Your body and mind feel invaded by some unknown alien force. You cannot think straight. There is a tremendous amount to do during this time. And all you want to do is “just get through it all.”
When my parents died, the family home where I learned to play my first game of hopscotch and learned to roller skate without taking another trip to the emergency room for a broken bone, was burglarized.
On the day of my parents' funerals, along with the entire residential street, as we were saying goodbye . . . thieves were saying hello as they entered into the rear basement window of the home and helped themselves to whatever they could easily carry out the door. No one was ever arrested. It has haunted me ever since.
Recently, a neighbor passed away. The husband and wife raised their family and lived in the same home for close to 50 years. As Emily, the grieving widow surrounded herself with family and close friends she went through the motions. First, Emily made arrangements with a funeral home for the wake and funeral service. While in the office of the funeral director, Emily handed the computer-generated death notice she filled out on-line with all the information on the immediate family, date and time of both the wake and funeral, for submission to the newspapers. Emily included the clubs, charities, and associations her dearly departed loved one involved himself with over the years. From the published death notice:
"John was a loving husband, father and grandfather. He served in the Army as a captain during WWII. He was a proud member of local 714. Bob was a member of a rare stamp and coin club. He collected first edition books. And when he retired John traveled the world discovering new treasures and meeting and making many friends. He will be missed by so many who loved and knew him."
It would become painfully obvious someone else loved John, or at least his property, when Emily and her grown children returned from the funeral service eleven hours later to find a thief had broken into their home as the family laid their loved one to rest. Much of what was stolen could not be replaced. This included years of family photos filled with loving memories.
These types of crimes during death are common. According to law enforcement it is rare when an arrest is made in these cases, because everyone is attending the funeral.
A published death notice is a dead giveaway for a thief.
It is very simple to gain information. Start by using the white pages on the Internet (go to people search) and type in anyone's name and the state where they live. I suggest using your own name and see what comes up. When I did this for Emily, John's name came up, age, phone number, who else lives in the home. If I look further, the site also lists the first 10 neighbors in the surrounding area of the residence. YUK!
Once I had the address I headed for the County Treasurer's Office Web site. Depending on the state and county of an address, locating the tax identification number of a property will vary.
Once I typed in the address, the tax information and history of the home was on the screen. I pressed another tab on the site and I was directed to a live photo of Emily's home and property. Great tool for someone preparing to break into a home. For Emily's residence, I was able to visually see with the assistance of Google "streetview." Close-up I viewed the back entrance of the property, the height of the trees and shrubs surrounding the home and a large detached garage.
The very first order of business you should take care of prior to going to make arrangements is, head to your local post office. Fill out a card and have the mail held for a three to four week period or change the mailing address to a friend or a relative's. This prevents important mail from being stolen. And all around it is a great safety tool.
Next, limit what is said in a published death notice. Do not list too much personal information or activities. This gives a heads-up to thieves about valuables or money in the home.
Make arrangements with your church to house sit during the wake and funeral service. If that if is not an option, contact a reputable security company and hire them to sit in the home. Or call your local law enforcement and ask if you can hire an off-duty officer.
Tonight at 9:00 EST, don't miss two WCI contributors on E! THS Investigates. Our Prosecutor-for-Hire Kelly Siegler and our Violence Expert Susan Murphy-Milano were both interviewed for the show. "Husbands Who Kill" explores cases of seemingly loving husbands driven to murder their wives. One was in fact a loving husband. Problem was, his wife loved another man. That case ended in murder-suicide. As most of our readers know, Susan's father (the decorated Chicago Violent Crimes Detective who caught the "Chicago Rippers") shot her mother to death before turning his gun on himself. Susan, then 29, found her parents' bodies. Ever since that day, she has dedicated herself to saving the lives of endangered women in domestic violence situations. She is also an author.
Susan will be providing commentary throughout the hour on tonight's program, which focuses on four women slain by their husbands. The three men who only appeared to be loving husbands had been living lies. Two had misled family and friends into believing they were pursuing advanced degrees, one in medicine, the other an MBA from Harvard. The truth was that neither had graduated from college and both were running out of money and lies. One of the wives discovered the truth, but did not live to tell. The other man gave his "ailing" wife Gatorade spiked with antifreeze and went on to become a popular radio host. (WCI's Broadcaster Michele McPhee wrote about that case and others in "Why Are Smart Women Carried Away by Fakes?")
The third husband living a lie was David Temple, a Texas football star turned hi
Two of tonight's cases involve husbands convicted of taking the lives of their wives and unborn children. Lately, any story about a pregnant wife murdered by her husband immediately draws a Laci Peterson comparison. The Temple
Once the cold-case made it to trial, the courtroom heated up as Kelly Siegler clashed with renowned criminal defense attorney Dick DeGuerin, making the media's prediction of "fireworks" between the legal giants the only easily predictable aspect of the explosive trial.
DeGuerin maintains his client's innocence, pointing out that Temple was filmed by Home Depot surveillance cameras around the time of the murder. DeGuerin (pictured right of Temple upon conviction) accused Siegler of being so effective at her job that she'd done what defense attorney Richard "Racehorse" Haynes once said was inevitable: "She's convicted an innocent man."
The victim's family saw things differently. When Temple was finally convicted nearly nine years after the murder, Belinda's brother said he'd suspected David's involvement within ten minutes of learning of her death. Following sentencing, her father said, "People have told us, 'Get over it.' You can't get over your baby—especially in these types of circumstances. . . . Put a shotgun to my baby's head and blow her brains out. It just wasn't right. And I'm so glad justice has prevailed."
For tonight, watch Susan and Kelly for what the producer of "Husbands Who Kill" promises to be a provocative hour of television. Click here to watch the trailer for this special THS Investigates: An in-depth examination of criminal behavior.
Friday, November 14
This Saturday at 2:00 p.m. PST, listen to WCI's Susan Murphy-Milano on TRUE CRIMES, an online broadcast devoted to true crime. "I am the daughter of a
Chicago Violent Crimes Detective," Susan told TRUE CRIMES. "My father murdered my mother before taking his own life."Susan found her parents' bodies.
"I will not rest until those who abuse and kill are held accountable."
And so Susan has turned tragedy into her life's work. As a nationally recognized women's advocate, she was instrumental in the passage of the
Illinois Stalking Law and the Lautenberg Act. A voice for victims, Susan has championed the rights of battered women and children, in court cases and in coordinating exit strategies with safe houses and bodyguards.The
nonfiction author and violence expert has reached women far and wide, through publications such as Woman's Day, Family Circle, and U.S. News & World Report. Susan has also made appearances on Oprah, 20/20, American Justice, CNN, 48 Hours, and Nightline.In spreading the word and her work through media appearances, Susan has received a flood of correspondence from wives of officers across the country—women with no place to turn for assistance, all because a husband or boyfriend was a respected law enforcement officer. There is no excuse for violence, Susan says, especially in a police officer's home.
Why aren't departments seeking a zero-tolerance policy on domestic violence committed by police officers? Is it too embarrassing? Family members rarely come forward to report these crimes and if they do, they are often victimized even more by their abusive officer spouse or boyfriend.
"He was going to kill me," said a Boston police officer's wife. "How can you let him keep his gun and stay on the street?"
"When a police department does not take action, we, the families of officers, feel powerless and worried about our own lives and the safety of their kids. All this does is further victimize us, when will it end?" (Wife of a New York State Trooper)
"You know the words on the side of police cars, 'We Serve And Protect,' let me tell you every time I see that I'm sick with grief. It doesn't apply to me. It should read, 'hey, we serve and protect our own'!" (Another woman married to an officer)
The women say that when they notified police, investigating officers were reluctant to pursue the cases. Evidence was mishandled. Some of the women were pressured by other officers or top brass to drop their complaints.
"I was treated like a criminal, I was trying to get some help here," said another.
The silence surrounding cops who abuse and murder their spouses has been deafening. Until
Drew Peterson was finally thrown into the spotlight, with one wife dead and the other presumed killed, such cases rarely made the news. But just this week there was another shocking
case in the headlines. Who do you call when your husband, the police officer, is beati
ng the hell out of you? You contact Susan Murphy-Milano. Listen to the live broadcast tomorrow on TRUE CRIMES with renowned author Burl Barer (pictured right) and attorney Don Woldman.TRUE CRIMES
Links to listen: http://outlawcrime.com or http://www.mrcigar.com/live.asx
Saturday, November 8 2:00 p.m. PST Also, you can tune in to Susan on Tuesday evenings for Justice Interrupted, the "Crime Investigation Radio Network," which she co-hosts with WCI's Stacy Dittrich and Robin Sax.
Watch Stacy Dittrich this evening on FOX's "Geraldo at Large." Our Policewoman / Novelist will discuss unfolding developments in three high-profile missing persons cases. This past week, some revealing tape-recorded conversations surfaced in the disappearances of missing Illinois mom Stacy Peterson and Florida toddler Caylee Anthony. Both are presumed dead. In Bolingbrook, two longtime friends of Drew Peterson have been secretly recording their conversations with the suspected wife killer for several months. According to the friends, a married couple, Peterson made incriminating statements. And from the Orange County Jail in Orlando, missing child Caylee's mother Casey Anthony was taped in telephone conversations with the little girl's grandmother, Cindy Anthony. The telling exchange between the women is ripe for analysis. Plus, earlier this week, a 911 tape of Cindy was released. On it, Cindy tells the operator that her daughter's car smelled "like there's been a dead body" in it. Prosecutors suspect that the two year old is dead, but so far a body has not been found. 
Tonight at 10:00 ET, tune in to "War on Crime Radio" to hear Kelly Siegler discuss a murder case that took prosecutors 27 years to make. Today, jurors began deliberating the fate of Aaron Foster, on trial in Minnesota for the shooting death of his girlfriend Barbara Winn in 1981. Last year, when Foster was finally charged, the victim's family stood beside the sheriff who accused the county prosecutor of "dragging his feet": "We are befuddled as to why they haven't pressed [charges]," the sheriff said at a televised press conference. "It's either lack of competency, lack of caring, lack of making it a priority. . . ."
Kelly will also discuss the worldwide controversy surrounding the upcoming execution of José Medellin for the sadistic slayings of Elizabeth Peña and Jennifer Ertman. Kelly was a prosecutor in the multiple gang-rape murder case. Listen to the live broadcast tonight at 10:00. Kelly will be taking callers' questions and will be joined by WCI's Policewoman / Novelist 
WCI contributor Stacy Dittrich appears on Nancy Grace tonight to discuss today's crime stories. As with her first appearance on the show in April, Stacy will be commenting as a law enforcement consultant. Officially, our policewoman-turned-novelist retired from the Richland County Sheriff's Office in Ohio just yesterday. "
I was sworn in as an auxiliary," she explained to WCI, "so I still get to carry a badge and gun. Whew."N
owadays her fingers will be on the keyboard more than
her crime-fighting arsenal as Stacy embarks on a career as a full-time writer. "This was what I worked so hard for and finally made it," she said. "I'm loving this stay-at-home stuff--except I've been busier than I've ever been in my whole life." She's not kidding. Stacy just returned from BookExpo in Los Angeles. Two of her crime novels are scheduled for publication in the next year, the first in October. And she also has a contract for her first hardcover true-crime book. A memoir is in the works as well. T
his past spring, Stacy's agent received a call from the Academy Award-winning producer of the movie The Devil Wears Prada. Hollywood is interested in a screen adaptation of Stacy's debut novel. The Devil's Closet is first in the CeeCee Gallagher detective series. The protagonist was patte
rned after Stacy, who was a detective specializing in sex crimes. S
tacy's hometown newspaper has chronicled the adventures of their local girl made good. Click here for a link to the story in today's Mansfield News Journal, which includes current news on Women in Crime Ink.M
ake sure to tune in to Nancy Grace tonight to catch Stacy Dittrich in her first TV appearance since retirement.
This afternoon at 5:00 p.m. EDT, catch WCI's Kelly Siegler on a live Internet radio broadcast. Today's topic on War on Crime Radio: "Husbands Suspected of Murder." Gunslinging Texas prosecutor Siegler has much to say on the subject, having tried her share of intimate partner homicides. Two 
Today, Kelly (pictured right) will give her take on two husbands who are pr
Joining Kelly for today's broadcast is Dr. Maurice Godwin, a forensic expert, investigative psychologist, and author. WCI's Violence Expert and author Susan Murphy-Milano will also participate in the discussion with her co-host Levi Page.
Click here to tune in this afternoon at 5:00. Kelly will be taking your questions during the live broadcast: 347/838-9781. Listeners can also weigh in with their thoughts at The War on Crime's interactive discussion board. Also, watch for Kelly's first post for Women in Crime Ink this coming week.
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Watch Oxygen tomorrow night to see Murder Prosecutor Donna Pendergast featured in a new episode of Oxygen's Captured series. The network describes Captured as "an engrossing true-crime series that places women at the center of solving mysteries.""The Missing Hunters" explores the mysterious disappearance and murder of two Michigan hunters bludgeoned to death by two brothers who chopped up their bodies and fed the parts to pigs. Their vehicle and their bodies were never recovered.
The 1985 crime was "an evil so dark," Pendergast said in her closing arguments, "your worst nightmare pales in comparison." Glaring at the brothers on trial, Pendergast told jurors "Their human faces are nothing more than masks for monsters."
It took the jury just two hours to convict both of first-degree murder. Their attorneys are appealing. Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox told reporters he has no doubt the verdict will stand. "We have the best prosecutor in the state doing the case,'' he said of Pendergast.
The elderly father of a 27-year-old victim addressed the media: "I was glad to see them cuffed, and I can't wait to see them in chains.'' Thanks to the successful prosecution--in a case without a trace of physical evidence--this father got to see just that when the brothers were sentenced to life without parole.
Tomorrow night, you can see Pendergast secure justice in a brutal cold case that captured the nation's attention from the moment the hunters went missing twenty-five years ago. This case has also been featured on A&E's Cold Case Files and is the subject of the true-crime book Darker than Night.
Click here to watch the preview.
This Friday night at 10:00 EDT don't miss a Dateline NBC special featuring a landmark cold case prosecuted by WCI's Donna Pendergast (pictured left, making her closing arguments). Last fall, Donna achieved justice for college student Janet Chandler (pictured below), who was brutally gang raped and murdered in 1979.
work with the police to get the facts to the public without harming an investigation." At the end of the interview, the professor asked the detective for the case that still haunted him. Without hesitating, he said, "Janet Chandler.""He might as well have carved that on my heart,” the instructor said. “The idea of looking at a 25-year-old unsolved homicide - and this one in particular - called to me."
The case also called to Assistant Attorney General Donna Pendergast. Authorities involved Donna after the aptly described "Hope students" had stirred public interest in the murder with their documentary. "Who Killed Janet Chandler?" became the impetus for a Cold Case task force formed by Michigan State Police and the Holland Police Department.
On resurrecting the case after all those years, Donna said, "We had to let the victim's screams out of the boxes and binders that had contained them for so many years, because justice is a concept that never gets old even though a case gets cold."
The killers had gotten away with murder for twenty-eight years, longer than Janet lived on the planet. Even with a case that cold, Donna managed to secure six murder convictions. All in a day's work for our Donna Pendergast, who's been called Michigan's top murder prosecutor. Watch her in action this Friday on Dateline, 
In 2006, Gang Land News carried the headline "The Party's Over for Paciello," a mob informant who traded Miami nightlife for Club Fed. Chris Paciello's party days might be over, but festivities for the film based on his life are just beginning. Tonight in Miami Beach, WCI's Michele McPhee will be the guest of honor at a soiree celebrating the production launch of UNMADE MAN, the feature film based on her best-selling true-crime book Mob Over Miami
.
opranos co-star Joseph Gannascoli) plays real-life thug Chris Paciello, a former member of Brooklyn's "Bath Avenue Crew," a particularly violent cadre of Bonanno crime family henchmen. When Paciello left New York in the early '90s, he tried to reinvent himself in the club scene in Miami, where he 
became a "South Beach King," running the glitziest nightspots and dating women like Madonna (pictured together at right) and hanging out with stars like Jennifer Lopez and supermodel Naomi Campbell. Back home in New York, Paciello was the type of character real underworld figures had no respect for, but had occasional use for: "the type of man commonly found on the edges of organized crime, a fringe character who got some peculiar thrill or sense of power through his shady connections," Gay Talese wrote of another unmade Bonanno associate thirty years before Paciello assumed his own supporting role with the crime family. These types were never trusted "when situations were particularly dangerous," Talese added in Honor Thy Father: "types like [him] usually collapsed under pressure and could be coerced by the police into turning informer." History repeated itself with Paciello, who became a government witness.
"If Paciello did everything the government says he did," one of the former Club King's publicists told the Village Voice, "then he deserves an Oscar." Any acting awards won't be going to Paciello, 
who is doing his time at an undisclosed federal prison.
Michele McPhee (pictured left) was police bureau chief at the New York Daily News when she started covering the story. To learn how Michele became one of the nation's handful of women organized crime reporters, see her interview with South Beach Magazine.
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by Kathryn Casey
et Steve Beard, a recently widowed, 70-year-old, multimillionaire, at the Austin Country Club. Before long, she was living in Steve's house, and they eventually married. He built her a mansion, and gave her jewels, clothing, everything she ever wanted. But, somehow (get ready to be surprised), it was never enough. In the end, this is one of those cases that's stranger than fiction. (If I'd written this one as a novel, no one would have believed it.) 
Be sure to watch Investigation Discovery tonight, when you can see the work of two of our partners in crime: 48 Hours Producer Jenna Jackson and Crime Writer Vanessa Leggett, who was interviewed for "Texas Confidential," a story that originally aired on CBS's 48 Hours. The one-hour program details the murder of Houston socialite Doris Angleton, the wife of a multi-million dollar bookmaker who catered to Houston's elite. Doris's husband, Bob Angleton, was also a police informant. Doris had filed for divorce two months before she was gunned down in her home. Police were convinced Bob conspired with his estranged brother Roger to commit the perfect crime. Three people have been jailed in relation to the murder case: the suspected conspirators, Bob and Roger Angleton, and even the writer, Vanessa Leggett. But to this day no one has been
convicted of murdering Doris Angleton. To find out why, watch ID on Saturday, May 3, at 7:00 p.m. EDT. For preview and program description, visit here.
After the Ink Blotter chat today, tune in to The War on Crime's radio program between 5:00 and 6:00 p.m. EDT. WCI's Policewoman/Novelist Stacy Dittrich is a guest on this week's show. Listeners can call in during the live broadcast: 347/838-9781. Visitors can also participate in an interactive discussion board. Sunday is your day to sound off. Meet us here at the Ink Blotter at 4:00 p.m. EDT then click over to http://www.thewaroncrime.blogspot.com/ and 
listen to Stacy. Other guests include CNN's Nancy Grace, and Susan Murphy-Milano, author and advocate for battered women. Today the women are discussing cases including the murder of Amy Giordano; the disappearance and suspected killing of Stacy Peterson; the recent appellate court decision concerning the 1982 conviction of former Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal; and Women in Crime Ink. The War on Crime's Levi is hosting. They're taking calls now.
Don't miss Nancy Grace on CNN tonight. WCI's Policewoman and Novelist Stacy Dittrich will appear as a guest. The topic? Your guess is as good as Stacy's. She won't know until hours before the show. "It's very exciting and a little intimidating," she told the Mansfield News Journal, in a recent article announcing new developments in the veteran police officer's writing career. Two of her crime novels are slated for publication, the first in October. One of those books caught the attention of the Academy Award-winning producer of The Devil Wears Prada, another book-to-screen adaptation. That movie producer contacted Stacy's agent. The Devil's Closet could be adapted for Lifetime as a movie of the we
ek, or even as a TV series featuring Stacy's heroine, Detective CeeCee Gallagher, whose storyline has been lifted from Stacy's real-life work as a Richland County Sheriff's deputy in Mansfield, Ohio. Stacy is a former detective specializing in sexual crimes. In her fifteen-year career in law enforcement, Stacy has been involved in federal task forces as well as numerous homicide investigations. Several years ago, she trained under former FBI Behavioral Specialist Roy Hazelwood in the area of sexual homicides. She is also a certified voice stress analyst and an instructor for law enforcement. So how did Stacy's police work and crime writing lead to a gig with Nancy Grace? From a CNN producer doing exactly what you're doing right now--reading Women in Crime Ink. Just two days after we launched, CNN's Debony Miller found Stacy on our blog. "We are c
urrently in the process of expanding our Investigator roster," read Miller's e-mail to Stacy, "and we were wondering if you would be interested in appearing on the show." She was. And if you're interested in watching her, you can catch WCI's Stacy Dittrich on Nancy Grace on Friday at 8:00 p.m.
Dear readers,
e retired couple Jackie and Tom Hawks lived on their yacht, appropriately named Well Deserved -- because the couple had worked a lifetime to buy her. They weren't rich, just cautious with their money. But after a few years of life at sea, the couple decided to sell their dream boat, to be closer to a new grandbaby. A murderous young couple, Skylar DeLeon and his pregnant wife, Jennifer, posed as buyers and coldly conspired to drown this gentle couple, whom they'd never met. W
ith little evidence of what happened on the boat that night, investigators and the Hawks' relatives scrambled to get to the truth, to find justice for Tom and Jackie. The Hawks' son, Ryan, appears on Montel with me. As does Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas.T
he show, titled "Shocking Motives for Murder," airs Thursday. Check www.montelshow.com for the time and channel in your area. Watch a preview of the program here.
"Lady in the Lake" Catch Murder Prosecutor Donna Pendergast on a
Dateline special shown tonight at 8:00 on "Real Life Mysteries" from The Learning Channel:From the program:
N
orthern Michigan, lovely and unspoiled with tiny towns on crystal lakes, is a tourist paradise. Beautiful clear days give way to dark, dark nights. Nights that hold a multitude of secrets, some of them bone-chilling. Florence and Mark Unger loved the lake country. It was a favorite getaway for them and their children—perfect, really, until it became forever the place of unspeakable tragedy. . . .A
ttorney Donna Pendergast led the prosecution. Daughter of a Detroit cop, Pe
ndergast has been called Michigan’s best prosecutor. This was her 93rd murder case. This time Pendergast had her work cut out for her. She had a tough opponent and a weak case. There was no DNA evidence. No fingerprints.“But we had circumstantial evidence,” Pendergast said. “And we believed with what was admissible as evidence, that we could present a pretty clear picture for the jury."
And so began a trial that would last nearly nine weeks and would include mountains of conflicting evidence. Detailed pathology reports, a recreation of Mark's walk down to the water that morning, a wooden mock-up of the deck railing, and explicit animations—all of it leading to very different conclusions.
Pendergast said, “In this case it was pretty clear—that this woman was not just scared, but terrified of the dark. And the bottom line is, if you believed that she truly was afraid of the dark, then she simply would not have stayed out on the deck where it’s pitch-black. Then his story failed from the get-go.”
Find out the rest of the story tonight on TLC at 8:00!
Scared Monkeys Radio was not afraid to give the mic to Women in Crime Ink . . . even when three of us shared airtime with wife murder suspect Drew Peterson. The Dana Pretzer Show featured Women in Crime Ink on Tuesday, March 11, 2008. Listen in on an interview with Criminal Profiler Pat Brown, Crime Writer Vanessa Leggett, and Sex-crimes Prosecutor Robin Sax. Other guests: former Bolingbrook police sergeant Drew Peterson with his attorney, Joel Brodsky, and a Scared Monkey on the Natalee Holloway case. Take a listen. We'll speak no evil. 
MURDER PROSECUTOR
FORENSICS SPECIALIST
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Keep this space filled with your thoughts so contributors can dip their cyber quills into whatever crime or media issues interest you.
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