Monday, April 28, 2014

Tampa Woman Shot and Killed Her Teen Children




       
Julie Schenecker, center, is led into a Tampa, Fla. courtroom for the first day of jury selection for her trial, Monday, April 28, 2014. Shenecker is being tried for the January 28, 2011 murder of her two children Calyx and Beau Schenecker, her 16-year-old daughter and 13-year-old son. (AP Photo/The Tampa Tribune, Jay Conner, Pool)
  Murderer and 'Alice the Goon' look alike Julie Scheneker                        
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TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — A military wife whose husband was deployed to the Middle East shot her 13-year-old son twice in the head for talking back, authorities said, then returned home and shot her 16-year-old daughter in the face as she studied. Now she's on trial, and whether she spends life in prison hinges on a key question for jurors: After years of profound mental illness, was she unable to realize what she did was wrong, as her defense attorneys say? Or did she plan the January 2011 killings over at least several days, as prosecutors say, complaining at one point that the three-day wait to buy a gun would "delay the massacre"?








Jury selection began Monday morning in Julie Scheneker's case. She is charged with two counts of first-degree murder. Those on the jury will see many disturbing images and hear hours of troubling evidence. They will see several sides to Schenecker, a former military linguist and wife of a colonel.
They will see an attentive suburban mom, cheering from the sidelines as her kids played soccer. They will also see a woman who bought a gun the weekend before the killings — and who complained in a letter that a three-day waiting period would "delay the massacre." They will see the handcuffed inmate, escorted by officers, who walked rigidly into jail following her arrest, her face contorted and eyes empty.








Schenecker, 53, looks older and vastly different than pictures that emerged of her as a blonde, athletic mom in the years before the crime. She sat in the courtroom Monday, flanked by her public defenders, who plan an insanity defense.






Her ex-husband, Parker Schenecker, also was in the courtroom. Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty, but if convicted, Schenecker could face life in prison without the possibility of parole. If Schenecker is found not guilty by reason of insanity, the judge could still order her committed to a mental hospital until it is determined she is no longer a danger to others or herself.




According to Tampa Police, Schenecker shot her 13-year-old son, Beau, twice in the head with a .38-caliber pistol in the family car "for talking back." Officers at the scene found the boy still in the passenger seat, with his seat belt on. The report said Schenecker then shot her 16-year-old daughter, Calyx, in the face as the high school cross-country star studied on her computer at their upscale home.








After Schenecker sent her mother a disturbing email, officers went to the house and found her drenched in blood on her back porch. They then found the teens' bodies, a scene that was so troubling that a stress team was called to counsel them. Julie Schenecker was born in Muscatine, Iowa. There, she was an athlete and that continued in college, where she played volleyball for the University of Northern Iowa.










Schenecker eventually joined the Army, advancing to the rank of sergeant as a Russian linguist. While she was stationed in Munich, Germany, she met and married Parker Schenecker in the late 1980s. She left the service a few years later. Col. Parker Schenecker was a career military officer and the family moved around. At the time of the killings, he was attached to U.S. Central Command in Tampa. He had been deployed to the Middle East a few weeks before the killings happened. He has since divorced his wife and filed a wrongful death lawsuit against her.






In part, prosecutors declined to pursue the death penalty because they think there is enough evidence to prove Schenecker is mentally ill, but not legally insane. Under Florida law, the burden of proof will be on Schenecker's lawyers to prove she is insane. They will have to show that she was so mentally ill that she could not understand that killing her children was wrong.






"They have kind of an uphill climb," said Bob Dekle, a University of Florida law professor and retired prosecutor. It will be especially difficult for Schenecker because she purchased a handgun five days before the shootings, then picked it up after the three-day waiting period and soon used it to kill.
But court documents show that Schenecker has a long history of mental illness. In the early 1990s, she was diagnosed with depression and treated with medication. From 1997 to 2001, she was medicated daily except for when she was pregnant and nursing, records show.





In 2001, she suffered a debilitating bout of depression and was hospitalized for nine months. Documents also show that she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, schizo-affective disorder and severe depression. A few months before the killings, Calyx called the police on her mother, saying she had hit her. Police closed the case as there were no marks on the girl. The family was in counseling about a month before the killings. Dekle points out that "being mentally ill doesn't prove someone is insane," and the two terms are not interchangeable in court.
"Mental illness is a medical concept," he said. "Insanity is a legal concept."

Utah Mother Killed Six Newborns



PROVO, Utah (Reuters) - A Utah mother accused of killing six of her newborn infants over a decade and stashing their bodies in a garage was charged on Monday with murder in their deaths.
Megan Huntsman, 39, made a brief court appearance in Provo, Utah, as the first-degree murder charges were revealed by Utah County Attorney Jeff Buhman.


Hunstman could face life in prison if convicted but will not be eligible for the death penalty, prosecutors said. Police have said that Huntsman, who was arrested on April 13, has admitted to strangling or suffocating the six babies just after their births between 1996 and 2006 in a rare case of serial infanticide.


The infants' remains were found wrapped in old towels, shirts and plastic bags and stuffed inside cardboard boxes in the garage of her former home in Pleasant Grove, a suburb just north of Provo. The body of a seventh infant was found disposed of in the same way, but authorities have said they believe that child was stillborn.




Police have said Huntsman secretly gave birth to all seven babies without medical assistance at the house after apparently managing to conceal her pregnancies.
Authorities have said she has explained her rationale for the killings to investigators, but they have not publicly revealed the alleged motive.


Buhman told reporters that DNA from the infants' remains was still being analyzed to confirm their parentage, which could take weeks or months. Huntsman has three surviving daughters, ages 14, 18 and 20, and they still live with other relatives at the Pleasant Grove address. At least one of them, the youngest, was born during the period in which the mother is suspected of slaying the babies.

Each count of first-degree murder carries a maximum sentence of five years to life in prison. But Huntsman is not eligible for the death penalty if convicted because the alleged offenses predate changes in the law that would have made them capital crimes, said Jared Perkins, a deputy county attorney.


 Huntsman, who remains jailed in lieu of $6 million cash-only bond, was arrested after her estranged husband, Darren West, discovered the remains of one of the infants while cleaning out his garage, leading police to find the six other bodies. The county attorney said neither West nor the three surviving sisters are considered suspects in the case.
 

Mother Stabs Her Infant Baby to Death








LIVERMORE, Calif. (AP) — A young mother believed to be suffering from depression admitted to investigators that she stabbed her 7-month-old son to death in a Northern California park, police said Sunday. Ashley Newton, 23, of San Jose was arrested Saturday on suspicion of murder, the East Bay Regional Parks District Police Department said in a statement.


Investigators continue to interview her family and friends in an attempt to make sense of the alleged crime. "This is an extremely shocking case for us," said Chief Timothy Anderson of the park's police department. The motive remains unclear, but Anderson said that Newton had a history of depression and appeared to have self-inflicted knife wounds on her wrist.


Police were called at 10:30 a.m. Saturday on reports of a damaged Honda sedan in the Del Valle Regional Park east of San Francisco. They found the car abandoned with the engine running and an empty child's seat. Officers were about to tow the car two hours later, believing it was involved in a hit-and-run, when Newton walked up to them holding her lifeless baby, Anderson said.

Officers tried to resuscitate the baby, but he was pronounced dead at the scene. Newton was arrested after she made statements implicating herself in the stabbing, Anderson said, adding that investigators found a knife in the area that they believe was used in the alleged crime. The stabbing occurred in a remote part of Camp Arroyo, the site of a popular children's camp inside the 4,400-acre park south of Livermore, a suburb that's about 45 miles east of San Francisco. Newton remains in jail with no possibility of release on bond, police said.

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Man Rapes Dog in Front of Neighbors



A whole new level of animal cruelty!





Daytona Beach, Fla.- James Guy Bull, a 61-year-old Florida man, was jailed Tuesday after he allegedly raped his 8-month-old dog in front of two neighbors.

According to Daytona Beach Police, officers were dispatched to a Daytona Beach residence Tuesday after two witnesses reported that their neighbor, James Guy Bull, was raping his dog on the front porch of his residence.

Investigators say officers arrived at the suspect's residence to find the dog bound to his porch with an 8-inch chain. The dog was found to be "clearly emaciated" with "a very swollen vagina" and was provided with no food, water or shade.

Neighbors told officers they were alerted to the abuse after hearing the dog yelping in distress. When Bull realized he was being watched by neighbors, he reportedly "pulled up his pants and put the dog down."

Neighbors reported seeing Bull place his fingers inside the dog's vagina on prior occasions or hearing the dog cry in distress through the walls of his apartment.

The dog was removed from the residence and placed with the Halifax Humane Society for medical treatment

Brother and Sister Meth Addicts Also Having Sex



Incest is against Texas Law- for now!

Family That Gets Arrested for Meth Together Makes Out in Jail Together
A routine shoplifting arrest at Wal-Mart escalated into a tale of meth charges and "prohibited sexual conduct" between a brother and sister.

 
When Charlene Ellet, 25, was detained for alleged shoplifting at a Porter, Texas, Walmart, her brother Cameron Beck, 26, came looking for her at the loss prevention office. County deputies searched their car and found a burnt lightbulb and a cut pen, which tested positive for crystal meth.
The two admitted to smoking the meth about two weeks prior, and were booked for possession of a controlled substance (and a shoplifting charge for Ellet). And that's when things got really complicated.

Police placed Ellet and Beck in adjoining cells, and while they were filing the booking reports, the two began "kissing each other on the lips through the bars." After double-checking that they heard that whole "brother and sister" thing correctly, deputies questioned Ellet separately. She admitted to a sexual relationship with her brother that started when he was released from jail in November—although she insisted they had different fathers.

She said the two had been living in a motel with her 2-year-old twin daughters, and they put up a partition or went into the bathroom so the babies wouldn't see them having sex.
Prohibited sexual conduct laws in Texas apply to half-siblings, so the two were charged and remain in jail. Ellet's daughters were released to her sister



Child Living in Closet Under the Stairs; Starving to Death in Filthy Diaper


A father and pregnant stepmother have been arrested after they allegedly kept their five-year-old son locked under the stairs.


Police discovered a locked closet with a mattress after being called to a home following a disturbance last Thursday between Bradley Bleimeyer, 24, and his 16-year-old stepson. The teenager had allegedly objected to his younger stepbrother being kept under the stairs at the home in Spring, Harris County, Texas.
 
Authorities are investigating a father and stepmother who are accused of starving and locking their 5-year-old son in a closet at their Texas home


The child's stepmother Tammi Bleimeyer, 33, had fled the home with the boy before officers arrived, according to Clicktohouston. Bleimeyer, who is six months' pregnant, refused to return to the home when contacted by police.


She was tracked to a motel in Humble by her cellphone where she was found with the boy. The child was taken to hospital where he was treated for a large cut on his back, bumps and bruises and severe malnourishment.




He remains at Texas Children's Hospital where Child Protective Services have applied for emergency custody. Tammi Bleimeyer was charged with endangering a child and released on $2,000 bond.


Horrific: The boy's father Bradley Bleimeyer (left) and stepmother Tammi (right) allegedly locked the five-year-old boy under the stairs and starved him
Horrific: The boy's father Bradley Bleimeyer (left) and stepmother Tammi (right) allegedly locked the five-year-old boy under the stairs and starved him

Imprisoned: The boy was found in a closet under the stairs wearing his diaper. It is unclear how long he'd been held there
Imprisoned: The boy was found in a closet under the stairs wearing his diaper. It is unclear how long he'd been held there.


Bradley Bleimeyer, who was already out on bond for a burglary charge, was also charged with endangering a child. The 24-year-old, who has spent time in jail and has string of prior convictions, is being held without bond. Bradley Bleimeyer is the biological father of the five-year-old.


His expectant wife is the biological mother of six children including the 16-year-old boy. All the children are being cared for by family but CPS is expected to gain custody shortly. The health of the other children is currently unknown.


Assistant Chief Deputy Mark Herman told Kens5 he had never seen anything like it in his 30 year career. 'He was severely under nourished, bone sticking out, bumps, bruises. His skin was coming off on his back. It's a horrific horrific situation,' he said.


Horrific: Assistant Chief Deputy Mark Herman said the abuse was the worst he'd seen in his thirty year career
Horrific: Assistant Chief Deputy Mark Herman said the abuse was the worst he'd seen in his thirty year career

The child was treated in hospital for cuts, bumps and bruises and was severely malnourished
The child was treated in hospital for cuts, bumps and bruises and was severely malnourished