Is true crime blogging faddish?

In the days when anyone with a credit card and $4 a month can begin a website, the internet has become more ephemeral by the day. The ease with which someone can take up blogging is exceeded only by the simplicity of stopping when it all becomes too much.

Two of my favorite true crime websites are now mothballed. One is CrimeRant, Gregg Olsen and Matt Phelps' popular forum, which said goodbye earlier this month. Now the talented and popular Steve Huff has turned to other projects. Other blogs and sites in the theme have proven mortal as well, the Crime Library among them.

Is true crime blogging faddish? Several authors have tried their hands at it, and the most successful have just called it quits. The time required to develop and foster an online forum in any theme is considerable and the benefits, for these three at least, were not equal to the task of finding content on a daily basis and the drudgery of typing it up without errors, not to mention the ongoing battle to monitor remarks left in an open forum, which often descends to the sort of temple-tightening nastiness that seems to seep into the corners of every internet endeavor.

But as a place to begin a writing career, for testing ideas, for finding others fascinated in the same riddles that move you, blogging is here to stay, the roster of interesting characters ever-changing and to be enjoyed while they last. Thanks to Steve Huff, Gregg Olsen, and M. William Phelps for offering their own thought-provoking, inspiring, and insightful stories to those of us fortunate enough to be tuned in at the right time.

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Petition to Move Forward with Execution of Jose Medellin

PETITION TO TEXAS BOARD OF PARDONS AND PAROLES

Attn: Lela Smith

Fax: (512) 406-5786

Phone: (512) 406-5852

e-mail: lela.smith@tdcj.state.tx.us

Ms. Smith will send faxed petitions and e-mails to the Board for review.

*************

On June 24, 1993, Jose Ernesto Medellin—TDCJ No. 999134—along with five fellow gang members, kidnapped, gang raped (over the course of many hours), beat, stomped and strangled Elizabeth Peña (age 16) and Jennifer Ertman (age 14). Medellin and the others then bragged about the rapes and murders of the girls to friends. Elizabeth’s and Jennifer’s bodies were left in the woods for four days in the extreme hot Texas summer before they were discovered.

Jose Medellin was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death in 1994. Over the past fifteen years, the death sentence given to him has been upheld by every court that was petitioned on his behalf. The Supreme Court of the United States has also affirmed his death sentence and rejected his legal claims. The attorneys for the condemned have now filed an Executive Clemency Petition to either reprieve or commute the sentence to life (which translates to forty years in prison).

We, the undersigned, are concerned citizens who urge the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to uphold Jose Medellin’s — TDCJ No. 999134 — previous capital punishment sentence for the murders of Elizabeth Peña and Jennifer Ertman. Justice demands that he be punished to the full extent of the law for such a heinous crime.

Printed Name / Signature / City, State / Comment(s)

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World Court "Orders" Halt to Execution of Jose Medellin from Pure Murder

The big news yesterday was that the United Nations' International Court of Justice "ordered" the state of Texas to halt the execution of Mexican national/child murderer Jose "Joe" Medellin (pictured left), who is scheduled to die on August 5.

Medellin, featured in my newest book, Pure Murder, has been on death row since he was convicted in 1994 and has fought mightily to avoid the same fate he perpetrated on two teenage girls, Elizabeth Pena, 16, and Jennifer Ertman, 14, more than fifteen years ago. Medellin, who was born in Mexico and illegaly migrated to the United States when he was nine years old, has repeatedly attempted to have his case reviewed by the International Court based on a claim that, as a Mexican national, he was denied consular representation at the time of his arrest.

According to the Houston Chronicle, the International Court of Justice (AKA World Court), which is the United Nations' highest court, ordered the United States government to make an effort to force the state of Texas to stop the execution of Medellin and four other Mexican national death row inmates so the Court can further review the cases.

It all sounds stern and authoritative, however, it doesn't mean squat. The World Court has absolutely no jurisdiction over Texas.

Furthermore, the case has already gone before the United States Supreme Court with the charge to spare Medellin's life led by none other than former Texas governor and still-president George W. Bush. In March of this year, the Supreme Court ruled against the Bush administration and declared that the state of Texas could proceed with Medellin's execution.

The Bush administration was not to be deterred. According to fellow In Cold Blogger and City of Houston Mayor's Office crime victims' advocate Andy Kahan, Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice intervened with current Texas governor Rick Perry on behalf of the president in an attempt to convince the governor to order a stay of execution.

Perry responded with the legal equivalent of a big, "Fuck you!"

Last night, Perry spokesman Robert Black iterated, "The world court has no standing in Texas and Texas is not bound by a ruling or edict from a foreign court." Black added, "It is easy to get caught up in discussions of international law and justice and treaties. It's very important to remember that these individuals are on death row for killing our citizens."

That sentimentality is also what I expressed during a phone interview with reporter Ned Hibberd of the Houston Fox news affiliate last night. You can watch the interview here which also features Kahan.

Kahan expects the fireworks to continue from now until August 5 when Medellin is scheduled to die.

You can order Corey Mitchell's Pure Murder below:

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The Kids Aren't Alright

***POSTED BY JOHN SEMANDER***

When I was seven years old, I ran away from home.

I don't recall exactly why, although I vaguely remember it having something to do with disciplinary decisions being handed down that night by my mother.

I don't think she took me all that seriously, though, and the fact that she helped pack my bag should have been a clue, but I bravely struck out on my own nevertheless.

Made it as far as the driveway.

That's where the sovereign state of John loudly declared itself independent from the parental/tyrannical injustices beyond its borders.

So I started to put up a little pup-tent for shelter, which for some reason did not go nearly as smooth as when Dad had assembled it in the backyard the week before.

While I fumbled with my makeshift camping ground, Uncle Zane pulled into the driveway and asked me (with genuine confusion) what in the world I was doing. I proudly told him how I was running away... at which he politely smiled and wished me luck before heading inside for dinner.

What kind of family was this? Nobody was even trying to talk me back into the house!

Truthfully, that was all I really wanted, just some sort of acknowledgment that I could in fact survive out in the world alone... should I ever choose to do so, that is.

Instead, my idle threat to run away was blatantly being called out, and all I could do now was wilt in the miserable Houston heat without food or toys or television while stubbornly sticking to my guns.

After what seemed like hours (but was in all likelihood a matter of minutes), I decided to postpone my plans to be self-sufficient and shamelessly returned to the comfort and security of my blessed family life.

(And if you ask my family, they’ll probably tell you those plans are still on hold.)

So what do my failed attempts at running away have to do with the recent murder trial of 19-year-old Rachael Mullenix who is pictured above?

Like me, she envisioned running away from a disciplinarian of a mother. Unlike me, her plans were deadly serious, not half-ass ideas about pup-tents in a driveway.

More importantly, she was old enough (17) to follow through on them.

Oh, there was one other major difference. Whereas my plan hinged on my mother asking me to come back inside the house, Rachael's plan had contingencies in place should her mother end up dead.

And now that the mother is dead, I don't believe a word of her daughter's defense.

The prosecution has accused Rachael of manipulating her then-boyfriend Ian Allen (21 at the time) into killing her disapproving mother, Barbara, and then helping him dump the corpse in nearby Newport Harbor before high-tailing it out of town like fugitive lovers on the lam.

Meanwhile, the defense is insisting that although Rachael helped cover up the murder scene and dump the body, she only did so while in a state of fear and shock, and then fled the state as a kidnapped victim, not an accessory.

You know that card game where you guess whether the player across from you is lying about their hand?

Well, I call.

See, there was an interesting fact that was presented to the jury, one which in my opinion is enough to render the case a slam dunk for the prosecution:

Apparently, this remorseful and frightened little girl was so distraught after witnessing the brutal murder of Barbara Mullenix that she sent out an “I LOVE YOU” text message to the man whom she claims single-handedly stabbed her beloved mother over fifty times with three different knives.

Let's do the math on that real quick. Three knives in two hands, one of which was fending off Rachael's valiant attempts to stop him (or so she testified)... all while dealing with the struggling victim, don't forget.

But what about the text message itself? I mean, we've all heard of Stockholm syndrome, but seriously, this particular Valentine was sent a mere hour after the murder.

I haven't even mentioned the gaping hole in logic that one must accept to believe a supposedly kidnapped victim would send a doting text message to her supposed kidnapper, seeing that such an act would most likely require being physically apart.

Yet Rachael's lawyer has stated that the bulk of the prosecution's case against his client is circumstantial, such as certain diary entries and conversations being taken out of context... but let's face it, circumstantial doesn't always translate to false.

Just because something could have had a different meaning doesn’t necessarily mean that it did.

However, my condemnation of Rachael is certainly not intended to drum up sympathy for her co-conspirator Allen. The guy is as guilty as it gets, and the only killer more pathetic than the one who kills for pleasure is the one who kills because his girlfriend has been nagging him to do so.

Besides, aren’t cross-country drives with your girlfriend torture enough without the blood of her mother on your hands? I’m sure there were no uncomfortable silences along the interstate during that little road trip.

Anyway, the jury is still out on Rachael as of 4:30 yesterday afternoon (July 15). Innocent until proven guilty, I know... but these days it's more like "guilty until a loophole is found in the system that says otherwise."

Ironically, it looks like Barbara knew what was best for her daughter afterall.

Sadly, mother's advice went unheeded... and that's pretty much what got her killed.

Post-Script (July 18): The jury of seven men and five women found Rachael Mullenix guilty of murder in the death of her mother Barbara Mullenix on Thursday, July 17, after two and a half days of deliberation. Ian Allen is still awaiting trial.

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Conditions of Probation:Myths vs. Reality:The Randy Sylvester Case

By Andy Kahan

On Father's Day June 14th, three year old Denim and seven year old Randy Jr. went missing from their apartment complex in Harris County Texas. Their mother reported their disappearance and the search to find them began in earnest. Texas Equusearch one of the leading search groups for missing children helped organize volunteers to find the children. I also serve on Equusearch's Board of Directors. Finally, after an exhausting five, close to six, days the kids bodies were found dumped near a railroad trestle. They were badly burned and their father Randy Sylvester was implicated and ultimately charged in their grisly death.

Sylvester has a long criminal history mostly in Louisiana. He was currently on deferred adjudication - a fancy term for probation for two years in Harris County for Possession of a Controlled Substance. Part of his conditions included that he must provide verification of employment, perform community service at the rate of eight hours a month, pay probation fees, court costs, submit to an evaluation of his educational skill level and my favorite one of all time: Participate in a Drug Dealer Awareness Program. Needless to say it's too bad the late great George Carlin is not alive: He could probably do one hour alone pondering what one does in such a program. He could recite lines like ; Are you aware you are a drug dealer? Hey, if so you graduate or perhaps you are made aware of the hot spots in dealing. All I know is I gotta have the t-shirt.

You have probably already figured out that probationer Sylvester did None of the Above. That means that he was not in compliance with his court-ordered conditions and by court policy his case should have been sent back to court for disposition. Sadly, there was never a motion to revoke his probation. Whether the court would have taken action, such as revocation, will be a question that will haunt this community for eternity. The bottom line is that little Denim and Randy Jr. not only met a horrific death at the hands of their father but our criminal justice system leniency also played a pivotal role in ending their lives.

See attached news story: http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=6231343

When I pursued this issue a typical response from those employed by various criminal justice departments was : They were only technical violation, nothing serious. My retort was simply why have conditions of probation if you are not going to enforce them. Sylvester, and I am sure numerous others like him, played the system like an ace poker player and dared them to call his bluff. The sad reality is that there is a tremendous push to keep cases like Sylvester's from going back to court for possible revocation; hence we might overcrowd our prisons. The chances of a probationer being sent to prison for technical non-compliance of rules and conditions have been steadily reduced over the past few years. According to the Harris County Community Supervision and Corrections Department--fancy title for Probation--revocation rates for technical violators have gone from 2,358 in 2004 to 1,973 in 2007.

Many moons ago when I was a parole/probation officer I was of the opinion when my 'clients' had violated their technical conditions they were sending out clues that something has gone astray in their life. My position has always been more proactive and let's get them off the street before they commit another crime. But alas, our system has a tendency to wait until another innocent person is needlessly victimized and then they go into action. My position has always been if they are violating their rules and conditions of release what on earth makes you think they are going to abide by the laws of society?

The last time I checked Harris County had approx. 3,200 parole fugitives and probation had around 4,900. Basically an entire town has vanished. Most of the above would be classified as technical violators. One can readily see the quandary criminal justice officials find themselves in when it comes to dealing with technical violators.

But getting back to the Sylvester case, my conclusion is I would rather C.Y.A myself and send the case back to court and let the powers that be make the call than to just let it slide and hope for the best. Even if the court did nothing but verbally reprimand Sylvester and warn him to get his act together at least the attempt would have been made. Unfortunately, we will never know what might have happened, and for the sake of future Denim and Randy Jr's let's not make the same mistake again. That's why Judges get the big bucks; to make tough calls. May the tragic deaths of Denim and Randy Jr. not be in vain. Remember, the technical violators of today more than likely will be committing more crimes tomorrow.

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Do You Know This Man?

By Carol Anne Davis

This is the first artist’s impression of a man who has been burgling - and sometimes raping - senior citizens in South London for the past eighteen years. In June 2008, Scotland Yard released the drawing reproduced here in the hope that someone would recognise the deviant that they’ve named the Minstead Rapist and turn him in. (Detectives launched an enquiry called Operation Minstead in the 1990s to try and trace him, hence the name.) British newspapers now call him the Night Stalker, but this is confusing to true crime aficionados as it’s the moniker given to the even more reprehensible Richard Ramirez.

The Minstead Rapist most often strikes in Croydon and Orpington, but has also raped and sexually assaulted elderly victims in Brockley, Bromley, Beckenham, Catford, Coulsdon, Dulwich, Forest Hill and Sidcup. In May and June 2008, he carried out attacks in south-east London, namely Norwood, Bromley and Lee. On one occasion he struck outwith London, attacking an OAP in Warlingham in Surrey. His victims, aged between 68 and 93, so far include 98 women and 10 men.

So what do we know about him apart from his gerontophilia? He most often strikes on a Friday or Saturday night, though has also struck on weeknights. He has surveilled the house and its owner in advance, always targeting a side or back window. He’s organised as he either brings tools to the scene or steals them from the victim’s shed and gains entry via an open window or by removing a window pane.

He moves quietly once inside the house, disabling the lights and the telephone - the victim usually doesn’t know that they’ve been targeted until they awake from sleep to find him shining a torch into their eyes and demanding sex. He wears a balaclava or mask, a cap and gloves and often tells the victims not to look at him, but several of them have described him as a light-skinned black man who was probably in his mid-twenties when he began offending in 1990 but is now in his forties.

He sometimes emanates a sweet smell - could this be from a medical condition such as diabetes where the breath can smell of pear drops? Or be the side effect of a prescription or non-prescription drug? Or could he work with sweet-smelling substances or deliberately apply a particular perfume to make himself more personable? Psychologists believe that he feels inadequate and that he was probably abused by his father or an older brother, and was failed by his mother, during a disturbed childhood.

He’s slim but athletic, approximately 5ft 9 and wears a size 10 shoe - in October 2002, he left behind a footprint from a size 10 Nike Air Terra Contego trainer. He probably rides a motorbike.

Police believe that he may have worked with elderly people in the past or have been raised by an elderly person as he knows how to lift and carry them. He can also be kind, and sometimes stays in the property for several hours, talking to the traumatised householder. Though he’s broken into over a hundred homes, he has raped between a fifth and a third of his female victims and only one out of the ten men. Police suspect that there are other elderly victims who haven’t come forward or who have reported the burglary but been too embarrassed to admit that they were raped. But burglary isn’t his main motive and sex is the first thing that he asks for. He has been known to take money from a house, only to discard it outside. He seemed ashamed when one elderly woman asked what his mother would think of him and left without attacking her. This level of conflict isn’t unusual in sexual offenders - one of the Railway Rapists burst into tears after raping a victim and Fred West wept after raping Caroline Roberts and begged her not to tell his wife Rose.

But the Minstead Rapist can also be exceptionally violent, raping one 88-year-old woman in her home in August 1999, though she begged him to use a prostitute. In answer, he raped her a second time, perforating her bowel and leaving her semi-conscious on the floor, where she almost bled to death. She spent a month in hospital followed by another two months recuperating in a nursing home. Yet the man who professes to like spending time with old people continued his sexual attacks - and, earlier this year, one of his victims died whilst being treated for her injuries in hospital.

Unusually, he can go for years without raping anyone in London, for there were no reported gerontophile rapes between his first attack in 1990 and his second, four years later. Was he so ashamed of his actions that he fought his urges? Or did he have an elderly or age-appropriate girlfriend? Or was he abroad or in jail? And why was he so active in the summer of 2003, committing at least seven attacks in quick succession? The police desperately need someone to put all of the clues together and give them a name in an operation which has cost almost twenty million pounds.

Police have his DNA on file (he doesn’t wear a condom during the rapes) so can ascertain that he hasn’t been to prison later that 1995, the year when they began to routinely add prisoners’ DNA to the database. The DNA suggests that he’s of north Caribbean ethnic origin - possibly his ancestors came from one of the Windward Islands such as Jamaica or Trinidad.

Several of this man’s victims have gone to their graves knowing that their attacker is still out there. Others have been left in emotional turmoil. Given that the vaginal canal of an elderly, sexually-inactive woman can shrink so much that the cervix can be felt by a doctor using her little finger, his rape victims have been left with permanent scarring and are in considerable pain. Many of these senior citizens have been too afraid to continue living independently and have moved into residential care or in with their adult children. Even so, they are unlikely to sleep soundly again.

Police believe that this man is in employment. But even if he’s a veritable recluse, he has to shop somewhere. Someone must be able to put all of the clues together and give detectives a name.

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Star's Accumulation of Atrocities

By Star LaBranche

I have no objectivity left for this story

Nihita Biswas (pictured left, looking incredibly smug) is facing even more difficulties in her fairy tale romance with convicted murderer, Charles Sobhraj. This is in addition to the fact that she's marrying someone 40 years older than her and that this man has been in prison for 20 years for killing a Canadian tourist and that he has been accused of several other murders and that he has also been called a serial killer.

Sobhraj has now been accused of still being married to two different women, one in France and one in Australia. Biswas has stated that the allegations are false and defamatory. Biswas' mother, Shakuntala Thapa, a senior lawyer, is working to defend her daughter and her future son-in-law. As her biggest worry should obviously be newspapers writing nasty stories.

Recidivism

Taharbar Ross (pictured left), 29, was arrested on counts of statutory rape and sodomy after a brother and sister accused him of sexual abuse. The children, then 5 and 8, were left in Ross' care when he abused them.

The siblings both spoke out about the abuse now, they are currently 10 and 13. Some of the most striking evidence against him is that the girl was treated for an STD in 2003. Ross was also treated for the same STD. Ross was already on the sex offender's list due to a previous charge in Texas.

The Cellar

Haut de la Garenne, a former children's home, located in the English channel, has been the subject of what has become a massive investigation of child abuse. approximately 97 victims have come forward with allegations of physical and sexual abuse at the hands of the home's employees.

A World War 2 bunker about a mile from the home has now become the the center of investigation after human teeth and fragments of bone were discovered there. Several of the victims have claimed that they were abused there and described being sexually assaulted and shackled to a bathtub and left down there for days. The shackles and the bathtub have both been discovered. Over the tub there is graffiti that reads "I've been bad for years and years."

Undress me everywhere

Robert Martin, 47, was recently arrested because of his car's interior decor. Martin had various pornography DVDs, magazines, and even women's underwear clearly displayed inside the vehicle. The dashboard featured a topless Barbie doll.

Martin claimed that the porn was in his car because he was moving. While he stated that the spread was innocent, a woman who witnessed the interior of the vehicle called it very "Very explicit pornography... It was a mixture of pornography, a Bible, cross, it was all laid out perfectly."

Note to criminals: now that stupid song is stuck in my head!

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