then of course there’s the problem of the nervous parent who lies awake at night worrying about what Jack or Diane may do even though they haven’t done it yet.

With girls (and sometimes with boys), you may face the best friend gone wrong syndrome. That’s when Diane and Jill who are really close and share everything suddenly inexplicably quarrel —  maybe over a boy, maybe over another friend or even a remark that is taken as explicitly hurtful.

Painful though such a breakup may be, you generally don’t worry that either your daughter or your daughter’s former friend is going to end up a murderess and that the victim is going to be the other party. But that’s exactly what happened in Sinaloa, Mexico a few weeks ago. Andres Jaurequi of the Huffington Post writes:

A Mexican teen is accused of killing her best friend following a dispute over nude photos on Facebook.

Erandy Gutierrez allegedly stabbed Anel Baez 65 times at the victim’s home in Guamuchil, Sinaloa, on March 19, according to Mexican news site Notus.

The girls, both 16, had once been close, but that relationship deteriorated after Baez posted a “humiliating” naked selfie of herself and Gutierrez to Facebook, according to the New York Daily News.

According to the International Business Times, when Baez uploaded a picture of the two girls both naked, Gutierrez became furious and threatened to “bury” Baez before the year was over.

It must be said that the slayer Gutierrez certainly gave Baez fair warning:

“It may seem that I am very calm, but in my head I have killed you at least three times,” Gutierrez reportedly wrote to Baez in her Twitter account, which has since been deleted.

According to Notus, the prosecutors have stated that Gutierrez has admitted slaying Baez as revenge for her posting the naked selfies.

If we are to believe the victim’s family, however, there is some doubt as to whether the photos ever even existed, according to a Huffington Post translation of the website. And Baez’s friends have stated that they never saw the purported photos on Facebook.

These alleged facts, however, do not prove that the offending selfies never existed and could (I realize this sounds callous) merely result from the victim’s family’s natural desire to present poor deceased Baez as completely blameless in this matter.

Furthermore, Gutierrez’s threatening tweets must be in response to something her former friend did.

What is heartbreaking is that Baez would almost certainly be alive if she hadn’t succumbed to her own desire to bury the hatchet with her former best friend. According to a HuffPost translation of Semana, on March 19th, Baez foolishly and fatally invited Gutierrez to her house with the intention that the two teens would resolve their dispute and become friends again.

This is the moment not unlike when Heather Elvis succumbs to Sidney Moorer’s allurements and gets in her car and drives to the boat landing, all the while texting like a madwoman. This is the moment when the viewing audience turns bone-white and entreats the future victim, “No! Nyet! Nein! Ay no! Don’t do it! Don’t you see…”

Tragically, Anel Baez did not see. At some point after Gutierrez arrived at Baez’s house, she allegedly picked up a kitchen knife and stabbed her former best friend in the back with it up to 65 times.

After that Gutierrez fled the scene and reportedly tried to hide her involvement by grieving with friends. At some point, the authorities learned she had been at Baez’s house. They moved in and arrested Gutierrez at the funeral. The purported slayer is expected to be charged with murder this week.

*     *     *     *     *

Since her brutal murder, Anel’s local high school (which was also attended by Erandy) has been hosting lectures and seminars aimed at preventing further similar tragedies, local media reports.

News website Cafe Negro says the ‘therapy’ sessions are being run by rector Juan Eulogio War Liera for a community left ‘sad and outraged’ by the brutal murder.

‘In this community I want to tell you are not alone, we share your pain and anger and can add efforts to overcome the bitter moment,’ the website quotes him as saying.

‘Unity in the family is a way to preserve peace, values​​, tranquility and have a better world.’

If this were a U.S. case, it’s very likely that the 16-year-old Gutierrez would be tried as an adult. In Mexico, however, I think such a barbarism is unlikely. Notus reports that if convicted as a minor, Gutierrez would face a prison term of up to seven years.

commentary by Patrick H. Moore

There may come a time in the life of any married person when the husband, wife, or same-sex partner considers garroting the other party. Generally, this is a short-lived fantasy and the aggrieved partner either divorces the unacceptable “other” or simply adjusts his or her expectations and carries on.

But as we all know, there are cases in which the aggrieved partner simply cannot banish the homicidal thoughts and ultimately throws caution to the wind and…

The amazing thing about these cases is the fact that more often than not, the “killer spouse” whacks the partner with no real thought of how to dispose of the body or otherwise construct a reasonable alibi.

Thus, the killer’s “victory” is short-lived because he or she is typically arrested within days or hours of eliminating his or her nemesis spouse.

This would appear to be what happened in the case of a 47-year-old Tunisian husband and father who received a lifetime prison sentence on Thursday for torturing his wife before slitting her throat in a Fribourg, Switzerland apartment because, among other things, she “did not know how to cook couscous”.

The killing occurred four years ago in April. By this point the couple had been separated for some time. The husband, a former accountant with the Tunisian Embassy in Bern, had arrived with his wife in Switzerland from Tunisia in 1999. At some point, their relationship soured and the husband lost his job. Unemployed, he resorted to heavy drinking.

One of the routine consequences of separation is the fact that either estranged partner may well become involved in a little extra-curricular bedroom activity. It’s just one of those things that – your wishes notwithstanding – you are powerless to change. In this case, the husband became convinced that his estranged spouse was sleeping with another man. Whether he had any proof is unclear, but he became extremely jealous of his wife and – in rationalizing his decision to kill her – convinced himself of three things, any one of which may or may not be true. The husband’s accusations were (1) infidelity; (2) the wife not looking after their two daughters, who were 9 and 12 at the time of the murder, properly; and (3) she was incapable of cooking couscous.

Clearly, the third alleged sin must have figured most prominently in the husband’s mind. After all, what good is a significant other who cannot cook couscous?

Although the sentencing judge stated that the husband acted with “methodical sangfroid” in the preparations he made to kill his wife, by the moment of truth, his deliberate step-by-step approach had transformed itself into a towering rage which, according to media reports, led him to attack his wife so savagely that she could only be identified through dental records.

According to the 20 Minutes newspaper, it was revealed in Court that after tying his wife to a bed, the man gagged her and stabbed her in the back 15 times before shooting her in the face with an air gun. He then strangled the woman, who was seven years his junior, before cutting her throat with a knife. (Somewhere along the line, he also apparently raped her).

While stating that there were no extenuating circumstances, the judge managed to hold, at least to some degree, to his theory of “methodical sangfroid”, stating that the convicted murderer had displayed “barbarism, cruelty and determination” in his actions.

The man’s actions following the brutal slaying probably didn’t help his cause much in the eyes of the judge or anyone else. According to court testimony, he washed up and changed, and later shared a meal with his daughters, at which time he told his two children that “their mother was out.” 

Then in a eerie and unsettling gesture, that night the man laid next to the body of his blood-drenched ex before turning himself into Fribourg cantonal police the next day.

The man’s two daughters, who are now 13 and 16, have been turned into orphans in a country where they have no other family.

The father was ordered by the court to pay each of the girls 80,000 francs in damages.

The fact that the father has received a life sentence, means that under Swiss law, he will be able to request conditional release after serving 15 years.

He has already spent four years in detention.

The man’s lawyer, had argued earlier that while his client’s acts were “monstrous” the man should not be considered a monster. The lawyer also stated that he likely would be appealing the sentence.

Just to add a little melodrama, the case has attracted Swiss media attention, not just because of its lurid details, but because the accused believed he was being followed by secret police of then Tunisian dictator Zine El Abidene Ben Ali.

*     *     *     *     *

So let’s just suppose that the husband becomes a model prisoner and does get out on conditional release 11 years from now. Not a bad day’s work in a sense. Not only did he get to enjoy what we must assume was for him the immense satisfaction of murdering in ex in most brutal fashion, but if things go well for him, he’ll be released from prison two years prior to turning 60.

by Lise LaSalle

Elisa Lam was a 21-year-old Canadian tourist who was found dead in a downtown Los Angeles hotel’s rooftop water tank in February 2013. Lam was from Vancouver, British Columbia and had traveled alone to Los Angeles on January 26, 2013, intending to stay a few days before making her way to Santa Cruz, California. She was last seen on January 31, 2013 by workers at the hotel, but on February 19, a maintenance worker found her body in one of the four 8-feet-tall, 4-foot diameter tanks on the hotel roof. A crew had gone to check the tanks because some of the hotel patrons were complaining of low water pressure. 

Authorities had searched the roof of the hotel earlier during an investigation into her disappearance but had not opened the four cisterns. It was not even considered a possibility at the time.

The historic Cecil Hotel was located near Skid Row and it did not take long for the mystery to take a turn for the occult when Elisa was found dead because of the strange circumstances surrounding the event and of a surveillance video of Lam inside an elevator pushing buttons and behaving oddly.

Authorities ruled in June 2013 that her death was an accident. The only explanation offered for her being found in a very difficult to access water tank was that she was bipolar and probably ended up falling or placing herself on purpose in the cistern. The bothersome aspect of this theory is that the workers had to cut the tank open to remove Lam’s body. I have a hard time comprehending how she accessed the tank because the rooftop area was locked and protected by an alarm system. The tank she was found in had unlocked openings but it looked difficult to climb into and she would have had to shut the lid on her own.

The coroner report indicated that the medical examination found no visible signs of trauma on her body and toxicology tests were negative for factors leading to her death. So the conclusion was that her drowning was accidental and her bipolar disorder was considered a ‘’significant condition.’’

The footage of Lam in the elevator is also very odd and when you watch her hand gestures and how long the elevator stays open, it raises questions. But it can probably be explained by her mental state and the fact that she may have pushed several buttons causing the ride to remain in place. Is she spooked by something or in the throes of a mental meltdown? I would tend to think she was having an episode and being alone at the Cecil in LA might have aggravated her condition.

As troubling as it is, we probably can chalk her actions to mental illness and not to the Shining. But for adepts of the Twilight Zone and Hitchcock, there is plenty about this story to let your mind wanders to the dark side. So if you are looking to hang your hat on a murder mystery, Lam’s death contains all the right elements:

The Cecil Hotel has a history of spooky events.  Serial killer Richard Ramirez, known as the “Night Stalker,” lived on the hotel’s 14th floor for several months in 1985. Johann “Jack” Unterweger is another serial killer who lived in the hotel in 1991. A woman was found dead in 1964 after her room was ransacked and she was stabbed, strangled, and raped by an unknown assailant. A number of suicides happened at the hotel while patrons leaped from their windows, including a woman who jumped from the 9th floor in 1962 and killed a man walking below.

Lam’s death resembles a murder mystery plot. The movie Dark Water tells the story of a young woman found drowned in a hotel water tank. A scene in the movie depicts an elevator malfunctioning, and a character named Cecilia. Cecilia is damn similar to Cecil if you want to go there.

The name of a medical test is similar to the victim’s name. Shortly after Elisa Lam’s body was found, national health experts were called to Skid Row near the hotel to investigate a deadly persistent tuberculosis outbreak that local health officials called the largest in a decade. Thousands of people might have been exposed to TB and the test to diagnose tuberculosis was the LAM-ELISA.

It sounds very creepy and the elevator scene is chilling but it is no doubt a malfunctioning elevator causing a poor girl some grief. But it could easily had made her a target to a stalker or killer. It is in fact, very hard to believe that she climbed into one of the tanks willingly when she was so manic and scared. Plus, how would she have known that this tank was unlocked. Luck of the draw?

Elisa could have been frightened because of paranoia but she might have been scared of someone. Let’s not forget that the Cecil was crawling with very strange long-term residents who might have noticed the poor girl. The staff having access to the roof should also have been questioned more thoroughly.

If she was suicidal, it would have been easier for her to jump from a window or take all her pills instead of climbing to the roof. This girl was scared to go in the elevator and she would have made her way to the roof and climb on a steep cistern’s ladder?

The access to the roof was through a door connected to an alarm but it was not the only way; there was an emergency fire escape to the roof off a fifteenth floor window. It means that Lam would have had to open that window to climb up. But it is difficult to imagine that she would have done it without being coaxed or directed by another individual because of her demeanor in the elevator. Someone had to have noticed her and she became an easy target.

Elisa had a blog, a Facebook page and a Twitter and Tumbler account. Those who read her information recall that she suffered from bipolar disorder and manic depression. From all accounts, she was an excellent writer who made you feel deeply about her depression and life’s predicaments. She used to be into fashion but after falling prey to the disease, she stayed in her room for 3 years, unable to motivate herself to work or go to College. She felt lost but after the right medication, she quit her blog stating ‘’this is going to stay as a reminder of what I was thinking.’’

She went on to get a part time job, planned to return to university and to travel to make up for wasting her time all those years. She had been to Toronto and wanted to visit Europe. She probably ended up in this sleazy LA hotel because the price was right, but it is unsettling. She was into the arts so the retro style of the place might have been attractive for this young soul who might not have known its shady past.

The Cecil became the heartbreak hotel for Lam’s parents who are suing its owners. Their lawyer requested all the videos and a list of the sexual offenders that resided there at the time.

Their daughter was found naked at the bottom of the tank and her clothes were nowhere to be found and they want an explanation. It is conducive to the theory of another party being involved. Maybe she fell in naked but the idea of her walking around the hotel in this condition requires a leap of logic. I also read that she was found naked and that her clothes and watch were retrieved from the bottom of the tank. It is difficult to differentiate between facts and fiction in this case, but even if her clothes were in the cistern, it would have to mean she went in and disrobed and removed her watch or she brought her personal effects when she was climbing and she jumped in. It sounds so illogical that it is surprising that the police did not declare it a suspicious death right away.

She could easily have been stalked and attacked but it seems that her mental illness and the possibility that she stopped taking her meds, were a recipe for disaster. Being in a strange hotel alone might have triggered psychosis. I hope that her parents will get the answers they need to get closure.

In the meantime, a movie project is already in the works and the conspiracy theories abound, and I do not think that LAPD is losing sleep over this case.

commentary by Patrick H. Moore

About a week ago, I expressed how appalled I am by spousal murderers who take the plunge and whack their wives or husbands without having any kind of reasonable alibi in place. I mean, what is the sense of offing the old lady or the old boy if you’re going to be arrested within hours or days and will wind up serving life in prison. It shows a real inability to think things through and a disturbing inattention to detail. Such folks would never graduate to the rarified level of serial killers who, of course, must execute their crimes and escapes with daring and precision, if they are to kill again.

Now, however, a new case out of dear old Vermont is being reported in which the alleged murder attempt was executed with what appears to be a pleasing ingenuity which may or may not ultimately keep the perpetrator out of prison when the dust finally settles. It’s a hard one to read, however, and nothing is certain at this point other than the fact that the “intended victim” jumped.

Sam Hemingway of the Burlington Free Press writes:

Lucas Gingras, 28, of Milton (VT.) is set to be arraigned Wednesday on suspicion of the attempted murder of his girlfriend during what police say was a drug-induced incident last week initially reported as a bear attack.

Gingras will also be charged with domestic assault, reckless endangerment and arson, Detective Cpl. Paul Locke said during an afternoon news conference at the municipal complex in Milton.

“At this point the state’s attorney has reviewed the charges,” Locke said. “Bail was set at $100,000 by a judge tonight and he is currently being lodged at a correctional facility.”

So what exactly did Gingras do to trigger the charges and what’s this about a BEAR ATTACK? Listen my children and you shall hear…

It seems that Gingras, 28, and his older girlfriend, Ladonna Merriman, 42, set up camp at a cabin off of Clay Ridge Road in or near Milton on the morning of June 18th. As is not uncommon for hale and hearty campers, they began drinking sometime after their arrival.

What is more uncommon, however, is what Lucas decided to do to Ladonna at some point during the day. Without her knowing it, Gingras placed some Molly, a potent form of MDMA (Ecstasy), in her drink which she then imbibed. Lucas knowingly ingested some of the Molly himself

Detective Locke suggests the following took place at some point after the couple ingested the drug:

“It was after this that Gingras claimed to have heard something trying to get into the cabin. Not knowing for certain if it was a bear or another animal he set the cabin on fire and both Merriman and him fled out of the cabin.”

He did what? Why burn down the cabin? Was he trying to cook the bear? These are responsible questions that need to be asked and answered.

Detective Locke states that when held for questioning, Lucas told the authorities that “he believes the Molly drug caused him to hallucinate that a bear was in the vicinity of the cabin.”

I’ve never taken “E” or Molly but from what I’ve heard, “E” hallucinations are mild and probably wouldn’t conjure up a savage and attacking bear in your mind. I’m not sure about Molly. We need an expert to chime in here.

Once the cabin was aflame, the couple came to a nearby cliff. Lucas then reportedly told Ladonna that “the bear was coming after her and that she should jump off the cliff into the water below.”

“It was determined that Gingras had not actually seen the bear, but only believed they were being chased,” Locke said.

Thus, Lucas apparently did not actually hallucinate the bear, which implies he observed it visually; rather, he imagined its presence. Such imaginings may well be quite possible in the overheated brainpan of an unstable personality on Molly. On the other hand, all of this may simply be Lucas’s rather clever, if not necessarily believable, alibi.

In any event, Merriman (remember, she’s been dosed) jumped off the cliff and fell almost 70 feet through trees and debris to a grassy surface below. Her injuries are severe and include a broken back, a punctured lung and other miscellaneous problems. She remains hospitalized at Fletcher Allen Health Care and underwent surgery Tuesday to repair her lung.

Detective Locke, who is a veritable fountain of information, said that Ladonna’s version of events largely matches what Lucas described. Locke said Ladonna told the lawmen that Lucas put Molly in her drink “against her wishes.”

“There are variations in their stories but they are similar,” Locke said.

Locke was coy when asked if inducing someone to jump off a cliff in a drug-induced state justifies the attempted-murder charge. As of Tuesday night, a judge had not yet ruled on whether there was sufficient probable cause to support the charges against Lucas. Chittenden County State’s Attorney T.J. Donovan played mum and declined comment on the matter as of Tuesday night.

Like any valiant boyfriend, after Ladonna jumped, Lucas went to rescue her at the bottom of the cliff. He dragged her nearly a mile to a car (not his own vehicle), then left her to go get help, according to Locke.

Lucas returned with a friend who just happened to have a rifle. The friend, perhaps foolishly, left his rifle with Lucas, and went to retrieve Lucas’s car. The boyfriend, allegedly believing the bear was in the trunk of the car, tried to shoot it by firing into the trunk. Hard to miss a large bear at such close range…

To add to his woes, Mr. Alibi may also be hit with a gun charge because he has a criminal record.

The star-crossed lovers have tested positive for alcohol and cocaine. The toxicology report to determine whether they had Molly in their systems is not yet complete.

Sadly, the cabin is burnt to the ground.

Part of the reason the authorities believe it was a murder attempt is because Ladonna, unsurprisingly, had recently tried to break up with Lucas.

Statements from Merriman and friend Steve Underwood, who transported the couple to their Boysenberry Drive home that day, indicate the couple argued the night prior and that Merriman broke up with Gingras a few days before.

“Ladonna advised me she felt Lucas had the entire event ‘set up and planned’ because he thought, ‘If I can’t have her, nobody will,’” Locke wrote.

Milton police have also responded to at least one domestic incident at their home, during which the couple was yelling, and Gingras had a bloody nose. He told the officer he fell, the affidavit recounts.

Given all this, will Lucas get away with his BEAR DEFENSE? We’ll find out.

In the meantime, under no circumstances should you dose your girlfriend (or anyone else) with Molly.

commentary by Patrick H. Moore

While we wait for Michael Dunn’s re-trial on the shooting death of Jordan Davis, I though it would be interesting to re-visit the case. It appears that he will not be sentenced for the three attempted murder counts until after he the re-trial.

I spent yesterday on tenterhooks waiting for the verdict in the Michael Dunn trial for the shooting death of Jordan Davis.

The jury’s seemingly endless vacillation on the 1st-degree-murder count was based on its inability to decide whether Dunn murdered Jordan Davis or whether he acted in self-defense.

One gets the impression that the jury decided fairly readily that Dunn was guilty of the three counts of attempted murder for shooting in the direction of Davis’s three companions and one count for firing at the vehicle at the same time he shot at Davis.

So why this distinction between the shots fired at Davis, some of which struck and killed him, and the shots fired at his companions and the vehicle? Although my response may not please either those who feel that Dunn should be convicted of 1st-degree-murder, or the “stand-your-ground/self-defense” contingent, who probably feel he should not have been convicted of anything, I will try and answer this.

Few would deny that Dunn fired at Davis’ with the intent to commit bodily harm. When you start firing bullets at someone, there’s always the distinct possibility that one or more of the shots will connect.

Therefore,  first question is: how can Dunn justifiably argue self-defense when he obviously started the altercation?

Tevin Thompson

Tevin Thompson, 18, one of Davis’ companions, testified at the trial that he and his friends had pulled in at the gas station convenience store in order to buy gum “so our breath would smell good” because they had high hopes of meeting girls later that night.

Thompson testified that the driver, Stornes, went into the convenience store to buy gum and cigarettes while the other three boys waited for him in the Durango SUV. Then an odd thing happened. According to Thompson, Dunn pulled up in his car “really close” to their Durango, so close that he (Thompson) wouldn’t have been able to exit the passenger seat he was in. Both Thompson and another of the passengers, Leland Brunson, 18, testified that the music playing in the Durango was very loud. How loud? Loud enough that the bass literally shook the car.

Leland Brunson

So we should ask ourselves: If Michael Dunn was so bothered by the exceedingly loud music, complete with mega-bass, that “he couldn’t hear himself think,” then why in the world did he pull in so close to the Durango? If we were to analyze this in terms of body language, this is clearly an aggressive (and even hostile) action on Dunn’s part.

Thompson told the court that Dunn said: “Turn your music down I can’t hear myself think.” Thompson stated that he obliged, but that Jordan Davis objected, saying, according to Thompson, “F**k that, n****r, turn it back up.” Thompson turned the music back up, and that’s when the trouble escalated. Thompson explained that Davis and Dunn began “having a conversation back and forth.”

Displaying a commendable forthrightness, Thompson and Brunson both stated that it was Davis who escalated the verbal sparring. They told the court that they never heard Dunn curse or yell at Davis. Brunson said that at one point, Davis said, “I’m tired of people telling me what to do.”

Tevin Thompson

Thompson also testified that although he couldn’t hear everything Davis said, he didn’t hear him threaten Dunn in any way, and that he was certain Davis never tried to get out of the car during the argument. For his part, Brunson testified that in order for Davis, who was sitting in the back passenger seat, to get out of the car, someone in the driver’s seat would have had to unlock the child-proof locks for him.

This contradicts defense attorney Cory Strolla’s opening statement in which he told jurors that Davis was trying to get out of the Durango when Dunn shot him.

If all of the above is true, I see no valid “wiggle room” for a theory of self-defense unless Davis actually pointed the elusive shotgun at Dunn, in which case he would arguably have been justified in firing at Davis as part of a valid attempt to defend himself.

Since there is not a shred of solid evidence that the shotgun ever existed, it appears that Dunn’s theory of self-defense is preposterous. What was he defending himself against? If this is coupled with the fact that Dunn arguably instigated the altercation by parking really close to the Durango prior to asking the teens to turn the music down, it becomes crystal-clear that Dunn was the aggressor throughout.

Does this mean that he should have been convicted  of 1st-degree-murder? I don’t think it necessarily does because I don’t see evidence that there was premeditation on Dunn’s part. Clearly, however, there was malevolence or “malice aforethought” in Dunn’s actions, which coupled with the fact he shot and killed Davis, strongly supports a conviction for 2nd-degree-murder.

Therefore, I have to take this jury to task for refusing, at this time, to convict Dunn of 2nd-degree murder. And this is critically important because the jury’s refusal at this time to convict Dunn of either 1st or 2nd-degree-murder sends a message that Florida is not yet ready to convict a white man of murder for killing a black youth in cold blood. Rather, the jury is hiding behind the overly broad Florida self-defense law which gives threatened individuals broad latitude to respond with lethal aggression when they feel their lives are in danger.

The three counts of conviction for the attempted murders of Davis’s companions are somewhat of a no-brainer. He fired at the vehicle in which they were sitting, thereby putting them in grave danger of being shot and killed. This is in some ways analogous to when a shooter fires at an occupied dwelling. If you take out your gun and fire at the occupied dwelling, you are guilty of a serious felony. In this case, Dunn took out his gun and fired at three innocent parties in a vehicle which is why he stands convicted of the three 2nd-degree-murder counts and the single count of firing in the direction of the vehicle.

It is extremely sobering to think that had Davis’s three companions not been with him, Dunn might not have been convicted on any charges whatsoever.

*     *     *     *     *

Under Florida law, inasmuch as all of the charges were triggered by a single action, the judge appears to have the right to run the sentences for the three counts of conviction, and the fourth count of shooting at the vehicle, concurrently which means Dunn could receive as little as 30 years total, 20 years for the attempted murders, to be run concurrently, and an additional 10 years based on the fact he used a firearm.

Judge Healey, however, is known to be a tough sentencer and Dunn could easily receive a much longer sentence.

Click below to view our previous Michael Dunn murder posts:

Did Michael Dunn Have the Bad Habit of Pointing Guns at His Wives?

Michael Dunn and Fiancée Rhonda Rouer Do Not Sing the Same Song

Notorious BIG Michael Dunn and the Decline of the American Empire

commentary by Patrick H. Moore

Roxanne Jeskey of Bangor, Maine has just been sentenced to 50 years in prison following a bench trial for the brutal 2011 bathtub murder of her 51-year-old husband Richard Jeskey. There are two sides to this story. On the one hand, at the time of the slaying, Ms. Jeskey was mentally impaired due to a combination of factors resulting from mental deterioration following brain surgery for a chronic seizure disorder. In addition, she suffered from a number of other serious, diagnosable mental infirmities which resulted in her pleading not guilty by reason of insanity.

On the other hand, the murder was incredibly savage and included a variety of bizarre and fiendish tortures. At some point, after the crime, Ms. Jeskey apparently confessed to at least some of her disturbing actions.

In arriving at the 50-year sentence, Superior Court Justice E. Allen Hunter appears to have been influenced far more by the savage nature of the crime than by Ms. Jeskey rather obvious mental deficiencies.

In defending his decision, the judge said he was imposing what is, in effect, a life sentence because the “monstrous way” Roxanne Jeskey murdered her 53-year-old husband was tantamount to torture and involved a sexual assault. He said the mitigating factors — including the fact that she has no criminal history, underwent brain surgery a decade ago that left her with cognitive difficulties, and her mental health problems — called for a sentence of 50 years.

At the bench trial, neuropsychologist Dr. Richard Doiron testified he conducted a number of tests on Roxanne Jeskey after she was arrested for the murder of her 51-year-old husband Richard Jeskey in June of 2011.

The doctor stated that the tests provided a “valid and reliable measure of what she was able to do at that time” of the murder.

Prior to her operation in 2003, Ms. Jeskey suffered from seizures that could not be controlled with medication. Hence, her doctors opted to perform brain surgery which – as is apparently sometimes the case – resulted in post-operative mental functioning consistent with borderline retardation. Dr Doiron stated: “She is brain injured in a significant way consistent with her neurological history.”

Jeskey scored very poorly on cognitive tests. The doctor stated that she is an individual who formerly, i.e., prior to her brain surgery, functioned at a significantly higher level than that at which she now functions.

In addition, Dr. Doiron diagnosed Jeskey with PTSD from incidents in her childhood, a cognitive disorder because of the brain surgery, and schizophrenia. Unsurprisingly, this combination of “brain handicaps” resulted, according to the doctor, in an altered sense of reality.

*     *     *     *     *

As is so often the case in American jurisprudence in the present era, the judge appears to have been far more influenced by the crime itself than by the forces (her brain damage), that led her to commit the crime.

After listening to the testimony, Judge Hunter found Ms. Jeskey guilty on May 30th of intentional and knowing murder and depraved indifference murder in connection with the death. The “depraved indifference” conviction stems from the following alleged actions on Ms. Jeskey’s part, who was reportedly furious because she caught her husband Richard texting his ex girlfriend.

After Richard’s indiscretion was discovered, the pair apparently argued heatedly which, in essence, culminated in the wife going berserk and torturing him for hours as she slowly killed him, after which she phoned the police to report what had happened.

Peter Kotz of True Crime Report writes:

He was found bloody and brutally beaten in the bathtub. His entire body showed signs of massive trauma.

Wrote Detective David Bushey in an affidavit: “These included nose fractures, loss of an eye, rib fractures, rectal incised wounds, and internal hemmorhage from an instrument(s) pushed through his scrotum into his abdomen. Further, Mr. Jeskey was strangled with sufficient force to break the hyoid bone of his neck.”

Roxanne admitted she’d slashed him with a box cutter and beat him with a baseball bat. She’d also taken a pliers to his (testicles). Then she lay down for a nap before finally being sufficiently rested to deal with police and medics.

She said her husband had tried repeatedly to get himself out of the bathtub, only to fall and smack his head multiple times. By the time police arrived, he was already dead.

Hunter said in his written verdict that he found the testimony of Dr. Michael Ferenc, former deputy medical examiner, “compelling.”

At the trial, the M.E. testified that “Richard Jeskey died of strangulation and multiple traumatic injuries that resulted in a great loss of blood. He said the victim had bruises, cuts, scrapes and puncture wounds over all of his body. In addition, his nose and three ribs were broken.”

Richard Jeskey also suffered internal and external damage to his genitals, and. of course, the incisions.

The fact that Richard Jeskey apparently could not defend himself may have been cause by his blood alcohol level of .12 percent and a sleep aid that was found in his bloodstream. According to the M.E., the sleep aid and the alcohol would have caused him to be “drowsy, sleepy and, if unconscious, difficult to arouse.

Dr. Ference did not estimate a time of death but said that the victim had lost so much blood that there was almost none found in his heart during the autopsy.

“Any one of these injuries standing alone manifests a depraved indifference to the value of human life,” Judge Hunter said. “Taken together, they reflect a monstrous savagery and cruelty that defies comprehension.”

*     *     *     *     *

Based on the police reports, the autopsy reports and Ms. Jeskey’s own admissions, there is little doubt that this particular murder rises to an extreme level of depravity. It would also appear that there is no doubt that the defendant needs to be removed from society for a considerable period of time.

Shouldn’t the fact, however, that she was non compos mentis both at the time of the murder, and in general, result in her being locked away in a mental institution rather a state prison? Such a solution would seem far more appropriate given her deteriorated mental state at the time of the slaying. But that’s not the way we roll here in America in our present vengeance-driven legal climate.

posted by Patrick H. Moore

Not all serial killers are weird like Charles Manson or Jeffrey Dahmer.  Or at least they’re not totally weird. They may even have redeeming features. A surprising number of the multiple slayers who are washed up on the rocks of justice and are serving lifetime prison terms, or are languishing on Death Row, once had families and children, allegedly presided at backyard barbecues and may have even gone to PTA meetings. Others were young men just coming of age who made mistakes they couldn’t undo.

Or so Sarah LeTrent of CNN would like you to believe. Witness this conversation between Melissa Moore, age 33, and her father, Keith Hunter Jesperson, in a post entitled “A killer in the family.” Jesperson was a long distance truck driver who strangled eight women while on the road and sent letters to the local police stations bragging about his conquests.  He had the habit of signing his mea culpas with a Happy Face and was dubbed,  the Happy Face Killer:

“Missy, you need to change your last name,” the shackled man in the orange prison jumpsuit said into the receiver, staring blankly at his 15-year-old daughter’s tear-stained face.

“That’s when I knew that these things were true,” recalls Melissa Moore, now 33.

Until that day, the man behind the glass partition, Keith Hunter Jesperson, was simply her father; the one who used to tuck her into bed at night “like a burrito.”

Keith “Happy Face” Jesperson went to trial and lost. He is now serving life in prison with no possibility of parole. If we dig a little deeper, we discover that LeTrent’s article is not telling us the whole story.  Jesperson, who was Canadian born, had always been weird, the typical “loner” child with a propensity to  torture. Wikipedia has this to say about him:

He had a violent and troubled childhood under a domineering, alcoholic father. Treated like an outcast by his own family and teased by other children for his large size at a young age, Jesperson was a lonely child who showed a propensity for torturing and killing animals. Despite consistently getting into trouble in his youth, including twice attempting to kill children who had crossed him, Jesperson graduated from high school, secured a job as a truck driver, got married, and had three children. In 1990, after 15 years of marriage, Jesperson was divorced and saw his dream to become a Royal Canadian Mounted Policemandashed following an injury. It was that year, after returning to truck driving, that Jesperson began to kill. Jesperson is known to have killed eight women over the course of five years. Strangulation was his preferred method, the same method he often used to kill animals as a child.

So despite his horrific childhood, the Happy Face Killer kept it together for a long while, many years as a family man, before he snapped and went on his killing spree. Melissa Moore no doubt realizes that there are worse things than being tucked into bed “like a burrito”.  Might her day have come — if her father hadn’t been stopped?

Whatever the circumstances,  very little hits a family harder than discovering that one of their members is a serial killer or a mass murderer. Children don’t even want their parents to sing in public. Imagine how they feel when they find out Dad is a murderer.

After much soul-searching, Melissa Moore made the reluctant decision to sever ties with her father. She changed her name when she got married and set out to build a new life.

In her article, Sarah Letrent states:

Moore is a part of an exclusive group, those who share blood relations with someone perceived by the public as a monster: a mass murderer. With that unenviable tie can come isolation, guilt, grief, fear, disbelief, even post-traumatic stress disorder, in addition to a very public stigma.

In the aftermath of a massacre, questions and criticism are frequently directed at the parents, spouses and children of the accused. The public sometimes sympathizes, often criticizes and even goes so far as to blame family members for the actions of their kin.

This issue of guilt by association can be extremely hard for the family members of serial killers to deal with.  A part of you is horrified beyond words by what Dad or Junior (or in rare cases Mom or Sister) has done , but a part of you will still want to defend your shamed loved one.

Sarah LeTrent cites Michael Price, a professor of evolutionary moral psychology at Brunel University in London, who states that people are hardwired to defend their kin, like Melissa Moore did before she realized her father’s guilt.

“There will be strong psychological and emotional incentives to defend and remain loyal to the family member, and to delude and self-deceive themselves about the reality of their relative’s guilt,” Price said.

At the same time, Price said individuals may be prone to protect their own reputations and disassociate themselves from the killer to avoid being ostracized.

“They may experience anger at the relative for putting them in such a conflicted position,” Price said.

In short, the family members of convicted serial killers will be pushed and pulled in diametrically opposed directions. They may wake in the  morning feeling the deepest filial connection to their fiendish family member and by noon they’ll be wishing that they had never even met.

One of the hardest things innocent family members face is the public expectation that they will step up to the plate and make a statement about what has happened. I know what you’re thinking, that you’d rather chew on barbed-wire, but the expectation is nevertheless front and center in the mind of the eager, avaricious public.

Recently Adam Lanza’s father, Peter, met with Robbie and Alissa Parker, the parents of 6-year-old victim Emilie, to discuss his son’s actions.

“One of the main reasons that I wanted to speak to him was I wanted to just speak to him as a father, one father to another father,” Robbie Parker told CNN’s Piers Morgan. “And I understand that, despite the circumstances, that he lost his son and that he needed to grieve that as well, just as much as I needed to grieve my daughter. And so I wanted to express those condolences to him, and I felt that we were able to do that for each other.”

You can’t help but feel considerable respect for Robbie Parker. I can’t help wondering how he feels about this revelation:

In documents released Thursday, it was revealed that 20-year-old Sandy Hook shooter Adam Lanza’s mother (whom he shot in the forehead before turning his guns on 26 more victims, as well as himself, at the elementary school) gave him money earmarked to purchase weapons and allowed him to keep a gun safe in his bedroom.

by BJW Nashe

These days, if you’re going to start robbing banks or convenience stores, you need to put some effort into personal style and fashion. You are certain to be caught on surveillance video at some point during your escapades. Soon your appearance will be on the Internet for all to see–much like celebrities who grace the red carpets of awards shows. So there’s no excuse to neglect the fashion component of your criminal activity.

Lately we have seen criminals exploring a wide variety of styles — from glamorous cross-dressing to casual grunge to silly disguises — with varying degrees of success. No matter what, they have definitely been turning heads at the FBI. Here are some notable examples:

On May 20, a woman robbed a bank in Stuart, Iowa while wearing a striking green gown described as a “mullet dress,” since it’s short in front and long in the back. Surveillance footage shows that the slim, 5’4“ woman had long, dark reddish-brown hair, and carried a handbag slung over her shoulder. Authorities are still trying to figure out if the suspect is an actual woman, or a transvestite. Either way, all agree that as a pure fashion statement, this robbery was a big success.

Leonard Brown Jr., known by police as the “Stretchy Pants Bandit,” was caught on camera robbing a bank in Ceres, California in September 2012. His ensemble included a dark wig and women’s “flashdance-style” aerobics clothing. No one doubts that this was a large black man dressed as a female. And RuPaul doesn’t have anything to worry about, in terms of being upstaged by “Ms. Brown.”

According to the FBI, a woman known as the “Plain Jane Bandit” has robbed seven banks in Southern California since July 2012. She earned her nickname by pulling jobs without any makeup, and usually wearing sweats, with no hairstyle to speak of. Sometimes in the world of crime, “non-style” is a style in itself.

The “AK-47 Bandit” is a traditionalist. In 2012 he hit one bank in North Bend, Washington and then another in Chino, California. This past March, he managed to shoot and wound a police officer while robbing a bank in Vacaville. He tends to wear a black ski-mask, dark earth-toned shirts and trousers, and always carries an AK-47 assault rifle. It is a forceful, functional look that works well in any bank robbery.

Colton Harris-Moore, known as the “Barefoot Bandit,” led police on a two-year crime spree involving stolen cars, boats, and planes. For obvious reasons, he wasn’t shoplifting any shoes. Perhaps his barefoot antics indicated a willingness to dispense with clothing altogether, and head in the direction of fully nude crimes. We’ll never know, however, since Harris-Moore was eventually captured, and is now reduced to wearing flip-flops in a Washington State prison.

In July 2010 a man was caught on camera robbing a New York City bank while carrying a large bouquet of flowers. The note he reportedly handed over to bank personnel demanded cash, and stated, “Don’t be a hero.” The flowers, by all accounts, smelled lovely, and added an element of mystery and romance to the crime.

In Australia, a woman known as the “Buxom Bandit” was caught on camera with a male companion holding up a gas station with a knife. She earned her nickname for two obvious reasons, which were barely covered by the plunging neckline of her top. If you got it, flaunt it–especially when it comes to armed robbery.

 The “Geezer Bandit” looks like an 85 year-old man as he shuffles up to the bank teller and demands cash. His wrinkled face is partially obscured by sunglasses and a baseball cap, though. After his most recent robbery in California, he was seen sprinting across the parking lot. The authorities think the geezer look might be a disguise.

The “Fat Clown Robber” in Redding, California became an Internet sensation in late March when security cameras videotaped his botched attempt to bust into a convenience store in the middle of the night. The huge gut, stocking cap, and colorful pajama bottoms are a sure way to make a spectacle out of yourself during any crime. And if you fall flat on your face when trying to make your getaway, you will no doubt gain some “fans.”

So there you have it. Any wannabe armed robbers out there might want to take this lesson to heart. If you’re going to stick up a bank or a gas station or a convenience store, your “look” matters. The cameras will be rolling. Soon the cops will give you a nickname. Then the fashionistas will start weighing in. It may be your last chance to make a statement, before you end up in a faded prison jumpsuit.

commentary by Patrick H. Moore

We’ve run numerous stories about sadistic “spare the rod, spoil the child” parents who have grievously mistreated their young children by imprisoning them in cages, in cellars, in shotgun shacks and other inhumane places where no child should ever be confined. These stories outrage anyone with even a shred of common decency and are particularly upsetting when the victim child(ren) is adopted.

Now, however, we have new story in which a beleaguered set of parents have imprisoned their adopted child for four years, locking him up in an apartment garage. This case, however, is quite different from the run-of-the-mill child confinement case in several key ways. (While reading this, one should keep in mind that the explanation in defense of the parents has been provided largely by their lawyer and thus, could be viewed as being extremely self-serving for the parents who have been charged with kidnapping and illegal confinement and are being held on $350,000 bond.)

This case also serves as an object lesson in the difficulties adoptive parents can face, especially when the adopted child is well beyond the infant or toddler stage.

Dane Thyssen, 39, and his wife Jenifer Thyssen, 40, reside in the Austin suburb of Dripping Springs. 10 years ago they adopted a boy named Koystya from Kazakhstan who was around 12 years old at the time. It’s unclear whether the Thyssens knew much about their new family member’s life prior to being adopted, although they appear to have learned quite a bit after the adoption.

Based on information provided to KXAN by Koystya’s uncle, at some point the family learned that he was beaten and abused as a child in Kazakhstan, and now has diminished mental capacity, which, according to the Thyssen’s lawyer, led to problems down the road in the Lone Star State.

Lisa Maria Garza of Reuters writes:

A Texas couple accused of locking up their son in an apartment garage for at least four years did so because they feared he was a rapist who put his family and community in danger, their lawyer told a bail hearing on Friday.

“He has a history of sex and abusing children, not only in other countries but in this neighborhood, this community. They had him restrained because of their concerns that other people would be harmed,” Rip Collins, a lawyer for the couple, told reporters at the court in San Marcos, outside of Austin.

Describing Kostya’s “home” as an apartment garage would appear to be a bit of the a euphemism, given that the dwelling-place was a shed-like structure with boarded-up windows.

Koystya would almost undoubtedly still be confined to the shed had he not escaped from the shed with the help of a screwdriver, after which he burglarized the next door neighbor’s home which led to his arrest. After he was apprehended, the authorities launched an investigation.

Although Koystya’s digs certainly did not compare to Club Med or the Hotel Hilton, the conditions in which he was held were not as horrific as what we typically observe in child confinement cases. According to Sheriff’s deputies, the shed had a toilet, sink and microwave. Koystya told the police that his adoptive parents gave him a box of dry and frozen foods once a week. He also explained that he was allowed to leave the apartment once a week to see a counselor and to take a shower, but was otherwise confined to the apartment. Koystya also allegedly received very few gifts at Christmas time, particularly in comparison to the Thyssen’s other four children.

“Koystya stated he believes it’s wrong how he is treated but doesn’t say anything,” the affidavit says. “Koystya advised he had no friends nor any (biological?) family in the United States.”

The suggestion that Koystya may be a sex offender is supported by the fact that when he was arrested for allegedly breaking into the neighbor’s house, he was reportedly caught stealing women’s underwear.

It also appears that he was not arrested at the scene of his crime but rather returned “home” to the shed on his own accord after the theft.

Koystya is being held on a burglary charge.

*     *     *     *     *

Perhaps it’s just my interest in the macabre, but assuming the parents’ story is more-or-less on the level, I find this fascinating. Imagine adopting a child and discovering that he is a sex offender. What the heck to you do, assuming that you have some kind of bond with the child? Do you go to the authorities, and what would happen if you did? Unless you had concrete proof of Koystya’s sexual improprieties, the police would likely have little interest in his case. And if you did have concrete proof and turned him in, you would probably be called upon to testify against him as a precursor to him receiving a lengthy prison sentence.

So, alternatively, the Thyssens apparently tried to handle it on their own through a combination of counseling and “home confinement”, which, ultimately, did not work out. Once again, this, of course, assumes that the parents’ concerns about their son’s alleged sexual proclivities are valid and are not merely a smokescreen to deflect guilt away for them.

You can’t blame them for trying, though. Or can you? I would invite Lori and Dr. Starks, our experts in matters of this sort, to weigh in and guide us.

by The Starks Shrink

Skylar Neese was just 16 years old when she climbed out of her bedroom window for the last time on July 5, 2012 at around midnight.  She was a bright teen, with a strong work ethic in both school and her part time job at Wendy’s.  But she had a taste for the party life, as many teens in small towns do.  This wasn’t her first time sneaking out of her home late at night, as was evident by the stool she’d left outside beneath her bedroom window to facilitate getting back into her room undetected by her parents. Mom and Dad were none the wiser.

When her father came home from working the night shift to drop off his car for Sklyar, she was nowhere to be found. Her mother wasn’t too disturbed – after all, Skylar was 16 and it was summer; she could be out with her friends shopping or swimming.  Dad called around to some of Skylar’s friends to see if they’d seen her, but came up empty. When the manager at Wendy’s called to ask if Skylar was coming to work, red flags went up for mom, since Skylar never missed work. The police were then called in. Weirdly, however, law enforcement presumed Skylar to be one of the many kids that run away from home each summer in a quest for independence and adventure. The Neese’s were not convinced of that and as the summer wore on turning to autumn, they became increasingly certain that this was not a choice that Skylar had made for herself.

They were comforted and aided in their search for their daughter by one of her best friends — Shelia Eddy.  They’d known Shelia for years and thought of her as another daughter. In September, when school started, Skylar still hadn’t surfaced. Her bank accounts, social media accounts and cell phone had not been touched. Now, the climate began to change. The Neese family had a Facebook page that Mary (Skylar’s Mom) had set up to help people exchange information and hopefully help in the search for her daughter. Shelia Eddy was one of the posters on that page, posting about how she missed Skylar and hoped she’d come home.  Sadly, in reality, Shelia already knew all too well that Skylar would never be returning to her mother’s embrace.

What is fascinating about the quest to find Skylar is how it played out on social media, particularly on Twitter. You see, Skylar had two best pals — Shelia Eddy and Rachel Shoaf.  She’d known Shelia for many years while Rachel had only joined their little posse about a year or so before.  But of course, in high school, a year can be an eternity. But now it is September; all the kids except one are back in school and they are talking. And talking. And they do it on social media, unlike any generation before them. Many of the kids suspected Shelia and Rachel of doing something to Skylar, or at the very least, knowing something.  What was amazing was that many of the details of the actual events that some of these kids tweeted about turned out to be the truth. In October and November, Skylar’s body hadn’t yet been found but kids at the school were tweeting to Rachel and asking about the big cut on her leg that she’d had in the days just after Skylar’s disappearance.  They tweeted to Shelia but she was much more brazen and impervious to the harassment.  Much of this was done via ‘subtweets’, which don’t call out a particular person, but those who are close to the subjects are completely aware of the context. And then the sock puppet accounts showed up.  They were anonymous and were very blatant in their accusations. This was in December of 2012. The two suspect girls were called  “pretty little liars” based on the TV series about mean girls who murdered.

It was in December that Rachel Shoaf cracked.  She’d had a blowout with her mother who decided that Rachel needed more help than she could provide and called police who hauled her off to a local mental hospital for several weeks.  I give credit to Rachel’s mother for having the courage to intervene like that.  It had to be hard for her but it turned out to be the thing that broke the case.

Rachel, apparently guilt-ridden, went to a lawyer after her stint in mental care and confessed all.  And I mean ALL. Her attorney worked out a deal with authorities and in January, Rachel led them to Skylar’s remains which had been concealed in a remote area of Pennsylvania since that fateful night she’d crawled out her bedroom window.

In the meantime, one could watch the breakdown of Rachel and Shelia’s trust on Twitter. Rachel had cooperated with police and FBI in order to get a plea deal and implicated Shelia in the process. Shelia was the ultimate mean girl.  Her hubris was evident from her demeanor on Twitter and she clearly thought that she was above punishment for killing her best friend. She even tweeted “Yes it’s true, we went on 3” – referring to the fact that Shelia and Rachel had planned the attack on Skylar and stabbed her to death on the count of three.

This year both girls were finally brought to justice, with Rachel getting 30 years for her plea to 2nd degree murder and Shelia getting 15 to life for her plea to Murder One.  The horrific details came out at Rachel’s sentencing when the prosecutor read from Rachel’s confession.  They had lured Skylar from her home intending to kill her.  They had driven to a remote area in Pennsylvania, just over the border from West Virginia.  They got her behind the car and on the count of three they both stabbed her to death with kitchen knives.  They stood over Skylar until she stopped breathing and then concealed her body with leaves and brush. They cleaned up with the cleaning supplies that Rachel had brought along and changed their bloody clothing.  They then drove home and went to bed.  These were children. Teens. How do teens plan, perpetrate and conceal a crime such as this? Skylar was murdered in July, Rachel broke in late December and Shelia was arrested the following May. I believe that social media played a part in breaking Rachel and it certainly played a role in demonstrating how cold and callous two teenage girls could be.  Shelia and Skylar’s twitter accounts are still up, though Rachel locked hers during her breakdown.  It’s a forensic psychologist’s dream since you can watch the plot unravel over time.  No one really knows the why the “mean girls” ran amuck. Rachel’s confession states that they “just didn’t want to be friends with her anymore”. Can the motive for murder really be as mundane as that?

Please click here to view The Starks Shrink’s Other Posts:

Going Postal Goes Fed-Ex!

How to Raise a Serial Killer in 10 Easy Steps

The Julie Schenecker Tragedy: Negligence, Finger-Pointing and the Death of Children

Luka Magnotta: Man, Boy or Beast?

The Disturbing Truth about Mothers Who Murder Their Children

Teleka Patrick Needed a Psychiatrist, Not a Pastor!

Rehabbing the Wounded Juvenile Will Save Their Souls (and Ours)

Skylar Neese and the Mean Girls Who Killed Her

commentary by Patrick H. Moore

In Aileen Wuornos’ final interview with Nick Broomfield one day before her execution, she starts out calmly enough and appears to have made her peace with dying. She believes in an afterlife and seems to have no fear of what lies ahead. But then she gets angry and starts dissing on the system. In her mind, she has been used, abused and manipulated by society. Like many people who have been badly hurt, given the chance, she is quick to place the blame on others. Many people who have viewed her final interview, including Nick Broomfield, believe that Ms. Wuornos had succumbed to madness as the final hours of her life ticked away.

Yet, if we examine a selection of Ms. Wuornos’ quotes (brought to us courtesy of brainyquote.com), we find a fairly lucid individual who seems to assess herself unflinchingly without pulling any punches. So what does it all mean? Hard to say for sure but we can be confident on one important point. Aileen Wuornos had been deeply hurt by life and it had rendered her a very angry woman.

• I am a serial killer. I would kill again. (She appears to know herself quite well.)

• I wanted to clear all the lies and let the truth come out. I have hate crawling through my system. (She is in a sense relieved that her killing spree is over but now all that remains is her self-hatred and loathing for the human race that has so damaged her.)

• I need to die for the killing of those people.  (An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. This makes me wonder how I would react if I was a serial killer who had been arrested and was facing execution. Would I want to live or die? How precious is life if you are serving life with no chance of parole?

• I’m one who seriously hates human life and would kill again. (Again Ms. Wuornos expresses her deep loathing for the human race. I am reminded of an angry distant relative who ultimately killed himself. In a final statement, he wrote: “All men are zombies. Do you agree? Because all men are zombies, the only humane thing to do is to kill. Do you agree?” In this mindset, we see a reversal of the normal human desire to help, not harm, others. The serial killer (or potential serial killer) projects his or her self-loathing onto the entire species.

• I really got tired of it all. I was angry about the johns. (Understandably, Ms. Wuornos was worn down psychologically by working as a prostitute. I’m sure the attitudes of prostitutes toward their “work” and their customers varies greatly from person to person, and Ms. Wuornos falls into the category of those “ladies of the night” who despise their johns. I’ve known two prostitutes personally, both of whom were drug addicts. One was reasonably fond of her customers, especially the old guys whom she described as gentle and grateful. The other woman never said anything about her johns. My sense is they were merely a means to an end — the drugs she so desperately desired.)

• My main concern is if this composer has been made aware of the fact that I’ve come clean in all of my cases. I killed in pure hate, robbing along the way. So if this person hasn’t, then I’d sure appreciate it if someone would inform him or her of it. (Ms. Wuornos seems to have a strong need to set the record straight and likes to talk about how pure and undiluted, albeit negative, her motives were.)

• I robbed them, and I killed them as cold as ice, and I would do it again, and I know I would kill another person because I’ve hated humans for a long time. (This is why she is, in a sense, glad that her murderous spree came to an end. Somewhere deep within there is the lost part of Ms. Wuornos’ psyche which has been buried and eroded by “the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” that would prefer to live in a kinder and more compassionate world.

• “May your wife and children get raped, right in the ___.” (To the jurors who convicted her.) (Hopefully, the powers that be were not listening. Too many people are already victimized in this manner.)

 Click here to view Darcia Helle’s compelling Aileen Wuornos post:

 Aileen Wuornos, America’s First High-Profile Female Serial Killer, Never Had a Chance

by Patrick H. Moore

There is no doubt that a certain type of true crime fan seems to take positive pleasure in hating highly attractive female murderesses such as Karla Homolka and Jodi Arias. As opposed to Homolka, who has singularly few supporters (and those she does have typically simply believe she should be left alone), Arias has her share of supporters and quasi-supporters who feel that she was – to whatever degree – “used and abused” by Travis Alexander prior to committing her awful crime.

As a relative latecomer to the world of “true crime”, I am singularly uninformed as to the “fine details” of the Arias case and whether her conviction should have been for second degree murder (crime of passion) as opposed to premeditated first degree murder.

I’m on much solider footing vis-à-vis the Karla Homolka-Paul Bernardo case. What Karla did was clearly execrable, and the intense hatred she triggers on the part of huge numbers of those familiar with her case stems largely from, I believe, several factors.

The “haters” are deeply offended by the fact Karla is thought by many to have thoroughly enjoyed the atrocities she and Bernardo visited upon their poor victims.

The “haters” believe she had absolutely no excuse for what she did; i.e., she was not an abused child and her childhood, although a bit “off”, still fell into the broad range of what constitutes a “normal upbringing. As an aside, the hatred of Homolka is so all-consuming that I’ve recently read several comments by people who take positive delight in the fact that Homokla, who has had three children and must be in her 40s, is reportedly “getting plainer by the day.” In short, the “haters” rejoice in the fact that she is allegedly “over the hill” and will soon by “on the other side of the mountain”.

• In fairness to the Homolka haters, although she still might still be despised, the fury she arouses in the “haters” would probably be nowhere close to the fever pitch at which it has crested and remained, was it not for the fact she got what is perceived as the “ultimate sweetheart plea deal”, a mere 12 years, due to the fact she was the Crown’s star witness against Paul Bernardo. The fact that without her testimony, the Canadian prosecutors would have been unable to convict Bernardo for the murders of Leslie Mahaffy and Kristen French simply does not seem to register with these folks.

• After she got out of prison, Karla had the audacity to get married and have three children. The “despisers” take great pleasure in reveling in the fact that one day her kids are bound to put the pieces together and discover their mother is Karla Homolka, the notorious rapist and murderer.

• A further trigger for the hatred appears to be the fact Homolka is still apparently an extrovert who posts online quite regularly and is considered to be obnoxious and opinionated.

An oddity within this nexus of vitriol is the fact a good many “bashers” are firmly convinced that Bernardo would not have murdered Mahaffy and French was it not for the evil Karla egging him on: “Let’s do it, Paul. Let’s kill the little bitches. It’ll be fun.”

The Bottom Line

Neither Karla Homolka nor Jodi Arias would be reviled by perhaps hundreds of thousands of crime fans, were it not for the fact that they were both extremely desirable women at the time of their crimes.Edgar Allan Poe once stated that there is no more popular topic for a poem than the tragic death of a beautiful woman. If I might de-center Poe’s theory a bit and update it to our era, the theory would go something like this: There is no more popular crime than the hideous murder of attractive young people perpetrated by a beautiful and highly desirable young woman.

To put it bluntly, a murderess must be young, beautiful and sexually desirable to generate enough “heat” to be hated. I can almost guarantee that Roxanne Jeskey of Bangor, Maine has few if any “haters”, even though the brutal manner in which she murdered her husband Richard is perhaps the most shocking crime I’ve ever read about and included such exotic tortures an anal incision and genital mutilation.

The reason few if any crime fans bother to hate Roxanne, who was just sentenced to 50 years in prison despite pleading not guilty by reason of insanity, is because she is middle-aged, quite plain and has brain damage. There’s nothing sexy about Roxanne; thus she simply does not register on the “hatred scale.”

So why must a murderess be sexy in order to engender real hatred? Perhaps it is that to be hated, a murderess must be interesting, and in our perhaps superficial modern society, a woman – at least in the realm of true crime – is simply not very interesting unless she is beautiful.

A Good-Looking Guy Makes the Crime All the More Interesting

In the case of Jodi Arias, the fact Travis Alexander, whatever his pros and cons may have been, was quite a good-looking guy undoubtedly adds “heat” to the mix. If he had been a 300 pound male librarian with dandruff and adenoids, there would be few, if any, “Justice for Travis” websites. The fact that he clearly reveled in anal sex adds additional flavor to our “witches brew”.

By the same taken, if Paul Bernardo had been “ugly as a mud fence”, I would bet that although the case might have originally been very much in the public eye, the interest would have faded far more quickly. Furthermore, the female followers of the case would be far less prone to favor Paul over Karla if he had been a 300 pound child molester and murderer rather than a rather handsome child molester and murderer.

Thus, for a lurid murder(s) to generate huge interest, the murderess must not only be beautiful but her significant other, whether her partner-in-crime, as in the case of Karla, or her victim, as in the case of Arias, must at the very least be good-looking (Travis Alexander) or strikingly handsome (Paul Bernardo).

It would be be simplistic and hypocritical on my part to put down the followers of these cases, no matter which side they’re on, based on my “necessity of physical beauty” hypothesis, for the simple reason that I too am more or less obsessed by these appalling criminals and their lurid crimes. We probably need Dr. Starks to check in on this matter and I probably need a little psychotherapy while I’m at it. After sufficient treatment, I will perhaps be able to slough off my fascination with beautiful murderesses and give equal time to the Roxanne Jeskeys of the world.

compiled by Patrick H. Moore

This compelling yet horrifying array of 51 disturbing quotes from 19 disturbed serial killers is drawn from the public domain. Although I’m quite certain that each and everyone of these killers had their moments of intense terror and loneliness, I am struck by the fact that some of them seem far more unhappy than others. For example, Aileen Wuornos may have been one of the most unhappy women that every lived. Compared to her, suave Mr. Bundy seems to to be feeling only moderate pain, while the deadly Dahmer appears to be consumed with guilt over his actions. What all of this boils down to is that although serial killers may well shares many basic personality characteristics, they are all different which makes it tough to generalize effectively about them.

Aileen Wuornos  (the saddest woman who ever lived)

 “May your wife and children get raped, right in the ass. (to the jurors who convicted her) “

 “To me, this world is nothing but evil, and my own evil just happened to come out cause of the circumstances of what I was doing.

David Berkowitz  (was no doubt possessed by something though probably not the devil)

“A ‘possessed’ dog in the neighborhood won’t let me stop killing until he gets his fill of blood.”

“Hello from the gutters of New York City, which are filled with dog manure, vomit, stale wine, urine and blood.”

“I am a monster. I am the Son of Sam. I love to hunt.”

“I was literally singing to myself on my way home, after the killing. The tension, the desire to kill a woman had built up in such explosive proportions that when I finally pulled the trigger, all the pressures, all the tensions, all the hatred, had just vanished, dissipated, but only for a short time.”

“The demons wanted my penis.”

Ed Gein  (the inspiration for Psycho, Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Silence of the Lamps. Gein lived in my home state of Wisconsin)

“She isn’t missing. She’s at the farm right now.”

“I had a compulsion to do it.”

“They smelled bad.”

Edmund Kemper (Big Ed was tall, large and reportedly had the I.Q. of a genius. He has been a model prisoner.)

“Even when she was dead, she was still bitching at me. I couldn’t get her to shut up!”

“I just wanted to see how it felt to shoot Grandma.”

“I remember there was actually a sexual thrill . . . you hear that little pop and pull their heads of and hold their heads up by the hair. Whipping their heads off, their body sitting there. That’d get me off.”

“The first good-looking girl I see tonight is going to die.”

“With a girl, there’s a lot left in the girl’s body without a head. Of course, the personality is gone.”

H.H Holmes (completely unique in that he built his notorious Murder Castle where he apparently did in his victims)

“I was born with the devil in me. I could not help the fact that I was a murderer, no more than the poet can help the inspiration to sing..I was born with the evil one standing as my sponsor beside the bed where I was ushered into the world, and he has been with me since.”

Henry Lee Lucas (Henry was without a doubt the victim of bad parenting. The cult film, “Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer” is loosely based on him and possibly Ottis Toole. I strongly recommend it but keep in mind, it is not for the faint at heart.)

“I hated all my life. I hated everybody. When I first grew up and can remember, I was dressed as a girl by mother. And I stayed that way for two or three years. And after that was treated like what I call the dog of the family. I was beaten. I was made to do things that no human bein’ would want to do.”

“Sex is one of my downfalls. I get sex any way I can get it. If I have to force somebody to do it, I do…I rape them; I’ve done that. I’ve killed animals to have sex with them, and I’ve had sex while they’re alive. “

Ian Brady (Brady, killer of children along with his partner Myra Hindley, was apparently quite the intellectual. He is old and ill now and has expressed his fervent desire to die but the British authorities insist on keeping him alive by means of a feeding tube.)

“Contrary to popular perception, the so-called Moors Murders were merely an existential exercise of just over a year, which was concluded in December 1964.”

Jeffrey Dahmer (What can you say about Dahmer that has not already been said and re-said?)

“I carried it too far, that’s for sure. “

“I’ve got to start eating at home more..”

“My consuming lust was to experience their bodies.I viewed them as objects, as strangers. It is hard for me to believe a human being could have done what I’ve done”

“I couldn’t find any meaning for my life when I was out there, I’m sure as hell not going to find it in here. This is the grand finale of a life poorly spent and the end result is just overwhelmingly depressing… it’s just a sick, pathetic, wretched, miserable life story, that’s all it is. How it can help anyone, I’ve no idea.”

John Wayne Gacy (I don’t like this guy at all though I am weirdly enchanted by his Clown Paintings.)

“A clown can get away with murder.”

“The only thing they can get me for is running a funeral parlor without a license.”

Peter Kurten  (known as The Vampire of Dusseldorf)

“After my head has been chopped off, will I still be able to hear, at least for a moment , the sound of my own blood gushing from my neck? That would be the best pleasure to end all pleasure. “

Richard Ramirez (The Night Stalker was smart and could have done much good in the world if he’d had a decent childhood.)

“Big deal, death comes with the territory. See you in Disneyland.”

“I’ve killed 20 people, man. I love all that blood.”

“Even psychopaths have emotions, then again, maybe not.”

“We’ve all got the power in our hands to kill, but most people are afraid to use it. The ones who aren’t afraid, control life itself.”

“You maggots make me sick, I will be avenged. Lucifer dwells within us all.”

Ted Bundy  (There’s something quintessentially creepy about Bundy. A little too suave and self-serving for my taste.)

“I haven’t blocked out the past. I wouldn’t trade the person I am, or what I’ve done – or the people I’ve known – for anything. So I do think about it. And at times it’s a rather mellow trip to lay back and remember.

“I just liked to kill, I wanted to kill.”

“You learn what you need to kill and take care of the details…Its like changing a tire…The 1st time you’re careful…By the 30th time, you can’t remember where you left the lug wrench.”

“You feel the last bit of breath leaving their body. You’re looking into their eyes. A person in that situation is God!”

Albert DeSalvo (Although DeSalvo was definitely a rapist, it has not been definitively settled whether he was actually a murderer. That could be why his quote seems unlike those of the “real” serial killers. His remains have been exhumed in hopes of obtaining DNA matches.)

“It wasn’t as dark and scary as it sounds. I had a lot of fun…killing somebody’s a funny experience.”

Albert Fish (Like Henry Lee Lucas, Fish was very likely prone to exaggerating his evil deeds. He was one of the early lucky fellows to “ride the chair” at Sing Sing Correctional Facility in New York.)

“I always had the desire to inflict pain on others and to have others inflict pain on me. I always seemed to enjoy everything that hurt. The desire to inflict pain, that is all that is uppermost. “

 ”I saw so many boys whipped, it took root in my head.”

 ”I like children, they are tasty.”

Arthur Shawcross (This execrable human claimed to have eaten the vaginas of 3 of his 11 known female victims.)

“I took the right leg of that woman’s body, from the knee to the hip took the fat off and ate it while he stared at the other girl. When I bit into it she just urinated right there.”

“She was giving me oral sex, and she got carried away . . . So I choked her.”

 Dennis Rader ( “BTK” was his infamous signature. It stands for “Bind, Torture, Kill”.)

“When this monster entered my brain, I will never know, but it is here to stay. How does one cure himself? I can’t stop it, the monster goes on, and hurts me as well as society. Maybe you can stop him. I can’t.”

“I actually think I may be possessed with demons, I was dropped on my head as a kid.”

Charles Manson  (You have to admit that Charlie is quite the character.)

“I’ve killed no one. I’ve ordered no one to be killed. These children who come to you with their knives, they’re your children. I didn’t teach them, you did.”

“Total paranoia is just total awareness.”

“Believe me, if I started murdering people there’d be none of ya left.”

“You know, if I wanted to kill somebody, I’d take this book and beat you to death with it. And I wouldn’t feel a thing. It’d be just like walking to the drug store.”

Carl Panzram (Panzram confessed to 22 murders, and to having sodomized over 1,000 males. He was hanged for having murdered a prison employee at Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary in 1930.)

“I wish you all had one neck and that I had my hands on it.”

 “Today I am dirty , but tomorrow I’ll be just dirt.”

“Hurry up, you Hoosier bastard, I could kill ten men while you’re fooling around!”

The Zodiac Killer Quotes (The Zodiac was very smart although he certainly might have been brought to justice if modern forensic techniques had been available during his “reign of terror”.)

“If the blue meanies are going to get me they’d better get off their asses and do something.”

by Patrick H. Moore

On June 17, 2013, Cameron Langford of AlterNet reported that Texas jailers at the Live Oak County Jail were sued by two former female inmates because they ran a “rape camp” where they “repeatedly raped and humiliated female inmates,” and forced them to masturbate and sodomize male guards, and one another.

The former inmates J.A.S. and J.M.N. brought a civil action in Federal court against Live Oak County and its former jailers Vincent Aguilar, Israel Charles Jr. and Jaime E. Smith.

The three guards were arrested in August 2010 and charged with sexual assault. Two of the guards, Smith and Aguilar are now incarcerated in Texas state prisons. The third jailer Charles is not currently in custody. It is unknown whether he has charges pending.

Live Oak is a sparsely settled county in south central Texas.

The complaint reads like every woman’s worst nightmare:

“In addition to the repeated sexual assaults, numerous female inmates were sexually harassed. Certain male guards would strip the female inmates of their clothing and provide only shaving cream to conceal their genitalia. Certain male guards would sometimes force the female inmates to shower in front of them while instructing them to shave their vaginas. In other instances, while detailing their degenerate sexual fantasies, the jailers would pin the girls against a wall, grope their persons, verbally berate them, digitally rape their vagina and/or anus, then force them to perform oral sex.

“In order to facilitate their carnal impulses, these guards would withhold food and water, engage in physical abuse, restrict privileges and verbally and emotionally abuse the women – even threaten to kill them in order to compel their compliance.”

Plaintiff J.A.S. was arrested on a simple marijuana possession charge in July of 2010. Ironically, the charges were later dismissed, but not before her disastrous designation to the Live Oak County Jail.

Not every jailer at Live Oak was purely evil. In fact, shortly after J.A.S. arrived, she was taken aside by a guard she knew only as Jesse and warned to stay away from Aguilar and Smith. When she asked Jesse why he simply told her to trust him and refused to say more.

The criminally cunning guards knew where to take inmates to avoid having their sexual assaults recorded by the jail’s surveillance system.

The complaint states that J.A.S.’s assailants told her that she “belonged to them” and that she was their “sex slave.”

J.M.N. and J.A.S, who are represented by Ronald W. Armstrong II of San Antonio, seek punitive damages for civil rights violations, assault and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Based on the alleged facts of the case as set forth in the complaint, which are supported by the fact that Smith and Aguilar are already serving prison sentences, it seems likely that the two female victims have a very good chance of winning at trial. Although Smith and Aguilar could well be financially insolvent, J.M.N. and J.A.S. would appear to have a very good chance of collecting any damages they are awarded because under the theory of vicarious liability, Live Oak County is presumably responsible for Smith and Aguilar’s egregious conduct, which, in my opinion, is as it should be.

by BJW Nashe

“Getting away with murder” now serves as a euphemism for avoiding the consequences of just about any kind of bad behavior. In its most literal sense, however, the phrase points to an especially troubling phenomenon — serial killings committed by psychopaths who somehow manage to avoid being caught and convicted of their crimes. The Zodiac Killer, who terrified the San Francisco Bay Area in the late 1960s and early 1970s with a string of murders accompanied by bizarre cryptograms and letters to the press, is probably the most famous murderer who was never captured. The Zodiac is not alone, however.  Our recent history is littered with unsolved mass murders. The following rogue’s gallery — presented in no particular order, since they are all equally hideous — lists some of the ones who got away with the worst crimes imaginable.

The Bone Collector is an unidentified serial killer from the area known as the West Mesa of Albuquerque, New Mexico. In 2009, the chance discovery of a human bone by a dog-walker led police into something closer to an archaeological dig than a typical crime scene. The remains of eleven women, later determined to have been prostitutes, were slowly excavated from the area — which turned into the largest crime scene in U.S. history. Yet not a shred of promising evidence was ever unearthed from this macabre dumping ground — no DNA, no potential murder weapons, no personal clues, nothing at all. Sex workers in the area still live in fear of the killer, even though no murders associated with him have been reported for several years. To this day, the Bone Collector’s identity remains a complete mystery.

The Axe Man of New Orleans was responsible for at least eight killings in New Orleans, Louisiana (and surrounding communities) from May 1918 to October 1919. Typically, the back door of a home was smashed, followed by an attack on one or more of the residents with either an axe or a straight razor. The crimes were not considered linked to robbery, since no items were removed from the victims’ homes. The Axe Man was never caught or identified, and his crime spree stopped as mysteriously as it had started. He wrote a notorious letter to address the public, which was printed in the newspapers. Beneath the heading, “Hell, March 13, 1919,” the Axe Man explained that he was a non-human spirit, something close to the “Angel of Death,” and he vowed to take more victims before he departed earth for his native “Tartarus.” He also made it clear that music was of crucial importance:

“I am very fond of jazz music, and I swear by all the devils in the nether regions that every person shall be spared in whose home a jazz band is in full swing at the time I have just mentioned. If everyone has a jazz band going, well, then, so much the better for you people. One thing is certain and that is that some of your people who do not jazz it on Tuesday night (if there be any) will get the axe.”

Charlie Chop-Off was active in Manhattan between 1972 and 1974. He killed five black children, and attacked another who he left for dead. The nickname comes from the genital mutilation inflicted on the male victims. A principal suspect, Erno Soto, was arrested and did end up confessing to one of the murders. But Soto was considered unfit for trial and sent to a mental institution instead. The case is still considered open.

The Grim Sleeper of Southern California is thought to be responsible for at least ten murders, plus an additional attempted murder, in Los Angeles from 1985 to roughly 2007. His nickname derives from the fact that he appeared to take a Rip Van Winkle style nap, in the form of a 14-year hiatus from crime, during the years 1988-2002. When he was active, there was so much killing going on in L.A. at the time that it was hard to distinguish one murderer’s work from that of another. Thus, the Grim Sleeper was initially confused with the Southside Slayer. In any case, when the May 2007  murder of 25 year-old Janecia Peters was linked through DNA analysis to as many as twelve unsolved murders in L.A. dating back to 1985, a special task force was formed. The Grim Sleeper’s profile emerged as an African-American man who had sexual contact with his victims before strangling or shooting them with a .25 caliber handgun. On July 7, 2010, a suspect was arrested. Lonnie David Franklin Jr., 57, was charged with ten counts of murder, one count of attempted murder, and special circumstance allegations of multiple murders. We still don’t know if Franklin is guilty, though. He has not yet been put on trial for what amounts to a quarter century of killing — with plenty of time off for sleep.

The Cleveland Torso Murderer (also known as the Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run) was an unidentified serial killer who killed and dismembered at least 12 victims in the Cleveland, Ohio area in the 1930s. The Torso Murderer always beheaded and often dismembered his victims, sometimes also cutting the torso in half — in the style of the Black Dahlia corpse. Most of the male victims were castrated, and there was also evidence of chemical treatment being applied to their bodies. Although two suspects were investigated for these horrifying crimes, with Elliot Ness in charge of Cleveland police at the time, no one was ever convicted of the murders.

Jack the Stripper was responsible for the London “nude murders” of 1964 and 1965 (also known as the “Hammersmith murders” or “Hammersmith nudes” case). The similarities with the nineteenth century Ripper murders are obvious. The Stripper murdered at least six prostitutes, whose nude bodies were discovered around London or found dumped into the River Thames. Two additional victims are often attributed to him, although these do not appear to fit his modus operandi. The Stripper’s third and seventh victims were allegedly connected to the 1963 Profumo Affair. Also, some victims were known to be involved in London’s underground party and pornographic movie scene. Scotland Yard’s initial investigation included nearly 7000 suspects, which was supposedly narrowed down to just 20 men, then 10, and eventually only three. No one was ever convicted of the crimes, and the Stripper, for whatever reason, ceased his killing spree.

The Doodler was responsible for slaying 14 men and assaulting three others in San Francisco between January 1974 and September 1975. The nickname derived from the perpetrator’s habit of sketching his victims prior to having sex with them and then stabbing them to death. (One wonders whether the sketches ever made it onto the murderabilia market.) The perpetrator met his victims at after-hours gay clubs, bars and restaurants. Police zeroed in on a prime suspect in the case, who was identified by two of his surviving victims. Yet the cops were unable to proceed with an arrest, since the survivors (an entertainer, and a diplomat) refused to “out” themselves by way of testifying. The suspect, who never admitted his guilt, has never been publicly named, and the murders have faded into obscurity.

Bible John reportedly murdered three young women after meeting them at the Barrowland Ballroom in Glasgow, Scotland between 1968 and 1969. All three women were raped, strangled, and beaten to death. Just prior to the third murder, the killer supposedly took a taxi ride with the the victim and her sister. The sister said the man, who was named John, was soft-spoken and liked to quote from the Bible. As of 2013, the killer has never been identified, although the location and activities of known Glaswegian serial killer Peter Tobin strongly suggests that he may have been behind the killings. No proof of this has ever been established, however, and the case remains unsolved.

The Phantom Killer is responsible for the “moonlight murders” committed in and around the twin cities of Texarkana, Texas and Texarkana, Arkansas in 1946. The Phantom Killer is credited with attacking eight people, and killing five of them. The attacks occurred on weekend nights, nearly always three weeks apart, and always involved a .32 caliber pistol. The case terrified the entire area, and eventually inspired the 1976 horror film, The Town That Dreaded Sundown. Two of the earliest victims were able to give a description of their attacker — and it only served to heighten the sense of terror. They described a six-foot tall man with a plain white sack worn as a hood over his head, with holes cut out for the eyes and mouth. One suspect, a man named Youell Swinney, was imprisoned as a repeat car theft offender in 1947, and released in 1973. He was never charged with the crimes. Due to the killer’s hooded disguise, some in law enforcement and the press have speculated that the murders may have been the early work of the Zodiac Killer, but this has never been proven.

The Babysitter Killer of Oakland County, Michigan was responsible for the murders of four or more children — at least two girls and two boys — in the years 1976-77. The children were abducted and then held for time periods ranging from 4-19 days, before they were killed by either strangling, suffocation, or shooting. Two of the victims were also sexually assaulted with an object. These atrocious deaths caused extreme public fear bordering on mass hysteria, and triggered a murder investigation which was the largest in U.S. history at the time. The Detroit News offered a $100,000 reward for the killer’s apprehension. A number of suspects were investigated — some authorities even considered John Wayne Gacy to be a likely perpetrator. However, the murders remain unsolved.

A more deranged bunch than this is difficult to imagine. How did they get away with it? Dumb luck? Skillful evasion? Police incompetence? Or all of the above? The truth probably resides in the simple fact that it is often just plain difficult — and very time-consuming – to solve murder cases. We tend to take homicide investigations for granted, and assume that justice will be served. However, given the sheer number of homicides, and the complexities involved in most cases, we shouldn’t be surprised that some of our worst psychopaths are able to slip through the cracks, and get away with murder.

Wonders Never Cease! A federal judge has overturned the conviction of former New York City police officer Gilberto Valle, who was convicted by a jury in March 2013 based on accusations of him plotting to kidnap, kill and eat young women. He is being held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan.

Yesterday, Judge Paul Gardephe ruled that there was insufficient evidence to support the conviction of Gilberto Valle.

In his 118 page opinion, Judge Gardephe stated in part: “The evidentiary record is such that it is more likely than not the case that all of Valle’s Internet communications about kidnapping are fantasy role-play.”

Wow! You can rest assured that fomer officer Valle is feeling mighty good today. Maybe he’ll even get his job back?

In honor of this glad day in the hearts and minds of Cannibal Cops everywhere, we are pleased to re-post our original article about Gilberto, which was written by BJW Nashe, with a mild assist from Patrick H. Moore, in the very first week of All Things Crime Blog. See below:

by BJW Nashe and Patrick H. Moore

The New York City police officer currently on trial for blathering online about his cannibalistic fantasies appears to be more of an ignoramus than a genuine threat to society. He’s definitely non compos mentis when it comes to crime writing.

When Bret Easton Ellis published American Psycho, his disturbing tale of a name-brand conscious Wall Street trader who spends his spare time raping and butchering people, he received plenty of criticism for the book, as well as a fair share of praise. But no sane person suggested he be arrested and put on trial. Love it or hate it, his work has literary merit. American Psycho is a provocative, well-written indictment of the mass murderer mentality. The Cannibal Cop’s dark fantasies, on the other hand, appear to have no more literary value than the average masturbatory chat room drivel. Though it must be admitted, at times they evidently resemble actual plans, [1] rather than mere fantasies. The “plans” themselves are criminally deranged, yet so incredibly moronic they are hard to take seriously. Cannibal porn? With backyard barbecue pits, featuring victims with apples stuffed into their mouths? This is lame, cartoonish, Texas Chain Saw Massacre material.

If you’re going to engage in public discourse about disturbing culinary compulsions, at least show some verve, some style, some panache. Second-rate Hannibal Lecter role-playing will never impress us here at the All Things Crime blog. Any attempt by the media to play up the “outrageous” or “shocking” nature of the Cannibal Cop story misses the point — namely, that male fantasies centered around brutalizing and killing women, assuming they are not acted upon, are just pathetic and dumb. At the very least, the Cannibal Cop should be facing sanctions for crimes against the imagination. The Marquis de Sade’s nightmares were pretty mind-numbing –page after page of monotonous cruelty and cold fornication — but compared to the Cannibal Cop, the “divine Marquis” was positively Shakespearean.

Now the Cannibal Cop’s trial is turning into a tortured graduate philosophy seminar on the conceptual and legal difference between “reality” and “fantasy.” Seems doubtful that the defendant could be convicted for imaginary “cannibalism plans.” But who knows? Maybe he should be locked up. Or perhaps, instead of prison time, he should be whisked away to some S & M dungeon, where a team of hardcore dominatrixes could give him the time of day. After all, if these make-believe cannibals are going to bother us with their fake sadism and blatant misogyny, shouldn’t experts in the field be able to give them a taste of truly creative play time? I’m sure there are plenty of women in New York who’d be happy to oblige…

[1] The Cannibal Cop, Gilberto Valle, is charged with one count of 18 U.S.C. §1201, Conspiracy to Kidnap, and one count of 18 U.S.C. §1030(a)(2)(b), Accessing a Computer without Authorization and Exceeding Authorized Access from Any Department orAgency of the United States.  The first charge is extremely serious and, if convicted, Officer Valle apparently faces a maximum penalty of life in prison.  The second charge carries a maximum sentence of five years of imprisonment.  The presiding jurist, the Honorable Paul G. Gardephe, is better known for handling serious RICO cases and white collar securities fraud cases than for administering Cannibal Cop trials.  It should be noted that Officer Valle could be acquitted of the Conspiracy to Kidnap count and still be convicted of the Unauthorized Computer Access count.  This does not appear to be an unlikely occurrence.  With a 14 per cent “good time” discount and early release to a halfway house, Officer Valle would serve around 46 months in Federal prison.

by Lori

After reading our initial post on the Koystya Thyssen parental imprisonment case out of Dripping Springs, Texas, in which Koystya’s parents imprisoned the 22-year-old youth in a garage/shack for 4 years, ostensibly to protect the Thyssens’ other children and the community from the sexual threat he allegedly posed, our dedicated child advocate and foster parent Lori was kind enough to elaborate on how this troubled young man should have been handled.

I agree completely with Dr. Starks, the way this young man has been treated is just so wrong and has undoubtedly further damaged him. There is no way he seeing the type of “counselor” he needed (or even a licensed one).

There just isn’t enough information here to even venture a guess as to what happened. Was he a sex offender? Juvenile or adult? Adjudicated or not? How significant are the cognitive impairments? What age is he currently functioning at, both emotionally and intellectually? How old are the other children in the family? Had they been victimized? At what age were problematic behaviors first observed? What resources did the family try to utilize before they locked him up in a SHED? And a million more questions….

What I can say is that there is a right way to handle this. I have taken kids (both adjudicated and not) that are sex offenders. Very difficult population. But deserving of the same dignity and respect as all other human beings. There are programs that provide offense specific treatment and are individualized to meet the needs of the client while keeping community safety and victim protection as paramount. My state has a SOMB (Sex Offender Management Board) and all programs that work with sex offenders have to be SOMB certified. This is legislated. This also provides standardized assessment and risk evaluation criteria for both juvenile and adult offenders. Juveniles are fundamentally different from adults and should never be treated the same (for any crime but that’s just my opinion).

I don’t trust the system either. Who does? It really is going to take their help, though, if you have a child that is a sex offender. I can only speak about the juvenile offenders as that is all I have experience with. In my situation, I have the luxury of not having to decide to turn my kids in as the behavior was probably known before they arrived on my doorstep. The supervision required is intense. The child has a treatment plan as well as a safety plan. They have individual, family and group therapy with therapists that are SOMB certified. Risk factors are constantly being reassessed. There is no way to predict if a sex offender will re-offend. Treatment has better outcomes for juveniles than adults. I don’t personally know of a single sex offender that wasn’t first a victim.

This is what it looks like to have a known juvenile sex offender in your home: Constant supervision and cameras in common areas. Lots of therapy appointments. Possibility of not being able to have younger children in the home (depending on the treatment plan). An alarm on the kid’s door so you know if he is leaving his room at night if you have other kids in the home. A safety plan for EVERYTHING. (OMG, it’s so much work…) Your kid has a field trip with school? Write a safety plan. Trip to the mall? Safety plan. Public bathroom? Go in and check that no one is in there and then stand outside and don’t let anyone in until the kid comes out. Exhausted yet? Don’t even bother trying to take him to a public pool. The safety plan you write will never get approved. Oh yeah, the plans have to be written and then approved by whoever has been deemed in charge of them, therapist, probation officer, caseworker… some activities even have to have a judge sign off for permission.

The important thing is to hold this person accountable for their own behavior. They have to contribute to their own treatment, write safety plans (if capable), be involved in all decision making regarding their treatment. Education about their offense is necessary. Above all they must be treated as a whole person, their self-esteem, school and social functioning have to be promoted and improved if they are to be able to make the changes necessary to never re-offend.

Please click here to view our post on the Koystya Thyssen wrongful imprisonment case:

Adoptive Texas Parents Allegedly Keep Sex-Offending Child Locked Up to Protect the Community

commentary by Patrick H. Moore

We all know that as we get older, time seems to accelerate; one day follows hard on the heels of its precursor and a month may seem like a mere week or two. Looking back, I seem to recall that when I was in my twenties, the time seemed to pass at the slow pace of the moon, and a single workday could seem to drag on interminably.

But what about if you’re a young woman, now in your mid-twenties, and you’ve been facing murder charges for well over six years, and that you spent four of those years locked up in an Italian prison. What if you’re Seattle native Amanda Knox?

The “big shoe” has dropped twice now (two convictions) and although you’re home in Seattle, your appeal of the latest conviction is in its early stages and is not expected to be ruled upon until next year. How long does a day last for you? Does a day seem like a week? A fortnight? Even a month? Does a month seem like a year? And what about those nights when you can’t sleep (unless of course you’re one of those lucky souls who can always sleep, no matter how much pressure you’re under).

And as the days crawl along like a snail inching its way across 40 miles of bad road, you know in both your heart and mind that your former boyfriend and co-defendant Raffaele Sollecito is in the process of distancing himself from you in a desperate attempt to save himself from more than 20 years in an Italian prison.

So although it must hurt terribly, you probably weren’t really surprised when on Tuesday at a press conference in Rome, your former boyfriend and his lawyer, the powerful Giulia Bongiorno, took dramatic steps to distance himself from you still further in a manner that clearly implies that you just might be guilty of Meredith Kercher’s murder.

The Local: Italy’s News in English reports:

His lawyer, Giulia Bongiorno, said during the press conference in Rome that Sollecito “spent the night with Amanda” but was not with her during part of the evening.

The addition to Sollecito’s defense comes as lawyers prepare an appeal to Italy’s Supreme Court against January’s verdict by a Florence court.

While the Italian always claimed Knox “spent the night” with him, he never said they spent the evening together – which is when the crime took place, Bongiorno said.

“Whenever he described what happened that afternoon, and evening, he always said he spent the night with Amanda,” Bongiorno said.

“But for the entire first part of the evening, they were not together. It’s this first part of the evening that’s new [to his defence].”

This revelation, it appears, could be extremely damning for Knox. Bongiorno appears to have been deliberately vague with respect to specific times, probably in order to plant the seed of doubt without giving too much away. If I’m not mistaken, it’s generally assumed that Ms. Kercher was murdered sometime between when she arrived home at her Perugia flat at around 9:15 pm and midnight.

“But for the entire first part of the evening, they were not together. It’s this first part of the evening that’s new [to his defence].”

At the press conference, the redoubtable (causing or deserving great fear and respect) Bongiorno stated that Raffaele’s appeal “would revolve around a text message which Knox claims to have sent while with Sollecito at his house the night of the murder.”

“This text message, according to the court’s own ruling, was not sent from his house. Therefore the pair were not together,” she said.

Odd that Raffaele’s lawyer would be relying on a ruling by the court, the same court that just convicted her client, to “hang” Knox, but what the heck? Anything to deflect the blame away from Sollecito and onto Knox.

Sollecito is reportedly relying on the log from his home computer to prove he was home at the time of the killing.

Sollecito (wouldn’t you know it?) was also at the press conference. He again professed his innocence, saying, “I’m not here to change my story; only a crazy person or a criminal would do that.”

“I am neither a crazy person or a criminal, I’m an innocent person,” he added.

Note that although he and his lawyer are not about to change his story, they show no hesitation in changing Ms. Knox’s story.

When he was asked if he knew Knox’s whereabouts during “the first part of the evening”, Sollecito said his concentration was on defending himself and that could not vouch for where she was.

He also said he was in love with her but that, ultimately, she was a “stranger”. Now what the heck does that mean? That she’s now a “stranger”? Or that his American lover was always a “stranger?”

Sollecito was careful, however, to point out that he and his family have always believed, and continue to believe, in Knox’s innocence.

Of course. Clever. If Knox was not with Sollecito at the time of the murder and if he can prove based on his computer log that he was at his residence at the time of the murder, he cannot possibly be guilty. Of course, this makes one wonder why this evidence was not placed front and center previously.

* * * * *

As is well known, Kercher was found dead in the apartment she shared with Knox on November 1, 2007.

Knox and Sollecito were originally sentenced to 26 and 25 years in prison for killing Kercher at the first trial. They were acquitted on appeal in 2011 after spending four years in prison, but then were once again found guilty by a Florence court in January of this year.

Just for shits and grins, let’s take a quick look at the Florence court’s reasoning, which resembles a lurid teenage love story/murder mystery.

First, utilizing what may be the shakiest DNA evidence in the history of DNA evidence, the court said that there was DNA proof that three people were at the murder scene: Knox, Sollecito and the sleazy Rudy Guede, who before long will have finished up his fast-track sentence.

Somewhere within its 337 page explanation, the court opined that Kercher was frequently irritated by Knox’s behaviour and that when the Seattle girl invited Guede into the apartment that night the situation escalated. (Where is the evidence that Knox invited Guede into the apartment that night? and at the risk of sounding like a broken record, how could Raffaele have been there at all if he was back at his apartment “enjoying” his computer.

The court writes that Guede “behaved impolitely” (I’ll buy that) and that an annoyed Kercher interrupted an “intimate moment” between Knox and Sollecito to complain.

Why is poor Meredith so frequently described as “annoyed”? She always looks smiley and happy, very sweet, in her photographs, sympathique et souriant, as my French cousins would say.

“The cohabitation had reached such a level of exasperation” that the argument quickly escalated, with Guede, Knox and Sollecito “collaborating to immobilize Meredith and use violence against her,” sayeth the learned court.

Wait. How can “cohabitation reach a level of exasperation”? Well, I suppose it can if it’s constantly being interrupted by an intrusive moralist. But how could Knox “cohabitate” with Raffaele if he’s not there? I realize the dude is proving to be a bit of a “shape-shifter”, but I don’t believe even he could be in two places at once.

The court goes on to claim that the nasty Guede, whose DNA was found inside Kercher’s body, was driven by “sexual instinct”, while Knox and Sollecito “wanted to prove their power over Meredith and humiliate her”.

Stop. If Guede was driven by “sexual instinct”, I would think he would want to merely have sex with the poor victim, not murder her, but since he apparently did murder her, I’m clearly wrong on this account. And we know from following various criminal cases and sex and death often conjoin in an unholy alliance.

But why on earth would Amanda and Raffaele want to kill the poor young lady “to prove their power over her and humiliate her.” You can’t humiliate a dead person. And besides, according to Raffaele and Lawyer Bongiorno, Sollecito was back at his crib playing with his computer when the crime occurred.

Then the court really gets down, stating that the larger of the two knives, “which produced the wound on the left part of the neck and from which spurted most of the blood which caused Meredith Kercher’s death, was held by Amanda Knox.” (I told you the court has turned this into a lurid teenage romance/murder mystery.

And then the Court claims that the other knife was wielded by Sollecito, who cut through the victim’s bra strap, inadvertently planting the only piece of DNA evidence which links him to the crime scene.

Investigators have long insisted that 47 cuts and bruises on Kercher and the apparent use of two different knives in the attack point to more than one killer.

I have to admit that this makes some sense. On the other hand, in a recent American case, brain-damaged Roxanne Jeskey did enough damage to her poor dead husband (including anal incisions) to make it seem like a whole army of pervert murderers did the poor man in.

Prosecutors had previously alleged that Kercher was killed in a drug-fuelled sex attack, claiming Knox delivered the final blows while Sollecito and Guede held the victim down.

Yeah! And I’m King Tut returned from the dead.

But the Florence court ruled out that theory, saying that Kercher was not the type of girl to have engaged in drug-induced sex parties. This is probably true.

* * * * *

Where does this leave us? I’m not sure. But I am quite certain that as the long, slow days stretch into nighttime and she strives to hold onto some shred of hope, whether or not she had anything to do with Ms. Kercher’s murder, Amanda Knox is getting sadder and sadder and sadder…