“WE HAVE DNA EVIDENCE. WE ARE ACTIVELY AND AGGRESSIVELY PURSUING YOU, WE WILL NOT REST UNTIL YOU ARE APPREHENDED.“
On August 26, 2009, High School sweethearts turned co-ed romantics and Virginia Tech freshmen Heidi Childs and David Metzler were brutally murdered in Montgomery County Virginia between the hours of 8:25 and 10 PM at Caldwell Fields in Jefferson National Forest.
Heidi Childs is the daughter of retired Virginia State Police veteran helicopter pilot Don Childs.
Investigators have not revealed how they have determined this window of time, but sources inside the investigation have confirmed to www.blinkoncrime.com that it is based on cell phone records which have not been released.
David was shot through the driver side window and Heidi was gunned down as she immediately fled the vehicle. For the most part, that is about as much information released to date.
Further information regarding the assault to Ms. Childs is being withheld for investigative purposes.
Until today, investigators from the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office have been tight-lipped as to any evidence collected from the scene, or any possible motive. Sheriff Tommy Whitt was all business this afternoon, and took no question from the media.
Sheriff Whitt addressed the media with an update and newly released information he hopes will have the tip lines ringing off the hook. The complete information can be read here.
Courtesy of Roanoke.com
The Gun That Won The West- And Killed Innocent Kids
Sheriff Whitt also revealed that the weapon used to murder Heidi Childs and David Metzler was a .30/30 RIFLE.
Being somewhat of a firearm enthusiast, when I first read the handout, I missed the “rifle” designation. My mind was spinning about the fact that their is a 30/30 Winchester pistol that is 30 caliber and all sort of ammo possibilities are in play-
However, establishing that the weapon used to kill both victims was a 30/30 rifle sends it’s own set of messages.
In general, a 30/30 is a lever action rifle which is the most common deer cartridge in the US for hunters.
It is not a sniper- type weapon, with an under 200 yard range and equipped with a magazine or not, it is unlikely a target someone is not going to notice one carrying it and aiming it directly.
Alternative ammo and casings were not included in the press conference.
There is upwards of a $70,000 dollar reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of a person or persons responsible for the crime.
Sherri was bludgeoned, shot and badly beaten three months after her wedding which unbeknownst to her was also around the timing of a pre-wedding fling between John Ruetten and Stephanie Lazarus.
In 1986 Lazarus was never considered a suspect by anyone, with one exception. The Rasmussen Family.
To preserve the investigation, a very important piece of evidence was withheld by investigators and the case was declared cold in 2002. It was believed a pair of robbers responsible for a different crime might be involved, but there was never any evidence to bring them to suspect status.
In 2009, after a cold case detective learned their was a DNA sample from a bite wound on the arm of Sherri Rasmussen, everything in this case turned upside down. The DNA belonged to woman.
The DNA sample did not match anyone in CODIS and Sherri’s father renewed his concerns that Lazarus could be involved.
At this point, Lazarus is now married to a fellow LAPD officer, a veteran detective specializing in Art theft, and a mother.
Through what can only be described as dogged pursuit of one of their own, LAPD detectives were finally able to secure a DNA sample from Lazarus from a discarded beverage.
It was a profound match and Lazarus was committed to LA county jail with a $10 million dollar price tag.
The name had no weight, nobody was moving the door of her cell aside, no- how.
After a 1/2 day deliberation, jurors found Lazarus guilty of murder and she was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.
Her attorney promises to appeal stating they “never had a chance”.
I say don’t bother, Lazarus took her own bite out of crime and is where she belongs.
(Editorial Note: Kudos to LAPD for admitting initial errors, and not letting that deter them in their quest for justice for Sherri Rasmussen. )
Orlando, FL- Jennifer Kesse, the newly promoted mortgage process engineering manager for Central Florida Investments, parent company of Westgate Resorts was an upstart.
Recent BOC article coverage can be found here, here and here.
After interviewing with upper management for other advancement roles within the company- her new position was actually created For Her.
Was this a forward and prophetic corporate strategy based on mortgage industry trending data?
Was her promotion a result of Jennifer’s own market analysis and efficiencies recommendations to the suits on the top floor?
Yes and Yes.
At 24 Jennifer Kesse was the youngest new manager among her peers in their respective management roles at CFI.
While she did not have the subordinates they did reporting to her directly, the initiative she was leading and launching was going to save the firm almost $900,000 annually. The installation and rollout of a new debit system interface allowing timeshare owners to pay fees, mortgages and incidentals by ACH automatically was a corporate priority for Westgate Resorts.
Which is why on the morning of Tuesday January 24, 2006, the day after she returned from a brief trip with her boyfriend Robert Allen- when Jenn did not show up to her office in Ocoee, there appeared to be immediate concern.
According to Jennifer’s outlook scheduling calendar she did not have an interoffice meeting until the afternoon.
By 11:15 her parents living two hours away in Bradenton were called to see if she had some sort of family emergency.
The exact escalation of events within CFI leading up to the phone call and who made it are being withheld for investigative reasons.
By noon, a trifecta of calamitous and simultaneous events takes place.
Drew, Joyce and Logan Kesse, speeding from Bradenton to Orlando in a respite from paralytic panic reach the property manager of Jenn’s new condo at Mosaic On Millenia and learn her car is not parked in her spot. She is not inside.
A self-confessed admirer and now CFI lateral management peer, Johnny Campos arrives 4 hours late to the Ocoee office.
The only suspect ever declared to date in Jennifer Kesse’s disappearance is parking her vehicle while captured on 3 separate closed circuit cameras at the Huntingdon Tavern On The Green Condominiums and apartments. It is less than a few blocks from two large CFI warehouses and within a mile of several CFI owned properties.
By late afternoon The Kesse’s, Rob Allen and Jennifer’s closest friends were using her condo as a command center to develop immediate and organized searches for her.
Detectives Julius Glenn Gause II and Joel Wright of the Orlando Police Department respond to the scene.
Detective Gause assures the Kesse’s that Jennifer had a fight with her boyfriend Rob Allen, who is now standing in her living room vehemently disagreeing with his investigative assessment. Who can blame the guy?
Gause’s opinion was reached without ever interviewing a single person who was not on-scene, and was sure she would be back by tomorrow.
In a mandatory meeting called at the request of Central Florida Investments CEO David Siegel and conducted by Chief Financial Officer Tom Dugan, it was announced that Jennifer Kesse, a respected and valued member of the management team had been reported missing.
Dugan adamantly assured all that the company would encourage employees to join any organized search efforts to find her.
Jennifer did not return as Gause predicted.
Her car did however, and on January 26th her case was declared a criminal investigation.
The First 48… Months
Upon the classification of Jennifer’s case as a criminal investigation, J. Glenn Gause told the Kesse’s that his partner Detective Joel Wright asked what he considered a dumb question during a briefing.
As a result, Gause informed- he kicked him off the case and requested new partner Det. Emmett Browning.
While such a move would obviously be outside of Det. Gause’s authority, it is more likely the pair were reeling from the Internal Affairs investigation that ensued after they knowingly interviewed John Evander Couey after his arrest for the murder of Jessica Lunsford.
Shortly after Couey’s confession to Citrus county detectives was thrown out of court because it violated Couey’s Miranda rights, Gause and Wright decided to inform their Orlando PD sergeant that they interviewed Couey following his arrest in Citrus County on the chance he might be a suspect in the Regina Armstrong murder because he grew up in Orange County. They claimed he actually confessed to the Lunsford murder.
The confession was not recorded and at no time did either detective inform the Citrus investigators or their OPD supervisor of the visit itself- let alone Couey’s statements made to them.
That is, until they learned his original confession in the Lunsford case was inadmissible.
Interviewing an incarcerated man who is represented by an attorney with charges pending in a potentially related case without permission, notes, or a recording by veteran detectives is outrageous.
John Cuoey was 5’4”, 125 lbs with a flag tattoo. The suspect composite from direct witnesses in the Armstrong case was a man around 40, 6 ft tall with medium build and a mermaid tattoo on the opposite arm.
They were lucky their actions did not derail the prosecution of both cases. The second alleged confession was also thrown out and reprimands to both detectives remain private in their respective employee records. Regina Armstrong’s murder in 1985 remains unsolved.
John Evander Couey died of natural causes on death row awaiting execution for the rape and murder of Jessica Lunsford. (more…)
