TX- Suspected kidnapper commits suicide

5-5-2001 Texas:

A convicted child sex offender suspected of abducting girls and holding them in a Central Texas shack killed himself Friday after a sheriff's deputy cornered him in Kerrville. His most recent victim escaped and was reunited with her family, officials said.

Acting on a tip, Kerr County Sheriff's Deputy David Billeiter approached a shack Friday morning in the brush off Texas 16 south of Kerrville. Billeiter located a red vehicle with Missouri plates, and he used his patrol car to block it in.

"It looked like the wrong car," Billeiter said. "But when he got out with a gun, I thought, 'This is the man. This is the one."'

As the suspect walked around to the passenger side, 11-year-old Leah Henry of Houston bolted out the driver's side and ran to the deputy. Then Billeiter quickly got Leah in his car and took off. A gunshot rang out as they fled, the deputy said.

Although local authorities said they could not positively identify the kidnapper, FBI spokeswoman Sheila Thorne in Slidell, La., said he was Gary Dale Cox, 48.

Cox bought a vehicle in Amarillo that he used to abduct the girls, police said.

Amarillo police and local FBI agents located an Amarilloan who sold a charcoal gray 1986 Mazda 323 to a man, suspected to be the kidnapper, in late December or early January, Sgt. Randy TenBrink of the APD said. The Mazda was linked to the kidnapper when the seller identified an artist's sketch of the suspected kidnapper as the man who bought the car, police said.

Cox abandoned a Ford Escort at 904 N. Grand St. which was reported abandoned Jan. 23, said APD Cpl. Jerry Neufeld. The person who called to report the abandoned car said the Escort had been there about three weeks.

Police had impounded the car and H&H Wrecker Service towed it away in January, Neufeld said.

The city sold the Escort on April 26 at a public auction. It was bought by H&H Wrecker Service and stored at its facility until Friday morning when officers took possession of the car for analysis, Neufeld said. The car has been partially processed, but officers are waiting on Houston police to contact them before conducting a thorough search of the vehicle, Neufeld said.

"We're going to hang onto it over the weekend and talk to the Houston (police department) to determine what they want us to do with it at this point," Neufeld said. "We're just going to assist them in any way we can."

Amarillo police had released an artist's sketch of the kidnapper Thursday in an effort to find Cox and his latest victim, Leah Henry.

Police had said that the kidnapper may have been in Amarillo from two weeks to two months before driving south on a kidnapping spree.

Leah's parents, Linda and Tim Henry, traveled from Houston to meet their daughter, who was under observation at a local hospital.

"She saw her older sister, her mother and myself, and we just had a big hug," Tim Henry said. "It must have been five minutes."

Leah's father thanked authorities for "the greatest day of my life." The girl was enjoying a pineapple pizza and resting in a hospital room, Henry said.

"She doesn't sound her confident self, but she's OK," Linda Henry said. "She's talking, and she sounded very timid, perhaps scared - maybe exhausted. But she's talking."

Houston police Lt. G. Mason said law enforcement officials already had narrowed their search for Cox based on computer background checks and a traffic stop in Hondo a couple of months ago. The Kerrville tip was coincidental, he said.

"We had already come up with his name and had associated him with that case and were working on it at the time the deputy stopped him and he committed suicide," Mason said.

Cox's criminal record in Texas shows one sexual offense involving a child in 1989, and at least four more involving girls ages 12 to 14 in 1992-95. He spent three years in prison and registered in 1999 as a sex offender in Montgomery County, records show.

He rented a mobile home east of Conroe from Bernard Samplaski in the late 1990s.

"It's been quite a while, but his problem never came up here," Samplaski told The Courier. "He paid his rent, and he never bothered nobody around this park."

After he disappeared from a Houston halfway house in March 2000, a warrant was issued for his arrest, according to records. He had been listed as a missing sex offender since last year.

FBI Special Agent Roderick L. Beverly said authorities think the perpetrator is responsible for at least three more cases in the Texas-Louisiana area.

Mason said evidence suggests he had gotten as far as Amarillo and Denver.

Leah was snatched after she got off her school bus Tuesday afternoon. Federal agents and police began identifying similarities between her disappearance and that of two other girls who eventually were set free.

The case also may have turned on the suspect's vehicle, identified by a number of witnesses as a white or light gray hatchback. Authorities confirmed that the vehicle found Friday was the one in question, although repainted and carrying a different license plate.

Nykema Augustine, 9, of San Antonio was abducted in March, while 11-year-old Lisa Bruno was lured from outside her Slidell home in April.

Both girls were playing at their apartment complexes when they were approached by a man described as potbellied with light brown hair who asked for help.

Both were whisked away and held captive for days: Lisa in a locked room at an unknown location for almost two weeks; Nykema for five days in a boarded-up cabin near San Antonio, authorities said.

Lisa reappeared Sunday at a bus station in New Orleans after her abductor released her in Lafayette and bought her a bus ticket home. Nykema's kidnapper dropped her off about a block from her apartment.

Based on highway signs the girls said they saw and the amount of time they spent in their abductor's car, law enforcement officials deduced they had been in the San Antonio area. They began searching Thursday and Friday for a cabin or shack near Seguin.

Authorities said Friday the girls apparently were each held at a deer hunting camp in Kerr County, about 70 miles northwest of Seguin. Leah told authorities she had been there since Tuesday.

"The main thing is this child is safe and the individual is dead," Slidell police Chief Ben Morris said. "The perpetrator is in the hands of God and hopefully he has washed his hands of him and put him where he belongs." ..News Source.. by MARK BABINECK and HOLLY PARKER

UK- Wife entered suicide pact with her rapist husband

4-12-2007 United Kingdom:

A besotted wife entered into a suicide pact with her husband when he confessed he was a rapist as a police investigation closed in on him, an inquest heard yesterday.

Christine Downes, 51, drove with her husband Christopher, 54, to a chalk pit near Andover in Hampshire on 9 October last year and they gassed themselves.

Just days earlier Mr Downes, who had served jail terms for attacking prostitutes, had provided a DNA swab for police investigating two rapes and an aggravated burglary in Salisbury, in 1984 and 1985.

The inquest heard from Detective Inspector Sean Memory that Mr Downes had been on the periphery of the inquiry in the 1980s because of "odd behaviour" but when the case featured on Crimewatch, his name again came up in a call.

Mr Downes, a driver, initially refused to give his DNA. But DI Memory persuaded him to give a sample in October in relation only to the Salisbury rapes.

After the couple's deaths, the DNA swab was fast-tracked. DI Memory said the sample matched a semen stain found at the rape in December 1984.

Mrs Downes brother, Charles March, told the inquest that his sister was "besotted" with her husband, whom she married in 1986.

"Christine's whole life was Christopher. I do not believe she would have survived without Christopher. If Christopher had gone back to prison she would not have been able to cope," Mr March explained. ..News Source.. by Martin Halfpenny

TX- Hurst man linked to four sexual assaults found dead

9-20-2008 Texas:

FORT WORTH — A registered sex offender from Hurst who was questioned this week by Fort Worth police in connection with four rapes dating to 1997 was found dead Thursday after leaving behind a note that he didn’t want to drag his family into his problems.

DNA tests confirmed Friday that biological evidence in the four sexual assaults matched Gary Lynn Brown, said Sgt. Cheryl Johnson, sex crimes unit supervisor.

Brown, 43, had served time in prison for sexually assaulting and kidnapping two young girls — 7 and 8 years old — in Roswell, N.M., when he was 19.

He was found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound by Hurst police about 8 a.m. Thursday inside a shed in his back yard.

Sgt. Craig Teague, Hurst police spokesman, said a concerned family member called police after finding a note in Brown’s home in the 300 block of Elm Street.

The cases

The four cases — two in 1997, one in 2000 and one in 2001 — were linked in January 2005 by the Combined DNA Index System, or CODIS, which examines biological evidence of unsolved crimes for possible connections.

In three of the cases (details on the fourth were unavailable Friday), the victims were walking or standing on the street when they were approached by a heavy-set man wearing prescription glasses.

The suspect’s vehicle was described as a dark-colored, four-door car in the earlier assaults and a red Ford Mustang in the 2001 case. Johnson said one of the earlier victims had been able to obtain the first three letters of the license plate.

A new look

Officer Rick Benson had begun reinvestigating the cases this past month as part of a unitwide review of cold cases involving CODIS hits, Johnson said.

Benson asked crime analyst Quannah Diffee to run a police report search looking for dark-colored, four-door cars with the same partial license plate.

"She came up with a 1996 report involving prostitution where Gary Lynn Brown was stopped in a Buick four-door with the first three letters of that license plate," Johnson said.

Johnson said investigators then began researching other vehicles Brown had owned and found he had bought a maroon or red Mustang in March 2001.

Brown "matched the description right down to some scars on his body that had been described by two separate victims," Johnson said.

Police obtained a search warrant for DNA, and on Wednesday Brown was taken to Fort Worth police headquarters, where he gave a DNA sample and was interviewed by Johnson and Detective Jeremy Spann.

"At that point, he denied any involvement in the crimes," Johnson said.

Johnson said about 24 hours later, investigators learned of Brown’s suicide. On Friday, police received confirmation that his DNA matched semen obtained in the four sexual assaults.

"They’ll be closed by exceptional means due to the fact that he cannot be prosecuted," she said.

Johnson said Brown’s profile will be uploaded into the national CODIS database for comparison with other unsolved rapes across the country.

Brown’s history

Brown first came to the attention of Hurst police last year.

"A general vehicle description matched his vehicle on a reported offense in Hurst," Teague said.

Though the offense could not be linked to Brown, Teague said the man’s criminal history convinced police that the man should be registering as a sex offender.

"He came in on our radar doing a background check," Teague said. "That’s when I located the stuff out of New Mexico and felt he should be complying with the registration statutes in Texas.

"I think very much that the law was designed to track and to warn society of this type of a person," Teague said.
..News Source.. by DEANNA BOYD

UK- Suicidal fireball of man with a grudge

9-19-2008 United Kingdom:

A DRIVING instructor who was a former sex offender with a grudge against the police turned his van into a fireball after vowing to kill as many officers as possible.

Terence Langrell, 42, burned to death after strapping three propane gas canisters and two water butts of petrol behind the driver’s seat of his Ford Transit van on August 1 last year.

An inquest yesterday heard it was the eighth anniversary of his 1999 caution for attempting to procure an act of gross indecency with a 14-year-old in Flint, North Wales.

Fire investigators said he laced the seat and himself with accelerant before setting himself on fire, probably with a disposable lighter, near Liverpool’s Anglican Cathedral.

A fragment of a note in the van read: “You lot abuse your powers and do what you want, you are wrong, I will make you pay for the last six years.

“I will kill as many police as I can.”

Five police officers were injured by the massive explosion when they approached the vehicle in Park Place, Toxteth, after a slow chase.

Police believe Langrell deliberately “baited” them into pursuing him so he could murder as many as possible.

Mr Langrell, a BSM driving instructor, lived with his parents in Boyd Close, Leasowe, and had shares and savings worth more than £40,000 in various accounts.

He was reported missing on March 27 last year, but was spotted travelling in the Shetland and Orkney Islands.

The inquest heard Langrell, a registered sex offender until December 2004, had developed a hatred of police.

Shortly before 10pm on August 1, officers followed Mr Langrell after seeing him driving suspiciously outside Smithdown Lane police station.

Other officers joined the pursuit through Granby Street, Warwick Street and Ullet Road, until Mr Langrell’s van mounted the kerb in Park Place.

Witness Paula Wright described seeing the driver covered in “blue flames”.

When PC Andrew Astle opened the door of Mr Langrell’s van, he unwittingly fed oxygen into the fire, which had not fully ignited because of the fuel vapour-rich atmosphere inside.

Officers scrambled for coats to pat down colleagues who staggered from the scene in flames while the blast blew one PC against her own vehicle.

One described Mr Langrell as a “human fireball”.

PC Helen Prentice heard him shouting: “F*** off, I’ve killed her, I’m dead, I’m dead,” and “I don’t f****** care anymore, she’s dead.”

She said she tried to help him but said he would not lie down and continued to move towards the officers.

Detective Superintendent David Kelly told the inquest: “I believe he intended to deliberately kill police officers.

“I would describe him as baiting the officers until sufficient numbers had joined the pursuit and the result of his actions are there to see on the CCTV footage.

“My opinion is he was luring more and more cars into the pursuit, and that is why we launched an investigation into the attempted murder of five police officers.”

Detective Inspector Karen Byrne, of the force’s professional standards department, said: “Every officer at the scene acted in a selfless manner and there can be no criti-cism levelled at them in any way shape or form.”

The inquest heard Langrell was a loner and “paranoid”, believing Merseyside’s police helicopter was following him.

In 2003, he went to Arrowe Park hospital and asked for a psychiatrist, saying “life was not worth living”. A psychiatrist concluded he could be suffering paranoid schizophrenia.

The jury at yesterday’s inquest found Mr Langrell had killed himself.

No evidence about the identity of the woman he spoke of was ever found, and Liverpool coroner Andre Rebello said this may have been a fantasy.

..News Source.. by Liverpool Daily Post

VA- Officials: Missing Missouri man committed suicide

9-16-2008 Virginia:

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. | A southeast Missouri man who fled a year ago after being charged with child sodomy died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, according to authorities in Virginia where his remains were found.

John Dunivan, the former Butler County clerk, was accused of sodomizing a young girl.

Remains found earlier this month near Hungry Mother State Park in Marion, Va., were positively identified through the use of dental records as Dunivan, Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt. Phil Gregory said.

Highway patrol investigators had been asked to forward forensic information to the chief medical examiner's office in Roanoke to either identify or exclude Dunivan after a human skull was discovered Aug. 31 by hikers on private property near a remote area of the park.

The skull, according to authorities, was located about a mile and a half from where Dunivan's truck was found along Interstate 81, on the western edge of Virginia near Marion. The truck had been found there July 20, 2007 by a Virginia State Police officer, who was checking on an abandoned vehicle.

The rest of the skeleton was found Sept. 1 by investigators under several layers of brush in what appeared to be a "makeshift survival shelter," Smyth County Sheriff's investigator Bill Eller said.

A revolver and a passport, later identified as belonging to Dunivan, were found near the remains, Eller said.

Dunivan was 61 years old when he was charged in July 2007 in neighboring Ripley County with first-degree statutory sodomy involving an 11-year-old girl.

According to a probable cause statement by a Highway Patrol officer, the girl told investigators that she had oral sex with Dunivan "too many times to count" at numerous locations, including at Dunivan's Ripley County property, in Poplar Bluff and at a motel in Jefferson City, which is about 250 miles to the northwest.

A 12-year-old girl also told investigators that Dunivan had touched her genitals on the outside of her clothing, according to the probable cause statement, but that incident did not result in the sodomy charge. ..News Source.. by AP



UK- Inquest hears of pledge to lure police to their deaths

9-19-2008 United Kingdom:

A SEX offender killed when his van burst into flames left a note vowing to take out as “many police as I can”.

A jury inquest heard how Terence Langrell packed the white Ford Transit with three proprane gas cannisters and petrol.

Then, on August 1 last year, the 42-year-old “baited” officers into a slow pursuit around the streets of south Liverpool.

Five officers were injured as they approached the van in Park Road, Toxteth.

Liverpool Coroner’s Court heard how Langrell was given an official caution for attempting to procure an act of gross indecency with a 14-year-old in Flint, North Wales.

A registered sex offender until December 2004 he developed a hatred of officers.

One fragment of a note found in the car read: “You lot abuse your powers and do what you want, you are wrong. I will make you pay for the last six years.

“I will kill as many police as I can.”

The BSM driving instructor lived with his parents in Leasowe.

He was reported missing on March 27, 2007, but was spotted travelling in the Shetland and Orkney Isles.

Shortly before 10pm on August 1 officers began to follow Langrell after his driving outside Smithdown Lane was described as “suspicious”.

The pursuit took police through Granby Street, Warwick Street and Ullet Road, before Langrell mounted the kerb in Park Road.

Witness Paula Wright described looking out of her dining room window and seeing the driver was covered in “blue flames”. ..News Source.. by Kevin Core

KS- TRUCK KILLS ACCUSED MOLESTER -- THE HIGHWAY PATROL SAYS CHARLES ROBISON STEPPED IN FRONT OF THE TRACTOR- TRAILER ON I-135.

9-20-2000 Kansas:

After Charles Robison parked his Lincoln beside I-135 and stepped in front of a tractor-trailer Tuesday, his lawyer thought his death might have been an accident. But the mother of one of the eight boys Robison was accused of molesting is convinced he killed himself to avoid going on trial in 11 days. The 70-year-old retiree faced 29 felony counts of sexually abusing the preteen and teenage boys in Wichita in recent years. Authorities have yet to determine whether his death was suicide... ..News Source.. by Wichita Eagle

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Accident or suicide? Accused molester steps in front of truck.

9-20-2000 Kansas:

WICHITA, Kan. _ After Charles Robison parked his Lincoln beside I-135 and stepped in front of a tractor-trailer, his lawyer thought his death might have been an accident. But the mother of one of the eight boys Robison was accused of molesting is convinced he killed himself to avoid going on trial.

The 70-year-old retiree faced 29 felony counts of sexually abusing the preteen and teenage boys in Wichita in recent years. Authorities have yet to determine whether his death was suicide or unintentional.

The Kansas Highway Patrol said it happened this way: About 10:25 a.m. Tuesday _ as two tractor-trailer rigs approached side by side in a 70 mph zone _ Robison suddenly stepped in front of the truck in the outside lane, looking the driver in the face. The driver, pulling a milk tank-trailer, tried to... ,,News Source.. by Tim Potter, Ron Sylvester and Deb Gruver

NY- Legal Action Continues After Apparent Suicide

4-5-2006 New York:

Gary A. Feinberg, 48, a physician's assistant at the Suffolk County Jail, was killed by a Long Island Rail Road train in an apparent suicide on March 27. Feinberg was struck by the eastbound train at about 11:35 p.m. and pronounced dead at the scene at the Abraham's Path crossing in Amagansett, according to LIRR officials.

The Sag Harbor resident had been arrested in February and charged with five counts of official misconduct and 16 counts of sexual abuse in the second degree for allegedly fondling six female inmates while they received medical attention at the jail over the course of seven months. Feinberg pleaded not guilty to the charges.

One of those women, Rochelle Ramos, 40, filed a $10 million notice of claim last week against Feinberg for his alleged abusive behavior and against the county for its imprudence in hiring Feinberg, its poor supervision, and potential deliberate indifference by not following up on complaints made in the past.

Feinberg's death has not changed Ramos's legal course of action against the county, according to her attorney Robert Valli of Leeds, Morelli & Brown in Garden City.

Ramos, of Hempstead, was serving time for a probation violation — she had been convicted of forging medical prescriptions. A car accident several years ago left her wheelchair-bound for two years and during that time, she became addicted to painkillers, Valli said.

His client was serving time in the Nassau County jail when she reportedly had stomach pains and was diagnosed with a hernia. Ramos later witnessed an encounter between prisoners "that might have endangered her life," and guards moved her to the Suffolk County jail for protection. Despite her previous medical checkup, her condition required her to have a pre-admission medical exam. Feinberg was the attending physician.

What "doesn't make sense" is that there was reportedly a female physician's assistant in the room at first but she left, said Valli. "If you're a female prisoner, you're going to have a female attendant. There should have been a female attendant."

On or around December 28, Feinberg allegedly molested Ramos without using a glove. Although startled, "she doesn't scream," the attorney recounted. "She thinks 'if I scream I'm going to get in trouble.'"

When the exam is over, "He then stands her up and tells her how beautiful she is and tries to kiss her," said Valli, who is looking to speak with the other women who claim Feinberg abused them.

It is unclear if any policy has been established that requires a female attendant to be present during medical checkups of female inmates, and Valli will be investigating the matter.

Members of The Suffolk County Health Department, which runs the jail's medical unit and hired Feinberg in 2002, declined to comment.

Some have speculated that Feinberg's possible suicide implies guilt and makes the county vulnerable to further lawsuits.

Suffolk County Attorney Christine Malafi, who is handling the case, acknowledged that more people may come forward but she believes the county might be protected by the Dead Man's Statute. The law is designed to protect the decedent from fraudulent claims in civil cases by prohibiting a witness who may have something to gain from testifying about communication or transactions with the deceased.

Malafi also emphasized that it is unfair to assume Feinberg was committing suicide because he was guilty, or that the tragedy was even a suicide.

"Committing suicide just means you're going through something in your life that you can't handle," she said. "You could say that he couldn't handle all of these accusations coming out . . . that were false." As far as she knew, there were also no obvious signs of suicide, such as a note, she added.

A funeral service was held for Feinberg on Sunday at the North Haven Community Center. ..News Source.. by Carey London

PA- Inmate hangs himself in cell

5-4-2005 Pennsylvania:

An Allegheny County Jail inmate hanged himself in his cell early Tuesday, hours before he was scheduled to plead guilty to charges that he taped himself having sex with children.

Timothy Elkin Walker, 34, of Brookline, used pieces of his sheet and shoestrings to commit suicide, according to Warden Ramon Rustin and the county coroner's office. He died shortly after 4 a.m., the coroner's office said.

Walker's hanging comes despite new procedures put in place after Eugene DeLuca, a Chicago-area hit man who had been sentenced to life in prison without parole, hanged himself in his jail cell Jan. 12. Rustin said after that suicide that he ordered guards to check cells every half hour. Walker gave no indication that he planned to kill himself, Rustin said. ..News Source.. by The Tribune Review

TX- Principal dead of apparent suicide

4-24-2005 Texas:

ANGLETON — Angleton High School Principal Marcus Cloud, 38, was found dead in a Waller County roadside park Friday night, the victim of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Cloud’s death came hours after Hempstead Superintendent Mona Chadwick informed Angleton officials of allegations Cloud had engaged in improper conduct with a Hempstead student when he was a principal there, Superintendent Heath Burns said at an emergency meeting of the Angleton ISD school board Saturday.

The allegations initially were made Thursday evening, Chadwick said.

“There were allegations of improper conduct with a student,” Chadwick said. “There was nothing in there that said they had sex.”

Chadwick said the Hempstead Police Department is investigating the charges. The department is closed on the weekends and calls rolled over to the Waller County Sheriff’s Department

IL- Accused sex offender's death ruled a suicide

9-12-2008 Illinois:

PEKIN - A Tazewell County Coroner's Jury ruled Thursday that the death of an accused child molester was a suicide.

Brad A. Mason, 48, of 1506 S. Capitol St., Pekin, was found dead against the door inside his detached garage about 10:40 a.m. July 23. An autopsy and toxicology reports indicated that he died of carbon monoxide toxicity with a level of 81 percent in his blood stream, said Tazewell County Coroner Dennis Conover. He said 35 percent saturation is typically enough to kill most people.

Pekin police detective Rick Von Rohr said Mason had hooked a drier hose up to the tailpipe of his car and then placed the other end inside the car. His body was found against a regular-size entryway door at the back of the garage as if he were trying to leave the garage and collapsed, Von Rohr said.

Inside the car were pictures of loved ones, a cell phone, a one-hitter cannabis pipe and other personal keepsake items, said Von Rohr.

Von Rohr said that he was notified on July 22 that a 15-year-old girl had told her boyfriend that Mason was fondling her. The boyfriend went to Mason's home and confronted him and yelling ensued. Mason forbid the boy to return to the house.

The girl then told her mother, Mason's girlfriend, that Mason had been touching her. The woman filed for an order of protection and then left the home to stay with a family member, said Von Rohr. Officers were dispatched to the home on July 23 to serve the order of protection on Mason, which would have required him to leave the home. The girlfriend was there and told police she could not open the garage door.

Von Rohr had arrived to search the home. When the girlfriend retrieved the garage door opener from the house and opened the door, officers found Mason. The car key was still in the on position but the car had run out of gas. The small detached garage, he said, would have filled quickly with fumes.

Von Rohr said neighbors last saw Mason at about 10 to 10:30 p.m. on July 22 when he backed his car into the garage - which they said was unusual because he never parked the car in the small garage.

While investigating in the house, detectives found three messages on the answering machine. The last message was from Mason, left at 12:01 a.m., which said, "I didn't do what she said. I love you forever. Don't go into the garage. Let someone else go in." Von Rohr said Mason sounded very upset on the message.

Von Rohr said he never had the chance to question Mason or his 15-year-old accuser. He had not been charged with any crime. Mason's death closed the case, he said. Mason had no previous record of sexual abuse, said Von Rohr. ..News Source.. by Sharon Woods Harris

UK- Sex abuse accused commits suicide

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IN- Coach found dead hours before assistant's arrest

9-2-2008 Indiana:

PETERSBURG, Ind. - Pike Central High School's football coach was found dead in his home Tuesday, hours before a former assistant in his program turned himself in to state police in an investigation over text messages sent to a 17-year-old student.

Marty Deputy, head football coach and teacher at Pike Central High School, was found dead about 6:40 a.m. EDT at his home in southern Indiana's Gibson County, said Chief Deputy Coroner David Knowles. He said the death had been ruled a suicide, but declined to discuss the manner in which Deputy died.

Knowles said a note was left, but he declined to discuss its content.

Tuesday afternoon, Luke Musselwhite, 26, a former assistant football coach at the school, surrendered at the Pike County Jail in Petersburg and was arrested on charges of disseminating harmful material to a minor and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, state police said. The Jasper man was released on $2,500 cash bond.

Musselwhite could not be reached for comment Tuesday night. A man who answered the phone at the number listed for the only Musselwhite in Jasper said he did not know how to contact him.

Musselwhite resigned from his teaching position shortly before the start of the school year, state police said.

State police said Musselwhite was accused of sending more than 200 text messages, including several that were sexual in nature, to a 17-year-old female Pike Central student during October and November.

State police spokesman Sgt. Todd Ringle said Tuesday night that two teachers had been under investigation, but he could not identify the second one.

It was not clear how long Musselwhite had been Deputy's assistant.

Deputy, 31, was in his fourth season as head football coach at 650-student Pike Central in Petersburg and had compiled a record of 3-29, including a current streak of 17 straight losses. He previously was an assistant coach for one year at Jasper High School and one year at Pike Central. He also taught English and Bible literature at Pike Central.

Students at the high school and middle school were dismissed early after administrators learned of Deputy's death, and the school's football game Friday against Heritage Hills was canceled.

School was scheduled to reopen Wednesday. Grief counselors were expected to be available. ..News Source.. by Chicago Tribune