Cold Case Murder of U.S. Navy Seaman Apprentice

Pamela Cahanes cold case: Cigarette butt, cotton swab, dental floss led to arrest in 34-year-old homicide

Orlando Sentinel
Michael Williams
March 18, 2019

Her body was found early the next morning, in the yard of an abandoned home near Sanford. She was badly beaten and unclothed except for a pair of white underwear. Her uniform was found nearby. There was about $100 in cash in her pocket.

Pamela Cahanes, left, and Thomas Garner (Seminole County Sheriff's Office)

For three days in early February, Thomas Lewis Garner was being watched at his apartment in Jacksonville.

Garner, a dental hygienist, had led an unexceptional life for most of his 59 years. But advancements in DNA technology, along with the proliferation of family genealogy databases, led authorities to consider him a suspect in the slaying of Pamela Cahanes, the 25-year-old U.S. Navy seaman apprentice who was found beaten, strangled and dumped in an overgrown Seminole County lot in 1984.

An arrest affidavit unsealed since Garner’s arrest Wednesday reveals the methods law enforcement used to solve Cahanes’ killing.

All investigators needed to close the 34-year-old cold case was a sample of Garner’s DNA to compare to evidence found on Cahanes’ body. Their chance came Feb. 8, when he was seen walking out of his 600-square-foot, one-bedroom apartment and throwing a trash bag in the complex’s garbage compactor.
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Man on trial after road rage death of Iraq veteran

Nebraska man stands trial in killing of Iraq War veteran

The Associated Press
Feb 27, 2019

Womack was in the Army and served three tours in Iraq before he moved to Omaha with his wife to raise their three children.

OMAHA — An Omaha trial has begun for a man accused in the road-rage killing of an Iraq War veteran.

Michael Benson, 26, is charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death of James Womack, 32. The shooting occurred at a busy Omaha intersection in 2017.

Dashcam video from another vehicle shows that the altercation began after Womack got out of his semitrailer and yelled at Benson, pounded on the passenger-side window of Benson's truck and started to walk back to his semitrailer.

Witnesses testified in a Douglas County courtroom Tuesday that they heard gunshots and then saw Womack fall to the ground. Womack was taken to a local hospital, where he later died.
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Marine charged with murder of 17 month old

Marine from San Clemente Charged in Killing of Girlfriend’s 17-Month-Old Daughter in Orange

KTLA 5 News
BRIAN DAY
JANUARY 18, 2019

Prosecutors filed murder and assault charges Friday against a Marine from San Clemente accused of killing his girlfriend’s 17-month-old daughter at an apartment in Orange earlier this month, authorities said.

Christopher David Recio, 28, entered no plea when he appeared in Orange County Superior Court to face charges of murder and assault on a child likely to produce great bodily injury or death, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office said in a written statement.

“The defendant is accused of murdering 17-month-old Jane Doe in the city of Orange by causing blunt force trauma to the victim’s head,” according to the statement.

The injuries occurred on Jan. 5 at a home in the 3100 block of West Chapman Avenue, Orange Police Department Sgt. Phil McMullin said. Recio, who is described in booking records as a U.S. Marine, was not the child’s father.

Firefighters were first summoned to the apartment about 5:30 p.m. after someone reported the toddler needed medical help, the sergeant said.
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Chris Watts saved his own life after killing family with guilty plea

Colorado dad pleads guilty in killing of pregnant wife, 2 daughters

ABC News
By CLAYTON SANDELL, CAROL MCKINLEY EMILY SHAPIRO
Nov 6, 2018

A Colorado man arrested in the killing of his pregnant wife and two young daughters pleaded guilty Tuesday to all charges against him as his wife's family looked on, holding each other and sobbing.

In exchange for Chris Watts' guilty plea, the death penalty will not be considered, the Weld County District Attorney's office said. The victims' family agreed to those terms, the district attorney's office added.

Wearing an orange jumpsuit, shackles, and an olive green bulletproof vest, Watts told the judge he understood the plea agreement reached with prosecutors. He pleaded guilty to five counts of murder in the first degree, three counts of tampering with a deceased human body and one count of unlawful termination of pregnancy, prosecutors said.

As the judge read each charge one by one, Watts pleaded "guilty," his voice sometimes cracking.
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Two Fort Hood veterans planned wedding, now funeral and trial

Bride-To-Be Accused Of Killing Fiancé In Fight Over Wedding Guest
CBS 4 Denver
Brandon Watkins
July 25, 2018

A friend of Watkins told KKTV the couple served together in the Army at Fort Carson.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (CBS4) — A bride-to-be is accused of killing her fiancé while they were planning their wedding.

Jacqueline Souza, 31, told investigators she thought her fiancé, Brandon Watkins, was having an affair – and that he wanted to invite that woman to their wedding in Las Vegas, KKTV reports.

The couple reportedly got into a fight about the invitation when they got home late Friday night after celebrating their upcoming wedding and Watkins’ new job.
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Man arrested for murder of missing veteran Stan Norman

UPDATE

Friendship, torture and murder - military veteran accused of killing another vet ABC 13 News
Those in the American Legion Riders motorcycle group are stunned by the details of Norman's murder and that a fellow veteran and rider may have done it.
The two were seen drinking together at a bar the night the murder took place.

Suspect arrested for murder of missing Vietnam veteran Stan Norman
The Union
Liz Kellar
May 27, 2018

On Sunday night, law enforcement arrested Sean Bryant — the man last seen with missing veteran Stan Norman — for his murder.

Bryant has been in custody in county jail since mid-May, when he was arrested at a residence on Sadie D Drive in Cascade Shores. At the time, Bryant, 51, was charged with manufacturing a controlled substance, threatening a crime with the intent to terrorize and inflicting corporal injury, all felonies.

After human bones were discovered in a burn pile on the property, and after interviews with witnesses, Bryant was re-booked on charges of murder and torture, and likely will be arraigned Tuesday in Nevada County Superior Court.

Norman was last seen after he went with friends to McGee's in Nevada City April 14 and was positively identified at Bonanza Market in Nevada City that night. He then reportedly went to Bryant's home in Grass Valley. No one reported seeing him since the early hours of April 15.
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Heroic Devin Wilson Murder Update: Man Captured

Suspect accused of murdering Memphis father outside IHOP captured

FOX 13 News

by: Zach Crenshaw 

Updated: Nov 8, 2017 - 4:18 PM

(L-R) Derrick Harris, Devin Wilson

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - An arrest has been made in a murder that happened at a local IHOP in May.

U.S. Marshals Service told FOX13 Derrick Harris was arrested Wednesday in Chicago, Illinois.

An arrest arrant was issued for Harris on May 28, 2017. Harris is accused of shooting and killing Devin Wilson at the IHOP located at 1277 East Shelby Drive.

Wilson was a young father and an Air Force veteran. Police told FOX13 he was trying to break up a domestic dispute outside the restaurant when he was shot and killed.
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Julia Jacobson's Ex Pleaded Not Guilty

Ex-husband accused of killing missing Army veteran pleads not guilty in Rancho Cucamonga court
Daily Bulletin
By BEATRIZ E. VALENZUELA
November 6, 2017

Police are still looking for the remains of Julia Jacobson, 37, of San Diego, and her wheaten terrier, Boogie. Jacobson was reported missing Sept. 2, 2017, and was last seen in Ontario. Her ex-husband, Dalen Larry Ware, 39, of Laveen, Arizona, was arrested Oct. 13, 2017, on suspicion of murder. (Photos courtesy of Ontario Police Department)

The man accused of killing his ex-wife — an Army veteran from San Diego — pleaded not guilty to charges of murder Monday, Nov. 6, in West Valley Superior court in Rancho Cucamonga, according to court records.

Dalen Larry Ware, 39, was first arrested on Oct. 13 in Arizona with help from the Phoenix police and the FBI’s Violent Crime Task Force. He was returned to California late last month to stand trial.

Despite the charges, the body of Julia Jacobson, 37, and her dog, Boogie, have yet to be found, Ontario police officials said. Jacobson’s family reported her missing Sept. 2.

On that morning, Jacobson was seen at a 7-Eleven in San Diego. Later that day, her debit card activity placed her at a gas station in Ontario, according to San Diego and Ontario police.
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Burnette Chapel Church Of Christ Fellowship Unbroken Faith

Nashville church tries to move forward amid shooting trauma, questions
USA Today
Holly Meyer
September 30, 2017

"I sat out here. It was early Monday morning and I was looking up and I could see Orion's Belt," Carter said. "I mean just how great — don’t understand why — but how great God truly is." Terry Carter

The sound of gunfire haunts Terry Carter.

She and the young students in her Bible class barricaded a classroom door one week ago as a masked man opened fire at Burnette Chapel Church of Christ, killing one woman and injuring the minister and six others, police said.

The shooter did not go into the classroom, but the Sunday morning mayhem clings to Carter's thoughts.

"You can’t get some of the stuff out of your head for a while," Carter said. "I’ll gradually get there. But those sounds. The pop."

Carter and other members of the small Antioch church are trying to process what happened in the violent attack. In the midst of the pain and big unanswered questions, the congregation is moving forward.

The crime scene tape is gone and so is the carpet in the chapel. The 25-year-old suspect, Emanuel Samson, is in jail on a homicide charge. They have buried 38-year-old Melanie Crow, who was gunned down at the end of last week's service. And the victims who remain in the hospital are in stable condition.

After the Wednesday night service ended, Carter stood in the church parking lot chatting. Her great-grandchildren played nearby.

"It’s kind of a relief that we can get together and have a fellowship," Carter said. "That’s what we’re supposed to do, have fellowship and encourage each other. It’s going to take a whole lot of encouragement."

She was not certain the Wednesday service would occur nor that she would want to attend Sunday. But Carter will be there equipped with plans for better classroom safety.

She remembers hearing the first shot. It sounded too close. Carter put her finger to her lips, told the children to be quiet and turned off the classroom lights. Together, they moved furniture in front of a door and she cycled through scenarios in her mind.

Carter has her own questions. She knows nothing is guaranteed in life, but her faith is strong and she believes God is everywhere, Carter said.
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Andrew Nelles

Kaitlyn Adams, a member of the Burnette Chapel Church of Christ, hugs another church member at the scene after shots were fired at the church on Sunday, Sept. 24, 2017, in Antioch, Tenn. (Andrew Nelles/The Tennessean via AP)

Tennessee church suspect may have sought Charleston revenge

Afghanistan Veteran Pleaded For His Life Before They Slashed His Throat

Police documents recount gruesome murder of an Afghanistan veteran at Fort Bliss
STARS AND STRIPES
By ALEX HORTON
Published: May 26, 2017

SAN ANTONIO -- An Afghanistan veteran was stabbed to death in El Paso, according to court filings that recount a botched drug theft and the gruesome killing of a 23-year-old allegedly carried out by suspects connected to nearby Fort Bliss.

Tyler Kaden Croke pleaded for his life before his throat was slashed by two suspects during the robbery at Croke’s apartment in El Paso on May 7, according to a recently released complaint affidavit filed by El Paso Police and filed in El Paso County Court.

Five people were arrested in connection with the incident and charged with murder, according to El Paso Police. That includes Brandon Olsen, 27, who is assigned to Fort Bliss, said Mike Brantley, a 1st Armored Division spokesman at Fort Bliss.

In a handout mugshot provided by the El Paso police, Olsen is wearing an Army uniform with his name and “U.S Army” stripped off his chest.
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Fort Bragg Soldier Charged After 2 Year Old Daughter Died

Bragg soldier charged in death of 2-year-old daughter
Army Times
Kevin Lilley
March 25, 2016

A Fort Bragg soldier faces murder and child abuse charges related to the December death of her 2-year-old daughter.

Fayetteville, North Carolina, police detectives arrested Spc. Jeanie Ditty, 23, on Thursday, according to a news release from the city's police department. Officers have also charged Zachary Keefer in the child's death; Keefer, reportedly Ditty's boyfriend and not the girl's father, remains at large.

Macey Ditty died Dec. 4, two days after arriving at a local emergency room with bruises all over her body and "life-threatening injuries consistent with child abuse," the release states. The injuries came within a day of the ER visit, medical personnel determined.
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Virginia Gunman Facing Murder Charges, Pentagon Army Staff Sergeant

UPDATE
Police: Army staff sergeant killed rookie cop who was Marine reservist

Guindon was a former Marine Corps reservist and had a master's degree in forensic science, according to Hudson. Guindon served in the Marine Corps Reserves from May 2007 to February 2015 as a field radio operator, said Capt. Andrew Chrestman, a spokesman for U.S. Marine Corps Forces Reserve. She ultimately reached the rank of corporal and was awarded the National Defense Service Medal and the Selected Marine Corps Reserve Medal.

Virginia police officer killed on her first day on the job; man charged
CNN
By Ralph Ellis, Faith Karimi and Joe Sutton
Updated 4:02 PM ET, Sun February 28, 2016
Video Source: WJLA

Ronald Williams Hamilton faces two murder charges.

Hamilton is an active duty Army staff sergeant assigned to the Joint Staff Support Center at the Pentagon, said Cindy Your of the Defense Information Systems Agency at Fort Meade, Maryland.

Ashley Guindon was sworn in as an officer on Friday.

CNN)A police department in a Washington suburb is mourning an officer who was killed during her first day on the job.

Ashley Guindon, 28, of the Prince William County Police Department was fatally shot Saturday in Woodbridge, Virginia, while answering a domestic call in which two other officers were wounded and the suspect's wife was killed, county police Chief Steve Hudson said at a news conference on Sunday. Guindon had taken the oath of office on Friday.

Ashley Guindon was sworn in as an officer on Friday.

"The Prince William County Police Department is in deep mourning," Hudson said. "This is a sad day for everybody in this room, a sad day for law enforcement."

Ronald Williams Hamilton, 32, is accused of shooting the three police officers as they approached the front door of his house about 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Hudson said.
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Husband Charged After Fort Bliss Soldier Found Dead

Fort Bliss soldier killed in North Central El Paso apartment, husband arrested
El Paso Times
By Aaron Martinez
POSTED: 12/05/2014

The Fort Bliss soldier found dead Thursday afternoon in a North Central El Paso apartment was slain, and her husband has been arrested, officials said.

Pfc. Christina Bukovcik, 20, was found Thursday about 3:45 p.m. at the High Vista Apartments, 5041 Alabama, after police were called to check on her.

Police would not say how she was killed. Bukovcik was a food service specialist at Fort Bliss, post officials said.

According to Bukovcik's Facebook page, she is from Norwalk, Conn.

Her husband, Geomel Shaffa, 22, was arrested in Arizona in connection with her death. Shaffa was a former soldier in the Army, a post official said. No further details on his time in the army were released.

The aggravated assault charge was in connection to an incident in which Shaffa allegedly threw his wife at the time, Mariza Shaffa, off a third-story balcony, according to the El Paso Times archives. Shaffa was arrested on Oct. 26, 2013, and released from El Paso County Jail in March 2014.
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Fort Bliss soldier faces murder charges after death of constable

Officials: Soldier Charged in Death of Texas Constable
Texas News
Monday, Nov 3, 2014

A Fort Bliss soldier has been charged with capital murder after an off-duty constable working security at a Halloween haunted house died following a fight.

El Paso County jail records show 19-year-old Devon Huerta-Person was being held Monday on $5 million bond. Online jail records don't list an attorney for Huerta-Person, who was charged in the death of El Paso County Constable Robert White.
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20-year-old JBLM soldier accused of killing his young wife

Soldier accused of killing wife free on bond to remain on base
KIRO News
By Maria Guerrero
November 2, 2014

TACOMA, Wash. — A 20-year-old JBLM soldier accused of killing his young wife was allowed to walk out of jail, just hours after his bail was reduced.

JBLM is now involved in Skylar Nemetz’ release.

KIRO 7 also obtained 911 calls on Oct. 16.

“I think someone's just been shot in my neighborhood,” said one neighbor.

That someone was 19-year-old Danielle Nemetz.

KIRO 7 listened to the 911 calls neighbors made the evening Danielle was shot in the back of the head with an AR-15 rifle inside the Lakewood apartment she shared with her husband, Skylar.

The 20-year-old is charged with her murder.
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Marine arrested after wife was murdered

DEPUTIES: Marine Sergeant Accused Of Killing Wife
WITN News
Updated: Mon 2:58 PM, Jul 14, 2014

Deputies say a Marine Corps sergeant who shot and killed his wife Sunday night is in jail without bond.

Details were just released Monday morning of the woman's death.

Onslow County authorities say Jordan Skaggs, 31, was shot multiple times to her chest while inside the couple's home on Cherry Blossom Lane, which is about four miles southwest of Richlands.

Deputies say Sgt. Christopher Skaggs has been charged with murder. A news release says the Marine "went into a rage, got his handgun and began shooting the victim."
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Man faces murder charges after death of Vietnam Veteran

Police: Man charged with murder after assault victim, veteran dies in hospital
WBTV
By WBTV Web Staff
Posted: May 12, 2014

Tammy Fields said that Friday O'Dell picked flowers for Mother's Day. He was a Vietnam Veteran, a father of three, and grandfather to seven kids.

Tammy says she first met O'Dell when she was 16-years-old, and knew she would marry him. They were married just five months later, and were married for 44 years.

ROCK HILL, SC (WBTV)
A Lake Wylie man was arrested and charged with murder after a man he assaulted at a Rock Hill bar died in the hospital, according to a report from Rock Hill police.

Eric Paul Cobb, 30, was arrested Saturday and charged with first degree assault and battery after police say he struck 65-year-old O'Dell Fields.

His charge was upgraded to murder after Fields died at the hospital.

The incident happened at the Sandbar Grill on the 4100 block of Celanese Road just before 10 p.m. Saturday.

Officers were called to the business in reference to an assault, and arrived to find Fields lying unconscious on the ground being worked on by EMS.

Witnesses told police that Fields and another man, later identified as Gregory Wallace, 32, had gotten into a verbal argument, and that both were "highly intoxicated."
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Dog owner killed after argument over letting dog run around

Dog owner called police after shooting neighbor: 'He doesn't look well. Send the ambulances!'
Detroit Free Press
By L.L. Brasier
Staff Writer
April 16, 2014

The 911 call came in shortly before 10 p.m. that cold snowy night last December.

“Somebody help!” the man shouted to the operator. “There’s been a shooting. Send them quick. Call them quick...he’s on the ground.”

The man making the call, Charles Simkins, 28, had just shot his neighbor, Edwin Criswell, 45, in the leg, following a dispute over Simkins’ dog, which had been running their Walled Lake neighborhood.

Criswell eventually bled to death on his front porch.

The seven-minute tape was played in open court this afternoon, as Simkins, dressed in orange jail garb and shackled at the waist, sat and listened at the defense table.

The preliminary examination, before Novi District Judge Dennis Powers, will resume next Wednesday to determine whether there is enough evidence to send Simkins, an Iraq war vet, to trial. He is charged with open murder.

Criswell complained about the dog, and the two began to fight, Simkins hitting Criswell, and knocking him to the ground.
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Vietnam Veteran made headline but other interest didn't

The fact the man charges in killing people is a Vietnam veteran made the headline but the fact he is a White Supremacist didn't? Read the story and see which one would have more to do with what he is accused of doing.

Murder Charges Against Vietnam War Veteran Filed in Shootings at Kansas Jewish Sites
Murder charges filed in shootings at Kansas Jewish sites
NTD
2014-04-15

WASHINGTON, April 16, 2014 (AFP)

US prosecutors filed a death penalty murder charge Tuesday against a white supremacist accused of fatally shooting three people at Jewish sites in Kansas over the weekend.

Frazier Glenn Cross, 73, also known as F. Glenn Miller, was charged with one count of capital murder for the deaths of a 69-year-old physician and his teenaged grandson outside the Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City.

He also faced one count of first-degree premeditated murder for the death of a 53-year-old woman at the nearby Village Shalom retirement community where she was paying a weekly visit to her mother.

Riding in a wheelchair and wearing a dark sleeveless outfit, Cross made his first court appearance later via video link from a county jail, where he was being held in lieu of $10 million bail.

With his arms crossed, and a copy of the charges in his clinched hand, he accepted a court-appointed defense lawyer, saying he had no money to pay for his own attorney.

Magistrate Judge Dan Vokins told Cross to return on April 24 for a scheduling conference.

Sunday's bloodshed -- on the eve of the Jewish holiday of Passover -- occurred in the Kansas City suburb of Overland Park. All three victims were Christian.
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Nephews of Vietnam veteran charged with his murder

Brothers arrested in uncle's homicide in Wagoner County
FOX 23
Reported by: Jonathan McCall
April 2, 2014

PORTER, Okla. - Two brothers have been arrested in connection with the shooting and killing their uncle in Porter Tuesday evening.

Wagoner County Sheriff Bob Wagoner tells FOX 23 that the victim is a Vietnam veteran in his 60s. "(He’s) an elderly gentlemen. He was a veteran, military veteran. I'll just say there have been two people taken into custody, relatives. It started out as a family disturbance and ended up with shots fired."

Wagoner says the victim and suspects had been involved in a long standing family feud, when according to Colbert, the suspects went to settle it.
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