Identified! SC - York Co., UID female, 13-20, found burned, Nov'09 - Randi Saldana

[jcamille]

It's being widely reported that the two women found murdered in SC in the last two weeks knew each other.

The second woman who was found a few days ago had been to the first woman's house and they all ran in the same circle (drug-related).

Both women were from Gastonia and lived 6 miles apart, and both of their bodies were found in SC - five miles apart and two weeks apart.

That now makes me think of the other four women missing from Gastonia that someone on this string found earlier.

 

[gaia227]

The list of the other 4 missing women is the post above yours.

here is a link to news story confirming the women knew eachother:
http://www.citizen-times.com/article/2009911190343

http://www.wcnc.com/news/local/Murdered-Gastonia-Woman-Knew-Other-Victim-70411687.html

Gastonia is a small place but it does seem to have a lot of drug activity which could account for the high rate of runaways and/or missing persons. However, it seems there may be more to this than that. It would be interesting to know if Heather and/or Randi knew Jamie or any of the other missing girls.

It is hard to know where the line is as a citizen. My first thought it surely LE is aware of these connections and don't need to have it pointed out to them by me or someone else but then I think of all the cases I have read about in which connections were overlooked and mis-communication was rampant w/in the depts.
If LE is beginning to suspect they have a serial killer typically they try to keep in on the DL to avoid panic. Personally I think that is BS and it is their duty to keep the public safe and part of that is making sure the public is informed.

 

[dreamweaver]

The list of the other 4 missing women is the post above yours.

here is a link to news story confirming the women knew eachother:
http://www.citizen-times.com/article/2009911190343

http://www.wcnc.com/news/local/Murdered-Gastonia-Woman-Knew-Other-Victim-70411687.html

Gastonia is a small place but it does seem to have a lot of drug activity which could account for the high rate of runaways and/or missing persons. However, it seems there may be more to this than that. It would be interesting to know if Heather and/or Randi knew Jamie or any of the other missing girls.

It is hard to know where the line is as a citizen. My first thought it surely LE is aware of these connections and don't need to have it pointed out to them by me or someone else but then I think of all the cases I have read about in which connections were overlooked and mis-communication was rampant w/in the depts.
If LE is beginning to suspect they have a serial killer typically they try to keep in on the DL to avoid panic. Personally I think that is BS and it is their duty to keep the public safe and part of that is making sure the public is informed.

=============================================

You would think LE would ask the FBI to step in now.
Possible serial killer, more than likely evidence connecting the women,
what else do they need to ask for help?

And maybe they have, maybe the FBI is keeping it undercover.

 

[jcamille]

=============================================

You would think LE would ask the FBI to step in now.
Possible serial killer, more than likely evidence connecting the women,
what else do they need to ask for help?

And maybe they have, maybe the FBI is keeping it undercover.

I would think that the FBI would be involved because both women were from N.C., but found in S.C. -

When it involves a multi-state crime, doesn't that bring the FBI in?

 

[zinc]

Boy, that age estimate sure was off; I wonder how they even did the estimate prior to an autopsy? That poor woman.

After seeing that the two Gastonia, NC women knew each other, I thought of the recent Rocky Mount, NC murders. (Not that the cases in the two towns are necessarily related, they just reminded me of each other.)

Residents on edge as local women vanish: Rocky Mount murders remain unsolved
http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/local&id=6964819

Since 2005, nine women who lived at the edges of the poor community in this small North Carolina city [Rocky Mount, NC] have disappeared. Six bodies were found along rural roads just a few miles outside town, most so decomposed that investigators could not tell how they died. At least one of the women was strangled, and all the deaths have been classified as homicides. Three women are still missing.

There are threads devoted to the Rocky Mount women:

Body found in Edgecombe County, NC is sixth in four years - Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community (discussion)

NC-Christine Marie Boone, 45, Rocky Mount - Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community (missing)

NC-Joyce Renee Durham, 48, Rocky Mount - Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community (missing)

NC-Yolanda 'Snap' Lancaster, 37, Rocky Mount - Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community (missing)

Edited to add:

These Rocky Mount women have been dying and going missing since at least 2005, but it was not until this July that the FBI finally got involved. I can't imagine that local law enforcement in a small city are generally in a position to deal with this scale of crime, and I'm not sure how much attention the murders got from state police. Another case where the lives of black women on the fringes are considered cheap, à la the Anthony Sowell murders?

To be fair, I don't know what the situation is in Gastonia with the women's races/lifestyles. But my feeling is that when you have bodies being dumped like trash, no one's life is cheap, regardless of the victim's background.

 

[zinc]

Some links to threads on missing Gastonia, NC women:

Jamie Michelle Fraley, 22, missing since April 8, 2008

NC-Missing woman, Jamie Fraley, Gastonia - Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community (info)

NC-Jamie Fraley, 22, Gastonia - Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community (discussion)

Jennifer Ramsey Rivkin, 42, missing since May 4, 2008

NC - Jennifer Ramsey Rivkin, 42, Gastonia - Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community (info)

NC-Jennifer Ramsey Rivking - missing Gastonia NC 5/4/08 - Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community (discussion)

 

[athy]

just to let people not from the area know....i live in gastonia, nc. while there are pockets of areas you don't want to go to because there is a lot of crime and drugs there the rest is a very quiet and peaceful town. i moved here from reading, pa and before that gloucester city, nj outside of camden, nj. THEY were drug infested areas and i felt very unsafe. here i can sit on the porch and feel safe.

actually i live a mile from where jamie fraley went missing. they believe it was her ex-b/f's father that did something to her. he is now dead.

 

[January.]

Small world, athy. I love in the surrounding area of Reading, PA.

 

[athy]

i lived there for about 6 years January. the area itself was nice. but the people, the drugs...that part i hated. when i first moved there it wasn't too bad but by the time i left it was awful.

 

[January.]

Downtown really is terrible. Out here in the small surrounding towns it's quite nice though.

 

[Kat]

a long shot but....

FORTUNATE RICE
Case Type: Endangered Runaway
DOB: Sep 19, 1993
Sex: Female
Missing Date: Oct 27, 2009
Race: Black
Age Now: 16
Height: 5'7" (170 cm)
Missing City: CHICAGO
Weight: 115 lbs (52 kg)
Missing State : IL
Hair Color: Brown
Missing Country: United States
Eye Color: Brown
Case Number: NCMC1134422
Circumstances: Fortunate is believed to be in Chicago, Illinois. Her ears are pierced. Fortunate has a tattoo on her right shoulder and on her left leg.

http://www.missingkids.com/missingkids/servlet/PubCaseSearchServlet?act=viewChildDetail&caseNum=1134422&orgPrefix=NCMC&seqNum=1&caseLang=en_US&searchLang=en_US

tattoo on right shoulder, weight and height pretty much match.. will look in the morning to see if there's anything else online pertaining to this child

I don't see a thread for Fortunate Rice but here is an update:

http://nvfc.us/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=8800&Itemid=5

...Monday, 01 March 2010
Fortunate Rice missing from Chicago, IL, has been recovered.

 

[CarlK90245]

Mods, can we add 'Identified' to the title of this forum, since she has been Identified?

ID'd as Randi Dean Saldana of Gastonia.

http://www.gastongazette.com/news/york-40585-county-woman.html

 

[Soulmagent]

10 years off on the UID stats??? I thought they tried to place the thought age in the middle giving a wider window. This is very upsetting. Should I go back though all UID's allowing a 10 year gap?? What about older UID'S who have been ruled out due to out of age range? What if that couple in S.C that was found is really in the 40's? (insert sad, angry, confussed ,faces here)

 

[ThePhantom]

This is another example of why I keep an open mind when comparing matches and never rule one out based on age alone -- exceedingly frustrating when others will say, "the doe is younger/older than the missing person"

 

[CarlK90245]

I usually widen the age range of my search a few years beyond what is estimated. But usually not that far.

In many cases, this is probably why these UID's go unidentified for so long - because someone mis-judged the age, height, or even gender.

I know of a couple of cases where it turned out that the Date of Last Contact was after the person died. The DLC was mistakenly recorded as the date the MP report was filed.

But it's often a tough sell to call in a possible if all of the vital stats don't fit their estimates.

What about older UID'S who have been ruled out due to out of age range?

IKWYM. I was just told a couple of weeks ago that they didn't want to look at my submission because my MP was too old.

 

[OkieGranny]

From February 2013:

http://www.wbtv.com/story/20968443/danny-hembree-plea-deal-randi-saldana-heather-catterton-gaston

Convicted death row inmate Danny Hembree made a plea deal with the state Tuesday morning in the murder case of Randi Dean Saldana.

On Tuesday morning, Hembree plead guilty to second-degree murder in the killing of the 30-year-old Saldana. He was sentenced to 313 to 385 months in prison.

Works out to about 26 to 32 years. His conviction for Heather Catterton's murder was overturned last year:

http://www.heraldonline.com/news/local/crime/article18261434.html

 

[bflocket]

I just found this related story from the time between Okie's stories above. It has pics of the three women Mr Hembree was purported to have killed.
It's fairly detailed and, boy, does it get... either interesting, crazy or both.

Farce in court as death-row killer claims he slept with prosecutor... and has second murder charge thrown out
Daily Mail
London, UK
4/2/2012

--Danny Hembree said he strangled Randi Dean Saldana, 30, by mistake
--Convicted in November of 2009 murder of Heather Catterton, 17
--Earlier this year, he sent an open letter boasting of prison life with color television, air conditioning, naps and free health care

During the murder trial for Miss Catterton, Hembree said he had strangled Saldana in the basement of his mother’s Gastonia, North Carolina home, but that it was an accident after a marathon of sex and crack cocaine.

During a police interrogation, Hembree admitted to killing two other women, though he now says that he was lying to distract authorities and cover up other crimes.