0 Comments added to this post
BY DAVID OVALLE
dovalle@MiamiHerald.com
The mystery of Trinity Robinson's 1993 disappearance stretches decades and miles, from Homestead amid the devastation of Hurricane Andrew, through the rumor mill of small-town North Carolina, and back this week to a Miami-Dade courtroom.
Responsible for her demise, prosecutors say: Christopher Phillips, a manipulative ex-boyfriend who spun various versions of how she vanished -- then confessed to townsfolk over the years that he had killed her, a prosecutor told jurors Monday.
Read more: Miami Herald
Posted by Thomas A. (Tad) DiBiase, No Body Guy
0 Comments added to this post
National by Bethany Burks
Baby Sitter Arrested after 11 Year Cold Case
August 29th, 2010
A babysitter has been arrested in connection with an 11 year old cold case. Melissa Harding-Jones has been arrested and charged with the murder of 3 year old Pilar Rodriguez. Rodriguez went missing in 1999 after her parents allowed her to go on vacation with Harding-Jones.
For more, click here: CNMNewsNetwork.com
Posted by Thomas A. (Tad) DiBiase, No Body Guy
0 Comments added to this post
Convicted killer loses appeal
Court rules disputed evidence was admissible because it revealed motive in death of 84-year-old grandmother
By Nick Wilson | nwilson@thetribunenews.com
The Cayucos man convicted of killing his 84-year-old grandmother in 2008 has lost an appeal in his criminal case.
Matthew James Levine appealed on the grounds that San Luis Obispo Superior Court Judge Michael Duffy erred by admitting evidence of Levine’s possession of firearms as well as tape-recorded statements in County Jail.
Levine’s lawyer argued that the evidence allowed into the trial prejudiced his case.
Read more: SanLuisObispo.com
Posted by Thomas A. (Tad) DiBiase, No Body Guy
0 Comments added to this post
Disappearance leads to murder charge
By Dennis Webb
Friday, August 20, 2010
Despite the lack of a body — thought to have been dumped in the Colorado River — a judge on Friday bound over a Denver man to district court for trial in the suspected murder of a business partner.
Denver County Judge Andrew Armatas ruled after a preliminary hearing that there is probable cause to believe Joong Rhee is guilty, said Lynn Kimbrough, spokeswoman for the Denver District Attorney’s Office.
For more, click here: GJSentinel.com
Posted by Thomas A. (Tad) DiBiase, No Body Guy
0 Comments added to this post
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- The capital murder trial for a Washington County woman accused beating and killing her mother was set to start Monday, but the defendant, Delores Eggert, pleaded guilty early Monday morning to first-degree murder in her mother's death.
"She admitted to the fact that she shot her mother multiple times causing her death," said Washington County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Matt Durrett.
Eggert changed her plea from not guilty to guilty. Eggert was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
Click here for more: 4020tv.COM
Posted by Thomas A. (Tad) DiBiase, No Body Guy
0 Comments added to this post
Trudie Hall has been missing for a month and police on Cape Cod believe she was murdered. Click here for my take on it:
Cape Cod Times
Posted by Thomas A. (Tad) DiBiase, No Body Guy
0 Comments added to this post
Lake Wales News
Posted by Thomas A.(Tad) DiBiase, No Body Guy
0 Comments added to this post
It is extremely rare for murder convictions to be thrown out but it happened in Florida in the no body murder case of Naraine "Cyril" Ramsammy:
Sun-Sentinel
Posted by Thomas A. (Tad) DiBiase, No Body Guy
0 Comments added to this post
I hope you'll check out the blog Time's Up dedicated to victims of crime at http://timesupblog.blogspot.com/
Here are two of my recent posts.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
There's a Law Against That!
By Tad DiBiase
Recently, while on vacation, I picked up a copy of the USA Today. There was a fascinating article inside that made me say, as I often do, "Now why didn't I think of that?" The article, found here, http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-06-24-choking_N.htm, discusses a trend at the state level to increase penalties against defendants who choke their victims. Studies showed that choking is often used by domestic abusers and can be a prelude to murder.
Indeed, a 2008 study in the Journal of Emergency Medicine notes that 43% of women who were murdered in domestic assaults and 45% of women who were victims of attempted murder had been choked in the past year by their male partners.
In most states, choking would in all likelihood be prosecuted as a misdemeanor with the penalties being, at most, less than one year in jail. As noted in the article, in Delaware more than half of all choking cases in one county were prosecuted as misdemeanors over a four month period. Thus, a proverbial slap on the wrist for most domestic abusers.
Thanks to the study in Delaware done by two state troopers, however, Delaware passed a new law increasing the penalty to five years for choking. (Getting judges to give out these sentences is a whole other story.) In my own experience as a domestic violence homicide prosecutor I often saw not only domestic abuse as a prelude to murder but specifically choking as well.
As with many domestic murders, it's more about power and control than a murderous instinct. Choking is deeply personal since it requires the victim and the abuser to be so close together and typically a man can overpower his female partner. Moreover, choking does not usually lead to death making it the perfect tool to control the victim yet let her live another day.
Often the only way to break the cycle of violence by abusers is if they get enough of a wakeup call before they kill that lets them know domestic abuse won't be tolerated. Having a state law that makes choking a felony is a good first step.
Tad DiBiase
Thursday, January 7, 2010 Investigation 101: Tips For Law Enforcement and Family Members
By Tad DiBiase
I’m often asked by both the families of missing persons and law enforcement what the police and family should be doing once a person is missing but presumed dead. Here are five things the police should focus on early in an investigation and one thing the family can do. In any murder investigation, time is of the essence and the faster the police can gather clues, the greater their chance of finding the victim’s body and making an arrest. Note that all of these techniques are useful even if the victim is merely missing and not actually dead. Moreover, although this are things done by the police, the victim's family can assist the police with these techniques by giving the police the ideas and the information that enables the police to investigate the matter.
1. Cell phones
Cell phones have a wealth of information and their widespread use in today’s society make them a valuable source of information. The police, often with the help of a subpoena issued by the prosecutor’s office, can get the records from the victim’s phone and see who the victim was calling, when the calls stopped and who called after the outgoing calls stopped. Checking the frequency of calls also help police determine who was close to the victim. Cell phones utilize cell towers to make calls and obtaining cell tower records tell police where a call was coming from. Indeed, the cell towers to which a phone sends a signal can change during the duration of a call, so police can track the path of the victim. However, phone companies keep cell tower records for very limited periods, often as few as 20 to 30 days so police must move quickly to get these records. Of course, all of these techniques apply to potential suspects as well.
2. Interviews
Police should immediately interview as many who know the victim as possible. Close family members and friends must be interviewed in detail to gather information. Videotaping these interviews is best because if the story changes down the road, the police have an accurate record of what was said initially. Any suspects should also be interviewed and their story thoroughly checked out.
3. Search warrants
I have seen over the years the difficulties police have in getting search warrants for suspect’s houses or other possible scenes in missing person’s cases. First, police should aggressively pursue consent searches if possible. If that fails, they must at least try to get a search warrant. There’s nothing wrong with putting in a search warrant that the police suspect foul play and that the victim’s characteristics are inconsistent with having simply left town, e.g., left behind children, is a child, have not accessed bank accounts, failed to show up to work, etc. Citing other cases of missing persons who were later found dead or were never found, increase the chances a judge will agree the victim may be dead. Getting inside a suspect’s house often leads to very valuable scientific evidence. Any search should include a cadaver dog. You’d be amazed at how often suspects bury a body nearby, sometimes temporarily until they can move it to another, safer location.
4. Pressure suspect
If there is an obvious suspect, pressure must be applied. Through effective interrogation techniques, a suspect will often confess early on since the guilt is fresh and the suspect’s story not quite thought out yet. A suspect should be placed under surveillance to see if he or she returns to the crime scene or where the body was disposed of. Advances in GPS technology have led police to placing GPS tracking devices on a suspect’s car and using the information to see where the suspect goes. For an interesting recent article from the Washington Post about this see, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/12/AR2008081203275.html
5. Think creatively
Don’t treat the case like a missing person case, treat it like a homicide where the best evidence of the crime is missing: the body. Police must think outside the box. In one case, the family had not heard from the victim for sometime but was receiving letters allegedly written by the victim. The family, suspicious that the victim was actually dead, wrote back and reminded the victim to send the money he owed to another family member and to not forget that same family member’s birthday. A few days letter a birthday card arrived along with a check for $25. Of course, the victim did not owe that family member any money and it was not his birthday so the family knew that it was not the victim writing the letters. This is just one example of police and a family thinking creatively to ensnare a killer. Someone with the ability to conceal a body is not a criminal who is likely to make stupid mistakes like the bank robber who writes a stickup note on his own deposit slip. These cases are huge law enforcement challenges and require creative solutions and investigative techniques.
What can the family do?
First, never, ever give up. No body cases are often solved many years after the fact. Although forensic advances making solving these cases easier, many cold cases still exist and a family can never lose hope.
Second, keep the pressure on the police and the DA. don't be shy about calling to see what the status of the investigation is. You're not being a pest, you're being a squeaky wheel that needs oil!
Third, try to keep the case in the media if possible. Anniversaries of disappearances and landmarks for family members (victim's children's graduations, birthdays, etc.) are good hooks to get the media involved and interested. Media coverage keeps pressure on the cops, suspects and witnesses alike, always a good thing.
Fourth, consider, if you can afford it, hiring an investigator or attorney to conduct your own investigation. Often third parties can get more information from police and prosecutors and look dispassionately at the case in a way you can't.
Thomas A. (Tad) DiBiase, No Body Guy
0 Comments added to this post
Venus search yields no body
Into the thicket - Law enforcement officers looking for Venus Stewart yesterday formed a search line and swept through swamplands north of Leonidas. The eight-hour effort did not result in finding any evidence of Venus.
Effort will continue
By Rick Cordes
Staff Writer
Published:
Friday, August 6, 2010 2:11 PM EDT
LEONIDAS TOWNSHIP — Another massive search in northeastern St Joseph and southeastern Kalamazoo counties was conducted yesterday but no trace of Venus Stewart was found.
Venus, the 32-year-old mother of two young daughters, disappeared on April 26 from in front of her parents’ rural Colon home and her estranged husband Douglas Harrie Stewart, 29, is lodged in St. Joseph County jail awaiting an Oct. 29 trial on charges of murder and conspiracy to murder in Venus’ disappearance.
More than 50 law enforcement officers, nine search dogs, plus St. Joseph County Posse volunteers, participated in the hunt in Black Snake Swamp in a remote area east of a corn field between Fulton and Rosenbaugh roads.
“Nothing was found but we do have some spots that will be re-checked with a dog,” said Lt. Mike Risko, commander of the White Pigeon Michigan State Police Post.
“It was pretty tough going in the swamp water,” Risko said, noting that it was eight inches deep in spots.
Another large search will be conducted, Risko said. “We’ve searched the east side and the west side (of the area near Douglas Stewart’s parents’ home). We’ll keep trying. We’re not done yet.”
Yesterday’s search began with Michigan State Police (MSP) dogs scanning the area at 7:30 a.m., followed by the large search team entering the swamp at 9:30 a.m. The effort was concluded at 3:30 p.m.
Helping on the ground were members of several MSP special units, including the Homeland Security Team, the Fugitive Team, SWET West, MSP detectives from Paw Paw and Coldwater, as well as MSP troopers from the White Pigeon Post, FBI officers, police officers from Three Rivers and Sturgis, a St. Joseph County (SJC) Sheriff’s Department deputy, members of the SJC Marine Patrol, SJC Posse mounted and motorized unit volunteers, and SJC Dive Rescue dog Buzz and his handler Sue Stejskal.
Posted by Thomas A. (Tad) DiBiase, No Body Guy
0 Comments added to this post
Two articles on this case: first one has my commnetary and second one telling of the verdict in the Sandoval murder case, a no body case with no forensics, no confession to police, informers or friends. Tough case indeed.
Sandoval Jury to Deliberate Today
Posted on 05 August 2010
LAW WEEK COLORADO
DENVER – A Greeley jury will go into deliberations, solving the 15-year disappearance of Kristina Tournai-Sandoval with only circumstantial evidence – no DNA, no fingerprints, no weapon and no body.
John Sandoval, Tournai-Sandoval’s estranged husband and alleged murderer, has been on trial for about a month. The day Tournai-Sandoval was reported missing, he was found in the early morning hours with a wet shovel and scratches on his neck.
Prosecutors pointed out to jurors that the case’s circumstantial evidence – Sandoval’s reluctance to talk to police, conflicting statements concerning the whereabouts of the victim and his history of stalking and harassing women – all pointed to one inevitable conclusion The Greeley Tribune reports. Judge Gilbert Gutierrez instructed the jury that circumstantial evidence has as much weight as physical evidence in the eyes of the law.
A former federal prosecutor’s analysis of hundreds of “no-body” murder trials found that many trials like Sandoval’s will result in a murder conviction because the killer usually has a close relation with the victim.
“The vast majority of [no-body murder cases] are between two people who know one another,” said Tad DiBiase, a former U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C. and a self-proclaimed “no-body guy.” “‘Stranger’ no-body cases are very rare. Most involve husbands killing wives, boyfriends killing girlfriends and parents killing biological or step children. For those reasons, they end up having a high conviction rate. I think over the last 10 to 15 years, with advances in forensics particularly in DNA, it’s not as hard to win a conviction in those cases.”
Sandoval’s public defenders criticized law enforcement efforts in Tournai-Sandoval’s disappearance, calling it a “tunnel-vision” investigation.
““Physical evidence doesn’t lie, it does not change stories, it does not forget, and it does not exaggerate, and it does not lose its memory,” Public Defender Ken Barker told the jury.
Read the rest of the coverage in the Sandoval murder trial in the Greeley Tribune.
Jury needs just 7 hours to convict Sandoval
Sharon Dunn
John Sandoval shakes hands with public defender Ken Barker as he is placed in handcuffs after being found guilty of first-degree murder Thursday . He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
ERIC BELLAMY/ebellamy@greeleytribune.com
After four weeks of testimony, a Weld District Court jury took seven hours to convict John Sandoval of a 15-year-old murder in which no body was found and no murder weapon tied him to the crime.
Jurors faced him every day as they listened to witnesses describe how he stalked women and how he likely killed his wife and disposed of her body, while the defense worked to cast doubt on witness motives and memories.
In the end, the group of seven women and five men had no doubt. They knew Sandoval was guilty of killing his estranged wife, Kristina Tournai-Sandoval, on Oct. 19, 1995. The group capped off Weld County's longest criminal trial in history Thursday with a guilty verdict of first-degree murder.
“We were always unanimous that he committed murder,” said juror Russell Stark, 33, of Greeley. “It wasn't just one piece of evidence. Like the DA (suggested), we stepped back and looked at all of the evidence. ... Even if there was a body, you'd still have to look at all of the circumstances.”
The only hang-up, Stark said, was whether Sandoval was guilty of first-degree or second-degree murder, a difference only in the suspect's mental state.
A packed courtroom heard the verdict with little verbal reaction. The Tournai family of seven daughters, their spouses and parents, Mike and Mary Ellen Tournai, sat quietly with purple ribbons attached to their shirts. Tournai-Sandoval's two brothers could not attend.
Sandoval's mother, Mary Lou Sandoval, was absent, and only a couple of people close to him were in the gallery. None wished to speak on his behalf when Weld District Court Judge Gilbert Gutierrez sentenced him to life in prison without parole.
Brad Goldschmidt, who in 1995 headed up the investigation into the 23-year-old's disappearance, pumped his fists when the verdict was read. Other police officers congratulated current lead detective Mike Prill, who spent the last 15 months engrossed in the case.
“At every turn, he seemed to get so frickin' lucky with what happened in those two days,” Prill said of the lack of physical evidence tying Sandoval to the murder. “It's a weird mix of emotions. You think you're supposed to be excited, but it's about Tina in the end.”
He echoed those words to Mike and Mary Ellen Tournai as he hugged them after the verdict.
The Tournais never wavered in their effort to convict Sandoval, never giving up hope even after former Weld District Attorney Al Dominguez opted not to file a case against Sandoval in 1995, fearing there wasn't enough evidence to convict him.
“I could understand it at the beginning because it would have been a stronger case if we had a body,” Mike Tournai said of that decision so long ago. “And we went along with his plan. He didn't feel comfortable filing a case.”
Mary Ellen Tournai said a conviction wouldn't have been as likely 15 years ago, when little time had passed to prove her daughter was dead. In 2001, a Weld District Court judge issued a death certificate for insurance purposes, and the passage of time with no paper trail — from the use of her Social Security number to a passport, helped seal the deal.
Juror Stark said that passage of time, given Tournai-Sandoval's habits, helped convince the jury she was no longer alive.
“She was a well-grounded girl,” Stark said. “She did not have the pattern of someone who up and disappears.”
Mary Ellen Tournai said at no time in the last month did she fear a loss at trial.
“I knew it was going well from Day 1,” she said of the trial, which she attended every day. “There were no points in the trial where I thought” it wasn't going in the right direction.
And though proceeding with the case without a body was risky, Assistant District Attorney Michael Rourke said he always had confidence in the evidence.
“We knew it would be difficult because Tina's body was not found, and there was none of the traditional scientific evidence we'd normally have,” Rourke said. “But we felt like the Greeley Police Department from 1995 to present day put together a solid investigation. Too big of a risk? No. It was a risk we were willing to take on behalf of the Tournais.”
Some new additions to the evidence came in the past 15 months, with police rounding up Sandoval's high school girlfriend, who recounted a tale of violence that happened a full year after they had separated. In re-interviewing many witnesses, they began seeing a pattern in which they felt Tournai-Sandoval was a victim of domestic violence. A former professor added to that theory, delivering some comments her student had confided in her.
Even past victims of Sandoval's stalking habit testified, helping prosecutors draw a picture of the terror Sandoval had consistently brought to women. It was a pattern Prill said he continued in Las Vegas, filming hundreds of women on the Las Vegas Strip.
Lori Bucklen, one of the women Sandoval stalked from 1992-95, stood in line after the verdict to shake Stark's hand. He gave her a hug instead.
“I just wish he would have been man enough to tell the family where she was,” Bucklen said. “As a mom, I guess I'm sad about that.”
The Tournais said now that justice has finally been delivered, they will go on with their lives, with grandchildren, and soon to be grandchildren. The parents still talk to Tina every day, though.
As for Sandoval, they can only say good riddance.
“He's put us through hell for 14 1/2 years,” Mike Tournai said. “We'll pass that pain over to him so now he can suffer. ... It's not a total relief. We still have to find her, and we'll keep looking.”
Posted by Thomas A. (Tad) DiBiase, No Body Guy
0 Comments added to this post
Police rebuff expert in search for John Spira
Man offers his expertise to help in disappearance that contrasts sharply with Stacy Peterson case
June 29, 2010
By JOE HOSEY jhosey@stmedianetwork.com
JOLIET -- Former federal prosecutor Tad DiBiase has lent his expertise to nearly a dozen police departments across the country when they were struggling with homicide cases. DuPage County is not one of them.
"I'm not just frustrated -- I'm furious with it," Stephanie McNeil, the sister of missing St. Charles man John Spira, said of the sheriff's department's failure to respond to inquiries from DiBiase, a Washington, D.C.-based attorney who has developed a specialty in reviewing homicide cases involving missing victims.
John Spira disappeared in 2007. His family wants DuPage County authorities to accept outside help in the investigation.
McNeil said she reached out to DiBiase and brokered a meeting between him and the DuPage County cops in February.
"He's the country's leading expert on no-body murder cases," McNeil said of DiBiase, noting that DuPage detectives initially seemed receptive to the idea of working with the famed homicide consultant.
"DuPage said, 'No problem. We just have to check his references,'" McNeil recalled.
DiBiase said he provided references but after nearly four months of trading e-mail and calls, the DuPage County police told him he could not have access to Spira's case file.
Instead of opening the file for him, DiBiase said, a DuPage County sergeant informed him he could submit a list of questions for investigators to review. That was when DiBiase had enough.
"That same day I told them that was impossible without knowing what was done, that was not the way I ordinarily worked and that my only question would be, 'Tell me everything you've done to investigate this case,'" DiBiase recalled.
Spira was 45 when he vanished in February 2007. He was last seen at his St. Charles cable construction company, where he left his parked car.
At the time of his disappearance, Spira was in the midst of a tumultuous divorce, McNeil said. He and his wife, Suzanne Spira, were living in the same home throughout their divorce proceedings and the domestic arrangement was hellish, she said.
Suzanne Spira, who has since moved to Orchard Park, N.Y., denied that her relationship with Spira was acrimonious but did concede that in any divorce, "there's going to be some hot moments."
'Call it a homicide'
The DuPage County police have classified the Spira investigation a missing persons case and have not identified any suspects, which McNeil finds infuriating.
"They know it's a homicide. Just call it a homicide. Just call it foul play," she said. "Why can they do it in Stacy Peterson's case? They don't have any more evidence in the Stacy Peterson case."
The state police announced that Bolingbrook mother Stacy Peterson was the victim of a "potential homicide" within two weeks of her October 2007 disappearance. They also identified her husband, former Bolingbrook cop Drew Peterson, as the sole suspect in their investigation.
Beyond both disappearing in 2007, Spira and Stacy Peterson share another distinction, as the state police at different points thought bones found on the banks of the Des Plaines River in May 2009 might be their remains.
The bones were quickly determined to be those of a man, eliminating Stacy. State police Capt. Carl Dobrich said DNA testing eventually ruled out Spira as well and that investigators are now focusing on another man missing from the Chicago suburbs as a potential match.
'No-body' cases
About nine months after the bones were found, and another clue as to what befell her brother apparently led to a dead end, McNeil said she learned of DiBiase and his accomplishments through Internet research.
"I was searching cases that had been prosecuted without a body," she said, remembering how she then requested his assistance.
"He said, 'Yeah sure, I'll help you out.'"
McNeil made a $500 contribution to DiBiase from the John Spira Search Fund after he agreed to take the case.
"All that money has probably been spent by Tad going back and forth (with the police) on 'Why haven't you sent me the documents?'" McNeil said, describing her feeling of betrayal.
"They've essentially misled us, in (claiming) that they want fresh eyes on this case," she said. "They don't want any eyes on this case, I think, because they're embarrassed."
McNeil said she asked DuPage County Sheriff's Cmdr. Mark Edwalds point blank why his department would not work with DiBiase on his terms.
"His response was, 'We can't discuss it with you.'"
Edwalds failed to respond to repeated calls inquiring into the situation with DiBiase and Spira.
DiBiase said he has worked with law enforcement on about 10 suspected homicide cases involving a missing victim. While he was an assistant U.S. attorney working in Washington, D.C., he specialized in domestic violence and forensic homicide cases. He is now in private practice but lends his services as a consultant.
DiBiase said the situation with DuPage County is the first negative experience he has had with a police department since he started consulting on missing person homicide cases, but that it would not deter him from assisting if they permitted.
"Absolutely," he said, noting he shares McNeil's opinion on what they feel is the misclassification of the Spira case.
"You always treat it like a homicide, because you can't go wrong if you treat it like a homicide and it's a missing person," he said. "But you can go very wrong if you treat it like a missing person and it turns out to be a homicide."
Posted by Thomas A. (Tad) DiBiase, No Body Guy
0 Comments added to this post
Sandoval trial day 7: Prosecutors try to hammer home nail theory with video
Sharon Dunn
About the case
John Sandoval is accused of killing his estranged wife, Kristina Tournai-Sandoval, on Oct. 19, 1995, after a planned meeting with her to discuss IRS debt and their pending divorce. She was never seen again, but personal items of hers were found at his home the day she disappeared, and her car was found four blocks from his home, with her wallet, cell phone and keys in the glove box.
Police also said Sandoval acted oddly after his wife's disappearance, including running from officers after coming home with a shovel and dirty clothes the night she disappeared and feverishly cleaning his fingernails before police could collect evidence. He also had what police characterized as scratch marks on his neck.
Though they extensively investigated the case in 1995, prosecutors then wouldn't touch the case because Tournai-Sandoval's body had not been found. A death certificate was issued for her in 2002 after a Weld District Court judge ruled there was enough evidence to believe she had died. Prosecutors say they have found no new evidence in the case.
Sandoval was arrested at his Las Vegas home last summer.A former Greeley man on trial for the murder of his estranged wife almost 15 years ago sat in a police interview room for almost two hours asking for an attorney before being told he couldn't get one.
Prosecutors on Tuesday showed jurors the two-hour video of John Sandoval recorded when he was in an interview room Oct. 20, 1995. Sandoval is on trial for the murder of his estranged wife, Kristina Tournai-Sandoval, who disappeared after she met him for breakfast on Oct. 19, 1995. The two had planned to meet about the pending divorce and an IRS debt he owed her.
Police arrested him the next morning after he came home — he had been out all night — took a shower, then attempted to flee when they came to the door. Police officially arrested him on a previous trespassing charge, in which he was cited for breaking into a woman's apartment a half block from where his wife's car was found. Prosecutors have said he was the last person to drive her car.
For much of the video, Sandoval, dressed in jeans, a black shirt and socks, sits with his head in his hand leaning on a table. A few minutes in, however, he begins chewing his nails until an officer comes in to sit down and watches him.
Officers testified earlier that they saw him on video doing this and were concerned that he was trying to destroy evidence. Officer Joy Hemby then sat in the room with him and he stopped.
Prosecutors say the video is somewhat of a smoking gun, showing Sandoval's attempts to clean his fingernails before police could collect scrapings from him. Whenever officers weren't in the room, he chewed his nails.
“You got me tied up. Why? I don't know why,” Sandoval demands of the officers, who responded, “You know why.” “Why would I be asking why?” he responds.
When they leave, Sandoval tells Hemby, “They've had me over an hour and I can't call my lawyer.”
Minutes later he states, “Should I address the camera, or can you ask? Tell them hey, get a phone so I can call my lawyer.”
The officer leaves the room 42 minutes into the video, and Sandoval again picks at his nails. Hemby returns, and he again asks for a lawyer. At one point, police tell him he watches too much television.
When officers come in to collect fingernail scrapings, he refuses to cooperate. At one point, he promises the police, “I can do this all day.”
“What are you so worried about my fingernails for?” he asks. Upon his resistance — officers said he clenched his fists — the officers leave and cuff his other hand to the bar against the wall.
He says to the camera, “You guys are silly. Won't you come back and talk to me about what's going on here? ... I can still chew my fingernails. I'd like to know what the (expletive) is up with this trespassing. ... OK. You guys want to be (expletive)."
Sandoval then returns to chewing his nails.
More than an hour into the video, officers return to the room to announce they're taking fingernail scrapings and that they will do it the easy way or the “hard way.”
“Let me call my lawyer,” Sandoval states. “I don't care if you manicure my toes. Why won't you let me call my lawyer?”
Police explain to him that he can't have his lawyer because he isn't officially being questioned, and they are only keeping him to collect evidence they thought would be destroyed if they didn't collect it.
Sandoval eventually becomes cooperative in the video, but only after police had to physically restrain him to take pictures of apparent scratches on his neck, shoulder and chest and torso, as well as his foot and knee.
In court Tuesday, public defender Jayme Muehlenkamp said the arrest was technically based on a trespassing charge that investigator Brad Goldschmidt had researched that day. He determined the crime was actually a felony, as opposed to the ticket Sandoval received, which was a municipal citation.
“Had you not been called in to investigate a missing person, you wouldn't be doing research into Sandoval's trespassing case?” Muehlenkamp asked. Goldschmidt agree that he wouldn't have been.
The rest of the afternoon was spent on colleagues and friends of Tournai-Sandoval who testified about her concern for her husband's voyeurism, her desire for a divorce, and her fear that her husband would kill her before allowing her to see another man or leave him.
Tuesday's witnesses
» Detective Brad Goldschmidt, original investigator with the Greeley Police Department.
» Keith Olson, investigator with the Weld District Attorney's Office and an original investigator with Greeley police.
» James Wilkerson, a forensic pathologist in northern Colorado. Testified that the marks on John Sandoval's neck were consistent with human fingernail scratch marks made within the previous 12 hours.
» David Morgan, Greeley attorney, testified that Sandoval did not help him move on Oct. 19, 1995. Sandoval's neighbor testified that he told her he was helping with the move that day.
» Julianne Fritz, the oncology supervisor at North Colorado Medical Center, who hired Kristina Tournai-Sandoval. She said the young nurse was never late to work, never missed a day and pushed herself professionally.
» Paula McKay, a nurse who went to school with Tournai-Sandoval. She said Tournai-Sandoval confided that her husband threatened to kill her before she was with anyone else or left him.
» Dave Harvey, married to Sandoval's cousin. He said he talked with Tournai-Sandoval about her desire and misgivings on getting a divorce. He also testified that Sandoval called him the night before Tournai-Sandoval disappeared — the first time in a good six months — asking for painkillers for a friend who had been stabbed and couldn't go to the emergency room.
Posted by Thomas A. (Tad) DiBiase
0 Comments added to this post
This is a guilty plea form last year but the robot angle is too cool to pass up:
NASA Robot Solves 19-Year-Old Murder Mystery [Crime]
July 14 2010 by admin in Gawker
Dawn Sanchez was last seen alive when she stepped into Bernado Bass’ car in 1991. Her disappearance and death remained unsolved until recently when—thanks to a little NASA robot—her murderer was sentenced to six years in prison.
Bass was Sanchez’s boyfriend at the time of her disappearance and there were witness reports claiming that he shot the girl “in a vacant lot after the two got into a fight.” The only problem was that no evidence to support this explanation was anywhere to be found. No car. No gun. No body.
This meant that Bass got away with the murder until recently when parts from the suspect’s car were found buried in a large abandoned lot. They most likely would not have been found without the aid of the NASA equipment borrowed for the investigation. Using this equipment, investigators were able to figure out just where they needed to excavate:
The case was dismissed in 1991 due to lack of evidence. The case was recently reopened, when an informant reported that the car may have been disassembled and buried in a large abandoned lot in Alviso. The exact location in the lot was not specified, and the cost to excavate the entire area was too high. Further, the lot contained a substantial amount of buried and surface metallic debris, making a simple survey with metal detectors insufficient.
[T]he mixed team of scientists and engineers from CMIL, NASA Ames and the USGS deployed an instrumented Senseta MAX 5.0A rover hosting the research technologies under development, and mapped the magnetic environment of the survey area. The USGS received the processed data set, and after further post-processing, presented the county DA’s office with their analysis and possible locations for excavation. Based on this data, the county excavated the site and retrieved car parts that matched the suspect’s car.
The suspect, Bass, was apprehended and sentenced to six years of prison for manslaughter. [NASA via Smart Planet via PopSci]
Posted by Thomas A. (Tad) DiBiase, No Body Guy
0 Comments added to this post
June 24, 2010 12:28 PM
Venus Stewart: Husband Charged with Missing Mother's Murder
Posted by Edecio Martinez
ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, Mich. (CBS/WWMT) The case of missing Michigan mother Venus Stewart has turned into a murder investigation.
Venus Stewart has been missing since late April. On Wednesday, prosecutors officially charged her estranged husband, Douglas Stewart, with her murder despite having not found her body.
He was arraigned Wednesday and faces one count of open murder, and one count of conspiracy to commit murder.
Venus Stewart disappeared on April 26 from her parents' home in Colon, Mich., south of Kalamazoo. According to Venus' mother, Therese McComb, her daughter had gone outside early that morning in her slippers and pajamas to mail a letter and never came back.
According to CBS affiliate WWMT, investigators explained that they tracked down a man named Richard Spencer, who has admitted to impersonating Douglas Stewart in Virginia as an alibi for the real Stewart.
Douglas Stewart is accused of driving overnight from Virginia, where he lives, to Michigan, luring Venus outside, abducting her, killing her, and then disposing of her body.
Afterwards, he "traveled back to Newport News, where he met with Mr. Spencer," St. Joseph County prosecutor John McDonough told WWMT. "Mr. Spencer gave Stewart back the clothes he had used, then the men went their separate ways."
Venus' brother says Douglas Stewart and Spencer met over the Internet through video gaming. The prosecutor says Spencer was not paid to act as an impersonator and that he has been cooperative in the investigation.
Spencer has not been charged with any crime yet, but he could be in the future.
Now that Douglas Stewart has been charged, investigators say the efforts to find Venus' body will be stepped up once again.
He is due back in court on June 29 for a preliminary exam between prosecutors and his attorney. A preliminary hearing is set for July 1st.
Posted by Thomas A. (Tad) DiBiase, No Body Guy
0 Comments added to this post
Getting the death penalty in a no body murder case is rare.
California teacher John Matthus Watson III sentenced to death for killing, dismembering wife in 2006
BY Michael Wursthorn
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Sunday, June 13th 2010, 1:00 AM
This math teacher has one thing left to count - the number of days he has left.
A Nevada jury convicted former math teacher John Matthus Watson III of first-degree murder and sentenced the 70-year-old man to death Friday.
Watson killed and dismembered his wife, Everilda (Evie) Watson, inside a Las Vegas hotel room in 2006 to prevent her from getting half his family's estate in a bitter divorce battle.
The jury deliberated for just two hours before handing down the sentence.
During the trial, prosecutors said the aging Watson lured his wife to Las Vegas from their Ontario, Calif., home under the guise of celebrating her 50th birthday. But prosecutors added that Watson was planning the murder for more than a month.
Watson then shot his wife and used a band saw to cut her up, prosecutors said. Letters Watson wrote from his jail cell say he cooked and ate parts of the body before being arrested.
With News Wire Services
Read more:
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2010/06/12/2010-06-12_california_teacher_john_matthus_watson_iii_sentenced_to_death_for_killing_dismem.html#ixzz0wFprMlcU
Posted by Thomas A. (Tad) DiBiase, No Body Guy
0 Comments added to this post
Clay County authorities disclose evidence in Pernice murder case
By GLENN E. RICE
The Kansas City Star
While police and volunteers searched a wooded area for a missing Northland woman, her husband watched it on the news at a bar and said she was not in those woods.
Clay County authorities this week made that allegation, along with other previously undisclosed evidence, in arguing against a bond reduction for Shon Andrew Pernice, 37, a Kansas City, North, man accused of killing his wife.
Authorities have not found the body of Renee Pernice, who was 35 when she disappeared in January 2009, but have said there is substantial evidence that she was murdered.
At the end of a hearing on Thursday, a Clay County judge denied Pernice’s request to have his $1 million bond reduced. His attorney, Eric Vernon, said that before Pernice was arrested on the murder charge, his client had complied with electronic-monitoring requirements on unrelated criminal matters.
Vernon also said the evidence prosecutors had was circumstantial and there was nothing to support the notion that Renee Pernice had been murdered.
In general, prosecutors argued that Renee Pernice enjoyed her job, had a loving family and had no reason to leave. On the other hand, they said, Shon Pernice had a history of violating his bond and was a flight risk.
Authorities alleged the following details to bolster their case against Shon Pernice:
•Pernice did not help volunteers, police and members of Renee Pernice’s family search for her in the wooded area near the couple’s home.
Later that evening, Pernice went to a Northland bar to pick up a takeout order. While there, he asked the bartender to turn the television to local news. Pernice then said that searchers would not find Renee Pernice in that wooded area.
•When crime scene investigators executed a search warrant at the Pernice house last year, they discovered the garage floor had been acid-etched and a damp mop was nearby. However, the rest of the house was noticeably messy.
•Pernice did not report his wife missing until he was confronted by her family.
•Days after Renee Pernice disappeared, Shon Pernice was seen kissing a woman while gambling at a Northland casino. He also listed himself as single on dating websites.
•Renee Pernice had the ability to obtain $50,000 in cash had she wanted to leave her family, but she never sought to acquire those funds. A review of her personal bank records found that she had not put away money.
•After the disappearance, Pernice asked a girlfriend to buy him a firearm under her name on two occasions even though he was prohibited by a judge from having one.
•Pernice purchased a switchblade while on bond on an unrelated criminal matter.
•When he found out that a family member was going to appear before a Clay County grand jury, Pernice acquired $5,500 in cash, indicating he was a flight risk.
•Pernice dumped his wife’s dog at a park and then told his son that the dog ran away. Pernice also threw away his wife’s personal belongings in a trash bin at his son’s school.
On Friday, Vernon said the prosecution’s case was not compelling.
“As I argued to the judge, what I heard was very weak and circumstantial, that she was even deceased and certainly there was no evidence, except conjecture, that Shon Pernice was involved in her disappearance.”
To reach Glenn E. Rice, call 816-234-4341 or send e-mail to grice@kcstar.com.
Posted on Fri, Jun. 04, 2010 10:40 PM
Read more: http://www.kansascity.com/2010/06/04/1993659/clay-county-authorities-disclose.html#ixzz0qsqa2NOo
Posted by Thomas A. (Tad) DiBiase, No Body Guy
0 Comments added to this post
Joran Van Der Sloot is back in the news. Long suspected of murdering Natalee Holloway and now arrested for the murder of Peruvian Stephany Flores, Van Der Sloot supposedly has told police he will tell them where Miss Holloway’s body is in exchange for transferring him from a Peruvian prison to one in Aruba. http://dailycaller.com/2010/06/13/van-der-sloot-willing-to-tell-where-holloways-buried-in-exchange-for-transfer-to-aruba/ Having studied no body murder cases for several years, I‘ve observed an increasingly disturbing trend: more and more defendants are using the body of their murdered victim as a bargaining chip. Van Der Sloot is far from the first. Hans Reiser was convicted of murdering his wife in California in 2008. She had disappeared in 2006 and Reiser denied the murder for years and fought the charge at trial. After a five month trial, an Oakland jury convicted the Linux inventor of first degree murder. After the conviction, however, in exchange for a reduced sentence, Reiser led the police to his wife’s body which he had buried less than half a mile from his house. Instead of facing a sentence of 25 years to life, Reiser’ s charge was reduced to second degree murder which carried a term of only 15 years to life. In 2008, prosecutors in the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia (my old office) permitted Michael Dickerson to plead guilty to second degree murder and in exchange he agreed to lead police to where he buried the body of his girlfriend, Shaquita Bell. Dickerson then led police and prosecutors on a futile two day search for Ms. Bell’s body which has never been found. Yet he was still sentenced to just 15 years in prison. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/11/AR2008111103085.html Just this past May in Tennessee, Douglas Whisnant was able to plea bargain into second degree murder charges by agreeing to show police where he buried his ex-wife’s body. Whisnant was sentenced to 15 years. Perhaps more galling, Whisnant is currently serving a 25 year federal firearms sentence and will get credit for his murder sentence, a state charge, will serving his federal time! Thus, he does no additional time for the murder. http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2010/may/17/details-net-reduced-sentence/
Now there are clearly some good reasons to let a defendant take a plea in a no body murder case: weak evidence, getting closure for the family and sometimes getting something is better than getting nothing. But letting a defendant call the shots and use his victim’s body as a bargaining chip is particularly distasteful given that most of these murderers fit the classic profile of domestic abusers. It’s all about control and they want to be the ones in control. Letting murderers use their victim one last time to win themselves leniency is their final act of control and prosecutors ought to be loathe to let them do it. Winning a conviction in a no body murder case is difficult and dealing with a grieving and often angry family is equally difficult. But letting a murderer run the show and determine what charges or sentence he faces is simply unacceptable.
Posted by Thomas A. (Tad) DiBiase, No Body Guy
0 Comments added to this post
Not a U.S. case but I never said it couldn't happen here.....
From The Times May 11, 2010
Farmer released after serving ten years for murder as ‘victim’ turns up aliveJane Macartney, China Correspondent
A Chinese farmer who served ten years of a 29-year sentence for murder has been released after the man he was supposed to have killed, and then beheaded, turned up alive in their home village in central China.
Zhao Zhensheng disappeared after a furious fight with Zhao Zuohai in 1999. After Zhao Zhensheng was reported missing and a headless body was discovered in a village well, the local police put two and two together and arrested his rival. The two men are not related.
The sister of the jailed man said that he had only confessed to the crime after police torture — a not uncommon practice in China as police try to solve a crime and keep their record looking good. She said: “My brother told me he was really treated unjustly.” She said that he had even showed her a scar on his forehead where police had hit him with a gun.
After his arrest, his wife also said that she had been tortured and finally confessed that plastic bags found around the headless body had come from her home.
In 1999, Zhao Zuohai was given a suspended death sentence — later commuted to 29 years because of his good behaviour.
But then, on April 30, the missing Zhao Zhensheng, now partially paralysed, turned up in the village after an absence of ten years. He had run away after the two men fought because he feared he had inflicted such serious injuries on his enemy that he might have died. He only returned to the village because he was paralysed and needed to claim basic welfare payments.
He expressed no remorse for the fact that his rival had spent ten years of his life in jail. Zhao Zhensheng told one newspaper: “He had such a bad temper. He needed a lesson somewhere, somehow.”
However, Zhao Zuohai will receive some compensation for his decade-long wrongful imprisonment. The Henan provincial Higher People’s Court has awarded him $45,000 (£30,000) for the miscarriage of justice.
It is far from being the first such case in China. In 2005 She Xianglin, a government worker, was compensated with $67,000 after serving 11 years in prison for murdering his wife. He was freed when his wife later returned to their hometown. She Xianglin said that he had been tortured into making a false confession.
Hat tip to Meaghan Good of www.charleyproject.org for alerting me to this article.
Posted by Thomas A. (Tad) DiBiasse, No Body Guy
0 Comments added to this post
OLATHE, Kansas - Shon Pernice is in jail, indicted in the murder of his wife Renee, who disappeared in January of 2009. Now prosecutors face the challenge of trying to convict a suspect for murder even though a body has not been found as evidence of the crime.
To examine what it will be like to try to prosecute Pernice, it helps to look at lessons learned in a metro murder case that ended with three convictions, even though the bodies of all three victims have still not been found.
A Johnson County jury found Richard Grissom guilty in 1990 in the murders of three young women.
Former Johnson County District Attorney Paul Morrison says the women were missing more than a year by the time Grissom went to trial.
"The passage of time tends to be the prosecutor's friend," said Morrison.
Renee Pernice disappeared more than 16 months ago. Her stable lifestyle may help the prosecution's case.
"You can show a jury that this person literally dropped off the face of the earth," said Morrison.
Morrison says prosecuting a murder case without a body means pulling together smaller pieces of evidence, like blood that's been cleaned up, marital problems, or proving lies in the suspect's statements.
"If you just look at one piece, it might not be enough, but when you look at all the pieces together and that prosecutor's going to be trying to literally put a puzzle together for the jury," explained Morrison.
In the Pernice case, the prosecutor indicates there may be some new evidence that will come out during the trial.
"I don't think there's any question that to the media and people outside of the police department and prosecutor's room, there are going to be some surprises, I guarantee you." said Dan White, the Clay County prosecutor Tuesday when announcing the indictment.
Grissom remains behind bars in a Kansas prison.
He is aging, but his victims remain forever young, their lives stolen, and the location of their bodies still a mystery 21 years later.
Posted by Thomas A. (Tad) DiBiase, No Body Guy