CO - Jessica Ridgeway, 10, Westminster, 5 Oct. 2012 - #23

[margarita25]

I found the a little snippet of the article. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/05/us/national-briefing-rockies-colorado-wildlife-killed-cats.html

Interesting in the article that the animal control officers said some of the coyote attacks on wildlife were done with surgical precision...

Either way, the guy's cat directly across the street from ARS was found cut in half last summer, and as we know, there is a strong link between animal abuse and psycho killers like this nutjob. I read another article somewhere stating ARS did abuse animals, not sure if that article is fact or not, though.)

It is definitely coyote country up here. Cats disappear all the time. It very well may have been a coyote, but I think it very well could have been him too.

In other words, it wouldn't surprise me if he did it (or any of us, I don't think).

 

[eileenhawkeye]

Almost all the change of venue cases I found were in the 90s. The most recent case I can find was in 2001, but the crime occurred in 1999. Now I am sure that there have been plenty of cases in the 2000's that were just as high-profile as the ones mentioned, but they weren't moved. It does seem that change of venues have become very rare/non-existant in Colorado in the past decade...

 

[Foxfire]

<modsnip>

<modsnip>
No, I was just too lazy to google um.. Seriously, change of venues are frequently filed by defense attorneys, yet seldom granted...no matter the state..

Due to the internet, folks are aware of the specifics of cases in other geographical areas, especially in high profile cases such as the Jessica Ridgeway abduction/murder. I live in North GA & would luv to serve on the jury...

A well informed jury pool is not a reason for granting a change of venue...

 

[Wishbone]

Yes, eileenhawkeye, thought you made them up...LOL

No, I was just too lazy to google um.. Seriously, change of venues are frequently filed by defense attorneys, yet seldom granted...no matter the state..

Due to the internet, folks are aware of the specifics of cases in other geographical areas, especially in high profile cases such as the Jessica Ridgeway abduction/murder. I live in North GA & would luv to serve on the jury...

A well informed jury pool is not a reason for granting a change of venue...

Send him to texas

 

[otto]

RE: A gag order makes it clear to everyone involved that this is not going to be a circus, which just makes everyone look bad.

Don't know about you GrainneDhu, but the circus atmosphere is created due to sealed evidence & gag orders. This is a catalyst for rumors, conjecture, speculation.. Imo, this is due to CYA for an impotent justice system and less than competent investigations in prior abductions/attempts by Austin Reed Sigg...

Due to budgetary constraints, most jurors are brought in from other areas of the state rather than moving the trial, if a change of venue is granted. Changes of venues are seldom granted. There has been only 3 changes of venue in Florida's history; ted bundy, murderer of a FL state trooper, and casey anthony. Casey anthony's jurors were brought in from another FL County...

I would disagree. When there is a pretrial media blackout regarding the release of investigative information, it does not cause a "circus atmosphere". The "circus" comes from talking heads and too many wild ideas. A media blackout will protect the integrity of the prosecution's case ... and that's what everyone wants.

 

[eileenhawkeye]

Yes, eileenhawkeye, thought you made them up...LOL

No, I was just too lazy to google um.. Seriously, change of venues are frequently filed by defense attorneys, yet seldom granted...no matter the state..

Due to the internet, folks are aware of the specifics of cases in other geographical areas, especially in high profile cases such as the Jessica Ridgeway abduction/murder. I live in North GA & would luv to serve on the jury...

A well informed jury pool is not a reason for granting a change of venue...

People have been aware of cases from other areas of the country since before the Internet and even before TV.

There's no way this case will be moved out of state. That has never occurred before except for McVeigh in the OKC Bombing and I think that's because he was charged in federal court.

 

[otto]

It has been my understanding from reading about several suspected serial murder cold cases that the opposite is usually true: perps usually start out close to home and then move further away as they get more experienced. So in suspected serial murders, LE tries to figure out which victim was the first to give them a general vicinity for where the perp was likely to live.

To give one example, in the DC Sniper case, the first assault committed by Lee Malvo under John Allen Muhammad's direction was in Louisiana, where Muhammad had grown up. It wasn't until after the pair were arrested that investigators learned that was where it had all started.

In many serial murderer cases, a map of the victim locations will follow a roughly spiral pattern outwards as the perp gains confidence. For instance, no matter which victim is considered the first for Ted Bundy, the subsequent ones spiral out from Bundy's home base at the time of the crime.

As I understand it, this principle is the basis for geographical profiling.

Then you look at someone like Baumgartner, and he did the opposite. He was responsible for male homicides ... might have been Illinois ... not sure.

 

[otto]

By law there has to be window wells in any inhabitable basement per FIRE code in Colorado. ARS' house doesn't have window wells that I've seen = NO inhabitable basement.

I noticed that too. 120 square feet are "officially" developed in the basement ... and the home owner may have made changes ... it may now be 600 square feet ... hard to say. It violates firecode, but Austin may have spent a lot of time in the basement area of the house.

 

[Foxfire]

C'mon deep breaths guys and gals... let's not get this thread locked up.

You're right, nikb... sorry if I get so emotional or passionate in my comments...
Had a cat named sox, was killed and devoured by a mountain lion. He was a racoon/ferral cat mix. Best pet I ever had..
Been hunting for five decades & never seen a fox or coyote climb a tree.. But would like to see it..
Guess, ya never get too old to learn, huh?

What I have seen is an innocent abduction victim lose her life due to silence and misinformation by investigators and incompetence of the justice system that enabled a sexual predator/serial killer to prey for over four decades...without being apprehended..

Hell, he even helped to make a movie which was his autobiography, 14 years before he was arrested.. The Deadly Run movie; Hunting Humans, produced by his attorney; samuel rael, went straight to video in 1995..
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJosMwx1uxc"]DEADLY RUN trailer - YouTube[/ame]


Mystery on Blood Mountain
http://video.msnbc.msn.com/dateline/44289108#44289108

Contrary to popular belief and info released by GBI. Gary Hilton's description or his white van was not released to the public via MS Media but by Meredith Hope Emerson's roommate. I witnessed him & her hidden in the woods the day before she met her fate...Thought they were campers...

 

[otto]

Foxfire, what is your opinion of why in this particular case? I know I would love to hear everything! I also know that if I were to be on the jury that I could and would effectively be able to evaluate the evidence presented or lack thereof to make an informed logical lawful find of guilty or not guilty. I would take my position as a juror very seriously and would be able to realize that some of the info I had heard prior to trial could be wrong.
I want to know the evil that lurks amongst us now. I want to be able to recognize it. I want to be able to protect us from it. How can I if I don't know what it is?

The jury will hear everything ... but there is a gag order preventing the pre-trial release of the details of the investigation.

 

[margarita25]

All I've got to say is Thank God this guy is behind bars and can't hurt anyone else. As I said, I teach elementary in Westminster, live right in the middle of all of this, and this has been one of the worst things I've ever experienced in my life, on so many levels. Can't even imagine Jessica's family's pain. God Bless Them. And LE for all their work on this case. And you guys for caring about people who go missing.

 

[otto]

My house was built in the mid 90s and has wood doors - we have a garage door opener, it opens on a metal track.

How common would those garage doors be in a place like Colorado, with snow, rain and extreme temperatures?

 

[otto]

I don't have a link, but someone stated that there is 120sq ft of finished basement area. The window well(s) could be on the right side of the house (if you are looking at the front of the house) because this is where the basement is located, but there have been no pics available to be able to see any window wells

Someone had posted photos that couldn't be linked so they were removed. There was a pretty close up pic that showed the back left side of the house where there was a little patio/sitting area underneath the windows where the kitchen would be and there could have been a window well there also. I'm going to go back and look and see if it's still posted.

There's probably a basement window below the kitchen window ... but there are no windows on the right side of the house, and there should be at least one for evacuation.

 

[otto]

WOW.. Cats have few predators... Coyotes or Foxes can't climb trees...

I thought the neighbor said that the cat was cut in half. That doesn't sound like the coyotes we have.

 

[otto]

There's also the "fire factor," I remember being told by an inspector that if we cut the door between the garage and the house it'd eliminate the fire barrier.

That makes sense. I can't imagine anyone deciding to cut up their garage door so stray cats can be warm at night.

It looks like it might be a police marker or something related to the investigation. Is that marker there in the google earth pictures?

 

[enzeder]

I guess I'm not understanding what you mean?

There was discussion about how close AS would have been to the body found in Wheat Ridge and posted a map showing the distance between AS's home, Warren Tech in Lakewood (which is past Wheat Ridge), and the body found in Wheat Ridge.

I was just wondering what campus he went to because the Arvada campus is actually closer to where the body was found in Wheat Ridge. That's all. In all honesty, I don't see any misinformation :waitasec:

I'm not understanding those comments either Emily. :waitasec: I included the link to my earlier post which gave the information about which schools AS attended along with the map info. (See below) Many thanks for finding the info that it was the Warren Tech North campus that AS attended. I corrected that from Warren Tech to Warren Tech North in both of my posts. That means the body found in Clear Creek is approx. 3.3 miles from Warren Tech North.

[ame="http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showpost.php?p=8526570&postcount=212"]Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community - View Single Post - Found Deceased CO - *ARREST!* Jessica Ridgeway, 10, Westminster, 5 Oct. 2012 - #23[/ame]

[ame="http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showpost.php?p=8526815&postcount=246"]Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community - View Single Post - Found Deceased CO - *ARREST!* Jessica Ridgeway, 10, Westminster, 5 Oct. 2012 - #23[/ame]

 

[eileenhawkeye]

When you consider that it will be 2-3 years before the trial starts, and the fact that there is a gag order which should diminish coverage, it wouldn't surprise if they are able to have the trial in Jefferson County. Another factor is James Holmes, and whether that case gets a venue change. I could definitely see many comparisons made between the two cases, when change of venue motion comes up in this case.

 

[otto]

Pat Brown said…(LUV this Quote)
We could use a strong accountability system not dependent on appeals, but rather oversight. The public/citizens have a right to know exactly how decisions are made and cases are handled.

It does not have to be in the midst of the case but certainly afterward there should be transparency. If there isn’t, how can we address issues of corruption, incompetance, and error? We need to know in order to fix problems and hold people accountable for what is supposed to be work done on behalf of the citizens.

Somehow “the interest of the state” seems to preclude the citizenry which is odd considering the state IS the citizenry, well, at least in a democratic republic with a constitution.

Is Pat Brown an investigator or lawyer in Westminster?

This case is transparent. A child was abducted, remains were found, a suspect was arrested, additional remains were found, the case involves a teenager that will be tried as an adult ... and for the rest ... I guess we'll have to wait until there is a trial or he pleads out.

Exactly which "interest" is being compromised? What is the state interest and what role does complete transparency in prosecution play in that?

 

[TreeClimbingGirl]

You're right, nikb... sorry if I get so emotional or passionate in my comments...
Had a cat named sox, was killed and devoured by a mountain lion. He was a racoon/ferral cat mix. Best pet I ever had..
Been hunting for five decades & never seen a fox or coyote climb a tree.. But would like to see it..
Guess, ya never get too old to learn, huh?

What I have seen is an innocent abduction victim loose her life due to silence and misinformation by investigators and incompetence of the justice system that enabled a sexual predator/serial killer to prey for over four decades...without being apprehended..

Hell, he even helped to make a movie which was his autobiography, 14 years before he was arrested..


Mystery on Blood Mountain
http://video.msnbc.msn.com/dateline/44289108#44289108

BBM

We have another one of those cases unfolding right now-Rebekah Gay. Her killer had convictions for agg. assault with attempt to murder (stabbing a 17 year old girl multiple times) and manslaughter ( for the murder of his mistress, body was too decomposed to determine COD so he got a plea deal). He spent less than a decade in prison for both of those crimes, and was free to brutally murder poor Rebekah.

Sorry for the O/T...your comment just reminded me of her

 

[otto]

It seems to be quiet enough ... in the middle of the night ... I have a couple of images to post ... one at a time ... I suppose ... but they're long images because they relate to the house layout and floorplan ... and I think they make more sense long ... let me know if it blows a margin