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A death investigation is underway in Laurel County.
State Police say a man was found dead Sunday afternoon by his roommate at their home on Laurel Road.
Officials say 36-year-old Kenneth Vincent got into a fight with his roommate Saturday night that the two had been drinking and Vincent had a knife.
http://liarcatchers.com/wrongful_death.html
The two resolved their issues then went to bed. When the roommate woke up, that’s when he found Vincent dead.
Police have not released how Vincent died.
A man captured in a surveillance video could be a key witness in the case of a missing Tucson, Ariz. girl as authorities expand their search into Mexico.
A group of five people were captured on surveillance video leaving a club near the Celis family home around the time the 6-year-old disappeared.
The three women and two men were captured on camera just a block from the Celis house.
http://liarcatchers.com/missing_persons_investigations.html
Police said the group was walking away from a club at 1:30 a.m. in the direction of the Celis’ home.
One of the men has come forward to police, but police are not yet saying what he has told them.
The new surveillance video comes as the search for Isabel widens, crossing over into Mexico.
On Saturday, U.S. marshals asked Mexican police for help checking hotels, bus terminals, and businesses in the border town of Sonora where Isabel’s photo is being circulated.
“The idea of having Mexico involved I think is a logical idea and a good idea at this point…”The idea that somebody crossed and picked up Isabel and then went back into Mexico is actually realistic,” said former FBI agent and ABC News consultant Brad Garrett.
Tucson is close to the Mexican border and many in the city are either from Mexico or have connections there.
Isabel Celis: New Video Released Watch Video
Cold Case Murder Linked to Dead Man Watch Video
Isabel Celis Missing: Parents Speak to Public Watch Video
Isabel Celis was reported missing by her father around 8 a.m. April 21 after her mother left for work and her father went to wake her up. The child was not in her room, and a bedroom window was opened with the screen removed, police said.
She was last seen around 11 p.m. April 20, when she was put to bed.
“If this child were abducted out of her house, through a window, out a door, somebody may have seen that,” said Brad Garrett, a former FBI agent and ABC News consultant.
While the police have not ruled out Celis’s parents as suspects, they have said the family has cooperated fully with police during the investigation.
“We have tremendous gratitude to the millions of people around the world who have prayed for Isabel,” Becky Celis said. “Please continue to pray for her return. We don’t want the focus to be taken off Isabel by talking in front of the cameras.”
FBI search dogs, including a scent dog and a cadaver dog, hit on something in the house that police noted was “important” to the investigation on April 22. Police then executed search warrants on the Celis home and other homes in the neighborhood, though they would not say which ones.
Authorities are awaiting lab results of the evidence gathered, sources told ABC News.
Police have searched homes in the family’s neighborhood, dug through a nearby landfull and searched waterways and drainage systems in Tucson, but so far have few leads.
The missing girl’s parents issued a plea this week for the safe return of their daughter.
“Just please, please, to the person or persons who have Isabel, tell us what you want. We will do anything for her. We’re looking for you, Isa,” Sergio Celis, the girl’s father, said tearfully.
Standing with family members clad in matching “Bring Isa Home” T-shirts, Celis and his wife, Becky,spoke directly to their daughter’s captor, saying in both English and Spanish that they would do anything for her return. The parents have offered $6,000 for information about her disappearance.
Police noted that there are 15 registered sex offenders in the neighborhood, all of whom have been interviewed by police.
AUSTIN — The family of a missing Austin mother is fighting for custody of her daughter. Wednesday morning a court hearing grew tense and emotional during the custody battle for four-year-old Layla, the daughter of Julie Ann Gonzalez.
Gonzalez, 21, vanished around March 26, 2010, from South Austin. Her daughter Layla was just two years old at the time. Layla has since been living with Gonzalez’s estranged husband, George De La Cruz.
http://liarcatchers.com/custody_investigations.html
De La Cruz is a person of interest in Gonzalez’s missing persons case. Austin police detectives have questioned him, but he has not been charged. The family of Julie Ann Gonzalez believe De La Cruz has information about her disappearance.
“This really scares me because I don’t know what this man is capable of,” said Layla’s grandmother Sandra Soto. “We still have zero answers. We know nothing.”
The judge granted Soto visits twice a month with her granddaughter Layla.
The judge warned Soto to remove Facebook posts that the judge said were accusatory toward De La Cruz. The judge said they caused tension between the families and ultimately hurt Layla.
“This is a very young child, and this child needs to be protected from any type of behavior,” said De La Cruz’s attorney Bret Doyal. “He takes care of his child. I’ve witnessed him. It’s a very loving relationship between father and daughter.”
Austin Police Department detectives say this remains an open investigation. No one has been arrested in Gonzalez’s disappearance.
Two years ago, Tracie Ponds walked to her car in the parking lot of the Fort Worth nursing home where she works as a nurse aide and discovered that someone had stolen her purse.
That simple crime led to one of the biggest identity theft capers in Tarrant County, one that targeted more than half a dozen area nursing homes and home healthcare businesses and at least a dozen seniors, frail and vulnerable.
http://liarcatchers.com/identity_theft_investigation.html
Ponds, then 25, reported the missing items to Fort Worth police. Stolen items included her expired driver’s license along with a document showing that she had paid for her renewal, her checkbook, debit card, Social Security card and, perhaps most important, an identification card from the state that showed she is a certified nurse aide.
The thief hit the jackpot. Ella Dehaven Brown was a certified nurse aide, too, but she had been convicted of identity theft crimes and served two stints in prison. State officials never learned that and didn’t pull her certification. Still, she couldn’t get a job as a nurse aide using her name because she couldn’t pass a state-required criminal background check conducted by a business wishing to hire her.
So she used Ponds’ ID papers so she could pose as Ponds and get nurse aide jobs at nursing homes and home healthcare companies in Richland Hills, Hurst and other area cities, court records say. Once inside, the records say, she stole more identity papers from more elderly patients to keep her one-woman operation going.
Brown worked the scheme for two years.
She got caught only after some tenacious investigating by a Richland Hills police officer who unraveled the crime, still considered so complex by investigators that they don’t know exactly where Brown worked or the names of all her victims.
The Watchdog reported last month how another senior, Paulette Jones, said her $20,000 ring was stolen while she lived at Renaissance Park Multi Care Center in Benbrook. That facility was the scene of other thefts from residents, police records say. Four days after my report, Jones died. Her ring was never recovered.
Proper background checks and training for nurse aides in Texas have been an issue since the Star-Telegram reported in 2007 that the state did not regulate nurse aides or keep the kind of accurate databases that it does for nurses. Several legislators introduced bills to tighten supervision over nurse aides, but they did not become law.
In this case, it might not have mattered. When hiring officials met Brown and she presented them with Ponds’ papers, everything appeared in order. Sometimes she worked at a facility only a few days. Other times, she stayed longer.
At Lexington Place Nursing & Rehabilitation in Richland Hills, where she worked several months, Brown stole identity documents from at least seven residents, police say.
When officer S. Parsons began looking at the crimes, she at first suspected Ponds. Working with Richland Hills police Detective J.L. Robinson, the officer learned about Ponds’ stolen purse. Ponds was shown videotape of Brown posing as her at a Hurst bank. Work friends of Ponds’ recognized Brown and identified her from a police photo lineup.
When police went looking for Brown, they didn’t have to look hard. She was already in the Tarrant County Jail after being arrested by White Settlement police on an unrelated charge. In February, Brown, 36, pleaded guilty in the Richland Hills/Lexington Place thefts to two charges of forgery and one charge of possessing ID papers belonging to someone else. She was sentenced to three years in state prison.
Lexington Place officials declined to comment.
Brown’s ability to get hired at so many places while posing as Ponds is troubling, Robinson said, because for two years Brown never had a valid Texas driver’s license in Ponds’ name, only a piece of paper showed that Ponds had paid her renewal. A smart hiring official would have zeroed in on that, the detective said.
Brown easily gained others’ trust. A Haltom City couple hired her, believing her to be Ponds, from an ad on Craigslist to work as a nurse aide at their home. After Brown stole personal documents from them, the couple described her to police as a “super pleasant lady.”
When I contacted the state last week about Brown’s caper, officials had no knowledge of it. None of the businesses where she worked as Ponds reported the crimes to the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services as required, spokeswoman Allison Lowery told me. “Obviously, we want facilities to tell us when they have a reasonable suspicion of a crime,” she said.
Lax oversight
This failure to report illustrates the lax state oversight of nurse aides, says Terry Jones, an assistant professor at the University of Texas School of Nursing. No regulatory board oversees nurse aides. With a shortage of them, she says, employers are eager to hire.
State law requires that nurse aides show proper ID before they take the state test. Nursing homes must also conduct criminal background checks not only before hiring but also every two years. The state offers databases to check the certification, but as Brown’s case shows, those databases are incomplete.
In Texas, nurse aides earn certification after training followed by an examination. They do not get a license, and that’s why, Jones said, “it’s incumbent on whoever hires them to check references.”
“I can see how this happened,” Jones said about Brown’s crime spree. Nurse aides “have direct access to patients in their most vulnerable state. So yeah, there’s a lot of potential for abuse there.”
One victim in the Richland Hills nursing home is Katy Buckley, who at 95 is blind and bedridden. Buckley kept her purse in her room because it helped her keep her sense of identity, stepson Paul Buckley told me. Brown stole her Social Security card and driver’s license and ran up charges under Katy Buckley’s name.
“You just have to depend on the facility to be the last line of defense, and it just doesn’t seem to happen,” Paul Buckley said.
Robinson says police know about only a few of Brown’s victims. “There may be more that we haven’t discovered.”
Ponds is still working to clean up the mess. Brown ruined her credit and reputation. “I had a squeaky-clean work history,” she said. “Now I don’t because she worked at all those places under my name.”
A 55-year-old Minocqua man arrested after he allegedly pointed a gun at the head of a process server has been formally charged with second degree recklessly endangering another person’s safety and intentionally pointing a firearm at another person.
According to a criminal complaint filed late last week, a process server came to Keith G. Schultz’s Minocqua home April 18 to deliver court papers. The process server told police Schultz confirmed his identity, and appeared calm, but then reached behind his front door, pulled out a long gun and pointed it at her head.
http://liarcatchers.com/process_service.html
“You need to get off my property or I will shoot you,” Schultz said, according to the process server.
The woman said she immediately left Schultz’s home and called police.
According to the complaint, Schultz left the residence in a van before he could be apprehended. Two days later, a Minocqua Police Officer spotted Schultz’s van and followed it to the Howard Young Medical Center parking lot where Schultz was taken into custody with the assistance of the SRT (Special Response Team).
Schultz has made several appearances in Oneida County Circuit Court since his arrest. At his first appearance, on April 20, he was non-responsive, according to court records. On Monday morning, he was brought back before Judge Patrick O’Melia but again the court struggled to communicate with him.
Schultz’s only response to the judge’s questions appeared to be “hello.”
By Tuesday afternoon, public defender John Voorhees had been assigned the case but he asked for a continuance to Wednesday because he had not yet had a chance to talk to his client.
On Wednesday, Voorhees appeared with Schultz from the county jail and asked that bail, which had been set at $50,000 cash, be reduced.
Voorhees said $50,000 is a large amount of money for anyone to post and Schultz does not have the resources to cover that amount. He also noted that although the charges against Schultz are serious, there was no actual physical harm done to anyone.
“I would ask the court to consider a more modest cash bond,” he said.
Assistant Oneida County District Attorney Steve Michlig opposed any reduction of bond.
Michlig noted that two assault weapons, other loaded firearms and hundreds of rounds of ammunition were seized from Schultz’s residence, pursuant to a search warrant, and Schultz apparently had a type of “booby trap” set up in the house.
“There was a string attached to the doorknob with an apparatus that would cause a firearm to discharge upon entry,” Michlig said. “Obviously, this is very disconcerting.”
Michlig also noted Schultz had his van packed in such a way as to indicate he intended to leave the area, his home is being foreclosed upon and he doesn’t have a job.
“He doesn’t have any real reason to remain in the community,” Michlig said, adding that Schultz’s conduct also suggests a defiance of authority.
Voorhees responded to Michlig’s arguments by invoking the Second Amendment.
“Firearms themselves, especially when they are in his own home, are not necessarily held illegally and I haven’t heard any allegations that the ammunition and firearms were suspected to be illegal in any way. We have a right to bear arms in the United States and there are a lot of people who collect firearms including some unusual firearms and ammunition,” he said.
Judge Patrick O’Melia was unwilling to reduce bond.
“While he’s got a right to possess a gun, or 100 guns, it still causes me concern when he has one loaded behind a door and the complaint suggests it took him about two seconds to reach behind (the door), grab this gun and point it at this person’s head who was there lawfully serving these foreclosure papers,” the judge said. “This is the first time I’ve heard of not pulling the trigger as a mitigating factor.”
According to online court records, a mortgage foreclosure action was filed against Schultz on April 9 by Associated Bank.
O’Melia said he is also concerned about Schultz’s relative lack of ties to the community and his unusual behavior during court appearances.
“He’s got a van ready to go and very serious charges looming,” O’Melia said. “There really is nothing to keep him here … and finally his behavior in court was, and is, odd.”
“He appeared to be unstable at some of these hearings,” the judge said. “The $50,000, yes it’s high, but I think it’s fitting for this offense.”
A preliminary hearing in this case was set for May 2. If convicted of all charges, Schultz faces up to 10 years in prison.
NORTH BEND, Wash. – Deputies blasted the roof off a mountainside bunker and found a body believed to be that of accused double murderer Peter Keller inside the hideout, stuffed with guns and ammo, where he had apparently holed up after killing his wife and daughter.
A pistol and a large quantity of blood were seen near the body, said King County Sheriff Steve Strachan. Investigators later determined that the man had died of a single gunshot to the head.
http://liarcatchers.com/wrongful_death.html
The body was found at about 9:45 a.m. Saturday after a SWAT team was able to maneuver in with explosives and blow a portion of the roof off the heavily fortified bunker, said King County sheriff’s spokeswoman Sgt. Cindi West.
Deputies then entered the bunker, where they discovered a body which they said appeared to be Keller. It appeared as though he had died some hours before, West said.
Investigators later found at least 13 guns, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, a large gun scope, two bullet-proof vests, a generator, propane, gas cans, binoculars and Keller’s ID during a search of the underground complex.
Officials said it appeared Keller, 41, had spent eight years building the elaborate hideaway near Rattlesnake Ridge in the Cascade foothills.
King County sheriffs’ officials said a bomb disposal unit combed through the bunker after the body was discovered, but found no signs of booby traps or explosives.
Crime scene investigators then entered the hideout to begin their work. Once inside, they found a multi-level underground complex, complete with kitchen, storerooms and multiple camouflaged entries.
Ultimately the bunker will be destroyed so that it does not present a danger to hikers or campers in the area, officials said.
“There’s been a huge sigh of relief,” King County sheriff’s Sgt. Katie Larson said. “Our people are out safe, and the trails are now safe for the community to use.”
Deputies and a SWAT team surrounded the bunker Friday after figuring out its location using landmarks in photos that Keller left behind on a computer hard drive in his burning home. He apparently thought the computer drive would be destroyed in the blaze, but fire crews extinguished the blaze before it was damaged.
SWAT teams spent a grueling seven hours on the mountainside Friday morning, virtually crawling over dangerously steep terrain slick with mud from recent rains, before they found the bunker at about the 1,350-foot level. A number of officers were treated intravenously for dehydration, and one broke his ankle, said sheriff’s Sgt. Cindi West said.
After long shifts, the officers appeared exhausted, their faces smeared with camouflage paint, as they rode down the mountain in sport-utility vehicles or armored carriers to be replaced by fresher teams.
After surrounding the elaborate hideout on Friday, deputies first attempted to flush out Keller using tear gas, but that effort was unsuccessful – either because the gas did not penetrate the bunker or because its occupant was wearing a gas mask.
SWAT officers who kept watch on the bunker through Friday night said they saw lights going on and off, and they believed its occupant had everything necessary to remain inside for a long time.
Keller had not been seen since the fire at his North Bend-area home on Sunday led responders to discover the bodies of his wife and daughter.
The King County medical examiner determined Kaylene Keller, 18, and her mother, Lynnettee Keller, 41, both died from gunshots to the head before the fire started. Their bodies were found in their bedrooms.
Court documents described Keller as a loner who has a survivalist mentality and has been stockpiling supplies in the woods.
If he had lived, Keller would have faced charges of first-degree murder and first-degree arson.
The fire at Keller’s home was stopped before the house burned down, and authorities said they found seven gasoline cans placed in different areas of the home.
WASHINGTON (CBS4) – A man from Denver has been murdered while visiting Washington, D.C. and police are offering a $25,000 reward for information.
http://liarcatchers.com/wrongful_death.html
Police say Gary Dederichs, 66, was found dead in an alley on Tuesday. An autopsy showed he died from blunt force trauma to the head.
Dederichs worked as a nurse at Swedish Medical Center. He had been touring the Washington area for a few weeks.
No arrests have been made.
When Linda Archie calls her daughter’s cellphone, she prays she’ll hear her voice.
Maybe Bene’ will say she needed to get away. Or that she went on an adventure with a friend.
Whatever the reason, Archie wouldn’t mind.
“We’re a family,” she said. “She is loved by her family, and we want her back.”
Kathryn Bene’ Griffin disappeared on Jan. 7. Her former boyfriend saw her at his Portsmouth barbershop. She borrowed his bicycle, he said, then pedaled away.
http://liarcatchers.com/missing_persons_investigations.html
Griffin’s life had been troubled, her mother said. In the early ’90s, she had an 11-month-old son who died. She served time on a drug charge and probation violations.
Her mother took in two of her children and encouraged her daughter to make some changes.
At Thanksgiving, the two women talked about the future. Griffin said she liked to style hair. Her mother told her she should get her barber’s license.
Archie recalled the last time she saw her daughter, a few days before she went missing.
She had taken the children to Perry’s Cutz, the barbershop where Griffin often helped her former boyfriend. The children ran inside and embraced their mom. Griffin gave them each $5 and took them across the street to a store. When it was time for them to leave, she hugged them and made sure they put on their seat belts.
“Bene’ was a good girl,” Archie said, then she caught herself. “I don’t want to say ‘was’; that’s past tense.”
More than 600 people were reported missing in Portsmouth last year, said Detective Jan Westerbeck, Portsmouth police spokeswoman.
In Virginia Beach, the number was 1,934.
Most are runaways, some located by police and returned to families. Some are adults. They tell police they forgot to call their families or lost track of time. Some just wanted to leave a spouse or stressful situation.
“It’s not against the law to walk away from your life,” said James Thomas, a police detective in Chesapeake, where 161 were reported missing last year. “People over the age of 18 can come and go as they please.”
For families, the not knowing is the worst part, said Virginia Beach police Detective Angela Murphy. “They just don’t know, and they don’t know what to feel.”
To track down the missing, police generally follow a process that begins with determining the person’s age and whether he or she is in danger because of an abduction or mental disability, such as dementia. For an endangered missing person, a search is immediate.
If a person is not in danger, detectives follow leads and conduct interviews.
The process can be frustrating.
Cases aren’t solved the way they are on TV, Murphy said. On TV, police track the missing in minutes using a cellphone’s GPS or other technology. In real life, detectives must have a court order to do so, Murphy said.
Citizens also think they have to wait before reporting a disappearance.
“I’ll ask them, ‘Why did you wait two days?’ ” said Chesapeake’s Thomas. “They say they thought they had to wait 24 hours.”
He said police will take a report about a disappearance any time, from anyone.
Sometimes, despite weeks, months or even years of investigating, the trail to a missing person grows cold.
“After a while, they either have to accept the fact that they are not going to find their loved one,” Murphy said. “Or in their mind, that the person is alive and I’m never going to see them again … or they are dead.”
Archie has gotten calls from friends and family offering support and kind words, but none with information about her daughter.
Police divers searched waterways for Griffin. Officers with dogs have taken to fields and wooded areas. Detectives have gotten some leads, according to Westerbeck, who said the investigation is open and she couldn’t provide details.
“Every day, I pray for us,” Archie said. “I pray that wherever my daughter is, the Lord is looking after her and will touch her mind.”
She and her sons have made fliers that are posted in businesses near the barber shop. They offered a $500 reward for information that leads to Griffin. Her former boyfriend put up a flier in the window of his shop. William Perry Jr. said he has talked with police, too, and recommended they talk with Griffin’s acquaintances.
Archie ponders the milestones Griffin has missed, including her 44th birthday. She wondered recently whether Griffin would return in time to attend a scholastic banquet at school with Wilmesha, 10, and William, 8.
The children have asked about their mom. Archie answers carefully.
“They understand what Heaven is.”
As she continued, she began to cry. Wilmesha and William piled on top of her and made her laugh.
“It’s all right, Grandmamma,” they said. “It’s all right.”
“I just can’t see her going somewhere this long and not calling me,” Archie said. “She was very close to me. I know she loves her children.”
LACEY, Wash. – An overnight fire in Lacey is being called arson.
Firefighters were called to battle flames in a new housing development in the 4000 block of 18th Ave. NE at 3:30 a.m. Arriving crews found a two-story house fully engulfed in flames that had spread to an adjacent home.
http://liarcatchers.com/arson_investigation.html
A short time later firefighters discovered two additional houses has been set on fire. All of the homes were under construction and unoccupied.
The cause is under investigation, though firefighters believe the fires are suspicious. Damage is estimated at $400,000.
Two Lake County sheriff’s deputies and a police dog found more than 22 pounds of marijuana, a loaded gun and more than $1,000 in cash during a traffic stop in Beach Park, authorities said Friday.
The driver, Henderson Darby, 23, of the 1600 block of Greenfield Avenue in North Chicago, faces charges of possession of cannabis with intent to deliver, possession of more than 5,000 grams of cannabis, possession of drug paraphernalia, armed violence and a traffic citation for not having a light on his rear license plate, according to the Lake County sheriff’s office.
http://liarcatchers.com/drugdogsweeps.html
Deputy Javier Perez stopped Darby’s silver 2001 Pontiac Bonneville about 8:30 p.m. Tuesday at Green Bay Road and Wakefield Drive in Beach Park and smelled “the strong odor of cannabis,” the sheriff’s office said.
Deputy Tony Fanella and police dog Thor assisted Perez in a search of the vehicle, which yielded the cash, a loaded .38 revolver and more than 22 pounds of marijuana — an amount with a street value of $26,000 — authorities said.
Bail was set at $100,000 for Darby, who is due in court at 9 a.m. Monday, April 30.