GUILTY AR - Anne Pressly, 26, raped & murdered, Little Rock, 20 Oct 2008 #2

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I guess if you look at a quadrillion people you will find the other person with the same match...
 
I don't know much about criminal investigations, is it normal to find the DNA of three men on a victim's underwear and bed? Why would three rescue workers have handled her underwear? Should they have checked to determine whether the DNA is of the same men? Was the DNA under her fingernails a match for the other DNA? Why didn't they check under her nails earlier?

In one of Vance's confessions he said he had an accomplice in residential burglaries, maybe he did on the night of the murder as well?
 
It is common for DNA to be added to evidence. First responders don't necessarily think about contamination when they are trying to assist a critical patient. They may touch, move, remove things in the way of their work.

Look at the recent Casey Anthony case... DNA from an FBI lab worker was found on some duct tape evidense from the baby's corpse. Granted that worker's DNA shouldn't be on the evidence... but that still would not explain how the suspect's DNA got there (assuming it was found there.... hasn't been said). Finding Vance's DNA in/on/around the victim and her home goes against Vance's statements that he wasn't there at all... The question isnt't about who else was or wasn't there...

I think the "other person did it" story is just that... IF someone else did it... why was Vance the only SUSPECT who's DNA is foun at the scene and why would he cover for someone? He's facing the death penalty so if someone else did the killing I would think he would be singing like a canary!

Everything I have read (and granted details are often sketchy or confusing) the only SUSPECT DNA found anywhere was Vance's... that would be hair, semen, blood or anything else.

I don't think this tool is smart enough to be part of some big conspiracy. Plus witnesses have placed Vance in the neighborhood prowling around and going door to door...
 
OK, but why didn't they get the rescuer DNA and use it to explain it, as apparently they did in the Anthony case? They say Vance's DNA wasn't in the data base until they checked the six month Marianna rape after the fact, fine. Maybe the other perpetrators aren't in the data base yet either. Vance is stupid, maybe he thinks he can get away with this without giving up his accomplices? I can't explain him, but I really don't understand the official explanations either.
 
Well the Anthony case has not gone to trial so there is no official in court explaination. We only know more details about the goings on there becuase of Florida's sunshine laws.

They did not check the rape from April "after the fact". Anne's tests came back first (murder goes to the head of the line versus just the assault by itself.). So when Anne's case came back... there was no match. In the meantime, the lab got around to the Marianna case... and that result matched up with Anne's.

I just don't see any big conspiracy here... its been hashed out here ages ago...

Actually things make a good bit of sense aside from small details that 1) either havn't been made public or haven't come up yet.

Nutshell version based on what has been published and what Vance himself has said...

Witnesses put Vance in Pressly's neighborhood and around her Gym, where he was seen beating off in public and following women. In her neighborhood he was going around looking at houses and going door to door asking if he could help with yard work, gutters, etc. While the police were not called, the neighborhood watch association aparently was told about the individual now known to be Vance. Vance has stated he was looking for stuff to steal, like laptops. This matches Vance's MO in other burglaries he was suspected in, and even the Marietta rape where he broke in and stole some small stuff. It was being a suspect in those break ins that eventually led the Police to bring Vance in for questioning, and thats when he gave his DNA sample that eventually was matched up with Anne's murder and the April rape.

As for Anne's attack... I assume it happened like this... Its been said Anne didn't lock her doors, and it was shown that her yard gate did not lock... just latch. Her dogs were probably pretty sociable and not big barkers. Vance could have just opened the gate and let them out, or possibly they had already gotten out on their own. It had been reported her dogs were frequently loose and seeing them running around wasn't uncommon. No signs of forced entry becuase she left the door unlocked. Vance said in one of his statements he had taken some sort of wooden handled yard tool from a neighborhood shed... That seems to have been his weapon that night. Vance has said he went into the house and stole some things and then went back and thats when the assault happened. I believe in one of his statements he was masturbating next to Anne when she woke up. There was an altercation and he struck her with the tool and finished the assault. Possibly Vance cleaned up at Anne's house? If the shower or bathroom had been used has never been made public. There has been some comments about DNA from towels or a bath robe. He could have wiped off on that? Vance left the house, went to his car, drove away. He bought gas with Anne's credit card on the way out of town. According to his own statement he dumped the wooden tool into a river...

Did he go there specifically to kill Anne? No. Was her house targeted or cased... probably. He may have known at least a single woman lived there. I don't know if he actually knew it was Anne Pressly the TV personality or not. Burglary was probably his main motive and the assualt was secondary. The victim in the April assault had said she was fearful of Vance and went along with what he said and did not resist... and that she felt that saved her...
 
The reported witnesses haven't testified yet. If they are reliable, they are also damning. If they aren't called, the story is nothing more than rumor. I live in the Heights, and even before the murder someone who was exhibiting himself would have been reported to police, not the neighborhood association. Since the murder, even unlicensed door to door sales people merit police reporting. I'll tell you also, the police were quite active in the neighborhood before the murder, so the beating off/unreported story never rang true to me.

People didn't lock their doors before this happened, we didn't, so that part is plausible. Most crimes in this neighborhood were nonviolent grab type burglaries or purse snatching etc. People didn't feel threatened, but Little Rock was never Mayberry either.

The contemporaneous reports about the DNA match were that the state lab was backed up so the Maraninna DNA hadn't been checked. After the Pressly murder, all rape DNA was processed on a priority basis in search of a match. I don't know if that is still the official story or not.

My point is that the police here were under pressure to close the case neatly, so they did. It wouldn't be the first time police made evidence fit the crime, and Vance is stupid enough to fall for it, at least in his many confessions. Don't get me wrong, he probably was involved, but there is no part of me that believes he acted alone.
 
"Problems" I have with the case come mainly from spotty reporting, vague statements from LE etc. There are some grey areas I admit.

But I don't really believe Vance was part of some big conspiracy or larger group. After all, he was alone in the April rape... He can't say someone else did that.

As for Vance being spotted in the Heights here is the name of the person claiming to have spotted him... http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/Story?id=6393888&page=3

I agree Vance is not the sharpest tack in the box, BUT if he were to have had accomplices or been a part of some larger group or plan I know he would be naming names and pointing the finger... not just making vague statements that contradict his own confessions.

Im also not a huge LE fan, My own experiences with LE have been disappointing. Here in Florida you can see how LE bungled the Denise Amber Lee kidnapping, rape and murder, the Haleigh Cummings kidnapping, and the Casey Anthony case...
 
Vance's statements to the police where he admitted to being in the house and killing Anne. Some discrepancies could be due to it being dark like whether Anne was naked or in a tee shirt... yet other details match known facts.

Oddly LE says things like Anne's car color were not known or publicized... yet they showed her car parked at her house on TV the day she was found... kinda lazy/sloppy I guess...


http://www.arktimes.com/blogs/arkansasblog/2009/11/post_31.aspx
 
Vance supposedly knew she had a laptop although that wasn't publicized. Well, he may be stupid, but every moron knows there is barely a middle class house without a laptop, so it is hardly incriminating knowledge.

The confessions don't help at all, they just have too many fundamentals incorrect. If you rape and bludgeon someone to death, it seems like you'd know whether they were naked at the time. At least from what's been reported, if I was on the jury Vance's statements wouldn't help me to decide guilt. But then I believe in the presumption of innocence, so I wouldn't be on the jury in the first place.

The extra DNA on her underpants really bothers me. There should have been a very limited number of people handling them, and LE could have identified who the DNA belonged to, but didn't.

Then there is this from the article you linked above:
"From day one, Little Rock police had powerful evidence in Pressly's case. She had fought her attacker and detectives recovered DNA from sperm, blood and his skin, taken from beneath Pressly's fingernails. "

But the testimony was that the DNA under her fingernails wasn't a match for Vance, neither was the sperm. Not only that, they apparently didn't even check her nails until after she died, four days after the attack. If Vance had a real defense underway, he might be able to get to reasonable doubt. If he did do it, we can all be grateful his lawyers aren't asking some painfully obvious questions.

I'm not thinking in terms of vast conspiracy, maybe just one accomplice. I have no idea why Vance wouldn't have turned on that person by now, but I don't understand anything he does.

As for the witnesses who said they saw Vance creeping around the neighborhood, why haven't they been called? Where is the gas station tape? Where is the video from the gym we heard so much about? There are two gyms close to her house, I never was clear which one made the recording, if the tape existed.

Finally, they tried the Marianna rape case in the Pressly trial. There doesn't seem to be much doubt that Vance is guilty of that one, but he wasn't tried and convicted for it. Why not?
 
This link has the most detail I could find all in one place...

http://*************.net/index.php?topic=4190.20

They way I view Vance's confessions is like this... He KNOWS he is busted. And like most stories there is some basis in truth. He wants to try to explain some things while shirking responsability. One of his stories is probably the REVERSE of what happened. Vance claims he was at the park and saw someone dump anne's purse and computer in the trash. He then got her address from the purse... went to the house... and found the crime scene there... Its not hard to figure out that what Vance stated is probably just the reverse of what really happened.

But I guess Vance apologists will always believe that somehow their blue eyed boy is innocent as the new fallen snow.

I was assaulted in my own bed in my own home and I would be hard pressed to explain a lot of stuff that happened and I have no real clue about what I was or wasn't wearing at the time. I was there and have very little recollection of the events as far as fine details go. They weren't important to me at the time.
 
Forgive me if I said or implied that Vance was "innocent as the new fallen snow."

My point is simply that no one is served, except the authorities, if LE simply closes cases without regard to solving the entire crime.
 
Oh i definitely agree there. Its an obligation to follow through on all leads, etc.

On the other hand, I really do think Vance was alone on this one... plus the people named by Vance as "accomplices" were called in, interviewd, and turned loose as they seeminly had alibi's, were deemed 2 be uninvolved, etc. And no one else was ever seen in the neighborhood besides Vance. Adding more people into the equation actually makes things more confusing and makes less sense evidence wise for the most part.

I suppose too you can and should pin anything and everything on the one person you do have. if eye witnesses, dna, forensic evidence and multiple confessions point to Vance and no one else... convict Vance...

If you think about it... if you are going to do a home invasion (which this was not) yeah you might want some friends, guns, etc. You bust in, tie everyone up, ransack the house... But if you are a sneak theif, cat burglar, rapist... you would be there alone. And then take a tool from the back yard shed of the victim if you wanted a weapon. It doesnt take three guys to steal a lap top and purse... Plus if you stole the stuff with them you would have to split up the loot...

In my case my sister and I were assaulted by a single person in our home. I mention it in prior posts... albeit there are a lot of posts here to wade through!
 
While in the back yard of Pressly's home, Vance told detectives, he saw that her back door was "wide open." He admitted he went in, stole a gas card and laptop, then saw Pressly asleep in bed. After stealing a computer from the floor, he said he crawled on top of her.

"I put my weight against her weight," Vance said. Vance said he couldn't focus while trying to subdue Pressly and he didn't penetrate her, but he said he had touched her "inappropriately."

http://crimenews2000.com/news.php?extend.1894

It sounds like he was breaking into homes, saw Anne in her bed and decided to rape her. She fought him and he beat her.
 
Yeah thats how I surmised it the other day...

The prosecution just rested their case.

I feel very very very sick :-(
 
No one testified that they saw him in the neighborhood. The prosecution rested with virtually none of the incriminating rumors on the record. According to news stories, LE didn't compare DNA from the people Vance implicated to the DNA from the crime scene.

At very least, the officials were sloppy.
 
I don't know. I wish there were full transcripts of things... its really hard to say exactly what was/wasn't brought up... We are fed little bits of this and that, and all in edited form. For example the story will say something like "the prosecution presented testimony from 5 people" but then the article will just focus on statements from one person...
 
At the very least any DNA found on the victim/victim's underwear should be compared to rescuers and lab techs to be ruled out. A rescuer should have had gloves on. PERIOD. They should not have been contaminating the scene. Let's say they forgot to wear gloves and handled her clothing. It should be skin cells only, the rescuer should not be leaving fluids. I find all of that very odd.
 
Well Vance's defense is... nothing...

The prosecution wrapped yesterday... it goes to the Jury today.
 
Sounds like Vance's lawyers didn't think he was worth defending. I don't feel safer as a result.
 
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