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

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

Dead police trainer still subject of child porn investigation

1-16-2010 Vermont:

A criminal investigation is underway at the Vermont Police Academy in Pittsford. State police suspect the academy's training coordinator used a work computer to access child porn and then took his own life after becoming the target of a criminal investigation.

The investigation of a police academy trainer took a turn for the worse Saturday.

State police say 44-year old Dave McMullen of Cornwall committed suicide behind a maintenance shed at the academy, one day after police seized his home computer as part of a criminal investigation.

"All indicators reveal this was a self-inflicted would. An intentional act by Mr. McMullen. There is no indication anyone else was involved," said Major Ed Ledo of the Vermont State Police.

Police believe McMullen used a computer at the academy to view child pornography, something that came to light during an unrelated personnel investigation. While child porn wasn't actually found on the computer, emails suggested it had been accessed.

"As a result of those titles being found in Mr. McMullen's e-mails, is indicated that there was potential. We knew it was pulled in from an outside source based upon further examination of that one computer," said Ledo.

Police are examining McMullen's home computer in addition to four taken from the academy. At this time, police don't believe any others at the academy were involved in the incident.

Inmate at Cascade County jail found hanging in cell

5-26-2011 Montana:

Michael Kimball, an inmate at the Cascade County Detention Center, is dead after he was found hanging in his cell on Thursday.

Kimball, 39, was found at approximately 6 pm on Wednesday.

According to a press release from Commander Dan O'Fallon, Kimball had contact with Detention staff about 15 minutes before he was found hanging in his cell.

Kimball was transported to Emergency Room and was pronounced dead around 1 am on Thursday.

O'Fallon says Kimball was moved into the private cell two hours prior to the incident and was checked on six times during that period.

Lewis & Clark County Coroner Mickey Nelson is conducting the investigation into Kimball's death.

He says a sheet was used in the hanging and that a note was found in the cell.

Kimball was charged in March with two counts of incest for allegedly having sex with one of his children several times from 2007 to 2010.

O'Fallon issued the following press release on Thursday afternoon:

At approximately 6:00 pm on May 25, 2011 while passing out mail an inmate by the name of Michael Kimball was found hanging in his cell by detention staff.

Detention staff had contact with inmate Kimball just 15 minutes earlier during meal tray pick up.

Inmate Kimball was transported to the ER where he passed away at 1:00am.

"Mickey" Nelson coroner from Lewis and Clark County was contacted to investigate this death as required by statute for all deaths while in custody.

..Source.. by KRTV.com

Cops: Slain teen was to testify against man found dead with her

Posted in Related Deaths

10-29-2010 Michigan:

He had been charged with sexual assault against her

Taylor Manley was found in a minivan with Raymond Bush, 38. The teen was supposed to testify against him Wednesday morning in trial for allegedly sexually assaulting her, but she disappeared before that happened, police and prosecutors say.

Bush died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, the Wayne County Medical Examiner’s Office said.

Taylor's father told the Free Press earlier he believes his daughter wouldn’t have committed suicide. She was afraid of Bush, he said.

Robert Manley said Bush had threatened her against testifying.

Suicide jumper was target of sex crimes inquiry

8-25-2010 Florida:

The man who jumped to his death from the 21st floor of a downtown West Palm Beach office building last week was under investigation by a sex crimes task force, authorities and his employer told Page Two.

Brett Hall, 24, who was buried Tuesday in Valhalla, N.Y., was questioned by members of the Palm Beach County Sexual Predator Enforcement Task Force about two hours before he committed suicide Thursday.

The secretive Boca-based unit is made up of detectives from the state attorney's office, Boca Raton and Boynton Beach police, the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Through advanced data-mining techniques, the group investigates mainly child porn distributed via the Internet.

A spokeswoman for the Boca Raton Resort & Club, where Hall worked as an accountant, said detectives served a search warrant at Hall's work station about 9 a.m. Carole Boucard, the resort's director of public relations, said she didn't know what the investigators were looking for. A source close to the probe told me they mainly searched Hall's work computer.

A resort employee described how Hall was walked to his car by hotel security after the detectives left. He was stripped of his employee ID and sent on his way.

Boucard couldn't confirm that, but said Hall was not fired.

Uniformed Boca cops, meanwhile, were dispatched to Hall's apartment off Palmetto Park Road, according to Boca PD spokeswoman Sandra Boonenberg. The officers, however, never made contact with Hall there. ..Source.. by Jose Lambiet

Hanging death in jail investigated

1-19-2011 Ohio:

The Franklin County sheriff's office is investigating the death of an inmate found hanging in his cell at the Downtown jail last month.

Paul J. Moore, 29, died at Grant Medical Center about an hour after he was discovered Dec. 29 hanging from a bedsheet. Franklin County Coroner Jan Gorniak said her office is reviewing the case, but the death is likely to be ruled a suicide.

Moore was a convicted sex offender awaiting trial for failing to report a change of address, according to Franklin County Common Pleas Court records. Court documents listed his address as Hebron Road in Newark. He had been held at the jail since Aug. 31.

Chief Deputy Steve Martin said Moore was in a single cell and was not on a suicide watch. An incident report indicates that the hanging occurred between 2:01 and 3:39 p.m. He died in the hospital at 4:30 p.m., Gorniak said.

Martin said the internal investigation will determine whether employees followed jail policies and procedures.

Moore pleaded guilty to sexual battery involving an adult female in 2000, was sentenced to four years in prison and was required to register as a sex offender after his release. He was sent back to prison in 2005 and 2008 for failing to notify the sheriff's office when he changed addresses. ..Source.. by John Futty

Jackson man facing felony sex charge commits suicide

7-7-2010 Ohio:

MASSILLON, OH — Massillon city prosecutors have dismissed a felony sex charge filed against a Jackson Township man following his apparent suicide.

Carl Conley, 64, 4635 20th St. N.W., died overnight Tuesday, according to Keith Warstler, assistant city prosecutor. Warstler was unaware of the circumstances surrounding Conley’s death. Conley’s case had been scheduled to be presented Thursday to a Stark County grand jury for a direct indictment, Warstler said.

Conley was arrested last month for gross sexual imposition, a third-degree felony. He was released from jail last Thursday after posting 10 percent of a $100,000 bond, according to Massillon Municipal Court records. The charge alleged Conley had sexual contact with a girl under the age of 13.

The alleged sexual misconduct occurred multiple times between May 1, 2007, and Feb. 1, 2010, court records show. ..Source.. by DOUG STALEY

Man found dead with former Harrison girl faced sex charge in Clare County

Posted in Related Deaths

10-28-2010 Michigan:

A 15-year-old Clare County girl was remembered Thursday as a kind, caring girl who was in Mid Michigan Community College’s Students of Promise program before moving to Osceola County a few weeks ago.

Meanwhile, the 38-year-old Newport man accused of killing Taylor E. Manley before killing himself Wednesday was out of jail on bond after being charged with having sex with the girl in July.

Christy McKinney of Clare said Manley was a friend of her son’s and often spent time at their home.

“She was a great kid,” McKinney said. “She was a very sweet girl.”

Tammy Alvaro, MMCC’s Students of Promise coordinator, said Manley was well known among students and that she was a sweet girl.

Alvaro saw Manley at MMCC’s Fall Festival and Barbecue recently and spoke to her about her plans for college in a few years, offering to help her in any way she could.

Alvaro received calls from students in the program who heard about Manley’s death Thursday.

She comforted the students.

“We’ll help them through it,” Alvaro said.

Clare County Sheriff John Wilson said Thursday that Raymond R. Bush was scheduled to appear in 80th District Court in Harrison Wednesday in Judge Joshua Farrell’s courtroom for a hearing to determine if there was sufficient evidence to be tried on a third-degree criminal sexual conduct charge against Taylor E. Manley, who was found dead with Bush in a van in a cemetery in Monroe County’s Newport.

Prosecutor Michelle Ambrozaitis said the hearing was set for 10:30 a.m.; she had spoken to Manley the day before and said her death is devastating.

Bush didn’t show for the hearing, where Manley was to testify, Wilson said.

Farrell issued a bench warrant after Bush failed to show up at the hearing, Wilson said.

Manley had until recently been a student at Harrison Community Schools and was living with her mother, Mary Beth St. Bernard, in the Dodge City area, Wilson said.

She left home about two weeks ago to stay with her father in Evart, the sheriff said.

State police troopers found Bush and Manley in a van in a cemetery in Newport, located in southeastern Michigan, Wednesday; Manley was shot in the chest, according to news reports.

Manley had been reported missing Wednesday morning, and state police issued an Amber Alert, indicating she had been kidnapped from the Reed City area.

State police also listed Bush as the suspect in the kidnapping, and troopers from the Reed City post notified the Clare County Sheriff’s Department immediately, Wilson said.

Wilson and victim advocates from his department were at St. Bernard’s home Thursday morning as state and national media converged on the community.

Grief counselors were also at Harrison Community Schools on Thursday to help students deal with Manley’s death, Wilson said.

Manley had been a student at Harrison, Farwell and Clare Pioneer High School, Wilson said.

Bush had befriended her family, the sheriff said.

“She looked up to him like a big brother,” Wilson said.

That apparently changed July 24 when Bush, who had Manley’s name tattooed on his neck, was arrested for third-degree criminal sexual conduct against Manley.

He was charged in September and had posted $50,000 bond, the sheriff said.

The Wayne County Medical Examiner’s office ruled Manley’s death a homicide and said Bush died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Bush and Taylor both died from .22-caliber gunshot wounds to the head, and Manley was also shot in the chest, the Associated Press reported.

Bush’s ex-girlfriend told police that he called her late Wednesday morning and said that he killed Manley and planned to kill himself, according to the AP.

Bush later stopped at the ex-girlfriend’s home in Newport, were she saw a young woman’s body in the van, State Police Detective Sgt. George Pratt told the AP.

Manley was staying with her father as a precaution prior to the court hearing.

Her father spoke to her by phone from work at about 12:30 a.m. Wednesday but when he got home at about 8 a.m., she was gone, the AP reported.

Wilson said funeral arrangements for Manley are pending at Stocking Funeral Home in Harrison.

Donations to help the family can be sent to Stocking Funeral Home, 165 W. Oak St., Harrison, MI, 48625. ..Source.. by SUSAN FIELD, Clare Managing Editor

Man found dead in jail cell

12-23-2010 Nevada:

A man awaiting trial on sexual assault charges was found dead in his jail cell on Wednesday night.

Carson City Sheriff Ken Furlong said Rodrigo Enrique Romero, 20, who pleaded not guilty earlier this week to sexual assault, kidnapping, destruction of property and battery with intent to commit sexual assault, was found in a segregated cell about 7:30 p.m. unconscious with part of a sheet around his neck. The other end of the sheet was attached to the bed, said Furlong.

Jail staff and paramedics tried unsuccessfully to revive Romero.

Furlong said according to the preliminary investigation, Romero was last seen alive by detention staff some 15 minutes before he was found unresponsive.

He said Romero had been having issues with other inmates which was why he was in a segregated cell.

In addition to being held on $50,000 bail, Romero had an immigration hold on him because his status in the country was questionable, said Furlong.

Romero has been in custody since his arrest Nov. 23 for the Nov. 21 rape of a woman outside a downtown bar.

According to the arrest report, Romero allegedly dragged the 21-year-old woman down a darkened stairwell at the corner of East Proctor and Plaza streets about 3 a.m. and raped her. The assault was interrupted by passersby who heard the woman screaming. The assailant then fled.

Surveillance video at a nearby casino offered police a photograph to show bar patrons, and some identified the fleeing rape suspect as Romero. He pleaded not guilty to the charges and a trial was set to begin on Feb. 22.

Furlong said the death is under investigation. ..Source.. by NevadaAppeal.com

Detention Center inmate attempts suicide

12-29-2010 Arizona:

An inmate at the Cascade County Detention Center remained in critical condition Tuesday after he attempted suicide on Monday.

Phillip J. Humeyumptewa, 30, was found unconscious and hanging from a bed-sheet in his cell Monday, about eight minutes after a jail guard checked on him, according to Chief Capt. Dan O'Fallon of the Cascade County Sheriff's Office, who supervises the detention center.

Humeyumptewa suffered cardiac arrest as a result of the hanging, O'Fallon said. Humeyumptewa was transported to the emergency room at Benefis Health System after detention center staff and emergency responders were able to revive him and restart his heart.

As of Tuesday, Humeyumptewa was still in critical condition in the intensive care unit.

"Due to the great work of the staff in that housing area, he wasn't successful (in committing suicide)," O'Fallon said.

He said Humeyumptewa showed no signs of wanting to kill himself, adding that inmates who have suicidal tendencies are placed on suicide watch.

Humeyumptewa's suicide attempt came a month after another county inmate hanged himself. Andrew Diaz III, 31, died in the early morning hours of Nov. 27. Diaz also hanged himself with his bed-sheets.

According to court documents filed Tuesday, Humeyumptewa's chances for recovery seem grim. The County Attorney's Office filed a motion Tuesday to reduce his bail and release him on his own recognizance because of the severity of his condition.

"It appears the defendant is brain dead, and it is unlikely that his condition will change," the motion states.

Humeyumptewa's family has been informed, and it will be up to them to make any end-of-life decisions, according to the state's motion. Representatives from the County Attorney's Office did not return inquiries for comment Tuesday.

Humeyumptewa remains in the custody of the jail pending a decision by a Cascade County District Court judge.

Humeyumptewa was convicted in September of kidnapping and raping a woman in Great Falls last year. He has remained in the detention center since the trial, awaiting sentencing, which is scheduled for Jan. 20.

Humeyumptewa was accused of tying up and raping a woman he met at a Great Falls bar in September 2009. Court documents allege that he used neckties to tie the victim's wrists and ankles together, and forced her to have sex with him in his residence on the 700 block of 5th Avenue North.

Two more women came forward after he was charged and alleged that he forced them to have sex with him without their consent. In September, a jury found Humeyumptewa guilty of the first count of sex without consent and of two felony charges of kidnapping and tampering with physical evidence.

Humeyumptewa has been a registered sex offender since a 1997 conviction in Arizona on charges of kidnapping and sexual assault of a minor. He was arrested in August — while awaiting trial in the Cascade County jail — on a warrant out of Maricopa County, Ariz., alleging that he committed felony kidnapping, aggravated assault and sexual assault. Those charges stemmed from an incident in December 2001. ..Source.. by Kimball Bennion

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Inmate dies 2 days after jail cell hanging

GREAT FALLS — Cascade County officials say a 30-year-old man awaiting sentencing on rape and kidnapping charges has died at a Great Falls hospital two days after he was found hanging in his jail cell.

Deputy County Attorney Josh Racki says Phillip J. Humeyumptewa died Wednesday evening at Benefis Health System after a suicide attempt Monday afternoon.

Humeyumptewa was found hanging from a bed sheet in his cell at the Cascade County Detention Center about eight minutes after a guard had checked on him. He suffered cardiac arrest and was taken to the hospital after jail staff and emergency responders managed to restore his heart beat. ..Source.. by Billings Gazette

Cop-shooter's status as registered sex offender may have triggered his rage

Posted in Related Deaths!

It is important to note that, the situation that sparked the deaths occurred WEEKS BEFORE the actual shooting. Nettles' girlfriend's parents did not want him dating their daughter, and Nettles threatened them, that resulted in a criminal charge which he was about to go to court for. The heart of the matter was his status as a registered sex offender.

As the court date drew near he snapped, went to his girlfriend's place, and some assault took place which caused her to summon police. Apparently Nettles, 38, was intent on killing his girlfriend and her daughter, and the policewoman stepped in-between him and the young girl and nettles shot her then his girlfriend and her new boyfriend.

12-30-2010 Texas:

Arlington, Texas — Weeks before Barnes Samuel Nettles killed his ex-girlfriend, Kimberley Carter, Arlington Police Officer Jillian Michelle Smith, and took his own life, police were called to his girlfriend's apartment.

Man Who Took Own Life Suspected in Child Sex Assault

11-15-2010 Wisconsin:

GREENFIELD - The man who committed suicide after Brookfield Police pulled him over Friday afternoon was under investigation for the repeated sexual assault of a child, Greenfield Police said Monday.

"Friday he was located by a city of Brookfield police officer," said Lt. Jay Johnson of Greenfield Police. "They performed a traffic stop and the subject took his own life."

A temporary felony arrest warrant had been issued for Brian C. Beardsley, 38, for repeated acts of sexual assault perpetrated on a child.

Monday night TODAY'S TMJ4 visited the Milwaukee home Beardsley shared with his wife and daughter. Nobody was home. Beardsley's aunt was reached by telephone and said the family "is not proud" of what happened. She said all in the family were too distraught to make any on-camera comments.

Although a felony warrant was issued for Beardsley last week, he was never charged. Greenfield Police say the case against him is now closed. ..Source.. by WTMJ NewsRadio

Suspect's Suicide Note and New Victim Emerge in Bonne Terre Killings

Posted in Related Deaths

12-2-2010 Missouri:

Bonne Terre, MO (KTVI - FOX2now.com) — There were stunning developments Wednesday in the shooting rampage in Bonne Terre that happened on day earlier: another possible victim, a suicide note, and an apology from the suspected shooter's family.

It appears 25 year old Nathan Fortner was distraught over a breakup with the mother of his son, Danielle Bement. His suicide note reads in part, "I pray to God, God forgives me"... "I can't take it"... "We're not going to get back together". Fortner obviously felt helpless, and now his mother does.

"I'm so deeply sorry," said his mother Mary Anne, "words can't express the sorrow in our hearts."

Police found another body believed to be linked to Fortner's crime spree late Tuesday night. 19 year old Ericka Wade was discovered in a vacant home on Doc Wallen Road in Washington County. Wade was a freshman cheerleader at Mineral Area College.

"Everyone loved this girl," said Nick Basinger, a friend of Ericka's. "A girl like Ericka, what do you do? What do you do?

Tuesday morning, police say Fortner shot and killed Bement, her mother Christine Snider and Snider's boyfriend Derek Nash. Then he killed himself. Police were led to the home on Doc Wallen Road by their investigation. Before her death, Bement had reported to police Fortner had raped her at that location.

Police are not yet saying for sure Fortner was Ericka Wade's killer.

"She was just a blast to be around," said her prom date, 19 year old Justin Clemons. "No matter where she was she was having a good time. And she had a wonderful smile. We pretty much danced the entire time."

Fortner was supposed to go on trial in April for a rape charge. Police say the victim in that case was not involved in Tuesday's crime. Fortner's parents say he was bipolar and had stopped taking his medication.

Clemons and Basinger say their entire community is in mourning.

"She'll always be remembered," said Clemons. "Especially by me, from the experiences we had together. Those are milestones that she shared with me. I'll never forget her." ..Source.. by KTVI-TV

Essay: Sex and Justice

Essay: Sex and Justice - 11.16.2010

A recent horrifying case involving teen suicide has gotten wide attention. The case got Michigan Radio’s Political Analyst Jack Lessenberry thinking about the state’s sex offender registry.

If news is what people are talking about, then the big story in Michigan last week wasn’t the budget deficit, or Governor-elect Rick Snyder’s efforts to put together an administration.

No, the big story was a horrifying case where a fourteen-year-old girl killed herself after having sex with an eighteen-year-old boy.

And it ought to make us all think about a lot of things, including whether the Michigan Sex Offender registry makes any sense.

In this tragic case, both teens at first told police the act was consensual, but later the girl appeared on local TV news, and said she had been raped. Following that, the kids in her high school evidently turned on her. Eventually, the child went home and hung herself. This story is distressing on too many levels to count.

Whatever actually happened between the teens is hard to determine, though police say the girl said she told the boy she was eager to lose her virginity. If so, she later had second thoughts. As a journalist, I am appalled that a local so-called news station put this child on TV, identifying her by name, as she talked about her sex life.

Grownups ought to know how cruel the world can be.

But this whole episode really ought to draw attention to an appalling institution called the Michigan Sex Offender Registry.

Since the 1990s, the registry has listed anyone convicted of a so-called sex crime and indicates where they live. The idea was to protect children by allowing families to discover if a convicted sex offender lives in the neighborhood.

That may make some sense in the case of serious pedophiles, though it also could be seen as a dangerous invitation to vigilante action. But the registry also includes those convicted of a wide variety of far lesser offenses, including drunk frat boys who relieved themselves in public. They are on there with the serial rapists.

The main problem is in cases like this one. In Michigan sixteen is the legal age of consent. But in our highly sexualized society, there are many sixteen year old boys who are active with their almost sixteen year old girlfriends. Legally, they are committing a felony.

Cold-case suspect found dead in prison cell

11-7-2010 Colorado:

A day after an inmate was charged in two cold-case sexual assaults, he was found dead in his cell at Sterling Correctional Facility.

The body of habitual criminal Michael Anthony Carey, 51, was discovered at 1:20 p.m., said Katherine Sanguinetti, spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Corrections.

Logan County coroner Dave Tennant said he will perform an autopsy in the next day or two.

Prison authorities reported Carey's death as a "possible" suicide, Tennant said.

Denver cold-case Detective Larry Moore II filed an arrest warrant Wednesday morning against Carey for a 1997 sexual assault case involving a 15-year-old girl and the assault of a female jogger the following year. Both cases were linked by DNA.

Sanguinetti said after the stories were reported in The Denver Post and by 9News, prison officials asked Carey if he wished to be taken out of the general prison population and placed in segregation for his protection. He declined, she said.

The cold cases in which Carey was accused occurred four months apart in 1997 and 1998. In the first, a 15-year-old girl said a man forced her to perform a sex act after she accepted his offer a ride in his truck. In the second, a jogger said a man in a truck tried to run her over, knocked her down and then forced her to perform a sex act.

In each of the assaults, the suspect told the victims where to walk after getting out of his vehicle.

Carey had a criminal record dating to 1978 for crimes that included burglary, drug dealing, assault, drunken driving and robbery. He was first arrested for indecent exposure in 1994 and was arrested twice more for the offense in 1998 and 1999. In 2000, he was sentenced to 16 years in prison for drug manufacturing and assaulting police, according to Colorado Bureau of Investigation records. ..Source.. by Kirk Mitchell:

Stepmother of 38-year-old man accused of shooting teen girl in murder-suicide says he snapped, 'was just a lost soul looking for someone to love him'

Posted in Related Deaths

11-4-2010 Michigan:

MONROE -- Family of 38-year-old Raymond Bush, who police say abducted and fatally shot a 15-year-old Evart girl before taking his own life, defended him today as a good person who simply snapped.

Bush and the girl, Taylor Manley, had been in a relationship for about a year, said Bush's stepmother, Maryann Bush.

"I think he was just a lost soul looking for someone to love him," she said.

Bush was the father of a 17-year-old daughter and 11-year-old son from previous relationships. He bought and fixed-up a van for his daughter, who recently gave birth.

Maryann Bush said her stepson was afraid of going to jail after he was charged with sexually assaulting Taylor.

She is upset that others are portraying Bush as a pedophile.

"We all know that two families are suffering, but people are portraying him like he's a real bad person. But that's not like it was," Maryann Bush said.

She claimed Bush, who was not working, did not have a criminal record.

Oseceola County prosecutors say Taylor planned to testify against Bush at a probable cause hearing Wednesday, but Bush believed she would not.

Bush and Taylor got to know each other because she once lived next door to the grandparents of his son, in the Monroe area.

On Wednesday, Bush talked to his ex-girlfriend on the phone and later stopped at her home. Bush allegedly told the ex-girlfriend he killed Taylor and planned to kill himself because "that was the only way they could be together."

Maryann Bush believes the stress of the criminal charges and being under order not to contact Taylor made him snap. ..Source.. by John Tunison | The Grand Rapids Press

Florence Inmate Found Dead

11-4-2010 Arizona:

Florence, Arizona -- James Galloway, 54, was found dead in his Florence prison cell Oct. 26.

His death was an apparent suicide, according to Arizona Department of Corrections officials, but they are still investigating.

Galloway was serving 18 life sentences for multiple counts of sexual assault with a minor. He was sentenced in September 2008. ..Source.. by KPHO.com

Child Molestation Suspect Kills Self

10-29-2010 Georgia:

25-Year-Old Found Dead In Camden County Jail Cell

WOODBINE, Ga. -- A 25-year-old woman accused of molesting seven boys younger than 16 years old earlier this year was found dead in her Camden County Jail cell Friday.

Detention officers at the Camden County Sheriff's Office Public Safety Complex in Woodbine, Ga., said they discovered Amy Mykkanen hanging from an air conditioning unit by her bed sheet and unresponsive in her cell about 5:30 a.m.

She was unable to be revived.

Investigators said another inmate in the cell was asleep when Mykkanen hanged herself.

"She did leave a note saying she had planned this," Camden County Sheriff Tommy Gregory said. "She didn't let anybody know, and basically leaving a note to her parents and officers and inmates saying she was sorry for hurting them."

Agents with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Camden County Coroner's Office were called to investigate the death.

"We're trying to review to see if there's anything that we missed that could have keyed us off to prevent this," Gregory said.

According to an indictment, Mykkanen had sexual contact with seven boys younger than 16. She was facing eight counts of child molestation, one count of statutory rape and one count of enticing a child for indecent purposes.

Investigators said one 13-year-old boy's parents and grandparents called police in July and told them the boy had been molested by Mykkanen, an acquaintance of the family.

Investigators said they seized laptop computers with cameras and digital video cameras from her home.

Mykkanen's husband is in the Navy. The sheriff said he is deployed at sea and has been notified of his wife's death. ..Source.. by News4Jax.com

Man Who Committed Suicide A Molestation Suspect

10-22-2010 California:

Sacramento Co. Sheriff's Dept. Believes There Could Be More Victims In Child Molestation Case

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) ― An Orangevale man who had been reported missing in the Sierra and was later found to have committed suicide was a registered sex offender and the suspect in a current child molestation investigation.

Jamie "Jim" Lewis was reported missing on Monday after failing to return from a one-day trip to the Sierra to ride his ATV. On Tuesday, his body was found and Placer County Sheriff's Deputies declared his death a suicide.

Now, Sacramento County Sheriff's Deputies say Lewis was a registered sex offender and was the suspect in a current child molestation case. They believe Lewis became aware of the investigation and believe his suicide was connected to the current case.

Sheriff's detectives also believe there may be victims in addition to those who have already been identified. In order to bring the case to a close and to insure any victims get the assistance and services available to them, detectives are asking anyone who believes their child had contact with, and may have been victimized by, Jamie "Jim" Lewis to contact the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department at (916) 874-5115. ..Source.. by CBS13.com