Eileen Nicole Ponce-Orta

 The body of Eileen Nicole Ponce-Orta, mother of 1, was found in her minivan by her family. Police had called the woman’s family to come pick up the minivan, which was parked in a reserved lot for police officers near the courthouse. Police had failed to check inside the minivan, but that is where the body of the 22 year old woman lay.

The family of the woman claims that she had been missing since earlier in the week. When the vehicle was found, police claimed that there were no signs of foul play, and no blood.  This was a relief to the family, at least until they opened the door to the van and saw part of the body.

Authorities revealed that Ponce-Orta’s death was caused by a stab wound to the neck.

I wonder why the police did not check the van before releasing it to the family? They even said there were no signs of foul play – how could they have known without checking inside the van?

No arrests have been made, however, police are pursuing interests.

Amber Hagerman

 Amber Renee Hagerman, born in 1986 and killed only 10 years later, was a victim of a child abduction and murder. She had been riding her bike near the home of her grandparents in Arlington, Texas, when she was kidnapped.

A neighbor had witnessed the abduction, and called in a description of the suspect and the car he had been driving.  Four days after the search began, Amber’s body was found by a man walking his dog. Her throat had been slit, and her lifeless body lay at the bottom of a creek bed.

No arrests were ever made, and her murderer’s whereabouts have never been discovered.  On July 25, 2007, a man named Terapon Adhahn was under investigation, after being arrested in connection with the abduction of Zina Linnik, however, nothing ever came of it.

In October of 2000, the US House of Reps. adopted H.R. 605, which encouraged a nationwide use of the AMBER Plan. Finally in 2003, George Bush signed the AMBER Alert legislation, which made the program national. There are still many updates that need to be made, as it seems technology has not quite caught up with the Amber Alert System, which notifies citizens when a child has gone missing.

There is currently a Lifetime made-for-TV movie called Amber’s Story that was filmed in 2006.

Jessica Lunsford

 Jessica Marie Lunsford, born in October in 1995, was murdered in February of 2005. At the time of her death, she was nine years old, and had been abducted from her home in Florida.

After being held captive over the weekend, she was raped and murdered by John Couey, a 47 year old man who lived nearby. It was not until August of 2007 that Couey was sentenced to death for the kidnapping, raping, and murdering.

According to Couey’s confession, he entered the home through a door left unlocked at around three in the morning.  Couey took Jessica to his bed where he raped her multiple times. While he went to work, he told Jessica to stay in the closet. Three days after the kidnapping, Couey tied Jessica’s hands together, put her in a garbage bag, and buried her alive.

David & Carol Keeffe

 David and Carol Keeffe were both found shot to death in their garage. They lived in northern Pennsylvania, Endless Mountains to be exact. David Keefe had been a prominent lawyer, going on thirty years of practice, in his town.

Friends and family are baffled by the murders, wondering why such a pleasant couple would be murdered in such a way. Police were contact on November 19, 2006 by the couple’s daughter after they did not return her phone calls.

The coroner determined that both David and Carol had been shot multiple times in the head, but no other leads developed.  Police do believe that the murders were planned. The house the couple lived in is not viewable from the road, and it was not a case of burglary.  They do speculate that Keeffe’s position as a lawyer created hostility between him and others, and the killings are possibly tied in to this.
This case still remains a mystery.

Northern Illinois University Shooting

 The Northern Illinois University shooting took place on February 14, 2008. The campus, located in DeKalb, Illinois, housed the shooting which originated in Cole Hall around 3:05 PM. The school was then placed on lockdown, and no classes were to be held until Feb. 25.

Steven Kazmierczak entered the lecture hall in Cole Hall that held from 150 to 200 students. Kazmierczak shot into the crowd of students with one shotgun and three handguns. The gunman had already graduated from NIU as a sociology student, and was currently a grad student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

A total of 22 people were shot, and six were confirmed dead, including the shooter.  By the next day, seven of the victims were in critical condition, one stable, and eight discharged. Two patients that were hospitalized died due to the injuries.

Those who were killed in the shooting:

• Gayle Dubowski
• Catalina Garcia
• Julianna Gehant
• Ryanne Mace
• Daniel Parmenter
• Steven Kazmierczak

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Taylor Behl

 Taylor Marie Behl was born on October 13, 1987, and while she was a 17 year old freshman at Virginia Commonwealth University, she went missing on Labor Day weekend. Police were led to her remains about a month after she was reported missing, at a rural area in Mathews County, Virginia.

On September 17, 2005, Taylor Behl’s car was found in a residential neighborhood more than a mile from the college campus. A K-9 unit eventually led police to to Jesse Schultz, a 22 year old who lived in the area where the car was found. It is reported that Schultz failed a lie detector test, and was arrested immediately for cocaine possession.

After several search warrants were executed, police felt the need to pursue “Jake”, a student at the college and former boyfriend of Behl’s. Apparently she had dinner with him on September 5.  Police also claimed that one of the last people to see Taylor alive was Benjamin Fawley, an amateur photographer.

Fawley had an alibi, however, it did not hold up, and a search warrant was executed. Police sought out for things like women’s clothing, Behl’s camera phone, her key ring, and her money. In the search for these things, police were able to charge Fawley with 16 counts of child pornography.

On October 12, 2005, Fawley admitted to being with Behl on September 5, and alleged that Behl died accidentally during a consensual sex act in her car. He claimed to have panicked and dumped her body in a ravine.

On January 17, 2006, the court indicted Fawley for Behl’s murder, and accused him of killing her “willfully, deliberately and with premeditation”.

On August 9, 2006, Benjamin Fawley was convicted of second degree murder, and sentenced to thirty years in prison.

I remember seeing Taylor’s myspace about a year ago and thinking, wow, what a beautiful girl to have been murdered so young. Her life just seemed so promising, and when I think about it, she reminds me of myself – same age, same stage of life, probably going through the same things. And then for it to end… just like that… it’s just an overwhelming thought.

Missing Child – Keagan Marie Watt

 Keagan Marie Watt has been missing since Feb. 2, 2008. She is believed to be in the company of her non-custodial mother.

Born: April 8, 2000

Picture can be found at the link above

Missing City: Leicester, MA

White female, 4′0″, 75 pounds, sandy hair, blue eyes

Jasmine Richardson

Jasmine Richardson and her alleged boyfriend killed her family in Medicine Hat, Alberta. Those killed included Marc Richardson (42), Debra (48), and Jacob (8). They were found on April 23, 2006 in the afternoon.  At the time of the killings, Jasmine was only 12 years old. She was arrested the next day in Leader, Saskatchewan with her 23 year old boyfriend, Jeremy Allan Steinke. In May of 2006, Kacy Lancaster was charged with being an accessory to the murder, for disposing of evidence.

Jasmine Richardson is the youngest person in Canadian history to be charged with multiple murder.  Jasmine, a seventh grader, had been grounded by her parents for dating Steinke, due to the age difference.

On July 9, 2007, Jasmine was found guilty of three counts of first-degree murder. On November 8, 2007, she was sentenced to the maximum allowable sentence of 10 years, maximum, for a child under 14 years of age.

Virginia Tech Massacre

The Virginia Tech Massacre is considered the deadliest school shooting in United States history, consisting of two separate attacks made by the same person. Both occurred on the same day – April 16, 2007, hours apart. The Virginia Tech campus, located in Blacksburg, Virginia, was home to Seung-Hui Cho and more than 30 others who were murdered that day.

Seung-Hui Cho moved to the United States at age eight from South Korea. At the time of the shooting, Cho was a senior English major at the university. One point that should be made is that Cho suffered from severe anxiety disorder during school, and had received support and therapy for it. Cho had been accused of stalking two female students almost two years before the shooting, and was declared mentally ill.

The first attack to take place was in West Ambler Johnston Hall, a residence hall that almost 900 students call home. The attack occurred around 7 AM. At this time, Cho shot his first victim, freshman Emily J. Hilscher, and a second, senior Ryan Clark.

It is during the next block of time that Cho returned to his dorm, changed clothes, and deleted his email and campus account.  He also removed the hard drive from his computer. This, along with a cell phone, were never found. It was almost two hours after those first two killings that Cho mailed a package of writings and video recordings to NBC News, postmarked 9:01 AM.

Soon after sending the package, Cho entered Norris Hall, which is apparently an engineering hall, and chained three doors shut. Several students claimed that he peeked into a couple of classes before shooting. The first attack occurred in a class taught by Professor Loganathan, who was shot and murdered. Then, Cho continued shooting, and killed 9 of the 13 students in attendance.

Next, Cho crossed the hall to a course taught by Christopher J. Bishop, who was also killed. Four students were killed here, and six wounded. He entered at least two more classes, shooting the entire time, sometimes re-entering a classroom. The entire shooting lasted nine minutes, but during this short amount of time, Cho was able to fire 174 rounds, kill 30 people, and injure 17 more. It is also reported that 6 more people were injured as they attempted to jump out of a second-story building to escape.

Cho was found dead, due to a self-inflicted gunshot wound by police once they were able to get into the building.

During times of tragedy, there are often great people who are willing to put their lives on the line to help others. Professor Liviu Librescau held the door to his classroom shut while Cho tried to enter it. While the professor was able to save the lives of many students, he was shot through the door, and one student was killed in his classroom.

Another professor, Jocelyne Couture-Nowak, tried to barricade the door as well, but was not successful and was killed.  A student, Henry Lee, attempted to help her and was killed.

Waleed Shaalan allegedly distracted Cho from shooting another student after they were already injured, and was shot a second time and killed.

Student Zach Petkewicz and professor Haiyan Cheng barricaded a classroom with a table, and nobody in the classroom was injured or killed.

It is reported that students Katelyn Carney, Derek O’Dell, Trey Perkins, and Erin Sheehan, barricaded their classroom after it was already attacked, and helped those injured. Cho returned, however, two of the students prevented him from re-turning. They were both injured in the process.

Victims – RIP

Ryan Clark

Emily Hilscher

Liviu Librescu

Minal Panchal

G. V. Loganathan

Jarrett Lane

Brian Bluhm

Matthew Gwaltney

Jeremy Herbstritt

Partahi Lumbantoruan

Daniel O’Neil

Juan Ortiz

Julia Pryde

Waleed Shaalan

Christopher James Bishop

Lauren McCain

Michael Pohle Jr.

Maxine Turner

Nicole White

Jocelyne Couture-Nowak

Ross Alameddine

Austin Cloyd

Daniel Perez Cueva

Catilin Hammaren

Rachael Hill

Matthew La Porte

Henry Lee

Erin Peterson

Mary Read

Reema Samaha

Leslie Sherman

Kevin Granata