Tom White, Voice of the Martyrs Head, Reportedly Killed Self Amid Molestation Probe

4-23-2012 Oklahoma:

After it was revealed last Wednesday that The Voice of the Martyrs' Walter Thomas "Tom" White had been found dead at the Christian ministry's Oklahoma headquarters, it was reported days later that the executive director had possibly committed suicide amid an investigation into allegations that he had molested a young girl.

The Voice of the Martyrs, headed by White as an executive director for more than 20 years, issued a statement last Wednesday, April 18 announcing the married father of two's untimely passing. Two days later, the nonprofit, interdenominational organization acknowledged that White, 64, was being investigated by Oklahoma authorities for allegedly having "inappropriate contact with a young girl."

"Rather than face those allegations, and all of the resulting fallout for his family and this ministry and himself, Tom appears to have chosen to take his own life," the Christian ministry said in an April 20 statement.

It added, "None of those in leadership at VOM, including our Board of Directors, were aware of these allegations at the time of Tom's death. There is no doubt that Tom cared about his wife, his children and his grandchildren. And there's no doubt that he cared about VOM."

A report from The Associated Press revealed this Monday that White had gone missing April 17, the same day the Bartlesville Police Department was alerted to the allegations involving a 10-year-old girl, according to Capt. Jay Hastings.

Thomas R. Holland, Bartlesville's police chief, is listed on the ministry's website as a member of its Board of Directors. Holland confirmed with The Christian Post Tuesday that he is indeed a member of The Voice of the Martyr's board and that he knew White. In an email response to CP's inquiries, Chief Holland deferred other questions regarding the case to Hastings.

The AP also revealed that the police had requested from the Washington County District Court an order to have White's cell phone carrier provide "real time GPS pinging" of his phone in hopes of discovering his whereabouts. Authorities had noted in the document that White "had been reported to have molested a 10-year-old juvenile female" and disappeared as the investigation got underway.

Employees at the ministry gave police a letter discovered in White's vehicle that indicated the executive might have been "suicidal or possibly fleeing to avoid investigation," Hastings said.

"You can take it either way," Hastings added. "It was kind of a goodbye letter. You don't know if he was talking about himself."

The Voice of the Martyrs stated last Friday, "We are deeply saddened by these events. Our hearts are broken."

It added:

"However, the work that God has called VOM to do is bigger than any one of us. There are persecuted Christians who need our help. The legal process will go forward, and we will continue serving with our persecuted brothers and sisters.

"We appreciate the many who are praying for our work, and we encourage you to join us in praying for Tom's family during this difficult time, as well as the family of the alleged victim.

"However, the work that God has called VOM to do is bigger than any one of us. There are persecuted Christians who need our help. The legal process will go forward, and we will continue serving with our persecuted brothers and sisters.

"We appreciate the many who are praying for our work, and we encourage you to join us in praying for Tom's family during this difficult time, as well as the family of the alleged victim."

Bartlesville investigators were awaiting the results of an autopsy report to determine White's cause of death. It was not immediately known how White may have come in contact with the unidentified girl, nor if she was somehow involved with The Voice of the Martyrs' work.

White worked with the persecution ministry for more than 30 years, and during his time as its executive director, The Voice of the Martyrs "saw incredible growth in its outreach to the worldwide persecuted church," the organization notes.

The ministry, founded in 1967, said on its website that its president, James E. Dau, would issue a statement sometime this week.

A message left with The Voice of the Martyrs Tuesday morning was not returned by time of press. The Christian Post was told that Capt. Jay Hastings, in charge of the Bartlesville Police Department's Investigations Division, would be away from his office Tuesday until later in the afternoon. ..Source.. by Nicola Menzie , Christian Post Reporter

READ: IN MEMORY OF TOM WHITE AND CHUCK COLSON

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Police close case on Bartlesville ministry leader

5-9-2012:

TULSA, Okla. (WTW) — Police have closed a sex-abuse investigation after the head of an international Christian ministry named as a suspect apparently killed himself, authorities said Monday.

Tom White, 64, was being investigated, but had not been charged, in the abuse of a 10-year-old girl.

White was found dead last month at the Bartlesville headquarters of The Voice of the Martyrs, a nonprofit that provides medical supplies, food and clothing to those in need. He had been the agency's executive director for more than 20 years.

Employees discovered a letter in White's vehicle indicating he was "suicidal or possibly fleeing to avoid investigation" Bartlesville police said.

Bartlesville Police Capt. Jay Hastings said the department is closing its abuse investigation because the suspect is dead.

"The case is basically not going anywhere," said Hastings, who also noted that the department's next step is to ensure the girl receives proper treatment or counseling.

"The child still has to deal with what's happened," he said. "Our main goal at this point is to make sure the family and victim get the proper services, basically."

Bartlesville police are awaiting autopsy results from the state Medical Examiner's Office, whose spokeswoman said Monday that the report was still pending.

Hastings would not say Monday if the victim was somehow involved in the ministry or how White may have come in contact with her.

A statement posted online from James E. Dau, the ministry's president, said no one in leadership at the organization was aware of the allegations at the time of White's death.

"Like everyone on our team, and probably like you, my first question was 'why'" Dau wrote. "The day before (White was found dead) allegations were made to authorities that Tom had inappropriate contact with a young girl.

"I personally believe that rather than face those allegations and the resulting fallout for his family and this ministry, Tom chose to end his life," he wrote.

Ministry spokesman Todd Nettleton said he could not comment beyond Dau's statement. ..Source.. by USA Today

Police Close in Quickly on Tosa Woman's Vicious Rapist — Only to Find Him Dead

4-24-2012 Wisconsin:

A Wauwatosa woman is brutally assaulted at the point of a knife, and not waiting for DNA evidence to be returned, detectives develop a lead. They were on the right track, but it turned out their quarry was already beyond justice.

Police were on the right track when they went to question a suspect in the vicious knifepoint rape of a Wauwatosa woman in early March.

They didn’t know it for sure, but they did have the right man after less than a week of investigation. DNA test results returned a month later supported their belief, but couldn't help police make an arrest.

The rapist was already dead.

Just days after a stranger brutally assaulted a woman in her home on North 68th Street on March 3, police zeroed in on a possible suspect. They didn’t have much to go on except his victim’s description, somewhat matching one man out of a handful of contacts gleaned from her daughter’s memory and cell phone.

But, said Capt. Jeff Sutter, they decided to go knock on his door anyway.

Tosa detectives went to an address on North 15th Street in Milwaukee and spoke to a woman who said she was the suspect's stepdaughter. She told them the man they were looking for had died four days earlier of a heroin overdose.

Police paid a visit to the county morgue. Sure enough, the body was still there, and it matched the description of the rapist, right down to the distinctive tattoo the victim had seen on his chest.

The case would have been closed right then, except that when officers showed his victim a photo lineup including a mug shot of him, she couldn't pick him out.

That left detectives only 99 percent sure they had the right man, and they had to wait for the State Crime Lab to respond to DNA evidence left at the scene to match their suspect.

It did, and now they are 100 percent sure the woman’s rapist is not still roaming the streets. William J. Keys, 37, was declared dead on March 5.

Victim tells of horrifying ordeal

That's a great relief to his victim, who had been living in fear that Keys might return — as he had threatened to do — to subject her again to what happened March 3. Police reports paint a detailed picture of the crime and subsequent pursuit of the rapist.

About 11 a.m. that day, the 55-year-old was relaxing at home, where she lived with a daughter, when her doorbell rang.

She had never seen the man at her door. But he asked for her daughter by name, wanting to know if she was home. Told that she wasn’t there, Keys then asked if he could use the woman's bathroom.

She let him in and said he was in her bathroom for more than five minutes. When he came out, she said, she asked his name. He said, "Just call me Daddy."

At that point, she asked him to leave. Instead, he pulled out a knife, held it to her throat and threatened to kill her. Then he raped her repeatedly, in her living room and then her bedroom, for two hours.

During his attack, she said, Keys dropped his knife, and she saw it between the cushions of her couch. She grabbed it and threw it across the floor, where it skidded into her dining room.

Before the attacker left, he looked for his knife but never found it, and the victim hid it after he was gone.

She waited more than two hours to call police, by which time her assailant’s track was cold.

Police begin the only place they can – with the daughter

Knowing that Crime Lab reports would take six to eight weeks to return a match, Wauwatosa police detectives went to work with what they had: a description from the victim and the knowledge that the perpetrator at least knew the name of the victim’s daughter – he had referred to her by name not only at the door but again during the crime.

The daughter was questioned and turned over her cell phone, and detectives began a list of potential suspects. Then followed the painstaking task of matching numbers and recollections of casual acquaintanceship to names, connecting them to criminal records and photos, looking for someone who might match a description or have a motive.

Detectives found one man — Keys — who stood out somewhat from the rest. The daughter's description was strongly similar to her mother's of her attacker. He had a criminal record, including a felony conviction for battery to a police officer. He had at least an idea of where the victim lived.

The victim's daughter had met Keys when they worked together briefly in December for the same temporary employment service. She said that he had flirted with her and asked her out, but she brushed him off.

On at least one occasion, she said, she remembered they had ridden the bus together and he would have seen her getting off near her home.

Police had a hunch that Keys either that day or at another time stalked her and saw her enter her home, then came back looking for her — and instead found her mother.

Feeling that with a rapist was on the streets, they should act rather than wait for Crime Lab reports, police went looking for Keys on March 9 and learned of his death.

It wasn't until April 20 that the DNA evidence came back with a positive identification of Keys.

Capt. Sutter said that officers visited the victim again April 21 and told her they knew the man who had assaulted her, and that he was dead.

Then they showed her morgue photos of Keys, including his tattoo. That's him, she told them this time — that's definitely the man who raped me. ..Source.. by WauwatosaPatch

Teacher being investigated for sex crimes at time of death

4-23-2012 North Carolina:

REDELL COUNTY, N.C. — A former Iredell County teacher was being investigated for 24 counts of molestation with a student at the time of his death, Iredell County deputies said.

Deputies confirmed Monday afternoon that they were one day away from charging 31-year-old Alan Payne, but he killed himself during the investigation.

On Monday, parents asked why the school did not tell them about the investigation.

“This is appalling,” said one student’s mother, who asked not to be identified to protect the identity of her daughter. “She was devastated to find out he had committed suicide and then to have the information trickle down that he was accused of such a horrendous crime. She doesn’t know what to think.”

The accusations against Payne include two dozen counts of rape, indecent liberties and sex with a minor, a 14-year-old student. He was allegedly involved with the student for more than eight months.

Iredell-Statesville Schools suspended Payne as soon as the investigation began, but parents were never told anything, not even after Payne was found dead.

“It doesn’t make sense to me,” she said. “They should have been honest from the beginning. When they called parents on Wednesday night and told them of his death, they should have told the whole truth. Without the knowledge, we can’t help our kids, and they neglected to be responsible.”

The district responded, saying it did not release the information as a matter of policy.

The school district said it does not disclose accusations without sufficient evidence because false accusations could damage reputations.

As for the investigation into Payne, deputies were able to release the report detailing the accusations because the case is now considered closed. ..Source.. by WSOC

MIT researcher 'flew to Colorado for sex tryst with a mother and two daughters, ages 12 and 16'

4-2-2012 Colorado:

A researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology was busted by undercover cops, after he tried to set up a sexual tryst with a woman and her two daughters – one of whom was 12.

Yaron Segal, 30, set up the sordid meeting with a woman he met in an internet chat room.

What he didn’t realise was that the woman was in fact an undercover agent and that he was being set up in a Department of Homeland Security sting.

Officers arrested the Israeli born physicist after he flew to Colorado from Massachusetts, planning on meeting with the mystery woman and her children.

He was charged with traveling with intent to engage in a sexual act with a person under 12, a count which carries a minimum penalty of 30 years in prison.

Agents first became interested in Segal in early February when he was seen in chat rooms where titles including ‘childslavesex’ and ‘ChildRapeTortureBrutality’ were being used.

DHS agent Vanessa Hipps went undercover, posing as a mother of two girls aged 12 and 16.

Hipps chatted with Segal, who quickly turned the conversation to sex. He told her he wanted to have intercourse with her and both of her children, adding that he would be willing to make the 1,800-mile trip to meet them.
‘I could definitely drop by for a weekend,’ he wrote.

Over the next few weeks Segal messaged Hipps on the chat room, as well as by email, text and Yahoo Chat.

He repeated his desire to have sex with Hipps’ daughters and sent raunchy photos and videos of himself.

‘A majority of the chats were very sexually explicit,’ Hipps said.

In one email sent in February, Segal included a link to a website selling sex toys he wanted to buy for their upcoming lewd encounter. He told her during a phone call that he would take ‘a dildo, small vibrator for the youngest child’.

On March 16 he sent another email with photographs of the vibrators he had bought. ‘Got the toys,' he wrote, 'those are some big c**ks’.

He flew to Colorado, arriving on Wednesday where Hipps met him in the baggage claim area of the Grand Junction airport. He was immediately arrested and taken into police custody.

Segal has worked in the MIT Photovoltaic Research Laboratory since last year after completing his doctorate at Yale University’s applied physics department.

Before making his trip Segal, who introduced himself to Hipps as 'Ron', had created a cover-up story to tell colleagues. 'Yaron’s on vacation,' a co-worker told the Smoking Gun. 'I think he’s camping.' ..Source.. by Laura Cox

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MIT Researcher Facing Sex Charges Dies In Colorado Prison

4-16-2012 Colorado:

A Massachusetts Institute of Technology researcher facing federal charges of traveling to Colorado to have sex with children has apparently killed himself in prison, officials said Monday.

Yaron Segal, 30, an Israeli citizen, died Friday, said John Sell, executive assistant with the Federal Correctional Institution Englewood.

Guards found Segal alone, hanging from a homemade noose in his cell at the detention center, where defendants are held while awaiting trial, Sell said. The federal jail is a separate facility next to a minimum -security prison where former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich began serving his 14-year corruption sentence last month.

Segal’s death is being investigated by the FBI. He was being held without bail on two charges of traveling to engage in sex with minors, and a charge of using the mail to persuade, induce, entice and coerce a minor to have sex.

Homeland Security Investigations agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested Segal in Grand Junction shortly after he arrived there by plane March 28. Authorities said Segal exchanged sexually explicit emails with an undercover agent and expressed a desire to have sex with two young children, one under the age of 16 and another under the age of 12.

Segal worked as a postdoctoral assistant in MIT’s Photovoltaics Research Laboratory, which develops solar energy cells, according to a letter sent to U.S. District Court. Segal was working on developing manufacturing equipment to produce efficient and cost-effective solar cells and intended to produce the first prototype cells this month, according to a letter signed by MIT’s Tonio Buonassisi, the lab’s principal investigator.

Buonassisi and other MIT officials did not immediately return messages seeking comment.

Buonassisi’s letter described Segal as well regarded and said Segal was a leader within the research group who closely mentored five graduate students. Segal had also served as the lead in writing six research proposals that raised more than $1.8 million in research funding for the laboratory.

A man believed to be Segal started communicating with the undercover agent in February in chat rooms that referenced child rape, torture, brutality and children as sex slaves, according to an arrest affidavit. Authorities said the man believed to be Segal sent sexually explicit photographs and video of himself via email, spoke to the undercover agent by phone and said he had purchased sex toys for the children.

According to an arrest affidavit, ICE Department of Homeland Security investigators traced an email handle, “ruthlessmale,” to New Haven, Conn., then to Cambridge, and then to Segal.

During a hearing April 3, Segal waived a preliminary hearing in which authorities present evidence supporting the charges. A U.S. magistrate judge ordered Segal held without bail. ..Source.. by P. Solomon Banda

Attorney: Sex tourism suspect commits suicide

3-26-2012 Georgia:

John Charles Ware, the grandson of a former U.S. congressman facing federal charges involving allegations of sex tourism for allegedly taking two teenage boys out of the country and sexually abusing them, has reportedly taken his own life.

Ware’s attorney, Chris Hoey of Paoli, said that he had been informed that his client was taken to Thomas Jefferson Hospital in Philadelphia sometime Monday morning and pronounced dead. He said the cause of death was suicide, but had no other details.

Information was not immediately available from the hospital.

Ware was in custody at the Federal Detention Center in Philadelphia, where he had been held following his arrest on the federal charges in February 2011. He had been scheduled to plead guilty to those charges in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia Monday afternoon before U.S. District Judge Mary McLaughlin.

Hoey said he had spoken with Ware last week in anticipation of the change of plea hearing. “He was very optimistic,” Hoey said. “We were hoping to resolve his case in a favorable manner. He was going to accept responsibility, and we had hoped to get him a sentence that fit the circumstances of his behavior.

“Unfortunately, this development has changed all that,” Hoey said.

Authorities with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Philadelphia, who were prosecuting the federal charges against Ware, were not immediately available for comment.

The indictment against Ware, 47, of East Nottingham, accused him of scheduling trips to Iceland and Italy for himself and two children, each in celebration of their 13th birthdays, and sexually assaulting them while overseas. The trips allegedly took place in July 2005 and November 2007. In addition, the indictment states he tried to take two other boys on a trip to the Bahamas for their birthdays in July, one month before his arrest on state charges of sexual assault, in order to molest them there. The trip did not take place.

According to a release from U.S. Attorney Zane David Memenger, Ware, whose father was an Oxford Borough Council member and whose family is prominently known in southern Chester County, “exhibited a pattern of grooming minors in order to ultimately have sexual contact with each of them, including encouraging the boys to swim naked in his pool, being naked in front of the boys, giving the boys massages, and attempting to normalize sexual activity between him and his victims.”

The indictment said that in the summer of 2010, Ware pressed the mother of one of the minors to allow him to take the boy and another youth to “the more secluded areas of the Bahamas,” after the boy asked Ware to take him on a trip there.

“You can trust me,” Ware allegedly told the other boy’s parents, when telling them of the plans for the trip. He is alleged to have then molested the two boys at his home in East Nottingham before leaving on the trip. ..Source.. by MICHAEL P. RELLAHAN

3 dead, 1 injured

Posted in Related Deaths

3-26-2012 Georgia:

MOULTRIE — A Colquitt County man was one of three people fatally shot early Monday morning at a residence near the Colquitt-Tift County line in what is believed a murder/suicide.

The Observer has learned that Darrell Dewayne Ward, 42, one of those who died at the Innis Road residence, lived a short distance from the location where the shootings took place.

Tift County Sheriff’s Office Maj. Bobby Brannen confirmed earlier Monday that three people were dead at the residence, located off U.S. Highway 319 South near Omega.

Tift County’s 911 center received a call shortly before 6:30 a.m. about a person being shot, Brannen said.

A fourth person was transported by air for emergency medical treatment.

Brannen did not release any additional information, and the other fatalities have not been identified. It is believed, but not confirmed, that two of the dead are related to the woman who was air lifted, possibly mother and father.

Ward had moved back and forth between Colquitt and Tift counties since his release in April 2007 after he served nearly 10 years at Autry State Prison in Pelham, authorities said. He pleaded guilty Oct. 31, 1997, to the rape of a Lowndes County woman and began serving his sentence in state prison in December of that year.

On Jan. 15, Ward changed his sex-offender registration to Colquitt County from Tift County, after having moved from here to Tift County in 2010.

In a plea arrangement on the rape charge in Lowndes County, counts of false imprisonment, aggravated stalking and burglary were dismissed at the time he pleaded to the rape charge, District Attorney David Miller said.

The Georgia State Patrol charged Ward in July 2010 in Colquitt County with driving under the influence, failure to maintain lane, failure to provide assistance and driving without a license on his person. It was not immediately known whether those charges had been disposed of. ..Source.. by Alan Mauldin

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GBI: Ward was shooter in murder-suicide

3-27-2012:

TIFTON — The Georgia Bureau of Investigation Sylvester Office and the Tift County Sheriff’s Office began a joint investigation at 7:30 a.m. Monday into a murder/suicide that occurred in Tift County, the GBI reported.

Kim Baker, special agent in charge, provided a press release Tuesday stating that two adults discovered deceased inside the residence located at 103 Iniss Road in Tifton have been identified as James Williams Peters Sr., approximately 57 years of age, and Shirley Ann Peters, approximately 53 years of age. Both had sustained what appeared to be gunshot wounds.

A third person also found deceased at the residence was identified as Darrell Dewayne Ward, approximately 43 years of age, who had sustained a gunshot wound to the chest.

So far, the crime scene examination and interviews conducted by the GBI and the Tift County authorities indicate that sometime after 10 p.m. Sunday, Ward drove to the Peters’ residence, armed with a handgun, and mortally wounded James and Shirley Peters, shot their daughter and then fatally shot himself. The daughter is expected to recover from the injuries that she sustained during the attack.

The bodies of the deceased are being transported to the GBI Crime Lab for autopsies.

The investigation by the GBI, TCSO and the Tift County Coroner’s Office continues.

Ward had moved back and forth between Colquitt and Tift counties since his release in April 2007 after he served nearly 10 years at Autry State Prison in Pelham, authorities said. He pleaded guilty Oct. 31, 1997 to the rape of a Lowndes County woman and began serving his sentence in state prison in December of that year.

On Jan. 15, Ward changed his sex-offender registration to Colquitt County from Tift County, after having moved from Colquitt County to Tift County in 2010.

In a plea arrangement on the rape charge in Lowndes County, counts of false imprisonment, aggravated stalking and burglary were dismissed at the time he pleaded to the rape charge, District Attorney David Miller said.

The GSP charged Ward in July 2010 in Colquitt County with driving under the influence, failure to maintain lane, failure to provide assistance and driving without a license on his person. It was not immediately known whether those charges had been disposed of. ..Source.. by The Tifton Gazette CNHI

Man Arrested in Clay County Sting Found Dead in Home

4-14-2012 Florida:

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- A man accused of trying to solicit sex online from a 14-year-old is dead, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office.

A neighbor called 911 after finding 49-year-old Steven Earl Marshall dead in his home Wednesday morning, and when officers got to the scene they called for a rescue unit who confirmed that Marshall was dead.

Marshall's death is currently being investigated as undetermined, according to JSO Public Information Officer Melissa Bujeda

Investigators said the Bank of America employee, who was arrested in a Clay County sting operation, met a girl, who later turned out to be a detective, and had illicit conversations with her.

Those conversations were redacted from the police report, but the report does say that Marshall arranged to pay the girl $350 in exchange for sex.

Marshall drove to the agreed upon meeting location off of Highway 17, the CCSO report says, and when officers arrested him they said they found $380 in cash and several condoms in Marshall's pocket. ..Source.. by Jessika Lewis

18-year-old inmate hangs self in Pulaski County Jail cell; had been held on rape charge

4-13-2012 Arkansas:

An 18-year-old inmate held on a rape charge at the Pulaski County Jail is dead after hanging himself in his cell.

A jailer delivering a food tray found Jeremy Hannibal of Little Rock hanging from his bed with a sheet around his neck shortly before 11 a.m.

The sheriff's department says jailers untied the sheet and tried to resuscitate Hannibal until an ambulance arrived, but Hannibal was dead.

Hannibal had been held since April 12 on a $25,000 bond. ..Source.. by KSPR.com

Autopsy: Man who killed former girlfriend at Duke clinic committed suicide

Posted in Related Deaths

5-10-2010 North Carolina:

The Durham man who exchanged gunfire with police in May after fatally shooting his former girlfriend at a Duke clinic died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.

Burnett Taylor, 51, died of a contact gunshot wound to the right side of his head, the autopsy report states.

Taylor was confronted by police about two blocks from the clinic at 3116 N. Duke St. where 40 minutes earlier he had fatally shot 49-year-old Charlene King six times.

When police confronted Taylor, the autopsy states, he was holding a gun to his head.

Shots were also fired by police, the autopsy report states. The autopsy describes a second gunshot wound to the left hip. ..Source.. by Staff Reports

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Man shoots, kills girlfriend at Duke health clinic

5-6-2010 North Carolina:

DURHAM (WTVD) -- A Duke Medicine employee was shot and killed by a gunman who came to her workplace in Durham Tuesday afternoon.

The shooting at the Duke Health Center at North Duke Street happened just before 3 p.m. at the corner of N. Duke Street and Frasier Street. That's north of I-85 near the Durham Regional Hospital.

Panicked 911 calls immediately began flooding into emergency operators.

"We're all hiding in a room here," a doctor told a 911 operator.

Click here to listen to the calls

"The guy with the gun came in and somebody fell through the door," said another caller. "A man came in behind her and shot."

Witnesses reported hearing four shots. They said medical staff were attempting to give the woman CPR, but she was unconscious.

Durham police identified the victim as 49-year-old Charlene Bullock King. Relatives told ABC11 that she worked at the center for 27 years as a phlebotomist. They said the gunman was her ex-boyfriend.

Police identified him as 52-year-old Burnette Taylor of Durham.

"Charlene was very sweet, very sweet," King's stepson Steven Shealey said. "She didn't deserve this at all. Even at one point when I was going through some things with my fiancé, she took me in."

He said she had recently had a fight with Taylor and decided to leave the relationship.

"I guess he realized he had lost something that was a jewel, something that was precious as she was, and that's why he couldn't let go," Shealey said.

After the shooting, Durham police quickly swarmed the area trying to find Taylor who took off on foot.

"We happened to have officers training not too far from here at that point in time, so they were able to respond at a very quick rate," Durham Police Chief Jose Lopez said.

Witnesses reported the gunman ran into a wooded area behind a house on Carver Street. They reported hearing multiple gunshots before Taylor was seen lying on the ground.

As police tracked Taylor, Lopez said he "engaged police officers in a gun battle" at Carver and Broad streets.

Taylor was shot by officers and Lopez said he was taken to Duke Hospital where he later died.

Lopez said the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation would be assisting in the case - as is standard in any officer involved shooting.

Taylor had a long criminal record. According to the North Carolina Department of Corrections, he was a registered sex offender after convictions for second-degree rape and kidnapping in 1993. He also has convictions for car theft, larceny of firearms, resisting arrest, and drunk driving.

After serving time for those crimes, he was released and apparently began dating another woman, who late-last year accused him of assault. The woman even requested a temporary restraining order, describing a violent episode in which Taylor beat her unconscious. In court documents she wrote, "He continued to slap, kick, punch me with his fists. Blackening both my eyes, fracturing my ribs, my liver was cut due to a kick."

Probation officers put out warrants for Taylor's arrest beginning in November of last year.

State correction officials say Taylor's probation officer made every attempt to locate him, but officers never managed to track Taylor down, until six months later when Durham police officers shot him Tuesday.

Officials with the North Carolina Department of Correction also say their revue shows the probation officer made numerous attempts to find Taylor over the last six months, at his last known address and his family members, but Taylor was willfully fleeing supervision.

Meanwhile, Duke Medicine reopened on Thursday after it cancelled all appointments for all services at the Duke Health Center at North Duke Street for Wednesday. ..Source.. by WTVD.com

Inmate found hanging in county jail identified

4-9-2012 Texas:

Victoria residents remember Marcus Duprey Washington as the man who shattered the calm of a school campus with gun shots, but his family and friends recall a joyful person who seemed to be finally finding his way in life.

Washington, 40, was found hanging in his cell in the Victoria County Jail on Saturday evening. He had been in federal custody since the shooting at Victoria College last fall, though it is still unknown if that was why he was being held.

Washington was raised by his grandmother in Victoria and was a star football player at Victoria High School in the late 1980s, childhood friend Nikki Dawson remembered.

His grandmother was a good woman who raised him right, but he seemed to get lost around the end of high school, Dawson said.

His police history dates back to 1993 and included convictions for burglary of a vehicle and sexual assault. Washington served his entire 16-year sentence for the assault.

His grandmother died while he was in prison, Dawson said.

He was released from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice unit in Huntsville on July 7, according to criminal history records.

"He was so different from how he looked on paper. He was raised right. I think that's why he got caught so much," Dawson said.

Dawson visited Washington in Victoria after he was released from prison, and was encouraged by the person she saw.

"I was seeing a different path for him. He was his old self again, full of joy," she said.

But he was charged in September with two counts of possessing a weapon where prohibited and two counts of aggravated assault after the shooting at the college gymnasium.

Washington's attorney, Patti Hutson, was appointed by the court shortly after he was arrested in connection with the shooting in September. While they were waiting for him to be indicted, Washington was taken into federal custody and Hutson had little contact with him, she said.

"They wouldn't even tell me where he was," Hutson said.

Washington remained in federal custody after he was arrested in September and was moved to various facilities over the course of the following months, Victoria County Sheriff T. Michael O'Connor said.

In December, Washington was indicted on an aggravated assault charge for an incident where he threatened a Victoria woman with a knife, stating that he would kill her, her children, her boyfriend and anyone else who was around, according to court records.

He was not indicted on charges stemming from the incident at Victoria College at the time of his death, Hutson said.

Victoria District Attorney Steve Tyler said he was working with federal authorities to prosecute jointly.

Federal authorities planned to charge him with a felon in possession of a firearm, Tyler said. Tyler planned to prosecute him on three counts of aggravated assault and one count of attempted murder.

It was agreed that federal prosecutors would indict him before Tyler did, Tyler said.

Tyler already had a case for aggravated assault, so he indicted Washington for that.

"I guess he'll answer to a higher court now," Tyler said.

Washington began taking medication for bipolar disorder while he was in prison, his uncle Alton Stafford said.

It is unclear whether he continued taking the medication after his release.

When he was taking his medication, he was fine, Stafford said.

Stafford said the family was shocked after Washington was arrested as a suspect in the shooting. There had been no signs, he said.

"I'm at a loss. I really don't know what exactly made him change like that," Stafford said.

Washington's family told Hutson that her client had a history of mental illness, but Hutson said the medical officials at the jail told her he was fine, and that he had not requested treatment or had any complaints.

There was no indication of any problems when Washington arrived back at the Victoria County Jail on March 30, O'Connor said.

Dawson visited Washington in jail the month after he was arrested. He was focused on being positive, she said. She tried to see him after that, but he had already been transferred.

She learned he was found dead in his cell on Sunday.

A suicide note was found with his body, O'Connor said.

Jail officers administered CPR before he was transported to Citizens Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, according to the news release.

An investigation, including an autopsy, will be lead by the sheriff's office, U.S. Marshal's Service and the Texas Rangers.

"The pressure of trying to fit in with everybody else might have been too much," Dawson mused. "He was good. He had such a good heart." ..Source.. by DIANNA WRAY

Man who plunged from tower was suspect in 3 slayings

Posted in Related Deaths

4-8-2012 Mississippi:

BAY ST. LOUIS -- Authorities suspect a twice-convicted felon killed his mother, stepfather and girlfriend at their home on Citizen Street before he climbed a cellphone tower in Waveland and plunged about 300 feet to his death.

The triple homicide and two other homicides Saturday in Hancock County marked what is believed to be a record of five homicides reported in a single day in the coastal counties.

“It was like a double full moon,” said Waveland Police Chief Kenny Hurt, previously chief investigator of the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office.

“All of us officials and investigators have been talking about how we don’t recall ever having this many at a time. We had a double homicide several years ago, but never anything like this,” Hurt said.

No motives have been revealed in any of the killings.

Authorities on Sunday identified victims in the slayings on Citizen Street as Wilton Bernard Jr., 69, his wife, Jeanie Bernard, 66, and Kathleen Deese, 50.

Deese was the suspect’s girlfriend, said Bay Deputy Police Chief Christine Johnson.

The suspect, Anthony Garrett, 46, died later Saturday night as authorities tried to talk him down from a tower and a crowd gathered to watch. Investigators are considering the possibility that he slipped and fell while trying to get down.

Witnesses reported Garrett shouted at onlookers and law enforcement officers, claiming he had killed his family with a hammer, and said he had been in prison a number of years.

Garrett was convicted of sexual battery in 1985 and again in 1988. He had given officials his mother’s home address as his address for the Mississippi Sex Offender Registry. The website said his picture was last updated March 27.

Back-to-back autopsies were performed Sunday, but authorities have not yet said how the three on Citizen Street were killed.

The Bernards were retired and mostly kept to themselves, said their next-door neighbor, who asked not to be identified. She said the couple had lived there about 10 years and had recently finished planting flowers in their yard.

Crime-scene tape was still tied around the yard Sunday afternoon. An American flag waved in the breeze from a short pole on a tripod-style planter of flowers in front of the light-colored stucco home, where sego palms grow underneath a set of double windows in front.

Three vehicles were parked on the property. A pickup truck and station wagon were in the front yard, and a car was parked under a lean-to built adjacent to a shed.

Public records show Garrett and Deese had previously lived in Meridian.

They apparently all lived together in a house at the corner of Citizen Street and Old Spanish Trail. Citizen Street is a dead-end road. Numerous motorists passed by and slowed down to look at the house Sunday and turned around and left.

Police said the three were found dead at 7:42 p.m. Saturday.

The neighbor said she had no idea anything had happened until a string of patrol cars drove up as she sat on her porch. She said authorities were still there when she went to bed about 3 a.m. Sunday. The woman said she heard no gunshots or sounds of distress.

Authorities linked Garrett to the slayings after Waveland police and Hancock County deputies responded to a report of a man who had jumped a fence and climbed onto a cell phone tower at U.S. 90 and Kiln-Waveland Cutoff Road in Waveland.

The tower is a three- or four-mile drive from the home on Citizen Street.

The sight of a man near the top of the tower drew a crowd of several dozen from neighboring businesses including the Knock Knock Lounge.

The Hancock County Sheriff’s Office and the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation are assisting in the probe of those incidents. ..Source.. by ROBIN FITZGERALD

Poster: Suicide and Self-Harm Behaviors in a Psychiatric Sex Offender Sample

April 2012:

Little empirical research exists describing the rates and characteristics of suicide, suicide attempts, and self-harm behaviors among sexual offenders. Earlier research has demonstrated that sexual offenders often present with significant rates of mood and personality disorders, which are frequently correlates or important precursors of suicidal or self-harm behaviors. Given the rising prevalence of specialized treatment programs, residential facilities, and correctional or civil commitment units devoted to the care and treatment of sexual offenders, gaining an understanding of their suicide and self-harm behaviors should be a priority for treatment providers and administrators alike. Further, it is often assumed that legislative and policy changes targeting sex offenders, as well as negative public sentiment toward them, will have a negative impact on their outcome and well-being, which may in turn increase the prevalence of suicide and self-harm behaviors. Research describing the suicide and self-harm risk of this population may help us better understand these outcomes.

In the current study, 1190 psychiatric inpatients in a forensic state hospital are examined to evaluate the following research questions:

1) What are the rates of suicide and self-harm behaviors in an inpatient sample of sexual offenders?

2) Do these rates significantly differ from those of demographically- and psychiatrically-similar non-sex-offending inpatients?

3) What diagnostic variables, if any, may mediate important differences in the suicidality of these groups?

Preliminary analysis of 25% of the sample indicates that while rates of suicidality for the two groups are similar at 28-29%, those with sexual offenses engage in significantly higher rates of self-harm behaviors (21% vs. 31%).

With regards to important diagnostic variables, those with sexual offenses demonstrate significantly lower rates of serious psychotic psychopathology but significantly higher rates of impulse control disorders, Borderline Personality Disorder, and intellectual and developmental disabilities. Diagnoses which appear to mediate the likelihood and severity of suicidal behaviors for both groups include mood and anxiety disorders, personality pathology, and symptoms suggestive of impulse control deficits. It is anticipated that these results will be replicated with the larger sample, with perhaps additional findings of differences between the two groups.

We will present important differences and similarities between these groups, as well as potential explanations for these findings and implications for treatment, assessment, and risk management. Establishing that sex offenders in this psychiatric sample have higher rates of Borderline Personality Disorder and self-harm behaviors than their non-sex-offending counterparts, for example, has implications for treatment recommendations (e.g., Dialectical Behavior Therapy) and needed monitoring and safety precautions to ensure client well-being. Understanding the overall prevalence of suicidality in this group can also aid supervisory agents and treatment providers in assessing not only these offenders’ risk to others but also to themselves as they make transitions into the community, where they may receive fewer direct supports and will likely experience greater isolation and social pressure. Future directions for this research will also be discussed.

..Source.. by Jill D. Stinson, Ph.D., Fulton State Hospital --and-- Valerie Gonsalves, Ph.D., MLS, Fulton State Hospital (note: Within the Fulton State Hospital there is The Biggs Forensic Center [Civil Commitment unit] and a separate Sex Offender Treatment Program)

Police: Delaware Train Deaths Possible Double Suicide

Note to the person commenting: We do not gather facts, we show what is reported in the news, whatever happened in the past, is no longer relevant. Today the fact that someone committed suicide who had a prior sexual conviction, is the only thing relevant. There are many times that we wish history could be changed, but that is not possible now.

Posted in Related Deaths 4-4-2012 Ohio:

DELAWARE -- Police say a convicted child rapist and his sister were killed after lying down in front of a train Wednesday morning.

Just before 4:00 a.m., Delaware police received a call from Norfolk Southern Dispatch, saying a train had struck a pedestrian near Vernon Ave.

After arriving on the scene, officers found the bodies of two people, along with an apparent suicide note in a sealed plastic bag.

The deceased have been identified as Roy T. Weatherford III, 44, and his sister, Kara McGlenaghan, 33.

On March 2, an indictment was filed on Weatherford for six child pornography counts. He had previously served 15 years in prison for raping and drugging a female, and was released in 2007.

Deceased Realtor sued over sex-assault allegations

4-4-2012 Louisiana:

A lawsuit, filed days before a local Realtor was found dead of a gunshot wound to the head, alleges that he sexually assaulted a woman whose house he was trying to sell, court papers say.

Russell Soulet, 47, of Bourg was found Sunday inside an abandoned building he owned on West Main Street near Southland Mall, authorities said. His car was parked nearby.

Soulet, who worked for Mona & Co. in Houma, died of a single gunshot to the head, detectives said. A handgun was found inside the building.

Soulet, who also served on the Terrebonne Recreation District No. 5 board, was last seen Saturday afternoon leaving his house, police said.

The case is currently labeled a “suspicious death.” Suicide has not been ruled out, Terrebonne sheriff's Capt. Dawn Foret said, but questions must be answered before investigators classify the case.

The lawsuit was filed March 26 at the Terrebonne Courthouse.

Sheila Opal and her husband, Joseph, had Soulet helping them repair the living room floor at the home they owned on Bellaire Drive in Houma, the papers say. Soulet was to sell the home for them once the repairs were complete, the papers say.

“Instead of leaving when he was finished and after Ms. Opal had indicated several times that there was nothing more for him to do, Soulet sexually assaulted plaintiff,” the lawsuit says.

The abuse happened in September and caused the couple, who lived in Lake Charles at the time, severe emotional stress, according to the lawsuit. The Opals are seeking an unnamed amount of money for Sheila Opal's post-traumatic stress disorder and the skin rash she alleges she contracted from Soulet.

Soulet was served with the lawsuit March 29, court records show, three days before his body was found.

Sheila Opal did not file a police report after the alleged attack, said Terrebonne sheriff's Capt. Dawn Foret, declining further comment.

J. Courtney Wilson, the Metairie attorney representing the Opals, said it is not uncommon for sexual-assault victims to forgo a police report.

“I don't know why one wasn't filed” in this case, Wilson said. “By the time it got to me, there was nothing to be gained by filing a police report.” ..Source.. by Eric Heisig, Staff Writer

Doctor Accused Of Sexual Assault Found Dead

4-4-2012 New Hampshire:

Dr. Steven Churn Found Dead In Meredith

BOW, N.H. -- A doctor accused of sexually assaulting patients has been found dead in a hotel room in Meredith.

The Citizen reported that Dr. Steven Chern, who had surrendered his medical license, was found unresponsive Monday afternoon in a room at Church Landing. He was declared dead a short time later.

The 64-year-old Chern, formerly of the Bow Mills Family Practice, was indicted by a grand jury on charges of sexual assault involving a patient and faced separate charges of assaulting another patient. He had been arrested in October.

Chern was scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday, and a trial was scheduled for August. ..Source.. by WMUR New Hampshire

Megan's Law: Not the best approach?

4-2-2012 California:

Public defender argues against database

Frances Floyd said she was a young girl when her life was “turned upside down.”

The year was 1981. Floyd and her brother, James Jones, were babysitting their relatives at their mother’s home on Crabtree Avenue in Porterville.

That evening, Floyd said, she and her brother walked into one of the bedrooms to see a relative having sex with the two nieces. The relative was a 9-year-old boy at the time. The nieces were 6 and 7.

That’s when Floyd’s life was changed forever.

She said a phone call was made to the local police department, but the caller accused Jones — not the boy — of having sex with the two young girls.

Jones was sentenced to 8 years, 9 months in jail. He was found dead, hanging by a rope, two years ago in his Visalia home. His death was ruled a suicide by detectives. He was 38.

The boy was never charged.

“My life turned upside down,” Floyd said of the ensuing days and years after her brother was sentenced to jail. “I started drinking heavily. I got into drugs. I eventually ended up in foster homes because I kept running away.

“My brother and I were very close.”

Floyd said she believes her brother was a victim of a defective system. She said the judge who sentenced Jones even admitted to wanting “to make an example out of him.”

Jones, who was a young teenager at the time of the alleged incident, was released from jail on his 21st birthday. Upon being released, he had to register as a sex offender everywhere he went for the rest of his life, Floyd said.

“Everything just went downhill,” she said. “The whole family went downhill.”

Today, there are 130 people living in Porterville and East Porterville who are required by law to register as sex offenders. Their crimes range from annoying or molesting a child younger than 18, to committing lewd or lascivious acts with a child younger than 14, to rape.

Because of Megan’s Law, which was enacted in 1996, anyone and everyone — except for the accused themselves — can access detailed information pertaining to the alleged offenders.

In most cases, a mug shot, their residential address, alleged offense, date of birth and more are all available for public viewing.

Tulare County Chief Public Defender Michael Sheltzer said “lumping together” all sex offenders, from rapists to those who urinated in public and everyone in between, into a single database is unfair and does nothing to prevent the most serious offenders from reoffending.

In fact, Sheltzer said, all the one-size-fits-all database does is drive the real criminals to commit more crimes.

“The single-most factor that determines if a sex offender will reoffend is whether he is living with his family and has a support system. The one thing the registry does is take them away from that,” he said. “What you end up doing is setting him up to commit some sort of crime. He has to live somehow.”

Sheltzer went on to say Megan’s Law “costs a lot of money, gives people a false sense of security and harasses convicted criminals who have already served their time.”

Instead of “ostracizing” alleged sex offenders by exposing them online, efforts need to be focused on monitoring them and getting them the resources they need, Sheltzer said.

“I don’t know exactly what the purpose (of Megan’s Law) is other than to have a scarlet letter for offenders,” he said. “If it’s supposed to have a positive impact on the citizenry and public safety, the statistics show that it doesn’t.”

To this day, Floyd, now 36 and living in Washington state, still believes in her brother’s innocence.

She said Jones, after his release from jail, babysat her four children numerous times.

“My second daughter called him ‘Daddy’ because he was the only male figure in her life for a long time,” Floyd said. “She followed him everywhere.”

Floyd said her brother was even given custody of his two youngest daughters after he and his girlfriend separated.

“If he was going to harm any child, why would [the judge] give him custody of his own daughters?” she said. “If he was going to harm any child, why would I allow him to babysit my children?”

But Jones can’t answer those questions. He’s gone, and his loved ones can’t bring him back.

They can only grieve and mourn and replay the events of that fateful night in Porterville three decades ago.

“I still talk to [my brother’s] two youngest daughters. When they get upset about their dad, they want to call me,” Floyd said. “I had to tell them, ‘Daddy is looking down on you.’” ..Source.. by Alex K.W. Schultz