New High-Profile Contributors Join WCI

by Women in Crime Ink

 

We’re sure our readers have noticed over the last couple of months that our posts have been three days a week instead of five. Trust us,; we were just as bummed as you were, but the spring book and deadline season has been upon us and we've all been swamped. The good news is that beginning in May, we're going back to our five-day-a-week posts. We're also extremely excited to announce that three new contributors have joined our ranks. Not just any regular bloggers, these powerhouse women should be familiar to you. Each one has appeared on many television networks and in print for their areas of expertise, including; ABC, NBC, CBS, "The Today Show," "Tyra," CNN, HLN, and Fox as well as The New York Times and People magazine, to name a few. Here they are:

Dr. Michelle Golland

Dr. Michelle Golland (pictured right) is in private practice as a clinical psychologist in Los Angeles, California, with a focus on issues relating to couples and individuals. She is also an expert in multi-cultural and community psychology issues. Dr. Golland is a national media psychologist and has appeared on CNN's "Larry King Live," "Campbell Brown" and "The O’Reilly Factor" on FOX News.


The media turns to Dr. Golland when they need an expert's opinion on the psychological issues related to anything in popular media. She is an expert and contributing writer on Momlogic.com, a popular website for mothers. Dr. Golland earned her doctorate with honors in clinical psychology in 1998 from the California School of Professional Psychology in Los Angeles. She received her undergraduate degree from USC in 1993. Whether it's couples wanting a deeper connection, struggling with communication or issues of domestic violence, she has the insight, compassion and tenacity to help those in need.


Michelle views any challenge in our lives as a chance to expand our understanding of others and ourselves. The pain we experience today will only help us in the future if we listen to what that pain is trying to tell us. We must be willing to rise to life’s challenges and reach out to those who are willing to help us when we need personal clarity. We must ask ourselves what we are turning towards and what we are turning away from in our lives if we are to gain insight.The universe will keep sending us the messages of what we need to do and change in our lives but many of us are not willing to listen or simply don’t know how to listen.


Dr. Golland assists her clients in slowing down and listening to what the world is trying to tell us about our life and ourselves. She believes the key to personal growth and understanding comes from the ability to be vulnerable with ourselves and those closest to us. It is only through the opening of our heart and soul that we can truly heal our emotional pain and discover our amazing personal potential. Dr. Golland is currently working on two books. The first is her view on relationships titled The Marriage Matrix. Her second book is a memoir, The Glistening Web: A True Story of Living, Dying and Being.

Michelle Sigona
 
Michelle Sigona (pictured left) is a true-crime fighter extraordinaire. Over her career, Michelle has covered hundreds of breaking and historical news stories such as the tragedies of September 11, the anthrax attacks on our nation, the D.C. sniper murders, high-profile prison escapes, national missing children and adult cases from Stacy Peterson and Caylee Anthony, and the international search to find missing toddler Madeleine McCann. Michelle is not only an advocate for victims, but she works hard day and night to help keep America’s communities safe. Experts agree that Michelle is a trusted source for a variety of safety-related topics, including identity theft, Internet safety, child safety and domestic violence issues.

Crime is not the only thing Michelle battles. For more than a decade, Michelle has served her community as a volunteer firefighter—fighting fires and cutting people out of vehicles after serious accidents. She has also devoted many hours to keeping children drug-free as a guest speaker for her community's D.A.R.E. program, along with serving as a keynote and master of ceremonies for many high profile companies and non-profit organizations.

Michelle understands that devotion is the key to success, as she worked seven days a week, and often around the clock to achieve her dreams. Her journey began in 1999 as an intern for the prime-time network TV show, “America’s Most Wanted.” From the moment she stepped in the door, Michelle knew that one day she would be a national on-air correspondent making a difference in the lives of victims. After her internship, things really started gearing up.

She was not only offered a full-time position with AMW, but also a second position in the same building with the local FOX 5 WTTG affiliate in Washington, D.C. Michelle couldn’t turn down one or the other, so she did both, along with attending college courses full time, living in her sorority house, and volunteering any extra overnight hours at her fire department. As Michelle worked feverishly through both jobs at AMW and WTTG—on very little sleep—she made it her goal to learn every position in both news departments to include the assignment desk, field producing, writing for shows, segment producing, and traveling the country to work with victims of crime.

Michelle’s hard work and dedication paid off, landing an on-air reporting position in Baltimore, Maryland. It wasn’t long before Michelle was on the air in Washington, D.C. as the daily traffic-breaking news reporter for the morning show from the sky in a helicopter. She also completed many fire training courses through the Maryland Fire and Rescue Institute. In March 2006, Michelle met one of her life-long goals of becoming a national on-air correspondent for "America’s Most Wanted," where she worked in front of the camera to help cases for many years.I t was her responsibility to work hand-in-hand with investigators across the globe to increase captures. Michelle's dedication to this role helped to propel the AMW hotline to new levels.

You can often see Michelle reporting live on national programs, including NBC TODAY show, NBC Nightly News, MSNBC, CNN, Fox News, and "Inside Edition." Tune in as she takes you inside the cases in which she is personally involved with. Crime fighting is what she loves to do, and making a true difference in the lives of victims is a priority.


Holly Hughes

For the past decade, Holly Hughes (pictured right) has served as a senior assistant district attorney with the Fulton County District Attorney’s office in Atlanta, GA where she prosecuted some of the most high-profile cases in the United States, including working on the murder case against Ray Lewis, superstar with the Baltimore Ravens.

Holly was a triple threat prosecuting homicides, hate crimes and high-profile felony cases. Prior to making a name for herself as a tough big-city prosecutor, she also worked as an attorney specializing in discrimination and civil rights. Ms. Hughes has hosted the highly popular “Nancy Grace Show” on CNN Headline News Channel and continues to appear as a frequent guest on the program. She has also appeared on Court TV as a frequent commentator and legal analyst since 2003. Additionally, she appears regularly on Tru TV’s "In Session," HLN Prime News, as well as "The Levi Page Radio," "The Cop Doc Radio Show" and "The Susan Murphy Milano Show" as an expert in criminal law. With more than a hundred media appearances,


Holly has been qualified as an expert in high-profile litigation and criminal procedure with the Cold Case Research Institute of Georgia. She is also a frequent guest lecturer at local colleges and law schools. She has been honored in Madison Avenue’s Who’s Who of Young Professionals. After ten years with the DA’s Office, she is now in private practice in Atlanta, handling criminal defense and civil matters.

Please join us in welcoming these amazing women to Women in Crime Ink! Also starting in May, Women in Crime Ink is featuring its authors and their books, as well as lining up some exciting guest contributors.

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Two Cases of Missing Mothers, and One Suspect

by Susan Murphy Milano

It was January 2, 2009 when Shon Pernice was scheduled to attend a training session with the Missouri National Guard. Instead he picks up his kids at a neighbors home and his wife, Renee, is not there. That evening his daughter from another relationship was concerned she had not heard from Renee, her step-mother. Around 9:30 pm the child calls Renee, leaving a voice mail asking her to come home.

Saturday, January 3, at approximately 4:30 a.m., leaving his 11,- 8-, and 6-year-old children alone while they were sleeping, Shon Pernice goes to a fire station. He used his key card to enter Fire Station No. 5’s hazmat storage area. This area stores chemicals used for clean-up of hazardous spills. Shon is an EMT for the Independence, Missouri, fire department assigned to Fire Station No. 7, not station No. 5–a huge red flag.

He does not report to the National Guard that weekend. He goes into a facility likely forgetting or not knowing that his key card will be documented and recorded upon entry. His story is fabricated. He is the last person to see her alive. He does not report Renee missing. He has a lot to lose financially.

On Saturday, January 3, the stepchild calls her mother. According to accounts, the child is scared, so her mother picks up the daughter at the Pernice home, cutting short the normal visit. She then contacts someone from Renee’s family. A few hours later a family member calls the Pernice home to speak to Renee. Shon answered and said that he did not know where Renee was. Family members called 911.

Shon Pernice has given conflicting information on when he last saw Renee. He told a family member it was on January 1. He told police it was on the morning of January 2 between 9 and 10 a.m. At approximately 3 p.m., family members met officers at Renee’s home. Family members, along with officers, entered the residence and discovered that no one was home. They also discovered that Renee’s purse, vehicle, personal hygiene items and coat were at the residence. They noticed that Renee’s wallet, credit cards and cell phone were missing. Renee’s car was parked in the garage.

At the Pernice residence a call came in to a family member from Renee’s cell phone at approximately 4 pm. A homeless man had found the phone at about 1 a.m. on the morning of January 3, 2009, on the ground in the northeast part of town, approximately 12 miles from Renee’s home. Police sent a patrolman to pick up Renee’s phone from the homeless person.

The family members, not Shon Pernice, filed a missing person report while at the residence with police.

Another red flag, and important pattern of conduct by the last person to see his wife alive, Shon Pernice and  two attorneys arrived at the home and ordered the family and police to leave. The attorneys stated Pernice would not be speaking to family members or the police except through them.

On Sunday, January 4, Renee’s family immediately printed up posters and began posting flyers. They also searched portions of Kessler Park close to where Renee’s cell phone was found. In addition, the family contacted the local news stations asking if they would broadcast the news of Renee’s disappearance.

Monday, January 5, Detectives found divorce documents at Renee’s place of employment. They also found a photo of Shon with one of the children and an unknown woman in the file.

Tuesday, January 6, in the evening, Shon drove to Line Creek Park, approximately 1.5 miles from Renee’s house and let the family dog out of the van and left. Detectives who were observing Shon retrieved the dog. On January 7, police to obtain a warrant to search Renee’s house and they obtained another warrant on January 9 for the car.

A little over two years since Renee Pernice vanished, her remains have yet to be recovered. Had the stepchild not been alarmed and contacted her mother, a lot more evidence would have likely vanished.

In May of 2010, without a body, Shon Pernice was charged with murder and is being held on a million dollar bond. He is scheduled for trial in June of 2011. What is disturbing is that Renee may never be located because of the chemicals, in my opinion, used when he killed her. The timeline of when the children went to bed and when Pernice left the residence is important because that is when he may have disposed of her body. Where he had it hidden is anyone's guess, but it had to be a safe enough place for him to return, a place only he knew, where no one would suspect.

The details a week prior are also important to the case, including cell phone records, purchases at hardware stores, his timecards at work, the strange woman in a photo with him and the kids. His fire work boots and, frankly, any shoes in his truck, locker at work, the house and on the property are important evidence along with credit card activity six months prior. If they can identify the woman from the photo, her cell phone records and credit card activity should also be considered, as this is someone who might unknowingly make purchases for him, or secure a cell phone and have packages delivered to her.

The pattern of conduct of Renee Pernice leading up to the day she vanished could be like so many other women trying to leave a marriage. Renee held a good job with a salary large enough to support herself and her children. In fact, Renee alone cared for her children while her husband was stationed overseas. During the investigation, divorce papers were discovered in Renee's home office, leading us to believe she was serious this time about leaving her marriage.

Renee Pernice was close to her family, was in constant contact, and as is often heard in cases of missing mothers, "She would never leave her children." Most of the statements from Shon Pernice are in direct contrast with the woman and mother her family knew her to be. Perhaps Renée confided in her family or close friends about the upcoming divorce, or about the problems in her marriage leading her to make the decision to finalize the divorce.

Tragically, this case is one of thousands, when a person begins a divorce action, separates or ends a relationship, that having the Evidentiary Abuse Affidavit (as provided in the book Time's Up) and video prepared, with copies given to trusted friends and relatives, removes the burden by surviving families members to have cases of intimate partner homicide investigated and those responsible arrested.

A $25,000 reward has been offered for information that leads to where her remains. The family is trying to appeal to the people that know, or have heard things on the fringes and could give them a tip. That's all they're asking for, according to Renee's father, Rick Pretz.

Anyone with information on Renee Pernice's disappearance is asked to call the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-TIPS.

Shon Pernice is also linked to another missing mother, Star Boomer. In my opinion, he can be placed at her crime scene according to eye witnesses years earlier. Star Boomer has been missing since 1999, and she left behind a son and a family who deserve some real, truthful answers. Shon Pernice was the last person known to see both women.

There is a $5,000 reward for information in Star Boomer's case. Call the TIPS Hotline or link to the family's private investigator's website for the case. Those with information about the disappearance of Star Boomer are asked to contact the KBI at (800)-KS-CRIME

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The Journey to Justice: Garvin County, Oklahoma

By Susan Murphy-Milano

On October 14, I arrived in Garvin County, Oklahoma. I was brought in by family members to review and bring attention to their cases involving possible murder, cover up and corruption. I went to Oklahoma, knowing there were threats to harm me, but I felt this trip was important to secure information about each of these cases in front of new eyes.

What I found was beyond what I expected. There is a difference when meeting these families face to face and going to the actual areas where the crimes took place at "ground zero" instead of looking at photos or talking on the phone. It was immediately apparent to me that something, many things, were wrong with the initial "howdy doody" so-called investigations. This included staging the original crime scenes from bogus shell casings to cleaning up a bloody witness, and removing blood-soaked sheets, blankets or rugs, to actually dragging a body from the inside of a home out to the backyard. And at least one additional murder, possibly two, also directly relate to the cases

Meeting with each individual family was an eye-opener. Seeing, for myself, the landscape in which these crimes were committed would now give these cases a chance at justice. After reviewing never-before-seen crime scene photos, documentation and, in my opinion, new evidence added by the sheer determination of these families, I put the cases of Chanda Turner, Sheila Deviney and Tom Horton, now identified as “The Garvin County Three,” into a national spotlight. I had a lot of help, including a former prosecutor with whom I would report my findings. We would strategize my daily methods of gathering solid information and shipping it out by carrier the next day. You need to establish what is known as "a pattern of conduct." If you build the framework around this, you definitely have a case. And indeed, I did.

It was interesting to go into restaurants and businesses and see firsthand the treatment these families received--some good, some not so good. Like being shunned, or having a contagious disease, people were obviously in fear of being seen talking to them. It was gut-wrenching as I witnessed this happening before my eyes. It reminded me of a time when my own hero of a father murdered my mother before taking his own life. Those in my Chicago community, many of whom I had known my entire life, would publicly turn their backs or threaten my life if I continued “disgracing the Chicago Police Department and maligning my father’s good name."

By day three of my investigation at “ground zero,” the hostile climate turned and the curtain of fear in the surrounding towns of Paul’s Valley, Lindsey, Norman and Maysville began to rise. People were talking about the truth, the facts I was releasing nightly on the nationally syndicated program The Roth Show. People were coming forward providing crucial evidence and supplying statements. One by one, townsfolk expressed their embarrassment for how their community has been portrayed in the national spotlight. You saw them taking a stand with the truth, knowing that if things continued as they always had in Garvin County that justice would never be served and that others might be harmed in the process, possibly one of their own children or loved one.

Working within a system with a scandalous medical examiner’s office, a questionable sheriff, and a small town where families with money help keep things in control, the families of “the Garvin County Three”would not give up. My greatest pleasure, and the best part of my trip, was getting to know them better. These are real people who have been handed one of life’s biggest disservices, injustice.

As my time in Garvin County continued, I was surprised to see that other families were contacting either myself or attorney Jaye Mendros of Justice for the Dead site. This included people who had a lot of information surrounding these cases. It almost seemed as if there was a new consciousness, and some were finding that maybe their own consciences were finally getting the best of them after so many years of holding the secrets. Those secrets are now documented.

In the midst of a controversial upcoming election for a new sheriff in Garvin County, I found the tensions mounting all around me. Many people in the county were trying to keep the old guard in office to keep things as they have been for the last 11 years. Also, maybe some were trying to keep their own loved ones from facing the music they were hiding from behind the very ones who were present on each of the crime scenes of Sheila Deviney, Chanda Turner and Tom Horton, The Garvin County Three.

On November 2, the people of Garvin County spoke up loudly and clearly that it was finally time for a change. They elected to give the old sheriff the boot and bring in someone who has promised to do what is necessary to get their cases re-opened and re-examined. The task facing new Sheriff Larry Rhoades is daunting, and we have to believe that he will see this through.

There is still a lot of work to do in Oklahoma, but the process has begun to get the ball rolling in the right direction. Justice will be served for The Garvin County Three.

There are so many people I would like to thank, and you all know who you are, especially my colleagues here at Women In Crime Ink. Without your support and prayers, this journey would have been much more difficult. Also, a special thanks to Dr. Laurie Roth and Doug Hagmann; I always knew you had my back every step of the way. And to those now at the beginning stages of the preliminary investigation as it relates to the long-awaited truth for Chanda Turner, Sheila Deviney, Tom Horton and each of their families who know justice is now a step closer.

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No Justice in Oklahoma

by Susan Murphy Milano

For more than a decade, the Oklahoma Medical Justice For The Dead is the tip of the iceberg of what families have endured, going back to the year 2000 and the unsolved murder(s) of their family members. Autopsies are stamped "suicide" as if the medical examiner's office is branding justice for victims as if they were cattle.

One by one, the crime scene photos tell each victim's story. The blood-spattered walls, the entry and exist wounds of bullets, an appliance cord around a neck to burn patterns, and body position upon entry. The Examiner's Office has practiced a brand of cover up and corruption without regard for truth and justice.

Chanda Turner, just 23 years old, was shot to death at her home in Pauls Valley, Oklahoma, on July 12, 2000. Her boyfriend claimed she shot herself while he slept through the sound of gunfire and later found her outside on the back steps after she was dead. Crime scene photos depict blood throughout the inside of the home, including on the mattress he claimed he was asleep on. The mattress had been stripped of sheets; no one asked where they went. There were more signs of cleanup in the bedroom, including a bottle of cleaning solution on the floor. The boyfriend had fresh scratches on his arms, and Chanda was covered in bruises. There were signs of a struggle in the living room, including broken furniture.

On January 6, 2004, Sheila Deviney's mobile home (fire photo, right), located about one mile east and one mile south of Maysville, Oklahoma, burned to the ground. Deviney, 30, was murdered. It should be no surprise that Sheila Deviney had been married to an abusive, controlling man. They had a court date about past-due child support scheduled for the next day. According to eye witnesses, her ex-husband was at the home, although, by law, he was not allowed on the premises. He and another friend destroyed evidence and took items from the home. And, as of last week, the medical examiner's office has set a deadline in 2012 regarding the destruction of Sheila's tissue samples. And there is a $50,000 reward being offered by Oklahoma business people in this case.

Tom Horton (left) had been a beloved and respected teacher for twenty five years in Wynnewood, Oklahoma, before he was killed by a shotgun blast in his home on December 10, 2008.

Many family members sounded the alarm of foul play, they pointed out obvious evidence of a homicide to local authorities which fell on deaf ears.

Medical Investigator John Miller, who is not a physician and who also obstructed the performance of an autopsy in Chanda Turner's case, classified the death a suicide. No autopsy was perfomed, despite Tom Horton dying of an unattended, violent death by firearm. The family's repeated requests for an autopsy were denied. Without benefit of an autopsy or other direct scrutiny by any pathologist, Horton’s death remains incorrectly classified as a suicide. The family called attention to physical evidence in other areas of the dwelling corroborating homicide, all of which the ME's Office met with hostility.

Faced with an overwhelming number of inconsistencies and physical evidence, five individuals from Wynnewood, including two of Horton’s sons, two family friends and a former student, began the arduous task of seeking justice in Garvin County, up to and including the petitioning for a grand jury.

Landon Edwards, or "Hopper," (pictured, right) was just 26 years of age when he was found murdered in Guymon on August 30, 2008. The autopsy photos in this case tell a much different story than what the Oklahoma ME's office listed on his death certificate.

At the time, according to family accounts, "[Landons'] girlfriend claimed to have found him upon awaking at 8:38 a.m." Supposedly, Landon hung himself less than 10 feet from where she slept, in a room that had no door between her and the victim. The facts speak for themselves. The victim's position at the scene did not support that of a self-induced death, or suicide.

As you are reading this, I am in Oklahoma, under what many consider a hostile environment. Threats have been implied that I will not leave the state in anything other than a body bag. During my ten days in Oklahoma, I will be visiting crimes scenes with family members, participating in press conferences, legislation and meeting with various officials.

The Roth Show will be taking daily reports live from me as I make appearances in and around Oklahoma. Dr. Laurie Roth and her associates have committed themselves to helping keep me safe while I'm there.

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Oklahoma: Where Crime Blows Like the Wind

By Susan Murphy Milano

The adopted song for the state of Oklahoma originates from the 1950s Rogers and Hammerstein musical sung by Shirley Jones and Gordon McRae. A line from the song says: “Winds come sweeping down the plain, smells sweet.” I would like to add a verse of my own: "The sweeping murder down the plain, it smells foul, just the same,” new lyrics now sung by the families of Chanda Turner and Shiela Deviney.

In the state of Oklahoma, specifically Garvin County, justice has literally been removed, erased, whatever you would like to call it, for the families of Chanda Turner and Shiela Deviney. Both of these women lost their lives as a direct result of intimate partner homicide. The elected officials, law enforcement and political powers in the State of Oklahoma have decided never to investigate, bring forth charges and arrest the husband and boyfriend in these cases. Instead, they gave each of the suspects their blessings, allowing them to tamper with crime-scene evidence after each murder, right under the noses of Old West-mentality law enforcement.

The sheriff, in my opinion, has used everything in his corrupt and crooked magic bag to harass and personally threaten each of the families. It is likely the Garvin County Sheriff's Office is still operating under 1850s Old West procedures when it comes to the murder of a wife and a girlfriend. The current sheriff might want to change the language on the office's website, which reads: "The office of the sheriff is one of antiquity. It is the oldest law-enforcement known within the common-law system, and it has always been accorded great dignity and trust."

Chandra Turner (left), just 23 years old, was shot to death at her home in Paul's Valley on July 12, 2000. Her boyfriend claimed she shot herself while he slept through the sound of gunfire and later found her outside on the back steps after she was dead. Crime scene photos depict blood throughout the inside of the home, including on the mattress he claimed he was asleep on. The mattress had been stripped of sheets; no one asked where they went. There were more signs of cleanup in the bedroom, including a bottle of cleaning solution on the floor. The boyfriend had fresh scratches on his arms, and Chanda was covered in bruises. There were signs of a struggle in the living room, including broken furniture.

Shiela Deviney (right), 30, died on January 6, 2004, when her mobile home, located about one mile east and one mile south of Maysville, Oklahoma, burned to the ground. She was murdered. It should be no surprise that Sheila had been married to an abusive, controlling man. They had a court date over past-due child support scheduled the next day. According to eye witnesses, her ex-husband was at the home, although by law not allowed on the premises. He and another friend destroyed evidence and took items from the home.

Where are my manners? I forgot to mention that the "participation" (more like hawking into a spitoon) of the district attorney's office, both past and current administrations, has been non-existent. The office refuses to open the cases. They will not take calls from the families, who have important documents and information. They refuse to give a damn!

Perhaps it has something to do with the person who now heads up the investigations for the district attorney's office? Oh, wait, I remember now. He was an investigator on both the Chanda Turner and the Shiela Deviney cases.

Last month, Intimate Partner Homicide Investigation Radio, a new show about victims likely killed by a husband or a boyfriend, presented these two cases. The Blogtalk Radio show is hosted by "Cold Case" investigative research director Sheryl McCollum, former Atlanta prosecutor turned defense attorney Holly Hughes, and myself. Our broadcasts alone were, in our opinion, more than enough to actually have both the Turner and Deviney case re-opened. Calls burned up the show’s switchboard with folks calling in with information from witnesses of "who done it," and with locations of important evidence. Each caller stated they had never been contacted by law enforcement or the prosecutors office.

According to Sheryl McCollum, "Although we will never know what forensic evidence was present because the crime scene was not secured properly in either of the cases, other evidence provided is more than enough to investigate and demand each case be re-opened."

McCollum goes on to say, about Chanda Turner’s case: "We know from photographs that there was blood spatter evidence that was not considered, we know from forensic reports that there was primer residue evidence that was ignored."

Defense attorney Holly Hughes, the former Atlanta prosecutor, believes that the Gavin County prosecutor, by refusing to open both the Turner and Deviney cases, is covering up for those who did not properly do their jobs. It is clear from the photos of the fire in the Deviney case.

Within three weeks of the airing of Shiela Deviney’s case, a group of Oklahoma businessmen who heard the show and wish to remain anonymous posted a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the people responsible for Sheila’s murder.

Perhaps the prosecutor has a memory lapse, practicing his own version of "blue light special" justice, forgetting that he was elected by the people, taking an oath, placing his hand on the Bible, swearing to do a job and ensure justice.

To the elected officials in Oklahoma, as your song goes “it ain’t too early and it ain’t too late" to do your jobs and re-open the cases!

Many times we don't realize the impact of writing and posting blogs, or doing what some call silly radio shows for broadcast over the Internet; they do have an impact and people are listening and taking action. In addition, in Oklahoma, because of our show, a newly formed alliance of concerned and committed citizens was created and named the Eleventh Commandment. It was created to counter a growing plague of police corruption, political apathy and administrative malfeasance, all of which have played a part in the untimely and unsolved murders of a number of local citizens. The Eleventh Commandment reads, "Thou shall not get away with it!"

The Internet, in my opinion, can be an important tool if used correctly, specifically for cold cases, taking the lives of those buried and forgotten long ago and holding them under the light for justice!

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Bullies and School Officials Beware: We're Watching

by Stacy Dittrich

It’s a story that sounds like it’s right out of a Lifetime Movie of the Week (undoubtedly, it will be). Pretty Irish girl immigrates to a small Massachusetts town. Pretty Irish girl catches the eye of the popular football player and succumbs to his charms — they have sex. The other girls in the school grow quite jealous of the pretty Irish girl and begin to bully her in a relentless and utterly disturbing manner as school officials sit by and do nothing. Pretty Irish girl commits suicide. She was only 15.

But this horrific and absolutely outrageous story is anything but a Lifetime movie. It's a growing trend that occurs daily across our nation’s schools: Bullying. Some refer to it as the “Mean Girls Syndrome” or “Clique Attacks,” but it has gotten completely out of control. It's long past time it gets recognition. Finally, it's getting the attention, but at the cost of young girl’s life.

Fifteen-year-old Phoebe Prince (above left) left a picturesque, seaside village in County Clare, Ireland to come to America. Her family had hopes of a better life. The brunette beauty could now experience the real life of an American teenager -- and then some. Somewhat of a novelty at her school, Phoebe attracted the most popular boys. As a young girl in a new and strange environment, Phoebe undoubtedly felt like a princess as an attractive football player courted her. Unfortunately, Phoebe engaged in sex with this boy, and another popular, strapping young buck.

What followed is a text-book case of unrelenting stalking, harassment, and assault, and a group of school officials who turned their backs. The boys began bragging about having sex with Phoebe. This, of course, gave the group of Mean Girls ammunition to continue their pursuit of her. Each day, the harassment grew worse. As Phoebe walked down the hallways from class to class, they knocked her schoolbooks out of her arms onto the floor, then kicked away. They would shout names at her like “Irish slut” and “whore.” She was constantly subjected to items being thrown at her. One girl drove by Phoebe and pelted her with a full can of Red Bull.

Phoebe’s parents continuously asked school officials at South Hadley High School to intervene. Clearly, their pleas fell on deaf ears. On January 14, 2010, Phoebe had a particularly brutal day at her new school. Avoiding the lunch room, she went to the library to be alone and concentrate on her studies. The bullies followed her into the library and unleashed a verbal tirade of degrading names and physical threats. Astonishingly, a teacher sat quietly nearby, witnessed the entire incident -- and never said a word. After school, Phoebe went home and promptly hung herself in the stairwell of her home. Furthermore, what brought this sickening story to the forefront was that after news of her death spread throughout the community, those bullies had the audacity to go on Phoebe’s Facebook page and continue their verbal tirades against her. Phoebe Prince couldn’t escape the bullies even in death.

The community was outraged. As the case made its way onto the national news wire, pundits debated whether or not anyone should be held responsible. I happened to come across one talking head who ignorantly stated: “So she was called a few names and pushed a little! She obviously had other problems to go so far as to commit suicide.” I seethed with anger at this. I wanted to look him(Juan Williams) in the face and ask if he had ever lived his life as a 15-year old girl. I wanted to know if he had ever known the emotions and the constant depression a girl that age can go through if she didn’t fit in with the cool kids.

I experienced a year of pure hell with my own daughter when she was only 11-years-old. Each day in her 5th grade class, she was subjected to name-calling and shoving in the bathroom. It got so bad that every day she left for school, my stomach was in knots. When she got off the bus crying, I wanted to drive to the school and scream. I felt completely helpless. I can’t even begin to imagine the anger and anguish the parents of Phoebe Prince are going through. With my daughter, I was in the principal’s office every week demanding that he take care of the problem. If I heard, “Well, you know how girls can be … they’ll work it out,” I thought I would come unglued. Even after I explained that it is the school’s responsibility to protect my child for six hours each day, the school did nothing.

Finally, I simply called the school and told them she would not be attending until they fixed the problem. And that they better get her assignments ready so she doesn’t fall behind. It was only after I threw in the towel and said I was going to the police department did any action ensue. It was unbelievable. It was a gamble on my part since, I was fairly certain the police would take no action against any 11-year olds unless there was a genuine assault.

I heard similar stories within my community, including one mother who literally kept her daughter home for a year due to lack of enforcement by school officials. This is everywhere. What’s even more shocking is the parents of the bullies refuse to see their children for what they are. In the case of Phoebe Prince, the mother of one of the girls criminally charged, Sharon Chanon Velazquez, 16, publicly defends her with sheer ignorance. She blames Phoebe Prince.

“Sharon exchanged a couple words with her, that’s all,” Angeles Chanon told the Boston Herald. “Phoebe was calling her names, too. They’re teenagers. They call each other names.”

I commend the district attorney’s office for criminally charging the group with charges ranging from statutory rape, assault, and harassment to civil rights violations. However, they completely wimped out when it came to holding school officials criminally liable. They said their failure to act was concerning, but not criminal. Really? The school officials hold an enormous amount of culpability as far as knowingly failing to act, or being negligent to say the least.

Between 1999 and 2007 the number of students being home-schooled in the U.S. nearly tripled and is growing at a rate of 5-12% per year, according to the National Home Education Research Institute. What used to be known as a somewhat freakish practice has gone mainstream. The socioeconomic groups of home-schooled children have leveled. There are children of doctors, lawyers, and judges as well as of lower class households being home schooled. What has become the number one reason for the rise? Bullying. Females being home-schooled almost double the number of males.

Needless to say, it is time that school officials are held accountable. By law, we are required to put our children in their care. Why doesn’t the law protect our children while they are there?

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Fuhrman's Persuasive Polemic

By Laura James

There is much wrong with the portrayal of criminal justice in the media today. Even those who work for the crime media will tell you that the way it's done today, it's cheap, profitable, and wrong. In a scathing new book, FOX analyst Mark Fuhrman details his criticisms of "The Murder Business." "All the claims they make on these shows about justice and crime-stopping," he writes, "are a mockery of the English language." The book is The Murder Business: How the Media Turns Crime Into Entertainment and Subverts Justice.

He backs up his sturm und drang with compelling examples. Once I overcame the tinnitus caused by reading incendiary analysis by an insider who admits he played a "notorious role in the OJ Simpson trial," I found myself agreeing with many of his points.

Per Fuhrman, crime TV commits these sins. Do any of his criticisms ring true (or false) to you?

1. "They don't actually investigate... Facts have mostly been replaced with opinion, conversation, debate, and argument... Investigative journalists don't do much investigating. They stand in a pack outside Drew Peterson's house shouting, 'Did you kill Kathleen Savio?' I mean honestly, what did they expect him to say?"

2. They deliberately drag out stories, misrepresenting the facts if it helps to do so. It was obvious immediately that Caylee Anthony was dead, Fuhrman writes; but she was "missing" according to the press. "They want a big, loose time-line filled with "leads" and "possible suspects" and "persons of interest"... They didn't want a grim and depressing Search for Caylee Anthony's Body, but a suspenseful, heart-rending Search for Caylee Anthony. A story they could drag out for months, long after it was clear to me, the police, and every realistic observer or participant, that the child was dead."

3. They shell out huge sums for interviews and/or photos.

4. "They manufacture questions, but never try to answer them."

5. They relentlessly focus on attractive, middle class females as either culprit or victim. Haleigh Cummings' case fell from the TV screen because of the class of her family, which turned the story into "a white-trash nightmare, too much of a freak show."

Fuhrman goes on to analyze several recent cases of prominence.

Fuhrman on Drew Peterson: "He's got personality disorders they don't have a name for yet."

Fuhrman on Scott Peterson: "The media played along [with him]. They made his relationship with Amber Frey the centerpiece of the story, rather than the overwhelming evidence against him, mounting each day."

Fuhrman on his experiences as a true crime reporter in the Martha Moxley case: "I have never in my life been treated more shabbily than I was in Greenwich, CT. And that includes the Simpson trial."

Fuhrman on Nancy Grace: "She all but convicted the Duke University lacrosse players... and didn't apologize later when the accusations proved bogus... Grace flat-out declared suspect Richard Ricci guilty [of the abduction of Elizabeth Smart] several times on air... Grace didn't apologize for that one either... [Her interview of Melinda Duckett would] establish a new low, even by the standards of crime TV... Nancy Grace fired blindly. All she did was work herself into a lather and make Duckett clam up. The next day, Duckett was dead, and the investigation effectively died with her."

Fuhrman on the future of crime reporting: "Crime as entertainment has become so intoxicating, it's very difficult to go back. But all it takes is one person -- one journalist willing to step outside the circle and investigate the facts. One Woodward or one Bernstein could change the entire industry, remind reporters of their responsibility tot he public, and balance out the soap opera on the air."

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Silenced

by Susan Murphy-Milano

Two years ago today, 23-year-old Stacy Ann Peterson vanished from the house in the Illinois suburb of Bolingbrook that she shared with her police-officer husband Drew Peterson, her two children and his two sons, whom she'd adopted.

After several months of being stalked and living under her husband's tight, controlling reins, Stacy Peterson told her husband the marriage was over. In October 2007, Stacy met and consulted with divorce attorney Harry Smith -- ironically, the same lawyer Kathleen Savio hired to represent her when she decided to divorce Peterson.

When Stacy failed to show up at her brother's house that late-October day, family members were concerned, especially her sister Cassandra Cales. Just two days earlier, after a cozy family night of movie and pizza, Stacy warned Cassandra that she planned to leave Peterson and said: "If something happens to me, I just want you to know it was Drew." When Cassandra couldn't reach her missing sister, she went to Stacy's house and found the four children home alone, with no sign of Peterson's car. At the Bolingbrook Police Department, Cassandra filed a missing-person report.

Within 48 hours, camera crews and journalists besieged the once quiet suburban cul-de-sac. Peterson, then a police sergeant, gave them a show -- a bizarre public display including personal attacks on his wife and her family in the wake of her disappearance. The national media covered Peterson's act like a low-life reality TV show. Each day as Peterson left his house, journalists shoved microphones in his face, hungry for a sound bite for evening crime or news broadcasts. If you were a resident of Illinois during the first three weeks after Stacy vanished, you saw Peterson served up on local, cable and radio programs like a charred chicken flapping its wings almost around the clock.

To me, it seemed Peterson treated Stacy's life like a dirty rag. In his attempts to discredit her, Peterson made comments such as "You know she came from a broken home," or, "Her mother went missing too, so this is not a surprise." Then I heard Peterson say, "Stacy is where she wants to be." My heart sank as I thought of the boys who'd now lost a mother twice.

Seventeen days after Cassandra reported Stacy's disappearance, the Will County State Attorney's Office obtained a court order and exhumed the body of Kathleen Savio. Savio, Peterson's previous wife, was discovered dead in a bathtub in the marital house in 2004. Suddenly, the media and police focus swung from Stacy's disappearance to a new autopsy into the cause of Kathleen's death. The effort to find Stacy lost its momentum. The ground began to freeze, making the search more difficult for family and teams of volunteers. And the media remained hooked on Drew's public displays and his love life, leaving no time to find answers or enlist the public's help in finding Stacy.

In the months that followed, I met with people who knew Stacy personally. From the moment she married Drew, Stacy worked to knit a loving family environment, integrating Drew's then-estranged family into the couple's new life. From all accounts, she had a kind, warm and giving heart. People's eyes sparkled when they spoke of her. She made friends and family feel welcome. When a guest didn't show up for a gathering, Stacy called urged, "Come on," one relative recalled. "We're holding dinner, where are you? We're not starting until you get here."

Another told me: "Stacy was the glue, and that's why her disappearance is so painful to those of us who knew her."

Stacy Peterson's dream was to be a loving wife and mother, an all-around nurturer. She enrolled in nursing classes at a local college. When Stacy could no longer live under Peterson's heavy-handed control and constant watch, she made plans to leave. But like many women in her position, she made a mistake. She told her husband what she planned before she moved to a place where she'd be safe from him.

Stacy was silenced in the prime of her life. But there can be no silencing of family and friends who will continue to search for her until she is found. A grand jury met for 18 months before handing down an indictment against Drew Peterson for the death of Kathleen Savio.

I believe when that trial begins, the long silence about how Kathleen Savio lost her life will be lifted and the truth about how Stacy died will also be revealed. During the trial, thanks to Illinois' new hearsay law, Stacy Peterson's words will finally be heard.

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