FL- On eve of execution, murderer feels 'glad'

This very ODD case is posted here in suicides and in the murders blog, because RSO-A inmate murdered another (RSO-B) so that RSO-A could get the death penalty. i.e., RSO-A suicide by murdering someone.

5-26-2004 Florida:

John Blackwelder tells the media he killed another inmate just so he could get the death penalty, and Gov. Jeb Bush "will get another kill."

STARKE - John Blackwelder, who is scheduled to die today for a prison killing, apologized Monday for the murder but said it was the only way to manipulate the state to get the death penalty.

"I will be glad tomorrow to lay on the gurney and tomorrow you (Gov. Jeb Bush) will get another kill," Blackwelder, 49, formerly of Fort Pierce, said in a media interview.

Blackwelder pleaded guilty to murdering convicted killer Raymond Wigley, 39, of Fort Worth, Texas, who was strangled on May 6, 2000, at Columbia Correctional Institution. After luring Wigley into his cell with the promise of a sex act, he tied Wigley to the bed and strangled him as Wigley begged for mercy.

"I am sorry for killing Wigley, but to get what I wanted I had to," Blackwelder said.

Wigley was convicted of the rape, torture and murder of Adella Maria Simmons, 47, in 1983.

Blackwelder noted that he will die on the 25th anniversary of the execution of John Spenkelink, the first Florida inmate and the second in the country to be executed after the Supreme Court made states redo their death penalty laws.

Blackwelder said Wigley was the only person he ever killed and claimed he was innocent of sexually assaulting a 10-year-old boy in St. Lucie County, the crime that put him in prison for life without the possibility of parole.

Blackwelder said he was fearful that his execution would be put off until fall so it could be used politically by Gov. Bush and President Bush.

"I did not want my execution to become a political statement for any Bush," Blackwelder said.

Gov. Bush did not directly comment on Blackwelder's statements.

"People have to remember what actually happened here," Bush said. "This was a man who was on death row because he murdered somebody."

"I am sorry for what I've done; now I have to pay the price," said Blackwelder, who admitted threatening Vice President Dan Quayle "because I was homeless."

Blackwelder is scheduled to die by lethal injection at 6 p.m. today at Florida State Prison.

He will be the fifth Florida inmate executed by injection, the second this year. He will be the 59th inmate executed since Florida resumed executions on May 25, 1979, when Spenkelink was put to death for slaying a traveling companion in Tallahassee.

Psychologists claim Blackwelder has been diagnosed as having impulse control disorder, antisocial personality disorder and pedophilia.

The Florida Supreme Court affirmed Blackwelder's conviction and death sentence in July after an automatic appeal. Blackwelder then filed a motion to waive any more appeals.

Death penalty opponent Abe Bonowitz, with Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, said Blackwelder's death wish was "suicide by governor."

Six of the last 10 inmates have opted to drop their appeals to speed up their executions.

Blackwelder said he became a Christian while on death row. "After I die, I feel I will go to heaven," he said.

Throughout the interview his impending death was on his mind.

"It's time to do away with the death penalty," he said at one point.

But he abruptly ended his interview, saying, "I can't kill myself. I'm not suicidal. I can get the state to do it for me." ..more.. by Associated Press

OH- Deputies find jailed man dead

1-16-2005 Ohio:

CANTON — A 39-year-old Jackson Township man arrested on sex-related charges after a 15-year-old California runaway was found in his home hanged himself in his jail cell just after midnight Saturday.

Richard L. Marshall, 39, of 2729 Blackfriars Dr. NW, spoke at 11:59 p.m. Friday to corrections officers at the Stark County Jail when they came to his cell in the “special precautions” wing, Sheriff Tim Swanson said. Prisoners posing a suicide risk are housed in separate cells that corrections officers check every 15 minutes.

“He wanted to know what time it was,” the sheriff said.

When corrections officers came back at 12:17 a.m., “They found him hanging, ran in and cut him down,” Swanson said.

Stark County Coroner Dr. P.S. Murthy said Marshall was pronounced dead at Mercy Medical Center at 1:06 a.m. Murthy said he died of asphyxiation from the hanging.

Marshall, who had nothing in the cell but the mattress and the specially-designed “suicide prevention” garment that can’t be torn or tied into a knot, had peeled the outer skin from the vinyl-coated mattress and used it to hang himself, said Rick Walters, Murthy’s investigator.

Marshall had been booked into the jail shortly after 2 p.m. Friday and held in lieu of $100,000 bond, jail records said.

He was arrested and charged with unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, pandering obscenity involving a minor and importuning Thursday night after agents of the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force found the girl in his apartment.

Court records said the Marshall arranged for her bus ride to Ohio, and that the two engaged in sexual intercourse. Task force agent Bobby Grizzard, who is also a Massillon Police detective, said that the girl met Marshall online and her parents were flying in from Sacramento to reunite with her.

Police said Marshall was unemployed and living alone when they found the girl.

Marshall’s brother, Raymond Marshall, said the girl had told his brother and several other family members that she is 23.

“Around the holiday time, he said he had been talking to a nice girl on the computer, that he had been slightly acquainted with her, and she had even talked to his daughters,” said his sister, Sharon Marshall.

He was the father of two girls, ages 11 and 13, and shared parenting with his ex-wife, she said.

A member of St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church, Richard Marshall graduated in 1983 from Perry High School and went straight into the U.S. Marine Corps, said his brother, also a Marine.

After serving three or four years, he went to work as a truck driver for Fleming Foods, where he remained for 13 years, his brother and other family members said.

“He was a big Steelers fan,” said Raymond Marshall. “He loved to fish. He loved to bowl.”

Then he was severely injured in a car crash. He could no longer work.

“(Doctors) didn’t expect him to come out of it,” said Sharon Marshall. “He did, but it left him with a severe head injury and problems with motor skills and walking. Mentally, he was just as sharp as he always was. He was in accounting in the Marine Corps.

“Physically and emotionally, it took its toll. With his physical disability, it was harder for him to meet people. His right leg and his right arm shook like someone with Parkinson’s disease.”

In the year it took to recover, during which time he couldn’t leave the house, Richard Marshall grew interested in his computer, his siblings said. It provided a method of communication that kept him physically invisible.

Through it, family members and police confirmed, he met the girl from California.

When he was arrested Thursday night, Richard Marshall was being treated for severe depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, his brother said.

Sharon Marshall said her brother’s divorce, followed by the deaths of both parents, a grandmother and a sister, took as much of a toll on him as did recent news from doctors that his physical condition wasn’t improving.

Swanson confirmed Marshall was under special precautions. Swanson said corrections officers did what they were supposed to do and that no internal investigation is pending.

Murthy continued to investigate Marshall’s death on Saturday. ..more.. by Lori Monsewicz at (330) 580-8309 or e-mail: lori.monsewicz@cantonrep.com

UK- Pensioner in sex abuse inquiry killed himself

3-25-2008 United Kingdom:

A PENSIONER linked to a major child sex abuse inquiry shot himself the day before he was due to be questioned by Hampshire police, an inquest was told.

Anthony Whitlock was found slumped in his armchair with a shotgun wound to the head - 24 hours before he was set to speak to detectives about a string of alleged offences in the 1960s and '70s.

An inquest into his death heard how the 72-year-old, of Green Lane, New Milton, took his own life as he "did not want to suffer the consequences of his past".

advertisementGiving evidence at Southampton coroner's court, Detective Constable Beth Morgan-Elliott said Mr Whitlock was originally arrested on January 4 this year on suspicion of child abuse, indecent assault and rape.

Before he could be questioned, he was taken ill and was admitted to hospital in Bournemouth.

While on bail, the inquest heard, Mr Whitlock had made "minor admissions" about his past actions to his partner, Myra Moore.

He had also begun to show signs of depression and had threatened to kill himself, the court was told.

But even though his condition appeared to improve, his partner arrived home on January 16 to find him dead.

Detained Police referred the pensioner's death to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) because of his recent contact with detectives.

Hampshire Police confirmed that he had been detained as part of Operation Crossbow - a squad set up to investigate allegations that children in the New Milton area were subjected to physical and sexual abuse in the 1970s.

Coroner Gordon Denson recorded a verdict of suicide.

l Nine people are awaiting trial as part of the police inquiry.

A plea hearing took place at Southampton Crown Court and proceedings were adjourned until May with a trial date set for September.

Another defendant, Kenneth Milton, 71, died at his home in Ventnor Court, Southampton, earlier this year.

Milton had been charged with indecently assaulting a girl under the age of 14. ..more.. by Echo Reporter

TX- Serial Rapist Commits Suicide Before Sentencing

2-21-2007 Texas:

.A Dallas man who prosecutors call a serial rapist will not go to jail for his crimes. That's because Robert Eugene Bird committed suicide by hanging hours before he was scheduled to face a punishment of life in prison. Bird's string of abductions and rapes were not widely publicized three years ago. But Dallas County prosecutors said he's one of the most vile criminals they've encountered.

Still, those prosecutors and his victims didn't want him to die before he could spend time in prison. "By committing suicide, he's avoided that too and that just doesn't seem fair," said one of his victims. The 31-year-old Dallas woman was on her way to work in March 2004 when she was attacked. Bird, a 61-year-old retired Vietnam veteran, pleaded guilty last week to raping two women.

Prosecutors said three years ago, Bird trolled northeast Dallas streets in a white van looking for victims. He subdued them with weapons that included duct tape, an ice pick and a stun gun. Two of Bird's victims now feel victimized again by their tormentor. It also leaves prosecutors worried that other possible victims of Bird will never be found. "There are other victims out there," said prosecutor Rebecca Dodds. "He indicated to [his victims] while they were being attacked that he had done this before and in fact had gotten away with it." ..more.. : by CBS 11 News

MD- Hunter Finds Convicted Child Rapist Dead of Suicide

12-7-2007 Maryland:

On Thursday morning, St. Mary’s Bureau of Criminal Investigations (BCI) detectives responded to a wooded area in Charlotte Hall after a hunter found a dead man hanging from a tree.

Police identified the man as George R. Hayes, 50 of Marshal Road, Mechanicsville.

St. Mary’s Sheriff Sgt. Steve Hall said it appeared Haynes took his own life within the last few days.

Sgt. Hall, spokesman for the Sheriff’s Office, said there was no immediate indication of foul play, and the man’s hands were not bound together.

BCI detectives are continuing to investigate.

Hayes is listed as a “Child Sexual Offender” on the Maryland Sex Offender Registry after being convicted on charges of gross sexual imposition/rape. ..more.. by Sean Rice

CO- Austin rapist commits suicide in Colorado

7-15-2005 Colorado:

Bennett linked to six rapes in Colorado, one in Austin in '95

A Travis County fugitive who was being held in a Boulder, Colorado jail was found dead in his cell Wednesday with a sheet tied around his neck. Boulder County prison officials are waiting for an autopsy to confirm that Bradford Thomas Wagner's (36) death was a suicide.

Wagner, a real estate agent and former porn actor who, according to The Associated Press, took the alias Tim Barnett, was linked to six rapes in Boulder and Lakewood, Colorado and the 1995 rape of an Austin woman. The case in Austin remained unsolved for nine years until Wagner's arrest in Colorado in June 2004. Upon arrest, Wagner's DNA was entered into a national database which linked Wagner to the Austin rape.

"The jail staff said he was a model inmate," said Lt. Phil West of the Boulder County Sheriff's Office. "He had been in the jail for 13 months and [was] not deemed to be a suicide risk."

CA- Suicide note reveals rapist's sorrow

Fugitive Washington wrote of divorce, death of mother

3-9-2008 California:

In the goodbye letter he left for police, Jason Washington talked about losing the three women who meant the most to him: his ex-wife, aunt and mother.

The typed, two-page note is dated Feb. 21, the same day he raped a Solana Beach woman. He began by saying, “It was a wonderful life.” He taped it to his dresser and walked away from his home.

Washington killed himself Feb. 26, after authorities accused him of raping the 23-year-old Solana Beach woman and trying to rape a 15-year-old girl in Rancho San Diego two days later.

The body of the 33-year-old computer technician and former Marine was found in his white 2000 Honda CR-V near his home in El Cajon. He had shot himself in the head. Three photocopies of his suicide note were in the Honda.

The details in the note are among the new facts emerging in a case that unnerved residents across San Diego County and sent authorities on a round-the-clock manhunt.

Sheriff's Detective Pete Carrillo said Washington's girlfriend broke up with him on Valentine's Day, a week before the rape.

Two days after the breakup, Washington was arrested for drunken driving in San Diego, giving police his fingerprints and a mug shot.

Washington mentions the arrest in his letter, but not the breakup.

“He talks about losing his mother in death and his wife divorcing him and an aunt who died,” Carrillo said. “He's essentially describing how his life has spiraled out of control and what he's going through, including financial trouble.

“He was obviously a disturbed man who was still grieving the loss of those women.”

A sample of Washington's DNA matched one taken in the Solana Beach case, Carrillo said.

During the manhunt, Carrillo quickly tried to figure out what was motivating Washington. The detective called Gary Lowe, a lecturer specializing in sexual-assault training for law enforcement at California State University Sacramento.

“This guy fits a profile of men who commit rapes out of a built-up anger,” Lowe said. “They usually choose stranger-type victims, women they can sneak up on and overwhelm.”

Both victims were petite. The first was walking before dark; the second was jogging in the morning. Washington was 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighed 205 pounds.

“There's a lot of violence in these types of rapes,” Lowe said. “They're punishing these women for perceived wrongs they've suffered at the hands of women. . . . He had reached the boiling point.”

Washington's DNA now is being compared with known and unknown samples taken from sexual-assault cases filed in a national database. Authorities should know in two weeks if there's a match.

Investigators zeroed in on Washington after lifting a fingerprint he left on a recreational vehicle in Rancho San Diego. The 15-year-old told police she saw her attacker leaning against the RV to stretch. She jogged past and he grabbed her, but she fought him off.
“She's a hero,” said Carrillo, the lead detective. “She probably saved a lot of other victims. She helped us break the case.

“Really, because of these women and their willingness to come forward, we were able to get the information we needed.”

The print taken from the RV matched the fingerprints San Diego police had on Washington.

“When I finally had a face and a name, I was ecstatic,” Carrillo said.

Authorities also had a gun the attacker dropped while struggling with the teenager. The registration came back to Washington.

Carrillo and his team believed Washington would be looking for another victim, so help came from as many as 50 detectives. Deputies and police from El Cajon and other agencies looked for Washington's Honda, a SWAT team searched his home, and crime scene investigators analyzed lab evidence.

“They weren't going to stop until they caught him, because he was hurting women,” sheriff's spokeswoman Jan Caldwell said.

No one close to Washington seemed to think he would snap, but they knew he was struggling.

Washington was selling his Sandalwood Drive home because his mortgage had an adjustable rate that was ballooning, and the home was no longer worth what he owed.

Cheryl Paz, a former nanny for Washington's 12-year-old daughter, said Washington had been experimenting with Ecstasy, a drug popular in nightclubs.

Paz also said Washington was a good man who loved his daughter. The girl is now with her mother, a former girlfriend.

Washington divorced in 2006 after eight years of marriage. Authorities weren't sure when his aunt died. He lost his mother last year.

“I know he was sad over his mom,” Paz said. “But I didn't think he was that distraught.” ..more.. by Tony Manolatos, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

UK- Killer's suicide warnings not heeded

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OH- Prison suicides prompt review

6-28-2004 Ohio:

COLUMBUS - Three Ohio prison inmates killed themselves in a seven-day period, putting the prison system on pace for a record number this year and prompting a review of suicide prevention policies statewide.

"We want to see if there are any commonalities between the incidents," prison system spokeswoman Andrea Dean said. She said officials believe, after an initial review, that there was no common thread in the inmate deaths.

....[SNIP]....

Thomas L. Brewer, 23, of Clermont County, died June 20 at the Ross Correctional Institutional at Chillicothe. Brewer entered prison June 8, 2000, on an attempted rape charge. He was to be released May 23, 2008.

Brewer had been on suicide watch, but was sent to an isolation cell where he hanged himself. ..more.. by AP

OH- Suicidal shooters find ranges are convenient

Renting firearm easier than buying one
8-10-2004 Ohio:

It's a tragedy that has played out across the nation's firing ranges, and Saturday it struck Cleland's Outdoor World on Airport Highway.

Marked as a convicted sex offender and facing the end of his career and marriage, Richard Borruso, 52, a pharmacist who lived on Dussel Drive in Maumee, walked in to Cleland's, set down $40 in cash, went into a practice booth, and shot himself in the head.

"This fellow was completely calm and composed," said Mike Mobley, who was practicing in the stall next to Borruso's.

While owner Theresa Cleland said it was the first suicide in Cleland's 20-year history, ranges across the country have been the site of public suicides by people seeking easy access to a gun.

Renting a firearm at a firing range allows a person to bypass the federal waiting period required to buy a gun. Borruso's conviction last year of molesting a 14-year-old girl may have made such a purchase improbable.

Preventing deaths on firing ranges might be impossible - and dangerous, said Rick Patterson, executive director of the National Association of Shooting Ranges, who said such shootings occur "from time to time."

For one thing, there are no red flag behaviors that would hint at such an intention, he said.

"It's quite the opposite," he said, adding that suicidal individuals may appear calm or relaxed. "What the psychologists have told us is that these people have made their decision."

"And the psychologists have told us, if you try to interfere, go into harm's way, you've created an unsafe situation," he added.

In Ohio, there are few regulations on shooting ranges. State law gives Ohio Department of Natural Resources' Division of Wildlife authority to set some regulations, but those are limited to nuisance type restrictions such as limits on noise levels, said Jim Lehman, a district manager for the wildlife division.

That means there are no background checks and no detailed questionnaires on a shooter's history on a gun range.

The first concern for range owners is how safely someone can handle firearms, said Jim Fletcher, general manager at Toledo Trap and Skeet. He said staff at his range query a potential user about their experience with guns, and users might be asked to demonstrate the handling of their weapon and its safety features before they're allowed on the range.

"It's a matter of how much do we police it?" Mr. Fletcher said. "We limit the accessibility to our range to those who can demonstrate the ability to handle firearms safely."

Even if they asked questions about someone's background or mental stability that day, range staff would have to rely on the applicant's truthfulness, he noted.

Certainly it wouldn't be easy for staff to foresee such a suicidal plan, according to Dr. Douglas Jacobs, an associate clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School known for his expertise on detecting suicidal signs.

Of the 30,000 estimated suicides each year in the U.S., about 1,500 are committed inside the confines of a hospital where staff are trained to watch for such behavior, he said.

"If [suicidal persons] can do it in a hospital, they can do it on a firing range," Dr. Jacobs said. Firing range staff are "not clinicians and they're not expected to be."

Still, this doesn't make it any easier for folks like Theresa Cleland. She had heard of such suicides at other ranges around the country, and, in fact, a Cleland's customer tried to kill himself several years ago.

But putting in more rules and regulations, she said, would not stop deaths like that of Borruso, who was facing the revocation of his pharmacist's license because of last year's conviction, and last week had attended a court hearing on his pending divorce.

"Believe me, I've shed tears," she said. But "I can't punish the world for what one person did."

Lucas County Sheriff's Detective Cathy Stooksbury, who handled the suicide case, noted that the man who tried to kill himself at Cleland's several years ago, ultimately did so through another means.

"If someone really wants to do this," she said, "they're going to." ..more.. by ROBIN ERB, BLADE STAFF WRITER

Bulgaria Paedophile In Shooting Rampage

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VT- Man facing child sex assault charges dies of apparent suicide

3-13-2008 Vermont:

FAIRLEE - A Bethel man who was to stand trial for allegedly sexually assaulting a child has apparently committed suicide, police said.

On Tuesday, Frank C. Taplin, 59, was found dead from what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a roadside pull-off on Route 244 near Lake Fairlee, police said.

The incident is still under investigation but there are no signs of foul play and Taplin’s death is being treated as a suicide, police said. Police did not say if Taplin had left a suicide note.

In March 2007, Taplin was charged with aggravated sexual assault and lewd and lascivious conduct with a child. A jury draw was scheduled for Taplin’s trial for April 10. ..more.. by Staff

PA- Death years ago ruled a suicide

3-7-2008 Pennsylvania:

Nearly five years to the day after a man was found on fire in Bethlehem's Nisky Hill Cemetery, the Lehigh County coroner's office has ruled his death a suicide.

A man walking his dog in the historic North Side cemetery the afternoon of March 11, 2003, saw a drift of smoke that he thought was a pile of leaves on fire and called police.

Instead, police and firefighters found a trembling man in a wooded area near the cemetery with severe burns on 98 percent of his body.

David Burkhardt, 58, was still conscious and told police he was jumped by three men who had set him on fire. He died eight hours later at Lehigh Valley Hospital's burn center.

On Thursday, Lehigh County Coroner Scott Grim ruled Burkhardt's manner of death as suicide.

He said Burkhardt did not leave a suicide note, but some of his clothes were found neatly folded near a gravestone, an act unlikely to have been done by an attacker.

Grim said police also tracked down three people thought to be linked to Burkhardt's death, but determined they were not connected.

Burkhardt's brother, Thomas R. Burkhardt Jr. of Bethlehem, said Thursday he believed for years his brother had been attacked and killed while walking in the cemetery.

He said he was unsure what to think about the coroner's ruling.

''If that's what [Grim] said, I guess that's the way it is,'' Burkhardt said.

Burkhardt's death came about a year after police charged him with exposing himself and performing a sex act while standing in front of the window of his Center Street house dressed in a woman's wig and feather boa. A utility crew was working outside and reported the incident to police the following day, claiming Burkhardt's actions caused them ''severe distress.''

Police obtained a search warrant for the house, where they found several women's wigs, a white boa neck garment, several women's robes and Burkhardt hiding under the bed.

Police said that over the years, they had received similar complaints from delivery people and workers in the area, but no one was willing to testify against Burkhardt.

He agreed to plead guilty to indecent exposure and prosecutors dropped open lewdness and disorderly conduct charges. He was put on 23 months probation and ordered to attend sex offender counseling.

Family members were unsure what led Burkhardt to the incident at his living room window, but his life fell apart after the charges, said Joe Delaney, who is married to Tammy Delaney, Burkhardt's niece. She declined to comment.

''To us, it's like the system killed him,'' Joe Delaney of Bethlehem said. ''He had to sell everything, he lost his job, he was never the same. We never understood why he did that in the window.''

He said Burkhardt was a talented artist, cleaned houses and worked various home health care jobs. He said relatives were torn between believing Burkhardt had killed himself or someone had targeted him.

''Who would want to die like that?'' Delaney said. ''It's just awful.''

Nearly five years later, Delaney said there are still burn marks on a tree in the wooded area where Burkhardt was found.

''To us, he was the best person in the world that would do anything for you,'' Delaney said. ''We're proud to say we all stood by him and were there for him.'' ..more.. by Pamela Lehman

IA- Mofle commits suicide

Former coach faced child porn charges

3-6-2008 Iowa:

WEBSTER CITY — Shawn Mofle was found dead from an apparent suicide Thursday before a scheduled arraignment.

Mofle, 41, a former Webster City Middle School boys basketball coach, was scheduled to appear in Federal Court in Sioux City on eight counts of producing child pornography and two counts of possessing child pornography.

Mofle was arrested Jan. 16 in Webster City after one of his stepsons found a mini DV cassette that had video of boys showering in a locker room.

He was being held in the Union County jail in Elk Point, S.D., where he was being held under a contract with the U.S. Marshal’s office. His body was found at about 7:30 a.m. He appeared to have hanged himself before his Thursday hearing, according to the U.S. Marshal’s office.

He faced spending the rest of his life in prison on the charges.

Each of those six charges of producing child porn carried up to 30 years in prison or a minimum of 15 years in prison. Each count of possesion of child pornography carried up to 10 years in prison.

In four counts, Mofle is accused of videotaping seventh-grade basketball players in the locker room at the Webster City Middle School from a camera placed in a duffel bag on four separate dates — Jan. 2, Jan. 3, Jan. 4 and Jan. 10.

He was also accused of engaging in oral sex with a minor April 21 and July 16, 2003, and making videotapes of those acts, according to the indictment filed against him Feb. 28. ..more.. by The Messenger

UK- Sex charge teacher in suicide cliff leap

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CA- Molester jumps to his death

3-4-2008 California:

California - A 52-year-old man jumped to his death at a California courthouse hours after being convicted of child molestation, authorities said.

Carlos Edward Tello was facing more than 20 years in prison when he jumped from a ninth-floor balcony of the Central Justice Centre in Santa Ana on Tuesday. A suicide note was tucked into his clothing, authorities said.

A jury at a different courthouse, in the nearby town of Fullerton, had convicted Tello earlier in the day of repeatedly molesting a young girl between 1989 and 1994.

He was not immediately taken into custody after the verdict, but was ordered to return to the courthouse later on Tuesday.

Shortly before he was to return, an alarm sounded at the other courthouse, in Santa Ana, that someone had entered a restricted area, said Orange County Sheriff's spokesperson Jim Amormino.

A bailiff found Tello standing on the balcony and tried to wrestle him away from the edge, said police Cpl. Jose Gonzalez.

"He said, 'Nobody's stopping me,' and he jumped," Amormino said.

Tello was pronounced dead on the scene.

Deputy District Attorney Heather Brown had tried to have Tello's bail revoked and have him taken into custody immediately after the verdict was announced, but the judge declined to do so.

Brown said a suicide note was found on him when he was arrested in 2006 in the case and that he might be in danger. ..more.. by News24

MI- Police: Alcona County sex offender shot himself to death during arrest attempt

3-4-2008 Michigan:

GLENNIE - Police said a registered sex offender shot himself to death near this Alcona County town Saturday night as officers tried to arrest him for several alleged crimes.

Ronald D. Dupuie, 53, had not regularly registered as a sex offender - as required by law - since 2003, according to the Alcona County Sheriff's Office.

Officers said they went to arrest him for that alleged crime, and several others, about 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Dupuie's home near Glennie in Alcona County's Curtis Township.

After trying to contact the suspect several times from outside the residence, police said they heard a gunshot from inside the home. Police took cover and requested help from tactical officers with the Northern Michigan Mutual Aid Emergency Response Team.

The response team entered the home about 11:30 p.m. and officers said they found Dupuie dead inside the residence, apparently from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Alcona County officers said they became aware of Dupuie's presence in the county after the Michigan Department of Corrections and the Port Huron Police Department informed them Dupuie hadn't registered as a sex offender for five years.

Under state law, those convicted of most sex offenses must register with police every three months, though a few sex crimes require registration on only an annual basis. ..more.. by The Bay CityTimes

WA- 3 deaths called murder-suicide

Posted in Related Deaths

12-12-2005 Washington:

Pullman police believe shooter is among bodies found in condo

PULLMAN – The shooting deaths of three people at a condominium complex here appeared to be a double murder-suicide, Pullman police said Sunday.

Louissa A. Thompson, 27; Peter A. Zornes, 25, of Oakesdale, Wash.; and Trevor S. Saunders, 29, of Moscow, were found dead inside Thompson's unit at the Statesman Condominiums, 1220 NE State St., on Saturday night.

Detectives said Sunday they recovered a semi-automatic pistol from the unit and believed the shooter is one of the people found dead.

VA- Preliminary ID given for man found in home!

Posted in Related Deaths

1-1-2004 Virginia:

Preliminary ID given for man found in home! A man (Dwain O. Sharpe, 37, sex offender) who police believe fatally shot himself after critically wounding his girlfriend inside her Chesterfield County home on Tuesday was a felon.

Although police are awaiting positive identification from the state medical examiner, investigators believe it was Sharpe who was found dead Tuesday afternoon in a home he shared with 41-year-old Kathy Green.

Police believe Sharpe shot Green in the head, then fatally shot himself, after apparently believing Green had died. But Green was able to get up at some point and walk outside the front door of her house in the 6400 block of Gatesgreen Drive. ..more.. MARK BOWES, TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

TX- Man may have caused crash that killed him, four others

Posted in Related Deaths

6-2-2006 Texas:

HOUSTON (AP) - Investigators now believe a May 16 crash that killed five people on a rural Southeast Texas road might have been intentionally caused by one of the drivers, a man whose stepdaughter had accused him of sexual abuse.

The collision happened after a pickup truck veered off the road, came back on and slammed into an oncoming tractor-trailer rig. The wreck happened near Liberty, about 50 miles northeast of Houston.

Authorities said William Pete DeShayes III "intentionally" swerved his pickup into the path of the tractor-trailer, possibly because a 15-year-old stepdaughter not involved in the crash was preparing to go public with her accusations against him of sexual abuse.

Killed in the accident were DeShayes, 40, from Splendora; his 11-year-old daughter Mariah; and 10-year-old daughter Hayven. Another daughter, Deborah Nicole DeShayes, 14, survived the crash. Also killed were the couple driving the big rig.

"I think he may have been trying to kill the children, too," said Trooper Sean Cheshire of the Texas Department of Public Safety. "The evidence points to it. He took no evasive action. He thought warrants were out for his arrest."

Nicole DeShayes told authorities the last thing she heard her father say before he turned the steering wheel and headed toward the 18-wheeler was that his chest was hurting and that he was "sorry." She told the DPS investigator later that she felt her father had intentionally caused the accident.

Mary DeShayes, William DeShaye's ex-wife, said that on the night of the accident she and her 15-year-old daughter went to police in Rockdale after the girl said her stepfather had abused her for the past four years.

Police note that in the days and hours before the wreck, William DeShayes had repeatedly telephoned and sent desperate text messages to the girl. He called Rockdale police at least three times wanting to know if "assault charges" had been filed against him.

The dead man's mother, Linda Gilmore, vehemently denied the allegations of a murder-suicide, blaming the attack on a possible heart attack.

"I know he would not deliberately try and hurt them babies," she said. "They were his life, his world."

But Mary DeShayes said "he felt if he died that he'd be glorified and nobody would know his secrets."

Child Protective Services has opened an investigation into the sexual abuse allegation against William DeShayes, and into the wreck.

"We will look at the accident report to try to figure out what happened," said Chris Van Deusen, CPS spokesman in Austin. "We will make sure the two surviving girls are cared for and given counseling." ..more.. by AP

TN- Police say man killed self, two daughters

Posted in Related Deaths

3-25-2006 Tennessee:

Local man shoots, kills himself as officer discovers rape charge

The bodies of two young girls and their father, a Clarksville man wanted on rape charges, were found in a car in Oak Ridge Thursday following what police are calling a murder-suicide.

Richard Alfonso Howard, 32, was approached Thursday morning in his car by a TVA police officer patrolling a parking lot at the Bull Run Fossil plant, about 15 miles west of Knoxville in East Tennessee, said Jim Carver, director of TVA police.

The officer asked Howard why he was there, and Howard said he had run out of gas and was waiting for someone, Carver said.

The officer initially did not notice the girls, who were covered in the back of the vehicle, Carver said. After the officer ran a check on Howard's plate numbers, he discovered the outstanding rape warrants.

When he returned to Howard's Ford Crown Victoria he found him slumped over the steering wheel, dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot.

Police searched the car and found the bodies of Howard's daughters — Brionna, 3, and Markayla, 2 — with a suicide note in which he admitted to killing them, police said.

Investigators declined to say when or how the toddlers died. Howard had two outstanding rape warrants involving a 15-year-old girl at a local motel last summer.

The teen told Clarksville police in August Howard took her to the Holiday Drive motel on July 4 and forced her to have sex with him against her will, according to a report by CPD Detective Shane Dortch. ..more.. by HEATHER DONAHOE

SC- Children's throats slashed in S.C. fire..

Posted in Related Deaths

8-10-2004 South Carolina:

ROCK HILL - Three children who were found dead in a Monday housefire were murdered, authorities announced today.

The three children, tentatively identified as Jairo, Denise and Denia Meza all died from having their throats slashed, York County authorities said.

Two adults also found dead at the scene died of smoke inhalation and burns, according to York County Coroner Doug McKown.

The father, Jose Denis Meza, 39, was positively identified from fingerprints. The mother has been tentatively identified as Marbely Zeldon Meza, 30.

Authorities said they believe either the mother or the father killed the three children.

The body of the adult female, believed to be the mother, had knife wounds that could have incapacitated her, officials said.

Meza was charged July 16 with fondling his eldest daughter and had been ordered to move out of the home. He was scheduled to appear in court Monday on the sexual molestation charges. ..more.. by Dan Huntley

OK- Suicide suspected by a Durant man accused of sex crimes

6-10-2005 Oklahoma:

DURANT, Okla. (AP) Suicide is suspected in the death of a man accused of child sex crimes along with the former mayor of Achille.

58-year-old Kennith McKinney was found dead Thursday, apparently after shooting a relative. McKinney's body was found by Bryan County Sheriff Bill Sturch.

Sturch says he was coming around the front of the house and saw legs on the ground. Sturch says McKinney terminated his own life.

Sturch says McKinney apparently shot his stepson in the face and abdomen. The stepson survived.

McKinney was friends with John Wigington, Achille's former mayor. The two were accused of molesting four children.

Court records show Wigington is charged with second-degree rape and forcible sodomy. He told authorities Thursday he's willing to turn himself in on Monday. ..more.. by News6OK