Warrant: Sex offender killed landlady after she found porn on computer

Posted in Related Deaths

1-24-2012 North Carolina:

WINSTON-SALEM — A convicted sex offender accused of strangling his landlady five years ago and setting her car on fire in Clemmons with her body inside killed her after she found pornography on his computer, according to a search warrant for his computer filed last summer (2011).

Scott Robert Speakman is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Loyola Strader, 63, in 2006 and faces the death penalty if convicted.

According to the warrant, Speakman told authorities that he killed Strader after they started arguing over pornography that Strader saw on Speakman's laptop computer in the room he rented from her on Konnoak View Drive in Forsyth County.

According to court documents, Speakman has said that Strader threatened him with a stun gun, and he killed her during a struggle. Speakman had recently been released from prison in Maryland after being convicted in 1995 of raping and sodomizing an 18-month-old girl when he was 15. He was tried as an adult.

Vince Rabil and Clark Fischer, attorneys representing Speakman, included the search warrant in their motion to suppress evidence found on the computer. The attorneys also argued that the court should suppress statements Speakman is alleged to have made to authorities that the argument between him and Strader was over pornography. The attorneys say there's nothing in the notes and summaries from Speakman's interviews to support that.

Detective J.W. Adkins of the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office applied for the search warrant on July 26. Investigators had gotten a search warrant in 2006 to get Speakman's computer and have it examined by the State Bureau of Investigation.

But Adkins said in the search warrant application that the images retrieved from the computer were never forwarded to him or the Forsyth County District Attorney's Office. He said in the search warrant that Assistant District Attorney David Hall contacted officials at the State Bureau of Investigation, who told him they could not find the images. Hall could not be reached Monday for comment. Rabil declined to comment Monday.

Adkins filed the new search warrant to have the computer examined again for images of child pornography and any other material that Speakman mentioned in his statements.

According to previous motions, Speakman told investigators in one of his statements that Strader saw something on the laptop, and that was the "triggering event" that led to her death.

At a March hearing last year on pre-trial motions, Adkins testified that another investigator who participated in interviewing Speakman had turned over all interview notes and reports to Speakman's attorneys, last week's motion said.

"Either the statements set out and sworn to in the application for a fourth search by Detective J.W. Adkins are false or the state has failed to provide the defendant with discovery of all the statements of the defendant which were in the possession of the state as of March 17, 2011, and on November 19, 2006," the motion said.

Adkins could not be reached Monday.

Prosecutors have said that Speakman strangled Strader with a cord, put her body in her car and drove it to Clemmons, where he set it on fire. According to prosecutors, surveillance cameras from a nearby business showed Speakman setting the car on fire.

In December, Speakman's attorneys filed a motion arguing that he should not face the death penalty because he is severely mentally disabled. That motion is still pending.

Speakman's trial is scheduled to begin Feb. 27 and is expected to last three weeks to two months. It is not clear when pre-trial motions, including this latest one, will be heard. ..Source.. by Winston-Salem Journal

Sex offender: Woman 'had to die'

Posted in Related Deaths

4-3-2012 California:

A self-described Satanist who drove his dead girlfriend to the Lake Elsinore sheriff's station last week admitted in a jailhouse interview Monday to strangling the woman.

Jason Richard Budrow, 30, a registered sex offender who lives in the unincorporated Good Hope area near Lake Elsinore, said he feared the 48-year-old woman was a police informant.

"She had to die," Budrow said.

Budrow is jailed on suspicion of murder at the Southwest Detention Center in French Valley.

Resting his heavily tattooed arms on the counter in front of him and gazing through the glass divider into the visitors' room, Budrow spoke calmly as he described how he killed the woman.

She came over to his trailer behind a liquor store off Highway 74, he said. The woman, with whom he said he had a sexual relationship, got scared after realizing that he had "discovered her." She was on her way to her car when he strangled her about 2 or 3 a.m. Friday, Budrow said.

"I desecrated her body," he said, declining to elaborate.

Budrow said he shoved her body into the trunk of her white Chrysler Sebring convertible, then napped until his "curfew" -- an apparent reference to a parole requirement -- expired at 5 a.m.

Budrow said he drove away in the Sebring and at some point cut off the GPS-monitoring ankle bracelet that he must wear as a registered sex offender on parole.

"I murdered her while I was wearing that bracelet," he said.

Budrow declined to say what else he did in the hours before he arrived at the sheriff's station. If he had access to a gun, he said, he would have killed several other people. He did not explain why.

After pulling into the station parking lot and flagging someone down about 7:25 a.m., Budrow said he knelt on the pavement and put his hands in the air.

"I told them I had a body in my trunk," he said.

At first, he said, sheriff's officials were incredulous and asked if he was "playing games." He said they thought the trunk might have been booby trapped.

Budrow said he believed undercover law enforcement officers had been watching his every move and that he turned himself in because he was convinced they would eventually catch him.

The woman, Budrow said, knew he was involved in drug dealing and pimping and he thought she was going to reveal the names of "important people."

Sheriff's officials have said Budrow showed up at the sheriff's station and told a sergeant there was a body in the trunk. They declined to comment Monday on Budrow's statements.

Coroner's officials have not released the woman's name. Sheriff's officials said only that she was dating Budrow.

Capt. Dave Fontneau said that, so far, there is no indication the woman was sexually assaulted. He declined to say how she was killed.

Fontneau said an autopsy is scheduled for today.

'666'

Budrow said he has worked various jobs, including a stint selling time shares by phone. Riverside County court records show he served in the Army years ago but was discharged after testing positive for drugs.

The numbers "666" are tattooed above his right brow because he is a "Satanist," he said. At one point, Budrow lifted up his orange jail shirt to display a scar on his chest that he said was from ritual bloodletting.

While he hopes to spend the rest of his life leading an "Ozzie and Harriet" existence in a prison cell, Budrow said he's sure that he will be sentenced to death.

Budrow said he doesn't fear execution. He doesn't believe in an afterlife.

Though Budrow is on parole and a registered sex offender, his name, photo and other information did not appear Friday on the Megan's Law online database of registered sex offenders. By Monday, after sheriff's officials pointed out the omission, an entry was added. State Department of Justice officials could not explain Monday why Budrow was not listed.

Until Friday, sheriff's officials said Budrow had complied with his registration requirements. He had been checking in at the Lake Elsinore station since June 2006.

Budrow said he had been sent back to prison for parole violations, including a "rampage" at a halfway house. Terry Thornton, a Department of Corrections spokeswoman, declined to release details, saying the department gave the information to the Sheriff's Department. It was up to them to decide whether to disclose it, she said. Fontneau declined to do so on Monday.

Riverside County court records show Budrow pleaded guilty in 2004 to sexual penetration by force and was sentenced to three years in prison.

A probation officer's report says Budrow was staying with his grandparents in 2003 at a property they managed in Lakeland Village, near Lake Elsinore. He slipped into the bedroom of a 14-year-old neighbor one night and performed sex acts on the girl, court records say. The girl said she told him to stop but did not yell or resist out of fear for her safety, the report says.

Budrow told authorities he had been intoxicated from beer and marijuana, that he thought the girl was 17 and the encounter was consensual.

"He said if he did not confess, he could not live with himself, or run from the truth," the report says.

The probation officer wrote that Budrow would have been suitable for probation had he been eligible. He had no prior convictions and "demonstrated what appeared to be sincere remorse for his offense," the report says.

At the property where the sex assault occurred, his uncle, Eric Sisneros, said Monday he hasn't seen much of Budrow since his nephew got out of prison. Still, he couldn't believe he was capable of murder.

"He was always a gentle, kind person," Sisneros said. "Timid." ..Source.. by SARAH BURGE | The Press-Enterprise

Inmate charged with murder

6-30-2011 Indiana:

Joseph Brown confessed to killing Charles Miller, documents say

Bunker Hill — Joseph W. Brown drank a cup of coffee and packed his personal belongings after killing his cellmate on June 19 at the Miami County Correctional Facility, according to court documents.

Brown, 56, has been charged with murder and criminal confinement in the strangulation death of Charles Miller, 62, Center.

Brown is already serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole, Miami County Prosecutor Bruce Embrey said Wednesday.

Brown has been transferred from the Miami Correctional Facility to the Westville Correctional Facility. Embrey said Wednesday he has 60 days to decide if he will seek the death penalty.

“I will review the evidence before making a decision,” he said.

Man allegedly kills neighbor with MS

This is another case of "death by sexual circumstances."

10-6-2010 California:

A Fullerton man strangled his neighbor, who had muscular sclerosis, because he caught his 18-year-old son in bed with the 43- year-old woman, and then dumped her body in San Bernardino County nearly three years ago, a prosecutor told jurors Tuesday.

However, Guillermo Rodriguez's attorney told jurors in opening statements of the 43-year-old man's murder trial that the evidence will not show his client killed Donna Dutton, and that a more likely suspect could be the defendant's son.

Guillermo Rodriguez Sr. is charged with murder, criminal threats and dissuading a witness from testifying.

Rodriguez threw a party Oct. 15 at the Streams apartment complex at 1251 Deerpark Drive where he worked as a maintenance man and lived with his two sons, including Guillermo Rodriguez Jr., and his girlfriend at the time, Deena Derouchey, Deputy District Attorney Steve McGreevy said.

Rodriguez was dating Derouchey while he was still married to Christina Rodriguez, whom he had previously lived with in Victorville near where Dutton's body was dumped, McGreevy said.

Dutton and Rodriguez were friends and the victim brought along her daughter, who was 12 at the time, to the party, McGreevy said.

Rodriguez's attorney, Associate Public Defender Hector Chaparro, said Rodriguez was celebrating because after years of effort he had won back custody of his sons. The attorney did not say why the boys were in protective custody.

Dutton, who had been smoking medical marijuana that night and was drinking, got drunk at the party but didn't stay for dinner, McGreevy said. About 10 p.m., she got into an argument with her husband, Daniel, and went back to Rodriguez's party, the prosecutor said.
The Fullerton police were called sometime after midnight because the party grew so rowdy. Still, about 1 a.m., Rodriguez and his girlfriend went to a nearby liquor store to get more beer, McGreevy said.

They weren't able to get any more liquor at the store, but when they returned Rodriguez saw his son coming out of the bedroom zipping up his pants, McGreevy said. Dutton was in the bedroom nude, the prosecutor added.

"Donna argued with him and said she was going to call protective services," McGreevy said, adding that's when Rodriguez told his son and girlfriend to leave the room.

Dutton could be heard screaming for help and saying, "I just want to go home," McGreevy said.

"The defendant took off his belt, wrapped it around her neck and strangled her until she died," McGreevy said, adding Rodriguez warned the others not to say anything.

The next day when Derouchey returned from work, Rodriguez made his son and girlfriend help put the body in the car, McGreevy said. Then Rodriguez and Derouchey drove up to the Victorville area with body where it was dumped, McGreevy said.

Five days later, hunters found Dutton's body next to Highway 138 in rural Devore in San Bernardino County, McGreevy said.

Fullerton police interviewed Rodriguez, his son and Derouchey multiple times from October through March 2007, McGreevy said. In December 2006 Rodriguez allegedly confessed to his wife at a Fullerton Laundromat, and she went to authorities in March 2007, the prosecutor said.

Rodriguez is also charged with trying to persuade his wife to not cooperate with authorities, and a phone call the prosecutor said will prove that will be played for the jury, McGreevy said.

In May 2007, Derouchey agreed to testify for the prosecution when she was granted immunity from being charged as an accessory to the murder, McGreevy said. Rodriguez was arrested May 31, 2007, and his son pleaded guilty Jan. 8, 2008, to being an accessory to the murder and was sentenced to a year in jail and three years of formal probation.

Chaparro told jurors they cannot depend on the testimony of Derouchey and Rodriguez Jr. because they both cut deals with prosecutors. He suggested that after several interviews with police, the two just told investigators what they wanted to hear to escape murder charges.

Chaparro said Dutton was prone to mood swings and explosions of anger because of her disease and her drinking and drug use. The defense attorney said she seduced Rodriguez Jr. as they smoked "a bowl or two" of marijuana.

Rodriguez Jr. did not tell police initially that he had sex with Dutton because he was afraid they'd view him as a suspect, Chaparro said. The defense attorney said police threatened him with a rape charge if he didn't cooperate.

Derouchey's testimony is equally suspect, Chaparro said.

"She didn't go to police and say she had a change of heart, I lied," Chaparro said.

Instead, she went to an attorney, composed a statement to police and then regurgitated investigators' theory of what happened when Dutton was killed, Chaparro said.

Jurors should be skeptical of Christina Rodriguez as well because she wasn't a witness to the slaying and she had an unusual relationship with her husband and his girlfriend Derouchey.

Before the murder, Christina Rodriguez left the Fullerton apartment with her two daughters when she learned of her husband's affair, Chaparro said.

"She was not happy about this -- upset, jealous," Chaparro said.

After Dutton's murder, Derouchey, who was a rental agent at the apartment complex, was fired from her job along with Rodriguez because they violated rules against co-workers dating, the defense attorney said.

The two then went to live elsewhere in Fullerton and for some reason Christina Rodriguez went to live with them and Rodriguez's four sons, Chaparro said.

Rodriguez told his wife about the murder because he was attempting to woo back Christina, who wanted Derouchey out, and Rodriguez wanted to protect his son, Chaparro said.

"He was so very intent on not letting them get taken away that he would do whatever it took to protect his sons," Chaparro said.

"At the end of the day, the question is going to be, `Is the right person on trial?' " Chaparro said. ..Source.. Contra Costa Times

CT- Son accused of killing mother, burning house waives hearing

Here we have something unusual although its happened now twice in the past month or so, someone attempts to justify murder saying "I was sexually abused by them as a child." We regularly see politicians use sex offenders to further political goals, businesses do the same to further income, and now we see "unproveable sex offenses" to justify serious crimes. True, I don't know, but how long will society allow sex offenses and offenders to be used to justify everything under the sun?

3-4-2009 Connecticut:

Carson J. Mueller, who is accused of fatally strangling his mother and blowing up her house in Griswold a week later while trying to kill himself has waived his right to a probable cause hearing.

Mueller, 34, is charged with first-degree arson and murder. He allegedly strangled Denise Mueller, 69, and hid her body under leaves in Pachaug State Forest. A week later, on Jan. 5, he told police he was attempting to commit suicide when he doused his mother’s house at 74 Richardson Hill Road with gas and lit a match. The explosion blew him through a second-floor wall and onto the lawn.

As a murder defendant, Mueller had a right to a hearing in which the state introduces testimony and other information in an effort to convince a judge that there is enough evidence to prosecute the case. Mueller, standing with attorney Peter E. Scillieri in New London Superior Court this morning, told the judge he was waiving the hearing.

Mueller’s father, Ned Mueller, came to Connecticut from Washington State this week to visit with his son and grandchildren. On Wednesday, Mr. Mueller met with the son’s attorney at the courthouse to discuss the case, then waited in the hallway while Mueller stood before the judge. He said he has been staying at the local hotel where his ex-wife, to whom he was married for 23 years, worked. Upon learning of the crime, he told The Day that his son could not break away from Denise and that he had continued to live with her for financial reasons.

Mueller, who has two young daughters, left a suicide note in his mother’s mailbox. When he survived the explosion, he left the property in his car, only to call police a short time later from a Franklin gas station to say he had been in a car accident. Mueller told police he killed his mother “because he had suffered years of sexual and physical abuse from her” and he feared his two children would suffer a similar fate.

He is being held at the Garner Correctional Institution on a medical and suicide watch. He told Judge Susan B. Handy this morning that he would like to remain in protective custody at the prison rather than being housed in general population. The judge said put his request on the record, though she has no say over where the Department of Correction houses inmates.

Mueller’s next court appearance is April 3. ..News Source.. by Karen Florin

Murder victim's final ride detailed

Posted in Related Deaths

7-3-2004 Texas:

.Robert Fernandez III died an agonizing death last year at the hands of his girlfriend and two female accomplices, the victim of a mistaken allegation of child abuse, jurors were told Wednesday on the first day of trial for Maria Del Carmen Hernandez. Hernandez, 27, is charged with capital murder in the July 25, 2004 strangulation death of Fernandez, 32, who is the father of her son, Alex. Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty. If convicted, Hernandez faces life in prison. "He suffered an agonizing death and he suffered it at the hands of this defendant, Maria Hernandez, who drugged him, bound his arms and legs and put him in the trunk of a car, and then strangled him with a nylon hose," prosecutor Catherine Hayes told jurors during opening statements.

Also facing capital murder charges are Cassandra Leffew, 36, and Dolores Rodriguez, 56, who are accused of helping Hernandez. Their trials are pending. According to prosecutors, Hernandez broke up with Fernandez around December 2002, and then in 2003 was a companion to an abusive boyfriend who took her to Mexico and forced her to live there. Later that year, she returned to San Antonio and ended up at the Battered Women's Shelter, where she met Leffew and eventually went to live in her home. After moving, Hernandez resumed her relationship with Fernandez, who also moved in. Together, they took care of seven children, three of whom belonged to Hernandez and four who belonged to Leffew.

On July 23, 2004, during a visit to a friend's apartment to take the kids swimming, one of the children told Hernandez that Fernandez had sexual contact with one of Leffew's daughters. The friend, Dino Monk, testified Wednesday he heard Hernandez threaten to kill her boyfriend and "throw him in a ditch." Two nights later, Hayes told jurors, the three women got Fernandez drunk on rum that had been spiked with drugs to incapacitate him. They questioned him about the alleged abuse, which he denied. When he passed out, they put him in the trunk of a car and drove around for several hours before using garbage bags and a nylon stocking to strangle him, Hayes said. ..more.. : by Tom Bower, EXPRESS-NEWS STAFF WRITER

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Woman guilty in boyfriend's slaying
9-3-2005 Texas:
.A woman was found guilty of capital murder for helping to kidnap and strangle her boyfriend after he was falsely accused of molesting the daughter of one of his alleged captors. Maria Del Carmen Hernandez, 27, was found guilty Friday by a jury in 227th District Court and sentenced to life in prison for the killing of Robert Fernandez III. The earliest she could be paroled is in 39 years.

Hernandez was one of three women accused in the July 2004 slaying. Dolores Rodriguez, 56, of San Antonio, is charged with capital murder and Cassandra Leffew, 36, also of San Antonio, is charged with kidnapping. Their trials are pending. According to witness testimony, the three women met in 2003 at the Battered Women's Shelter, and Hernandez eventually went to live with Leffew. By early 2004, Hernandez had reconciled with Fernandez, 32, and the couple were taking care of seven children three that were Hernandez's and four that were Leffew's.

In July 2004, Fernandez was accused of molesting one of Leffew's daughters. Authorities investigated and determined the charge was false — but not before Fernandez was kidnapped, drugged and interrogated at Rodriguez's home in remote South Bexar County. Despite his denials, Fernandez was tied up, and attempts were made to suffocate him using two plastic garbage bags. When that didn't work, the women put him in the trunk of Leffew's car and drove around with him for about two hours. Later, they strangled him using a nylon hose, according to the statements. Fernandez's body was found in a roadside ditch. ..more.. : by San Antonio Express-News

Jail killing spurs inquiry

Posted in Related Deaths

4-6-2009 Kentucky:

COVINGTON - As most Sundays are at the Kenton County jail, March 29 was quiet. Inmates lounged in bed because there were no court hearings or visitations scheduled.

It was sometime during that quiet time that Isaac Jackson, a 40-year-old homeless man, was strangled in bed.

He wasn't found until jail deputies rushed to the cell to fix an overflowing toilet at 12:30 p.m. While authorities have not released an estimated time of death, officials have said they think Jackson was killed that morning.

It is the first killing authorities can recall happening in a Northern Kentucky jail - including Boone, Campbell and Grant counties - in at least two decades, Kenton County Police Chief Ed Butler said.

Cellmate Marion Lawson Parker II, who goes by Timmy, later confessed to the killing, Butler said. Jackson is the second man Parker is charged with strangling to death. The first was the Jan. 31 killing of Shawn Davis, 28, of Covington.

Details of Parker's confession are expected to be made public at the defendant's preliminary hearing, set for Tuesday in Kenton District Court.

Parker told investigators that he killed Jackson because the man made sexual advances toward him in a unit they shared with four other inmates, Butler said. Parker claims the advances were made as the pair smoked tobacco that Jackson had smuggled into the jail.

The six inmates were in a unit, made up of two cells with two double bunk beds, that open into a dayroom. The other four inmates said they didn't hear the strangulation because they were asleep in the two cells while Jackson slept in the dayroom on a cot, according to investigators. There is no security camera in the cell and its many corners make it hard for deputy jailers to see everything going on inside, officials say.

Investigators have found at least two towels that could have been used to strangle Jackson, Butler said. One was near the cot in which Jackson was found. The other was recovered from the jail's plumbing after being flushed down one of the unit's toilets, causing the overflow.

The jail's chief deputy, Col. Scott Colvin, said there is an internal affairs inquiry into whether all jail policies were followed, in addition to trying to determine how the tobacco was smuggled in.

It will be the job of two captains conducting the internal investigation to determine if those policies were followed by the staff, Colvin said. That will include determining whether deputy jailers did proper head counts through the day that might have uncovered Jackson's body before the toilet overflowed.

"In any event, the jailer intends to address any issues brought forth by our internal review and will disclose those findings," Colvin said. "We work hard at transparency in this agency."

While the killing also remains under investigation, Butler said Parker didn't implicate the other four people he shared the unit with in the killing.

Two of the people in the cell were accused killers Toshawn Sims and Brian Golsby. Sims is charged with murder and burglary in the 2006 killing of Michael Kidd. Golsby is charged with murder in the March killing of Travis White.

The remaining two were Josh Pillow, charged with unlawful imprisonment, and Raymond Luke, charged with burglary and criminal mischief.

Jackson had been arrested March 27 after Covington police found him hanging clothes on signs and bushes in Goebel Park, according to a police report. Jackson was charged with a misdemeanor after giving a false name.

Colvin said Parker was housed with the two accused killers because of his criminal record and institutional history. Jackson has been arrested 29 times, including a more than 10-year sentence for aggravated felony robbery in Ohio. His other convictions included aggravated menacing, aggravated stalking, forgery, felony theft and receiving stolen property.

Parker has since been moved to one of the jail's 16 single cells. Under Kentucky's "Safe Keeping Law," Colvin said, he has requested that the state corrections department take custody of Parker as he awaits trial. Colvin said the state prison system is better equipped to handle violent inmates.

Pillow has since been bailed out of jail. Simms, Luke and Golsby remain locked up with other inmates at the same custody level.

It was overcrowding at the jail that forced officials to place six inmates in a unit with only two double bunk beds. Jackson and another inmate were sleeping on cots.

A new Kenton County jail is expected to open in October 2010 at a cost of $41 million. It will have 540 beds. On Friday afternoon, there were 466 inmates in the jail, a facility designed for 348.

Parker and Jackson still could have been housed together at the new jail. They would have been in a dormitory-style unit with 68 other inmates and one deputy jailer inside the unit with the inmates, Colvin said.

The new jail's design is called "new generation direct supervision" and is considered by criminal justice experts as cutting edge. ..News Source.. by Jim Hannah

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

Triple murder followed fight in Clarksville

Posted in Related Deaths

3-28-2010 Tennessee:

The smiling faces of Diamin Shanklin, 8, and Paul-Nellom Vullo, 3, greet their grandmother Linda Shelton every morning as she looks at her bedroom dresser scattered with their pictures, angel figurines and candles.

Every day Shelton, 62, lights a candle. Often she sobs, knowing that the pictures are all she has left of Diamin, Paul and her daughter Natalie.

Among the memorabilia is a blue urn filled with the ashes of her 30-year-old daughter, Natalie Ann Vullo, who, along with her children, was found murdered inside her Cal Court home on Feb. 20, 2009.

Gerrard E. Robinson, a man with whom Vullo had had a sexual relationship, was charged with the murders. He later confessed to strangling Vullo and her children.

Two months after Robinson’s arrest, he hanged himself in his jail cell — a cell where he’d scribbled his victim’s names and his desire to die by lethal injection.

After Robinson’s death, the story went off the front page and the case was closed several months later. But Shelton was left with only questions and anger that involved every aspect of criminal justice — the Police Department, the District Attorney’s Office, the Board of Probation and Parole and Montgomery County Jail.

While Shelton’s grief is driving her forward, the case does raise many questions about how the system dealt with Robinson’s 1998 rape case, 2008 probation, domestic violence, and finally, threats of suicide.

“People say, ‘Why are you doing this? It’s over, it’s done,’” Shelton said. “But it’s not, because I’m not the only person this will happen to.”

The investigation

Shelton takes issue with the Clarksville Police Department’s investigation of a domestic violence incident on Feb. 7, 2009, involving Robinson and Vullo a week before the slayings. Vullo was arrested when Robinson accused her of scratching him in the face.

The family said the little girl, Diamin, scratched Robinson as she tried to get her mother’s cell phone. She said neighbors told police Vullo never got out of the car during the incident.

“Natalie called me and said she was going to Memphis ... and meet some guy and Gerrard wasn’t going to let her go. I said, ‘I know.’ I remember being worried that whole day,” Shelton said.

“She called me and said Gerrard had blocked her in the driveway, and her and the kids were going away. Natalie said he took her cell phone and threw it on the ground. He picked up the phone after he slammed it on the ground. Diamin got out of the car and went to get her mom’s cell phone and scratched him accidentally when she did it,” Shelton said.

She said she watched as officers arrested her daughter. “I was yelling at them, ‘This is wrong, you’re wrong what are you doing’ — the kids are standing out there crying and screaming,” Shelton said. “They put her in handcuffs and put her in the police car. I called the officer later and said, ‘You did this all wrong.’ He said, ‘Take it up with the courts lady,’ and that was it.”

Shelton said she made a formal complaint with CPD and received the following letter from Deputy Chief Frankie Gray on March 4, 2009:

“Dear Mrs. Shelton,

“Your complaint of misconduct involving members of our department has been thoroughly investigated. The investigation revealed there were no violations of police department rules or regulations. It has been determined that the officers acted properly in handling the incidents. The department has made every effort to provide the best possible service and that our employees conduct themselves in a professional manner. We understand the nature that surrounds your complaint. If you have any further questions you may contact me.

“Sincerely, Frankie Gray.”

Jim Knoll, spokesman for the Clarksville Police Department, said officials did not wish to comment on Shelton’s allegations.

Lost protection

Shelton said because Vullo was the one arrested, she lost her right to be protected from Robinson. Instead, an order of protection was placed against Vullo, prohibiting her from contacting him.

Peggy Macias of the Domestic Violence Unit at the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office said the COR (or conditions of release) in domestic cases prohibits the accused from contacting the victim as well, but gives the accused little protection.

“If a victim is harassing the accused, it’s called facilitation,” Macias said. “In rare cases they could get in trouble.”

Shelton is still brought to tears at the thought of her daughter losing the only protection she may have had. Shelton also believes the lack of domestic violence detectives at the time, attributed to what she calls poor investigations of such cases.

CPD has increased family protection since the murders. In December 2009, the department received a $400,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice that allowed the hiring of four domestic violence victim’s advocates and addressed the needs of the growing number of victims of domestic violence and child physical and sex abuse. They opened the Domestic Violence Division and Child Physical and Sexual Abuse Division at 106 Public Square.

History of problems

Vullo and Robinson met as ninth-graders at Northwest High School. They ran into each other at a Fort Campbell Boulevard gas station following Robinson’s release from prison in April 2008, after he finished serving 10 years on a rape charge.

Shelton said the family didn’t know he was a registered sex offender, and Vullo was told he’d gone to jail for a different crime.

Shelton doesn’t dispute that her daughter had problems. Natalie had ADHD, was bipolar and often chose men who weren’t good for her. She became obsessive and jealous, which made choosing good men difficult, Shelton said.

“I did it myself — a lot of women do,” Shelton said. “I’d tell her to not repeat my mistakes, but she just did. Natalie had history with men. It was a series of mess. From the day she learned about (Robinson), it was nonstop trouble.”

But there were signs that Vullo was working to improve her life.

Timothy W. Grant Sr., senior pastor at Deliverance Outreach Temple Church, said Vullo had joined his church the summer before she was killed.

“They would attend the services, and she got involved with the sisterhood ministry. She was really trying to get connected to the spiritual part.” Grant said. “I think she was ready to start anew, and she wanted to make sure her children were in church. I think she was excited about a change and excited about changing her life.”

Things began to spiral out of control as Vullo was faced with choose between Robinson, her son’s father Paul Nelloms, and another man named Desmond who lives in Memphis.

Stephanie Nelson, Vullo’s best friend, said the last time she talked to her, Vullo didn’t seem scared, but Nelson believes she was.

“She called me at 10 a.m., she said, ‘Steph, man what do I do? I got these three men. I don’t want none of them, but Paul ain’t having it. Gerrard ain’t having it. ... What do I do?”

Nelson jokingly told her friend to get it together. “I said, ‘Girl you better leave them alone before one of them kills you,’” Nelson said. She said Vullo agreed and they laughed it off.

Shelton has no doubt in her mind that Robinson was the killer. With access to police records, Shelton was able to read the confession Robinson gave police on Feb. 20, 2009.

For Shelton, the detailed description brought pain along with some relief to know her daughter and grandchildren had not suffered long.

Robinson told police the homicides happened at the “spur of the moment,” according to the confession. He described a relationship with Natalie where they both suffered “jealously and insecurities.”

Paul Nelloms, the father of Vullo’s son, was to be released from jail, which created friction between Vullo and Robinson, he told investigators. On Feb. 18, Robinson said he went to Vullo’s home to spend the night, and to bring her a plate of steak and rice from the restaurant where he worked. They began to argue about Paul Nelloms.

“We started talking about the situation with Paul coming back. We must have gotten pretty loud because the kids woke up and came in there and Natalie told them to get back in bed,” Robinson told police. “I don’t know what happened next but I was angry and hurt more than anything, and I choked her.

“I put my hands around her neck and strangled her. It was for a few minutes and she struggled a little bit. It was like my mind was telling me to stop, but I physically could not.”

Robinson said he used a blanket to continue to strangle her, then put her on the floor, stripped her, turned off the lights and went into her daughter’s room. He said he took Diamin to the kitchen, sat at the kitchen table and talked. Diamin asked for her mom, and Robinson said he asked to see her hands. After tying them together, he walked her down the hall and strangled her, he said.

Police reports said he used a pair of tights to kill Diamin and stripped her. He later poured bleach on her and Natalie to cover up fingerprints. He denied sexually assaulting any of the victims, and investigators found no evidence that he did so. Robinson then went to “Paul-Paul’s” room and tied him up with a sheet. “I told him that everything was fine, and it would be OK. He didn’t really know what was going on. He didn’t say much.”

Robinson said he stood the child up, made him face the wall and strangled him, then laid his lifeless body face-down on the floor.

“I didn’t know what to do after that. I thought, ‘I just did this,’” Robinson told police. “I was trying to make it look like something else had happened.

“I don’t know why I killed the kids. I didn’t know what to do with them. I didn’t want them to see their mom like that. After I killed Natalie, I was thinking that people had seen me over there and my car over there that day. I guess the kids were two more witnesses.”

He used Vullo’s cell phone to text his phone that someone was outside her window.
Robinson talked also about his cool demeanor during the confession.

“You know, they say I have no affect or emotion,” Robinson told police. “I just accept things though, you know? My thinking is that when you do something, you did it and it’s done. You can either deal with it or beat yourself up about it. I have never done anything like this before in my life. I have asked Allah to forgive me, and I believe that I have been forgiven.”

Shelton faced Robinson on March 3, 2009, during his preliminary hearing. It was also the last time she saw him. He turned and smiled at her as he left the courtroom, wearing orange Montgomery County Jail scrubs.

THE HANDS BEHIND THE KNOT

One man’s rape, murders and jail cell suicide spin off anguish and accusations.

Today: The murders of a woman and her children show the depths of domestic violence.

Monday: Taking a plea in a 1998 rape put Gerrard Robinson back on the streets 10 years later.

Tuesday: Robinson was on probation when the murders happened, and he failed a drug test.

Wednesday: A troubled life began with the loss of his father in the Gander crash.

Thursday: Robinson left messages of remorse and fear in his jailhouse suicide.

RECORDS REQUEST

To answer the questions of family members, friends and others about the Gerrard Robinson case, The Leaf-Chronicle requested and reviewed about 550 pages of public documents.

This Special Report is based on the following records, requested from law enforcement and public service agencies through the Tennessee Public Records Law:

• Murder investigation records on Gerrard Robinson from the Clarksville Police Department, released by Detective Tim Finley.

• Records on the investigation into the death of Gerrard Robinson, released by Sheriff’s Investigator Billy Batson and Montgomery County Attorney Austin Peay.

• Autopsy reports for Natalie Vullo, Diamin Shanklin, Paul Vullo-Nellom and Gerrard Robinson, released by the Tennessee Medical Examiner’s Office and Clarksville Police Department.

• State probation and parole records of Gerrard Robinson, released by Melissa McDonald, public information officer for the Tennessee Board of Probation and Parole.

• Court records for Natalie Vullo and Gerrard Robinson, released by the Tennessee 19th Judicial District Court Records Department.

• Rape case file of Gerrard Robinson for the 1998 rape of a woman in her home, released by the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office. ..Source.. by TAVIA D. GREEN • The Leaf-Chronicle

CA- Prosecutor: Man Killed Son, Baby's Mom Over Paternity Case

9-9-2009 California:

SAN DIEGO -- Jury deliberations began today in the double-murder trial of a Bonita man accused of strangling the mother of his child and killing his 10-month-old son after she threatened to bring a paternity case.

Dennis Potts, 25, faces life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted of murdering 22-year-old Tori Vienneau and their child, Dean Springstube.

Deputy District Attorney Per Hellstrom told jurors in his closing argument that Vienneau was killed on July 26, 2006, on a night she and Potts had dinner plans.

Potts lied to police when he told them he called off dinner with Vienneau, Hellstrom said, because it was the victim who canceled the meeting.

That was the night that the 22-year-old victim planned to tell Potts she was taking him to court over the paternity of their baby, according to Hellstrom.

"This was clearly the catalyst that caused Mr. Potts to kill her," the prosecutor said, telling the jury a notion that a stranger broke into Vienneau's apartment and killed her and her baby was an "absurd conclusion."

A "ping" from a cell phone tower at 6:44 p.m. put the defendant near the victim's apartment in south San Diego around the time she was killed, the prosecutor said.

"(He) simply doesn't have the courage to admit what he did that night," Hellstrom told the jury.

The man who the defense claimed is the real killer, Daniel Moen, couldn't have committed the crimes because he was at work, the prosecutor said.

Besides, Moen cared for Vienneau and loved her baby, Hellstrom said.

"He (Moen) cannot have committed this crime," the prosecutor said. "He must be innocent."

By contrast, Potts had no relationship with his son and lied "up and down" about his role in the murders, Hellstrom said.

The defendant's lifestyle was at risk if he was proven to be the baby's father, the prosecutor said.

Potts erased all of his text messages from that night, then ordered his cell phone records and altered them, the prosecutor said.

The defendant said he was at friend Max Corn's home working on a project when Vienneau was killed.

Hellstrom labeled as "chilling" the Internet searches done by Potts a month before the murders, in which he researched such topics as "how to cheat a swab paternity test," "the best way to kill someone," "getting away with murder" and "getting out of child support."

Defense attorney Kerry Armstrong told the jury that Potts did the searches in connection with a school paper on euthanasia. He also had some fascination with death, was interested in mixed martial arts and was worried about his father's failing health, his lawyer said.

Potts' palm print on the door jam of the room where the baby was hung in his crib could have been put there weeks before, because the defendant had been to Vienneau's apartment three or four times, Armstrong argued.

Potts made changes to his cell phone records because he was "scared," but never showed the altered records to anyone, his attorney said.

Just because Potts lied to police doesn't mean he's guilty of murder, Armstrong said.

According to a defense expert, it is possible that Potts was at Corn's house when he took a call from his mother and the call "pinged" off the cell tower near the victim's apartment, Armstrong said.

There is no direct evidence linking Potts to the murders, the defense attorney said.

"This is a 100 percent circumstantial case," Armstrong told the jury.

Hellstrom told the jury that Potts surprised Vienneau in her apartment, knocking her unconscious and then strangling her with the cord from a hair-straightening iron. Potts ripped the victim's blouse to try to make it look like she was sexually assaulted, the prosecutor said.

The defendant then proceeded to the baby's room and hung the child in his crib with a cord from a cell phone charger, Hellstrom said.

"He (the baby) died alone with his mom in the room next door," the prosecutor told the jury.

Hellstrom said Potts lied to police when he said a paternity test he took was legitimate, when in fact he had used his friend Corn's DNA to submit for the test.

Potts is charged with two counts of murder and a special circumstance allegation of multiple murders, along with a charge of conspiracy to obstruct justice.

Corn, who faces a conspiracy charge, will be tried following Potts' trial. ..Source.. by 10News.com

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CA- Bonita man who killed his son and baby’s mother gets life terms

11-6-2009 California:

A Bonita man who strangled his 10-month-old son and the baby’s mother because she was pressuring him to admit parentage was sentenced Friday to consecutive life prison terms with no possibility of parole.

Dennis Potts, 25, was convicted Sept. 10 of two counts of first-degree murder in the July 26, 2006, deaths of 22-year-old Tori Vienneau and their child, Dean Springstube.

Judge Bernard Revak, who has worked in the criminal justice system for nearly 45 years, said the case “cried out” for consecutive sentences.

“This case stands at the top of the list of cruel, uncaring, brutal (crimes) … with the gravest amount of malice that I have ever seen,” the judge said.

Revak said he hoped Potts would never be released from prison.

Deputy District Attorney Per Hellstrom called Potts “amoral, selfish and vindictive.”

“This man executed his own son,” the prosecutor said, calling the murders of Vienneau and her child “one of the most evil acts this community has ever seen.”

The prosecutor said Potts caught Vienneau off guard by telling her they were going out to dinner in La Jolla. Once in her apartment, Potts strangled her and then strangled the child in his crib, the prosecutor said.

“This is not a crime that this man should ever be released from prison,” Hellstrom told the judge. “He should spend the rest of his life in a cage.”

A “ping” from a cell phone tower at 6:44 p.m. put the defendant near the victim’s apartment in south San Diego around the time she was killed, the prosecutor said. The man who the defense claimed was the real killer, Daniel Moen, couldn’t have committed the crimes because he was at work, the prosecutor said. Besides, Moen cared for Vienneau and loved her baby, Hellstrom said.

Moen’s sister, Breanne, told that judge that her brother was “hit hard” by the murders of his best friend and her son.

“Daniel took it to heart to help his friend out,” his sister said. “Dean was Daniel’s buddy.”

Vienneau’s father, Roy Herroz, said Potts’ goal was murdering his daughter and her baby and getting away with it.

“What kind of animal murders his own son?” he asked. “What kind of parents stand beside such an animal?”

Herroz said he lost not only his daughter and grandson, but his job and his wife as he knew her before the murders.

“She is heavily medicated just to get by,” he said. “We’re still together, but we’re broken. Let Dennis Potts rot in his cell,” he said.

“That’s where he deserves to be.” Hs wife, Dayna, said Potts’ choice to kill her daughter and grandson “went beyond evil.”

She said it had been hard for her daughter to ask Potts to take a court- ordered paternity test, but she needed child support.

“She was a single mother doing the best she could,” Dayna Herroz said of her daughter. She said she hoped a photo of her daughter and grandson in the casket together would hang in Potts’ cell. “My only other wish is that when Dennis does die, that he rots in hell for all eternity,” she said.

Revak said Potts never thought investigators would recover the hard drive from his computer and discover that in the weeks before the murders, the defendant did Internet searches for “committing murder,” “how to cheat a swab paternity test,” “the best way to kill someone,” “getting away with murder” and “getting out of child support.”

Potts kept the fact that he was the baby’s father from his parents and fiancee.

“This case is really about choices, and the responsibility we bear for our choices,” the judge said.

Defense attorney Kerry Armstrong told the jury that Potts did the searches in connection with a school paper on euthanasia. He also had some fascination with death, was interested in mixed martial arts and was worried about his father’s failing health, his lawyer said. Potts’ palm print on the door jam of the room where the baby was hanged in his crib could have been put there weeks before because the defendant had been to Vienneau’s apartment three or four times, Armstrong argued.

Hellstrom told jurors that Potts surprised Vienneau in her apartment, knocking her unconscious and then strangling her with the cord from a hair- straightening iron. Potts ripped the victim’s blouse to try to make it look like she was sexually assaulted, the prosecutor said. The defendant then proceeded to the baby’s room and hanged his son in his crib with a cord from a cell phone charger, Hellstrom said.

Potts lied to police when he said a paternity test he took was legitimate, when in fact he had used his friend Max Corn’s DNA to submit for the test, Hellstrom said. Additional DNA tests done later determined that Potts was the baby’s biological father.

Corn, also 25, was tried separately and convicted of conspiracy to obstruct justice for lying to police about Potts’ whereabouts and helping fake the DNA test. Corn faces up to three years in prison when he is sentenced Dec. 11. ..Source.. by Kelly Wheeler, City News Service

CT- Son accused of killing mother, burning house waives hearing

Here we have something unusual although its happened now twice in the past month or so, someone attempts to justify murder saying "I was sexually abused by them as a child." We regularly see politicians use sex offenders to further political goals, businesses do the same to further income, and now we see "unproveable sex offenses" to justify serious crimes. True, I don't know, but how long will society allow sex offenses and offenders to be used to justify everything under the sun?

3-4-2009 Connecticut:

Carson J. Mueller, who is accused of fatally strangling his mother and blowing up her house in Griswold a week later while trying to kill himself has waived his right to a probable cause hearing.

Mueller, 34, is charged with first-degree arson and murder. He allegedly strangled Denise Mueller, 69, and hid her body under leaves in Pachaug State Forest. A week later, on Jan. 5, he told police he was attempting to commit suicide when he doused his mother’s house at 74 Richardson Hill Road with gas and lit a match. The explosion blew him through a second-floor wall and onto the lawn.

As a murder defendant, Mueller had a right to a hearing in which the state introduces testimony and other information in an effort to convince a judge that there is enough evidence to prosecute the case. Mueller, standing with attorney Peter E. Scillieri in New London Superior Court this morning, told the judge he was waiving the hearing.

Mueller’s father, Ned Mueller, came to Connecticut from Washington State this week to visit with his son and grandchildren. On Wednesday, Mr. Mueller met with the son’s attorney at the courthouse to discuss the case, then waited in the hallway while Mueller stood before the judge. He said he has been staying at the local hotel where his ex-wife, to whom he was married for 23 years, worked. Upon learning of the crime, he told The Day that his son could not break away from Denise and that he had continued to live with her for financial reasons.

Mueller, who has two young daughters, left a suicide note in his mother’s mailbox. When he survived the explosion, he left the property in his car, only to call police a short time later from a Franklin gas station to say he had been in a car accident. Mueller told police he killed his mother “because he had suffered years of sexual and physical abuse from her” and he feared his two children would suffer a similar fate.

He is being held at the Garner Correctional Institution on a medical and suicide watch. He told Judge Susan B. Handy this morning that he would like to remain in protective custody at the prison rather than being housed in general population. The judge said put his request on the record, though she has no say over where the Department of Correction houses inmates.

Mueller’s next court appearance is April 3. ..News Source.. by Karen Florin

ME- Affidavit: Man admits to killing Benn

2-27-2008 Maine:

AUGUSTA — The man accused of killing 72-year-old Audrey Lou Benn on Friday confessed to police Tuesday night, according to an affidavit filed today in Kennebec County Superior Court.

Raymond Leslie Clark, 35, of Augusta, is charged with murdering Benn in her basement apartment on State Street in Augusta. He lived in an apartment one floor above hers. He told police he killed her because she “confronted him about being a sex offender and came at him with a knife,” the affidavit said.

Clark is scheduled to make his initial appearance in Kennebec County Superior Court at noon today.

According to an affidavit filed by state police Detective Jason Richards, Deputy Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Marguerite Dewitt found that Benn died of strangulation. Dewitt found bruises on Benn’s chin, right eye and on the right side of her mouth.

Richards’ report says Benn’s body was found across the head of her bed, with the tie of her green bathrobe around her neck

Clark was a target of the police investigation shortly after Benn’s body was found by her roommate who returned from work about 5 p.m. Friday. ..more.. by Kennebec Journal Staff report

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CLARK ADMITS GUILT IN KILLING

1-27-2009 Maine

AUGUSTA -- Raymond Leslie Clark, 36, pleaded guilty Monday to murdering a woman who lived one floor below him in an apartment building in Augusta.
Clark told police Audrey Lou Benn, 72, had confronted him in her kitchen with a knife on the morning of Feb. 22, 2008, about his being a convicted sex offender.

He admitted to police he struck her several times -- and strangled her with the tie to her own bathrobe -- after she slowly backed him into her bedroom at knifepoint, said Assistant Attorney General Leane Zainea, who outlined the details of the slaying Monday for Justice John Nivison in Kennebec County Superior Court.

Clark told police he acted in self-defense; but Benn was a petite, frail woman who recently had used a cane for balance.

Investigators said Clark's DNA was found on the tie of Benn's green, terrycloth bathrobe. The deputy chief medical examiner said Benn died of strangulation. Bruises were found on her chin, her right eye and the right side of her mouth.

Clark re-enacted the murder scene for police four nights after it happened, and police videotaped it, Zainea said.

"He was able to get the knife from her and threw her on the bed and pinned her down and struck her several times in the face," Zainea said. "He took the belt from her bathrobe and tied it around her neck. She wasn't struggling. She wasn't fighting back."

When Benn's nose started bleeding, Clark stuffed tissues up her nostrils, Zainea said.

Clark told police he left and threw the knife into a snowbank outside. He later led investigators to it.

Benn's roommate came home from work and found the body on the bed the evening of Feb. 22.

Despite his initial denials, suspicion quickly turned to Clark after Benn's roommate told police he frequently used Benn's phone and borrowed cigarettes and money from her, according to an affidavit filed by state police Detective Jason Richards.

Shortly after Clark's arrest on Feb. 26, his attorney, James Billings, said he had concerns about Clark's competence and was exploring defenses based on self-defense and mental capacity.

That defense did not materialize, however. Billings said Monday that he and Zainea agreed to recommend jointly a sentence of 40 years in prison, with Billings reserving the right to argue for less.

Conviction for "knowing and intentional murder" carries a minimum sentence of 25 years in prison. Nivison said a sentencing hearing would be set for late next month.

Minutes before the hearing, Clark, in an interview on the second floor of the courthouse, said Benn had been a good neighbor to him, and that he regretted his actions.

"I want to say that I'm sorry," Clark said. "Many times I wish that never happened. She wasn't a mean person, and that wasn't me. I'm very sorry for the pain and suffering I caused."

Clark also said the state's mental health system failed him.

He said he had his first encounter with it at age 5 and had been hospitalized a dozen or so times at the Augusta Mental Health Institute, private detoxification centers, and psychiatric hospitals across the state.

Clark was convicted in 1999 of sexual abuse of a minor and sentenced to two years in prison. That offense placed him on the state's sex offender registry.

On Feb. 8, about three weeks before the killing, Augusta Police Department officers delivered fliers around the neighborhood that included a photograph of Clark and the fact that he was registered as a sex offender.

Clark initially denied involvement in Benn's killing, telling friends he knew nothing about it.

However, Zainea said weeks before the murder, Clark stole checkbooks belonging to Benn.

In July 2006, Clark was arrested and charged with stealing more than $5,000 worth of jewelry from a Hallowell jewelry store.

He pleaded guilty to the theft and, in November 2006, was sentenced to five years in jail with all but 100 days suspended. He was on probation at the time he killed Benn.

Clark has been held without bail on the murder charge since his February 2008 arrest.

Benn and a roommate shared an apartment on the basement floor of a house at 20 State St., four blocks from the courthouse. Clark had an apartment on the street level.

Benn's daughter, Elizabeth Glass, arrived from New York to watch Clark plead guilty to the murder of her mother on Monday.

She said her mother had been a teacher in New York and in the Republic of Guinea, and that Benn had suffered from mental illness.

"She was sick, and mentally ill people sometimes push family away," Glass said Monday. ..Source.. by BETTY ADAMS, Staff Writer