GUILTY NC - Tim Hennis on trial in the '85 Eastburn murders, Fort Bragg

[SMK]

I agree wholly. It was the worst thing his attorneys could have done, to bring up this idea of a sexual encounter with Hennis right before her rape and murder. It needs to be undone.

And yes, if Gary Eastburn has been understandably hating Hennis all these years, it would be justice if the true murderer could be identified and bear the brunt of that righteous anger and hate. Something has to give. Justice demands that the real killers are revealed, and that Hennis be exonerated and compensated by the state of North Carolina . I pray it's soon.

 

[SMK]

The only good to come from this is if the real killers are revealed, Hennis becomes the poster boy for DNA fallibility and corruption, and receives 20 million from the state.

 

[SMK]

Questions:. ( if Sundrop can answer)

1. Is the profile being tested already a request before the court? Is this what is being waited on since March?

2. What are the chances that the individual whose DNA profile this is would NOT be in the criminal data base?

Thanks. :thinking:

 

[msvick66]

Also for sundrop: I don't recall if you already said whether the towel dna had an estimated racial profile. Is the towel dna known to be a white, black or Asian male? I thought that they had found an African American hair (possibly a pubic hair) in Katie's bed?

 

[sundrop]

That I don't know the race of the DNA profile

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[msvick66]

If it is a full profile of 13 loci, it probably could be estimated though right? Or is that not always true? Or just that there is further testing that must be done to determine it that may not have been done? If there was a pubic hair of African-American origin, then the racial profile could be really telling? Then again, even if they are different, it could be 2 people. I just know that Charlotte Kirby saw a short, skinny stringy haired man who matched the description of someone in the van parked at the house.

 

[SMK]

Stombaugh in his analysis asserted that there were at least two assailants, and I always wondered why his theory about Julie Czerniak was not taken seriously as it made more sense by far than the Hennis theory. There are your van people. Julie was followed by a van just after the murders.

The fact that Hennis has now sat in Leavenworth prison for six years instead of enjoying his pension and grandchild is horrifying.

But I still am not clear: did the courts agree to look at further testing or not????

 

[SMK]

I think the fact that Julie admitted to having guys in the Eastburn house is telling, considering her drug use, her role as drug informant, and her Jeffrey MacDonald link. Also, she had such a proclivity for drama and exaggeration, and with her knowledge of the interior of the house and the lock box, I can easily see her telling guys that the box contained thousands of dollars, which would be a real temptation for a drug addict. Strombaugh rightly said the rape was secondary to the crime.

If Hennis had just been rejected by Nancy and didn't harm her or her daughter, why would he have reacted so insanely to Katie's rejection? Plus have arrived with 2 knives and restraining cord? Plus leave no trace of himself and not a speck of blood in his car or on his shoes? None of it ever made any sense. Yet once again he is on death riow. He needs to be cleared and sue for millions.

 

[SMK]

Just read a New Yorker article on Hennis: The author confirmed that if the military courts are not to waste more and more years of his life, he needs to find a way for the federal court to set him free immediately. Then exonerate himself with DNA.

 

[msvick66]

Yes! The thing about Julie and her possibly exaggerating money in the house. This is what happened in the Clutter case (In Cold Blood). Some prison inmate boasted to 2 other inmates that they kept huge amounts of money in a safe at the house. This was not true, there was no safe. But they went and killed 4 people over it and Hickock (spelling?) possibly tried to rape Nancy but I think Perry Smith stopped him. So this kind of thing happens. Even though Julie is off balance, leaving her out of the testimony in every trial I still think is a mistake. She is reasonable doubt. With the drug buy plans at the house the weekend the murder took place that was going to be done by her, how is it not important to consider? Plus her MacDonald fascination, her brothers. I still think she may have sent the Mr. X letters because she knows Hennis is innocent. I don't know, but if they had taken her in and given her the treatment, bluffed and said they knew she had something to do with it, maybe she would have cracked. Probably her Mom wouldn't allow it though, but she's an adult now. She's a loose cannon. I even wonder if the phone calls were something she put her brothers up to doing as a set up for this if she is somehow involved in this. It's all the kind of theatrics that she seems to love. I don't know. It's also possible she isn't involved but is the catalyst because of her being a narc and setting up the drug buy at the home. I still think the DEA does not want that to come out because of how it makes them look if it led to murder.

Personally, the DEA needs to be embarrassed and throttled anyway, but that's another issue. I think a lot of what they do is immoral and completely destructive. If their drug set up bs led to this murder, it's just another example of that.

 

[SMK]

Yes! The thing about Julie and her possibly exaggerating money in the house. This is what happened in the Clutter case (In Cold Blood). Some prison inmate boasted to 2 other inmates that they kept huge amounts of money in a safe at the house. This was not true, there was no safe. But they went and killed 4 people over it and Hickock (spelling?) possibly tried to rape Nancy but I think Perry Smith stopped him. So this kind of thing happens. Even though Julie is off balance, leaving her out of the testimony in every trial I still think is a mistake. She is reasonable doubt. With the drug buy plans at the house the weekend the murder took place that was going to be done by her, how is it not important to consider? Plus her MacDonald fascination, her brothers. I still think she may have sent the Mr. X letters because she knows Hennis is innocent. I don't know, but if they had taken her in and given her the treatment, bluffed and said they knew she had something to do with it, maybe she would have cracked. Probably her Mom wouldn't allow it though, but she's an adult now. She's a loose cannon. I even wonder if the phone calls were something she put her brothers up to doing as a set up for this if she is somehow involved in this. It's all the kind of theatrics that she seems to love. I don't know. It's also possible she isn't involved but is the catalyst because of her being a narc and setting up the drug buy at the home. I still think the DEA does not want that to come out because of how it makes them look if it led to murder.

Personally, the DEA needs to be embarrassed and throttled anyway, but that's another issue. I think a lot of what they do is immoral and completely destructive. If their drug set up bs led to this murder, it's just another example of that.

Yes, I recall that from the Clutter case. One guy lying about a safe led to the whole family being wiped out. If Julie did similar about the lock box, it would not be without precedent.

You know, that's a good point about the DEA. That may be a huge motive for using Hennis as a scapegoat: Not wanting to admit that using a teenage babysitter as an informant may have wiped out a Captain's family. I can think of three cases where there was a coverup due to not wanting a drug informant connection to be revealed as having caused a murder. It makes me even more angry if Hennis has been sacrificed to this. How evil.

 

[sundrop]

Robert Bob Seefeldt the neighbor of the Eastburns died this week

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[SMK]

Robert Bob Seefeldt the neighbor of the Eastburns died this week

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Goodness. I know he was one of your , and others', suspects, due to his comment about unlocked windows and his proximity. He does seem odd, very much so, in the interview tape. I wonder if that is possible, and what it might mean if DNA were to link him....

Saw his obituary. Still lived in NC and was 77.

 

[msvick66]

Guessing he was never swabbed for DNA? If there wasn't enough probable cause or he wasn't asked to voluntarily submit to a dna sample (which seems a reasonable request since he was a neighbor, was one of the last persons to see the victims alive and was instrumental in the discovery of the bodies), it's ashame no one tried to surreptitiously obtain a sample (if they didn't, that is). Wish they could get one before he is buried if he was never tested to at least eliminate him from the suspect pool, but of course with a convicted suspect they wouldn't grant a request like that. Although, a strong case is made for an accomplice due to evidence that doesn't belong to Hennis so it's reasonable in my opinion.

 

[SMK]

You make some excellent points regarding reasons they should have had for taking samples from him. How horrible if it was him and it now won't be discovered .

 

[msvick66]

It's really sad that the only way it seems to get Tim out of this mess and prove he is falsely convicted is to prove someone else did it. Many times there would be no evidence that was available to do that, but here there is solid evidence that could potentially show who it was but they won't allow it to be done. They don't care about justice for these people, nor in protecting the community from a monster who could have done it again.

 

[sundrop]

Remember no DNA profiling back in 1985, but no he was not swabbed

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[msvick66]

There is familial dna if he has children, but they will not be asked and certainly would not volunteer. I know you said that he had mentioned the unlocked windows, but didn't he go around the house looking for how to get in with the police officer or sheriff's deputy? Could he have seen that then, or been told that by the deputy after he entered and found the bodies? Has he done anything else suspicious or does he have a record?

Back then military were required to submit fingerprints, but did they have to submit blood, not for dna obviously but for typing in case of accident or injury or for basic medical records? Just wondering if so would they still have it? I think now they do provide dna (when entering military)?

We have talked a lot about how Tim did not seem to have any violent tendencies and had nothing happen afterwards in all the years he was free. If that is also true of Seefeldt, then maybe he was just a neighbor and nothing more. I don't notice any injuries on him in those interviews and it is thought the victims, particularly Katie, may have scratched the attacker(s). Does he have a criminal record or any history to suggest he could have been involved? Just wondering if there is more than the window remark that caused suspicion.

 

[SMK]

I had also wondered if Seefeld might have heard the deputy say the windows were unlocked. He did seem odd in the video but may have been in shock. He did have proximity, and knowledge that Gary Eastburn was away; he and his wife were also the last to see them alive.

It does now seem Hennis' only hope would be finding the real killers. The DNA is so accepted as "case closed" that only the presence of some unconnected criminal could save him.

Why don't they take the fact that Hennis had no scratches as evidence? I read an article last night about a man on death row who begged for some handprints to be tested, which would prove his innocence. The prints wound up being his own, and now I must wonder if police fabricated them.....

 

[msvick66]

Very interesting. I think you said you did watch the Death Row Stories episode about Hennis. You might find the episode (can't remember if that's the right title, but the series done by CNN that had one on Hennis is what I mean) on Kevin Cooper interesting as it kind of resembles a scenario that you just mentioned about the handprints. Cooper begged for DNA testing. A surviving victim who was a child in the case said it was a group of white men who attacked his family and himself, but later changed his testimony after police talked to him. This was to help seal the conviction on Kevin Cooper (who was no angel). Cooper begged for DNA testing on a shirt, but then it turned out to be his dna. Many believe they planted this on the shirt. It is the crime known as the Chino Hills murders.

With Hennis and the towel dna, they can't pull something like that since the dna has already been established. They already have their planted or contaminated dna with vaginal swab that wasn't supposed to exist until they magically found some more to work with.