Rebecca Reisner, Author at Forensic Files Now

Darrell North: A Builder Is Torn Down

Pool Contractor Curtis Pope Goes off the Deep End
(“Constructive Criticism,” Forensic Files)

Practically everyone has a complaint about a contractor: He installed the sink basin so it’s crooked or he used the wrong accent tiles or he never cleaned up the paint that dripped on the microwave cart.

Over the years, Darrell B. North Jr., a wealthy construction-project manager, had so many encounters with disappointing results that he ended up firing his subcontractors fairly often.

Violence precipitated. And he didn’t let favoritism get in the way of quality. When Curtis Wayne Pope Jr., a pool installer who Darrell had mentored, did inferior work, he couldn’t let it continue.

No one knows exactly what was said between the two men as a rainstorm pounded away on the night of Feb. 22, 2000, but investigators believe that Darrell dished out some tough love, either criticizing Curtis or firing him, or both. Then, Curtis flew off the handle and stabbed him to death.

For this week, I looked into Curtis Pope’s whereabouts today and searched for more background on Darrell North.

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So let’s get going on a recap of “Constructive Criticism” — which like so many other memorable Forensic Files episodes, takes place in Texas — along with additional information culled from online research.

Young lovebirds. Darrell Bonnett North Jr. was born on March 27, 1937, and lived at least part of his younger life in Lonoke, Arkansas.

At the age of 20, while still attending Abilene Christian College, he married native Texan Judy McGowen, 21, at the North Park Church of Christ in Abilene, Texas. The wedding announcement said Judy worked at Galbraith Electric Co.

Darrell later owned the North Construction Co., which seemed to afford the couple and their son and daughter a comfortable life.

American splendor. In 1979, the Oak Crest Woman’s Club Tour of Homes included the Norths’ house at 408 Arcadia in Hurst, Texas.

Curtis Pope as a young man — A youngish Curtis Pope. Despite his sketchy past, no one imagined him capable of homicide

The Star-Telegram noted its 28-foot-high cathedral ceilings, fireplace in the master bedroom, and “1890 Franklin stove in game room.”

By 1985, Darrell had either sold or closed his business. He joined Bigelow Development Corp., a firm that built Budget Suites hotels.

Nice chunk of work. It’s not clear exactly how and when Darrell met Curtis Pope, a swimming pool builder with a moderately troubling legal record, but Darrell saw potential in the younger man and took him under his wing.

In 1999, Darrell introduced Curtis to Bigelow officials and they agreed to hire him to build pools at the Budget Suites hotels, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Curtis also did some repair work to the Norths’ own pool and constructed a new one for friends of theirs.

But the Curtis-Darrell juggernaut slammed to a halt on February 22, 2000.

Ominous weather. That night, an electrical storm raged, leaving Judy North with no lights or phone as she waited for Darrell to come home for dinner.

When Darrell hadn’t shown up by 8 p.m., Judy hoofed it to a convenience store — she had no car because the electric garage door wouldn’t open —and called her son. He picked her up, dropped her off at home, and went to look for Darrell.

Mark and possibly his brother-in-law (accounts vary as to whether Mark was alone or not) drove to Darrell’s job site, a Budget Suites construction area on the 3200 block of Northeast Loop 820 in Fort Worth.

Conflict boiled over. He saw Darrell’s Ford Taurus sitting at the site but found the door to his trailer office padlocked shut. Peering through the window, Mark saw his father, 62, lying on the floor face down.

Fort Worth firefighters cut off the lock and found Darrell North’s lacerated body and a trail of blood and disarray throughout two of the trailer’s three rooms.

Clearly, a violent struggle had taken place.

Love turns to hate. Darrell had tried to fight back, possibly grabbing a hole punch and swinging it as a makeshift weapon (he should have just dropped it on his attacker’s foot — those things are heavy), but the assailant managed to stab him 46 times using two different knives, and nearly decapitated him.

Exterior of a Budget Suites Hotel — Bigelow Development Corp. made a fortune on Budget Suites hotels and, more recently, created a space-flight company

Investigators noticed the bent hole punch and a clean machete in the trailer. A second machete normally kept there was missing, they learned.

During his Forensic Files interview, Mark North said that his father’s body was so distressed that he made his mother and sister, Kelly Landis, promise they wouldn’t look at it. “If you don’t ever do me another favor in your life, do this for me: Don’t come here,” Mark recounted his words in court.

Him? Never. Police learned that on the night of the murder, all the workers at the job site had gone home because of the storm, but Darrell had stayed to keep a meeting with Curtis Pope at 5 p.m. They were going to discuss problems with a pool that Pope installed.

But Darrell’s widow, Judy North, told police they were wasting their time investigating Curtis Pope.

Curtis had once said that Darrell treated him better than his own father did. He also had sobbed over his lost friend at the subsequent funeral.

What a heel. Pope, 37, lived in New Braunfels, Texas, and had a wife and a young daughter — and a police record for petty theft and vehicular manslaughter. But he denied killing Darrell, and passed a polygraph test.

And police had another subcontractor with a motive to get rid of Darrell North. Darrell had fired roofing contractor Bob Johnson a couple of weeks before the homicide. Two days after Darrell’s death, Johnson called to see about getting his job back.

Investigators hadn’t found any forensic evidence pointing toward Johnson at the scene, however. In fact, at first, their biggest find was a heel print bearing the name Justin, a brand of locally made boots.

If the shoe fits. But the fact that the assailant wore Justin boots didn’t exactly crack the case wide open. “How common are they?” an investigator said in a favorite Forensic Files quote. “You’re probably not from here if you don’t own a pair.”

Judy North at home with her son and daughter — Mark, Judy, and Kelly North circa 2008

It turned out Bob Johnson had such big feet that even the heels of his Justin boots were distinguishably larger than the one in the heel print at the scene.

Curtis Pope soon became the No. 1 suspect. He wore the right size of Justins and there was plenty of circumstantial evidence stacked against him.

Blood will tell. Investigators discovered that Curtis’ swimming pool business was not all fun and games. He was drowning in debt and couldn’t pay suppliers, and his only remaining big client was Bigelow Development.

On Curtis’ home computer, someone had downloaded a book on how to beat a polygraph test.

Investigators found one perfect blood drop on Darrell North’s pants, which meant the bleeder was standing still above him, and DNA testing revealed it came from Pope as did blood stains in 10 other areas in the trailer. (Pope likely cut himself accidentally during a struggle for one of the knives.)

Bail, really? Investigators concluded that Curtis Pope and Darrell North argued in the trailer and Pope snapped.

Authorities indicted Curtis Pope in December 2001, and he posted $50,000 in bail.

But instead of showing up for the first day of his trial on Feb. 24, 2003, he high-tailed it toward the Canadian border (strange he didn’t flee to Mexico — it was a lot closer).

Curtis Pope in handcuffs — Curtis Pope in police custody

Northern exposure. At 11:30 p.m., local police in Watertown, New York, noticed a pickup truck driving in the wrong direction on a one-way street. The officers believed Curtis Pope’s claim that he was heading north to meet some hunting buddies in Canada. But the next day, they discovered he was a fugitive.

Media sources vary on how they found out. Police either plugged his license and registration number into a database or were informed by authorities.

They tracked Curtis down at the Econo Lodge — the night before, he had mentioned to the police where he was staying, according to an AP account.

Real-life drama. Twelve local and state police officers showed up at Curtis’ hotel the next day.

“The Lord just intervened in this,” Judy later told the Midland Reporter-Telegram. “If he had gotten into Canada, they might never had caught him, and my family would have lived in limbo like we have for the past three years.”

To those present, however, the big capture probably looked more like marginally divine comedy than divine intervention. As a Fort Worth Star- Telegram story described it:

Before police could nab him, Pope, wearing a jacket and no shirt, sneaked out the back and into 15-degree weather, [Watertown Detective Sgt.] Damon said. He slipped into a second motel about a block away and, once again, went out the rear exit as authorities closed in. Finally, realizing there was nowhere else to run, Pope surrendered at a nearby shopping plaza. “He just walked up to a patrol officer, put his hands up and said, ‘OK, you’ve got me,'” Damon said.

Curtis said he fled because he was innocent.

Neighborhood beef. The arresting police didn’t buy it, but Curtis Pope had plenty of believers back in Texas. Friends and family members showed up to support him on each day of the subsequent trial.

Curtis’ lawyers, Jeff Stewart and Stephen Handy, said their client loved Darrell and they implied that Darrell might have acquired some enemies closer to home.

A newspaper clipping showing Judy McGowen North in her bridal gown — Judy North, seen here in a clip from the Abilene Reporter-News, carried a “white bible topped with a white orchid and streamered with love-knotted satin” for her wedding in 1957

Darrell had threatened to sue people who were doing construction work near his house, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

The defense also contended that the blood evidence, tested by an independent lab called GeneScreen, had been mishandled and analyzed with outdated equipment.

Prosecutors Joe Shannon and David Lobingier countered that if the DNA testing really was below par, the defense would have called more blood experts to testify in Pope’s favor.

A Mother’s Love. In a bit of prosecutorial theater, Shannon counted out loud from 1 to 20 in court to connote the first 20 times Pope stabbed North. The prosecution alleged that Pope used his own knife in the attack, then grabbed the afterwards-missing machete to finish off Darrell.

In April 2003, a jury convicted Curtis Pope of first-degree murder.

Curtis’ wife and mother broke into tears upon hearing the verdict. The latter, Maggi Shepherd, said that Curtis was a Christian who had always been “passive” and incapable of such a crime, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported on April 12, 2003.

Attempted manipulation. At the sentencing hearing in May 2003, the prosecution noted Pope’s prior involuntary manslaughter conviction, for a Nevada car accident that killed one of his friends.

Meanwhile, the defense tried to pull the court’s heartstrings with mention of the Popes’ 10-year marriage and child.

District Judge George Gallagher handed Pope a life sentence, then gave the victim’s loved ones an opportunity to speak.

Poetic justice. “When you killed him, you killed half of me,” said Judy North, who was married to Darrell for 42 years, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported.

North’s 16-year-old granddaughter, Shelby Landis, read an original poem including the verse, “God broke our hearts to prove to us that he only takes the best.”

The judge gave Curtis a life sentence.

Behind razor wire. Texas rejected Curtis Pope’s 2004 and 2006 appeals, which both questioned the blood evidence again. Court papers noted that the chance of the DNA coming from someone other than Pope was 1 in 41.7 million. The 2006 decision stated that tests of the scrapings under the victim’s fingernails pointed to Pope and excluded another onetime suspect, Donald Fortenberry.

Judy and Darrell North's house in Hurst, Texas

Today, Curtis Pope probably isn’t doing a lot of swimming. He resides in the James V. Allred Unit, a maximum security prison in Iowa Park, Texas.

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice doesn’t provide a recent mug shot of him but, at 5 foot-11 and 237 pounds, he is presumably getting enough to eat.

Water damage. Eligible for parole in 2033, Curtis has plenty of time to wallow in his regrets.

As one YouTube commenter put it, “Yep, killing your last remaining client is totally going to save your business from going under.”

“Moral of the story,” another wrote, “swimming pools are money pits and they will ruin your life.”

That’s all for this post. Until next time, cheers. — RR

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Adam Livvix: From Illinois to Israel

A Midwestern Kid Aspires to International Terrorism
(“The Root of All Evil,” Forensic Files)

Just a quick update this week, with a bizarre side note to the post about Fred Grabbe — whose cruelty and habit of killing those who offended him were even more profound than Forensic Files depicted in “The Root of All Evil.”

Adam Livvix seen in a high school photo and a mug shot from around 2014 — Adam Livvix in a 2003 high school photo and a circa-2014 mug shot

But Grabbe, a hulking Illinois soybean farmer now in prison for strangling his petite wife, committed crimes that were strictly local in scope.

His grandson Adam Livvix attempted to stage an international terrorist attack.

Gridiron guy. Adam is the son of Jennie Grabbe Woolverton — Fred and the late Charlotte Grabbe’s surviving child — and he seemed like a promising kid in the beginning.

A product of a Jennie’s marriage to the much older Everett Darrell Livvix, Adam was born on April 20, 1984, and played football and had a good reputation at Marshall High School, graduating in 2003, according to Tribune Star coverage. He was reportedly one of the cool kids.

By the time his dad died in 2005, however, Adam had acquired numerous legal woes, including traffic offenses, minor charges related to marijuana, and theft.

No ‘metal’ of honor. At some point, Adam (full name Everett Adam Livvix) borrowed equipment and a sum of $48,041.93 from Custom Films Inc., his father’s plastics company. His dad’s will stipulated that Adam reimburse the estate before he could claim real estate inheritances, the Tribune Star reported.

Although it couldn’t be confirmed, one source reported that Adam ended up receiving no money or property at all from his late father’s estate.

Adam tried to earn himself a windfall in other ways. In 2008, he and younger brother Tyler were accused of stealing aluminum siding and other metals from a business they had connections to, but a judge dismissed the charges, which the Livvixes blamed on a misunderstanding, the Journal Gazette of Mattoon, Illinois, reported.

Startup ambitions. In 2013, Adam skipped a court date related to his alleged theft of a bush mower, according to an AP account. It’s not clear whether he served time related to that offense.

The Dome of the Rock in Israel — The Dome of the Rock’s golden rooftop, right, graces innumerable Israeli post cards

But the persevering Adam — who inherited his father’s entrepreneurial spirit if not his tangible assets — started a number of businesses.

Unfortunately, what they mostly earned for him was trouble. He reportedly was accused of misusing an SBA loan.

Plenty o’ shekels. For his next act, Adam, who began claiming he was Jewish, traveled to Israel as a tourist in 2013 and hooked up with a group of Americans living there.

The beefy 6-foot-tall American opened a power-washing business in Jerusalem, but he also told acquaintances that he had made a lot of money after selling a cancer drug or that he had a rich uncle, according to the LA Weekly.

Whatever the case, Adam somehow acquired a stockpile of cash that funded outings with his new buddies, the LA Weekly reported.

Seal of approval. He ended up sharing an apartment with Kevin Orenshein, 21, an American enlisted in the Israel Defense Forces.

Adam told his new friends that he was a Navy Seal. He had a convincing-looking frogman tattoo, a symbol of the Seals, on his back, according to the LA Weekly.

Saying that he needed to protect his business after some Arabs had thrown rocks, Adam asked Kevin to provide him with some weapons used by the Israeli army.

Intercepted. Kevin believed Adam’s story and sold him $125 worth of explosives, including stun and smoke grenades, explosive bricks, and tear gas canisters.

In reality, Adam had adopted Islamaphobic and anti-Arab sentiments and was planning an act of terror.

A yearbook photo shows Jennie Grabbe singing at her prom — Like his mother (Jennie Grabbe, seen at left in this vintage yearbook page), Adam Livvix was popular in school

Fortunately, Israeli law enforcement, which has a knack for smoking out troublemakers before they have a chance to strike, zeroed in on Adam.

He’s courted. Although Adam had lied about being a Seal, when officers came to arrest him, he did manage a rather cinematic — albeit failed — escape attempt. He jumped to the patio of an apartment a floor below his own, the Jerusalem Post reposted.

In 2014, Adam, then 30, was indicted for allegedly plotting terrorist attacks against Muslim holy sites, most prominently the Dome of the Rock mosque, the 1,300-year-old gold-topped shrine in Jerusalem.

His lawyer, Gal Wolf, called the charges “nonsense,” although Adam admitted to police that he made some early-stage preparations for an attack.

You’re not our problem anymore. The Israeli government also accused Adam of overstaying his visa by a year.

An Israeli court deemed Adam Livvix unfit to stand trial because of psychosis and kept him in a mental health facility. Israel eventually decided “not our circus, not our monkeys” — and sent him back to Illinois.

There, Adam faced charges for the theft of farm equipment, the LA Weekly reported.

Runs in the family. Incidentally, it’s not entirely clear to which, if any, religious group Adam belonged. He has no discernable Jewish heritage. A Palestinian news source described him as an “extremist Christian.” His mother belonged to a Methodist church.

Adam dropped off the radar screen after 2015, but his little brother picked up the torch.

Charles Tyler Livvix, known as Tyler, faced arrest after missing a court date in August 2019, according to the Robinson (Illinois) Daily News.

Back on the street. Tyler barricaded himself inside a house in Marshall, and it took local police, the sheriff’s office, state police, and an ILIAS Tactical Response Team to extricate him, the Tribune Star reported.

The Tribune Star story noted that officers “were aware of Livvix’s relation to Everett Adam Livvix.” But it didn’t mention Adam’s whereabouts at the time.

It’s not clear why Tyler Livvix had the court date in the first place, but he is free today and maintains a presence on social media with somewhat confusing posts about politics and current events.

Race relations. Meanwhile, Tyler and Adam’s half-sister — born in 1961 to Darrell Livvix and then-wife Cynthia — has a moderately high profile but not because of any legal trouble.

A story in the Jerusalem Post notes that she’s “Laura George, who is married to Tony George, the former president and CEO of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the founder of the Indy Racing League.”

As for Adam Livvix’s onetime associate Kevin Orenshein, he works as a technology analyst for an Israeli venture capital firm, according to his LinkedIn profile.

That’s all for this post. Until next time, cheers. — RR

Forensic Files II Cometh

Series Creator Paul Dowling Talks About the Old and the New

Up until now, seeing a new Forensic Files meant discovering one of the 406 original episodes you missed or didn’t quite remember because you were falling asleep on the tail end of an eight-hour HLN marathon.

Forensic Files creator Paul Dowling. Photo: Lisa Lake

Now wake up and hear this: HLN has produced 16 new episodes and is rolling out the first one on Feb. 23 at 10 p.m. eastern standard time.

The new shows will feature the same 30-minute whodunit format with a few minor changes like theme music with softer guitar chords. And one giant difference: the narrator.

Beloved voice-over artist Peter Thomas — one of the two most popular male narrators of the World War II generation (the other was Don LaFontaine) — left us at the age of 91 in 2016.

So HLN hired actor Bill Camp to do the off-camera narration for the remade version.

Where Peter Thomas spent his career as the narrator of shows like Nova and national TV commercials like Tang and Listerine, Bill Camp made his name as a player in tense Hollywood dramas like Joker, The Night of, and 12 Years a Slave.

After watching previews of two episodes of Forensic Files II, I’m still getting used to Camp’s more baritone, authoritative voice. Mostly, though, I was relieved to find that he sounds nothing like the My Pillow guy or the Shake Weight for Men shill.

And there’s more good news. The original Forensic Files will continue to be available to stream (YouTube, Tubi, Hulu, Amazon Prime) and watch on TV networks around the world. Series creator Paul Dowling is still signing contracts with channels that want to air classic Forensic Files a decade into the future.

Ahead of the premiere of the reboot, Dowling, who’s CEO of production company Medstar Television, answered some of my questions about both the original Forensic Files and Forensic Files II:

How did you prepare yourself emotionally for watching Forensic Files II? Sitting down to watch the first Forensic Files II episodes was actually very familiar since my righthand No. 2 Vince Sherry is on board for these episodes as senior producer, so this was no different than the originals — but without Peter Thomas.

How would Bill Camp sound?

Bill doesn’t imitate Peter. He makes the storytelling his own, and he’s very good.

What was it like to hear the slightly revised opening FF II theme music? I thought the opening music was a little fresher, brighter, but very familiar. I’m not sure viewers will notice it’s different, frankly.

How does your family feel about your starting this new chapter? Two of my three children were actually in the Forensic Files pilot in 1996 playing the children of the victim and her husband, so they’ve literally grown up with the series and lived with it all their lives.

In junior high, a parent asked my daughter if she sees much of her father. She couldn’t understand the question. She said, “I see him every day! Why do you ask?” “Oh, I thought he was in Hollywood shooting the show, and you didn’t see him much.” “Oh no,” she said. “He comes to all my sporting events, and he’s home for dinner every night.”

To them, TV is Dad’s job just like other kids’ dads have jobs. Nothing special.

But they’re happy I’m not as involved [in the show] as I used to be, and can relax a bit.

My favorite original Forensic Files episodes featured respectable-seeming people (Craig Rabinowitz, John List) no one would suspect of horrible crimes. Will we meet anyone like that on Forensic Files II? Yes, sadly, lots of new stories about killers you’d never suspect if they were your friends and neighbors. But what motivates them to commit these horrible acts? Greed, jealousy, revenge — someone who covets what another person has and takes it. Sad.

The original Forensic Files featured cases way before they caught fire in popular culture — like that of Michael Peterson. Do you think he’s guilty? I don’t know; I wasn’t there.

There’s a guy who had a secret life.

I never thought his story added up. I’ve seen people fall down stairs but never like that.

How about Darlie Routier, who Forensic Files did in 1999 and The Last Defense featured in 2018? I myself never felt she was treated fairly by the state. We did a re-creation of the defense’s case, and we almost couldn’t do it because it was so ridiculous. She was so sloppy.

The husband’s first words to police after his two boys were dead and his wife was in the hospital were, “Did you see her breasts?” And all her stab wounds [which were suspected of being self-inflicted] were around her breasts.

But what do you think Darlie Routier’s motive was? She had just had a baby, and her husband had him upstairs because he was worried Darlie would do something to the baby.

I’m sympathetic to her having depression, but she and her husband should have gotten help.♠

That’s all for this week. Next time, it’s back to the original Forensic Files with a post about killer Fred Grabbe‘s grandson.

Until then, cheers. — RR

HLN will air Forensic Files II every Sunday at 10 p.m. eastern standard time until April 12

Fred Grabbe: Update on an Ogre

A Farm Family Suffers Brutality in Secret
(Forensic Files, “The Root of All Evil”)

Updated on June 30, 2022

From the outside, life at Fred and Charlotte Grabbe’s country mansion must have looked enviable. The couple had a cheerleading daughter who got straight A’s, a handsome football-playing son, and a prosperous 800-acre farm near Marshall, Illinois.

Acquaintances described Fred, who was 6-foot-4 and 280 pounds with blue eyes, as outgoing and friendly.

Charlotte was a foot shorter than Fred and less than half his weight. She had a simple, elegant style and a pretty face with birdlike features.

Charlotte Grabbe with her son, Jeff — The love between Charlotte (with son Jeff) and her children was boundless

Floodgates open. But Charlotte didn’t act like a delicate flower. On the last day of her life, she was driving a tractor and cultivating soybean fields.

And Fred didn’t treat her like she was made of china either. In fact, he physically abused her up until the day he suffocated her with his meaty hands and incinerated her body.

He had four years of freedom before authorities, who never recovered Charlotte’s remains, could put together a case against him. Fortunately, a private detective tracked down Fred’s young ex-girlfriend and she spilled everything she knew about what happened to Charlotte Grabbe.

Hulking heartthrob. Vickie McCalister was mad at Fred because he jilted her and replaced her with another blond woman in her 20s. Barbara Graham was so crazy about Fred that she attempted to break him out of jail.

For this week, I searched for Fred Grabbe’s whereabouts today and any clues as to how this violent tub of lard managed to snag girlfriends despite his horrible past and why Charlotte Grabbe married him in the first place.

I also looked for an epilogue for the Grabbes’ daughter, Jennie, who guarded many of the worst family secrets until long after Forensic Files produced “The Root of All Evil” in 2001.

Charlotte sits on a fence in front of the Grabbes' house with horses grazing in the front — The Grabbes had the largest farm in Clark County

It started in Indiana. So let’s get going on a recap of the episode along with extra information culled from online research:

Fred Grabbe came into the world on June 2, 1939, in West Terre Haute, Indiana, the son of Inez and Chester Grabbe. Before turning to farming, Fred co-owned an agricultural implement store and worked in coal-mining and oil-drilling.

Charlotte Sue Gore was also born in Indiana, on Jan. 31, 1942, the daughter of Melvin and Margaret Gore.

Margaret died young, leaving Charlotte motherless at age 7.

‘I do’ to a sex criminal. According to Jennie, Charlotte and Fred’s marriage didn’t just end in a horror show: It began that way, too.

At age 15, Charlotte went out on a date with 19-year-old Fred and he raped her, according to an interview Jennie gave to a radio show in 2015.

Charlotte became pregnant.

It was 1957, long before anyone had heard the term “date rape” and Charlotte, with no female role model to guide her, probably didn’t know what else to do but marry the man who impregnated her.

Bucolic life. The couple had son Jeffrey Leon on Sept. 1, 1958, and daughter Jennie the following year.

Charlotte caught Fred cheating on her and divorced him in 1961. He must have turned on the charm because she gave him another chance. They did have two small kids together and he hadn’t metamorphosed into a walking sea cow yet. They remarried in 1962.

The family lived in Canada for a while and eventually moved to Clark County, Illinois, in an area rich with corn and soybean fields.

Teenage mom. Charlotte lost her father in 1974 and, thanks in part to family assets she inherited, the Grabbes were able to own and operate a successful farm.

Vickie McCalister and Barbara Graham weren’t exactly on paths of glory before they met Fred Grabbe, but their affairs with him all but ruined the rest of their lives

Jennie would later say that her mother did a good job of raising her and her brother, but Charlotte was so young that sometimes she seemed more like a sister.

Father’s fury. There were some good times. The Grabbes’ daughter-in-law, Cindy Pancake, told Forensic Files that Fred could be a fun-loving and warm host.

But the unpleasant events were memorable, too.

He had fits of rage over practically nothing, usually directed at Charlotte or Jeff, and sometimes they included physical abuse, according to Jennie.

Secrets and lies. Jennie told Forensic Files that she witnessed her dad bashing her brother’s head into the fender of a pickup truck.

“My brother was hospitalized one time and we were told to make up stories…tell the doctor he fell out of the hayloft,” she recalled on the Stop Child Abuse Now internet radio show.

By 1981, Charlotte, 39, had endured enough and asked for another divorce. Fred, 42, had started cheating on her again, with 24-year-old bartender Vickie Jane McCalister.

Hard work and dedication. Fred moved out of the main house, into a cabin on the Grabbes’ property.

For Fred, a permanent split would mean freedom to continue sleeping around — but he wanted to hold onto Charlotte and not divide up the family assets.

On July 24, 1981, Charlotte left the house to do work in the soybean fields.

Her children never saw her again.

Alleged car chase. Charlotte had told the kids to come look for her if she didn’t get back by 4:30 p.m. that day. Jennie and Jeff called the sheriff right away.

Jennie Grabbe as an adult — During her Forensic Files appearance, Jennie Grabbe wasn’t ready to reveal the whole truth about her father – like the fact that he had numerous illegitimate children he refused to support, she said years later

Fred explained to the law officers that he and Charlotte argued in the toolshed that day. He got in his truck, and she chased him in her green Ford LTD and eventually drove off toward the interstate, Fred claimed.

But witnesses said it was a curly haired blond woman following Fred in Charlotte’s car.

Grave words. Police found Charlotte’s purse, uneaten lunch, and migraine medicine in the toolshed.

The authorities drilled open Charlotte’s bank safe deposit box and found a handwritten note Charlotte left, with the instructions to read it upon her death.

It was a voice from the grave (Sandra Duyst, Russ Stager) accusing Fred of stealing some farm equipment and declaring that she was afraid of Fred as well as his business associate Dale Kessler.

Iffy alibi. Kessler told police that Fred was with him the night Charlotte disappeared.

But when questioned by a grand jury about his whereabouts, Fred took the Fifth Amendment.

Jennie, married by now, posted a $25,000 reward for help solving the case, but it went cold for four years.

Terror in the toolshed. In 1984, she and husband Darrel Livvix, who operated a plastics plant, hired a private investigator named Charles Pierson to look for Charlotte.

Pierson found Vickie McCalister in Indiana. She was bitter about the way Fred treated her and wanted the $25,000 reward. She spilled an absolutely revolting story about what really happened the day Charlotte disappeared on July 24, 1981.

While Vickie was hiding behind a tractor, Charlotte and Fred argued in the toolshed. He attacked her. As a sadistic exercise, he repeatedly choked her until she passed out, waited until she came to, and choked her again.

Spotlight on tree experts. Fred finally strangled her to death and severely abused her corpse. Vickie then helped Fred burn the body with diesel fuel in a trash barrel under a maple tree on the banks of the Wabash River.

He threw her remains into the water.

Vickie admitted that she was the one seen driving Charlotte’s vehicle the day she died. She had abandoned the car in Terre Haute.

Obviously, the account from a woman scorned — the holy grail for prosecutors — provided a huge break in the case. But investigators still had no trace of a body, so they had to dig deeply to find forensic evidence.

Ring of truth. Russ Carlson, a consulting arborist (a refreshing departure from the usual blood splatter expert) who Forensic Files viewers may remember from his appearance on the show, and two University of Illinois scientists cut several branches from the maple tree at the site where Vickie said she and Fred burned the body.

The experts found that the 1981 growth rings that faced the river showed a developmental slowdown consistent with exposure to diesel fuel. Further testing revealed evidence of petroleum products in the tree. And the only branches affected by the fuel were those directly above the spot where Vickie said she and Fred had placed the burn barrel.

In 1985, police finally arrested Fred Grabbe. His lawyers succeeded in getting him a change of venue to Vermilion County — after a phone survey revealed that 98 percent of Clark County residents had heard of Fred Grabbe, according to the Mattoon Journal Gazette.

Eyewitness account. Comments from the survey included, “I went to school with Fred Grabbe. Then he was real nice but now it’s another story” and “I hope they electrocute him.”

Vickie got immunity for testifying about the murder and, for the first time, Jennie and Jeff heard the story of the way their mother died.

Fred Grabbe moved to his rustic cabin when Charlotte asked for a second divorce — Fred Grabbe was not thrilled about moving out of the main house and into this cabin, known as Pickens Place

The motive was money — most of their wealth sprang from Charlotte’s inheritance and Fred wanted to retain it. Vickie McCalister admitted she participated in the murder cover-up.

Son intimidated. McCalister testified that Charlotte wasn’t Fred’s first homicide victim. He told her that, at 14, he had murdered someone for killing his dog (hate to defend Fred Grabbe, but that’s a mitigating factor) and later had killed two women over a union dispute, according to court papers filed in 1986.

Jennie would later say that as a child, she witnessed Fred kill a man after a bar fight.

Jeff Grabbe also testified about the physical abuse Fred had inflicted upon family members and said that Fred had threatened to hurt him if he didn’t clam up about his mother’s disappearance.

But Fred Grabbe had some people on his side, too. Paulina Kessler, wife of Dale Kessler, claimed she spotted someone who looked like Charlotte Grabbe in a shopping mall a year after she disappeared, the Decatur Herald and Review reported.

Ridiculous attempt. Fred’s defense lawyer argued that Vickie McCalister made up the murder story to collect the reward.

Regardless, a jury convicted Fred of first-degree murder on June 24, 1985, and he got a sentence of life without parole.

But the drama didn’t stop after the guilty verdict. While authorities were still holding Fred in the Clark County lockup, Barbara Graham — the woman Fred had dumped Vickie McCalister for — shot Deputy Mike Davidson in the leg and fired off four more bullets in an attempt to blast Fred out of jail.

It’s not clear what Barbara’s long-term plan was. Where could the towering Fred ever hide?

Hairy situation. And why did the 26-year-old Graham, whom the Chicago Tribune described as a mother of three, find Fred so alluring? And ditto with Vickie McCalister?

Well, first off, as many who knew Fred explained, when he kept his id in check, he was pleasant, lively company. His daughter said he was a classic Jekyll and Hyde who sometimes seemed like “the nicest person you could meet.”

There’s also the money factor. The Tribune story mentioned that Barbara Graham enjoyed showing off a fur coat Fred bought her prior to the first trial, so maybe she hoped for more expensive gifts in exchange for her gun moll services.

Hope it was worth it. For all we know, Fred promised each girlfriend she would someday become the lady of the household at the spacious Southfork-like main residence on the farm.

Instead, Barbara Graham got a 16-year prison sentence for her futile crime. Vicky McCalister evaded any punishment for her role in Charlotte Grabbe’s murder, but she had to change her identity and flee the area out of fear of reprisal by Fred.

Her worry was well-placed. In 1985, while Fred was securely locked in jail, a fire destroyed the Grabbes’ main house as well as a small abode that Jeff Grabbe was building on the property. Illinois police found evidence of arson but couldn’t prove that Fred, from his cell, had directed any of his associates to set the buildings aflame.

Money problems. Two years later in 1987, more bad news befell the Grabbe children. Fred won a new trial on appeal because of faulty instructions given to the jury.

In March 1988, before he had a chance to testify against his father again, Jeff Grabbe went missing.

Jennie told the Herald and Review that her brother hadn’t worked since their mother died and that he was probably evading creditors, according to a story by reporter Jeffrey Raymond, who covered the case extensively.

Another watery grave. Jeff Grabbe did have a rather dicey reputation. The Herald and Review story noted that he had allegedly been seen trying to break into a local appliance store, but the authorities never pressed charges. “He’s not what you call one of our real troublemakers,” Detective Burt Bennett of the Marshall Police Department told the Herald and Review.

According to his wife, Cindy, Jeff was a financier and had gone to California to seek a loan for a client. She and Jeff had been talking on the phone every day because their baby son had pneumonia, and Jeff suddenly stopped calling.

On March 21, 1998, a boater discovered a corpse in the Pacific Ocean 1.5 miles off Seal Beach.

Died with his boots on. Clearly, this was no accidental drowning. Someone had shot the victim three times, tied an anchor to him, and thrown him fully clothed into the Ocean.

FBI-trained forensic sculptor Marilyn Droz would later comment that she could tell the victim was “at least middle class” because of his expensive snakeskin boots.

The water had rendered the face unrecognizable, but a reconstructive clay bust and dental records enabled a positive ID of Jeffrey Grabbe on May 24, 1988. A theory sprang up that one of Fred Grabbe’s reprobate associates — perhaps the same person who torched the houses — had put out a hit on Jeff.

As John O’Brien reported in the Chicago Tribune:

“Seal Beach police say the killing appears to be drug-related… [Detectives] scoff at the notion that Fred Grabbe, safe in a cell in Downstate Illinois, had anything to do with it. On the other hand, Seal Beach police don’t know Fred Grabbe.”

The monster grieves. In addition to Cindy, who worked as an elementary school teacher, Jeff left behind sons Lucas, 5, and Nicholas, 9 months.

A forensic bust used to help identify Jeff Grabbe's body — LA Times clipping shows a forensic bust of Jeff Grabbe

According to defense lawyer Frederick Cohn, Fred Grabbe cried “like a baby” in Coles County jail after hearing the news of his son’s death, the Herald and Review reported in a June 2, 1988.

His sorrow might have been real. Police concluded that Jeff was killed because he tried to double-cross some of his own business associates in a $7 million money-laundering scheme, the LA Times reported on Nov. 18, 1988.

More to the story. At Fred Grabbe’s second trial, the judge refused to allow a record of Jeff’s testimony, but his widow took the stand for the prosecution.

In April 1988, Fred was found guilty again and got 75 years in prison.

Jennie said she eventually forgave her father even though he never said he was sorry.

Fred actually had a lot more things to atone for than either of the juries ever heard.

Coping with trauma. By the time Jennie was 5, Fred had begun sexually abusing her, according to her interview on Stop Child Abuse, a show hosted by William “Bill” Murray III, who survived molestation by priests and went on to found the National Association of Adult Survivors of Childhood Abuse in California.

“I would disassociate — count tiles on the ceiling,” Jennie said. “Some things I didn’t remember until I was 30 years old.”

Jennie also said that she took comfort from playing music and having dogs and horses growing up.

Solace attained. She was popular, and the classmates who elected her to the Homecoming Queen’s court and listened to her sing “Evergreen” in a school show had no idea the upbeat girl lived in a den of depravity at home.

Today known as Jennie Woolverton, she married three times, had five children, and said she ultimately found peace and healing with the help of a Christian group.

In an unfortunate and bizarre tangential note, Jennie’s son Adam Livvix made headlines in 2014, when he allegedly plotted to bomb Muslim holy sites in Israel.

Not loving the cuisine? But that’s a lot to process and this post is already pretty long, so I’ll try to cover the Adam Livvix story in a future post.

Fred Grabbe, now in his 80s, in recent mug shots

In the meantime, let’s get to Fred. Today, he resides in Dixon Correctional Center in Illinois. He’s lost an inch of his height, standing 6’3, and some weight, at 254 pounds.

His profile also mentioned that he’s missing at least one finger from his right hand. My guess would be a farm-equipment accident — it’s hard to imagine even the toughest fellow inmate holding Fred down and slicing off body parts.

And speaking of horrors, Grabbe won parole and exited prison on July 22, 2022. (Thanks to readers RTH and Dennis L. for the tip.)

That’s all for the post. Until next time, cheers. — RR

Watch the Forensic Files episode on YouTube

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David Keith Rogers: Depraved Deputy

A Killer Hides in Plain Sight, in the Sheriff’s Office
“A Leg Up on Crime,” Forensic Files

California sheriff’s deputy David Keith Rogers was a full-on psychopath who fooled his colleagues and family into thinking otherwise.

The respectable-seeming middle-aged man not only patronized prostitutes but also occasionally killed them — two of them for certain, in 1986 and 1987.

Tracie Clark with honey-coated complexion and caramel-colored hair — Dave Rogers claimed he cried upon learning Tracie Clark was only 15

What’s even stranger about Rogers’ story is that years before the murders, an incredibly sleazy incident should have put all who knew him on pervert alert. But somehow, his reputation stayed intact between then and the time bodies began showing up in the Arvis-Edison Canal.

Street walkers. For this week, I looked into where David Keith Rogers, known as Dave to his friends, is today. So let’s get going on the recap of the Forensic Files episode “A Leg Up on Crime,” along with extra information from internet research:

Dave Rogers originally come from West Virginia and did a 10-year stint in the Navy before moving to Kern County, California, and nabbing a position in the sheriff’s office in 1976.

David Keith Rogers with his wife, Jo, in happier times

He worked the so-called prostitute beat for several years.

To show what “scumbags” prostitutes were, Rogers took his son on a tour of the poor side of Bakersfield so he could set his eyes upon them himself, according to information from Murderpedia.

Lawman’s disgraceful behavior. In addition to the affront to his personal values, work at the sheriff’s office caused him physical woe. Rogers was exposed to PCP on two occasions and needed medical treatment as a result. He was finding his work stressful in general, according to the San Francisco Examiner. He had fainting spells and blackouts, his wife, Joyce, known as Jo, said.

Maybe he was looking to unwind when, in 1983, he took a sex worker named Ellen Martinez to a cemetery, had her disrobe, and photographed her, according to habeas corpus documents dated 2017.

The county fired him once the abuse of power incident came to light, but Rogers appealed to the Civil Service Commission, which got his punishment reduced to a 15-day suspension after Ellen Martinez failed to show up at his hearing.

She later disappeared entirely, according to the Metropolitan News-Enterprise.

Bully as a guard? The slight slap on the wrist hurt Rogers’ psyche so much that “he got headaches and ate aspirins like candy,” according to a colleague, the San Francisco Examiner reported.

Next up, his employer put him on jail duty. In 1984, an inmate accused Rogers of beating him up, but Rogers never faced disciplinary action over it, according to Murderpedia.

U-shaped canal — Canals are vital to Kern County farmlands. Nobody expected Dave Rogers to turn one of them into a graveyard in the 1980s

He eventually got back on street patrol in Bakersfield, a city lined with irrigation canals needed by the many farms in the area.

Sweet girl goes astray. In February 1986, the body of a 21-year-old woman with long blond hair who’d been shot to death turned up in the Arvis-Edison Canal. Forensic Files calls her “Kay Bradley” and shares photos of her as a young girl in dance recital outfits and a cheerleader uniform.

According to newspaper accounts and court papers, her real name was Janine Benintende.

Born on Feb. 13, 1965, Janine originally came from Rhode Island and later lived in Los Angeles with her family. Her aunt, who appeared in shadow on Forensic Files, explained that Janine, who looked as though she belonged on the Mickey Mouse Club rather than in the red-light district, was a well-behaved, studious, much-loved child, but somehow she ended up as a heroin user.

Janine Benintende in a dance costume as a child — Janine Benintende reportedly had a happy, normal childhood, making her descent into drug use and death at age 21 hard to fathom.

On Jan. 22, 1986, she appeared nervous and told her mother she was heading to Bakersfield, according to court papers.

Watery grave. The last time anyone saw her alive, she was working as a prostitute on Union Avenue and dressed in pants, boots, and a white rabbit fur coat.

Janine was murdered on February 21, 1986, and found floating in the water.

Someone had shot her three times with a .38-caliber gun, with two of the bullets fired into the same wound, suggesting an execution-style death.

Still, Dave Rogers evaded suspicion.

Then, in February 1987, some small-game hunters found the body of a pregnant teenager named Tracie Joanna Clark in the canal.

Keen eye for details. Like Janine Benintende, Tracie worked as a prostitute along Union Avenue in Bakersfield. Little biographical information came up about Tracie, except that she was a runaway from Seattle. Clearly, she’d had a rough life. At age 15, she looked 40.

Fortunately, one of Tracie’s fellow prostitutes recalled seeing her get into a truck with a camper top and she helped police locate it — parked right in front of Dave Rogers’ residence. The woman identified the milky-faced Rogers from a photo lineup. Footprints next to the canal matched shoes worn by Rogers during his subsequent police interview.

On Feb. 13, 1987, authorities arrested Rogers as he and Jo were headed out to run an errand.

Admits he did it, kind of. Investigators found a large amount of pornography in his apartment — although it’s not clear why Forensic Files implied it was evidence of his guilt. It’s a free country and plenty of law-abiding men purchase it.

Rogers also had a sizable collection of women’s underwear. Again, no law against that.

But prosecutors didn’t need to rely on that evidence anyway. Dave Rogers told police that he killed Tracie Clark.

Billboard offering help for victimes of human trafficking — A sign in Bakersfield offers help to those forced into prostitution by traffickers

Excuses galore. “He gave us an admission, not a confession, by which I mean he is indicating there were other circumstances than we are implying that led to the killings,” Sgt. Gary Davis said, as reported by the Los Angeles Times.

Media accounts vary regarding the justification Rogers gave: He argued with Tracie over the price of her services — he offered $30 but she wanted $50 — or she insulted his sexual prowess, or both. Tracie had exited his vehicle and pointed her finger at him, which made him feel threatened, he also claimed at one point. And Rogers worried that she would report him.

Oh, and his gun went off accidentally, he said.

Portrait of himself. According to an AP account, Rogers said he didn’t realize Tracie was only 15 and was stricken by guilt when he found out.

Rogers had had plenty of time to think up his excuses and rehearse his remorse. He had actually participated in the investigation into Tracie’s death and carried in his briefcase the composite photo of the suspect — himself — according to a the San Francisco Examiner‘s account of Feb. 27, 1987.

The .38-caliber Colt that police said Rogers used in the murders had an interesting history. A diner owner had reported it missing after a 1982 robbery. Investigators believe Rogers discreetly helped himself to the gun while investigating the restaurant theft.

Double trial. Authorities later concluded that Janine Benintende and Tracie Clark had been shot with bullets consistent with the ammunition available to deputies in the Kern County Sheriff’s Office.

Although Rogers admitted to Tracie’s shooting, he consistently maintained that he had nothing to do with Janine Benintende’s homicide.

Regardless, Kern County tried Dave Rogers for both murders, in a single court action. with Sarah Ryles prosecuting. (If Ryles — memorable for the marionette-like movement of her mouth during her on-camera interview — looks familiar, it’s because she appeared on an earlier episode of Forensic Files called “Over a Barrel.”)

Co-workers had no idea. Rogers’ defense relied on claims that he was sexually abused as a child. Mental health professionals testified that Rogers killed Tracie Clark while he was in an “impulsive, highly emotional state” and that he suffered from dissociative identity disorder (once known as multiple personality or split personality).

The revelations about Rogers came as a surprise to those who knew and worked with him. At the trial, seven law enforcement officers testified that the defendant was a skilled, conscientious deputy adept at defusing emotionally charged situations, according to 2006 court papers. Several of the officers testified that the defendant had always appeared normal.

Nonetheless, on March 16, a jury found Rogers guilty of the murders of Tracie Clark and Janine Benintende.

Wife still loves the guy. Upon hearing the verdict, Dave Rogers remained expressionless, but Jo wept in the courtroom, the AP reported.

Jo, who was Rogers’ third wife, and his four children stayed loyal to him, the San Francisco Examiner reported: “In my heart, it wasn’t the man I know and love,” Jo said. “It was another person. And the one I know and love I’m going to help all I can.”

In the penalty phase, jurors recommended the death penalty, and off Rogers went to San Quentin.

Testimony voided. Rogers has successfully avoided the gas chamber, however.

In July 2019, the California Supreme Court voided his death sentence because a witness for the prosecution named Tambri Butler recanted her testimony, saying she wasn’t sure that Rogers was the man who assaulted her while she was working as a prostitute.

Sarah Ryals during her appearance on “A Leg Up on Crime”

Today, Rogers is still in San Quentin, serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole. It was never proven whether or not he really suffered sexual and other physical abuse at the hands of his parents.

Bad apples will turn up. In addition to the tragedies he caused, Rogers left some of his former colleagues emotionally scarred, according to the San Francisco Examiner. They had known him only as an “excellent” deputy they never imagined would betray public trust or bring shame to the sheriff’s office. In fact, some of Dave Rogers’ co-workers reported having nightmares and sought counseling to cope, according to the San Francisco Examiner.

Perhaps the situation is best explained by YouTube commenter Paul Murray: “Well cops are folks too. They have their fair share of psychos.”

That’s all for this post. Until next time, cheers. — RR

Watch the Forensic Files episode on YouTube.

Carla Hughes and Avis Banks: Fairy Tales Canceled

Keyon Pittman Sure Did Leave a Mess
(“Textbook Murder,” Forensic Files)

Note: You can also listen to this post as a podcast

Carla Hughes’ charmed life hit a pothole one day and, a few years later, it took an unthinkable turn into a bloodbath.

Murder victim Avis Banks

Just a few years before she killed romantic rival Avis Banks, Carla was winning beauty pageants and hitting the kind of educational milestones parents like to write about in their Xeroxed holiday letters.

Innocence doubted. It was an affair with a promiscuous educator named Keyon Pittman — who lived with Avis Banks and was expecting a child with her — that spurred Carla to do what she did.

Keyon never faced any charges related to the murder, but many found it suspicious that he and Carla spoke on the phone just before and just after Avis died in the garage of the house she and Keyon shared in a suburb of Jackson, Mississippi.

For this week, I looked around to find out how Keyon Pittman has fared in the court of public opinion. I also searched for more background on Carla Hughes and the downfall of her storybook life.

Humble beginnings. But, because Avis Banks is the innocent victim in this tragedy, let’s start the recap of “Textbook Murder” with her story:

Avis Banks was the middle of three daughters born to Frederick Banks, a city street sweeper, and Debra Banks, who babysat part-time. The family lived in Vicksburg, Mississippi.

The first in her family to enter college, she studied early childhood development and graduated cum laude from Alcorn State University. She snagged a position at a daycare center and began dating Keyon Pittman, who taught math and coached basketball at James G. Chastain Middle School in Jackson.

Young homeowners. Avis clearly came from a strict background. During his Forensic Files appearance, Frederick Banks said that Avis asked for forgiveness upon telling him that she and Keyon Pittman were having a child. But she intended to make things right by marrying Keyon.

The two of them got engaged and bought a house in Ridgeland, Mississippi.

But their future together ended on Nov. 30, 2006, when Keyon, 31, returned home from work to find Avis, 27, in a pool of blood on the garage floor.

Keyon Pittman smiling — Keyon Pittman helped to end one woman’s life and ruin the other’s

Parents’ worst fears. He called 911 and also summoned Avis’ mother and father to come immediately, but wouldn’t say what was wrong.

The Bankses told Dateline Mystery that they thought Avis had lost the baby. But the news was much more grim. They arrived to the sight of police tape. The coroner told them their daughter had died a horrible death.

It looked as though someone had ambushed Avis, who was five months along in her pregnancy, after she stepped out of her car at around 6 p.m.

Staged scene. She had been shot four times with a .38-caliber pistol and stabbed repeatedly in the upper body. The assailant had slashed Avis’ throat. One of the bullet wounds had been fired at close range to the back of her head, police ascertained.

Investigators found shoe impressions where they believed the assailant kicked a door before breaking into the house and creeping into the attached garage.

The intruder had ransacked some rooms, leaving drawers open, but didn’t steal anything.

Resentful survivor. Lab-testing identified some gunshot residue on Keyon’s hands, and he had some bloodstains on his clothing. Police later concluded the forensic evidence came from his handling the body, not firing a gun.

But there were other indicators that didn’t look so good for Keyon. The video footage of him talking to his lawyer shortly after he discovered the slaughtered mother of his unborn child revealed a man utterly without grief or anguish. His only noticeable emotion was disgruntlement because police considered him a suspect.

Investigators found out that Keyon usually entered the house through the front door, but on the night of the murder, he went in through the garage. Maybe he knew he’d find a body there.

Not exactly Michelangelo’s David. There was also the question of why he ran to a neighbor’s house to call 911, when he had a cell phone with him. He also reportedly called Carla Hughes before summoning help for Avis.

The house in Ridgeland Mississippi that Avis Banks and Keyon Pittman shared — *A love nest turned into an execution site*: The three-bedroom house Avis Banks and Keyon Pittman shared at 708 Old Square Court is worth $190,000 today, according to Zillow

And Keyon — who reporter Kathryn Kight described as “not a looker” but with “lots of confidence” — was clearly a serial cheater and liar.

Staff members at Chastain Middle School said that, in addition to the affair with Carla Hughes, he’d been getting close to the mother of one of the basketball players he coached. That woman denied a relationship, and she had a solid alibi anyway.

Pretty blatant. But so did Keyon. He was at school when the murder happened, and numerous witnesses could vouch for his whereabouts.

Police had a better suspect in cheerleading coach Carla Hughes, who had been enjoying a not-so-discreet relationship with Keyon. Colleagues saw them carrying on out in the open.

Carla was a former beauty pageant winner and mother of a 3-year-old boy. At first, she told police that she had no dog in the race, that she and Keyon were just friends — but she lacked a convincing alibi.

Lethal loan. Phone records showed that Carla was near Avis and Keyon’s house around the time of the murder.

Soon enough, Carla Hughes reversed herself and admitted to the affair with Keyon but denied having anything to do with Avis Banks’ murder.

The big break in the case came when Patrick Nash, one of Carla Hughes’ cousins, told police that Carla had borrowed his folding hunting knife and Rossi .38-caliber gun, which was loaded with five bullets, on Nov. 26, 2006.

Carla Hughes in a tiara on a beauty pageant brochure — Carla Hughes participated in multiple state and local beauty pageants.

The ammo was gone when she returned the firearm to him on Dec. 1, 2006. She said she had gone target shooting.

Wrong feet forward. Although Carla would later deny it, Nash said that she was crying when she brought back the gun.

Investigators matched the bullets recovered from the victim’s body to Nash’s gun.

Police discovered that the footprints from the crime scene matched a pair of size 10 TredSafes found in Carla Hughes’ closet, and they had Avis Banks’ blood on them.

Carla Hughes was indicted on charges of capital murder.

Too many children. Still, those who knew Carla Hughes weren’t willing to connect the dots — she was too nice.

So, who was this woman and what made her stake her happiness on a long shot like Keyon Pittman?

Carla Hughes was born June 12, 1981, to a mother who already had more kids than she could support, according to Dateline Mystery.

Overachieving girl. Fortunately, her relatives Lynda and Carl Hughes, who were both schoolteachers, adopted her as an infant. She would be their only child.

Carla excelled at horseback riding as well as her regular schoolwork, according to information from Murderpedia, and she grew into a tall, pretty young woman with even features and high cheekbones. Friends described her as bubbly and fun-loving.

She belonged to student council and Key Club and was a majorette, a cheerleader, and a page in the Mississippi State Senate.

The On the Border Mexican restaurant where Keyon Pittman moonlighted — Despite Keyon Pittman’s character flaws, he was hard-working. He moonlighted as a bartender in addition to coaching and teaching full time. Of course, the part-time gig gave him the opportunity to flirt and rendezvous with more women

Things go askew. Carla Hughes’ beauty pageant wins included Washington County Junior Miss and Miss Greenville Teen.

She graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi and went on to earn a master’s degree in education at Belhaven College.

During her upward trajectory, she met the man of her dreams and got engaged, but he suddenly panicked the day before their scheduled wedding in 2004.

Suddenly alone. He left her single and two months pregnant. That was the first sign her fairy tale was not to be.

She gave birth to a son, and eventually took a job as a language arts teacher at Chastain Middle School, where she met Keyon Pittman.

As the internet meme says, “If you don’t like the end of your story, write yourself a new beginning.” In Keyon Pittman, Carla Hughes saw a fresh chance at Camelot.

Carla Hughes in her high school marching band uniform. Her parents called her a perfect child and begged for her life in court

Optimistic — or delusional. There’s no way of knowing what Keyon Pittman really told her about his intentions, but he would later testify that Carla Hughes knew that she was merely a secret side dish and he had made it clear to her that he intended to marry Avis Banks, according to court papers.

But Carla, 25, insisted upon referring to him as her “future husband,” he said.

Investigators believed Carla Hughes wanted to eliminate and basically replace Avis Banks. Carla longed for a home with a husband and probably imagined Keyon would adopt her son and help her replicate the life her baby’s father should have given her.

Claims no role. Prosecutors contended that Carla broke into Keyon and Avis’ house and ransacked drawers to make it look like a burglary. She lay in wait for Avis in the attached garage and shot her, stabbed her, and slashed her throat. Forensic Files didn’t mention it, but Avis Banks’ pants had been pulled down, perhaps in an effort to make the crime look like a burglary that turned into a rape-murder, according to Dateline Mystery.

When questioned by detectives, Carla didn’t implicate Keyon.

At the trial, however, Carla’s defense team pointed out that Keyon sometimes borrowed her shoes — their feet were the same size.

On the witness stand, Keyon denied having anything to do with the murder. (Although investigators strongly suspected otherwise, they never had enough evidence to charge him.)

Wages of sin. Carla Hughes sobbed in the courtroom when the jury returned with a guilty verdict after deliberating for eight hours. Although eligible for the death penalty, she received life without parole for capital murder, on Oct. 14, 2009.

Carla Hughes wearing magenta sweater in court — Carla Hughes was held in jail for three years while awaiting trial

The victim’s mother, Debra Banks, later told Snapped that she felt a huge burden lifted from her upon hearing the verdict.

Carla Hughes went off to prison.

She lost a 2012 appeal based on the defense’s claim that the judge hadn’t made it adequately clear to jury members that Carla’s refusal to testify in her own defense was not an indicator of guilt.

Lots of blame to go around? Carla’s mother, Lynda Hughes, maintained that Keyon Pittman wanted to get rid of Avis Banks — and that he framed Carla for the murder. She set up a GoGetFunding page to finance a new investigation, the Clarion Ledger reported in 2016.

Carla’s supporters also lay blame on forensic pathologist Dr. Steven Hayne, a witness for the prosecution. They noted that he was doing 1,500 autopsies a year — bagging more than $1 million annually, according to the Innocence Project — and that some evidence from Hayne in other cases didn’t hold up in court. The state of Mississippi had voided some convictions from trials where Hayne testified for the prosecution.

And the pro-Carla Hughes Justice4Carla blog said that her own lawyer was at fault, too. His specialty was tobacco litigation — not defending clients against murder charges.

Fit behind razor wire. Right or wrong, the Justice4Carla website seems to have some integrity — dissenting opinions are allowed in its comments section. For example:

“She killed my cousin over a guy that didn’t want her the way she wanted him. I hope you raise millions because you will need it for representation that will allow a jury to ignore facts.” Shannon Royal

Today, Carla Hughes is serving her life sentence in the Central Mississippi Correctional Institution. At a trim 140 pounds, the 5-foot-7-inch Carla has apparently resisted the siren song of heavy prison food.

Her son is being raised by his maternal grandparents.

Bounced right back. So where is Keyon Pittman — the cause of so much heartache?

Keyon Pittman and Carla Hughes in the bleachers at the middle school where they taught

According to a number of media accounts, he got married and moved out of Mississippi.

“And look at Keyon Pittman now,” the No Single Mama Drama website notes. “He’s cuddled up with his new wife, while [Carla’s] off to prison, where she can’t be a mother to her son for the rest of her life.”

There’s no telling whether Keyon is making his wife’s existence into a fairy tale, but it’s sure to have a better ending than what Avis Banks and Carla Hughes got.

That’s all for this post. Until next time, cheers. — RR

Watch the Forensic Files episode on YouTube

Ronald Shaw: Mansion Murder Victim

Surprise — the Younger Wife Didn’t Do It
(“No Safe Place,” Forensic Files)

When unknown intruders commit a murder during a home invasion on Forensic Files, it’s a good bet that a family member who survived the attack played a role in orchestrating it.

Rosana and Ronald Shaw at their wedding — Rosana and Ronald Shaw

Sometimes, the person who’s left unharmed or shot in the fleshy part of a limb is a child impatient to inherit the family fortune (Sarah Johnson, Dana Ewell) or a spouse looking to avoid a custody battle and costly divorce (Brenda Andrew, Brad King).

No good deed left unpunished. And the likelihood of evil-doing in the family skyrockets when the survivor is a glamorous woman with a story about masked assailants who murdered her wealthy older husband.

So, when portly oil-company millionaire Ronald Shaw was shot to death in his driveway, police were probably surprised to find out that Rosana Shaw had nothing to do with the crime.

The mastermind of the robbery-murder was not the beneficiary of a will or large life insurance payout. He was an outsider, someone Shaw didn’t know well but was trying to help.

Hard work and ambition. For this week, I searched for an epilogue for Rosana Shaw, who was in her mid-thirties and two months pregnant at the time of the murder. I also looked for background information on Ronald Shaw and the three teenagers who descended upon his house in Youngsville, Louisiana, in 1998. So let’s get started on the recap of “No Safe Place” along with extra information drawn from internet research.

Ronald Lee Shaw, born in 1945, originally came from San Antonio. He served in the Air Force for four years, then got a gig as an oil-field laborer in Louisiana and worked his way up to management. He started his own oil and gas drilling company in the 1990s and eventually co-founded MWD Services.

As his marriage to his first wife, Karen, was heading south, he met Rosana Staufert on a business trip to Mexico. She served as a translator for him. Ronald hired her as his assistant and frequently took her along when he traveled for work.

Trying to go straight. Shaw divorced Karen, married Rosana, and commissioned local general contractor Ernest Touchet to build a 5,000-square-foot love nest.

Ronald and Rosana's house in the beginning stages of construction — Ronald and Rosana’s new house long before the installation of the safe

As a favor, Ronald gave jobs to two of Ernest Touchet’s grandsons.

The young men had legal problems in their pasts, and some honest work would help build their character, Ernest Touchet probably figured. (It’s not clear whether the entire favor was giving them temp construction jobs on the new house or Shaw also hired them to work at his oil-services company.)

Ambush awaiting couple. Unfortunately, instead of making grandpa proud, one of the boys, Shannon Scott Touchet, 17, used the blueprint of the Shaws’ house as a roadmap to a robbery plan. He told his buddies about a safe installed in the bathroom closet of the new house.

On March 18, 1998, after Ronald and Rosana returned from the supermarket, three young males in ski masks suddenly appeared from behind the garage of their house. Just outside the front door, Ronald, 52, who was holding two bags of groceries, was shot three times.

Then two males took Rosana in the house, threatened her with death, and forced her to open the safe. They took $7,000 and a box of jewelry.

Daughter killed. Rosana begged the home invaders to spare her life because she was pregnant. They locked her in a bathroom area, according to court papers, and fled without harming her. She escaped and called 911.

First responders found her kneeling next to her husband outside. He died at the scene.

Forensic Files didn’t mention it, but Ronald Shaw’s death came as the second tragedy for his mother, Dorothy Perdue. Her granddaughter, Sheri Lynn Shaw — Ronald’s daughter from his first marriage — died in a car accident a few years before the murder.

Ronald Benson, Reginald Basile, and Shannon Touchet as teenagers around the time of Ronald Shaw's muder — Teenage felons Ronald Benson, Reginald Basile, and Shannon Touchet discarded the box of jewelry stolen during the robbery — it would have been too easy to trace

Heat on the law. The homicide shocked residents of Youngsville, known for Cajun food, friendliness, fun, and a low-crime rate, according to “Bloodshed on the Bayou,” an episode of the ID Network series Sins & Secrets.

Police felt tremendous pressure to solve the case quickly. An anonymous donor offered $10,000 for help finding the killer.

From the start, the police believed the robbery-murder was an inside job because the assailants immediately zeroed in on the safe. But, according to Rosana, a lot of people — friends, family, business associates — knew about the safe.

Business misdoings. Ronald Shaw’s grown son from his first marriage, James M. Shaw, suspected Rosana.

Others thought the hit resulted from bad blood over what the Daily Advertiser termed Ron’s “innovative” oil and gas company, which used GPS technology in drill bits. Ron had made a few bad moves at M.W.D. Services, and some of his investors lost money.

He had also rejiggered his finances to keep ex-wife Karen away from his money. She, too, was a suspect at first.

Troubled teens. But Karen’s mother reportedly told police that Ronald and Karen had patched things up and had even started hooking up romantically again, according to Sins & Secrets.

The investigation soon turned away from Shaw’s family and business stakeholders.

General contractor Ernest Touchet mentioned to investigators that his grandsons, Chris Touchet, 16, and Shannon Touchet, 17, who had worked on the Shaws’ house, had run-ins with the law in their recent history.

Dental identification. The elder Touchet admitted to police that he was afraid that his grandsons had something to do with the home invasion.

Rosana Shaw had told police that one of the robbers had gold teeth — Shannon Touchet had gold teeth.

Once the police turned their attention toward Shannon, they were able to put their case together in a few months. The trio of sloppy killers left plenty of evidence.

Rosana Shaw Little during her appearance on Forensic Files — Rosana Shaw-Little, shown during her appearance on Forensic Files, spoke English and Spanish and earned a degree from the *Chihuahua Institute* of Technology, a public university in Mexico

Ammo the same. First off, footprints found outside the Shaws’ mansion matched a pair of Shannon’s Nike Air Jordans.

At Shannon’s mother’s home, police found .38-caliber bullets like the ones used in the murder.

Although Shannon’s girlfriend told police he was with her at the time of the home invasion, her claim didn’t hold up.

Eyewitnesses emerge. The elder Touchets were an honorable bunch: Shannon’s mother disputed his alibi. She told police he was out in a burgundy car with his buddies Reggie Basil and Ronald Benson, both 18 years old, on the night of the homicide.

Some of the Shaws’ neighbors had told investigators that they saw three young men hanging around a dark-red car parked not far from the Shaws’ house the night of the crime.

A red ski mask found near the scene contained Ronald Benson’s DNA.

Denouement time. Police arrested Shannon Touchet, Reginald Basile, and a friend of theirs named Nicholas Dominique.

Ronald Benson turned himself in.

Shannon cracked immediately, admitting he told his friends about the safe and had been planning the robbery for a couple of weeks. Reggie also confessed, giving a similar story.

But Shannon Touchet testified that he had no gun with him during the robbery and that he started “crying and whimpering” when he saw his accomplices shoot Ronald Shaw. Shannon also claimed that he begged them to spare Rosana’s life. During legal proceedings, Shannon expressed remorse and said he didn’t know the robbery plot would include a murder.

Quickie deliberation. In turn, prosecutor Keith Stutes argued that Shannon’s plan had always included homicide and that he was sorry he got caught, not that he set the crime in motion.

A jury took 30 minutes to convict Shannon of second-degree murder. “Touchet, dressed in a starched white shirt and blue pants, hung his head when the verdict was announced,” the Daily Advertiser reported in 2002.

Basile pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and aggravated robbery and got a life sentence.

The Shaws barely had time to settle into their new house, seen here courtesy of Google Earth — The Shaws moved into their new house, seen here courtesy of Google Earth, before construction was complete

Borrowed getaway car. Benson tried a different tack from the other two. He clammed up and told the police nothing before going to trial.

But Benson had blabbed to a couple of cellmates who went on to testify against him. And Shannon Touchet, having made a deal for a sentence reduction from first-degree murder, ratted out Benson as well.

Still, Benson escaped the death penalty and ended up with a life sentence.

Dominique, who had lent the killers the car they drove the night of the homicide, pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact.

(Apparently Shannon’s younger brother, Chris Touchet, had nothing to do with the robbery-murder, despite that early on his grandfather worried he was involved.)

Wild claims. The next big development in the case happened in 2003, when a witness named Stacy Vasalle came forward to accuse construction company owner Ernest Touchet and his son, Dwayne Touchet, of committing the murder.

“It’s the craziest thing I’ve ever heard,” Ernest Touchet told the Daily Advertiser. “My blood pressure is going up just thinking about it.”

Dwayne Touchet said that Vasalle, an ex-girlfriend, was looking for revenge because of their breakup.

Ronald Benson requested a new trial based on Vasalle’s claims, but Judge Marilyn Castle declined, calling her statements “suspicious and incredible.”

Shannon Touchet lost a 2003 appeal.

Still a Shaw. As far as an epilogue on the trio of home invaders, now in their 30s, they are all serving their life sentences in Louisiana State Penitentiary, according to the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections telephone information line.

What became of Ronald Shaw’s young widow?

Photo of Rosana Shaw from her Facebook Mary Kay cosmetics page — A current screenshot from Rosana Shaw’s professional Facebook page

Rosana remarried at some point — she was identified as “Rosana Shaw Little” on Forensic Files. Although she has since dropped the “Little” from her name, it appears that she still has a husband.

Cosmetics entrepreneur. It’s not clear whether she lives in the huge house she once shared with Ronald Shaw, but she has remained in the Youngsville area.

Now in her late 50s, Rosana works as a Mary Kay beauty consultant and apparently practices what she preaches. She looks the same today as she did in the Forensic Files episode, produced back in 2006.

In her spare time, she does volunteer work for her local Adopt a Grandparent organization.

Youngest descendant. Rosana has two children. One of them is the daughter from her union with Ronald Shaw.

She has fair hair like her late father.

That’s all for this post. Until next time, cheers. — RR

Watch the Forensic Files episode on YouTube

Douglas Mouser: Suddenly Homicidal

Did Prosecutors Railroad Genna Gamble’s Stepfather?
(“Picture This,” Forensic Files)

Most Forensic Files cases offer more than enough evidence to make viewers relieved the perpetrator ended up behind razor wire.

Douglas Mouser’s conviction for the murder of his stepdaughter, on the other hand, leaves doubts.

Authorities seemed to mold evidence to fit their own theory about how high school sophomore Genna Gamble ended up lifeless in a ditch not far from her home in Modesto, California.

Reprimanded and warned. For this week, I looked into Mouser’s whereabouts today and whether he has snagged the support of any innocence advocates.

So let’s get going on the recap of “Picture This” along with additional information from internet research.

On the morning of Oct. 14, 1995, an aerobics instructor named Kathy Mouser reminded her 14-year-old daughter, Genna, that she was grounded for the weekend and forbidden to use the phone.

Thrown away. Then, Kathy left for the gym to teach a class. When she returned at 1 p.m., no one was home.

Kathy would never see her daughter alive again.

Police located the Beyer High School student’s unclothed body in a lonely area next to a walnut orchard 20 miles from the Mousers’ house. She had been strangled via ligature.

Genna had also sustained blunt force injuries, but had not been sexually assaulted.

Her feet had no dirt on them, suggesting the assailant had killed her elsewhere, than transported her body to the disposal site.

Suspect character. Phone records revealed that Genna had defied her parents and made several calls that day. Her friends didn’t remember Genna bringing up anything beyond the usual chitchat.

But one said that Genna suddenly hung up without saying goodbye.

Her pals also mentioned that there was a sketchy character, a guy of around 18 or 19, in Genna’s life and he liked to prey upon younger girls, according to defense attorney Richard Herman, who appeared on Forensic Files.

Security malfunction. But he had an alibi, so investigators turned to another male close to Genna: her stepfather, who had raised her since age 2.

Douglas Scott Mouser, who worked at federal research facility Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, seemed to have an alibi at first. He said he was at work — he had gone into the office for a few hours on Saturday — at the time of Genna’s disappearance.

The comfortable house in Modesto, California, where Genna Gamble lived with her mother and stepfather

In an odd coincidence, the security cameras at his office weren’t working that day and neither were the ones at the Jack in the Box where Mouser said he bought lunch.

A guard at Lawrence Livermore didn’t recall seeing Mouser that day.

Investigators had their suspect.

Bring on the junk science. With no forensic evidence in the house, they concentrated on Mouser’s car and soon connected it to the murder.

The police brought in Gary Robertson, a Canadian specialist in photogrammetry, the practice of using mathematical calculations to uncover information about a picture.

Robertson theorized that postmortem indentations found on Gemma’s thigh matched the impressions a seatbelt and car rug in Douglas Mouser’s vehicle would leave — if her body lay in a certain position.

Story concocted. That part makes no sense to me. Couldn’t they arrange the seatbelts and rug and a test model in any car to line up with virtually any impressions?

But that didn’t stop prosecutors from creating their own narrative.

Perhaps, Mouser become enraged when he witnessed Genna flouting his authority by using the phone, they thought.

She was quite the handful.

Impossible years. Deputy attorney general Birgit Fladager mentioned that Genna had seen a counselor for oppositional defiant disorder.

According to the Mayo Clinic website, the syndrome, known as ODD, can cause frequent loss of temper, anger, resentment, argumentativeness toward authority figures, vindictive behavior, and deliberate attempts to annoy others.

In other words, Genna acted like a teenager.

Police, spurred by the conjecture of FBI-trained profiler Michael J. Prodan, maintained that Mouser struck his stepdaughter in anger during an argument, and then panicked because a child abuse charge could threaten his job.

Telltale technology. So, he strangled her, disrobed her to eliminate forensic evidence, and threw her body in the ditch off Tim Bell Road outside of Waterford, they asserted.

It was all speculation. The only solid evidence the state had against Mouser was that his employer disputed his claim that he logged onto his computer around the time of the homicide.

Mouser was charged with first-degree murder in August 1997. Superior Court Judge Hurl W. Johnson later reduced Doug’s bail from $1 million to $500,000.

Plant physiology lesson. Birgit Fladager and fellow Stanislaus County assistant district attorney Joseph “Rick” Distaso served as prosecutors during the three-month trial.

The duo didn’t have DNA or blood splatter or ballistics to help them, so they hawked their dubious forensics — the photogrammetry plus some forensic botany. A vegetation expert determined that pieces of yellow star thistle found on the underside of Mouser’s car were in the same life stage as star thistle found at the dump site.

Next, came the circumstantial evidence.

Anger and flak. Although Forensic Files didn’t mention it, the prosecution obtained a tape of a suspicious conversation between Kathy Mouser and her son, Gerren Gamble, 18.

When Gerren asked Kathy whether Doug Mouser had killed his sister, Kathy answered, “You know how Genna was.”

And there was also the matter of Mouser allegedly telling neighbors that he and Genna argued about chores — evidence of flaring tempers that could have boiled over — the day she disappeared, according to court papers.

Sneaked out? To me, the strongest evidence against Mouser was the statement from her friend that Genna hung up without saying goodbye. If an unknown assailant entered Genna’s room, she would have screamed or asked for help. If one of her guy friends stopped by, she would have had a chance to say goodbye to her gal pal on the phone. Only a surprise drop-in by a parent would spur her to instantly hit the receiver.

Mouser’s lawyer put together a different narrative.

Richard Herman theorized that after Doug Mouser left for work, Genna slipped out of the house and was killed by an unknown assailant or an unsavory acquaintance.

Profiler assailed. Genna’s brother sold drugs out of the house and Genna had socialized with at least one sex offender, according to the book Criminal Profiling: An Introduction to Behavioral Evidence Analysis by Brent E. Turvey.

The tome also suggests that criminal profiler Michael J. Prodan examined only a few of the available crime scene photos, never actually visited the site, and didn’t know about the alleged drug activity going on in and around the Mouser house.

Kathy and Doug Mouser at Genna Gamble's funeral — Kathy and Doug Mouser at Genna Gamble’s funeral

During the trial, the jury members traveled to the house and the dump site to see them with their own eyes.

Outcome a surprise. It was all a lot to digest.

They deliberated for six days before convicting Mouser of second-degree murder in December 1999. He received a sentence of 15 years to life.

Fladager believed the lack of forensic evidence actually made the case stronger. “It’s hard to attack circumstantial evidence,” she said.

The Contra Costa Times would later call it a “stunning victory” for the prosecutors.

‘Intent to kill.’ Richard Herman, meanwhile, said the case was the biggest failure of his life. “This shakes my whole foundation of my practicing of criminal law,” Herman said. “This is a tragedy for the family and a tragedy for justice.”

His client hasn’t had much post-conviction luck.

The California Supreme Court declined to review Mouser’s 2004 appeal. A subsequent court action affirmed the attorney general’s opinion that “the evidence strongly suggests that defendant possessed an intent to kill.”

Declined again and again. In 2011, Genna’s biological dad, Tom, and his wife, Carole Gamble, appeared at a parole hearing to encourage the board to keep Mouser incarcerated.

Despite Mouser’s status as a “model prisoner,” the board turned down his bid for freedom in 2011.

He was refused again after a 2014 parole hearing where Birgit Fladager argued that Mouser had shown no remorse and refused to admit his crime or provide details about it.

Of course, that could mean he didn’t really do it.

A 2018 parole hearing was postponed, but the board met and heard a victim impact statement from Tom Gamble.

So, is anybody in Douglas Mouser’s corner?

Believers exist. The Innocence Project has not taken up his case, but his wife — Genna’s biological mother — reportedly believes in his innocence and at one point moved to be closer to his prison.

And Douglas Mouser has defenders in the court of public opinion. Two recent reader comments from the Stanislaus County District Attorney’s Facebook page:

“I knew Doug Mouser back then and I will never believe that he did this. All evidence was circumstantial at best. He was and I believe still is a good man wrongfully convicted. To continue to deny him parole is cruel…. [Genna] had a questionable boyfriend that was never questioned.” — Polly Wallis

“With no evidence the jury were convinced on the theatrics of the prosecutors. This is a seriously unsafe conviction with probably an innocent man in jail and a killer possibly still free.” — Graham Bevan

Sensational trial. Today, Douglas Scott Mouser, 59, also known as #P76180, resides in Valley State Prison, a medium-security facility in Chowchilla, California.

Meanwhile, the lawyers responsible for putting him there have enjoyed upward career trajectories.

In a sensational trial watched around the world, Birgit Fladager and Rick Distaso successfully prosecuted Scott Peterson — for murdering his wife, Laci, when she was eight months pregnant— despite that they had scant forensic evidence and were up against celebrity lawyer Mark Geragos.

Prosecutor Birgit Fladager smiles after helping to convict Scott Peterson — Birgit Fladager smiles after Scott Peterson’s conviction

Everybody loves Birgit. The earnest, mild-mannered Fladager later won her bid for Stanislaus County District Attorney.

She has received a lot of public approval. “I found Birgit to be a prosecutor’s prosecutor – gutsy, savvy, knowledgeable, competent, tough and ethical,” wrote her former colleague Thomas Fontan in the Modesto Bee.

Even her old foe Richard Herman praised her “believability” as a prosecutor.

Rick Distaso has also moved up in the world, becoming a superior court judge.

That’s all for this post. Until next time, cheers. — RR

Watch the Forensic Files episode on YouTube

Picture of book cover plus bookstores and online booksellers where it's available — Book available in stores and online!

Michael Prozumenshikov: A Success Story Dies

An Immigrant Becomes a Millionaire But Goes out of Bounds
(“Going for Broke,” Forensic Files)

For a while, Michael Prozumenshikov seemed to be doing everything right. In hopes of a more prosperous life, he came to the U.S. from Soviet-era Russia, where he’d grown up in an apartment crammed with 30 other people.

Michael Prozumenshikov dressed up with a bow tie — Michael Prozumenshikov

Fast track. He got a job as a janitor for $63 a week after arriving in Minneapolis, studied finance, and earned a stockbroker’s license.

Amid the 1980s Wall Street bubble, Prozumenshikov grew into a tiger of a salesman. He nabbed a $240,000 signing bonus when Prudential-Bache Securities recruited him as an investment adviser.

Within seven years of coming to America, he was driving a Mercedes, living in a newly constructed 20-room house, and making $1 million a year.

Rich man targeted. But as so with many other Forensic Files subjects (Ari Squire, John Hawkins), his American dream turned into a cautionary tale.

Prozumenshikov’s story, however, differs a bit from the usual because he ended up as the homicide victim rather than the perpetrator.

For this week, I did some research into Prozumenshikov’s background and how he botched the financial fiefdom he created.

Missing husband. So let’s get going on the recap of “Going for Broke,” along with extra information culled from online research and the book The Pru-Bache Murder: The Fast Life and Grisly Death of a Millionaire Stockbroker by Jeffrey Taylor.

At 10:30 p.m. on January 28, 1991, Michael Prozumenshikov called his wife, Ellen, to let her know he was on his way home.

He never arrived.

Michael Prozumenshikov's McMansion — Everything about Michael Prozumenshikov, including this house built to his specs, seemed to whisper “new money”

In pieces. Police found his Mercedes, with his checkbook, credit cards, and some cash inside, in a parking lot in Wayzata.

Soon after, a headless torso and two legs from a caucasian male turned up under some abandoned Christmas trees. The severed tip of a left pinky finger found at the scene and scars on other body parts helped police identify the victim as Michael Prozumenshikov, age 37.

So who would want to kill this respectable family man?

Well, lots of people, it turned out.

Hammer time. Although he labored long hours and aimed high, Prozumenshikov also liked to take short cuts. It was a pattern that started when he still lived in the USSR.

After excelling in hammer-throwing as a boy in Leningrad, Prozumenshikov used his athletic connections to get into dental school there, according to Taylor’s book.

He was a poor-performing student but still managed to network his way into a job as a dentist in a clinic in Russia, according to Taylor.

Career switch. But the U.S. had more-strenuous requirements, and Prozumenshikov failed his dental exams here.

Associates described Zachary Persitz as mild-mannered and well-liked

Fortunately, he landed in a more lucrative field thanks to a friend who encouraged him to try a career in finance. He learned quickly and pursued clients — many of them fellow Russian Jewish immigrants — aggressively.

But Prozumenshikov was in too much of a hurry. Greed overtook him, and he made impossible claims to prospective clients, engaged in unauthorized trading, and falsified information.

Few fans. Like most good con men, he had a knack for putting on an optimistic front even as things headed south. He persuaded clients to stay with him despite their losses, according to Taylor.

Although the police had no specific murder suspects at first, they found that a lot of people didn’t feel all that bad to hear about Prozumenshikov’s demise, according to Rocky Fontana, a Hennepin County Sheriff’s detective who appeared on Forensic Files.

First off, Prozumenshikov had begun to separate himself, literally and figuratively, from the Russian Jewish émigré community that had helped make him successful.

Ostentatious style. He, Ellen, and, and their sons, ages 11 and 13, had moved to Wayzata, a lakeside town with a yacht club and median house price of $600,000.

And he liked to flaunt his Rolex watches and Montblanc pens. On his desk, he kept framed photos of cars and houses he aspired to purchase, according to Taylor’s book.

While the Prozumenshikov sons were attending private schools, their father was busy erasing the personal fortunes of the people who trusted him to help them attain better lives for their own kids.

This doesn’t fly. Zina Shirl, who appeared on Forensic Files, said that Prozumenshikov went renegade with $20,000 of her money.

He had also used clients’ money to make disastrous investments in Texas Air, which promptly dived 75 percent in value (and no longer exists), according to Forensic Files.

Even as his clients’ accounts were shrinking, Prozumenshikov would make as many as 100 trades on a single account in a year so he could pocket the commissions

No Shangri-La. He wiped out the $70,000 life savings of a World War II vet named Clem Seifert, who would later enthusiastically volunteer to testify in the killer’s defense.

Prozumenshikov had also persuaded clients to invest in developing a Reno, Nevada, resort that was an utter scam. The project never happened.

Clearly, Prozumenshikov’s death was somehow related to his job. His wife told police that on the night he disappeared, he had called her to ask for his supervisor’s number.

Follow the Mazda. Next, he called his boss from a pay phone to ask for $200,000 in cash for a client. He refused.

Then, Michael Prozumenshikov disappeared.

Police were able to connect a brown 1986 Mazda 626 seen parked near Prozumenshikov’s black Mercedes on the night of the murder to a handsome 39-year-old dam inspector named Zachary Persitz.

The Prozumenshikov and Persitz families were close friends. Their sons had sleepovers together.

Henpecked husband. Persitz, also a member of the local Russian Jewish community, entrusted Prozumenshikov to invest $150,000 for him. A lot was riding on that investment.

Although the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources surely paid Persitz a decent salary, his wife, Julia, a concert violinist, had been needling him about why he couldn’t be as successful as his buddy Michael Prozumenshikov, Fontana told Forensic Files.

But Persitz wouldn’t be buying Julia a McMansion or an E-Class Cabriolet anytime soon. A combination of Prozumenshikov’s mismanagement and the 1987 stock crash diminished Persitz’s wealth by anywhere from $37,000 to $120,000 (sources vary on the amount of the loss).

Paint clue. Shortly after the homicide, a car wash employee wrote down the license plate number of the Mazda after noticing the driver trying to wash blood from inside its trunk. Persitz told the car wash workers he hit a deer.

Zachary Persitz with his two sons and Bernese mountain dog — Zachary Persitz had two sons and a Bernese mountain dog to feed

Police discovered that paint found on Persitz’s bumper looked similar to that from an orange gate near the crime scene. And bumper fragments found there matched those missing from Persitz’s Mazda, whose interior revealed blood splatter.

Authorities also learned that an ax that Persitz kept in his locker at work had gone missing, according to an AP account from 1991.

Wife worried. And the Persitz family had a Bernese mountain dog whose hair matched a strand found at the murder scene (not that the family pet was in on the homicide — shed fur carries and transfers like crazy). County prosecutor Kevin Johnson remarked it was “the first time a search warrant has been executed on a dog in Hennepin County.”

On Feb. 4, 1991, authorities arrested Persitz and set his bail at $750,000.

There was circumstantial evidence against him in addition to the forensics.

Ransom of $200K. The day before the homicide, family friend Rudolph Lekhter and Persitz had gone out shooting at Bill’s Gun Range in Robbinsville.

Prosecutors believed Persitz set up a meeting with Prozumenshikov, then threatened the 6-foot-tall 200-pound-plus stockbroker with a gun and demanded $200,000 to cover his losses plus interest.

When Prozumenshikov couldn’t produce the cash, Persitz shot him (possibly with one of Lekhter’s guns, although he wasn’t implicated), threw him in the trunk, and then headed to a compost site 60 miles away the next day. He crashed threw a gate there and dismembered the body.

Chicago Tribune writer Jeffrey Taylor’s book about Michael Prozumenshikov was no mere mass-market true crime effort. The hardcover tome got A+ marks from mainstream book reviewers

Back in the USSR. Once charged, instead of going the usual Forensic Files killer route by claiming the victim attacked him first, Persitz declared himself not guilty by way of insanity.

Judge Robert Shiefelbein delayed the trial so the defense team, led by Joe Friedberg, could obtain Persitz’s 1970s records from a psychiatric hospital in Russia.

Mental health professionals for both the defense and prosecution ultimately agreed Persitz suffered from OCD and severe depression. In fact, the judge agreed to another delay so Persitz could undergo electroconvulsive therapy.

Death wish. Persitz said that, as a child, he had witnessed violence between his parents and had tried to kill himself at age 11.

His claim of suicidal tendencies was credible. While awaiting trial in 1992, Persitz and fellow inmate Russell Lund made a pact to suffocate themselves with plastic bags. Lund succeeded, but deputies reached Persitz in time to save him.

The defense argued that the crime itself was crazy enough to prove insanity. Persitz admitted to shooting Prozumenshikov once on the frozen Lake Minnetonka and again in the Mazda, then hacking up the corpse the next day.

“Clearly, chopping a body up in the early morning hours when it’s 20-below is nonsensical,” defense attorney Paul Engh offered.

Victim of his own success? Still, prosecutor Kevin Johnson made the state’s case that Persitz had been plotting the murder for months and was sane enough to know that killing Prozumenshikov was wrong.

The jury convicted him of the murder on June 23, 1993. In a separate hearing, the panel rejected the insanity plea. He received a life sentence with the possibility of parole after 27½ years.

Widow Ellen Prozumenshikov blamed the murder on Persitz’s “envy” and “greed,” the Tribune Star reported:

“Michael was living his American dream. His dream was suddenly ended by someone who couldn’t bear to see it realized, who couldn’t accept Michael’s life in comparison to his own.”

Michael Prozumenshikov's gravestone, included his portrait — Michael Prozumenshikov’s burial was as flashy as his life

With the trial over, Ellen, a dental hygienist, also said she hoped to begin the “healing process for our family.”

Down by the river. Persitz’s parole eligibility would have come around in 2021, but he couldn’t wait.

He hanged himself in Stillwater in 2010.

Persitz had admitted that he threw Michael Prozumenshikov’s head and hands — the instruments of his deceits — into the St. Croix River, but they were never found.

That’s all for this week. Until next time, cheers. — RR

Watch the Forensic Files episode on YouTube
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Jason Massey: Cherub-Faced Killer

A Menace to People and Pets Gets Justice Texas-Style
(“Pure Evil,” Forensic Files)

Except for the mullet, Jason Eric Massey looks like a wholesome youth straight out of a Norman Rockwell painting.

But as Forensic Files has taught us, outward appearances mean nothing (John Schneeberger and Barbara Stager).

Jason Massey wearing a mullet — Murderer Jason Massey

The button-nosed golden-haired youth left a trail of horrifying cruelty in his wake, and he’s one of the few criminals depicted on the show who has already been executed.

Gruesome find. For this week, I looked for some background on Jason — who killed two teenagers and did other awful things — that might explain how he grew into a monster.

So let’s get going on the recap of the episode, along with extra information from internet research.

On July 29, 1993, a work crew found the body of a girl in a brushy area near Telico, Texas.

A few hundred feet away, police found a dead boy.

A library card in his wallet identified the male victim as James Brian King, 14, who went by “Brian.” He died from two bullet wounds.

Unusually vicious. Brian’s body was intact, but the killer had cut off the girl’s head and hands and disfigured her in other depraved ways. She was ID’ed as Brian’s stepsister, Christina Benjamin, 13.

Medical Examiner Sheila Spotswood, who appeared on the episode, said Christina’s injuries were the worst case of mutilation that she’d ever seen.

Investigators found blond hair from two individuals — Christina and an unknown person — at the scene. They also recovered a distinctive tan fiber.

Christina and James had gone missing on July 26, 1993, from their home in Garrett, Texas, where they lived with common-law husband and wife James King and Donna Benjamin.

Frightening fetish. That night, James witnessed his son get in a car with a driver he seemed to know, but he didn’t get a look at his face. Although James didn’t see her, investigators believe Christina was in the car, too.

With few clues, local investigators turned to the FBI for help profiling the killer.

The feds believed that it wasn’t exactly a sex crime — Christina hadn’t been raped — and noted that it was probably committed by someone who started out by abusing animals and derived sexual pleasure from inflicting injuries.

Vehicle full of evidence. Meanwhile, an anonymous caller to the Ellis County Sheriff’s Office suggested looking into Jason Massey, a 20-year-old high school dropout.

Investigators questioned Jason and impounded his 1982 tan Subaru.

Inside, they found a receipt for some ammunition, a hunting knife, bloodstains, and tan carpeting with fibers matching the one from the crime scene.

Detectives emptied out a vacuum cleaner and garbage can at a car wash recently visited by Massey and found more of Christina’s hair and a card from Jason’s probation officer.

Firearm ID’ed. A lab determined the bloodstains in the Subaru were genetically similar to blood from Christina Benjamin’s relatives.

Jason’s cousin owned a .22 caliber pistol, which someone had borrowed without permission from his grandmother’s house. Investigators pegged it as the murder weapon.

Jason was arrested.

So who was this Howdy Doody-faced sadist?

Cruelty started at home. The man who would grow up to admire Ted Bundy and Charles Manson was born in Jan. 7, 1973, to a single mother who was more interested in partying than raising Jason and his younger sister.

Specific details were hard to come by in mainstream media, but British crime blog Shots reported that she used to beat him and leave him alone in the car while she drank at local watering holes.

Jason’s mother also liked to eat in front of him and his sister but deprive them of food, according to the Crime Library.

The family had a history of moving from one dilapidated residence to another. It’s not clear what role Jason’s father, also a substance abuser, had in Jason’s life.

Mother steps in. By the time Jason was in his early teens, his disturbing extracurricular interests became apparent.

A ninth-grade teacher named Edith Robinson recalled that Jason carried around an article about Charles Manson and seemed fascinated by swastikas. He also considered Ted Bundy one of his personal heroes.

Although neglectful, Jason’s mother cared enough to consult a psychological professional when she discovered notebooks he’d written about rape and other violent fantasies.

At 18, he wound up in the Dallas Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit, but he was released soon after, according to Crime Library.

As far as his occupation, multiple sources refer to Jason as a roofer, although it’s not clear whether he worked steadily.

Pulchritude problem. Before the homicides, his record included only one offense, a DWI conviction, but his luck would run out soon.

On, March 17, 1994, Texas indicted Jason on two counts of murder.

In the run-up to the trial, the DA said he was afraid that Jason’s good looks would sway the jury if he testified.

Dangerous on the witness stand? By the time the court date rolled around, Jason had replaced his T-shirts with button downs and ties. And he had snipped away the party in the back from his hair.

He also had a polite manner while in custody, calling a reporter “Ma’am,” for example. Of course, the courteous behavior implied that he could present himself as normal enough to fool younger teens into liking him.

Jason decided not to testify.

Goal-oriented. At the trial, prosecutors contended that, after luring Christina and Brian into his car, Jason shot Brian King at close range, then chased Christina as she ran from the vehicle, shot her in the back, stabbed her, and mutilated her body after death.

But the forensic evidence wasn’t the star at the trial. Jason Massey’s journal and testimony from his friends were.

He had written about his desire to commit hundreds of homicides and become the most famous serial killer in the U.S.

More sick ideas. “I’m going to embark on a sacred journey. Yes, I’m going to start my campaign as a serial killer,” he wrote in his diary in 1981, the AP reported. He allegedly aspired to cannibalism as well.

In court, Jason Massey, right, looked more like a Goldman Sachs intern than a thrill killer

Massey had said he wanted to decapitate a woman and have sex with her head, according to the Clark Prosecutors website.

Chris Nowlin, who was described as Christina’s boyfriend or friend, told investigators that Jason talked about his desire to kill women, but he didn’t take him seriously. Nowlin, an ex-convict who also knew Brian King, said Jason and Christina met through him and made plans to sneak off on a date together.

Nice try. Jason’s court-appointed lawyers tried to turn Nowlin’s words against him. “It doesn’t say much about the credibility of [Christina’s] boyfriend if he didn’t take those alleged threats seriously,” said Steve Kelly, the AP reported.

Another of Jason’s defense attorneys, Mike Hartley, argued that one or more of Jason’s disreputable associates — some of whom were helping the prosecution — could have committed the murders.

But the evidence against Jason just kept rolling in. A former school friend named Anita Mendoza testified that Jason sent her threatening letters and disturbing violent images and may have killed her dog.

Intervention relatively early. It was credible testimony. The investigations turned up a cooler Jason had used to collect mementos of dozens of animals he had killed.

On October 6, 1994, the jury found Jason Massey guilty of murder.

“It’s almost a miracle we caught him as quickly in his career as we did,” prosecutor Clay Strange told the Houston Chronicle. “I’ve met a lot of people meaner, but no one more evil.”

Gina King and Jeanette Bellows, relatives of the slain teenagers — Gina King, sister of Brian King, and Jeane Bellows, grandmother of Christina Benjamin, both appeared on Forensic Files

Indeed, law enforcement got him before his victims numbered anywhere near as many as those of Jeffrey Dahmer, another benign-looking but utterly deranged murderer.

At Jason’s sentencing hearing, the prosecution read numerous horrifying thoughts taken from Jason’s journals.

Disgruntled prisoner. The jury gave him a death sentence after deliberating for 15 minutes (“15 minute deliberation included a 14 minute bathroom break,” quipped YouTube commenter mrabrasive).

Over the years, Jason Massey’s appeals included such alleged factors as ineffective counsel, inadequate DNA testing, lack of investigations into other suspects, and a judge who looked bored. The Canadian Coalition Against the Death Penalty helped him file the legal actions.

Jason solicited pen pals while in prison and lamented that he never got a chance to marry or have kids and that his six brothers and sisters didn’t visit him.

Last hope gone. In 2001, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Jason Massey’s final appeal.

He had his date with a gurney and syringe on April 3, 2001, in Huntsville, Texas.

For his last meal, Jason enjoyed “three fried chicken quarters, fried squash, fried egg plant, mashed potatoes, snap peas, boiled cabbage, three corn on the cob, spinach, broccoli with cheese, one pint of caramel pecan fudge or tin roof ice cream, and a pitcher of sweet tea,” according to Clarkprosecutor.org.

Normal on the surface: Jason Massey with his sister and two young relatives

Contrition. In his final words, Massey apologized to Christina Benjamin and James King’s family and revealed that he had thrown Christina’s head and hands into the Trinity River. (They were never found.) He also proclaimed his newfound love for God, stating, “Tonight I dance on the streets of gold. Let those without sin cast the first stone.”

Christina Benjamin’s grandparents watched the execution. Jason looked at them and mouthed the words “I’m sorry” as the lethal injection began to take effect.

Jason Massey died without achieving his dream of becoming a world-renowned serial killer, but he snagged a Forensic Files episode that was broadcast just seven months after his death.

And he probably inspired a lot of Texans to pay more attention to who their kids were hanging around with.

That’s all for this post. Until next time, cheers. — RR

Watch the Forensic Files episode on YouTube

Author: Rebecca Reisner

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