Killer Wants New Trial?

When I read this news report this morning I literally had to get up and take a walk to blow off steam.  It was like a punch in the stomach that took my breath away!  

Attorney: Fulks should get new trial in killing

Posted: Feb 22, 2010 9:41 AM ESTUpdated: Feb 22, 2010 9:46 AM EST

COLUMBIA, SC (AP) - Attorneys for a man on federal death row after being convicted of kidnapping and murdering a South Carolina woman say their client should not be executed and deserves a new trial.

Chadrick Fulks' new defense team says he should get a new trial because his original lawyers were ineffective. They're expected to begin making those arguments at a hearing Monday in federal court in Columbia. Fulks is expected to appear by video conference from federal death row in Terre Haute, IN.

Fulks and co-defendant Brandon Basham were convicted of killing Alice Donovan during a two-week crime spree after they escaped from a Kentucky jail in 2002.

Attorney Beattie Ashmore says his client's assistance in finding Donovan's remains should be taken into account in determining his fate.

So Chadrick Fulks, a confessed killer, has a new team of attorneys saying that his original team was ineffective.  Ineffective at what!?  Fulks and Basham got caught, were convicted and sentenced to death.  Why do they have the right to a "do-over?"  Alice Donovan and Samantha Burns are still dead, they will never have a chance at a "do-over!"

I'm so sick of hearing about killers and their rights!  What about Alice's rights, what about Samantha's rights?  What about the rights of their surviving families?  Our justice system has gone insane when they grant convicted killers more than enough legal representation, paid for by taxpayers, when the families of the victim can barely pay for a funeral in many cases!  What about their rights!?

So Fulks and his new attorney feel that because he finally told where he and Basham stashed Alice's body that he is hoping to get a pass on his death sentence?  What the attorneys didn't say was that it took him 6 damned years to do it!  Could this be the reason Fulks has lead searchers for Samantha Burns on a wild goose chase based on his information? Samantha has yet to be found!  Does he think that Samantha's family should take that into account when he asks for a new trial?

The insanity has to stop!  I will remind you that this is not a questionable case where circumstantial evidence convicted Fulks and Basham, where DNA evidence may prove them innocent.  I've read the appeal  where they told every grisly detail of what they did to their victims.  They were found guilty and sentenced to death and these families will not find peace until the evil stops rearing it's ugly head as a reminder.

It doesn't matter that Alice Donovan found a happy life in South Carolina, or that Samantha Burns was working towards a good career, these two snuffed out everything for them and their families.  

Frankly, I'm sick of them, period.   Yes, Angie, "with bells on."

COMMENT FROM ALICE'S DAUGHTER:

This whole thing is just utterly crazy and I can't even believe that it is happening. I never thought or dreamed in a million years that we would be in this situation six years later. In 2004 we sat in a federal court room and listened to what he and Basham did to our mother. We saw their clothes, we saw pictures and we saw video of them carjacking my mother. I had to get on the stand and testify because I was the person that my mother spoke to while she was captured and then I had to get up on the stand again for the Victims Impact Statement. I had to sit in the court room for hours starring at the back of this bastards head. And never once did he look at me or the rest of my mothers family. He is the biggest coward I have ever seen...We had to listen to his ex-wife tell us about how he abused her and the little baby Miles..This man is a monster no matter how you look at him...And just because he "finally" decided to lead people to my mother does not make him a decent human being...To me he is still the piece of shit that raped and murdered my mother and he deserves to die!

I honestly don't know what I am going to do if I have to go through another trial. The agony of it all is more than words can explain..I can remember when we were told that the jury had come to a verdict. We all walked into the court room..The court room was full to the point where people were standing. The room was full of federal court marshalls..And as we sat there waiting for the jury to enter and give the judge their verdict it seemed like eternity. As the judge read the paper, my mind drifted off to a far away place and I could barely hear his voice. With tears falling from my eyes, and my inner voice begging for him to die...And then I heard the judge say death....With the tears still streaming from my eyes, I smiled with relief and began to sob for my mom....Justice was served or so I thought.....

Michelle Rust: Missing Mother From Maryland

On July 20, 2002 Michelle Rust left her home to go shopping for birthday supplies for her son's third birthday party which was being held later the same day.  What started out as a trip to the store ended up being the last time anyone has seen Michelle.  The last person to see her, her husband, Dwight, or "D.J."

When she didn't return to her home in Halethorpe, MD on time, family members started searching for her and found her vehicle abandoned in the neighboring community, Landsdowne, with a key broken off on the driver's side door lock.

The community and family came together and organized searches for Michelle, but they did not yield any clues as to her whereabouts.  No clothing, jewelry or personal items were ever found, not even a black bag she carried with her diabetic supplies inside.  After several months authorities categorized her vanishing as foul play and, of course, started searching for suspects.

It's reported that her husband, "D.J." was having extramarital affairs and feared that one of his girlfriends may have done harm to Michelle.  Authorities said that no one has reported seeing Michelle leave her home that day, other than what "D.J." told them.  He maintains his innocence in her disappearance and says that he saw her in her vehicle rounding the bend while leaving their home.  He also states there was no one else seen in the car with her.

Michelle Rust was attending Halethorpe Community Church and helped coordinate the youth activities there.  Those who knew her, adults and youth alike, described her as "likable with a passion and a heart for people."  Several of the youth befriended her and her vanishing left them mourning and praying for her return.  Although her parents, Ray and Gwen Lins, have accepted the fact that she is likely dead, they also describe her as a loving, caring mother who would never leave her child.

Although "D.J." Rust divorced Michelle in 2007, he still lives in the same home from which she disappeared in 2002 and retains custody of their son.   He has not been ruled out as a suspect.  After all these years the only ones who have been ruled out as suspects are Michelle's parents, Ray and Gwen Lins, who continue to miss her.

There is still an open and ongoing investigation and someone knows something.  By circulating this article around the internet you will be doing your small part in possibly getting the information in front of that someone who knows.

From FBI:

DESCRIPTION

Date of Birth: July 27, 1977
Place of Birth: Baltimore, Maryland 
Sex: Female
Hair: Red 
Height: 5'4"
Eyes: Blue 
Weight: 140 pounds
Race: White 


REMARKS

Michelle Rust was last known to be wearing a black v-neck shirt along with the following jewelry: a white gold cross necklace, a blue sapphire ring, and a diamond engagement ring. She is an insulin dependent diabetic.

Individuals with information concerning this case should take no action themselves, but instead immediately contact the nearest FBI Office or local law enforcement agency. For any possible sighting outside the United States, contact the nearest United States Embassy or Consulate.


If you have any information concerning this case, please contact: 
Baltimore County Police 
410-307-2020 
OR 
410-887-3943 

NamUs #MP 2279   https://www.findthemissing.org/cases/2279/0/

Jana Morton:Still Missing After One Year

Jana Morton left her ex-husband's home to visit her mother in Caswell County, NC.   Although her ex-husband, Charles Morton, wasn't too concerned when she didn't return the next day, he knew that when she hadn't been heard from in a week that something was wrong.  Her daughter reported that she was missing and her car was found weeks later in the parking lot of a grocery store.

According to reports it would be unusual for her to abandon her car, it was the only thing she owned and it was unlikely that she would give it up willingly.  Charles Morton admits that Jana "fell apart" when he got sick and had to have a leg amputated, she got into the wrong crowd and started using drugs.   She had been arrested and had just finished serving a short jail sentence, but was in need of help.

It's reported there is a person of interest in the investigation, Robert Mitchell Foust, who has a long criminal record including drugs and violence related crimes.  He admitted to authorities that he had possession and use of Jana Morton's car.

There is a family who waits for any bit of information on what happened to Jana, living with the fact that she is most likely deceased, except for her 17 year old daughter who holds out hope that her mother has just lost her memory and will come home safe.  Jana Morton's mother, Sherry Cloninger, hopes her granddaughter is right, but accepts that it's unlikely.

The teen has created missing person posters. The latest one announces that the family and sheriff’s department are offering a $6,000 reward for information about her disappearance. The poster says that “Michelle is a mother of a 17-year-old girl and 7-year-old boy who miss her.”

Jana Morton is part of Project Jason's Angels Awareness Program and you can go to their site and download a missing persons's poster to have copies made and distribute in the area of Alamance and Caswell Counties in North Carolina.  If you live near the area from which Jana vanished, please consider helping this family bring their loved one home.

The investigation into the disappearance is open and ongoing.  If you have any information you can add to help this family find their loved one, please call authorities.

“I drive to Burlington or Graham and I think and wonder if she is there,” Cloninger said. “I see a stretch of woods or a pond and wonder could she be there. It’s constant. It’s not just trying to accept the fact that she is gone. You just want to know where she is at. You just want to bring her home. I don’t want my kids to have to continue to live with it.”

When Morton’s white 1997 Dodge Intrepid was found, it had some damage to the hubcaps and steering. Cloninger wonders if anyone saw the car stuck somewhere before it was found on Feb. 27. She doesn’t know if anyone saw anything that could help the case. But if someone did, she hopes that person will come forward and give that information to the sheriff’s department.

Morton is white. She is 5 feet 2 inches tall and weighs about 115 pounds. Her hair is brown. Her eyes are hazel. She was last seen wearing a tie-dyed short sleeve shirt, blue jeans and white tennis shoes. She has a tattoo of a rose on her left upper chest.

Anyone with information can contact the sheriff’s department at 570-6313 or can give information anonymously through Crime Stoppers at 229-7100.

Where is Carrie Ann Monroe?

On January 20 Carrie Ann Monroe was staying with her boyfriend at a Comfort Inn along with their 2 year old son.   Carrie was last seen around 3:30 that afternoon.  5 or 6 days later her boyfriend reported her missing.

The boyfriend has not been named in news reports, but it's reported that he is in custody on unrelated charges.

According to Carrie Ann's father, Bob Monroe, she had not been spending much time with her family lately, and in the past would leave for a day or two, but not for any length of time before contacting a family member.  

Many questions arise surrounding the circumstances of her vanishing, especially what kind of relationship she had with the father of her child.  Was he isolating her from her family, or did she choose not to spend time with them?  Have their been any incidents of abuse reported either to police or other family members?

Of course, being the last person to see her, the boyfriend is going to be the first likely suspect until he can be ruled out and the investigation continues out from there.  

May Carrie Ann soon find her way home to her toddler and the family that misses her.

If you have any information, no matter how small please make contact below:

Carrie Ann Monroe, 26, was last seen approximately 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, January 20, 2010 at the Comfort Motel on the Berlin Turnpike in Berlin. Monroe was last seen wearing a black waist-length jacket, blue jeans and black sneakers with some type of red design. She is approximately 5' 2" tall, 120 pounds with brown hair and blue eyes.

She does not have a vehicle and is known to frequent both the Hartford and New Haven areas.

Anyone with any information regarding Monroe's disappearance is requested to call the Berlin Police Detective Division at 860-828-7080. Anonymous tips can also be submitted via this website by clicking on the following link: 

TIPS CARRIE ANN MONROE.

Sarah Rogers Missing Mother From Barrington, ME

Still no clues to woman's whereabouts


By NANCY WEST
New Hampshire Sunday News
2/7/2010

Sarah Rogers disappeared eight weeks ago today after racing out of the Barrington home she shares with her husband and toddler son. Her car was later found abandoned in the snow about 140 miles away in Clinton, Maine, the engine still running .

Rogers, 29, described by family as a talented artist, brilliant musician and loving mother, didn't come home for Christmas with her son, Elias. She never called, either.

The young mother, who had battled bipolar disorder since college and apparently was in a manic state at the time of her disappearance, also missed Elias' second birthday Jan. 27.

And still no word.

No bank-card activity, no sightings, no contact with any of the many people who love her, according to her father, Bob Rogers, a Florida attorney who has hired three private investigators to help find Sarah.

"It's horrible, the not knowing," said Rogers, who spoke on behalf of the family.

But yesterday offered some cause for hope, after a Maine State Police search of the area where Sarah Rogers' car was found indicated that she had not wandered into the woods, as her father had feared.

Police conducted the search with the VK9 Scent Specific Search and Recovery tandem of Julie Jones and her yellow Labrador retriever, Quincy. Using a pair of Sarah's leather pants, Quincy was able to track the missing women's movements that day, Jones said. Quincy was able to show Rogers crossed the median and the southbound lane of Interstate 95 and walked south for a bit, without entering the woods.

"What that told me is, Sarah got in a vehicle," Jones said.

Bob Rogers said that makes it all the more important to find out what happened as soon as possible.

"This gives me hope," he said, that his daughter is still alive.

Disturbing behavior

Rogers said he spoke with his daughter during the week before she left home and could tell her mental state was deteriorating. She had stopped taking the medication that helped her control her bipolar disorder, her father said.

"She was talking faster and faster, not always making sense, starting to become more emotional," he said.

Her blue Scion xB was tagged the day she left home, Dec. 13, 2009, first going north on I-95 through the Gardiner, Maine, toll plaza at about 1 p.m., then south at about 4 p.m., then north again at 5:07 p.m. Her car was found in Clinton, Maine, at about 6:15 p.m., Rogers said.

Her car was parked 10 feet into the median with the engine still running. The car was still in drive, the driver's side door left open.

Rogers' large purse was found 10 feet from the car, but her smaller purse with her bank cards and identification was missing. She had left her cell phone at home as she hastily left home that morning.

Footprints in the snow led across the median, then vanished, Bob Rogers said.

Sarah's condition could leave her mind racing or she could become catatonic and just lie down on the ground, he said.

Stephen McCausland, spokesman for Maine State Police, confirmed there hasn't been a clue as to Sarah's whereabouts.

"She ... just disappeared into thin air," McCausland said.

Maine State Police have conducted several searches where her car was found, all to no avail, McCausland said. There is no reason to suspect foul play, but police can't rule anything out because they don't know what happened to her, McCausland said.

"There are a thousand different scenarios," Bob Rogers said. "Could she have met with foul play? Sure. She could have hitched a ride with a bad guy."

Talented and troubled

Originally from south Florida, Sarah grew up living with her mother, nationally known artist Ora Sorensen, Bob Rogers said. Sarah sometimes worked in her mother's Delray Beach gallery and had sold some of her own paintings as well, Rogers said.

Sorensen described her daughter as "very brilliant -- beyond brilliant. She wrote music and was an amazing guitar player.

"She's very, very loved and missed. Our family is devastated and heartbroken, and we hope we see her soon," Sorenson said. "There are many people who love her."

Rogers said he always tried to stay close to his daughter even after he and her mother divorced when she was 2.

Sarah, a rebellious teenager, had a major breakdown when she was a student at Palm Beach Community College, he said. She was hospitalized after she was found wandering the streets.

On Dec. 13, 2009, Sarah's husband, Fritz Coulombe, called Rogers' wife, Marguerite, to see if she could calm Sarah down. She couldn't.

Coulombe called 911. While he was on the phone, Sarah, still agitated, took off in her car at about 9:20 a.m., Rogers said.

No one knows why she headed north, Rogers said. The family knows of no friends in Maine.

He hopes to spark memories. Perhaps someone saw her car that day, or saw Sarah and may have clues as to what happened to her. He asked anyone with information call Barrington police or Maine State Police.

Sarah is described as 5 feet 8 inches tall, 110 pounds, with blonde hair and hazel eyes.

After she and her family moved to Barrington, where her husband has family, she sang in coffees houses and planned to give guitar lessons.

She had left home several times before her disappearance, but she was found within a few days and hospitalized on each of those occasions. Police have said she used an alias, Marla Moon, but Rogers said she used that name only once, while hospitalized in a manic state.

Last September, when Rogers visited his daughter, son-in-law and grandson in Barrington, Sarah was thriving, he said. She was talking about continuing her college education at the University of New Hampshire.

And, her father said, she was enjoying motherhood.

"She seemed to be stabilized. Her life was getting on track," Rogers said.

He proudly watched mother and son play together. She was not the kind of mom who would have voluntarily missed Christmas and her son's birthday, he said.

"We went to the park with a big ball to kick around," he recalled. "She's a good mom."

Where to call

Anyone with information that may assist in the search for Sarah Rogers is asked to call Barrington police or Maine State Police.


Barrington police: (603) 664-7679




Maine State Police: 207-474-0364

UPDATE MARCH 9,2010           SARAH'S FAMILY APPEARS ON THE TODAY SHOW

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

UPDATE 3/13/2010

http://www.findsarahrogers.com/

From the family's website:

MARCH 13, 2010

The family of Sarah Rogers would like to thank everyone who prayed and helped look for their loving wife,mother, daughter, sister and friend. It is with deep sadness to report that Sarah's body was located this afternoon, Saturday, March 13, 2010, 1/2 mile from where her vehicle was found near Clinton, Maine. The Medical Examiner has confirmed her identity.

Please respect the family during this time of grief and loss.

Sarah will be missed by many. Please feel free to sign the guest book.

Arrangements will be announced at a later time.

Sherie Wilson: Missing From Rochester, NY: Found Dead

Sherie Wilson is a 31 year old mother of four children. Reports say she left a friend's home on the evening of January 29 and has not been seen nor heard from since. That's it!


Yes, that's it folks. That's the only thing I can find about this missing mother. The news reports didn't start coming out until February 5, a week after she was last seen before vanishing.


I don't know when the missing person's report was filed with the Rochester police, however, for a week to go by with no word in the media about her is puzzling. I can only speculate that either the family waited for her to reappear or they were told to wait before filing the report. Either way, precious time has been lost while the children are left wondering what happened to their mother!


I've only seen one, quite short, plea for help from police being reported. Has no one spoken to her family to report a little more on their thoughts of what may have happened?  Most families would be pleading for information, yet maybe this family doesn't know where to start or what to do.


It's a good thing there are organizations like Peace4 the Missing, LostNMissing, Websleuths and bloggers who care, that circulate the internet with news of this mother.  Someone knows what happened and someone needs to come forward with explanations.  We all pray for a happy ending.


The one small report that has been found on a few media outlets:

Police are asking for the public's help in locating a missing mother.

31-year-old Sherie Wilson was last seen on January 29th. Wilson has four children.

Police said she was at a friend's house on Kelly Street in Rochester and has not contacted any family members since she left the house.

Anyone with information is asked to call 911.

The phone number for the Rochester Police is (585)428-9810 


It's my fervent hope that there will be good news soon on the whereabouts of Sherie Wilson, that there won't be foul play involved, and that she is soon reunited with her four children.


UPDATE:

Missing Rochester mother found dead, boyfriend charged

Posted at: 02/12/2010 9:25 AM

A Rochester man is charged with the murder of his girlfriend, 31-year-old Sherie Wilson of Rochester.

On February 1, Wilson was reported missing to Rochester Police by her boyfriend, 45-year-old Carl Nelson. She was last seen in the early morning hours of January 29 on Kelly Street in the city.

After an exhaustive investigation by police, Nelson was charged with second-degree murder.

Wilson’s body was found near 490 west, just past the Chili Center exit. She was the mother of four young children.

For more Rochester, N.Y. news go to our website www.whec.com.