| On September 11, 1998, Amanda Brown disappeared from her home at the hands of a child predator. Although her abductor has been brought to justice, her body was never found. The Amanda Brown Foundation was formed to educate others about the dangers of child abductions and to provide families with resources, information and comfort during a crisis. |
August 27, 2008
Decomposing body was in Casey Anthony's trunk, air-sample tests show
Air sample tests from Casey Anthony's car show a decomposing human body was inside the trunk, a sheriff's office official just confirmed.
Officials have offered Anthony a partial immunity deal if she admits 3-year-old Caylee Marie died as a result of an accident. If she takes the deal, any information Anthony provides to law-enforcement could not be used against her in prosecution.
Danielle Tavernier, spokeswoman for the Orange-Osceola State Attorney's Office, said they are not disclosing any details of their prosecution, but that Anthony had been "invited to our office to shed light on the disappearance of the victim in this case."
During a bond hearing in July, investigators said they had found strands of hair, a questionable stain and bits of dirt in the trunk of Anthony's white Pontiac. That evidence led Orange County Sheriff's Office investigators to think it's possible that Caylee Marie is dead and her mother may be involved.
Family members initially said the smell came from a rotting pizza. But a 911 recording shows Cindy Anthony -- the missing girl's grandmother -- said it "smelled like there's been a dead body in the damn car."
Air samples from her car were sent to the University of Tenn. Body Farm and those results confirmed the investigator's preliminary conclusions.
Investigators with the Orange County Sheriff's Office met with Cindy Anthony and her daughter at attorney Jose Baez Kissimmee office today. Cindy Anthony walked out with Baez at 4:45 p.m. without commenting to reporters. Baez said he would make a public statement at the Anthony's east Orange County home later today.
Investigators left the attorney's office shortly afterward without commenting.
Casey Anthony had left Baez's office more than an hour earlier, wearing dark sunglasses, a shirt with Caylee Marie's picture and the court-ordered monitoring device on her ankle.
Meanwhile, California bounty hunter Leonard Padilla said Anthony has made no effort to help him find Caylee, he told the Orlando Sentinel on Wednesday.
"She has not communicated with us at all," Padilla said. "She has no interest in communicating with us."
Padilla, whose nephew posted Anthony's $500,200 bail last week, said if he knew what he knew today about the case, and that the 22-year-old wouldn't cooperate with him, he probably would not have helped get her out of jail.
Padilla said he still thinks Caylee is alive and that Anthony handed her off to someone. But he does not believe the toddler was dropped off with a baby-sitter named Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez, which is what Anthony has told detectives.
"We don't believe [Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez] exists," Padilla said.
"[Anthony's] got an invisible friend that's called Zenaida," he said. "She's got a world that she lives in that's apart from ours."
Padilla said he is using Anthony's cell phone records as part of his own investigation and has spoken to some of her friends.
Continue reading "Decomposing body was in Casey Anthony's trunk, air-sample tests show"
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August 23, 2008
SARAH LUNDE REST IN PEACE
Matthew 5:21: Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment.
Another chapter in the death of Sarah Lunde has closed with the conviction of David Lee Onstott for Murder In the 2nd Degree. Although the chapter closes, there is another and another behind it. The appeals process will go on forever, just ask Roy Brown. His daughter murdered ten years ago September 11th is still having his emotions stirred with appeals and hearings.
Other than the needless loss of a child, the hardest part, getting Onstott brought to justice and convicted. Now that it is over and there is some closure, there is no getting better as nothing will bring her back.
May God bless both families and hold Sarah in the palm of His hand until you can see her again.
Our thoughts and prayers are with you daily!
Roy, Sylvia and the entire Amanda Brown Foundation.
Posted by admin at 3:39 PM | Comments (1)
Onstott Gets 'Maximum Punishment'
By THOMAS W. KRAUSE
The Tampa Tribune
Published: August 23, 2008
TAMPA - Sarah Michelle Lunde's mother asked a judge on Friday to put David Lee Onstott in prison for the rest of his life.
If he gets out, Kelly May told the judge, he will kill someone else.
Circuit Judge Ronald Ficarrotta seemed to agree. He turned to Onstott.
"By your own words, you are a danger to this community," the judge said. "You are a volcano. ... You deserve the maximum punishment that I can give you."
He sentenced Onstott to life in prison. In Florida, there is no chance for parole.
Onstott's attorneys had asked for leniency for the man who was convicted Thursday of second-degree murder for the slaying of 13-year-old Sarah.
Onstott said some words of his own, his first public statements since his 2005 arrest.
Onstott thanked his friends and family for their support and said he was sorry for the pain he caused them. Then, he addressed May, a woman he once saw casually during a three-month sexual relationship.
"For what it's worth," he said. "I'm sure she don't want to hear it: Kelly, you know, my condolences. I'm sorry."
Kelly shot back.
"No you're not," she said.
During two weeks of trial, prosecutors and defense attorneys argued over key pieces of evidence. With no DNA or fingerprints linking Onstott to Sarah, the case was built mainly on conversations between Onstott and his mother, Onstott and his former wife and Onstott and a deputy at the jail.
Some of the most contentious arguments in court may not have had much bearing in the jury room, according to one of the jurors.
Karen Dill said the jury was thoughtful, hardworking and extremely conscientious over 13 hours of deliberation spread over two days.
Fairly early in the deliberations, Dill said, all the jurors seemed to agree that Onstott killed Sarah. Their next task was much more important: to determine whether the evidence proved that he did. Without that, they would not convict.
"We all said we're here for a reason," Dill said. "We chose to enter this trial with a fair mind."
The jurors often referred to the jury instructions handed to them by the judge. They paid close attention to them and read them "over and over and over again," Dill said.
They paid especially close attention to the words "credible evidence" and "reasonable doubt."
"We had to discuss what was there and what wasn't there," she said.
Recording Was Key
The key piece of evidence, Dill said, was the recording of Onstott speaking to his mother. The recording was about 11/2 hours long. The jurors took five hours to listen to it.
"We stopped, we replayed, we discussed, we relistened," Dill said. "We tried to discuss what it was and what it meant."
The jurors were handed a transcript in court to help them follow along. The judge told them it was only a guide and the recording - not the transcript - was the evidence. Dill said the transcript was not entirely accurate and the jurors did not pay attention to it.
One of the points of contention among the attorneys in the courtroom was a section of the tape where Onstott leans in to speak to his mother. Prosecutors contend he said: "Because I killed her."
Defense attorneys argued that the tape was too muffled to make out what he said.
Dill said some of the jurors, when they first listened, agreed with prosecutors. When they listened to it several times, however, they agreed not to consider it in their deliberations.
As a group, they decided they would not give credence to anything unless they were sure they could make it out entirely.
"We heard what he said," Dill said. "He did not say that. He said: 'Because I feel it.'"
Eventually, the jurors all agreed that the totality of evidence did prove that Onstott killed Sarah. Almost immediately, Dill said, they agreed it was not premeditated murder.
"We could not agree there was enough evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that it was first-degree" murder, she said. "We also threw out manslaughter right away."
Eventually, all agreed that Onstott committed second-degree murder, meaning he acted with a depraved mind but not premeditation.
"We were able to gather enough information that we were all able to agree with what we had beyond a reasonable doubt," she said.
Dill said jurors also paid little attention to a portion of the evidence where Onstott tells his former wife that he has broken every one of the Ten Commandments.
She said jurors thought the statements almost showed Onstott's human side - as if he were expressing remorse. Ultimately, however, they could not agree on whether Onstott was talking about killing, as was the prosecution's theory, or committing adultery, as the defense argued.
Finally, all the jurors determined there was not enough evidence to prove the charge of attempted sexual battery - although most thought he did commit that crime, Dill said.
Deliberation 'Was Very Difficult'
Dill said the jurors were surprised when they were allowed to go home Wednesday night and return Thursday. She said it allowed them all to rest and gather their thoughts.
"The deliberation was very difficult," she said. "When we went home, there were people on both sides and a lot of people in between. We really had to deliberate over a lot of issues."
After their service was done, Dill said, she wanted to know more about the case. She was not allowed to watch or listen to any news for the past two weeks. She said she took that instruction very seriously.
"Last night, when it was all said and done, I sat at my computer because I really wanted to know," she said.
She watched an interview with Sarah's mom, Kelly May.
In court, Dill said, May showed no emotion. Some jurors commented about whether May was an attentive mother, although the jurors agreed it had no bearing on the case, Dill said.
When Dill saw May on television, she was relieved.
"I was heartened to hear that she had a heart and a reaction and it was in the right place," Dill said.
Outside the courtroom Friday, after Onstott was sentence to life, May spoke with reporters about the end of the three-year case against Onstott.
Initially, prosecutors said they would seek the death penalty. That decision later was reversed.
"Life in prison is death in my opinion," May said. "He's a piece of crap off the streets. Everyone should sleep a little easier."
Case Had 'Many Hurdles'
State Attorney Mark Ober said he was satisfied with the verdict and sentence, even though his attorneys had pushed for a first-degree murder conviction.
"We had many hurdles in this case," he said. "But we were confident as we proceeded with this case."
Asked whether he was confident in Onstott's guilt or confident he could get a conviction, Ober was quick with an answer.
"I knew he did it," Ober said.
He added that he was confident in his prosecutors' ability to present the evidence they did have.
Regarding a statement Onstott made to detectives, one that the judge threw out because Onstott was not provided an attorney when he requested one, Ober was conciliatory. He said lawyers can sit in "high-backed chairs" and point out mistakes made in the heat of interrogation.
"We learn," he said. "Sometimes we learn from our mistakes."
Ober said he sat down with Sheriff David Gee this week, as he has done several times during this case. He told Gee that he was unsatisfied with the quality of the tape recordings.
In the end, Ober said, justice was served. When Onstott told May that he was sorry, Ober said, it helps prove the right verdict was reached.
"Perhaps what he said today was an admission," Ober said. "It seems to me, his apology is another admission of guilt."
Onstott's public defender, John Skye, said he didn't agree. He said an appeal is expected.
"I think he is telling Kelly May that he was sorry for her loss," Skye said. "I said the same thing and I didn't confess."
Reporter Thomas W. Krause can be reached at (813) 259-7698 or tkrause@tampatrib.com.
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August 22, 2008
Casey Anthony is helping, sincerely worried
Casey Anthony is talking freely with her parents and helping with new leads into whereabouts of missing 3-year-old Caylee Marie, the family's spokesman said today.
"She is being cooperative and is sincerely worried about the well-being of her child. There is no doubt that this child has been kidnapped," said Los Angeles-based spokesman Larry Garrison. He said she is providing more details she couldn't give in jail.
Anthony, who has pleaded not guilty to charges of child neglect and filing a false report, was released from the Orange County Jail on Thursday after more than a month behind bars.
Garrison refused to go into details about what information supports a kidnapping. Garrison said it would impact the ongoing investigation.
Orange County Sheriff's Office spokesman Capt. Angelo Nieves could not immediately be reached for comment.
Investigators have said that Anthony is the key to their missing-person case. But they said the 22-year-old mother has lied about what happened.
After Anthony's release from jail, Nieves said this in a statement: "The fact that Casey Anthony has bonded out of jail changes nothing in our investigation and our determination to resolve this case."
Dressed in the same light blue hooded shirt and jeans she was wearing on her arrest day, Anthony emerged from the jail at 10:28 a.m. Thursday shielded by her attorneys under a black umbrella.
The trio was greeted by a throng of media who shouted questions at the woman deputies have named a "person of interest" in Caylee's disappearance.
At one point, a seemingly frightened and frail Anthony leaned toward attorney Jos� Baez and asked him to remove the umbrella.
" 'I'm innocent. I want to walk out of this place with my head high,' " Anthony whispered in Baez's ear, he later told reporters.
But shortly after her request, the media swarm became too much. Baez shoved a reporter, and then shouted at the group to get back.
Anthony was ushered into a waiting black Dodge Durango and they sped away.
The 15-mile trip from the jail to the Anthony home on Hopespring Drive in the Lee Vista area was mostly silent, Padilla said.
An entourage of vehicles rushed into the neighborhood. A pickup truck drove up onto Anthony's yard, blocking one side of the driveway, while a minivan stopped on the opposite side. The Dodge Durango pulled in between the vehicles and rushed into the open garage.
The door immediately shut.
It was behind closed doors and away from the media that the tearful reunion took place, Baez said.
Home confinement
Anthony has been placed on home confinement and can only leave her parents' house for a handful of reasons, including lawyer visits, court appearances and church.
Anthony is scheduled to be back in court for a pre-trial conference Nov. 5.
Walter Pacheco can be reached at wpacheco@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-6262. Bianca Prieto can be reached at bprieto@orlandosentinel.com at 407-420-5620. Amy L. Edwards can be reached at 407-420-5735 or aledwards@orlandosentinel.com.
Posted by admin at 3:45 PM | Comments (0)
August 18, 2008
Coralrose suspect 'a typical burglar'
By John Davis
Published: Sunday, August 17, 2008 at 1:00 a.m.
Last Modified: Sunday, August 17, 2008 at 11:30 p.m.
It was Jan. 16, 2007, almost four months to the day that 6-year-old Coralrose Fullwood's body was found in a vacant lot near her North Port home. North Port Police detectives Carrie Olivo and Chris Morales sat across from Patrick Murphy in the Charlotte County jail.
Patrick Murphy did not stand out when the North Port police processed him on a burglary charge.
Finding Coralrose's killer was a top priority for North Port police, but other cases had to be worked as well, even small-time burglaries like this one. A stolen ATV had been found in the yard of Murphy's North Port home. Olivo and Morales were building the case against him.
The pair had no way of knowing that they sat within arm's reach of the man who would later be charged with Coralrose's kidnapping, rape and murder.
Murphy, 27, passed through Southwest Florida's legal system for years without drawing much scrutiny. He was inconspicuous because hundreds of others in the system appeared to be just like him: blue-collar guys who had let drugs get the best of them.
Those who crossed Murphy's path in recent years say they never suspected that he could be capable of the crimes he is now accused of committing.
He did not seem especially evil or stick out in any way.
Even when Murphy came up as the case's prime suspect in law enforcement circles last month, Morales did not remember him.
"He was just a typical burglar," Morales said. "No different than any of the other burglars we've been interviewing up to this date. Nothing stuck out."
At the time of Coralrose's death, Murphy was on probation in Charlotte County for marijuana possession, a misdemeanor. Records show that he met with his probation officer on Sept. 5, 12 days before Coralrose was abducted and killed. Murphy met with his probation officer again on Oct. 5.
During that time, multiple agencies were working to find Coralrose's killer. Hundreds of voluntary DNA samples would be taken from residents during the investigation, but Murphy's house, about two miles away from the crime scene, was outside of the police canvass area. He continued his career in petty crime, unconnected to the escalating search for Coralrose's killer.
Records show that Murphy's probation was routine, his violations common: He skipped meetings with the probation officer and his court-ordered drug test came back positive for methamphetamine.
In Charlotte County, a meth addict arrested for stealing is common, not enough of a crime to raise eyebrows. So in June of last year, when Punta Gorda police interrogated Murphy about other burglaries, his situation was unremarkable.
The Coralrose case was nine months old when Punta Gorda detectives Thomas Lewis and Harvey Ayers met with Murphy at the Charlotte County jail.
Murphy admitted to stealing tools and generators to trade for drugs, but nothing more serious, nothing that would set off any alarms.
He asked for drug counseling.
"I'm very sorry," Murphy told the detectives. "That drug takes over your body and you really have no control over what you're doing. You do but you don't."
Even Lewis, now a captain in the department, did not remember questioning Murphy, though he sat with him for more than two hours. Lewis had to go back through police records to refresh his memory.
"I didn't get like a pedophile vibe from him," Lewis said.
Detectives in Punta Gorda and North Port did not know at the time that they were laying the groundwork for the felony conviction that would prompt the state to collect a DNA sample from Murphy. That sample matched the DNA of a sample taken from Coralrose's body, authorities said, and led to Murphy's arrest on Tuesday. He remains in the Sarasota County jail without bail.
For others who had contact with Murphy in recent years, Tuesday's arrest is an example of how impossible it is to predict what someone might be capable of.
"We were all feeling devastated for the loss," said Jon Embury, who was Murphy's probation officer for part of 2006 and is now a court administrator.
"And just the fact that we had contact with him has devastated us," Embury said.
If Murphy is guilty of raping and killing Coralrose, he held close to that secret even as he admitted to other crimes and let his drug use go unchecked. The secret was not revealed in interrogation rooms or by the law enforcement databases checked by Murphy's probation officer. And Murphy remains silent in jail, even as he faces murder charges and possibly the death penalty -- a far leap from the petty crimes for which he has already been convicted.
"You never know. You just never know what else this person's done," Morales said. "Some other crime he committed elsewhere, and you're just talking to him about a simple burglary. You just don't know. You only go with what you got."
Posted by admin at 7:10 AM | Comments (0)
August 14, 2008
Arrest brings kudos, but also new leads
By John Davis
Published: Thursday, August 14, 2008 at 1:00 a.m.
Last Modified: Thursday, August 14, 2008 at 12:38 a.m.
NORTH PORT - A year after 6-year-old Coralrose Fullwood's body was found in an empty North Port lot, Police Chief Terry Lewis called a news conference to remind the public that the case had not gone cold and that the person or persons who committed the crime would be caught.
Patrick Murphy is charged in the murder case.
The odds were stacked against Lewis' prediction coming true. Experts say that most murder cases are solved within days or at most weeks of the crime, since that is when the evidence and any potential witness recollections are the freshest.
Many skeptics pointed to Lewis' news conference itself as a sign that the Coralrose case had lost steam.
All of that changed Tuesday with the announcement that Patrick Murphy, 27, a roofer in state prison for burglary, was being charged with Coralrose's rape and murder. Authorities said his DNA was found on her body.
"It was a very, very good day for the community," said Lewis, noting that North Port officers are being congratulated while out on their rounds, and a handful of people have stopped Lewis at the supermarket to slap him on the back.
The chief insists he never doubted that an arrest was forthcoming, though he admits that "there have been ups and downs" over the past 22 months.
Wary at first that the DNA evidence was another false lead or dead end, among hundreds in the case, authorities are now confident enough to publicly accuse Murphy; Lewis is predicting more arrests.
Public accolades aside, there has not been much time to celebrate in North Port. Murphy's arrest and renewed media interest have netted investigators dozens of new leads, and the case is ramping up to levels of manpower and resources not seen in months.
Tuesday's developments will now touch off an intense investigation and complex legal process in which Murphy's life -- and possibly others' -- could ultimately be on the line.
Experts say that investigators and prosecutors are now in a race to see whether they can catch other people thought to be involved in the crime and build a compelling case, starting with Murphy's DNA.
"If this is something where other people were involved, they know from the newspaper accounts that the police think other people were involved," said Larry Byrd, a local criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor. "So if they were to run, they would run by now."
Murphy has declined to speak with investigators, and a judge has sealed the documents outlining the case against him. But authorities have confirmed that there is a DNA match and that investigators have been working leads in the case, including visiting Murphy's Kentucky birthplace.
Prosecutors, according to Byrd, are using the growing investigation to look for evidence that will build on the DNA match.
What they find will help them determine whether to seek the death penalty, and how much cooperation they will need from Murphy to close the case.
"The state is not about to make a deal with anybody unless their back is really to the wall," Byrd said.
Meanwhile, authorities remain tight lipped about whether anyone else was involved or whether DNA from more than one person was found at the murder scene.
Coralrose was reported missing on the morning of Sept. 17, 2006, and her body was found a few hours later in woods near her North Port home.
Experts say the first goal will be to catch everyone involved and build strong cases against them. If that proves difficult, Murphy could offer to help authorities.
"The biggest thing in these sorts of cases a person has to bargain with is their life," said Drake Buckman, a Sarasota attorney who has defended people in capital murder cases.
Buckman said that Murphy's DNA is formidable evidence that could be difficult to build a defense against, depending on other details such as the type of genetic material and where it was found.
"Most people know what DNA is and they trust DNA," Buckman said.
It could be a year or more before Murphy or any potential co-defendants go before a jury, but that has not stopped Lewis from predicting that, just as the Murphy break came this week, others will follow as investigators from the city, state and surrounding counties work to bring closure to the case.
"I would much rather that Coralrose be in second or third grade at Toledo Blade Elementary School," said Lewis on Wednesday. "But that didn't happen."
____
Staff writer Todd Ruger contributed to this report.
Posted by admin at 5:17 AM | Comments (0)
State Focuses On Onstott Tape
By THOMAS W. KRAUSE and RAY REYES
The Tampa Tribune
Published: August 14, 2008
Updated: 12:22 am
TAMPA - More than three years after her daughter's body was found submerged in a pond near her Ruskin home, Kelly May was again in the same room with David Lee Onstott, the man accused of killing 13-year-old Sarah Michelle Lunde.
"It's tough. It's very tough," May said after attending the first day of Onstott's trial Wednesday. "Sarah is dead. There is nothing we can do about that." But a conviction, she said, would prevent another child from suffering the same fate.
In opening statements, prosecutors for the first time divulged details of a conversation between Onstott and a jail deputy. The deputy will testify that Onstott acknowledged having an argument with Sarah about May the night she disappeared, Assistant State Attorney Sean Keefe said.
Onstott, who once was May's occasional boyfriend, described to the deputy how he killed Sarah, Keefe said.
The defense said the deputy didn't tell anyone, including detectives and supervisors, about Onstott's supposed confession for 11 months.
The log entry the deputy made that night made no mention of a conversation with Onstott, said Assistant Public Defender John Skye. The deputy said he made notes about the exchange, Skye said, but later lost the notebook.
Keefe told jurors that when Onstott was in custody a week after Sarah's body was found, he was emotional and was allowed to speak to his mother, who had flown down from Michigan.
"You will hear the defendant begging his mother to let him go," Keefe said of the recorded conversations. "He tells her this is not her fault. He says that sometimes there is a volcano inside of him" and that he is never going to see the outside of prison again.
She asks why, and Onstott leans toward her and says something difficult to understand, prosecutors said.
Keefe told jurors they will hear him say, "Because I killed her."
Skye told the jury Onstott said no such thing to his mother. Onstott's words on the tape are so quiet, he said, they can only be described as a "muffle."
Skye began laying the groundwork for casting reasonable doubt of Onstott's guilt and told jurors to pay close attention to the testimony of Sarah's brother, Andrew, and his friend Darryl Daust. The teens' story changed over the years in interviews with detectives and in sworn statements to prosecutors, Skye said.
The teens spoke briefly with Sarah when she returned from a church trip on April 9, 2005, a Saturday.
Andrew and Darryl then went out to get food. When the teens returned, Sarah was gone.
Under cross examination by a public defender, May said that Sarah had a history of running away or sneaking out the house. That is why she was not initially alarmed when Sarah was not home, May said.
When Sarah did not show up at school on Monday, May reported her daughter missing. Sarah's body was found face down and weighted by concrete blocks in a muddy pond.
Andrew lied to his mother and police about how long he and Darryl had been out, Skye said. Darryl also lied and did not immediately tell police that he had sex on two occasions with Sarah, Skye said. Darryl's DNA was later found in her bed.
Prosecutors argue that Onstott went to May's home shortly after the teens left to get food. When Onstott was seen the next day, his jeans were wet from mid-shin to his shoes and he left muddy footprints in the house, Andrew said on the witness stand.
Court records show that investigators had no physical evidence tying Onstott to the crime. Neither Onstott's truck nor his girlfriend's truck showed any connection to Sarah or where she was found, Skye said.
Onstott, 40, is charged with murder in Sarah's slaying and faces life in prison if convicted. However, prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty.
The trial resumes at 8:30 a.m. today.
Reporter Thomas W. Krause can be reached at (813) 259-7698 or tkrause@tamaptrib.com. Reporter Ray Reyes can be reached at (813) 259-7920 or rreyes@tampatrib.com.
Posted by admin at 5:06 AM | Comments (0)
August 13, 2008
Arrest revitalizes Coralrose case
NORTH PORT - Nearly two years after 6-year-old Coralrose Fullwood disappeared from her bed in the middle of the night, detectives have charged a state prison inmate with her murder.
North Port Police Chief Terry Lewis announces Tuesday that a suspect has been arrested in the rape and killing of Coralrose Fullwood.
Patrick Dewane Murphy, 27, who lived two miles away from Coralrose's North Port home when she was killed in September 2006, was also charged Tuesday with her kidnapping and rape.
Murphy had been in Avon Park state prison since February after being convicted of grand theft and burglary. While he was in prison, authorities took his DNA sample and police say they learned about two weeks ago that it matched that of DNA found on Coralrose's body.
Detectives said they still believe there are other people who were involved in the crime.
And they have not dispelled suspicion of Coralrose's father, Dale Fullwood, who is in prison on a probation violation charge related to child pornography found on his computer during the investigation.
Murphy has declined to speak with detectives, said North Port Police Chief Terry Lewis, who added that Tuesday's publicity led to a handful of tips about him that warrant "immediate follow-up."
Lewis also said officers have found no connection between Murphy and Coralrose or her family, but detectives do not think the crime was random.
"We're still looking very aggressively at a connection between Murphy and someone else," Lewis said.
Coralrose's mother, Ellen-Beth Fullwood, said the arrest came as a relief.
"I'm grateful that we've gotten to this point, finally," she told reporters at a press conference Tuesday.
Lewis gave scant details Tuesday, and a judge has sealed the affidavit in which officers outline the evidence they have against Murphy.
Since Murphy was connected to Coralrose's body by a state-operated DNA database on July 26, detectives have redoubled their efforts in the case, Lewis said.
"Investigators want to learn a lot more about what Mr. Murphy was doing in September 2006."
On Sept. 16, Dale Fullwood worked a late shift as bartender at a North Fort Myers bar. He said he saw her at 2 a.m. when he arrived home from work.
Sleeping in the three-bedroom house that night were Dale Fullwood, Coralrose's mother Ellen-Beth, and five children. Other rooms in the house had been converted into bedrooms, so each child could have his or her own room.
Family members noticed Coralrose was missing about 7 a.m., when they awoke to celebrate the birthday of her sister, September Fullwood.
She was found by a neighbor about noon, wrapped in a comforter at a vacant lot a few blocks from the Fullwoods' North Port home.
The DNA link between Murphy and Coralrose was made in late July by analysts in a lab operated by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
Like all felons in Florida, Murphy had a DNA sample taken after his conviction.
Though he lived near the Fullwoods, Murphy was not one of the hundreds of people who submitted to DNA testing by police so they could be eliminated as suspects in the girl's death, police said.
Before Murphy's arrest Tuesday morning, investigators spent about two weeks gathering information about Murphy and his whereabouts at the time of the murder.
"There really was no need to rush it," said E.J. Picolo, FDLE special agent in charge. "We knew where he was."
Murphy was then transferred to the Hardee Correctional Institution, where he met with investigators on Friday.
Murphy refused to speak with investigators about the Coralrose case and was transferred to the Sarasota County Jail on Monday night.
In his order to seal the documents, Circuit Judge Robert Bennett wrote that releasing the record would jeopardize the ongoing investigation.
Investigators from North Port, FDLE, Sarasota and Charlotte counties will continue to work the case, and have ramped up the investigation based on the DNA evidence and Murphy's arrest, Lewis said.
Investigators credited the state policy of gathering DNA information on all felons as key in breaking this and other cases.
"It just multiplies the potential for you to be able to solve any crime," said Picolo, who added that the number of cases being cleared by DNA "is literally exploding before our eyes."
Dennis Nales, the 12th Judicial Circuit chief assistant state attorney, said it was too early for prosecutors to decide whether they would pursue the death penalty.
"We haven't even seen the reports, we have to review the case and review his criminal history before we make that decision," Nales said.
Dale Fullwood is in the Jackson Correctional Institution. He served a year in jail after pleading no contest last year to possessing child pornography, a felony. The pornography was found on Dale Fullwood's computer.
Police Chief Lewis has said that the images on Fullwood's computer were not related to the murder investigation.
Ellen-Beth Fullwood and Dale Fullwood separated soon after Coralrose's death.
The day after his release from jail in February, Dale Fullwood went to a relative's house to pick up some of his possessions.
While there, he reportedly touched his grand-niece on the hand, which a judge found to be a violation of his sex offender probation.
He was sentenced to three years in prison.
Staff writers Anthony Cormier, Todd Ruger and Kate Spinner contributed to this report.
Posted by admin at 11:29 AM | Comments (2)
CORALROSE FULLWOOD'S MURDER SUSPECT IDENTIFIED
SARASOTA COUNTY - Patrick Murphy's felony burglary conviction meant court bailiffs swabbed the inside of his mouth immediately after his sentencing to get a DNA sample.
Seven months later, that sample was matched to DNA recovered from Coralrose Fullwood's body, leading to a flurry of activity in an investigation that had gone on for two years without any arrests.
The case authorities are making against Murphy illustrates the effect of a change in state law that requires every felon to give a DNA sample.
It takes longer for the state's DNA workers to process the evidence, but that database of 532,851 offenders has generated nearly 9,000 leads in open investigations.
Links between DNA from crime scenes and known offenders had led to two Sarasota County murder arrests before Murphy was charged with the murder of Coralrose Fullwood on Tuesday.
Murphy went to prison for burglary in February. His cheek swab went to a state lab in Tallahassee in March.
His sample was one of 10,802 processed in July. And the next day, July 26, a software program identified him as a slaying suspect and automatically sent a message to investigators in North Port.
It was one of 322 matches statewide that month.
The state has been collecting DNA samples since 1990, gradually expanding the requirement to more offenders.
At the end of July, there were 13,000 samples that had been waiting to be processed for more than 30 days.
About 10,000 to 12,000 new samples arrive every month for the 20 workers in the DNA database division to process.
There is a priority list for processing the samples, with registered sex offenders on the top of the list.
"Someone who is incarcerated might not be as high up as someone on the streets," said Florida Department of Law Enforcement spokeswoman Kristen Perezluha.
A database match is not enough to use in court. But it allows investigators to get a search warrant to collect a new sample, which can be analyzed for use at trial.
Posted by admin at 9:16 AM | Comments (0)
August 10, 2008
THE WHEELS OF INJUSTICE
Just how long does Roy Brown and his family have to put up with this bureaucratic nonsense? Amanda was kidnapped and killed by Willie Seth Crain on September 11, 1998. Roy has been without his daughter since that day which equates to ten (10) years in just a few weeks. Meanwhile the scum of the earth sits in a climate controlled cell; receives three (3) meals a day and health care. Roy has worked and is unable to afford health care for himself and has grieved the loss of his daughter twenty-four hours a day for nearly ten years.
There was a evidence hearing scheduled for September 22, 2008 in Tampa for WC which stirred all the emotions of Roy, one more time. Reliving all the bad memories of Amanda's loss. Now information is received that the hearing has been postponed until later in the year.
This is one more example of the rights of a murderer vs the rights of Amanda and her family. He should have been put to death years ago. There should be legislation enacted that requires ALL appeals occurring within the first two years after sentencing.
Posted by admin at 1:53 PM | Comments (1)
