Desert Hot Springs man sentenced to life in prison in rape rumor case

8-15-2011 California:

A Desert Hot Springs man was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole Monday for gunning down a friend over what turned out to be a false rape rumor.

Concepcion Rodriguez, 35, was convicted April 28 of the 2006 killing of Anastacio “Taquito” Torres, with a special circumstance allegation of murder in the commission of a kidnapping.

Co-defendant Mingus Chavarria, 33, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced in May to 15 years to life in prison.

Several of the victim's family members were on hand for Rodriguez's sentencing at Larson Justice Center in Indio.

“On behalf of my family, I want to thank the court for bringing us justice,” said Ernest Torres Jr., the victim's brother. “And we pray to God he has mercy on Mr. Rodriguez. We pray he finds the Lord in prison.”

Riverside County Superior Court Judge Richard A. Erwood denied defense attorney Demitra Tolbert's new trial and acquittal motions, and a request that Rodriguez not be required to pay restitution to the victim's family.

Retired Officer's Alleged Killer Says Man Was Child Molester

Posted in Related Deaths

1-25-2006 Pennsylvania:

Testimony Revealed Thompson Believed Man Raped Family Member

PHILADELPHIA -- Startling new information was revealed in court Wednesday about the slaying of a retired Philadelphia police officer.

Detectives said that the accused killer, Galvinus Thompson (pictured, left), has confessed, claiming the man he killed was a child molester.

During an hour of testimony, a detective said that Kenneth Brokenborough was shot to death because Thompson believed he had raped a young member of Thompson's family seven years ago.

Police also said that Thompson, 24, confessed he went to Brokenborough's home on Friday Jan. 13 to confront him with the rape allegations, but Thompson lost his courage. The detective went on to say that Thompson returned three days later, on Monday Jan. 16, and confronted Brokenborough while he was exercising and fatally shot him.

"When you shoot somebody 11 times, you run out of bullets and two of those shots are to the back, you wanted to kill the person. It's not an accident," said Carlo Vega, the prosecutor.

The defense argued that Thompson did not intend to commit murder. They said that Thompson was angry over Brokenborough's denial of the accusation. In his confession, Thompson claimed Brokenborough said, "Get out of here. What are you talking about? I'm not going to jail."

"Voluntary manslaughter is intentional killing, which 10 shots clearly is, but it's motivated by a sudden rage or resentment or anger brought upon by the conduct or the actions of the deceased," said Jack McMahon, Thompson's attorney.

McMahon said that Thompson has expressed remorse and even led police to the gun he dumped in the Schuykill River in Manayunk.

"He's a heck of a kid. By all accounts, this is a fine young man. He's never been arrested before, ROTC, went to high school, did good," McMahon said.

However, the judge disagreed and said that Thompson did intend to kill the man his mother once dated.

"He came armed, fully loaded, and he emptied out that gun," Vega said. ..more.. by NBC10.com

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Man held in ex-officer's death

Authorities last night charged the son of a Philadelphia police officer with murder in the slaying of a retired officer who authorities say used to date his mother.

Galvinus E. Thompson, 23, of Philadelphia, allegedly fired several rounds from the .40-caliber handgun that killed Kenneth Brokenborough, 52, of the 100 block of Washington Lane, Monday as the former officer did his early-morning exercises, police said.

Police declined to elaborate on a motive for the shooting or say what led them to the suspect.

Capt. Benjamin Naish, a police spokesman, said last night that "something" in the past may have led to Monday's shooting, but he would not elaborate.

In recent years, Brokenborough had been dating Thompson's mother, Officer Dana Thompson, who was... ..Source..

Dad pleads guilty in beating death of suspected molester

Posted in Related Deaths

10-4-2006 Delaware:
.A man pleaded guilty Wednesday to criminally negligent homicide for beating to death [4-17-2006] a 77-year-old man he believed had molested his young daughter. Robert Fontanez Jr., 27, had faced the more serious charge of second-degree murder in the April death of Bismark Vasquez before agreeing to the plea. He faces up to five years in prison at sentencing, expected early next year.

According to police, Fontanez became enraged when his 5-year-old daughter told him that Vasquez had touched her inappropriately. He went to Vasquez's home and punched him so hard that the older man went through the back door, police said. Investigators said Fontanez continued to beat Vasquez as he lay bleeding on the concrete outside. Vasquez died in a hospital three days later.

Police detective Scott Chaffin said there was no physical evidence to support the molestation allegation, though he said the child's comments to police were consistent with what she had told her mother. In a similar case in Fairfield, Connecticut, a man was charged with stabbing to death a 58-year-old neighbor in August whom he had suspected of molesting his 2-year-old daughter. ..more.. by Associated Press

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9 Months for Killing Molestation Suspect
1-5-2007 Delaware:

WILMINGTON, Del. -- A man was sentenced to nine months in prison Friday for beating to death a 77-year-old man he believed had molested his 5-year-old daughter.

Robert Fontanez Jr. pleaded guilty last year to killing Bismark Vasquez. Police have said that although there was no physical evidence to support his daughter's allegations that Vasquez had fondled her, the account she gave police was consistent with what she had told her family.

In April, an infuriated Fontanez punched Vasquez so hard that Vasquez went through the back door of his home. Fontanez punched him several more times as he lay bleeding on the concrete outside, police said.

Fontanez, 27, of Elsmere, had been charged with second-degree murder but pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide.

Superior Judge Joseph Slights III sentenced Fontanez to far less than the maximum five years, telling him, "The circumstances surrounding this crime were taken into consideration by the state" and the court. ..more.. by The Associated Press

Vigilante justice: So, is it murder?

10-20-2006 Connecticut:

Jonathon Edington allegedly kills neighbor to avenge harm to daughter

Jonathon Edington, a 29-year-old patent attorney, allegedly snapped after his wife told him their next door neighbor had molested their 2-year-old daughter.

Edington’s wife and daughter were out of town when she broke the news to him over the telephone. After Edington hung up the phone, he allegedly went next door, climbed through a bedroom window, and stabbed 59-year-old Barry James to death while his elderly parents were in the house.

Police reportedly found Mr. Edington back in his home, talking on a phone, standing at the kitchen sink, washing blood off his hands, a bloody knife on the counter nearby.

When the story first broke a few months ago, the media seemed to have labeled this a case of “vigilante justice,” almost endorsing the defendant’s actions by seeming to cheer and applaud and say, “If someone did this to your kid, wouldn’t you kill him too?”

But from the very beginning, when this story broke, I countered this approach saying the taking of a life is homicide, no matter what the reason, except for legally justified homicides such as self-defense or defense of another.

Murder is not an option
It is never okay to kill, no matter what you think someone did to “deserve” it. But the law in Connecticut does recognize that sometimes a homicide is a manslaughter rather than a murder if the person acted under the influence of extreme emotional disturbance. This is also known as the “heat of passion” defense. It is most typical in cases where a spouse catches a spouse in the act of adultery, flies into a rage, and kills. In some instances, this would be manslaughter rather than murder.

In Edington’s case, a prosecutor could offer a plea to manslaughter rather than murder, or a jury could find Edington guilty of the lesser included offense: manslaughter rather than murder. While murder is punishable by life in prison without parole, manslaughter is a 20-year felony. But make no mistake: even if convicted of manslaughter under extreme emotional disturbance, Edington still faces 20 years in prison for taking Mr. James’ life.

The key to understanding the extreme emotional disturbance defense is in the statute itself. In order to say someone acted under extreme emotional disturbance, first you have to find a reasonable explanation or excuse for those actions. Second, those actions have to be reasonable from the viewpoint of a person in the defendant’s situation under circumstances as the defendant believed them to be.

If the jury thinks that killing a child molester is a reasonable excuse, then they also have to find that it was reasonable for Edington to believe James molested his daughter, whether he had or not. The question isn’t whether it happened, but rather was it reasonable for Edington to think that it did.

And this is where the going will get tough for Edington. Once the jurors learn that yes, Edington really thought James molested his daughter, but no, James never touched his daughter, jurors could stop siding with Edington. And here, Edington’s justification, or provocation, could morph into cold-blooded murder for no reason at all.

Rage destroys two families
What was going on in the Edington family that a remark from a 2-year-old to her mother sparked a phone call to her husband, that ignited a homicidal rage in Edington such that he allegedly snuffed out the life of an innocent man?

Two families have been destroyed. The elderly James family has lost their beloved son. Attorney Edington will likely end up with a lengthy prison sentence, Mrs. Edington has lost her husband and their daughter has lost her family, which is forever shattered.

The moral of the tale is that no matter what you think someone has done, do not take the law into your own hands. Call the police. Lodge a complaint. Let the justice system do its work to punish and protect.

And if you hear of someone avenging a loved one whom they think has been harmed, do not clap and cheer for the vigilante. Whether the vigilante turns out to be right or wrong, vigilante justice is always wrong. And in this case, there is a gentle victim who did not deserve the death sentence Edington allegedly bestowed on him.

Edington, a lawyer himself, was judge, juror and executioner. And an innocent man has allegedly died as a result. ..more.. by Susan Filan, Senior Legal Analyst

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Barry James exonerated in civil trial

11-13-2010 Connecticut:

The family of Barry James can now feel that his name has been cleared. A jury in Bridgeport Superior Court told Jonathan Edington that he must pay the James family $315,000 for having stabbed James several times, causing his death.

Four years ago, Jonathan Edington, believing that his neighbor had molested his two-year-old daughter, leapt through his neighbor’s window on Colony Street and fatally stabbed him a dozen times. Barry James’ 87-year-old mother looked on in horror.

After a seven-week investigation, Fairfield police cleared the murder victim, 59-year-old Barry James, of any molestation charges. Among other things, they said the disabled man could not have climbed into the two-year-old’s window and they found no handprints, fibers or other evidence. They also found no pornography or other materials in the James’ home that would have pointed to a child molester.

Edington, a former patent attorney, ultimately pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to 12 years in prison in 2007.

The family of the victim may not see the money that has been awarded, but a jury has cleared their son and brother’s name.

“It was a public vindication of Barry James’ name and a clear repudiation of the salacious comments by Edington that Barry James was ever involved,” said Richard Meehan, Jr, attorney for the James family, who spoke to the Minuteman by phone.

“He even admitted on the witness stand that what he believed then, he doesn’t believe now,” said Meehan of Edington.

However, Edington never apologized. “He said he just didn’t see how it would matter to apologize for what he did; it couldn’t bring James back,” said Meehan.

Meehan said he then asked Edington in court, “Did you ever think it might have mattered to Rita James, who stood there while you stabbed her son to death? Or to Charles James who you called a good man over and over?”

Before the criminal trial, Edington’s lawyer filed a report from a psychiatrist that said he was obsessive-compulsive and had a borderline personality disorder and that mitigating factor lowered the charges to manslaughter from murder, Meehan said.

However, the attorney feels that minus the sex, and minus the multiple victims, this home invasion was brutal as the one in Cheshire. The seven-inch knife was plunged as much as nine inches into the victim.

According to Meehan, the family includes his elderly parents, Charles and Rita James, with whom he lived, and his sister Charlene Benoit, and her husband, who are parents of Barry James’ nephews.

The three members of the James’ family, who lived on Colony Street, were close-knit and best friends, according to Meehan.

At the trial, Edington, a former patent attorney, represented himself and besides Meehan, attorney Peter Ambrose represented the family. ..Source.. by Meg Learson Grosso

Police arrest 18-year-old in fatal stabbing

11-26-2006 Idaho:

Police have arrested an 18-year-old suspect in the alleged stabbing death of a 77-year-old Garden City man.

After a telephone tip, police located and took 18-year-old Buck Pickens into custody on a first-degree murder charge in connection with the death of Arthur Clarkson, whose body was found by a family member about 1 p.m. Friday inside his trailer on the 3900 Block of Adams Street.

Garden City Police Capt. Cory Stambaugh said Saturday that Clarkson died of stab wounds to the neck. Investigators have recovered a knife that may be the murder weapon and have sent it to the Idaho State Police crime lab for fingerprint and DNA analysis.

Pickens was arrested about 1:30 a.m. Saturday at an apartment complex on the 5800 block of Grissom Street, north of State Street and Ellen’s Ferry in Boise, after a tip to police dispatchers led them to his location.

The suspect gave up without incident and was taken into custody, with no bond set, Stambaugh said during a press conference at Garden City Police headquarters.

Officers also arrested 23-year-old David Gloria of Garden City at another location later Saturday. Gloria, who authorities said claims to be Pickens’ brother, was charged with harboring a wanted felon in the case. He was also served an agent’s warrant for felony probation violations.

Both Pickens and Gloria were held in the Ada County jail, awaiting arraignment at 1:30 p.m. Monday. At that time, a judge will read the indictments against the two men and schedule preliminary hearings for them.

Clarkson’s body has been sent to the Ada County Coroner to determine an exact cause and time of death.

After the preliminary hearings have been set, the Ada County Prosecutor’s Office will gauge whether the suspected homicide meets the standards for a first-degree murder charge, punishable by death or life imprisonment.

According to police investigators, the two younger men were family friends of the victim and considered the elderly man a “grandfather figure.”

“Right now, just in a nutshell, the motive has something to do with an argument, some kind of disagreement, that Buck and Mr. Clarkson had,” Stambaugh said.

Although investigators are aware of the reasons for the argument, which happened a few days before the murder, they have not yet released those details.

Clarkson’s body was discovered midday Friday by a relative and a member of Gloria’s family who stopped by to check on him. Garden City Police arrived on the scene after an assist call from emergency medical responders.

“Upon their arrival, they found a deceased male in the front room of the trailer,” Stambaugh said.

In a cooperative effort, Garden City Police, Boise Police, Ada County sheriff’s deputies and the Idaho State Police crime lab searched Clarkson’s manufactured home, interviewed friends and neighbors, and determined that Pickens was a “person of interest” in the case.

Pickens, who turned 18 in October, has a sealed juvenile record, and Gloria may have a criminal record, Stambaugh said, adding that it is too early in the investigation to determine if Pickens is involved in any other Treasure Valley crimes.

Investigators believe Pickens acted alone in Clarkson’s murder, and no other arrests appear likely at this time, Stambaugh said.

“It’s always possible,” he said. “We don’t see that, but you never know what may come up.”

Investigators continue to check into the criminal histories and backgrounds of the two arrested men and their relationship with Clarkson, who lived alone. ..more.. by

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Possible motive in stabbing death emerges
Friend says Buck Pickens thought 77-year-old victim was molesting a child
1-19-2007 Idaho:

A friend of murder suspect Buck Pickens said Thursday Pickens told her the night before Arthur Clarkson was found stabbed to death in his trailer home that he was going to kill the 77-year-old because he suspected Clarkson molested a 6-year-old girl.

Leslie Burton, who was with Pickens at Clarkson's Garden City home for Thanksgiving dinner Nov. 23, said Pickens was upset that night and was hiding a knife under his leg.

Pickens, 18, "said he was getting a bad feeling ... Art was messing around with (the little girl) and he had to take care of it," Burton testified Thursday during Pickens' preliminary hearing. "He was angry ... I had never seen him angry before that day."

Thursday was the first time a suspected motive in Clarkson's murder was publicly released.

The 6-year-old's mother testified Thursday that there was never any evidence Clarkson molested her daughter, and she didn't suspect anything happened — an opinion shared by Burton during her testimony.

Clarkson was found dead and covered in blood Nov. 24 in the doorway of his trailer in the 3900 block of Adams Street.

Pickens is charged with first-degree murder. His older brother, David Gloria, is charged with accessory to murder. Police say Gloria helped Pickens hide from police until Pickens was arrested a day later at a home on Grisson Lane.

Police and prosecutors accuse Pickens of stabbing Clarkson several times in his neck Nov. 24 and leaving him to die. Police say Gloria got to the trailer a short time later, saw what happened, and helped Pickens leave. He told detectives he did not want to "rat on his brother," according to court documents.

Both Pickens and Gloria were in court Thursday for their preliminary hearing. Fourth District Magistrate Richard Schmidt heard about six hours of testimony before determining there was enough evidence to bind the cases over to District Court.

Pickens and Gloria are both scheduled for arraignment hearings Jan. 29, where they will be able to enter pleas in their cases.

Burton testified Thursday that she, Pickens, Gloria, Clarkson, his adult granddaughter, and three small children were all at the trailer for Thanksgiving dinner when she saw Pickens hide the knife under his leg.

Burton said after talking to Pickens, she thought it was a good idea to get him out of the trailer to avoid a confrontation with Clarkson, so she got everybody to leave. Burton said she was with Pickens for several more hours that night, and he kept asking to borrow her car because he needed to take care of something for "people he cared about."

She also testified that she knew Clarkson and the 6-year-old girl's mother well and had never seen any evidence of molestation.

"I didn't see what he saw," she said.

Burton said Pickens slept at her apartment that night and drove her to an appointment the next morning, keeping her red car.

Clarkson's next door neighbor, Connie Schofner, testified Tuesday she saw a red car parked in her driveway around noon Nov. 24 and saw Pickens get in the car and pull away in a hurry a short time later. She said she briefly saw Gloria at the trailer around the same time. ..more.. by Patrick Orr

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Possibly Motive Emerges in Stabbing Death of 77-year-old
1-17-2007 Idaho:
The man suspected of stabbing 77-year-old Arthur Clarkson to death in his Garden City trailer in November told a friend he was going to kill Clarkson because he believed the man was molesting a 6-year-old girl.

That's according to murder suspect Buck Pickens' friend Leslie Burton, who testified at Pickens preliminary hearing in Fourth District Court Thursday. Burton said the 18-year-old Pickens told her - quote - "he was getting a bad feeling...Art was messing around."

It's the first time a motive has come out in the case since Clarkson was found dead and covered in blood in the doorway of his trailer in late November, after being stabbed several times in the neck.

Pickens, of Garden City, has been charged with first-degree murder. His brother, David Gloria, who also appeared in court Thursday, is being charged as an accessory to murder.

Police say Gloria helped Pickens hide from police before he was arrested a day after the stabbing.

Both Pickens and Gloria are scheduled to appear in court again January 29, when they will enter pleas in their cases. ..more.. by Local News 8

CA- Trial begins for second defendant in Palermo slaying

Please note: These are copies of news articles, not opinions of this website. This news article reports, exactly what the police reported when the incident took place. The police reported "Dixon mistakenly thought Dills was a child molester." That is why we have this story tagged "Mistaken ID" which means the deceased IS NOT a child molester!

8-8-2008 California:

OROVILLE — Jurors Thursday began hearing evidence against a second man accused in a fatal shooting nearly two years ago of an Oroville teenager inside a moving car.

In opening statements, the prosecutor asked the seven-woman, five-man Butte County Superior Court jury to find Anthony Dean Dixon III, 23, guilty of the "senseless" and premeditated murder of Marlin John Dills, 18.

Dixon was quoted as admitting to sheriff's detectives that he suspected the teen of being a thief and a child molester and shot him several times as he lay asleep in the back seat of a car being driven by Freeman Kellison, 21, also of Oroville.

The teenager was shot eight times in the head, chest and one hand on Sept. 5, 2006, and his body was dumped along the side of a dirt road south of Palermo, where it was discovered the next morning by children on their way to school.

The defense contends it was Kellison who committed the murder and convinced Dixon, who he considered "a simpleton and a dummy," to take responsibility for the crime.

Dixon's lawyer, Jesus Rodriguez, pointed out to the jury it was Kellison who borrowed his grandmother's pistol the night of the fatal shooting, and tried to cover up the blood stains from the back seat of his vehicle and hide other evidence on her property the next day.

"Mr. Kellison had the motive, means and opportunity to kill John Dills," Dixon's attorney told the jury Thursday.

Last year, a separate Butte County jury hearing an identical first-degree murder charge against Kellison, hung 11-1 for acquittal.

Facing an unknown retrial, Kellison elected to plead no contest to a lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter, for which he is now serving a three-year prison term.

Deputy district attorney Corie Caraway said she intends to call Kellison to testify against his co-defendant when Dixon's trial resumes today.

On the witness stand Thursday, sheriff's detective Daniel Angel said when questioned, Kellison admitted having discussed shooting Dills with Dixon the night of the killing.

Kellison claimed he asked his grandmother for her .22-caliber handgun for protection, after seeing several men clad in black garb pointing "laser weapons" at them earlier on her property, said the detective.

Kellison claimed Dixon, who he'd known since grade school, told him he was worried that if "something wasn't done" about the Oroville teen, those who were after him might hurt them or members of their family.

In her opening remarks to the jury, the prosecutor noted that when questioned about the killing, Dixon confessed to shooting the victim inside the moving vehicle and continued to fire several more times "to put him out of his misery like you would an animal."

But Dixon's attorney asserted Kellison took advantage of his client's lesser intelligence and drugged condition to "weave" that story for the authorities.

During his opening remarks to the jury Thursday, the defense attorney replayed a segment of Kellison's videotaped police interrogation.

After the subject of gunshot residue came up, the detective left the room for several minutes, Rodriguez said.

Dixon's lawyer contends Kellison could clearly be seen staring at his right hand and using his left to "wipe it off."

Saying that "a picture is worth a thousand words," Dixon's attorney assured the jury that before the trial ends, "you'll know who the real killer is." ..News Source.. by TERRY VAU DELL-Staff Writer

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Gunman convicted of first-degree murder

8-13-2008 California:

OROVILLE -- It took a little over four hours Wednesday for a Butte County jury to convict a Palermo man of the premeditated, first-degree murder of a teenager in 2006.

Anthony Dean Dixon III, 23, could face two separate 25-to-life life terms when he is sentenced next month for shooting Marlin John Dills, 18, of Oroville, eight times while the victim was riding in the back seat of a moving car.

Although a juror said they rejected defense arguments the driver, Freeman Kellison, 21, committed the murder, they believed he was equally involved with Dixon in planning and carrying out the Sept. 5, 2006, execution-style slaying.

Kellison is currently serving a three-year prison term as part of plea bargain to voluntary manslaughter, after a separate jury last year hung 11-1 for acquittal on an identical first-degree murder charge.

Following Dixon's murder conviction Wednesday, deputy district attorney Corie Caraway, who prosecuted the case, said she was pleased for the victim's family, who she noted, had to endure two separate jury trials.

"I think it was the right verdict and I hope this offers some sort of resolution for the family," said the prosecutor.

Dixon's attorney, Jesus Rodriguez, said he was disappointed with how quickly the verdict was reached.

"I believe that Freeman Kellison committed this killing," the defense attorney said.

Following the verdict, the jury foreman told a reporter outside of court the defendant's videotaped confession to sheriff's detectives the day after the murder was pivotal.

"The fact also that he did not take the stand and say anything differently from his confession was also very important," the jury foreman added.

The jury foreman said his fellow jurors believed that although Dixon alone shot the victim, both he and Kellison were equally involved in planning and carrying out the teen's murder.

"It was a mutual thing; personally I believe he (Kellison) was as guilty of pulling the trigger as Mr. Dixon," the Paradise juror said.

Called as a prosecution witness at Dixon's trial, Kellison admitted borrowing his grandmother's .22-caliber pistol for protection against some prowlers that night and giving it to Dixon because he was more familiar with firearms.

He testified he never thought his friend would use it to kill the Oroville teenager.

In his videotaped confession, Dixon told sheriff's detectives he was in the right front passenger seat "playing around" and pointing the gun at the back-seat passenger, when the car hit a bump in the road and it discharged accidentally.

He said he then fired several more times to put the teen "out of his misery ... like you would an animal."

An autopsy showed the victim was shot four times in the head, three times in the chest and once in the hand. His body was dumped along a dirt road south of Palermo, where it was found by children on their way to school the next morning.

In her closing summation to the jury on Monday, the prosecutor said Dixon fatally shot the teenager after "jumping to a conclusion" that had no basis in fact.

"John Dills never saw his 19th birthday; he now exists only in the memory of his family," the prosecutor said.

Jurors also upheld a special allegation that Dixon discharged a firearm causing death, which carries a second 25-to-life term.

Butte County Superior Court Judge Gerald Hermansen ordered Dixon held without bail pending sentencing on Sept. 9. ..News Source.. by TERRY VAU DELL - Staff Writer

CO- Details from Colo. school shooting emerge

Posted in Related Deaths

9-28-2006 Colorado:

53-year-old shooter’s attack was ‘sexual in nature,’ sheriff says

BAILEY, Colo. - The gunman who killed a student and committed suicide during a high school standoff methodically selected six girls as hostages — apparently favoring blondes — and sexually assaulted at least some of them, authorities and witnesses said Thursday.

Sheriff Fred Wegener said the assaults went beyond touching or fondling.

“It was pretty horrific,” Wegener said.

"He did traumatize and assault our children," he added. "I'll only say that it's sexual in nature."

The killer was identified as 53-year-old Duane Morrison, a petty criminal who had a Denver address but had apparently been living in his battered yellow Jeep when he walked inside the school Wednesday with two handguns and a backpack that he claimed contained a bomb. Investigators did not immediately say what was in the backpack.

Authorities said they knew of no connection between Morrison, his hostages or anyone else at Platte Canyon High School in this mountain town of about 3,500.

During the siege, he took the girls hostage in a second-floor classroom and eventually released four of them. Morrison, still holding two girls, soon cut off contact and warned that “something would happen at 4 o’clock,” authorities said.

About a half-hour before the deadline, a SWAT team used explosives to blow a hole in a classroom wall in hopes of getting a clear shot at him, but they couldn’t see him through the gap, and they blew the door off the hinges to get inside, said Lance Clem, a spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety.

Morrison fired at the SWAT officers, shot 16-year-old Emily Keyes in the back of the head as she tried to run away, and then killed himself, authorities said. During the lightning-fast gun battle, police said, they shot Morrison several times.

'We had to go try and save them'
A sorrowful Wegener defended the decision to try to take Morrison by force.

“My decision was to either wait, with the possibility of having two dead hostages, or act to try and save what I feared he would do to them,” the sheriff said. “We have confirmed he did traumatize and assault our children. ... This is why I made the decision I did.

“We had to go try and save them.”

Classes were canceled for the rest of the week as the community tried to come to grips with the bloodshed, which evoked memories of the 1999 shooting rampage at Columbine High School, less than an hour’s drive away, that left 15 dead.

“This is — this is something that has changed my school, changed my community,” the sheriff said. “My small county’s gone.”

Teen's text-message
Louis Gonzalez, a spokesman for the Keyes family, said the girl’s father was among scores of parents anxiously awaiting word from their children inside the school during the standoff. John Keyes had just bought Emily and her twin brother cell phones for their 16th birthdays.

“How are U?” a volunteer text-messaged Keyes on her father’s behalf.

At 1:52 p.m., she messaged back, “I love you guys.”

Police stormed into the classroom less than two hours later.

“In memory of Emily we would like everyone to go out and do random acts of kindness, random acts of love to your friends or your neighbors or your fellow students because there is no way to make sense of this,” Gonzalez said. “It’s what Emily would have wanted.”

Residents gathered at the Platte Canyon Christian Church for support and others stopped by the cafe where Keyes had worked for about two years.

“It’s very sad here. You know, the family lost their daughter but as a community, we lost a child,” said Bobbi Sterling, a waitress and cook. “We’re just sitting here, numb and in shock. We’re all just kind of stunned.” ..more.. by MSNBC

FL- Florida Sex Offender Kills Teen, Self After Police Standoff

Posted in Related Deaths

7-16-2006 Florida:

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — A registered sex offender fatally shot a 17-year-old girl he had been harassing, then killed himself after an hour-long standoff with police Saturday, authorities said.

Police had been investigating 42-year-old Scott David Uslan's relationship with Brittany Carleo for several months, but did not have probable cause to arrest him until Wednesday after he started making harassing phone calls to the teen, police spokesman Rob Vega said.

Uslan posted bond and was released from jail Thursday. He entered the smoothie cafe where Carleo worked with a gun around 9:15 a.m. Saturday, police said.

"Unfortunately this mad man was not kept behind bars where apparently he should have been kept, and unfortunately we have a young girl who is now dead," Vega said.

Two other cafe employees escaped out the back.

Uslan had been obsessed with Carleo since she started dating his son two years ago, and the teen eventually sought a restraining order against him, family members said.

"If he couldn't have her, no one else could have her," her aunt, Barbara Martin, told The Tribune for Sunday's editions.

Uslan was registered as a sexual offender in Florida because of a previous conviction of providing obscene material to a minor. ..more.. by FOX News


Sex offender kills teen, self after standoff
7-16-2006 Florida:

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. A 17-year-old Florida girl is dead, victim of a registered sex offender who police say was obsessed with the teen-ager and had been harassing her.

After an hourlong standoff with police in Port St. Lucie, 42-year-old Scott Uslan then killed himself.

Police arrested Uslan last Wednesday after he started making harassing phone calls to Brittany Carleo. But he posted bond and was out of jail on Thursday.

Yesterday, he got a gun and went to the smoothie cafe where Carleo worked and shot her dead.

Police spokesman Rob Vega says it was unfortunate that what he calls "this mad man" was not kept behind bars. Uslan was a registered sex offender because of a previous conviction for providing obscene material to a minor.

Carleo's relatives say Uslan became obsessed with her after she started dating his son two years ago. She eventually got a restraining order. ..more..

HI- 2 Bodies Found On Lanai

Posted in Related Deaths

7-25-2006 Hawaii:

Maui detectives are on Lanai investigating an apparent murder-suicide. The bodies of a teenage girl and adult male were found Saturday morning in a field near the Lanai Police station. The couple went missing Friday morning and their bodies were found Saturday morning.

Today police identified the victims as 15 year-old Ariel Aki and 24 year-old John Estrata. Aki was a student at Lanai High and Elementary School. They died from gunshot wounds. Today Lanai Principal Pierce Myer told News 8 they will have counselors available for traumatized friends.

Autopsies are scheduled for tomorrow. Police say Estrata was under investigation since July 16th in connection with the sex assault of a minor. ..more.. : by KHNL8

NJ- State report says DYFS could have done more to protect victims of 2006 murder-suicide

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10-24-2007 New Jersey:

The state Division of Youth and Family Services could have done more to protect Melanie and Scott McCarter, a report released by the New Jersey Office of the Child Advocate said Wednesday.

Wendy Bennett McCarter, 35, was shot and killed on the morning of May 25, 2006, by her husband, Scott McCarter, who also killed their two children, Scotty, 12, and Melanie, 6, before shooting himself in their Nabb Avenue home in Millville.

Scott McCarter had been barred from living with Wendy and his children because of a court order stemming from charges he allegedly molested two teenage girls from 2001 to 2004.

One of the girls was Wendy McCarter's daughter, Amanda Bennett, who has filed a lawsuit against DYFS over the deaths of her mother and two siblings. Bennett had moved out, and was not at the Nabb Avenue home at the time of the murder/suicide.

In the report, it is stated that the opinion of the Office of the Child Advocate that:

-- Scott and Melanie's deaths were possibly preventable.

-- During the time that there was an active DYFS case with this family (between July 2004 and May 2006), there were numerous missed opportunities for DYFS and the courts to offer this family protection, services and intervention.

-- DYFS was deficient in its case handling, evidenced by a failure to thoroughly assess the family, failure to recognize key inherent safety and risk factors, failure to conduct required visits with the family members and failure to adhere to agency policies for best practices to ensure child safety and well-being.

Recommendations were made by the OCA to help correct these issues should they come up in the future.

In a one-sentence statement from the Department of Children and Families, spokeswoman Mary Helen Cervantes said, "Whenever a child dies, we grieve that loss deeply, and we are committed to doing everything humanly possible to strengthen this system for the tens of thousands of children who rely on us everyday." ..more.. by JAIME MARINE

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Book delves into NJ sex abuse, murder-suicide case

11-29-2009 New Jersey:

MILLVILLE — In an instant, veteran reporter Eileen Bennett's life went from byline to headline.

On May 25, 2006, her son-in-law, Scott McCarter, was set to take the stand to answer charges that he had sexually molested his stepdaughter, Amanda Bennett.

He never made it to court. Instead, investigators say he fatally shot his wife, Wendy, and their two children, Scotty, 12, and Melanie, 6, before turning the gun on himself.

"I felt like a broken reporter, after being through this, I didn't know if I could ever be fully objective again," said Bennett, a retired Press of Atlantic City reporter and editor.

It was Amanda Bennett who coaxed her "Mom-Mom" back to writing. Bennett was inspired by her granddaughter's ability to cope with her loss, focus on the positive and move forward with her life.

She recalled a candid moment when Amanda Bennett was talking about her lost family members and feeling so many things had been left unsaid.

"I feel like I should write a letter... but I don't know who I would send it to," Bennett recalled her granddaughter saying. That sparked a three-year labor of love that resulted in the book, "Amanda's Voice." Fireside Publications of Lady Lake, Fla., released the 210-page publication earlier this month.

The book details Amanda Bennett's decision to publicly name her stepfather, McCarter, as a sexual abuser and how she coped with the devastating ramifications.

"She's an extremely private person, but I think she came to the realization that speaking out would help others," Bennett said. "She threw herself in the public arena, I know other girls are going through this -- it has to be revealed, it can't be cloaked in secrecy."

Before coming forward to confront her stepfather, Amanda Bennett lived in fear.

"The thing that may have pushed her over edge was she was extremely worried about Melanie and that (Scott) may have done something to her," Eileen Bennett said.

Amanda Bennett was aware there would be consequences in speaking out.

"She was afraid her world would implode -- and it did," Bennett said, first with an estranged relationship with her mother and the eventual slaying of her family.

With the determination she gathered to face her stepfather in court, Amanda Bennett also took on the N.J. Division of Youth and Family Services. She filed a civil lawsuit against the agency charged with improperly handling the case, winning a $750,000 settlement.

"I want to help some other girls out there," Amanda Bennett said.

The 21-year-old is in her final semester at Cumberland County College, where she is studying to be a paralegal.

Compiling the book took about three years of listening to more than 200 hours of court transcripts, interviewing police, the prosecutors and all the others whose lives were intertwined with the case.

Amanda Bennett was spare with her words, but she wanted them to matter.

During the process, Eileen Bennett recovered her reporter instincts.

"I wanted to make sure everything was quoted correctly," she said, noting she also extended an invitation to the McCarter family to be included in the book. They declined.

"When I read some of the passages, I cringe but it is what it is," Bennett said. "Amanda is a very strong-willed person, if she thinks something is right, she will do it."

"I don't think of it as the story of her abuse, it is the story about the beautiful person she has become," she said. "I see the beautiful young lady picking herself up and getting on with life -- there are not many people that can do it." ..Source.. by DEBORAH M. MARKO • Staff Writer

TN- Police say man killed self, two daughters

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3-25-2006 Tennessee:

Local man shoots, kills himself as officer discovers rape charge

The bodies of two young girls and their father, a Clarksville man wanted on rape charges, were found in a car in Oak Ridge Thursday following what police are calling a murder-suicide.

Richard Alfonso Howard, 32, was approached Thursday morning in his car by a TVA police officer patrolling a parking lot at the Bull Run Fossil plant, about 15 miles west of Knoxville in East Tennessee, said Jim Carver, director of TVA police.

The officer asked Howard why he was there, and Howard said he had run out of gas and was waiting for someone, Carver said.

The officer initially did not notice the girls, who were covered in the back of the vehicle, Carver said. After the officer ran a check on Howard's plate numbers, he discovered the outstanding rape warrants.

When he returned to Howard's Ford Crown Victoria he found him slumped over the steering wheel, dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot.

Police searched the car and found the bodies of Howard's daughters — Brionna, 3, and Markayla, 2 — with a suicide note in which he admitted to killing them, police said.

Investigators declined to say when or how the toddlers died. Howard had two outstanding rape warrants involving a 15-year-old girl at a local motel last summer.

The teen told Clarksville police in August Howard took her to the Holiday Drive motel on July 4 and forced her to have sex with him against her will, according to a report by CPD Detective Shane Dortch. ..more.. by HEATHER DONAHOE

TX- Man may have caused crash that killed him, four others

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6-2-2006 Texas:

HOUSTON (AP) - Investigators now believe a May 16 crash that killed five people on a rural Southeast Texas road might have been intentionally caused by one of the drivers, a man whose stepdaughter had accused him of sexual abuse.

The collision happened after a pickup truck veered off the road, came back on and slammed into an oncoming tractor-trailer rig. The wreck happened near Liberty, about 50 miles northeast of Houston.

Authorities said William Pete DeShayes III "intentionally" swerved his pickup into the path of the tractor-trailer, possibly because a 15-year-old stepdaughter not involved in the crash was preparing to go public with her accusations against him of sexual abuse.

Killed in the accident were DeShayes, 40, from Splendora; his 11-year-old daughter Mariah; and 10-year-old daughter Hayven. Another daughter, Deborah Nicole DeShayes, 14, survived the crash. Also killed were the couple driving the big rig.

"I think he may have been trying to kill the children, too," said Trooper Sean Cheshire of the Texas Department of Public Safety. "The evidence points to it. He took no evasive action. He thought warrants were out for his arrest."

Nicole DeShayes told authorities the last thing she heard her father say before he turned the steering wheel and headed toward the 18-wheeler was that his chest was hurting and that he was "sorry." She told the DPS investigator later that she felt her father had intentionally caused the accident.

Mary DeShayes, William DeShaye's ex-wife, said that on the night of the accident she and her 15-year-old daughter went to police in Rockdale after the girl said her stepfather had abused her for the past four years.

Police note that in the days and hours before the wreck, William DeShayes had repeatedly telephoned and sent desperate text messages to the girl. He called Rockdale police at least three times wanting to know if "assault charges" had been filed against him.

The dead man's mother, Linda Gilmore, vehemently denied the allegations of a murder-suicide, blaming the attack on a possible heart attack.

"I know he would not deliberately try and hurt them babies," she said. "They were his life, his world."

But Mary DeShayes said "he felt if he died that he'd be glorified and nobody would know his secrets."

Child Protective Services has opened an investigation into the sexual abuse allegation against William DeShayes, and into the wreck.

"We will look at the accident report to try to figure out what happened," said Chris Van Deusen, CPS spokesman in Austin. "We will make sure the two surviving girls are cared for and given counseling." ..more.. by AP

OK- Texan suspected in ex-wife's death kills self

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9-10-2006 Oklahoma:

CHOUTEAU, Okla. -- A Texas man being sought in the death of his former wife killed himself after a police pursuit and standoff in Mayes County, authorities said Thursday. Officers found the body of Michael Dwayne Prock, 55, in a pickup truck about 4:30 a.m. in a field south of U.S. Highway 412, about a mile west of Chouteau. Prock admitted in a cell-phone conversation with a Hunt County, Texas, investigator that he had fatally shot ex-wife Delores Prock, 55, Hunt County Sheriff Don Anderson said. Her body was found Wednesday at a residence near Greenville, which is about 30 miles northeast of Dallas.

Michael Prock has relatives in the Inola area, authorities said. "He said he was going to drive until he ran out of gas and kill himself or get some officer to kill him," Anderson said. Authorities issued a bulletin about Prock, who was spotted by a Chouteau police officer in town about 1:20 a.m., officials said. After a low-speed pursuit, Prock's truck ran over police "stop sticks" and ended up in a field. Law enforcement officers tried to talk him out of the truck but were unsuccessful.

Prock, a registered sex offender in Hunt County, was convicted in May 1993 of sexual battery of a person older than 16, records show. He was upset that Delores Prock had "found someone else," and went to her house and shot her in the back, Hunt County authorities said. The pair recently had divorced. A Pryor police tactical team removed his body from the truck about 4:30 a.m., Mayes County Sheriff's Capt. Joe Garrett said.

The Oklahoma Medical Examiner's Office ruled that Prock died of a gunshot wound to the head. ..more.. : by KRIS TV

AL- Three deaths in Etowah County

Posted in Related Deaths

8-22-2006 Alabama:

Three teenagers were held hostage throughout the night after an uncle shot and killed their parents on Monday afternoon. The man killed himself when deputies responded to a 911 call about 5:30 a.m.

Officials with the Etowah County Sheriff's Department identified who shot his sister and brother-in-law as Johnny Ray Holderfield, 40, a convicted sex offender registered in Marshall County. His most recent address was on Alabama 168 between Douglas and Boaz.

Etowah County Coroner Jason Maise identified the victims as Jane C. Stokes, 45, and her husband, Brian Keith Stokes, 34, who lived at 2660 Buster Willett Road, Attalla, Maise said.

According to reports from the scene, the incident started Monday.

Holderfield shot and killed his sister, deputies said, then waited for the three children to get off the school bus. The children were suspicious and couldn't find their mother, who had been shot in a back bedroom of the mobile home. He then took the children, a 15-year-old boy, a 15-year-old girl annd and a 14-year-old girl, to a travel trailer behind the home, where he bound them with duct tape.

When Brian Keith Stokes arrived home from work about 6:30 a.m., Holderfield apparently shot and killed him.

Sometime during the night, Holderfield moved the children to an empty mobile in the yard and apparently sexually assaulted at least one of the girls.

Early Tuesday morning, the 15-year-old boy was able to break free and he sneaked out of the mobile home, saw that his parents were dead inside the family's home and he drove to his grandparents house nearby. The grandparents called 911 and went with the boy back to the home, where they encountered Holderfield outside the mobile.

They were able to escape from him as deputies arrived. Holderfield ran back inside the vacant mobile home and the deputy heard a gunshot. The girls apparently were still inside the vacant mobile home and saw Holderfield shoot himself.

The children were taken to the hospital as the investigation continues. The three were pronounced dead on the scene at 7:42 a.m. Tuesday, Maise said. The bodies have been sent to Huntsville for autopsies. ..more.. The Gadsden Times

WI- Suspect in Murder of Darlene Darling Found Dead in Wisconsin

Posted in Related Deaths

5-6-2006 Wisconsin:

On Saturday June 3, 2006 a tactical team from the FBI’s fugitive task force searched the home of 35-year-old Jeffery Todd Antone’s mother in Tomah, WI. Antone had become the prime suspect in themurder of Darlene Darling. The tactical team found Antone’s body hanging in the garage with a suicide note nearby. The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office is investigating Antone’s death.

The investigation into the murder of Darling began in the early evening of June 1, 2006 when Saint Paul Police responded to a report of a foul odor coming from a car on the 600 block of Fuller Avenue.

Officers investigated and found the body of Darling in the trunk of her vehicle. The body was badly decomposed and detectives now believe Darling was probably killed on Sunday May 28th or early on Memorial Day, May 29th. Fingerprints obtained by the Ramsey County Medical Examiner were used by the Saint Paul Police Crime Lab to positively identify the victim as 47-year-old Darlene Darling. The Ramsey County Medical Examiner has ruled the death a homicide with a preliminarily determination of strangulation as the cause of death.

Detectives interviewed Darling’s ex-boyfriend and acquaintances to establish the following series of events surrounding Darling’s murder. Darling had been sober for several years before she went back to abusing alcohol and crack cocaine early in 2006. In April, Darling broke up with her boyfriend of eight years and began seeing Antone, a non-compliant sexual offender from Wisconsin. A criminal history check showed Antone was a convicted violent sexual offender with two active felony warrants from Wisconsin. Antoine had been living in a school bus behind an auto body shop in Shakopee for the past eight months.

A witness reported seeing Darling’s body in the trunk of her car on Memorial Day.

Detectives continue to investigate the murder of Darlene Darling and the case may be submitted to the Ramsey County Attorney for a review of charges against others who aided Jeffery Antone after the fact.

In response to this tragic crime Chief John Harrington noted, “Once again we are presented with a case that demonstrates the need to use all necessary resources to monitor sexual offenders and to aggressively track down those who are not compliant.” ..more.. by Police Report

CA- Man convicted of murdering man who touched him

12-12-2008 California:

An Oakland man is guilty of first-degree murder for fatally shooting a man who he said had touched him sexually.

Jurors in Alameda County Superior Court convicted 25-year-old Bruce Shaw on Thursday after deliberating for two days.

Prosecutors said Shaw shot 27-year-old Sirron Croskey in 2006 after the victim allegedly had touched Shaw several times during a long night of drinking and drugs.

Shaw's attorney had argued that Shaw was molested as a child and snapped when he was touched that night.

Prosecutors argued that there was no evidence Shaw was molested as a child. They also noted a time gap between the touching and the killing, saying that showed it was premeditated.

Shaw faces life in prison when he's sentenced Feb. 11. ..News Source.. by ModBee.com

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Defense: Oakland Man "Flipped Out" When Victim Suggestively Touched Him
12-4-2008 California:

A defense attorney told jurors today that Bruce Shaw shot and killed 27-year-old Sirron Croskey near an Oakland park in the early morning hours of April 6, 2006, because Shaw "flipped out" after Croskey touched Shaw in what he thought was a sexually suggestive way.

In her closing argument in Shaw's trial in Alameda County Superior Court, defense attorney Andrea Auer said Shaw, 25, had been sexually molested when he was only 3 years old and didn't like it when Croskey repeatedly touched him at the end of a long night in which the two men and some acquaintances had been drinking, taking drugs and planning robberies.

Auer said Shaw's history caused him to react violently, saying, "We wouldn't be here if Bruce hadn't been badly sexually abused as a kid."

The defense attorney said that because Shaw was provoked, she thinks he should only be convicted of manslaughter, not murder.

However, prosecutor Joni Leventis told jurors she thinks that Shaw should be convicted of first-degree murder because he planned to kill Croskey and had time to reflect before he pulled the trigger.

Jurors will begin deliberating Shaw's fate late Thursday. ..News Source.. by BayArea News