NE NE - Jessica O'Grady, 19, Omaha, 10 May 2006

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http://www.ketv.com/news/9347284/detail.html

BREAKING NEWS: O'Grady's Boyfriend Turns Self In
Sheriff Takes Chief Suspect Into Custody

POSTED: 11:10 am CDT June 9, 2006
UPDATED: 1:51 pm CDT June 9, 2006


OMAHA, Neb. -- An arrest was made Friday in the case of a missing student.

The Douglas County sheriff on Friday took Christopher Edwards, 19, into custody. He is the boyfriend of Jessica O'Grady, 19, who last seen on May 10. The Douglas County sheriff has called the investigation a homicide case, based on evidence found at the home where Edwards was staying when O'Grady disappeared.

Edwards turned himself in Friday afternoon on criminal homicide charges, and a charge of use of a weapon other than a gun to commit a felony.

"The sheriff and the county attorney have made no requests of Mr. Edwards with which he has not complied," Edwards' attorney Matt Higgins said.


Higgins said Edwards does not know anything about O'Grady's disappearance.

"Chris is not only an innocent man, he acts like an innocent man. Of course, he knows he's going to charged with homicide, so he's not happy about that. But he has confidence in the system. I think he's appropriately scared," Higgins said. "I think it's no big secret that all along, police have called him a suspect."

On June 2, Douglas County Chief Deputy Sheriff Marty Bilek told KETV NewsWatch 7 that Edwards was the one suspect investigators were looking at related to her disappearance.

Search warrants show O'Grady was en route to visit Edwards on the night she disappeared. A search warrant asks for telephone records related to the O'Grady case. Bilek said his office wants to know whom the girl was talking to and any clues to her whereabouts before she disappeared.

Higgins said on Friday that he would not comment on any of the evidence in the case. Higgins would also not say when Edwards may last have spoken with O'Grady. Higgins said Edwards' life has been on hold since officials identified him as the chief suspect in the disappearance. He said his client has cooperated with the investigation, but the sheriff's office disputes that claim.

"If he wants to completely cooperate with our office, he needs to tell us the whereabouts of Jessica O'Grady, and he has not done that yet," Bilek said.

Higgins said Edwards and O'Grady worked together, and had not known each other very long. Higgins took issue with reporters' questions that suggested that O'Grady is dead, and said the prosecution will struggle to build a homicide case with no body.

Chief Deputy Marty Bilek said the investigation is ongoing until a body is found.

"If we didn't have some certainty that she was deceased, we wouldn't be filing homicide charges against Chris Edwards," Bilek said.

The Douglas County Attorney's Office said it will look at the case over the weekend to determine exactly what charges to file against Edwards. An announcement is expected on Monday.

Bilek said his office has received some lab results in recent days that helped them put together their case, but he said no single piece of evidence has made the case. He said the timing of the arrest of Edwards isn't special.

Bilek said forensic evidence will make prosecution without a body possible. Bilek would not discuss specific evidence.
 
Does he seem to be smirking here?

9348566_240X180.jpg
 
Maybe, but he might just be a scared teen ager trying to act cool. From all I've read, he's not been really smart about evidence, etc. so my guess is he knows he's done for and is trying to look like he's not bothered by that.

Wouldn't it be great if he confessed and told LE where her body is? Then he could really prove he's all grown up and being responsible. :confused: Again, why oh why do they think they have the right to take another person's life????????
 
I don't think that he is smirking. To me it looks like he is kind of squinting like the sun might be in his eyes. Sure not much to look at.

His defense attorney sounds just like a typical defense attorney. "They hardly even knew each other." Ya, I'll bet! I don't know why defense attorneys don't just keep their mouths shut instead of making making a fool of themselves.

Maybe LE can break this kid once they have him in jail for awhile. He should just tell them what he did with Jessica's body. I have an idea his family knows where it is. They helped clean up and they had to know what they were cleaning up. I wonder if LE has tried to break the cousin...wonder how old she is?

They can charge this kid and he won't go to trial for a year. Hopefully he will break between then and now or her body will show up.
 
I'm so thankful that he was so stupid by trying to clean up afterwards. It sounds like LE has a ton of evidence, IMO.

I'm wondering why LE hasn't charged anyone else in that house as accomplices.
 
The defense attorney is making the claim they "hardly knew each other"? Were they not boyfriend and girlfriend? Does it even matter if they "hardly knew each other" (though I don't believe this)? Strangers murder people all of the time. I don't think any of this is going to fly with a jury. If I were this boy, I'd get a new lawyer 'cause he's gonna need it and the one he has doesn't sound like the brightest.
 
http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_pg=1636&u_sid=2186369

Published Saturday
June 10, 2006

Dornan: Case can be made without body

BY KRISTIN ZAGURSKI
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER


Douglas County Attorney Stu Dornan said Friday that he believes there is enough evidence to prove that Jessica O'Grady was killed, even though her body has not been found.

Having a body is ideal in death cases, Dornan said. But he said he is not reluctant to pursue charges against Christopher Edwards, who turned himself in to authorities on Friday.

"Cases can be proven either by direct or circumstantial evidence," Dornan said. "And in this case, we believe that there will be significant circumstantial evidence to establish death."

O'Grady, a 19-year-old college student, was last known to have been seen May 10. Investigators say they think she is dead.

Edwards, 19, was arrested on suspicion of criminal homicide. Matt Higgins, an attorney for Edwards, said his client denies any involvement in O'Grady's disappearance.

Dornan acknowledged that it's uncommon to try to prove a person killed someone without having a body as evidence. He knew of only one case in about 25 years in which his office filed a murder charge before a body was found.

The two victims' bodies in that case were found before it went to trial in 1980, so the lack of a body didn't become an issue for the jury.

In recent years, however, two area county attorneys have secured convictions in cases where the body never was found - one last year in Cass County, Neb., and the other in Pottawattamie County in 1998.

The Cass County case involved the 2003 disappearance of 4-year-old Brendan Gonzalez.

Brendan's body is believed to be in the Sarpy County Landfill, but extensive searches there never turned up his remains.

Brendan's father, Ivan Henk, has said he decapitated the boy. Investigators found Brendan's blood in a trash bin where Henk had said he dumped the body.

Henk pleaded guilty last year to first-degree murder before the case could go to trial.

Rick Crowl was Pottawattamie County attorney in 1998 when a jury convicted Terry Andersen of first-degree murder in the shooting death of Douglas Churchill of Council Bluffs.

Churchill's body never was found. Investigators believe he was dismembered and thrown in the Missouri River.

Churchill's blood was found at the killing scene and the site where his remains were dumped, Crowl said. Witnesses who testified to seeing the shooting helped firm up the case.

The difficulty of proving someone dead without a body depends on the case, Crowl said.

"I think the facts in our case were such that there really wasn't a big issue," said Crowl, now in private practice. But, he added, "the body is always the best evidence in a murder case, because you can, through forensics, show so much."

Forensics also can be helpful in putting together a case without a body, as in O'Grady's disappearance.

"With the forensics we have available to us today, it's easier to prosecute a homicide case without a body than it would have been 20 years ago," Douglas County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Marty Bilek said Friday. "The advances in technology and DNA evidence are such that we can be confident in our ability to prove our case."

Dornan said it is his duty as county attorney to file charges when he has enough evidence to prove someone guilty.

"In this case, the importance of going forward is that justice is not delayed or denied," he said. "That's what is important to our community and the safety of our citizens."
 
Mrs_Norwood said:
Has anything else been developed in Jessica's case ?
confused.gif
Click to expand...

Her boyfriend has surrendered to police at their request. This is in the last couple of days.
 
Boyfriend of missing woman turns himself in

A boyfriend of Jessica O'Grady, a 19-year-old Omaha woman who has been missing since May 10, turned himself in Friday in connection with her disappearance. Chief Deputy Marty Bilek of the Douglas County Sheriff's Office said Christopher Edwards (pictured) will be arrested on suspicion of criminal homicide and use of a weapon to commit a felony.
 
I have been watching the O'Grady case since it first began, and this case really bugs me. I am a student at the same university Jessica goes to, and although I never met her, this case really seems to hit close to home. She is just like any other college student here, just working, going to school and trying to get by. Just like so many other girls, she thought she could trust an apparently nice guy. It's so sad that she ended up missing, and according to investigators most likely dead. I hope justice is served for Jessica and her family. This kid should spend a long time in prison for what he did.

The thing that I find so odd in this case is the utter stupidity of Chris Edwards. Her car turned up in a high traffic area where it could easily be found, very close to Jessica's work. If he put it there, boy is he stupid! This kind of leads me to think that he didn't make the effort to take Jessica's body very far from town. Also, Jessica is a pretty tall girl at 5'9", and this kid is definitely not a body builder. Makes me wonder if he had help??? I wonder if they are questioning the aunt he lives with. She had to have aided in the process, or at least heard or saw something happen.

I really think justice will be served in this case. Finding Jessica would definitely help prosecute the *advertiser censored*, but he was stupid to commit such a crime in this state. Nebraskans are conservative in many senses, but especially when it comes to law enforcement. And if it does end up being true that Jessica is pregnant, he is done for! A jury in Nebraska will have no pity on him.
 
http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_pg=1636&u_sid=2187287

Published Monday
June 12, 2006

Autopsy today on body found in Iowa

An autopsy will be performed today on a body found near Glenwood, Iowa, this weekend.

The remains, which were found near Thomas Lake in a secluded area, had probably been there for a few weeks, said Sgt. Bruce Paulsen of the Mills County Sheriff's Office. It was about two miles from Glover Road, a gravel road.

The body was somewhat decomposed, and it was difficult to determine any physical characteristics, he said.

Paulsen declined to comment on any clothing or identification on or near the body. He also declined to say whether it was possible the remains were Jessica O'Grady, 19, a missing University of Nebraska at Omaha student.

Paulsen said additional information may be available today. - Jennifer Greff


Glenwood is about 35 minutes from Omaha.....not sure if he would go all that way to dump a body, but then again I never thought anyone would try to cut up a mattress either...

On one hand, I hope this isn't her and that she is safe, but on the other, I truly believe that she is gone and hope this is her so that her family can have closure and her boyfriend can fry. :furious:
 
Megs said:
http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_pg=1636&u_sid=2187287

Autopsy today on body found in Iowa
Click to expand...
WOWT | Body ID Sought

"... It is not that of missing UNO student Jessica O'Grady...

Sheriff Taylor says detectives looked into all missing persons reports in Mills County and the body does not appear to be that of anyone named in those reports.

A Douglas County deputy says detectives determined that the body found in Mills County is not that of missing UNO student Jessica O'Grady. That determination was made based on identifying marks on the body."
 
The Gateway - Arrest comes almost a month after disappearance

... “In homicide it’s possible the judge will deny bond altogether, but it will probably be set Monday,” Bilek said. “We haven’t submitted [the formal charges] yet because, in the beginning, there was some uncertainty in the crimes that were committed.”
The Douglas County Attorney's office is expected to review the case against Edwards this weekend and announce Monday what charges will be filed.

The arrest comes one week after Edwards’ attorney, Steve Lefler, spoke out in defense of his client.

"If you were told you were going to be arrested for murder and three and a half weeks went by, you'd say either arrest me or don't arrest me.” Lefler said in an interview with KETV.

According to the Sheriff’s office, the long wait for an arrest was necessary to build a criminal case.

“We served two search warrants and the evidence took time to be analyzed,” Bilek said. “As it came back the case grew stronger and stronger. Then we decided that we had a strong enough case and even though we didn’t have a body, we decided to make the arrest.”

With the speculation of O’Grady being pregnant, there is the possibility of a double murder count against Edwards, Bilek said.

"If we find out she's pregnant, we'd certainly have to look at that," Bilek said. "We have no proof that she was, but it was discussed during this investigation...”
 
The Gateway - Arrest comes almost a month after disappearance

... “In homicide it’s possible the judge will deny bond altogether, but it will probably be set Monday,” Bilek said. “We haven’t submitted [the formal charges] yet because, in the beginning, there was some uncertainty in the crimes that were committed.”
The Douglas County Attorney's office is expected to review the case against Edwards this weekend and announce Monday what charges will be filed.

The arrest comes one week after Edwards’ attorney, Steve Lefler, spoke out in defense of his client.

"If you were told you were going to be arrested for murder and three and a half weeks went by, you'd say either arrest me or don't arrest me.” Lefler said in an interview with KETV.

According to the Sheriff’s office, the long wait for an arrest was necessary to build a criminal case.

“We served two search warrants and the evidence took time to be analyzed,” Bilek said. “As it came back the case grew stronger and stronger. Then we decided that we had a strong enough case and even though we didn’t have a body, we decided to make the arrest.”

With the speculation of O’Grady being pregnant, there is the possibility of a double murder count against Edwards, Bilek said.

"If we find out she's pregnant, we'd certainly have to look at that," Bilek said. "We have no proof that she was, but it was discussed during this investigation...”
 
Sioux City Journal: Boyfriend of missing woman turns himself in

... O'Grady, a University of Nebraska at Omaha student, was last heard from late May 10 when she called a friend on her cell phone as she was driving. She said she was heading to the house where Edwards was staying in northwest Omaha, authorities said...

Wasn't this pretty late at night? I wonder if this was usual - if maybe she was just going to spend time with him, if she was going over to spend the night, or if she might even have gone over to tell him that she was pregnant.
 
Oh my gosh...killed by a sword...I don't even know what to say. How incredibly awful. I assuming they believe this based on evidence taken from the house. Her body has not been found and he claims he is innocent. That poor girl.
 
:sick:
Wow. My stomach churned when I read that article. That poor girl. I really hope they have enough to convict this guy....
 
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