Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Thrill Kills-Is This What the World is Coming To?
Cringing jurors watch Duncan torture boy on tape
- Story Highlights
- Jurors cringe as tapes of defendant torturing boy play in court
- Jury previously saw tape of Shasta Groene describing brother's murder
- Edward Duncan III killed four members of Groene family, kidnapped children
- Duncan pleaded guilty in December, may put up no defense at penalty trial
- Next Article in Crime »
BOISE, Idaho (AP) -- Jurors cringed, cried and some desperately looked away as they were shown a series of deeply disturbing and graphic videos taken by a convicted child killer as he tortured, sexually abused and nearly killed a 9-year-old boy.
Joseph Edward Duncan III stalked the Groene family and killed four of its five members.
Joseph Edward Duncan III, acting as his own attorney, had argued against playing the videos, saying it would turn jurors "into my victims" as they decide whether he should be executed.
Duncan kidnapped the boy, Dylan Groene, and his sister, Shasta, in May 2005 after murdering their older brother, their mother and her fiance in the Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, area. The two young children were taken deep into the Lolo National Forest, where they endured weeks of horrendous abuse at Duncan's hands.
Duncan ultimately shot the boy point-blank in the head while his sister, then 8, watched. He was arrested after returning to Coeur d'Alene, where a waitress recognized Shasta as the two ate at a Denny's restaurant.
The videos and photos taken at the cabin show Duncan forcing the boy to perform a sex act, whipping him with a belt and hanging him with a wire noose until the boy passed out.
"The devil is here, boy, the devil himself. The demon couldn't do what the devil sent him to do so the devil came himself," Duncan yells in one video. "The devil likes to watch children suffer and cry."
Duncan covered his face as parts of the video were shown, and jurors frequently shot him looks. Two of Duncan's standby attorneys also avoided looking at the screen.
Duncan, a convicted pedophile originally from Tacoma, Washington, has pleaded guilty to federal and state counts including murder. The federal jury is considering the death penalty on charges related to the kidnappings and Dylan's murder, but he also could face execution on state counts in the other three killings.
Duncan, who is representing himself in federal court, objected to showing the videos, saying that would "basically be turning the jury into my victims so I will be tried not by a jury of peers but by a jury of victims."
Judge Edward Lodge overruled Duncan's objection, as well as a last-minute request from Steven Groene, Shasta and Dylan's father, to close the courtroom to everyone but essential court personnel and one news media representative. He did prevail upon U.S. marshals guarding the courtroom to cover the windows on the door.
In the video, after releasing Dylan from the noose, Duncan promised to take him to the hospital so his injured neck could be treated. He also promised to tell hospital staffers where to find Shasta, who had been left back at the campground, so they could come find her. He kept neither promise.
After that, Duncan offered to let Dylan watch the video of his "death," then wandered away from the camera where he could be heard singing part of the Lord's Prayer.
Steven Groene left the courtroom just before the video was played. Before he did he approached some spectators, angrily motioning them out and making an obscene gesture when they stayed put. At one point he threatened to make a citizen's arrest of anyone watching, saying viewing child pornography is a crime.
Once the video had been shown and he returned to the courtroom, Groene confronted some of those who had stayed, asking bitterly if they enjoyed it.
The prosecution's last witness was a man who testified that Duncan had raped him at gunpoint in 1980, when the man was just 14 years old. Parts of the story seemed similar to some of Duncan's videotaped abuse of Dylan.
The Associated Press' policy generally does not identify victims of sexual assault. In Shasta and Dylan Groene's cases, however, the search for the children was so heavily publicized that their names are widely known.
After the prosecution rested, Duncan told the court he wanted to testify, but when took the witness stand he said he only wanted to answer any questions that government lawyers might have. They were unable to cross-examine him, however, because court rules generally prohibit questioning a defendant about anything that wasn't raised in the defendant's direct testimony.
Duncan said he had no other witnesses to call.
Jurors were given instructions Thursday afternoon and are expected to hear closing arguments on Friday morning before they begin deliberations, Lodge said.
If the jury finds Duncan is ineligible for the death penalty, the hearing will be over and he will be sentenced to life in prison without parole.
If the panel finds him eligible for capital punishment, the hearing will enter a second phase in which the government will try to convince the jury that Duncan should be executed while he will be able to present evidence to try to convince the jury that his life should be spared.Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Horrific Crimes-God Have Mercy on Us
Chain wrapped around 'old man's body' found in mosque
- Story Highlights
- Iraqi authorities discover 27 bodies at mosque and find torture room
- "Here is a chain we found tied to an old man's body," official says
- Dad of 25-year-old: "His hands, legs were amputated and his head was decapitated"
- Residents say militia has left mosque, but still intimidates them
- Next Article in World »
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VIDEO
PHOTOS
CNN
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- "There are the bloodstains on the wall, and here it is dried on the floor," Abu Muhanad said as he walked through a torture chamber in a Baghdad mosque where more than two dozen bodies have been found.
"And here, a woman's shoes. She was a victim of the militia. We found her corpse in the grave."
Chunks of hair waft lazily across the floor in the hot Baghdad breeze.
"This was the torture room," said Muhanad, the leader of a U.S.-backed armed group that now controls the mosque.
"This is what they used for hanging," he said, pointing to a cord dangling from the ceiling. "Here is a chain we found tied to an old man's body."
Go inside the mosque's torture chamber »
The horrific scene at this southwestern Baghdad mosque is what officials say was the work of a Shiite militia known as the Mehdi Army. Residents who live near the mosque say they could hear the victims' screams.
The militia had been in control of the mosque, called Adib al-Jumaili, from at least January 2007 until May of this year. Residents say coalition forces weren't in the region and the torture and killings went unchecked.
Some of the victims were accused of being spies for U.S. forces. Other family members don't know why their loved ones disappeared. The family members at the mosque who spoke to CNN were all Shiite, the same branch of Islam as the Mehdi militia. But, they say, some of the victims were Sunni as well. 
Watch mosque atrocities uncovered »
The neighborhood lies in an area that became one of the capital's many sectarian fault lines when violence was at its worst.
It's been about three months since the Mehdi Army, loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, abandoned this mosque as it withdrew from several strongholds across the country.
Spray painted on the walls is a chilling warning: "Spies, you will dig your own graves. Long live the Mehdi Army."
Now the mosque is under the watch of the Sons of Iraq, a local armed group that is largely financed by the Americans working alongside the Iraqi police. They are charged with trying to keep the peace in the neighborhood.
Muhanad is their leader.
"We found this chain on an old man's corpse that we dug out of the grave," he said, gesturing to a bloodied chain on the floor. "We recovered about 22 corpses and then another five."
Only now are people able to understand the true magnitude of the Shiite militia's atrocities and the brutal laws they were enforcing on the people.
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"This was my son's grave," Abu Wissam said, pointing to one of the many shallow holes in the mosque's garden. "We recovered his corpse completely rotten. His hands and legs were amputated, and his head was decapitated."
"He was just a college graduate," his mother sobbed, clutching her 25-year-old son's photo.
They say the Mehdi Army abducted their son about a year ago, accusing him of being a traitor. They shot up and looted his home. The family fled.
A gruesome video of their son's mutilated body was delivered to their doorstep.
The militia "still raid our homes," Abu Wissam said. "Their families are in the district. The day before yesterday, at noon, they tried to assassinate me, but I was able to call the police for help."
The neighborhood is eerily deserted. Most of the residents fled the militia's reign; many who stayed bore the brunt of the violence. Homes stand abandoned, shops shuttered, buildings shot up.
A single car drives down the main street as a pack of dogs runs through the twisted piles of metal that was once an outdoor market.
Lingering at the mosque are a handful of residents whose loved ones were also abducted, looking for clues.
"They said they were just taking him for a few minutes, for an investigation," said Karima, who only wanted to be identified by her first name, as her eyes filled with tears. "But they never released him and we heard he might be buried behind the mosque."
Umm Diab's breath came in shallow gasps as tears flowed from her turquoise-green eyes. She wiped them away using the corner of her abaya, or robe. In her hand, there's a passport photo of her father, who was abducted by the militia.
"All we want are their dead bodies," she said.
lthough the Mehdi Army has moved out of this mosque and is less visible on the street, residents know that they're not gone.
"They're still threatening us," Umm Diab said.Saturday, July 26, 2008
Friday, July 25, 2008
Monday, July 21, 2008
Wrenching 911 tape played in sleepover slayings
Taylor Placker, left, and Skyla Whitaker were friends who both loved animals, their families say.
The 911 tape was released six weeks after the bullet-riddled bodies of 13-year-old Taylor Placker and 11-year-old Skyla Whitaker were discovered along a remote country road in the town of Weleetka.
A breathless woman, identified only as a member of a family, can be heard on the tape. Her voice is raw with emotion.
"Somebody killed two young girls." she says. "They are both down here dead. My granddaughter and her friend. ... Help me. Please!" Listen to authorities play the dramatic tape »
Jessica Brown, Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman, said she hoped someone would hear the tape and be inspired to identify the killers.
"We know someone knows what happened," said Brown. "Hopefully if they hear the tape they will understand what happened and come forward."
Brown said investigators have run down about 500 leads and have eliminated 100 possible suspects but have not been able to crack the case.
"Someone has to come forward," she said.
Police are asking members of the public with more information about the case to call (800) 522-8017.
The two girls had planned a sleepover at Taylor's house on June 8, the night they were killed. They left the house about 5 p.m.
Less than 30 minutes later, Taylor's grandfather discovered the bodies in a ditch on the side of a road, near a bridge that is a popular gathering spot in the area.
The killings have rattled the community of Weleetka, a town of about 1,000 residents 75 miles from Tulsa. Taylor and Skyla were the only girls in their sixth- and fifth-grade classes,
Investigators don't have any suspects or motives, but a forensic examination of the bodies indicated that two guns had been used. Police have said they are looking for two shooters.
There has been speculation the girls' slayings were "thrill killings," and police investigators have said they hope one of the shooters will turn against the other.
Several witnesses reported seeing a suspicious man on the same dirt road where the girls were shot, Brown said last month.
She said authorities believed that the man, "who didn't look like he should have been there," was on the road before the girls were shot multiple times in the head and chest and left in a ditch.
Witnesses described the man as having a black ponytail, about 6 feet tall and 35 years old. They said he was standing in front of a white single-cab pickup with chrome striping, possibly a Chevy or Ford model, with Oklahoma tags, Brown said in a press conference on June 13.
"He acted a little suspiciously but we don't know what he was doing," said Brown, stopping short of calling him a suspect. "We just want to talk to him. We think he might have seen something."
Brown said other witnesses reported hearing gunshots near the crime scene.
Taylor's uncle, Joe Mosher, described his niece as an intelligent girl who loved animals.
"She rescued turtles on the highway and wrote her name on them and turned them loose in the country," Mosher said Wednesday.
Mosher said Taylor was at the top of her class in public school after being homeschooled most of her life.
"She was very smart," said Mosher, who last saw Taylor at a family reunion two weeks before her death.
Skyla's grandmother, Claudia Farrow, described the girl as "a typical tomboy. She lived out in the country. She loved animals, loved to fish."
"Every time she`d come over here in my yard, which they just lived about a hundred yards from me, all her animals would follow her over here," Farrow told CNN last month. "She'd have five or six cats following her, her little dog and her goat. I'd get on to her daddy, I said, 'Now, don't you let that goat eat my flowers,' because she'd always eat my flowers. I will miss that. I will miss her."Sunday, July 20, 2008
The Pursuit of Teen Girl Purity
There are some mothers and some uncles among the 150 people in the ballroom of the Broadmoor hotel, but the night belongs to fathers and daughters. The girls generally range in age from college down to the tiny 4-year-old dressed all in purple who has climbed up into her father's arms to be carried. Some are in their first high heels--you can tell by the way they walk, like uncertain baby giraffes. Randy Wilson, co-inventor of the Father-Daughter Purity Ball, offers a blessing: he calls on the men to be good and loving listeners, tender, gracious and truthful. And he prays that the girls might "step into the world with strength and passion, to lead this generation."
Photos
Kylie Miraldi has come from California to celebrate her 18th birthday tonight. She'll be going to San Jose State on a volleyball scholarship next year. Her father, who looks a little like Superman, is on the dance floor with one of her sisters; he turns out to be Dean Miraldi, a former offensive lineman with the Philadelphia Eagles. When Kylie was 13, her parents took her on a hike in Lake Tahoe, Calif. "We discussed what it means to be a teenager in today's world," she says. They gave her a charm for her bracelet--a lock in the shape of a heart. Her father has the key. "On my wedding day, he'll give it to my husband," she explains. "It's a symbol of my father giving up the covering of my heart, protecting me, since it means my husband is now the protector. He becomes like the shield to my heart, to love me as I'm supposed to be loved."
Kylie talks with an unblinking confidence about a promise that she says is spiritual, mental and physical. "It's something I'm very proud of. I plan to keep pure until marriage. It's a promise I made to myself--not pressure from my parents," she says. She speaks plainly about what she wants in her life, what she thinks she has the power to control and what she doesn't. "I'm very much at peace about this," she says, and looks out across the twirling room. "I don't feel like I need to seek a man. I will be found."
Family Ministry
Randy and his wife Lisa Wilson believe in celebrating God's design and life's little growth spurts. But the origin of the purity-ball movement was not so much about their five daughters; it was about the fathers Randy saw who, he says, didn't know what their place was in the lives of their daughters. "The idea was to model what the relationship can be as a daughter grows from a child to an adult," Randy says. "You come in closer, become available to answer whatever questions she has."
So he and Lisa came up with a ceremony; they wrote a vow for fathers to recite, a promise "before God to cover my daughter as her authority and protection in the areas of purity," to practice fidelity, shun pornography and walk with honor through a "culture of chaos" and by so doing guide their daughters as well. That was in 1998, the year the President was charged with lying about his sex life, Viagra became the fastest-selling new drug in history, and movies, according to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, reflected "a surge in the worldwide relaxation of sexual taboos."
Word of the event spread fast: soon the camera crews came, and so did Tyra Banks and Dr. Phil. The Abstinence Clearinghouse estimates there were more than 4,000 purity events across the country last year, with programs aimed at boys now growing even faster. And inevitably the criticism arrived as well, dressed up in social science and scholarly glee at the semiotics of girls kneeling beneath raised swords to affirm their purity. The events have been called odd, creepy, oppressive of a girl's "sexual self-agency," as one USA Today columnist put it. Father-daughter bonding is great, the critics agree--but wouldn't a cooking class or a soccer game be emotionally healthier than a ceremony freighted with rings and roses and vows? Some academic skeptics make a practical objection: The majority of kids who make a virginity pledge, they argue, will still have sex before marriage but are less likely than other kids to use contraception, since that would involve planning ahead for something they have promised not to do. This puts them at risk for sexually transmitted diseases. To which defenders say: Teen pledgers typically do postpone having sex, have fewer partners, get pregnant less often and if they make it through high school as virgins, are twice as likely to graduate from college--so where's the downside?
The purity balls have thus become a proxy in the wider war over means and ends. It is being fought in Congress, where lawmakers debate whether to keep funding abstinence-only education in the face of studies showing it doesn't work; in the culture, as Lindsay and Britney and Miley march in single file off a cliff; at school-board meetings, where members argue over the signal sent by including condoms in the prom bag; at the dinner table, where parents try to transmit values to children, knowing full well that swarms of other messages are landing by text and Twitter. "The culture is everywhere," says Randy's daughter Khrystian, 20. "You can't get away from it." But maybe, the new Puritans suggest, there's a way to boost girls' immunity.
Rules of Engagement
It was an elbow in the ribs from his wife that drove Ken Lane to his first purity ball with their daughter Hannah, now 11. Tonight is their fourth, and they are sitting in the gold-and-white Broadmoor ballroom, picking at the chicken Florentine and trying to explain what they're doing here. "My kids are on loan to me for a season; it's important how I use that time," Ken is saying as a string quartet plays softly. "There's a lot for us to talk through--the decisions she'll have to make are more complex. I want to be close enough to her that she can come talk to me. That's what my wife understood. I didn't understand the role dads can play to set her up for success."
In the face of the hook-up culture of casual sexual experimentation, he explains, with its potential physical and emotional risks, he wants to model an alternative. Even with older teenagers, many of these families don't believe in random dating but rather intentional dating, which typically begins with a young man's asking a father for permission to get to know his daughter. Lane was so stymied by how exactly that conversation would go that he even asked Randy Wilson if he could sit at a nearby table and listen in one day when Wilson met one of Khrystian's potential suitors at a local Starbucks. "We're trying to be realistic," Lane says. "I'm not ready to be like India--have arranged marriages. But there is some wisdom there, in that at least the parents are involved."
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Friday, July 18, 2008
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Battered but not beaten, Zimbabwe farmers seek justice
CNN
Angela Campbell, 67, was beaten and kidnapped days after Zimbabwe's runoff election.
The kidnappers demanding her signature at gunpoint were so-called "war veterans" from President Robert Mugabe's heyday as a liberation hero, and they made it clear her refusal would mean more beatings.
Though Campbell signed the document, her son-in-law said she has no intention of giving up her battle; Campbell's family will be in Windhoek, Namibia, on Wednesday to present arguments to a Southern African Development Community tribunal.
In pursuing the case, the Campbells and 77 fellow Zimbabwean farmers are risking theft, torture and death for what may be their only remaining chance to save the homes and farms so coveted by Mugabe and his loyalists.
Mugabe blames the West for his nation's soaring inflation and poverty. But analysts say Mugabe's 2000 "resettlement" policy, in which property was snatched from white farmers and redistributed to landless blacks, is more to blame for the country's turmoil. Watch a report from the time of the Campbell attack »
"All I want to see is justice," said Richard Etheredge, 72, a white farmer who was evicted from his farm last month. "The world cannot carry on with criminals."
On June 15, Etheredge, who has joined the SADC case, and his family received word that a Zimbabwean senator planned to take over his Chegutu farm -- a process known as "jambanja."
"We're going to murder you if we catch you," Etheredge recalls an assailant yelling from outside his son's house two days later.
The Farmers' Case
Mike Campbell and 77 fellow Zimbabwean farmers are appealing to a tribunal for protection from the government. The farmers are asking the tribunal:• To appeal to Zimbabwe to strike down Amendment 17 of its constitution, which permits the acqusition of "agricultural land for resettlement and other purposes" without recourse or compensation to the landowner
• To rule that the land resettlement policy is racially motivated and targets only white landowners
• To push Zimbabwe's government to establish a system for compensating landowners whose property has been commandeered via the land resettlement policies
• To find the Zimbabwean government in contempt for violating tribunal rulings ordering Zimbabwe to refrain from directly or indirectly evicting or "interfering with the peaceful residence of" any farmers seeking relief from the tribunal.
Sources: Farmer Ben Freeth, attorneys David Drury and Matthew Walton, the Zimbabwe Constitution and the Southern African Development Community
The senator bused "criminals" to his property, Etheredge said. Etheredge, his wife and one of his twin sons escaped, but the other twin and Etheredge's daughter-in-law were later beaten, he said.
Looters stole his computers, farm equipment, antiques, custom gun collection and a safe with billions in Zimbabwean currency (hundreds of thousands in U.S. dollars). Etheredge said he watched the thieves abscond with his possessions in vehicles belonging to the senator.
The looters also caused about $1 million in damage to his property, which includes three houses and a fruit-packing plant that was once among the most sophisticated in southern Africa. The Etheredges have been farming for 17 years, and before the attack, were producing 400,000 cartons of navel oranges and kumquats a year, he said.
"The destruction is absolutely incredible," Etheredge said.
Mugabe's cronies visited the adjacent Mount Carmel farm about two weeks later, just days after Mugabe won a majority of votes in a runoff election denounced as a "sham" by the international community. Watch how violence persists after the election »
Like the Etheredges, Mike and Angela Campbell were warned that Mugabe loyalists, members of his Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front, were planning to invade their farm. The government had given the 1,200-hectare (2,965-acre) tract to a ZANU-PF spokesman who also served as Mugabe's biographer, according to the Campbells' son-in-law, Ben Freeth.
Two nuns went to Mount Carmel on June 26, the day before the runoff, wanting to buy sweet potatoes, Freeth said. But their quest for tubers was a ruse; they actually wanted to tell Freeth that ZANU-PF members were planning to raid the Campbell land, where the Campbells and Freeth and his wife, Laura, live.
On June 29, Freeth received a phone call: "War veterans," as the clans of pro-Mugabe thugs call themselves, were heading to his in-laws' house. Laura and her brother, Bruce, gathered their children. Laura fled with the children through a fence on the northern boundary of Mount Carmel farm, Freeth said.
Freeth jumped in his car and sped 1½ kilometers to the Campbell house.
"These guys had already arrived and they started shooting at me as soon as I drove through the gate," he said.
The bullets missed, but one of the war veterans hurled a rock through the driver's side window, smashing Freeth's right eye shut.
"They dragged me out of the vehicle and began beating me over the head with rifle butts," Freeth said.
The men tied up Freeth, he said, and took him to where his in-laws were lying bound on the gravel outside their home.
Angela Campbell was still conscious. The men had caught her on her way to feed a calf. They had beaten her and broken her upper arm in two places, Freeth said. Mike Campbell was in bad shape, "just groaning on the ground; in fact, he remembers nothing."
The heavily armed men threw the three in the back of Mike Campbell's Toyota Prado truck, and "the next nine hours were quite a nightmare," Freeth said.
Freeth and the Campbells were driven about 50 kilometers (31 miles) to Pickstone Mine. Their captors stopped at a dairy farm on the way and killed a white farmer's dogs, Freeth said. Night had fallen by the time they arrived at the mine to find about 60 men in ZANU-PF regalia waiting for them.
"They were pointing guns at us the whole time, telling us they were going to kill us," Freeth said.
Freeth and the Campbells were doused with cold water and left "shivering in the dust on the ground," Freeth said. They received more beatings, and Freeth said one of their captors thrashed the bottom of his feet with a shambock, a whip made of hippopotamus hide.
It was during this time that their captors made Angela sign a document promising to drop the case scheduled this week before the SADC tribunal.
Mike Campbell moved in and out of consciousness, as Ben and Angela prayed -- not for their lives, but for their captors. Freeth said he had never understood Luke 6:28 -- "Bless those who curse you" -- until that moment, and a "supernatural" peace came over him.
Freeth told God, "If I'm going to be with you today, then I'm ready."
It was almost midnight when Freeth and the Campbells -- still bound -- were tossed in the back of the Prado. They bounced around the sports-utility vehicle as their captors drove 30 kilometers down a craggy dirt road to Kadoma, where they were dumped in the streets.
"I managed to walk toward a light and knocked on the door of a house and used the phone to phone my wife," Freeth said.
The Campbells were released from the hospital last week. Both remain weak and still bear considerable scrapes and bruises. Angela has a pin in her arm. Mike, 75, suffered four broken ribs, a broken collarbone and a dislocated finger.
Mike is recovering just enough to sit up, and "he can walk a few paces," Freeth said Monday, complaining his hands were "still tingly" from being bound so tightly.
The hospital released Freeth at the weekend after neurosurgeons had to drill a 4-centimeter (1½-inch) hole in his skull to relieve pressure from a hematoma stemming from the rock and rifle-butt blows to the head.
One thing not battered is the farmers' resolve to remain on the land that the Campbells have owned for 34 years.
"We intend to be there on Wednesday, and we just hope for an outcome that is good for everyone, an outcome for justice," Freeth said of the SADC hearing, which is slated to last through Friday.
Freeth said he believes the SADC tribunal will carry more clout with Mugabe than do Western nations and the African and European unions. Many of SADC's member nations are led by Mugabe's contemporaries, and Mugabe is aware that his status as an African hero is waning, he said.
"I think it means a lot to him whether SADC is going to isolate him or continue to support him," Freeth said. "Once we get to the SADC tribunal and we get a judgment and it's basically binding in black and white, it's going to be difficult for Mugabe to say, 'We're abiding by our own law.' It's going to be very difficult for him to defend what he's doing."
Monday, July 14, 2008
Husband charged with murdering soldier wife
Fayetteville, North Carolina, police released this undated photo of 2nd Lt. Holley Wimunc.
Authorities have been searching for the missing soldier, Army 2nd Lt. Holley Wimunc, 24, since a fire torched her apartment on July 10.
Recently Wimunc's charred body was found in a wooded area, said Fayetteville Police Chief Tom Bergamine. Detectives then arrested Wimunc's husband, Marine Cpl. John Wimunc, and fellow Marine Lance Cpl. Kyle Alden.
The two were initially charged with the arson of Wimunc's apartment but after police interviews John Wimunc was charged with first degree murder. Alden was charged with felony accessory after the fact to first degree murder. They were taken to Cumberland County's jail and held without bond.
Wimunc's father released a statement about the death Monday in which he said his daughter was a nurse at a military hospital and had two children.
"It is with profound sadness that our family just received the news from authorities that our beloved daughter Holley is dead," Wimunc's father said in a statement released to CNN affiliate WRAL in Raleigh, North Carolina.
"Since last Thursday's shocking news about Holley's burned apartment and her missing person status, our family through the country has nonetheless been holding on to a thin thread of hope that she would be found alive."
Military officials said both Marines were stationed at Camp Lejeune, which is about two hours away from Wimunc's Fayetteville home.
Joe Lenczyk -- resident agent-in-charge for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives -- said Wimunc and her husband were estranged and lived apart.
Wimunc is the second female soldier from Fort Bragg to die under suspicious circumstances in recent weeks.
Spc. Megan Lynn Touma, 23, was seven months pregnant at the time of her death in June, authorities said. Investigators say they are treating that death as a homicide.
Camp Lejeune also has had a suspicious death of a female soldier this year. Twenty-year-old pregnant Marine Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach's charred body was found January in the back yard of another Marine stationed at the base.
That suspect, U.S. Marine Cpl. Cesar Laurean, is being pursued by prosecutors.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Woman who died on hospital floor called 'beautiful person'
CNN
NEW YORK (CNN) -- To people around the world who have seen the video, Esmin Green is a symbol of a health-care system that seems to have failed horribly.
Fellow churchmembers say they served as a family for Esmin Green, shown in 2007, after she left Jamaica.
Surveillance video captures her lying on the floor for more than an hour as several hospital workers see her and appear to ignore her. She died there.
But to fellow members of her church, she was known as "Sister Green." Together, they served as a family for her in the decade after she left Jamaica for New York.
Green left six children in Jamaica -- the youngest now 14. She had been sending money home. Watch 'Sister Green' in church »
Her oldest daughter, 31-year-old Tecia Harrison, told CNN that she cannot bear to think of her mother's last moments.
"I haven't seen it, and I don't think I have the heart or mind to watch it because that's my mother there," Harrison said. "That's the woman who gave birth to me 31 years ago. I cannot watch that."
Green was involuntarily admitted to the hospital's psychiatric emergency department June 18 for "agitation and psychosis."
Friend Peter Pilgrim says he saw Green a few days before her death. He says she was struggling with losing her job at a day care center and had been forced to move out of her apartment.
"Esmin Green is a beautiful person," he said. "She has a good heart. She loved people, and she loved children."
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Green's pastor says she had been hospitalized with emotional problems once before and recently appeared to be in distress again. So the pastor called 911, a decision that haunts her.
Upon her admission, Green waited nearly 24 hours for treatment, said the New York Civil Liberties Union, which released the surveillance video of the incident Tuesday.
Her collapse came at 5:32 a.m. June 19, the NYCLU said, and she stopped moving at 6:07 a.m. During that time, according to the organization, workers at the hospital ignored her.
At 6:35 a.m., the tape shows a hospital employee approaching and nudging Green with her foot, the group said. Help was summoned three minutes later. Watch the surveillance video »
In addition, the organization said, hospital staff falsified Green's records to cover up the time she had lain there without assistance.
"Contrary to what was recorded from four different angles by the hospital's video cameras, the patient's medical records say that at 6 a.m., she got up and went to the bathroom, and at 6:20 a.m. she was 'sitting quietly in waiting room' -- more than 10 minutes since she last moved and 48 minutes after she fell to the floor."
The medical examiner's office says it is still trying to determine what caused Green's death. Her medical records will be the focus of an investigation. Hospital documents say she was "awake and sitting quietly" at the very moment she was actually struggling on the floor.
The New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation, which oversees the hospital, released a statement Tuesday saying it was "shocked and distressed by this situation. It is clear that some of our employees failed to act based on our compassionate standards of care."
James Saunders, a spokesman for the corporation, said seven employees have been fired or suspended: the chief of psychiatry, chief of security, a doctor, two nurses and two security guards.
A Health and Hospitals Corporation spokeswoman said it was aware of the discrepancies in Green's record when it began the preliminary investigation June 20.
The corporation pledged to put "additional and significant" reforms in place in the wake of the death.
A federal investigation is also under way, looking into abuse allegations at Kings County that were detailed in a lawsuit in 2007.
In May 2007, the New York Civil Liberties Union and the Mental Hygiene Legal Service sued Kings County in federal court, alleging that conditions at the facility are filthy. Patients are often forced to sleep in plastic chairs or on floors covered in urine, feces and blood while waiting for beds, the groups allege, and often go without basic hygiene such as showers, clean linens and clean clothes.
The lawsuit claims that patients who complain face physical abuse and are injected with drugs to keep them docile.
The hospital, the suit alleges, lacks "the minimal requirements of basic cleanliness, space, privacy, and personal hygiene that are constitutionally guaranteed even to convicted felons."
Among the reforms agreed to in court Tuesday by the hospital are additional staffing; checking of patients every 15 minutes; and limiting to 25 the number of patients in the psychiatric emergency ward, officials said.
In addition, the hospital said it is expanding crisis-prevention training for staff; expanding space to prevent overcrowding; and reducing patients' wait time for release, treatment or placement in an inpatient bed.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Finding a Dance Partner
How do I find such a partner when the world is filled with people who don't know how to dance or who may be the wrong partner? I think it starts with lots of prayer and having faith in God to bring that man into my life. I spent years trying to develop my own dance routine and to find a man who dances the same way as me is impossible on my own. I know God knows me better then I know myself and will find that perfect partner for me. He may not be a knight in shining armour and I don't expect him to be. I think I like the flawed and clumsy partners who love to learn and who become the best partners ever. I know I have lots to learn and also know that the guy who comes into my life will have to teach me how to dance through some things as well. I think teaching and learning are all part of dancing. I know God sees all this and will bring about the best partnership which I am thankful for.
The hardest part of dancing is getting on the dance floor and once you get on the dance floor, you can be assured that the dance routine will all come together especially when you have the support of the right partner. The best partner is the one who can pick you up when you fall and still complete the dance routine. I think that is the best part of dancing to me.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Harare woman: 'If you talk too much... they hunt you down'
- Story Highlights
- Journalist says he's seen "people having their hands chopped off, fingers broken"
- U.N. says scores killed, thousands beaten in "campaign of violence"
- Harare woman: ZANU-PF "will mess you up big time" if you're pro-opposition
- Loaf of bread about 550 million Z-dollars, or up to 10 billion Z-dollars on black market
- Next Article in World »
CNN
(CNN) -- The 23-year-old woman in Harare, Zimbabwe, said she could talk, but only briefly. It was 3:30 p.m. there and she had to be home before the 6 p.m. curfew, she said.
Movement for Democratic Change official Fredrick Shaba is treated for stab wounds after an attack last week.
"I should be home in an hour, hour and a half. If I'm not home by then, it means trouble," she said Tuesday.
Zimbabweans are accustomed to violence, but the beatings and bloodshed have been epidemic since early April, days after opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai pushed longtime President Robert Mugabe into a runoff election for the nation's top post.
Tsvangirai dropped out of the race this week, citing intimidation and vote-rigging. He is now in hiding at the Dutch Embassy, uncertain like most Zimbabweans whether the violence would continue.
Zimbabweans and outside observers say militias loyal to Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) have engaged in intimidation tactics designed to deter Tsvangirai's supporters from casting ballots. Watch people run in fear »
"Violence has been taking place mainly in the countryside, people having their hands chopped off, fingers broken, etc. -- the reason for that being to prevent them from voting in the runoff," said a journalist Tuesday in an e-mail from Harare.
Both the woman and journalist requested anonymity out of fear they could be targeted for talking.
"If you talk too much, they come looking for you, they hunt you down, they beat you," the woman told CNN.
Don't Miss
Rapes and maimings are being reported across the country. On Monday, the United Nations Security Council condemned "the campaign of violence," which it said was responsible for scores of dead opposition activists and the beatings of thousands. Watch why the U.N. says a fair election is impossible »
"There are so many people who are dying right now. We're not even sure how many people have died," said the woman in Harare, Zimbabwe's capital.
In his letter announcing he was dropping out of the presidential race, Tsvangirai said at least 86 people have been killed, 10,000 wounded and 200,000 people displaced.
At a rally Monday in Chipinge, a rural town near the Mozambique border, Mugabe brushed off the death toll, calling Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change a creation of the West.
"Britain and her allies are telling a lot of lies about Zimbabwe, saying a lot of people are dying. These are all lies because they want to build a situation to justify their intervention in Zimbabwe," Mugabe said, according to the state-run Herald newspaper. Watch how past interventions in Africa have fared »
In his Tuesday letter, Tsvangirai -- who has called the election "a sham" -- said the impossibility of a fair election convinced him to bow out.
"The violence, intimidation, death, destruction of property is just too much for anyone to dream of a free and fair election, let alone expect our people to be able to freely and independently express... themselves," he wrote. "For this reason, my party and I have resolved that we cannot be part to this flawed process."
The journalist was in the capital Sunday when ZANU-PF youths attacked an opposition rally at a stadium, just hours before Tsvangirai announced his exit from the poll. Despite a Saturday court order allowing the rally, the militias blocked the roads as MDC supporters arrived, he said.
"Those who tried to ask the reasons why, they were assaulted," the journalist said. "Later, some MDC supporters came chanting songs and they were beaten up by the ZANU-PF militia with logs, stones or anything that was in sight."
Mugabe has denied accusations of violence and has countered that MDC supporters are inciting violence across Zimbabwe. Watch how Londoners want to "make Mugabe history" »
The journalist said he has seen violence perpetrated by MDC faithful, but it is a recent phenomenon and usually retaliatory.
"I saw a ZANU-PF youth being beaten Sunday evening," the journalist said. "He had been spotted at the rally venue and was then followed to his home in the evening by MDC youths."
The government-sponsored violence has scared people into carrying and wearing ZANU-PF regalia -- flags, bandanas and T-shirts bearing the national colors and emblazoned with "100 percent empowerment." Other popular slogans include "WW," which means "win or war," and the more blunt, "June 27 Mugabe in office by whatever means."
"WW means if ZANU-PF loses it goes to war," the journalist said. "It is a threat or meant to confuse the electorate. It shows that ZANU-PF has nothing to sell to the people for them to vote for it, so they now resort to intimidation."
The journalist said he witnessed such saber-rattling at a ZANU-PF rally last week in Norton, about 19 miles southwest of Harare.
"People were told that they must not vote again for the MDC or there will be war," he said. "They were told that there would be a camera seeing how they would have voted." 
See how the election unfolded »
Even MDC supporters are tying the red-yellow-and-green ZANU-PF bandanas around their neck or over their heads, said the woman in Harare.
"You need to move around with this," she said. "If you're driving a car, you need to have this in your car. I have one in my car now. If you don't, they will think you're MDC and they will mess you up big time."
Added the journalist, "Because of the violence taking place, people have been looking for ZANU-PF regalia to 'protect' themselves. The assumption is that if you are in ZANU-PF regalia, you support it."
Asked if hopes for Zimbabwe's future dissipated with Tsvangirai's departure from the race, the journalist said there are mixed emotions. Some are eager to vote Friday and want to "finish off" Mugabe, some are tired of the violence, some are hopeless and some are scared, he said. Others are relieved Tsvangirai dropped out because it could mean an end to the violence.
"Myself, I've lost hope," said the woman in Harare.
Even if the violence were to vanish, Zimbabwe would remain crippled by its economy, long decimated by inflation and unemployment. Basic goods are scarce and expensive. Loaves of bread last year sold for about 5,000 Zimbabwean dollars, the woman said. The price then was steep because of skyrocketing inflation, but today, 5,000 Z-dollars would be a bargain. Watch a Zimbabwean envoy warn against micromanagement »
Recently, she said, she saw bread selling for 550 million Z-dollars.
"That was quite reasonable," she said of food prices of late.
The woman said she makes the equivalent of $10 a month. Though the official exchange rate is 7.5 billion Z-dollars to the U.S. dollar, the Harare woman said she has seen exchange rates as high as 15 billion to 1.
Even if you have money, it's not guaranteed you can get basic necessities. The government has imposed price controls, forcing manufacturers to close their doors because they cannot make a living.
"Basically, there are no goods to talk about," the journalist said. "Most commodities are now on the black market."
You could stand in line for two or three hours for bread and not get a slice, and the price for a loaf on the black market could be as much as 10 billion Z-dollars, the woman in Harare said, explaining that she has made the 300-mile drive to South Africa to pick up food because there were no real grocery options in Zimbabwe. Watch Tsvangirai explain times are desperate »
"The way our money has changed," she said, "I've had a tough time keeping up."
There are questions about whether the southeastern African country's leaders can negotiate a settlement to mitigate Zimbabwe's turmoil.
Mugabe said at a rally Tuesday that he would be "open to discussion" but only after the runoff, the Herald reported. Tsvangirai said Wednesday that he was open to considering a postponed election, or even a negotiated transition of power.
Tsvangirai also said in his Tuesday letter, and reiterated Wednesday, that he would consider a new election. However, it would rely heavily on the oversight of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, which Tsvangirai has accused of espousing the philosophy "that a president does not come to power through the electoral process, but rather, through the barrel of a gun."
Until the commission can ensure a free and fair election, Tsvangirai wrote Tuesday, "the presidential election question remains unresolved."
