awfulandheartbreaking

San Jose toddler drowns in family pool

2009-06-27T00:34:00.000-07:00

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_12699257?source=most_viewed

"A 17-month-old San Jose boy drowned in the family pool on Oxford Place on Thursday night, according to police.

The mother told police that she was tired and laid down to take a nap in the early evening. The woman asked her 17-year-old son to watch his brother, police said.

When she awoke at 8:20 p.m., the child was missing.

After a frantic search of the house, the 17-year-old found his little brother submerged in the pool and pulled him out, according to police.

But it was too late.

Emergency responders could not revive the child. He was pronounced dead at 8:50 p.m."

Car jumps curb killing 3 children, woman

2009-06-11T18:54:00.000-07:00

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_12568383?source=most_viewed

"PHILADELPHIA — A woman has died after being hit by a car that crashed into a crowd during a Philadelphia police chase and killed three young children, at least one of them hers.

Albert Einstein Medical Center spokeswoman Judy Horwitz says 22-year-old Latoya Smith died this morning.

Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey says Wednesday night's crash began with two men stealing a motorcycle at gunpoint. One man fled on the motorcycle, and the other sped away in a car.

Police were pursuing the car when it jumped the curb and hit the crowd in front of a house. All the children killed were under age 10.

The car's driver was arrested at the scene. The motorcycle rider was arrested at his home.

Police say more information will be released this morning. "

Deaths of children, mother, may be murder-suicide

2009-06-09T15:03:00.000-07:00

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/06/09/michigan.family.killed/index.html

" (CNN) -- A father returned to his central Michigan home late Monday to find his wife and two sons dead, police say, and the horrific scene shows the signs of a murder-suicide.

The mother, in her 30s, was found dead, along with her two preteen sons, and police say that she may have killed her sons before killing herself.

But police are still investigating and awaiting an autopsy report, which they say will hold more clues to what happened inside the family home in Eaton County near Lansing.

It is unclear why the mother would have killed her children, police have said.

Police are not releasing the names of the victims until their next of kin are notified. They also refused to disclose any other details such as the father's and mother's occupations.

Investigators questioned the father, who called police about 5:20 p.m. He stumbled upon the scene, police say, when he walked into his apartment at Plum Tree Apartments in the Waverly area of Delta Township just west of Lansing. Police say he is shaken over the loss of his family and is meeting with a victim's advocate.

"Several hours after the incident, he was still being questioned and being cared for because he was very distraught also," said Eaton County Sheriff Mike Raines. "Understandably so; he's having a very difficult time."

In his 18 years on the force, Lt. Jeff Warder of the Eaton County Sheriff's Office said he has never had a mother-child murder-suicide case.

"It's obviously a tragic situation, and we want closure for everybody as soon as possible," Warder said.

Investigators expect to have more substantial details on the case by the end of the week, Warder said. "

Deaths of Oklahoma girls remains a mystery one year later

2009-06-08T20:29:00.000-07:00

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/06/08/oklahoma.girls.mystery/index.html

"William Whitaker is certain that somebody in the central Oklahoman community where he lives knows who killed his daughter.

The dirt road where the bodies of 11-year-old Skyla Jade Whitaker and Taylor Paschal-Placker, 13, were found is too remote for the killings to be the work of a stranger passing through, he says.

"There's absolutely no way that somebody from out of the area could've just stumbled upon the place," Whitaker said. "I know whoever did it told somebody, whether they were drinking or bragging or whatever, and whoever knows just needs to bring the information forward."

It has been a year since the two friends were shot multiple times in the stomach and chest less than a half a mile from Taylor's home in the rural community of Weleetka, with a population just over 1,000.

"Taylor was shot five times. My daughter was shot eight times. Thirteen shots between two little girls who never did anything to anyone," Whitaker said. "I don't know how a person can go to work, eat or sleep knowing what they did. I couldn't live with that on my conscience, but they've been doing it for a year now." Video Watch father plead for answers in killings »

In the beginning, hundreds of tips poured in. Authorities pursued leads and analyzed evidence, but a year later, they have no suspects or witnesses leading them to any viable conclusions.

Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation spokesperson Jessica Brown said during a press conference Monday that authorities have "good evidence" in the case but lack the final piece to make an arrest.

"If we could get this one piece of evidence that would help solve this case, that's what we need," Brown said Monday.

Investigators believe that the killer or killers could be from Okfuskee County, or that a member of the community knows something about what happened to the girls the afternoon of June 4, 2008.

"What we are frustrated about is the lack of cooperation we're getting from members of the public," Brown said. She stressed Monday that a $36,000 reward is being offered for information that leads to a conviction.

The girls were shot with two different guns, leading to the possibility that two people were involved, Brown said. The OSBI released a sketch of a person wanted for questioning last year, but they have not received information leading to him, she said.

But the killings remain fresh in the minds of Oklahomans. A billboard with the girls' faces and a tip hotline has loomed over Interstate 40 for several months.

A memorial service was planned for Monday in Weleetka to mark the anniversary.

"I can't go to the dry cleaners, the gym without people asking me, 'what's going on with those two girls?' Everyone in Oklahoma is emotionally involved in this case, and I think it's because it happened to two small children in an area you wouldn't think you'd ever have to worry about," Brown said.

The same posters adorn storefronts and bulletin boards in banks, restaurants and post offices throughout Okfuskee County, a sparsely populated manufacturing region best known as the birthplace of songwriter Woody Guthrie.

Weleetka Police Officer Stacey Rice will never forget the image of the dead girls. He was the second officer on the scene after a relative called 911 around 5:30 p.m. that day.

"I really hope I never see anything like that again. It's just emotionally and visually traumatic. You see two small children lying on the ground like that and it's kind of hard to explain. Makes you want to go find your children," said Rice, a father of two teenage boys.

"It took me several minutes to realize what happened, but after a while, it kind of sank in, and that's when emotions started running ... anger, lots of anger, sadness, disbelief. Nobody wanted to believe what had happened."

The incident stripped the small, close-knit community of its innocence as people came to realize that they weren't safe, Rice said. Parents kept close tabs on their children and started locking their doors.

Since then, the guard has come down, Rice said.

"I don't think the fear level is as high as it was. People are kind of aware of it, that something like this can happen. They're still cautious, but I don't think as cautious," he said. "Just the monotony of everyday life, the basic routine, people get used to it and they forget about the dangers we face every day. We're not oblivious, but we put it in the back of our mind."

Skyla's father says he and his wife try to carry on for the sake of their youngest daughter, who asks about her older sister nearly every day. Skyla's room is the same as it was a year ago except for the boxes of cards from across the globe, as far as Japan, expressing sympathy and support.

Whitaker finds solace in visiting the memorial site set up at the crime scene, where people leave bouquets of flowers, stuffed animals, cards and other mementos. The most recent addition to the site is an 8-foot cross donated by members of the community.

"I just get a feeling whenever I'm there. It's real quiet out there, and I see the stuff people brought and it's kind of comforting, it really is. I know she's in a better place right now, she don't feel sickness, don't feel pain. She's in a better place, and it's my way of remembering." "

Michigan native dies on her weddng day in California

2009-06-05T20:45:00.000-07:00

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_12519588?source=most_viewed

"HOLLAND TOWNSHIP, Mich. — A native of the Holland, Mich., area collapsed and died at her wedding reception in California, the victim of a brain aneurysm.

Amy Lynn Slenk, 26, died on the day she married longtime boyfriend Cole Handley in a vineyard in Soledad.

The bride was enjoying "the happiest day of her life" on May 25 when she collapsed at the reception, said her mother, Diane Slenk of Ottawa County's Holland Township.

"I know they were very excited about starting their lives together and starting a family," the mother said Wednesday to The Holland Sentinel. "They were planning on doing so many things together."

Following Amy Slenk's death, a California neurosurgeon told her family that although she appeared healthy, she had a pre-existing aneurysm and "it could've erupted at any time," her mother said.

Her daughter moved to the West Coast to pursue international studies and study Japanese at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Ore. Amy Slenk met her future husband there during their freshman year.

"They were immediate friends, and they stayed friends for a couple years before they realized it was love," her mother said. "Cole was always so willing to take part in any of the crazy plans she had."

After graduating from college, Slenk lived in San Diego before moving to Soledad, where she ran a wine-tasting room. The groom works at a golf course.

Although a funeral already was held in California, Slenk's family is planning a private memorial service in the Holland area because she was fond of where she grew up, her mother said.

"She loved Michigan," she said. "She always loved being near the water." "

Body parts in Florida

2009-06-04T12:50:00.000-07:00

http://www.justnews.com/news/19644307/detail.html

"Body Part Found In 4th Location
Bags Of Human Remains, Bloody Clothes Found

POSTED: Wednesday, June 3, 2009
UPDATED: 3:08 pm EDT June 4, 2009
MIAMI -- Miami police said they have found a body part in a fourth location, after two bags of human remains and a body part were found in three other locations since Wednesday.

Police are investigating whether the four incidents are related. The most recent discovery was made in the 600 block of Sabal Palm Road on Thursday afternoon. Miami police said they removed the body part and took it to the medical examiner's office.

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The Miami Fire Department confirmed that a body part was found in the water earlier Thursday in the 1000 block of Biscayne Boulevard, and police are investigating. Investigators said the body part appeared to be an arm.

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The first bag of remains was found just before 9 a.m. Wednesday, when a pedestrian spotted it near the water's edge near the Pelican Harbor marina, on the north side of the island off the 79th Street Causeway.

The medical examiner confirmed that the remains belonged to a human being, and some of the body's parts were missing. There is no indication what condition the remains were in or how long they might have been in the water.

On Thursday night, the medical examiner's office identified the victim as 21-year-old Osben Laparra.

Miami police said the second bag of remains was found in water near the 7800 block of Bayshore Court on Wednesday afternoon. Investigators are working to determine whether the remains were related to those discovered that morning.

On Thursday morning, a crew that was cleaning Pompano Beach discovered a bag of bloody clothes. A representative of the Miami Police Department said evidence suggested that Thursday's discovery might be related to the case of Laparra's body. Police are investigating.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Miami Police Department."

Dad and Mom killed

2009-05-21T16:28:00.000-07:00

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090521/ap_on_re_us/us_parents_killed

"VENTURA, Calif. – An intruder dressed in black and wearing a motorcycle helmet barged into a Southern California beach home and stabbed a pregnant woman and her husband to death as their two children were in other rooms, authorities said Thursday.

The two children were not injured in the attack late Tuesday. The 9-year-old boy ran to another part of the house after he first saw the intruder, and later found his parents' bodies. His 11-year-old sister was asleep in another room, authorities said.

Davina Husted, 42, was in the kitchen, the father, Brock Husted, 42, was in a bedroom and the boy was watching television when the intruder entered the expensive house in unincorporated Faria Beach through a sliding-glass door, sheriff's Capt. Ross Bonfiglio said.

The parents' bodies were found in the back of the one-story Ventura County home, he said. Sheriff's Capt. Bruce Norris said Davina Husted was four to five months pregnant. No arrests have been made.

"There's no answers as to why this happened," said Scott Husted, Brock's brother. "It's a horrible situation and there's a killer out there that killed a man and his wife — his pregnant wife — with two small children in the home."

Investigators believe the killer was not known to the family, Bonfiglio said. A beach camping area is located just west of the home.

Authorities believe the killer saw Davina Husted first and attacked her. They initially thought the boy saw the attack, but sheriff's Sgt. Dave Murray later said the child ran into another room and didn't witness the killings, but did find the bodies.

The boy and his older sister then ran out of the house and told a neighbor about the attack, Murray said.

Family friend Robyn Asdel said Brock Husted was a family man, while his wife was involved in her children's school activities and was excited about the coming birth of their baby.

"She was a great role model to her children and all of our kids," Asdel said. "They will both be missed."

The well-manicured beach-front home sits along a narrow stretch of U.S. Highway 101 about 80 miles northwest of Los Angeles."

Police: Mom of buried NM boy said she buried him

2009-05-21T12:15:00.000-07:00

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090521/ap_on_re_us/us_playground_body

"ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Police said Thursday that the mother of a 3-year-old boy found buried at a playground told investigators she suffocated him, had second thoughts and brought him back to life, then changed her mind and suffocated him again.

Police Chief Ray Schultz said Tiffany Toribio, 23, told officers that she and her son, Tyruss "Ty" Toribio, were in Alvarado Park before dawn on May 13 and that she suffocated him while he was asleep.

She told detectives she had second thoughts and performed CPR on the boy, reviving him, but again reconsidered and placed her hand over his nose and mouth until he suffocated, Schultz said. She said she waited a few minutes before burying him in the playground, the chief said.

Ty's body was found Friday by a mother who saw his black tennis shoe sticking out of the sand. Police released an artist's rendering of the boy's image on Tuesday, which led to tips about Toribio from family members and others, Schultz said.

Police picked up Toribio after she called them late Wednesday saying she had left home and was walking to the police station to turn herself in, the chief said. At first she denied being Tiffany Toribio, but officers found her identification and she acknowledged who she was, he said.

Neither the district attorney's office nor police knew if Toribio had an attorney, but she would have to have representation by her Friday arraignment.

Schultz called it "somber day" in Albuquerque.

"He was a very special child and that's what makes this case so hard for everybody within the Albuquerque Police Department that's worked on it for the last six days," he said.

At the playground — filled now with flowers, plaques and candles — about a dozen people gathered, some part of the regular vigil held there since last week and others who came down after hearing of the arrest on the TV news.

"We named him 'Baby Angel' and it's important now that we know his real name," said Sarah Sandoval, who lives nearby. "Now, his mother will find out this baby has a lot of people who love him and will do anything for a child.""

Boy found buried in NM playground still unidentified

2009-05-16T12:54:00.000-07:00

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090516/ap_on_re_us/us_playground_body

"ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – An autopsy was conducted Saturday on the body of an unidentified small child found buried in the sand of a public park playground, as investigators looked for the boy's parents or guardian.

The body was discovered Friday by a woman who had taken her own children to the city's Alvarado Park and spotted a shoe sticking out of the sand.

Police renewed their call for the public's help Saturday in finding the 3- to 5-year-old boy's family and learning how he ended up buried in the playground sand.

"No one has stepped forward as parent, guardian or caretaker or any other relationship with this child," police spokesman John Walsh said Saturday. "Anybody who has seen or heard of any, anything, involving a child in that area, we want them to call us."

The autopsy at the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator began at 9 a.m. Saturday, Walsh said.

Police Chief Ray Schultz said at a news conference late Friday that police had received no reports of missing children but believe he may be from the neighborhood around the park in northeast Albuquerque.

A team of about 50 investigators canvassed the area around the park until early Saturday and resumed the effort after daybreak, Walsh said.

Forensic experts who exhumed the body told police that the boy could not have been dead longer than 48 hours, Walsh said.

Neighbors were shaken by the discovery.

"I run in this park every day. I've lived here for 17 years, it's very upsetting," Marlisa Gomez told KOAT-TV."

FBI searches office of lawyer in murder-suicide

2009-04-30T08:50:00.000-07:00

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/04/29/hotel.deaths.investigation/index.html

"NEW YORK (CNN) -- FBI agents on Wednesday searched the law office of William Parente, the lawyer who killed his wife and two daughters before committing suicide April 19 in Maryland.

Agents removed business records that might help explain what led Parente to take the life of his family in a hotel room near Baltimore, said FBI spokesman James Margolin. At least four agents left Parente's office carrying dozens of boxes and computer hardware, he said.

The FBI, at the request of Baltimore County police, is investigating what happened to money that might be missing.

CNN has learned that officials are investigating whether Parente lost at least $27 million of client's funds. Some clients said Parente encouraged them to invest in short-term real estate loans that he claimed would yield high returns.

A source familiar with the investigation said authorities are looking at more than one bank Parente used, allegedly to deposit clients' funds.

One client, through a spokesman, has said Parente wrote him checks just before he killed his family and committed suicide, but the checks bounced.

Police have said Parente's wife, Betty, 58, and daughters Catherine, 11, and Stephanie, 19, were killed by asphyxiation and blunt force trauma. Parente, 59, bled to death after cutting himself. "

9yr old quadraplegic found dead

2009-04-23T12:02:00.000-07:00

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/04/23/michigan.child.dead/index.html

"CNN) -- Michigan authorities are investigating whether foul play led to the death of a 9-year-old quadriplegic girl whose body was found inside a public storage facility.

"This is a very sad and tragic case that hurts all of us involved in the ongoing investigation," Genesee County prosecutor David Leyton said at a news conference Wednesday.

Shylea Myza Thomas of Flint, Michigan, hadn't been seen in six weeks, and relatives reported her missing Tuesday, Leyton's office said. Her adoptive mother, who is also her aunt, is in custody as a suspect, special assistant prosecuting attorney John Potbury told CNN. No charges have been filed pending the results of the autopsy, he said.

Because of her physical disabilities, Shylea used a feeding tube. She suffered from quadriplegia because of a "suffocation issue" in her crib at 3 weeks of age, Leyton said.

On Wednesday, Flint police found her body stuffed inside a garbage bag in a public storage facility in Vienna Township, near Flint, Leyton said. The bag was covered in mothballs "in an apparent attempt to mask odors from the dead body," his office said in a news release.

"For her to have to live like that, and then to die and be stuffed into a bag and plastic bin in a storage facility, just breaks my heart," the prosecutor said.

He said that Shylea and other relatives had lived in "absolutely filthy" conditions.

CNN affiliate WJRT reported that the suspect could face charges including murder, first-degree child abuse and welfare fraud.

The station also reported that investigators are trying to determine why the girl's disappearance wasn't reported until six weeks after she went missing.

Relatives told WJRT that they remember Shylea as a happy child, who loved music and whose smile was infectious.

"The last memory I actually have of Shylea is seeing her when she was in my care," said her second cousin, Josette Thomas. "She was on the bed listening to the radio and smiling. Those are actually the memories I want to keep in my head. I don't want that memory to leave me."

Dad who killed family, self, was $460,000 in debt

2009-04-21T23:02:00.000-07:00

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/04/21/maryland.family.shot/index.html

"(CNN) -- A man who shot his wife and three children to death before committing suicide in Middletown, Maryland, last weekend had about $460,000 in mortgage and credit card debt, the local sheriff said Tuesday.

Deputies who examined a computer taken from Christopher Wood's home found information that showed "severe financial difficulties," including money owed on a home in Florida that the family had been unable to sell, Frederick County Sheriff Charles Jenkins said at a news conference.

Wood was a salesman for CSX Railroad, where he earned about $97,000 a year, the sheriff said.

He left six suicide notes, according to authorities.

Jenkins said the medical examiner had determined that Christopher Wood, 34, shot himself with a shotgun Friday after shooting his wife, Francie Billotti-Wood, and their three young children -- Chandler, 5; Gavin, 4; and Fiona, 2 -- with a small-caliber pistol.

"Traumatic lacerations" found on the bodies were made after their deaths, with either a kitchen knife or a pruning saw, the sheriff said, quoting the medical examiner. Both items were found in the house.

"The injuries were very horrific," the sheriff said.
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The wife and children apparently were killed while they slept Thursday night into Friday, Jenkins said.

Authorities found a shotgun next to Christopher Wood's body and a .25-caliber handgun in a container in the kitchen. Sheriff's Office Cpl. Jennifer Bailey said Tuesday it was not yet known whether the handgun found was used in the killings.

The federal Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agency was trying to trace the ownership of the pistol and shotgun.

Authorities said Wood left individual suicide notes to his wife and each of the three children, expressing his sorrow and love. There was one note left to his mother, father and sister, and one more that was not addressed to anyone in particular but that was more apologetic than the others.

In his sixth note, Wood described his "day-to-day stresses," Bailey said.

"That one talks about financial problems, how he was going to raise his family, stresses, how he tried a number of medications to control his depression, but felt he had gotten worse over time," Bailey said.

Jenkins said several medications were found in the house, including some used to treat depression and anxiety.

Bailey said deputies went to the house shortly after 9 a.m. Saturday, after Francie Billotti-Wood's father found the bodies. Her father, concerned because he had not seen members of the family for about a day, had gone to the house and forced his way in when no one answered the door.
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Jenkins said the sheriff's office had no record of domestic violence or other family disputes at the Woods' home..."

5 Houston children die in swamped car

2009-04-19T01:02:00.000-07:00

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090419/ap_on_re_us/texas_storms

"

HOUSTON – Five Houston children died Saturday after their sedan slid into a rain-swollen ditch when the driver lost control while trying to answer a cell phone, authorities said.

John Cannon, a Houston police spokesman, told several Houston television stations that the driver of the car was the father of four of the dead children, all 7 or younger. Cannon said the driver was taken for blood-alcohol testing.

The father was among two adults and a 10-year-old girl who escaped the fast-moving current that swept the car 100 feet from where it left the road and made the vehicle inaccessible to emergency workers for hours, Cannon said.

Houston television station KTRK reported that police said the dead children included 1- and 3-year-old girls and three boys, ages 4, 6 and 7.

Cannon said a passenger told police the driver's cell phone rang, and the driver lost control when he tried to answer it.

Houston Fire Assistant Chief Omero Longoria said in the online edition of the Houston Chronicle that rescue workers found the car in 9 feet of water about 7:30 p.m. Saturday, 2 1/2 hours after the driver lost control.

The children's deaths brought the weekend death toll to six from massive storms that swept across southeast Texas.

A 76-year-old Fayette County man died Friday after his car got stuck in a flooded underpass in Schulenburg, midway between Houston and San Antonio. Frank Floyd, 76, of Hallettsville, drowned after he and his wife became trapped after driving into a flooded railroad underpass on U.S. 77, said Schulenburg Police Chief Randy Mican.

"It filled up with water pretty quick and the water kept rising," said Mican, who estimated the water depth reached 8 to 9 feet. "It's not common to flood that much."

Floyd's wife, Mary, 72, managed to escape and was taken to a hospital. Her injuries were not believed life-threatening, the chief said.

By 5 p.m. Saturday, nearly 5 inches of rain had fallen at Houston's Hobby Airport, a record for April 18.

The initial leg of an annual 150-mile charity bike ride involving more than 13,000 cyclists raising money for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society was washed out Saturday by the second consecutive day of heavy rain.

The 25th annual MS 150 had been scheduled for Houston to La Grange. It was scrapped after Friday's torrential downpours flooded the Fayette County Fairgrounds, where tents were set up for overnight accommodations for participants. Saturday's continuing rains made riding treacherous.

"The safety of our participants and volunteers is the first priority," the Lone Star Chapter of the National MS Society said in a statement.

Organizers of one of the nation's largest such events hoped clearing weather forecast for Sunday would allow for the second half of the ride from La Grange to Austin.

It was the wettest April 17 on record in College Station, where 2.94 inches of rain Friday broke a mark set 30 years ago when 1.68 inches fell. Houston also set a record for the most rain for the day, with the 1.9 inches topping the old mark of 1.85 in 1992.

At least 10 inches of rain fell Friday in Colorado County, about 70 miles west of Houston, closing some roads. Hail measuring 1.75 inches in diameter was reported Friday night in Laredo, along with some street flooding in Zapata County in the Rio Grande Valley.

More heavy rain fell Saturday, and nearly all of East Texas and portions of South Texas were under some kind of threatening weather advisory with tornado warnings and watches and flash flood warnings and watches in place.

U.S. 87 south of Cuero, about 80 miles southeast of San Antonio, was closed by a flash flood Saturday. A tornado was spotted in a rural area near Marquez, about 60 miles southeast of Waco. Firefighters reported a barn was toppled by high winds near Rosebud in Milam County, about 35 miles southeast of Waco.

In Robertson County, between College Station and Waco, authorities said a possible tornado during a thunderstorm Saturday morning downed trees and power lines and left some windows broken in Franklin, the county seat."

Alabama man kills estranged wife 3 others, self

2009-04-07T21:25:00.000-07:00

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090408/ap_on_re_us/alabama_four_dead

"

PRICEVILLE, Ala. – A man facing a divorce trial shot and killed his estranged wife, their teenage daughter and two other relatives in rural north Alabama before returning to his home in a nearby town and killing himself, authorities said Tuesday.

Kevin Garner's body was found Tuesday afternoon near his Priceville home, which burned to the ground overnight. His divorce trial was to start Wednesday.

Garner apparently shot himself in the chest, said Travis Clemmons, chief investigator for the sheriff's office in Lauderdale County, where the four bodies were found earlier in the day in a home in Green Hill, a small community near the Tennessee line.

The victims were identified as Garner's estranged wife, Tammy, 40; their 16-year-old daughter, Chelsie; Garner's sister, Karen Beaty of Illinois; and Beaty's 11-year-old son, whose name was not released.

Investigators said the four were shot, apparently with a handgun, around midnight Monday. They did not know if Kevin Garner was licensed to carry a firearm.

It was one of eight mass shootings around the country — and the third in Alabama — in the last month that have left grief-stricken communities in shock.

Clemmons said a neighbor visiting the Green Hill house Tuesday morning saw a body through the door and called authorities.

Court officials said the Garners were in court Monday in advance of the trial and nothing seemed unusual.

"I just can't understand it," said Clemmons, "and with a 16-year-old and an 11-year-old kid, there's nothing rational about it."

In the divorce file, Tammy Garner sought custody of their daughter and alleged that her husband "has been both physically and emotionally abusive."

Kevin Garner accused her of adultery and of taking $38,000 out of their joint bank account when they separated May 27.

Michael Corley, chief deputy in Morgan County, where Garner's body was found, said Beaty and her son might have been on the witness list for the divorce case. He said investigators believe Garner was "unhappy" with proceedings and "after court adjourned it appears he set some of his plans in motion."

He said it appears the divorce was filed about a year ago but was just now coming up on the court docket.

"Now that we know the final end of it all it's just going back and putting the pieces together," Corley said. "We feel like this was solely a homicide, that he killed them, then went to the home. He used some type of accelerant that caused the home to burn very, very quickly, then walked about 200 yards back into a wooded area behind the house and took his life."

Jerry Knight, an attorney who represented Kevin Garner in the divorce case, said in an e-mail to The Associated Press that Garner "had a terrific work ethic and value system. I was terribly shocked and saddened by this unexpected tragedy."

Kevin Garner had worked at a Decatur chemical plant and Tammy Garner at a Huntsville department store.

Along with Garner's two-story house, which collapsed in the fire, a green Subaru Legacy belonging to Tammy Garner was found burned in the Morgan County community of Somerville, less than 10 miles from the burned house.

The five deaths follow the stabbing deaths of four people in a home in Hueytown, near Birmingham, on March 7, and the shooting deaths of 10 people on March 10 by a gunman in south Alabama who also took his own life."

Cold cases re-opened after bodies found in NM desert

2009-03-02T14:28:00.000-08:00

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090302/ap_on_re_us/desert_bodies

"

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – In the desert outside Albuquerque, hikers have sometimes stumbled upon human remains partially buried under the hardy scrub and hard-baked dirt.

But few people could have imagined the crime scene now emerging: The bones of at least 13 people have been uncovered on the site of an abandoned housing development.

The grisly discovery last month caused authorities to reopen dozens of cold cases involving missing prostitutes, some of whom vanished as much as 20 years ago.

Since the bones came to light, forensic experts, detectives, anthropologists and medical investigators have raked tediously through mounds of dirt for the next sliver of bone or clump of human hair.

Police believe one person or group of people is responsible for the slayings, but they have been reluctant to make comparisons to any existing serial murder cases.

"We don't want to limit our investigation," Police Chief Ray Schultz said, calling the scene "one of the largest and most complex" ever investigated by his department.

So far, only two sets of remains have been identified. But detectives are reviewing cases involving dozens of women who vanished from the city over the last two decades. All of them were suspected of being drug addicts and prostitutes. Of particular interest are 16 women reported missing between 2001 and 2006.

The two bodies identified so far were Michelle Valdez and Victoria Chavez, both women who disappeared within months of each other in 2004.

Chavez was about 28 when she vanished, leaving behind a daughter. Valdez was 22, with two children and another on the way.

Valdez's mother, Karen Jackson of Myrtle Beach, S.C., said her daughter struggled with addiction and worked as a prostitute during periods when she would disappear without any explanation. But she would always resurface to get a hug or money from her father, share a laugh with her sister or call her mom.

Valdez's body and that of her fetus were unearthed Feb. 23. No cause of death has been determined.

Jackson said she was devastated to learn her daughter's fate after years of silence and searching.

"I wanted closure, but not this," she said. "My heart goes out to the rest of the families of the missing women."

The family of Leah Peebles, who is on the list of 16 missing women, is devastated by the discovery but holding out hope.

"I don't think she's out there. I really don't," Peebles' mother, Sharon Peebles, said from her home in Fort Worth, Texas. "I have fear and start worrying ... but until I hear otherwise, I feel she is alive."

Still, after two other women on the list were found in the desert, it's getting harder for Peebles and her husband to keep the faith.

"I want some conclusion, but I don't want that," she said.

Leah Peebles, 24, moved to Albuquerque just months prior to her disappearance. She was trying to start a new life free of drugs and the history of sexual molestation and assault that haunted her in her hometown. Her parents reported her missing in May 2006.

The first remains were discovered Feb. 2, when a woman walking her dog found a human rib bone on the site of a subdivision under construction.

The area had been abandoned when homebuilder KB Home ended its operations in New Mexico, leaving a cinderblock wall surrounding mounds of dirt, a drainage pond and a few retaining walls.

Before construction crews left the site in early 2008, many of the bones were damaged by earth-moving equipment that scattered the remains across 100 acres surrounding the concentrated burial site.

The tedious police work at the site has been creeping along seven days a week, drawing curious spectators from nearby neighborhoods.

Schultz said a task force of 40 detectives is checking leads and reviewing missing-persons reports.

"Everyone has taken a personal stake in this," he said. "We don't think anybody is a throwaway person."
"

Mom tells police icy bodies in freezer are her kids

2008-09-29T15:48:00.000-07:00

CNN http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/09/29/kids.bodies.freezer.ap/index.html

"LUSBY, Maryland (AP) -- A mother told police that child-sized human remains uncovered in her basement freezer were those of her two adopted daughters, and police believe that she is responsible for their deaths.

Police were investigating an abuse complaint Saturday when they discovered the remains encased in ice.

The mother told investigators that they had been in her southern Maryland home for at least seven months, and police said they are considering the case a homicide.

"We have reason to believe that's the two children in the freezer," Lt. Bobby Jones of Calvert County Sheriff's Office said Monday. "We believe that the mother, who adopted the two children, is responsible for it."

Autopsies would need to be completed before they know for sure that the remains are of the girls, who would be 9 and 11.

Deputies made the gruesome discovery in the home in Lusby, about 50 miles southeast of Washington. They were there with a search warrant to investigate the treatment of a girl who had run away and "showed signs of extreme abuse and neglect," the sheriff's department said.

The girl's mother, 43-year-old Renee Bowman, has been arrested, and a judge has ordered her held without bail.

She is charged with first-degree child abuse in the beating of the runaway 7-year-old, who was found wandering in the neighborhood wearing only a blood- and feces-soaked T-shirt.

The girl escaped from a locked bedroom by jumping out a second-story window, and Bowman admitted beating her with a "hard-heeled shoe," officials said.

Bowman told detectives that she brought the remains in the freezer with her to Lusby when she moved from Rockville, about 60 miles away, in February. Montgomery County Police are investigating whether the deaths took place in Rockville. Bowman has not been charged in the older girls' deaths.

It is not clear how the children might have died. The medical examiner's office in Baltimore was to examine the freezer and its contents. It was unclear how long it would take for autopsies to be completed.

Authorities said Bowman adopted three children from the District of Columbia. Officials said the older girls' whereabouts are unknown. Montgomery County Police said detectives are trying to pin down when the older girls were last seen alive, as well as where the family was living and when.

According to charging documents drawn up before the remains were discovered, the 7-year-old went door-to-door looking for help after jumping from the window Friday night. A neighbor gave her clothes and called 911.

The girl had open sores and lesions on her buttocks and lower thighs, marks on her neck made by a cord, rope or other item and bruises on her hands and lips. She told investigators her mother caused the injuries and that she jumped out the window to "free herself from her mother's relentless beatings," according to the documents. She is being cared for by child protective services.

No one was home when authorities arrived at the modest single-story house in the secluded, heavily wooded subdivision with narrow gravel roads. Bowman showed up later at the sheriff's office and said she had locked her daughter in the girl's bedroom while she went to D.C.

Bowman told the deputy who interviewed her about the 7-year-old's abuse "that she knew what she did was wrong," according to the charging documents. "She advised [Bowman] was out of control and needed help."

Sheriff Mike Evans said the surviving girl was never enrolled in Calvert County Schools. He said that neighbors had seen her and that no trouble had ever been reported at the house. Bowman's only contact with the sheriff's department since she arrived was a traffic stop.

No attorney had entered an appearance on Bowman's behalf Monday afternoon. Dorothy Hodge, deputy district public defender for Calvert County, said an attorney from the office would interview Bowman to determine whether she wanted to be represented."

ABCnews: Grisly New Orleans murder mystery

2006-10-20T09:36:00.000-07:00

From Abcnews.com
"
By MARCUS BARAM

Oct. 20, 2006 — New Orleans is still reeling from news this week that a bartender reportedly strangled his girlfriend, dismembered her body, and cooked some of the body parts on his stove before jumping to his death.

Now, it turns out, he was an Iraq war hero.

That's just one of the tragic ironies and mysteries of the suspected murder-suicide that has shaken residents of Crescent City.

Police said the mystery began on Tuesday when the body of Zachary Bowen, 28, was found on top of a parking garage.

A suicide note in his right, front pocket led cops to a grisly crime scene at his apartment in the French Quarter.

According to news reports, two pots were sitting on the stove, one containing a woman's head and another holding her hands and feet. Police believe the body parts belong to Bowen's girlfriend, Addie Hall.

In the oven, detectives reportedly found turkey-basting trays containing legs and arms sprinkled with seasoning.

From Los Angeles to New Orleans

A Los Angeles native, Bowen moved to New Orleans in the mid-'90s, and enlisted in the Army in May 2000.

He served in Kosovo and Iraq as a military policeman, earning several medals including the NATO medal and the Presidential Unit Citation, which is awarded to military units that have performed a heroic act in the face of an armed enemy.

After his discharge, Bowen returned to New Orleans, where he was hired at several bars because of his good looks, charming manners, and long blond hair.

But he seemed haunted by his past, writing in the suicide letter that he had 28 cigarette burns on his body to mark his failures in "school, jobs, military, marriage, parenthood, morals, love" for each year of his existence.

A fellow bartender told the New Orleans Times-Picayune that after downing rounds of Miller High Life and Jameson's Irish Whiskey, Bowen would grow depressed when talking about his military service, indicating that there was an overseas incident involving a child that haunted him

Before meeting Hall, Bowen was married and had two children, a girl and a boy.

Police Questioning Details

Some of most gruesome details of the murder were immediately questioned by local police.

New Orleans Chief of Detectives Anthony Cannatella denied reports there was cannibalism involved in the crime, citing an autopsy that showed no evidence of body parts in Bowen's system.

Chief Joseph Waguespack also denied that the legs had been cooked or that necrophilia was involved.

"That's not factual," Waguespack said to ABCNEWS.com. "And there's no indication of necrophilia. We don't suspect it at all."

Bowen and Hall were no strangers to crime-weary residents of New Orleans.

The couple, who fell in love while surviving Hurricane Katrina, were profiled several times last year by several news outlets.

They refused to evacuate their neighborhood, where they lived in a simple home without electricity and spent their days feeding stray cats and mixing cocktails for random visitors.

Since then, their romance reportedly hit a few bumps in the road, with frequent loud arguments fueled by Hall's belief that her 28-year-old beau was cheating on her.

After killing Hall — the remains have yet to be positively identified because of the state of the corpse — in a crime of passion on Oct. 5, Bowen apparently went to work, delivering groceries, and spent $1,500 on food, drugs and strippers, according to his suicide note.

"I scared myself not by the action of calmly strangling the woman I've loved for one and a half years … but by my entire lack of remorse," wrote Bowen in the note.

Bowen had one last drink at the Omni Royal New Orleans hotel before walking over to an outside terrace and throwing himself off the edge.

A rooftop surveillance camera captured his nervous pacing back and forth. "This is not accidental," Bowen wrote in the note. "I had to take my own life to pay for the one I took."

ABCnews: Manhattan teenager slain by drifter

2006-07-28T09:21:00.000-07:00

"By TOM HAYS

NEW YORK Jul 28, 2006 (AP)— A drifter is accused of killing a suburban teenage girl who got lost after a night of clubbing in Manhattan and whose body was later found in a New Jersey trash bin.

A New Jersey judge signed an arrest warrant Thursday charging Draymond Coleman, 35, in the slaying of Jennifer Moore, 18, whose body was found earlier in the day in West New York, N.J., authorities said.

Coleman, 35, was taken into custody at a hotel in Manhattan. He has done time on a drug charge, and police said he has prior arrests for robbery and assault. It was not known if he had a lawyer.

New York police think Moore was lured or forced into a taxi along a major roadway along Manhattan's west side, where she was last seen walking alone early Tuesday, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing. Her killer took her to a motel and strangled her, the official said.

Officials said surveillance video from the motel in Weehawken, N.J., showed Coleman entering the building with Moore early Tuesday, according to published reports Friday.

The Hudson County, N.J., medical examiner ruled the teen's death a homicide and said the cause was blunt force trauma to the head and strangulation.

Moore had accompanied a friend to retrieve their car from the city tow pound when Moore's friend passed out and had to be taken by ambulance to a hospital. Moore stayed behind.

Around 5 a.m., she called her boyfriend to say she was lost and he told her to call a cab, The New York Post reported. When he called back there was no answer, the newspaper said.

"She was someone who was smart and bright and funny," her father, Hugh Moore, said outside their home in Harrington Park, N.J. "Wrong place, wrong time. It could happen to anybody."

Moore graduated from high school in May and was enrolled at the University of Hartford for the fall, her father said.

Associated Press writer Wayne Parry in Newark, N.J., contributed to this report."

Texas family loses two sons to the war; burglars take son's medals

2006-07-26T22:16:00.000-07:00

"By BETSY BLANEY, Associated Press Writer
Wed Jul 26, 2:24 PM ET

LUBBOCK, Texas - Less than two years ago, Roy Velez got the worst news a father could get: His oldest son was dead, killed during combat in Iraq.

This week, his pain only deepened with news that his youngest son had died in Afghanistan.

Military officials notified the Velez family Tuesday of the death of Army Spc. Andrew Velez, 22. His brother, Army Cpl. Jose A. Velez, 23, died in November 2004 in Fallujah when his unit came under fire while clearing an enemy stronghold.

"I can't be angry. I feel like my heart's been pulled out," Roy Velez said Tuesday. "We've done what the Lord allowed us to do for our country."

The family lost its only sons; there is one daughter.

The military does not have a regulation prohibiting the deployment of family members at the same time. But families can request that relatives return home if one is killed or disabled.

After his brother's death, the military gave Andrew Velez the option of not returning to combat, Roy Velez said. But Andrew Velez told his father he wanted to return to fight, his father said.

"You always do it for your buddy next to you," Roy Velez recalled his younger son saying.

Roy Velez last talked to Andrew Velez on the phone Saturday. His son told him he'd had "six close calls" as they tracked Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan, and that he was tired.

He was scheduled to return for 10 days of leave during the last week of August. "He said, 'Daddy, I'll see you in August,'" Roy Velez said.

Andrew Velez joined the Army about five years ago. He graduated in 2002 from Estacado High School in Lubbock. During his school years, he wrestled, played football and basketball and ran track. He also loved playing golf.

His older brother, Jose, joined the Army after graduating from the same high school in 2000 and hoped to attend medical school one day. He played football and was an honor student.

After his death, Jose Velez was awarded two Purple Hearts, the Bronze Star and a Silver Star. But burglars stole them all from his parents' home in June.

On Monday, the medals were replaced, thanks to the assistance of U.S. Rep. Randy Neugebauer (news, bio, voting record), Roy Velez said. "And today at 12:30 I learned my other son was killed in action," he said.

Andrew Velez's survivors include his wife, Veronica Velez; a daughter, Jasmine Jade, 5; and two sons, Jordan Davis, 3, and Jacob Andrew, 2."

Help these people please. Get those medals back.

Soldier's family slain in Washington State

2006-07-20T10:40:00.000-07:00

"KIRKLAND, Wash. Jul 20, 2006 (AP)— Two women and two young boys found dead after a house fire all died of wounds to the neck, and the fire apparently was set to cover up the slayings, authorities said Wednesday.

The home belonged to a soldier serving in Iraq, his wife and their two children. The victims were the young mother, the children and her sister, the King County medical examiner's office said.

Police in this east Seattle suburb have arrested a neighbor for investigation of arson and homicide in Monday's fire and the four slayings, Police Capt. Eric Olsen said at a news conference. He declined to elaborate on what led authorities to the man.

"We don't have a motive at this time," Olsen said.

When firefighters arrived at the scene Monday, the two-story house was ablaze. Authorities determined the fire was arson.

Sgt. Leonid Milkin, 29, has been granted emergency leave from duty in Iraq, and was expected home with 24 hours, Maj. Philip Osterli of the Washington National Guard said Wednesday.

Milkin bought the home in 2003 with his wife, Olga, 28.

In addition to Olga Milkin, the victims were identified as her sister, Lyuba Botvin, 24, who also lived in the house, and the Milkins' two boys, Justin, 5, and Andrew, 3.

The women and the older boy died of stab wounds to the neck while the 3-year-old's throat was cut, the medical examiner's office said.

Milkin had been in Iraq since September as a member of the 341st Military Intelligence Battalion.

Army officials were helping the National Guard coordinate a grant for funeral expenses.

The bodies were all found on the second floor, Fire Marshal Grace Steuart said after the fire."

CNN: Dad on anniversary kills 2 kids and self

2006-05-28T12:34:00.000-07:00

"MIAMI BEACH, Florida (AP) -- A man killed his two young children Saturday by throwing them off the 15th floor of a landmark South Beach hotel and then jumped to his own death, police said.

Edward Van Dyk, 43, tossed his two sons, ages 4 and 8, to their deaths around 8:20 a.m., Miami Beach Police spokesman Bobby Hernandez said. Authorities did not release the names of the two boys.

The mother of the children, Qinuo Van Dyk, 40, told police she and her husband had been having marital problems for the past six months, but hadn't argued right before the incident, Hernandez said.

The woman heard one of her children screaming from an adjacent room in the Loews Hotel, where the Alton, Illinois, family was staying. When she walked into the room she saw her husband going off the balcony, Hernandez said.

She looked over the railing and saw her husband and her two children lying on a mezzanine roof that is about two floors above the ground.

Hernandez said that despite the marital problems, the family had been celebrating the couple's 10th wedding anniversary.

"It's a terrible tragedy. It's unfortunate that this gentleman was so selfish and in an effort to get back at his wife he took the two most loved people in the world away from her," Hernandez said.

Hernandez said the woman did not know why her husband, a radiation oncologist at Alton Memorial Hospital, killed the children and himself.

Edward Van Dyk began working at the hospital 18 months ago, when the family moved from New Mexico, hospital spokesman Rob Shelton said.

"We are shocked and saddened by this tragedy and we offer our deepest sympathy to Mrs. Van Dyk and her family," Shelton said.

People in neighboring rooms said they did not hear any noises, Hernandez said.

A Loews Hotel spokeswoman in Miami would not comment.
"

CNN: Child dies in fire looking for her mother

2006-04-25T22:38:00.000-07:00

"STEELTON, Pennsylvania (AP) -- A 6-year-old girl who escaped a house fire early Tuesday died after running back inside to find her mother, authorities said.

The youngster did not realize that her mother had jumped to safety from a second-floor window.

Firefighters found the body of little Da-Onah Watts under a bed on the second floor.

Da-Onah and a 13-year-old cousin had been asleep on the first floor when they awoke to flames and ran from the house, said Police Chief Kenneth Lenker.

The older girl, Nesha Barely, lost her grip on Da-Onah as they escaped, Lenker said. Nesha told authorities Da-Onah kept yelling for her mother and went back in to try to find her.

A neighbor summoned help, but the heat and flames were too intense for police or firefighters to get inside. The home was destroyed.

Da-Onah's mother, Myiaa Smith, 29, was not seriously hurt.

The fire appeared to be accidental and probably started in the laundry room, Fire Chief Gene Vance said.

Neighbor Evelyn Brubacher said Da-Onah was a sweet, well-behaved girl, and she and her mother were very close.

"Her mother watched her," Brubacher said. "A lot of kids in this alley, they just run and run. Not that one."

Steelton, just outside Harrisburg, has about 5,700 residents.

"This little kid played in the neighborhood. We waved at her," the police chief said. "Everybody knew her. It's a tragedy."

"

CNN: stray bullet kills toddler in car seat

2006-04-17T13:10:00.000-07:00

"http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/04/17/toddler.shot.ap/index.html

NEW YORK (AP) -- Sobbing and clutching her son's toy, the mother of a 2-year-old killed when a stray bullet pierced their minivan on Easter urged police to find her son's killer.

"I want him to wake up every day and see my face and hear my voice and see my son's picture every day," Joanne Sanabria told reporters.

David Pacheco Jr., dressed in his Easter best, was strapped in a car seat Sunday afternoon as the family drove through the Bronx a few miles from home.

"I was driving and I heard the gunshot and I heard my son screaming," Sanabria, 28, said Monday. "God only knows how much I wish that bullet would have hit me."

Her daughters, ages 8 and 11, and her sister's family were also in the vehicle but unharmed.

According to police, the shots were fired as two groups of men argued.

An off-duty emergency medical technician, Angelo Cruz, heard the gunfire and ran to help the toddler, but the shooter disappeared.

The little boy had been struck in the chest and was pronounced dead about 45 minutes later.

His father, David Pacheco, said Monday he owes his thanks to Cruz. He said the resuscitation effort gave him time to see his son alive one last time.

Grieving family and friends described the boy as energetic and always smiling. "He was a happy kid," his uncle Victor Castillo said."

CNN: Miss Deaf Texas struck, killed by a train

2006-03-14T20:31:00.000-08:00

"AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- The reigning Miss Deaf Texas died after being struck by a train, officials said.

Tara Rose McAvoy, 18, was walking Monday near railroad tracks when she was struck by a Union Pacific train, authorities said.

A witness told Austin television station KTBC the train sounded its horn right up until the accident occurred.

McAvoy, who had been deaf since birth, won the state title in June and represented the state "with dignity and pride," state pageant director Laura Loeb-Hill told The Associated Press via e-mail Monday night.

McAvoy was to represent Texas at the Miss Deaf America pageant this summer, Loeb-Hill said.

McAvoy graduated last year from the Texas School for the Deaf, attended Austin Community College and then started at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., in January, but had returned to Texas, Loeb-Hill said."

CNN: Missing autistic boy found dead

2006-02-24T12:20:00.000-08:00

"MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- Police said they had found the body Friday of an 8-year-old autistic boy who had been reported missing in Greenacres, Florida.

Jared Jordan McGuire's body was found in a pond about 300 feet from his home, Lt. Michael Porath said.

Porath said it is not clear if any crime was involved. The cause of the child's death will not be known until an autopsy is conducted.

Authorities had issued an Amber alert for the boy earlier in the day. People came forward to say they had seen a boy matching Jared's description at nearby shopping plaza getting into a white van with a white male.

The man was described as having gray or dark hair, a goatee and wearing a long-sleeve flannel shirt, blue jeans and white tennis shoes.

Greenacres is about 10 miles south of West Palm Beach, Florida."

Just too awful.

Yahoo!News/AP: Fireman in coma dies

2006-02-21T18:33:00.000-08:00

"By CAROLYN THOMPSON, Associated Press Writer
31 minutes ago

BUFFALO, N.Y. - A brain-injured firefighter who suddenly spoke after nearly a decade in a stupor, giving hope to families of countless other patients, died Tuesday. He was 44.

Donald Herbert was injured in December 1995, when the roof of a burning home collapsed on him. Deprived of oxygen for several minutes, he ended up blind, was largely mute and showed little awareness of his surroundings for years.

But on April 30, 2005, he shocked his family with a 14-hour talking jag. Since then, he spoke only sporadically.

Herbert was hospitalized again on Sunday with an infection.

"Don fought very long and hard ... right to the end. Last night he was breathing very hard, trying to keep going," Fire Commissioner Michael Lombardo said.

Herbert is survived by his wife, Linda, and four sons.

His breakthrough came three months after his doctor began giving him drugs normally used to treat Parkinson's disease, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and depression. Dr. Jamil Ahmed said at the time that the medications had shown promise with more recently brain-damaged patients.

There have been a few other widely publicized examples of brain-damaged patients showing sudden improvement after a number of years, at least temporarily, but experts say they are rare.

Ahmed has said that since Herbert's story became public, families from around the world with loved ones in comas have called to inquire about the drug combination. Ahmed did not immediately return a call for comment Tuesday.

Until the weekend before his death, Herbert continued to interact and speak, but never to the extent of the initial burst, said Lombardo, a longtime friend of Herbert's. As recently as last week, he had been playing catch with his sons in the nursing home where he lived, the commissioner said.

"He was never as good as he was right after he woke up ... but he was pretty good right up to the end," Lombardo said.

Herbert's uncle, Simon Manka, said Herbert developed pneumonia over the weekend and did not improve with antibiotics. His wife and sons were with him when he died.

After reawakening last year, Herbert had been surprised to find he had been unresponsive for so long. His sons were 14, 13, 11 and 3 at the time of the accident.

"It was very very disturbing. He felt like he wasn't there for his children and he certainly was," Lombardo said."

ABC news: Luci Blackman

2006-02-18T21:21:00.000-08:00

"Feb. 17, 2006 — Lucie Blackman's story begins as an adventure — one that many young women would find glamorous and exciting.

A beautiful 21-year-old woman from England, Blackman traveled to Tokyo in May 2000 and found what she thought would be a fun job at the center of the city's night life. Three months later, Blackman's story ended tragically, in a grisly crime that exposed the dark underside of the exclusive clubs in Tokyo's Roppongi district.

Many of Japan's nightspots are in the business of triggering fantasies and stirring desires. Nestled among those bawdy temptations are more reserved and respectable places called hostess clubs. These clubs deal not in overt sex but in illusions of intimacy.

At some clubs, an evening's agenda may include a little karaoke and some friendly dancing. And that, we're told, is the end of it. Hostess clubs are a normal part of sophisticated social life in Japan. In Tokyo alone, there are about 11,000 of them.

"Japanese people work a lot. And at the end of the day, you know, they'd like to have a drink. They'd like to, you know, have a chat with some ladies. … So they just pay to always have their drink looked after and always have their cigarette lit and, you know, a lovely lady by their side to talk to," explained Petrea, a former hostess at Club Outline.

A smart, lively blonde, Blackman found work as a hostess in one of these clubs.

A club provides a certain amount of security and protection to their hostesses through a female manager known as a "Mama-san," who watches over the hostesses like a taskmaster and a den mother.

"If we have any problems, it all goes through Mama, all of it. She's here every night. She is — I don't know, she's like the manager, but she's Mama. She's like the owner, but she's Mama," Petrea said.

'It Could Have Been Any of Us'

The young hostesses are made to feel protected from any inappropriate behavior they may encounter among clients. But in July 2000, that sense of security was shattered when Blackman disappeared from her job at Casablanca.

"It's so bizarre. The scary thing is that it could have been any of us," said Michelle Joyce, a former hostess.

Dai Davies, a private investigator and former Scotland Yard official, was hired by Blackman's family to find out what had happened to her. When Davies took a closer look at hostess clubs and the women who worked in them, he discovered a dark underside to Tokyo's glitz and neon that many young people find so attractive.

"There's a huge naivete. They're 21 years of age. They arrive here because it's glamorous. They think they're going to be, I don't know, bar stewardesses, bar maids. And I think very quickly they get sucked into an environment where it's high life. It's fun. You get smart men chatting you up. You get alcohol given to you," he said.

Joyce emphasized, however, that there was a strict protocol for the hostesses.

"Although we're supposed to appear available for these men, we would actually get fired if we slept with one of them. It's weird. It's kind of this fuzzy line between reality and fiction, and there's alcohol flowing. And it's just a very surreal environment," she said.

Sexual liaisons with customers are forbidden because, despite the come-ons, the clubs don't make money selling sex. They make money selling alcohol. The hostesses are just the hook.

"The whole structure's designed to get men in there, to take their money off them, to sell them as much alcohol, to get them to return. I've heard of people spending 2,000, 3,000 pounds a night. You pay a large sum of money just for the initial entry, where you are then presented with girls who actually sit there and — and ply the men with drink. They chat, they smile, and they talk. They titillate their fancies, as it were," Davies said.

While the flirtation is supposed to be innocent, some say hostess jobs can take a toll.

"There's something that eats away at you. I don't know quite what it is. It's easy. You know, you talk, sort of like conversation prostitution. You know? Something about that bothers me," Petrea said.

A False Sense of Security?

Hostessing looks like an easy and lucrative job. Some hostesses make as much as $5,000 a month. Ads say the job requires conversational skills, and that seemed perfect for Blackman and her friend Louise Phillips, both former British Airways flight attendants.

For Blackman, hostessing provided a foreign adventure with her feet on the ground. But after awhile on the job, she had doubts and expressed them in e-mails to a friend in England.

"Reading them, you'd get really a bit concerned because she says you have to really kind of suck up to them. Be really, like, caring and false, I suppose, about these guys that you meet just to make your money," Blackman's friend Samantha said.

Blackman downplayed the job's worrisome aspects to her parents, Tim and Jane. They are divorced, and they had different opinions about her working in Japan.

"It just seemed to me, for a 21-year-old, a fairly reasonable thing to go to any foreign country. And you have to realize that being the oldest child, since the breakup of my marriage to her mother, I think she's had a really difficult time. This trip had been built up in her mind as a way of establishing her own way and her own identity," her father said.

Her mother wasn't so sure, though. "It's just such a long way away from home. It's such a long way. I'm not psychic or anything, but I have motherly instincts, and I just had this really bad feeling about her going to Japan," Jane said.

Sadly, her instincts were right.

Japan is known to have a crime rate well below industrialized countries in the West, and there is a sense in Japan of order and safety absent in more freewheeling cultures.

But that may create a false sense of security for young women learning their way around the Roppongi district.

"A lot of women are from countries where the crime rate is a lot higher. And we're told that Japan is so safe, and there is a real feeling of security," Joyce said.

Melissa Williams, who worked with Blackman, said many young women had great experiences in Japan.

"You don't really know what Japan is like until you go out there," Williams said. "And if you can go out with the right head on your shoulders, and you know you can cope with it all, then you're going to have a fantastic time. And you are going to make money, and you're going to enjoy it."

And at first, Lucie Blackman was doing just that. Her co-workers liked her immediately.

"She was very bubbly. And she was always smiling and joking. She had a very good sense of humor. She knew very witty one-liners. And she was … just a happy-go-lucky girl," Williams said.

On a July afternoon, Blackman left her apartment wearing a simple black dress and black sandals. She told Louise, her roommate, that she was going to meet a man who had promised to buy her a cell phone. Louise assumed he was a customer from the club. About 7 p.m., Blackman telephoned to say she'd be back in about an hour. That was the last time Phillips ever heard from her friend.

Blackman disappeared in one of the most crowded cities in the world. After a panicked weekend, her roommate made a difficult phone call to Blackman's mother in England.

"I had just parceled up some sweets for her and a handbag and some shoes. And I was just literally going out the door to the post office, and the phone rang, and it was Louise," said Jane Blackman. "And she was sort of crying and saying, 'Lucie's gone missing, and she hasn't come back. Oh, my God. Oh, my God.' And then I just felt my knees sort of buckle. And I just said, 'Louise, I'm going to have to go because I'm going to be sick.' And I was physically, physically sick."
Family Pushes Investigation Forward

Jane called her younger daughter, Sophie, to tell her the news. Sophie then told her father.

Tokyo seemed a vast and mysterious place thousands of miles from home. And to a family unfamiliar with the culture, the response from the Japanese police seemed strangely secretive and maddeningly slow.

"To be fair to them, 21-year-old girl goes missing for two nights. Big deal. … But the fact is, it's Lucie. … There's just no way she would have disappeared for two days and not contacted anyone," Sophie said.

The days grew into weeks. Blackman's sister and father went to Tokyo to raise as much fuss as possible. They courted the press and badgered people in high places. They put posters up all over the city.

Their efforts paid off. They even generated enough publicity to nudge British Prime Minister Tony Blair to get involved.

The family also had its investigator, Davies, on the case, and he was learning a great deal about Blackman and the Casablanca Club.

Security procedures at the club, which has since gone out of business, were notably lax compared with other clubs, Davies said. And its owners refused to cooperate with the Blackmans or the investigator.

But a hostess who worked at Casablanca gave Davies the description of a man seen at the club just days before Lucie had disappeared.

Other witnesses placed Lucie at the seaside, about 30 miles outside Tokyo, with a man who fit the same basic description. Queries there, however, brought no immediate answers. But, in fact, the trail was getting much warmer than anyone realized at the time.

Investigators would soon discover that Lucie Blackman was not the first young, blond and attractive woman to disappear.

A 27-year-old, blond ,Canadian woman named Tiffany Fordham had also worked as a hostess in the Roppongi and also had disappeared.

Unavailability May Make Hostesses More Enticing to Clients

While hostesses like Blackman and Fordham play by strict rules, they play in an environment where all sorts of sexual fantasies are easily available. It's the unavailability of the hostesses that can make the game exciting for some clients.

"My roommate was offered, what was it, $100,000 for first-time sex, and then $10,000 for each encounter after that. One of the things that I thought about a lot is, you know, 'Does everybody have a price? Do I have a price?'" former hostess Michelle Joyce said.

The mistake Blackman most likely made on the afternoon she disappeared was to accept a date and a ride with a club customer. From the time she disappeared, her father had his own profile of a likely suspect.

"Lucie will have had a customer in the club who she felt was a real guy and a proper bloke. He would have been older than her. He would have been well-dressed, obviously wealthy, reasonably good-looking, and would have a really smart car and Armani clothes," Tim Blackman said. "And if he said to her, 'Look, Lucie, you know, it's a bit dull in this club. Why don't you come out with me on Saturday or something?' And then she would have given that very serious consideration."

It turns out the hostess clubs encourage such dates with customers called "dohans." Some clubs even require them. Where Lucie worked, there was a quota.

Blackman generated her share of dohans. They are specifically not intimate encounters but lavish dinner dates that always end by bringing the customer back to the club, generating more business.

In a nighttime world where teasing and sexual banter are part of the atmosphere, there are bound to be some customers driven to take things too far.

There were dozens of disturbing theories surfacing about Blackman's disappearance, including rumors that a devious underground group might have been holding her as a sex slave.

A Break in the Case

The unexpected break in the case came not in Tokyo's seedy netherworld, but in a plush and quiet area by the sea. While investigating a different case, Japanese police arrested a real estate millionaire named Joji Obara. He owns apartments and offices in downtown Tokyo and a seaside condominium.

"He was arrested on charges of sexually assaulting a Western woman. There was no direct connection then to the Blackman case, and this is quite a common Japanese police tactic. You have the big crime in your mind. You don't have enough evidence. So you arrest somebody for a smaller crime that allows you to get them into the cell," said Jonathan Watts, a reporter for Britain's Guardian newspaper.

Obara is a naturalized Japanese citizen of Korean descent. He studied law and politics at one of Japan's most prestigious universities, and managed his family's real estate fortune. He developed a taste for the bachelor's high life, expensive boats, new Ferraris and, apparently, Western women. He was a regular on the hostess club scene, where he used several different names.

The initial arrest of Obara was only the beginning. Since then, he has been charged in five additional rape cases. As both Western and Japanese women came forward, a pattern emerged.

Obara would allegedly slip a drug into the women's drinks and then sexually assault them while they were unconscious.

"He [videotaped] at least 50 of these occasions. The women recall waking up the next day and being told by Joji Obara, 'You drank much too much last night. I put you to bed. I hope you don't mind. Here's some money 'cause you've missed a whole day's work,'" Watts said.

Obara said the sex with his escorts was always consensual. But after police searched his homes and dug up his gardens, there were leaks about evidence that linked him to Blackman. Sources say telephone records show Blackman made a call from one of his mobile phones.

Police also found blond hairs and DNA evidence that pointed to Blackman.

Neither Obara nor his attorney would talk to "20/20" directly. But in a statement released to the Japanese press, the attorney said Obara was a victim of "trumped-up charges resulting from international hysteria over the disappearance of Lucie Blackman."

Eight months after Blackman disappeared, resolution came in the most final and brutal way imaginable. Her nude and dismembered body was found partially encased in cement in a cave along the Japanese coastline, about 270 yards from Obara's seaside condominium.

Police leaks to the media theorized that Blackman had died from an overdose of drugs administered by Obara and that he had panicked and hastily disposed of the body.

It's too traumatic for Blackman's mom to try to piece together her daughter's final moments.

"The thought that somebody as evil as that being the last person that was with my daughter, you know, it just does my head in, and I can't bear it. And that's what I have to think that she just went to sleep like Sleeping Beauty," Jane Blackman said.

Obara's trial continues and may last months longer. He denies the charges against him.

As a mourning father, Tim Blackman seems to have the stamina to see the process through to its end, wherever it leads. "It's a really long drawn-out way of proceeding. … But it's really, really important to us that Lucie's death is dealt with, and that justice is done."
"

CNN: Immigrant's final hours

2006-02-09T12:24:00.000-08:00

"HOUSTON, Texas (AP) -- After traveling from Mexico and Central America, many of the immigrants thought the last leg of their journey to the United States would be in the comfort and safety of a big rig.

Instead, smugglers crammed them like cattle into an airtight trailer, with no water.

As the temperature inside soared to 173 degrees, the immigrants screamed and clawed at the walls, leaving bloody fingerprints. When it was over, police found the bodies of the 19 victims piled on top of each other.

On Wednesday, three people were convicted of conspiracy and harboring and transporting illegal immigrants in the nation's deadliest human smuggling attempt.

The defendants, all U.S. citizens from South Texas, could get up to 20 years in prison when sentenced May 1 on the conspiracy charge. The other counts carry punishment ranges of 10 to 20 years.

Prosecutors said Victor Sanchez Rodriguez, 58, his wife, Emma Sapata Rodriguez, 59, and her half-sister, Rosa Sarrata Gonzalez, hid the immigrants in their home and moved them to other houses before they were loaded into a stifling tractor-trailer for transport from South Texas to Houston in 2003.

"It's time to send a message to these three that their days of making money on the pain, desperation of others has come to an end," federal prosecutor Daniel Rodriguez told the jury.

The trio could have faced life in prison if the jury had held the defendants responsible for the immigrants' deaths, but jurors told the judge they did not feel that way.

More than 70 illegal immigrants in all were packed into the tractor-trailer. As they traveled, they began to succumb to the rising heat inside the trailer. Seventeen were dead by the time the trailer was discovered, and two died later. They all died from dehydration, overheating and suffocation.

Survivors testified that the immigrants took off their sweat-drenched clothes for relief and crowded around holes they punched in the truck so they could breathe. They also kicked out a signal light to try to get the attention of passing motorists.

They were found after the driver abandoned the trailer at a truck stop in Victoria, about 100 miles southwest of Houston.

At trial, prosecutors presented evidence showing the immigrants' families wired money to the defendants in amounts ranging from $500 to $2,000.

Defense attorneys argued that their clients were bit players in a scheme orchestrated by other members of the smuggling ring. In all, 14 people were indicted in the case.

Two, including a son of Sanchez and Sapata, were convicted of various smuggling charges. Charges against two were dismissed, five others pleaded guilty, and one man remains a fugitive.

The truck's driver, Tyrone Williams, was convicted in March of transporting illegal immigrants. Prosecutors want to retry him on other counts that could bring the death penalty."

Awful.

CNN: Teen convicted of Donaldson ranch killings

2006-02-07T21:03:00.000-08:00

"ALAMOGORDO, New Mexico (AP) -- Jurors convicted a 16-year-old boy Tuesday of killing his family and hiding their bodies in a manure pile on newsman Sam Donaldson's ranch in southern New Mexico.

Cody Posey was found guilty of murder in the deaths of his stepmother and stepsister and voluntary manslaughter in the death of his father, who worked as Donaldson's ranch foreman.

Posey hung his head and wept as the verdicts were read, and defense attorney Gary Mitchell offered consolation by putting an arm on the teen's shoulder.

"I just held him like I would my own son," Mitchell said.

The jury, which heard three weeks of testimony, began deliberating on Monday.

Posey was arrested a few days after the bodies of his father and stepmother, Paul and Tryone Posey, and his 13-year-old stepsister, Mary Lee Schmid, were found on Donaldson's Chavez Canyon Ranch in July 2004.

Prosecutor Janice Schryer claimed that Posey's parents were loving, but said the youth didn't like ranch life and "took the opportunity to relieve himself of those expectations and that life."

Mitchell argued that the teen, who was 14 at the time of the slayings, was abused by his parents.

He described years of physical and psychological abuse and said the flashpoint to the murders came when Paul Posey burned the boy with a metal welding rod after the teen refused to have sex with his stepmother the night before the slayings.

On a videotape shown to the jury, Posey tearfully said he shot his stepmother first so she wouldn't call 911, then killed his father, then Mary Lee so she wouldn't tell on him.

Donaldson was the trial's first witness, taking the stand Jan. 17 to describe finding a bloody scene upon returning from a trip.

Posey could face life in prison on the first-degree murder charge in the death of his stepsister. State District Judge Waylon Counts said a sentencing hearing would be scheduled within 30 days.

Verlin Posey, brother of Paul Posey, told reporters outside the courthouse he was pleased with the verdict but disappointed the teen wasn't convicted of first-degree murder in his brother's death.

"I didn't like it, but I can live with it," he said.

Ellen Brust, whose son was married to Cody's biological mother, spent two weeks attending the trial. She offered her support for the boy.

"I know we'll be back and Cody will be vindicated," Brust said."

CNN: Dead children lay side by side

2006-01-29T16:15:00.000-08:00

DE QUEEN, Arkansas (AP) -- A mother accused of smothering her three young children left notes that officials say could help determine what led to the killings, and her priest said Sunday that she had expressed "tremendous remorse."

Paula Eleazar Mendez, 43, was in a county jail Sunday after being treated at a hospital for swallowing a toxic substance.

She had collapsed as officers arrived at her home Saturday morning in response to a telephone call from the children's father in New York. Inside the home, the officers found the bodies of the children, ages 6 to 8, lying side by side on a bed, said Chris Brackett, an investigator with the Sevier County Sheriff's Office.

"I do not believe there is any dispute as to who killed these three children, and therefore who will be charged," prosecutor Tom Cooper said. "However, we have not determined at this time the particular homicide charge or punishment we will be seeking."

The notes found in the house may help officials better understand what led to the killings, De Queen Police Chief Richard McKinley said, though he declined to disclose their contents.

A family priest who visited Mendez in a hospital Saturday night described a woman experiencing profound sorrow.

"She has tremendous remorse. She is deeply sorry," the Rev. Salvador Marquez-Munoz said Sunday before entering St. Barbara Catholic Church for Mass. "She asked for our prayers and forgiveness because she is realizing how much she has hurt the community, as well."

He identified the children as 8-year-old Elvis and 6-year-old twins, Samanta and her brother Samuel.

Autopsies were planned to determine whether the children had been poisoned or smothered, as their mother told police, Cooper said. The children's faces were not covered when police found them.

Cooper said an emergency room doctor told him Mendez had not ingested enough of the toxic substance to kill herself. Her arraignment is expected Monday, McKinley said.

In the house's yard Sunday was a seven-foot pile of burned papers. A page in a religion book bore the words "vamos a celebrar" -- Spanish for "let's celebrate." A child's handwriting was scrawled in blue ink across some papers, and there were charred letters from a labor union in New York City.

The priest said Mendez, who moved to the United States from Mexico 10 years ago, had lived in New York until last summer, when she moved with her children to De Queen because wanted them to live in a safer environment.

He described her as a quiet, devout woman concerned about her children's welfare. She was not working, and her husband was supporting the family with a job in New York, he said. She and the children never missed Sunday services and attended religious education classes.

Mendez seemed "very loving," said M. Rocio Maya, 29, who attended the Mass and said that she had known Mendez for a few months. Maya said that she never saw Mendez strike her children and that she drove them to school, rather than allow them to ride a bus.

The children's father, Arturo Morales, 37, had planned to buy a house in De Queen with Mendez and move there for good, said Maya's husband, Juan Mosqueda.

Morales was to arrive in De Queen before a funeral was to be set.

ABCnews: Mother and daughter killed in bed

2006-01-25T17:47:00.000-08:00

"Jan. 25, 2006 — Police have made contact with the man whose wife and daughter were found dead in the master bedroom of their Hopkinton, Mass., home on Sunday.

When the bodies of Rachel Entwistle, 27, and her 9-month-old baby, Lillian, were found nestled in Rachel's bed, police originally thought they might be victims of carbon monoxide poisoning. It was not until medical examiners discovered bullet wounds in the mother and daughter that police suspected foul play.

The deaths have been ruled homicides.

Authorities have made contact with Neil Entwistle, Rachel's husband and Lillian's father, according to Middlesex District Attorney Martha Coakley. Coakley said Entwistle was out of the country, but would not say whether he was in England, where he lived previously. His BMW was found in the United States. He remains a person of interest but has not been arrested.

Rachel Entwistle was last heard from on Thursday, when she spoke with a relative. The Entwistles had scheduled a dinner party on Saturday, but after no one answered the door for the party, relatives called police on Sunday.

The deaths have rocked the small Massachusetts town, where the last murder took place in 1995.

"There is no reason to believe the residents of the neighborhood or community should be in fear of a repetition of this," Hopkinton police Chief Thomas Irvin said. "There was no forced entry."

The Entwistles had moved into the neighborhood 11 days ago from southeastern Massachusetts, where they'd lived with relatives.

Rachel Entwistle had a background in teaching; Neil had worked in information technology. Neither one was employed as of last week.

Neil Entwistle is from England, according to the family's Web site. Photos on the site depict a happy family — Rachel and Neil on a Christmas cruise through the Mediterranean in 2004, the couple's invitation to their 2003 wedding, and photos of baby Lillian from baptism to her first Christmas.

A message on the home page is signed, "love, the happy family."

Since Sunday, the couple's online guest book has filled with messages of sympathy, anger and accusations from friends, Rachel's former students in England, and strangers.

One anonymous poster simply wrote: "WHY?" "

CNN: Crash kills 7 children in Florida

2006-01-25T17:42:00.000-08:00

"CNN) -- Seven members of a family died Wednesday when a tractor-trailer rear-ended their car in northeast Florida, slamming it into a school bus that had stopped to let off children, an official said.

All the occupants of the Pontiac car were children ages 21 months to 15 years, said Lt. Mike Burroughs of the Florida Highway Patrol. It burst into flames upon impact, killing all its occupants, he said.

The seven children were related, he said, adding that it was not clear which of them was at the wheel at the time of the wreck. In Florida, it is illegal for a 15-year-old to drive without a licensed adult in the car.

Three of nine children on the school bus were seriously injured and were taken by helicopter to hospitals. None of the students' injuries was life-threatening,
said Lt. Bill Leeper of the Florida Highway Patrol.

A spokeswoman for Shands hospital in Gainesville said eight patients were transported. Two were in critical condition; three in serious condition, said Betsy Miller. The youths ranged in age from 5 to 16, she said.

The incident happened four miles south of Lake Butler in Union County, some 20 miles north of Gainesville, shortly after 3 p.m.

All the vehicles were headed north at the time of the wrecks, Leeper said, adding, "For some reason, the driver failed to stop."

The driver of the semi was hospitalized with injuries that were not life-threatening, Leeper said.

The accident happened in good weather along a straight stretch of road that has a posted speed limit of 60 mph.

"There doesn't seem to be any reason why the semi could not observe the two vehicles stopped," Leeper said. "For some reason -- we're still trying to determine why -- he did not stop."

"It's a very chaotic scene," Burroughs said. "We're having trouble removing the family members from the car because of the way the car is lodged in and tied in with the metal pieces of the tractor-trailer."

"It is a mangled, fiery crash," he said, adding that "it was a very sad moment" when victims' family members visited the scene.

The bus was carrying students home from Lake Butler Elementary School and Lake Butler Middle School.

The National Transportation Safety Board said a team of investigators was to arrive Wednesday night at the crash site.

A nearby resident complained about the truck traffic on the two-lane road.

"The semis drive way too fast," said Effie White."

CNN: Mom realizes she helped her child's killer go free

2006-01-17T22:43:00.000-08:00

"SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (CNN) -- -- Jennifer Watts is reliving a parent's worst nightmare - the death of her child. But in her quiet, emotional, yet articulate way, she is revealing the true, lingering horror of her story - how she may have helped her son's killer elude justice forever.

"It's all real, everything that I imagined is true, and everything that I've lived with all these years is true," she said in her home last week.

"It's hard to look back on everything and realize that I defended the man that killed my son." (Watch what she knew and when -- 7:16)

For even though the murderer walked into a police station and confessed to police officers, the justice system cannot touch him. The taped confession of what happened nearly 15 years ago is chilling. When Jennifer Watts came home from church to a quiet house, she simply assumed that her young son Paul was asleep.

He had been fine that Sunday morning in February 1991, and Jennifer's live-in boyfriend Michael Lane had stayed home to watch the 20-month-old.

But within hours the nightmare began for Watts, then a single mom of 20, the nightmare that has been made worse again and again over the last 15 years.

For Paul, who was known as P.J., was not dreaming in his crib, but lying there dead - murdered, with multiple head injuries.

Watts and her boyfriend, Lane, had lived together for 2-months. He was charged with murder and tried. But at that time neither Watts nor the jury - perhaps swayed by Watts - believed Lane guilty and he was acquitted.

Watts stayed with Lane for four more years until one day when she saw his extremely violent side and suddenly realized he had beaten her son to death.

"He kicked the dog, and the dog's leg was broken, I mean bad broken, and at that moment, when I saw that, that I looked at him and I said 'That's what happened, wasn't it, that day -- you lost your temper, P.J. was crying and you lost your temper right?' "

Lane insisted he was innocent for another decade and when he finally confessed to Salt Lake City police a few months ago, there was nothing the justice system could do. He had been tried and acquitted and under the "double jeopardy" provision of the U.S. Constitution could not be tried again.

So, not only did Watts find her baby murdered, not only did she stand by the man she later found out killed him, but now she also has to live knowing that he will never pay for his crime.

"He stole a part of me I'll never get back. I'm a different person now ... angry ... it's not fair," she told me through tears at an interview.

She says she is upset and embarrassed that she could not see what others thought so obvious -- that Michael Lane, at home alone with the little blond boy who had just been learning to walk and talk, was the man who had to have killed her son.

There is also the gut-wrenching guilt that her loyalty, her belief that someone else or maybe even an accident was to blame for P.J.'s death, helped to persuade the jury that any doubts about Lane's guilt were reasonable. Prosecutor James Cope said he thought that some of the jurors might have said that if the boy's mother was not convinced, how could they be?

Watts has moved from Utah now, but says she finds it difficult to move on with her life, thinking every day of P.J. and how he would be 17 now. And she thinks of how Michael Lane can admit -- in graphic detail -- how he killed the child by repeatedly hurling the child onto the floor in an attempt to stop him from crying, and yet not be punished.

"There was a little life there and it needs to mean something, and it needs to mean something to everybody," Watts said.

"Nobody's been held accountable for it and that's not right."

Michael Lane refused CNN's request for an interview."

This is just awful.