Skyla Whitaker, 11, & Taylor Placker 13 - Found Murdered - #11

[oceanblueeyes]

I found an update in The Joplin Globe Published July 11, 2008 09:13 pm - GIRARD, Kan. — Aaron Graham will face a mandatory sentence of life in prison after pleading guilty Friday to first-degree murder in the Jan. 30, 2007, shooting death of Jamey Richardson in Baxter Springs.

Third defendant in slaying case pleads guilty


GIRARD, Kan. — Aaron Graham will face a mandatory sentence of life in prison after pleading guilty Friday to first-degree murder in the Jan. 30, 2007, shooting death of Jamey Richardson in Baxter Springs.
Graham, 23, of Pittsburg, would be eligible for parole after 20 years. His sentencing is set for Sept. 23. Other felony charges against Graham, including kidnapping, aggravated battery and aggravated assault, were dismissed in return for the guilty plea on the murder charge.
The crime to which Graham pleaded guilty was not premeditated murder, but rather murder while in the commission of another dangerous felony, specifically, kidnapping.
Richardson, a former Pittsburg State University basketball player, was 26 when he was found dead in a car in Baxter Springs. He died of a single gunshot wound to his left calf. Authorities said he bled to death.
Graham’s trial was to begin next week in Columbus. He will have a bond revocation hearing Monday in Columbus.
Graham is the third defendant to be convicted in relation to Richardson’s death.
A Cherokee County jury in January found Samuel Becker, 23, of Pittsburg, guilty of first-degree murder and 10 other felonies. He was sentenced in March to life plus 5 1/2 years in prison. He must serve at least 25 years before he’s eligible for parole.
Edward Gordon, 20, of Baxter Springs, was found guilty of second-degree murder after pleading “no contest” to the charge as part of a plea agreement. The agreement calls for a 10-year prison sentence. His sentencing is scheduled for July 29, but Veronica Dersch, a Kansas assistant attorney general, on Friday said Gordon’s sentencing might be rescheduled to Sept. 23 to coincide with Graham’s sentencing.
Previous court testimony revealed that the case centered on the theft of a safe from Gordon’s house in Baxter Springs containing money and marijuana for which Gordon owed Graham repayment. Witnesses testified that the three traveled from house to house, threatening Gordon’s friends with a gun and attacking them in an attempt to obtain information about the missing safe. They returned to Gordon’s house, where some witnesses testified they were not allowed to leave. It was outside the house where Richardson was shot.
http://www.joplinglobe.com/local/local_story_193211359.html

Thanks for the article, GetSmart. I find it very interesting.

First the sudden plea deal right before trial but that in the end the DA did not call Gordon to testify in either trial. I think he just put all of the defendants on notice that he would and that seems to have scared Graham enough to take his medicine.

For it to be one of Gordon's stipulations with his own plea deal and him not appearing it makes me wonder if the DA worried about his safety as a witness or his family's safety.

Was Graham afraid that Gordon was going to lash out and accuse him of having someone murder someone in his family trying to get Gordon to shut up?

It is just so uncommon to have a key witness like this and not call them in the DA's CIC.

imoo

 

[frogjustfrog]

Thank you for that info. I see by your posts at topix, you live very near the area. I am sure I know who you are. What do you feel about all this?

 

[frogjustfrog]

sorry, I guess I dont have how to do my postings all down right yet. will try to read more on how to do things. My last comment was to Sheza in regards to when the LE arrived, and who.

 

[Tom'sGirl]

sorry, I guess I dont have how to do my postings all down right yet. will try to read more on how to do things. My last comment was to Sheza in regards to when the LE arrived, and who.

When you want to reply to a post, just hit the on your right and reply...hope this helps!

 

[SeriouslySearching]

Thanks for posting that article, GS! Good find.

 

[frogjustfrog]

Correct me if I'm wrong.

For a year, Taylor had made the quarter-mile walk down the road to the bridge daily as exercise, Placker told FOXNews.com.
"She hardly ever does it at the same time every day," he said.
"Sometimes she'll do it in the morning, sometimes she'll do it in the afternoon, sometimes she'll do it about an hour or two before dark."

Skylar's grandmother, from a Nancy Grace interview:
"Well, Sunday afternoon. My daughter was the second person to arrive on the scene.
And the daddy of Taylor wouldn't let her near Skyla. And she called us at our home,
and we flew over there to see about her because we knew something was drastically wrong. So it was Sunday afternoon, probably 5:20."
http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/06/12/nancy.grace/


It's been reported 2 different times when the girls left the house that Sunday, 4:30 and 5:00pm..I haven' heard which was correct

Taylor's grandfather, found the girls clothed in T-shirts and shorts just 20 to 25 minutes after they had left Taylor's house.

GP made the 911 call at 5:41 pm..

all the cell phone call times will give a good time-line, if LE will only give us that info...imo

When you want to reply to a post, just hit the on your right and reply...hope this helps!

Got it. Thank you

 

[frogjustfrog]

I'm interested in what Mary was feeling about this skunk thing, that she posted on topix, and about where that old homestead is. Sheza? do you know? I wonder too just because I grew up around there and always love to put stories with places. Although, it appears I wouldnt want to drive down into those bogs for fear of getting stuck!

 

[FLMom]

Lurking and trying to stay caught up here. . .

re: The gauze used by the EMT's. It's possible that they were using the gauze at the direction of LE. During transportation it's possible for the evidence (bullet) to become dislodged and lost. This was probably done not for asthetics but for that reason.

Just have to say ya'll have done a heck of a job and it's a bugger trying to keep up!

 

[Tom'sGirl]

I'm interested in what Mary was feeling about this skunk thing, that she posted on topix, and about where that old homestead is. Sheza? do you know? I wonder too just because I grew up around there and always love to put stories with places. Although, it appears I wouldnt want to drive down into those bogs for fear of getting stuck!

She posts about it over at this link fjf
http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=66490

Her post about the skunk is here
http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2372970&postcount=131

 

[frogjustfrog]

She posts about it over at this link fjf
http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=66490

Her post about the skunk is here
http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2372970&postcount=131

Thank you so much. I appreciate that. Like I said, I havent had time to read all the "how tos" about how this forum works, but I'm trying to get the time to. Any help you all give me is nice and I hope I am not too much of a nusiance. lol Thanks again :crazy:

 

[Tom'sGirl]

Thank you so much. I appreciate that. Like I said, I havent had time to read all the "how tos" about how this forum works, but I'm trying to get the time to. Any help you all give me is nice and I hope I am not too much of a nusiance. lol Thanks again :crazy:

You're not a nuisance, everyone is a "Newbie" at one time or the other on a regulated and moderated Forum site.

TOPIX is neither regulated by registering or moderated, anyone with Internet access is able to post whatever the want, under different names and so forth.

I can understand you being confused coming from there to here...........you will soon catch on!

 

[Claycat]

GetSmart, that article was really good. It shows a possible motive for the murders. A couple of those guys that had been threatening people could have come down to take vengeance out on family members and found the girls. That would fit my idea of the motive being payback.

However, it would seem more likely that they would be looking more near Skyla's home instead of Taylor's, so I have a problem with that. Of course, maybe they were keeping up with Skyla's movements and struck when she was away from home. If this were the case, then the killers would be long gone.

There are just so many possible scenarios! It's mind boggling!

It's so nice to have people from the area posting here! Thank you Frog and Sheza and others! You give us a good perspective!

 

[sheza]

Thank you for that info. I see by your posts at topix, you live very near the area. I am sure I know who you are. What do you feel about all this?

Hope I'm called for jury duty!

 

[frogjustfrog]

GetSmart, that article was really good. It shows a possible motive for the murders. A couple of those guys that had been threatening people could have come down to take vengeance out on family members and found the girls. That would fit my idea of the motive being payback.

However, it would seem more likely that they would be looking more near Skyla's home instead of Taylor's, so I have a problem with that. Of course, maybe they were keeping up with Skyla's movements and struck when she was away from home. If this were the case, then the killers would be long gone.

There are just so many possible scenarios! It's mind boggling!

It's so nice to have people from the area posting here! Thank you Frog and Sheza and others! You give us a good perspective!

And thank you for inviting me. I am glad we have moderators here.

Does anyone have any idea if all these guys who were up for murder for the MO guy, we out on bail or anything at the time of the brutal slaying of the little girls? Of course, we have to keep in mind that they (guys involved in KS murder) also have friends and family who could retaliate.

 

[sheza]

GetSmart, that article was really good. It shows a possible motive for the murders. A couple of those guys that had been threatening people could have come down to take vengeance out on family members and found the girls. That would fit my idea of the motive being payback.

However, it would seem more likely that they would be looking more near Skyla's home instead of Taylor's, so I have a problem with that. Of course, maybe they were keeping up with Skyla's movements and struck when she was away from home. If this were the case, then the killers would be long gone.

There are just so many possible scenarios! It's mind boggling!

It's so nice to have people from the area posting here! Thank you Frog and Sheza and others! You give us a good perspective!

Thank you Claycat, I don't have a lot of info, but may can help some.
Close enough to see LE's and OSBI working 24/7 on this case.

Frog are you from Weleetka? I don't think I know you.

 

[GetSmart]

GetSmart, that article was really good. It shows a possible motive for the murders. A couple of those guys that had been threatening people could have come down to take vengeance out on family members and found the girls. That would fit my idea of the motive being payback.

However, it would seem more likely that they would be looking more near Skyla's home instead of Taylor's, so I have a problem with that. Of course, maybe they were keeping up with Skyla's movements and struck when she was away from home. If this were the case, then the killers would be long gone.

That also threw me off however I was thinking it is a lot easier to murder 2 little girls by themselves & make a clean getaway, rather than involve grownups. That might of been the only time they had the chance without adult supervision. It would not take much to stake out these families & figure that out. These baby girls were like peas & carrots always together.

 

[oceanblueeyes]

Thank you Claycat, I don't have a lot of info, but may can help some.
Close enough to see LE's and OSBI working 24/7 on this case.

Frog are you from Weleetka? I don't think I know you.

That is great to know, Sheza. So they are in your own area a lot?

I have always believed they are working hard to solve this case.

imoo

 

[SeriouslySearching]

I do believe what the grandmother said she saw. I am just not sure of when she saw it.

I read a link that none of the families were allowed to see the victims until they were sent to the funeral home. Of course there, if the families wanted to see either body before it was prepared, the Director would bring them in and show them.

Now that excludes Pete Placker because he was the unfortunate family member who found Skyla and Taylor but I bet even he was not allowed by LE to come back close to the bodies while they lay at the crime scene.

imoo

The grandmother said she saw Skyla at the scene before she was taken away. She also mentioned either the father or her husband was with her and saw her, too. So the article you saw is incorrect.

 

[SeriouslySearching]

I wonder if LE ever checked out the gas stations and stores in the surrounding area (especially on the turnpike) for either a sighting of this guy or possibly a camera shot? If this person was out there on a Sunday, he may have stopped to get gasoline, beer, or ciggies beforehand. Maybe the locals could check that out. Take a copy of the POI's photo and go ask around. If I were closer, it is what I would do!

 

[frogjustfrog]

Thank you Claycat, I don't have a lot of info, but may can help some.
Close enough to see LE's and OSBI working 24/7 on this case.

Frog are you from Weleetka? I don't think I know you.

no, Sheza. I was loulou's friend until she got upset with me. I could tell who you were by your conversations with her in topix. I dont post there anymore. But sometimes I go to see if any thing else has been discovered or figured out.
I am glad to see you on here and know you can shed some light just by having a feel for the area, just like I have a feel for Henryetta and for knowing those roads when I was young and stupid. lol Like the highway between weleetka and dustin, and from dustin to eufaula, and the river, oh and by the way, did you figure out where this Skunkstead is? I found it to be a very interestng story. I love to know the history of old places out in our neck of the woods, and the old storied told. Dont you? Some day we will be able to tell stories, like about fishing at 32, and the sewng factory at Pharoah, and just stuff.
Anyway, welcome to websluthes!