(A lot of crime bloggers or websleuths could be accused of being wannabe cops.
Chris McDonough is the real deal, and I'm proud to present the guest post he's contributed to The True Crime Blog.
Chris is a national child safety expert who is called upon by the police when they need insight and expertise on understanding and catching sexual predators. As a retired homicide detective with more than 25 years of law enforcement experience, he trains homicide detectives with the Institute Of Investigative Science (www.iois.net) in analyzing criminal behavior. Chris’s media appearances are numerous and include The Oprah Winfrey Show. He is dedicated to protecting children and just launched a new website -- www.predatorsafety.com -- as a one-stop resource for parents and the community to help keep kids safe.)
I appreciate this opportunity Steve has given me to post here on truecrimeblog.com.
Here we go. I want to talk about a new phenomenon that I’ve coined the "White-Collar Predator."
It’s been said that behavior is a mirror in which everyone displays his own image. Criminals are masters of projecting the image they want you to see.
To better understand criminal behavior and the “White-Collar Predator,” you first have to look at the three types of lives that we all live. The first is our public life, the second is our private life and the third is our secret life. In our secret life, this is where secret thoughts can begin then build into fantasies which can give birth to sexual deviant behavior.
Our public life is what we want to show the world; our best behavior. And from this, this is how we want to be judged by others. Our private life is seen only by those closest to us and is how we actually behave. In our secret life, we consciously decide to conceal our behavior. All deviant criminal behavior occurs in the secret life.
Deviant criminals learn to master their secret life within their private life through years of learned behavior. Let me give you an example. The BTK killer, Dennis Rader, had a public and private persona of being a Boy Scout leader, a church leader and the community dog catcher. Yet all the while he was driven by his sexual fantasies in his hunt for a new victim. His secret life was never turned off and neither were his sexual fantasies. That’s what made him and guys like him so dangerous.
With the popularity of the internet, I’ve noticed an alarming new trend. We’re seeing professionals, white-collar folks, who are driven by their sexual fantasies which are readily fueled by pornography available on the internet. Pornography has always been a common denominator in criminals’ behavior in every sexual homicide case I’ve ever worked.
In the past, secret sexual behavior was, for the most part, contained to bathrooms with dirty magazines or in the black books of madams. That’s as far as it usually went. There may have been further sexual fantasies but the fuel was limited and thus they were not acted upon. Most individuals went to great lengths to protect their public and private personas.
Now the internet has allowed people in private to develop a virtual secret life where sexual fantasy has no limit masked by a public persona. The floodgates have been opened. It should no longer surprise us when we see doctors, lawyers and computer engineers being arrested for soliciting sex in chat rooms with our children. It’s no longer contained to the bathroom; it’s meeting a 13-year-old in a motel room. This is the “White-Collar Predator.”
The flip side to this disturbing new trend is now we’re seeing a distinction among predators; the “White-Collar Predator” and those who cannot compete intellectually. I’m going on the record saying this is a shift in criminal behavior unlike anything we’ve seen before.
In cyberspace, there’s sexual-fantasy jockeying going on for our children. White- Collar Predators have the intellectual advantage in chat rooms. Fueled by the same sexual fantasies, a white-collar predator may get a hook up while the other guy is forced into a voyeurism-only role watching the chat exchange. They are also driven to satisfy their fantasies so they take their hunt out into our neighborhoods and playgrounds.
Because of this phenomenon, we must consistently educate our children of the dangers that can lurk on the streets and of the dangers that may not be readily seen online. Times are changing and the criminal mind is adapting.
(Be sure to check out my guest blog entry at Chris's PredatorSafety.com Weblog as well. ~ S.H.)
The “White-Collar Predator” -- Guest Blog by Chris McDonough
Bill O'Reilly... Words Have Consequences
In Time Magazine's article about Shawn Hornbeck, I was, in a way, glad to read the following:
Shawn Hornbeck's parents say they may never know the full story as to why their son Shawn never attempted to contact them or to escape during the more than four years he lived with the man police say abducted him in 2002. But they said comments by Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly that the boy may have enjoyed living with Michael Devlin more than his family had infuriated the couple.I was glad to read it because Mr. Akers's statements proved conclusively that O'Reilly's banter had consequence -- that the talking head said things that he should be held accountable for saying, though I've no confidence that will happen.
"Can you really be that simple-minded?" Shawn's stepfather, Craig Akers, said in an interview with TIME late Thursday evening. "Our son was 11 when he was abducted. A child that age can be mentally manipulated in a very short time. Hearing him say what he said absolutely infuriates me. I can hardly even express how mad it makes me to hear that."
The comments had bothered Shawn, too, he added. "Shawn's actual words to us were that he had been terrified," Akers said. "We didn't ask him about that, but he brought it up after seeing something on the news about how he had had all these opportunities to get away. He said he was simply terrified."...
Then last night, on Stephen Colbert's show, O'Reilly was the guest. When he was booed by the audience, O'Reilly joked that Jon Stewart must be out there. Colbert immediately quipped, "he's a sexual predator," later saying to O'Reilly that Bill 'didn't know' what it was like... presumably, what it was like to deal with a sexual predator.
Colbert proved his satirical genius once and for all in that moment. In an exchange that probably didn't even become clear to O'Reilly until later, Stephen Colbert apparently managed to smack the man around for the same statements that so angered Shawn Hornbeck's family, and hurt Shawn himself. All of it on tape -- just like O'Reilly's execrable statements.
Bill O'Reilly has failed at his job and revealed himself as an out-of-touch, ill-informed, incredibly judgemental old man. His position as a highly-paid public personality, someone whose job is to make public pronouncements on all sorts of issues is a position of responsibility. His dereliction of duty in this instance has been stunning.
And it did affect the family, and the boy he was talking about.
Proud of yourself now, O'Reilly? Your position as a legendary bully is sealed.
Incidentally, I've already received the expected couple of "I liked ur site till u started talkin bout Bill O'Riely, now ur just a lib and I wont read no more" e-mails.
To people who have so willingly switched off the critical thinking skills lights in their darkened brains I say, don't let the cyber-door hit you in the ass on the way out. I don't want you here.
I now return you to the regularly-scheduled crime blogging.
UPDATE, 8:03 p.m. ET
Olbermann is addressing this very issue tonight. Turn to MSNBC now, if you have cable. You know it'll be worth it.
Again -- I was the first blogger to make note of O'Reilly's comments. My previous entries:
- "Bill O'Reilly on the Ben Ownby/Shawn Hornbeck Disappearance..."
- "Bill O'Reilly -- What's Wrong With This Man?"
I think it's probably not worth all the bother, but for some of you, this should be a very amusing link:
Sweet Jesus, I Hate Bill O'Reilly, Intl.
UPDATE, 1/26/07
One of my favorite e-mails so far comes from one of O'Reilly's many blindly loyal devotees, a Mr. Rick A., who seems to believe I should "stay off" Bill O'Reilly because O'Reilly is "#1 on cable... u idiot [sic]."
Rick A. gets the "mindless and intellectually bankrupt sheeple of the day" award! Congrats to you, Rick! Hope that kool-aid tastes real good!
A Fire in Fishkill (Developing Story out of New York)...
The fire was reported just after 3 in the morning. Someone passing 203 Route 82 in Fishkill, New York spotted flames leaping from the 21/2-story dwelling and phoned emergency services.
Authorities determined that the fire was the result of arson. The dead people inside the house had not simply succumbed to the smoke or the heat, either -- they'd been murdered.
At the moment, it appears that the toll in this dawning nightmare is three kids, two adults.
New York State Police have not identified any suspects and they are not releasing the names of the people found in the home.
In press conference held close to the burned-out home, Major William Carey, State Police Troop K, said that a vehicle fire had been reported about 20 minutes after the fire at 203 Route 82. Carey told reporters that the car fire "appeared to be related." 1.
Someone posting a comment on the article that provided the info for this blog entry wrote the following about the house on Route 82:
This house on Route 82 caught my attention yesterday as I drove past about 2:45 pm. I thought the place looked neglected and their was garbage scattered all over the yard. This was not the way this house usually looked. This is such a terrible thing, and now they are saying it was a homicide...I will update this blog entry as more news becomes available. Anytime 5 people die at once under such mysterious circumstances, it's news worth following -- especially if you live in the neighborhood. Obviously I don't... and at the moment, I'm glad.
UPDATE, 9:32 p.m. ET
From the Hudson Valley News, the names of the victims:
Police Friday evening identified the five people killed in a house that was torched in the Town of Fishkill that morning as a mother, father and their three sons.Other articles indicated that the 10-year-old boy had been stabbed to death, the youngest boy, Ryan, was bludgeoned.
The Dutchess County Medical Examiner’s Office has ruled the deaths as homicide.
Dead are Manual Morey, 33, Tina Morey, 30, and their children, Manuel Morey, 13, Adam Morey, 10, and six-year-old Ryan Morey...
A family vehicle was found torched on Lomala Lane, about a mile-and-a-half from the home on Route 82.
This horrific story is still developing...
1. "Police: 'Multiple homicides' at site of Fishkill fire," The Poughkeepsie Journal, January 19, 2007.
More Indictments for Joseph Edward Duncan III
My experience as a blogger who crosses over into the mainstream media from time to time began with the arrest of Joseph Edward Duncan III in July, 2005. Blogging I did in relation to that complex, haunting, and truly scary story eventually brought me the first invitation to appear on a news program, and also the first contacts I ever had from anyone in law enforcement.
In some ways, it's a story that keeps on giving, when it comes to true crime news.
I'm still moving entries over to this blog, but below is a link to the Wayback Machine's records of The Dark Side of Planet Huff, my original crime blog, as it appeared in the summer of 2005:
The Dark Side: The Groene Murders.
In August of 2005, a number of bloggers -- I was one of the first, but not the first (link goes to the first blogger to spot this) -- made note of Duncan's resemblance to the suspect who abducted Anthony Michael Martinez from the front yard of his home in Beaumont, California on April 4, 1997.
Duncan was absconded from parole at the time, and by his own account he was in California while on the lam. This time on the run in '97 sent Duncan back to prison to complete the rest of the 20 year sentence for rape that he'd begun serving in 1980.
It turned out that Riverside police were thinking along the same lines as the bloggers. It turned out that Duncan may have even made incriminating statements about Anthony Martinez. And a partial fingerprint found on tape binding Anthony's body when it was discovered, bludgeoned to death and buried in the desert, matched Duncan's prints.
There's major news about Duncan again today, even though he's already serving life in Idaho for murdering four members of the Groene family: "Joseph Duncan indicted by federal grand jury." From KNDO/KNDU:
A federal grand jury in Boise, Idaho, this afternoon indicted Joseph Edward Duncan in the kidnapping of two children near Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, in 2005.So the monster may finally get the chair or the needle one day, after all. Maybe Anthony will finally see some justice, after all.
The indictment charges Duncan with kidnapping 9-year-old Dylan Groene (GROH-nee) for the purpose of sexual assault, and for intentionally killing the boy after torturing him.
(...)
Federal prosecutors have already said they intend to seek the death penalty for the registered sex offender.
Earlier today, prosecutors in Riverside, California, said they will charge Duncan with the murder of a ten-year-old boy near Indio, California, a decade ago. Prosecutors say they also intend to seek the death penalty...
The best link on the Web for information about Joseph Edward Duncan III is Jules Hammer's jetd63.blogspot.com, The Cellar. Jules is one of the finest amateur sleuths I've ever met, and her weblog (begun by the pseudonymous "Mickey Rat" shortly after Duncan's arrest and later turned over to Jules) is both a one-stop online shop for information about this particular serial killer and his crimes and the essence of what a crime blog should be. Blogs began as link lists and personal journals, and Jules has managed to stay true to the spirit of blogging and blend the personal with the factual at The Cellar in a seamless and engaging manner.
Also of interest:
- Blogging the Fifth Nail -- Joseph Edward Duncan III's own weblog, kept between 2004 and 2005. Duncan's blog should not be read in one sitting. Though there is nothing overt there as to what kind of animal he truly was, this is a weblog that works its way into your psyche until you think you hear his soft, chilling voice in your head. Read when it's light outside.
- 5nrevelations.blogspot.com -- Blog begun by proxy while Duncan was awaiting his first trial -- which ultimately didn't happen because he pled guilty. In one entry in this weblog, Duncan practically admits he is a serial killer.
- Video made by Duncan while he was a college student titled "Reality." The video itself is strange, somehow haunting, but safe to view. However, the site I used to upload the video (this was pre-YouTube) has since taken on a lot of adult advertising. So that fact renders the link potentially not work-safe. It was pretty barebones when I first uploaded that video over a year ago.
(Tip of the old crimeblogger's fedora to true crime writer M. William Phelps, one-half of the blogging team at CrimeRant.com, for the heads-up on this story.)
Where is Wade Steffey?
From the Indy Channel:
Purdue University on Wednesday released information about a student who has been missing since early Saturday morning.Last time anyone saw Wade Steffey, he was at a fraternity house on the Purdue campus. He used his ATM card around 1 a.m... and he hasn't used it since.
Wade S. Steffey, 19, has not had any contact with his friends or his father since Saturday.
Steffey, a freshman from Bloomington, has short, brown hair and brown eyes. He is 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighs about 150 pounds...
In the Indianapolis Star, Sopia Voravong wrote about the worry and dismay expressed by Wade's family and friends. Wade Steffey wasn't the kind of guy who would just up and disappear:
Steffey, an aviation technology major from Bloomington, is a straight-A student on a full-ride, academic scholarship, Cox said.In short, Wade Steffey's disappearance is completely at odds with his past.
He has no known health problems.
The FBI in Lafayette, the West Lafayette Police Department and the Tippecanoe County Sheriff's Department all are assisting in the search.
K9 units from the Tippecanoe County and Porter County sheriff's departments tried to track Steffey's scent Wednesday from the fraternity to an ATM in the Ford Dining Hall at 1122 W. Stadium Ave., where his bank card was last used, then to his nearby residence hall.
All locations are within a half-mile on the northern edge of campus.
Investigators do not know whether Steffey was the person who withdrew $50 from the walk-up ATM at 1:11 a.m. Saturday because the machine's camera was broken, Cox said.
Police also found no activity on Steffey's student identification card, which he would need to swipe to get into Cary Quad after hours...
That's the conundrum when a missing persons case comes up for me as a crime blogger -- this may not be a crime. It may be misadventure, it may be a personal choice.
So I have to go with expressions of suspicion by police, and such an expression is present here: "This is suspicious because it's completely out of character..." ~ Capt. John Cox of the Purdue University Police Department.
Wade Steffey's MySpace has already begun to receive worried comments. Early this morning, a young woman with the screen name "Spicoli" wrote, "Wade, we all love you and miss you. Come home, safely."
Wade wrote a few blog entries in the weblog attached to his personal profile. On September 29, 2005, Wade wrote about getting into Purdue:
woo soo i got into purdue. no big surprise there. they are giving me 9500 dollars in merit based scholarships just cuz im smart. im not positive im going there but i think i might be able to go for freeee and thats quite tempting...Apparently the temptation took.
While the National Honor Society member and graduate of Bloomington High School South was obviously smart, as evidenced by his academic achievements and scholarships, he was also an athlete and an Eagle Scout.
Do achievers walk out on life? Sometimes. But a lifelong pattern of responsibility rarely breaks one day at 19.
And as evidenced by "Spicoli's" comment, Wade would not do that sort of thing.
In her MySpace weblog, another friend of Wade's, Laura, was clear on that point:
His name is Wade Steffey, he's 19 years old and has been missing since early Saturday morning. He was last seen at a party on Purdue's campus Friday night or early Saturday morning. His ATM card was last used at 1:11am on Saturday morning. His roomate returned to campus on Monday and found the lights on, his computer on, but no Wade. Nothing was gone, so he hadn't packed anything for a trip. It's not like him to just pick up and leave without telling anyone where he is going. He's a straight "A" student and has always been a great kid...Wade Steffey's cell phone goes to voice mail, and that 1 a.m. transaction on Saturday, January 13, there's been no other activity on his account. He's vanished into thin air.
Stories of missing young men, regardless of their skin color or station, do not often receive the attention given to stories about missing young women. That's because there's a perception, frequently true, that young men may often be the ones responsible somehow for their vanishing.
I read about a developing story like the disappearance of Wade Steffey and vividly recall something that happened when I was in college.
I was pulling into the parking lot across from the on-campus apartment where I lived with three other guys. It was 11 at night, and early spring.
A tall guy wearing a leather coat was walking down the sidewalk that bordered the lot. He was nice-looking, clean-shaven, and his dark clothes looked more expensive than mine. He could have been a student. But the moment my headlights crossed him, he cut his eyes towards me and slowed his pace. I didn't know the guy, and up until that moment, he'd been walking off-campus, towards the main road. Immediately, I became suspicious.
He angled towards me, and I could tell by the direction of his gaze and his pace that he was coming around to talk to me.
It was raw instinct, but I backed out of the space and drove off, exiting the parking lot on the opposite side from where I'd entered. I circled campus for 15 minutes, feeling anxious and cowardly and stupid. Until I saw the same guy stalking down a main boulevard out of town, glaring at every car that passed. That was when I realized my instincts, raw as they were, had probably been correct -- I'd spotted a predator spotting me. Likely just to mug me, maybe take the car -- something I'd survive, physically. But still, I have wondered ever since who might have encountered the guy later and not felt that sense of alarm, or if they were alarmed, ignore the feeling out of self-doubt or guilt.
In Wade Steffey's disappearance, the last transaction at the ATM with the broken camera... was that the beginning of a tragedy? Was Wade perhaps approached while his guard was down?
Let's hope not, for Wade's sake.
UPDATE 1, 1/19/07
From the Purdue Exponent, the University newspaper, an article just published this afternoon:
Dale Steffey and Dawn Adams, parents of missing freshman Wade Steffey, are hoping to drive the case to a national scope. After a community search Thursday afternoon, police are looking to expand the search to include a larger area.I added the link in the last paragraph of the quote.
Police haven’t ruled out alcohol as a factor, but several students’ stories are weakening the lead. Sources from the fraternity party and friends said that Steffey was not intoxicated. Police believe it is unlikely Steffey was drunk and wandered off, as some speculated.
A prayer service is being held Saturday at 1:30 p.m. at the Purdue Bell Tower.
Fliers are available on the Exponent Web site, and police and Steffey’s family are encouraging people to post them around town...
I made some media contacts aware of Wade's disappearance yesterday, so let's hope his parents are able to do what they wish and make this case national. He was 19, but at this point in my life, that makes him a kid to me. Pray his family is able to bring the kid home safely.
Bill O'Reilly -- What's Wrong With this Man?
I promised myself I wouldn't devote another crime blog entry to the stunning idiocy spewed by Bill O'Reilly on January 15, 2006. Idiocy I covered here:
"Bill O'Reilly on the Ben Ownby/Shawn Hornbeck Disappearance."
I want to note for the record that I am 99.9% certain that I was by far-and-away the first blogger to make mention of this low point in talking head history, to boot. Before the actual transcript was even on O'Reilly's website, reader "JustMe" went to the trouble to type out and send me O'Reilly's exchange with Greta van Susteren after listening to a recording she'd made.
Still, this is a weblog about true crime stories, written by a guy who has been blogging true crime since 2004. And one reason for starting a "crime blog" was the fact that politics usually bores me to tears -- even though political talk is what drives the rest of the blogosphere, it seems. I say this because for most people, bringing up Bill O'Reilly automatically shoves political ideology into the discussion.
The kidnappings of Ben Ownby last week and Shawn Hornbeck 4 years ago were, of course, crimes. The man who allegedly kidnapped the boys, Michael Devlin, may have kidnapped and likely abused more children, as well. I've already stated that I wouldn't be surprised to find out Devlin has killed more than one victim. There's no evidence he did, at the moment, but it wouldn't shock me.
Yet I just can't completely ignore the O'Reilly "factor" in this story, even though to people who really follow crime stories, it is overall the least important element.
One reason I can't ignore it is the fact that others are starting to pick up on it. 1, 2, 3.
It's beginning to turn into a "thing."
What prompted this blog entry was reading this NewsHounds.US article: "O'Reilly Spins O'Reilly." Apparently, Bill O'Reilly did receive enough grief from good people with brains and compassion that he had to address their complaints in a show broadcast on January 17.
It wasn't much of a response, though. From NewsHounds.US:
When an emailer said he should apologize to the family and to his viewers, O'Reilly acknowledged he might have to, but he might not. He also acknowledged that it is a complicated and disturbing story, but reiterated that as a former high school teacher (1971-73) he considers himself qualified to comment on matters of psychology. (From NYC, no less.)Translation of O'Reilly's words in the quote above: I always figured if I tried anything, the kids I taught would just fight too hard, y'know?
Or, as he put it,"After teaching teenagers in high school, it is hard for me to believe that a normal kid would stay in a horrible environment when escape was easy, especially if the child had confidence in his parents."So the apology to the parents is not forthcoming tonight, at least.
The article goes on to relate these stirring words from Mr. O'Reilly (since I will never watch O'Reilly's show again, I am using a secondary source -- I added emphasis):
I actually hope I'm wrong about Shawn Hornbeck. I hope he did not make a conscious decision to accept his captivity because Devlin made things easy for him. No school, play all day long.Yes, my bowels are truly stirred. And chalking it up to brainwashing? Maybe a few people have tried. But Bill, did you ever consider raw fear for one's life, and the life of your family? No, that'd undercut your argument against Stockholm Syndrome, a possible explanation as to why Shawn never ran from Devlin -- an explanation I've only seen floated in a few places.
But to just chalk this up to brainwashing and walk away is turn away from the true danger of child molesters and abductors. All American children must be taught survival skills, must be prepared to face crisis situations. That is the lesson of the Shawn Hornbeck story...
And you know, I doubt Bill O'Reilly has ever even conceived of being wrong about anything. Hope he's wrong? A flat-out lie.
I've already had the requisite stupid e-mails and comments from people ignoring this man's spew and assuming my problem here must be ideological. You know the type; his usual brainless knee-jerk defenders, the folks who long ago performed auto-lobotomies and removed any pesky semblance of critical thinking skills. They equal in number the commentary from folks who thought I was too soft on O'Reilly in the first entry I wrote, because I dared acknowledge that the man is likely NOT dumb as a stump, and he does have degrees that are impressive -- on paper. Which goes to show you: you can't pin me down. I'm not a lib or a conservative.
I am, however, anti-stupid and anti-cruelty, and if anything, Bill O'Reilly's more recent statements on this subject simply prove he's still cruel and stupid, after all.
But don't let me, some stupid blogger, respond to Bill O'Reilly on Shawn Hornbeck's behalf. It isn't my place. John Rupp, the Washington County (MO) prosecutor, gave the perfect response in a press conference held Wednesday. From the AP/CBS:
At a news conference Wednesday, authorities charged Devlin with Shawn's kidnapping and said the 41-year-old pizza parlor worker had used a gun to threaten the boy when he was abducted in 2002.A normal individual couldn't grasp it, so I'm damn sure Bill O'Reilly won't have a clue.
John Rupp, prosecutor in Washington County, dismissed any suggestion that Shawn had run away. "Shawn was abducted against his will," he said. "Period. End of story."
Washington County Sheriff Kevin Schroeder also said it's hard for anyone to fathom Shawn's ordeal. "This is something so bizarre that the normal individual cannot grasp what this then-11-year-old boy went through."
There have been other hints in the news that Michael Devlin is being eyed for more than Ben's and Shawn's kidnappings. I covered some of that in this entry. Devlin is considered a good lead in the 1991 disappearance of Charles Arlin Henderson, a boy who disappeared in circumstances remarkably like Shawn Hornbeck's, a boy who resembled Hornbeck at 11.
And if that isn't enough for you, let New York Post (and O'Reilly's fellow News Corporation employee) correspondent Andy Geller lay out the obvious, which O'Reilly actually acknowledged on his show even while suggesting the possibility that Shawn Hornbeck enjoyed his captivity:
Kiddie porn was found on the home computer of the hulking loner accused of kidnapping two St. Louis boys, law-enforcement sources said yesterday.So, even while the News Corp.-owned Post was publishing that there may have been child porn on Devlin's computer, O'Reilly was on News Corp.-owned airwaves implying that the teen found captive in that home, a teen who likely used that computer, might have liked the captivity. See, that Post article was published the same day O'Reilly first made his ludicrous statements to Greta van Susteren on his show. (Greta, incidentally, was a champ in her handling of the moment, because she was surely between a rock and a hard place. I still like GVS, so you just deal with it.)
As a result, the feds are considering slapping Michael Devlin, 41, with child-porn charges, the sources said...
Again, I'm a cynic... O'Reilly managed to weather serious sexual harassment charges in the past, charges that would have ended the careers of others in public life... so I doubt this spectacular window into just how heartless the man truly is will do anything more than fuel the hatred of those who are just as knee-jerk in their loathing of O'Reilly as his defenders are thoughtless when they leap to his defense, regardless of how evil or ugly his rhetoric truly was.
Me, I'll just go back to crime-blogging, quit inflicting this sort of thing on my regular readers. I will, however, be day-dreaming of O'Reilly having to explain his words to Shawn Hornbeck's mother, perhaps, or the victim's advocates, the investigators who hear the real horror story from the boy's lips.
But then again -- I doubt that would have any effect on the man. He'd be just as glib and smooth as he is delivering everything else.
Snakes in Suits are like that, you know.
UPDATE 1
I totally forgot to re-emphasize the point that Bill O'Reilly has blundered, with his rhetoric, right into the most likely party line from NAMBLA (North American Man-Boy Love Association) on a subject like this. Floh, a regular reader, did mention it, though. Quoth Floh:
The excitement O'Reilly's words must have caused across NAMBLA boards can ony be imagined — i'm not willing to trawl them to find out, but i have a faily [sic] good idea NAMBLA members are rejoicing...I imagine so, Floh. Well, there's bedfellows you don't see every day, Bill O'Reilly and NAMBLA.
Because seriously, after blogging about crime for nearly 3 years, I can tell you that in implying Shawn's life with Devlin might somehow have been "fun" or ideal, Bill O'Reilly truly was talking the pedophile party line. The core delusion in pedophilia -- one core delusion, that is -- is that the kid wanted it.
And isn't that truly what Bill-O was saying? In that first exchange with Greta on the 15th, O'Reilly even mentioned in passing the Post's assertion that child pornography had been found on Devlin's computer. Yet he still was only hoping he was wrong about Hornbeck's time in captivity the next night.
Well, that's something for ya, Billy-boy. As Floh noted, at least someone out there still loves you.
UPDATE 2
This isn't an update as much as it is an afterthought.
The imprint that bore Judith Regan's name, ReganBooks, is going bye-bye.
Regan was always a controversial figure during her time running that Harper-Collins/News Corp. owned publishing house, and she was targeted in part by Bill O'Reilly when he made his stand in December, 2006 against the then-forthcoming book by O.J. Simpson, If I Did It. That is, O'Reilly's (admittedly correct) stance on the O.J. book was by implication a stand against Judith Regan, too.
What's the difference between O'Reilly and Regan now?
Not much. The following quote is from that article linked above, which is about the final dissolution of the ReganBooks name:
Regan's lucrative, scandalous reign at ReganBooks ended abruptly when she was fired last December amid allegations that she made anti-Semitic remarks to a HarperCollins lawyer. In November, Regan's planned Simpson book and television interview were canceled by corporate head Rupert Murdoch of News Corp. in response to widespread public outrage."Widespread public outrage."
Regan has denied making any inappropriate remarks and her lawyer, Bert Fields, has said she plans to sue her former employer for wrongful dismissal and, possibly, for libel...
Where's that "outrage" now?
I will not defend Judith Regan -- the "O.J. book" alone is enough to keep me from doing that -- but the anti-semitic statements she allegedly made were not intended to be public. They were not heard on one of the top-rated cable news shows.
Regan made money for Rupert Murdoch. Not all his money, of course. In fact, her imprint might have been one of the less lucrative under the News Corp. umbrella. But for a time, ReganBooks was successful enough that Judith Regan got away with other naughtiness -- much of it not particularly public.
Now one of Fox's most well-known faces and voices has made public statements that were by their very nature gravely insulting to a teen who just endured a 4-year ordeal at the hands of man who snatched him off the road one day when he was 11, at gunpoint. (MSNBC is one press outlet reporting this morning that Devlin actually confessed to kidnapping Ben Ownby after his arrest.)
Shawn Hornbeck finally makes it home alive to his family, and he's bullied by a talking head on national TV. In the process, every other survivor of kidnapping, and let's admit it, sexual abuse, is insulted. Bill O'Reilly practically pats NAMBLA on the back and says, 'hey, the kid had fun, he probably liked it.'
Judith Regan loses her job over bone-headed decisions (initially greenlighted by News Corp. management, by the way), and alleged anti-semitic comments made to an executive with whom she already had a bad history, and Bill O'Reilly makes his ludicrous and incredibly judgemental statements about this most high-profile of high-profile criminal cases and he still has his job?
Am I missing something? Is your hypocrisy meter bumping off the scale, as well?
Seems to me that Regan's firing proved that News Corp., that Murdoch could respond to potentially embarrassing and offensive actions by even prominent and profitable employees in an appropriate manner.
So what was there in Bill O'Reilly's first statements in relation to the Ownby/Hornbeck kidnappings and his follow-up statement that no one above O'Reilly found embarrassing or offensive? Anti-semitic remarks, if they were made, are certainly offensive and inappropriate. But implying that a young teen kidnapping victim, likely a victim of molestation, might have enjoyed his experience, had "fun" -- that's not also offensive and inappropriate?
I'll admit it -- I'm not hearing enough outrage about this from others in the media yet.
But maybe these things just take time.
One can only hope.
UPDATE 3
Reader SueJay40 just left this comment:
Former FBI profiler Candace DeLong just said on Court TV that [O'Reilly] should apologize to Shawn and his parents...This is great, for a few reasons. One, I've always thought Ms. DeLong was an extremely cool person, a sharp-witted profiler who has a way with words, two, I'm really glad see O'Reilly's calumny beginning to enter the dialogue on-air in this manner.
Incidentally, if Bill O'Reilly thinks simply because my weblog was the first to note his incredible, insulting insensitivity that I'm among the loony left, that's fine by me. Anyone who has read my blog for any length of time knows you can't pin any one political stance on me and make it stick. I blog about crime because left-right political b.s. bores me; I have nothing to add to that fray.
But being written off as a lib by O'Reilly? Hell, that's a compliment. I'm actually a conservative by many standards, but I'd rather not share that designation with soulless bastards like Bill O'Reilly.
Note, 1/18/07 (Comments)
Please note: I've installed a new commenting system that is much more to my liking. I hope readers agree. If you were a regular poster at my weblogs in the past, you should be much happier with this new system than the blogger commenting system that comes with all blogspot weblogs. Just click comments, enter the info requested, and comment away!
Incidentally -- for the moment, comments made on this weblog's entries in the past 5 days have disappeared -- I may be able to retrieve them in the next day or so. Long-time readers and friends in the media with questions should know that I still have access to comments left on my weblogs in the past, as well.
Suspect named in the Lentz Family Murders
A reader in Wisconsin sent me the following information from a press conference given by police in Janesville, WI, about the murders of Danyetta Lentz, age 38, and her children Nicole, age 17, and Scott, 14. Thanks to Shelly T. for the following:
Suspect arrested after high speed chase. Search warrant was executed. Suspect is James C. Koepp who resides on lot 39. 1/29/59 birthdate, male white.That's right. Another damned registered sex offender in the neighborhood, and a mother and two children murdered by "complex homicidal violence."
He is on the WI sex offender registry, 2nd degree sexual assault. He has other traffic violations...
Koepp's registry record with the State of Wisconsin says he lived on lot 69, not 39, but otherwise, all the info dovetails with what Shelly gleaned from the press conference about this break in the case.
Koepp's conviction was in 1984. He was required to register for life, but his supervision (probation presumably) had terminated.
Koepp filed an appeal with the Wisconsin Court of Appeals in 1997. The decision in that case was published online: No. 96-3561-CR, State of Wisconsin, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. James C. Koepp, Defendant-Appellant.
The following quotes are from that document, I've added emphasis here and there:
In 1984, Koepp was convicted on four counts of second-degree sexual assault. He was sentenced to concurrent five- and ten-year prison terms on two counts and was given concurrent ten-year terms of probation on the remaining counts, to be served consecutive to the prison terms. He was released from prison in 1993 and began serving probation. In September 1995, the Department of Corrections revoked Koepp's probation. Koepp waived his probation revocation hearing and on December 8, 1995, the trial court sentenced him to concurrent six-year prison terms. On September 9, 1996, Koepp filed a pro se motion for sentence reduction or resentencing. The trial court denied this motion. Koepp appeals.In short, Koepp blamed his previous crimes on alcohol and depression.
First, Koepp argues that his mental health problems (e.g., his depression, alcohol abuse and suicide attempts) led to the aberrant behavior that resulted in probation revocation. Because the Department of Corrections and the trial court did not consider these problems, Koepp argues that he was improperly denied alternatives to revocation.
(...)
Koepp contends that his serious mental problems caused the aberrant behavior that resulted in his probation revocation. Had his attorney investigated and explained this to the trial court at sentencing, Koepp argues that alternatives to revocation or a reduced sentence may have resulted. Therefore, Koepp argues that these mental problems are a "new factor" that warrant sentence modification. We disagree.
The sentencing record shows that counsel did bring to the court's attention Koepp's problems with attempted suicide, depression and alcohol. The court acknowledged that in spite of Koepp's rehabilitation efforts, these same problems were present when probation was originally imposed and had now resurfaced. Accordingly, probation was revoked and Koepp was sentenced because these same problems occurred again. There was nothing new about these facts, even if counsel had failed to bring them to the court's attention. Because Koepp's mental problems were not a "new factor," the trial court appropriately denied his motion for sentence reduction...
Whatever those crimes were, specifically, they were not triple murder.
If the charges against him are true, what will Mr. Koepp's excuse be now?
My previous blog entries about the Lentz family:
Michael Devlin: What Else Did He Do?
Previous blog entries about the kidnappings of Ben Ownby and Shawn Hornbeck:
- "Ben Ownby, Shawn Hornbeck Found Alive!"
- "The 'Miracle in Missouri' -- Profiler Lawrence Moran on the Ownby/Hornbeck Abductions."
- "Bill O'Reilly on the Ben Ownby/Shawn Hornbeck Disappearance."
- "Gregg Olsen to Write a Book About the Devlin Case."
For one thing, Court TV has been reporting via an on-screen ticker that that additional charges against Devlin may include child molestation, battery, sexual battery and false imprisonment. Here I have to quote Nancy Collins, the reader and friend who sent me this info: "I guess that will cool Bill O’Reilly’s hot air about Shawn’s ordeal being a picnic."
We can only dream, Nancy. Hopefully, these charges (if filed) will move this crime story back out of ideological territory. The moment conservative talking anus O'Reilly opined on this story, it suddenly took on a left vs. right aspect, and that is just wrong. It would be best for Bill O'Reilly if he apologized for his astonishing idiocy and stuck with something he knows about, like "falafel." Actually, it would be best if O'Reilly got drummed back to doing the Farm Report for an AM station in some 250 market backwater, but I digress. (Incidentally, has word gotten to Billy-Boy that he unwittingly endeared himself to members of the North American Man-Boy Love Association all over the world with his glib and irresponsible statements? Hope so.)
Here's the other development being reported by MSNBC and in print publications: "Suspect in Mo. kidnappings under scrutiny in '91 case." From the AP/USA Today:
Lincoln County sheriff's deputies said Wednesday that Devlin is now the "most viable lead" in the investigation into the 1991 disappearance of Charles Arlin Henderson of Moscow Mills.I would not be the least bit surprised to find out that Devlin kidnapped other children. I wouldn't be surprised, frankly, if he's killed other victims, but for some reason he developed a relationship with Shawn Hornbeck that stayed his hand, there. For all we know, psychological survival skills Shawn instinctively put into play to deal with his situation kept him alive, even while Devlin went through other victims.
Both Shawn and Charles vanished at age 11 while riding their bikes on a rural road about an hour's drive from St. Louis. Both boys were slight, weighing about 100 pounds, and had close-cropped hair.
"If you were to take a photo of Arlin Henderson and you place it next to Shawn's picture, there is a striking resemblance," sheriff's Lt. Rick Harrell said...
Here is Arlin Henderson's page at the Charley Project (www.charleyproject.org), a site devoted to keeping missing persons cases alive. Quoting:
Josh Spangler confessed to Henderson's murder in 2001, ten years after the child disappeared. Spangler was 13 years old at the time of the alleged killing and could not have served prison time for his role in the crime due to the fact that he was a minor when it was committed. Spangler was apparently involved in drug activity in 1991 and was associated with George N. Gibson and his older brother, Charles "Chuckie" Gibson. Charles is currently imprisoned on federal drug and money laundering charges. Both of the Gibson brothers were initially charged in connection with Henderson's case in the spring of 2001. Spangler told investigators that a member of Henderson's family owed money to Charles Gibson, and Spangler was paid to kill Henderson as a warning. Spangler said that he sold drugs for the Gibson brothers in 1991.Hopefully the bold emphasis in the last sentence of the quote isn't even necessary.
Spangler stated that he was riding in a truck with George on July 25, 1991, the day Henderson vanished, and that they abducted him and held him in a house in Davis, Missouri for a few days. Spangler said that they abducted the child and claimed that he shot Henderson in the head with a nine-millimeter pistol in a creek bed near Davis on July 28, 1991, three days after the boy was abducted. He said he was paid $10,000 by the Gibsons for abducting and killing the boy and that his body was buried along the Mississippi River.
Authorities searched a site near Winfield, Missouri in late July - early August 2001 for Henderson's remains. Details about the search have not been released, but Henderson was not located Authorities withdrew charges against both of the Gibsons in October 2001 after learning that Spangler lied regarding their involvement in the crime. Citing numerous discrepancies in Spangler's account, they charged him with perjury in connection with his testimony about Henderson's supposed death. Spangler plead guilty to perjury and was sentenced to seven years in prison. At the time of his plea, he was serving a four-year prison sentence for unrelated charges of burglary and tampering. Authorities now believe Spangler had nothing to do with Henderson's disappearance. They say Spangler made up the story as a malicious joke to make the police look incompetent.
Authorities have not cast aside the theory that Henderson's disappearance may have been drug-related, but Henderson's mother denies allegations that she or any of her family members were involved with drugs.
Investigators have Henderson's bicycle as evidence and hope to identify a set of fingerprints discovered on the frame.
If the police put Michael Devlin's fingerprints into the Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) and got a hit... well, we may be hearing about Devlin and his association with missing children for quite a while to come.
And no one knows where Arlin Henderson is, even now.
No one knows where Bianca Noel Piper is, either. From TV station KSDK: "Did Michael Devlin Join The Search For Bianca Piper?" Quoting from the article:
The arrest of kidnapping suspect 41-year old Michael J. Devlin is breathing new life into the Henderson and Piper cases.Could Devlin be a preferential pedophile whose preferences were geared more towards an age group than a sex? He wouldn't be the first -- look at Joseph Edward Duncan III.
"We're starting to recieve new tips that may be critical to either of our investigations," says Detective Chris Bartlett of the Lincoln County Sheriff's Department.
Detective Bartlet says they are probing two chilling leads.
Did Devlin participate in volunteer searches for Bianca Piper to learn investigative techniques he would use later to elude authorities?
"Whether he was a part of it, in it, or in the middle, or just watching from afar, he absolutley knew what was going on," says Detective Bartlet. "I certainly believe Michael Devlin was monitoring our search and the disappearance of Bianca Piper."
A friend of mine who does professional crime scene analysis has mapped disappearances in Eastern Missouri that could logically be connected to Devlin -- Arlin Henderson showed up on the map, as did others. I may update this blog entry later with the map, with my friend's permission.
When I wrote this entry about Shawn Hornbeck's disappearance in August, 2005, I was speculating that it wouldn't be a stretch to think Duncan abducted the boy. Duncan was in Missouri around that time, and Hornbeck seemed to fit his preferred age group and type. I was wrong, but when the Ownby/Hornbeck story broke, I wondered if Shawn still was perhaps the victim of someone much like Duncan.
Sadly, it appears that idea may not have been quite as far-fetched as I'd hoped.
This entry will be updated as needed.
UPDATE 1
This update is also appended to the Bill O'Reilly blog entry, update 3 there.
Media Matters for America has now jumped on the bandwagon, and even borrowed the emphasis I added (at least some of it) to O'Reilly's statements quoted above. Double-nifty, though, they've got video.
While Media Matters could maybe throw a blogger a link, it is much more important that the word gets out there and Papa Bear (thank you, Stephen Colbert) keeps getting dosed for his astonishing insensitivity and idiocy. He hasn't even come close to giving an appropriate statement, especially in light of the most recent developments in the case.
I cover those above. The most recent news about the sexual predator Michael Devlin -- and yes, that is what I am certain he is, a predator -- renders Bill O'Reilly's words an even more disgusting example of "when talking heads attack" than it was before.
Someone stick a falafel in the guy, he's done.
Charges in the Jodi Sanderholm Murder
"I don't care if it hurtsCharges have been filed by the Kansas Attorney General against Arkansas City, (KS) resident Justin E. Thurber in the murder of Jodi Sanderholm.
I want to have control
I want a perfect body
I want a perfect soul
I want you to notice
When I'm not around
You're so [very] special
I wish I was special
"But I'm a creep
I'm a weirdo
What the hell am I doing here?
I don't belong here..."
"Creep" by Radiohead.
As you can read in the following blog entries, Jodi vanished from Ark City on January 5, 2007, sparking fear in the town of 10,000, setting off extensive searches throughout the southeastern part of Kansas, searches that reached into Oklahoma to the south. The previous entries:
Thurber, 23, has been charged with aggravated kidnapping, rape, and capital murder. He has been held in the Cowley County Jail since shortly after Jodi disappeared on $1 million bond.
Jodi Sanderholm vanished after going to a Subway Sandwich Shop on January 5. On January 9, Jodi's body and car were both recovered.
According to authorities, Jodi had been raped and murdered within 3 hours of being kidnapped on the 5th.
Since he's charged with capital murder, a conviction could put Justin Thurber on death row.
Justin Thurber's name was mentioned in my weblog shortly after he was charged with impersonation and disorderly conduct. Posters from Ark City named him in the comments as the "stalker" or "groupie" known to members of the Cowley College Tigerettes, Jodi Sanderholm's dance team. Some posters even gave out nasty nicknames that dogged Thurber throughout his youth in Ark City, like "ape boy."
It sounds like Justin was known to be a creep and a weirdo, the kind of guy that might send a girl running out again. He was known to be trouble, in Ark City. But does anyone ever know when the creep will decide to stop the girls from running?
And the Thurber family appeared to live fairly close to the Sanderholms there in that Southeastern Kansas town. How long had Justin noticed Jodi? How long did he think about that moment when he might have her in his control?
These are just a few of the chilling questions that come to mind about this tragedy.
Source: Wichita Eagle.
UPDATE 1
A young lady from Ark City sent along the following account of Justin Thurber's past behavior. She asked to remain anonymous. I've added emphasis to the following:
I knew justin thurber. I attended cowley from 2001-2003. "Thurber," as we called him, was an odd person from the beginning.In the comments on this entry, Melissa also left a link to an article in the Ark City Traveler that gives more insight into Justin Thurber's troubled past. A strongly recommended read.
I met him through Jared Moore, [a] young man who died of an overdose in Ark City a while back.
Justin was a stalker. He used to call my cell phone and tell me exactly what I was wearing, exactly who I was hanging out with or what I was doing, and exactly what was going on. He was always on campus, day and night.
"Thurber" did drugs and tried to give girls these drugs so that they didn't know what was going on. I can remember my friend and I taking him places by ourselves, at night even. It makes me sick to my stomach to know that I could have been another one of his victims. I feel for the Sanderholm family and I wish that this man never been seen outside a prison.
He is finally where he belongs...
What did you do to your wives, Roger Sweet?
(Laura James is the author of CLEWS, The Historic True Crime Blog, and one of the most gifted bloggers covering true crime online.)
Roger Sweet’s wife of seven years is missing. Things look bleak for her. And with her disappearance and the burning of her home come a whole new set of questions about the death of the first Mrs. Sweet years ago.
The mystery unfolding in suburban Detroit began with the disappearance of Lizzie Mae Collier-Sweet on January 8. That was the day the Sweet’s house burned down. The small home is in Brownstown Township, a working-class suburb south of Detroit, where many auto factory workers live.
The police are citing many reasons for concern:
- The Sweet’s marriage was disintegrating and they were estranged.
- Police were called to the home in December on a domestic violence call.
- Liz’s friends told police that Mr. Sweet threatened her with a handgun in November, and that Liz bought a 12-gauge shotgun to protect herself.
- In her diary, Liz wrote of her fear of her husband and wrote that she started keeping a hammer under her couch. Police found the hammer in her burned-out home just where she said she kept it.
- Her dentures were found in the home, and she wouldn’t have willingly left home without them.
- She hasn’t used her credit cards or cashed her last paycheck, and her Lincoln was still in the driveway.
Liz’s diary also revealed that she believed her husband was having sex with a woman who is mentally disabled. Now Mr. Sweet is in the county jail, not held on suspicion of murder, but on rape charges. He denies any wrongdoing and says his wife must have burned down the house and committed suicide elsewhere. Cadaver dogs and police search teams continue to look for Liz Sweet.
Meanwhile, police in another Detroit suburb, Farmington Hills, have questions of their own for Roger Sweet. In 1990, Mr. Sweet’s then-wife Marlene, 38, was found dead in their home. The funeral home that handled her burial contacted the medical examiner to report dark suspicions. But Marlene’s death was ruled accidental – a head injury brought on by a fall down the stairs. An autopsy report that is now being broadcast on local TV shows a diagram of multiple bruises and abrasions on the woman’s body, dozens from head to toe.
Did Roger Sweet push his luck?
The Lentz Family Murders -- Investigators Look at MySpace
My first entry about the murders of Danyetta, Nicole, and Scott Lentz, written January 14, 2007:
"A Triple Murder You May Have Missed."
The Lentzes were found dead in their mobile home in Janesville, Wisconsin on January 12. They were victims of "complex homicidal violence," according to investigators working the case.
Danyetta, 38, was a long-time employee of a local daycare there in Janesville. Nicole, 17, and brother Scott, 14, were high-school students.
My original blog entry broke the news about Nicole's presence on MySpace.com, and how there were interesting variations between a Google cache of her page made on November 15, 2006, and the page as it currently appears: www.myspace.com/nickibaby16. Namely, the presence of Nicole's one-time boyfriend, James Warner, on the page captured by Google in November, and his notable absence from the page and MySpace in general when I first found the profile on January 15, 2006. A blog entry Nicole wrote in mid-December, 2006 about her "bf" (boyfriend) being untruthful seemed to indicate the couple had broken up, seemed to indicate she and James were on the outs.
Yet it has been reported at least once that James Warner called a neighbor of the Lentzes on the night of January 12, a person he would call when he couldn't reach Nicole.
Now there's this piece:
"Investigators Look At Teen's Internet Activity For Clues In Triple Slaying."
It's published on WISC-TV's Channel3000.com. A quote:
Nicole Lentz, 17, had a MySpace.com Web page, and someone was logged into her account as late as the day the bodies were found, WISC-TV reported.Could it be that someone was actually logged-in to Nicole's page after she was murdered? If so, why? Or was she murdered while her computer was still on, perhaps the page still up and her account open?
"(We want) to find out who these contacts were that they may have had on the Internet at the MySpace, and they might be able to offer us information as to the last 24 to 48 hours of these victims lives," said Rock County Sheriff Bob Spoden...
I developed other questions after comparing the cached and current pages. The most persistent question in my mind was whether or not Nicole and James were still broken up when the family was slain.
Nicole's screen name is now "james&nicki2gether4ever," and she still has a marquee scrolling across one portion of her profile that proclaims, "I love James Warner."
Had the couple gotten back together?
If not, then I'm sure Mr. Warner is feeling some heat.
Then again, it could be that James Warner truly was worried that night and calling the Lentz's neighbor because he truly was puzzled at not being able to reach Nicole. He deserves every benefit of the doubt, since he could be a deeply grieving young man right now, and not a suspect in any fashion.
That investigators may have focused on Nicole's online presence for any reason though is not a surprise to me. Thing is, if there is some evidence there that they find significant, it is doubtful we will know what that is until someone has been brought to trial.
Let's hope that we will have trial of some sort to wait through sooner rather than later.
UPDATE 1, 1/17/07
There may be a suspect in custody in the Lentz murders. It is not James Warner or Danyetta Lentz's ex-husband, both men have been cleared of involvement in these murders. From Channel3000.com, WISC-TV:
Unidentified sources say a suspect is in police custody in connection with the killing of a family near Janesville last week, WISC-TV reported.So, a neighbor may have done it. That's everyone's nightmare, isn't it? That the guy across the way or the person next door is harboring a homicidal animal in their minds.
According to those sources, the suspect is a resident in or near the mobile-home park where the Lentz family -- Danyetta Lentz, 38, her 17-year-old daughter, Nicole, and 14-year-old son, Scott -- were found last Friday.
The Rock County sheriff is scheduled to hold a news conference about the case on Wednesday at 5 p.m...
If you're in Wisconsin and you've been watching this blog entry, please post about the press conference when it airs, in particular if they've named the suspect.
Gregg Olsen To Write a Book About the Devlin Case
Gregg Olsen, NY Times Bestselling author, Crime Ranter bar none, tells me that he'll be writing a book about the Michael Devlin case. Gregg's title:
The Way Back Home: A True Story of Abuduction, Freedom and the Michael Devlin Case.
Gregg says that the book will not be written until the case has been adjudicated against Michael J. Devlin, the man accused of kidnapping both Ben Ownby and Shawn Hornbeck.
Gregg knows how to cover cases like this -- fast-breaking high-profile crimes that garner intense media coverage for a time. A good example might be the book Gregg wrote about Mary Kay LeTourneau, If Loving You is Wrong.
The Way Back Home will not be some cut-and-paste hack job rushed into print. The publisher isn't set, and Gregg has yet to make contact with principals.
I have a feeling Gregg Olsen's book about this major true crime story of 2007 will end up being the definitive work on the case, when all is said and done.
Gregg, his colleague at Crime Rant, M. William Phelps, and another friend of mine, Ann Rule, are writers who prove why authoring true crime tales is never easy, light work. They don't just sit at home culling news reports or nowadays, blog posts. Real true crime writers whose books deserve respect always end up being the folks who follow the story personally, who get to know the main people involved, sit through the trials. They live with the case. It shows in the work they do.
Just knowing second-hand how intense the work done by these writers really is has made me wary of writing my own book, intimidated by the prospect. But that has also changed, thanks to them. Gregg's commitment to write this book is another example of why I've gone from being intimidated by my fellow true crime writers and the very hard jobs they do to inspired.
I am honored that Gregg Olsen gave me the news and allowed me to post it here. Keep an eye on Amazon.com for your first chance to pre-order, because when my buddy Mr. Olsen is done, you won't need another book on this troubling, mysterious, and ultimately miraculous case.
Oh, and if you want to get a look at what Gregg Olsen has been up to recently book-wise, go here.
Bill O'Reilly on the Ben Ownby/Shawn Hornbeck Disappearance
Someone stick a fork in this man. He's done.
I am, as some who have read my blogging for a while may know, a bit more conservative than not (and really, just a bit). That said, Bill O'Reilly finally got on my nerves one too many times over a year ago and I just stopped watching. It wasn't even his rhetoric most of the time, either -- it was his insufferably arrogant demeanor.
Then readers began posting outraged comments on this entry about some statements made by the Fox pundit on his January 15th broadcast. O'Reilly was talking to Greta van Susteren, a TV personality on that channel for whom I still have plenty of regard.
Reader "Just Me" was kind enough to make a transcript from the broadcast. I will make any corrections if she happened to miss something later, but I doubt "Just Me" missed a thing. I've added emphasis for reasons that should be obvious:
Bill O'Reilly: You know the Stockholm syndrome thing, I don't buy it, I never bought it, I don't think It happened in the Patty Hearst Case. I don't think it happened here...It takes a lot to nauseate me. To render me speechless, at least for a moment. But reading the exchange above did both. Reading what the loudest mouth in cable news said about the biggest crime story of the first half of the year, in reference to a 15-year-old boy... I was stunned, and deeply disgusted.
Greta van Susteren: Woah, Can I just say something?
Bill O'Reilly: Yeah go ahead and jump in.
GVS: First of all we don't know all the facts, Don't forget that Elizabeth Smart likewise had an opportunity to leave and she did not. She was on the public street for some reason when young people are picked up and taken under the influence of adults they are very receptive of what adults do. So I would not dismiss the Stockholm syndrome --
BOR: The difference in the Smart case, and correct me if I am wrong, was this guy was always around the little girl and she wasn't gone for the long period of time as this guy was. Now what we have learned -- and this is why I don't believe in Stockholm -- this guy Shawn Hornbeck gone four years from 11-15. Authorities actually say that he taunted his own parents on his website. He's got these piercing this is a troubled kid in my opinion --
GVS: The piercings, a lot of kids do the piercings. As far as the taunting goes on the website I think what can be established is that someone on this particular login taunted the parents. Was it done from this particular computer? If it was done from this particular computer that means that Michael Devlin did it, or Shawn did it or someone with access to the computer... let's not forget he is a kid.... He may be 15 now...
BOR: No, I am not buying this if you're 11 years old or 12 years old or 13 and you have a strong bond with your family. Even if the guy threatens you this and that. You're riding your bike around, you got friends -- the kid didn't go to school. There's all kinds of stuff, if you can get away, you get away. If you're 11 --
GVS: Bill it seems bizarre to me, I agree it seems bizarre. Why not run, why not yell, why not scream? But the thing I keep going back to is, what was Patti Hearst's story...
BOR: I didn't buy that Patti Hearst story for a second.
GVS: Why was she so willing to sign up with her kidnappers and like wise Elizabeth Smart, she had opportunity -- nice kid, nice family, why was she unwilling to run...?
BOR: Let me answer your question. This is what I believe in the Hearst case and in this case. The situation that Hearst found herself in was exciting. She had a boring life, child of privilege. All of a sudden she's in with a bunch of charismatic thugs and she enjoyed it. The situation here with this kid is looks to me to be a lot more fun then when he had under his own parents. He didn't have to go to school, He could run around and do what he wanted.
GVS: Some kids like school --
BOR: Well I don't believe this kid did. And I think when it all comes down what's going to happen is there was an element here that this kid liked about his circumstances...
Bill O'Reilly has been in the news business for what, more than 30 years?
Forget the crap about Patti Hearst -- the comparison isn't just invalid -- it's insane. Not to mention that the only valid comparison to this case (most likely) was Steven Stayner.
But O'Reilly has been in the news for 30 years or more, covering all sorts of stories, and he's never heard of preferential pedophiles? He's never heard of brainwashing or complete intimidation? He can't do the math where a 6'4", 300-lb pedophile with a violent temper against a slightly-built boy from rural Missouri equals one having complete control of the other?
This broadcast by Bill O'Reilly stands alone. Bill O'Reilly's statements above make Rush Limbaugh ridiculing Michael J. Fox's Parkinsons Disease symptoms during the last elections look like a mild jab from Limbaugh to Fox, a joke that was just a little tasteless.
O'Reilly has outed himself, once and for all, as the bully and blowhard he truly is. As the narcissist he surely must be -- because only a first-class narcissist could possibly think that tossing off statements like the ones made above would either not be noticed or not found offensive, even by his most loyal fans.
If this isn't the final straw for O'Reilly in the court of public opinion, it should be.
See, this is the man who just a month ago was saying all the right things when another crime was in the news again.
O.J. Simpson was about to publish through Judith Regan's publishing house his If I Did It.
O'Reilly took what seemed a brave stand -- on the network owned overall by the same company as Regan's imprint (she's since been fired over this, as well), Bill O'Reilly called the book and the impending publicity for it on Fox for what it was: a travesty. Obscene.
He was right. And I'd imagine his criticism may have goosed higher-ups in News Corp. to finally nip the whole O.J. debacle in the bud, which they did (even though to some it was already a debacle, therefore too late).
Now, in one exchange with Greta van Susteren on his program, Bill O'Reilly has behaved obscenely, himself. His comments were so insensitive and ill-informed that he should lose his job, or at least the thinking half of his viewership.
Four years ago an 11-year-old boy named Shawn Hornbeck was riding his bike in a rural area of eastern Missouri. Allegedly, as Shawn was traveling alone westbound, he was snatched by a hulking predator named Michael J. Devlin. What Shawn endured from that day on we can only imagine, and the sane among us don't want to imagine it. Shawn Hornbeck will have to live with the memories of those four years for the rest of his life.
Last week, the predator goes trolling again. He sees another boy, Ben Ownby, who is actually 13 but looks 11. Target age observed, target acquired. Ben Ownby is snatched between leaving his bus and going to his house.
We don't even know what Ben endured, but most sexual predators don't wait long to do what they want. Because it's usually just about that -- what they want.
But quick wits and good fortune intervene in the form of a friend of Ben Ownby's and two Kirkwood, Missouri cops. One gives such a clear description of the vehicle that abducted Ben that the other two are able to spot the vehicle, and eventually arrest the predator -- allegedly, Mr. Devlin.
We have then, as CNN dubbed it, the "Miracle in Missouri."
Since this story broke, everyone in the national media has danced around the fact that the most likely truth behind both abductions was a sexually predatory male with a preference for boys in the 11 to 13 age group.
Bill O'Reilly's statements to Greta van Susteren aren't dancing around that subject -- they are ignoring it completely and doing something much worse -- slandering the character of a teen named Shawn Hornbeck. A boy who as far as we know has endured 4 years of hell, at least after the lights went down, that most of us will never be able to imagine -- at least not without waking up screaming.
I don't care how high O'Reilly's IQ is, or what degrees he's earned -- what he probably felt were off-the-cuff statements showed the truth behind the facade he wants his regular viewers to see. I'm surprised that van Susteren, surely much more familiar with the typical truth in cases like this, even knew what to say in response at all.
Don't put me in your "he hates conservatives box," either. I'm not anti-Fox News or anti-conservative. For a lot of people in the blogosphere, for instance, I'm pretty sure that hating Bill O'Reilly must naturally also equal hating Geraldo Rivera and who knows who else on that particular network. I don't hate Geraldo -- never have. He often covers the same sorts of crime stories that intrigue me, and he brings a certain inimitable Geraldo-ness to them that you can't buy off any shelf. I've already indicated that I like Greta, and I watch her show regularly.
Bill O'Reilly needs to apologize to Shawn Hornbeck and Shawn's family, publicly, immediately. He needs to admit his statements were thoughtless and made without any real understanding of the case -- the boy "taunted" his parents in the guestbook? Where but from Bill O'Reilly has anyone heard the word "taunted" in reference to Shawn's small attempts to get someone's, anyone's attention without getting himself or his family killed? If that was Shawn posting in the ShawnHornbeck.com guestbook, the posts from "Shawn Devlin" weren't taunts, they were heartbreaking efforts to send some kind of message. Anything less than that kind of mea culpa should earn Bill O'Reilly a free ticket back to anchoring at a 250 market TV station where they still have Farm Reports on the evening news.
And don't do it in some pussy e-mail, Bill. Broadcast the apology as the lead in your show. Otherwise, you don't deserve the show or the salary that goes with it.
If you are a conservative, do yourself a favor and don't fall in line with this kind of sick, glib rhetoric from this man. Don't let him get away with it.
One reason I never shy away from saying yes, I'm more conservative than not, (even when I know for a fact many of my most loyal readers are left-leaning), is because the professed conservatives I've known personally have always impressed me and earned my respect. I once heard Rush Limbaugh say that one difference between liberals and conservatives was that liberals say "I feel..." and conservatives say, "I think..." about various issues. If you just fall in line and defend this particular talking head or downplay his words because, well, he's Bill Freaking O'Reilly, then you're making Limbaugh a liar. You're not thinking. All the information you need to have an understanding as to what may have happened to Shawn Hornbeck is out there. Be better than Bill O'Reilly, and learn some of it. Fine if you don't believe Stockholm Syndrome exists -- fact is, it may not necessarily play into this crime at all -- not nearly as much as raw fear. Raw fear for one's own life and that of one's family -- that exists, doesn't it?
Conservatives do understand much better than some on the left that sexual predators and pedophiles present a real threat to society, and sometimes they get off way too easy in courts-of-law. Conservative administrations have usually been behind the most clear-headed laws passed to keep watch on sex offenders, and render proper punishments once the offenders are in the system.
Bill O'Reilly was saying he figured Shawn Hornbeck's 4 years being kept by a sexual predator were probably just a lark, and well, you know, the kid is pierced, so he's probably weird anyway.
That's not conservatism, it's sheer, stupid cruelty.
The conservative bloggers I've gotten to know, like Dawn Eden or Dan Riehl, are good people, and you know what? No matter what O'Reilly has said on his show regarding matters political in the past, I'm pretty sure that neither "conservative" blogger I just mentioned would be anything but disgusted with O'Reilly's statements about the Hornbeck