A Day in the Life of a Police Reporter

by Jami Kinton, Reporter
Mansfield News Journal

Most people dread calls at 3 o'clock in the morning.

I look forward to them.

Having several friends who work at the police and fire departments, I know that 99% of the time, a call or text message at that hour means one of three things: A fire, a shooting, or a crash. And a front-page story.

A million things run through your head when you arrive at the scene: Where are the immediate individuals involved? Have they already been transported or are they in any condition to talk? If multiple departments are present, whose case is it and who will comment from that department? Who are family members and who are just spectators? Reporters also have to deal with the fact they're only going to get about 50% of the information they want.

I rarely leave a scene satisfied. I've got eyes, but I can't ever write by instinct or what I thought I might have seen.

Recently, I left a three-vehicle accident where it was pretty obvious that one of the drivers had been killed—but without confirmation from an officer or medical personnel, the most compelling component couldn’t be reported.

It’s frustrating.

With the growing demand for immediate online news, there’s a lot more pressure covering these types of stories.When big stories are unfolding, an editor is sitting by a phone waiting for a call with updates to be able to post online immediately. And if I'm not calling, he's calling me. While readers may appreciate it, I usually don't.

Officers rarely appreciate some nosy reporter asking them for an update every two minutes. But as much as readers complain about “too much negative news,” these stories are the first ones read, evoke an emotional response, and leave lasting impressions. I will never forget covering the story of a woman who had her entire community enthralled by her twisted, almost unbelievable, tale. Within one year, Gretchen Rocks, a 28-year-old Mansfield, Ohio woman, claimed she had been brutally beaten and near death four times.

In June 2007, Rocks was found beaten and blindfolded at the home she shared with her estranged husband. Two months later, Rocks was found bound and gagged in the back of her vehicle. In December 2007, police said she was bound, gagged, and tied inside a plastic bag and left in a Dumpster behind her workplace. She had the word 'liar' carved in her chest (evidence photo pictured above).

She was also the victim of arson, when someone burned her house to the ground on her wedding anniversary.

In June 2008, police found Rocks stuffed in the crawl space of the house she used to share with her husband. She was bruised beyond recognition. When she was released from the hospital, I went to her parents' house to interview her and family members. The house was beautiful, her family was beautiful, she had two beautiful girls and she was a well-spoken, educated young lady. Everything about the setting and her detailed story added to her credibility, and tugged hard at your heart strings.

Rocks claimed, with certainty, her husband was behind the abuse.

In the most recent incident, Rocks said she had been raped repeatedly, beaten, drugged and then taken to her former residence. Having met her husband on other stories, I felt shocked and angry—angry with him and angry with myself. I had liked the guy and I couldn’t believe I’d been so far off-base with my judgment. After interviewing the family for hours, their pastor stopped over to chat with them and I had a chance to talk to Rocks one-on-one.

Although I’d never experienced anything as traumatic, I felt a connection with her.

She was definitely not the stereotypical woman in an abusive relationship. Rocks (pictured below) was pretty, smart, appeared to have a terrific family and was married to a well-known banker. The old saying “if it could happen to her, it could happen to anyone” stayed in my head for a long time after.

Rocks’ husband’s home was searched and her story stayed in the paper, generating lots of talk throughout the community. As time went on, I heard more and more people express skepticism about her story. For many, it seemed awfully peculiar that Rocks appeared on the brink of death so many times, but managed to escape them all.

Months later, I was out shopping and saw a call come into my cell phone from Rocks' mother, Corrine Fleming. Having not heard from her for a while, I was curious. Fleming calmly informed me that her daughter had confessed to police that she’d made up at least two of the incidents.

I was shocked.

Another reporter had worked on the story with me, and we both had stuck up for this girl on numerous occasions, especially within our own newsroom. As the only two reporters who’d actually spoken to her, we felt that few others, with the exception of police, had more authority or knowledge on the subject as we did.

Turns out, we’d both been taken.

As embarrassed as I feel about my own judgment, that case taught me a lot. No one likes to admit it, but we all stereotype and make judgments on others based on how they live, how they speak, and how they look. Perhaps my co-worker and I go swept up in all that, and, outside of writing, lost focus. It happens. Sometimes the closer you are, the harder it is to see what’s really there. Nevertheless, these types of stories will always be my favorite.

Reporters can’t do everything those in law enforcement can do. We can’t get search warrants and we can’t force anyone to talk to us who doesn’t want to. But we certainly do as much as we can to dig, to get multiple sources and information, so that we can deliver the most thorough story possible.

They may turn your stomach and can bring tears to my eyes, but at the same time, these stories give you a good dose of reality and keep you on your toes.

Jami Kinton is a reporter for Ohio's Mansfield News Journal and won an Associated Press award for Best Investigative Reporting in 2008.

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Anatomy of a Cold Case Murder

by Donna Pendergast

The subject of cold case squads is a hot topic in the criminal justice world. With the popularity of television shows such as Cold Case and other shows of that ilk, the emphasis on solving old cases has taken on new importance in police departments across the country.

Many obstacles hamper homicide cases in the early stages of an investigation. Overworked investigators often have sparse resources, nonexistent support staff and never-ending case loads. This frequently results in circumstances where investigators are forced to move on to another case if a crime is not solved quickly.

Conventional wisdom has always been that the first 48 hours after a crime is the most critical period and that the likelihood of solving a case drops dramatically after 72 hours. While undoubtedly that statement remains true, cold case squads across the county are learning that the passage of time can sometimes benefit their investigations as well.

Cold case units attempt to breathe new life into old cases using all the technology and resources currently available. Cold case units scrutinize their cases, going over each one with a fine-tooth comb in an effort to determine if something was overlooked or if circumstances have changed.

Investigators in a cold case unit are usually relieved of other investigative duties so that they are freed up to pursue leads that have long laid dormant. Fundamental to the success of a cold case unit is investigators who have the ability to give the case the intense sort of scrutiny which is only possible when they are freed up from the rigors of running from case to case.

Over the course of my career I've worked with several different types of cold case units. The type of cold case squad operating in any specific jurisdiction varies based on need and available resources. Cold case units can take a number of forms from a single investigator who investigates a single case to dedicated teams who do nothing but look at a number of older cases from start to finish. I've also worked with a dedicated task force team who did nothing but focus on a single case for nearly for two and a half years. The efforts of that team resulted in the murder convictions of six individuals after nearly three decades.

The teams that I have worked with as well as other cold case teams from across the country have found that while the passage of time usually hurts an investigation in some cases it can be be to their advantage. As a case sits dormant on a shelf a number of things can happen. Relationships, friendships, and alliances can change and formerly uncooperative witnesses may become more willing to speak or provide information that they have not provided in the past.

On the other side of the equation the passage of time allows for perpetrators to become cocky or complacent. After a period of time perpetrators may, and often do, speak or brag about their crimes confident that they have gotten away with their misdeeds. Booze and drugs can fuel statements about a perpetrator's past criminal activity.

Other factors can change with the passage of time as well. Witnesses may have matured or may now need help with the criminal justice system making them more approachable and more likely to speak to investigators. Advances in technology and changes in the law can also benefit investigators working on cold case squads.

But all the time and technology in the world won't solve a cold case without the right personnel behind it. This isn't a squad for rookies. In most jurisdictions only the most talented and experienced investigators and prosecutors work cold cases.

Investigators need experience on the streets.They need to know how to locate witnesses and then gain their trust. They also have to understand the nuances of difficult litigation and be prepared to overcome the practical difficulties of bringing a case to trial.

Prosecutors need to be involved with the investigations from the start of the investigation and have the opportunity to attempt to flesh out areas of potential jury concern. They need to understand that the age of the case alone is going to subject the case to more rigorous scrutiny than a current case. Prosecutors need to interact with, direct, and scrutinize the investigations to make sure that potential jury questions and considerations are addressed as well as is possible. Prosecutors also need to be very experienced, trial savvy, and prepared to try the most difficult of cases.

The reality of a cold case squad is not nearly as glamorous as what people watch on TV, and unlike TV, these cases are not solved in an hour. However, cold case squads across the country are proving every day that what might have once appeared to be the perfect crime can now be successfully investigated and prosecuted as well. For that we all can be grateful.

Statements made in this post are my own and are not intended to reflect the views, opinions, or position of the Michigan Attorney General or the Michigan Department of Attorney General.

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Blood In, Blood Out

by Connie Park

On June 8, 2006, 49-year-old Robert McCartney arrived at a Walmart in Baytown, Texas, to buy fishing tackle in anticipation of an upcoming fishing trip with an old friend. Three other thugs, Randall Wayne Carter (age 32), Larry Ray Welch (age 20), and Michael Brandon Faught (age 22), unbeknownst to McCartney, were there in the parking lot, waiting for him. To Carter and Faught, McCartney was an unsuspecting victim they could rob and terrorize. All three were there to execute an order they received from the “Captain” of the local Texas Aryan Brotherhood. They were ordered to steal a truck in order to sell the parts.

The surveillance camera shows that the three abduct McCartney, push him into the truck, and drive off from the parking lot. They drove out to the country, and crossed the county line into Liberty County to a desolate soybean field.

On the way to the scene, Carter ordered the victim at gunpoint to take off his clothes. McCartney begged for his life. He was crying and very, very scared.

McCartney was taken away from the Walmart in his own truck, to a place he hadn’t ever seen before. When Carter drove McCartney into this field, he ordered him to get out of his own truck. McCartney stared at Carter, Welch, and Faught (who had followed Carter to the field) in disbelief. He begged them for his life. But to Randall Wayne Carter, that didn’t matter a bit.

Carter first stabbed McCartney in the neck and left him in the dirt field. Carter was not finished. He then got behind the defenseless McCartney, and sliced his neck with a force so great that it severed the man’s jugular veins.

He and the others then left McCartney’s nude body in the field, where it was found by a farm worker the following morning. Carter had followed orders all right, he got the victim’s truck.

And it cost that victim, a guy minding his own business and getting ready for a fishing trip, his life. The graphic details are important, not to sensationalize the story, but rather to show how heartless and brutal the murder was and how they terrorized and killed this man simply because they wanted his truck. Simply because they could.

The following day, Baytown police were notified of a missing persons report made by the victim’s sister. It matched information that had been broadcast by the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office about a man that an unsuspecting farm worker found in a soybean field.

Ironically, Baytown police were also investigating an unrelated burglary of a local department store where thousands of dollars worth of merchandise was stolen. Acting on a tip on the burglary, the police found themselves at a residence on Morrell Street in Baytown, where they saw several suspects attempting to leave with the stolen merchandise.

The police quickly learned the suspects were also involved in McCartney’s murder when they saw Michael Faught burning McCartney’s wallet in the backyard. McCartney’s truck was also recovered at a nearby street.

Carter, Welch, and Faught were arrested and charged with capital murder. They had been awaiting trial in Houston in the Harris County Jail. Welch and Faught confessed to the crime and implicated Carter as the one who stabbed and killed McCartney.

The capital murder trial was set originally for early part of 2009. However, Carter pled guilty and agreed to life in prison without parole, thus avoiding the death penalty. He was a known member of the Aryan Brotherhood. He had been to prison before. He threatened to kill anyone who mentioned a word. And he is—and will remain—alive.

The Aryan Brotherhood, known as AB, was formed in the 1960s by a group of bikers in San Quentin State Prison in California when desegregation took place in prisons. Racial violence broke out and gangs were formed along racial lines. AB members identified themselves with symbols and tattoos of swastikas and Nazi SS lightning bolts.

During the 1980s, the AB divided into two factions: gang members in federal custody and gang members in state prison. AB became the most feared and violent prison gang involved in organized crime, drug trafficking, extortion, inmate prostitution, and murder-for-hire.

AB members have a lifetime allegiance to the gang and take the same blood oath:

“An Aryan brother is without a care. He walks where the weak and the heartless don’t dare. For an Aryan brother, death holds no fear. Vengeance will be his, though his brother’s still here”

AB members live by these words:

“We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children. Any true soldier not only lives by these words, but they would be embedded in his heart and soul. Rahowa!” (Racial Holy War)

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Prioritize = Legalize

by Robin Sax

It’s no secret that I take crime very seriously. I am all about tough sentences and putting the bad guys away. But, come on, people. Is possession of a bong really worth ruining a guy’s career, livelihood, and reputation? I’m as tough on crime as the next guy, but suspending Michael Phelps from competitive swimming for 3 months for taking a bong hit (if he even really took the hit; all we know for sure is that he was photographed with a bong in hand). A possible prosecution for a picture of him holding a bong? Kellogg, allowing a major endorsement to expire because, “Michael’s behavior is not consistent with the image of Kellogg”?

I am not suggesting that Michael Phelps should be treated any differently than anybody else. I am not here arguing that Kobe Bryant was wrongfully accused, or that we are overly harsh with our sports stars (just ask Lawrence Philips what he thinks of me). What I am actually saying is that we need to have priorities in our criminal justice system.

Not all crimes are equal, just as not all drugs are equal. And courts, prosecutors, and cops don’t have the time or the resources to deal with the nonsense involved in simple possession of marijuana case. So, if that’s the case, why are the authorities making an example of Michael Phelps? Why are we using tax dollars to prosecute and incarcerate weed smokers?

Is it to deter kids from using and/or abusing pot? Well I think not. As Allen St. Pierre, executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) aptly states: “Regardless of one’s view of marijuana use as normal or immoral, healthy or unhealthy, the fact is that over 70 years of government prohibition has done little to nothing to achieve the long-stated public goals of increasing youth perception of harm from marijuana use, reducing youth access to untaxed and unregulated marijuana, increasing treatment for marijuana abuse and marijuana-related emergency room visits, and incarcerating users and dealers.”

Successful entrepreneurs and business people know that they must be effective time managers. And in order to be an effective time manager, they realize that they simply cannot do everything available to them. They have to be selective with their limited time, and consciously choose to spend it on what is most important to them.

So why does it seem that time management and court management mentioned in the same sentence seem like an oxymoron?

Why isn’t it cost effective and productive to prosecute simple marijuana cases? Because the penalties are minimal! Why is the law lenient on marijuana ? Because more than half of the American population thinks that marijuana should be legalized!

Citizens are not alone on this, by the way. In fact, last year, the U.S. House of Representatives introduced H.R. 5843: "To eliminate most Federal penalties for possession of marijuana for personal use." This a bi-partisan measure introduced by Rep. Barney Frank [D-MA] and Rep. Ronald Paul [R-TX] on April 17, 2008. The bill’s goals was to remove Federal penalties for personal possession, or non-profit transfer, of up to 100 grams of marijuana.

And while those who want to legalize marijuana have a long list of arguments supporting the legalization of pot, I suggest that we use the business model of prioritizing to make a sound, well-thought-out decision. As C. Ray Johnson states in the final chapter of his book, CEO Logic: How to Think and Act Like a Chief Executive: "Prioritizing is the answer to time management problems - not computers, efficiency experts, or matrix scheduling. You do not need to do work faster or to eliminate gaps in productivity to make better use of your time. You need to spend more time on the right things. . . ."

In the criminal justice system, the “right thing” is to prosecute people who hurt others, who abuse, rape, molest, batter, use weapons, steal, stalk, or terrorize—not those who are photographed with a bong in hand.

This post and all posts by Robin Sax do not reflect the opinion of he Los Angeles County District Attorney or the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office.

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Vanished

by Jenna Jackson

A 37-year-old woman was kidnapped at gunpoint Monday night as she was leaving a well-traveled shopping center in Pearland. Texas EquuSearch is leading the search for her right now.

Even the search leaders say they aren’t optimistic about finding Susana De Jesus (pictured above) alive at this point, considering how she was taken. I know this kind of thing happens all the time–but this one stuck with me because of how brazen it was. And because of what this woman and her family have already gone through in the past year.

De Jesus was snatched as she was walking to her car in the parking lot outside of Catherine’s Plus Sizes, a boutique in a shopping center on Smith Ranch Road, where she has been assistant manager since November 2007.

She wasn’t alone–she was walking with a co-worker. The co-worker described a masked man who grabbed De Jesus at gunpoint and forced her into her own Cadillac. Then he drove the Cadillac out of the shopping center parking lot with another vehicle following.

The brazenness of abducting someone who is not alone–in a visible spot, even though it was late evening, is terrifying. To add to that, this poor woman lost her husband in a freak accident in May. His Corvette crashed into a concrete bridge support and burst into flames on the Gulf Freeway.

I feel very sad for De Jesus’ family–and am hoping the searchers have luck finding her today. The odds aren’t great that she’s still alive, considering the motive in this abduction was likely money. But I hope for the family’s sake that she is the exception–they’ve certainly had enough tragedy in the last year already.

A security camera snapped a photo later the night of her abduction of a masked man in the driver's seat of her black 2008 Cadillac at an automated teller machine outside a bank at 3636 Old Spanish Trail in Houston. He used De Jesus' card to withdraw cash.

It was not clear whether De Jesus was still in the car when the photo was taken, according to a story in the Houston Chronicle. Houston police found the Cadillac early Tuesday at an apartment complex in the 6000 block of West Airport.

Tim Miller, the director of EquuSearch, has organized volunteers to search for the missing woman today.

"We have one fairly small girl and really and truly, a big area," said Miller to the Houston Chronicle. "Where do you start with something like that?"

Based on phone calls he has received, Miller said he expects a huge turnout of volunteers today as a widespread search for Susana De Jesus begins.

The ATM where the man was photographed is about 11 miles from the store and another 11 miles from where the car was found.

Miller, who founded Texas EquuSearch after the 1984 abduction and murder of his daughter, Laura, said he and others in the group were trying to decide which of those three locations should be the focus of today's search.

Police said they don’t know why De Jesus was targeted.

Brazoria County sheriff’s Capt. Chris Kincheloe told the Chronicle investigators are not sure whether the abduction has any connection to a recent series of home-invasion robberies in Pearland and other communities in the area. Each of the crimes has been different, he said.
Miller said single women driving impressive new cars—such as De Jesus’ Cadillac—sometimes become targets.

“I don’t believe this was just random,” he said of the kidnapping. “I would anticipate he’d seen her over a few days or few weeks.”

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the Brazoria County Sheriff’s Office at 281-756-2392, or investigator Wade Nichols at 281-756-2220. Brazoria County Crime Stoppers also is taking anonymous tips at 800-460-2222.

I’m hoping this will give just a little more publicity to the search for this woman. Maybe she is still alive–and maybe a random sighting will help discover her location.

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Going Undercover to Solve a Murder

by Rose Ciotta

DA Bruce Castor didn’t hesitate.

The call came in from the local police asking if it was OK to allow Dr. Rafael Robb to hire a glazier and locksmith to fix the broken back door of his home—the same one that he said intruders must have broken through before killing his wife.

“Sure,” said Castor, “but they’re going to have an assistant.”

It was five days since Robb had called police saying he found his wife bludgeoned on the kitchen floor of their suburban Philadelphia home.

Robb, a University of Pennsylvania economics professor and world-renowned expert in game theory, had told police that he had last seen his wife in the morning when he left to take his grades to the West Philadelphia campus on Dec. 22, 2006.

As Robb told it, he was the last person to see his wife alive and the first person to find her dead. That scenario made him a primary suspect, but police had nothing that tied him to the murder. Robb insisted he was innocent over the course of a 12-hour police interrogation. There were no forensics to link him to the murder and no murder weapon.

But, as police had pieced together from friends and family, Ellen (below left) was planning to get a divorce and put an end to her decade-long loveless marriage to Robb. They had stayed together because neither wanted to lose their daughter who was now 12.

As Castor had told reporters, he had ample circumstantial evidence to make Robb his primary suspect but not enough to make an arrest. That’s when he decided to take a page from the undercover playbook. He knew just the two who could do the job--veteran narcotics undercover officers Tony Spagnoletti and Steve Forzato of the Montgomery County detectives. The pair had 39 years of undercover narcotics work between them and had teamed up on many cases. Most importantly for Castor, they were good at doing what Castor needed—they could interact with Robb and give Castor a reading on him.

While the undercover encounter with Robb appeared unusual, it fit right in with Castor’s prosecutorial style. During his seven years in the top job, Castor often joined in planning out undercover assignments in narcotics investigations. That he found a job for the skilled detectives in the area’s highest profile murder case didn’t surprise anyone who knew him.

In this case, their assignment was no-risk. Getting Robb to confess would be frosting on the cake. Anything else could help shoot more holes into his alibi. “Just get him talking and let’s see where it goes,” Castor told them.

Each officer went into the Robb house separately pretending to be workmen—one to replace the glass, the other the back door lock. The ruse took the officers inside the house and in direct contact with Robb.

Spagnoletti, who had taken on the undercover persona of Tony Corelli, first won Robb’s confidence before challenging him on the most vulnerable part of his story. Robb claimed someone had broken into the house, but he had not reported to police that anything was missing.

“What was missing,” Tony asked him.

“Nothing,” Robb told him.

“Doc, something is missing. People don’t break into a freakin’ house and kill your wife and nothing is missing. Are you saying someone had something against her?"

“No,” Robb said.

“Doc, you are not understanding me. You’ve got a lot of stuff missing here. You need to re-evaluate and find stuff that are missing. You get my drift?”

When Tony left, he passed his partner Steve who was dressed in a dark blue company shirt with the name, “Joshua,” on the right side breast pocket.

“You won’t have any problem,” Tony whispered to Steve. “He’ll be easy.”

Steve’s routine was more laid back deliberately avoiding any talk with Robb about what had happened in the house.

Robb told him that he had been living in a hotel since the murder and had just moved back that day. His daughter, Olivia would be home that day or the next.

“You don’t want them to get this done tonight?” Steve asked referring to the lock work.

“No, that’s not necessary,” Robb answered.

While they stood in the kitchen, on the same spot where Ellen’s body had been found brutally beaten, her husband offered Steve a soda. “No thanks,” he said.

Castor let the ruse go for a little while, allowing Tony to go back for a second visit so his worker partner—the real glazier—could install the fixed glass.

Fearing that Robb would flee or get involved in some other crime, Castor called an end. By then, he figured that the undercover guys, who were used to working with hardened drug dealers, would easily have figured out the nerdy university professor.

Except for one fact that wasn’t lost on either detective. While they were playing him, was it possible that Robb, a master of the strategy decision making of game theory, was also playing them.

It didn’t change their conclusion.

“Was Robb their guy?” Castor wanted to know.

“No doubt,” they told him. “You have the right guy.”


Rose Ciotta, the author of the book on the Robb case, CRUEL GAMES (St. Martin's, Feb. 2009), is a veteran award-winning investigative reporter and editor at The Philadelphia Inquirer. Photo of Castor, top left, credit Joan Fairman Kanes; Photo of Ellen Robb, courtesy of Gary Gregory; photo of Rafael Robb at the time of his arrest; cover photo credited to Alejandro A. Alvarez, Philadelphia Daily News

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Let's Get Serious

by Diane Fanning

It is easy get distracted by the bizarre in the unfolding Casey Anthony story. It seems like every time you turn around, there is something new. A defense attorney under investigation by the bar trying to smuggle a bracelet his client; a PR flack hiding behind an alias as he weaves a mask of deception on more than one level; a utility worker who either lusted for his five minutes of fame or dedicated himself to being a good citizen—or both—the list never ends. From the moment Casey opened her mouth to relate her poorly plotted fiction about the events of June and July of last year, the story just keeps getting stranger.

Last week, it was the “Inspirational Caylee Sunshine Doll.” Eighteen inches high and cute as a button, this doll even sang "You are My Sunshine" just as Caylee did in the bittersweet video we’ve seen on television and on-line. This new creation was from Jamie Saucedo of Showbiz Promotions—the company that brought us the Michael Vick Dog Chew Toy, the Sarah Palin red-white-and-blue boxers and a t-shirt proclaiming one’s faith in Bigfoot.

When questioned about the motivation for producing this doll, Saucedo said that: “She’ll be a banner for missing and exploited children and people will know and have a better idea of how to handle those situations.”

I guess I missed something. Pardon my sarcasm, but I thought the doll sung a sweet little song. I didn’t realize she also lectured on keeping your child safe.

He also claimed a portion of the profits would go to a national missing and exploited children’s organization which he could not name because of the agency’s policy. What?

Do you buy the doll for a gift? For whom? To a grieving mother whose child has actually been abducted? Wouldn’t that be like telling her that you don’t believe her story and think she did something to her child?

For a toddler to hug and hold and sleep with at night? How do you explain the supposed inspirational quality of the doll without creating separation anxiety and hellish nightmares for the little girl you gifted?

The voices in opposition shouted loud and long, making enough of a racket that one day after the announcement of the doll, the company reversed course. They claimed that they abandoned plans to market and sell the doll because of the public outcry. So , why was the doll still on the website yesterday morning. Why when I clicked “add to cart” did I still get a message telling me that my Caylee doll will ship February 28?

The theatre of the absurd continued when another doll hit the market last week. An even more macabre doll—the Casey Anthony Voodoo Doll created by an artist in New Orleans—popped up on eBay. Where else but New Orleans, the home of the pin-filled souvenir and voodoo blackened beer.

Soon, those dolls were pulled from the market, too. Since the artist pasted a photograph of Casey’s head on to the face of each doll, it was a violation of third-party copyright laws. eBay pulled the products off of their site. That only made way for other faceless voodoo dolls still bearing Casey’s name.

Sitting on the sidelines, it can all be quite amusing.

But we need to maintain our focus—to be serious about what is at the core of all this entertainment, hype and drama. It is about a little girl who deserved to live. It would be tragic if this toddler lost her life in an automobile collision or died from a physical malady. But this story surpasses mere tragedy because her life was stolen not by careless driving or a serious illness but through an act of murder. And then her lifeless body was discarded like useless trash.

We need to remember that it isn’t about the sideshow of eccentric characters, bizarre maneuvers or titillating photographs. And, even though, Casey Anthony faces the serious criminal charge of intentional homicide, it isn’t even all about Casey.

It is all about the quest for justice for one very innocent victim.

It’s all about Caylee.

Always.

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Blog Talk Radio Tonight

Diane Fanning is Denny Griffin's guest on his Caylee Anthony Special on Blog Talk Radio tonight at 7 pm CST . (8 Eastern, 6 Mountain, 5 Pacific)

To listen or call in to the program this evening, go to http://www.blogtalkradio.com/dennisngriffin. The show will be archived on that site shortly after its completion and can be played back as a podcast or downloaded.

Diane is currently working on MOMMY'S LITTLE GIRL, a book about the Caylee Anthony story for St. Martin's Press.

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The Injustice of Baby Grace

by Stacy Dittrich

If, after you read this post, you don’t have at least one tear in your eye, become angry, or get a chill and a lump in your throat, please don’t refer to yourself as a human being. In the hype, speculation, and focus of the Caylee Anthony case, little to no attention has been paid to Baby Grace. You remember her, right? The two year old, later identified as Riley Ann Sawyers (pictured left), was found stuffed into a plastic container and dumped into Galveston Bay. When the remains were located in October 2007, the investigators could only refer to her as “Baby Grace.” By the time she was identified, it didn’t take long for the vile details of her death to surface after her mother and her boyfriend were arrested for Riley’s murder. The capital murder trial for Riley’s mother, Kimberly Dawn Trenor (20), began last week in Galveston, Texas.

During the trial, Kimberly calmly testified before sobbing jurors exactly what happened on the day of Riley’s death. Prepare Yourself.

Kimberly’s boyfriend, Royce Clyde Zeigler II (25), decided that little Riley needed more discipline. On July 25, 2007, Royce stayed home from work for the sole purpose of instilling "respect" into the toddler. Beginning in the morning, Kimberly and Royce (pictured right with Riley) beat Riley with a leather belt—so hard that Royce’s shoulder hurt—before shoving her face into a pillow. Then, they repeatedly dunked her head into a tub filled with cold water. When Riley couldn't stand up—her legs black and blue from the beatings—Royce began to violently throw her across the room after dragging her by the hair. According to Kimberly’s own testimony, she was able to hear the back of Riley’s skull crack when it hit the tile floor. This torture and abuse lasted all day long. What, according to Kimberly, did Riley repeatedly say to her during the abuse and ultimately became her last words? “I love you, Mommy.”

Feel free to grab a Kleenex.

You're quite a man, Royce Zeigler. . . . I truly hope you get what's coming to you in prison. That will be justice. The suffering and pain this innocent baby endured during the last several hours of her life is indescribable. Any prudent person would believe that a crime as horrific as this that occurred in Texas would be a no-brainer for the death penalty. However, the death penalty is off the table. Why? Because the prosecution didn’t believe that the murderous couple would be a future threat.

Feel free to scratch your head or yell out an obscenity.

These types of injustices are difficult to understand. I wonder, who is the voice for little Riley? It doesn’t seem that there is one. We still don’t know, and may never know, what happened to Caylee Anthony. Did she suffer like Riley? If so, the prosecutors in Florida have a duty to be the voice of Caylee, and send a message to those out there that torture, pain, and death to innocent children is NOT okay. The death penalty would make this voice heard loud and clear.

No future threat? In June 2008, while awaiting trial, Kimberly Trenor gave birth to a baby boy. Royce Zeigler refuses to relinquish his parental rights. Imagine if he were to be released due to a technicality during his trial, which begins soon. Would he not be a threat to an infant that cried in the middle of the night?

Oh, but they didn't mean to hurt Riley! This from Kimberly's defense attorney who claimed she never intended to hurt Riley, but "things spun out of control." Spun out of control? That's how they view it?

It’s truly mind-numbing. Riley Ann Sawyer’s voice was lost. With the upcoming trial of Casey Anthony, we can only hope Caylee’s voice will be heard.

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Prisoners We Can't Pay For

by Diane Dimond

Everyone knows the economy is on the skids.

Wall Street certainly feels it. Corporations continue to cut jobs. Mom and Pop businesses struggle to stay open. And state and local governments are faced with the cold hard reality that there's just not enough money to go around.

Here's the really scary part. Among the budget-cutting targets are those used to run America's jails and penitentiaries. The situation leaves policy makers little choice but to let some people currently in prison out of prison before they've served their sentences.

This is not good news for the rest of us.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, for example, has found crime and justice problems in real life are much more difficult to solve than in the movies. With his state staring at a 42 billion dollar deficit, Schwarzenegger wants to grant early release to what he calls "petty criminals"—some 15,000 of them over the next year or so. Also, the Governator wants to eliminate parole for all offenders not convicted of violent or sex-related crimes. Schwarzenegger figures that would cut parole costs for about 70 thousand ex-cons. Nevermind that they would be back on the street with little or no supervision.

This type scenario is also under consideration or already in the works in several states.

Virginia's Governor wants to grant early release to about a thousand inmates. The Governor of New York wants 1,600 inmates to get out early and he's called for re-vamping strict 1960-era drug laws to ease the number of people who get locked up in the future. In Kentucky, even some murderers and other violent offenders are among the nearly 2,000 prisoners getting out early.

Naturally, any budget that reaches into the billions is going to be a prime target for possible spending cuts. And, here in America we spend about 60 billion dollars each year to manage the criminals we lock up.

But . . . whoa, Nellie! Can we stop and think about this for a minute?

Is it really a good idea to let loose criminals without a supportive parole or rehabilitation system? We're already a society struggling not to sink into a full-blown depression and the crime rate is already up in some important categories. Is it really the time to put thousands more unemployed people on the street, ex-cons who may very well return to crime if they—like countless others without criminal records—can't find work? And they will certainly further strain our already overloaded unemployment system?

Let's speak in general terms since not everyone in prison is a hardened career criminal. Generally speaking, these people are not like you and me. They often lack empathy and don't care about the pain their actions inflict on others. They don't see that working for a living is an honorable thing. Getting an education is often not of interest to them. They exist unable to control their own impulses, stealing what isn't theirs as if they are entitled. They take drugs, other citizens' possessions, children's innocence and sometimes they take people's lives.

Thomas Sneddon currently heads the National District Attorneys Association and was in the proprietorial trenches for decades as the D.A. in Santa Barbara, California. He cautions us to put it all in perspective.

The prisoner who gets out early today, he says, "may be a lot more dangerous to the public that their one charge indicates." As a defendant, he or she may have pleaded to the lesser of a half-dozen serious charges. Rewarding them with early release sends the wrong message.

Sneddon believes there are some prisoners who could be released safely into the populations, "But not the wholesale way that's being discussed now." And he makes a dire prediction about his home state Governor's early release plan.

"They'll re-offend. They won't take this as the gift it is. If you release 15,000 of them in California, I'll bet 10 thousand of them will be back in lock-up within two years." It's a terrible cycle of wasted lives and wasted taxpayers' money.

I was glad to read this quote from Michael Thompson, the director of the Council of State Government's Justice Center, a group which is working hard to figure out ways to curb prison population while keeping the public safe:

"There's an unprecedented level of interest in this kind of thinking," Thompson said. "It's a combination of fiscal pressure and a certain fatigue of doing the same thing as twenty years ago and getting the same return."

And that's the rub, isn't it? The number of incarcerated people in America keeps going up every year, costing us more and more money. And when they get out of prison many of them are still drains on society.

There's got to be a better way. I wish someone would figure it out—and soon.

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Back from the Dead

by Donna Weaver

Bennie Harden Wint was declared dead nearly 20 years ago when he disappeared while swimming off Daytona Beach, FL on September 25, 1989. Wint and his then-fiancee, Patricia Lynn Hollingsworth, had left their home in South Carolina after Hurricane Hugo, and talked of their wedding plans while staying in Daytona, according to the original police report. He also left behind a grieving mother and 4-year-old daughter from a previous marriage.

Wint's body was just found—alive—during a routine traffic stop in North Carolina where he has been living with his common-law wife and teenage son under an assumed name.

Last Saturday, when a patrol officer pulled him over for having a broken light on his license plate in Weaverville, North Carolina, the man said his name was James Sweet, but could produce nothing to prove his identity. Weaverville police Sgt. Stacy Wyatt became suspicious when Sweet's name did not show up in any official databases, and arrested and booked him under the name "John Doe" for suspicion of driving without a license and giving false information.

Under questioning, the man admitted he faked his own death in 1989, and that he was in fact Bennie Wint. Wint explained to Wyatt how easily he made his getaway. "He told me he swam to the shore in knee deep water, walked off and never looked back."

Wyatt was skeptical at first, and did a little research on the Internet. What he found was a post on PeopleSite.com from a woman named Christi McKnight who said she was Wint's daughter. In the posting, dated February 5, 2007, McKnight said she was four years old at the time of her father's disappearance and that she was searching for her father in hopes of helping her dying grandmother.

"Doctors say she should have been dead a year ago, but they say she's holding on to one thing, and we believe that she is holding on to my father," McKnight wrote. "Benny is believed to have been seen in Florida back in '89 - '90 and some have said they've seen him in Hartsville, South Carolina, where his family is from."

Evidently, Wint's family members were not the only ones who had doubts about his death. Volusia County Beach Patrol Officer Scott Petersohn stated, "Even back then, it struck everybody as odd that we didn't recover the victim," he said. "That almost never happens." Drowning victims who aren't immediately found by the patrol, he said, typically are located floating in the water by the sheriff's helicopter or are washed up by the tide days later.

Wint's story was confirmed when he was positively identified through fingerprints taken when he was arrested on the current traffic violations. His reason for perpetrating his "disappearing act"? Wint was "paranoid" because he believed he was wanted on charges stemming from his involvement in a large-scale drug trafficking ring in South Carolina and he also feared for his life. Authorities confirmed there are no outstanding warrants for Wint.

At this time, officials say Wint in not facing any charges for faking his own death.

News reports do not say whether or not Wint has made contact with his dying mother or daughter who have been going through a living hell these past 20 years. Having a loved one myself missing for over 25 years, I understand their agony all too well. What I can't imagine doing is reconciling in my mind both being grateful he is alive and the pain of realizing he knowingly, callously, and selfishly put us through all we have suffered.

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Toxicology: Poison, Drugs, and Chemicals

by Andrea Campbell

Q: Can you tell me more about toxicology and what a forensic toxicologist is all about?

A: The busiest department in a crime lab, hands down, has to be forensic toxicology. This science is essentially a specialty area of analytical chemistry, so think vials, jars, and lots of machinery to test them when you consider this area's discipline.

Toxicology, per se, is the science of adverse effects of chemicals, either natural or man-made, on living organisms. The job of a toxicologist is to detect and identify foreign chemicals in the body, with a particular emphasis on toxic or hazardous substances. There are several sub-groups of toxicology expert: a descriptive toxicologist performs toxicity tests to evaluate the risk that exposure poses to humans; a mechanistic toxicologist attempts to determine how substances exert deleterious effects on living organisms; and the regulatory toxicologist judges whether or not a substance has low enough risk to justify making it available to the public.

Toxins then, are materials that threaten the life of living things. Poisons are a subgroup of toxins. Toxic materials can come in many forms such as gas, liquids, solids, animal, mineral and vegetable. Toxins can be ingested, inhaled or absorbed through the skin and organs. Some toxins have medicinal value and, if this is the case, the amount that is taken is significant to health, but—if abused, may cause irreparable damage. Toxins may have antidotes, but some do not.

Some toxins may disguise or mask themselves, whereas some are identifiable by their symptoms. Here are a couple of examples of toxins and their symptoms:

Acids (nitric, hydrochloric, sulfuric) = Burns around mouth, lips, nose
Aniline (hypnotics, nitrobenzene) = Skin of face and neck quite dark
Atropine (Belladonna, Scopolamine) = Pupil of eye dilated
Arsenic (metals, mercury, copper, etc.) = Severe, unexplained diarrhea
Carbon Monoxide = Skin is bright cherry red
Cyanide = Quick death, red skin, odor of peach
Nicotine = Convulsion
Opiates = Pupil of eye contracted
And so forth.

The true incidence of poisoning in the United States is unknown. Approximately 2 million cases are voluntarily reported to poison control centers each year, and officially, a rather steady figure of about 700 deaths by poisoning is reported each year. Children under age 6 account for the majority of poisonings reported, but adults account for the majority of deaths by poisoning, most of which is intentional rather than accidental.

Some common reported poisons are: household cleaning supplies, antidepressant medications, analgesics (aspirin, acetaminophen), street drugs, cough and cold remedies, cardiovascular drugs, plants, alcohol, gases and fumes, pesticides, asthma therapies, industrial chemicals, sedatives, food poisoning, insects and other animals.

It is not easy to distinguish toxic from nontoxic substances. A key principle in toxicology is the dose-response relationship. The toxic effects of substances are not side effects. "Side effects" are defined as non-deleterious, such as dry mouth, for example. Toxic effects are the undesirable results of a direct effect, like the result of too much stress on the body; in other words, the body is upset by physical, chemical or biological agents and it manifests itself as a reaction. Toxic reactions are classified as one of three reactions: pharmacological—with injury to the central nervous system; pathological—with injury to the liver; and genotoxic—causing the creation of benign or malignant neoplasms or tumors.

For certification as a toxicologist, an individual must possess a Ph.D. or doctorate in one of the natural sciences. Undergraduate degrees must also be in either biology or chemistry, usually. Certification is bestowed by the American Board of Forensic Toxicology and the expert may use the title of “Diplomate,” which must be renewed every three years. Board-certified toxicologists will never face difficulties qualifying as an expert witness. State crime laboratories may not have a toxicologist on staff, their functions being performed by a criminalist, a biochemist, a forensic biologist or other technician. These personnel would typically have a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in any of the sciences.

A forensic toxicologist is normally presented with preserved samples of body fluids, stomach contents, and organ parts. They will have access to the coroner’s report which should contain information on various signs and symptoms as well as other postmortem data. The toxicologist needs a thorough knowledge of how the body alters or metabolizes drugs because few substances leave the body in the same state as when they entered.

Hooray for toxicologists, an overworked group and a much needed discipline in the realm of forensic science.

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To Believe or Not to Believe

by Pat Brown

The opening paragraph of the New York Times story reads:

A man shot and killed his wife and five young children before taking his own life Tuesday, apparently out of despair after the couple lost their jobs at a hospital, the police and city officials said.

This kind of story is sadly no longer out of the ordinary and, in these harsh economic times, many people feel the man must have been driven to take out his family; his world must have fallen apart and he no longer knew how he could care for his wife and children.

Mr. Ervin A. Lupoe, the family mass murderer, explains his actions in a two-page suicide fax to a local news station. He tells us because "he was despondent over a job situation and he saw no reasonable way out," he and his wife started planning their own deaths. His wife then encouraged the murder of their children with her comment, "Why leave the children to a stranger?" Furthermore, Mr. Lupoe wrote, the manager who later fired the couple had told the two of them "You should have blown your brains out rather than come to work."

Okay, hold up here! Psychopath alert! Psychopath alert!

First of all there was a dispute with the boss. Why? We haven't heard. Next Mr. Lupoe not only blames his employer for his rash decision to off his family but also insinuates the boss was responsible for actually idea of the murder-suicide. Finally, he claims his wife told him to kill their children, the eight-year old, the five-year old twins, and the two-year-old twins.

One of the traits of psychopathy is a refusal to accept responsibility for one's actions. Mr. Lupoe did this three times over within his fax. Pathological lying is another and, in his fax, we see this clearly as well. We also find out that he was under investigation for lying about employment to get child care. Then, after he sent the fax, he called the police and claimed someone else has shot his family. He apparently has trouble deciding which false story to go with.

Lupoe once had been charged (though not prosecuted) for carrying a concealed weapon which indicates he may have difficulty being a law-abiding citizen, another trait of psychopathy. He also exhibits quite a bit of egocentric and grandiose thinking, which his actions expose. Not only did he commit a horrific crime, he essentially bragged about it to the media. Finally, the hallmark trait of psychopathy is a lack of empathy. When Mr. Lupoe coldbloodly shot six innocent people, five of them little children who trusted him, he qualified himself quite well as a psychopath who cares nothing for other human beings.

As a criminal profiler, one of my jobs is statement analysis which involves reading the words of an individual and discerning what the person is really saying, what he is trying to accomplish with his communication. Is he being honest and open? Is he applying spin to make himself look better? Is he trying to manipulate someone? Is he attempting to justify some action to another or, perhap, just to himself? What does his statement say about him?

Many times the words of a criminal are quite eye-opening if you don't take them at face value and spend some time examining them. A great example is serial killer Harvey Louis Carignano.

“… I had a teacher who used to sit at my desk and we would write dirty notes back and forth. I was either 13 or 14 at the time – and just show me a 14-year-old boy anywhere who wouldn’t willingly and happily sit in a schoolroom and exchange porno notes with his teacher. I never got to lay a hand on her without getting slapped, but she would keep me after school and make me stand before her while she masturbated and called me names and told me what she was going to make me do – none of her threats she ever kept, damn it! The bitch wouldn’t even let me masturbate with her! I took my penis out and she beat the living shit out of me! She had enormously large breasts. She was truly a cruel woman…” (Berry-Dee, 2003)

How much of any of this is true is questionable considering who it is coming from. However, if we assume the possibility he is blaming the victims for his early behavior problems, I can rewrite his statement which is likely closer to the truth:

“… I had a teacher I used to write porn notes to and that got me in big trouble. I never got to lay a hand on her without getting slapped (because she was disgusted with me), but she would keep me after school (as punishment).Once she made me stand (in the corner) where I started masturbating and called her a bitch. I took my penis out and she beat the living shit out of me!”

I have no doubt Mr. Carignano had some social worker or a parole board member who believed this childhood experience really happened as he said it did; after all, such a sick relationship forged by his schoolteacher would surely damage a young boy and offer an explanation as to why Carignano turned out to be a vicious killer who lured women with personal ads and then raped and beat them to death with a hammer.

But simply accepting a psychopath's explanations for their behavior distorts history, their true motives, statistical studies, and the correct psychological understanding of criminal behavior. Worse, it may cause us to fail to recognize danger signals from psychopaths in our own communities and families until it is too late. While we don't want to be overly suspicious of every word that comes out of a human being's mouth, it wouldn't hurt us -and may well protect us - to be a little more skeptical of what we hear and read. In fact, it could save our lives.

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