Glendale Police: Man, woman died of self-inflicted gunshot wounds at Glendale home

4-9-17 Arizona:

GLENDALE, AZ - Police are releasing more information after a man and woman who were found dead in a Glendale home over the weekend.

A Phoenix spokesperson said they were serving a search warrant to a home near 59th and Peoria avenues on Saturday night in connection to a child pornography investigation.

While officers were entering the home they heard a single gunshot, officials said. Dan Ray Reynolds, 47, and 32-year-old Jessica Rochelle Garcia were found dead inside the home.

It’s believed that both Garcia and Reynolds suffered self-inflicted gunshot wounds. The pair died at the scene, police said.

No additional information was immediately available. ..Source.. by

Sex Offender Commits ‘Suicide By Semi Truck’ Days Before Starting Jail Sentence

Dec 2016 New York:

He was set to begin a six-month jail sentence.

The identity of a man who killed himself by walking in front of a moving tractor trailer has been revealed as 25-year-old ___ III, a convicted level 2 sex offender.

The incident happened back on November 29th, when ___ of Clay, New York exited his vehicle and jumped in front of a semi truck on an Interstate 90 off-ramp in Salina, New York.

Back in 2015, ___ was arrested for possession of child pornography when investigators discovered more than 2,000 illegal images on his computer and phone.

___ initially turned down a plea bargain for 1-3 years in prison. He was later found guilty of 82 counts of child pornography possession and one count of child pornography promotion.

Actor Jay Bowdy Commits Suicide On Facebook Live

1-25-17 California:

Bowdy's suicide occurred days after he was arrested on suspicion of his alleged involvement in a sex crime.

Frederick Jay Bowdy, a 33-year-old aspiring actor from Texas, killed himself in North Hollywood on Monday during a Facebook Live broadcast that was posted to his profile on the social media site, reports the LA Times. The video caused an out-of-state family member to contact the Los Angeles Police Department at around 5:30 AM, said Sgt. Tiffany Ljubetic, but officers could not reach him in time.

Bowdy's body was found in a car near Cumpston Street and Fulcher Avenue. Police believe that Bowdy was already dead when they tried to make contact with him. The video has been removed by Facebook.

On Thursday morning, Bowdy was arrested in Santa Clarita on suspicion of sexual assault. He was released on Friday upon posting $100,000 bail, said Los Angeles County Sgt. Janice Banks. No charges had been filed against him.

Four Under Investigation for Child Pornography Found Dead with Suicide Notes Claiming They are Innocent

This documents the death of Kevin Carey: One of "Four Under Investigation for Child Pornography..."

10-3-2013 Alabama:

Four bodies found inside a car near Double Springs, Alabama last week have been identified by police.

Kristie Hunt Campbell Hamrick, Robert Samuel Hamrick, Andy Keith Hunt, and Kevin Carey, all of Savannah, Tennessee, were found dead last Wednesday night. Winston County Sheriff Rick Harris confirms that the four were under investigation for child pornography inn Tennessee. However, only Kristie Hamrick and her ex-husband Robert Hamrick had been charged with having child pornography on a computer at their Tennessee home.

Trial for the Hamricks was set to begin on Wednesday, the same day they were found dead. Along with the bodies were notes from all four people, declaring their innocence in the alleged crimes. The notes also detailed their requested funeral arrangements.

Forensic evidence showed that Andy Keith Hunt shot the others with a Mossberg 500 A 12-gauge pump-action shotgun, which was the only weapon found at the scene. He is then believed to have gotten into the car and killed himself.

Four Under Investigation for Child Pornography Found Dead with Suicide Notes Claiming They are Innocent

This documents the death of Robert Samuel Hamrick: Three of "Four Under Investigation for Child Pornography..."

10-3-2013 Alabama:

Four bodies found inside a car near Double Springs, Alabama last week have been identified by police.

Kristie Hunt Campbell Hamrick, Robert Samuel Hamrick, Andy Keith Hunt, and Kevin Carey, all of Savannah, Tennessee, were found dead last Wednesday night. Winston County Sheriff Rick Harris confirms that the four were under investigation for child pornography inn Tennessee. However, only Kristie Hamrick and her ex-husband Robert Hamrick had been charged with having child pornography on a computer at their Tennessee home.

Trial for the Hamricks was set to begin on Wednesday, the same day they were found dead. Along with the bodies were notes from all four people, declaring their innocence in the alleged crimes. The notes also detailed their requested funeral arrangements.

Forensic evidence showed that Andy Keith Hunt shot the others with a Mossberg 500 A 12-gauge pump-action shotgun, which was the only weapon found at the scene. He is then believed to have gotten into the car and killed himself.

Male teacher and ‘husband’ accused of sexual contact with gay teens found dead

Documents death of Matthew Deyo (another post documents Aric Babbitt death)

9-16-16 Minnesota:

A homosexual elementary school teacher, who was "married" to another man, killed himself and his "husband" in an apparent murder-suicide after the two were allegedly caught having inappropriate contact with students, according to Dakota County court documents.

Forty-year-old Aric Babbitt and 36-year-old Matthew Deyo were under investigation for regularly taking adolescent boys on overnight trips, specifically boys who identified as possibly gay, with parental approval, even though the men were openly homosexual.

According to court records, Babbitt assured parents that he was "mentoring" their children, and when questioned about inappropriate gifts he gave them, such as underwear and skimpy yoga shorts, Babbitt told the parents that they wouldn't understand because "It's a gay thing."

Suspect Commits Suicide During Sex Offense Investigation in Sumter County

10-24-16 Florida:

LAKE PANASOFFKEE – Sumter County Deputies were dispatched to the Lake Panasoffkee Family Dollar in response to a sex offense complaint involving a minor on Sunday just after 5:00 pm.

When deputies arrived, the victim’s mother told deputies that her daughter told her she was molested and raped. According to a statement from the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office, the victim stated that the abuse began when she was nine years old and lived out of state.

Deputies escorted the victim and her family to the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office where they continued to investigate the allegations. During the investigation, the suspect began sending text messages to the victim’s mother one of which caused concern among the deputies due to the suspect’s history of suicidal threats.

DA: Convicted child molester killed himself right before his sentencing

5-12-16 Pennsylvania:

A convicted child molester apparently killed himself right before he was to appear in Dauphin County Court to be sentenced to a state prison term for sexually abusing a 14-year-girl, a prosecutor said Thursday.

Kevin Marshall, 32, of Gratz, pleaded guilty to multiple sex crimes in February. He had a plea deal for a 3- to 7-year jail term and was scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Scott A. Evans on Wednesday morning.

When Marshall didn't show, and attempts by his lawyer, Public Defender Mary Klatt, to find him failed, Chief Deputy District Attorney Sean McCormack secured a bench warrant be issued for his arrest.

State police at Lykens never had a chance to serve that warrant. McCormack said as he contacted police to bring Marshall to court, the officers were notified that a passerby had found a body near Marshall's home. Indications are that Marshall fatally shot himself, McCormack said.

Body Found in Vacant Paynesville Home ID'd as Fugitive

9-9-15 Minnesota:

A body found in a vacant Paynesville home Wednesday has been identified as a convicted and non-compliant sex offender wanted on several warrants.

The Ramsey County medical examiner has identified the body as 28-year-old Ryan Clover. The preliminary autopsy found that Clover died of asphyxia due to hanging, and the manner of death has been ruled suicide.

Paynesville police were called Wednesday to an unknown death on the 400 block of West Mill Street. Clover's last known address was in Isanti County. A property inspector discovered his body during a monthly inspection.

Officers checked the perimeter of the home and noticed signs of entry through a side window on the property. The officer entered the home and found the body in the stairway, police said.

A man found dead floating in the Mississippi River on May 12 has been identified as a 27 year old from Houma

6-1-15 Louisiana:

A body found floating in the Mississippi River on May 12 has been identified as a 27-year-old from Houma.

Anthony Ferguson‘s body was recovered after an hours-long recovery operation on May 12 near Port Sulphur, Plaquemines Parish Sheriff Lonnie Greco said in a news release.

Ferguson’s identity had eluded authorities for weeks. The corpse was found in a state of extreme decomposition, and police initially had little to go on other than a macabre tattoo of a skull found on the body’s left chest. But the Louisiana State Police crime lab was able to use DNA to positively identify Ferguson on May 27.

Ferguson’s car was discovered abandoned on the Crescent City Connection on March 11. Matey said she would not speculate about whether Ferguson committed suicide, but that no foul play was suspected in his death.

Akron sex offender kills himself during chase with Colorado police

4-27-15 Ohio:

A registered sex offender charged with having a sexual relationship with an Akron teenager stabbed himself Saturday after fleeing from police in Olathe, Colorado, officials said.

John E. Reynolds, 25, stabbed himself in the heart with a letter opener, according to Dr. Thomas Canfield, the Montrose County, Colorado coroner. He ruled Reynolds' death a suicide.

Olathe police tried to stop Reynolds' car about 12:30 a.m. Saturday on a highway in the western Colorado town about 100 miles southwest of Aspen.

Reynolds ran from police for about 100 yards. He showed the knife at police officers, who used a stun gun on him, according to the Olathe police. Police have not said whether officers used a stun gun on Reynolds before or after he stabbed himself.

Reynolds was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. The incident remains under investigation by the 7th Judicial District Critical Incident Team, which investigates officer-involved incidents. The Colorado Bureau of Investigation is also investigating.

Sapulpa Coach Charged With Rape Dead Of Apparent Suicide

3-6-15 Oklahoma:

A Sapulpa coach was found dead the day he was charged with second-degree rape in Creek County. Creek County District Attorney Max Cook confirms Brad Alan Evans was charged in connection to a relationship with a 17-year-old student.

Cook said the early indications are that Evans, 38, committed suicide, but the death will be investigated. The charges against Evans were rescinded Friday after word of his death, Cook said.

According to an affidavit of probable cause, the coach's wife discovered the girl in their mobile home March 3, 2015. The student told police Evans was her softball coach at Sapulpa High School and that she had sex with him that night and on another occasion in February.

The girl also told police she drank five mixed drinks at his home, court records state.

Officers say her class ring was found on a night stand in the bedroom when they executed a search warrant.

The Sapulpa School superintendent said Evans was a paraprofessional who had been with the district for about 18 months.

Man accused of killing girlfriend dies

2-11-15 Utah:

NORTH LOGAN — The man accused of killing his girlfriend and attempting to kill himself died Tuesday evening, police said.

Christian Emerson, 26, was discovered Sunday with a gunshot wound to the head and was airlifted to an area hospital in critical condition, according to North Park police. A passerby located Emerson and his 26-year-old girlfriend, Amanda Hoyt, inside a white Subaru that had wrecked near 1830 Canyon Ridge Drive.

Hoyt was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident. An investigation showed she had multiple gunshots fired at her, but it was unclear how many times she had been hit, police said. Investigators said it appeared to be a homicide and attempted suicide.

Hoyt's small dog was also found in the vehicle unharmed and was returned to her family.

North Park police said there are many details that remain unclear, including whether Emerson had been driving at the time shots were fired, where they were going, if Emerson owned the gun used, or if the event was premeditated.

Medical Examiner: Delaware fugitive hanged himself

1-7-2015 Virginia:

UPDATE 1/8/14: On Thursday the medical examiner determined the cause and manner of death to be suicide by hanging.

NEWPORT NEWS—The fugitive at the center of a daylong standoff with a police tactical team at a motel has died, a police spokesman confirmed.

Shortly before 5 p.m., members of a SWAT team carried Jawan Colson out of a room at the Midtown Motel along Jefferson Avenue and helped paramedics put him into an ambulance.

He was pronounced dead at the hospital, according to police.

The standoff began around noon Wednesday when the U.S. Marshals Service discovered a fugitive from Delaware barricaded inside a room at the motel.

The Marshal's office in Delaware says Colson was wanted for Failure to Register as a sex offender and 1st Degree Rape.

The 30-year-old as also wanted on three counts of rape, one count of strangulation, and unlawful imprisonment among other charges, according to the Newport News Police Department.

Sex offender’s Griffith Park hanging appears to be suicide

1-5-2015 California:

The weekend death in Griffith Park of a 24-year-old man sentenced last year for attempting to meet minors for sex was an apparent suicide, the Los Angeles County Coroner’s office said Monday.

Passersby found Levi Moscowitz hanging from a tree in Griffith Park near the 2600 block of Commonwealth Canyon Avenue on Saturday, said coroner’s Lt. Fred Corral. Paramedics pronounced him dead at 8:20 a.m. An autopsy was pending.

Moscowitz pleaded no contest in late October to charges that resulted from a sting operation run by a Los Angeles Police Department detective who posed as a father with a 13-year-old son and 15-year-old daughter, according to the Jewish Journal.

The detective answered Moscowitz’s ad in Craigslist “seeking to participate in a sexual encounter with a family interested in incest,” according to the Journal.

Moscowitz was arrested in February when he went to Long Beach for the expected sexual encounter and instead encountered police, the Journal reported.

After pleading no contest in October to one felony count of meeting a minor for lewd purposes, Moscowitz was sentenced to one day in jail, a year of counseling and five years of probation, the Journal reported. ..Source.. by Debbie L. Sklar

Anson Co. Sheriff: Registered sex offender killed 2-year-old girl, self

11-25-2014 North Carolina:

ANSON COUNTY, N.C. — Anson County deputies said the man who killed a 2-year-old girl and then himself in a murder-suicide was a convicted sex offender from Kentucky.

Investigators came to the home on Horne Store Road Monday around 5 p.m. Monday after someone called 911. "Yes, I need some help over here ... Anson County, I need y'all help. Please hurry," said the 911 caller.

She said her brother-in-law had committed suicide. Investigators discovered George Rufus Harris, 33, shot to death in a shed behind the home. Inside a bedroom, they found the body of that 2-year-old girl and they found a suicide note.

“He admitted he killed the child regretted it and was going to take his own life,” said Sheriff Tommy Allen.

Officers didn’t have a motive, but said Harris was a registered sex offender who was wanted for a probation violation and failing to report. Eyewitness News checked and found he was convicted of sexually abusing a 14-year-old.

Toxicology reports to determine what killed Turlock sex offender

10-14-2014 California:

Police are awaiting results of toxicology test results before declaring that suicide was the reason for the death of a Turlock man who had pled guilty to sexually abusing a young girl and awaiting sentencing before he was found dead at a Ceres church.

Robert Daniel Gomes, 34, was found dead at 12:44 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 27 in the parking lot at St. Jude's Catholic Church at 3824 Mitchell Road in Ceres. His body was inside a black Chevy Tahoe parked outside the church.

The death is a suspected suicide from drug overdose, but the investigation will remain open pending toxicology results, according to the Ceres Police Department.

In August Gomes entered guilty pleas to eight felony counts of sexual abuse, including continuous sexual abuse of a child, sodomy, oral copulation, and unlawful sexual intercourse.

Gomes was accused of assaulting a 13-year-old girl over a three year period while he was dating her mother. The victim reported the abuse when she was 16 years old.

William Chrisman band teacher dies

8-4-2014 Missouri:

A former William Chrisman High School teacher accused of molesting a student died just a day before his scheduled court hearing.

James N. Owens, 29, of Lee’s Summit, died July 30. The cause of death is unknown.

According to court records, a plea hearing was scheduled for July 31, but had been rescheduled for Aug. 21. Owens faced charges of enticing a child and second-degree child molestation, a misdemeanor. Court records also indicate that a trial had also been scheduled for Monday, Aug. 4., but it was canceled.

In 2012, Owens was accused of having an improper relationship with a 14-year-old female student. The mother of the victim intercepted a conversation thread on Facebook between Owens and the girl that contained sexually explicit messages, according to the probable cause statement. The student also admitted to a school counselor that she and Owens had a romantic relationship, which included kissing and touching that sometimes occurred in the Chrisman band room.

Sex offender found dead at Florence prison

12-15-2008 Arizona:

A convicted child sex offender has been found dead at the state prison in Florence.

The Arizona Department of Corrections issued a statement Monday saying that Matthew Goodwin, 36, was found Friday hanging from a shower in the Arizona State Prison Complex-Eyman's Cook Unit.

ADOC said an investigation was continuing and that an autopsy would be conducted.

ADOC said Goodwin had been in prison since Jan. 19, 2007, after being sentenced in Pima County to nearly 77 years for sexual exploitation of a minor and aggravated assault. ..Source.. by KTAR.com

Man indicted on child porn charges dies

3-19-2014 Ohio:

A Granville man indicted Feb. 27 on multiple counts of having child pornography was rushed to the hospital Feb. 28 and died Monday from his apparent self-inflicted injuries.

Tyler C. Grossett, 27, last known address 560 Jones Road, was indicted as a result of a Central Ohio task force investigation of Internet crimes against children in late 2012, Licking County Prosecutor Ken Oswalt said.

According to his death notice, he was at the Selma Markowitz Care Center, operated by Hospice of Central Ohio, at the time of his death.

At 11:55 a.m. Feb. 28, a Granville Township Fire Department ambulance was called to Grossett’s Jones Road address regarding a reported overdose.

Granville Police Department Sgt. Keith Blackledge said the case is still open while officials await an autopsy report, but he could confirm suicide. Blackledge said the original report to Jones Road was an attempted suicide for an unresponsive person.

Oswalt said that to his knowledge Grossett had been in medical treatment since the day of his apparent overdose and he had never regained consciousness.

According to Licking County Sheriff Randy Thorp, deputies tried to serve the summons on the indictment to Grossett late in the morning Feb. 28, but were unable to make contact and left a standard note on the door to contact the office.

Before the indictment, the task force executed a search warrant at Grossett’s home and seized a computer that allegedly had “tens of thousands” of suspected images of child pornography, Oswalt said.

An investigation was ongoing for about a year to try to determine how many of the images actually constituted child pornography and the case was handed over to the Licking County Prosecutor’s Office in January.

Grossett was indicted on five fourth-degree felony counts of pandering sexually oriented matter involving a minor Feb. 27 by a grand jury. He was scheduled to have an initial bond hearing Tuesday in Licking County Common Pleas Court. ..Source.. by Advocate staff