What really happened to Lauren Spierer?

For Lauren Spierer, June 3rd 2015, will mark four years and thousands of dead-end tips since she disappeared without a trace from Bloomington Indiana, after a calamitous night of booze and drugs and carousing:

Some people theorize that this now-famous missing person was murdered, and her body dumped someplace.

Others believe the petite young blonde was abducted while staggering home to her nearby apartment.

They're the ones holding out hope that she may still be alive today, albeit living a desperate existence as somebody's hostage and sex slave.

After all, things like that have been known to happen from time to time, as Ariel Castro and his Cleveland kidnappings of Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus prove.

But I don't think such a fate befell young Lauren Spierer.  She wasn't as lucky...
 

[click to read/share "The Auto-Assassination of Lauren Spierer"]

The parents of missing person Lauren Spierer filed a lawsuit this week against the trio of young men who were last seen with their daughter on the day that she vanished: 

Robert and Charlene Spierer claim that the negligence of Corey Rossman, Mike Beth and Jay Rosenbaum -- who all lawyered up within hours of Spierer being reported as missing -- is what ultimately "resulted in her disappearance, death, or injury."

Attorneys representing the Spierers say a statute of limitations barring such a civil action was bound to kick in soon and, since the young woman still remains unaccounted for, they felt legally compelled to file suit for the wrongful acts of these former students.

All three defendants named in the suit had either admitted to being with a grossly inebriated Spierer the day she vanished without a trace, or were witnessed by others as being in her company in the hours before she went missing.

Many fellow revelers that evening had observed Spierer -- bruised from repeatedly falling down and practically incoherent -- being escorted and even carried at times by her three male comrades. 

However, all the men insist that Spierer somehow made a full recovery later on, then left their apartment for her own, barefoot, at around four in the morning. After which, they say they don't know what may have happened to her.

One of the youths in fact has alleged amnesia: He was punched in the face earlier that fateful night by an interceder who apparently hoped to convince him, through physical force, to take the visibly incapacitated woman safely back to her home so she could sleep it off.

He declined to do so, unfortunately, and Lauren Spierer continued to party with Rossman, Beth, and Rosenbaum for several more hours.

The Spierers insist none of those key players have ever been 100 percent forthright about the predawn events which led up to their daughter's disappearance, and they now firmly believe she never left the youths' apartment at all.

(0riginal story above published on the 2-year anniversary of Spierer's disappearance)
6/28/13 9:17 AM

Quadruple Murderer Escapes Michigan Jail

Quadruple murderer Michael David Elliot is a free man today. At least until he's recaptured:

Officials in Michigan say the 40-year-old convicted killer escaped from prison overnight by digging a hole in the ground near a security fence. 

True to form, he then abducted a woman at knife point and took off with her in her car.

His hostage somehow managed to get away and notify police shortly thereafter, but Elliot -- and the shaken woman's vehicle -- are still nowhere to be found today.

Authorities believe this armed and dangerous quadruple murderer may now be in Indiana and ask that anybody who spots the suspect keep their distance and call 911 immediately.

Michael David Elliot is described as a middle-aged Caucasian male, about 5-foot-8 and 165 pounds. He has short dark hair and, when last sighted, was sporting a beard and a hooded sweatshirt.

A gas station attendant where the escapee stopped to refuel the stolen car says he's driving a red Jeep Liberty 2004 model registered in the state of Michigan. The license plate number is 5FTG55.

Elliot is a career criminal with a lengthy rap sheet that includes armed robbery, arson, breaking and entering, and homicide. He's also known to have used various aliases in the past, such as Michael D. Delarosa, Michael David Shreader, and Michael David Delarose.

A nationwide alert has been issued for his apprehension.

Newlywed Murder Plea In Glacier Park Death

"GUILTY" is newlywed murder plea

First Jordan Graham claimed she didn't do it, then she said her victim made her do it, and now she's just plain shut her mouth and pled guilty to pushing her husband of only eight days to his death.

Thus brings an end to the bizarre and circuitous tale of a union gone sour in just the span of one week. So sour in fact that the honeymooners viciously quarreled atop a steep cliff in famed Glacier Park ... and only one of them returned home that evening.

It's been a case which baffled both experts and onlookers alike, but finally the newlywed murder plea of "guilty" has been entered into the record this week, circumventing trial proceedings already underway, as well as other charges pending against a lying Montana bride who slew her hapless hubby.

Justice served in the cruel and roundabout murder of Cody Johnson -- may the groom rest in peace.

Learn more about Jordan Graham here.

E.R.

The Trial and Tribulation of Lauren Spierer

Three male students -- former friends of Lauren Spierer -- are reportedly the last people to have seen the still-missing young woman alive in the early morning hours of June 3rd, 2011. But if they know anything they're not talking:

This year that recalcitrant trio finally found themselves sued for her presumed and wrongful death. 

Not only do the missing girl's parents adamantly believe that these fellows were responsible for giving their petite blonde daughter too much alcohol and/or drugs, leading to her injury and  disappearance, but they also accuse the boys of deliberately "stonewalling" them.

Thus, at the two-year mark of Spierer's high-profile missing persons case, a civil action was filed seeking reasonable compensation for the untimely loss of a loved one.

This week, however, a judge patently disagreed with the Spierers and their attorneys on the subject of who is or isn't a bad guy.  At least as pertains to one of the defendants ... READ FULL LAUREN SPIERER TRIAL UPDATE HERE.

Montana Bride Played Blindman's Bluff to Kill Hubby

The case against killer Montana bride takes another ghastly twist:

If the murder case of Montana bride Jordan Graham wasn't odd enough, it's about to get even stranger, as prosecutors now try to prove she not only shoved her new husband over the edge of a cliff, but blindfolded him first.

Initially Graham, 22, had misled police about her groom's mysterious disappearance and subsequent death, saying she had seen new husband Cody Johnson, 25, drive away one afternoon with his friends, never to return again.

Then, four days later, the bad Montana bride told a ranger in nearby Glacier National Park that she had in fact located Johnson's body herself  -- lying bruised and bloody at the bottom of a rocky ravine.

"It was a place he wanted to see before he died,” she then explained to puzzled investigators.

Not long after this weird episode and gruesome discovery, Jordan Graham, who'd previously expressed serious doubts about getting married, was booked for ...

Dr. Martin MacNeill GUILTY of Drugging and Drowning Wife

A Utah jury has just declared Dr. Martin MacNeill guilty of drugging and drowning his wife six years ago, as well as obstructing justice.

Jurists unanimously decided that MacNeill had indeed planned and committed the killing of his 50-year-old spouse, simply so he could take up full time with a much younger mistress. 

In a widely watched murder trial a number of key prosecution witnesses, including one of the victim's older daughters, testified that, in anticipation of killing his unwanted wife, the diabolical doctor encouraged her to have extensive plastic surgery, with the aim of staging her drug overdose.

Michele MacNeill was soon thereafter found drowned to death in a bathtub at the MacNeill residence. Her daughter, Ada, who was 6 at the time, found her dead in the tub after returning from school that day.

The traumatized girl had told investigators that the bathwater "was brown" and her mother fully clothed in it.

Initially medical examiners, finding excessive amounts of more than one painkiller in Michele MacNeill's system, deemed her drowning an accident. 

But when widower MacNeill swiftly moved a longtime lover into his home only nine days later -- giving the woman a marriage proposal and a costly engagement ring as well -- it rightfully aroused suspicions.

The doctor's paramour, who goes by the name of Gypsy Willis, was purportedly "hired as a nanny" for Ada MacNeill, although family and neighbors observed that, apart from making a spaghetti dinner for the child once, the woman spent most of her time there in the doctor's bedroom.

Dr. Martin MacNeill is, of course, not the only murderous medicine man ever to have harbored evil in his heart and malice aforethought for an unsuspecting mate.

In July 2013 neouroscientist Dr. Robert Ferrante was arrested for poisoning his wife with cyanide because he feared she was about to divorce him.

Eponymous Rox, reporting for Killing Killers from an undisclosed bunker somewhere in the Northland.

Philip Chism Update: Teacher's Slaying Shrouded in Secrecy

In the brutal slaying of teacher Colleen Ritzer, the mystery grows over teen-killer Philip Chism's motive, and the real reason a judge has ordered court documents and search warrants in his case sealed.

As the 14-year-old Chism sits in jail, held without bond and facing adult charges for murdering his math teacher Colleen Ritzer this October, a battle is shaping up between the criminal justice system and the press regarding full access and disclosure.

The matter is already vague enough because, thus far, the teenager has not offered detectives any explanation for the gruesome killing, although he has admitted to it.

Indeed, many of Chism's incriminating movements that day were captured on school cameras, evidence which also serves to corroborate his grisly confession.

But some of those images, together with search warrants and other legal documents the press would like to review for their coverage of the case, are now being hidden from public view -- either recently sealed or subject to gag orders.

This week, exasperated by that media shutout, some major news outlets have mounted a challenge to being deliberately left in the dark about the Colleen Ritzer homicide investigation and her murderous young pupil.

They insist people need to know all the facts and that the contents of such a government record, no matter how sensitive or disturbing, should always be open for scrutiny.

The success of their legal bid to unseal those criminal records is not assured, however, since regardless of whether the accused is a minor or not, Philip Chism isn't the first high-profile defendant whose otherwise tenuous right to a fair trial has been protected in this way by the courts.

Even Colorado theater killer James Holmes, who police caught red-handed and red-haired within only moments of his perpetrating the largest mass slaying in American history, and who likewise confessed on the spot, was granted similarly sweeping protections.

And it took months if not years for all of those to finally be lifted, with some facts never being completely revealed.

Like Holmes, Chism too initially pleaded not guilty and, apart from that now-seemingly indefensible pleading, there are other defense concerns that the court may be addressing by pulling the curtains closed on probing reporters.

After all, the murder of 24-year-old Colleen Ritzer is still fresh; the investigation into it complex and ongoing; and the likelihood that she wasn't her killer's first victim a theory that also has to be thoroughly explored.

Therefore nothing, not even the possibility of an accomplice, can be ruled out yet.

Judiciously balancing the rights of everyone involved in a sensational case like this one, whilst ensuring 'Due Process' for the defendant, is not simple or easy: The victim, the accused, the witnesses -- dead or alive all of these individuals must be guaranteed justice -- which often requires a great degree of secrecy.

op-ed by Eponymous Rox, for Killing Killers

In hunt for Abigail Hernandez "No tip too small" FBI says

The FBI's lead investigators in the search for Abigail Hernandez say it's looking "less and less likely" that the New Hampshire teen simply ran away.

The athletic 15-year-old from North Conway, NH has been missing since October 9th when she sent her last text at around 3 PM to a friend while walking home from school.

Since that afternoon there's been no activity on her cellphone or social media accounts either, a troubling indicator in the case of a girl who is said to be very active online, especially with her Facebook page.

"She has gone totally dark from a very robust social media presence," FBI agent Kieran Ramsey reports. "We have no idea where she is right now."

Regardless of the trail growing cold, however, state and federal officials insist that the search for Abigail Hernandez is still very much underway, even though, so far, they have no solid leads to act upon.

Agent-in-charge Ramsey also expressed a degree of frustration with what he perceives may be reticence on the part of some people to provide investigators with more tips. 

"Nothing is too small" he assured the public yesterday, emphasizing he'd rather get duplicate tips phoned in than nothing at all.

And those need not be about the specific moment the child vanished either, he added. 

Information about Hernandez and her relationships and activities prior to disappearing is equally being sought, since this could provide more insight to the events that led up to her vanishing. 

With October coming to a close and cold weather fast bearing down on the northland, there is an undeniable sense of urgency in the hunt for Hernandez who the authorities do consider to be endangered.

The teen track star joins a growing list of similar disappearances in the region, some of which, like Celina Cass, age 11, ended in homicide and a body-dump, or, as with the missing-person cases of Heide Wilbur, Brianna Maitland and Maura Murray, remain unsolved to this day.

The prospect of a serial predator freely roaming such a vast and mountainous territory  targeting young females to victimize has both citizens and law enforcement alike on edge.

Abby Hernandez went missing in broad daylight at the side of the busy North-South highway, just two miles from her residence and an even shorter distance from her high school. 

Police ask that anyone with knowledge of this missing child's current whereabouts -- or any info whatsoever -- immediately contact 1-800-CALL-FBI. A $20,000 reward is also being offered as an incentive.

You can view Abby's missing-person poster and find other important details here, and learn more about her and the scenic area she lives in right here.

Is Castaic Lake Burning Man Bryce Laspisa?

Firefighters responding to a brush fire in Castaic Lake CA yesterday found a burning man instead. But whether it's Bryce Laspisa, missing in that same area since last week, is still unknown because the body was torched  beyond recognition.

The 19-year-old college student last spoke with his mother via a cellphone call that was made in the vicinity of Castaic Lake. He told her he was tired of driving and intended to pull over someplace to sleep before resuming his journey homeward.

And that was the last time anybody heard from him.

Police have been searching the region ever since a Castaic parks visitor discovered the SUV Bryce Laspisa was driving that night overturned in a ravine close to the lakefront. 

Laspisa's wallet, phone and other belongings were untouched inside, investigators said, but there was a busted out window and blood throughout the vehicle, presumably his.

Yesterday this mystery deepened considerably with the finding of a burning man only a few miles from the missing teen's last known location. His parents are anxiously awaiting for a formal ID of that victim now, but say the coroner should already know whether or not it's their son because he always wears a retainer on his bottom teeth.

In the interim police have vowed to continue the quest to find Bryce Laspisa, although the trail has long grown cold, they claim.

Adding yet another twist to an already twisted case is their admission that patrol officers, at the behest of his mother, encountered and questioned Laspisa just a few short hours before he vanished...

Bryce Laspisa is a Caucasian male about 5-feet 10-inches tall and 160 pounds. He has blue eyes and short-cropped red hair and was reportedly dressed in summer clothing when he disappeared.

Anyone with any information about this missing persons case or that of the burning man's is asked to call homicide investigators at 323-890-5500.

Eponymous Rox
View Laspisa./Castaic case updates HERE

Boa Constrictor falsely accused of strangling two boys

THE PYTHON DID IT:

 

In a reptilian whodunnit, a Boa Constrictor was initially blamed for the strangulation deaths this weekend of two small boys 5 and 7 from New Brunswick Canada.

 

Now, however, investigators say it wasn't the Boa Constrictor after all, but rather a 15-foot African Rock Python weighing in at about 100 pounds.

 

The enormous New Brunswick snake is believed to have escaped its cage on a first-floor pet shop just below a room where the two brothers where sleeping, then traveled upstairs through ventilation ducts to find and strangle them.

 

The boys were guests of the owner of the exotic pet store, a business which was once the subject of a public petition to close the joint down, allegedly for animal mistreatment.

 

Although the exonerated Boa Constrictor, wrongly charged with murder, is oblivious of his own near brush with fate, the Python perp is presently incarcerated and destined to be euthanized, sources say.

 

Rogue reptiles like the New Brunswick snake are quite rare, experts are quick to point out today, and it's extremely unusual even for big predators like a Boa Constrictor or an African Rock Python to hunt and attack humans, let alone commit a double homicide.

 

They're theorizing that, for some bizarre reason, this supposed monstrous murderer mistook the two youngsters for food, despite some evidence that it didn't actually attempt to eat them...

 

What do you think? Maybe Mr. Python is being falsely accused too?

 

EPONYMOUS ROX

 

Death row inmate hanged

SO LONG, SLAGLE :

A death row inmate hanged himself in an Ohio jail cell yesterday, just days before his scheduled execution.

 

Convicted killer Billy Slagle. 44, was sentenced to die for the 1987 stabbing death of his neighbor, Mari Anne Pope, while she was babysitting two young children.

 

His original motive for breaking-and-entering into the home had been to burglarize it so he could "buy alcohol."

 

Another Cleveland creep with significant issues, Slagle, then 18, already had a criminal history including assault before the brutal slaying, and had been a habitual drug user since the age of 12.

 

He used a pair of scissors to kill Pope, knifing her 17 times while her small charges looked on.

 

One of the boys who witnessed the bloody event was so traumatized thereafter that eventually, as a young adult, he took his own life.

 

The case of a death row inmate hanged before his executioners can do the job isn't so uncommon, which is why such prisoners are customarily put on a suicide watch three days before their date with death.

 

Psycho Slagle beat the clock by a few hours however, but his fate still remains the same -- goodbye and good riddance.

 

EPONYMOUS ROX

 

Life plus 1000 years for Ariel Castro

Serial kidnapper and rapist Ariel Castro had already accepted a plea deal for life without parole before yesterday's sentencing hearing. Agreeing to that term and an additional 1000 years rather than gamble with a possible death verdict.

 

So there were no courtroom surprises in store for the world's "worst sexual predator" to date, save, perhaps, for being confronted by his most battered victim.

 

An emotional Michelle Knight made a courageous appearance in the proceeding, bearing witness against her now-shackled abuser and warning him that while her and her fellow captives' nightmare had finally ended, his hell "is just beginning."

 

She's right about this too, because child rapists, kidnappers and killers have a tough time once incarcerated, viewed by their prison mates as the lowest of the low, even among other murderers and sex offenders.

 

In fact, many such inmates are slain behind bars in assassination plots hatched well in advance of their integration with the general population. So Castro can expect a similarly harrowing prison experience, although, in his own eyes, he really isn't a bad guy after all, nor violent...

 

Standing unmoved and remorseless during sentencing, a bespectacled Ariel Castro once again conveyed his firm belief that he "is not a monster" but rather just a harmless, "sick man" with a "porn addiction."

 

Those proclamations fly in the face of his confession and recent plea deal though, as well as the mountain of evidence which eventually led to his 937-count indictment for abduction, assault, sexual assault, and murder.

 

The defendant's unapologetic statement, delivered in a calculatingly beseeching tone, belies a criminal attitude that seemed to enrage the presiding judge, but which isn't that uncommon for perps as incurably deviant as Castro is.  

 

This brand of violent sociopath can distort reality with relative ease, even to the degree where hundreds of vicious rapes and beatings, committed against defenseless victims held in bondage, can all become "consensual."

 

Coincidentally, that same perverse perspective was embraced by criminal justice officials for centuries, and even today the state of Ohio, from Steubenville to Cleveland, is grappling with an alarmingly high rate of violence against women.

 

A dangerous situation for Ohio's female citizenry in general, and one greatly exacerbated by law enforcement's historically wanton approach in guaranteeing the "weaker sex" equal protection.

 

 EPONYMOUS ROX

Body of David Rodgers found in Wisconsin river

MURDER OR A MISSTEP?

After many fruitless searches the corpse of David Rodgers, 20, has finally been located this week, badly decomposed and snagged on debris in Wisconsin's Chippewa River. 

The University of Wisconsin sophomore inexplicably fell from a campus footbridge into the rushing waters below in mid April 2013 -- just one day before his former classmate Becky Kasper was bound and brutally bludgeoned to death by a psychotic boyfriend in Arizona.

 

Kasper and Rodgers were both 2011 graduates from Northfield High School in Northfield Minnesota, and are in fact shown together in a yearbook photo of the Varsity football team.

 

He as a player; her as a cheerleader. 

Murder most foul

 

In April 2013 Arizona State University student Becky Kasper was endeavoring to terminate her stormy relationship with Luis Soltero, age 22.

 

The two had lived together near ASU and neighbors describe their life together as one big argument. Indeed, Kasper's coworkers and employer said she often came to work covered with bruises.

 

After April 20th, however, she neither showed for work again nor attended any of her college courses, and a few days later her family, friends and neighbors learned the reason why: A deranged sounding Soltero turned himself into the police, telling them where they could find his murdered lover's remains.

 

The demented young man had handcuffed and tortured Casper before beating her face and head into a bloody pulp with an exercising dumbbell.

 

Police found Kasper's body in the couple's bathtub hidden beneath blankets and a yoga mat.

 

Soltero had also tied a plastic bag around his victim's mangled head and left a written confession before fleeing the crime scene to who knows where:

"I did not treat her right. She deserved better but never accepted it. So I had to make the choice for her. She died on 4/20 not because of drugs, but because a sociopath talked and treated her nice … I don’t know where to go from here. Do I kill again, end it with myself or become invisible."

 

Clinging for his life

 

On the evening of April 19, 2013, Wisconsin University freshman Jesse Kreger and friends were crossing a pedestrian bridge spanning the Chippewa River in Eau Claire when they spied David Rodgers desperately clinging to the guardrail.

 

"We pretty much were walking across the bridge and I saw this guy straddling the railing and I was like, this better not be what I think it is," Kreger said.

 

A spring thaw had brought the Chippewa to just a few feet below flood level and its waters were rushing and dangerous. When Rodgers fell into the deluge he disappeared with the current and hadn't been seen or heard from since.

 

It is still a mystery as to how or why the youth became so precariously poised on the footbridge to begin with...

 

EPONYMOUS ROX

5 big reasons the Jodi Arias jury 'got it wrong'

In the spring of 2013, as the Jodi Arias jury deliberated on whether she should face death for the brutal slaying of Travis Alexander or life in prison, there was the smell of blood in the air.

 

These were the same jurors who earlier had unanimously proclaimed the defendant guilty of premeditated murder. The same ones too that then declared her eligible to be executed.

They'd been swift and unequivocal in that latter finding -- the crime Jodi Arias had committed in 2008 was "exceptionally cruel," they all agreed -- so, understandably, eager throngs of Arias haters were clamoring to have her head handed over to them on a silver platter.

 

The last thing anybody expected was an announcement that the Arias jury had deadlocked. Yet in retrospect that was inevitable and a valuable lesson for the future. Here's what hung them up:

1. Cameras in the courtroom: From perps to prosecutors, everyone behaves differently in front of the camera than they do in real life. Being in the spotlight changes things, and not necessarily for the better.

Add to film's potential for transforming everyday occurrences into major cinematic events one bullish grandstander like Juan Martinez and a natural-born poser like Arias, together with a "supporting cast" of otherwise ordinary people, and you've got a soap opera, not a trial.

It was knowing that those cameras would be rolling 24/7, and the whole universe watching transfixed, that undoubtedly prompted the defense to put their showy client on the witness stand for 18 solid days.

An unusually risky and terribly misguided strategy which, in the end, only proved she had a lively sexual appetite and a flair for fabricating stories.

2. Jurors not sequestered: Arias' shocking courtroom candor, juxtaposed with her flagrant lies and half-truths, earned the pretty perpetrator gazillions of gawkers worldwide. Most of who, in shrill voices, made it plain they hated her guts.

For jurors, this bare-all testimony she furnished was challenging on many levels, and therefore had to be thoroughly discussed amongst themselves in order to properly weigh its factual and legal significance.

Surprisingly, these men and women were not sequestered though, so they'd be flat out lying too if they said they were unaware of, and unaffected by, public bias against the defendant. Ditto for asserting with any integrity that they never once debated her case with, or sought out the advice of, anyone but each other.

Like it or not, it's possible to picture a sequestered jury, ignorant of the uproar it would cause, upholding Arias' substantiated claims of abuse, and even perhaps her self-defense plea as well.

3. Defendant's lack of criminal past or history of violence: There will always be doubt in any reasonable, unbiased person's mind about sentencing someone to death for one solitary murder who has never before exhibited violence or even one smidgeon of criminality.

In short, jurors realized that Arias was no serial murderer such as Ted Bundy, no mass murderer like Charlie Manson, and no career criminal on some escalating crime spree, either. They saw instead a scorned woman who, in a jealous rage, viciously slew the man who'd done her wrong…

4. Victim's inherently abusive nature: To his family, friends, coworkers, and various love interests, the 30-year-old seemingly mild mannered Travis Alexander had represented himself as a devout and chaste Mormon who was saving himself for marriage.

But nothing could be further from the truth, the jury learned, as mountains of hardcore letters, e-mails, text messages, audio recordings and photographs disclosed the victim's deceptiveness and perversions.

So too, the vulgar weeks' long kiss-and-tell, delivered by Alexander's soft spoken mistress-turned-murderess, while not serving her own cause well, did him no favors either.

Jurors' inability to fully sympathize with the slain man because of his perceived dishonesty and callousness automatically transferred a measure of that sympathy to his alluring killer.

5. Media circus: The sound and fury of certain blustery media personalities, while probably good for ratings, is a troubling new development in the world of criminal justice.

Their nonstop rants and specious pontifications aren't intended to enlighten audiences so much as to incite and polarize bloodthirsty mobs. In so doing they create an atmosphere similar to the lynching picnics of the Old South, infamous outdoor executions once attended by thousands.

It all is just entertainment, of course. However, jurists who aren't kept completely isolated can access these inane and hateful dialogues, tainting the process owed to a defendant by embracing views and opinions that may seem popular, as opposed to ones based solely on testimony and evidence.

In Arias' case, this apparently influenced the jury to hastily decide she was an ideal candidate for the death penalty. Yet, when it then came to actually sentencing her to die, they couldn't agree to do it, prompting a mistrial ... and their immediate dismissal ... and death threats.

Those former jurors are now adding their own bitter diatribes to the already potent mix of media babble concerning the Arias/Alexander tragedy, so, at this stage, it's become questionable whether a new and truly impartial jury can be assembled to do the task for which the first one dismally failed.

Or if it's even worth trying.

 

 

What do you think ? Should Arias be sentenced to life in prison for killing her ex-boyfriend, or put to death? Cast an anonymous vote today in Killing Killers crime poll. And then read the latest OpEd on Alexander's murder by Eponymous Rox on Crime Magazine.

 

Jodi Arias Poll Question: Life or Death?

Deadlock for Jodi Arias jury;
mistrial declared on penalty phase: 

Even given a second chance to determine Arias' fate a Phoenix jury still couldn't unanimously decide whether she should be put to death for killing Travis Alexander or given a life sentence instead. 

 

In Arizona, such indecision automatically results in a mistrial, which can either be resolved by the prosecution abandoning pursuit of the death penalty, or, alternately, by seating a brand new sentencing jury.

A new jury entails months more of deliberations as they necessarily review all the previous testimony and evidence -- a daunting task in a trial that has dragged on for months and months without end.

Millions of dollars have already been spent to prosecute the defendant, in a highly televised trial of circus proportions that even saw witnesses for the defense intimidated from testifying and defense lawyers motioning at least twice to be recused citing irreconcilable differences with their client.

Although these now-dismissed jurors are the very same ones who previously proclaimed Jodi Arias guilty of "especially cruel" premeditated homicide, her subsequent mitigating testimony and post-trial television interview from jail has clearly created some confusion in their minds.

Yet another reason cameras should have been barred from the entire courtroom spectacle and jurors sequestered at all times.  

Also perplexing, no doubt, is the fact that Arias had no prior criminal history before the gruesome slaying of Alexander, and still firmly clings to the contention that she was a victim of domestic violence and his murder committed in self defense.

Certainly, from sexually graphic descriptions of her relationship with the victim, plus reams upon reams of the couple's less than loving communiqués, there undeniably existed an inherently abusive and unhealthy bond between them.

Whatever happens now, though, there are more than ample grounds for future appeals, so whether Arias ultimately lives or dies is still a destiny that's as far off as ever.

SCROLL TO THE POLL AND YOU DECIDE THEN: Should the defendant be executed by lethal injection for 'cruelly' killing Travis Alexander, or given a life sentence instead? 

 

She claims she ought to be spared and "given a second chance" because she can "contribute to society" in a variety of useful ways, including encouraging literacy among fellow inmates, donating her long hair to cancer patients (again), and advocating for domestic abuse victims.

 

But Team Alexander says NOPE, Arias is just a heartless, conniving, fork-tongued sociopath who should be put to death without a second thought or a moment's hesitation.

To cast your vote, simply post a reply of "Life sentence" or "Death sentence" in the comment section below (no essays please) and I'll tally the results as they come in.

 

EPONYMOUS ROX

 

Closing the Year on Crime & Punishment

Killing Killers wishes everyone the very best of fortunes for 2013 and is closing out the calendar of 2012 on a light note today, since this year's news has been so heavy.

 

CRIME & PUNISHMENT

 

It might appear, from the photo above, that these two bashful teenagers were in the midst of a tryst of sorts and got busted by their peers.

 

But take a closer look and you'll see it just isn't so. The boys are merely getting their comeuppance for doing what some boys seem to do so well: brawling in the schoolyard.

 

Most school administrators take the view that fighting is a very serious crime no matter how old or young the perpetrators. Consequently, it's the kind of conduct that usually amounts to suspension as the swiftest and most appropriate form of punishment.

 

Of course, as in the real criminal justice system, determining just how long somebody should get banned from attending their classes usually depends on whether it's his first offense or if it's part of a troubling pattern.

 

Two days, a week, a month, forever...despite what most students loudly say about this in the presence of their friends, it's actually not their number one objective. Suspension from school for any length of time, or worse even permanently, is not ideal in the long run.

 

In fact, apart from being a lonely experience much akin to being publicly shunned, most kids can easily comprehend it's a real academic hassle as well. Especially those who have plans to graduate and get somewhere in life.

 

That's what the principal of Westwood High School in Mesa Arizona was figuring when he stumbled upon Charles and Julio above engaged in all out fisticuffs on school grounds. He broke their fight up and gave each young man the option to be suspended for the squabble or, alternately, to simply hold hands for an hour and be done with it.

 

A picture's worth a thousand words---you can see what these two intelligent youngsters prudently decided between them.

 

Leading up to this particular day in Westwood history, principal Timothy Richards had been highly praised for his somewhat maverick approach to student tardiness, delinquency, and other educational problems running rampant at Westwood before he was hired.

 

Indeed, during his brief tenure there, Richards' innovative policies were credited for thwarting the scholastic failure of some 300 students at the high school. Although not by forcing them all to hold hands, naturally.

 

For this particularly inventive method, however, the man has drawn some fire and ire. Not from Julio and not from Charles, mind you, but from critics on both sides of the isle.

 

But, regardless of this controversy over whether the punishment fits the crime or is way over the top and socially "traumatizing", the youths made the final choice, and this time they used their heads and chose very well.

 

What's more, at least one of them claims to have learned a valuable lesson from this experience, and that would be an obvious one: "Don't fight in school," Charles told an inquisitive CBS reporter earlier this month.

 

Right.

 

His arch nemesis, Julio, appears to have crumpled a bit under days of ridicule and unwanted Facebook photo-sharing. But, last heard, he's back in classes again too, and not fighting.

 

- Eponymous Rox 

 

 

Sigg's New Digs

 

Over numerous objections from his lawyers, Austin Reed Sigg was reportedly transferred on November 30, 2012 from Colorado's Mount View youth incarceration center to an adult jailhouse facility where he is currently being kept in isolation from the general population and can be guarded 24/7.

 

The rabid video-gamer and death-obsessed killer of ten-year-old schoolgirl Jessica Ridgeway turns 18 in January and, since he would technically then no longer be considered a minor, would have required different housing anyway.

 

An ever present danger to children, and fearing for his own safety too, officials at the youth center had kept Sigg separated from the other juvenile inmates prior to yesterday's transfer. Extreme conditions of his residency there which they'd pleaded in court papers was becoming a serious drain on their resources and couldn't be maintained for much longer.

It was their idea to be rid of him, assuring the Court that their little charge was "very mature" and therefore much better suited to life in an adult prison environment.

The transfer request should come as no real surpise--the teen has been charged as an adult and will face trial as an adult as well.
 

Another mugshot, another psychotic stare

Sigg's new addy is a small dungeon room in Colorado's Jefferson County Jail complex which contains minimum, medium, and maximum security prisoners of both sexes. 

However, searching through the current inmate list for official confirmation of this repeatedly produced the following error message: "We're sorry, but we couldn't find anyone in custody with the information you gave us."

It seems then that inmate Sigg is in some kind of limbo for awhile, at least until his 18th birthday arrives and hits him like a ton of bricks.

 

Whatever cell or wing he's presently being held (or hidden) in though, Jefferson County officials say that in approximately 50 days they plan to try and fully integrate him with his fellow prisoners.

That's preferable to solitary confinement, of course, but it's doubtful Sigg will fare too well let loose among them because violent pedophiles are walking targets in such closed quarters and extremely difficult to protect.
 

Sigg could hardly defend himself against such attacks by claiming his innocence either, since he's already publicly and privately confessed to the abduction, assault, murder and dismemberment of his child victim.

 

Additionally, DNA links him to the crime, as well as to the previous attempted kidnapping of a female jogger months in advance.

 

Jefferson County's jail was originally designed for only 1300 inmates, but the facility has seen a steady growth in its numbers over the past few years and has been reported to house as many as 1500 inmates at times.

 

Crowded jails are notorious for increasing the likelihood of assaults and other cellmate offenses, so perhaps justice for Jessica will move much swifter than anticipated.

 

Pretrial predictions

 

Sigg's recent housing shake up should serve as a reality check of sorts for all the parties involved in his criminal case. Accordingly, it wouldn't be odd for Sigg and his defense team to hurriedly hatch a scheme that, if accepted by prosecutors and approved by the judge, might see him safely sentenced for life in the psycho ward instead.

 

This could also mean the teen will try to increase his bargaining strength by confessing to other similar, but yet unknown, violent crimes he's commited before the Ridgeway girl's slaying in October.

 

Revelations of that nature wouldn't exactly shock expert profilers who'd strongly suspected all along, based upon the coldblooded methodology behind the heinous act, that it wasn't Sigg's first kill and that, if he hadn't been apprehended promptly, it surely wouldn't have been his last.

 

Defense lawyers arguing Sigg is not guilty of that murder because he's insane is probably being contemplated too, just as a back up plan if all else fails. But with the prosecution holding all the cards so far, and insanity itself traditionally difficult to prove, it's not the surest legal route to be pursuing in their client's interest. Now, or during his trial...

 

Look soon for a plea offer then, accompanied by a few brand new and startling confessions.

 



Austin Sigg to Appear in Court Today

Teen psycho-killer Austin Reed Sigg is expected in court again today. What's going to happen there once he shows up is anybody's guess, however, because gag orders are keeping both sides mum about the case.

 

Likely, though, Sigg's defense team will file a last minute motion for a transfer to the juvenile courts where he'll have maximum privacy and receive a much more lenient sentence if (and when) he's convicted of the brutal slaying and dismemberment of schoolgirl Jessica Ridgeway. They've not opted to do so in the month or so that's lapsed since his previous court appearance, but it's still not impossible.

It won't work, even so -- the crimes Sigg voluntarily confessed to and for which his DNA has already been traced are far too perverse and severe to be considered those of a demented child.

So maybe he'll slap down a plea bargain instead? Cough up a few more victims to sweeten the deal...?

______

[Afternoon update: Sigg's defense team did not motion for juvenile transfer in court today -- defendant will therefore be tried as an adult. You can read the complete case update and analysis I posted earlier on Crime Magazine HERE.]
 

10 tips for eluding the Smiley Face killers

The unexplained disappearance and *drowning* of 26-year-old David Gerken, after he was mysteriously evicted from the Ralph Wilson Stadium in Orchard Park New York en route to the bathroom, is the classic 'Smiley Face Killer' motif.

Because there have now been hundreds of similar deaths, beginning with young Patrick McNeill's in 1997, and since there doesn't seem to be any end in sight to the carnage, it's time for those who match the standard victim profile in these cases to learn how to avoid falling prey. Study the following fact sheet and tips carefully, and be safe.

SMILEY VICTIMOLOGY: Are you a popular, clean-cut, slim and athletic, college-age male, between 17 and 30, planning an evening out with your friends? Then pay close attention to the details of Gerken's disappearance and drowning, because your description--like his--is identical with approximately 95% of the Smiley Face victims:

David Gerken, 26, was just named 'Employee of the Month' at his workplace where he had risen to the rank of foreman. Responsible and well-liked, he was attending a Bills' game with his brother and a friend last Thursday. They report he drank only two beers while there, and hadn't been in any altercations with anyone, prior to being intercepted on his way to the men's room and ordered to leave the stadium.

Additionally, Gerken expected to go to work the very next day and under those circumstances he customarily wouldn't have engaged in heavy *drinking. This is important to note since, in nearly all of these cases, alcohol is ruled a major factor leading to "accidental drowning" whether or not any had been consumed. (*Toxicology tests will always show the presence of alcohol in dead bodies because it is a byproduct of decay, and is often accelerated in corpses that have been submersed for a period of time.)

Once Gerken had gone outdoors, he immediately called his brother to inform him he'd been forced to leave the premises and said he didn't know why. He then calmly arranged for the three to meet up again at the nearby Tailgaters bar after the game had ended.

That was the last anybody heard from him. The final GPS tracking signal on his cell phone was for a location two miles from the sports arena, and his body was ultimately discovered by family searchers floating face down in Smokes Creek--the opposite direction of Tailgaters and a destination that required scaling numerous obstacles to get at, as well as a tall fence. Police have tentatively ruled Gerken's death an accident.

SMLEY'S MODUS OPERANDI: A young man is separated from his friends somehow--usually asked to leave an establishment by management personnel, although he is not outwardly intoxicated. Once he's gone outside, typically he will cell-phone one or more from his party to explain the odd incident to them and to arrange for a meeting place. He then goes missing instead and is found drowned in a nearby river, lake, pond or stream, some days, weeks or months later. On occasion, as with 18-year-old pre-med student Colin Gillis from Tupper Lake NY last March, he is never seen or heard from again.

Police almost always determine NSOFP (no signs of foul play), sometimes well in advance of finding a body. In a few extreme cases, say when  a corpse was actually recovered weighted down with a chain and cinder block (e.g. Jonathan Dailey/October 2012), or showed other indications that the deceased didn't "fall" into the water naturally, then investigators will pursue a theory of suicide. It is also not uncommon for parents to be told by the authorities that their sons died as a result of auto-assassination (reckless behavior symptomatic of a death wish). 

KILLING SEASON: Annually, from the months of September to April. Once in awhile it may extend without interruption into late spring.

KILL ZONE: Maine to the Dakotas and all parts in between; now also reaching across the border into Canada as well as a few more southerly districts of the United States. Some metropolitan hotspots in the US kill zone include but are not limited to Boston, New York, Lacrosse, Minneapolis, and Milwaukee, but essentially any town or city in a state traversed by the east/west interstate highways of 90 and 94 is in the high risk area.

RUIN SMILEY'S DAY: Follow these tips to minimize the danger of vanishing into thin air one night and ending up another unsolved "drowned" statistic:

1. Buddy up at all times. Safety in numbers is the name of the game, before, during and after a night out on the town.

2. Scrap the hoodie attire. Too many people think it makes young men look like...well...hoods, quite frankly. And, considering the percentage of Smiley Face victims who were wearing this particular piece of apparel when they went missing, a hooded sweatshirt should be regarded as a significant liability. (Ditto for flip-flops, and any other type of shoe not suitable for running in.)

3. Watch what you're drinking--never drink from someone else's bottle or glass, especially if you don't know them. This includes any liquid whatsoever (or substance) being offered by a female you might've just met.

4. If you are asked to leave an establishment ... get all 10 TIPS IN ALL, PLUS SMILEY CASE SPOTLIGHTS, UPDATES & MORE HERE OR HERE & find a full forensic analysis of the famous 'Smiley Face Serial Murder Theory' in:THE CASE OF THE DROWNING MEN, illustrated or plain text eBook editions.

Because you really can't see what you're not looking for.