IL- Ex-Con Bryan Halstead Was Arrested After Allegedly Attemptin Tryst With Teenage Girl

5-7-2008 Illinois:

CREST HILL, Ill. (Naperville Sun) ― Former Naperville resident Bryan E. Halstead was freed from prison a little more than four months ago, after serving a 21-year sentence for raping an Aurora girl in 1985 and brutalizing her family in their home.

Halstead, 44, committed suicide Wednesday morning, less than a day after being arrested for trying to arrange a sexual tryst with a Naperville girl.

Halstead reportedly hanged himself with a bedsheet while in a holding cell at Stateville Correctional Center in Crest Hill. He had been taken there for violating terms of his parole following his arrest Tuesday afternoon in Naperville.

"We are investigating an apparent suicide of Mr. Halstead from Wednesday morning at Stateville," said Derek Schnapp, a spokesman for the Illinois Department of Corrections. Schnapp refused to discuss how Halstead killed himself.

Halstead in 1985 lived on the 1800 block of Princeton Circle in Naperville. He moved to south suburban Chicago Heights after being paroled from prison on Dec. 27.

Naperville police arrested Halstead at 3:45 p.m. Tuesday on a felony charge of indecent solicitation of a child. He had been accused of using the Internet to try to arrange a meeting with a 16-year-old girl from Naperville.

Police Cmdr. Dave Hoffman said the investigation began May 1, after detectives were contacted by the girl's parents. One of the parents, while monitoring the teen's online activities, found evidence of a "disturbing online chat between their child and another individual that was sexual in nature," communications that had been going on "over the course of the last two weeks," Hoffman said in a written statement.

The suspect, quickly identified as Halstead, had lied to the girl, claiming to be a 16-year-old Naperville boy and asking her to send "inappropriate digital photographs" of herself to his MySpace account, Hoffman said. Detectives set up a sting operation and arrested Halstead in a parking lot on the 500 block of South Washington Street in Naperville, where he believed he would be meeting with the girl, Hoffman said.

Aurora police arrested Halstead on Aug. 26, 1985, at a house on the 2400 block of Lakeside Drive, where his estranged wife was living with her parents and two younger sisters.

Records in DuPage County Circuit Court in Wheaton indicated Halstead, then 21, armed himself with a .357 Magnum before invading the home that afternoon.

He fired a shot that missed striking his then-13-year-old sister-in-law, who was home alone at the time. He then raped the girl in her bedroom before tying her up with rope and forcing her into the basement.

Halstead then waited as his estranged wife, mother-in-law, father-in-law and another sister-in-law arrived home one by one through the afternoon, confronting and hog-tying all of them with rope.

He shot his estranged father-in-law in the left arm and left him bleeding for nearly five hours in the basement with the rest of the family. The father-in-law ultimately underwent surgery to have his arm shortened by an inch.

A prosecutor during Halstead's trial said Halstead "systematically, for eight hours, terrorized that family." One of the victims testified they "all joined hands in the basement and prayed together" after becoming convinced it was their "last day on Earth."

Halstead eventually decided to free his captives and call 911, although court records indicated he later told police the confrontation with the family and the shooting had been accidental.

Judge John J. Bowman in June 1986 sentenced Halstead to 45 years in prison after he was convicted of felony charges of home invasion, aggravated criminal sexual assault, armed violence and unlawful restraint.

Halstead served just more than 21 years of that sentence in downstate Danville before being paroled. ..News Source.. By Bill Bird / Naperville Sun

Kolkata- Molester principal commits suicide in South Kolkata

5-6-2008 Kolkata:

Kolkata: A 63-year old principal of a primary school committed suicide in Garia in South Kolkata on Tuesday morning after he allegedly caught red-handed while molesting a seven-year old girl student by her mother.

Biswanath Das, the owner of Children's Academy School, had been running the educational center for over 20 years. Das used to live in the second floor of the double-storied building, which housed the primary school on the ground and first floors. Many local people used to send their children to the school, as it claimed to put "special emphasis" on English language.

Among many of these children attending Children's Academy was little Shipra Ghosh (name changed), a student of class 2, who went to the school to receive education, but remained at the receiving end of the principal's indecent acts.

Das had been molesting Shipra for the past few months, and also threatened to beat her up if she dared gave anyone an inkling of what was happening. A scared Shipra used to silently bear the physical and mental abuse which she was subjected to, before finally, her mother caught the principal in the act.

On Monday, when Shipra's mother went to fetch her from school, she was surprised to find that her daughter was neither in the classroom, nor with the other children. Worried, she went inside the school to look for her daughter, and was stunned to see her alone with the principal in the staff room, with the old man behaving indecently with the little girl.

On confrontation, Das said that he was affectionately caressing the child, and that her mother was reading too much into the matter. However, Shipra's mother refused to buy his explanations, and registered a molestation complaint against him in Regent Park police station in South Kolkata.

Today morning, Das went to Shipra's house, and tried to convince her parents to hush up the matter. But they refused to relent. On returning to the school, Das found a huge mob waiting for him. Fearing that he might be beaten to death by the agitated mob, Das sneaked into his house and hanged himself.

Even after his suicide, angry locals refused to let his body be taken for a post-mortem, and created a huge ruckus in the area. Police had to resort to lathicharge to disperse the mob, and finally managed to take the body four hours after Das' suicide.

Shipra's mother said, "He had been molesting my child over the past few months, but we were unaware of his deeds. I caught him red-handed yesterday, but he tried to cover up for his faults. He even tried to shut us up, but we did not give in to his pressures. Soon after he had left our place today morning, we heard that he had committed suicide."

SP (South 24 Parganas) Praveen Kumar said, "Primarily we believe that Das committed suicide to save his face. We are investigating into the matter." ..more.. by LOCAL CORRESPONDENT

CA- Body found in Pinnacle Rock area

5-14-2005 California:

CLEARLAKE The Lake County Sheriff's Office has tentatively identified a body found in the Pinnacle Rock area of the Mendocino National Forest as that of Michael Willis, 44, sought by Clearlake Police on a warrant for child molestation. A post-mortem examination of the body has led the sheriff's office to believe that the subject died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

The body was found 100 yards north of a rural roadway in the Pinnacle Rock area after deputies secured the area and found evidence, which along with the body, was transported to the mortuary for the post-mortem.

The deputies began investigating the scene because of a report of a suspicious vehicle by U.S. Fire Service ranger Matt Knudson. The vehicle was positively identified as belonging to Willis by the Lake County Sheriff's Department Central Dispatch.

Conclusive identification that the body was Willis' could not be made because of the estimated time lapse between the death and discovery of the body on May 3. In the approximate 30 days before the body was discovered, advanced decomposition had set in and there was apparent animal activity. : by Record-Bee ..more..

TX- Tarpley death ruled as a suicide by authorities - San Antonio resident was reportedly under investigation

5-18-2005 Texas:

Tragedy befell the quiet town of Tarpley two weeks ago. On May 5, Bandera County Sheriff's Office Deputy David McGilvray responded to a 911 call from a ranch on FM 470.

There, McGilvray found Kenneth E. Hendley, 64, of San Antonio, with a reported self-inflicted shotgun wound to his head. Justice of the Precinct 4 Lynn Holt pronounced Hendley dead on the scene at 1:10 p.m., according to Chief Deputy Don Berger.

Records indicate that Hendley was discovered by his son-in-law, Daryl Gillit, who said that Hendley was distraught over personal items in San Antonio. Gillit advised officers that Hendley was under investigation by Child Protective Services for child molestation. ..more.. by Jessica Hawley - Lifestyles Editor

FL- Sex offender wanted for questioning kills self

5-27-2005 Florida:

A sex offender who had been registered to live in Yankeetown killed himself May 20 rather than face an investigation by the Levy County Sheriff's Office into a new allegation of sexual crimes made against him in April. This week Capt. Chuck Bastak, spokesman for Sheriff Johnny Smith, said LCSO got a call last Friday from Marion County authorities informing them that George W. Hummel, 61, had shot himself in his head when a deputy tried to question him at his mother's house in Summerfield.

Bastak said Hummel had been the subject of an investigation initiated April 22 based on a claim that he had fondled a young girl, and sheriff's investigators had made the decision to arrest Hummel on a charge of lewd and lascivious battery on a child under 12 years old. However, officers had not seen Hummel since he didn't show up two weeks ago for a lie detector test they had agreed upon in a prior interview, and they believed he had left his registered address without notifying the sheriff's office as required by law. : by Mike Bowdoin ..more..