more evidence of a crazy fucked up world

[danceyogamom]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/02/03/family.torture/index.html

[Nowhereman]

I really want to knock the smiles off their faces in those photos.:mad:

[ScottyAH]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/02/03/family.torture/index.html
KILL THOSE FUCKIN" PILES OF SHIT............DIE YOU FUCKIN" SHIT FUCKS

[danceyogamom]

KILL THOSE FUCKIN" PILES OF SHIT............DIE YOU FUCKIN" SHIT FUCKS

I couldn't agree more.

they were caught in Utah a few hours ago

[ScottyAH]

I couldn't agree more.

they were caught in Utah a few hours ago
OMG...REALLY..oh thank GOD..they'd better fuck those scumbags up so bad... :mad:

[danceyogamom]

OMG...REALLY..oh thank GOD..they'd better fuck those scumbags up so bad... :mad:

yeah ... maybe they'll have an accident while being extradited:

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/02/04/family.torture/index.html

[Nowhereman]

I'm trying to figure out how they were able to adopt all those children. There must have been some red flags somewhere.

[danceyogamom]

I'm trying to figure out how they were able to adopt all those children. There must have been some red flags somewhere.

If there were, I'm sure they were completely missed. I believe the children ended up in that home through foster care.

the foster care system is so completely over-run and the counselors and social workers are so over worked that mistakes are rampant.

the system that was created to protect children already in need is actually doing more damage. which is why more funding is required for programs like this.

[Good Doctor HST]

Sounds like programs like this, that only help children and don't in any way make corporations or gov't heads rich, are some of the 200 programs Bush doomed in his SOTU address.

There was a story on the news this morning from Carlisle, Pa.... (near Harrisburg) that a 2-year old was taken from her parents because the "father" (how about progenator(sp?)... calling him a father would be wrong) forced marijuana smoke into the child, of course after the child was beaten.... Sick, sick people out there.

[danceyogamom]

Sounds like programs like this, that only help children and don't in any way make corporations or gov't heads rich, are some of the 200 programs Bush doomed in his SOTU address.

There was a story on the news this morning from Carlisle, Pa.... (near Harrisburg) that a 2-year old was taken from her parents because the "father" (how about progenator(sp?)... calling him a father would be wrong) forced marijuana smoke into the child, of course after the child was beaten.... Sick, sick people out there.


I hear about crap like that, and it turns my stomach. Overall I feel I've hit my limit as an effective (single) parent having two kids ... but I *always* feel compelled to take on foster children when I read about the horrible abuse inflicted on bbs all over this country.

Yesterday I watched a cnn clip about children who are being raised in meth labs. Do you know how toxic that shit is simply to be within 100 yards of? They can't legally re-sell houses that were once labs!!!! And yet children are being raised there. *grrrr* (of course, "raised" is a generous term)

I'm never going to serve this country, not in a traditional sense ... but I've decided its my moral and civic duty to help raise and care for our future citizens. Obviousally I can't take on foster children now ... I would be remis in caring for my own bbs. But I believe I will start taking kids in once mine are older and more secure individuals.

[danceyogamom]

AAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/02/05/alabama.killings/index.html

[danceyogamom]

She starved them on purpose:

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/02/05/alabama.killings/index.html


hummm .... Cnn changed the original story, so both my links go to this one now.

Sorry about that!

[danceyogamom]

This one is rather close to home for me (I'm very familiar with this town) ...

http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/02/09/teacher.charged.ap/index.html

people are twisted ...

[danceyogamom]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/02/09/basement.search.ap/index.html

people break my heart

[Nowhereman]

This one is rather close to home for me (I'm very familiar with this town) ...

http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/02/09/teacher.charged.ap/index.html

people are twisted ...


There seems to be an increase of female teachers having sex with teenage males. I have to admit as a male who was 13 once, and looking at the teacher, this seems like a dream come true for many teenage boys. Though there is a big difference between a 13 year old and a 16 year old boy. At 13 she could cause psychological damage to the boys sexuality.

[somebigguy]

Will she be posing for Playboy soon?

[danceyogamom]

There seems to be an increase of female teachers having sex with teenage males. I have to admit as a male who was 13 once, and looking at the teacher, this seems like a dream come true for many teenage boys. Though there is a big difference between a 13 year old and a 16 year old boy. At 13 she could cause psychological damage to the boys sexuality.

yeah ... and society doesn't frown on it the way they should. This may be TIM or too much personal background but I'm going to say it anyway.

when I was 17 I was involved with a 25 year old man. At 17 I had no idea how fucked up that was. It never once occurred to me to wonder what a grown man was doing with me, I wasn't emotionally ready to support the relationship or that thought process. (in his defense, I was in my second year of college at the time ... so he might have assumed me to be 19, but that is still a huge difference)

it wasn't until I was 25, and teaching 17 year olds that I realized how messed up that was. Those boys looked like babies to me and I couldn't imagine becoming involved with them in any form.

[danceyogamom]

who lets these people breed!?!?!?!

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/02/10/girl.abuse.ap/index.html

[danceyogamom]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/02/11/newborn.tossed/index.html

[danceyogamom]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/02/11/newborn.tossed/index.html

this woman needs help ... but its better than throwing a baby out of a moving car:

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/02/11/newborn.tossed/index.html

[ScottyAH]

I hear ya

[danceyogamom]

I think God may have heeded my request despite his vacation ...

I haven't found anything readily available to post in several days ...

quite relieving really

[danceyogamom]

*sigh*

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/02/22/missing.family/index.html

[Giggles]

yeah ... and society doesn't frown on it the way they should. This may be TIM or too much personal background but I'm going to say it anyway.

when I was 17 I was involved with a 25 year old man. At 17 I had no idea how fucked up that was. It never once occurred to me to wonder what a grown man was doing with me, I wasn't emotionally ready to support the relationship or that thought process. (in his defense, I was in my second year of college at the time ... so he might have assumed me to be 19, but that is still a huge difference)

it wasn't until I was 25, and teaching 17 year olds that I realized how messed up that was. Those boys looked like babies to me and I couldn't imagine becoming involved with them in any form.I agree, hell I can't even go out with a guy who is any younger then one year without feeling like I'm robbing the cradle.

[Giggles]

I think they should get life in prision or be put to death, so as to be an example.

[danceyogamom]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/02/24/infant.assault.ap/index.html

This one is really gross

[danceyogamom]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/02/24/children.stabbed.ap/index.html

I can't begin to imagine what the surviving children will have to deal with ... can you image the therapy sessions in 15 years or so?

[danceyogamom]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/02/25/florida.girl/index.html

[danceyogamom]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/03/01/florida.girl.ap/index.html

[Good Doctor HST]

DYM:

Just wanted to say thanks for this thread idea. Yes, it's depressing as hell.... but it shows how crazy and fucked up things really are.

I got a book at a discount store called "Base Instincts: What Makes Killers Kill" about two years ago. One important aspect of the serial killer/rapists' makeup is a violent, neglected childhood.

[Gold9472]

Holy shit... I haven't been following this thread...

[danceyogamom]

DYM:

Just wanted to say thanks for this thread idea. Yes, it's depressing as hell.... but it shows how crazy and fucked up things really are.

I got a book at a discount store called "Base Instincts: What Makes Killers Kill" about two years ago. One important aspect of the serial killer/rapists' makeup is a violent, neglected childhood.

Thanks ... it is depressing - and the worst part is I never have to go very far to find these stories. They are usually on the front page of CNN ... *sigh*

my personal crucade is the welfare of children. I believe it is the responsibility of everyone to look after our future's (children's) safety.

when my bbs get older, I plan on taking on as many foster children as possible. its the least I can do.

I will have to check out that book ... it sounds very interesting!

[danceyogamom]

Holy shit... I haven't been following this thread...

yeah ... its depressing.

I hope people at least check out the articles. Hopefully it will make people look twice at what they see going on around them.

[danceyogamom]

Having spent a week in the hospital with my son, I saw far too much abuse and neglect to children.

before my bbs were born, I taught dance full time for a publically funded group. I was legally bound to report any suspected incidents of child abuse, and I "trained" on how to spot problems at home. Fortunately, I've never had to report anyone. But it has made me much more aware of what I see in child/parent interactions.

There was a baby sharing the hospital room with my son. In the entire time I was there, the baby didn't have a single visitor. His parents didn't come once. This poor baby cried and cried to be held. I *so* desperately wanted to comfort him, but I didn't knowing it would get me kicked out of the hospital.

My son was never alone during his stay. My ex and I split our time between the hospital and being with our other child. My ex never saw anyone with the baby either. The baby was discharged while jt was still in the hospital. I overheard the nurses complaining that the mom was notified the day before that the baby was ready to go home. The mom was supposed to come at 10am ... She didn't come until 3pm the next day. The mom, dad and older sibling all came together. The nurses were explaining everything this baby required at home (and it was a lot) and after they left, I heard them discussing how long it would be before the poor baby was back.

Not horrible abuse and neglect like the articles I've been posting ... but every day abuse that we see all the time.

[danceyogamom]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/03/02/china.explosion/index.html

[danceyogamom]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/03/03/girl.attacked.ap/index.html

[danceyogamom]

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/03/03/news/trial.html

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2005-03-03-france-pedophilia_x.htm?csp=34

[danceyogamom]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/03/09/mass.poisoning/index.html

(CNN) -- Nearly 30 elementary school children in the Philippines have died after eating fried cassava balls obtained from a vendor, a spokesman for the local mayor told CNN.

Fourteen children died Wednesday before reaching hospitals and 13 died upon arrival, the spokesman for Mabini Mayor Eutiquio Bernales said.

Two more children also have died, but it was not clear when. Thirty-five more are in critical condition.

The victims suffered severe stomach pain, then vomiting and diarrhea after eating the snack during morning recess, The Associated Press reported.

They were taken to at least four hospitals near the school in Mabini, a town on Bohol Island, about 610 kilometers (380 miles) southeast of Manila, AP said.

"Some said they took only two bites because it tasted bitter and the effects were felt 5-10 minutes later," Dr. Harold Garcia of Garcia Memorial Provincial Hospital in the nearby town of Talibon told AP.

The vendor who sold the cassava balls insisted nothing was wrong with them and ate a few to prove the point. Now she, too, is in critical condition.

All of the children were in the first and second grades of San Jose Elementary School in Mabini. Francisca Doliente AP that her 9-year-old niece Arve Tamor was given some of the deep-fried caramelized cassava by a classmate who bought it from a regular vendor outside the San Jose school.

"Her friend is gone. She died," Doliente said, adding that her niece was undergoing treatment.

Grace Vallente, 26, said her 7-year-old nephew Noel died en route to the hospital and that her 9-year-old niece Roselle was undergoing treatment.

"There are many parents here," AP quoted her as saying from L.G. Cotamura Community Hospital in Bohol's Ubay town.

"The kids who died are lined up on beds. Everybody's grief-stricken."

Cassava is a starchy, tuberous root that is a low-cost source of carbohydrates in humid, tropical areas; it is also the source of tapioca.

Cassava contains amino acid-derived cyanogenic glucosides -- some more than others -- and must be thoroughly cooked to remove toxic levels.

Eaten raw, the human digestive system will convert part of it into cyanide. Two cassava roots contain enough to be fatal.

[danceyogamom]

This one isn't so clearly abuse ... but it is very sad

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/03/15/lifesupport.baby.ap/index.html

HOUSTON, Texas (AP) -- A critically ill 5-month-old was taken off life support and died Tuesday, a day after a judge cleared the way for doctors to halt care they believed to be futile. The infant's mother had fought to keep him alive.

Sun Hudson had been diagnosed with a fatal genetic disorder called thanatophoric dysplasia, a condition characterized by a tiny chest and lungs too small to support life. He had been on a ventilator since birth.

Wanda Hudson unsuccessfully fought to continue her son's medical care. She believed he needed time to grow and could eventually be weaned off the ventilator.

"I wanted life for my son," Hudson said Tuesday. "The hospital gave up on him too soon."

Texas law allows hospitals to end life support in cases such as this but requires that families be given 10 days to find another facility to care for the patient. No hospital was found to take the baby.

The ethics committee at Texas Children's Hospital reviewed Sun's case before recommending that life support be stopped. Hospital officials also recommended the case be taken to court and offered to pay Hudson's attorney fees.

"Texas Children's Hospital is deeply saddened to report that Sun Hudson has died," the hospital said in a statement issued Tuesday.

[danceyogamom]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/03/17/rilya.charges/index.html


MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- A woman faces a murder charge in the case of a missing 4-year-old girl whose disappearance prompted harsh criticism of Florida's child-welfare system, a prosecutor said.

Authorities discovered they had lost track of Rilya Wilson in April 2002 -- 15 months after a caregiver said she turned the child over to a state agency. Rilya's body has never been found.

One of the girl's caretakers, Geralyn Graham, has been indicted on a first-degree murder charge, Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said Wednesday.

Graham also faces previous kidnapping and child abuse charges in the case.

Graham's attorney, Brian Tannebaum, called the charges "all lies," saying his client was shocked.

Graham, who is serving a prison sentence for fraud, maintains she gave Rilya to a Florida child welfare worker in January 2001 after asking that the state take charge of the child due to behavioral problems.

The state insists it has no record of anyone from the Florida Department of Children & Families picking the girl up. But Florida officials also admit they lost track of her in the state system.

The indictment accuses Graham of killing Rilya in December 2000, saying the girl was beaten and suffocated.

After Graham was charged six months ago with kidnapping and child abuse, she made admissions to someone in prison, "and that became another key ingredient in this prosecution," Fernandez Rundle said in a statement.

"We feel that we have her admissions, and we have some corroboration. ... So we feel very confident," Fernandez Rundle told reporters Wednesday.

Police have found "sufficient evidence" that the girl was dead by the time her disappearance was discovered, the state attorney's office said.

"You all know there is no crime scene, there is no body in this case, but we feel very comfortable in our charges here," Fernandez Rundle said.

"Our grand jury has heard the facts and determined that Rilya's disappearance was the result of an act of violence and has indicted the child's former caretaker," she said.

"We do know that she passed away in a very painful way."

Prosecutors said they can't release evidence to back up their findings.

Graham is serving a prison sentence on convictions for identity and Medicaid fraud -- for accepting payments on Rilya's behalf after she no longer had the child in her care.

Defense attorney Tannebaum said: "The state has made it clear they want to keep my client in jail for the rest of her life. My understanding is the state is saying in their press release that they have not found this child. So I don't know what new evidence they have."

He added, "I don't know who testified before the grand jury. I don't know what evidence was presented. All I know is that they've charged my client with murder, and they have not found a body."

Rilya's father, Manville Cash, said he does not believe investigators' conclusions about his daughter's fate.

"I don't think she's dead," said Cash, who was serving a prison sentence for a drug conviction at the time the child disappeared.

CNN's Patrick Oppmann contributed to this report.

[Good Doctor HST]

From close to my stomping grounds....

York, Pa. averages 6-11 homicides per year.

There's been 6 homicides in the last 10 days.

Just thought that was a little odd.....

[Gold9472]

From close to my stomping grounds....

York, Pa. averages 6-11 homicides per year.

There's been 6 homicides in the last 10 days.

Just thought that was a little odd.....

21 homicides in Philadelphia this last week...

[danceyogamom]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/03/18/missing.girl/index.html

http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2005/US/03/18/missing.girl/story.vert.couey.jpg
HOMOSASSA SPRINGS, Florida (CNN) -- A search is under way in Homosassa Springs, Florida, for Jessica Lunsford's body after Citrus County Sheriff Jeff Dawsy said a convicted sex offender police have been questioning confessed to abducting and killing her.

"John Couey admitted to abducting Jessica and subsequently taking her life," Dawsy told reporters Friday. "I've got my man."

Dawsy said Couey provided general information about where the body could be found, and he said the search could take hours.

Law enforcement sources told CNN that Couey said he buried the girl behind his sister's home.

Couey was staying at the property, which is located across the street from the Lunsford home, when the girl disappeared three weeks ago.

Jessica was last seen wearing a pink nightgown. Her grandmother had tucked her into bed the night of February 23. The next morning, the girl was missing.

Couey, 46, is registered as a sex offender in Citrus County but wasn't living at the address he had given authorities, sheriff's department spokeswoman Ronda Hemminger Evan said.

The announcement came after authorities sealed off Couey's sister's home with yellow crime scene tape.

Dawsy said the girl's father, Mark Lunsford, and her mother, Angela Bryant, who lives in Ohio, have been notified.

"This is a very tough time, not only for me, it's a very tough time for the family," the sheriff said, his voice cracking.

Dawsy said that Couey confessed after taking a lie-detector test Friday.

"At the end of the polygraph, he says, 'You don't need to tell me the results. I already know what they are,' " Dawsy said.

Couey then asked for investigators to be sent back in and apologized "for wasting their time," the sheriff said.

Except for an unlocked front door, the Lunsford home was undisturbed, with no signs of a struggle. Jessica Lunsford lived with her father, Mark, and her grandparents.

The girl's father said he had never seen Couey before or heard his name. He had earlier told reporters he was not convinced that Couey was involved.

Couey was arrested on parole violation charges at a homeless shelter in Augusta, Georgia, Thursday and questioned in the Lunsford's disappearance, law enforcement sources said.

Richmond County Sheriff Ronnie Strength described Couey as "cooperative."

"He was taken without incident. He did not try to hide who he was," the sheriff said. "He told us who he was. And we had no problem whatsoever with him."

A relative told detectives that Couey left Florida for Savannah, Georgia by bus four days later -- under an assumed name. There, he was interviewed by police at a shelter Saturday. But they had no jurisdiction to hold him, and Couey eventually made his way to Augusta, more than 100 miles away when he was arrested at a Salvation Army shelter.

Warrant issued after address change

Authorities said that Couey was among a number of sex offenders being considered after Lunsford went missing.

Under Florida law, a convicted sex offender must register his change of address. When police were unable to find Couey at the home where he was most recently registered, authorities determined he was living with relatives across from the Lunsford home.

Couey's record raised particular concern because his more than three-decade-long criminal history, spanning 24 arrests, including burglary, carrying a concealed weapon, indecent exposure, disorderly conduct, larceny and drug charges.

Couey pleaded guilty to 1991 felony charges of sex offense against a child, fondling a child under 16, and lewd and lascivious conduct in Kissimmee, Florida. He was convicted of indecent exposure in 1987, according to records from the sheriff's office.

During a 1978 burglary for which he was convicted, Couey was accused of grabbing a girl in her bedroom, placing his hand over her mouth and kissing her, Dawsy said.

[danceyogamom]

Originally Posted by Good Doctor HST
From close to my stomping grounds....

York, Pa. averages 6-11 homicides per year.

There's been 6 homicides in the last 10 days.

Just thought that was a little odd.....



21 homicides in Philadelphia this last week...

man ... its not even a full moon

[danceyogamom]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/HEALTH/conditions/03/18/angola.illness.ap/index.html

GENEVA, Switzerland (AP) -- The Ebola-like mystery ailment that has killed at least 39 people in Angola over the past three months is targeting primarily children under 5, the U.N. health agency said Friday.
While the disease in Angola's northern province of Uige has still not been identified, health officials believe the illness is an acute hemorrhagic fever related to the Ebola virus, said Dick Thompson, spokesman for the World Health Organization.

But unlike Ebola, which tends to predominantly affect the adult population, four out of five cases of this new ailment have been children, Thompson said.

"With Ebola, the age distribution is generally quite different than what we are seeing here," he said. "But we are not ruling Ebola out. We are not ruling anything out."

The symptoms of the virus -- including vomiting, bloody discharge and high fever -- are similar to those for Ebola and other hemorrhagic fevers, including dengue fever, according to WHO.

Angolan officials have put the death toll at 64, but Thompson said the number is probably lower because deaths from other diseases may been included in the Angolan figure.

WHO has no estimates on how deadly the disease might be or how many cases already exist, he said.

"It is really impossible to know right now -- we are collecting information and waiting for lab tests to come back," Thompson said.

If the disease is a known substance, lab tests could provide conclusive data within a week, Thompson said, but warned that if it is unknown the results would take longer.

"With SARS it took three weeks to get results back, but that was a massive international collaboration," he said, in reference to the previously unknown disease that killed nearly 800 people worldwide in 2003.

Ebola causes death in 50-90 percent of clinically ill cases. It is transmitted by direct contact with the blood, secretions, organs or bodily fluids of infected persons.

Outbreaks of the disease are rare because the virus is usually so deadly it kills its victims before they can pass it on. WHO says it has documented more than 1,200 deaths in about 1,850 cases since the first recognized epidemic in 1976.

More than 100,000 Angolans were due to return this month via Uige from Congo, where Ebola still exists in nature.

Dengue fever is common in tropical areas and endemic to parts of Asia and the Caribbean. No vaccine or cure is currently available for the disease.

[firefighter_with_cuffs]

that shit really pisses me off, children are true gifts from God, it's tradgic some are born to "wastes of human tissue" that don't even deserve the right to breath the precious are we all share.

[firefighter_with_cuffs]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/02/03/family.torture/index.html

That shit really pisses me off, children are true gifts from God, it's tradgic some are born to "wastes of human tissue" that don't even deserve the right to breath the precious are we all share.

[danceyogamom]

That shit really pisses me off, children are true gifts from God, it's tradgic some are born to "wastes of human tissue" that don't even deserve the right to breath the precious are we all share.

yes ... it is exceptionally distressing.

as difficult as this thread is, I feel it is important to post this kind of thing.

it also makes me so much more aware of the children I interact with through teaching, and makes me appreciate my bbs so much more.

[danceyogamom]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/03/21/school.shooting/index.html

A student on Monday killed two of his grandparents, then went on a shooting rampage at his Minnesota high school, killing seven people and wounding as many as 13 others before killing himself, officials said.
FBI Special Agent Paul McCabe told reporters the dead include a female teacher, a male security officer and four students at Red Lake High School.

"We believe that one of those students is the shooter," McCabe said.

The FBI office in Minneapolis later said two more wounded students had died.

The school, about 240 miles north of the Twin Cities, was evacuated and locked down, McCabe said.

"At this time, we believe he was acting alone," he said, refusing to comment on a possible motive, adding, "It's far too early in the investigation."

The slain students were shot in one room, he said.

"Apparently, he walked down the hallway shooting and then he entered a classroom, he shot several students and a teacher, then himself,"said Roman Stately, with the Red Lake Fire Department, who arrived at the high school moments after the shootings.

Authorities discovered about an hour later that the boy had shot and killed his grandmother and grandfather, a veteran of the police force, Stately told KARE-TV.

Stately said the boy used his grandfather's police-issued weapon in the school rampage.

Witness Sondra Hegstrom described the gunman grinning and waving, according to The Pioneer of nearby Bemidji, Minnesota.

"I looked him in the eye and ran in the room, and that's when I hid," she told the newspaper.

Teacher Diane Schwanz told The Pioneer that the shooter tried to break through the door to her classroom.

"I just got on the floor and called the cops," Schwanz told the paper. "I was still just half-believing it."

The shootings occurred about 3 p.m. (4 p.m. ET), in Red Lake High School, a school of 300 students that is on a sovereign Indian reservation near the Canadian border.

Tribal authorities closed the reservation after the shootings, The Associated Press reported.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty expressed his condolences and offered comfort.

"We ask Minnesotans to help comfort the families and friends of the victims who are suffering unimaginable pain by extending prayers and expressions of support,"his office said in a statement.

Sen. Norm Coleman said: "Laurie and I send our heartfelt prayers and sympathies to the family and friends of those lost and injured today in Red Lake and to all those touched by this tragedy."

[danceyogamom]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/03/26/lunsford.memorial.ap/index.html

http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2005/US/03/26/lunsford.memorial.ap/vert.jessica.ap.jpg


CRYSTAL RIVER, Florida (AP) -- Jessica Lunsford liked to ride her bike. She liked to practice cheerleading, too.
The slain third-grader was remembered by her family at a private gathering Friday. A public memorial service was scheduled for Saturday.

"We're going to make it," Jessica's grandfather, Archie Lunsford, told the Orlando Sentinel for its Saturday editions. "It's been tough, but we want to finish it up by going to the memorial."

Authorities say convicted sex offender John E. Couey, 46, confessed to kidnapping and killing Jessica, 9, who was last seen in February when she went to bed after attending church. That was the last time she was seen.

Jessica's body was found last week about 150 yards from her house, near a mobile home where Couey had been staying at the time of her abduction.

Couey has pleaded not guilty to capital murder, battery, kidnapping and sexual battery on a child under 12. He was being held without bail.

"Everything is done now," Archie Lunsford said. "Maybe we can start getting our lives back together."

Medical examiners said Jessica was sexually assaulted and died of asphyxiation.

Jessica's father, Mark Lunsford, has repeatedly said he wants prosecutors to seek the death penalty. Citrus County Sheriff Jeff Dawsy will ask the State Attorney's Office to pursue that sentence as well.

[danceyogamom]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/03/25/iowa.missing.ap/index.html

http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2005/US/03/25/iowa.missing.ap/vert.iowa.ap.jpg

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) -- Police are investigating whether a body found Friday is that of a 10-year-old girl who authorities said vanished with a registered sex offender.
Cedar Rapids police canceled an Amber Alert for Jetseta Marie Gage after the body was found in rural Johnson County but said a positive identification of the body had not been made. Police did not say if it was the body of a child.

Police say the suspect Roger Paul Bentley, 37, a family acquaintance, and his vehicle were found in Johnson County at 7 a.m. Friday and placed into police custody. He is accused of taking Jetseta from her mother's house in nearby Cedar Rapids Thursday night.

Bentley is registered as an Iowa Sex Offender and was convicted in 1994 for lascivious acts with a child.

No charges have been filed so far.

Telephone messages left Friday for officials with the Johnson County sheriff's department were not immediately returned.

Police said Bentley was working on the van of Jetseta's mother, Trena Gage, Thursday night before disappearing with the child.

Gage, who was away at the time taking a college course, said her 7-year-old son saw Bentley leave in his pickup with Jetseta. The children's grandmother also was at home.

"I'm distraught. I'm just praying," she told The (Cedar Rapids) Gazette. "I just want her home."

[danceyogamom]

DALLAS, Texas (CNN) -- A former top official of the Boy Scouts of America faces federal Internet child pornography charges and is expected to plead guilty Wednesday, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office said.

Douglas S. Smith Jr. faces a single count of receiving and distributing child pornography -- a charge resulting from a federal investigation conducted with German authorities.

The U.S. attorney's office in Fort Worth, Texas, filed the charges after federal investigators found images of children engaging in sex acts on Smith's computer.

Smith is scheduled to appear before a federal judge Wednesday in Fort Worth, said Kathy Colvin, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office.

"We anticipate Mr. Smith will enter a guilty plea at that time," she said.

Smith retired from the Boy Scouts in February after a 39-year career with the youth organization, based in suburban Dallas. The organization placed him on administrative leave after learning that he was under criminal investigation, and Smith stepped down soon afterward, BSA spokesman Greg Shields said.

Smith, a former Eagle Scout, previously served as the Boy Scouts' director of programming, Shields said.

"As a professional scouter, he was in more administrative positions -- most recently developing programs -- and not in direct contact with the youth," Shields said.

Shields said the Boy Scouts are "shocked and dismayed" by Smith's arrest, but the group has cooperated with investigators in the case.

"We surrendered his work computer to authorities," he said.

Smith surrendered to authorities Friday and was released without bond, according to court records. There was no immediate comment from his attorney.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/03/29/scouts.charges/index.html

[danceyogamom]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/04/02/killed.for.kiss.ap/index.html

ATLANTIC CITY, New Jersey (AP) -- For Elisa Hernandez, no meant no -- and a tragic death at age 15.
When a frustrated suitor named Alfred Bishop asked her for a kiss, she refused him. Again and again, he asked. She said no. When he pulled out a revolver and pointed at her head, Atlantic County Prosecutor Jeffrey Blitz said, she pushed it away.

"She laughed him off," Blitz said.

The rejection cost her: After being rebuffed, Bishop shot her through the eye, cutting short the life of a bubbly, self-assured high school sophomore who loved hip-hop and dancing and went by "Lisa," according to authorities.

"She was just joyful, a funny, outgoing person who didn't care if people talked about her," said friend Barb Parred, 21. "But something she didn't want to do, she wouldn't do it."

Bishop, 21, was captured in Washington, D.C. He was being held without bail.

"It doesn't make any sense," said the victim's mother, also named Elisa Hernandez, 32. "I think there's more to it than this. My feelings tell me that."

On Tuesday night, the teen walked across the courtyard from the Brigantine Homes housing project unit she shared with her parents, both casino workers, and two siblings to visit with friends.

She was already inside apartment 880A visiting with three girls who lived there -- their mother, the only adult in the household, wasn't home -- when authorities say Bishop arrived.

Diagnosed as schizophrenic at age 10, Bishop had recently split with his girlfriend of six years and quit taking his medication because it made him sleepy and sluggish, according to his mother, Lisa Bishop, 40.

He had been drinking and smoking marijuana earlier that night, said Lisa Bishop, who talked to her son by telephone after the killing.

Alfred Bishop, who served a year in prison for aggravated assault by auto and was released nearly two years ago, was at the apartment because he had stored some of his belongings there, according to Blitz.

After some casual conversation in the kitchen, Bishop tried to get Hernandez to kiss him, but she laughed at him, according to Blitz.

Bishop then pulled out the gun, put it to her head and again demanded a kiss, Blitz said. According to witnesses, she said no and pushed the gun away twice before he shot her through the left eye and fled, Blitz said.

Hernandez died at the scene.

"He told me he did it and it was a big mistake and he loved me and was sorry to put me through all this," Bishop's mother said.

His lawyer, Joel Mayer, said Friday that Bishop didn't intend to shoot. He said Bishop was a non-violent man, an assertion also made by Bishop's ex-girlfriend, Nicole White, 22.

"I've been with him for six years and he never pulled a weapon on me, and we've been through everything," said White, the mother of Bishop's 3-year-old daughter. "He was never violent. We had our ups and downs, but he never hurt me."

Bishop had threatened Hernandez previously, according to Hernandez's family.

"That was not any accident, because two days before he killed my daughter, he was in my house drinking with me," said Luis Santiago, 34, the victim's father. "And I told him, `Yo, stop playing with a gun like that. You're a young kid. I've been in jail too much time. You will find yourself in jail for life.'

"Also, he told my daughter `You are going to be mine, or you are going to be dead,"' Santiago said.

[danceyogamom]

My name is Sarah
I am but three,
my eyes are swollen,
I cannot see.

I must be stupid.
I must be bad.
What else could have made
My daddy so mad?

I wish I were better.
I wish I weren't ugly.
Then maybe my mommy
Would still want to hug me.

I can't speak at all
I can't do a wrong
Or else I'm locked up
All the day long.

When I awake
I'm all alone
The house is dark
My folks aren't home.

When my mommy does come
I'll try and be nice,
So maybe I'll get just
One whipping tonight

Don't make a sound!
I just heard a car.
My daddy is back
From Charlie's Bar.

I hear him curse.
My name he calls.
I press myself
Against the wall.

I try and hide
From his evil eyes.
I'm so afraid now
I'm starting to cry.

He finds me weeping.
He shouts ugly words.
He says its my fault
That he suffers at work.

He slaps me
And hits me
And I finally get free
And I run for the door.

He's already locked it
And I start to bawl,
He takes me and throws me
Against the hard wall.

I fall to the floor
With my bones nearly broken,
And my daddy continues
With more bad words spoken.

"I'm sorry!", I scream
But its now much too late
His face has been twisted
Into unimaginable hate.

The hurt and the pain
Again and Again
Oh please God, have mercy!
Oh please let it end!

And he finally stops
And heads for the door,
While I lay there motionless
Sprawled on the floor.

My name is Sarah
And I am but three,
Tonight my daddy
Murdered me.

The e-mail instructed me to forward this on to as many people as I could in an attempt to combat child abuse.

I figured this thread was a good start.

[danceyogamom]

(CNN) -- A convicted sex offender facing capital murder charges in the killing of a 9-year-old Florida girl told investigators he buried her alive, law enforcement sources told CNN Friday night.

John Evander Couey, 46, who officials said confessed to the crimes, is charged with capital murder, burglary with battery, kidnapping and sexual battery on a child younger than 12.

Couey has a 30-year criminal history, and his case prompted more debate over the rights of sexual predators.

Jessica Marie Lunsford was discovered missing from her Homosassa home on February 24 by her father.

Her body was found almost a month later -- buried within sight of her own home -- behind the house where Couey was staying with his half-sister.

The Citrus County Sheriff's Office had no comment on the information released Friday night.

Investigators say Couey took her from her bedroom on February 23.

A preliminary medical examiner's report last month said Jessica died from asphyxiation after being sexually assaulted.

Sources have told CNN that investigators are still trying to confirm the burial information and other statements Couey made to police, and are awaiting results of the full autopsy, expected in about a month.

Law enforcement officers and hundreds of volunteers from around the country combed Citrus County -- north of Tampa -- for the girl, who lived with her father and grandparents.

Earlier Friday, prosecutors said the girl police believe was assaulted and slain by a convicted sex offender living in a neighboring home, might still have been alive when police visited that home during a canvass of the neighborhood, according to documents released by prosecutors.

Police twice visited the half-sister's home while interviewing residents during the search for Jessica.

"Couey's timeline after the events after he kidnapped Jessica Lunsford leaves open the possibility that she was alive, and in the house, at the time of the first, and possibly the second, interview," said a memo released by prosecutors.

Four other people in the half-sister's home were arrested -- one on charges of nonpayment of child support and three on suspicion of obstruction of justice.

Those three people were accused of failing to tell police that Couey was living there, even though they knew there was a warrant out for his arrest for violating his probation by failing to update his address as required for sex offenders.

But that alone, prosecutors said, did not constitute a crime. They have declined to file formal charges against the three.

"There is no statutory provision which requires an individual to notify an officer of the whereabouts of someone for whom there is an outstanding warrant, or of the presence of a sex offender," the memo said.

Police have said there was no evidence the three people knew of Jessica's kidnapping.

However, "had the defendant (one of the three) disclosed Couey's presence in the house, the life of the girl might have been saved," the prosecutors' memo said.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/04/09/lunsford/index.html

[danceyogamom]

(CNN) -- An ex-convict suspected of killing two people and sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl in South Carolina over the weekend was captured Tuesday in Augusta, Georgia, the U.S. Marshals Service said.

Stephen Stanko, 37, was arrested without incident about 3:30 p.m. Tuesday in the parking lot of a shopping mall in Augusta, said Chris Dudley, chief of domestic investigations for the Marshals Service.

He could appear before a federal magistrate on charges of wrongful flight to avoid prosecution as early as Tuesday afternoon, Dudley said.

Earlier Tuesday, the U.S. Marshals Service announced it was offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to Stanko's arrest.

On Monday, police in Horry County, South Carolina, alerted law enforcement agencies nationwide to be on the lookout for Stanko, who has served time in the past for kidnapping, aggravated assault and battery.

Lt. Andy Christenson said Tuesday before Stanko's capture that authorities had gained no leads after checking with his relatives in Charleston, South Carolina, and Fayetteville, North Carolina.

"He has been described to us as being well-dressed, being clean cut, being a smooth talker and being a very convincing individual," Christenson said in a news conference Monday.

The manhunt for Stanko began Friday after the 15-year-old in Murrells Inlet, on the northeast coast of the state, called authorities about 3 a.m. to report the sexual assault and the slaying of a woman, who was later identified as Laura Ling, 43, said Georgetown County Sheriff's Department spokesman Bill Nichols.

Authorities believe Ling and Stanko had dated.

Stanko allegedly stole Ling's 1994 red Mustang convertible, which was found early Saturday morning in Conway, South Carolina, parked in the driveway of a home, Nichols said.

Inside the home they found a 74-year-old man, Henry Lee Turner, dead from a gunshot to the head. Authorities said they believe he was killed Friday morning.

Turner's 1996 Mazda B2300 extended-cab pickup truck was missing from the home. Also missing from the home were several firearms, Christenson said.

Dudley said Turner's truck was found with Stanko when he was arrested Tuesday. But Christenson said Stanko was not carrying a weapon when he was arrested.

Georgetown County Sheriff Lane Cribb said articles on Jeffrey Dahmer, Green River killer Gary Ridgway and other serial killers were found in Stanko's home.

"He either was just interested in serial killers or he was becoming a serial killer," Cribb said.

Stanko was released from prison in 2004 after serving more than eight years for kidnapping his ex-girlfriend, Elizabeth Buckner.

Buckner, who now lives in Massachusetts, said Stanko became violent when she confronted him about a series of lies.

"He had habitually lied about so many different things -- about jobs he maintained and been fired from," Buckner told CNN.

"And this one really escalated because he was involved in stealing automobiles from a car dealership and pretending to start a used car dealership with a neighbor friend."

Buckner said Stanko "has a very manipulative approach to things," trying to adjust his behavior to become "who he believes that person sees him as."

"He can make you believe something that you know for a fact is not the truth, but he has a very, very wicked way about twisting things around," Buckner said. "He tried to convince me it was not what I suspected."

Before Tuesday's arrest, a former police officer who wrote a book with Stanko said his co-author was becoming frustrated as he tried to adjust to life outside prison.

"You could tell the depression was setting in, because he kept describing himself as, you know, kind of getting slapped down constantly," said author and criminologist Gordon Crews, who has known Stanko since 2000, when they worked together on the book "Living in Prison."

Crews said that based on conversations he's had with others familiar with Stanko it appeared the suspect was repeating a pattern of past criminal behavior.

"What's been painted now is that basically, he kind of puts on a facade ... to move forward and accomplish what he's wanting to accomplish, whether it's employment or job or relationships," Crews said.

"Then once he's confronted with the lies -- if that is a difficult enough confrontation -- then apparently he resorts to violence."

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/04/12/sc.manhunt/index.html

[danceyogamom]

http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2005/US/04/15/florida.girl/vert.lunde.jpg

RUSKIN, Florida (CNN) -- Florida police have asked volunteers who are searching for a missing 13-year-old girl to look for empty beer bottles that they say could be connected to a registered sex offender who visited the girl's home.
Sarah Michelle Lunde disappeared five days ago from her home in Ruskin, Florida, which is about 10 miles south of Tampa. The girl was last seen wearing a green half-cast on her left forearm.

Capt. Craig Latimer with the Hillsborough County Sheriff's office would not explain the request regarding the Budweiser and Bud Light bottles, but police said it may be connected to 36-year-old David Onstott. He is a convicted sex offender who had been in a relationship with the missing girl's mother.

Police have not labeled Onstott as a suspect. Hillsborough County Sheriff David Gee said Friday that Onstott "is one of the people that we have looked at, as well as others." Gee said he would not "label anybody at this time."

Sarah's 17-year-old brother told police that Onstott had not been at their home for months, but he came by Sunday hours after his sister disappeared and took a beer bottle before leaving.

Police said any Budweiser or Bud Light beer bottles that are found would undergo DNA testing. Authorities said search parties will recanvass previously scoured areas for such containers.

On Friday, Latimer said the search area would be expanded slightly -- "in acres, not miles." More than 200 law enforcement officers and about as many volunteers were expected.

Officials also said they have not ruled out the possibility that Sarah ran away because she has done so before, but she always returned within a few hours, friends said.

A $10,000 reward has been posted for her return.

Sarah's brother was the last person to see her. After she returned from a church function Saturday night, her brother went out. When he returned early Sunday, he found her gone, authorities said. The girl's mother, Kelly May, was out of town at the time, and reported her missing Monday. The mother said she believed Sarah was spending Saturday night at a church camp.

Officials issued a national missing-persons alert Tuesday.

Although Gee said Thursday night he was surprised at the low number of leads in the case -- 43 -- Latimer emphasized Friday that investigators are still confident of finding Sarah. "We're keeping the faith," he said.

Authorities arrested Onstott on Tuesday in Apollo Beach, Florida, north of Ruskin, on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, the sheriff's office said. Deputies said Onstott threatened a man with a screwdriver during an argument.

He was arraigned Thursday for failing to register as a sex offender, and remains in Hillsborough County Jail. Although his bond was set at $250,000, Onstott also was being held on a drunken driving warrant from Michigan, said sheriff's spokesman J.D. Callaway. Because there is no bond on the Michigan charge, Onstott is being held without bond, Callaway said.

Onstott has a 1995 sexual battery conviction for assaulting a female acquaintance in her home, for which he served six years in prison and two years probation, Callaway said.

Gee told CNN Friday that Onstott has been cooperative.

On Thursday, volunteers at the scene included Mark Lunsford, father of Jessica Lunsford, the 9-year-old abducted and killed in February in Homosassa, Florida, by a convicted sex offender who had been living across the street from her home.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/04/15/florida.girl/index.html

[danceyogamom]

(CNN) -- A 9-year-old Alcoa, North Carolina, boy shot and killed his mother before taking his own life, according to the Warren County Sheriff's Department.

Taylor Jones apparently killed his mother, 38-year-old Gloria Pulley, shortly after midnight Saturday morning, the department said. He left a suicide note in which he apologized for her death.

Authorities have not been able to determine a motive.

"They were a very nice family. I never had any problem with none of them," said Warren County Sheriff John Williams, who said he knew the family personally.

Jones is said to have had a good relationship with his family members and friends, Williams said. There was no obvious discord between him and his mother, he said, and it's unknown if he was on any type of medication or if he had any mental or emotional issues.

Williams said family members became worried over the weekend after not seeing Pulley or Jones for more than a day. Pulley's brother and mother, who live nearby, kicked in the front door of the home Saturday and found the two bodies in one of the bedrooms.

"A family gun" was used in the shootings, Williams said, but it's unknown where and how the weapons was stored.

Autopsy results released to law enforcement by the North Carolina Medical Examiner's office confirm the shooting was a murder-suicide, Williams said.

Jones' father, Pulley's ex-husband, lives in Georgia.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/04/18/nc.shooting/index.html

[Simply_sexy]

They found the missing Fl girl's body in the bottom of a pond 2 days ago...

[danceyogamom]

They found the missing Fl girl's body in the bottom of a pond 2 days ago...

yeah ... I read that. *sigh*

[Simply_sexy]

Its horrid...

[magistre]

And, no doubt, I'm sure they're "hiding" behind some "religeous" denomination.

[Simply_sexy]

Hmm... I wouldn't necessarily say that.

[danceyogamom]

TRENTON, New Jersey (AP) -- An alarming number of American girls, some as young as 9, are using bodybuilding steroids -- not necessarily to get an edge on the playing field, but to get the toned, sculpted look of models and movie stars, experts say.

Girls are getting their hands on the same dangerous testosterone pills, shots and creams that have created a scandal in Major League Baseball and other sports. Often, these are the same girls who have eating disorders, according to some research.

"There's been a substantial increase for girls during the 1990s, and it's at an all-time high right now," said Charles Yesalis, a professor of health and human development at Pennsylvania State University.

Lloyd Johnston, a University of Michigan professor who heads an annual government-sponsored survey on risky behavior by young people, said: "Other than pedophilia, this is the most secret behavior I've ever encountered."

Overall, up to about 5 percent of high school girls and 7 percent of middle-school girls admit trying anabolic steroids at least once, with use of rising steadily since 1991, various government and university studies have shown.

Researchers say that most girls are using steroids to get bigger and stronger on the playing field, and they attribute some of the increase in steroid use to girls' rising participation in sports. But plenty of other girls are using steroids to give themselves a slightly muscular look, they say.

"With young women, you see them using it more as a weight control and body fat reduction" method, said Jeff Hoerger, who runs the staff counseling program at Rutgers University in New Jersey.

In the past couple of years, he has helped two young women using steroids -- one an 11th-grader with "an average figure" whose swimmer friend suggested steroids would help with weight loss. "She was just looking for quick results," Hoerger said.

The sports medicine division at the Oregon Health and Science University found that two-thirds of Oregon high school girls who admitted using steroids were not athletes and that girls who were considering taking steroids had tried other, risky ways to get thin.

"They were more likely to have eating disorders and to abuse diuretics, amphetamines and laxatives," said Dr. Linn Goldberg, head of the division.

In teenage girls, the side effects from taking male sex hormones can include severe acne, smaller breasts, deeper voice, irregular periods, excess facial and body hair, depression, paranoia and the fits of anger dubbed "roid rage." Steroids also carry higher risks of heart attack, stroke and some forms of cancer.

Researchers say youngsters generally get illegal anabolic steroids on the black market from relatives or friends, from the local gym and over the Internet. At least one study indicates some parents and coaches supply steroids to teen athletes.

Dr. Eric Small, chairman of the American Academy of Pediatrics' committee on sports medicine, said adults should gently ask youngsters about possible steroid use.

"Talking about supplements and steroids needs to start in the third grade," Small said. "If you wait till ninth grade, it's too late."

http://www.cnn.com/2005/HEALTH/04/25/girls.steroids.ap/index.html

[Skitch76]

Wow. If I knew how, I would so start a crusade against all these quick-fix weight-loss "solutions" that are out there to target such self-conscious girls as these. It almost makes me sick to see these weight-loss pill commercials.

But I didn't know they were using steroids now.

"Roid Rage"...heh...kind of a cute term...I'd not heard that before.

[danceyogamom]

HUMBOLDT, Kansas (AP) -- When Carolyn Moore answered the light knock on her front door Sunday night, she was greeted by a boy wearing only burgundy underwear and holding a shotgun.

"There stood this poor, scared, half-naked little boy saying 'Help me, help me. Hide me. They're after me,"' Moore said. "I could see the fear in his eye. He said, 'They're going to get me and spank me hard."'

On Wednesday, Allen County authorities said the 10-year-old boy was charged with first-degree murder in the shotgun slaying of his father. Robert D. Hamlin, 43, was found dead Sunday night at his home near Humboldt.

"The child said, 'I done something really bad,"' Moore said, recalling their conversation. "And I said, `What did you do?'

"He said, 'I shot my dad."'

The boy, whose name was not released, was charged as a juvenile and could be held until age 23 if convicted. A closed juvenile court hearing was conducted in the county seat of Iola, eight miles north of Humboldt, and a judge ordered the case sealed.

The father, according to Moore, "would do anything in the world for you. He was an extremely hard worker and took care of his family." She said he worked at a local factory.

Hamlin was sitting on the living room couch when he was shot in the back of the head with a 20-gauge pump shotgun.

His wife, Debbie, and two younger children fled to another neighbor after the shooting. Two other children were coming out of the house when deputies arrived, Sheriff Tom Williams said. He said he did not know the other children's ages.

The boy then walked up the road to Moore's home, carrying the shotgun with one unfired shell, authorities said.

"We believe it to be the weapon and we'll be testing evidence to show conclusively that it was the shotgun," Williams said before the hearing Wednesday. "We are investigating this as a criminal offense. We are looking at anything that relates to motive."

During Wednesday's hearing, windows on the courtroom door were covered with paper, Judge Dan Creitz ordered all parties not to talk about the case.

Allen County Attorney Jerry Hathaway said the order would prohibit any public comments about the matter and that no announcement would be made of court proceedings.

The boy did not stand out at Humboldt Elementary School, according to Superintendent Bob Heigele.

"He fit in well with our school and he didn't have any more problems than any other student in the fourth grade," Heigele said. "He was a typical boy. I saw him around and it appeared he was well-liked."

Until now, this town of nearly 2,000 was known mainly as the birthplace of pitching legend ^^^^^^ "Big Train" Johnson, inducted in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1936.

It's a quiet town, about 100 miles southwest of Kansas City, where people have trouble remembering the last murder. Some say it was in the 1960s; other think it was earlier.

Many residents expressed sympathy for the boy, as well as the family.

"The little guy did something really wrong, but he needs help," said liquor store owner Janie Hutson. "He probably needs treatment more than he needs punishment."

http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/04/28/child.charged.ap/index.html

[danceyogamom]

Having watched kids play for some time, I can just imagine this little girl running around pretending to run sugar tests on her classmates the way her mom tests ... Mimicking adults is a big part of play at that age. Can you imagine what this little girl is going to have to spend her life dealing with?

The article doesn't say anything about intention or what she was actually trying to do ... so I'm totally guessing on her motivation. I certainly hope it wasn't malicious ... I don't know too many 8 year olds who are aware of blood born pathogens and overall issues of sharing needles ...

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (AP) -- A third-grader stuck 19 schoolmates with her mother's diabetes blood-testing needle this week, and one pricked student tested positive for HIV on a preliminary test, officials said.

Health officials said the virus could not have been contracted from the needle stick, and they noted that preliminary tests can yield false positives.

The risk to students who were stuck after the possibly infected child depends on factors including the depth of the stick, health officials said.

The 8-year-old stuck her Taylor Elementary schoolmates Wednesday at the school's breakfast, at lunch and in the classroom, using a needle that was about one-third of an inch long, on the end of a device that looks like a pen, school officials said. They were unsure why the girl did it.

She was suspended and will probably be moved to another school, said Paul Vallas, the school district's chief executive.

Most of the students involved were taken to a hospital for testing and treatment, school officials said.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the risk of HIV infection after a needle stick is low, with an average of one in 300 cases leading to infection.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/EDUCATION/04/29/needle.stick.ap/index.html

[princesskittypoo]

Having watched kids play for some time, I can just imagine this little girl running around pretending to run sugar tests on her classmates the way her mom tests ... Mimicking adults is a big part of play at that age. Can you imagine what this little girl is going to have to spend her life dealing with?

The article doesn't say anything about intention or what she was actually trying to do ... so I'm totally guessing on her motivation. I certainly hope it wasn't malicious ... I don't know too many 8 year olds who are aware of blood born pathogens and overall issues of sharing needles ...

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (AP) -- A third-grader stuck 19 schoolmates with her mother's diabetes blood-testing needle this week, and one pricked student tested positive for HIV on a preliminary test, officials said.

Health officials said the virus could not have been contracted from the needle stick, and they noted that preliminary tests can yield false positives.

The risk to students who were stuck after the possibly infected child depends on factors including the depth of the stick, health officials said.

The 8-year-old stuck her Taylor Elementary schoolmates Wednesday at the school's breakfast, at lunch and in the classroom, using a needle that was about one-third of an inch long, on the end of a device that looks like a pen, school officials said. They were unsure why the girl did it.

She was suspended and will probably be moved to another school, said Paul Vallas, the school district's chief executive.

Most of the students involved were taken to a hospital for testing and treatment, school officials said.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the risk of HIV infection after a needle stick is low, with an average of one in 300 cases leading to infection.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/EDUCATION/04/29/needle.stick.ap/index.html
this is absolutely horrible. Who do you punish in this case? the child obviously didn't know anything was wrong! only doing what kids to, experimenting and exploring the world and sharing with friends.

[danceyogamom]

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Illinois (AP) -- The mother of a 9-year-old boy and 3-year-old girl who were fatally stabbed more than 200 times each inside their suburban Chicago home was charged Friday with two counts of first-degree murder, authorities said.

Tonya Vasilev, 34 -- a heavy bandage covering her left wrist -- appeared in court Friday afternoon and answered the judge's questions in a soft, shaking voice. The judge appointed a public defender to represent her and ordered her held without bail.

Investigators believe she was at home Wednesday night when Christian and Gracie Vasilev were killed. The children's father and a friend who had been living with the family discovered the bloody scene when they arrived home that evening.

Police found the boy lying just inside the front door and carried him outside, where they tried in vain to resuscitate him, said Hoffman Estates Police Lt. Rich Russo.

The little girl and the children's mother were both upstairs. The girl was dead, and her mother had what appeared to be minor cuts on her hands. Police recovered several knives believed to have been used to kill the children.

"It really doesn't get much worse than this," said Russo, who would not discuss a possible motive for the killings.

The autopsies showed that both children tried to fight off their attacker, he said.

The stabbings came five years after the couple's 3-month-old daughter died in a fire at an Elk Grove Village town house where the family then lived. The cause of the 2000 fire remains undetermined, but foul play was never suspected, said Larry Hammar, deputy chief of the Elk Grove Village Police.

Hammar said his department will investigate that fire again. The mother was home at the time of the blaze.

Village police said at the time that Tonya Vasilev left the baby in a carrier in the laundry room while she went to check on another of her children. She noticed smoke coming from the window a short time later.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/04/29/children.stabbed.ap/index.html

[danceyogamom]

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- A 13-year-old California boy pleaded not guilty to murder charges Monday in the killing of a friend with a baseball bat after a youth league game last month.

The boy is accused of hitting 15-year-old Jeremy Roarke in the knee and head with an aluminum baseball bat on April 12.

The boy appeared at arraignment Monday in juvenile court in Sylmar, California, to deny the allegations in the prosecutors' petition.

Under California law, children under 14 cannot be tried as adults.

If found guilty, the boy could be held in a juvenile detention facility until age 25 -- and Roarke's parents said Monday they want to see that maximum penalty imposed.

The attack followed an apparent argument after a Pony League baseball game in Palmdale, California, about 40 miles northeast of Los Angeles.

The suspect was described as a well-liked boy with no criminal record.

Monday's hearing shed no new information on the circumstances surrounding the slaying.

Witnesses said the suspect's team had just lost its first game of the season, and he was getting in line at a snack bar when he and Roarke got into some sort of scuffle.

Some witnesses said there was a dispute between the teens over their place in line; others said Roarke teased the suspect over the loss.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/05/02/baseball.bat.killing/index.html

[danceyogamom]

Girl found beheaded in 2001 is identified



KANSAS CITY, Missouri (AP) -- A little girl whose decapitated body was found four years ago has been identified through a tip, and charges were being prepared, authorities announced Thursday.
The slain girl, who had come to be known as Precious Doe, was Erica Michelle Maria Green, who was 3 when she died. The body was found near an intersection on April 28, 2001, with her head later found nearby.

The fate of the little girl had touched the community deeply. "Everyone over here is excited beyond words," said Capt. Rich Lockhart, a spokesman for the Kansas City Police Department.

Lockhart would not elaborate on what led to the positive identification, other than that a call they got last week directing them to an Oklahoma couple resulted in a break in the case.

"It's still very much a developing investigation," Lockhart said.

The announcement did not say who her parents were or where she lived before she died. Police scheduled a news conference to announce more details.

Mike Sanders, the Jackson County prosecutor, said he planned to announce charges.

Detectives went to Muskogee, Oklahoma, on Wednesday to interview members of a family after getting a second tip from a man living there who said he was related to the child. An initial investigation last year of a tip from the same man did not produce any solid leads.

The Oklahoma man also contacted Alonzo Washington, a community activist who has championed efforts to find out who Precious Doe was.

On Tuesday, Washington received a package containing a photo of the woman the man said was the child's mother, pictured with several children, including one that the Oklahoma man said he believed to be Erica. Washington gave the photo to police.

"We know who Precious Doe is, and it's just a miraculous day," Washington told Kansas City television station KCTV. "It's amazing what can happen over one tip."

Washington said one of the detectives who went to Oklahoma had called him from there with the news.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/05/05/precious.doe.ap/index.html

[Simply_sexy]

*shivers* How the hell can somebody do that to a 3yr old?!?

[danceyogamom]

*shivers* How the hell can somebody do that to a 3yr old?!?

some people are evil

[danceyogamom]

ZION, Illinois (CNN) -- Police have taken Jerry Hobbs into custody and charged him with murdering his 8-year-old daughter, Laura, and her best friend, 9-year-old Krystal Tobias.

The second-grade classmates are believed to have been stabbed to death Sunday on Mother's Day.

He was reported to have found the girls' bodies early Monday in a wooded park just blocks away from their elementary school, said police in Zion, about 40 miles north of Chicago.

Lake County State's Attorney Michael Waller declined to speculate on a motive, saying there was no "rational explanation" for the killings.

Hobbs, 34, could face the death penalty. But Waller said whether to pursue it is not a decision he wants to make "in the heat of the moment."

"The arrest today is the first step in the process of bringing this person to justice," he said.

Waller said the girls were not lured to the park; rather they encountered Hobbs there.

Waller said police questioned several relatives, but the others "didn't pique the officers' interest like he did."

"We believe we have a compelling case against this defendant, and all of that will come out in due course," he said.

Hobbs' bond hearing is scheduled for Wednesday morning.

Criminal record

Hobbs was released from prison in Texas last month after serving nearly two years for violating his probation. He had been serving time after pleading guilty to assault in 2001 against Laura's mother, Sheila Hollabaugh, said Rick Mahler, an assistant district attorney in Wichita Falls, Texas.

"He started chasing people around with a chainsaw that was running," Mahler said. "Somebody hit him with a shovel, knocked him down. Those people held him until the police arrived."

Hobbs was arrested again in 2003 after failing to show up for visits with his probation officer and skipping anger management classes.

In addition, Hobbs has served time in county jails on a variety of misdemeanor charges, ranging from assault to possession of marijuana and resisting arrest, Mahler said.

School Superintendent Connie Collins said the killings have left the community "in terrible shock." (Full story (http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/05/10/illinois.neighbors.ap/index.html))

"It's very difficult to begin to understand something like this," Collins said. "It's something that was not expected. In a community like this, we have never had this type of experience, so it's been very difficult for everyone."

Girl 'had a smile for everybody'

Laura's grandmother, Emily Hollabaugh, said her granddaughter was "a typical 8-year-old girl" who "always had a smile for everybody," and Krystal was "just as sweet as Laura was."

"I have a lot of questions, but it's just mostly rage at whoever could do this to two little girls," she said.

Lake County Coroner Richard Keller said each girl had been stabbed at least twice. Investigators found no initial signs they had been bound or sexually assaulted, he said.

Keller estimated the time of death at 1 to 2 a.m. Monday, but said that estimate could be affected by rain and cool temperatures in the area.

Parents, police and city and school officials were expected to attend a community meeting Tuesday night to talk about the killings, to offer safety tips and to provide an update on the investigation, Collins said.

She said the girls' class had recently touched on the issue of loss.

"Fortunately, in talking with the classroom teacher, she shared with me that the children recently read a couple of books on loss -- 'Charlotte's Web' and 'The Taste of Blackberries,' " Collins said. "The children had an opportunity to discuss feelings and talk about what it meant to lose someone and to share with each other."

The girls were last seen riding bicycles Sunday afternoon. One of the bikes was recovered near the spot where their bodies were found, shortly after 6 a.m. Monday by a man taking a walk in Beulah Park, a spot that neighborhood parents warn children to avoid.

"It's out of sight of many adults who might possibly be around the kids or monitoring them," Collins said. "We try to keep them in the open."

Hollabaugh said the girls were seen playing in the park about 5:30 to 6 p.m. Sunday.

"I know she didn't come home for dinner and we got worried, and her brothers and sisters went out looking for her," Hollabaugh told Chicago television station WLS. "They didn't find her, and then, about 9 o'clock, they called the police."

Malcolm said the bodies were found about 100 yards off a bicycle path in a wooded area on the north end of the park.

Zion isn't used to such criminal events, said Mayor Lane Harrison. "This is an unusual occurrence for our community," she said. "We are going to do everything we can to bring this to a quick resolution."

Zion, population 23,000, had three reported homicides in 2002 and none in 2003, according to the police department's annual reports.

[danceyogamom]

RIVERSIDE, California (CNN) -- Three adults and three children were found dead early Tuesday at the home of an investigator for the district attorney's office in Riverside County, sheriff's deputies said.

One of the victims was identified as the investigator, David McGowan, Riverside County Sheriff Bob Doyle said Tuesday afternoon. McGowan owned the rural, two-story home with his wife, Karen.

The sheriff said all the victims appeared to have suffered gunshot wounds to the head. There were no signs of a struggle or forced entry, he said.

"This investigation is in its infancy. It is being processed and handled as a homicide," Doyle said. "That does not rule out a homicide-suicide."

"I want to stress at this time that this community is in no danger," he said. "We do not feel that there is a suspect at large."

The Riverside County home is east of Los Angeles in a scenic area dotted with horse farms.

Doyle said the other five dead have not yet been identified, but he described them as a boy about 14 years old, two girls about 8 and 10 and two women -- one who appeared to be in her 40s and one in her 60s.

Those five individuals were all shot while in their beds, which were otherwise undisturbed, Doyle said.

The sheriff's department received a 911 call at 4:33 a.m. (7:33 a.m. ET). The caller said nothing, deputies said, but there was noise in the background.

"What was heard on the dispatch tape was the phone initially hitting the wall and then a gunshot," Doyle said. "That was all that the dispatcher heard."

McGowan's body was found near the phone, with a handgun also nearby, Doyle said. Two other handguns were also found in the home.

After the call, two cars were dispatched to the 3,400-square-foot home on Devils Ladder Road, which public records show is on 4.5 acres. About 60 investigators were at the scene later in the day.

Doyle said McGowan's body was found downstairs along with the three children; a boy was in one bedroom, the girls in another. The two women were upstairs in one bedroom, he said.

A 13-year veteran of law enforcement, McGowan had worked five years for the district attorney's office.

"Emotionally, it's very tragic," the sheriff said. "My heart goes out to everyone who knew Mr. McGowan."

Neighbors told The Associated Press they were shocked by the crime.

"It's just really quiet here," said David Merriman, who told the AP his parents live about a mile from the McGowans. "A lot could happen right next door and you wouldn't even know it."

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/05/10/bodies.found/index.html

[Simply_sexy]

In their own beds...Atleast it sounds like it was fast and quick and the children didn't know what was happening!

[danceyogamom]

CNN) -- A young girl seen on child pornography Web sites has been found and is safe, an FBI spokesman told CNN Friday.

And her suspected abuser is already in a federal prison, the spokesman said.

The man, who has been identified as the girl's adopted father, is serving the first year of a 15-year prison term, the spokesman said. He wouldn't give further details, citing the open case.

Investigators in Toronto and elsewhere were being notified of the latest development, he added.

In Florida, Orange County Sheriff's Lt. Matt Irwin struggled to provide details but admitted his information was sketchy. He said information about the case was "leaked prematurely."

Based on indirect information from the FBI, he said the blond-haired girl was located in a foster home in Pennsylvania, and that her adoptive father apparently abducted, molested and took pictures of her in sexual poses.

"We believe the photos were taken around the spring of 2001," he said, apparently referring to the ones taken at a ^^^^ Disney World hotel in Orlando.

Irwin said he didn't know when or why the father went to prison.

"I heard that he was sentenced in 2004," he added. "I don't have details on his charges."

Search for the victim

The plight of the girl was brought to the attention of Toronto Detective Sgt. Paul Gillespie in 2003 by European authorities. Gillespie heads the child exploitation team of Toronto's Sex Crimes Unit.

In some of the estimated 200 pictures she is featured in, the girl is sitting on a motorcycle.

Frustrated in their efforts to find her, investigators devised in February an innovative technique to elicit tips from the public.

Since showing the face of an underage victim of child pornography is illegal, detectives used computer software to erase the girl from a photograph, leaving only her outline and the crime scene.

That generated a lead. Someone recognized the bedspread on which the girl was posing as belonging to ^^^^ Disney's Port Orleans Resort French Quarter in Orlando, Florida.

But the information was of little help because of the hundreds of guests who stay at the hotel and the lack of an exact time frame. Irwin says the photos taken there are believed to have been taken around three years ago.

Photo of a possible witness

As part of the investigation shifted to Florida, state and Canadian law enforcement officials decided to try another way of getting information.

On April 27 they publicized the picture of a dark-haired young girl, reclining on a couch, whom authorities described as a possible witness.

Irwin says she has been identified as a friend of the victim while in Pennsylvania, but that she no longer lives there.

Investigators believed the couch on which she was shown sitting was the same used in photos -- albeit in another location -- of the blonde girl posing sexually. Investigators said they did not know where the photo of the dark-haired girl was taken, whether she witnessed any acts of abuse or was a victim herself.

Authorities said they also found the image of the dark-haired girl on child pornography Web sites, but she was not photographed inappropriately. They did not say specifically what the girl may know. She appeared to be about 11.

According to Gillespie, of the estimated 50,000 children seen daily on online pornography, police worldwide have identified fewer than 500 -- or just 1 percent.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/05/13/child.porn/index.html

[pcteaser]

300 African boys vanish in London

LONDON, England -- Hundreds of young African boys have disappeared from schools in London, according to police investigating the murder of a child whose torso was found in the River Thames.

To try to identify the body, Metropolitan Police officers asked every education authority in London how many black boys aged between 4 and 7 had gone missing.

In one three-month period between July and September 2001, some 300 children had disappeared.

There was nothing to suggest that they had been murdered, but a lack of immigration records made it impossible to trace them.

Police investigating the murder suspect the boy was the victim of a ritual killing after being brought to Britain from Nigeria.

The headless and limbless body, named Adam by police, was found in the river near Tower Bridge in September 2001.

Tests suggest the boy, believed to have been between 4 and 6 years old and alive when he arrived in London, may have been poisoned.

Evidence found in Adam's lower intestine was identified as being the highly poisonous calabar bean, which police think may have been used to subdue him before his death.

Other contents in his stomach including crushed bone, and clay pellets impregnated with gold and quartz were discovered in his lower intestine.

Child welfare experts fear that many African children are brought into the country for the purposes of benefit fraud, passed between adults and, in the worst cases, physically and sexually abused.

Detective Chief Inspector Will O'Reilly told BBC Radio: "We were really looking at black children, black male children, aged between 4 and 7. And we found 300 of those that couldn't be accounted for. It was one of the lines of inquiry we had to follow up.

"In the main these were African children. I think there were one or two from the Caribbean."

The children's so-called carers often told police that the youngsters had returned to Africa.

"When we had information that they had left the country, we asked through Interpol for police to make inquiries in the local countries to which they (were said to have) returned. In the majority of cases, we got no reply on that," O'Reilly said.

"It is a large figure, far more than we anticipated when we started this line of inquiry."

Police managed to trace only two of the 300 missing children.


http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/05/13/london.children/

[danceyogamom]

(CNN) -- Police have arrested the pastor of a defunct church in Ponchatoula, Louisiana, his wife and six former congregants in a sexual abuse case involving as many as 24 children, authorities said.

Authorities said they have interviewed five possible victims in the case. Victims may range in age from toddlers to teens, authorities said.

CNN does not identify children involved in sex abuse cases and has chosen not to identify adult defendants because they may share family names with the alleged victims.

Investigators believe the abuse took place between 1999 and 2002 and involved a "select few" congregants of the now-defunct Hosanna Church, Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff's spokeswoman Laura Covington said.

On Saturday, law enforcement authorities issued an arrest warrant for a ninth person in the case, said sheriff's deputies in Tangipahoa Parish, where the church was located.

The church's former pastor told deputies Tuesday in nearby Livingston Parish -- where the pastor lives -- that adults were sexually abusing children, parish sheriff's Detective Stan Carpenter said.

The former pastor told deputies he had been having sex with children for many years and "also educated the children as to how to perform sexual acts with each other and with animals," Carpenter said.

Carpenter said the pastor unwittingly implicated himself while talking to investigators. He was arrested and charged with two counts of aggravated rape of a child under age 13 and one count of crimes against humanity for alleged sexual acts involving animals, the detective said.

Among those the pastor allegedly implicated were his 45-year-old wife -- also charged with aggravated rape of a juvenile under age 13, Carpenter said.

Law enforcement authorities conducting the investigation include sheriff's deputies from Tangipahoa Parish, Livingston Parish, officers of the Ponchatoula Police Department and the FBI.

On Friday, a police search of two homes resulted in confiscation of three vehicles, computers and other items that authorities said may be connected to the case. The FBI took custody of the vehicles. Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff Daniel Edwards said some of the crimes are believed to have been committed in the vehicles.

All but one of the defendants in the case are jailed without bond. They are charged with aggravated rape of a child under 13 -- a charge which, if convicted, can carry a death sentence in Louisiana, authorities said.

Also in police custody -- in addition to the pastor and his wife -- are a sheriff's deputy and a woman who tipped off investigators by telephoning them from Ohio, authorities said.

About six weeks before the pastor spoke with Livingston Parish sheriff's deputies, a former church member phoned the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff and tipped off deputies, sheriff's spokesperson Covington said. The 36-year-old woman was taken into custody in Ohio on a Louisiana warrant charging her with aggravated rape of a child under age 13, Covington said.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/05/22/louisiana.church/index.html

[danceyogamom]

NEWHALL, California (AP) -- A woman was arrested after the California Highway Patrol officer who pulled her car over found nine people crammed inside, including two children in the trunk.

"I have never heard of this," said Officer Wendy Hahn. "There was no room left in the car, so she puts two of the kids in the trunk. We're trying to get people to buckle up, and this is what we find."

Lavern Dunlap, 35, of Glendora, was pulled over about 8 p.m. Friday after another driver reported seeing a woman closing the trunk of her Toyota Corolla with two children inside as the vehicle sat parked on a shoulder.

Dunlap told the officer she was heading to her sister's house in Palmdale, about a 60-mile trip.

The officer discovered a 15-year-old boy and a 10-year-old girl in the trunk, four children in the back seat, an adult in the front passenger seat with a child on her lap and Dunlap behind the wheel. No one was wearing a seat belt, she said.

Dunlap was booked on suspicion of child cruelty and was released. She is scheduled to appear next month in court.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/05/24/crowded.car.ap/index.html

[Simply_sexy]

*shakes head* That's ridiculous!!

[danceyogamom]

SAN JOSE, California (AP) -- A convicted child molester jailed in California may have committed sex crimes against thousands of victims, police said Thursday after finding computers, notebooks and meticulous, handwritten lists of boys' names and apparent codes for various sex acts.

San Jose Police Lt. Scott Cornfield described 63-year-old Dean Arthur Schwartzmiller as "one of the most active child molesters we've ever seen."

During a search of his bedroom in San Jose, police discovered binders full of child porn and numerous logs with lists of more than 36,000 children's names -- mostly boys -- and codes that appear to indicate how he abused them.

"If one-tenth of these numbers are accurate, we're looking at hundreds of victims in a number of states. The reason we want to tell the world about this is because we believe he's been involved in child molestations in a number of countries," Cornfield said.

Schwartzmiller was being held without bail on one count of aggravated sexual assault on a child and six counts of lewd and lascivious conduct on a child, with each count alleging multiple victims. He was arrested in Washington state late last month and sent to San Jose on June 7.

A message left for his public defender was not immediately returned Thursday.

Authorities said Schwartzmiller apparently gained the trust of victims and parents by working as a home renovation contractor. San Jose police got involved after he allegedly befriended at least two boys in the city with gifts, invited them to his house for video games and movies, and molested them.

Schwartzmiller apparently did not register as a sex offender, so his history did not appear in the "Megan's Law" databases in California or other states, authorities said.

"It's as shocking to me as to you," said Sgt. Tom Sims, a supervisor with the department's child exploitation division. "I've never seen anything like this."

Although police said Schwartzmiller appears to have spent much of the past 30 years in California, he has been arrested on child molestation charges in New York, Arkansas and Washington. He also served prison time in Idaho for child molestation in the late 1970s, and is wanted in Oregon on sexual assault charges involving a minor.

In the 1980s, he lived in Brazil, and was extradited from there to Idaho again in the later part of the decade to serve more time, Cornfield said. Police believe he may have victims in Brazil and Mexico.

Authorities also arrested Schwartzmiller's roommate, another convicted child molester wanted for violating parole in Oregon. Fred Everts was charged with child molestation in San Jose.

In a separate case, Edilberto Datan, a 61-year-old San Diego man who has admitted to traveling to his native Philippines and having sex with eight underage boys, was sentenced Thursday to 17 years in federal prison and lifetime supervision.

The retired auditor for the California Department of Real Estate was arrested in 2004 at the airport in Los Angeles upon his return from the Philippines. Authorities said they found about 150 sexually explicit images of 18 teenage boys in his luggage and digital camera. Eight of the children were identified and located.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/06/16/serial.molestation.ap/index.html

[Gold9472]

Coroner: Toddler killed by LAPD bullet
Police say gunman used daughter as shield

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/07/13/toddler.shooting/

http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2005/US/07/13/toddler.shooting/story.girl.ap.jpg
Suzy Lopez in an undated family photo

Wednesday, July 13, 2005; Posted: 9:01 p.m. EDT (01:01 GMT)

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- The 19-month-old toddler who died during a gunfire exchange between police and her father was killed by a single police bullet to the head, the Los Angeles County coroner said Wednesday.

The report said it came from a Los Angeles Police Department officer's rifle.

The girl's father, Jose Raul Pena, died as a result of multiple gunshot wounds, the coroner said.

Pena, 34, was holding his daughter Suzy when he opened fire on police last Sunday, unleashing 40 shots in three separate exchanges. He and his daughter died in a hail of gunfire after he confronted police in an alley behind his apartment.

A total of 11 officers fired nearly 90 shots at Pena.

Chief William Bratton said Monday that Pena "left the officers no choice."

The LAPD's internal investigative unit was looking into the shooting, and its findings will be reviewed by the district attorney's office and the civilian Police Commission.

In a timeline offered by Bratton, the incident began at 2 p.m. when Pena's estranged wife made a domestic terrorist report, accusing him of threatening her, his 17-year-old stepdaughter and the toddler.

At that time, officers could not find him, Bratton said.

About two hours later, the stepdaughter called 911 from Pena's auto dealership to report that he had threatened her, Bratton said.

Before police arrived, a dispatcher called back, and the stepdaughter answered, but the call abruptly ended, Bratton said.

After 4 p.m., shortly after officers arrived, Pena began shooting, using the toddler as a shield, Bratton said.

The 17-year-old stepdaughter escaped, later telling police that Pena was under the influence of cocaine and alcohol and had threatened to kill her, the toddler, his wife and himself, Bratton said.

Though crisis negotiators were able to talk by telephone with Pena at 5 p.m., he ended the call about 5:35 p.m., Bratton said.

At about 6:30 p.m., in the last of the shootings, Pena and the baby were killed.

Sunday's incident was only the second time in the 38-year history of the SWAT team that a hostage died during a standoff involving the unit, Bratton said. In the last incident, in the 1970s, the victim was killed by the hostage-taker, he said.

CNN's Stan Wilson contributed to this story.

[cheatachu72]

oh my gosh! that's so horrible!!
how the heck can people be so cruel??
it makes me feel so powerless when I see stories about things like that...

[princesskittypoo]

yeah i heard that guy was using his own child as a sheild and was shooting at the cops while trying to get away. he should have just given up but he had to use his daughter in that way. stupid jackass.

[cheatachu72]

that's horrid!

[princesskittypoo]

that's horrid!
it just shows how different people can be. how one person can value life and another can take it so swiftly without thinking.

[cheatachu72]

it just shows how different people can be. how one person can value life and another can take it so swiftly without thinking.
how true...

[danceyogamom]

BROCKTON, Massachusetts (AP) -- A man lifting his infant daughter out of his car was killed in an apparent case of road rage by a motorist "who obviously exploded" and shot him four times at close range in front of dozens of witnesses, authorities said.
The victim's 10-month-old girl was covered with blood but uninjured when police found her in a car seat on the floor of the vehicle.

Walter R. Bishop, 60, who was taking medication for depression, was arrested Tuesday and charged with first-degree murder in the death of 27-year-old Sandro Andrade. He pleaded innocent and was ordered held without bail; a hearing was scheduled for August 26.

Plymouth District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz said Bishop had made a calculated decision to "shoot a man in cold blood in broad daylight on the streets of Brockton."

Police Chief Paul Studenski described it as a case of road rage.

Bishop's attorney, Kevin Reddington, said Andrade had provoked his client during a traffic altercation.

"We have a homicide that resulted from a circumstance where somebody picked a fight with an individual who obviously exploded," Reddington said. Bishop, a former soldier and security guard, had recently begun taking two medications for depression, he said.

Bishop told investigators he was driving his wife to the train station when Andrade's vehicle backed toward him on Main Street, Cruz said. The two exchanged heated words.

"He said his wife was scared, and he said he was angry at that encounter," Cruz said of Bishop. "He said he made up his mind right there that he had to do something."

After dropping his wife off, he allegedly returned to the scene of the confrontation, pointed a handgun through an open window and fired, police said.

"Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Four shots. It sounded like a cap gun," Louis McPhee, the manager of a car wash across the street, told The Boston Globe. "The guy was lying there in his own blood with a hole in his head and his arm still on the baby."

Bishop left before police arrived, but witnesses gave investigators his license plate number and police found him at his home.

Police said Bishop has a valid handgun license.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/08/03/road.rage.ap/index.html