OC child killer hangs himself on death row

5-27-2012 California:

One of Orange County's most notorious child killers has hanged himself on death row, the California Department of Corrections has reported.

James Lee Crummel, 68, was found hanging in his cell Sunday afternoon at San Quentin State Prison.

The former Newport Beach resident made headlines in the late '90s when neighbors found out he was a child molester. But that was only a fraction of what he had been accused of across the country.

As neighbors were putting the heat on, police were putting together a case against him in the 1979 kidnapping, sexual abuse and murder of a 13-year-old boy named James Wilfred Trotter.

The Costa Mesa boy disappeared in 1979 while on his way to school.

Eleven years later, Crummel called police as a random citizen (in what police later categorized as a twisted game of cat and mouse) to say he found some charred human bones while hiking off the Ortega Highway in Riverside County.

Man wanted in sex assaults found dead in Forest County

5-27-2012 Pennsylvania:

An Indiana County man wanted in the sexual assault of two boys was found dead in Forest County on Saturday.

The death of Theodore Amick, 36, of White was ruled a suicide, according to Forest County Coroner Norman J. Wimer.

Pittsburgh police were searching for Amick in connection with the 2010 sexual assault of two boys on a trip to Pittsburgh.

A 12-year-old boy interviewed by a specialist at Children's Hospital on Wednesday said that in 2010 a boy invited him to celebrate his birthday in Pittsburgh with Amick. Once they arrived at a Pittsburgh hotel, Amick assaulted the boys, police said. The 12-year-old said the other boy told him Amick had done similar things during a previous trip to Erie.

Amick was reported to state police Wednesday afternoon as a missing endangered person. Police indicated he was distraught and that he was without medication for diabetes, and that he left his home around 6 p.m.

He was found dead from a gunshot wound Saturday afternoon in a remote area of Howe. Mr. Wimer said Amick appeared to have been at the location for at least two days.

Amick faced charges of indecent assault, unlawful contact with a minor, corruption of minors and criminal solicitation. ..Source.. by Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Bicycle Bandit Suspect Found Dead

5-23-2012 California:

The man who was arrested at Sunshine Bicycle Center in Fairfax last month is found dead in an East Bay hotel. Police had planned to serve a search warrant for his computer for alleged possession of child pornography.

The suspected California Bike Bandit who was nabbed in Fairfax last month was found dead in an East Bay hotel of an apparent suicide, according to an article in the Marin IJ.

Jason Kurt Fashimpaur, a 41-year-old resident of Sausalito, was free on bail after his arrest on suspicion of possessing stolen property and suspected methamphetamine. He was also linked to a rash of bicycle thefts in Corte Madera, San Francisco, Santa Clara, Berkeley and Santa Barbara.

Fashimpaur was arrested on April 24 when he went to test drive a $2800 bicycle at Sunshine Bicycle Center in Fairfax using a temporary driver’s license without a photo ID attached.

An employee thought Fashimpaur resembled the suspect dubbed the "California Bike Bandit," suspected in a rash of bicycle shop thefts in Southern California and the Bay Area. His photo and video surveillance had been circulated in a crime bulletin to bicycle shops by the San Francisco Police Department.

The bicycle shop's manager notified police and the suspect was held until an employee of City Cycle in Corte Madera, another shop hit, could make a positive identification.

According to the Marin IJ article, Sausalito police were also investigating Fashimpaur for allegedly possessing child pornography and were preparing to get a search warrant for his computer when police learned he was dead. ..Source.. by Tracey Ruiz

Man on trial in teen sex-abuse case kills himself in Coquille

5-23-2012 Wisconsin:

COQUILLE — The Coos Bay man who was standing trial for sex abuse against a 14-year-old committed suicide early Wednesday.

The Coos County Sheriff’s office confirmed that Reuben E. Downs, 29, died of a gunshot wound to the head around 10 a.m. near a creek behind a property on the 50 block of West Fifth Street.

The sheriff’s office said Downs shot himself with a 12-gauge shotgun, and his body was found up against a tree. Police said Down’s mother and brother in-law were in the house near the creek at the time of the suicide and that no suicide note was found.

Downs was on trial for nine counts of second-degree sex abuse and was suspected of having an alleged sexual relationship with a 14-year-old girl. ..Source.. by Tyler Richardson

Officials: Rape suspect kills himself before trial

5-20-2012 Pennsylvania:

MEADVILLE — A Crawford County jail inmate died at an Erie hospital early Saturday morning in the wake of an apparent suicide attempt, according to county officials.

Ethan James VanDervort, 29, of 11581 State Highway 98, an inmate at the county jail in Saegertown, died at UPMC Hamot in Erie, Francis Schultz, Crawford County’s district attorney, and Scott Schell, Crawford County coroner, confirmed. VanDervort had been at UPMC Hamot since Wednesday.

VanDervort was pronounced dead at UPMC Hamot just after 5 a.m. from injuries he sustained in an apparent suicide attempt Wednesday afternoon at the jail, Schell said. VanDervort initially was taken to Meadville Medical Center for treatment on Wednesday, but was transferred later that day to UPMC Hamot.

VanDervort’s death was expected to be ruled a suicide by the Erie County Coroner’s Office, according to Schell. The office has jurisdiction over the cause and manner of death since VanDervort died in Erie County.

As late as last Wednesday, VanDervort was set to stand trial Monday in Crawford County Court of Common Pleas on rape and other charges filed by Pennsylvania State Police at Meadville. However, the trial was rescheduled to the June term of court by the court administrator’s office following Wednesday’s incident at the jail.

Schultz said he was informed of VanDervort’s death just after 6 a.m. Saturday via a telephone call from Warden Tim Lewis.

An investigation into VanDervort’s death will be conducted by state police, said Schultz, who also serves as chairman of the Crawford County Prison Board which oversees operations of the county jail.

“It was an apparent suicide,” Schultz said. “State police have been involved in investigating since the beginning.”

Jail personnel had taken an inmate population count around 2 p.m. Wednesday with VanDervort apparently fine at that time. However, he was discovered in his cell minutes later in need of medical attention with emergency personnel called, according to Schell.

“He was found hanging in his cell,” Schell said. “A corrections officer administered CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation). He had a pulse when he left (the jail), but he wasn’t conscious.”

Schell said VanDervort apparently never regained consciousness.

Schell expects to have a final report on VanDervort’s death from the Erie County Coroner’s Office on Monday.

State police had accused VanDervort of one count each of rape, sexual assault, indecent assault and harassment, and two counts of simple assault, for an alleged assault on a then-28-year-old woman at a Cambridge Township home between 9:30 and 10:30 a.m. July 12, 2011. He was being held at the county jail in Saegertown in lieu of bond. ..Source.. by Keith Gushard Meadville Tribune