Human remains identified as belonging to missing sex offender

9-20-16 Vermont:

State police say remains belong to Philip Jackman

Vermont State Police confirmed the identity of the remains Wednesday.

Investigators said they belong to Philip Jackman. The remains were found by a hunter off Beard Road in the Town of Orange on Oct. 2, 2015.

Jackman, 21, was reported missing in the fall of 2004 and was wanted on a state warrant for sex offenses.

Police found Jackman’s vehicle abandoned on Beard Road and said he was suicidal and evading capture. Jackman was never found, and the U.S. marshals took the case from state police.

The search for Jackman lasted for 11 years.

Investigators said they do not suspect foul play in Jackman’s death. His cause of death was not released.

The discovery of Jackman's remains effectively closes his case as a fugitive. ..Source.. by Brad Evans

MI- Accused teacher dies from hanging!

6-9-2004 Michigan:

A former Homer teacher was found dead Monday, hours before he was scheduled to be sentenced to prison for having sex with a student. Brian K. Corbitt, 28, was found hanged to death in an apparent suicide Monday in his home near Adrian.

Although the age of consent to have sex in Michigan is 16, Corbitt was charged under a law enacted in June 2003 making it illegal for a teacher to have sex with a student in the same school. Corbitt was the first person charged in Calhoun County with that violation and Hotchkiss said his client may be the first person charged similarly in Michigan. In a written statement to the court, Corbitt said he and the girl, now 17, began their relationship at school and first started having sex in March.

"It was absolutely consensual," Hotchkiss said. "That has never been disputed." In his written statement, Corbitt said, "I thought we were genuinely in love. I didn't know it was a crime." Corbitt, a graduate of Michigan State University, who received his master's degree this year, had been a teacher at Homer for three years and was the FFA adviser. ..Source.. by Trace Christenson

MI- BRIAN DICKERSON: A plea deal thwarted, a life is ended

3-24-2004 Michigan:

Ernest Hemingway wrote that every true story ends in death.

This is a true story.

It begins two years ago with a troubled 14-year-old girl who documented her sexual exploits in a diary. She called herself a predator. But Oakland County Prosecutor David Gorcyca was more interested in her slightly older sex partners. He charged four of them with criminal sexual conduct, a felony.

In May 2002, when what became known as the Bloomfield Sex Diary case broke, I argued that Gorcyca had overreacted by bringing criminal charges for what amounted to consensual sex between promiscuous teenagers. I noted that, if convicted, the defendants would be listed on Michigan's sex-offender registry until they reached middle age.

After a public uproar, Gorcyca relented. Under a plea agreement blessed by two sentencing judges, all four defendants were permitted to plead guilty to a lesser charge of seduction. The prosecutor and defense attorneys agreed that none of the defendants would be imprisoned or listed on the sex-offender registry.

The 14-year-old girl and her parents were relieved by the deal. "We didn't have an ax to grind," the girl's attorney, Mayer Morganroth, recalled this week. "Nobody wanted to see these young kids stigmatized for life."

It should have ended there -- a fiasco averted, a case of overzealous prosecution brought to a sane resolution.

But it didn't.

Last month, more than a year after the charges against them were resolved, all four defendants were notified they'd be registered as sex offenders after all.

One of them, 20-year-old Justin Fawcett of West Bloomfield, was particularly devastated. On Feb. 27, three days after Fawcett's probation officer broke the news that he'd be publicly branded for the next 23 years, Fawcett's father e-mailed me to express his fear that Justin would kill himself.

CA- Port Hueneme Child Molester Is Found Hanged in His Jail Cell

7-12-2004 California:

A Port Hueneme child molester awaiting sentencing apparently hanged himself in his jail cell, Ventura County sheriff’s officials said Sunday.

Ronald Lee Bershers, 41, was found dead during a routine check of cells at the Ventura County Jail late Saturday, said Capt. Chris Lathrop.

He had not been considered a suicide threat and had not been placed on any special surveillance, Lathrop said.

“It’s our general policy to question inmates and some of the questions pertain to mental well-being,” Lathrop said.

Bershers was seen alive about an hour before his body was found hanging from a sheet around 10:45 p.m., Lathrop said. Attempts to resuscitate him failed, he said.

Bershers was arrested by Port Hueneme police in October 2002 on suspicion of child molestation, Lathrop said.

He was found guilty in April and scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 12, he said.

Inmates typically are issued two sheets and a blanket, Lathrop said. Bershers apparently tied one of his sheets to a rail at the top of a bunk bed and used it to hang himself, he said.

He didn’t have a cellmate, a jail official said.

Sheriff’s major crime investigators will look into the death. An autopsy performed Sunday determined that Bershers died of asphyxia by hanging, but a ruling on the manner of death was not yet complete, a coroner’s spokesman said. ..News Source.. by Catherine Saillant

FL- On eve of execution, murderer feels 'glad'

This very ODD case is posted here in suicides and in the murders blog, because RSO-A inmate murdered another (RSO-B) so that RSO-A could get the death penalty. i.e., RSO-A suicide by murdering someone.

5-26-2004 Florida:

John Blackwelder tells the media he killed another inmate just so he could get the death penalty, and Gov. Jeb Bush "will get another kill."

STARKE - John Blackwelder, who is scheduled to die today for a prison killing, apologized Monday for the murder but said it was the only way to manipulate the state to get the death penalty.

"I will be glad tomorrow to lay on the gurney and tomorrow you (Gov. Jeb Bush) will get another kill," Blackwelder, 49, formerly of Fort Pierce, said in a media interview.

Blackwelder pleaded guilty to murdering convicted killer Raymond Wigley, 39, of Fort Worth, Texas, who was strangled on May 6, 2000, at Columbia Correctional Institution. After luring Wigley into his cell with the promise of a sex act, he tied Wigley to the bed and strangled him as Wigley begged for mercy.

"I am sorry for killing Wigley, but to get what I wanted I had to," Blackwelder said.

Wigley was convicted of the rape, torture and murder of Adella Maria Simmons, 47, in 1983.

Blackwelder noted that he will die on the 25th anniversary of the execution of John Spenkelink, the first Florida inmate and the second in the country to be executed after the Supreme Court made states redo their death penalty laws.

Blackwelder said Wigley was the only person he ever killed and claimed he was innocent of sexually assaulting a 10-year-old boy in St. Lucie County, the crime that put him in prison for life without the possibility of parole.

Blackwelder said he was fearful that his execution would be put off until fall so it could be used politically by Gov. Bush and President Bush.

"I did not want my execution to become a political statement for any Bush," Blackwelder said.

Gov. Bush did not directly comment on Blackwelder's statements.

"People have to remember what actually happened here," Bush said. "This was a man who was on death row because he murdered somebody."

"I am sorry for what I've done; now I have to pay the price," said Blackwelder, who admitted threatening Vice President Dan Quayle "because I was homeless."

Blackwelder is scheduled to die by lethal injection at 6 p.m. today at Florida State Prison.

He will be the fifth Florida inmate executed by injection, the second this year. He will be the 59th inmate executed since Florida resumed executions on May 25, 1979, when Spenkelink was put to death for slaying a traveling companion in Tallahassee.

Psychologists claim Blackwelder has been diagnosed as having impulse control disorder, antisocial personality disorder and pedophilia.

The Florida Supreme Court affirmed Blackwelder's conviction and death sentence in July after an automatic appeal. Blackwelder then filed a motion to waive any more appeals.

Death penalty opponent Abe Bonowitz, with Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, said Blackwelder's death wish was "suicide by governor."

Six of the last 10 inmates have opted to drop their appeals to speed up their executions.

Blackwelder said he became a Christian while on death row. "After I die, I feel I will go to heaven," he said.

Throughout the interview his impending death was on his mind.

"It's time to do away with the death penalty," he said at one point.

But he abruptly ended his interview, saying, "I can't kill myself. I'm not suicidal. I can get the state to do it for me." ..more.. by Associated Press

OH- Prison suicides prompt review

6-28-2004 Ohio:

COLUMBUS - Three Ohio prison inmates killed themselves in a seven-day period, putting the prison system on pace for a record number this year and prompting a review of suicide prevention policies statewide.

"We want to see if there are any commonalities between the incidents," prison system spokeswoman Andrea Dean said. She said officials believe, after an initial review, that there was no common thread in the inmate deaths.

....[SNIP]....

Thomas L. Brewer, 23, of Clermont County, died June 20 at the Ross Correctional Institutional at Chillicothe. Brewer entered prison June 8, 2000, on an attempted rape charge. He was to be released May 23, 2008.

Brewer had been on suicide watch, but was sent to an isolation cell where he hanged himself. ..more.. by AP

OH- Suicidal shooters find ranges are convenient

Renting firearm easier than buying one
8-10-2004 Ohio:

It's a tragedy that has played out across the nation's firing ranges, and Saturday it struck Cleland's Outdoor World on Airport Highway.

Marked as a convicted sex offender and facing the end of his career and marriage, Richard Borruso, 52, a pharmacist who lived on Dussel Drive in Maumee, walked in to Cleland's, set down $40 in cash, went into a practice booth, and shot himself in the head.

"This fellow was completely calm and composed," said Mike Mobley, who was practicing in the stall next to Borruso's.

While owner Theresa Cleland said it was the first suicide in Cleland's 20-year history, ranges across the country have been the site of public suicides by people seeking easy access to a gun.

Renting a firearm at a firing range allows a person to bypass the federal waiting period required to buy a gun. Borruso's conviction last year of molesting a 14-year-old girl may have made such a purchase improbable.

Preventing deaths on firing ranges might be impossible - and dangerous, said Rick Patterson, executive director of the National Association of Shooting Ranges, who said such shootings occur "from time to time."

For one thing, there are no red flag behaviors that would hint at such an intention, he said.

"It's quite the opposite," he said, adding that suicidal individuals may appear calm or relaxed. "What the psychologists have told us is that these people have made their decision."

"And the psychologists have told us, if you try to interfere, go into harm's way, you've created an unsafe situation," he added.

In Ohio, there are few regulations on shooting ranges. State law gives Ohio Department of Natural Resources' Division of Wildlife authority to set some regulations, but those are limited to nuisance type restrictions such as limits on noise levels, said Jim Lehman, a district manager for the wildlife division.

That means there are no background checks and no detailed questionnaires on a shooter's history on a gun range.

The first concern for range owners is how safely someone can handle firearms, said Jim Fletcher, general manager at Toledo Trap and Skeet. He said staff at his range query a potential user about their experience with guns, and users might be asked to demonstrate the handling of their weapon and its safety features before they're allowed on the range.

"It's a matter of how much do we police it?" Mr. Fletcher said. "We limit the accessibility to our range to those who can demonstrate the ability to handle firearms safely."

Even if they asked questions about someone's background or mental stability that day, range staff would have to rely on the applicant's truthfulness, he noted.

Certainly it wouldn't be easy for staff to foresee such a suicidal plan, according to Dr. Douglas Jacobs, an associate clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School known for his expertise on detecting suicidal signs.

Of the 30,000 estimated suicides each year in the U.S., about 1,500 are committed inside the confines of a hospital where staff are trained to watch for such behavior, he said.

"If [suicidal persons] can do it in a hospital, they can do it on a firing range," Dr. Jacobs said. Firing range staff are "not clinicians and they're not expected to be."

Still, this doesn't make it any easier for folks like Theresa Cleland. She had heard of such suicides at other ranges around the country, and, in fact, a Cleland's customer tried to kill himself several years ago.

But putting in more rules and regulations, she said, would not stop deaths like that of Borruso, who was facing the revocation of his pharmacist's license because of last year's conviction, and last week had attended a court hearing on his pending divorce.

"Believe me, I've shed tears," she said. But "I can't punish the world for what one person did."

Lucas County Sheriff's Detective Cathy Stooksbury, who handled the suicide case, noted that the man who tried to kill himself at Cleland's several years ago, ultimately did so through another means.

"If someone really wants to do this," she said, "they're going to." ..more.. by ROBIN ERB, BLADE STAFF WRITER

VA- Preliminary ID given for man found in home!

Posted in Related Deaths

1-1-2004 Virginia:

Preliminary ID given for man found in home! A man (Dwain O. Sharpe, 37, sex offender) who police believe fatally shot himself after critically wounding his girlfriend inside her Chesterfield County home on Tuesday was a felon.

Although police are awaiting positive identification from the state medical examiner, investigators believe it was Sharpe who was found dead Tuesday afternoon in a home he shared with 41-year-old Kathy Green.

Police believe Sharpe shot Green in the head, then fatally shot himself, after apparently believing Green had died. But Green was able to get up at some point and walk outside the front door of her house in the 6400 block of Gatesgreen Drive. ..more.. MARK BOWES, TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

SC- Children's throats slashed in S.C. fire..

Posted in Related Deaths

8-10-2004 South Carolina:

ROCK HILL - Three children who were found dead in a Monday housefire were murdered, authorities announced today.

The three children, tentatively identified as Jairo, Denise and Denia Meza all died from having their throats slashed, York County authorities said.

Two adults also found dead at the scene died of smoke inhalation and burns, according to York County Coroner Doug McKown.

The father, Jose Denis Meza, 39, was positively identified from fingerprints. The mother has been tentatively identified as Marbely Zeldon Meza, 30.

Authorities said they believe either the mother or the father killed the three children.

The body of the adult female, believed to be the mother, had knife wounds that could have incapacitated her, officials said.

Meza was charged July 16 with fondling his eldest daughter and had been ordered to move out of the home. He was scheduled to appear in court Monday on the sexual molestation charges. ..more.. by Dan Huntley

NV- Man kills girlfriend, then jumps off dam

Posted in Related Deaths

9-29-2004 Nevada:

Woman's body found in Las Vegas hotel

A Laconia man who killed his girlfriend in a Las Vegas Strip hotel before taking his own life had been arrested by the local police twice in the past five years for failing to register as a sex offender.

Lawrence Joyce, 34, of 361 Court St. in Laconia, jumped to his death from the Hoover Dam early Tuesday after calling 911 and telling dispatchers he had killed Rebecca Roux, 27, of Sanford, Maine. The police found Roux's body in a room at the Treasure Island hotel-casino. The victim was beaten to death, according to the Clark County Coroner's Office.

A short time later, the Hoover Dam police noticed a man sitting outside his car atop the dam wall, said Colleen Dwyer, spokeswoman for the Bureau of Reclamation, which oversees the dam 30 miles east of Las Vegas. Joyce tried to get the police to shoot him, and he was shot with a Taser before he eventually jumped 700 feet to his death, Metro Police Capt. Tom Lozich said.

'Bankers Hill Rapist' Found Dead In Jail Cell

11-23-2004 Arizona:

TUCSON, Ariz. -- A serial rapist convicted of the sexual assaults of four San Diego women committed suicide in an Arizona jail cell.

James Allen Selby, 38, who was dubbed the "Bankers Hill Rapist" by San Diego police three years ago, killed himself Monday.

Selby was found hanging from the window of his jail cell just a few hours before he was scheduled to be sentenced to life in prison in Tucson for raping five women and a teenage girl there in 2001 and 2002. He used a bedsheet to hang himself.

Selby had been connected by a national DNA databank to the rapes and assaults of 14 girls and women in San Diego; Tucson; Colorado Springs, Colo.; Sparks, Nev.; and Norman, Okla. comma between September 1999 and May 2002.

San Diego prosecutors were planning to extradite him after the Arizona sentencing to face charges that he raped four women between July and September of 2001 in Bankers Hill, North Park and Park West.

Selby was accused of entering his San Diego victims' apartments through windows, covering their faces with a towel and assaulting them, according to court records.

Four days after the last San Diego attack, Selby attacked his first victim in Tucson.

Authorities believe Selby was a drifter who came to San Diego in 2001. At the time of his death, he was serving a sentence of 20 years to life for a Colorado rape conviction and faced multiple life sentences in Tucson.

A convicted serial rapist who faced a life sentenced, was found hanged in his jail cell hours before his scheduled court appearance. ..more.. by 10News.com

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Does a rapist deserve a military burial?
1-25-2008 California:

Honoring a convicted sex predator who killed himself behind bars sends a chilling message to victims.

Consider this, if you can bear to. Jenny Bush, a young Arizona woman just graduated from college, walks into her home at the end of a workday and encounters an armed serial rapist, James Allen Selby. Selby, who had entered through a first-floor window, uses duct tape to gag and bind her, and then rapes her at knifepoint before fleeing.

After freeing herself, Bush has the courage to report the crime to police -- and the conviction to pursue legal justice. Following a nationwide manhunt, Selby is apprehended and accused of attacking Bush (who, with three other victims, took the stand at his trial) and at least 10 others, including a 9-year-old girl. In October 2004, Selby is convicted on 27 counts, including armed robbery, rape, kidnapping and attempted murder (for slitting the throat of one of his victims). But hours before facing sentencing, he hangs himself in a Tucson jail.

For Selby's victims and their families, it may have been tempting to believe a certain accountability remained operative: His suicide put a fine point on how little he had left to live for in the wake of his conviction. But his death also granted this serial rapist a moral reprieve that the civilian legal system couldn't. Selby was a Persian Gulf War veteran and so, in accordance with Pentagon policy, was buried with full military honors at Ft. Sill National Cemetery in Oklahoma.

The military policy of allowing honors burials for veterans convicted of rape sends a chilling message to victims: Even the most heinous sexual violence does not trump prior military service. It is a position that is as ethically indefensible as it is inconsistent. In 1997, after Army veteran Timothy McVeigh was sentenced to death for his role in the Oklahoma City bombings, Congress barred veterans convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death or life in prison from being buried with full military honors. Veterans convicted of rape or any other violent crime, however, encounter no such restrictions.

"By honoring those that do not deserve it, we dishonor those who do," Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.) said during 1997 hearings on the policy. McVeigh, he said, "was worthy of honor at one time, but he is no longer worthy of honor." Surely the same can be said of Selby.

Jenny Bush's father, Steve Bush, thinks so. Along with several victims' rights organizations, including my own, he has been lobbying to prevent those convicted of the most serious sex crimes from receiving military honors at burial. Rep. John Shadegg (R-Ariz.), who represents Jenny Bush's district, will introduce "Jenny's Law" in the coming weeks, and Democrat Barbara Boxer of California plans to introduce a companion bill in the Senate.

To be clear, changing the military burials policy would be a largely symbolic act. The Department of Justice conservatively estimates that fewer than 40% of all rapes are reported to authorities, demonstrating how infrequently sexual predators are held accountable. The military in particular has a long history of downplaying or decriminalizing the violence against women committed by men in its ranks. A 2003 Veterans Administration report on military sexual trauma estimated that 60% of women in the Reserves and National Guard experienced rape, sexual assault or sexual harassment while on active duty. Defense Department figures show that there were nearly 3,000 accusations of sexual assault in the military in 2006, up 24% from 2005.

The Miles Foundation, a public policy institute specializing in interpersonal violence associated with the armed forces, estimates that only 2% to 3% of offenders receive disciplinary action as serious as court-martial. More commonly, punishment is of the administrative variety, such as extra duty or a letter of reprimand.

It is tempting, and far too easy, to maintain that the military exists in a realm separate from the civilian world. We tell ourselves that the moral ambiguities demonstrated by soldiers who have gone to battle on our behalf cannot be understood by, or be subject to the laws that govern, the rest of us. But the policies our military establishes to respond to violence against women are not merely abstractions. They are expressions of the military's values, and our own.

In the wake of mass violation of women and girls during the conflicts in Kosovo and Rwanda, rape and sexual violence were for the first time codified as distinct crimes under international law. How telling then, and how troubling, that our country's policy on military burials is at odds with international standards the United States worked to establish.

Opinion: Anne K. Ream is founder of The Voices and Faces Project, an advocacy organization that seeks to engage survivors of sexual violence in political and civic life.

Coach in sex case apparent suicide

Rick Lopez found hanged in jail cell
12-27-2004 Colorado

A girls basketball coach awaiting trial on charges he had sex with three of his underage players apparently hanged himself Sunday in his jail cell.

Rick Lopez, 37, was the former coach of the Colorado Hoopsters and was in the Douglas County Detention Facility when a sheriff's deputy found him hanged in his cell, said Lt. Tim Moore, spokesman for the Douglas County Sheriff's Department.

Lopez was being held on $500,000 bail and faced 55 felony sex-assault charges and four misdemeanor charges for allegedly having sex with three players who were minors.

Lopez left a note, but Moore declined to discuss the contents of the note or what Lopez used to hang himself until investigations confirm it was a suicide.

"It's fairly unlikely that (it was anything but a suicide) due to the circumstances," Moore said. "But with a death in custody, we always investigate."

Lopez had a preliminary hearing this month in which a judge found there was enough evidence to hold him for trial.

Lopez had threatened suicide in tapes investigators made in July of phone calls between him and one of the players he allegedly assaulted. He also apologized to the girl on the tape about the alleged incidents.

Despite those threats, he was not on suicide watch.

"There was no indication that he was suicidal," Moore said. "The tape ... was made long before he was taken into custody."

Lopez was found at 12:22 p.m. as deputies made checks after lunch. He did not share the cell with another inmate; inmates can spend time either in common areas or in their cells during the day.

Moore said Lopez had been a model inmate and never fought with other prisoners.

The Douglas County Sheriff's Office, the county coroner and an 18th Judicial District Critical Incident Team composed of police from around the district will investigate the death.

Parents of two alleged victims declined to comment. The Denver Post does not name the alleged victims of sexual assaults without their permission.

"This is a sad day for all of those individuals, and my heart goes out to the victims, their families and all of the young ladies that were impacted by this," said Pat Miller, a parent who plays a management role on the Hoopsters and had a hand in Lopez's departure from the team. "It will take some time to bring closure. It's just a sad day that it came to this."

Chris Denker, head women's basketball coach at Colorado State, where several former Hoopsters have played, called the apparent suicide Lopez's final crime and said it robs ex-Hoopsters players and victims of a proper chance to heal through the legal process.

"The whole thing about Rick going back to Day One is that he was selfish. He showed his true colors by ending it like this, rather than showing any true remorse about the kids," Denker said. "You could talk about this being cowardly. You could talk about standing up and facing the facts. He showed no remorse.

"The players wanted a chance to put some finality to the situation through whatever the proper process is. Now, they're not going to have that opportunity."

Suzie Fisher, the mother of a former player who was not assaulted, said it didn't surprise her that Lopez appeared to have killed himself - she said he had threatened suicide to her. She also called it a selfish act.

"It was always about Rick," said the Littleton resident. "He didn't care about the girls. The ultimate act of selfishness is suicide."

She said the apparent suicide saves the girls from having to relive the experiences in court, but it also sends the wrong message.

"It's so sad for them," she added. "What a message to send that if you tell on the abuser, he will kill himself."

Shelly Steig, a former Hoopsters parent who complained that Lopez was verbally abusive in a Denver Post story that first reported the sexual allegations against him, said she was "very, very sad."

But, she added, "This story had to be told. It's a shame he hadn't been exposed before. Maybe if he had been exposed before, his life could have been saved and the girls that he hurt could have been protected."

"It's a sad ending to a sad story that's been going on a long time. That's about all I can say," said Eaglecrest girls basketball coach Sherryl Klosterman.

Added Kim LaLonde, who coaches the Boulder Rockies, another area girls club, "I'm relieved that the abuse is over."

Denker said he will "reach out" to Vanessa Espinoza, a former Hoopster on his team, and talk with her about Sunday's developments. Espinoza declined to comment.

"The kids I have or had (who played for Lopez) didn't have a good opinion of him. They thought they knew things that were happening (with the coach and other girls)," Denker said.

Lopez was accused of having sexual relationships with at least three of his former players, beginning when they were 13 and 14 years old. Douglas County sheriff's investigators said Lopez most often had sex with the girls at their parents' homes and sometimes on road trips.

"We really felt strongly about the strength of our case," said Moore. "We were looking forward to presenting that case in a public forum. However, we won't be able to do that now."

The Post story detailed accounts of four other women who played for Lopez. Three accused him of making sexual contact with them - one was of legal age at the time - and a fourth said she witnessed Lopez making inappropriate contact with another girl. The statute of limitations on those cases had expired by the time of publication.

After the story ran in October 2003, Lopez continued to coach the Hoopsters. He remained with them until July, when he abruptly left the team in the middle of a tournament in Oregon.

Police arrested him July 30 in Syracuse, N.Y., after he tried to contact one of three girls who pressed charges against him.

On the prosecution's tape, which was played during his preliminary hearing, Lopez said, "I know I'm a bad person. But I'm not evil."

The woman he was speaking with said, "You used me, manipulated, controlled me. If you really cared about me, you would have waited until I was older."

Staff writer Arthur Kane can be reached at 303-820-1626 or akane@denverpost.com. Staff writer Adam Thompson can be reached at 303-820-5447 or athompson@denverpost.com. Staff writer Bill Briggs can be reached at 303-820-1720 or bbriggs@denverpost.com. ..more.. by Arthur Kane, Adam Thompson and Bill Briggs, Denver Post Staff Writers

Remains may be those of child rape suspect

1-26-2004 Oregon:
Police have found the skeletal remains of a man they believe might have been a suspect in a child rape case last summer.

A Pacific police detective and another person walking along the Union Pacific railroad tracks between County Line Road East and Third Avenue Southeast came upon the remains midday Saturday.

Police later confirmed that they believe the remains are those of Ward Ohl, 55, of Pacific, who walked away from the family home on June 25. ..mpre.. by SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER STAFF AND NEWS SERVICES

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Remains identified as man accused of child rape
2-6-2004 Oregon:
PACIFIC, King County — Weathered remains found in Pacific last month have been identified as those of a truck driver who vanished after being accused of molesting a child.

The cause of death of Ward Ohl, 55, remained undetermined, according to a report Wednesday from the King County Medical Examiner's Office.

Ohl's bones were found Jan. 24 along the Union Pacific tracks in Pacific. He vanished from his home in Pacific on June 25 after relatives accused him of child molestation, and the next month he was charged in King County Superior Court with first-degree child rape. Law-enforcement investigators have said they suspect Ohl committed suicide. ..more.. by The Seattle Times Company