Found Deceased TX - Leah Martin, 22, Graham, 29 May 2015 *Arrests*

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I wouldn't be surprised to find out that both the Judge and the D.A. were surprised that Blair was able to make bail. I would imagine bail was set at an amount they didn't think was obtainable.

Hopefully either the DA or the Rangers still have a few tricks up their sleeves and can still hit him up on other charges that may not have been brought initially. I figure they may have had other lesser charges, but basically condensed them into the ones with the most teeth and the highest bond amounts. This may change the dynamic of things, with all the public outrage at him being released.

If Blair so much as jaywalks or blows through a stop sign, he can expect to be back in jail with the highest bond allowable by law. I highly doubt the investigators on this case are very happy about him out walking around free either. People waited months for this guy to be brought down, and here he is walking around free as a bird after a couple of weeks. I personally think he should have been held on a no-bail, but it's not up to me.
 
steelman said:
I wouldn't be surprised to find out that both the Judge and the D.A. were surprised that Blair was able to make bail. I would imagine bail was set at an amount they didn't think was obtainable.

Hopefully either the DA or the Rangers still have a few tricks up their sleeves and can still hit him up on other charges that may not have been brought initially. I figure they may have had other lesser charges, but basically condensed them into the ones with the most teeth and the highest bond amounts. This may change the dynamic of things, with all the public outrage at him being released.

If Blair so much as jaywalks or blows through a stop sign, he can expect to be back in jail with the highest bond allowable by law. I highly doubt the investigators on this case are very happy about him out walking around free either. People waited months for this guy to be brought down, and here he is walking around free as a bird after a couple of weeks. I personally think he should have been held on a no-bail, but it's not up to me.
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I fully agree. For the crime he is accused of there had to be no bond at all. They thought he wouldn't be able to come with the money but they were wrong. They don't know about his wealth or his aquaintances so in the doubt better not to risk and present no bond. It is disgusting for us who have been following the case to know he is out on the streets. Now mind you for Leah's family and friends.

Arghhh :gaah:
 
Wonder where he will be living? Will his son still be taking over the shop and helping to support his little sister and mum?


MOO!!
 
MissUnderstood said:
Wonder where he will be living? Will his son still be taking over the shop and helping to support his little sister and mum?


MOO!!
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According to texomashomepagethe shop was sold. It is believed to have been purchased by Clay Gober, who leased it to Raphael Winder.
 
LES said:
According to texomashomepagethe shop was sold. It is believed to have been purchased by Clay Gober, who leased it to Raphael Winder.
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Are sales of businesses public record? I have no idea. Would be interesting to know how much the business sold for. That was awfully quick! If it was sold for a larger amount than it is valued, that might give LE something to ponder, since the money went to provide bail. If it went for a smaller amount, somebody maybe just picked up a good deal at a fire-sale price.
 
MissUnderstood said:
Wonder where he will be living? Will his son still be taking over the shop and helping to support his little sister and mum?


MOO!!
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I suppose he'll go back to doing whatever it was he did before Leah was murdered, it apparently pays quite well. I don't think adjusting carburetors and installing brakes is what paid for all of this though. It's going to be pretty hard for him to mix and mingle with his ex-felon buddies now that he has both a bondsman and a court officer monitoring his every move, not to mention everybody else in town.

I don't know who in their right mind would hire Blair to work for them, seeing how their business would most likely be boycotted by the local citizens simply on general principles. It's hard to know if Blair has a rich aunt or uncle somewhere paying the tab for all of this, or if he's financing it himself through some sort of illegal enterprise he had going on with Minkley, Hellams and probably others. Whatever the case is, it doesn't appear that Blair believes in sharing the wealth, otherwise Minkley and Hellams would also be out on the street. Of course, it isn't necessarily over with yet, is it ?

I've always been interested in what LE has to backup what Minkley told them. Minkley is the one that implicated Blair in this whole scheme, but do they have the evidence to corroborate his claims ? They searched Blair's business twice and came up empty both times. It was only on the third search that they hit supposed paydirt. I hope Blair's arrest isn't based solely on what Minkley told them after he was arrested. He isn't the most credible guy in the world, as we can all see. He could be doing a lot of lying in order to shift blame from his own involvement. None of the details about Blair's involvement or his role in this has been released publicly as far as I know, nor a motive.


It's a small town with a lot of transparency, so wherever Blair decides to live and how he intends to support himself should be loudly publicized as time goes by. Keep an eye on the Graham Leader Facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/grahamleader
 
The person named as having purchased the business is related to a banker in Graham. It is possible that bank (or any other bank) held a note on the business and possible on any other assets owned by ECB and his wife.

If a bank had any liens against the business or any other assests, the liens would be public record as they are filed in the county clerk's office. The sale of real property is also filed with the county clerk. I don't know if the purchase prices are included in the filing of a sale of real property.

I believe a sale of a business would also be filed with the county clerk. Again, I don't know if that would include a purchase price.
 
Everyday Grace said:
The person named as having purchased the business is related to a banker in Graham. It is possible that bank (or any other bank) held a note on the business and possible on any other assets owned by ECB and his wife.

If a bank had any liens against the business or any other assests, the liens would be public record as they are filed in the county clerk's office. The sale of real property is also filed with the county clerk. I don't know if the purchase prices are included in the filing of a sale of real property.

I believe a sale of a business would also be filed with the county clerk. Again, I don't know if that would include a purchase price.
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I think that is a big part of what I'm having trouble understanding, along with a whole lot of other people apparently. If your business has a lien on it, if your home and land has a lien on it, if your car has a lien holder, then technically none of it actually belongs to you. It belongs to the bank. When something belongs to the bank, you can't use it as collateral.

I don't know if Blair and his wife own a large tract of land ,complete with a home and equipment, that is free and clear. If they don't, then that means some bondsman out there was willing to put up $125,000 of his own money to guarantee that Blair will be in court. I don't think a bondsman normally takes that kind of a chance unless there is something he can latch onto in order to get his money back.

Blair's automotive business appeared to be your garden variety fix-it shop, nothing special about it. If Blair sold it prior to being arrested, and if it was bank financed, then just about everything having to do with that shop can be taken off the table from a collateral point of view. Even if he netted 10K(+) after the sale, that's chump change compared to what he needed to get himself sprung from jail, that won't even cover the bondsman's fee. I would imagine the bonding company is going to charge him at least 20% of the bond amount, which would mean Blair is going to owe them at least $25,000. More than likely he would have been required to pay the majority of that amount the minute he got released from jail.

Blair's wife, who allegedly has filed for divorce, would also be wrapped up in this. 50% of all of their marital assets would be considered hers. That means that everything that belongs to her would be tied up in legal limbo by the liens put in place by the bonding company. Why would she sign off on that ? What difference would it make to her if Blair sat in jail for the next 3 years ? Most importantly, why would she want to help him get out anyway considering the charges?

Obviously, no bondsman has taken that risk with Minkley and Hellams. Why ? No assets, no cash, and no collateral to back up the bond.

What is it about Blair that have these people working overtime in order to get him out of jail ? Was he able to convince Grandma and Grandpa to put up the family farm ? Are his parents filthy rich ? Does he know low people in high places ? If Blair and his wife didn't have the assets to secure this bond, it would be very interesting to know who did.......and why they would.

Lot's of questions, not many answers.
 
The only thing of "special" value I'm aware of regarding the shop is location.

Possible that he was able to cash out of that assest. Also possible that a bank could have forced a sale netting him little towards his cash needs. Hard to know with few solid knowns about his financial picture.

He was bonded out via Ebonds. The best I can ascertain is that would be Ebonds in Breckenridge.

Mainstream media reports confirm that ECB is represented by Crawford and Sublett attorneys out of Graham.

I have also read that he has additional representation from a criminal defense attorney out of Breckenridge. That attorney shares an address with Breckenridge Ebonds, according to Google search.

As you said, many questions with few answers at this point in time.
 
Everyday Grace said:
The only thing of "special" value I'm aware of regarding the shop is location.

Possible that he was able to cash out of that assest. Also possible that a bank could have forced a sale netting him little towards his cash needs. Hard to know with few solid knowns about his financial picture.

He was bonded out via Ebonds. The best I can ascertain is that would be Ebonds in Breckenridge.

Mainstream media reports confirm that ECB is represented by Crawford and Sublett attorneys out of Graham.

I have also read that he has additional representation from a criminal defense attorney out of Breckenridge. That attorney shares an address with Breckenridge Ebonds, according to Google search.

As you said, many questions with few answers at this point in time.
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Hmmmmm...so you bail your client out of jail, and then represent him in court. I guess that's one way to keep a close eye on your investment......lots of face-time. Sort of like a one-stop legal store....."We finance anybody.....bad credit, no problem" .

That's creative............risky..............but creative.
 
I recall seeing a photo at one point and hearing that he sold a car collection - I cannot recall how many cars, but it was more than two that was shown in his 'collection' - I wonder if that could have helped. I also think there are friends - a few that have been pretty vocal on fb - one I notice is a business owner and maybe some of them have helped. Some people, especially one's that are long time friends aren't convinced he's guilty. He's a local boy (New Castle) and he himself has hired less then respectful guys that he 'grew up with'...as for 'money' - people keep saying that word. I guess I have a different understanding of 'money' - EC's business and his kind is not what I'd call 'money' in this area at all. He's a working class white man that was able to acquire a small business - have a few nice things, but no where close to the true money in this area.

I'd also like to throw out something which was mentioned somewhere, his wife who was filing for divorce before all of this happened, might now want to stay married to him. Either because he could implicate her or because she is very much guilty and it's in her best interest that they can't testify against each other as husband and wife.


I recall reading they only got 12,000 dollars for the shop. (hear say by Leah's camp on fb)

A few questions I do have are....

1. How long did Leah work with EC at the shop? (I'd think that should be easy to answer - not speculation)

2. The threatening phone calls - apparently her father heard one of them - did LES on the board know what was said?

3. How much does the 'relationship' between EC and Leah factor into motive? I've seen texts posted on her cousin's wall between her cousin (Goddaughter and long time family friend with EC) and EC. I've seen her cousin state more than one time on fb that there was definitely a relationship. I've seen comments by her father, Billy that said there was a relationship and it was said that EC and Billy both confirmed to the LE that there was a relationship. I know that her mother stated there was only a flirtation.

4. How close were Billy Martin and EC Blair? I recall seeing the interview of Leah's mom talking about EC as her first boyfriend and how they went to school together. New Castle where they went to school and actually where he resides (EC Blair) is a lot smaller than Graham, TX. - about 16-20 miles north. Obviously Leah's cousin who has stated EC was her Godfather and they had grown up around him since they were born. Reading also the families have had a long time history of being close. EC wasn't just Leah's boss and the grandfather of her grand daughter and the father of her on and off again boyfriend/fiancé...you can definitely hear and read the betrayal from Leah's cousin when she posts things on fb.

5. I also have read that EC, Minkley and Healms all grew up together and went to school in New Castle (they are all the same age) with Billy Martin - did EC hire them because of being long time friends from childhood - not necessarily because he only hire convicts? Although Minkley came back to Graham, it seems like he had been away for a while before being a local again (like one year - if you look at the FW triple homicide) I still think Minkley is just a side character - someone who needed money, helped out, maybe didn't really know what was going on and yes, obviously has a history of alleged killings in Fort Worth...but a ****, not someone who's involved in this underworld of high up people who are making or have lots of money.

6. I do not believe there is sex trafficking or secret undercover things going on with this case, but I could be wrong. I'm curious why this continues to be brought up - is it because of the young (very few young mother's from the past) or is it because people think they're being trafficked through Graham to Mexico or Europe. This community is very small and unique, there aren't numerous young women going missing - people bring up other young girls from the past, but it's a very small number and the most recent which was four years ago, that case was solved, the persons have been convinced and in jail and the motive was definitely tied to 'relationship' reason and although the body wasn't found, it was very much implied that she was pregnant and without a body, changed the how long the sentence was.

7. As for DRUGs, which I guess could have made sense - there has been an on going huge sting that just went down the other week in this area. It was reported in the newspaper. It's covered several years and several arrests were made in Young County. If EC or his business or any of these men were involved, I would think with the investigation that would have come out.

By the way, no one mentions ever that EC has a second son, (Aaron has brother) that son actually got married the weekend before he was arrested. The photos posted on fb of that celebration were pretty big, I found that weird. I find it amazing how intertwined this small community is. One of EC's son's daughter grandparents are business owners, who says all these small connections aren't helping behind the scenes because no one wants to believe they're related or long time friend's with a monster.

I really don't think it's as complex as an underground criminal world operating out of a small town.
 
entomologygal said:
I recall seeing a photo at one point and hearing that he sold a car collection - I cannot recall how many cars, but it was more than two that was shown in his 'collection' - I wonder if that could have helped. I also think there are friends - a few that have been pretty vocal on fb - one I notice is a business owner and maybe some of them have helped. Some people, especially one's that are long time friends aren't convinced he's guilty. He's a local boy (New Castle) and he himself has hired less then respectful guys that he 'grew up with'...as for 'money' - people keep saying that word. I guess I have a different understanding of 'money' - EC's business and his kind is not what I'd call 'money' in this area at all. He's a working class white man that was able to acquire a small business - have a few nice things, but no where close to the true money in this area.

I'd also like to throw out something which was mentioned somewhere, his wife who was filing for divorce before all of this happened, might now want to stay married to him. Either because he could implicate her or because she is very much guilty and it's in her best interest that they can't testify against each other as husband and wife.


I recall reading they only got 12,000 dollars for the shop. (hear say by Leah's camp on fb)

A few questions I do have are....

1. How long did Leah work with EC at the shop? (I'd think that should be easy to answer - not speculation)

2. The threatening phone calls - apparently her father heard one of them - did LES on the board know what was said?


6. I do not believe there is sex trafficking or secret undercover things going on with this case, but I could be wrong. I'm curious why this continues to be brought up - is it because of the young (very few young mother's from the past) or is it because people think they're being trafficked through Graham to Mexico or Europe. This community is very small and unique, there aren't numerous young women going missing - people bring up other young girls from the past, but it's a very small number and the most recent which was four years ago, that case was solved, the persons have been convinced and in jail and the motive was definitely tied to 'relationship' reason and although the body wasn't found, it was very much implied that she was pregnant and without a body, changed the how long the sentence was.

I really don't think it's as complex as an underground criminal world operating out of a small town.
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<Shortened to save space>

Your post made a lightbulb go off..... We keep hearing about these threatening phone calls Leah was receiving, that we can all agree on. We also know that Hellams was paying some girl to make the calls, that's in the affidavit.

What we don't know....what exactly was it she was being threatened with ? What was the subject matter of the threat ? Since we have a verified insider here among us, maybe LES could enlighten us a little bit.


As far as the sex trafficking goes.....I've noticed that wasn't a real big topic until after the hit movie "Taken" and " Taken 2" made it to the big screen. Now days , any girl that vanishes for any length of time, it's almost instantly blamed on sex trafficking, and the theories abound. Of course what people fail to acknowledge later on, after the girl is found , is that in about 95% of the cases sex trafficking had absolutely nothing to do with it.
That's just an observation I've made over the last couple of years, it doesn't really mean anything. I just roll my eyes a lot when these troubled teenage girls disappear and the kneejerk reaction is to instantly blame sex traffickers. Most of the time it turns out they are simply behaving badly and rebelling against authority figures, you know.....runaways.
 
steelman said:
<Shortened to save space>

Your post made a lightbulb go off..... We keep hearing about these threatening phone calls Leah was receiving, that we can all agree on. We also know that Hellams was paying some girl to make the calls, that's in the affidavit.

What we don't know....what exactly was it she was being threatened with ? What was the subject matter of the threat ? Since we have a verified insider here among us, maybe LES could enlighten us a little bit.


As far as the sex trafficking goes.....I've noticed that wasn't a real big topic until after the hit movie "Taken" and " Taken 2" made it to the big screen. Now days , any girl that vanishes for any length of time, it's almost instantly blamed on sex trafficking, and the theories abound. Of course what people fail to acknowledge later on, after the girl is found , is that in about 95% of the cases sex trafficking had absolutely nothing to do with it.
That's just an observation I've made over the last couple of years, it doesn't really mean anything. I just roll my eyes a lot when these troubled teenage girls disappear and the kneejerk reaction is to instantly blame sex traffickers. Most of the time it turns out they are simply behaving badly and rebelling against authority figures, you know.....runaways.
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I have no specific information as to the contents of the threatening messages. Her father is keeping everything close to his chest as requested by LE. I can say there is collaborating evidence against EC.
 
LES said:
I have no specific information as to the contents of the threatening messages. Her father is keeping everything close to his chest as requested by LE. I can say there is collaborating evidence against EC.
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Thanks for the reply. I guess the main curiosity surrounding the threatening phone calls is that it might help to give some sort of an insight as to what the motive was behind all of this. Since Hellams was paying some woman to make those phone calls, you have to assume that the phone calls were somehow related to the animosity the three suspects had towards Leah.

I'm about 90% sure there is a direct connection between the threatening phone calls, which apparently weren't working, and their ultimate decision to kidnap her and take her life. Then again, maybe the phone calls were intimidating her, but the three suspects didn't think it was going to be enough to keep her quiet.

No wonder everybody is wondering about a motive....apparently LE has a gag order on everybody close to the victim. Typical. (and unnecessary)
 
I would really be interested in knowing what ECs day consist of and his visitors/supporters. I just deeply feel scorned, jealous person connected in this plot. I understand many are pointing fingers at EC but what's the motive? Was she pregnant or did she know too much? Or did EC wife get a little demanding?
 
roadrunnermt said:
I would really be interested in knowing what ECs day consist of and his visitors/supporters. I just deeply feel scorned, jealous person connected in this plot. I understand many are pointing fingers at EC but what's the motive? Was she pregnant or did she know too much? Or did EC wife get a little demanding?
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I think I stated about 10 or 15 pages back what I thought the possible motive might be. These three guys obviously hang out together and socialize with one another. Due to that, they most likely spent a lot of time hanging out around the shop drinking, drugging, smoking, and B.S.'ing after work hours.

My theory was that one or two of them got to boasting and bragging about "something" one day, and Leah either overheard it, or heard the story numerous times. After Minkley confessed to the triple murder over in Ft.Worth, I sort of thought Leah might have overheard something having to do with that, or something similar. The problem with that theory is that it would have had nothing whatsoever to do with EC Blair OR Hellams.

I think these three guys were into something illegal, and Leah either got wind of it or had intimate knowledge of it. Maybe she even joked around that she was going to tell on them, without really meaning it. Whatever the case, the three of them obviously decided that loose lips sink ships, and they were going to have to take more drastic measures.

I have to keep reminding myself that it wasn't just Minkley and Hellams that abducted her, Blair also had a hand in it. To me, that means that Blair had a vested interest in keeping her quiet just as much as the other two. I know that Blair's wife had filed for divorce, so was it what Leah knew that could potentially create problems for Blair in court ? I tend to dismiss those kinds of theories, because there were three men involved in this caper, not just one.
 
roadrunnermt said:
I would really be interested in knowing what ECs day consist of and his visitors/supporters. I just deeply feel scorned, jealous person connected in this plot. I understand many are pointing fingers at EC but what's the motive? Was she pregnant or did she know too much? Or did EC wife get a little demanding?
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She was definitely NOT pregnant.
 
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