GUILTY IN - DARREN DEON VANN, 43, Gary, body count at seven, more expected

[KateB]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/21/darren-vann-indian-victim_n_6025124.html
Who Were The Victims...?

ANITH JONES
Jones was a fixture in Natasha Conway's life for 25 years.
She was the little girl who wanted to play when Conway moved to a new neighborhood on Chicago's South Side at 9. She was the teenager who promised to carry on the tradition of baking Betty Boop birthday cakes after Conway buried her father at 18. She was the woman who snuck a McDonald's Filet-O-Fish sandwich into the hospital room after Conway gave birth to her second child at 25.

Apart from her dog, Buzz, and cat, Chuck, Jones, 35, had no children. Instead, she was godmother to her friends' children, including Conway's son and daughter.
One of several siblings, Jones was also the "favorite aunt to every last one of her nieces and nephews," Conway said.

RIP Anith.

 

[PricklyPear]

Family hopes Sonya Billingsley is not one of Vann's victims: http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/...cle_f0c0ebda-1a53-5a06-936f-428b69e8ab4d.html

There is a thread for her here: http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?234760-IN-Sonya-Billingsley-52-Gary-7-Feb-2014

It's really upsetting to me how many of these women were reported missing, but everyone was saying they weren't when the bodies were first found. I remember reading in a couple of the initial stories that only Afrikka Hardy and Anith Jones were reported missing, but then it came out that Teaira Batey's family had been fighting to get police to take her disappearance seriously.

I know Sonya Billingsley may not be one of the victims, but if she is and police ignored her disappearance too, I'm going to be so mad. It's bad enough that they ignored the tip from Scripps for so long, and that Austin police are acting so cavalier about possible victims there because they don't fit some sort of victim profile they think this guy has.

 

[steelman]

Lory Welch boards up an abandoned home in Gary, Indiana, on Tuesday, October 21. According to police, this home on East 19th Avenue is where Darren Deon Vann allegedly left the body of Teaira Batey. Batey is one of the seven women who police say Vann, 43, has confessed to killing in northwest Indiana.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/24/opinion/fox-levin-serial-killers/

 

[steelman]

It's really upsetting to me how many of these women were reported missing, but everyone was saying they weren't when the bodies were first found. I remember reading in a couple of the initial stories that only Afrikka Hardy and Anith Jones were reported missing, but then it came out that Teaira Batey's family had been fighting to get police to take her disappearance seriously.

I know Sonya Billingsley may not be one of the victims, but if she is and police ignored her disappearance too, I'm going to be so mad. It's bad enough that they ignored the tip from Scripps for so long, and that Austin police are acting so cavalier about possible victims there because they don't fit some sort of victim profile they think this guy has.

Working from your post, LE is reviewing all the unsolved murder cases they have from the time frame in which he was roaming free. These are bodies which have been found.
+
Now, let's add in all the women that have been reported missing but HAVEN'T been found.
+
In addition, let's now add in all the women that HAVEN'T been reported missing to date, nobody knows they are missing, nobody knows they are dead.
__________________________
Grand total--- ???

 

[ClaireNC]

New article includes images of the jewelry worn by one of the victims. Also mentions that they have a lead on the identity of one of three remaining unidentified women.

http://www.people.com/article/alleged-serial-killer-darren-vann-victims-unidentified-police-jewelry

Lake County Coroner Merrilee Frey said one of the victims found Oct. 19 was 5' 3" and had on a silver bracelet with "Best Aunt" written on top. She also wore two silver rings – one that was heart-shaped on the top and the other with scalloped engravings.

 

[ClaireNC]

Police are using "pings" to determine where Vann traveled after he killed Hardy. They are searching locations in the Illinois south suburbs of Harvey, Markham and Hazel Crest. "Over the past two days, the sheriff’s office has searched 26 buildings and a field in those areas."

There is a gag order, so LE are not releasing information about the ongoing investigation into other potential victims.

Memorial services are being scheduled for the identified victims.

Interesting bit of info: Vann tried to legally change his name in the late 1990's, but failed to attend a hearing so the petition was denied.

http://posttrib.suntimes.com/306298...killer-to-the-south-suburbs.html#.VEvRSRbDWf0

 

[PlainJaneDoe]

New article includes images of the jewelry worn by one of the victims. Also mentions that they have a lead on the identity of one of three remaining unidentified women.

http://www.people.com/article/alleged-serial-killer-darren-vann-victims-unidentified-police-jewelry

Best aunt? That breaks my heart.

 

[mysteriew]

http://wane.com/2014/10/26/suspect-in-7-indiana-slayings-due-back-in-court-2/

Vann is due back in court Wed

 

[mysteriew]

http://wishtv.com/2014/10/26/service-set-for-saturday-for-1-of-7-women-killed/

Services for Afrikka Hardy are this week

 

[steelman]

How did Vann manage to murder women for so long without being detected? He himself confessed that he had “messed up” with the murder of Hardy, but the story runs deeper than that. It’s clear that Vann specifically preyed on women whom he thought wouldn’t be reported missing, concentrating his efforts on women living alone, working in marginalized professions, and/or out of touch with their families. One such population is sex workers — it’s notable that Hardy was a sex worker, and she likely wasn’t the only one among his victims. Sex workers are particularly vulnerable to assault, murder and rape because of their social isolation, thanks to the criminalization of the work they perform, which makes it difficult for them to access safe working conditions.

Vann took advantage of the fact that his victims would vanish without a blip into the larger landscape of missing women, and that some might not even be noticed at all, which illustrates the profound issue with criminalizing sex work and putting women in marginal positions.

Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/how-did...east-7-women-over-20-years.html#ixzz3HL13MQlZ

 

[MissUnderstood]

I don't think I believe his hit man story!!! Seems a little odd that a pimp would want seven of his workers killed in one year!!!

 

[colette]

I don't think I believe his hit man story!!! Seems a little odd that a pimp would want seven of his workers killed in one year!!!

I believe the "hit man story" only refers to one victim Anith Jones, not all of his victims.

 

[steelman]

I believe the "hit man story" only refers to one victim Anith Jones, not all of his victims.

I believe it too. If any of "his girls" threatened to get out of the business, or if they saw or knew something they shouldn't, that in itself would be enough for said pimp to hire an "enforcer" to do his dirty work for him. Fear and intimidation is how they keep control over their harem. The only problem here is whether there is actually proof or not that a third party (pimp) actually ordered this done. I doubt there is a paper trail between him and D. Vann. It's all hear-say.

 

[oldwindow]

I believe it too. If any of "his girls" threatened to get out of the business, or if they saw or knew something they shouldn't, that in itself would be enough for said pimp to hire an "enforcer" to do his dirty work for him. Fear and intimidation is how they keep control over their harem. The only problem here is whether there is actually proof or not that a third party (pimp) actually ordered this done. I doubt there is a paper trail between him and D. Vann. It's all hear-say.

Yes. I said the same thing. If this pimp is actually found or real that's what he can use "hear-say" in court. You cant do any hit with knowing any names of who sending you out.

I also think he target adults because its a not crime to be missing, no one will report them in most cases if they are living alone . He scouts their back ground, then attacks them. He's not dumb ,mental nor insane he knows what he is doing.

 

[Starry Night]

This is so macabre down here on this thread-especially since it involves current crimes and maybe 20 years hence. Sorta gives me the creeps for Halloween.

 

[fran]

Ind., Va. arrests prompt other cold case investigations


• In Austin, Texas, police began reviewing their cold cases after receiving information from authorities in Indiana. Vann, 43,was convicted of aggravated rapein Austin in 2009 from a 2007 case, Austin police say. He served five years and left for Indiana in June, 2013.

"We're not publicly saying anything about it (the investigation) at this point," Ehlert says. "When we reach a point where we feel we have something pertinent to point out, we'll point it out."

Austin police are asking the public to come forward with information related to 14 unsolved homicides that occurred between Jan. 22, 1979, and Aug. 10, 1997, and six missing persons cases between Nov. 1, 2005, and April 20, 2014.

• Police in Havelock, N.C., are reviewing a cold case from 1992 to see if there are any links to Vann, according to media reports. Havelock borders the Cherry Point Air Station where Vann was stationed as a Marine from 1991-1993. Police are reportedly reviewing the slaying of Camille Whalen, 25, who was strangled and stabbed, then dumped near a baseball field in August 1992.

read more ............. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...sts-prompt-cold-case-investigations/17836985/

 

[fran]

Ex-stepson: Accused serial killer was ‘creepy’ and ‘strange’

Everyone knew I didn’t like him. Everyone knew I was watching him,” said Edward Matlock in a phone interview with CNN. He said he never liked the man who married his mother in 1995.

“He was a creepy dude,” Matlock said, “and I couldn’t believe my mom would marry someone that young…I kept my distance from him.”

Vann and his ex-wife married in Travis County in 1995. There was a 30 year age difference between the two, which was weird to Matlock.

“He was just a strange guy,” he added. “I would walk in and see him talking to himself a lot and in deep thought a lot and she acted like she never seen it but I told her, the guy was a nutcase.”

Matlock believed Vann worked for a temp agency that had him working at Dell, but Vann was fired and he quickly spiraled down hill. KXAN News spoke with Dell which said its records don’t show that Vann worked there.

“I said mom, ‘your boyfriend or husband or whatever you want to call him, he’s running around at night time and on Rundberg in Austin, do you know what kind of neighborhood that is? That’s a prostitution strip,'” said Matlock, who said Vann would wander around town.

see more ...... http://kxan.com/2014/10/21/ex-stepson-accused-serial-killer-was-creepy-and-strange/

 

[sloane7777]

I dont know whats going on in Austin, same as James Roy McAlphin he was convicted of murder, previously released then commited a horrific rape went to court in Austin and only served two more years before getting out and using a box cutter on a persons throat! I mean when you rape someone in Austin, do they not take your previous criminal activities into account? or do they just have an assembly line and you roll by on a belt and they yell" 5 years 2 in 3 out"

 

[ClaireNC]

I dont know whats going on in Austin, same as James Roy McAlphin he was convicted of murder, previously released then commited a horrific rape went to court in Austin and only served two more years before getting out and using a box cutter on a persons throat! I mean when you rape someone in Austin, do they not take your previous criminal activities into account? or do they just have an assembly line and you roll by on a belt and they yell" 5 years 2 in 3 out"

For what it is worth, Travis County is defending the way they handled the 2009 case. http://www.myfoxaustin.com/story/27...-handling-of-2009-darren-vann-case-reasonable

Sounds like a bit of blaming the victim going on in Austin:
Full statement from the DA is here: http://ftpcontent3.worldnow.com/ktbc/PDF Files/VannDarrenPrsRls102714.pdf

And this excuse. Why didn't they know?: http://kxan.com/2014/10/27/travis-co-prosecutor-indiana-suspect-history-unknown/

Travis County prosecutors may not have offered a suspected serial killer such a lenient prison sentence in a 2009 sexual assault case had they known about his conviction on a similar charge in Indiana five years earlier, a district attorney’s spokesman said Monday.

The Daily Mail article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2810279/Texas-DA-defends-handling-Vanns-09-case.html

 

[KateB]

Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg that issued this statement is the most powerful DA in the state, I've heard.
O/T - Here's her recent booking video for those not familar with her. (The Greg she insists be notified is Greg Abbott, State Attorney and current Republican nominee for governor.)
http://youtu.be/s7y7oJ266qI

ETA: Starry is right. (TY!) Which makes more sense. (Rosemary is who Gov Perry was indicted over.)