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KANSAS CITY, MO - Shon Pernice was indicted by a grand jury for the murder of his wife, Renee Pernice, on Tuesday. Renee went missing in January 2, 2009 and her body has never been found.
Shon was arrested at his home by Kansas City police without incident and is being held on a $1 million bond.
"We deeply want Renee back," Renee's father Rick Pretz said in a press conference on Tuesday. "We are willing to pay the reward to the first tip that has enough detail to lead us to Renee. That's all that it has to do, to get us to Renee."
Renee's mother also spoke at the press conference.
"I'm very happy that we've gotten to this point," said Linda Lockwood, mother. "Hopefully we'll get justice for Renee because that's what we've always wanted."
Lockwood said Shon and Renee's two sons were doing well and that "things are progressing quite well to a normalcy in our family."
But Lockwood says that when the trials are finally over, there is one thing that will never change.
"There's not a day goes by that we don't think about Renee," said Lockwood. "I mean it's impossible to have your daughter murdered and you not wake up every day with that on your mind."
Pernice, 35, was last seen on New Year's Day 2009. She was reported missing a day later when she never showed up for weekend plans with her children. A search of the Pernice home resulted in firearms and other items, but no sign of Renee.
Clay County prosecutor Day White says that trying a murder case without a body will not be easy.
"Homicide case, no body, many avenues need to go down to prove the case," said White.
Police said Pernice will be arraigned on Thursday. Pretz says that the $25,000 reward for information leading to the location of his daughter remains open.
Posted by Thomas A. (Tad) DiBiase, No Body Guy
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Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Murder convictions with no body?
Yesterday, Shon Pernice was charged with the murder of his missing wife, Renee, whose body has never been found. Dan White, the Clay County prosecutor, said that it's still possible to prosecute without finding a victim's remains, and he's right.
As longtime reader Gee notes, authorities never found the bodies of three local women who were killed by Richard Grissom in Johnson County. Paul Morrison, who was the D.A. at the time, got a lot of attention for winning despite this. In cases like this, prosecutors have to build their arguments around circumstantial evidence.
Three of John E. Robinson's victims -- Lisa Stasi, Paula Godfrey and Catherine Clampitt -- have never been found. He was convicted of Stasi's murder in Kansas, but the authorities had a very compelling piece of circumstantial evidence: Stasi's daughter, whom he'd given to his brother to raise. (The brother had no idea about the murder.)
More after the jump ...
Wikipedia has a good roundup of historical murder cases where no body was found. They point to a British case from the 1660s, the Campden Wonder, where three people were hanged for the murder of a man who later turned up alive. They also point to a U.S. case, People v. Scott, from a California appeals court -- you can read the decision here. (Snopes takes up the matter here.)
Thomas DiBiase has an excellent site here devoted to no-body cases, including a list of U.S. prosecutions where no victim was found.
Diane Dimond had a post about no-body cases several months ago at the Huffington Post:
Yet the body is still the single most important piece of direct evidence a murder case can have. Without it there's no time of death, no evidence from the condition of the body or the wound, no crime scene to process. The track record of convictions proves, however, that circumstantial evidence can be just as powerful.
Posted by James Hart on Wednesday, May 19, 2010 at 08:38 AM | Permalink
Read more: http://blogs.kansascity.com/crime_scene/2010/05/murder-convictions-with-no-body.html#ixzz0otfOWiXA
From the comments section:
Does FanDanGo have any details of the Missouri case about the defendant who supposedly did not turn around.
I am from Sydney, Australia and I am researching "no body" murder trials dating from the 5th century BC to the very present day. My collections consists of 2,500 cases.
I suspect that the "alleged murder victim showing up in court" scenario is a myth although some evidence suggests just such an event took place in 1961.
In April 2003, an alleged victim turned up alive in an Australian Court which created a sensation back then.
Thomas DiBiase's website is excellent and a credit to him in getting it started but it only covers USA cases while my research covers all continents and across all time spans.
Posted by: Steven Banic | Wednesday, May 19, 2010 at 02:11 PM
Thanks Steve!
I have put together a large collection of murder-without-a-body cases, divided by conviction, acquittal and case still pending. http://www.charleyproject.org/corpus/
Posted by: Charleyross.wordpress.com | Thursday, May 20, 2010 at 02:09 PM
Read more: http://blogs.kansascity.com/crime_scene/2010/05/murder-convictions-with-no-body.html#ixzz0otgTDiRT
Posted by Thomas A. (Tad) DiBiase, No Body Guy
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There are few things I despise more in a no body murder case than a defendant using his victim's body as a bargaining chip to get a lesser sentence or better plea offer:
HUNTSVILLE, Tenn. - The stakes were high as the two sides in a looming courtroom battle squared off for a final round of plea negotiations.
Prosecutors held cards that, if played right, could cost Douglas V. Whisnant his freedom for life. But Whisnant had a trump card - proof of death.
"It's been frustrating," Johnny Crabtree said of negotiations on the eve of the trial for the man who finally confessed Monday to killing Crabtree's missing mother, 66-year-old Jean Johnson. "I thought we were going to court."
Johnson, who was Whisnant's ex-wife, had been missing for more than three years, and Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Agent Steve Vinsant had led a probe to prove Whisnant was responsible. But with no body and, therefore, no proof Johnson was actually dead, a conviction on charges of first-degree murder and kidnapping was far from guaranteed.
Crabtree said Whisnant, 62, tried to play hardball by bartering Johnson's body.
"He started talking about pleading no contest, but we wanted to hear him say he did it," Crabtree said.
In the end, Whisnant, through Assistant Public Defender Dale Potter, revealed the secret grave in the Stanley Creek area of Scott County where he buried Johnson's body in February 2007. In return, 8th Judicial District Attorney General Paul Phillips inked his approval to a plea deal that netted Whisnant a slim shot at freedom some day.
At a hearing Monday, 8th Judicial District Judge Shayne Sexton formally accepted the deal in which Whisnant pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of second-degree murder and received a 15-year prison term.
"I knew he was the type if we went to court, we'd never get any information on what happened to (Johnson)," Crabtree said. "We know we'll never get mom back (alive), but I feel relieved we're able to get her buried in a coffin."
Johnson was a spry and friendly church-going woman finally free from a troubled marriage to Whisnant, a violent felon, when she went missing on the eve of a trip to see a new boyfriend.
Vinsant, with help from the Scott County Sheriff's Office, soon learned that Johnson had received threatening anonymous letters he was convinced were penned by Whisnant. Whisnant's neighbors on Ditney Trail reported hearing gunshots around the time of her disappearance.
A grainy surveillance video at an Oneida Walmart showed a man parking Johnson's van and leaving in a Jeep that had been hauled to the store on a flatbed trailer. Whisnant owned both a Jeep and a trailer.
A search of Whisnant's home yielded a hidey-hole in the living room wall where authorities found a cache of weapons, a discovery that would lead to a 25-year federal prison term for Whisnant as an armed career criminal. It also yielded a pink suitcase relatives said Johnson likely packed on the night she went missing.
Under his plea deal, Whisnant will get credit for his murder sentence while serving his federal time.
Jamie Satterfield may be reached at 865-342-6308.
© 2010, Knoxville News Sentinel Co
Posted by Thomas A. (Tad) DiBiase, No Body Guy
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Police: Cannon Stayed In Hotel Near Where Body Found
Woman's Decomposing Body Found In Cheshire
UPDATED: 11:57 am EDT May 18, 2010
CHESHIRE, Conn. -- A body found in Cheshire may be that of a Wolcott woman missing for more than a week, Wolcott police said Monday night.
Police said truck driver Steve Bradshaw noticed a tarp near the side of the road and notified officials. When officers arrived, they discovered a decomposed woman's body inside, police said.
Police said the body may be that of Cynthia Cannon, who has been missing for more than a week. However, police said they cannot say for sure if the body that was discovered is Cannon until the medical examiner completes an investigation. They said the body does match Cynthia Cannon's description.
Cheshire police said officers were investigating a crime scene off West Johnson Avenue Monday night. Police told Eyewitness News that Patrick Cannon stayed at a hotel near where the body was found the night before his arrest.
Bradshaw told Eyewitness News in an exclusive interview that he got a nagging feeling when he noticed the tarp lying in a field near the hotel. He said he had his wife meet him Monday night to check out the tarp.
"We just then, we walked back out to the street, see the form of the body, we called police," Bradshaw said.
Cynthia Cannon's husband, Patrick Cannon, has been charged with murder in connection with her death. While no body had been recovered when he was charged, police said there was substantial evidence that suggests Cynthia was the victim of a homicide.
According to the arrest affidavit, human blood stains were found on the couch where Cynthia Cannon slept and on the wall above the couch. Family members told Eyewitness News that the couple was going through a divorce and that Cynthia was sleeping on the couch as a result.
Traces of human blood were also found on the back porch of the couple's Spindle Hill Road home, as well as on the stairs leading from the rear porch and the driveway, according to the affidavit. Court documents indicate there were tire imprints across the back lawn leading up to the rear porch.
Police and hundreds of volunteers have been searching for Cynthia's body since last weekend. She was last seen May 6 and was reported missing by Patrick the next day. The search has included areas of Wolcott and parts of Waterbury and Southington.
"People have been missing work days, taking time out at night, even if they're driving to a baseball game. They're slowing down and looking at the side of the road," said Wolcott Mayor Tom Dunn. "Just want closure for family."
Patrick's bond was set at $3 million and he was arraigned in Waterbury Superior Court last Monday.
Cynthia leaves behind two children, one of whom is from a previous marriage.
Posted by Thomas A. (Tad) DiBiase, No Body Guy
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Search continues for body of missing Wolcott woman
Husband arraigned Monday on murder charge
BY JONATHAN SHUGARTS | REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN
At left, Wolcott Fire Chief Kyle Dunn organizes about 50 firefighters and volunteers for a search a wooded area on North Main Street near the Holy Greek Orthodox Church in Waterbury on Monday. The group was assisting Wolcott police in the search for the body of Cynthia Cannon, who police believe was murdered. Steven Valenti/RA
WATERBURY -- They have found no body and no eyewitness to the suspected crime, yet police have levied a murder charge against the husband of woman they believe is the victim of foul play.
In an arrest warrant released Monday, police revealed they are relying on a bloody trail they discovered at 207 Spindle Hill Road in Wolcott to connect Patrick Cannon to the disappearance and presumed killing of his wife Cynthia.
Patrick Cannon has no prior criminal history, but mounting debt and at least one suspected incident of domestic violence years ago may have led to a tragic end for his wife.
Cannon, a blue-eyed, 44-year-old man, was held on a $3 million bond after he was arraigned Monday in Waterbury Superior Court on a charge of murder. Strands of thinning hair hung over the arms of Cannon's black-rimmed glasses as he shuffled into the courtroom wearing a robe and white suit usually given to defendants when their clothes have been confiscated as evidence.
He didn't enter a plea during the brief hearing and his case was continued until May 26.
Cannon reported his wife missing Friday night. She had not been heard from or seen since Thursday evening; she made her last cell phone call Thursday at 8:40 p.m., according to court records.
Patrick Cannon told police his wife had gone to drop off clothes at a Goodwill box around 10:30 p.m. Thursday. When he awoke Friday, he told police, she was gone and he was concerned about her whereabouts.
Friends and co-workers at Control Systems in West Hartford also were concerned when Cynthia Cannon didn't show up for work on Friday. She had a perfect attendance record during her six years with the company, her boss told police.
During a search of the couple's home on Sunday, state police crime scene technicians found blood on the couch where Cynthia Cannon usually slept, as well as on the walls nearby. Examiners discovered more traces of blood on the back porch of the home, on a set of rear stairs that led to the driveway and inside Cynthia Cannon's Jeep Liberty, which was recovered Sunday by police on Cemetery Road.
Investigators also found a set of tire tracks on the lawn leading up the rear porch, according to court documents.
At least 100 volunteers, including volunteer firefighters and Cannon's family, have aided in the search for Cynthia Cannon, spreading out in small groups that scoured an area from Wolcott into Waterbury, said Acting Police Chief Neal O'Leary.
Their efforts came up with a significant piece of evidence Monday, as one of the searchers found Cynthia Cannon's wallet on North Main Street in Waterbury. Tossed in a wooded area about 25 feet from the road near the 2800 block, the wallet is part of a growing amount of evidence that points to a tragic end for the mother of two.
So far, authorities have recovered a bloody sleeping bag belonging to Cynthia Cannon from a wooded patch near Woodtick Road. They also found a blood-soaked length of nylon rope near the bag and an unidentified piece of bloody clothing.
O'Leary said investigators also have searched the waters of Wolcott's Scoville Reservoir, but have come up empty.
To read the complete story see Tuesday's Republican-American or our electronic edition at http://republicanamerican.ct.newsmemory.com.
Posted by Thomas A. (Tad) DiBiase, No Body Guy
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Arrest in Nadia Kersh Case: Update
Reported by: Mike McClanahan
Reported by: Chris Mitchell
Last Update: 5/05 12:11 am
Homewood, AL) WIAT-
Police have made an arrest in the case of missing mother Nadia Kersh. An acquaintance of her's was arrested named Joacquas Haywood. According to Jefferson County DA Brandon Falls, Haywood is charged with Capital Murder and that the murder occurred during a burglary.
Using his attorney as a go-between, Homewood Police say Haywood turned himself in Monday night. He is being held in the Jefferson County Jail with no bond and had an initial court appearance today.
Nadia Kersh was last seen on November 3rd, 2008. Surveillance video showed her leaving Tria Market, where she worked. Birmingham police later recovered her car, but her body has never been found.
District Attorney Brandon Falls says prosecuting a murder case with no body will be challenging, but he is confident that there is a strong case against Joacquas Haywood.
Police describe the 27 year old Irondale resident as an acquaintance of Nadia Kersh and a person of interest from the beginning of the high profile investigation.
Even though police aren't looking for suspects, they're still looking for Nadia Kersh.
Nadia Kersh's mother Nancy Kersh hopes the arrest will bring new information that could lead to her daughter, but says she is also sad for the suspect's family.
Joacquas Haywood's defense attorney is Ezra Jordan, according to Homewood Police. Jordan was unavailable for comment today.
Jefferson County D.A. Brandon Falls says he will seek the death penalty because this is a capital murder case.
Posted by Thomas A. (Tad) DiBiase, No Body Guy
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Mile High Murder
Hae C. Park, No. 85: Man allegedly killed by business partner Joong Rhee -- but no body found
By Michael Roberts, Friday, Apr. 16 2010 @ 3:47PM
Joong Rhee: No body, but big problem.
An unusual announcement moments ago from the Denver District Attorney's Office and the Denver Police Department: A murder charge has been filed even though the body of the victim has yet to be located.
Hae C. Park, 64, has been missing since March 27, when he was supposed to meet with his business partner, Joong Rhee. A little over a week later, the cops checked out Rhee's office, which they describe as resembling a crime scene. Then, yesterday, they began looking for Park's body along the banks of the Colorado River near Glenwood Springs. They didn't find it, but authorities seem certain that Park came to a bad end -- and that Rhee is responsible.
Look below for more details:
MURDER CHARGE FILED, INVESTIGATION CONTINUES
On April 5, 2010 at approximately 3:30 p.m. detectives with the Denver Police Department, Homicide Unit began a cooperative investigation of a missing adult male identified as Hae C. Park (04/29/45) with the Adams County Sheriff's Department. ADCO began their investigation on March 29, 2010 and learned that the last time family saw the victim was on March 27, 2010. Park was supposed to meet with his business partner, Joong Rhee at Rhee's office in Denver (10200 East Girard Avenue, Building B, unit 327).
On April 5, 2010, Adams County detectives discovered what appeared to be a crime scene at Rhee's office, and contacted the Denver Police Department. The Denver Police Department Homicide Unit took over the investigation, processed the scene and collected several items of evidence.
Through the investigation, detectives developed information that suggested a possible location of Mr. Park's body. On Thursday, April 15, 2010, members of the Denver Police Department, along with the Garfield County Sheriff's office, and several local volunteers checked the area of the Colorado River between Grizzly and Glenwood Springs. Investigators found no additional evidence.
On April 16, 2010, Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey formally charged Joong Rhee (DOB: 11-21-43) with Murder in the First Degree. He is scheduled to appear in Denver County Courtroom 472W on Tuesday, April 20, 2010 at 1:30 p.m. to be advised of the charge. He remains in custody in the Denver County Jail where he is being held without bond.
The search for the body of Mr. Park will continue.
Anyone with information about this investigation or information about the location of Mr. Park, please contact the Denver Police Department at 720-913-2000 or anonymously through Crime Stoppers.
Posted by Thomas A. (Tad) DiBiase, No Body Guy
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April 16, 2010
Cops make murder arrest despite no body
Rochelle Battle is still missing.
But Baltimore County police today arrested a man and charged him with killing the 16-year-old girl. No motive is listed, nor did police say whether there is any connection between the missing girl and the suspect, or how they can prove she was killed.
Here is the statement from authorities:
Baltimore County Police have arrested Jason Matthew Gross, 35, of the 1900-block of Eloise Lane, 21040 for the disappearance and murder of Rochelle Battle, a 16-year-old female who was reported missing March 6, 2009. Jason Gross was indicted by a Baltimore County Grand Jury in her murder.
Police are still trying to locate Rochelle Battle’s body. Her description when she was last seen is that of a black female, 5’1” to 5’3” tall, weighing approximately 170 pounds. She was wearing a brown hooded sweatshirt, blue jeans, and boots that came just below the knees.
County officers were contacted by Rochelle’s family on March 11, 2009 stating that Rochelle Battle had disappeared on March 6, 2009 after leaving her home in the 2800-block of Boarman Avenue, 21215. Through an initial investigation it was discovered that Rochelle may have been on a MTA bus line near Eastern Avenue in the North Point and Essex Precinct areas. Based on additional information that detectives acquired, a search of a trash collection facility in the 200-block of Earls Road, 21220 was made to look for Rochelle, but she was not located.
Information that detectives have developed in the case revealed that Jason Gross was responsible for the disappearance and murder of Rochelle Battle. The case was presented by the Baltimore County State’s Attorney’s Office before a Grand Jury on April 14, at which time an indictment and warrant charging Gross were issued.
Jason Gross was arrested late yesterday afternoon and has been charged with first-degree murder. He is being held at the Baltimore County Detention Center on bond denied.
Posted by Peter Hermann at 3:06 PM
Posted by Thomas A. (Tad) DiBiase, No Body Guy
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Jury finds man guilty of murder in case with no body
Friday, April 9, 2010 4:41 PM
By Bruce Cadwallader
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
A Franklin County jury this afternoon found a former Grove City man guilty of murder in the 1999 death of his girlfriend, even though authorities never found her body.
Based on circumstantial evidence and vague references he made about how one might hide a body, the jury convicted Gary L. Robinson, 46, in Common Pleas Court after a four-day trial before Judge Richard A. Frye.
Robinson, who also was convicted of tampering with evidence, will be sentenced May 13.
It was the first murder case since 2003 in which local prosecutors tried a murder case without a victim.
Tammi T.J. Campbell, a 33-year-old single mother who lived with Robinson for a short term at 3111 Southwest Blvd. went missing on June 12, 1999. She had taken her 12-year-old son to a friend's house and said she'd be back in the morning.
No one has heard from her since, and the federal government declared her dead in 2008, testimony showed.
Robinson told Grove City police he didn't know where his girlfriend was. He said she went out to buy drugs and never came back. He didnt help look for her body, testimony showed.
One of his ex-girlfriends testified, however, that he confessed to strangling Campbell that night and wrapping her body in a carpet and burying it in a local landfill.
Assistant County Prosecutors Scott Kirschman and Nathan Yohey didn't have much: Robinson admitted burying the missing woman's jewelry in the backyard of his parents home in Warren County, Ohio, and he made vague references to a buddy about burying a body in concrete. He said he buried her jewelry so he wouldn't be tempted to pawn it.
"I'm smarter than the average bear," he boasted to one ex-girlfiend, Sandra Gabbard, in a tape-recorded call made with the help of police. She said he confessed to the killing before police became involved.
Police, pushed for answers by Campbell's best friend, conducted multiple searches, unearthed 5 tons of debris at the Franklin County landfill, ordered DNA tests and interviewed several witnesses after finding Campbell's keys, purse and ID in her apartment. They found her car parked across the street.
"For 3,953 days no one has seen Tammi Campbell. We know she is dead," Kirschman told jurors Thursday. "This case is about the death of hope for a 12-year-old. This is a cold, cruel crime and the clock kept cruelly ticking."
Defense attorneys Shanda Behrens and Sheryl K. Munson countered that prosecutors failed to provide reliable witnesses or evidence of a murder.
"Nothing has changed in the last 11 years," Munson said. "The mosaic is not complete; the picture isn't clear. All we want is justice, and justice doesn't always mean you solve the crime."
bcadwallader@dispatch.com
Posted by Thomas A. (Tad) DiBiase, No Body Guy
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No body? No problem convicting, 90 percent of time
By SAMANTHA HENRY
The Associated Press
Sunday, April 11, 2010; 1:43 PM
NEWARK, N.J. -- Police in New Jersey believe they have solved one of the coldest cases in the state's history: the disappearance of five Newark teenagers in 1978.
After tracking leads for 32 years, two men were arrested March 22 and charged with herding the teens at gunpoint into an abandoned rowhouse, tying them up and torching the building, setting a blaze so fierce police say the bodies were incinerated, destroying any evidence.
Now, prosecutors have a difficult task: Prove the teens were murdered when their bodies were never found.
Murders without bodies were long considered one of the most complex challenges in the legal profession, but advances in technology have made the once-unthinkable prospect more common.
The absence of the key piece of evidence - the corpse - poses unique problems for both prosecutors and defense attorneys, according to Thomas "Tad" DiBiase, a Washington D.C.-based lawyer who runs a Web site chronicling "no body" murders. He said the majority of such cases end in convictions or guilty pleas.
"The body can tell you how the murder occurred," he said. "It can tell you when the murder occurred, it can tell you where the murder occurred, so by taking away the body you take away all those elements from a case - that makes it enormously difficult."
The New Jersey case was initially treated as a missing persons case and no connection was made between the fire and the teens' disappearance, reported two days later. In the decades since, any clues have been all but obliterated: The site of the fire is now a housing complex and additional case files were reportedly lost in a courthouse flood.
Prosecutors have charged Lee Evans, 56, and 53-year-old Philander Hampton, 53, with murder and arson. Prosecutors say Hampton sometimes hired the teens for odd jobs and killed them over some missing marijuana. Both have pleaded not guilty.
The near-total absence of forensic evidence in the case doesn't necessarily help the defense, according to Michael Robbins, the lawyer representing Evans.
"In the absence of evidence and proof, there's a real risk that outrage, that anger and emotion, will be substitutes in the courtroom for competent evidence, testimony and proof," Robbins said. "Without a body, how can you corroborate what anyone says? Without a crime scene, how can you even begin to attempt to corroborate the version of events that the witness here is putting forth?"
Two of the nation's most high-profile murder cases without bodies - the killing of a wealthy Manhattan socialite by a mother and son team, and a doctor who killed his wife and tossed her body from an airplane over the Atlantic Ocean- were prosecuted by former Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau.
"These cases are important because it shows you can't just get rid of the body and get rid of the case," Morgenthau said. He recalled how skeptics questioned his decision to pursue New York's first such murder prosecution based entirely on circumstantial evidence: the death of Irene Silverman, a wealthy Manhattan socialite and former Radio City Music Hall Rockette.
"But we were convinced that they had murdered this woman, and we thought it was a very bad precedent to not prosecute people because there is no body - it encourages people to do away with the body," Morgenthau said.
Morgenthau's team successfully convinced a jury that a mother-son con team killed Silverman and forged documents to try to steal her $8 million townhouse. Sante and Kenneth Kimes were convicted in 2000; Sante was sentenced to 120 years in prison, her son, 125. Prosecutors called more than 100 witnesses and introduced evidence they said was in the Kimes' possession, including Silverman's personal documents, loaded pistols, two fright masks, plastic handcuffs, syringes and a pink liquid similar to a known "date rape" drug. They also found a forged deed that transferred her town house to the Kimeses for a fraction of its nearly $10 million value.
Circumstantial evidence also convicted Dr. Robert Bierenbaum, a Manhattan plastic surgeon who got 20 years to life in prison for killing Gail Katz-Bierenbaum. Prosecutors showed that Bierenbaum spent nearly two hours flying the afternoon after his wife was last seen, convincing a jury that he had dismembered her, squeezed the body into a duffel bag and dumped it from a small airplane over the ocean.
Prosecutions for murders without bodies were once extremely rare, according to DiBiase, who traces the earliest documented case in the U.S. to 1819, when brothers Jesse and Stephen Boorn were convicted of murdering their brother-in-law, Richard Colvin, in Manchester, VT.
More than 300 hundred such cases that have gone to trial in the U.S. since, more than 90 percent of them resulting in a conviction, DiBiase said.
Although defense attorneys often try to convince jurors that no body means no proof a person is dead, DiBiase has found only one case, around 1886, in which a victim turned up alive after his supposed killer - tried twice on charges he killed his lover's husband - had been convicted and executed.
In the past decade, DiBiase said a surge in such murder prosecutions is largely thanks to advances in DNA technology, computer records and cell phone logs, and improvements in forensics.
Juries have also become more sophisticated with the popularity of crime, law and forensic television shows, according to Donna Pendergast, assistant attorney general for the Michigan Department of Attorney General's office, who has successfully prosecuted several of these cases.
Pendergast says the enormous public appetite for forensics has led to jury pools full of people who "want to see every little fingerprint."
She has convinced juries that a person was really dead even though no body was ever found, because the victim didn't access bank accounts or credit cards after they disappeared.
"Traditionally, a prosecutor would say: 'No body, we don't have a case,'" Pendergast said. "But now that people are seeing these cases can be won ... it's not 'the perfect crime' anymore."
Posted by Thomas A. (Tad) DiBiase, No Body Guy
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Conviction in case I worked on.....
Boyfriend convicted of murder in '99 disappearance of D.C. woman
By Keith L. Alexander
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
For the seven years that Yolanda Baker and Terrence Barnett dated, Baker's family watched a once loving relationship grow increasingly violent.
Baker would show up at family functions with bruises and bald patches on her head from having her hair pulled out. She took out a restraining order against Barnett but began seeing him again after a little more than a year. Baker also sought child support from Barnett on behalf of their then-5-year-old-twins, a boy and girl.
Then, after the two had seemingly made amends, Baker went missing from her Northeast Washington home Aug. 1, 1999. She has not been seen since. Authorities declared her dead last year and charged Barnett with killing her.
After Baker disappeared, her family members spent years trying to find answers, closure and accountability in the death of the woman they had nicknamed Princess.
On Tuesday, after three days of deliberating, a D.C. Superior Court jury found Barnett, 45, guilty of second-degree murder. He was charged with first-degree murder, but the jury was unable to determine during the three-week trial that there was enough evidence that he planned to kill Baker.
As the jury foreman announced the verdict, Barnett bowed and shook his head slightly. Cold-case detectives sitting in the back row of the courtroom fist-pounded each other and smiled. Members of Baker's family, who filled up three rows of one side of the courtroom, and members of Barnett's family, sitting on the other side, broke into tears.
"All these years, it's over," cried Andrea Flemmings, one of Baker's sisters.
"We are very pleased. Thank God for this justice," said Deon Haynes-Parker, another of Baker's sisters, as family members gathered outside the courtroom. Baker's twins, now teenagers, are being raised by her family.
Baker's brother-in-law Leroy Flemmings said that although his family mourns for Baker, they are also concerned about the twins.
"I'm glad the kids can now have some closure," Flemmings said. "They lost their mom and their dad the moment this happened."
Cold cases are challenging to prosecute, but murder cases in which a body is not found are even more difficult. This was only the fourth case without a body that the District's U.S. attorney's office has tried since the 1980s, officials said.
Lawyers, law students and trial watchers visited the courtroom during the trial to watch Assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda Haines square off against criminal defense lawyer Nikki Lotze.
Lotze insisted that Barnett was innocent, telling the jury that there was no evidence of Baker's death and no eyewitnesses linking Barnett to Baker's disappearance or death.
In her nearly 90-minute closing argument last week, Lotze reminded the jury that police questioned Barnett just days after Baker was reported missing and released him.
Baker's car was found blocks from her house days after she disappeared and after two other men had been seen driving the car around the District. Lotze dismissed as "cockamamie" the story that one of Baker's sisters saw Barnett hours after Baker had gone missing, standing on the 14th Street Bridge outside Baker's car and pulling a large plastic bag from the trunk.
Lotze called the case a "witch hunt" based primarily on Barnett and Baker's volatile relationship.
In her hour-long close, Haines suggested to the jury that a history of abuse could be used as a motive in a slaying in domestic cases.
Haines said Barnett killed Baker in the bedroom of the house they shared, cleaned the room with bleach, and ripped the bloodstained carpet up and got rid of it. Haines said Baker then "chopped up her body," put it in the trunk of her car and disposed of it. "Her car is her gravesite," she said.
During the trial, Haines called about 30 witnesses, including family members, court officials, prosecutors and police officers. All testified about the abusive relationship and Baker's efforts to seek help from police and the courts.
Prosecutors had sought first-degree murder charges, but Glenn L. Kirschner, head of the homicide unit for the District's U.S. attorney's office, said that securing first-degree convictions in domestic violence cases is difficult because, in most cases, such slayings are "spur of the moment" rather than planned.
Haines was assigned to the case last year. After the verdict, Baker's family showered her with hugs. "The jury gave this family the closure they have been seeking for the past 10 years," Haines said.
Barnett is scheduled to be sentenced June 18 by Judge Michael L. Rankin.
Posted by Thomas A. (Tad) DiBiase, No Body Guy
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DC man was convicted of second degree murder in DC's third no body murder trial ever. More tomorrow......
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I've added, under the Tips tab, my paper on investigating and trying a no body case. Included at the end of my paper is a UK paper of unknown origin on the same topic. I hope you find these papers useful and as always I can be contacted at tad.dibiase@gmail.com for further discussions about your case.
Posted by Thomas A. (Tad) DiBiase, No Body Guy
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2 men found guilty of '05 murder
Body of Darryl 'Preach' Miller has never been found
By Craig Peters
craig.peters@shj.com
Published: Thursday, March 18, 2010 at 3:15 a.m.
Last Modified: Wednesday, March 17, 2010 at 11:27 p.m.
The family of a man who disappeared in the summer of 2005 can't get him back, but they received guilty verdicts convicting two men of murder on Wednesday.
Jurors spent about two hours deliberating before deciding that David Cortez Carson, 43, and Leon Jones, 46, worked together to kill Darryl "Preach" Miller on July 30, 2005. Retired Supreme Court Justice E.C. Burnett III sentenced Carson and Jones to 30-year prison sentences. The mandatory minimum sentences are not eligible for parole.
Miller's sister Roxanne Bradley said after the trial that the verdicts represent "another stage, another grieving spot" in her family's recovery process.
"There's never going to be closure because we're not going to get him back," Bradley said.
Miller's body has not been found, and investigators are unsure of the exact way he died, but they had the car in which they believe Miller was killed, complete with multiple samples of blood that allowed forensic scientists to compare DNA material.
Principal Deputy Solicitor Barry Barnette said he was not aware of another murder trial that the 7th Circuit Solicitor's Office has prosecuted without a body. Barnette credited Spartanburg police who "constantly kept working" the case.
Spartanburg Public Safety Sgt. Jay Steadman, a case investigator, said it was a "constant stress" over the years. Spartanburg police arrested and charged Carson and Jones with murder in September 2008 after determining they had collected "all the evidence we could have."
Police obtained the car, which belonged to Carson's former girlfriend, in August 2005. The car had been repossessed by a lending company and sold to a business that refurbishes cars.
An employee of Cromer's Abattoir Inc., a meat processing facility in Inman, testified Wednesday that he saw a group of men "frantically" cleaning a car, even removing its seats and carpet, outside a nearby residence.
"It was still a crime scene after most of it had been cleaned," said Ed Guthro, a forensics technician with Spartanburg Public Safety.
Guthro said a blood-spatter analysis could not be done because the car had been cleaned, but blood samples were found on the seat belt and behind decorative trim on the front passenger door panel.
Prosecutors also had testimony from the brother of the woman with whom Jones has two children. That witness said Carson, Jones and Miller were partying together and stopped by Miller's house before he disappeared, and Miller had a significant amount of cash on him. That witness also testified Jones showed up a couple days later and said he killed "that guy."
Jones, who continued to deny any involvement, said he was joking when he made that statement.
Prior to sentencing the men, Burnett told Jones, "That's a cold thing to say."
When Jones said it was "foolishness," Burnett replied, "It's beyond foolishness. It's cold."
Carson admitted to helping dispose of the body, but claimed that Miller had been killed during an attempted robbery near Caulder Avenue.
Carson claimed he didn't know what to do and drove to the hospital but "could not get in," then passed out in the parking lot and woke up with Miller still in the car. He said he eventually took the body to a remote area in Union County, but he was never able to direct police to that area. Neither Carson nor Jones called 911 to report any kind of robbery or injury to Miller.
Bradley said her family looked for Miller during the early stages of the case, and she received information that Carson was involved.
When it became obvious Miller wasn't coming back, Bradley prayed her brother's remains would be found and for "the heart to forgive."
Spartanburg Public Safety Capt. Randy Hardy credited Barnette for doing "an excellent job."
"It started out as a missing person's case and led to a murder investigation. The investigators that worked on it, worked tirelessly," Hardy said. "Our goal was to find the perpetrators of this crime and bring them to justice. While we are very excited about the verdict, we are unhappy we were able to find Preach's remains to bring true closure to the family."
Bradley said the family plans to have a memorial service.
She didn't know how her brother got his nickname, but said the family has been gathering to share fond memories each September when Miller would be a year older.
"I remember he used to sit and I would look at him smiling. I would ask him why he was smiling so big and he would say, 'Because I love you so much.' "
Posted by Thomas A. (Tad) DiBiase, No Body Guy
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Man admits killing girlfriend, burning body
Associated Press - March 16, 2010 7:14 AM ET
PINE BLUFF, Ark. (AP) - A Pine Bluff man has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for killing his girlfriend then burning her body and dumping the remains in a bayou.
Thirty-one-year-old Mario Scott pleaded guilty Monday to a reduced charge of capital murder in the death of 26-year-old Kateshia Weathers. Scott had originally been charged with capital murder.
Weathers was last seen May 22, 2007. Her remains have not been found.
Scott is already serving 22 years for beating Weathers in a separate case. His murder sentence won't begin until he completes his current prison term.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Posted by Thomas A. (Tad) DiBiase, No Body Guy
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Hopefully you've noticed some changes to the site. I've add a picture and two new tabs. Under one tab is chapter one of my "book" about the no body case I tried in 2006 and no body cases in general. (Book in quotes because this has never been published.) Let me know what you think. Soon to come under the Tips tab is a treatise on how to investigate and try a no body homicide case. Finally, I've added the latest table of no body trials (under the No Body Murder Cases tab), now up to 308 trials in the United States.
Enjoy,
Thomas A. (Tad) DiBiase, No Body Guy
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Mario Scott goes on trial Monday for Katesia Weathers' murder
Ashley Blackstone 6 hrs ago
A Pine Bluff man accused of killing his girlfriend in May 2007 will go to trial Monday.
Police say Mario Scott beat Katesia Weathers and then set her body on fire. Her remains have never been found.
Prosecutors say they'll rely on the testimony of four witnesses who they say have knowledge of the alleged crime.
Weathers disappeared May 22, 2007.
Court records show that Scott was accused of beating or threatening Weathers on at least five occasions in the four years before her disappearance.
About seven months after her death, Scott was charged with capital murder.
Posted by Thomas A. (Tad) DiBiase, No Body Guy
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Murder trial begins in case of D.C. woman who vanished in 1999
By Keith L. Alexander
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, March 11, 2010
It's been nearly 11 years since Yolanda Baker's family has seen her. So much time had passed that authorities declared her legally dead last year, although her body has never been found.
This week, Baker's family poured into three rows of Judge Michael L. Rankin's third-floor courtroom in D.C. Superior Court, hoping for some closure in the death of the woman they nicknamed "Princess."
Last summer, authorities arrested Baker's boyfriend, Terrence Barnett, 45, the father of the D.C. woman's twin children. He has been charged with first-degree murder.
It is only the third time a "no body" murder case -- the most difficult for prosecutors -- has been tried in the District in at least 30 years, according to a spokesman in the U.S. attorney's office.
Adding to the challenge for prosecutors is the lack of eyewitnesses to Baker's disappearance or death. No murder weapon has been found and no cause of death established. When Baker's car was discovered almost a week after her disappearance, drops of her blood were found in the trunk, but no DNA from Barnett.
The trial pits two of the District's most formidable lawyers against each other: Assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda Haines and criminal defense attorney Nikki Lotze.
Haines is no stranger to prosecuting complex murder cases. She's one of the lead attorneys prosecuting Ingmar Guandique, charged in the 2001 kidnapping and killing of former federal intern Chandra Levy. That trial is scheduled to start in October.
In her 30-minute opening statement Wednesday, Haines told the jury that on the morning of Aug. 1, 1999, after attending a family party together in Suitland, Barnett killed Baker, 35, after an often-abusive seven-year relationship.
On that day, she said, Baker "disappeared into the night." Haines then walked over to Barnett, seated next to Lotze, and pointed to him: "Mr. Barnett was the last person to see Ms. Baker alive."
Haines characterized Barnett as controlling, jealous and often violent, a man whose anger "erupted suddenly, often without any warning."
The two had lived together off and on in Baker's house in the 400 block of 44th Street NE with their twins, who were 5 when Baker disappeared.
Haines talked about how the couple often argued and fought, so much so that Baker obtained a restraining order, keeping Barnett away from her for about 18 months from 1997 to early 1999. Shortly before she disappeared, a District judge had ordered Barnett to pay Baker child support for the twins.
Three days after Baker was last seen, family members filed a missing-person report with the D.C. police. Baker's picture was displayed on the department's missing-person Web site, and friends and family members passed out fliers and held candlelight vigils. Barnett played no part in the search for Baker, Haines said. He waited another three days before he approached police about Baker's disappearance.
Haines said a witness saw Barnett just hours after he was seen with Baker in her car leaving the 1999 party.
The witness said Barnett was on a bridge about midnight, pulling a large object wrapped in a plastic garbage bag from the trunk of a car.
Haines also acknowledged that there were some mistakes by police in the investigation. "The system failed [Baker] during her life and after her death," she said.
In her opening statement, Lotze told the jury that Barnett was innocent and that the DNA from two other individuals was found in the trunk of Baker's car. She said two other men had been driving Baker's car around town when it was discovered.
"There is more evidence that one of these two other men did it, not Mr. Barnett," she said.
Lotze said that her client cooperated with the police investigation and that Baker's family thinks Barnett killed Baker because relatives never approved of the couple's relationship.
Lotze later displayed pictures of Baker and Barnett, laughing together and dancing with family and friends at the party, just hours before she disappeared.
The trial is expected to last about a month.
Posted by Thomas A. (Tad) DiBiase, No Body Guy
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Woman’s Body Still Missing But Man Charged With Her Murder
03/03/10 - 09:30 PM
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Authorities say a 37-year-old Natchitoches Parish man has been charged with murder in connection with a missing woman whose body has not yet been found.
Sheriff Victor Jones Jr. says deputies arrested Morgan Prothro Tuesday and charged him with second-degree murder in the disappearance of 47-year-old Clara Patricia “Patty” Bynog. Jones said the arrest came after a 2 1/2 month nvestigation into the Dec. 13 disappearance of Bynog, who was known to have been with Prothro prior to her disappearance.
Prothro is being held in the Natchitoches Parish Detention Center. It wasn’t immediately clear if Prothro has an attorney.
Posted by Thomas A. (Tad) DiBiase, No Body Guy
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Arlington businessman arrested in 2005 murder case
by WFAA-TV
Posted on February 28, 2010 at 9:14 AM
Updated Sunday, Feb 28 at 9:19 AM
EULESS — An Arlington businessman faces murder charges in connection with the 2005 disappearance of Kristen Charbonneau.
Daniel Glen Moore was arrested Friday by Euless police. The 40-year-old car salesman is married with two young children. Detectives said he has been a "person of interest" in the case.
Charbonneau, whose body has never been found, is presumed dead by police.
She as last seen in August 2005 after leaving her workplace — the Baby Dolls club in Fort Worth — with a man witnesses identified as Moore.
Last fall, volunteers searched along railroad tracks in Euless in the area where Charbonneau, 24, was last known to have been seen.
Posted by Thomas A. (Tad) DiBiase, No Body Guy