“Every person’s worst nightmare” gets 50 years in prison

By Calvin Palmer

A Wisconsin paper mill worker was sentenced today to 50 years in prison for abducting and sexually assaulting two young men he kept chained at his home.

Wood County Circuit Court Judge Greg Potter told Ed Lanphear, 47, of Saratoga, he was every person’s worst nightmare. The judge added that he was determined Lanphear would not have the opportunity to offend again.

Lanphear abducted the men in Wisconsin Rapids in separate incidents last July.

A 23-year-old Grand Rapids man was walking home when Lanphear offered to give him a ride. Once the man got into Lanphear’s truck and the two drove off, Lanphear pulled over, said he was a police officer and handcuffed the man.

Lanphear took the 23-year-old to his home, where he chained him in the basement.

On the evening of July 7, a 21-year-old Wisconsin Rapids man chose to sleep in his vehicle in the parking lot at a bar, after he realized he was too intoxicated to drive. He awoke to find Lanphear restraining him with zip ties around his hands.

Lanphear took the 21-year-old back to his home and chained him in the garage.

Both victims reported being beaten and sexually assaulted.

Police were eventually alerted when the 21-year-old managed to free himself from the garage and ran, naked and chained, to a nearby house for help.

[Based on reports by the Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune and newsday.com.]

NPA names those responsible for rape, torture and death of Rebelyn Pitao

By Calvin Palmer

Communist rebels in the Philippines yesterday indicted officials, members of the security forces and intelligence services believed to be behind the death of the daughter of  a commander of the New People’s Army (NPA).

Rebelyn Pitao, 20 was abducted in Davao City on March 4. Her naked body was found the next day in a shallow creek in the village of San Isidro.

She had been tortured, raped and stabbed through the heart.

Rebelyn, a teacher, was the daughter of Leoncio Pitao, known as Kumander Parago, the head of the NPA Pulang Bagani Command.

The NPA believes she was executed by government soldiers and yesterday its spokesman for the Southern Mindanao Regional Operations Command Rigoberto F. Sanchez named those thought to be responsible.

They include, the AFP commander-in-chief Gloria Arroyo along with Gen. Eduardo Ermita and AFP chief of staff Gen. Alexander Yano. Other senior officers indicted are Maj. Gen. Raymundo B. Ferrer and Maj. Gen. Reynaldo B. Mapagu. Several NCOs and government agents are also named.

The Army’s 10th Infantry Division and the Eastern Mindanao Command have repeatedly denied the involvement of soldiers in the murder.
 
The police set up Task Force Rebelyn to investigate the killing.

Pitao was dismissive of the task force.
 
“Its sole purpose is to do the bidding of the criminal Arroyo regime,” he said. “It only reinforces public perception that it was set up to absolve the criminal agents of the 10th Infantry Division-Eastern Mindanao Command for masterminding and executing Rebelyn’s abduction, torture, rape and murder.”

The NPA has ordered the arrest of all those involved in Rebelyn’s killing.

The outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) also held President Arroyo and the military responsible for her murder.

[Based on reports by GMANewsTV and Davao Today.]

Second man charged in connection with kidnapping of Pearland woman

By Calvin Palmer

A second man from Pearland, Texas, has been arrested and charged in connection with the abduction of 37-year-old Susana De Jesus whose body was found on Tuesday.

Wallace Charles Ledet IV, 25, of Pearland, is charged with aggravated kidnapping and remains in the County Jail in lieu of $500,000 bail.

He denies any involvement in the death of De Jesus and has told authorities he was not present when she was killed, investigators said.

Sheriff’s Capt. Chris Kincheloe said investigators have not ruled out the possibility that another person may have been involved, although they believe Nicholas-Michael Edwin Jean is the woman’s killer.

Ledet has been a friend of Jean since they attended Pearland High School together and he also owns a black Ford F-150 pickup truck. A similar truck was seen at a Pearland shopping center on the night of February 2 when De Jesus was kidnapped.

Under questioning by Houston police homicide Sgt. Jon Brooks, Ledet said he and Jean were in the pickup when Jean saw a black 2008 Cadillac in a shopping center parking lot and told him to pull in, Kincheloe said.

As two women walked toward the car, Ledet told the detective, Jean pulled a pistol from a bag and got out. Ledet said Jean approached the women and ordered one of them into the Cadillac.

As the car drove out of the parking lot, Ledet told police, he drove away in his truck but did not follow the car.

Kincheloe said Ledet has not explained why he did not contact police after learning of De Jesus’ abduction, or after her body was found this week in south Houston.

He did not appear surprised, however, when officers came to arrest him overnight, Kincheloe said.

Kincheloe added that charges of aggravated kidnapping and capital murder could be filed as early as today in Brazoria County against Jean who remains in the Brazoria County Jail in lieu of bail totaling almost $2 million on charges from other recent incidents.

He has not yet been charged with any crimes in connection with De Jesus, but investigators say he led them to the woman’s badly decomposed body early Tuesday.

Jean, 21, has acknowledged abducting De Jesus at gunpoint as she walked out of the dress shop where she worked. He also has said that he drove her to the business park on Houston’s south side where her body was found in a truck trailer, but he has not admitted any role in her death, detectives say.

[Based on a report by the Houston Chronicle.]

Body found in semi-trailer may be kidnapped Pearland woman

By Calvin Palmer

A woman’s body found in an abandoned semi-trailer not far from Reliant Park in south Houston may be that of Susana De Jesus, the Pearland woman who has been missing for more than a month.

“Early this morning, the Brazoria County Sheriff’s Department notified the family of Susana De Jesus that they may have located Susana’s body,” Precinct 6 Constable Danny Perez said in a written statement.

The body was found about 2:30 a.m. in the trailer of an 18-wheel truck in a light-industrial business park in the 9000 block of Knight, near West Bellfort.

“It was in an advanced state of decomposition and it’s going to the Harris County Medical Examiner’s Office for identification,” said Jodi Silva, a spokeswoman for the Houston Police Department.

The truck also has been removed from the gravel-surface lot to be processed for evidence.

De Jesus, 37, was abducted at gunpoint on the night of February 2 as she and a co-worker left their jobs at a women’s clothing store in a Pearland shopping center.

The co-worker said a masked man with a pistol forced De Jesus into her 2008 Cadillac and drove away, followed by a dark-colored van or sport-utility vehicle.

The man was photographed later that night by the camera at a bank’s ATM at 3636 Old Spanish Trail in south Houston. He was in De Jesus’s car, but it was not clear whether she was still in the car.

The car was recovered the next morning in the 6300 block of West Airport in Houston.

The abduction of De Jesus triggered widespread search efforts, but no trace of her was found.

[Based on reports by the Houston Chronicle and Khou.com.]

Boy, 15, tells police he shot and killed man after sexual assault

By Calvin Palmer

Houston police are still investigating the claims of a 15-year-old boy that he shot and killed a man who sexually assaulted him on his way to school in northeast Houston.

Joe Edward Gary, 51, was found dead at a house on Lockwood about 1:15 p.m. on Wednesday, police said.

That same day, the teenager told Houston school authorities that a man had abducted him at gunpoint as he walked to school and taken him to the house and sexually assaulted him.

The boy said that he managed to get the man’s gun and shoot him in the head.  He then went to school and reported the incident.

A hospital examination confirmed that the boy had been sexually assaulted, police said.

School officials alerted Houston police, and homicide detectives investigating Gary’s death realized that he was the man the boy said he had shot.

According to investigators, neighbors reported hearing gunfire early in the morning. Police said no charges have been filed in connection with the shooting.

[Based on a report by the Houston Chronicle.]

Police rule out woman’s parking-lot abduction as being a random act

By Calvin Palmer

The abduction of Susana De Jesus from a parking lot in Pearland, Texas, on Monday night may not have been a random crime, police said today.

“She may have known or been aware of what was happening,”  Capt. Chris Kincheloe of Brazoria County Sheriff’s Office told a news conference. He added that she was taken against her will.

Kincheloe did not elaborate on a motive but said: “We are still trying to find a living breathing person. I’m very optimistic we can find her.”

He based his statements on the abduction on background checks of the victim and people associated with her, but would not elaborate because the investigation is continuing.

Asked if authorities had a profile of the suspect, he replied, “He’s mean as hell.”

He said he’s very street-wise and knew what he was doing. The fact that he shielded his face with a mask and the door of the car when he used an ATM showed that knew what he was doing.

Kincheloe said the fact that the kidnapping may not have been random should allay the fears of people in the area. People in the area have been jittery over three home invasions in a nearby subdivision in three weeks.

De Jesus, 37, was abducted as she left her place of employment Catherine’s Plus Sizes store at 2754 Smith Ranch Road.

Witnesses said a masked gunman told De Jesus to get into a car, a 2008 black Cadillac, which was later recovered by the Houston Police Department in the 6000 block of West Airport.

Investigators from several agencies are looking for De Jesus. Kincheloe said the FBI has promised to expedite processing of evidence from the kidnapping, as well as from three recent home invasions in the nearby Silverlake subdivision.

Since the incidents, Sheriff Charles Wagner said he has boosted patrols by pushing all available personnel into the area, including undercover officers in unmarked cars.

Calls to the sheriff’s office reporting suspicious persons and unfamiliar cars have also increased, Wagner said. Some of the suspicious people that callers complained about turned out to be undercover officers in the area, he said.

The increased number of homes in Pearland and population boost have likely drawn criminals’ attention, Wagner said.

Pearland is located 20 miles south of Houston.

[Based on reports by the Houston Chronicle and KHOU.com.]