12-11-2005 Arkansas:RO GERS — A couple charged this week with myriad child-sex crimes, including incest and child pornography, committed suicide in their home Saturday evening, Rogers police said.
According to the police, Joe Billy Canoy, 41, and Shawna Lee Anne Canoy, 32, were found dead of suspected asphyxiation after a neighbor, thinking something was wrong, broke down the home’s door.
The neighbor found the Canoys inside a vehicle in the garage about 5 p. m., said Kelley Cradduck, spokesman for the Rogers Police Department.
“It’s pretty clear-cut,” Cradduck said. “We don’t believe there is any foul play.”
Cradduck wouldn’t say if police found a suicide note.
The couple had posted bond and left the Benton County jail on Friday after being arrested Wednesday, Cradduck said. Each was released on $ 75, 000 bond, a spokesman at the Benton County jail said.
According to the affidavit filed by the Benton County Prosecuting Attorney’s office Friday, police began investigating the couple Wednesday after an employee of a pest control company told authorities he recently visited the couple’s home and saw evidence of drug use and sexual activity with minors.
Joe Canoy was the manager of a Lowell pest control company. A spokesman for the company could not be reached Saturday night.
The employee told police he and his wife had gone to dinner with the Canoys on Dec. 2 and had been invited to their house at 2310 West Beech St. afterward. While at the house, the witness stated Joe Canoy showed him a 1-pound brick of marijuana and gave him a tour of the house. The witness said he saw several photographs of Shawna Canoy and Joe Canoy engaged in sexual activity together and with other partners.
Canoy then asked the witness if he would be interested in “swinging,” or swapping sexual partners. The man declined, but Canoy continued the tour and the witness said he saw several photos depicting the Canoys in sexual acts with minors, including one showing a 19-year-old woman and Shawna Canoy having sexual contact with a minor.
Rogers police obtained a warrant and searched the couple’s home Wednesday evening, and found framed pictures on the wall and computer screensavers showing sex acts between the Canoys and minors.
Joe Canoy and Shawna Canoy each asked for attorneys when interviews began shortly after their arrest, Cradduck said.
“They lawyered-up pretty quick — they had a prepaid legal card,” Cradduck said.
Police said they found framed photos of girls as young as 12 having sexual contact with the Canoys, digital pictures of infants and children engaged in sexual acts and videos showing sex acts between the Canoys while a family member watched.
Photos of two boys, 17 and 13, also were found.
“They had a whole bunch of porn,” Cradduck said. “Not only homemade but from the Internet.”
A 13-year-old girl police identified as being in some of the photos told police that the Canoys regularly let her drink tequila and pressured her into taking photographs of sexual acts.
Rogers police are looking for other victims, Cradduck said.
Joe Canoy had been charged with four felonies : engaging children in sexually explicit conduct for use in visual or print medium, pandering or possessing visual or print medium depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child, computer exploitation of a child and second-degree sexual assault.
Shawna Canoy was charged with incest, engaging children in sexually explicit conduct for use in visual or print medium, pandering or possessing visual or print medium depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child, computer exploitation of a child and second-degree sexual assault. Joe Canoy was convicted in Washington County in 1994 on two counts of third-degree battery. After Canoy’s arrest Wednesday, Rogers detectives were told Canoy was going to be fired from his job at the pest control company. ..Source.. by CHARLIE MORASCH
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