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S. Christina Stoy, “Blink” , Editor In Chief of www.blinkoncrime.com and “Red”, owner of www.scaredmonkeys.com discuss the Year’s political and true crime cases on THE DANA PRETZER SHOW with host Dana Pretzer.
CLICK Below to listen to the podcast.
Charlottesville, VA- Second year University of Virginia student Hannah Graham texted her friends last Saturday morning at approximately 1:20 AM- saying she was lost in the area of Wertland Street.
She has not been heard from since. According to Charlottesville Police Captain Gary Pleasants, it is believed Ms. Graham was intoxicated at the time of her disappearance and may have been on her way to a party but did not arrive.
In recently released images of Graham leaving her apartment at approximately 9:30PM Friday evening, she is shown wearing black skinny pants and a gold and black mesh crop-top, beige shoes or sneakers.
Ms. Graham’s disappearance is not related to a 2013 teen runaway from Indiana with the same name.
The disappearance of Ms. Graham comes on the heels of the recently adjudicated murder trial of Alexis Murphy , the disappearance on the same date as Ms. Graham in 2010 of Samantha Clark and of the course the unsolved murder of Morgan Harrington, who disappeared from John Paul Jones arena in October 2009 and later found murdered in January 2010 on Anchorage Farm in Albemarle County.
In Ms. Harrington’s case, the DNA profile and sketch of the suspect in her murder as well as a rape in Fairfax county in September 2005 was released, but he has not been identified by name or captured.
Harrington Murder Suspect Sketch
Ms. Murphy’s remains have never been recovered and Ms. Clark is still missing, also believed to also be a victim of Randy Allen Taylor, currently serving a life sentence for Murphy’s kidnapping and murder.
Hannah Graham is described as 5’11 tall, with light brown hair and blue eyes. Police are asking anyone with information regarding her disappearance to call the Charlottesville Police Department at 434-970-3280 or CrimeStoppers at 434-977-4000.
If you are reading this and have followed the Kyron Homan disappearance coverage since he vanished from Skyline School on June 4th 2010, you know my coverage and commentary has focused on the macro analysis of the case details- both publicly available and via developed sources. This report contains newly released information known to law enforcement. It’s contents, to include reader commentary and moderation response, may not be reproduced or copied without express written consent by it’s author in accordance with applicable copyright law.
On Tuesday July 30th, the attorneys representing Terri Moulton Horman, Kaine Horman and Desiree Young attended a series of case hearings. Not held in chambers as announced, but public guests were barred.
On the docket- Desiree Young’s “stay” status of the $10 million dollar civil tort action brought against Terri Horman and the dissolution (divorce and custody) litigation brought by Kaine Horman, Terri’s estranged husband. Until July 26th, there were additional hearings and status conferences scheduled for the recently renewed Freedom From Abuse and Protection Act (FAPA) motion to contest and compel depositions in the restraining order prohibiting Terri Horman from contact with the couple’s daughter Kiara, now 5 years old. Horman has not seen her daughter since June 2010 despite several attempts through counsel to arrange parenting time. Engel, one of the attorneys representing Kaine Horman, argues that the FAPA case is consolidated with the divorce action, and therefore stayed.
Peter Bunch, counsel for Terri Horman, argues that there is no consolidation order.
Non attorney’s still do not understand how the initial proceeding to renew the FAPA order occurred when the plaintiff failed to file the required motion and accompanying affidavits in advance as required, or even serve the respondent’s attorneys until ordered to do so by Judge Henry Kantor once the hearing commenced. Kantor ordered the renewal anyway. I will let the goodly Oregon bar members weigh in on that anomaly.
That was then. This is now.
As of July 31st, the FAPA restraining order was expired and a civil no contact order was put in its place. The dissolution matter (divorce) stay has been lifted and Desiree Young announced she was instructing her attorney’s to withdraw the $10 million dollar suit financed by public donations.
On the same front steps where Atty Rosenthal announced that they were launching the suit to peel the onion that is to include law enforcement, and to “make Terri Horman talk” was withdrawn in similar fashion.
However, on this occasion, Multnomah County District Attorney Rod Underhill was not spotted on the steps observing. Rosenthal and Young indicated the recent appearance and testimony of former object of compulsion to testify, DeDe Spicher, as well as information that the investigative case file necessary (their words) to prove their claims would not be forthcoming. In an article analyzing the suit appearing on BOC it was predicted that Ms. Young would face possible countersuit and associated fees should the suit continue as filed.
Attorneys for both Kaine and Terri appeared before Multnomah County Circuit Family law Judge Susan Svetkey on August 1, 2013. Judge Svetkey is Houze’s wife. The docket information for that hearing has not yet been entered into the file as of this publication.
The only comment about the withdrawal of the civil tort action by Stephen Houze:
“The lawsuit was unfounded and lacking in legal merit,” Houze said. “One can only hope that the dismissal of this meritless lawsuit receives the same degree of media scrutiny as was given to its filing.”
In recent interviews, Kaine Horman has intimated that his wife has expressed her desire to help find Kyron, or at least contribute to excluding herself as a possible suspect. He also admitted that he no longer has any communication with Desiree Young, Kyron’s mother. He sometimes wonders what law enforcement is actually doing on his son’s case. This is a firm departure from how Mr. Horman initially retained his six figure attorney Laura Rackner of Gearing, Rackner, and Engel & McGrath. Ms. Rackner appears to have promulgated her duties of late to her partner, Brett Engel.
This all seemed to start when formidable and well known tort Attorney Mark Wagner came out of retirement to appear as counsel for Terri Horman. Wagner and Rackner know each other, and Rackner is no stranger to LE –based dissolution entanglements.
In fact, Wagner represented her and her previous firm successfully.
Kaine Horman’s attorney Laura Rackner is no stranger to law enforcement infused litigation. She is a former prosecutor for Oregon’s department of Justice, The U.S. Department of Justice, and Office of Chief Counsel. Ms. Rackner has specificity in Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) casework.
Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Laura received her B.S. in 1979 and her J.D. in 1984, both from the University of Oregon.
Prior to entering private practice, Laura served as deputy district attorney in the Marion County District Attorney’s Office; assistant attorney general in the Oregon Department of Justice; and on the staff of the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Chief Counsel, Drug Enforcement Administration.
Record Scratch.
Martin Rob Cagan, The bagel king and according to him, a supreme target of a police shakedown at the hands of his former spouse’s attorneys was the litigious sort.
In fact, this may be how Atty Wagner decides to come out of retirement and become part of Terri Horman’s defense team while the civil suit was active.
Wagner’s firm represented Ms. Rackner in a suit filed by Rob Cagan in which he sued the Dueshete Police Department, A partner in the firm representing Caroleen Vanhoomissen, the suit (or ramblings of a very angry divorcee) alleges that the firm and its lawyers facilitated the difficulties of Mr. Cagan utilizing law enforcement sources directly by the attorneys was dismissed.
Ms. Vanhoomissen, the sister of Judge Vanhoomissen is also the owner of a horse farm in Bend, Oregon. Blinkoncrime was unable to verify if it was the Bend horse farm searched in the early days of the investigation for Kyron.
Attorney Rackner’s prior working relationship with the DEA, the very agency that supplied the undercover officer in the failed sting involving Horman landscaper Rudy Sanchez begs the question- Did Rackner use her contacts and/or credentials to facilitate a surreptitious ruse to gain favor for her client in anticipation of his wife’s potential arrest?
Kaine is on record that law enforcement informed him they had probable cause to arrest Terri. What is not on record, is what came first- the referral to Rackner.
I just want to do what I can to help law enforcement
Seems like an odd comment coming from a family attorney with a background as a prosecutor working with the DEA, which agency subsequently becomes involved in the case- or initially led to her representation- the chicken or the egg facts remain unclear.
The ex parte and originally sealed restraining order did not exclude Terri Horman from the marital home. Was this an oversight of a very seasoned family attorney or was the basis of the now defunct restraining order as provided to Kaine Horman and Laura Rackner by law enforcement effectively invalidated by Terri Horman calling 911?
Is the reason that Atty Engel seems to have taken over representation of Kaine Horman due to the fact that these actions could render Ms. Rackner a witness in her client’s case as opposed to his Attorney?
In the motions and subsequent hearing scheduled for July 30th, the only available arguments outside of the parties agreement is to contest the basis for the FAPA order- or, the allegation Kaine Horman has made within his affidavits more than once, that his wife tried to hire “our landscaper” to kill him, and that she is being investigated for “violent crimes.”
The outcome?
The order was converted to a civil no-contact order which has not yet been added to the file for public review.
Desiree and Kaine’s respective camps both claimed “protecting the integrity of the investigation” was their only interest although the ONLY 2 witnesses who were summoned for deposition by Terri Horman’s lawyers were- the lead investigator of Kyron’s investigation for 18 months- Bobby John O’Donnell and Kaine Horman.
S. Christina Stoy “Blink”, Editor In Chief www.blinkoncrime.com discusses the Sandy Hook Elementary Massacre and this year’s top true crime cases as special guest of Dana Pretzer, host of THE DANA PRETZER SHOW on scaredmonkeys radio tonight at 9 PM.
Dana’s featured guests will also include Retired FBI Criminal Analyst Clint van Zandt , Richard Muti and Charles Buckley – former New Jersey Prosecutors and National Authors of “The Charmer” and Editor In Chief “Red” of www.scaredmonkeys.com
Unfortunately, 2012 was a year filled with blinkoncrime’s coverage of Jerry Sandusky, Isabel Celis, Joshua Powell, Kyron Horman, Etan Patz, Christine Sheddy, Megan Sharpton , Jessica Ridgeway , Kelli Bordeaux and many other topics to be discussed.
Jessica Christine Ridgeway , the grape-hued bespectacled 10 year old who lit up the court as a Stadley Lake pee wee cheerleader, left her Westminster home at 8:30am on October 5, 2012.
She was due to meet her walk-buddy Jeremy after speaking to him briefly from her Mom’s cell at 8:25am. When she did not show by 8:40am, he hitched a ride from his Dad to avoid missing the 8:50am bell. The drive route would not pass an “enroute” Jessica if she were to take the normal path to school.
Jessica never made it to Witt Elementary School (WES) and the school called her Mother’s cell by 9am to alert her to her absence.
Sarah Ridgeway, Jessica’s Mother, worked the night shift and never heard the cell phone she left downstairs. Later in the afternoon Sara retrieved the voice mail from WES, got in her car and began looking for her daughter.
Ridgeway reports her only child she shared with Jeremiah Bryant missing via 911 when she was unable to locate her. Jeremiah Bryant, Jessica’s Father, was alerted first by his employer when police were trying to determine his whereabouts, and then directly by investigators.
Despite the 6 hour delay Westminster Police reacted swiftly. They had interviewed children that normally walked to school with Jessica by the end of the school day and issued an amber alert by 9:15 PM Friday evening.
Victorious. This is the word splashed across Jessica’s pink backpack found by a neighbor in nearby Superior in the early hours of Sunday October 7th. It was believed to have been placed there between 6:45PM Saturday and midnight Sunday morning.
By Sunday afternoon Jessica’s family had confirmed the backpack ,complete with water bottle bearing her name , was hers. By Sunday afternoon investigators knew the chances of this ending well were lost when a clear and deliberate placement of a missing ten year old child’s backpack was a definite calling card intended for them.
The complete contents of the bag or any other evidentiary clues it yielded have not been released. (more…)
Evansdale, Iowa- Lyric Morrissey and Elizabeth Collins have been missing from what their Grandmother Wylma Cook described as “within her view from the home” for over one week. Myers Lake, approximately a 27 acre body of water surrounded by a Nature bike trail which yielded the tweens bikes and purse, has been cleared after consultation with the Elite FBI CSI dive team.
Courtesy WH8T
On July 12th, the day before the girls disappeared, Daniel Morrissey was due to enter a guilty plea in a pending Federal drug arrest. Instead, he requested the matter be scheduled/reset for trial. In response, prosecutors swiftly requested the court place Morrissey under appropriate pre-trial supervision for his alleged crimes.
On Thursday, prosecutors with the Black Hawk County Attorney’s Office asked a judge to review Morrissey’s release, pointing out that Iowa Code state people charged with conspiracy to manufacture meth being a second offender — one of the charges Morrissey is facing — shall be under supervision as a condition of their release.
Occurring almost simultaneously to Morrissey’s plea filing which he did not attend personally, a Black Hawk county prisoner broke out of jail, robbed a pharmacy and was on the lam for over 18 hours.
Jeremy Alan Mask, fond of controlled substances which led to his arrests is now in custody and additional charges related to the escape were filed against Mask the following day. Mask was sentenced to a residential treatment center following a burglary of a Walgreens last April.
Are the incidents connected? Investigators are not talking. Except to say they now have video footage of the girls at about the time they were both seen. No mention as to whether or not the girls were on their bikes.
Investigators may be tight lipped- But they ARE acting.
Yesterday Black Hawk County detectives revised a no contact order barring Dan Morrissey from being near his wife Misty- although they have appeared together and have been living together for weeks- following a domestic violence assault which landed both Dan and Misty back in prison last August.
As reported exclusively last week on www.blinkoncrime.com, Dan Morrissey for the assault and Misty Cook-Morrissey for extensive probation/parole violations.
The pair are now permitted to be in each other’s company, provided LE agents are as well.
Misty Cook Morrissey’s sister Tammy Brossueau has confirmed that detectives have directly confronted Dan Morrissey with information they developed pointing to him as a suspect and as a result the estranged couple have refused to cooperate further in the investigation to locate their daughter and her cousin Elizabeth.
Black Hawk County Sheriff’s Office Captain Rick Abben officially declared the case an abduction at a 4 PM press conference yesterday afternoon.
Abben also announced a $50,000 reward is being offered leading to the person or persons responsible for the disappearance of the girls. He confirmed said evidence has been seized in the investigation and sent to the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation crime lab in Des Moines. While he would not comment on the evidence specifically, sources inside the investigation speaking on the condition of anonymity to www.blinkoncrime.com have confirmed that items from the home including a computer and other electronic devices are among the listed property inventory.
