Beyond 90 Seconds

The leader of The Lord Our Righteousness Church writes that he will no longer write or speak to people outside of his flock until two teens are returned to his church.

Wayne Bent (aka Michael Travesser) takes this latest stand in his July 1 post on his church’s Web site.  In all, 5,474 words appear beneath the headline, Healed and Michael Speak for the Last Time.

Bent remains indicted by a grand jury for allegedly having committed second-degree criminal sexual contact of a minor.  Charges involving a previously alleged second victim have been dropped.

After reading the first 3,596 words of Bent’s July 1 post, one discovers the following pronouncement:

I will write no more, speak no more, or listen to you no more.  Not until the children are released from their prisons will you ever hear from me or us again.

According to his Web site, New Mexico’s Children, Youth & Families Department decided yesterday that a 16-year-old girl taken from the property April 22 will not be allowed to return at this time.

Two other teens were subsequently taken from the church.  A teenage boy has been returned to his parents.  Bent maintains the boy is not happy and wishes to return to the church property.

A 13-year-old girl, “Willow”, has returned to her parents and Strong City.

The 16-year-old girl removed from Strong City April 22 goes by the name of “Healed”.  Bent’s July 1 post includes the text of what is purported to be a “draft” letter written by “Lakeisha R. Sayer AKA Healed”.

That letter includes the following excerpt:

I have told people over and over again that Michael did NOT sexually abuse me, use me, coerce me, touch me inappropriately, or force me to submit to him. Everything he did or does, was and is at my request and desire. It was pure, heavenly and undefiled by any perversions or human lusts or sexual desires.  It was purely of God, and it was all legal.

Bent immediately follows-up the letter with this excerpt:

She (Healed) also went on to say to us that she was including these thoughts:  I am NOT a victim, and I will not take the witness stand and testify that I am. I will not let you use me to testify for you against Michael. He did not molest me or even touch me sexually in any way.

At the outset of his final post, Bent maintains that Healed would be better protected at his church property than elsewhere, stating:

If this young woman was now willing to give up her love for God and Michael and go along with the pornography and screwing around with their boyfriends that most young women do in these days, and that which is common to her natural world, I can promise you she would not be in CYFD custody.

Bent rounds-out his post with numerous paragraphs (mostly “adapted” scripture) proclaiming his curses for the world, including:

Because you have refused to return my children, or let them speak with us, but instead keep them in your prisons, “…all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you. Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in your place of work.  …Cursed shall be your children, and the fruit of your ground, the increase of your cattle, and the young of your flock. …The Lord will send upon you curses, confusion, and frustration, in all that you undertake to do, until you are destroyed and perish quickly, on account of the evil of your doings, because you have forsaken me [and thought to keep my children from me].

Who, exactly, is Bent writing to?  He explains it this way:

My comments here encompass the entire population and not just certain people.

And what about his declaration of silence?  Will it carry over to court proceedings? The answer appears to be a definitive,”Yes”:

Go ahead and charge me with contempt.  When you prove yourself not contemptible I will speak with you, but now the God of heaven holds you in contempt, for your deeds are exceedingly evil and grossly perverted.

Bent’s flock appears to have imposed a declaration of silence, too. A vast number of videos posted by LOR members on Web sites such as youtube and myspace have been taken down.

(July 2) Heart-wrenching.  That may best describe this morning’s Today Show live interview with two children and the ex-husband of Tina Davila (please see video below).

Davila’s teenage children struggled to find the right words. At times, no words came out.  But these were moments that told so much about the pain still fresh on this family’s doorstep.

Host Meredith Vieira even seemed to have difficulty holding back tears near the end of the interview.

Who can blame her?

Tina Davila was murdered as she walked up to a Houston-area cell phone store to pay her bill.  Someone wanted her car.

But Davila’s 4-month-old baby was inside that car.

And as surveillance video featured in the Today Show story clearly demonstrates, Davila fought and died while protecting her child.

The man suspected of stabbing Davila to death has yet to be found.  A spokesperson for the Harris County Sheriff’s Department says 24-year-old Timoteo Rios might be in Mexico.

Investigators say Rios is an illegal immigrant with a criminal record.

Anyone with information about this case can call Crime Stoppers of Houston at 713-222-TIPS.

More could be said here, but no words written by this blogger could approach the compelling story told in the video below; nor express the reasons why a murder suspect must be caught.

(Please allow a few seconds for the video to load.)

(July 2) There is much yet to be learned about a recent murder in the Tri-Cities of south central Washington.  But some people have already heard enough.

The details are that gruesome.

Kennewick police say a 23-year-old woman named Phiengchai Sisouvanh Synhavong murdered a pregnant Pasco woman…and also removed a nearly full-term baby boy from the the victim’s body.

As of this early morning hour (July 2, 2:50am, PST), the Tri-City Herald is reporting that the baby remains in critical condition.

27-year-old Araceli Camacho Gomez was found dead around 1am Saturday at a Kennewick park.  Investigators believe she had been murdered Friday night.

“The autopsy indicated additional cuts in the area of the uterus consistent with the cutting of the body to remove the child,” police spokesperson Mike Blatman told the Associated Press.

The AP story also mentions evidence:

According to documents filed in court, blue mechanic’s gloves soaked in blood, a boxcutter, bloody paper towels, yarn, a mucus bulb, baby bottle and baby socks were found in her purse. The court filings did not indicate whether the boxcutter was used to cut or stab Gomez.

A local television station, KEPR (CBS), has managed to interview family members on both sides of this story.  The TV station has also interviewed the victim’s fiancé.  Videos of KEPR’s coverage can be found here.

As this story continues to heat-up in the glow of the national media, stories about the murder will be all over the Web.  This post takes a different turn.  And aims to end on an uplifting note.

First, a bit more about the type of grisly crime allegedly committed by Synhavong.

Unfortunately, we’ve heard similar stories before; including the strangulation of a 23-year-old Missouri woman named Bobbie Joe Stinnett nearly four years ago. Lisa Montgomery confessed to that murder and also to having removed a fetus from Stinnett’s body.

Less than two years ago, an Illinois case turned out to be even more horrific (hard to imagine, I know).  24-year-old Tiffany Hall didn’t stop at removing a fetus, she also drowned her victim’s three children.

I’ve been searching the Internet for additional examples of this type of crime and have just come across a truTV article titled, Fetal Snatchers.  The article is extensive and includes sections concerning the Montgomery and Hall cases. The bibliography also provides a rich source of related reading material.

However, the first thought that came to my mind after hearing about the Kennewick case Tuesday concerned a story that ultimately unfolded in the Manzano Mountains east of Albuquerque, New Mexico two decades ago.

In 1987, Darci Pierce abducted a young mother from an Albuquerque parking lot. Pierce used the victim’s car key to perform a Caesarean section on the dying body of 23-year-old Cindy Ray.

Just three years ago, USA Today had this to say about the Pierce/Ray case:

It was the first recorded case of what a July 2002 study in the Journal of Forensic Sciences would call “newborn kidnapping by Caesarean section.” Ann Burgess, a professor of nursing at Boston College and the study’s lead author, says the women behind such attacks have a “childbearing fantasy” but are “cold, calculating and extremely self-centered.”

I worked in Albuquerque as a TV reporter for ten years.  The Pierce case was old news by the time I had moved to New Mexico in 1995.  But it was one of those cases that people spoke of from time-to-time.  A case that most people could never forget.

Then, in 1997, New Mexicans would actually hear and see the child who’d been carved out of Cindy Ray’s womb a decade earlier.  Anchor Tom Joles and then-Chief Photographer Carrie Moots of KOB-TV visited the child (by then, age 10) and her father.

11 years have now passed since KOB-TV first aired that story, but it is still very much worth watching (please view below).  It’ll also deliver an uplifting end to this post, as promised above.

(Please allow a few seconds for the video to load)

-additional reading: New York Daily News list of similar cases

Journalist Bill Kurtis takes aim at a bizarre New Mexico murder case this week.  Kurtis, host of A&E’s American Justice, tells the story of the Girly Chew Hossencofft murder in an hour-long episode titled, “Traces in Blood.”

Because I covered this case for the better part of five years–and even wrote a book about it–I was interviewed extensively for this program.  Excerpts of my appearance can be seen here.

According to A&E’s Web site, the episode is scheduled to air twice Thursday, July 3 (10am Eastern/9am Central & 4pm Eastern/3pm Central).  Please check your local listings for details.

A&E describes “Traces in Blood” as follows:

A look at the bizarre case of Diazien Hossencofft, a con man with the ability to convince his victims of just about anything. Hossencofft persuaded Linda Henning, a former fashion designer from New Mexico, that he was something other than human, and Henning started to claim that she was his “alien queen”. We examine the relationship between the two and try to determine if it led to the murder of Diazien’s wife, Girly Chew Hossencofft.

“Traces in Blood” first aired April 7, 2004.  When I was interviewed for the program, I was taking time off from TV work and writing September Sacrifice (Kensington Publishing Corp., December 2004) while holed-up in a wonderful, old adobe home in the remote and charming town of Hillsboro, New Mexico (you can see pictures from my time in Hillsboro here).

In 1999, I published a Web site dedicated to the Hossencofft case. Little did I know back then that markhorner.com/hoss would grow into hundreds of pages of articles, pictures, documents and videos.  The site is widely regarded as an excellent Online source for information about the case.

A thunderstorm rolled through parts of Tucson early Sunday evening, providing a reprieve from the recent soaring temperatures.  Of course, the community is thankful for every bit of rain received, too.

As is common here, numerous lightning strikes were included with this storm.  I videotaped some of them while sitting inside my parked vehicle.  The video below runs 1:01.

(Please be advised that this report includes pictures and video of a decomposing pig.)

***

Fascinating video of a dead pig pinned to the ocean floor off of British Columbia is providing new insight into events that may have led up to the emergence of five human feet in the Strait of Georgia.

Simon Fraser University forensic scientist Gail Anderson wanted to know–make that “see”–exactly what happens as a pig decomposes in the waters off of British Columbia.

It is well worth noting here that Anderson has worked closely with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in its investigation of the mysterious human feet.

But how does one get good video of a dead pig on a sea floor?

Anderson didn’t want just a few hours or days of video, either.  She wanted weeks and weeks of it.

The answer turned out to be as close as VENUS.  Not the planet, but a revolutionary underwater laboratory already in place in the Strait of Georgia.

University of Victoria researcher Richard Dewey is the chief scientist behind the Victoria Experimental Network Under the Sea (VENUS) project.  Working with Anderson, the team has produced some compelling video regarding that dead pig that will surely prove fascinating to forensic scientists and true crime fans.

Dewey recently presented the team’s findings.  A video of that presentantion appeared today on the Leader-Post’s (Regina) Web site and also appears below.

Early in his remarks, Dewey establishes the significance of Anderson’s expertise.

““When a body washes up, a human body washes up on the shore, and the RCMP call her, they want to ask her, ‘Is this kind of wound caused by torture or a squat lobster?’”

Dewey explained that the dead pig used in the VENUS experiment had been electrocuted.  Therefor, with no open wounds, the animal went three days with little to no attention from the ocean’s creatures.

Everything began to change after something–presumably a shark–took a large bite of pig overnight.

After a couple of weeks, a leg was detached from the pig.

“They’ve (crustaceans) actually eaten the flesh away from the joint and something like an ankle becomes disarticulated from the carcass and in fact we see one of the legs over here to the right, there’s actually a crab nibbling on it there, that’s become separated.  And this has direct bearing on the feet that have washed up in the Strait of Georgia.

“And, in fact, from the first (human) foot on, Gail has been very involved with the RCMP because of her research on VENUS,” Dewey explained.

After two weeks spent underwater, much of the pig’s carcass had been stripped clean. A month later, there was no trace of the swine.

“After a month and half, there was not a single piece of this pig left on the bottom.  We went back with the ROV six months later and frankly had a tough time even finding small bones.”

Dewey added that bare bones may simply float away from the scene of a body’s final underwater resting place.

Something a detached foot might do days or weeks earlier.

*watch video of Dewey’s presentation (for smooth play, allow a moment for video to load):

*The following 2006 CBC News story provides an excellent overview of the VENUS Project (please allow several seconds for this video to load.  It’s worth the wait) :

*ADDITIONAL VIDEOS: ( Updated July 4, 2008 ) From what I’ve read on the official VENUS Project Web site, the pig study referred to in this story was conducted in 2006.  The VENUS Project conducted a second pig study in 2007. I initially provided a link here to a series of higher-resolution videos concerning the 2007 pig study.  Those videos were quite thorough from start-to-finish as they began with “pig 2″ being lifted from a large ship and then lowered into the water (an underwater camera even followed “pig 2″ as it sunk to the sea floor).  However, today I’ve noticed that the link now requires a User ID & password.  There are additional high-resolution videos of an underwater pig experiment at the VENUS Project Web site.  At this time, they do not require a User ID and password.  I do not know if the pig in these videos is “pig 2″.  Still, if you’re interested in matters related to decomposition/forensics beneath the sea, these videos should prove of interest.

Update (June 27, 4:45 PST):  “Father of baby burned in fire pit charged with second degree manslaughter”    (Seattle Times)

COMMENTARY

(Federal Way, Washington) According to a story in today’s Seattle Times, Alberto Rios uses three aliases and three birth dates, has established a history of drug and alcohol-related arrests, and has been deported to his native Mexico three times.

Now, Rios is back behind bars, shackled with a $1 million bail.  He must also cope with the  unimaginable loss of his 7-month-old son, Diego, found dead in a backyard bonfire where Rios had reportedly “fallen asleep” a few feet away.

The horrific scene unfolded last weekend in this Seattle suburb where Rios reportedly told investigators people had gathered to celebrate the completion of a construction job.

The Seattle Times article states:

…(Rios) is in the U.S. illegally and has been deported to his native Mexico three times — in 1994, 1996 and in 2001, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said.

No doubt that excerpt (above) will resonate with many readers.  But another string of sentences within the newspaper article is even more disturbing, provoking a reluctant mind to imagine the final seconds of a little boy’s life:

The King County Medical Examiner’s Office said Wednesday that Diego died of smoke inhalation and burns to his entire body. Court documents said the autopsy also revealed Diego had soot in his esophagus, indicating he was alive when he fell into the fire pit.

###

*For more on this story, please read reporter Leslie Anne Jones’ excellent article in today’s Seattle Times. Videos are also provided below:

June 26, 2008: “$1 million bail for father in death of baby son” (KOMO-TV)

June 24, 2008: “Dad Held after Son Dies in Backyard Fire Pit,”  (ABC News)

Long before an illegal immigrant was charged with murdering a star high school athlete named Jamiel Shaw II earlier this year, Los Angeles resident Harold Sturgeon had filed a lawsuit aimed at repealing LAPD’s Special Order 40.   Today, a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge threw out the lawsuit.

Special Order 40 took effect in 1979 and, among other things, says “officers shall not initiate police action with the objective of discovering the alien status of a person.”

Sturgeon, who filed his lawsuit in 2006, contended that Special Order 40 conflicted with state and federal laws.

The debate surrounding Special Order 40 intensified this past March after Shaw was shot and killed.  Turned out the suspect, 19-year-old Pedro Espinoza, was an illegal immigrant.  And Espinoza had been released from jail just 28-hours prior to Shaw’s murder.

Beyond90Seconds.com has followed the Jamiel Shaw II story from the beginning.  You can read all of the articles that have appeared on this blog by clicking here (the most recent stories will appear at top of page.  Please scroll down to read earlier stories).

At the following links, you can read more about a judge’s decision Wednesday to throw-out the lawsuit that had challenged Special Order 40:

“Judge throws out lawsuit challenging Special Order 40″ -LA Times

“Judge Rejects Bid to Let Police Check Immigration Status” -NY Times

“Lawsuit Dismissed in LAPD Immigration Status Questions Case” -KNBC (includes video)

(Update: June 26, 8:57am, PST): “CBS News loads up on Lara Logan” -NY Daily News

(Update: June 24, 6:13pm, PST):  The Enterprise Report has just updated its Web site with “Breaking News” concerning the decision by CBS News to remove controversial claim from cbsnews.com

“ERSNews submitted detailed questions to CBS News spokeswoman Jennifer Farley nearly a week ago concerning how the report was put together and how the tape of Hekmatyar was made and obtained by CBS News, The Enterprise Report has yet to be provided a response.” -ersnews.com

(Update/related: June 24, 5:20pm PST): TV Newser:  “Lara Logan moves to D.C.: will continue as foreign correspondent”

(Update:  June 24, 2:05pm PST): CBS News has now removed the controversial text from its Web site.  The following “editor’s note” now appears:

EDITOR’S NOTE: The description of this story has been updated to clarify that while the exclusive interview with Afghan warlord Gulbeddin Hekmatyar was with CBS News, it was not with correspondent Lara Logan. -cbsnews.com

CBS CLAIM:  FACT OR FICTION?

In its “opinion” post, the Web site ersnews.com ( The Enterprise Report ) draws its sword and seemingly cuts to pieces claims made by CBS News that its chief foreign correspondent, Lara Logan, spoke with notorious Mujahideen leader Gulbeddin Hekmatyar. Hekmatyar is wanted by the U.S. government for attempting to overthrow the Afghan government of Hamid Karzai.

In short, an exlcusive sit-down interview with a man who appears near the top of America’s list of most wanted terrorists is one heck of a “get.”  So much so, it prompted The Enterprise Report to investigate claims such as one currently appearing on cbsnews.com:

Exclusive: Afghan Warlord Talks Resistance Notorious Terrorist Tells CBS News’ Lara Logan About Evading Capture and What He Thinks Of George Bush

The Enterprise Report felt something was missing from the story:  namely, any evidence of Logan speaking directly to Hekmatyar.

Lara Logan was nowhere in the story, not in the interview and not in the story itself, either in the TV version, broadcast on the CBS Evening News or the web version posted on the networks CBSNews.com.  What was uncommon is that two times in the web version it say’s Logan talked with the terrorist and implied she conducted or had some kind of direct hand in interviewing Hekmatyar herself. -ersnews.com

According to its Web site, The Enterprise Report contacted CBS Evening News spokesperson Jennifer Farley. The Enterprise Report’s Web site includes an image of what it says is an excerpt of the Farley’s e-mailed reply.  The excerpt states:

“So as with many pieces that involve getting sound from a warlord in a region like Afghanistan, a stringer got the sound, and as we reported in the piece, that material was supplied it exclusively to CBS News for Logan’s piece.” -excerpt from e-mail reportedly from CBS Evening News spokesperson Jennifer Farley

For more on this story, I recommend that you read The Enterprise Report’s opinon piece and that you review the actual CBS News coverage as it appears on cbsnews.com.

Finally, what do you think?  Are you comfortable with the way that CBS News presented the story on its Web site?

(Update, June 28, 8:59am PST):  “Pig video lends insight into B.C.’s human feet mystery”

Update:  NEWS CONFERENCE DELAYED

(June 26, 2:23am PST):  “Police delay update on feet mystery” -Seattle Times

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) has delayed a news conference on the case of the five feet that have washed ashore along the Strait of Georgia over the past year.

The RCMP had planned to update the public this week but has now decided to hold off until more of the investigation is complete, said Constable Annie Linteau, the agency’s spokeswoman. -Seattle Times

(June 23) It’s already happened five times in less than a year: a human foot found washed-up on a beach or floating in the waters within British Columbia’s Strait of Georgia.

One week ago, a foot was found inside a sneaker floating near Westham Island in the mouth of the Fraser River.

It was a left foot.

Four prior discoveries, dating back to August 2007, were all right feet.

It’s a story that appears in today’s Seattle Times.

So far, investigators have not been able to link any of the feet to people who’ve been reported missing.

British Columbia’s chief coroner says that–so far–there is no evidence of foul play.

Despite a tight-lipped stance from police, the case is now netting media attention from around the world.

Of course, theories are emerging from people trying to solve the mystery.  One theory is that the feet drifted across the Pacific Ocean after tsunamis or storms in Asia.

Others speculate that the feet are from people who’ve drowned or disappeared in the strait.

Another theory is that the feet are the result of a sick prank performed by someone who has access to cadavers.

And, yes, some people wonder if this is the work of a serial killer.

According to the Seattle Times, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police is expected to hold a news conference about the case this week.  Although, the paper reports, it’s quite possible that the news conference won’t produce much new information.

-subsequent news coverage:

(June 24): “Cold Feet: A bizarre mystery baffles British Columbia” -newsweek.com

The macabre discoveries have attracted armchair investigators from around the globe and inspired a couple of twisted pranksters. An anonymous posting on Craigslist last week urged readers to “have some fun” and “take a raw turkey drumstick, tie it inside one of your old running shoes and throw it in the ocean late at night when no one can see, or drop it off the ferry from the car deck. Then watch the news.” A sixth foot, found at Campbell River on June 19, turned out to be an animal appendage wrapped in seaweed and crammed into a shoe-seemingly a sick joke on the cops and local citizens, who are gobbling up any details about the story they can find. -newsweek.com

(June 24): “Feet theories abound, while 28 men are missing” -globeandmail.com

We’re likely to get fresh news this week about the feet. At least, so says RCMP Constable Annie Linteau, the poor soul responsible for dealing with the monsoon of media calls from around the world about the feet-stuffed shoes washing up on our shores.

Actually, Ms. Linteau sounds a little star-struck by some of the calls she’s been getting. The king of talk, CNN’s Larry King, wanted her on his show to chat about the story. So did Mr. King’s CNN colleague, Nancy Grace. Constable Linteau graciously declined the invitations.

Jay Leno may be harder to turn down.  -globeandmail.com

-prior news coverage:

( June 21, 2008 ) “B.C. floats endless foot theories” -thestar.com (Toronto)

Eric Kunze, who conducts research into ocean physics at the University of Victoria, said it would be impossible for the feet to have travelled from Asia to the coast of British Columbia.

“If feet were coming through from there, we would have thousands of feet coming onto the shores of B.C.,” he said. “From an oceanographic standpoint, all we can really say at this point is they originated somewhere from the Strait of Georgia.” -thestar.com