Babysitter’s husband arrested in parking lot sex assault.

Brandon Trent, 23, of Olive Hill, Kentucky, was arrested and charged with sodomy of a 3-year-old child while in the parking lot of St. Claire Regional Medical Center. His wife had been temporarily caring for the child while the mother was at work.

MySpace photo and mug shot

The wife had left the child alone in the car with Trent while visiting her mother in the hospital between the hours of 1:30pm and 2:00pm. Upon returning home, the child made troubling statements to her mother about what had occurred. Believing that her child might have been sexually abused, the mother took her to the emergency room where her suspicions were confirmed.

Trent was brought in for an interview with police. After further investigation and the interview probable cause, he was charged with sodomy in the first-degree, a Class A felony. If convicted of this crime, he could serve 20 years to life in prison.

Chicago, IL – I don’t have a lot of information on this one, but what I do have is enough to make my stomach turn. Zachary Johnson, 20, was pissed off at his girlfriend, and after the two argued last Friday (), Zachary showed that girl what a bad-ass motherfucker he really was.

He allegedly grabbed the woman’s 3-month-old child out of her hands, locked himself in a room with the infant boy, and proceeded to knock the crap out of the kid. The mother, on the other side of the door, could hear Zachary slapping the child with an open hand. Luckily, she was able to get the door open and retrieve the baby boy before Zachary could beat him to death.

Upon admission to the hospital, the child was suffering from five broken ribs, a punctured liver, bruising all over his tiny body, and bite marks. There is no word on the current condition of the child.

Zachary Johnson is now being held on $1 million bond and facing felony charges of aggravated battery to a child.

Zachary Johnson

Source

Syracuse Men Try To Lure 9-year-old for ‘wild sex’.

Brian Salisbury, 27, of Syracuse, hooked up with Richard Melfi, 56, a registered level 3 sex offender, also from Syracuse. They decided to go have some fun after Salisbury found the MySpace profile of a 9-year-old girl on Thursday night. He messaged the girl saying, “Let’s get trashed and have wild sex tonight?” The child immediately told her mother.

The quick thinking mom took over from there and pretended to her daughter online. Messages from Salisbury became increasingly obscene. He wanted to meet with the child that night. The mother set up a meeting with the pervert at the corner of Gertrude and First Streets in Solvay. Police were notified and waiting as the child’s aunt, who is small and petite, stood at the corner as a decoy, wearing the girl’s coat.

Salisbury and his sex offender mentor, Melfi, who was driving, rolled up in a gray van ready to party with a 9-year-old child. When they stopped, police were there to take the slimy pair out of action. Kudos to the mother, aunt and the little girl.

Brian Salisbury has a MySpace with blogs and what he believes to be sexy photos of himself. He has a criminal history and has been in jail a couple times. He blogs about it here. “im not scarred of going back to prison, its that i might enjoy it that scares me and anyone who did a long time may know what i mean.” Richard Melfi can be found on the sex offender registry.

3-year-old child’s hands held under scalding water for 3 minutes.

Scott Hudson, 35, and his wife have been running an unlicensed daycare out of their home in Round Rock, Texas. Apparently he is not good with children. Wednesday, he admitted to police that he held a 3-year-old child’s hands in the bathroom sink under scalding water for three minutes. Three minutes of sheer agony for that child. Police documents state that the temperature of the water was more than 140 degrees.

MySpace

The injured child is being treated for second and third degree burns on both his hands and wrists at Dell Children’s Hospital in Austin. It is still unclear at this time why Hudson knowingly and intentionally inflicted this horrific injury upon the male toddler.

Hudson is being held in the Williamson County Jail, charged with injury to a child with serious bodily injury, which is a first-degree felony. If convicted, he could be sentenced up to 99 years or life in prison. His bond has been set at $80,000.

The autopsy on 7-year-old foster child concludes Gabriel Myers hanged himself, though his reasons will forever remain unknown.

BY CAROL MARBIN MILLER

cmarbin@MiamiHerald.com

Prosecutors on Monday are due to file charges against a Fort Collins high school counselor accused of sexually assaulting multiple boys he met while working as a church counselor in Longmont.

Brad Boda has been on paid administrative leave from Rocky Mountain High School since his Sept. 23 arrest.

Boulder County prosecutors were supposed to have charged Boda, who is free on $50,000 bond, in early October.

But they sought and received an extension after telling a judge that Boda was arrested sooner than anticipated due to police concerns about his ongoing contacts with Rocky students. Prosecutors also said some of the alleged victims were “vacillating” about whether they would participate in the case if it went to trial.

The 39-year-old Berthoud resident said nothing to a group of reporters who greeted him outside the Boulder County jail and said few words during the court proceeding.

Longmont police arrested Boda after a yearlong investigation that turned up multiple accusers, both male and female, who were between the ages of 11 and 16 when the assaults occurred. Police say the incidents involving Boda and children took place between 1991 and 2004.

Boda met several of the alleged victims through his work as a youth counselor at Christ Our Savior Lutheran Church in Longmont. He also met at least one victim while employed at Longmont United Hospital, according to police.

The arrest rattled the Rocky community and was especially shocking to some students who had close relationships with Boda.

Authorities have not found any victims who met Boda through Rocky, although Longmont police Cmdr. Tim Lewis said investigators believe there are more victims who have not come forward.

In an 86-page, heavily redacted arrest affidavit obtained by the Coloradoan, police provide graphic descriptions of accusations leveled by alleged victims against Boda.

The alleged victims are now adults; and in some cases, they said they had to have uncomfortable conversations with their parents and spouses after police notified church members of the investigation.

One alleged victim told police he became addicted to pornography and abused alcohol following what he said were repeated sexual contacts with Boda.

Another alleged victim said Boda talked to him and his friends about masturbation and how it was “normal” to have homosexual thoughts. That man said at one point Boda persuaded about five 13-year-old boys to undress in front of him.

Other alleged victims recounted specific instances in which they had sexual contact with Boda after watching “hard-core” pornography in the church basement.

One man said he lost his virginity at 15 to a blindfolded girl in the church basement while Boda watched.

Alleged victims said the incidents took place on church trips, in the church basement, in a neighbors’ home and at Boda’s family cabin near Lyons.

SOURCE:  http://www.coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/200910301014/UPDATES01/91030013

EL PASO, Texas — Most sex offenders cannot live near a school or work with children, but the rules don’t apply to all.

The ABC-7 I-Team has uncovered a number of juvenile sex offenders already inside schools.

“As far as students we don’t have many in the school districts,” said Tony Ruvalcaba, an officer with the El Paso Police Department’s Sex Offender Unit.

“The law does require them to register in the schools,” Ruvalcaba said.

But a sex offender in their child’s classroom is one too many for some parents.

“We have to follow the law but I don’t think that’s fair for our children…those children should be pulled out and taught somewhere else,” said parent Monica Velasquez.

According to the El Paso Police Department, there are five juvenile sex offenders who are now attending public schools in the El Paso area.

Licensed sex offender treatment specialist Margie Aguilar Desrosiers said she has worked with more than that.

“I would venture to say that there’s 25 within the whole county,” Desrosiers said.

She said most juvenile sex offenders enrolled in public schools are considered a low to moderate risk and need to be there.

“It’s not about rehabilitation, it’s about education,” Desrosiers said.

Desrosiers said it is very important to maintain those students’ confidentiality. “They themselves can become victims of adult sex offenders or simply violence.”

Federal laws prevent district officials from identifying a sex offender student as well as informing parents about the sex offenders attending their children’s school.

The ABC-7 I-Team uncovered these students are not all juveniles. One 19-year-old registered sex offender raped a 4-year-old girl when he was 14. His registry showed El Paso High School as his employer.

”That one is probably that he’s a student at the school,” Ruvalcaba said.

Because of federal laws, an El Paso ISD spokeswoman could only confirm that the offender was actually a student and no longer attending school there.

Ruvalcaba said the best weapon for parents is the public registry for sex offenders, and it does have a lot of information.

The Web site even shows the sex offender’s risk level.

“They can research it zip code, they can research it by name and address if they needed to,” Ruvalcaba said.

But not by school if the offender is a juvenile.

When ABC-7 mapped El Paso High School, the location came up clean, and that is because authorities want these offenders’ identities protected.

“These children keep a very low profile in the schools,” Desrosiers said.

Desrosiers said in her experience, parents should be more concerned about the typical bully than a juvenile sex offender. “It’s rare when an incident occurs or reoccurs in the school.”

One student said juvenile offenders should not be outcasts for mistakes in their past.

“Surely, what they did on the past is completely wrong, but they also need an education, they also need to go to school,” said Christian Lerma.

But some parents said it is not worth the risk.

”They have to be educated yes, but they don’t have to be educated with the normal population,” said Norma Price.

”I wonder how the school district would feel if a child was assaulted or raped on the property and they knew who the predator was,” said Bill Williams.

Ruvalcaba said parents should definitely be concerned about registered sex offenders but also those who are not.

“In all our communities we have a lot of people that are sex offenders…they just have never been caught,” Ruvalcaba said.

El Paso ISD officials would give an on-camera interview but sent ABC-7 a statement:

“The District’s responsibility is to provide a safe learning environment and we are proactive in protecting all of our students and staff. For example, we have invested $2 million in the installation of cameras in our secondary (middle and high) schools. Additionally, all of our middle and high schools have police officers on staff to assist in the protection of our students.”

Because of federal laws, the Ysleta ISD said they cannot discuss of release information regarding any specific student.

And Socorro ISD officials said they have no known sex offenders in the district.

SOURCE:  http://www.kvia.com/global/story.asp?s=11411188

In Nevada, looking at child pornography is a Class B Felony, punishable by one to six years in prison and a five thousand dollar fine. Many experts say a child pornographer will never see a day behind bars, just a mere probation sentence. After that, they’re off “free and clear,” usually with no lifetime supervision.

Child pornography is a three billion dollar industry, that’s according to the Internet Filter Review. Some experts are saying that the sentencing for people who look at child pornography is much too lax.

Child pornography is much more pervasive than people might think. And it’s often seen as a victimless crime. But one detective says that couldn’t be further from the truth…it can involve children as young as three years old being raped. And often, he says, those who look at child pornography move on to actually touching children.

We met with a man who has seen how child pornography and molesting a child overlap.
Ted says his world was shattered three years ago when Richard Raymer took his son’s innocence.

“I wanted to kill him I had so much anger.”

Washoe County Sheriffs Detective Dennis Carry handled Raymer’s case.

Carry says, “Richard Raymer was a two time sex offender he had convictions in Oklahoma and Florida. He moved to this area in 2005.”

That’s when detectives found out that Raymer’s addiction went beyond child pornography.
He’s now serving a life sentence. But Detective Carry says if Raymer had received a stronger punishment initially, he may have not had the chance to molest a 10-year-old boy.

“A large percentage of people that get arrested on child pornography cases are receiving probation when its a first offense child pornography charge,” according to Carry.

Probation–instead of jail time. Hard for Ted to understand. “I’m really worried because I don’t ever want this to happen again.”

Former D.A. Dave Clifton says it’s difficult for child sex offenders to change. “These type of criminal offenders are not likely to be rehabilitated, they’re not likely to be safe back in society.”

Many child pornographers say their affinity toward child porn is an addiction, an uncontrollable urge.

Raymer was in a sex offender treatment program in prison…yet while he was there he still fantasized about young boys. In his prison diary, he wrote about a young boy that was “ten luscious years old” and how once he gets out, he wants to hook up with a boy named “Ricky.”

“Some have said they want to get rid of it they want to stop and just couldn’t they would delete it and then go back for more,” says Carry.

Detective Carry says nearly all of those he has arrested first looked at pictures and video.
“We’re talking children 5 years old, 6 years old, 7 years old being raped.”

And then, like a drug, they need that next fix.

“They want something harder and harder. Research shows the next fix at some point down the road is touching a child.”

He says studies show that more than 85 percent of those who look at child porn move on to molest a child.

In Nevada, looking at child pornography is a Class B Felony, punishable by one to six years in prison and a five thousand dollar fine. Many experts say a child pornographer will never see a day behind bars, just a mere probation sentence. After that, they’re off “free and clear,” usually with no lifetime supervision.

Clifton says the likelihood of a child pornographer re-offending or moving on to molest a child hasn’t been enough to change the law. “So do we want them running around in our streets? No. But because constitution doesn’t allow us to put them in prison for the rest of their life for a crime they may commit…”

Detective Dennis Carry handled the investigation of William McCaffrey, who had one million pornographic images of children on his computer. When detectives asked him if he would ever touch a child he responded–”I really can’t predict the future.”

We may not be able to predict a person’s future behavior, but maybe the future is closer than we think. According to the Butner study, two psychologists studied 155 child pornographers. When these offenders faced the court, they admitted to molesting a total of 75 victims. But after sentencing, these men were treated for their addiction and took polygraph tests, and the number of victims went from 75 to an astounding 1,777 victims (The Butner Study Redux).

And that disparity is why experts like Detective Carry say stronger sentencing is imperative. The current court system has offenders take a psycho-analysis test to determine whether they’re a high risk to society. An exam both Clifton and Carry say is not reliable

“The psychosexual exam, I have to admit, most people pass because they’re only considered a moderate risk, and the expert would say this person’s eligible for probation,” asserts Clifton.

Although, they must register as sex offenders.

“That allows government to monitor people and where they’re living for the rest of their life.”

However, since most child pornographers are considered low risk by the courts, Tier 0 or 1, they won’t be listed on sex offender location web sites. Only Tier 2 and Tier 3 sex offenders are listed.

And even Clifton says programs like lifetime supervision and sex offender registration aren’t fool proof. Phillip Garrido was a registered sex offender and on lifetime supervision when he allegedly abducted Jaycee Dugard.

So if all signs point to the fact that child pornographers are likely to re-offend, should state law change to give these offenders stronger sentences?

Clifton: “It may be the legislature increases sentences for these crimes some day, we’ll see…I don’t know if the public outcry is going to be enough to make that happen.”

If that day comes, it will come too late for Ted and his family.

Ted remembers the fear in his son’s eyes when he was molested. “He come out crying to me and said ‘dad, I’m scared.’ I said what are you scared about?

He said, ‘I’m scared he might get me.’”

What, if anything, would you think should be done when it comes to child pornographers?

You can post your comments below.

Speaking at the National Amber Alert conference, Sayeh Rivazfar holds the shoes she wore when attacked as an 8-year-old.?
	[ATOYIA DEANS | Times]

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ADVERTISEMENT [ATOYIA DEANS | Times] At the National Amber Alert Symposium in Tampa, Sayeh Rivazfar tells how her mother’s ex-boyfriend, Ray Wike, raped her, then slit her throat and that of her younger sister, who died. Rivazfar is now? an officer with the New York state police. Featured Saving the eye of a tiger Tried to Trade Sex for World Series Tickets? Police Say Dozen People Watched Calif. Gang Rape ‘This Is It’ Around the World for Jackson FAA Revokes Licenses of Wayward Northwest Pilots Church of Scientology Convicted of Fraud Friday Night Rewind 2009 – Week 8 Raising chickens in the city Police Receive 1100 Tips in Death of Fla. Girl Affidavit: Mom Admitted Balloon Saga Was Hoax Fire scorches retirement complex Gunshot victim left at hospital Girl’s eviction case gains notoriety Swine flu vaccinations begin in Hillsborough schools Uproar Over ‘Illegal Alien’ Halloween Costume Raising chickens in the city Future Tech: Driving With a Third Eye. Friday Night Rewind 2009 – Week 7 Friday Night Rewind – week 7 early edition City Council disrupted by fight Rewind Remix V Hydroponic farm yields an abundance of strawberries Friday Night Rewind 2009 – Week 6 Clearwater native, astronaut talks from space station The last dance for Soulful Arts Dance Academy Armed robbery suspects use stolen card Dead whale pulled ashore at Fort De Soto Park Teenager killed in boat crash near Albert Whitted Airport Friday Night Rewind – Week 5 Teen drivers learn perils of distractions Young mother dies of swine flu complications Clearwater woman bitten but escapes alligator Friday Night Rewind 2009 – Week 4 The Golden Hour – The race to save Andrew Hall John Graziano is released from hospital 2 years after crash Tampa Breeze holds lingerie football scrimmage Florida panther strolls down the boardwalk Tampa Breeze hosts lingerie football tryouts Tragedy at sea

TAMPA — On the night of Sept. 21, 1988, Patricia Rivazfar’s friend babysat her three children while she was at a bar. That evening, 8-year-old Sayeh had an idea. She and her sister got fully dressed in their school clothes — down to their shoes — so they could roll out of bed and not miss the bus.

But during the night, her mother’s ex-boyfriend woke Sayeh and 6-year-old Sara in their Pensacola apartment and carried them to his car. He told them he was taking them to see their mother. Instead, he drove them into the woods, raped Sayeh repeatedly and slit both girls’ throats.

Sayeh Rivazfar, now 29, shared her tale Thursday on the last day of a U.S. Department of Justice conference on Amber Alert training. Her audience at the Tampa Hyatt: 350 people from around the world, all advocates for changing the way child abduction cases are handled.

As Rivazfar, now a New York state police officer, described the crime in detail, the Punky Brewster shoes she wore that night rested on the podium.

“I’m going to give you the path that these shoes walked in,” she said. “I loved those shoes. It brings to life what happened.”

She takes the shoes wherever she goes as a symbol of perseverance and change. Her message: Amber Alerts aren’t the only steps in handling child abductions. There needs to be more thought and compassion from the beginning of the process, lasting well beyond the conviction.

Her sentiments echo an effort started five years ago by the U.S. Dept. of Justice to improve the system, starting first with feedback from the families of abducted and missing children.

About 45 relatives of those children — some dead, some still missing and others who survived — took part in a full-day, private session to come up with recommendations to help other families.

When they got together, “it was almost like therapy,” said Erin Runnion, whose 5-year-old daughter Samantha was snatched outside her Stanton, Calif., apartment in 2002, raped and killed. “But it also gives us hope that mistakes made in our cases won’t happen to other children in the future.”

The group’s recommendations should serve as a training guide for law enforcement, victim advocates, attorneys and judges, Runnion said.

They include asking law enforcement to set up command centers away from the missing child’s house because it can jeopardize evidence and puts stress on siblings in a painful situation. Other ideas include making sure agencies have a variety of tracking dogs, having someone prepare family members for media questions, having specially trained victim advocates and making sure the parents are the first alerted when a body has been found.

In calling for improvements, Rivazfar noted things that could have been done differently with her case.

The man convicted of the crime, Ray Wike, had known their mother about a year. During that time, he fondled Sayeh and threatened to harm her family if she ever told anyone.

The night of the abduction, Wike bound Sara’s arms and legs with tape and cloth and threw her in the back seat. He raped Sayeh in the front seat as Sara screamed, “Why are you doing this?”

“It’s all right,” Sayeh cried back. “It’s almost over.”

At one point, a car approached. Wike said that he was having car trouble, but everything was fine. His white shorts were red with Sayeh’s blood. The motorist left.

As daylight came, Wike walked the girls deeper into the woods. Sayeh could hear her sister’s screams as Wike began slashing at Sayeh’s throat. She fell to the ground and played dead.

As she lay on the ground, she could hear Sara still screaming. Then the crying stopped. She heard Wike drive away in his car. When she opened her eyes, Sara, her arms still tied behind her back, was dead.

Sayeh ran to the road and used one hand to cover her throat to stop the bleeding and the other to flag down a couple driving by.

Wike was arrested three hours after Sayeh was taken to the hospital. He spent almost 16 years on death row before dying in prison from lung cancer.

But Sayeh was never officially informed of his death. A relative heard it on the news and called her. There were other things that traumatized her further, such as the placement of a hospital bed next to a window. Sayeh feared her attacker would climb through it to harm her. Later, a lax security system allowed Wike to type a 15-page letter to her while on Death Row and mail it to relatives in Pennsylvania. They forwarded it to her in Rochester, N.Y., where she now lives.

“As horrific as this was for my family, I want to pass on an awareness in hopes that we can prevent something like this from happening,” she said. “There are many out there who can’t speak, who are not alive. We must be their voice.”

SOURCE:  http://www.tampabay.com/news/humaninterest/handling-of-child-abductions-can-be-improved-victim-says/1047965

A 25-year-old Australian camp counselor could face up to life in prison after detectives say he molested at least three boys in the the state of Texas.

Scott Zirus, of Pinjarra, Western Australia, was apprehended by authorities on August 20th following a joint investigation by detectives from the WA’s child abuse squad and the members of the Department of Child Protection.

He was arrested at the San Antonio International Airport while trying to board a plane bound for Australia.

Police say they have also received numerous complaints through CrimeStoppers and fear there may be more victims out there.

Agents with the US have also unearthed these post made on a MySpace forum in which Zirus (John Doe) declared he was a member of the Shadoran movement in which he states that “8 out of 10 boys are bisexual” jokes about eating chocolate and sperm, declares “rape bad” and of course repeatedly bashes the Bible, as pedophiles often tend to do online.

SOURCE:  http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/4706258.Teen_found_dead_after_internet_meeting/?ref=rss

Ann Ellinwood was last seen April 15, 1978, in Pioneer Park in Corvallis. She was 12.

The girl in the photo has a freckled face, a smile to match her outgoing nature and her mother’s eyes. Her chin-length hair looks brown in the black-and-white image, but it was auburn in real life.

Ann Ellinwood was a popular student and beloved daughter. On April 15, 1978, the 12-year-old joined some friends for the annual March of Dimes walk-a-thon in and around Corvallis.

She was never seen again.

Corvallis’ ‘other’ missing girl

For some in Corvallis, the 2004 abduction of Brooke Wilberger stirred up memories of the Ann Ellinwood case. When Ann disappeared, the community was galvanized. Searchers combed Linn and Benton counties for the girl. Investigators worked tirelessly. Everyone knew Ann Ellinwood was missing. Everyone worried about her fate.

More than 30 years later, memories have faded, but people still wonder: What happened to Ann?

A walk for childrenApril 15, 1978, fell on a Saturday. Ann Ellingwood, a seventh-grader at Highland View Junior High, was participating in her third March of Dimes walk-a-thon.

The course took walkers along a bike path by the Marys River. At about 1 p.m., Ann, complaining that her foot hurt, told her two friends to go on without her; she would head to a checkpoint at Gill Coliseum. She was last seen on the path near the Pioneer Park ball field, just across Highway 34 from the coliseum.

At 5:15 p.m., Ann’s parents reported her missing after she failed to return home. She delivered The Gazette-Times (then an evening newspaper) in the afternoon. She never neglected her job. Something was very wrong.

Searchers immediately scoured the area where Ann last was seen; they found nothing.

In the days that followed, an intensive water, land and air search was launched. Dive teams searched the Marys River. Law enforcement agencies and Benton County Search and Rescue members walked the area with tracking dogs. Pilots scanned from the air. Nothing.

“She’s just gone,” said then-assistant Corvallis police chief Kenneth Burright.

Another girl disappearsAnn’s case drew statewide media attention, but the spotlight widened after a second girl went missing four days later near Salem.

Stephanie Newsom, 11, vanished after she left her West Salem home late in the afternoon of April 19.

Authorities immediately suspected the two were linked, but were reluctant to say so officially. Some similarities, however, were obvious: Stephanie and Ann were close in age and appearance. Both were last seen alone, walking in daylight.

Other similarities were eerily coincidental: Stephanie’s middle name was Ann. Ann delivered newspapers; Stephanie disappeared while delivering newspapers on her brother’s paper route. The dog that tracked Ann’s last known steps was brought to West Salem to search for Stephanie.

And both girls seemed to simply vanish.

Two days after Stephanie’s disappearance, her brother found a button of hers on a wooded path near their house.

Hints of a leadLess than a week after Ann disappeared, Corvallis police began searching for the driver of a red pickup pulling a tear-drop-shaped trailer. It was seen April 15, near where Ann disappeared. Soon, authorities in Salem and Corvallis released information on suspects: In Salem, a boy said he saw a stocky white man in his late 20s with shaggy, light brown hair. The Corvallis suspect was described as a white man with a medium- to stocky build, reddish brown or sandy hair, with a gruff voice and possibly a mustache.

Unconfirmed reports circulated that the man in Corvallis was overheard telling children that he was a police officer.

The Benton County District Attorney, Pete Sandrock, was tight-lipped about the case at the time. But looking back more than 30 years later, he revealed that investigators talked to witnesses who reported hearing a man claim to be either the police chief or a police officer.

A week after Ann’s disappearance, search efforts expanded to include western Linn County. More than 700 volunteers turned out on a rainy Saturday to look along country roads and paths. They found nothing.

Tireless investigatorsBy that point, the investigation was all-consuming for law enforcement.

They searched for every red pickup in the area; every teardrop-shaped trailer. Among those who devoted themselves to the case were detectives DeeJay Freeman, Merle Woods and B.J. Miller.

They focused on sex offenders. But in 1978, that was “almost impossible,” Sandrock said. No official registry existed, and many sex offenders were sentenced to state mental hospitals instead of prison.

Peggy Peirson was a college student at the time, studying to be a teacher. She’d taken a summer job as an office worker for the Corvallis Police Department.

“What I remember most about it was watching all these police officers and detectives I worked with; how they worked day and night for weeks into months,” she said. “I’ve never seen people work so hard at anything – until Wilberger.”

The experience convinced Peirson that her future was in law enforcement instead of a classroom. She’s now the emergency services coordinator for Benton County Emergency Management.

Local investigators in 1978 did have experience on major, horrific crimes: Four years earlier, an Oregon State University student went missing. It later was discovered that she had been the victim of serial killer Ted Bundy. Five years before that, the bodies of young women turned up in the Long Tom River. Jerome Brudos, a Corvallis serial killer, served a life sentence for their deaths.

As police looked for Ann, one area sex offender escaped their scrutiny because his crimes were committed in California. But he wouldn’t go unnoticed for long.

Tragic discovery

The morning of April 27, a farmer found a girl’s body in a field bordering Ankeny Wildlife Refuge that was the remains of Stephanie Newsom.

She had been strangled and sexually assaulted. Her semi-nude body was not far from a road, but it had been concealed beneath a small tree. Investigators determined the body had been there for several days.

Accompanying the discovery of the body was the news that a 7-year-old girl had been abducted from her Gresham school. The girl had been raped, beaten and left for dead but survived.

The Gresham police chief publically said he thought the case was related to Ann’s disappearance, but Benton County officials weren’t as sure. Either way, the third crime intensified attention to the Newsom and Ellinwood cases, fueling the fear that had gripped western Oregon.

May 1, 1978, was significant to both the Newsom and Ellinwood families: It was the day of Stephanie’s funeral, and it was Ann’s 13th birthday.

Suspect emergesOn May 29, the Gazette-Times reported that investigators found a truck and trailer matching those seen by witnesses at Pioneer Park shortly before Ann’s disappearance. What the newspaper knew but didn’t report was that police were close to arresting the truck’s owner, a Lebanon resident named Earl “Woody” Chambers. Chambers, 42, had served time in a California prison for rape and assault. In both cases, his victims were young women. He also had undergone court-mandated treatment in a state mental hospital.

Chambers owned a red pickup that had a trailer. He worked as a roofer on jobs in Corvallis and West Salem.

A woman who happened to be taking a course taught by a Corvallis police officer told the officer that she’d spoken with Chambers. She said Chambers told her that he’d spoken to Ann.

Investigators also discovered that Chambers had cut his hair and shaved his mustache just after Ann disappeared.

Sandrock brought Chambers in for questioning. The DA wanted to use what was then state-of-the-art recording equipment, hoping to build his witness list.

“The only thing I hoped to get out of it was to get his voice on tape to see if somebody could later analyze it to see if certain questions stressed him more than others,” Sandrock said. “Really, the goal was to help us find Ann.”

When Chambers arrived, Sandrock advised him of his Miranda rights, though he wasn’t under arrest. Then the attorney launched into his questions. Without telling Chambers what the session was about, Sandrock said, “Right now, do you know where Ann Ellinwood’s body is?”

Chambers’ response was stunning.

“It was as if he had just been slugged in the stomach,” Sandrock said. “He slumped, air rushed out of his lungs.”

Chambers said he didn’t know what Sandrock was talking about. The attorney asked if Ann was in eastern Linn County. He continued his questions with different locations.

“With each following question, he became more composed,” Sandrock said.

Chambers eventually said he wanted to leave. Sandrock gave him a subpoena to appear in front of a grand jury on the morning of June 6.

But neither Sandrock nor anyone else would get a chance to question Chambers further.

Suicide

On the afternoon of June 6, hikers found Chambers’ body in rural Linn County, off Middle Ridge Drive between Brownsville and Lebanon. He had committed suicide by lying behind his vehicle and breathing in its exhaust.

Sandrock said Chambers’ death was a blow to the investigation, but also a relief.

“Certainly it would make it almost impossible to find Ann’s body until someone stumbled on it,” he said. “But, on the other hand, it also meant he wasn’t going to do it again to somebody else.”

After Chambers’ death, about 50 people searched around Middle Ridge Drive but found no trace of Ann. Nor did anyone find a suicide note.

Community fearChambers was gone, but the fear roused by Ann and Stephanie’s disappearance remained.

“There was a lot of horror, of course, and there was an awful lot of ‘My God, in my neighborhood!’” recalled Bill Monroe, who covered the story for the Gazette-Times. “It was just heartbreaking and remains heartbreaking,” he said.

Laura Howard, who was a year younger than Ann, said the disappearance put an end to the days when kids could go out to play as long as they were home by dark.

“We started looking over our shoulders, and it just made us more suspicious,” she said. Howard physically resembled Ann, which meant she drew a lot of strange looks. Once, it even led to her father getting pulled over when she was out with him.

Jillyn McCullough, a classmate of Ann’s, recalled spending the hours after her disappearance beside the radio, hoping with each news update that she’d been found, safe.

“It just really was rattling to kind of have that wake-up call; that this was possible,” McCullough said. “It just really was terrifying.”

McCullough’s father, who knew people involved with the official search, promised his daughter that Ann would be found. Some time later, he told her they probably wouldn’t.

“I think that’s when childhood ended,” McCullough said.

Parents stayed strong

But out of the tragedy, Ann’s parents, Don and Susan Ellinwood, emerged as models of resilience.

According to old news articles, Susan Ellinwood even worked at the police station for a time, helping with paperwork in Ann’s case.

“One of the things that strikes me is that the community really pulled together around the Ellinwood case, like it did in the Wilberger case,” Sandrock said.

“Of course, having a daughter of the same age made it that much more prominent in my mind and I still think about Ann’s parents from time to time,” he said. Especially as the Wilberger case progressed, Sandrock thought about the Ellinwoods, who also had a son and daughter younger than Ann.

The family did not let the public support go unacknowledged.

“We want to express our gratitude for the response of this community and how it has rallied around us,” Susan Ellinwood said in a 1978 article in the Gazette-Times.

Susan and Don Ellingwood could not be reached for this story. Friends said both are in Oregon but no longer live in Corvallis.

In the 1990s, a reporter who knew their daughter approached them for an interview. They politely declined, saying they no longer wanted to discuss the matter.

Cold case

The Ellinwoods had held a private memorial service for Ann on July 2. On July 31, 1978, authorities announced they had officially ended the search for Ann.

“There simply isn’t any place left to look,” Sandrock said at the time.

It’s now a “cold” case, considered inactive, but open.

“It’s important that you continuously look at those cases because someone may have an idea we just haven’t thought of before,” said Lt. Dave Henslee of the Corvallis Police Department.

Currently, the case is assigned to Detective Karin Stauder. She’s gone over it with Merle Woods, who investigated the case in 1978.

Stauder is impressed with the work of the original investigators. Notably, evidence was collected that could later be tested for DNA, although there was no such technology at the time.

“They tried everything,” Henslee said. “They exhausted a lot of leads.”

“Really the only piece that didn’t get exhausted then was DNA,” Stauder said.

Hair believed to belong to Ann had been found in Chambers’ trailer and vehicle when authorities searched it in 1978.

Unfortunately, recent DNA testing did not yield conclusive results.

“As we stand at this point, we don’t have anything new,” Henslee said.

Stauder, who helped close a cold homicide in 2005, thinks investigators had their man in 1978: “The primary person I would love to talk to, took his life,” she said.

The case can be closed if investigators feel they can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that someone is responsible – even if that person is dead.

They just don’t have enough.

“I think at this point it’s safe to say we would need something new to go further,” Henslee said.

Chambers was ruled out as a suspect in the Gresham abduction, but the Newsom case remains unsolved.

Seminal fluid was found on Stephanie’s body, but at the time, the medical examiner and crime lab disagreed as to whether it could have come from Chambers. Recent tests haven’t been able to conclusively prove the DNA belongs to Chambers, either.

Detective Jamie Vasas of the Salem Police Department is assigned to the cold Newsom case.

“My feeling behind the whole thing is I think it was Earl Chambers,” he said.

But as with Ann’s case, without a figurative smoking gun, the case will remain open.

A young girl, still lost”I certainly am convinced that Woody was the killer,” said Sandrock, who now works for the Independent Police Review Division of the Portland City Auditor’s office.”I don’t have any lingering doubts about that.”

But what happened to Ann remains a mystery.

“At the time, the feeling was there was a very real possibility that he had buried her body beneath one of the new constructions or garages up in Timberhill,” Monroe said.

That theory had never been publicized, but Sandrock confirmed investigators looked into it. Chambers had been working on roofing jobs in the neighborhood at the time.

Wherever Ann is, she hasn’t been forgotten.

“It was a heartwrenching case in so many ways,” Sandrock said. “It was such a steep learning curve for me and, to a certain extent, a steep learning curve for local law enforcement.”

McCullough remembers that when yearbooks were handed out at the end of the school year, one had been reserved for people to sign for Ann.

“I remember writing in it that I knew that they were going to find her someday, and that she’d read it someday,” she said.

Missing child cases such as that of Elizabeth Smart, who was found alive nine months later, or Jaycee Dugard, found alive after being held captive for 18 years, remind McCullough of Ann. She’s sure her classmates have the same experience.

“For a moment you catch yourself thinking she could be out there,” McCullough said. “There’s always that little bit of hope.”

SOURCE: http://www.democratherald.com/news/local/article_27365cce-c130-11de-b86d-001cc4c03286.html

FINDLAY, Ohio – It was August 1979 when little Monica Williams was murdered. Three months shy of her first birthday, she was raped and beaten by Christopher Cooper.

In December, Cooper will be up for parole. Her family family says if he is released back into society, everyone will be in danger. Becky Potter, Monica’s mother, is on a letter writing crusade to make sure he’s never released.

“She laid in the hospital for five days because her little heart was strong she was a fighter,” Becky said.

Little Monica lost her fight on Aug. 16, 1979.

“I need to keep him is prison for this,” Becky said. “There is no excuse, no excuse, and as long as I’m able to walk and my jaw is able to flap you’ll hear from me.”

That has been Monica’s family’s purpose in life and a way to cope.

“She never had a chance to be a cheerleader, graduate from high school, or go on to college,” Monica’s mother said. “It’s very tough. All you have to do is look at the picture and see she was going to be a good girl.”

The family says the best way to ensure Cooper stays locked up is for the parole board to receive letters from the public requesting he remain in prison and away from children. The family also fears his release because the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation recently moved Cooper to its Marion facility, which is 50 miles southeast from Findlay.

“He’s murdered once an infant,” said Michael Saum, Monica’s uncle. “If you can find an infant worthy of lusting over and the things he’s done to her, there is no excuse in it you can’t rehabilitate someone like that.”

If you would like to help the family and keep Monica’s killer in prison, send a letter to the Ohio Board of Parole, Office of Victim Services, 770 W. Broad St., Columbus, Ohio 43222. You are asked to include the convicted killer’s name (Christopher Cooper) as well as his inmate number of A158707.

Each letter counts as one request regardless of the number of signatures on it. All letters need to be signed, dated, and include a return address on the envelope by Dec. 1.