"CIVILIZATIONS DIE FROM SUICIDE, NOT BY MURDER."
Wednesday, July 24, 2024
Thursday, July 18, 2024
Sex Offender Shot by Woman Home Alone
By Robert A. Waters
On the afternoon of August 11, 2023, Pima County Sheriff's Department deputies arrived with sirens blazing to a neat residence in Tucson, Arizona. Cops quickly spied a body lying in the middle of the driveway. Blood pooled the concrete around him, and trailed back to the front of the house.
Deputies applied chest compressions to the man, but he was already dead.
Sandra Stacy, 54, the homeowner, was shaken...but alive!
FOX 10 News reported that "a convicted sex offender was shot and killed by an Arizona woman as he tried to break into her home last Friday...
"The fatal encounter occurred about 2 p.m. Friday, Aug. 11, at a residence near Garvey and Pyle Roads in Tucson when a woman defended herself by fatally shooting the man attempting to break into her house.
"The 54-year-old woman was home alone when the suspect, identified as Jayson Magrum, 42, tried to break into her residence, the Pima County Sherriff's Department said.
"The woman saw Magrum...and began yelling at him to leave, yet he reportedly continued in his efforts to gain access to the house.
"As a result, the woman obtained a firearm and defended herself.
"The female armed herself with a handgun and fired a shot out of a window to attempt to scare the male away.
"Following the warning shot, Magrum reportedly reached into the home and tried to disarm the woman, but she opened fire and struck the intruder..."
After being shot, Magrum tried to flee. He made it as far as the driveway where he collapsed and died.
News reports stated that the dead man was a registered sex offender in Utah.
The Arizona Republic reported "Magrum had a lengthy criminal record with Pima County, including at least eight charges dating back to 2006. Among them: multiple charges of threatening or intimidating, disorderly conduct as well as assault. Most recently, a case filed in Pima County Justice Court in January says Magrum was accused of threatening to cause damage to the property of another."
NOTE: I could only find four news articles describing this case. The stories were brief, without much detail, and poorly written. I'd like to know more. For instance, what kind of gun was used? Had Magrum been stalking Tracy? (Although she didn't know her attacker, he lived nearby.) Why didn't this case receive more publicity?
I did find one brief article about why he was labeled a Registered Sex Offender. On March 21, 2001, the Gunnison Valley News reported: "MAGRUM, Jayson Keith, 20, Elsinore, Utah, committed to jail for 6 months on a commitment out of District Court for attempted forcible sexual abuse."
It's likely Sandra Tracy would have been yet another victim of violent sexual attack had she not used an "equalizer" to protect herself.
Sunday, July 7, 2024
Murdered for Four Bucks and a Nickel
Sunday, June 23, 2024
The Coast-to-Coast Killer
On August 8, 2023, the Baltimore Sun reported "police have opened a homicide investigation after a dead body, believed to be a woman recently reported missing, was found Sunday afternoon near a popular trail in Bel Air (Maryland)..."
Rachel Hannah Morin, 37, had been reported missing on August 6. A mother of five, Rachel was a fitness enthusiast. Late in the afternoon, she drove to the Maryland and Pennsylvania Trail (also called the Ma-Pa Trail) and began jogging through the heavily forested park. When she failed to return home, her boyfriend, Richard Tobin, reported her missing.
The next morning, a tracker named Michael Gabriszeski, with the help of his daughter, Cynthia, found Rachel's body in a drainage tunnel about 70 yards off the trail. Although this information had not yet been released by authorities, Gabriszeski told Daily Mail that Rachel "was laying on her back, fully naked, and she had brutal head trauma...it looked like her head had been smashed in with a rock." A blood trail leading to the tunnel helped Gabriszeski find the body.
WBALTV confirmed the tracker's account, reporting that "Martinez-Hernandez laid in wait for Morin as she was out for a jog. Prosecutors said he then attacked and dragged her through the woods to a drainage ditch tunnel. The medical examiner found 10-15 head wounds, and the report indicated Morin died from blunt force trauma and strangulation."
From the start, this case had the feel of a stranger-on-stranger crime. The Harford County district attorney told reporters "it was the most brutal and violent offense that has ever happened in Harford County."
Harford County Sheriff Jeff Gahler quickly called in the FBI for assistance. The killer had left DNA, so investigators obtained a genetic profile and entered it into CODIS, the FBI databank.
They quickly got a hit.
In Los Angeles, 2,657 miles from Harford County, a mother and her nine-year-old daughter had managed to survive a violent home invasion. An unidentified Hispanic male broke into the home and sexually assaulted the two. Police speculated he would likely have murdered them, but another member of the household interrupted the attack. Doorbell camera footage recorded the intruder fleeing the home. After LAPD entered the killer's DNA profile into CODIS, they got the call from Harford County.
It took ten months, but, using genetic genealogy, investigators determined the suspect to be Victor Martinez Hernandez. According to Daily Mail, "Hernandez had illegally crossed the southern border in February 2023 after he also allegedly murdered another woman in El Salvador a month earlier."FBI agent Bill DelBango informed reporters that "our investigative genetic genealogy team in Baltimore worked countless hours to identify the suspect by using crime scene DNA and tracing that DNA to potential family members."
In June, 2024, cops captured Hernandez in a bar in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
He has been extradited back to Maryland.
So how many other victims has Hernandez assaulted or murdered? A reputed gang member, he had no problem traveling the length of the United States more than once in a ten-month period. Where did he obtain funds to travel? Why is our border wide open to unvetted criminals and terrorists? At least ten million known illegal aliens from every country in the world have come unimpeded into our country since 2020. There are likely millions more "getaways," (i.e., unknown migrants).
Why is Rachel Morin dead? Why isn't she living her normal life today? Why is her family grieving her untimely death?
At a press conference, Sheriff Gahler echoed the thoughts of millions of Americans. "Victor Hernandez," he said, "did not come to this country to make a better life for him or his family, he came here to escape the crimes he committed in El Salvador. He came here to murder Rachel and, God willing, no one else. But that should never have been allowed to happen." (NOTE: my italics)
Wednesday, June 12, 2024
9-1-1 Calls, Bodycam Footage, and Arrest Video in Julian Wood Murder
Monday, June 3, 2024
Murder in Micanopy
By Robert A. Waters
According to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), there are at least 350,000 unsolved murders in America. In Florida, 20,000 cases have gone cold. Florida's clearance rate on murders is the national average, about 66%, meaning one-third of murders in the state are still open. I find those numbers staggering. How many killers live among us? In 1969, a 72-year-old store owner met a gruesome death in a historic central Florida town. There isn't a great deal of information about the case, but here's what is known.
Micanopy, named after a Seminole chieftain, was founded in 1821. It is the oldest inland town in the state. During the Seminole Indian wars, many residents holed up in Fort Defiance, located near the town. In 1836, Seminole chief Osceola unsuccessfully attacked the fort. After a battle lasting a little more than an hour, Osceola retreated. More soldiers in Fort Defiance died of malaria than fighting Indians. Major J. F. Hieleman, who led the counter-attack on Osceola, perished from the disease a few days after the battle.
In 1969, Micanopy had a population of about 750. Pearle Bartley, born in 1897, owned a small general store there. Called "Pearle's Place," she resided alone in a home attached to the store. On October 29, two customers walked into the business and found her lying on the floor. She'd been strangled to death and money was missing from the cash drawer.
Pearle's granddaughter, Marci Buchanan, said, "She was a very caring, gentle, docile person. She would have given anybody anything. So it just really shocked our family she was murdered like that." Marci remembers Pearle playing the "Missouri Waltz" on the piano. She told reporters her grandmother taught her to "tend a garden and crochet."
Micanopy lies about 12 miles south of Gainesville and 26 miles north of Ocala. Today it still has a population of less than 1,000. Canopied by hundreds of huge oak trees, the village is known for its eclectic mix of stores that sell vintage books, art, crafts, rare jewelry, music, and antiques. Many of the businesses are located in 19th century-era buildings (see picture below). The town has no police force, so the Alachua County Sheriff's Office investigates any major criminal activity in the area.
After the murder, Alachua County homicide investigator Kevin Allen said deputies set up roadblocks to question drivers coming into or going out of Micanopy. While canvassing the area, many residents had noticed "that there was a blue or black motorcycle at or around the scene at the time of the homicide." No local citizen was known to own such a motorcycle.Decades after the murder, two suspects emerged. Georgia serial killer Carlton Gary (pictured below) resided in Gainesville at the time of the murder. Pearle fit the killer's profile--he enjoyed strangling elderly white women to death while raping them. (Investigators have never said whether Pearle was sexually assaulted.)
A fingerprint found at the crime scene did not match Gary. Detective Allen spoke with Gary while he was on death row and said "he made admissions to almost every crime he had committed including robberies and burglaries, but he said he was not involved with any sexual murders of elderly females in Georgia or the state of Florida." On March 15, 2018, the killer was executed for the rapes and murders of three women in Georgia.The fingerprint had been lifted off a Coca Cola cooler that sat near the body of Pearle. It came back to a "hustler and con-man" named Austin Felker. According to Allen, Felker had recently moved to Florida and "was the new owner of a blue and black motorcycle." But he had no history of violence. Was he the killer or just a customer? It's likely no one will ever know since he died many years ago.
The murder of Pearle Bartley is still being investigated. It speaks highly of Detective Allen and others who won't let the coldest of cases rest.
Wednesday, May 22, 2024
Unsolved Double Murder in North Carolina
Who Killed Jenna and Ethen Nielsen?
By Robert A. WatersJim Sughrue, spokesman for the police department, described the scene to reporters. “As [police] investigated the area,” he said, “they located a female behind the building who is a homicide victim.” Robbery seemed an unlikely motive since Jenna Nielsen’s purse and other personal belongings were found in the vehicle. The victim’s pants had been pulled down to her knees, causing investigators to theorize that she may have been murdered while fighting off a sexual attack.
When she died, Jenna was eight-and-a-half months pregnant with a boy already named Ethen. Married and the mother of two boys, Jenna had been going about her job restocking newspaper boxes for USA Today. Her husband, Tim, worked during the day and kept the children at night while his wife delivered papers.
An autopsy revealed a single stab wound to the neck. Only three inches deep, it had slashed her carotid artery and jugular vein, causing her to bleed to death. There were abrasions on Jenna’s arms and legs, as if she’d been dragged or had fallen. The autopsy also showed that Ethen was 39-40 weeks old, weighed 6.35 pounds, and was 19.9 inches long. He was healthy and normal in every way.
After detectives interviewed area residents and business owners, they released a sketch of a “person of interest” (pictured below) who had been seen in the area near the time of the murder. According to police, that neighborhood is usually deserted at four-forty-five in the morning.
As the investigation continued, the family released a statement to the press. “Jenna was a loving mother, wife and daughter,” the statement said. “She had a very outgoing personality, [and] was everyone’s friend. Jenna and her Husband Tim had 2 wonderful sons: Schyler, 3, and Kaiden, 11 months. They were expecting their third son Ethen on July 8th. Jenna’s family recently relocated to the area from Utah when her father and husband’s jobs were relocated. She enjoyed living in the Raleigh area for the warm weather and the friendly people. She fit right in.”
Seventeen years later, the family is still waiting for an arrest. The news crews are long-gone, and stories about their beloved wife and daughter only seem to come on anniversaries of Jenna's murder.
The family has a website, justice4jenna.
Tim and Jenna's father, Kevin Blaine, worked to pass the Unborn Victims of Violence Act in North Carolina. The law, enacted in 2011, reads: “AN ACT TO PROVIDE THAT A PERSON WHO commits the crime of murder or manslaughter OF A PREGNANT WOMAN is GUILTY OF A SEPARATE OFFENSE for THE RESULTING DEATH OF THE unborn child and to provide that a person who commits a felony or a misdemeanor that is an act of domestic violence and injures a pregnant woman that results in a miscarriage or stillbirth by the woman is guilty of a separate offense that is punishable at the same class and level as the underlying offense.”
Investigators are still searching for the person of interest noticed by a witness in the area of the murder. The suspect was thought to be in his late teens or early twenties and is about five-feet-three-inches tall, weighing 120 pounds. Police said he may be Hispanic. At the time of the murder, he wore a dark-colored sleeveless shirt and baggy denim shorts. His most noticeable characteristic was black hair pulled into a long pony-tail.
Police have one major clue that could lead to the killer’s capture. Family members informed reporters that police have DNA thought to be from the killer. Investigators continue to run the sample through CODIS, the FBI's national database that contains profiles of convicted offenders. So far, they have not gotten a match.
If you have any information about this case, please contact the Raleigh Police Department at 919-227-6220.
Monday, May 13, 2024
Drifting Towards Death -- Or Freedom
Tuesday, May 7, 2024
Unsolved Murder of "Old Man" John Maxwell
Saturday, April 27, 2024
"The Silent City of the Dead"
A Twist of Fate
By Robert A. Waters
Vanished
On April 16, 1960, a mild spring day in middle Tennessee, a seventeen-year-old girl walked toward the Duck River (pictured below) carrying a fishing rod and a can of worms. Given the nice weather, fish should be biting, she thought. Bass, perch, catfish, maybe even a rainbow trout might be tempted by her bait. But while fishing would be fun, she had confided to friends her real motive was to get a suntan.
In a twist of fate, her brother had planned to drive her to the river, but the family's car wouldn't start. So the shy country girl decided to hike the four miles to the river.
She never returned home. Late that afternoon, her mother reported her missing. As the investigation began, three residents who knew the girl reported seeing her walking toward the river. They told investigators she wore red shorts and carried a rod and reel.
"Searchers beat through miles of rugged backwoods near here yesterday," the Nashville Tennessean reported, "without finding a trace of a pretty blonde teenage girl who vanished Wednesday. More than 50 persons searched on the ground and from the air for Anna Kelnhofer...National Guardsmen also checked an empty house at Devil's Backbone, a ridge along the Duck River a few miles east of Riley Creek Road. They also checked a burned house in a small field spotted by a CAP plane."
Coffee County Sheriff Dan Daniel seemed perplexed. "You can't help but think there was foul play," he said. "You look at it any way you want to, and you come up with the same thing." In addition to the sheriff's department, the Tennessee Bureau of Criminal Identification joined the search.
The area Anna walked was sparsely populated. A few houses lay scattered along the road, but as it neared the river, craggy outcrops appeared in the heavily forested terrain.
According to friends, Anna seemed happy one day and depressed the next. A few days before, she'd broken up with her boyfriend. Then she decided to quit school. Friends told cops she could be "moody" at times. Years later, someone would coin the term teenage angst, but in the early 1960s, her attitude seemed relatively normal.
Anna's father, Harold Kelnhofer, employed by the U. S. army corps of engineers in Seattle, Washington, was said to be flying back home to join the hunt.
For two days, the search continued. In frustration, Daniels called in the Tullahoma National Guard, the Civil Air Patrol, boy scouts, and dozens of volunteers.
The Rod and Reel
On the second day of the search, Fred Hickerson, of Tullahoma, a city of 12,000, reported to police that Arthur Roger Ivey, a local insurance salesman, had given him a rod and reel. Detectives soon determined it was the same one Anna had carried. Hickerson said Ivey had first attempted to sell it for $2.00 at a pawn shop, but was unsuccessful.
Cops quickly descended on Ivey.
As they interrogated the suspect, he quickly broke. The Tennessean reported that "Ivey said he hit the girl accidentally, then panicked, piled her body into the trunk of his car, and drove to the old military reservation." (Camp Forrest, one of the army's largest military bases during World War II, had long been abandoned and was now undergoing new forest growth.) Investigators went to the location where Ivey said he ran into the girl, but saw no skid marks or disturbances on or near the road. In addition, they found no damage to Ivey's vehicle.
Ivey led cops to Camp Forrest, eight miles from Tullahoma. There he pointed out the gravesite where he buried the girl. She lay in a shallow grave, covered by brush and trash. After finding the victim, detectives charged Ivey with first degree murder and ordered him held without bail.
Dr. W. J. Core performed the autopsy. He stated that in his opinion "the pretty young girl died as a result of a fractured skull caused by repeated blows on the head by a heavy, jagged instrument...Dr. Core, who said he examined the body six and a half days after death, said he discovered brush and thorn marks on Miss Kelnhofer's legs which strongly indicated to him that she had been running through heavy brush just prior to her death." Dr. Core found no broken bones or other injuries to her body, except for the head area.
He said he could not tell if she had been sexually assaulted because of decomposition.
The Trials
At trial, Special Prosecutor Walter "Pete" Haynes stated that only two people know for sure what happened. One is Ivey, he said. The other is Anna Kelnhofer, who now "sleeps in the silent city of the dead."