CA- Boy was killed to hide sex crime, affidavit says

11-5-2009 California:

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — A 14-year-old with a baby face told investigators he drowned his 4-year-old neighbor in a bathtub, then hid the body in a dryer, because the child was going to reveal the teen molested him, according to an affidavit released when he appeared in court Wednesday.

Raul Renato Castro, dressed in a purple T-shirt issued at the juvenile jail, appeared emotionless while staring at his hands in Fresno County Superior Court.

He was guarded by five bailiffs and two officers outfitted in paramilitary gear.

“He won’t cry, he won’t cry, he won’t,” said a woman who identified herself as his aunt but refused to give her name because she said the family had received death threats. Police could not confirm there had been threats.

Police said searchers found Alex Mercado on Saturday stuffed in the clothes dryer in the small farm town of Mendota.

The affidavit said Castro, a student at Mendota Junior High School, initially told police he knew nothing of the boy’s disappearance. When investigators said the boy had been found in the dryer, the teen suggested someone had broken into the house and put him there.

Castro eventually told police he had enticed the dimpled, brown-eyed boy into his house across the street and sodomized him, the affidavit states. He said he killed Mercado after the child fell and hit his head, started crying, then threatened to tell his mother, the document states.

“Castro said he panicked and decided to kill the victim by drowning him in the bathtub,” the affidavit says.

The teen, who is 5-feet tall and weighs 170 pounds, put Mercado’s body over his shoulder and carried him to the dryer, hoping everything “would go away,” the affidavit states.

Castro had been scheduled for arraignment as an adult on charges of first-degree murder, sodomy, child molestation, kidnapping and murder to silence a witness.

The arraignment was rescheduled for Tuesday after his acting public defender, Kathy Marousek, said she had not seen the paperwork.

“He told me he was scared,” said Marousek, who spoke with the teen as he sat in the jury box. “He could be in shock.”

Marousek said after the hearing that she doubted the teenager understood the Miranda Rights read to him by investigators, which could put his confession in doubt.

Earlier the teen had nodded without expression when Judge Jon Kapetan asked him if he understood the proceedings. Bail was set at $2.1 million.

California law says suspects 14 and older can be charged and tried as adults. About 20 percent of murders in the state are committed by people between the ages of 11 and 17.

Castro, who turned 14 on July 29, cannot face the death penalty but could be sentenced to as long as 47 years-to-life if convicted. ..Source.. by New Haven Register

UK- 'Help me...I'm burning': Harrowing 999 call of girl, 13, killed in blaze started by her father

10-20-2009 United Kingdom:

Relatives wept today as they listened to a harrowing 999 call made by a terrified schoolgirl moments before she died with six other family members in a house fire started by her father.

Caroline McGovern, 13, screamed 'Help me' and 'I'm burning ... run' as she gasped for breath in her burning home, a coroner's court heard.

Her heavy-drinking depressive father, 36-year-old Arthur McElhill, a convicted sex offender, killed himself, his partner Lorraine McGovern, 29, and their five children when he doused their house with petrol and torched it in November 2007.

The farm labourer, who had a history of suicide attempts and was twice found guilty of sex attacks on teenage girls, is believed to have started the blaze after Ms McGovern threatened to leave him.

When fire crews found the badly burned bodies of all seven in the house in Omagh, Co Tyrone, Caroline, the eldest child, still had a phone in one hand and her Rosary beads in the other.

Relatives from both extended families wept and shielded their ears as her desperate cries for help echoed round Omagh Court House on the opening day of the inquest hearing.

As well as the teenager's frantic pleas, muffled screams of help could also be heard in the distance from other family members on the recording.

Caroline then spluttered the partially coherent: 'He's k... us'.

Phonetics expert Professor Peter French had been asked by police to decipher the missing syllables after the sound 'k' but he told coroner Suzanne Anderson he had been unable to do so.

The call to the emergency services lasted around six minutes, but Caroline only spoke to the operator for the first 45 seconds.

The remainder was periodically marked by distant screams and cries, with the operator repeatedly trying to re-establish contact by shouting 'hello' and 'are you in Lammy Crescent?'.

As the call drew to an end a series of gasping noises were clearly audible - these are believed to be Caroline's last breaths.

Her siblings Sean, seven, four-year-old Bellina, one-year-old Clodagh and 10-month-old baby James also died in the blaze.

State pathologist Dr Jack Crane and his assistant Dr Alistair Bentley earlier told the court all seven family members had been alive when the fire started and had died from either carbon monoxide poisoning or smoke inhalation.

Arthur McElhill was not under the influence of alcohol at the time, Dr Bentley added.

At the start of the public hearing, the coroner said she expected the McElhill family to make a legal challenge which may prevent evidence from some witnesses being heard today.

'We will be able to proceed with a certain number of non-contentious witnesses,' she said. ..Source.. by Daily Mail Reporter

MI- Background on Scott Woodring

7-8-2003 Michigan:
Scott Alan Woodring, the man who kept police at bay in Fremont, is 40 years old. He is perhaps best known to many in the Fremont area for his stringent anti-government views.

Woodring's family describe him as a "non-violent" member of the Michigan militia and said that he does not trust the government. His family says he prepared heavily for Y2K and has stock piles of food and supplies in the house.

Reports indicate his only income was from a paper route. In 1996 he ran for Dayton Township Supervisor on an anti-government campaign. His family says he is religious and would spend hours studying the bible. His past criminal record includes receiving several tickets for not registering his car.

Late Sunday night authorities tried to serve an arrest warrant for soliciting sex from a minor.

His father was quoted as saying he didn't think his son would come out alive.

State police had said all along they wanted to end the standoff peacefully but were unaware of what Woodring had inside his home as far as weapons or explosives. Police had been engaging in so-called "scare tactics" such as using armored personnel carriers to circle the house, as well as detonation devices to keep their suspect on edge. Helicopters hovered day and night for surveillance and intimidation. Police never ruled out the use of force.

Woodring's family had wanted to negotiate directly with him. They said that's the only way to prevent further bloodshed. ..more.. by WOOD TV


Medical Examiner: Woodring shot as many as four times
7-14-2003 Michigan:

New information on the autopsy of Scott Woodring shows he was shot as many as four times. The alleged killer of a Michigan State trooper was shot and killed by police Sunday morning.

According to the Kent County Medical Examiner, the autopsy reveals that Scott Woodring died within seconds after being shot.

Woodring was hit as many as four times, in Dr. Stephen Kohl's early estimate. Twice by a shotgun and once or twice with a rifle. The shot-gun blasts were fatal. One hitting Woodring in the head, the other in the throat. Dr. Cohle says Woodring does have a wound on his arm that is consistent with police reports that say he was turning and raising his rifle towards the officers.

Other information revealed in the autopsy shows that Woodring had apparently been eating. He wasn't emaciated, but there was no food in his stomach at the time of his death.

Monday police revealed more information about the week long search for Woodring. They believe he left the house around 8:30 p.m. on Monday, July 7th. They know that because an officer saw him, but no immediate action was taken.

"At that time we had the original team, that included Kevin Marshall, and were in the process of withdrawing them and inserting a fresh team. And during that confusion is when the call was made that someone was out on the north side," said Inspector Barry Getzen with the Michigan State Police.

Police say Woodring was finally located in Brunswick Sunday morning after he spoke to someone who knew him. That person quickly called police.

Police are now focusing their attention on anyone that may have helped Woodring in his attempt to escape police. If you have any information, you're asked to call 1-800-991-8477. ..more.. by WOOD TV See Also: Target 8 Investigation uncovers new information about deadly standoff in Fremont



Police Shoot, Kill Michigan Fugitive
7-14-2003 Michigan

FREMONT, Mich. (AP) - A fugitive who slipped away from his home during a deadly police standoff early last week was shot and killed by police Sunday morning, officials said.

Scott Allen Woodring, 40, had been charged with killing Trooper Kevin Marshall during the 40-hour standoff. He had barricaded himself in his rural home July 6 as police attempted to serve a felony arrest warrant.

On Sunday, police received a tip that Woodring was in a vehicle behind a house, about four miles southwest of his Dayton Township home.

When officers arrived and ordered Woodring to remain inside the vehicle, he emerged with an assault rifle and turned toward them, state police inspector Barry Getzen said.

Police would not say how many times officers fired at Woodring, how many times he was hit or who owned the property where he was found.

Woodring was pronounced dead at the scene.

During the earlier standoff at Woodring's home, State Trooper Kevin Marshall was shot four times as he and other officers tried to storm the house July 7. Marshall, a 33-year-old married father of two, died in surgery later that day. Police don't believe Marshall was hit by another officer's fire, Getzen said.

Woodring escaped from the home sometime between July 7, when the team tried to stormed the house, and the afternoon of July 8, when fire swept through the home shortly after police shot a percussion device into the home in an attempt to stun Woodring.

Family members have said Woodring held strong anti-government and anti-authority views. ..more.. by AP

FL- Palatka pair found slain

7-28-2007 Florida:
A man and woman were found dead Friday in a mobile home outside Palatka in what authorities say appears to be a double homicide.

The Putnam County Sheriff’s Office identified the victims as 36-year-old Terrance Eugene McCloud and 30-year-old Carley Ann Collum. Investigators don’t yet know when they died or how they were killed.

Friday night, investigators believed it was not a murder-suicide, said Maj. Gary Bowling, a spokesman for the sheriff’s office.

Worried co-workers of Collum, who was employed at the PRC call center in Palatka, led to the grisly discovery shortly after noon.

During their lunch break, the co-workers went to Collum’s home in the Silver Lake Oaks Mobile Home Park and became concerned when they saw her car parked outside and got no response at the door.

The park’s manager then opened the mobile home and discovered McCloud’s body inside.

Collum also missed work on Thursday. That prompted a welfare check call to deputies, who went to the home and saw nothing unusual from the outside, Bowling said.

Investigators confirmed Collum was alive late Wednesday and early Thursday.

The mobile home is in Lot 43, next to a vacant lot where four cars were parked.

Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigators spent Friday afternoon taking photographs and collecting evidence. Yellow crime scene tape kept neighbors from getting close.

Family members of both McCloud and Collum were called by police to the area, but knew little more than investigators.

“I don’t know anything,” said Carmelia Mauesby, McCloud’s aunt. “It’s a total shock. There were no problems. He was always a happy person. He didn’t bother nobody at all.”

Mauesby was called by her daughter, who lives across the street from McCloud.

The last time she said she had spoken with him was last week, she said.

“Whatever happened, they need to get to the bottom of it, because he doesn’t bother anybody,” Mauesby said. “It’s just not good for the family at all.”

Mauesby said that McCloud’s grandmother, the woman who raised him, was seriously ill and may not live long. His grandmother last spoke with him on Wednesday, she said.

Family members said McCloud worked at Matthews Moving and Storage, where he had been employed for more than 10 years. He had lived at the Silver Lake Drive residence a couple of months, they said.

Collum is the second PRC employee slain this month.

On July 6, Stephen Richardson was found stabbed to death in his Palatka apartment. No arrests have been in his death and a $2,000 reward is being offered for information.

As of Friday night, authorities had no link between the two slayings, Bowling said.

The state Department of Corrections shows McCloud was convicted in 1997 of sexual battery without injury and lewd and lascivious conduct on a child younger than 16. He is listed as a sexual offender on the FDLE Web site. His offender status and his new address at Silver Lake Drive were updated Thursday, the site says.

There is no indication McCloud’s slaying was linked to his sex-offender record, Bowling said.

McCloud also was on probation for felony driving with a suspended license, according to the Department of Corrections. ..more.. by Larry Sullivan and Ron Bartlett



Leads sought as police probe double slaying
7-31-2007 Florida
Two people found dead in a local mobile home park last week were beaten to death, authorities say.

The bodies of Terrance Eugene McCloud and Karley Ann Collum were found discovered Friday morning off Silver Lake Road near Palatka.

Based on autopsies, medical examiners ruled McCloud, 36, and Collum, 30, died from blunt force trauma to the head, said Maj. Keith Riddick, chief of detectives and a spokesman for the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office.

Crime scene specialists worked through the weekend inside the trailer in Lot 43 at the Silver Lake Oaks Mobile Home Park

No arrests have been made, but investigators are following up on leads, Riddick said in an interview Monday.


Information from the public is welcome, Riddick added.

“If anyone heard anything or saw anything that would be helpful in solving these deaths, we’d love to have it,” he said.

Investigators have confirmed Collum was alive late Wednesday night, when she told a friend she was going out with McCloud.

A neighbor heard a woman scream from McCloud’s home about 5 a.m. Thursday, but Riddick said authorities were not called.

Investigators say McCloud may have known his attacker since there were no signs of forced entry of the home, Riddick said.



A friend and co-worker described Collum, a resident of Interlachen since November, as energetic and straight-forward.

“She was unique,” Heather Kaminsky said. “Just like the way she spelled her name.”

Kaminsky worked with Collum at the PRC call center in Palatka, where they met while attending a training class and quickly became close friends.

“She was like a sister,” Kaminsky said.

Kaminsky said she feared something was wrong when Collum didn’t show up for work Thursday and Friday without calling in. She and other co-workers convinced the mobile home park manager to open McCloud’s home on Friday. They were fearful because Collum’s car was parked outside the trailer but Collum didn’t answer her cell phone.

“It just wasn’t right,” Kaminsky said. “I knew something was wrong,”

McCloud was found in the kitchen and Collum, the mother of a 9-year-old boy, was dead in the hallway.

Collum’s son was with a babysitter Wednesday night. Riddick said the child has since been placed in the care of relatives in Texas.

Collum met McCloud about two weeks before they were killed, Kaminsky said.

“They were hanging out,” she said. “They weren’t dating.”



Family members said McCloud worked at Matthews Moving and Storage, where he had been employed for more than 10 years. He had lived at the Silver Lake Drive residence a couple of months, they said.

“He didn’t bother nobody or nothing,” his aunt, Carmelia Mauesby, said Monday.

“He was a loving person. Everybody enjoyed being with him.”

A report in Saturday’s paper that McCloud’s grandmother was gravely ill was incorrect, Mauesby also said.

Collum is the second PRC employee slain this month.

On July 6, Stephen Richardson was found stabbed to death in his Palatka apartment. No arrests have been in his death and a $2,000 reward is being offered for information.

There is no indication the slayings are related, Riddick said.

McCloud was convicted in 1997 of sexual battery without injury and lewd and lascivious conduct on a child younger than 16, according to the state Department of Corrections. His Silver Lake address was updated Thursday on the state’s sex-offender Web site.

Authorities also say there was no indication McCloud’s slaying was linked to his sex-offender record. ..more.. by Larry Sullivan

WA- Slain sex offender held job at women's shelter

3-25-2004 Washington:

He was a convicted rapist, a level three sex offender, and last week, he killed a single mother before he was fatally shot by police.

But despite his history of abusing women, Lawrence Owens, 43, had spent the past three months working through a temporary employment agency at the YWCA's Opportunity Place, a Belltown facility that includes among its services a 25-bed shelter for homeless women, some of them victims of domestic violence.

Because Owens was working through the Labor Ready employment agency, YWCA authorities did not know about his criminal background.

"As you can imagine, we were pretty angry when we learned of this," said Sherry Dawley, YWCA's director of community affairs. "Labor Ready got quite an earful when we contacted them."

The YWCA immediately ended its relationship with the agency, she said.

Stacey Burke, spokeswoman for the Tacoma-based company, said Labor Ready didn't know about Owens' background, either.

The agency conducts background checks of its employees only at clients' request, she said.

"It wasn't requested by the customer," she said, adding the company might have reconsidered where it placed Owens.

Owens' violent actions, Burke said, should not reflect upon the thousands of people Labor Ready employs.

"This situation is so unusual and so sad," she said.

Seattle police Capt. Neil Low, who supervises the sex offender unit, said employers aren't among the groups the department notifies when a sex offender registers in the area.

"We're not going to get these people fired from their jobs," he said. "We're not trying to punish them. We're trying to keep them from hurting more people."

Still, he said, he understands why the YWCA would be reluctant to have a level three sex offender working at a women's shelter.

"That's a bad mix," he said.

In 1997, Owens pleaded guilty to assault and unlawful possession of a firearm after his arrest for beating up a girlfriend in his Seattle apartment. He also held a gun to her head and threatened to kill her.

As part of the same case, Owens was convicted of assault with sexual motivation for beating and raping another woman.

He was sentenced to nine years in prison, but was released this past September. Upon release, he was required to register as a level three sex offender, the type considered most likely to reoffend.

On March 17, Seattle police shot Owens to death at the Miller Community Center on Capitol Hill.

Just moments earlier, Owens had killed 31-year-old Dori Cordova, shooting her three times with a shotgun he was not legally entitled to possess because he was a convicted felon.

Owens and Cordova were tenants at the Jensonia Hotel near downtown Seattle and were displaced by fire a week before the shooting. They were staying at the community center, where the Red Cross had set up a temporary shelter for the displaced tenants.

Investigators have said Owens apparently had found someplace else to stay and wanted Cordova to join him. When she would not, he killed her.

By coincidence, Cordova and her 10-year-old son were about to move into another YWCA facility, said Nicole Wagner, a family-support worker with Gatzert Elementary School who was helping mother and son. (Note: The facility where Cordova and her son were moving was misidentified in the original version of this article.)

"Lawrence knew she was going there," Wagner said. "She only went to the community center to gather personal belongings."

Owens had worked at the YWCA shelter since December, Dawley said.

Because the facility had only opened in November, the YWCA had not filled all the positions with permanent workers. They relied upon temporary employment agencies to fill the gaps.

Labor Ready supplied Owens as a custodian.

By most accounts, he was doing a good job, Dawley said.

"There are a number of staff members who were upset about his death," she said. "He had been a very good worker, had been a very pleasant worker. He went out of his way to be very helpful to people."

Still, she said, had the YWCA known about his status, he would not have worked there.

The agency requires criminal background checks on all employees and believed Labor Ready was following the same policy, Dawley said.

"We go to such great lengths to try to create a safe environment for everyone," she said.

Since learning about Owens' background, the YWCA has decided to require any temporary employment agency it uses to conduct background checks and to let the YWCA know what they find before they send workers to any YWCA facility.

Cordova's son is living with relatives in Kent. But his mother's sudden death has been hard on him.

Mother and son had struggled financially for some time and had received help through Seattle Public Schools' Family Support Worker Program.

The program provides vouchers, clothing and housing assistance.

Cordova's son still needs help with many of these things, Wagner said.

"This is a pivotal time for him," she said. "He's a super, super kid."

His mother's funeral is set for Sunday. ..more.. by HECTOR CASTRO

GA- Follow-Up on Echols County Shooting

A strange set of circumstances, but to understand how this is "sex offender related" readers will have to read both stories below:

5-28-2008 Georgia:

Ricky Brown was born and raised in Echols County and enjoys living here.

"A good place to live if you like quietness," Brown says. "That's why it was a shock to everybody."

The "shock" came Sunday night on Lisa Circle. At 10:30, the Echols County Sheriff's Office received a call complaining of loud noises and honking coming from a house owned by Chad Wiggins.

A deputy soon arrived and found Wiggins along with 35-year-old David Coody, Jr. arguing with 67-year-old Billy Corbett.

The Sheriff's Office says Corbett took out a concealed gun and shot Wiggins and Coody, killing them both.

Relatives say Corbett fired the shots because he felt his wife was being threatened.

Carlos Harrell, Corbett's brother-in-law, says, "Anybody out there would. They'd probably do the same."

The Sheriff's Office says that's not true. The deputy had the situation under control when the shots were fired.

Echols County Sheriff Randy Courson says, "The deputy done exactly from what I can tell as he should have."

After Corbett fired the shots, the deputy shot him and Corbett died from his wounds.

Friends and family of the three victims are still in shock.

Don Rea, a friend of Chad Wiggins, says, "This is ridiculous. Those two men who got shot were unarmed."

Cristina McGuire, Corbett's granddaughter says, "We're not coping too good. Grandpa was a big part of this community."

"It doesn't end here," Rea says, "a funeral doesn't end this."

The Georgia Bureau of Investigations is looking into the case as it does all officer-involved shootings.

Sheriff Courson says the deputy involved is on paid leave until the G-B-I completes its investigation. ..News Source.. by John Rogers



Investigation ongoing in Echols shootings
5-28-2008 Georgia:

ECHOLS COUNTY — A feud among neighbors that continued to intensify despite the efforts of Echols County law enforcement may have contributed to the deaths of three men Sunday night.

Echols County Sheriff Randy Courson said that it could be several weeks before the Georgia Bureau of Investigation releases any sort of official report on the domestic dispute gone wrong. He said that the process of conducting autopsies and toxicology tests can be a slow one. He does not know when all of the findings will be made available to his office.

“We just have to wait,” he said.

At 11:28 p.m. Sunday, an Echols County Sheriff’s Office deputy, whose name is being withheld until the GBI investigation has been completed, was sent to address a downed power line, Courson noted. A few minutes later, he received word of a complaint of loud music and shots fired in the 200 block of Lisa Circle. The deputy cleared the power line and then made his way to the neighborhood, which sits some 100 yards from the intersection of Lisa Circle and Tince Road. He arrived on the scene at 11:58 p.m., Courson said.

Despite rumors to the contrary, Courson said that was the only time the deputy had been dispatched to the neighborhood that particular evening.

On the scene, Courson said the deputy addressed the excessive noise issue with the men and women involved. While he was doing so, a verbal dispute occurred between at least one of the women and a next-door neighbor living at 207 Lisa Circle. That dispute soon turned physical, he added.

As the deputy addressed that situation, 67-year-old Billy Corbett of 207 Lisa Circle pulled a small caliber handgun and fatally wounded David Coody Jr., 35, of Lowndes County, and Chad Wiggins, 36, resident of the home with the alleged loud music. Corbett was then shot and killed by the deputy. He was not shot in the back or shot while lying on the ground, contrary to rumors, Courson said.

Earlier this year, Courson said the Corbett family allowed a convicted child molester to move into a single-wide mobile home on their property with their granddaughter. The Corbetts live in a double-wide mobile home on the same tract of land. Their neighbors did not approve of the registered sex offender living near their children and filed complaints with the Echols County Sheriff’s Office.

“I think the bad blood between them pretty much stemmed from that,” Courson shared. “They really didn’t have any problems before that happened — except a dispute a little while back over land and putting up a fence.”

“We tried to address the situation,” he continued. “We increased patrol in the area, but things simply escalated. I understand their concern as they have small children. We could not legally force the man to move to another neighborhood. From day one, he complied with all requirements. He has done everything he was supposed to do.”

Courson said he does not believe the man was on the property when the shootings occurred Sunday.

No charges have been filed at this time in the shooting deaths.

The deputy remains on administrative leave with pay until the investigation has been completed as protocol mandates, Courson said. ..News Source.. by The Moultrie Observer

PA- 4 shots, 2 deaths, no regrets

Very unusual circumstances. Sex offender meets woman, they begin a relationship, then, the woman's husband kills the woman and the sex offender. i.e., sexual circumstances.

9-17-2008 Pennsylvania:

Butler County jury hears man's account of killing his wife and her new lover

She told him she had found a new love and that their 24-year marriage was over.

She warned him that his medical insurance through her job as a convenience store manager would end when the diabetic ulcer on his foot healed.

She said she wanted to sell the family farm, a decision that would mean a new career for lifelong farmer James Raymond Borchert.

But the final thing out of Esther Borchert's mouth -- the thing that seemed to push her estranged husband over the edge -- was the laugh she shared with her boyfriend.

Mrs. Borchert, 42, and Lonnie Schwab Sr., 49, of Meadville, still were laughing when Mr. Borchert, now 51, grabbed his bolt-action rifle and fired two shots into Mr. Schwab as he stood in the kitchen of the Borcherts' Cherry Valley home. Then, as Mrs. Borchert fled out a door and onto a porch, he fired again. Twice.

"They were dead within seconds,'' said Mr. Borchert in an eerily matter-of-fact statement to police. "Honestly, I don't regret it."

That recorded statement, more than two hours in duration, was played yesterday in the Butler County courtroom of Judge William Shaffer on the second day of what is likely to be a three-day trial. Court conflicts called for a break in testimony today, with the trial set to resume tomorrow.

Mr. Borchert is represented by Butler attorney Alexander Lindsay. The case is being prosecuted by District Attorney Richard A. Goldinger and Assistant District Attorney Patricia J. McLean.

Mr. Borchert is charged with two counts of homicide. Though Mr. Goldinger will argue for a first-degree murder conviction, he changed course from his predecessor and announced several weeks ago that he will not seek the death penalty for the killings, which occurred Aug. 14, 2007.

On the first day of the trial, a jury of seven men and five women listened to a two-minute 911 tape of Mr. Borchert reporting that he had killed his wife and her boyfriend because he lost his temper. The recorded statement Mr. Borchert gave to police was played in court yesterday as the defendant sat beside his attorney, his hands folded, his demeanor calm.

"He was the closest to me. ... He tried to escape. I don't think he got a half a step. ... She made it out the door. She was at the top of the [porch] steps and [the shot] knocked her clear down." Afterward, he set the rifle atop a chest freezer on his porch, called 911, then fed his livestock while he waited for police.

Mr. Lindsay highlighted repeated statements from his client that he had not planned or premeditated the killings. The fact will play heavily in determining whether he is convicted of first-degree murder, which would mean a life sentence behind bars, or a lesser degree of homicide.

Mr. Schwab had been convicted in 1998 in Crawford County of indecent assault and was required to register as a sex offender. ..News Source.. by Karen Kane, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette