by Patrick H. Moore

Far too many supremely talented actors, singer and musicians have died of drug overdoses. Whether it’s Whitney Houston, Judy Garland, Michael Jackson or Jimi Hendix, the list is long, and the unfortunate thing is, there are more future OD victims waiting in the wings (although they’re not yet aware of it), destined to take their place among those who got high one time too many. The following list is far from complete but should serve as a representative selection of the “great ones who got away”.

Whitney Houston

Although my edgier friends may laugh at me for admitting this, I have always loved Whitney Houston, and that’s without really being a fan or even knowing her body of work. Just hearing her songs by accident here and there on the radio was enough to give me the chills as her majestic voice would climb the scales of longing. I had heard that she was a devoutly religious woman and was surprised when she hit the skids, lost her voice and took on the characteristics of an addict.

Whitney Houston drowned in a Beverly Hills bathtub on February 11, 2012 at the age of 48 after apparently falling into a deep sleep. The autopsy detected cocaine and prescription medication, including Xanax and the muscle relaxant Flexeril. According to some sources, her hotel room was littered with twelve different prescription bottles.

Amy Winehouse

Amy Jade Winehouse was an English singer-songwriter known for her deep contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres, including R&B, soul, jazz and reggae. Her 2006 follow-up album, Back to Black, led to five 2008 Grammy Awards, tying the record at that time for the most awards by a female artist in a single night, and made Winehouse the first British female to win five Grammys, Best known for her prophetic number, “Rehab”, after years of abusing drugs and alcohol, Winehouse died of alcohol poisoning on July 23, 2011. Her album Back to Black posthumously became the UK’s best-selling album of the 21st century. In 2012, Winehouse was ranked 26th on VH1′s 100 Greatest Women In Music list. The BBC has called her “the pre-eminent vocal talent of her generation.”

Judy Garland

No matter how old (or young) you are, you’ve probably seen Judy Garland scampering around the Land of Oz with her faithful trio of magical friends. My favorite scene is when she douses the Wicked Witch of the West with a bucket of water and quenches her cackle forever. And then, of course, there’s the sentimental scene at the end when she clicks the heels of the ruby slippers three times and chants: “There’s no place like home.”  Ms. Garland, who just happened to be Liza Minnelli’s mother, died in the traditional manner reserved for troubled actors — from overdosing on sleeping pills in her London hotel in 1969. She was 47.

Michael Jackson

I could never really decide if I liked Michael Jackson’s dancing — perhaps a little too herky-jerky for my taste — but I consider “Billy Jean” to be one of the all-time great pop songs. Plus, I loved the fact the the King of Pop was weird as hell. I’m obviously not referring to the accusations of child abuse, but rather to his peculiar ways — the endless plastic surgeries, the reclusive lifestyle and the love of exotic animals.

Sadly, on June 25, 2009, on the eve of an attempted comeback tour, Jackson died from an overdose of the the powerful anesthetic propofol. His prescribing physician, Dr. Conrad Murray was charged with involuntary manslaughter and went to trial and lost. Murray received a four-year sentence and was recently released from custody.

Brittany Murphy

According to some sources, Brittany Murphy, who had a memorable supporting roll in “Clueless” with Alicia Silverstern, and was co-lead with Dakota Fanning in the delightful “Uptown Girl”, died from prescription drug intoxication, anemia and pneumonia on December 20, 2009 at the age of 32.

Although Ms. Murphy is arguably not an artist of the same stature as the others on this list, and was an actor, not a musician, I greatly enjoyed watching her movies with my daughter when she was little.

There have been unsubstantiated rumors, however, the her real cause of death was heavy metal poisoning at the hands of a mysterious assailant — charges that are unlikely to ever be definitively proved or disproved.

Elvis Presley

Elvis apparently started using prescription drugs way back in the 1950′s while doing his two-year military stretch. Later in life, The King got severely hooked on painkillers, opiates and tranquilizers. He purportedly died of a heart attack at the age of 42 on August 16, 1977, possibly as a result of the strain the massive quantities of drugs he ingested placed on his heart. I remember reading in a “tell-all” book about Elvis that someone counted 4,000 needle marks on Elvis’ butt after his demise, and it is has been verified that he was receiving prescription Dilaudid, a powerful, injectable synthetic opiate from one of his “drug doctors” at the time of his death.

But the exact cause of Elvis’ death doesn’t really matter because as all true Elvis fans know, The King never really died, although he may have “left the building.”

Jimi Hendrix 

Although Elvis was undoubtedly one of the great rock and roll stars of the 1950s, everything changed during the following decade, the illustrious 1960s. The world of rock expanded dramatically and, suddenly, the world of popular music morphed into something poor Elvis could hardly fathom.

One of the greatest guitarists of this era was James Marshall “Jimi” Hendrix. He combined blues, funk, hard rock and even jazz into a heady mix of often maniacal sound that took the world by storm and caused him to be hailed as the king of electric guitar, something that bothered Eric Clapton mightily. Who can forget “Purple Haze”, “Foxy Lady”, and even Jimi’s great cover songs — his first hit, “Hey Joe (Where Ya Goin’ with That Gun in Your Hand) and his classic cover of Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower?”

Perhaps Hendrix burned too brightly — he died at the age of 27 on September 18, 1970 at the Samarkand Hotel in London. He ingested nine prescribed Vesperax sleeping pills and asphyxiated on his own vomit and red wine.

commentary by Patrick H. Moore

In the eyes of many, crime in America is often associated with the poorer and less educated segments of our society. The reality, however, is that violent crime and rape occur among the working class, the middle class, and the upper-middle class/wealthy.

It’s just been disclosed that a particularly grotesque and repugnant rape was allegedly committed by a wealthy Memphis-area businessman, Mark Giannini, the co-founder of IT company Service Assurance. Giannini resides in Eads which is apparently an exclusive suburb of Memphis.

Michael McLaughlin of Huffington Post writes:

Recently released police documents detail an alleged grotesque rape of a mother of four who wanted a housekeeping job in the home of a Memphis businessman.

The suspect is the businessman himself, Mark Giannini, the co-founder of IT company Service Assurance, according to WREG. He allegedly repeatedly raped a 26-year-old for several hours until she blacked out on June 19.

Giannini possessed expensive handguns, prescription narcotics (some of which apparently had been diverted), a trove of sex toys including handcuffs, and women’s panties arranged by size. He is 49 years old and drives a Lamborghini and a Jaguar. (I say “drives” a Lamborghini and a Jaguar present tense because, somewhat surprisingly, Giannini was released from custody after posting a bond of $150,000).

According to the police report, when the authorities searched his posh residence on June 23rd, they found more than $16,000 in cash, 24 firearms, Viagra, Xanax, hydrocodone and other medications.

(The police report can be accessed here but readers should be forewarned that it contains an extremely graphic description of the alleged rape, unlike anything I have ever read before.)

According to Eric Lipford, Sabrina Hall and George Brown of WREG3, the victim’s reported ordeal began when “she informed a friend she was looking for extra employment. The friend reportedly told Giannini, who the victim said showed up at her job June 17 and told her he needed a house cleaner and office help.”

The woman told law enforcement that she called Giannini two days later on June 19th and told him she was interested “in some work, at which time he told her he would pick her up” and drive her to his home in order to give her “an overview of the house cleaning and office work he needed done.”

Once they arrived at his home, the woman said Giannini gave her an orange-colored drink that he told her was similar to a “pop-up”. She drank it and as she walked around Giannini’s palatial digs, she became uncomfortable, she reports, because “she saw strange things in the house, like a skeleton hanging in the den.”

She then told Giannini that she wanted to go home but instead of acquiescing to her request, “he began kissing her aggressively and pulling her hair.”

This in turn, according to the crime report, led to Giannini allegedly performing (and forcing the alleged victim to perform) almost unimaginably vile sexual acts on the woman against her will. Among other things, Giannini forced the victim to consume urine, blood and fecal matter, while telling her these perverse actions were “part of the job interview, according to WBTV”.

Adding a little touch of Americana to the whole demented scene, much of the rape occurred “over a three hour period on top of an American flag towel.”

According to deputies, when Giannini was finished, he had an employee take the victim to a Motel 6, where her family found her before “taking her to the hospital”.

The woman’s family said she “was in a mentally altered state and in and out of consciousness.”

Staff at Baptist Hospital where she was treated said she was foaming at the mouth with, “similar medical conditions to a seizure or overdose.”

The woman herself says she blacked out and doesn’t know how she got back to the nearby Motel 6 where her family found her.

Naturally, Giannini’s attorney said his client is not guilty and claims he was set up, according to WNCN.

Giannini has hired the so-called dream team Steve Farese and Leslie Ballin to defend him.

“We think the facts will show the he is innocent, that he wasn’t the one who called her. She called him to come get her,” Farese said. “There’s another witness who took her home and this certainly looks like a staged event.”

You think? Will the “facts” ultimately show that this was all a set-up designed to blackmail the rich guy? I hope not but only time will tell… If it was a staged event, it seems odd that she was in such bad shape at the end of the encounter that she was “foaming at the mouth.”

Although it took a few days, after hearing the alleged victim’s report, detectives went to Giannini’s gated home on June 23. A man (not Giannini) spoke to the officers on the intercom system and said the suspect was not home. According to another affidavit, he refused to allow the investigators to enter the property.

Not to be denied, the detectives forced themselves onto the grounds and found wet footprints leading into the woods in back of the home.

Shortly thereafter, Giannini appeared and presented himself to officers on the street outside of his home. According to a detective’s sworn statement, he was “perspiring profusely and had fresh cuts and scratches on his legs.”

The alleged rapist has been charged with two counts of aggravated rape, two counts of possession of a controlled substance and one count of possession of a firearm, according to Fox 13.

* * * * *

It is reported that Giannini’s bail was originally set at $1,000,000 before being reduced to $150,000 leading to his release on bond. The fact he made bond is outrageous. Based on the charges, he is clearly a “threat to the community” and should be behind bars, which, I suspect, is precisely where he would be if he were not a wealthy “shaker and mover.”

But hey, at least they arrested the guy and that’s a start.

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 Darcia Helle

When I hear the phrase “Trial by Media”, I think of high profile cases like OJ Simpson’s trial for murdering Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman. I think of Nancy Grace and the other pundits who pronounce their opinions as fact, all the while taking great pleasure in creating the lynch mob mindset among their viewers. But this phenomenon isn’t limited to TV, nor is it something new to ‘modern day’ life. The more I read about old murder and death penalty cases, the more I realize that the media has been responsible for public opinion and trial verdicts since the invention of the printing press.

Recently I read an advanced copy of a book called Until You Are Dead, Dead, Dead: The Hanging of Albert Edwin Batson by Jim Bradshaw and Danielle Miller. The book is dry, at times difficult to follow, and better suited as discussion for a college course than a casual read for the true crime fan. The case itself, however, is a compelling example of trial by media.

In 1902, Ed Batson was a soft-spoken, 21-year-old migrant worker from Missouri, who’d never been in serious trouble, and according to all who knew him, had no propensity toward violence. He’d been working in the rice fields of Welsh, Louisiana when he was accused of brutally murdering an entire family. In 1903, despite conflicting and, at best, circumstantial evidence, Batson was hanged for the crime.

Before Batson was even placed under arrest, the local media went to work proclaiming his guilt. One early article published by the Signal, stated:

“Batson’s motive for wiping out the Earll family is a mystery unless it was for getting hold of the mules [which] is [too] preposterous for belief. If he had any grudge against the Earlls, or any one of them, it is not known here and his tigerish thirst for blood is beyond understanding. Some are inclined to think the man became insane, being unable to believe he could have butchered his victims as he did had he been in his right mind.”

On the day of the Earlls’ funeral, the Weekly American printed a provocative piece, describing the scene with unflinching detail:

“…next came two drays bearing the battered remains of the Earll family, butchered by the fiend Batson.”

The same article closed by emphasizing Batson’s guilt:

“…where in one immense grave the bodies of Batson’s victims were laid to rest.”

At the time of the murders, a “tramp” had been seen in the area. This was mentioned once, early on, but never followed up on by media or, more importantly, by police. The community had Batson, a poor migrant, as an easy target, and, for whatever reason, their scapegoat for the murders. No murder weapon was ever found. No plausible reason was ever given for Batson killing the family. He’d never had any sort of confrontation or other incident with any one of them that might have raised suspicions. Regardless, Batson had worked for the family, and therefore his close proximity was all the community needed to declare him guilty.

One Lake Charles newspaper, on the day of Batson’s arrest, led their story with this headline:

“Swift Justice for Ed Batson. Despicable Wretch Arrested Last Evening.”

Long before Ed Batson was arraigned, a headline in the New Orleans Picayune called him: “Batson, the Butcher”.

At the time of the Earll murders, the town of Welsh, Louisiana had a population of only 320 people. Everyone knew everyone else. Consequently, it’s easy to understand why no one there wanted to believe one of their neighbors could have committed such a horrible crime. That doesn’t explain why the issue of the tramp wasn’t explored, though it might simply be that he was unknown and long gone, and therefore not accessible.

Although Batson’s close proximity to the crime contributed to his conviction, the newspaper reporters ensured his guilty verdict. Every potential juror living in or anywhere around Welsh, Louisiana read the papers which declared Batson to be a murdering butcher. During the time Batson was held in the local jail, the police actually allowed the local people to parade through, ogle, jeer, and otherwise gawk at him. Batson was a caged animal, a man to despise, a sideshow event.

Fortunately, we no longer allow our citizens to parade through a jail and throw apples at the accused. But we do plaster their faces on the TV screen, the computer screen, and the pages of newspapers. The media, and particularly the talking heads who earn their money by spewing venom, offer a slanted perspective, a one-sided image of the person they want us to revile. Mainstream media, in its many forms, is largely responsible for establishing public opinion. It’s a psychological fact that once an opinion is formed, people cling to those beliefs even in the face of conflicting information or outright contradictory proof.

Ed Batson was put to death for a crime he, in all likelihood, did not commit. Otherwise intelligent jurors pronounced him guilty, not because of what the evidence said, but because of what the media said. Our justice system is fragile, reliant on independent thought free of prejudice. Maybe it’s time we expected those same qualities from our news media.

Please click to below to view Darcia’s Helle’s many excellent posts:

“Met Her on the Mountain”: Cold Case Social Worker Hog-Tied, Raped and Killed in Appalachia

Jovial Private Bartender Snaps; Assaults and Drags Obnoxious 84-Year-Old Club Patron

Frank Lloyd Wright and the Great Gasoline Mass Murder

Edward Elmore Rode the Legal Railroad to 30 Years on Death Row: His Crime? Simple! He Was Black and Poor

 “The Wrong Carlos”: Non-Violent Manchild Executed for Murder He Did Not Commit

The Electric Chair Nightmare: An Infamous and Agonizing History

Autopsies: Truth, Fiction and Maura Isles and Her 5-Inch-Heels

Don’t Crucify Me, Dude! Just Shoot Me Instead! Spartacus and Death by Crucifixion

To Burn or Not to Burn? Auto-Da-Fé Is Not Good for Women or Children!

The Disgraceful Entrapment of Jesse Snodgrass: Keep the Narcs Out of Our Schools

Why Should I Believe You? The History of the Polygraph

“Don’t Behead Me, Dude!”: The Story of Beheading and the Invention of the Guillotine

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

The Terror of ISO: A Descent into Madness

Al Capone Could Not Bribe the Rock: Alcatraz, Fortress of Doom

Cyberspace, Darknet, Murder-for-Hire and the Invisible Black Machine

Darcia Helle lives in a fictional world with a husband who is sometimes real. Their house is ruled by spoiled dogs and cats and the occasional dust bunny.

Suspense, random blood splatter and mismatched socks consume Darcia’s days. She writes because the characters trespassing through her mind leave her no alternative. Only then are the voices free to haunt someone else’s mind.

Join Darcia in her fictional world: www.QuietFuryBooks.com

commentary by Patrick H. Moore

One of the perennial issues in sex offender cases is the single burning question: can a hands-on sex offender truly be rehabilitated? My sense, and this is based on common sense, not statistics, is that some probably can be rehabilitated and some probably cannot.

Sadly, for both his victims and his own future, Toby Eugene Griego, 42, most recently a resident of Montana, appears to be a member of the group that cannot be rehabilitated. Montana district court judge Russell C. Fagg certainly believes that, which was instrumental in the fact that he just sentenced Giego to 22 consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole, plus 60 years and six months, for raping three women and attempting to rape a fourth last year.

The Billings Gazette writes:

“In almost 20 years of being a district court judge, I’ve never seen a more dangerous criminal or a bigger predator in our community,” Judge Russell C. Fagg said, as he delivered the sentences.

The judge also designated Griego, 42, as a level 3 sexual offender and ordered that he, at least initially, be housed in a maximum security unit at the Montana State Prison.

Griego, with his chin turned up, did not show any emotion as the sentences were announced.

“It will be my hope … that you never walk the streets again as a free man,” the judge told him. “I think that’s appropriate under these circumstances.”

Griego, who perhaps thought he had nothing to lose, went to trial in the spring of this year and was convicted in April on 27 counts, including 10 counts of rape.

Although Griego has apparently already been sentenced, several witnesses were slated to testify post-sentencing. (Although this appears to be a rather strange way of proceeding, it is apparently the way these matters are handled in the great state of Montana.)

A Dr. Robert Page, the doctor who designated Griego a Level 3 sexually violent offender — which means he is at the highest risk of reoffending — has already determined Griego has antisocial personality disorder, according to court records.

Billings Police Detective Ken Parahik, a lead investigator in the case, will also testify, along with 33-year-old Kelley Hollingsworth, a woman Griego raped 17 years ago in Santa Fe, N.M. Ms. Hollingsworth has courageously agreed to be identified by name.

Court Chatter writes:

In 1997, Kelley Hollingsworth had been at her high school’s homecoming football game and had gone to a friend’s house after. She stopped at a gas station to fill up, when Griego noticed her and began following her. Kelley was in front of her friend’s house putting lipstick on when Griego opened her door.

“He opened my door,” she said. “He put a knife to my head, and he just told me, ‘Shut up. Shut up. I just want your car.’”

Griego dragged Hollingsworth to a vacant house across the street. He began choking her and stopped when she grabbed his pinkie finger. He then stuffed her gloves into her mouth and dragged her to another location. The now convicted serial rapist pulled her sweatshirt over her head to keep her from looking at him and proceeded to sexually assault her.

Because it was dark and because her sweatshirt was pulled over her head, Kelley never had a clear view of Griego’s face, but she was convinced that she would be able to identify his voice.

After raping her, Griego then threw Hollingsworth into the trunk of her car and drove around for a while. He then stopped and, weirdly, made her use a water bottle to rinse off her body. This peculiar demand was similar to what he made his Montana victims do, each of whom had to bathe or shower several times after the sexual assaults. Griego even dragged one Montana victim to a ditch near her home where he repeatedly dunked her head in the water.

After forcing Hollingsworth to rinse herself off with the water bottle 17 years ago, Griego eventually returned her to close to where he had accosted her, opened the trunk of her car, and told her he would kill her if she got out of the trunk before ten minutes had passed.

Although 22 life sentences could arguably be seen as a bit excessive, under Montana law, the judge had no choice other than to sentence Griego to life in prison without parole because of his previous rape and robbery conviction in New Mexico, where he reportedly had attacked and stalked numerous women.

Griego moved to Billings in 2008 from New Mexico.

The crime spree that brought Griego before the Montana court began in January and ended in July of last year. During this period, he broke into the homes of four women, repeatedly raping three of them while attempting to rape the fourth.

In two of two sexual assaults Griego was charged with perpetrating in May and July of 2013,he allegedly broke into the women’s homes while they were sleeping and their roommates were not at home.

In both of these instances, Griego reportedly bound, photographed, robbed and assaulted the victims both physically and sexually in their homes and cars, and at various bank parking lots and near a canal in Billings.

What is interesting about these assaults is the fact Griego’s DNA was reportedly never matched to any of the victims, but he was identified based on videos he made of the attacks which later came into the possession of law enforcement. (We’ve spoken before about the weird obsession a great many sex offenders have with videotaping their cruel “conquests”.)

Drew Trafton of KTVQ.com writes:

The Billings Police Department was first made aware of Griego as a possible suspect on July 15th, when a tip given to CrimeStoppers pointed investigators toward Hobby Lobby in Billings.

Officers interviewed several of the employees who told them that Griego frequently would come into Hobby Lobby and follow female customers around the store-possibly photographing them on occasion.

Investigators then began following Griego through various stakeouts and monitoring methods before executing a search warrant on the suspect’s residence, car and phone.

On August 14th, 2013, Griego was initially arrested by the Billings Police Department for charges unrelated to the sexual assaults. He was then released one week later only to be re-arrested on Friday, August 23rd, by the Billings Police Department and members of the U.S. Marshals Violent Offender Task Force at his home on the 400 block of South 30th Street in Billings.

According to court documents, images on Griego’s phone were found to be related to the sexual assault crimes in May and July and also included various images of unidentified women from outside of their bedroom windows in Yellowstone County.

* * * * *

Damn. Thank god this guy has been put out of business. We’re all more or less familiar with the power of our various obsessions which can include drugs, food, alcohol, sex, love, money and a host of other predilections including an obsessive love for our favorite sports teams. Fortunately, the vast majority of us are not sex-obsessed in a manner that would lead us to sexually assault men, women or children.

The uncontrollable desire to do precisely that is undoubtedly one of the most powerful of the dark, lawless and intrinsically inhumane urges that drive violent criminals to commit their heinous acts.

To all of you who are not cursed with these dark desires, consider yourself lucky. To any of you who are plagued with them, I pity you but not nearly as much as I pity your victims – past, present or future.

commentary by Patrick H. Moore

One typically assumes that parents adopt children in order to give them the opportunity to grow up in a healthy, happy home and have opportunities that they would not otherwise have. Some adoptions, of course, are domestic, but these days a great many adopted children come to us from China, Eastern Europe and other parts of the world. Sadly, a small percentage of adoptive parents wade through the mountain of paperwork and the considerable expense required to complete and formalize an adoption for precisely the wrong reasons. Such was the case with Larry and Carri Williams of Sedro-Woolley, Washington. Morgan Lee of the Christian Post writes:

An American couple has been found guilty in the death of their adopted daughter and abuse of their adopted son.

Larry and Carri Williams were convicted of first-degree manslaughter of their adopted teenage Ethiopian daughter, and first-degree assault of a child for their abuse of an Ethiopian boy they adopted at the same time. The jury also convicted Carri of homocide by abuse though they did not reach that decision for her husband. Both defendants intend to appeal.

Hana Williams, the couple’s adopted daughter, collapsed and died in May 2011, apparently in the backyard. The autopsy report states the cause of death was hypothermia, exacerbated by malnutrition and an  undefined “stomach condition.”

Appalling details were revealed during the course of the trial. The prosecution introduced evidence that Larry and Carri allegedly forced Hana to use an outdoor portable toilet and shower, even though there was modern plumbing in the house. Her sustenance was limited to cold and frozen food. They made a habit of striking her regularly with a belt and piece of plumbing line. They also shaved her head. The prosecution further asserted that during the time period leading up to Hana’s death, she had been locked in a closet each night and had not been allowed to talk to any of her seven adopted siblings.

The Williams’ already had six adopted children when they adopted Hana and her younger brother Immanuel from Ethiopia in 2008. The boy and girl were then seven and 11 yeas old.

Following Hana’s death, The New York Times reported that the couple’s abusive parenting tactics had been based on instructions contained in a so-called “Christian parenting book” called To Train Up a Child. According to the report, Carri Williams had recommended the book to a friend and beaten Hana with a plastic tube, which was specifically recommended in the book.

“It’s a good spanking instrument,” said the author of the book, Tennessee preacher Michael Pearl, in an interview with The New York Times. “It’s too light to cause damage to the muscle or the bone.”

This was one of those trials which divided the community along clearly marked lines of demarcation. Each day spectators supporting both camps filled the court room. Metassibia Mulugeta, a member of Seattle’s Ethiopian community, attended to provide solidarity to Williams’ Ethiopian children.

Mulugeta questioned how the kids’ suffering could have lasted for so long:

“Deprivation of food. Deprivation of socialization, within the family. Deprivation of sleep. Deprivation of total freedom. I mean, (Hana) was under control in every sense, and they both were,” Mulugeta said. “…How long could she have lived and endured that?”

This is a rhetorical question. Poor Hana could not live and endure the execrable conditions Larry and Carri Williams heaped upon her.

Janet Heimlich of Religious Child Maltreatment has been following the case. Ms. Heimlich writes:

After reading witness accounts and news reports, I began picking up on some familiar-sounding details: Larry and Carri Williams expected complete obedience of their children, especially of Hana and Immanuel. The parents were devout Christians who home schooled their children. They played audio recordings of Bible verses and Christian music during punishments, and there was talk in the household of Hana being possessed by demons. Also, investigators found in the home “To Train Up a Child”.

I know that book well. It’s a parenting guide written by Tennessee preacher Michael Pearl who operates a website called No Greater Joy. “To Train Up a Child” has been harshly criticized for its reliance on physical punishment of children.

Hana was not the first child to die in a home run by followers of Michael Pearl. Both 4-year-old Sean Paddock and 7-year-old Lydia Schatz had been killed by adoptive parents who had had a copy of “To Train Up a Child” in their homes and had used similar techniques advocated by Pearl. Those techniques included being whipped with 1/4-inch-wide plumbing line, a form of torture that both Hana and Immanuel Williams also suffered.

According to witness statements and court testimony, Carri and Larry Williams were obsessed with child obedience. When investigators interviewed their biological children, they noted that they appeared to be strangely cheery and were often looking at their parents, as if to be sure they answered questions the way their parents wanted them to. All children risked punishment if they disobeyed their parents’ orders. One sibling told investigators that if Immanuel was not doing a chore as instructed, he would “get the switch on his hands.” Hana would get “switched” if she did not stand within twelve inches of a designated spot.

*     *     *     *     *

In the state of Washington, the maximum sentence for first-degree manslaughter is life in prison. The Skagit Valley Herald reports that “Skagit County Prosecutor Rich Weyrich is recommending 14 to 18 years for Larry Williams and 27 to 37 years for Carri Williams.”

Their sentencing will occur later this month.

*     *     *     *     *

Once again we appear to have a case in which even the lengthy term of imprisonment recommended by the prosecution may not be long enough. No term of incarceration, however, will bring Hana Williams back to life.

Update:

In late October, Carri Williams was sentenced Tuesday to just under 37 years, the top of the standard sentencing range, by Judge Susan Cook who said she probably deserved more time in prison, the Skagit Valley Herald reported. Her husband received a sentence of nearly 28 years.

You might say that justice has been served.

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.”

This is the third in our series of posts by Tyler who received several life sentences for an armed robbery he took part in when he was 17. No one was injured in the “stick-up” but that did him no good when it came to sentencing.

by Tyler (June 1, 2014)

I live on a prison yard that was created for one major purpose – to safely house convicts who have denounced their affiliation with or membership in gangs. It is known as a gang “drop out” yard. In theory, this yard is dedicated to promoting a healthy way of incarceration. I say “in theory” because it is not always the case.

Not everyone comes to this yard with the intention to become a better person. You still have to navigate through inmates who may have denounced their gangs, but not their predatory natures. You still have to deal with them and some corrections officers who have become abusive because of what they deal with in the system or because that is their nature, too. So, to fully benefit from a “drop out yard” you must be smart, intuitive and have a strong sense of identity and character.

Actually, in most prison yards, the opportunity to rehabilitate yourself does not exist. At least here, you have a chance. For that, I am grateful.

But the old life is never far away.

A few weeks back, I was walking the yard when the alarm sounded. Immediately after that, the tower guard yelled through the loudspeaker for all inmates to “GET DOWN!” When that happens, you better sit down all the way down on the ground wherever you are, or suffer the consequences.

As I was sitting down, the instincts I have developed over nearly twelve years of prison had me scanning the surroundings to see where the danger was. Pepper spray rode the breeze, irritating the back of my throat. I heard somewhat distant shouts from guards, “GET THE FUCK DOWN!” That’s when I realized the problem was on another yard, close to mine.

Shotgun blasts told me that the “block guns” were out and I knew someone was getting hit with the rubber blocks those guns coughed up. The pop of the guns almost felt like the blows of the rubber blocks in my gut as I remembered my time on other yards.

A heavier wave of pepper spray barreled over, covering about a quarter of our yard with a yellow-orange cloud. Suddenly, officers of our yard streamed out of the housing building, outfitted in riot gear. They were on their way to the trouble.

Shouting and chaos continued. Then I heard the rifle shots cracking from the tower – live rounds. Serious stuff was “jumping off.”

My heart was pounding against the inside of my chest as the adrenaline rushed through me. I closed my eyes tight and flew back in time to the days of survival and battle on the main line. Even though it had been eight years since I had any real altercation, the feelings that rose up to the surface made it seem like it was only yesterday. Maybe it’s just muscle memory, but I was swept back to those years between 17 and 21 when I was fighting for my life almost daily. My body and brain were ready to fight for my life again, if that’s what it came to. Just the sounds and the smells brought it all rushing back. On the main line, I had a target on my back. Survival was all I had on my mind. When you are in life and death situations, survival better be all you think about, or you will end up dead.

But I am not there anymore. I am here. Here in the “drop out yard,” the people who advocate for rehabilitation – some employees of the system, some volunteers and some inmates – have a chance to help themselves and people like me who made stupid decisions but finally saw through the chaos to something meaningful. I am so grateful for this yard. It’s far from perfect, but it is a place where Hope still has a fighting chance. And I am grateful to the people who believe that rehabilitation is real and worth pursuing. To them I say thank you for helping me recover my true self before it was too late.

There are others on the main line who would like the chance I have been given. I hope they get it. I hope the system changes to make this kind of yard the mainline and leave the battle for survival to those who do not care to rehabilitate themselves.

Thanks for reading.

Tyler

Click here to view Tyler’s previous posts:

“Behind and Beyond the Wall”: The Gift of Freedom

“Behind and Beyond the Wall”: Tyler’s Story of Finding Life in Darkness

commentary by Patrick H. Moore

Gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson once wrote, “When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro”, which means something like: “When things get really weird, the weird get even weirder.” Well things got very weird in a small office at Sister Marie Lenahan Wellness Center, a part of Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital in Darby, Pennsylvania on Thursday afternoon. Allow me to set the scene:

We have a 53-year-old caseworker named Theresa Hunt, a 52-year-old psychiatrist named Lee Silverman, and an angry and troubled psychiatric patient named Richard Plotts. Of these three individuals, only Ms. Hunt was unarmed. She is now dead. Plotts, the angry patient, is in critical condition from three gunshots wounds and underwent surgery Thursday night at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital. The psychiatrist and hero of our story, Dr. Silverman, sustained a slight bullet wound to the head, a mere grazing, according to reports.

According to Delaware County District Attorney Jack Whelan, if Plotts survives (gets out of the hospital alive), he will be charged for the murder of Theresa Hunt. On Thursday, Whelan described the “weirdness that went down” at the hospital office when things took a sudden and unexpected violent turn.

Plotts and Hunt arrived at Silverman’s third-floor office shortly before 2:30 p.m. Hunt and Dr. Silverman were presumably unaware that Plotts was carrying a firearm. An argument broke out and, according to Whelan, hospital employees near the room soon heard shouting.

Whelan further states that one hospital employee “actually opened the door, saw him pointing a gun at the doctor.” Adopting the old adage that ‘discretion is the better part of valor’, “the worker shut the door quietly and immediately called 911.”

The angry Plotts was not to be denied and then opened fire. According to Whelan, two of his bullets struck Hunt in the face. Student of human nature that he is, the canny Dr. Silverman realized Plotts was out of control. He reportedly ducked under his desk, grabbed his gun, and came up firing, striking Plotts three times.

Courageous staff members rushed toward the scene and when Plotts ended up out in the hallway, another caseworker and a doctor tackled and pinned him dawn, according to Whelan.

By this point or shortly thereafter, a fully locked and loaded police contingent arrived on the scene as “patients and doctors streamed onto the lawn and driveways surrounding the building.”

The building was evacuated and placed on lockdown.

A patient in need of an X-Ray, Allen Williams of Upper Darby, recounts that he was handing over his ID and health card for his appointment when police officers rushed into the lobby.

“They came in with guns drawn,” said Mr. Williams. “It was just a shock to me.”

A different Mr. Williams (first name of Alfred) relates that he had just concluded a doctor’s appointment and was waiting for his ride when, without advanced notice, “swarms of police officers descended on the scene.”

“They kept coming,” Williams said. “Guys with helmets and automatic weapons kept jumping out of their cars. It was total panic. . . . I saw three people come out in stretchers.”

Anna Smith is an ultrasound technician. She was on the first floor celebrating a colleague’s 60th birthday when police burst in and told everyone to leave through the back door.

Ms. Smith, who appears to be a bit of a philosopher, opined:

“There’s a sign on the door that says you have to check your weapons at the front. But you can’t expect every crazy person to do that.”

Although it could be deemed a very good thing, it was not exactly clear why Silverman, who has been practicing medicine for nearly 25 years, had a handgun at the office. A spokeswoman for Mercy Fitzgerald, Berniece Ho, informed on Thursday that “it was against hospital policy for anyone other than security guards to carry weapons.”

Donald Molineux, chief of the Yeadon Police Department, seemed unconcerned about the fact that Dr. Silverman (who I should probably call Ol’ Doc Holiday) was armed, stating that if Silverman returned fire and wounded Plotts, he “without a doubt saved lives.” (At a minimum, his own.)

Silverman, who shot Plotts three times in the torso and arm, was expected to make a full recovery.

Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital is a 213-bed hospital that serves more than 186,000 patients each year. It was founded in 1933 by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and called the incident “a tragic event for our hospital and for our community.”

What is a bit odd is the fact that no one seems to know why Plotts arrived at the third floor office with the now deceased caseworker Theresa Hunt. According to DA Whelan, Plotts has a history of psychiatric problems.

Delaware County records show that a man matching Plotts’s name and age was sentenced in 1996 to more than seven years in prison for robbing a bank in Wilmington. According to other court records, an Upper Darby man believed to be the shooter has been arrested numerous times over the last 30 years for an array of charges including assault, drugs, weapons possession, and other offenses.

At least some of Plotts’s former neighbors were on to him. A man named Bert Garcia said that Plotts “was an uneasy presence in the neighborhood until he moved out sometime in the last year” and that he was either “on drugs or heavily medicated.”

“He was a big guy,” said Garcia. “He could be intimidating.”

Garcia recounted that on one occasion, he discovered that Plotts had removed some ceiling tiles in the hallway and was “messing around with the wiring.” Another time, he told Garcia he had stabbed himself in the leg. Garcia, however, did not observe that Plotts was bleeding.

“You could tell there was something wrong,” another neighbor named Cathy Nickel said. “He needed help.“

* * * * *

Although cases such as this are shocking and could be interpreted as a sign that society is steadily deteriorating; i.e., “the weird are getting weirder”, the statistics show that the violent crime rate in America has dropped steadily over the past two decades.

In an article titled “Steady Decline in Major Crime Baffles Experts”, Richard A. Oppel, Jr. wrote in 2011:

In all regions, the country appears to be safer. The odds of being murdered or robbed are now less than half of what they were in the early 1990s, when violent crime peaked in the United States. Small towns, especially, are seeing far fewer murders: In cities with populations under 10,000, the number plunged by more than 25 percent last year.

Thus, we really are a much less violent society than we were a mere two decades ago. To what can we attribute these vastly reduced violent crime rate?

Mr. Oppel writes further:

As the percentage of people behind bars has decreased in the past few years, violent crime rates have fallen as well. For those who believed that higher incarceration rates inevitably led to less crime, “this would also be the last time to expect a crime decline,” says Frank E. Zimring, a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley.

“The last three years have been a contrarian’s delight — just when you expect the bananas to hit the fan.”

But he said there was no way to know why — at least not yet.

“The only thing that is reassuring being in a room full of crime experts now is that they are as puzzled as I am,” he said.

Personally, I’ve long thought that the sharp decrease in violent crime and property crimes, which are also WAY DOWN, is because people today are so busy playing on their computers that they have neither the time nor the desire to go out and commit serious crimes.

It takes effort and a real commitment to find the time to read the various posts we present here on All Things Crime Blog and this is merely a single blog. And as we all know, many people regularly visit and keep up with several websites on a daily basis. Surfing the net is a time-intensive process and – the occasional “social media” violent crime notwithstanding – may well be instrumental in making America a safer, more user-friendly society.

by Lise LaSalle

“Never apologize, mister, it’s a sign of weakness.”

“Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway.”

“A man deserves a second chance, but keep an eye on him.”

“A man’s got to do what a man’s got to do.”

There is a real fascination in our society for serial killers like John Wayne Gacy, Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, Richard Ramirez and many more.  And it is not a new trend as we can trace this type of interest as far back in time as the documented cases will take us.

Ironically, it appears that these killers are not that lethal in the grand scheme of things, if we compare their death toll to that of the most dangerous gangs out there. In fact, gangs like the Triads in Asia, los Zetas in Mexico, the international crime syndicate Yazuka mostly based in Japan, the Area Boys in Nigeria and the 18^th street gang in LA, just to name a few, wreck much more havoc than our famous celebrity killers.  But we are not as enthralled by their handy work probably because they show their true colors publicly.

The gang members tend to be visible through tattoos, colors, clothing, etc. Their violent mentality is very clear and they demonstrate it proudly. They are killing hundreds and even thousands of people while subsisting on a gamut of crimes like drug dealing, car theft, burglary, home invasion, extortion and much more.  Everything goes for these outlaws who snub their noses at the system.

The mafia is a syndicate that was less visible and seemed a bit more sophisticated. Their tentacles reached into the pockets of businesses and even the government. And once upon a time, they used to have a code of honor about not killing children, women and innocent bystanders. They certainly appeared less savage at times than the notorious modern gangs. But once again, even if we know the names of some mob bosses and more than a few movies have been made about the subject in general, this interest cannot compare to the morbid fascination many have for a boogey man like John Wayne Gacy, or even Charles Manson who is a legend even if he has never killed anyone himself. Sometimes I wonder if Manson would have been able to accomplish anything physically violent without his doped-up and brainwashed disciples who were more a rag-tag group of losers than an organized gang. Manson pretended to be a flower power hippie and, in reality, he is a pretty insignificant little man compared to many gang leaders. But nonetheless he became the poster boy for infamous celebrity.

When men travel in packs and operate as a group, we tend not to focus so much on specific members, unless they really stand out. Plus, they are not hiding their true nature so there is no big mystery to uncover. On the other hand, the lone wolves who are wearing sheep’s clothing like John Wayne Gacy and who appear to lead a normal life on the outside, become an irresistible enigma because they live among us and act like us. Their efforts to hide their true nature make them oh so irresistible to analyze because it is almost like asking ourselves how any of us could be capable of such behavior.

Plato said, ‘At the touch of love everybody becomes a poet’, and I believe that at the touch of evil everybody becomes a truth seeker; we want to understand and know the reasons why evil happens as if it were contagious and we were afraid to catch it somehow before we could cure it or prevent it from happening again.  Not unlike driving by the site of an accident and slowing down automatically out of morbid fascination.

But people like Gacy are human beings just like you and me except that they got twisted and damaged along the way and lost their conscience if they ever had one, which is often the question. Nature versus nurture does not seem to cut it all the time but in Gacy’s case, it offers interesting insight.

John Wayne Gacy

John Wayne Gacy was born in Chicago on March 17^th, 1942. He was the second child of John Stanley and Marion Elaine Gacy. The young couple already had a daughter but John was longing to have a son to carry on the family name. They named him John Wayne after Marion’s favorite movie star and for John, it was the personification of manhood he expected from his son.

In Europe, many parents consult numerologists to try to find a well-balanced name for their offspring to make sure that they will not carry the burden of a name that could lead them in a negative direction. I can only imagine in the 40s and 50s that being called John Wayne, would have represented a burden for any boy who did not show any inclination to be tough and cowboyish.

The Gacy family welcomed a third child two years later. It was a lovely little girl they named Karen. The family was now complete and settled in a modest bungalow in a blue collar neighborhood. The father was the son of Polish immigrants and a world war Veteran who worked as a machinist building control panels for a utility company. He was an old-fashioned breadwinner who put food on the table and a roof over their heads but he was not the nurturing kind. On the contrary, he was an uncompromising man who demanded obedience from his children and was particularly hard on his only son John Wayne.

He expected him to be like the other boys and play sports, fish and participate in rough and tumble activities. As an avid fisherman, he tried to get John Wayne to share his passion, but to no avail because he had no interest in these pursuits. Instead, he loved nothing more than to cook with his sister or garden with his mother.

When John wanted to work on flower beds around the house, an activity he took pride in, his father would call him a sissy and would be very vocal and demeaning towards him. He would often ridicule him in front of his sisters and other kids and it grew into a constant stream of criticism and disdain.

According to John Wayne’s childhood friend, Barry Boschelli, it was devastating for him and a terrible humiliation not to be accepted for who he really was. His father would tell him that he would never amount to anything and that he was one of the girls.

On the other hand, John’s mom was his confidant and he developed a special bond with her that made his father feel even more threatened. She was a homemaker who tried very hard to keep peace at home especially when her husband, who drank to escape his numbing job on the assembly line, would become violent and abusive and usually turn on John. He tried to run the household with an iron fist and it became very difficult — especially for the boy.

John learned to toughen up and not to cry when his father would hit him with a razor strap and to be stoic through it all. He felt alienated at home but longed to be accepted by his classmates. A congenital heart condition prevented him from playing with the other kids because he would pass out if he tried to be active or wrestle. It was another blow to the ego of his father who showed no sympathy for his son who was now a sickly sissy. The name John Wayne was a bust and in his father’s eyes, he may as well have been called Shirley Temple.

John disappointed his father even more when he did not do well in his studies and fell behind in spite of working hard because he was sick and missed school so often. When he was twelve, he joined the boy scouts in another attempt to fit in. Let’s say that he excelled mostly in campfire cooking. He felt alienated from everyone except his best friend Barry who recognized what was going on and found out that John was in the habit of trying on his mother’s silk stockings and bra.

Gacy was obviously very confused about his sexuality and was receiving constant negative reinforcement about his own identity. He had no one to help him so he buried his secret desires deep down in his psyche and continued on with his life trying to be the man he was supposed to be.

By the time he was a teenager, he had mastered the art of deception and was dating girls and acting like everything was fine in his world. But his grades and his health had not improved. He attended a vocational high school to learn a trade but would pass out in shop class and it became clear he would never be able to work with machinery.

He dropped out of high school which disappointed his overbearing father once again so he decided to leave home to get away from the constant barrage of insults. He moved to Springfield, Illinois and at age twenty two, became a shoe salesman. Very Al Bundy so to speak.

He finally could feel alive and be himself, at least to a certain extent. He was very ambitious and determined to make a name for himself. He craved acceptance and became a volunteer at the Junior Chamber of Commerce. He rubbed elbows with politicians and organized quite a few campaigns for the community. He ended up marrying a shy bookkeeper he had met at the shoe store. Her name was Marlene and she was from a well-to-do family. Gacy saw it as a way to improve his image. They had a son named Michael that he was very proud of, but his demons had reared their ugly heads and the day his son was born, Gacy had his first homosexual encounter with a man, which delighted him and disgusted him at the same time.

Unlike his father, Gacy was very nurturing with his son and even his dad seemed pleased to see him as a family man who had a decent job.  But it was not to last.

As he made a name for himself as a civic leader, he was also fighting a terrible sexual compulsion that would destroy everything he was trying to build. In 1966, he moved his family to Waterloo, Iowa because his father-in-law owned three Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants and he needed a good manager. Gacy loved being the boss and took to it like a fish in water or like chicken in fat.

He also became chairman of membership at the local Jaycee’s. He was charming and very social and he lured members by showing illegal porno and organizing orgies with prostitutes. Gacy even managed to get his wife Marlene to participate in wife swapping. By 1967, he became the father of another child called Christine and had become president of the Jaycee chapter. But his insatiable appetite for young boys had surfaced with a vengeance and was threatening to destroy the life he was trying to build by going against the grain.

One day, he lured a 15-year old boy to his house and after taking advantage of him sexually, gave him $50 and scared him with his supposed mob connections so he would not tell on him. The kid finally broke down and told his parents about Gacy’s sexual abuse. He was arrested and charged with sodomy and received 10 years at the local penitentiary. He tried to say it was consensual and became very afraid for his public image. The mask he was wearing had been ripped away.

His wife and children left him and he would never see them again. He was jailed in 1968 and released in June 1970 for good behavior. He did well in jail and mingled with the guards, the inmates, the social workers and even the warden. He became head cook at the prison which in a way, was a dream come true for him. He was even interviewed on television about the meals he would cook for the inmates during the holidays. And he talked with pride about his Christmas menu.

During his stay in prison, his father John Stanley died which devastated Gacy because he was convinced that his conduct had been the main contributing factor in his passing.  He was tortured with the thought that his father had died of shame. But his grief turned into rage and he became violent towards gay men in prison. He kicked one of them in the face for having oral sex with another inmate. It is like he was trying to kill his inner pulsion. It was not about hating homosexuals but about hating his attraction towards them.

He returned to Chicago after being released and told his family he was turning over a new leaf and would lead a new and better life. He moved in with his mom and worked as a cook. He was still driven but his temperament had changed according to his sister. In 1971, he started a home repair company called PDM and bought a house.

He married a girl named Carole whom he was honest with about his stint in jail and his homosexuality. She had two daughters from a previous marriage and Gacy was very kind to them and they even called him daddy.

But it was as if the strain of living the conventional life was more than Gacy could bear. Not long after their marriage, in 1972, John snapped and killed his first victim, a teenage boy and buried him in the crawl space under his house. Even if he had married his best friend Carole, their relationship deteriorated because of his longing to be with young men. In 1975, he killed one of his young employees after tricking him into slipping on a pair of handcuffs. He sexually tortured him and strangled him with a tourniquet.

That was the end of his so-called normal life. He had now killed two young men. He liked to hurt them mostly as an experiment to see how they would react. He was losing all sense of humanity. His way of regressing into childhood was to dress as a clown named Pogo to try to relive his innocence. This is how he escaped while entertaining children and from all accounts, he was always very kind to them.

When he was not torturing teenage boys, he would dabble in politics and continue with his hectic work schedule. In 1975, his wife filed for divorce and left with her daughters. Now single, Gacy was free to indulge in his obsession: torturing and killing young men.  He had his basement dug up in order to bury more victims.

He rented out a room to an employee named David who one night came home to find Gacy drunk and dressed in his clown costume. He tried the ‘magic handcuffs’ trick on him but it did not work because David was strong and wrestled with him. He is the only live witness who was able to describe Gacy during his murderous rages. He said that he was laughing like a little kid and in the middle of a sentence, changed like a light switch and started growling like an animal and lunged at him while shouting, ‘I am going to rape you’. David managed to escape to his room and he moved out soon after. He was the lucky one who escaped Gacy.

In 1977, Gacy killed 19 young men disposing of them in his basement while maintaining his double life. He was committing a murder every two or three weeks while organizing the Chicago parade and mingling with Rosalynn Carter.

He was smart enough to pick boys that would generally not be missed. But he made a big mistake on December 11th, 1978 when he went after 15-year-old Rob Piest who worked at a pharmacy where Gacy was bidding on a remodelling job. He lured Rob to his house with the promise of a better paying job and he was never seen alive again. He had become Gacy’s 33rd and final victim.

He was questioned about the boy’s disappearance after witnesses reported seeing them together. This time he could not talk his way out of it. The police were beginning to tie him to the other murders. He was placed under 24 hour surveillance. Gacy tried to look confident and to act like nothing had happened. His hustling skills were such that he invited the cops to his house for a fish dinner. What nerve this guy had considering that dozens of bodies were in the basement!

Gacy realized he was toast and decided to meet his attorney for an all-night confession. He offered to show him the crawl space but the police descended on the scene first. On December 21, 1978, Gacy was arrested for murder. He remained cool and collected as he had always done when times were tough and when they booked him and asked him where he was born, he answered that “he was born in a state of confusion.’’ In his mug shot you can see him laughing at his own joke.

He tried to pull the ‘multiple personality disorder’ defence when talking to the police and told them he was nuts. While the excavation of the dead bodies was going on, the world was introduced to John Wayne Gacy, the serial killer. His own family was in shock. His sister Karen was in denial at first and his mother died inside the day he was arrested. She became a shadow of herself but still had love in her heart for her son.

Gacy’s attorneys tried a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity. More than anything else, Gacy didn’t want to be perceived as a homosexual and he denied the charge. Much later, during interviews, he stated that he was not homosexual but bisexual.

During his trial, experts were baffled by John Wayne because he did not fit any label in existence. They basically knew what he had done but could not say what he was. On March 23, 1980, a jury of his peers found him guilty and sentenced him to death.

Always the enigma, Gacy consoled his defense team and asked to talk to the prosecutors to tell them they had done a good job and to congratulate them on getting the death penalty. He was sent to death row at the Menard Correction Centre in Southern Illinois.

Once there, he capitalized on his celebrity by creating paintings that were mostly appreciated by that select group who like the macabre aspect of a killer clown. Later on, he even published a book proclaiming his innocence that was titled A Question of Doubt in which he passed himself off as a victim and claimed that the bodies were planted in his house by his employees.

His mother Marion was his only ally and defender. She died in 1989 after having suffered a series of strokes. She had lost all memory of her son or his crimes and I say thank God for small miracles.

On May 10, 1994 he was executed with his sister there with him saying a final goodbye while a crowd celebrated outside. Karen asked him if he had made his peace with God and he said yes. He told Karen that he loved her and passed away at age 52.

A forensic psychiatrist called Helen Morrison extracted Gacy’s brain hoping to find some clue or abnormality but did not detect anything out of the ordinary. She might have been able to find some abnormal activity through an MRI when he was still alive but it was too late and the mystery would prevail.

It seems that John Wayne Gacy was very driven to do good but equally driven to do bad, and of course his bad side was far more dramatic. In his interviews, he never showed or expressed remorse of any kind for his victims. He had plenty of emotions for his family but his crimes were in a completely separate compartment.

He never admitted to his true nature and would cringe at the idea of being compared to Ted Bundy or Jeffrey Dahmer. He grew up repressing his emotions and his own sexuality and continued doing so as an adult. He excelled at living a lie and we will never know if he was born this way or if the sensitive boy who loved cooking and gardening with his mother had been crushed to the extent that he developed a fixation on his own ambiguous sexuality. After all, he only killed teenage boys who represented what his father hated the most about him but that he was so attracted to.

When all is said and done, the name John Wayne he was given at birth became a curse and the representation of everything he could not live up to – a huge burden to carry for a boy who could never please his father and be a real man like the movie hero. But when he became a killer, some of the famous quotes from big tough John Wayne became strangely appropriate. Gacy never apologized for his actions and must have been scared to death. He thought he deserved a second chance and did what he had to do. He might have lived up to his name after all. I think he made it Pilgrim!

“Never apologize, mister, it’s a sign of weakness.”

“Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway.”

“A man deserves a second chance, but keep an eye on him.”

“A man’s got to do what a man’s got to do.” 

by Darcia Helle

When I publicly state my opinion about the death penalty, it almost always sparks a heated, emotional debate. (For the record, I am against it.) But my point today is not to discuss the pros and cons of the death penalty; rather, I want to talk about the people whose job it is to carry out this government-ordered murder: The executioners. These are people that the majority of us never think about. The trial is over, the killer sentenced. The media moves on and so do we. Years, often decades, later, the sentence is carried out by a nameless, faceless person. We get a blip on the news. We might remember who that killer is, though chances are high that many of us will not. That person is put to death, as if by the wave of a governmental magic wand.

You might be surprised to learn that many whose job it is to execute death row inmates do not support the death penalty.

Jerry Givens

What would it feel like to be forced to kill another person as part of your job? In essence, you are a paid assassin. As you read this, your first instinct might be to say that you’re doing the country a service, and that the inmate deserves to die. If that’s your stance, perhaps you are the right person for the job. But before you move on, secure in your position, you should really think about it. You’re killing another human being, a person who might have committed one rash act two decades ago. A person whose guilt you might not be convinced of. Are you positive that would not negatively affect you?

The perspective of these people tasked with carrying out the death penalty is important to consider. We need to think about what we are asking these people to do, what we are asking them to live with.

Jerry Givens is a 59-year-old man, whose job for 17 years was to execute death row inmates in Virginia. During that time, Givens put 62 men to death. In all 62 of those cases, the official death certificate reads ‘HOMICIDE’.

Givens states that, “I had to transform myself into a person who would take a life.”

That’s a profound position to find yourself in. He also states, “The person that carries out the execution itself is stuck with it the rest of his life. He has to wear that burden. Who would want that on them?”

Indeed.

Jeanne Woodford

Jeanne Woodford spent much of her career as warden of San Quentin prison in California. In 2004, shortly after her appointment as director of all California prisons, she resigned. Her reason? “I knew I couldn’t carry out another execution,” she said. “I knew I just couldn’t do it.”

From the start of her career, Woodford opposed the death penalty. Her words struck me deep:

“…it never made sense to me that we would believe killing a human being would make up for killing a human being.”

Her position against the death penalty was not only personal. As a prison warden, Woodford concluded that capital punishment made no fiscal sense. She calculated that her state spent $4 billion to execute 13 inmates between 1992 and 2006. That is roughly $308 million per execution.

Studies – and numbers – prove that keeping a prisoner on death row, and eventually executing that prisoner, is far more expensive than keeping that same person in prison for life. As of 2009, the cost of prosecuting death penalty cases cost an average of $184 million more each year than it would cost to give these same prisoners life without parole. Woodford believes that extra money would be better spent on hiring more cops. In California alone, half of all murders go unsolved. We simply do not have enough manpower to do the job.

Jeanne Woodford, a career employee within our prison system, a warden, and, at times an executioner, believes that, “The death penalty shouldn’t exist at all.”

Dr. Allen Ault was the commissioner of the Georgia Department of Corrections from 1992 until 1995. During those few short years, Ault oversaw five executions. His experiences forever changed him. Before taking the position, Ault had no significant feelings about the death penalty one way or the other. He now works tirelessly campaigning against it.

Here are just a few of Ault’s statements:

Dr. Allen Ault

“Having witnessed executions firsthand, I have no doubts; capital punishment is a very scripted and rehearsed murder. It’s the most premeditated murder possible.”

“The United States should be like every other civilized country in the Western world and abolish the death penalty.”

“You realize when the person is dead that you just murdered another human being, and you were the one that gave the order. You feel totally responsible. And you feel tremendous guilt.”

Ault remembers every detail of all the executions he was responsible for. In fact, no matter how hard he tries, he cannot forget. But the case that haunts him most seems to be that of Christopher Burger, a young, mentally impaired man convicted of rape and murder. At the time Burger committed the crime, he was a 17-year-old troubled kid. During his ensuing 17 years on death row, Dr. Ault witnessed tremendous change in Burger. The young man pursued his education and matured. He was certainly guilty but, according to Ault, he was also a remorseful and different man than that boy he’d once been. His last words to Ault were, “Please forgive me.”

Dr. Ault had this to say about witnessing that execution:

“I could see the jolt of electricity running through his body. It snapped his head back and then there was just total silence… and I knew I had killed another human being.”

After leaving his job following the brief three year stint that probably felt like decades, Ault needed counseling in order to deal with the overwhelming guilt he’d been left with. His feelings on the job of executioner are this:

“No one has the right to ask a public servant to take on a life-long sentence of nagging doubt, shame and guilt.”

The death penalty remains legal in 32 U.S. states. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, between 1973 and 2010, 138 death row inmates were exonerated. That is 138 innocent people who, without intervention from an independent organization, would have been put to death. How many innocent people did not receive intervention?

Even on the best days, no method of government-sanctioned death is painless. This year alone, we’ve already had four botched executions, all using the so-called painless lethal injection. What would it feel like to know you’ve just tortured someone to death? Sure, perhaps the person’s crime was heinous enough that you’ll feel justified. Or maybe you just think you’ll be okay with it. Killing someone, much less torturing him, isn’t something you can predict your response to, nor is it something you can take back.

How would you feel about killing a man who committed one singular act of violence as a teenager? Or the mentally disturbed person who was responding to voices in his head, and who the state forced mediation on so that he’d be lucid enough to know he was being killed?

As I said, my point is not to argue the merits of the death penalty itself. We have to remember that we have no robots that ultimately kill these inmates. The death sentences are carried out by men and women not much different from you and me. Are we asking too much from them?

Please click to below to view Darcia’s Helle’s many excellent posts:

‘Trial by Media’ Is Not a New Phenomenon: The Kangaroo Hanging of Alvin Edwin Batson

“Met Her on the Mountain”: Cold Case Social Worker Hog-Tied, Raped and Killed in Appalachia

Jovial Private Bartender Snaps; Assaults and Drags Obnoxious 84-Year-Old Club Patron

Frank Lloyd Wright and the Great Gasoline Mass Murder

Edward Elmore Rode the Legal Railroad to 30 Years on Death Row: His Crime? Simple! He Was Black and Poor

 “The Wrong Carlos”: Non-Violent Manchild Executed for Murder He Did Not Commit

The Electric Chair Nightmare: An Infamous and Agonizing History

Autopsies: Truth, Fiction and Maura Isles and Her 5-Inch-Heels

Don’t Crucify Me, Dude! Just Shoot Me Instead! Spartacus and Death by Crucifixion

To Burn or Not to Burn? Auto-Da-Fé Is Not Good for Women or Children!

The Disgraceful Entrapment of Jesse Snodgrass: Keep the Narcs Out of Our Schools

Why Should I Believe You? The History of the Polygraph

“Don’t Behead Me, Dude!”: The Story of Beheading and the Invention of the Guillotine

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

The Terror of ISO: A Descent into Madness

Al Capone Could Not Bribe the Rock: Alcatraz, Fortress of Doom

Cyberspace, Darknet, Murder-for-Hire and the Invisible Black Machine

Darcia Helle lives in a fictional world with a husband who is sometimes real. Their house is ruled by spoiled dogs and cats and the occasional dust bunny.

Suspense, random blood splatter and mismatched socks consume Darcia’s days. She writes because the characters trespassing through her mind leave her no alternative. Only then are the voices free to haunt someone else’s mind.

Join Darcia in her fictional world: www.QuietFuryBooks.com

by Thomas Davidson

Question: Shootings, robbery, beheadings, and cosmology—is there a link? Can cosmology provide fresh insight, a new lens through which we apprehend violent crime and cosmic justice?

Even better question: Can men with a history of domestic abuse be blocked before they murder their girlfriends? Can head-chopping stranglers be stopped? Is there an innovative way to reduce violent assault and murder by 24/7 angry-ass dudes who can’t, or won’t, or refuse to control themselves…no…matter…freaking…what?

Answer:

Take this dude. This dude really needed craigslist intervention.

Jared Remy

May 27, 2014. Deadspin reported:

“Jared Remy, son of longtime Red Sox broadcaster Jerry, pleaded guilty today to the brutal murder of the mother of his child. For a man with a history of domestic abuse and who received inexplicable second and third and, hell, seventeenth chances, this is it: He’ll spend life in prison without the possibility of parole. Remy beat and repeatedly stabbed his girlfriend, Jennifer Martel, at their home in Waltham, Mass., last August, just one day after a restraining order against him was lifted.”

Let’s backtrack. Let’s start in the sky. On April 4, 2014, Discover Magazine’s blog ran a piece with this headline: A Rare Alignment of Sun, Earth, Moon, Mars—and the Human Spirit. This rare event featured a lunar eclipse, a peekaboo view of Mars, and a campaign to let ordinary citizens name craters on Mars (for a small fee).

News outlets around the globe covered this celestial alignment. But another (albeit terrestrial) alignment, currently underway in the U.S., has been completely ignored by the timid media. Consider this crazed calendar of events.

July 21, 2014. Associated Press reported:

Craigslist Killings: Pregnant Teen Strangled, Man Decapitated After Connecting With Stranger In Michigan

“A pregnant Michigan teenager was strangled and her boyfriend was decapitated after apparently connecting with a stranger through the online service Craigslist for a sexual encounter,” police said Monday.

Brady Oestrike

“The police chief in Wyoming, a Grand Rapids suburb, said that 18-year-old Brooke Slocum was held captive before her death. Her body was found Thursday in the trunk of the suspect’s car. She was eight months pregnant.

“Chief James Carmody says her boyfriend, Charles Oppenneer, 25, was found decapitated in a park a day earlier. His head hasn’t been found.

“Emails indicate that Slocum connected with the suspect, 31-year-old Brady Oestrike, through a Craigslist ad and arranged a sexual encounter where Oppenneer would be present, according to investigators.”

A recent Google search, using the key words “crimes on craigslist,” produced a hailstorm of hits. Even mild-mannered About.com, providing story links to two “craigslist killers,” said:

“Craigslist is like any unmonitored online community. There are good people and there are criminals. Criminals sometimes turn to Craigslist to find their victims. Here are the profiles on some of those criminals. See how they lured total strangers to private places where they could commit their crimes.”

Hello, Oxford Dictionary’s Word of the Year. Are you listening? Craigslist killers. Well, three days before the Michigan story, on July 18, 2014, this appeared on Newser:

Kansas City Parents Shot Looking at Craigslist Car

SUSPECTS MAY HAVE ROBBED ANOTHER MAN OF AN XBOX EARLIER THAT DAY

“A Kansas City couple who went to check out a car they saw on Craigslist were shot and robbed Wednesday night…The men took the wife’s purse, which had $3,000 in cash for the car purchase, say police. Authorities believe the incident may be related to an earlier armed robbery that day in which a Kansas City man says he tried to sell his Xbox and gaming accessories to a man who saw his ad on Craigslist, reports the Kansas City Star. As the potential buyer was examining the wares, two other men reportedly arrived sporting a gun; the three men then lifted the Xbox and other items and ran into nearby woods, police say.”

Is a pattern emerging? A terrestrial alignment? Perhaps one more coordinate would fill this out. How about this? On February 12, 2014, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Columbia Pictures released Robocop in the United States. You know the story. Rampant crime. A wounded cop, outfitted with a cybernetic body and software, kicks criminal ass, etc.

Robocop? Could this flick be the tone-setter for how we curb crime in the future? Could Robocop nudge us into a new direction where we reexamine crime prevention, and respond with way-outside-the-box solutions? Not with cyber cops. Instead, the film challenges us to be bold, to rethink our crime-reduction methodologies.

Hey, Jared? Meet the Decapitator.

Perhaps it’s time to put the cosmic craigslist alignment to the test. Imagine if Jared Remy, a champion of domestic assault, had answered a craigslist ad for a sexual encounter or a used car (or a sexual encounter in a used car). Imagine if Remy met up with the Kansas City robbers. Or, better yet, Brady Oestrike, the frisky Michigan strangler/decapitator. Imagine Remy knuckling up with the headhunter on a dark street, and having his head bounced off the hood of a vintage Dodge Dart, breaking off the hood ornament which jams into his nostril. Remy, in turn, sends the headhunter headfirst through the windshield. And so on. The two cancel each other out. Presto: two birds, one stone.

How many birds was that?

Two

What does that bring?

Peace (and quiet)

Let’s broaden the pool of candidates, of which there are many. Enough to form a pathetic parade of volcanic spouses, boyfriends, neighbors, co-workers…the dreary list goes on. Their daily mantra is essentially this: “Jesus Christ I’m gonna snap I swear to God I’mgonnasnap!”

Pick someone from the pool. Contact that special-someone-in-your-life on a day when he’s not making a court-ordered appearance for, say, road rage, because he tire-ironed the car beside him at the stoplight for unknown reasons. His day-planner needs to be unfettered that morning. Imagine emailing the misunderstood, under-appreciated, rambunctious rascal a link to craigslist for a used car. For your convenience, insert this message to the Big Daddy of the Free World:

“Yo, Sluggo – When I picture you behind the wheel of this vintage, unbelievably priced Dodge Dart Swinger, with the sweet sun shining through the windshield and onto your sleeveless biceps (which are as big as garbage cans), well, for me it’s a pants-piddling drool-fest. Go get the Dart, you Titan of Tantric Sex, then swing back here and we can wiggle. Until then…smooches!”

He’ll hit the link and see the craiglist logo with the peace symbol. If that doesn’t soften him up and drop his guard, nothing will. What a setup. He’ll never see it coming. From that point forward, it’s all…ah…auto negotiations as he meets his deserving peers.

Actual photo of mysterious “craig” of craigslist

Who needs Robocop? Get some freakin’ peace in your life; you’ve earned it. Bring on craigslist! Let craigslist cancel the creeps in your life.

When your Big Daddy goes to buy this car on craigslist…

…but instead gets ambushed by ‘the Decapitator’

 …You will get this.

Thomas Davidson scribbled three quirky thrillers, FLOATERS, THE MUSEUM OF SUDDEN DISAPPEARANCES and PAST IS PRESENT, and a collection of humor, BOTCH CASSIDY & THE SUNDUNCE KID. He’s never robbed or beheaded anyone on craigslist.

Click below for his recent posts on ALL THINGS CRIME BLOG.

King Kong STANDS HIS GROUND and Loves Forever!

Bermuda Triangle Spawns the George Washington Bridge Scandal?

The Mega Mack-Daddy of Illegitimate Daddies

The Art of Telephone Ju-Jitsu

Up – astral crime fiction

Patty Hearst and the Symbionese Liberation Army Meet Paul McCartney — The Secret Link?

Botch Cassidy & the SunDunce Kid Hit the Home Depot

How the Little Drummer Boy Saved Christmas

website — www.thomas-davidson.com

blog — www.jurassicjim.blogspot.com

twitter litter — @TomDavidson99

commentary by Patrick H. Moore

Ah, the trials and tribulations of the rich, famous, beautiful and talented. Ah, Rhianna! Carved upon my heart. But don’t worry. I will not resort to stalking you. Even though I’m occasionally tempted.

Unlike Patrick H., who can usually marshal up the necessary restraint when the situation calls for it, a 53-year-old homeless man named Kevin Mcglynn apparently gave in to the natural urge to follow the Barbadian beauty wherever she goes. In time, his perambulations led him to her $14.6 million duplex in Soho where he allegedly left a series of nasty and threatening notes.

What I don’t understand is why Mcglynn, instead of worshipping the very ground Rhianna walks upon, like I would do, insisted on reportedly writing her nasty notes. That wasn’t very smart.

In any event here’s what happened, as reported by Shayna Jacobs and Rocco Parascandola  of the New York Daily News:

Kevin Mcglynn was allegedly caught on video surveillance on three occasions this month delivering the unsettling missives to a Rihanna employee, according to court records.

In the twisted letters, he “repeatedly called her a b–ch,” and threatened to “bum (rush) in her apartment,” according to his criminal complaint.

He also allegedly sent at least four letters to her in California, authorities said.

“The nature of these letters (is) confusing. They all do indicate a personal relationship, as I indicated before, that simply does not exist,” Assistant District Attorney James Vinocur told the judge.

Mcglynn reportedly traipsed over to Rhianna’s Lafayette St. building first thing in the morning at 6:30 a.m. and again around midnight on July 8th.

He then apparently restrained himself for 60 long hours before appearing on the scene around noon on July 11th. He was arrested around 6 p.m. on Thursday when law enforcement tracked him down after he dropped his benefits card — complete with his name and address on it –  somewhere in Rihanna’s SoHo building.

Mcglynn certainly rose to the occasion at his arraignment where he claimed that the mighty triumvirate of Rihanna, Jay Z and Kanye West ripped off “my material”.

Could be. Could just be true. I’ve heard that mega-stars and their canny producers have the bad habit of “ripping off” the materials of the homeless and the mentally unsound, but that could just be a figment’s of someone’s fanciful imagination.

At his hearing, Mcglynn argued with Judge Abraham Clott and told him “you are lying” when the judge said he couldn’t represent himself.

Naturally, the authorities claimed Mcglynn’s terrifying behavior put the 26-year-old Barbadian beauty in “fear for her physical safety,” which could well be true.

Mcglynn may not be stalking anyone else for a while. He is being held without bail. He really does sound dangerous in that he reportedly has at least a dozen arrests on his rap sheet, including four arrests for trespassing, according to police sources.

The sad thing is that this guy, who appears to need serious mental health counseling, is undoubtedly being held in bad conditions somewhere in the truly wretched New York prison system, which isn’t going to do him one iota of good.

Some of you may want to listen to Rhianna’s classic duet with Eminem, “Love the Way You Lie” which has over 720,000,000 “listens” on You Tube:

The remarkable thing is that I have been informed by “impeccable sources” that Rhianna is carrying a mega-watt torch for the aging Irish rocker, Van “the Man” Morrison, who as anyone with taste knows, is one of the greatest rockers to ever pick up a guitar/harmonica/saxophone/microphone. Apparently late one night while surfing You Tube, Rhianna came across Van’s early classic, “Astral Weeks”, had a listen and has never been the same. Van is reportedly a bit nonplussed; he was only vaguely aware of Rhianna’s existence and had never contemplated a May-December romance with the lustrous-locked beauty. So the jury is still out: Will Van be the one man on earth who can resist Rhianna’s charms or will he too fall victim to her almost otherworldly appeal?

commentary by Patrick H. Moore

In a shocking development, a highly decorated Iraq War veteran and the current National Security Agency’s Korea division chief, Brian O’Callaghan, 36, has just been charged with 1st-degree-murder in the alleged beating death of his 3-year-old special needs son, Hyunsu. The odd thing is that O’Callaghan and his wife, Jennifer, only adopted the boy in October after going through an arduous vetting process which is standard procedure in the case of special-needs adoptees, and were only accepted because of the defendant’s excellent service record and high-level NSA job.

Assuming the allegations are true, it demonstrates the great difficulty of ever discovering the true nature of a prospective adoptive parent. Clearly, the vast majority of these folks (I’m one myself) have the best of intentions, but god forbid that you are the poor child who gets selected by an unstable personality such as O’Callaghan may well be (this is once again assuming the allegations are true).

What makes this even stranger is the fact that O’Callaghan was awarded the Marine Corps Achievement Medal for his part in a gun battle that helped lead to the rescue of captured soldier Jessica Lynch.

Neither O’Callaghan’s family, nor his wife, Jennifer, nor O’Callaghan himself are in any way admitting that the boy’s death was anything other than a tragic accident. Those that know him best contend that the NSA chief – who has top secret clearance with the agency – isn’t capable of hurting the boy.

‘He was so loving of him,’ a family member told the Washington Post.

O’Callaghan’s story is that his son’s death was the result of an accidental slip in the shower two days before he died.

He reportedly told the police that on the night of January 31, he helped the boy take a shower. He noted that Hyunsu, who they call Madoc, didn’t like it when the water hit him. O’Callaghan was basically on his own attempting to care for his special-needs child. His wife was out of town and their other son, who is only 7, was in a different part of the house.

‘During the shower, Hyunsu was crying and upset,’ Detective Mike Carin wrote in court papers. ‘After the shower had ended, Hyunsu slipped in the bathtub, falling backwards. As he fell, he hit his shoulder. Brian consoled him and he went to bed without incident.’

Then comes a small twist. In the morning, Madoc reportedly appeared to be fine. In fact, according to Carin’s report, O’Callaghan took Madoc and his other son to breakfast and then to a swim center. They then returned home and Madoc took a nap.

According to the police report, it wasn’t until 4 p.m. that day, when O’Callaghan went to check on the sleeping Madoc, that he says he noticed something might be wrong. There were pink stains on the boy’s sheets and mucus coming out of his nose.

At this point most people would say,“Oh my god, what is going on here?” I know that I’d be on the phone getting help so fast your head would spin.

But not O’Callaghan. He did a sort of Marine cleanliness thing. He changed the sheets on his dying son’s bed.

Then he left the room and came back an hour later to check on him again.

You can feel the grains of sand slipping through the hourglass. The second time, O’Callaghan noticed that the boy appeared to be in bad shape — he was unresponsive, O’Callaghan told investigators. Once again, O’Callaghan did a cleanliness number – he washed the boy off in a bathtub (we’re not told what he washed off but let your imagination be your guide). Only then did he finally take the boy to the hospital. According to the authorities, at the hospital, O’Callaghan could not provide an explanation for the boy’s injuries.

*     *     *     *     *

The Montgomery County, Maryland, prosecutors, believe this is a case of cold-blooded murder.

‘An absolutely horrific crime on an absolutely innocent young victim,’ said Assistant State’s Attorney Donna Fenton, running through a litany of injuries to the boy’s head, neck and back. ‘Basically this child was beaten to death from head to toe.’

‘These facts are strong, these facts are horrific, and what this man did to this child is murder,’ said Fenton in court.

An autopsy revealed that Madoc’s injuries were consistent with having been beaten – he had a ‘fracture at the base of skull, bruises to the forehead, swelling of the brain and wounds to other parts of the body.’ There was also ‘blunt impact to the back from a linear and triangular shaped object.’

O’Callaghan’s attorney, Steven McCool, isn’t buying it. He stated in court Tuesday that medical tests performed at the hospital don’t support the findings in the autopsy.

‘There was a full CT scan done of Madoc, and there were no skull fractures,’ he said.

‘I find it impossible to believe that he’s been indicted for murder because he’s worked so hard to get this baby,’ O’Callaghan’s grandfather William Rose told the paper. ‘He was so loving with him. He’s been so wonderful with his other child. I’ve never seen him do anything that would make me believe he is capable of that.’

Until he lost it while trying to give a reluctant special-needs child a shower (assuming the allegations are true).

O’Callaghan has been charged with one count each of first-degree murder and child abuse resulting in death. Needless to say, he is being held without bond.

Update:

An investigation has been launched in Korea which appears to be triggered by Korean concerns that Holt and Catholic Charities USA, a U.S.-based adoption agency that handled the adoption of Hyunsu, charged the O’Callaghan’s a whopping $41,650 to place the boy with them. My sense is that this is more than double what adoption agencies usually charge for Americans to adopt foreign-born children. On the other hand, the cost of foreign adoptions may have gone up sharply since we adopted our daughter 16 years ago. In any event, this would appear to be a face-saving measure on the part of the Koreans. The O’Callaghans were carefully vetted and at this stage, there is no reason to believe that any real impropriety on the part of the Holt Agency occurred.

There appears to be no new news on Brian O’Callaghan’s case with seems to be progressing at the “slow pace of the moon”, which is not surprising considering its high-profile nature and all that is at stake.

by Patrick H. Moore

Zion Wright, a 14-year-old amateur skateboarder and his father, Leroy Wright Jr., have plenty to be thankful for this Thanksgiving Day. In an act of real heroism, this past summer, Wen Jones, a 43-year-old former Marine from Jupiter, Florida, saved the boy and his father from assault that would have resulted in serious injury by rescuing them from three violent 20-year-old men at Juno Park in Palm Beach County. In return for going to the aid of the boy and his somewhat diminutive father, Mr. Jones ended up being brutally beaten by the three thugs who turned on him with a vengeance.

According to the reports of various witnesses, the three young assailants had been spending the afternoon acting like jerks — harassing Zion Wright and his friends, kicking sand at various beach-goers, and generally acting like petty hoodlums. By the time former marine Jones got involved, matters had escalated and Zion Wright’s father, Leroy Wright, Jr., who  had gone to his son’s rescue, was being punched by the hooligans.

When Wen Jones intervened, he told the punks to leave the father and his son alone. At that moment the three young men, Cody Moore Roon, Tyler Dylan Carswell and Eric Michael Deiter, all 20 – turned on Jones attacked him. Jones, who is married and has two children, was brutally beaten by the thugs, an attack that was recorded on the cell phones of numerous witnesses.  Jones suffered a concussion and a fracture under his eye which needed surgery, and he was left with stitches all over his face.

When interviewed, Mr. Jones stated:

“I’m not happy to have been injured pretty severely, but at the same time, I ask myself, would I do it again? You know, it was the right thing to do, so I probably would.”

Jones stated that when he intervened, the three men were harassing Zion and his friends outside the restrooms, and had begun physically accosting Zion’s father who had told them to leave.

“I couldn’t stand there and watch this older guy and kid get beaten up,” Jones said.

So he approached the punks and told them to calm down – but they then turned on him.

“I got tangled up with one the biggest guys and he beat me in the back of the head until I was unconscious. When I came to, I was being beaten in the face.”

As police arrived on the scene, the three assailants ran away but witnesses helped track them down. Several of those who recorded the attack on their cell phones, have handed the footage over to authorities.

Roon, Carswell and Deither were originally facing aggravated battery charges, but based on the video evidence, the charges have been elevated to felonies.

Leroy Wright Jr. was taken to hospital and had surgery a few days later and did not have the chance to ask Jones for his name, so the two men have not spoken since. In an interview, however, Wright — who was obviously touched by Jones’ kindness — told the Orlando Sentinel that he hopes they’ll be in touch.

“I feel like this man literally risked his life, because he saw a situation that was bad,” Wright said. “Out of all the people that was standing around on the beach that day, he was the only one that stood up against these guys.”

For his part, Jones, who looks a lot like former NBA great Chris Mullin, stated that he was lucky to receive excellent medical care and gives the impression that he has (or is) recovering nicely.

*     *     *     *     *

Wen Jones is an everyday hero and we should all be thankful that he is here among us.

posted by Patrick H. Moore

Mysterious death is an all too frequent occurrence in Tinseltown. Strangely enough, it often turns out to be murder. Although this is certainly unfortunate for the victims, it does add to the tragic grandeur and dark allure of this peculiar piece of real estate. Thanks to Chris Godley of THR, we bring you the following breakdown of 12 Hollywood deaths, most, if not all of which, were murders.

#12  Thomas Ince

Known as “The Father of the Western,” Thomas Ince was a silent film star and filmmaker who was aboard the yacht of William Randolph Hearst in Nov. 1924 when he reportedly fell ill. He was brought ashore, and died 4 days later officially of a heart attack. Rumors began circulating that Ince did not die from health problems but that Hearst accidentally shot Ince in the head. The stories goes that Hearst found his mistress, Marion Davies, in a compromising position with Charlie Chaplin, who was also on the boat. According to this theory, Ince ran down when he heard Davies screaming, and was accidentally shot by Hearst.

#11  William Desmond Taylor 

The actor-turned-director, who abandoned his wife and family in New York in 1908, changed his name from Pete Tanner to William Desmond Taylor when he resurfaced years later in Hollywood. Between 1914 and 1922, he directed over 60 films and shorts and was once president of the Motion Picture Directors Association. But, in 1922, he was found dead in his Hollywood home having been shot in the back. Several witnesses came forward saying they’d seen a young, dark-haired man leaving Taylor’s house, but no one was ever arrested. One theory that was raised involved Taylor reporting actress Mabel Normand’s cocaine dealers to the federal government and his death being a possible drug-related hit.

#10 Bob Crane

The Hogan’s Heroes star was found bludgeoned to death in a Scottsdale, Arizona apartment on June 29, 1978. The murder was examined in director Paul Schrader‘s 2002 film Auto Focus and A&E’s Cold Case Files.

Crane’s case was reopened in 1990 and led to John Henry Carpenter, a friend of Crane’s being tried for the crime. Carpenter was acquitted in 1994.

#9  David Carradine

The Kill Bill and Kung Fu star was found dead in a Bangkok hotel room closet with a noose around his neck on June 4, 2009.

A private autopsy funded by his family concluded that the actor died from asphyxiation, and that the way the actor’s body was bound allowed him to rule out suicide. Bangkok police said that Carradine’s body was in a sitting position, with a rope wrapped around his neck and attached to a closet bar when a maid discovered him.

#8  Elizabeth Short

Elizabeth Short was a 22-year-old aspiring actress who was gruesomely murdered in Los Angeles. Short achieved fame post-humously when her story was sensationalized by the media, and she was dubbed the Black Dahlia.The case was never solved. A neo-noir novel, The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy, was published in 1987 and was made into a 2006 movie directed by Brian De Palma.

#7  George Reeves

The Adventures of Superman star was 45 when he was found dead lying naked in his bed with a single gunshot wound to the temple in his Beverly Hills home in 1959. And, though the death (which was the subject of the 2006 movie Hollywoodland) was ruled a suicide at the time, his mother commissioned her own separate investigation. Speculation arose that the actor’s ex-lover, actress Toni Mannix, orchestrated a hit on Reeves.

#6  Jack Nance

A regular in David Lynch projects (Eraserhead, Twin Peaks, Blue Velvet), Nance was found dead on Dec. 30, 1996. The cause of death was subdural hematoma caused by blunt-force trauma.

He is believed to have been punched in the head and knocked to the ground during a fight with two men at his local doughnut shop.

Another theory is that he hurt himself in a drunken stupor, as his blood level was 0.24 percent at the time of his death.

#5   JonBenét Ramsey

JonBenét Ramsey was a beauty pageant child contestant who was murdered in her home in Colorado. A strange and twisted tale unraveled in which Ramsey’s parents said that they had received a ransom note just eight hours before her body was found demanding $118,000 in exchange for their daughter’s return. Suspicion remained on JonBenét’s parents, who insisted they were innocent and published a book in 2000, The Death of Innocence. Ramsey’s mother died just before John Mark Karr admitted that he killed Ramsey. He was later released, however, when DNA tests showed he could not have been at the crime scene. Prosecuters cleared the parents, and claim that DNA points to an “unexplained third party.”

#4  Marilyn Monroe

The actress’ sudden death was officially ruled a suicide in 1962 when she slipped into a coma after overdosing on sleeping pills. But, there has always been speculation surrounding the events of her death, which saw many items allegedly being removed from her home. Theories have included murder by the mafia in retaliation to President John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert (both of whom she was reportedly having affairs with, and who have also been discussed as possibly orchestrating the murder), as well as an accidental overdose.

#3  Natalie Wood

Actress Natalie Wood was boating off Santa Catalina Island with her then-husband Robert Wagner and Christopher Walken in 1981.Wagner and Walken got into an argument, and Wood went to bed. When Wagner went to say goodnight, Wood was missing. At the time, her death was ruled an accidental drowning, but there have been many questions raised about what actually happened on the boat in the time since. In a surprising move in November 2011, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department reopened its case in the death of actress almost exactly 30 years after her death.

#2  Nicole Brown Simpson

Nicole Brown Simpson and boyfriend Ron Goldman were stabbed to death outside Simpson’s Brentwood, Calif. condo in 1994. Her ex-husband, O.J. Simpson was put on trial for the murders after blood-stained gloves, fibers from Goldman’s clothing were found in Simpson’s home while hair bearing similar qualities to Simpson’s was found at the crime scene along with bloody footprints matching his show size. However, on Oct. 3, 1995, Simpson was acquitted on both counts of murder. No other suspect has ever been found.

#1  Tupac Shakur, Biggie Smalls

The biggest mystery about the murders of rappers Tupac Shakur and Christopher Wallace, a.k.a. Biggie Smalls and the Notorious B.I.G., is how can such high-profile cases remain unresolved?

Shakur was gunned down on Sept. 13, 1996 in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas. He was 25.

Wallace was also 25 when he was shot in drive-by on March 9, 1997 in Los Angeles.

*     *     *     *     *

Most of the actors, directors, child beauty pageant queens and rappers that Chris Godley describes were murdered.  A few including Natalie Wood and Marilyn Monroe may have been murdered. Not a single one of their slayers has ever been brought to justice. It can’t be very much fun to go from being a major celebrity to just another cold case languishing in a dusty file in the back room of some cop shop.  But that’s the price of fame sometimes. Whether you like it or not, you gotta take the good with the bad.

commentary by Patrick H. Moore

The curious phenomenon of teenage girls brutally murdering teenage girls for the flimsiest of reasons is cause for consternation in the eyes (and mind) of any parent. Here in the United States, we were recently reminded of the disturbing death of Skylar Neese (who of course was murdered by her two best friends, Rachel Shoaf and Shelia Eddy) when two suburban Wisconsin girls, Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier, reportedly inspired by the Slender Man myth, did their level best to murder their schoolmate (and supposed best friend) by stabbing her 19 times in a wooded area and leaving her for dead.

When discussing these horrific assaults recently with a friend, she remarked, “it’s a very difficult age”, which I interpreted as meaning that adolescence for young females is so challenging that in extreme cases, the less balanced among the population of growing girls may act out violently and irrationally in a manner from which there is no turning back.

No matter what age we are, most of us lose our temper from time-to-time, but few of us resort to extreme violence.

Fortunately, murderous assaults by schoolgirls are fairly rare here in the U.S. (most “mean girls” prefer bullying their victims to death), and are perhaps even rarer overseas. However, girl-on-girl adolescent murders probably occur everywhere on a very occasional basis, as a recent shocking (apparently premeditated) killing in Japan suggests.

Euan McKirdy and Yoko Wakatsuki of CNN write:

A 16-year-old Japanese girl has been arrested in Sasebo, Nagasaki prefecture, on suspicion of murdering a fellow student. Police confirmed that the alleged attacker also dismembered her victim’s body.

The girl, who cannot be named as she is a minor, is suspected of hitting Aiwa Matsuo, 15, with an object repeatedly before strangling her.

The victim’s family said that she had gone to meet friends Saturday afternoon and alerted police when she did not return later that evening.

When questioned by the police, the unnamed teen admitted killing Matsuo, and told police she acted alone. In a macabre bit of trivia, the youthful murderess turned “not-so-sweet” 16 on the day of her arrest. In her police interview, she admitted to decapitating and dismembering the body, and severing her left hand.

Although we lack the necessary information to determine why the alleged attacker went berserk, we do know that according to the English-language Japan Times, her “friends and acquaintances” described her as “very smart, with emotional ups and downs.”

It is known that in the last year, the suspect lost her mother to an untimely death and her father remarried and now lives elsewhere in Sasebo. Therefore, it can be argued that the suspect lost both her mother and her father (to a considerable degree) within a very short period of time.

Could it be that the suspect has taken the anger she very likely was feeling over her loss out on a third party? Such a hypothesis certainly seems plausible but can hardly be verified.

At a press conference, the principal of the school that both attacker and victim attended said that the institution was not aware of any trouble between the two.

“I have no words to say now. I am overwhelmed by sadness, regret and various feelings,” he said.

The body of the deceased child was discovered early Sunday morning on a bed at the girl’s apartment, where she lives alone. Thus, the suspect conceivably lured the victim over to her apartment before murdering her. Metal implements used in the attack were found on, and next to, the bed.

Although Japan enjoys a deserved reputation for safety and a relative lack of violent crime, this is not the first time that Sasebo has appeared in headlines as a result of violence perpetrated by minors. In 2004, a Sasebo elementary school girl killed a classmate by slashing her throat.

Seven years earlier, in 1997, a 14-year-old was arrested for the murder of two schoolchildren. To add to the grisly nature of the crime, the perpetrator deposited the head of one of the victims in front of his school gates.

In another incident involving the death of children, in 2001, a knife-wielding janitor killed eight elementary school kids.

Seven years to the day later, a man went on a stabbing rampage in a crowded Tokyo shopping street, killing seven people and wounding a dozen others. It is unclear if any of these victims were children.

* * * * *

Given the relative scarcity of girl-on-girl murders in Japan, the odds of your daughter being murdered by one of her girlfriends or acquaintances seems nearly infinitesimal. Yet it does happen, as the death of Aiwa Matsuo demonstrates with grim finality.

When something like this happens, I feel compelled to draw the magic circle of protection closer around my own loved ones. All you can do is hope that your luck holds up and that the gnarled fists of grim fate pass merrily by.

by John Paolucci

The investigation into the Cleveland kidnappings is in many ways just beginning.  It brings to mind the case of a murdered 8 year old Hasidic boy by the name of Leiby Kletzky, who was dismembered, packed into a suitcase and discarded in a dumpster by the perpetrator Levi Aron, who performed the dissection of the child in his Brooklyn apartment.  Aron kept a souvenir of the incident, the boy’s feet, which he stowed in a freezer in the apartment.  In the Cleveland kidnappings, like in the Kletzky case, there appears to be a wealth of incriminating evidence against the perpetrators.  In cases like these, the investigators need to have the scenes speak to them, hopefully answering the question, “Are there more victims?”

What we did not have in the Kletzky case was a living victim who could provide investigators with patterns of the perpetrator’s behavior and habits.  Kletsky’s Brooklyn community has its own “Shamrim” patrols, and they generally do not call the police unless it is absolutely necessary.  Therefore, although we were able to learn that Levi Aron had twice been banished from the community, there was no paper trail to follow as to what activities caused this expulsion.  It was rumored that he had behaved inappropriately towards children, but no one would come forward and provide more specific details. Individuals like Castro and Aron exhibit behavior so abhorrent and predatory that investigators will adopt the theory that there are other victims besides those that are already known, and believe that the crime scenes will likely hold clues as to their identity if they exist.

Levi Aron was identified as the person who abducted Kletzky while the investigation was still being carried as a “Missing Persons” case, so in both the Kletzky and the Cleveland cases there was a presumption that there are living victims in the locations who are in danger, thereby giving first responders an exigent circumstance exception to the fourth amendment, allowing them lawful entry into the residences for the purpose of preserving life.  Once it is determined that no civilians’ personal safety is in danger, the residence must be secured until a search warrant is issued so as not to risk the suppression of any evidence at the subsequent legal proceedings.

So the Question Is: What Are the Investigators Looking For?

The Search:  Aron was a hoarder, so the apartment had to be documented in stages, as layers of Aron’s accumulated possessions were moved and removed, to allow overall and detailed photographs, sketches and measurements to be taken. The primary scene (apparent location of the murder) was the third floor wherein there was no air conditioning to provide relief from the humid, New York July heat.  Since it was confirmed that Aron kept a trophy from his victim in the form of body parts, we needed to be certain that nothing as small as a nail clipping was overlooked while searching the stinking mound amassed throughout the years of a child murderer’s life.  Items in jeopardy of perishing in that harsh climate, such as blood evidence, were given immediate attention to ensure their preservation for laboratory testing.  The items of evidence were methodically collected, packaged, documented and made ready for transport.  A police box truck transported evidence to a central location where it was logged in, bar coded and vetted according to the information that was available as the investigation progressed. Aside from the residence, there was also 1) the dumpster in which the suitcase was recovered which was removed to our forensic garage and processed for fingerprints and DNA, 2) Aron’s vehicle which he used to abduct Kletzky, and 3) Aron’s locker and work space at his job, where he showed up to work in the interim between abducting Kletzky and killing him.  It was unclear how Aron was able to leave a live 8 year old in an apartment, go to work and return to kill the child without any other residents hearing anything.

The Evidence:  As commanding officer of the unit in the NYPD’s Forensic Investigations Division responsible for managing all DNA evidence collected in New York City, I had over 1,400 items of evidence seized from the Aron residence.  The evidence was categorized and assigned to the appropriate unit for respective analyses.  I would expect a similar strategy to be deployed in Cleveland.  At a meeting prior to commencing the search of the Aron residence, the Chief of Detectives told the Crime Scene Unit, “I want that place down to f**kin’ 2x4s when we leave!” So it began.  The following are some of the categories of evidence and the types of analyses requested and possible results that were anticipated (certain details and results are being withheld to preserve the integrity of the case):

DNA Evidence:  Leiby Kletzky’s DNA profile was compared to blood evidence recovered from the apartment.  Blood saturated rugs and mattresses recovered at the scene, and specific areas on these items were sampled, analyzed and compared to Kletzky’s DNA, and DNA collected from Levi Aron, to determine if any of the profiles developed were foreign and possibly that of another victim.  All blood evidence matched Kletzky’s DNA profile.  Items such as stuffed animals and women’s clothing were scraped and swabbed to collect skin cells that revealed DNA profiles foreign to the victim and perpetrator, some of which were female.  Through investigative leads, it was revealed that Aron had a brief marriage to a woman in Tennessee, who when contacted identified the clothing as hers, and provided DNA exemplars from herself and her child. When these exemplars were analyzed they matched the foreign profiles. Therefore, the DNA avenue of this investigation yielded no leads as to additional victims.  Though this was good news, it was not satisfying to any of us because we believed that no killer performs a precise dissection of his victim on his first “at bat”.  The search continued.

Digital Multi Media (DMM):  All laptop and desktop computers and accessories, all CDs and DVDs, thumb drives, cell phones, cameras, video equipment and anything that stores electronic data, which Aron had plenty of, was seized.  A task force of computer crimes Detectives was assigned the duty of decrypting, downloading, reviewing and analyzing all data from these items.  Communications via telephone and email helped to establish a timeline of his travels and document persons with whom he associated and locations where he spent time while banned from returning to Brooklyn.  We sent Detectives to Louisiana, Arkansas and Tennessee tracking down his acquaintances and searching local records for missing children. Several of Aron’s associates had police records involving minor sexual related offenses, arousing further suspicions that Aron had committed other offenses.    The digital evidence was also searched for photos of children or child pornography.  Time and again, all leads were exploited, but no fruit was harvested.

Controlled Substance Evidence: Evidence collected from the apartment in the form of prescription bottles containing pills proved to have significant value in the investigation.  The NYPD Crime Laboratory Controlled Substance Analysis Section documented each prescription and tested the pills to determine if the contents matched the label, many of which were labeled “Controlled Substance”.  Results were forwarded to the Office of Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) Department of Toxicology, where post mortem samples, collected at autopsy from Kletzky, were analyzed for the presence of these controlled substances.  The horror of Levi Aron’s deed was amplified when it was revealed through the toxicology examination that he had combined several of these controlled substances and made Kletzky ingest this noxious cocktail, rendering him unconscious, which would explain how the child remained silent while Aron went to work that day. The controlled substance analyses were vital in corroborating the series of events we believed had transpired just prior to the child’s murder.  It also explained how some of the incisions performed on this tortured child were made ante mortem.

In Cleveland, nothing will be “out of play” when searching the Castro house.  The victims have already provided DNA exemplars and may have to provide things such as hair samples and undergo other very personal examinations to assist with the investigation.  Remains as small as a miscarried fetus that was essentially beaten out of the mother could be hidden anywhere in the house if not discarded with the trash.  There is hardly an area or an item in that house that can immediately be ruled out as not probative.  Searches, swabs, photos, sketches, presumptive tests, DNA analysis and comparisons to the victims and Castro, floor boards to be pulled up, walls to be opened – there shouldn’t be anything but f**kin’ 2x4s left when they are done searching!  My heart goes out to the victims, their families and the investigators in Cleveland.

Please click here to view John Paolucci’s classic post on the New York Housing Police:

New York City Housing Police: A Bygone Era Worth Talking About

About the Author:  John Paolucci is a retired Detective Sergeant from NYPD who worked his last eight years in the Forensic Investigations Division, four of them as a Crime Scene Unit supervisor.  He was the first ever to command the OCME Liaison Unit where he managed all DNA evidence in NYC and trained thousands of investigators in DNA evidence collection and documentation. He developed a strong alliance between the OCME Forensic Biology Department and NYPD.  He also worked as a Narcotics Undercover and Patrol Officer in the Housing Projects of the South Bronx.   He is currently the president of Forensics 4 Real Inc., where he provides forensic support to private investigations, international and domestic.  He also trains students and law enforcement in forensic evidence and crime scene investigations and provides consultations with movie and television writers, directors and developers working on real crime shows and dramas.  www.forensics4real.com.

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.

by Patrick H. Moore

Beloved screen icon and sex symbol Marilyn Monroe was found dead in the bedroom of her Brentwood home by her psychiatrist Ralph Greenson at about 3:45 a.m. on August 5, 1962. He had been called by Monroe’s housekeeper, Eunice Murray, who had become concerned because her light was on and she would  not answer the door. She was 36 years old at the time of her death. Her death was ruled to be “acute barbiturate poisoning” by Dr. Thomas Noguchi of the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office and was listed as “probable suicide”.

Many detectives — including Jack Clemmons, the first Los Angeles Police Department officer to arrive at the death scene — believe that she was murdered. No murder charges were ever filed. The death of Monroe has since become one of the most debated conspiracy theories of all time.

Many questions remain unanswered. Although there is a timeline describing Marilyn’s last hours (see below), it may (and probably does) have discrepancies including when she received her last phone calls and when her body was discovered. It has been verified that on August 3, Marilyn had filed a prescription for twenty-five Nembutal (a strong barbiturate which was prescribed to her for the purpose of inducing sleep) prescribed to her by her personal physician, Dr. Engleburg. This pill bottle was found empty at the scene of death when the police arrived in the early hours of August 5.

Time Line of Events Surrounding Monroe’s Death:

~5:00 p.m.: Marilyn’s personal psychiatrist, Dr. Ralph Greenson, leaves her Brentwood bungalow home after a therapy session. He was treating Monroe for her ongoing depression.

7–7:15 p.m.: Joe DiMaggio Jr., son of baseball player Joe DiMaggio (and thus Monroe’s former stepson) phones to discuss his broken engagement to a girl in San Diego. DiMaggio Jr. stated when interviewed that Monroe sounded cheerful and upbeat. Monroe received the call around 7 p.m. California time.

7:30–7:45 p.m.: Peter Lawford (President Kennedy’s brother-in-law) telephones Monroe to invite her to dinner at his house. According to Lawford, Monroe’s speech was slurred and was becoming increasingly indecipherable. After telling him goodbye the conversation abruptly ends. Lawford tries to call her back again but receives a busy signal. Existing telephone records show that this is the last phone call Monroe’s main line received that night.

8 p.m.: Lawford telephones Monroe’s maid Eunice Murray, who lives in Monroe’s guest house, on a different line asking Murray to check on Marilyn. Murray returns to the phone after checking and tells Lawford that she is fine. Lawford is unconvinced and keeps trying to get in touch with Monroe. Lawford telephones his friend and lawyer Milton A. “Mickey” Rudin, who advises him to stay away from Monroe’s house to avoid any public embarrassment that could result from her possibly being under the influence.

10 p.m.: Housekeeper Eunice Murray walks past Monroe’s bedroom door and later testifies that she saw a light on under the door but decided not to disturb Monroe.

10:30 p.m.: According to actress Natalie Trundy (later Mrs. Arthur P. Jacobs), Monroe’s agent Arthur P. Jacobs hurriedly leaves a concert at the Hollywood Bowl that he is attending with Trundy and director Mervyn LeRoy and his wife, after being informed by Monroe’s lawyer Mickey Rudin that she has overdosed. Trundy’s timeline fits with undertaker Guy Hockett’s (see below) estimation that Monroe died sometime between 9:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m.

12 a.m.: Murray notices the light under the door again and knocks several times but gets no reply.

1 a.m.: Peter Lawford is informed by Mickey Rudin that Monroe is dead. He informs Lawford that it was an overdose.

3:00 a.m.: Eunice Murray calls Marilyn’s personal psychiatrist, Dr. Greenson, on the second telephone line. She still cannot awake Monroe. She is sure something is very wrong after peeking into her barred bedroom window.

3:40 a.m.: Dr. Greenson arrives at the house. He looks through the French windows outside and sees Monroe lying on the bed holding the telephone and apparently dead, so he breaks the glass to open the locked door and checks her. He calls Dr. Hyman Engelberg. There is some speculation that an ambulance might have been summoned to Monroe’s house.

4:30 a.m.: Police are called and arrive shortly thereafter. The two doctors and Murray are questioned and indicate a time of death of around 12:30 a.m. Police note the room is extremely tidy and the bed appears to have fresh linen on it. They claim Murray was washing sheets when they arrived. Police note that the bedside table has several pill bottles but the room contains no means to wash pills down as there is no glass and the water is turned off. Monroe is known to gag on pills even when drinking to wash them down.Later a glass is found lying on the floor by the bed but police claim it was not there when the room was searched.

5:40 a.m.: Undertaker Guy Hockett arrives and notes that the state of rigor mortis indicates a time of death between 9:30 and 11:30 p.m. The time is later altered to match the witness statements.

6 a.m.: Murray changes her story and now says she went back to bed at midnight and only called Dr. Greenson when she awoke at 3 a.m. and noticed the light was still on. Both doctors also change their stories and now claim Monroe died around 3:50 a.m. Police note Murray appears quite evasive and extremely vague. She would eventually change her story several more times. Despite being a key witness, Murray travels to Europe and is not questioned again.

The pathologist, Dr. Thomas Noguchi, could find no trace of capsules, powder or the typical discoloration caused by Nembutal in Monroe’s stomach or intestines, indicating that the drugs that killed her had not been swallowed. If Monroe had taken them over a period of time (which might account for the lack of residue), she would have died before ingesting the amount found in her bloodstream. Monroe was found lying face down. There was also evidence of cyanosis, an indication that death had been very quick. Noguchi asked the toxicologist for examinations of the blood, liver, kidneys, stomach, urine and intestines, which would have revealed exactly how the drugs got into Monroe’s system. However, the toxicologist, after examining the blood, did not believe he needed to check other organs, so many of the organs were destroyed without being examined. Noguchi later asked for the samples, but the medical photographs, the slides of those organs, and the examination form showing bruises on the body had disappeared, making it impossible to investigate the cause of death.

The toxicology report shows high levels of Nembutal (38–66 capsules) and chloral hydrate (14–23 tablets) in Monroe’s blood. The level found was enough to kill more than 10 people.  An examination of the body ruled out intravenous injection as the source of the drugs. Coroner Dr. Theodore Curphey oversaw the full autopsy. Apart from the cause of death as listed on the death certificate, the results were never made public and no record of the findings was kept.

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Analyzing the time line reveals several obvious discrepancies. First, if Monroe’s lawyer Mickey Rudin was informed at 10:30 pm that she had overdosed, why was a medical team/ambulance not sent immediately to Monroe’s house to investigate? Also, if Rudin informed Peter Lawford that Monroe was dead at 1:00 am, why — once again — was a medical team not sent to Monroe’s house? Even if Rudin and Lawford did not want their early knowledge of Monroe’s death made public, they could have still made anonymous calls to the proper authorities. A conspiracy theorist might reasonably claim that someone(s) was buying time to “get their ducks in order.”

Finally, at around 3:00 am, the housekeeper calls Dr. Greenson who rushes out to the house and apparently discovers Marilyn Monroe is dead. The police are not called until 50 minutes later. When the police do arrive they discover Monroe’s room is spotless — the linen appears to have been changed and Murray was washing sheets when they arrived. (People clearly are trying to arrange their “ducks” in a neat row.)

And why did both doctors also alter their story and claim Monroe died around 3:50 a.m., 10 minutes after Dr. Greenspan arrived at the house? And why did the police note that Murray appeared quite evasive and extremely vague? And why over the course of time did she change her story several times? And if she was a key witness, why was she never questioned again and allowed to get out of Dodge by traveling to Europe?

And why was the pathologist unable to find any trace of capsules or powder in Monroe’s stomach or intestines? And why did she apparently have enough Nembutal and chloral hydrate in her system to kill more than 10 people? And why when the pathologist Dr. Thomas Noguchi asked the toxicologist for examinations of the blood, liver, kidneys, stomach, urine and intestines, which would have revealed exactly how the drugs got into Monroe’s system, did the toxicologist refuse to run the tests and allow the organs to be destroyed without being examined?

Do we have a cover-up here? It appears that we may.

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Since Monroe’s death in 1962, numerous public figures have provided their accounts of what really happened. This information is readily available on Wikipedia and other sites so I will only discuss what I consider to be two of the most interesting theories in this post.

The JFK Connection:

In 1985, the American media publicized an investigation into Monroe’s death by British journalist Anthony Summers which led to a BBC documentary. In the BBC documentary, Eunice Murray admitted that Monroe had known the Kennedys. She volunteered that on the night of the actress’ death, “When the doctor arrived, she was not dead.” Murray died in 1994 without revealing further details. That same year a People Weekly cover story  reported that 20/20 had canceled a segment about Monroe’s relationships with the Kennedys and the circumstances of her death. Barbara Walters, Hugh Downs and Geraldo Rivera were reported to have reacted angrily to the cancellation.

In April 2006, CBS’s 48 Hours presented an updated report by Anthony Summers on Monroe’s death. Through Summers, 48 Hours gained access to audio tapes of interviews conducted by the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office in 1982.

According to Summers’ sources, Monroe attended social events at actor Peter Lawford’s beach home in Santa Monica, California, in the months before her death, at which President John F. Kennedy and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy were present. The 48 Hours report quoted a former Secret Service agent as stating that it was “common knowledge” among his colleagues that there was an affair between Monroe and John Kennedy. Rumors of a relationship with Robert Kennedy were not confirmed.

In October 2006, under the Freedom of Information Act, the Federal Bureau of Investigation released thousands of pages of previously classified documents. In 2007, writer Philippe Mora discovered a three-page report among the papers titled “Robert F. Kennedy” that discussed Monroe’s death — which would later be included in the FBI index under “Marilyn Monroe”.

Written by a former unnamed FBI agent, the report details Kennedy’s affair with Monroe and claims Kennedy had promised Monroe he would divorce his wife and marry her. However, after Monroe realized he had no intention of doing so, she made threats to make the affair public. The report claims that to silence Monroe, who had a history of staging publicity-seeking fake suicide attempts, she was deliberately encouraged to do so again but was this time allowed to die. The report implicates Kennedy, Peter Lawford, her psychiatrist Ralph Greenson, her housekeeper Eunice Murray, and her secretary and press agent, Pat Newcomb, in the plot. The report is prefaced with a statement noting that author of the report did not know the source and could not evaluate the authenticity of the information.

The Medical Bungling Theory:

According to a compilation of the events leading up to Monroe’s death written by Rachael Bell for Court TV’s Crime Library, a sedative enema might have been administered on the advice of Monroe’s psychiatrist, Dr. Ralph Greenson, as a sleep aid and as part of Greenson’s larger project to wean his patient off barbiturates.

Bell suggests that Greenson was perhaps unaware of the fact that his patient’s internist, Dr. Hyman Engelberg, had refilled Monroe’s prescription for the barbiturate Nembutal a day earlier, and that the actress may very well have ingested enough Nembutal throughout the day such that it would lethally react with the chloral hydrate later given to her. Bell writes:

(Dr.) Spoto makes a very persuasive case for accidental death. Dr. Greenson had been working with Dr. Hyman Engelberg to wean Marilyn off Nembutal, substituting instead chloral hydrate to help her sleep. Mickey Rudin claimed that Greenson said something very important the night of Marilyn’s death: “Gosh darn it! He gave her a prescription I didn’t know about!”

Bell goes on to suggest that the suspicious circumstances surrounding Monroe’s death are very possibly the result of an elaborate cover-up for what was, essentially, a tragic medical mistake.