Our Youngest Lifers – Disposable Children

by Diane Dimond

Quick, a question: What does the United States of America have in common with the African nation of Somalia?

Answer: They are the only countries to refuse to sign Article 37 of the 1989 UN document entitled, “Rights of the Child.”

What’s that mean? Translated, it means America stands shoulder-to -shoulder with a primitive East African nation in routinely refusing to acknowledge the rights of children. And, America is also the only known nation in the world that allows children under the age of 18 to be tried as adults and sentenced to prison forever–with absolutely no chance for parole. In a majority of U.S. cases the child is charged with murder but sometimes they have simply been in the company of someone else who committed murder.

Hey, wait a minute!

Aren’t we the country that touts our progressive stand on human rights? Isn’t America the nation that cajoles others–Egypt being the latest example – for unreasonable treatment and imprisonment of citizens? Yep, that’s us. So, how do we possibly explain the more than 2,574 inmates currently in U.S. prisons who were sent there as children and who will remain there for the rest of their lives? (By the way, the undisputed figure of 2,574 comes from the latest Human Rights Watch annual report.)

Is it okay with you that we, as a society, routinely toss kids into the deep end of the adult pool of criminal defendants? Understand that upon conviction they are, in effect, lost forever – thrown away as disposable kids–in a prison system that will surely expose them to sexual abuse at the hands of other prisoners and turn them hard and mean forever.

Every mental health expert will tell you a child’s brain isn’t fully developed–specifically, in the areas that control decision making, risk taking and impulse control. We’ve learned these young kids kill for a variety of reasons including prolonged emotional or physical/sexual abuse, brain damage or mental illness sustained during gestation from their addicted mother or a perceived threat to their way of life that their young brain cannot accept.

So when they kill are they really responsible for their behavior?

To be sure, there are some under the age of 18–vicious teen-aged members of street gangs–who are keenly aware of their actions and who richly deserve to be locked away to protect society. But many of the defendants within that group of 2,574 aren’t like that at all and some are single digit young. One boy in Arizona was just 8 when he took a gun and blasted ten bullets into his father and a male tenant in their home. The state is still trying to figure out what made that child snap. The boy pleaded guilty and the state ordered him to undergo psychiatric evaluations, a great step, in my opinion. However, if he doesn’t respond this boy could still be sentenced to hard time.

Coming up soon in the Pennsylvania court system is young Jordan Brown. He shot and killed his father’s pregnant girlfriend as she lay sleeping so Jordan was deemed a double murderer at just 11 years old. The judge in the case has declared that since the boy has expressed no real remorse he must be tried as an adult. Jordan will likely become the youngest offender in American history to be sentenced to LWOP – life in prison without parole.

Quantel Lotts was 14 years old when got that sentence in 2002 in St. Francois County, Missouri. What started as horseplay with his older stepbrother later turned deadly when Lott impulsively grabbed a knife. He was tried as an adult for first degree murder with predictable results. Quantel will live the rest of his life behind the bars of a prison in Bonne Terre, Missouri.

In many states judges have no discretion in sentencing adult defendants. Take a life and you get LWOP–period.

It wasn’t always like this. Before the late '80s, children were seldom prosecuted in adult court settings. Their fates were determined by juvenile courts which many believed were much better equipped to deal with these minor’s unique problems and get them psychiatric help. But the system often simply set the offender free at age 21 providing little or none of the security net they had come to rely upon. That scared folks and somewhere along the line it became easier to just lock up these kids and throw away the key.

California’s notorious Charles Manson, found guilty of seven murders, gets his 12th parole hearing next year. New York’s “Son of Sam” killer David Berkowitz, who admitted to killing six people when he was in his 20s has had four parole hearings so far. The system may never grant a reprieve to either of them but at least they got a chance. Meantime, at least 2,574 American kids will never get that–not even if they can prove they found true redemption and direction in prison.

There’s got to be a better way to keep ourselves safe while at the same time administering to the needs of our troubled kids. Any ideas?

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Scene of the Crime: LAPD's Most Famous Exhibit

by Cathy Scott

Los Angeles Police Department authorities recently put on a show--the LAPD's Homicide Exhibit at the California Homicide Investigators Association conference in Las Vegas. And the community came out in droves to view the two-day "Famous Crime Scenes Exhibit."

It offered a unique behind-the-scenes look at the evidence police gather at crime scenes. Police cases ran the gamut from robberies, murders, serial killings, bank hold-ups, high-speed pursuits and hostage situations.

LAPD Homicide Detective Dennis Kilcoyne explained the reasoning behind making an exhibit and taking it on the road.

"Homicide investigators very rarely invite people under the crime scene tape and into the murder scene; this may be as close as some will ever get," he said, to seeing the scene as a detective would.

And so it was for the thousands who stood in line for up to an hour and a half to get in. The evidence of L.A.’s gritty past was more than sobering.

A respectful silence fell over the room as viewers quietly filed in, one by one, during the tour. They looked at evidence, photos, videos, get-away cars, weapons, documents, and autopsy photos. Included was evidence from the Black Dahlia case and Hollywood mob-era contract hits, all on loan from the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office and LAPD’s evidence vaults.

It showed evidence from the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson, who in 1994 was killed after she was repeatedly and brutally stabbed, along with Ron Goldman, in the courtyard of her Brentwood townhouse courtyard. It was almost chilling to see the bloody leather gloves, displayed behind glass, that were made infamous when suspect O.J. Simpson tried on the gloves in court and struggled to get them over his hands.

There were a bullet-riddled police car and similarly ventilated

suspect get-away auto from the notorious North Hollywood bank robbery and shootout.

But perhaps most grisly were evidence and photos from the ritualistic killing at a Benedict Canyon mansion where Charles Manson’s followers murdered five people, included pregnant including pregnant actress Sharon Tate, in the summer of 1969.

Still, it was the Robert F. Kennedy assassination display that seemed to stop people in their tracks. On display was the revolver used to cut down Kennedy in the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel on a June night in 1968.

I toured the site of the killing not long before the historic Ambassador Hotel was razed in 2005 so a public school could be built in its place.

Linda Deutsch, longtime special court correspondent for The Associated Press, led the media tour to some of Los Angeles's more notorious crime scenes. We were taken inside the hotel to the upstairs ballroom where the presidential candidate gave a short speech. We walked the path Kennedy took from the ballroom to the kitchen’s pantry area, where he was gunned down at point-blank range.

The Kennedy evidence exhibit led to controversy. Robert Kennedy’s son protested when he learned it included the torn and bloody shirt, tie and jacket his father was wearing when he was assassinated. Maxwell Taylor Kennedy expressed outrage that his father’s clothing was transported across state lines, from California to Nevada, to be publicly exhibited in Las Vegas.

Maxwell Kennedy said he was particularly bothered that his family was denied possession of those items when they requested them. The younger Kennedy's protests made national news that night, after the first day the public was allowed to see it. The next morning, people waited in a line that wrapped around the interior of the Palms casino, where the exhibit was set up in a conference room.

"My request was refused by the district attorney's office," Maxwell Taylor Kennedy told the media. "The District Attorney promised, though, to keep the personal items with care and out of public view."

LAPD Chief Charlie Beck issued a public statement and an apology: "The last thing we want to do is to traumatize a victim's family, and I am very sensitive to that. But at the same time, we want to preserve the history of the city of Los Angeles and improve the quality and understanding about our homicide investigations."

The LAPD pulled the shirt, tie and jacket from the exhibit after the first day.

Based on the response from a member of the Kennedy clan, it is doubtful the displays will go on tour again anytime soon, making the exhibit in Las Vegas a one-time-only viewing.

Photos by Cathy Scott

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Squeaky's on her way out!

By Kathryn Casey

Guess what boys and girls. While we've all been wondering what's going on with Susan Atkins, if her brain tumor will take her life or if she'll live long enough to perhaps get out of prison on parole this September, another Manson groupie has been quietly easing her way out of prison. Enter Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, the Mansonite who held a gun on then-president Gerald Ford. Of course, the gun was empty. Zilch bullets. And her motive? Well, Squeaky says she just wanted to talk to him, and, heck, why would he listen unless she held him at gunpoint?

In all honesty, on one level, I don't have a big problem with Fromme's release. She was twenty-six at the time of the quasi-assassination attempt, she's served thirty years, and from all appearances she never intended Ford any real harm. But that's just part of the story.

On another level, Fromme is frightening. While the other Manson followers have distanced themselves from their former leader, Fromme continued to avow her loyalty to the deranged death monger. She's never, to my knowledge, recanted her devotion to Manson. For years, she didn't even ask for parole, presumably because she knew she wouldn't get it while still pledging her support to such a hated, evil figure in American crime history.

At one point, in December 1987, Fromme actually escaped from prison for a couple of days. When caught, she said she'd gone on the lam to attempt to get closer to Manson, who's serving a life sentence in California's legendary San Quentin.

I'm kind of wondering if she's now changed her mind? The articles I've seen are unclear on whether Fromme's release was a parole granted because it had to be under federal law (Fromme had a life sentence for the attack) or if Fromme, now 60, has earned parole by finally swearing off Manson, no longer talking about the man who orchestrated the murders of Sharon Tate and eight others as the second-coming.

Whatever is going on behind the scenes, Fromme's release is scheduled for August 16th, from the Federal Medical Center Carswell in Fort Worth, TX. It's also unclear why she's in a medical/mental health facility.

So the question is: Will this start a mass parole of the Manson followers? Probably not. My guess is that parole boards understand there's a difference between actual murder and threatening a president with an unloaded gun.

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Susan Atkins, Up for Parole . . . Again?

by Kathryn Casey

Time flies.

Need an example? It’s been more than a year since May 8, 2008, when I wrote a short post for WCI, spreading the news that Charles Manson groupie and convicted murderer Susan Atkins (seen with Manson in the courtroom in the photo at the left) suffers from brain cancer and was expected to die within weeks. Seems that since then Susan’s taken the lyrics to that old Bee Gees’ song to heart, and she’s Stayin’ Alive!

Please don't take this wrong. I'm not being flip, and I do understand that we're talking about life and death. But I have to ask: What’s the deal? How could someone given weeks to live still be alive more than a year later? The impression we were all given back then from those close to Atkins was that she was flat on her back and in horrible condition, waiting for the soon expected arrival of the grim reaper. Of course, at the time Atkins was asking for a compassionate release from prison, which was denied in July 2008.

Maybe some of you in the medical community can comment on whether or not this is a common turn of events with a brain tumor? As far as I know, it may be. I'm far from an expert. Yet since I write about crime all the time, I have to admit that I'm a bit of a skeptic. My first thought was: Did the folks around Atkins perhaps exaggerate the seriousness of her condition last year, to stir up sympathy and support for springing her while she still had time to live on the outside?

The irony is that a full year has lapsed, and Atkins is not only still alive but up for parole again. She was scheduled for a hearing in May, only to have it cancelled when not enough board members were available. The hearing is currently rescheduled for September 2 in Los Angeles. Her husband has said that if she's still alive, Atkins will attend, even if she has to be wheeled in on a gurney.

In the meantime, the controversy surrounding Atkins bid for release hasn't died either. Some of those who saw Atkins as a monster, the wide-eyed killer who stabbed Sharon Tate while the heavily pregnant woman begged for her life, have pointed at Atkins’ nearly four decades as a model prisoner and come out favoring her parole. Included is Manson prosecutor turned bestselling author Vincent Bugliosi, who has said Atkins deserves mercy, arguing against the stance that “just because Susan Atkins showed no mercy to her victims, we therefore are duty-bound to follow her inhumanity and show no mercy to her."

In contrast, Sharon Tate's younger sister, Debra, hasn’t changed their opinion on what should happen to Atkins and the rest of the Manson clan. "They all should live out their natural years in institutions," she's said. Why? If they are released, Tate has said, "I can't trust that they won't inspire other individuals to do similar acts."

Will Atkins cling to life long enough to make the September hearing? Who knows? Her husband described her current condition to CNN as dire. He says Atkins is barely able to speak, a leg has been amputated, much of her body is paralyzed and she has to be fed. If she does make it to September, it seems certain that this will be her last bid for freedom.

Hmmm. On second thought, are we sure about that?

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Once Upon A Crime . . .

by Vanessa Leggett

This month is the 39th anniversary of the Manson slayings. When Helter Skelter was published in 1974, I was one of countless children entering grade school—as the child of Roman Polanski would have been, had his pregnant wife Sharon Tate not been murdered.

I was not old enough to read Helter Skelter during its first print run. In fact, I have no actual recollection of that crime or of any others detailed in true-crime books that inspired me. What I can recall are three of my favorite opening paragraphs from classics in the genre:

"During the night, an early spring rain washed the city and now, at dawn, the air was sweet and heavy. Remnants of fog still held to the pavements of Houston, rolling across the streets like cobweb tumbleweeds, and the windshields of early commuters were misted and dangerous. The morning seemed sad, of little promise." (Thomas Thompson, Blood and Money)

"The Village of Holcomb stands on the high wheat plains of western Kansas, a lonesome area that other Kansans call 'out there.' Some seventy miles east of the Colorado border, the countryside, with its hard blue skies and desert-clear air, has an atmosphere that is rather more Far West than Middle West. The local accent is barbed with a prairie twang, a ranch-hand nasalness, and the men, many of them, wear narrow frontier trousers, Stetsons, and high-heeled boots with pointed toes. The land is flat, and the views are awesomely extensive; horses, herds of cattle, a white cluster of grain elevators rising as gracefully as Greek temples are visible long before a traveler reaches them." (Truman Capote, In Cold Blood)

And, finally, the night that hatred painted the “love house” at 10050 Cielo Drive:

"It was so quiet, one of the killers would later say, you could almost hear the sound of ice rattling in cocktail shakers in the homes way down the canyon." (Vincent Bugliosi with Curt Gentry, Helter Skelter)

Each of these haunting openings taught me something about setting. The first two could have come from any novel. Okay, not any novel. The point is that the first paragraphs of Blood and Money and In Cold Blood were written in the style of fiction. What made the opening of Helter Skelter most chilling was its skillful blend of fact and imagination.

A maniac bent on murder would not likely remember—much less describe—the sound of "ice rattling in cocktail shakers." The magic of this opening lies in the promise of the pages to follow: "one of the killers would later say . . ." And so we turn the page.

Since I read that book, whenever I hear the music of a martini mixer on a summer evening, I don't think of the drink. I remember Helter Skelter and that unquiet night on August 8, 1969.

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Let's Make a Deal? Maybe.

by Kathryn Casey

Okay, the truth? I have no compassion for Susan Atkins.

Atkins, of course, was a member of the Charles Manson Family, responsible for nine murders over a period of five months in 1969, including stabbing Sharon Tate sixteen times while the 26-year-old actress, 8 1/2 months pregnant, pleaded for the life of her unborn child. I know it's been nearly forty years, but it's just not in my nature to empathize with cold-blooded serial killers. After all, this isn't a maybe-she's-innocent situation. At her trial Atkins testified: "I don't know how many times I stabbed [Tate], and I don't know why I stabbed her. . . . She kept begging and pleading and begging and pleading and I got sick of listening to it, so I stabbed her. . . . I feel no guilt for what I've done. It was right then and I still believe it was right."

It wasn't until years later, in front of a parole board, that Atkins finally expressed remorse. Known within the family as Sadie Mae Glutz, Atkins was the one who scrawled the word "PIG" in blood on Tate's front door. In addition, she has pleaded guilty to the murder of music teacher Gary Hinman.

Now the wrinkle: Atkins is dying.

As I reported in an earlier WCI post, according to the Manson Family Today Web site, she's had a leg amputated and suffers from terminal brain cancer. Prison docs reportedly predict that she has less than six months to live. Atkins is the longest-serving woman inmate in California, and she's been turned down for parole eleven times. On her behalf, Atkins' husband/attorney, James Whitehouse, has filed a compassionate release request, hoping the California parole board will grant his wife the mercy she denied her victims. Whitehouse wants Atkins to live out her remaining time outside prison walls.

So what do you think: Should Susan Atkins' approaching death earn her a "Get out of Prison Free" card?

My opinion? No. Lots of folks die in prison, sadly some--based on the rash of convictions overturned by DNA--who shouldn't even be there. Why would anyone make an exception for Susan Atkins?

Debra Tate, Sharon's sister and only living relative agrees: "I don't want to seem like a heartless creature. But in all my years, I never considered this could happen. This is a serial killer, and what kind of mercy did she show her victims? When you torture someone, you have no compassion. How do you ask others to give it to you? It is her duty, in order to pay for her crimes, to die in prison."

It's actually surprising that Atkins is still alive. As you may remember, she along with Manson, Leslie Van Houten, Charles "Tex" Watson, and Patricia Krenwinkle were all sentenced to death for their roles in the Tate-La Bianca murders. They're alive today only because a 1972 Supreme Court ruling temporarily quashed the death penalty, and their sentences were commuted to life.

So there it is, my opinion and I'm standing by it. Still, and I know this sounds like a full 180, I'm not totally against the granting the "compassionate release." That is, under certain conditions.

Without extenuating circumstances, it seems unlikely that Atkins will get out. Compassionate releases are rare in California. Only 10 of the 60 requests made in 2007 were granted. The odds are that, without a good reason to do otherwise, the state parole board will review the Atkins request and file it in the not-gonna-happen basket. Why would I suggest that maybe this is a request that could be considered?

My stance has nothing to do with the fact that Atkins now presents herself as a born-again Christian. When she takes that final breath, God--not man--will judge if she's repented and deserves forgiveness. And even if she's truly sorry, it doesn't excuse her heinous crimes.

Believe me when I say that I wouldn't suggest releasing any of the other Manson murderers. Van Houten, for instance, has been repeatedly up for parole and turned down each time. As Superior Court Judge Bob Krug said, while Van Houten is described as a model prisoner, the nature of the crimes was the "basis on which the board based its decision" to deny parole. Let's face it: The Tate-La Bianca murders are too gruesome to be forgotten.

So why consider granting Atkins a release? Because we're not talking about a lot of time here, only a matter of months, and there's something Atkins could do for us, all of us, especially the families of unknown victims, that might be worth allowing her to spend her final time outside prison walls. Staring death in the eye, assuming she's still lucid enough, Atkins has the opportunity to ease the pain of others, by giving authorities the details and burial locations of any and all other Manson family victims.

As Atkins withers away from cancer in the California Institution for Women, law enforcement authorities and forensic experts continue to eye the Barker Ranch in Death Valley, where the Manson family lived at the time of their arrests. For more than three decades, rumors have persisted that the clan committed murders at the ranch. Bodies, however, have yet to be found, even after repeated searches. Why do we care? If there are undiscovered bodies, there are families living in pain, moms and pops and brothers and sisters, perhaps husbands and wives and sons and daughters who may still hope every day that their long-lost loved one will walk back into their lives. Don't they deserve to know what really happened?

I'm not suggesting a quid-pro-quo. The parole board shouldn't offer Atkins a guaranteed ticket out of prison if she discloses information. But I am suggesting that perhaps Atkins, the self-professed born-again Christian, might want to relieve her soul and repent all her crimes before departing this earthly plane. Why not come clean and tell authorities where the bodies are buried? Isn't that more Christian than taking that information to her grave and depriving the victims' family members of long-awaited answers?

If and when Atkins finally puts to rest the mystery surrounding Barker Ranch and any other Manson clan burial sites, perhaps the members of the California parole board will find it in their hearts to grant her the mercy she's requesting. Perhaps they will believe that she has truly changed.

Atkins needs to move fast. Her condition sounds precarious, and July 15th is the soonest the board can review her request. Even if fessing up doesn't win her a release, Atkins could die knowing that she's finally taken a step toward making some small amends for her horrific crimes.

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Excavation to Begin at Manson Family Hideout

by Donna Weaver

Well, it's about time! A decision has been reached to commence a "limited" excavation to search for human remains at the former Death Valley hideout of Charles Manson and his followers. Police now believe Barker Ranch may be the location of several clandestine graves of additional victims possibly murdered by the Manson Family cult.

Following the grizzly murders of seven people in 1969, little has changed at the cabin where Manson was found hiding in the bathroom (pictured below right) when arrested at Barker Ranch. An officer who used the facilities there had found Manson, who was taken into custody along with several of his cohorts.

Inyo County Sheriff Bill Lutze issued a statement last Friday: "There was no consistent response from the dogs that searched, and no conclusive findings from the soil samplings tested by top experts in the field. Therefore I believe the only way to determine once and for all whether there are bodies buried at Barker Ranch from the time of the Manson family is to proceed with limited excavation in a very few areas." The excavation will take place May 20-23 at which time the federally owned park will be closed to visitors. A few weeks ago, Sheriff Lutze had postponed the decision to dig, saying ownership of the land was a compelling consideration on whether or not to proceed with the excavation.

Manson (pictured below left) apparently is no stranger to burying people in his backyard. Before moving to Barker Ranch, Manson and his followers resided at Spahn Ranch. On the night of August 8, 1969, Manson sent his right-hand man, Charles "Tex" Watson and three others to 10050 Cielo Drive with instructions to kill everyone inside. Murdered in the brutal killing spree were Steven Parent, Jay Sebring, Wojciech Frykowski, Abigail Folger, Sharon Tate and Sharon Tate's 8 month-old unborn fetus. The homicidal rampage continued the following evening with the horrific murders of Rosemary and Leno LaBianca.

Eight days later, on August 16, 1969, Manson and other family members were arrested on suspicion of auto theft. They were released, however, due to a date error in the search warrant. Manson blamed the arrests on Spahn Ranch hand Donald "Shorty" Shea. Believing Shea ratted them out to the police, Manson decided it was time to move, but before leaving for Barker Ranch, Manson and other family members killed Shea and buried him behind Spahn Ranch.

Although we may soon find out if there are indeed more possible victims of Charles Manson and his followers buried in unmarked graves on Barker Ranch, identifying the remains and proving who killed them may be difficult, if not impossible. Still, if nothing else, the discovery of human remains may help ensure that Manson family members who are on one-year parole reviews will never see the light of day.

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Susan Atkins Dying of Brain Cancer

by Kathryn Casey

Well, folks, let's try not be too upset about this. The Manson Family Today website reported this afternoon that Charles Manson groupie and convicted murderer Susan Atkins (photos then and now) is dying of brain cancer and has only weeks to live. At her 1970 trial for the Tate/LaBianca murders, she snickered and laughed, seemingly oblivious to the horror of her crimes, yet in later years she was commended for saving the lives of other inmates. Atkins has been eligible for parole off and on, but it has consistently been denied. She once filed a lawsuit claiming to be a political prisoner. Atkins, who turned sixty just yesterday, has said that she became a born-again Christian in prison. Since she'll soon be meeting her maker, let's hope she did.

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DIG!

by Donna Weaver

I just don't understand the delay. Get your warrants, and DIG!

Earlier this month, it was reported that human remains may have been found near Barker Ranch, once the hideout of Charles Manson and his followers. Barker Ranch now resides on national park property, and nearby Myers Ranch was once owned by a Manson Family member and also served as the cult's hideout.

Testing equipment from Tennessee's Oak Ridge National Laboratory indicated the presence of two clandestine graves and a possible third gravesite after search dogs from Mammoth Lakes Police Department and Necrosearch--a nonprofit organization that specializes in locating clandestine gravesites--indicated the possible location of human remains.

But Inyo County Sheriff Bill Lutze stated on Friday that he believes further testing is necessary. In a written statement, Lutze said:

"Myers Ranch is private property, Barker Ranch is national park property. . . . Both are compelling reasons to be as cautious as possible and use every reasonable testing method available before disturbing the ground with excavation."

Last week it was reported that former Inyo County detective John Little said he was told by his former supervisor in 1974 to investigate the possibility of human remains buried at Barker Ranch.

"He said I should go up and take a look around the Barker Ranch and try to find four grave sites somewhere around 150 yards from the building," Little said. "At that time, there wasn't a lot of really good forensic techniques to find things. Imagine what you could find with the sonar stuff they have now."

Until the suspected grave sites are excavated we won't know for sure if they contain human remains, and, if so, how they came to be buried there. Whether or not these possible unidentified remains are victims of Charles Manson or his followers isn't the point. According to The Doe Network Unexplained Disappearances Geographic Index, in California there are 49 reports of men, women, and children who disappeared without explanation between 1944 and 1974, with a total of 901 disappeared persons up until the year 1999.

As a survivor of a homicide victim whose remains have never been found, I can tell you that statistics alone cannot capture the fear, horror, frustration, and pain felt by those who know and love a person who has suddenly vanished from their lives. There have to be several families wondering in anguish if their loved ones could be buried in unmarked graves in Inyo County, California. Those families should not have to wait one minute longer than necessary for an answer, and ownership of the property is not a sufficiently compelling reason to make them wait.

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Ink Blotter - March 30

Ink Blotter

We have a bone or two to pick with some cases in the news, beginning with the bones recently found on the Manson family ranch (pictured below). The skeletal remains do not appear related to Manson. So whose bones are they? Less of a mystery: The bones discovered inside a suitcase in a pond on Staten Island (see video below). Those remains belong to missing mom Amy Giordano, whose disappearance and murder were profiled last week by WCI's Pat Brown on Nancy Grace. Another cable show might be linked to the dismemberment of Giordano: HBO's The Sopranos. And yesterday, the ground search resumed to locate the remains of Stacy Peterson. Will a spring search unearth the body of the mother who disappeared last fall? Last, but not least, we have the skeletons found in the closets of once-powerful politicians. It's old news that the former Governor of New York and a Texas D.A. resigned from office after their clandestine affairs came to light. More recently, we've learned that both prosecutors resigned to dodge criminal investigations. But one may not be safe from prosecution. When ex-D.A. Chuck Rosenthal stepped down last month, he sidestepped a state investigation. But since Rosenthal was found in contempt of court last Friday, rumor has it the Justice Department might be digging up the former prosecutor's inconsistent statements in federal court. The feds won't have far to dig. But will they choose to prosecute? Join us this afternoon in the Ink Blotter (blue box at right, midway down the page), where you can share your views and exchange ideas with some of our contributors. Leave your prints on our blotter today between 4:00 and 5:00 p.m. EDT.

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