The Crime Web News: Feb 2001

February 28, 2001 BY SUZETTE HACKNEY FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

A Wayne County prosecutor describes John Eric Armstrong as a husband, father, veteran, sailor and killer.

His deep-seated hatred for prostitutes, she said Tuesday, led him on a killing spree that left a half-clothed Wendy Jordan floating in the Rouge River.

Yet his defense attorney said Armstrong was spoon-fed the facts by Detroit police and admitted to the killings because he was mentally unstable.

"If they had told him he killed a man on the moon, he would have admitted to it," said defense attorney Robert Mitchell.

Armstrong, 27, is accused of killing five women in metro Detroit. His first trial is under way in Wayne County Circuit Court for the slaying of Jordan, 39, of Detroit. Jordan's body was found in January 2000 floating in the Rouge River in Dearborn Heights. Armstrong reported finding the body.

Judge rules lawsuit to seek Strangler evidence can proceed

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) A lawsuit that seeks the release of evidence in the notorious Boston Strangler case of the 1960s can continue, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.

Chief U.S. District Judge William Young said four out of five counts could stand in a lawsuit brought by an unlikely coalition the accused Strangler's family and relatives of the Strangler's last victim that believes the wrong man was fingered in the case.

Relatives of Albert DeSalvo, the man who claimed to be the Strangler but was never charged, and Mary Sullivan, believed to be the Strangler's last victim, have joined in the lawsuit, seeking evidence, including biological materials that they want to subject to independent DNA testing.

The two families are united in the belief that DeSalvo was not the killer. They believe that a new look at the evidence could rule out DeSalvo and begin the process of discovering the real killer.

Mom to testify son was too gentle to kill a Detroit prostitute

Former Navy sailor John Eric Armstrong, who has confessed to a series of killings worldwide, will get help during his first local murder trial from his mother, who will testify that he was a meek child who cried when worms, insects and birds died.

Armstrong, 27, is accused of killing five women, all of them residents of Detroit. He faces his first trial in Wayne County Circuit Court this week for the murder of Wendy Jordan, 39, of Detroit. Jordan's body was found in January 2000, floating in the Rouge River in Dearborn Heights.

The first murder trial for accused serial killer John Eric Armstrong began in Detroit Monday with jury selection.

Armstrong is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Wendy Jordan, 39, who was found last year floating in the Rouge River. Armstrong faces life in prison if convicted.

In all, Armstrong faces six counts of first-degree murder and two counts of assault with attempt to commit murder. Each murder case will be tried separately, defense attorney Robert Mitchell said Monday.

Authorities have said Armstrong told them he killed at least a dozen prostitutes worldwide when he was a sailor on the USS Nimitz from 1993 to 1998.

Johnson County prosecutors defended their case against John E. Robinson Sr. on Monday, rebutting defense arguments that the multiple-murder allegations against him should be dismissed.

Johnson County is the right place to prosecute Robinson for the deaths of two women found on his Linn County, Kan., property last summer, prosecutors contend in a 20-page answer to a written defense motion filed last week.

"A murderer should not escape punishment because the exact place of his crime is concealed," the filing says, citing an earlier Kansas Supreme Court decision.

District Judge John Anderson III, who heard testimony in Robinson's weeklong preliminary hearing earlier this month, is scheduled to hear oral arguments Friday before deciding whether the case should proceed to trial.

Robinson, 57, is charged in Johnson County with capital murder in the deaths of Suzette Trouten and Izabela Lewicka. Their bodies were found sealed in metal barrels on his property.

He also is charged with killing Lisa Stasi in 1985 and illegally arranging the adoption of her infant daughter by his brother.

Cass County prosecutors also have charged him in the deaths of three other women whose bodies were found in barrels in a Raymore, Mo., storage locker that Robinson rented.

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) -- Mariposa Superior Court officials on Monday reversed a policy requiring criminal background checks for reporters covering the trial of a man accused of murdering three tourists at Yosemite National Park.

The court withdrew the requirement after news organizations and a public interest group said it violated press freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution, said Michael Berest, the court's executive officer.

The policy required background checks for members of the new media but not the general public planning to attend the trial of Cary Stayner.