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Post by Helen Dagner on May 5, 2013 13:22:48 GMT -5
www.freep.com/videonetwork/2353271095001 Middle schoolers suspected in school terror plot Investigators say the students, just 12 and 13 years old, researched how to make a bomb and wanted to "create chaos" in their Lakeland, Florida middle school cafeteria. Two of the three suspects are girls.
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Post by Helen Dagner on May 6, 2013 5:49:49 GMT -5
Part #1
Elusive psychopath kills children,
turns neighbors against neighbors
Timmy Kiag, 11. onfcUrf thejvictiiw.
By Victoria Graham, AP
Birmingham, Mich.
Murder, a mosaic:
Ten-year-old Maureen Degen has bad
dreams. She sees a man chasing Timmy
King, her murdered classmate. She sees
herself walking down a broad, leafy street
"And then a man grabs me and starts beating
on me."
In class, she says, children still cry, and
they dedicate playground games to Timmy
King.
Maureen clips newspaper stories about
Timmy's murder.
It wasn't only Timmy King.
Seven other children and teen-agers have
been killed in the Detroit suburbs in the past
15 months. The man who killed Timmy in Birmingham
almost certainly killed three other
children — first playing a grim game of
house.
The long investigation hasn't turned up
the psychopath yet, but it has cast a shadow
on the community, piercing the facade of
many private lives. Nonetheless, every
snippet of the detective work is zealously
followed and discussed.
Jim Hauncher, supervisor of trace
analysis and serology at a state police crime
lab. reaches into a paper bag and pulls out a
little boy's red hockey jacket, shoes and underpants.
"f can visualize Timmy King, a little bundle
in the snow." he says. "1 can tell you
everything about him — height, weight, blood
type. hair. But you can't relate that to a
human being.
, "U's at night that it gets me, when I can't
sleep;: When I see my own son sleeping. It
couU have been my own boy." -'• "
Steve Erdodi was having Sunday brunch
at Uncle John's Pancake House when he saw
a man "with beady eyes" who resembled a
sketch of Timmy King's suspected killer.
He sneaked to the telephone and found
five women fretting over whether they, too.
should call police. After fumbling, dropping
pencils and dialing a wrong number, he
called.
The man dashed out. Erdodi gave chase,
leaping into his car and followed until police
arrived. Wrong man.
"People stop me now and say I did a good
thing, that it was good to get involved." says
Erdodi, who runs an auto rust proofing shop.
A young special education consultant who
never knew Timmy King is distressed
because police questioned him about the
slaying.
The man, who lives with another man and
wants to remain anonymous, was reported in
one of 10,000 tips about neighbors, friends and
family.
He doesn't know who his accuser is. and
he finds that frightening.
Murder has disrupted a way of life,
destroyed a sense of suburban well-being and
stolen children's innocence.
Life will not be the same in Oakland
County for a long time. Spring seems to be
withering, and summer does not bring the
prospect of warmth. The community cannot
take a vacation from fear.
Police compare their investigation to turning
over a stone or a board in a meadow and
finding things dank and unsavory.
Timmy King was the last victim, and
police believe the person or persons who kid-
Helen, Not perfect, but it gives you an idea o what is in the article. Page 1 also has a picture of the composite sketch and a picture of Tim, part 2 has a picture of kids in Birmingham.
I couldn't get the last paragraph in the article to copy and paste...sorry. Wait to post the news articles, it will have more of an impact with the pictures. Larry
Part #2 raped and killed him also killed three other
children — Mark Stebbins. 12. Ferndale; Jill
Robinson, 12, Royal Oak; Kristine Miheiich. docile i
10. Berkley. The three other crimes apparent- mother
ly are unrelated.
He does not play alone. And the bov who
was an irrepressible wanderer has become
docile and meticulous in reporting to his
Police think the killer kidnaps the
children, plays house with them for up to 19
days, then kills them. Three were smothered;
one was shot in the face.
They were not beaten or bruised. They
were well-fed, clean and warmly clothed.
Their bodies were placed where they would
be easily found.
Police believe all four crimes had a
sexual denominator, but only the boys showed
evidence of molestation.
"He must have a heck of a personality
and he must love children," says Sgt. Joseph
Krease of the Michigan State Police, No. 2
man in the task force investigating the
crimes.
"He's not your typical weirdo or child
molester. He's somebody's neighbor."
According to a psychological profile, the
killer is a man in his 20s or 30s who lives or
works in Oakland County. He is intelligent
and probably a white-collar worker.
'•This is a collective trauma to the community.
There is no parent or child in
Oakland County who has not been affected."
says Dr. Emanuel Tanay, forensic psychiatrist
at Wayne State University who has
consulted with investigators. "It will affect
the community for years to come.
"It has a great impact on child rearing
and families have altered their behavior
patterns to adapt to this situation.
Murder has invaded the consciousness of
very young children who play games about
the killer and pretend they are detectives.
Tanay's SVi-year-old son, Uavia. was
pushing a wheelbarrow with friends near
their home in fashionable Grosse Pointe. The
children picked up bottle caps, pieces of wood
and string and conferred solemnly over each.
David explained, "These are clues about
the killer."
"We think about it every day and the
children talk about it every day. You feel
helpless," says Carol Degen, Maureen's
mother, who has four other children.
Timmy had to walk past their house on
the night he was abducted. The police
searched their yard. "It could have been any
home that night," Mrs. Degen said, "any kid
going to the store to buy candy."
Jimmy Simpson a bright, adventurous
boy of 11, is a major casualty of fear. He is
not alone.
He had to give up hislbrt on Squirrel
Road, scene of a police stakeout. No longer
can he walk to see his best friend, Joe. He is
not allowed to go alone to a public resfrjora
or to leave a movie for a drink of water in the
lobby. "~
He's scared, but there's just a little bit of
a thrill in all this commotion.
"I don't mind giving up the fort. I don't
want to get killed," says Jimmy brightly
"When we skateboard down the hill, if we
see a stranger we roll off into a ditch And we
don't play flashlight tag at night any more
without the big kids around.
"11 never used to faze me when it got
dark. Now I feel unesay. And I don't trust
people so much anymore."
On a church retreat at Turtle Lake, Jimmy
Simpson and his friends sat in a cabin at
night and talked about the killer.
"We all talked about what we'd do to
him," he recalls with some relish. "If I was a
big guy. I'd hang him by the feet from the
rafters in Pontiac Stadium. And we'd shoot
him with a .22 and make him suffer."
The social cost for children is high.
• Maureen Degen had to learn the
meaning of "molest" and "sick."
• Sarah Parker was taken off school
safety guard duty during April because she
had to stand alone.
• A young girl wandered away from her
mother in a gift shop. The mother shouted
"Come back here! Do you want him to get
you, too?"
• Kate O'Brien. 5. was afraid of the dark
and woke up crying. She was afraid the killer
was going to invade her home and take her
away.
• The sign says "Stranger" and Patrick
O'Brien. Kate's 12-year-old brother, hangs it
around his neck. He walks up to a classmate
and says. "Hi. if you come with me I'll buy
you a bike." The boy runs. The class cheers
Now Patrick practices running, from the
stranger.
Ceola O'Brien drives home the new
message by rcle playing with her children —
Kate, Colin, Patrick and Shannon — in tbeir
home. She poses as a doctor, priest, nun
policeman, teacher, and tries to entice them.'
"Pretend you're in a parking lot," she
says. "I'm a policeman and I say, 'Your
mommie is sick and I'm supposed to take you
to her.' What do you do?"
"Oh, we'd go." Patrick said. "You told
us if we were ever lost to find the
policeman."
"And I said, 'No. you mustn't This is
special. You can't even trust the policeman.'
It's confusing for them. Who do you trust?"
Mrs. O'Brien says she doesn't want her
children to be paranoid. "I'm really sorry to
tell you this. I hale it." she says. "But you
have to know. And when this person is caught
things will be different"
.... Common Ground..*social service-ageney
in Birmingham, conducts training and
briefing sessions for parents, teachers and
children. The children role play with the
cardboard "stranger" sign. They talk out
their fears and frustrations.
When the case is solved, or the tension is
relaxed. Common Ground spokesmen sav the
children will have to be "debriefed."
In a thousand ways, although the first
rush of fear has subsided, more than family
life has changed.
Some girls don't like to babysit, and
children are afraid of the babysitter.
Mainenance men can't walk into some
schools without special introductions or escorts.
Meter readers and utility company
linemen carry composite sketches of the
suspected killer.
There are neighborhood watches and CB
radio patrols. There are pamphlets and
booklets and placemats about safety One
woman designed a $5 T-shirt reading- "I will
not talk to strangers."
The investigation is intricate and bizarre,'
sometimes lurid, sometimes with traces of
comedy.
Psychics call the task force with visions-
There's a cottage with a coffin inside. A fish
with bubbles coming from the gills A man
with a pumpkin head driving a blue Gremlin
Some people have been stopped more
than 20 times because police think a blue
Gremlin may have been involved in the abduction.
Five walls at the task force
headquarters are covered with computer
printouts of blue Gremlin registrations.
Theorists and murder aficionados come
forth: The crimes are connected with snowfalL
He's laying out the bodies in a diamond
pattern. He's playing a strange, game of
poker.
Everyone has a theory: He's a priest, an
undertaker, a doctor, a policeman, a teacher
a social worker, a caretaker. '
"We are unavoidably encouraging a kind
of paranoid attitude which is disruptive to the
whole social process," says Dr. Tanay the
forensic psychiatrist
"Usually it's hard to get people to come
forward." Not now.
"People call and say.'Maybe I shouldn't
be telling you this, but I think a man who is a
friend would be capable of this.'
"No doubt it's not the best thing for the
community, having neighbors suspicions of
neighbors, friends of friends, employers of
employes and vice versa," Kreasesays "But
it's necessary to have this kind of personal involvement
because the killer is not an obvious
character."
There are tips about the quiet man who
lives alone, the man with a mate roommate,
the man who keeps the shades drawn the
man who was a! ways a little strange, the man
no one ever liked.
Mrs. De|en said she told police to check
001 a~ ,'wc'rd"woman who rented to men and
J!?<! a,H»eCrenilifi parkedoilside..- ^-
Lisa Kaichen said she urged alTriend'to
report the man who once wrote a love letter
about purity to the friend's young daughter.
Women turn in estranged boyfriends and
ex-husbands. One woman said her former
husband once fondled her 15-year-old
daughter. A woman turned in her nephew as a
homosexual.
The investigation becomes lurid as police:
interview "chicken hawks" — boy prostitutes I
— about men who've picked them up They*
ask owners of adult bookstores about!
suspicious clients. j
Every known sex deviate or flasher is"
checked, and in the course of the investigalion
police have made numerous arrests. :
"We'resterilizing this community "says :
Birmingham Police Chief Jerry Tobin
formerly with the Detroit vice squad.
"1 thought I had come across a lot of
perverted things before." he said "But not
such things involving children. If yon knew
what I know...
"People in prominent places have this
defect A minister who prefers little boys
Relatives with skeletons in the closet tell me
'He molested my child and I never said
anything until now, but now I must sav
something.' J
"It's amazing how sick the world is "
When a task force detective knocks on the
door these days, it sometimes sends peoole
into tail spins.
"They know you're not there for a social
vis,t." says Det Sgt. Louis Orlich of the
Romeo police. "Sometimes people are so distressed
they can't answer questions
"They're so busy thinking. 'Who turned
me m? \Vas it the guy downstairs? The eirl I
ned to put the make on? The man who never
liked me? '
And that knock on the door can mean a
life disrupted in many ways. "The investigation
is like a juggernaut," said one veteran investigator.
"It rolls on and leaves a lot of
lives to be picked up behind."
ii. ,AJlo_moseitual called police to complain
mat because someone reported him police
interviewed people where he worked He
found work extremely uncomfortable. "
One man, a substitute teacher in Birb^^"
i, hailbeen I"65"01** several times
because he bore some resemblance to the
"-"—tie sketch. He declined
saying it was "too
;" and he "wanted
me." :
' of inf<>nnation
. says two male friends of
hers were in an emotional tailspin because
police questioned them in
"If says.
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Post by Helen Dagner on May 7, 2013 3:55:25 GMT -5
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Post by Helen Dagner on May 8, 2013 11:19:26 GMT -5
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Post by Helen Dagner on May 9, 2013 0:19:20 GMT -5
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Post by Helen Dagner on May 10, 2013 11:52:20 GMT -5
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