The Crime Web News: March 2001

Serial Crime News - March 2001

Henry Lee Lucas Dies

Convicted Serial Killer Found Dead in Bed

The Associated Press

Lucas, who was best known for making bogus confessions that prompted law officers nationwide to clear hundreds of unsolved killings, was found dead in his bed at the Ellis I prison unit, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice said.

The one-eyed ex-drifter, who was in his mid-60s, was narrowly saved from execution in 1998 when then-Gov. George W. Bush commuted a death sentence to life in prison because of flimsy evidence in his capital case.

Lucas' body was found shortly before 11 p.m. CST Monday, said department spokesman Larry Fitzgerald. He said the death appeared to be from natural causes.

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Accused Serial Killer Convicted of Murder in U.S.

DETROIT (Reuters) - An accused serial killer who may have left a trail of blood from Seattle to Singapore was found guilty on Thursday of strangling to death a Detroit area woman.

It took jurors just two hours, after a two-week trial in Detroit's Wayne County Circuit Court, to decide on the first-degree murder verdict for John Eric Armstrong.

He was convicted of using his bare hands to strangle 39-year-old Wendy Jordan, a part-time prostitute and gas station manager, in January last year.

DNA evidence established that Armstrong, 27, sodomized Jordan and was the last person to have sex with her before she died.

Prosecutors said that after he beat and strangled her, Armstrong dumped her half-naked body into the icy waters of the Rouge River, in the Dearborn Heights suburb just outside Detroit.

Armstrong, a beefy former sailor who served aboard the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier in the 1990s, grabbed the media spotlight shortly after his arrest in April.

Police said at the time that Armstrong, a native of North Carolina, had confessed to killing up to six women in the Detroit area.

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Homolka denied early release, ordered to remain detained by parole board

OTTAWA (CP) - Karla Homolka, convicted in the sex-slayings of two Ontario teenage girls, has been denied early statutory release. The National Parole Board released its ruling on a review of the case Thursday, ordering that Homolka remain detained.

"The board is satisfied that, if released, you are likely to commit an offence causing the death of or serious harm to another person before the expiration of the sentence you are now serving," said the report.

Homolka's mandatory release date was set for July 6, 2001, the two-thirds point in a sentence at which many offenders are allowed to leave prison.

But Corrections Canada had recommended to the National Parole Board that she serve her full sentence, which ends in July 2005.

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Jury recommends death for suspected serial killer

Updated: March 9, 2001 - 2:20 p.m.

SANTA CLARA -- A jury recommended the death penalty Friday for suspected serial killer Wesley Shermantine Jr., who was convicted last month of four San Joaquin County murders.

Shermantine, 35, has demanded $20,000 to say where the victims' remains are stashed. Sacramento bounty hunter Leonard Padilla is negotiating to pay the money in exchange for information about the bodies.

Shermantine sat motionless as the jury's decision was read after more than three days of deliberations. Members of the victims' families exclaimed "Yes!" upon hearing the verdict, then sobbed.

Prosecutors defend case against John E. Robinson Sr.

By TONY RIZZO - The Kansas City Star

Date: 02/26/01 22:15

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.

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Ripper fear as body found in Thames

by Anthony France March 6 2001

The discovery of the third woman's body in one of London's waterways in three months has led to fears of a Ripper-style serial killer, who murders prostitutes before throwing their bodies into the capital's rivers or canals.

Victim's parents view Stayner: Couple get first in-person look at suspect in Yosemite killings

By Wayne Wilson Bee Staff Writer (Published March 6, 2001)

MARIPOSA -- Carole and Francis Carrington got their first look Monday at Cary Anthony Stayner, the confessed murderer accused of killing their daughter, granddaughter and a family friend near Yosemite in 1999.

Convicted killer says he'll reveal bodies' location for $20,000

Mar. 5, 2001 | 6:06 p.m. By BRIAN BERGSTEIN Associated Press Writer

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- A man convicted of four murders has offered to reveal where at least two missing bodies are buried -- if his children get $20,000 in reward money.

Jurors will begin deliberating Tuesday whether Wesley Shermantine should be executed or serve life in prison for the slayings in the San Joaquin Valley. Prosecutors have said they would drop their bid for the death penalty if Shermantine provides the information about the bodies' locations.

Shermantine was convicted last month of killing Paul Cavanaugh, 31, and Howard King, 35, in 1984; Chevy Wheeler, 16, in 1985; and Cyndi Vanderheiden, 25, in 1998.

Only two of the bodies -- those of Cavanaugh and King -- have been found.

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