LUBBOCK, Texas — The mother of a 13-year-old West Texas cheerleader found dead in March said Tuesday that since her daughter went missing more than two years ago she had feared the worst, including that the girl was chained and tortured or had fallen victim to human traffickers.

Investigators have given no indication that Billie Jean Dunn’s fears about her daughter are valid or under what circumstances Hailey Darlene Dunn might have been held captive, if she was. Officials have not released a manner and cause of death, and FBI spokeswoman Katherine Chaumont said Tuesday there was no new information she could release.

In the first public comments since Hailey’s remains were identified, Billie Jean Dunn said possibly the most painful part was picturing her daughter wondering why her mother and father hadn’t found her.

“I kept my hope the whole time. I did,” the 36-year-old mother said. “That fear that she was dead, I put it way in the back of my mind.”

Dunn reported her daughter missing in December 2010 in Colorado City, about 250 miles west of Dallas. Remains found in March near at a West Texas lake about 20 miles away were identified last month as belonging to Hailey.

No arrests have been made. Shortly after her disappearance, police called Dunn’s live-in boyfriend at the time, Shawn Adkins, a person of interest, but he has not been charged.

Dunn and Adkins split up early last year and last had email contact in August.

“I’ve learned a lot over the past few months and I feel pretty strongly that he could be involved,” she said. “I know there are other possibilities also.”

Adkins has denied involvement in Hailey’s disappearance. A call seeking comment from his attorney, Alex Eyssen, was not returned Tuesday.

From the start, Dunn said, her worry was that a “random weirdo” might have pulled off nearby Interstate 20 and abducted Hailey.

“Things you don’t think of normally just run through your mind, like what is somebody doing to her, what is she having to live through,” said Dunn, who works as an administrative assistant in Austin. “That would just worry me sick. That would really drive me crazy.”

Dunn’s attorney, John Young, said authorities have told him investigators are looking at “other cases that may in fact be related or may be the same type to the very specific facts of this case.”

Dunn said it’s “absurd” for people to question her having anything to do with her daughter’s disappearance or death.

“That question has always disgusted me,” she said. “It still does. This is my daughter. Hailey is my baby. She is my child.”

Hailey’s brother, 18-year-old David Dunn, is “very angry and very sad,” his mom said. He sobbed throughout a memorial service held Sunday at Hailey’s middle school where hundreds came to bid farewell to the girl.

“He couldn’t stand the sight of a `missing’ poster (about Hailey), of course, because it made it too real for him,” Billie Jean Dunn said. “Now it’s real and now he accepts it.”

Dunn said authorities still have Hailey’s remains, which she plans to cremate once they’re turned over to the family.

“They’re being very meticulous,” Dunn said of forensic experts. “They’re doing everything they know that they need to do to collect any possible evidence.”

Dunn said that while she got some answers from finally knowing where Hailey is, she “won’t have full closure unless there’s been an arrest made.”

Source: huffingtonpost.com

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DES MOINES, Iowa — A 15-year-old central Iowa girl who was abducted after getting off her school bus was still missing Tuesday, and authorities said a massive search was underway. Meanwhile, the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation said the man who is suspected of taking her and another girl committed suicide.

Dozens of federal, state and local law enforcement officials are searching by air, land and water for Kathlynn Shepard. She and a 12-year-old girl, who are friends, were taken Monday afternoon shortly after stepping off a school bus in Dayton, about 60 miles north of Des Moines. The younger girl, who was later able to escape, told authorities the girls had accepted a ride from a stranger.

DCI Special Agent Bill Kietzman said Tuesday that the body of 42-year-old suspect Michael Klunder was found Monday night with a red Toyota Tundra pickup at a rural property northeast of Dayton.

Kietzman said authorities have begun focusing their search for Kathlynn to locations within 20 miles of Dayton, including Klunder’s residence. Previously, the search covered up to 100 square miles of mostly rural areas.

Authorities have also coordinated with the FBI to update electronic billboards around the state with information about the search.

Kietzman would not elaborate on the likelihood of finding Kathlynn alive, though he remained optimistic.

“Time obviously is not your friend in these kinds of situations,” he said at a news conference. “Our plan is that we’re going to find her alive. That’s our hope.”

The 12-year-old girl, who has not been identified, told investigators she and Kathlynn were taken to an agricultural facility. But she was able to escape a short time later and ran to a rural residence for help, Kietzman said. She was then taken to a Fort Dodge hospital and released.

The abduction spanned several hours, officials said, with Klunder’s body being discovered nearly four hours after the girls were taken.

Kathlynn is described as being 5-feet-6-inches and 160 pounds. She has blond hair, blue eyes and braces. She was last seen wearing jeans, a gray hooded sweatshirt and a Minnesota Vikings baseball cap.

“The response by volunteers has been outstanding,” said DCI Director Charis Paulson.

Jessica Lown with the Iowa Department of Public Safety said authorities have been in contact with Kathlynn’s family and they have declined to comment.

“They’re continuing to search for the girl under the assumption that she is still alive because right at this point in time we don’t have information indicating otherwise,” Lown said. “That’s the way these things work for all missing children and missing person cases. We search until we find them.”

Klunder is listed on the state’s sex offender registry, prison records show. He spent several years in prison after being convicted on kidnapping and assault charges, including the 1991 abduction and assault of a Rudd woman and the kidnapping of two toddlers from an apartment complex in Charles City, according to the Mason City Globe Gazette. The girls, both 3, were found alive inside a dumpster.

He was released from a work release program in February 2011.

The abduction comes less than a year after the high-profile disappearance of two cousins in Evansdale, about 90 miles east of Dayton. Lyric Cook, 10, and 8-year-old Elizabeth Collins disappeared while riding their bikes last July. Hunters found their bodies in a remote, wooded area in December.

Evansdale Police Chief Kent Smock said investigators were looking into whether Klunder was involved in Lyric and Elizabeth’s kidnappings and deaths. DCI and FBI agents who have been involved in the search for the Evansdale girls have been dispatched to help search for Kathlynn.

Smock said investigators were trying to determine whether Klunder had any ties to the area.

“There’s a multitude of things we’re looking at to determine whether he may be a person of interest or not a person of interest,” he said. “It’s much too early in their investigation to be able to say with any degree of accuracy one way or another whether it’s related to our case at all.”

Authorities are asking the public for information about any interactions with Klunder, as well of any sighting of his pickup between 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. Monday.

___

Associated Press Writer Ryan J. Foley contributed to this report from Iowa City, Iowa.

___

Follow Barbara Rodriguez at http://twitter.com/bcrodriguez

Source: huffingtonpost.com

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WASHINGTON — A judge promised more openness Tuesday after months of confidential post-trial proceedings in the case of murdered Washington intern Chandra Levy, disclosing for the first time why a key prosecution witness could be discredited.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys were in court again Tuesday for a hearing in the case of Ingmar Guandique, who was convicted of Levy’s death and sentenced to 60 years in prison. Defense attorneys have said they intend to request a new trial for Guandique based on the information about the prosecution witness.

Before Tuesday’s proceeding, lawyers had met several times beginning in December, and the public and press were barred from hearing all or part of those proceedings. The judge in the case, Gerald Fisher, had said those hearings were closed because of unspecified safety concerns. News organizations including The Associated Press objected to the secrecy.

On Tuesday, the judge said most of the safety concerns have been dealt with, and the majority of Tuesday’s hearing was public, though attorneys did confer with the judge privately at the bench on several occasions.

The judge did not explain how the safety concerns had been dealt with or say what they were, though he was asked to by a lawyer for the media. The judge said he expected future hearings would be largely public, though he said a limited amount of information is still not ready to be disclosed.

The judge had previously said that the subject of the hearings was information brought to him after trial about a key prosecution witness, Armando Morales, a former cellmate of Guandique’s. Morales testified during Guandique’s 2010 trial that Guandique confessed to killing Levy while the two were cellmates at a Kentucky prison.

A Salvadoran immigrant, Guandique was charged with Levy’s killing in 2009, eight years after the 24-year-old disappeared after leaving her apartment in jogging clothes. Her disappearance rocked Washington and became international news after she was romantically linked with then-California Rep. Gary Condit, a Democrat. He was once the main suspect in her disappearance, but police no longer believe he was involved. Levy’s body was found in Washington’s Rock Creek Park in 2002, and Guandique, who had previously been convicted of attacking women in the park, was ultimately found guilty of her murder.

On Tuesday, the judge and lawyers said that while Morales had testified at trial that he had not previously cooperated as a government informant, that was apparently untrue.

Jonathan Anderson, one of Guandique’s lawyers, said after Tuesday’s hearing that Morales had “previously made numerous attempts” to testify against other individuals in exchange for benefits. He said the government either knew or should have known that information and turned it over to defense lawyers.

“The government sold the story to the jury by having him testify that he wasn’t seeking any benefit in exchange for his testimony and that he had never offered information against anybody else before,” Anderson said.

A lawyer for the government, David Gorman, noted in court that it was the government that brought the information about Morales to the attention of the judge in November. Gorman said the case against Guandique was strong and Morales was only one witness.

Prosecutors released a statement after the hearing that said Morales “never asked for or received any benefit for his testimony in this case” and said it was “premature to cast doubt” on his testimony.

Defense attorneys have said they intend to ask for a new trial based on the information about Morales. Anderson said Tuesday that motion would have to be made before the end of the year.

At Tuesday’s hearing, lawyers also sparred over a letter in which another inmate brought Morales to prosecutors’ attention. Defense attorneys said that two of the pages were turned over but not the first page, which had information about the fact Morales had previously talked with law enforcement. Prosecutors maintain all three pages were turned over.

Also Tuesday, the judge asked the government to review transcripts of the previous hearings to determine whether they can be made public either completely or with redactions. The judge said he expected all or most of the transcripts would be made public within 60 days.

___

Follow Jessica Gresko at http://twitter.com/jessicagresko

Source: huffingtonpost.com

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WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah — The lawyer for the family of missing Utah woman Susan Powell said Tuesday that even as local police close the active part of their investigation into her disappearance, federal authorities continue to review the case – a claim that was denied by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Salt Lake City.

Anne Bremner made the announcement at a Seattle news conference a day after local officials in Utah said they had closed their active investigation into the Susan Powell case.

“This is not over,” Bremner said.

Newly released police records show that Utah officials believe Josh Powell likely killed his wife in late 2009, and that his brother, Michael Powell, helped dispose of the body, but authorities felt they didn’t have enough evidence to prove that theory in court.

Last year, as the investigation continued, Josh Powell killed himself and his two young sons in an explosive house fire, leaving nearly all of his life insurance proceeds to his brother, Michael, who later jumped to his death from a parking garage in Minnesota.

Bremner, who was joined at the news conference by Chuck Cox, Susan Powell’s father, said she and Cox were apprised earlier in the day of the federal investigation by an agent who has been directly involved in the case. She said she requested permission to announce the development at the news conference, and the agent granted it. Bremner said the scope involved looking into what Josh Powell’s father, Steve, knew about his daughter-in-law’s disappearance.

In response, Melodie Rydalch, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Utah, issued a statement saying that federal agencies in Utah had assisted in the investigation and would be happy to do so again should circumstances warrant.

“However, we do not have plans to conduct any further investigation,” she said.

West Valley City Deputy Police Chief Mike Powell said he wasn’t immediately aware of any ongoing federal investigation but would look into it.

Steve Powell had a sexual obsession with Susan Powell and thoroughly documented it in journals seized by police. He is currently serving a prison sentence after being convicted of voyeurism charges for secretly recording young neighbor girls.

Utah police said Monday that they do not believe he was directly involved with Susan Powell’s disappearance but may know more about it than he has let on.

Both Bremner and Cox disputed the notion that prosecutors in Utah never had enough evidence to prosecute Josh Powell.

They cite his bizarre alibi – that he wasn’t home when his wife vanished because he had taken their two sons, then 2 and 4, camping in the Utah desert in the middle of a snowstorm.

They cite his unusual behavior – that he showed little concern for her, couldn’t explain why he had her cellphone with the digital SIM card removed, and, two days after she disappeared, he rented a car and drove it 800 miles.

They also cite potential motives: Josh Powell cleaned out Susan Powell’s retirement accounts 10 days after her disappearance, and – as the newly released documents revealed – he had apparently had an affair with a woman he met through a dating service months before his wife vanished.

Cox said the police “came to the wrong conclusion on the circumstantial evidence. I think there was plenty.”

Utah authorities have repeatedly said they didn’t prosecute Powell because they did not have a body or a crime scene. While that makes it tougher to prove a murder charge, prosecutors across the country have won convictions in such circumstances.

Susan Powell’s family plans to continue searching for her, with the help of volunteers and a private investigator.

“I’d like to find my daughter,” Cox said. “I’d like to lay her to rest.”

Police said both Steve and Michael Powell were uncooperative in the investigation.

They interviewed Michael numerous times after discovering he left his car at an Oregon junk yard weeks after Susan’s disappearance – a fact police didn’t learn until nearly two years later. Officials said he offered evasive answers about why he got rid of the car and how he had used it in late 2009.

His suicide left investigators without any person of interest in the case. While authorities believe the brothers were responsible for Susan Powell’s disappearance, they said repeatedly Monday that they never had enough evidence to bring charges – an assertion that has been questioned in the past by legal experts as well as law enforcement in Washington state.

“This is a circumstantial case, yes,” said West Valley City Deputy Chief Phil Quinlan. His fellow deputy chief, Mike Powell, added, “We didn’t have a body. We don’t have a crime scene.”

The Powell brothers used sophisticated computer encryption to communicate, Quinlan said. Investigators have been unable to decipher that secret communication.

The case file shows that in August 2010, police contacted a West Valley City woman, whose full name is redacted, after her phone number was discovered in Josh Powell’s phone records.

She told police she had a sexual relationship with Josh Powell after meeting him through a dating service about six or seven months before Susan Powell disappeared. The woman said she knew Josh Powell by the name John Staley, and she didn’t know he was married. It wasn’t until after she saw news coverage of the case that she discerned his true identity.

The woman called 911 just days after Susan Powell disappeared and claimed she had been having an affair with Josh Powell for the past two months, Maxwell wrote. At the time, however, she declined to provide corroborating information.

The file includes other details, and contained emails from Susan Powell’s father, who expressed hope his daughter might be found in the days after her December 2009 disappearance.

Cox believed Josh Powell poisoned his wife’s pancakes before she was taken from the couple’s house.

Susan Powell was reported missing after failing to show up for work.

Police found a small amount of her blood on the floor next to a recently cleaned sofa and carpet in their house, but not enough to consider it a crime scene, they said.

Josh Powell eventually returned to the couple’s hometown of Puyallup, Wash., where he got caught up in a battle with Susan Powell’s parents for custody of the boys, 7-year-old Charlie and 5-year-old Braden.

On Feb. 5, 2012, he locked a social worker out of a rental home at the start of a supervised visit, attacked the boys with a hatchet and set the house afire. All three were killed.

___

Follow Johnson on Twitter at . https://twitter.com/GeneAPseattle

AP writer Paul Foy contributed from Salt Lake City, Utah.

Source: huffingtonpost.com

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Army Brigadier General Bryan T. Roberts, the Commanding General of the U.S. Army Training Center and Fort Jackson, located in Fort Jackson, S.C., is being investigated for adultery and for being involved in a physical altercation, the Army announced Tuesday. Roberts has been suspended from his duties.

The altercation allegedly involved Roberts and an unidentified woman he is now being investigated for having an affair with, a U.S. military official told NBC News. The two were apparently involved in a recent argument. While making up, Roberts allegedly bit the woman’s lip, causing her to seek medical help.

The Command and Staff page on Fort Jackson’s website showed a vacant spot under Commanding General on Tuesday evening.

While the investigation is ongoing, Brig. Gen. Peggy Combs, Commandant of the U.S. Army Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear School at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, will serve as the interim commander.

jackson.army.mil

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A 9-year-old girl who was “always smiling” is among the first of the Oklahoma tornado victims to be identified.

Third-grader Ja’Nae Hornsby was one of the students who perished when the twister demolished Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore, Okla. on Monday afternoon.

Members of her grieving family gathered Tuesday at a Baptist church in Oklahoma City to console each other after a night of anxious waiting ended with a hope-shattering call from the medical examiner’s office.

Her aunt, Angela Hornsby, said Ja’Nae had spent last weekend at her house, playing with her cousins and “doing what little girls do.”

“They like to play dress-up,” she recalled. “My daughter puts jewelry on them and I took pictures of them dancing together and they took video. They were just happy.

“She was always happy, always smiling.”

Courtesy Angela Hornsby

Ja’Nae Hornsby, 9, with her 2-year-old sister Jia, in a photo taken over the weekend.

On Monday, Ja’Nae went off to Plaza Towers Elementary School while her father, Joshua, headed into Oklahoma City for work.

As the tornado bore down on the suburb of Moore just before dismissal time, the father of two tried to race back home to get Ja’Nae from school and his two-year-old, Jia, from daycare, Angela Hornsby said.

The highways were jammed, though, and by the time he got to Moore, the grade school had been reduced to a pile of rubble, its parking lot transformed into a triage area for surviving students being pulled from the debris.

There was no sign of Ja’Nae, though. Her father and other relatives shuttled from shelter to shelter, “looking for answers,” Angela Hornsby said. She dialed all the hospitals that had taken the injured but could not find her niece.

As night fell, Joshua Hornsby went to St. Andrew’s United Methodist Church, where a dwindling number of parents waiting for reunions were camped out.

“He would not leave until he found out what happened to his baby,” his sister said. “They received a call while they were at the church this morning.

“My sister called to tell me. They were just sobbing.”

Joshua Hornsby also lost his house to the twister. His youngest child, who was picked up from daycare by her grandmother, survived.

Ja’Nae, whose mother died last year of lupus, had doted on her baby sister, family members said.

“She was a good big sister,” her aunt said, her voice cracking with emotion. “She was just a good girl.”

Pastor James Dorn Jr. of Mount Triumph Baptist Church said he had watched Ja’Nae grow up because her grandfather, Henry Hornsby, used to be the associate pastor there.

Courtesy Bhonde family

Hemant Bhonde, 65, died after a tornado struck Moore, Okla., on May 21.

Like everyone else, he remembered her as full of joy.

“She was a beautiful child to be around, someone you feel privileged to know,” he said. “She did well in school. She was just awesome.”

Officials in Moore late Tuesday also identify a second tornado victim as Hemant Bhonde, 65. His family members told NBC News that Bhonde became separated from his wife when the tornado hit their home. His wife survived.

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Police say that Eduardo Rodriguez attempted to force his way into the teenage girl’s house in Pierson around 1:20 a.m., Monday.

“I woke up, and I felt something,” the victim told a 911 dispatcher. “I felt him looking at me. I woke up, and he was right there.”

The victim recognized Rodriguez, masked in a bandana, when she pulled the cloth from his face.

“The suspect lifted up the girl’s blanket and touched her, and that’s when the victim grabbed his arm while calling for her mother,” according to the sheriff’s statement.

Approximately one hour later, authorities found Rodriguez running along nearby railroad tracks, shirtless, shoeless, and smelling of alcohol, WFTV reports. Rodriguez told deputies that he was confused and thought he was entering his own house.

The girl told her mother that Rodriguez is obsessed with her, but that she wants nothing to do with him, according to the Daytona Beach News-Journal.

Rodriguez is facing charges of sexual battery, child abuse and burglary involving an assault and battery.

Source: huffingtonpost.com

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