Thomas Olson (L) & Robert Rodway (

 

Two American Men Arrested in the 2018 Murder of  Asian Man of Michigan

Thomas Olson, 34, of Grand Blanc Township, and Robert Rodway, 34 of Saint Johns, were arrested late Wednesday. They are both charged with felony murder and felony firearm in connection with the death of Chong Yang.

By Edward Era Barbacena

Two white American men have been arrested in connection with a murder of a hunter in Bath Township back in 2018.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced on Thursday, December 22, the arrests of Thomas Olson, 34, of Grand Blanc Township, and Robert Rodway, 34, of Saint Johns. Four years, one month, and six days after Chong Moua Yang was found shot dead at the Rose Lake State Game Area.

Olson and Rodway were arrested late Wednesday night by the Michigan State Police Fugitive Team.

Both Olson and Rodway face one count of Felony Murder, which carries a life sentence without the possibility of parole, and one count of Felony Firearm, which carries a two-year prison sentence.

Yang often hunted in the Rose Lake State Game Area, but his wife was alarmed when he didn’t return home. His family drove out to search for him and found his car in the parking lot. They followed two sets of footprints which eventually led them to his body.

When authorities arrived, they found Yang lying face down with an apparent gunshot wound to the head. His firearm and other items were missing.

A $20,000 reward was soon offered for information about Yang’s death.

The Attorney General’s office explained witness testimony and a plastic bag with hunting spray that was recovered near the scene led authorities to Olson and Rodway. Nessel believes the defendants killed Yang while hunting and then stole his headlamp, knife, backpack, wallet, and shotgun.

“The Bath Township Police Department worked closely with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other local agencies and prosecutors to gather evidence, establish a timeline of events, and locate the defendants,” stated Nessel. “I am grateful for their persistence and hard work in pursuing this case. Chong Yang’s family deserves justice, and we are working hard to make sure they receive it.”

Yang’s family released the following statement after the arrest announcement:

“For the last four years, we have struggled with the knowledge that someone out there decided to end Chong Moua’s life and leave him to die alone in the woods. But today, Thursday, December 22, 2022, marks the first day that we can come up for a little fresh air.

With the arrest of two men, Thomas Olson and Robert Rodway comes bittersweet emotions of excitement and anxiousness. We admit that during these last four years of the investigation, there were times when we were angry, frustrated, and impatient with the whole process. But…we never lost hope.

We never lost hope that through the diligent effort of Bath Township, the FBI, and numerous other agencies, we would be able to find answers. We never lost hope that someone, somewhere would be able to provide information that would lead to the arrest of these killers. Today is the start of the journey to finding answers and closure. We start that journey of holding the people who killed Chong Moua responsible for their actions.

We want to thank the law enforcement community for their commitment to this case. The hunting community for their unwavering support for one of their hunting brothers. And the community as a whole, those near and far, for all their love and support during the darkest time in our lives.

We know that the arrests are only the first steps in this chapter, but are encouraged that the Attorney General’s office will pursue this matter diligently, and bring these men to justice.”

Both men are due back in court on January 5, 2023.

 

Transport Security Administration agent in United States arrested on the job at Denver International Airport,  charged with 12 counts of child sexual molestation

Matthew Paul Barnett, 33, of Thornton, is suspected of assaulting three young girls

By Edward Era Barbacena

A white TSA agent was arrested Friday morning at Denver International Airport on suspicion of multiple counts of sexual assault on a child.

Matthew Paul Barnett, 33, of Thornton, is suspected of assaulting three young girls, according to the Adams County district attorney’s office.

The charges against Barnett are sexual assault on a child, sexual assault on a child by a person in a position of trust and sexual assault on a child as a pattern of abuse. He’s been charged with 12 counts, all felonies.

Barnett was fired Friday after his arrest.

“TSA does not tolerate illegal, unethical or immoral conduct,” according to a TSA statement. “This individual is no longer employed by TSA.”

He’ll be advised of the charges against him next week in Adams County Court, according to a news release.

 

American woman Peggy Sue Hall of Lauderdale Co.pleads guilty to capital murder of former husband

Son pleads guilty to conspiracy to commit murder

By Edward Era Barbacena

Lauderdale County authorities have charged Peggy Sue Hall with Capital Murder in the death of Randall Bobo.

Deputies responded to a home on County Road 130 near the Tennessee State Line on Wednesday morning. That’s where they found Bobo dead.

Lauderdale County District Attorney Chris Connolly said Peggy Sue Hall pleaded guilty to capital murder and will serve a life sentence without the possibility of parole. He said she was arrested in 2019 after she shot and killed her ex-husband, Randall Steve Bobo, at the request of their son, Randall Coty Bobo.

The prosecutor said the younger Bobo pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder on Thursday. He will spend the next 21 months behind bars as part of a 20-year split sentence. He received credit for time already spent in jail.

Connolly explained the younger Bobo was arrested in 2019 for stealing his father’s truck. He said Bobo was arrested for that theft and became angry with his father. From jail, Connolly said Randall Coty Bobo convinced his mother to kill the older Bobo. The DA said the two later went to Randall Steve Bobo’s home, where Hall shot him.

“We do know also that there were some kids in the residence where it happened at,” said Chief Deputy Richard Richey. “So that’s really bad when two kids are there.”

Investigators told WHNT News 19 the Hall was still on the property when they arrived.

“There was no problem with taking her into custody. When I arrived on the scene, she was already in custody sitting in the back seat of a patrol car,” said Richey.

Hall was immediately transferred to the Lauderdale County Detention Center. She’s being held without bond.

 

Wife and unborn son killer Scott Peterson denied of new murder trial

American Scott Peterson of California  committed the unthinkable by murdering his pregnant wife Laci and removed his unborn son from her womb for her mistress in 2002

By Edward Era Barbacena

 A California judge on Tuesday rejected a new murder trial for Scott Peterson, nearly 20 years after he was charged with dumping the bodies of his pregnant wife, Laci, and the unborn child they planned to name Conner into San Francisco Bay on Christmas Eve 2002.

Peterson, 50, alleged the resulting trial that gripped the world was tainted by a rogue juror who lied about her own history of abuse to get on the panel that initially sent him to death row.

Superior Court Judge Anne-Christine Massullo found that Juror No. 7, Richelle Nice, committed misconduct by providing false answers during jury selection — but that she did not commit enough misconduct to require a new trial because she wasn't biased against Peterson.

Nice did not intentionally conceal information about her life or misrepresent her financial situation to stay on the jury, and did not appear vengeful toward Peterson in letters she later wrote him in prison, Massullo ruled in San Mateo County Superior Court.

"The Court concludes that Juror No. 7’s responses were not motivated by pre-existing or improper bias against (Peterson), but instead were the result of a combination of good faith misunderstanding of the questions and sloppiness in answering,” the judge wrote.

Defense attorney Pat Harris said he was disappointed in the decision, which he said excused Nice’s misconduct.

"We believe this sets a bad precedent for future cases where jurors purposefully commit misconduct but nevertheless know it will be excused by simply shrugging it off with ‘I forgot,’ ” Harris wrote. “Jury questionnaires and the attorneys who read them depend on the honesty of the answers in order to get a fair trial. It will make it difficult if jurors believe they can lie and there will be no repercussions.

Peterson’s defense team plans to “push forward until he is freed,” Harris said.

It was undisputed that Nice failed to disclose as she was being selected for Peterson’s jury in 2004 that she had sought a restraining order while she was pregnant four years earlier. Nice said then that she “really fears for her unborn child” because of threats from her boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend.

The California Supreme Court in 2020 found that Nice’s actions required a hearing to determine if they denied Peterson a fair trial, and assigned Judge Massullo to the case. The high court separately threw out Peterson’s death sentence in 2020 and Stanislaus County prosecutors decided against again seeking his execution even as they argued he received a fair trial. He was resentenced to life in prison in December.

Sharon Rocha, Laci Peterson’s mother, said Tuesday that the judge’s decision confirms that Scott Peterson did receive a fair trial.

Scott Peterson argued that Nice fought to join the jury despite her financial hardship and that she entered deliberations determined to enact revenge for Peterson’s nearly full-term unborn child, the young victim she nicknamed “Little Man.”

But Nice testified that she had no bias against Peterson until she heard the evidence against him.

Nice said in a sworn declaration in 2020 that it did not occur to her to include the threat to her own unborn child on her juror form because she did not “feel ‘victimized’ the way the law might define that term.” She later testified that she answered truthfully based on her understanding of the questions.

"I didn’t write it on the questionnaire because it never crossed my mind, ever. It wasn’t done intentionally,” she swore during two days of testimony in February.

She also disputed any financial motive to serving on the jury, swearing that she and other jurors never discussed jointly writing their book, “We, the Jury,” until after the trial and verdict.

And it was Peterson’s celebrity attorney, Mark Geragos, who wanted her on the jury, prosecutors said. Geragos called Nice back as she prepared to leave after the trial judge dismissed her for financial hardship, though Geragos said he never would have done so had she properly disclosed her personal history.

Nice also denied being biased even though she said her boyfriend at the time was serially unfaithful and denied that he ever assaulted her despite his arrest for domestic violence.

Peterson was arrested in April 2003 only after his mistress came forward to say he told her his 27-year-old wife was gone a month before her actual disappearance.

His attorneys provided Massullo with what they called a “Credibility Chart” purporting to show Nice’s conflicting statements.

“Ms. Nice simply forgot,” prosecutors responded in court filings, arguing that any mistakes she made did not demonstrate bias.

“Her testimony and her demeanor ... clearly showed she was not a vengeful, scorned woman who sought to punish (Peterson),” they argued.

Among other issues Massullo had to decide was which side had the burden of proof.

Prosecutors said Peterson’s attorneys failed to prove Nice committed juror misconduct. Inadvertent or unintentional mistakes don’t count, they argued.

Peterson’s attorneys said Nice clearly concealed facts during jury selection, even unknowingly, which they said shifts the burden to prosecutors to prove that she wasn’t prejudiced.

   

 American convicted serial killer pleads guilty in unsolved 1991 killing of Linda Lois of Florida

Daytona Beach police solve 31-year-old cold case, Michael Townson charged with first-degree murder

By Edward Era Barbacena

Though the terrors of the infamous white serial killers in the United States have declined since the early 2000, the horrendous crimes committed by them still hunt us up to these days.  Many of the cases that were considered unsolved are slowly having  clear conclusions.

A man already serving life in prison was indicted Monday on a charge of first-degree murder in the cold-case killing of a woman who vanished three decades ago in Daytona Beach, according to a press release from the State Attorney's Office. 

Michael S. Townson, 53, was indicted in the killing of Linda Lois Little, according to the press release from 7th Circuit State Attorney R.J. Larizza's Office. 

Townson is already serving a life sentence for beating Sherri Carmanto to death with a steel pipe at her home in Titusville in 2007, according to the release. A Brevard County jury convicted him of the killing in 2008.

Family keeps searching:Family stepped up efforts to find missing woman

Accused rapist not guilty:Accused Daytona Beach serial rapist found not guilty in 2017 rape. Two more cases remain

Life in prison:Man who kidnapped, killed Daytona Beach grandmother sentenced to life in prison

Townson is serving his sentence at the Charlotte Correctional Institution in Punta Gorda.

"It is extremely gratifying to solve a 31-year-old murder," Larizza stated in the press release. "I hope it brings some measure of peace to the victim's family.

What happened to Linda Lois Little?

Little was last seen on Oct. 11, 1991, in Daytona Beach. The 43-year-old woman worked as a waitress at the Chart House restaurant on South Beach Street. She finished her shift at around 1 a.m. and rode off on her beach cruiser bicycle across the International Speedway Boulevard Bridge, stopping at a bar along the road. She was seen a few hours later at a nearby 7-11 that morning.

But that was it.

Little didn’t show up for work the next day. And she was never seen again. 

Little, a North Carolina native, had lived in the Daytona Beach area for two years. 

A story in The News-Journal stated that investigators at the time had not found evidence of foul play. 

But Little’s family was certain she would not have left without telling them, and printed and distributed 3,500 fliers, even giving them to long-haul truckers to distribute throughout the country. Lamar Advertising put up billboards with the flier information.  

The family also hired a psychic and offered a $5,000 reward for information.  

But none of that helped find the missing woman. 

In 1996, a man called the family claiming he had seen seen Linda Little in North Carolina, but the man refused to give his name. He was never heard from again.

Little was survived by her mother, a grandchild and three siblings.  

Her sister, Wanda Little, who kept searching for years, described her sister as "a very strong woman," according to the story.

In a press release issued Monday, the Daytona Beach Police stated praised the collaboration of the State Attorney's Office and also stated: "If not for the hard work and dedication from the Daytona Beach Police Department's Criminal Investigation Division, it would have not been possible in developing a suspect in this case."

 

Central Park hate crime: Bike-riding bigot sought for anti-Semitic attack

By Edward Era Barbacena

The white American racist and a bigot responsible for a hate-filled, anti-Semitic attack in Central Park last week remains at large, police reported.

The NYPD released on Monday photos of the perpetrator sought for the assault that occurred at 7:37 p.m. on Dec. 14 inside the park near the intersection of Terrace and East Drives.

According to law enforcement sources, the suspect approached a 63-year-old man as he walked through the park. Police said the perpetrator shoved the victim from behind to the ground, causing the man to fall.

Adding insult to injury, cops said, the bigot shouted anti-Semitic remarks at the victim, then took off on a bicycle equipped with a trailer that was last seen heading westbound along 72nd Street.

The incident was reported to the Central Park Precinct. Police said the victim sought treatment via private means at a local hospital for a chipped tooth and a broken hand.

Police described the assailant as a forty-something white man and a medium build who was last seen wearing a multi-colored hat, a brown jacket, beige pants and white sneakers.

He’s shown on camera pushing the bicycle equipped with a trailer full of various items, and with a sign reading “Hungry Disabled” on the back.

 

Irmgard Furchner: Nazi typist guilty of complicity in 10,500 murders during holocaust 

By Edward Era Barbacena

BBC: A former secretary who worked for the commander of a Nazi concentration camp has been convicted of complicity in the murders of more than 10,500 people.

Irmgard Furchner, 97, was taken on as a teenaged shorthand typist at Stutthof and worked there from 1943 to 1945.

Furchner, the first woman to be tried for Nazi crimes in decades, was given a two-year suspended jail term.

Although she was a civilian worker, the judge agreed she was fully aware of what was going on at the camp.

Some 65,000 people are thought to have died in horrendous conditions at Stutthof, including Jewish prisoners, non-Jewish Poles and captured Soviet soldiers.

Furchner was found guilty of aiding and abetting the murder of 10,505 people and complicity in the attempted murder of five others. As she was only 18 or 19 at the time, she was tried in a special juvenile court.

At Stutthof, located near the modern-day Polish city of Gdansk, a variety of methods was used to murder detainees and thousands died in gas chambers there from June 1944.

The court at Itzehoe in northern Germany heard from survivors of the camp, some of whom have died during the trial.

When the trial began in September 2021, Irmgard Furchner went on the run from her retirement home and was eventually found by police on a street in Hamburg.

Stutthof commandant Paul-Werner Hoppe was jailed in 1955 for being an accessory to murder and he was released five years later.

A series of prosecutions have taken place in Germany since 2011, after the conviction of former Nazi death camp guard John Demjanjuk set the precedent that being a guard was sufficient evidence to prove complicity.

That ruling also meant that civilian worker Furchner could stand trial, as she worked directly to the camp commander, dealing with correspondence surrounding Stutthof detainees.

It took 40 days for her to break her silence in the trial, when she told the court "I'm sorry about everything that happened".

"I regret that I was in Stutthof at the time - that's all I can say," she said.

Her defence lawyers argued she should be acquitted because of doubts surrounding what she knew, as she was one of several typists in Hoppe's office.

After the war, Furchner married an SS squad leader called Heinz Furchstam whom she probably met at the camp.

She went on to work as an administrative worker in a small town in northern Germany. Her husband died in 1972.

Historian Stefan Hördler played a key role in the trial, accompanying two judges on a visit to the site of the camp.

It became clear from the visit that Furchner was able to see some of the worst conditions at the camp from the commandant's office.

The historian told the trial that 27 transports carrying 48,000 people arrived at Stutthof between June and October 1944, after the Nazis decided to expand the camp and speed up mass murder with the use of Zyklon B gas.

Mr Hördler described Hoppe's office as the "nerve centre" for everything that went on at Stutthof.

During his evidence he read out evidence provided by Furchner's husband in 1954 when he said: "At the Stutthof camp people were gassed. The staff at the commandant's HQ talked about it."

Presiding judge Dominik Gross said it was "beyond imagination" that Furchner could not have noticed the smoke and stench of mass killing: "The defendant could have quit at any time."

Camp survivor Josef Salomonovic, who travelled to the court to give evidence at the trial, was only six when his father was murdered by lethal injection at Stutthof in September 1944.

"She's indirectly guilty," he told reporters at the court last December, "even if she just sat in the office and put her stamp on my father's death certificate."

Another Stutthof survivor, Manfred Goldberg, said his only disappointment was in the nature of the sentence.

"It's a foregone conclusion that a 97-year-old would not be made to serve a sentence in prison - so it could only be a symbolic sentence," he told the BBC.

"But the length should be made to reflect the extraordinary barbarity of being found to be complicit in the murder of more than 10,000 people."

Nazi crime cases since 2011

John Demjanjuk - jailed in 2011 for five years for his part in the murder of more than 28,000 Jews at the Sobibor death camp but released pending an appeal and died the following year aged 91

Oskar Gröning - the "Bookkeeper of Auschwitz", sentenced in 2015 as an accessory to the murder of 300,000 Jews. He never went to jail, dying in 2018 aged 96 during the appeals process

Reinhold Hanning - former SS guard at Auschwitz convicted of helping to commit mass murder in June 2016 but died a year later aged 95 with appeals still pending

Friedrich Karl Berger - former guard at the Neuengamme concentration camp, deported to Germany from the US in February 2021 aged 95. German prosecutors dropped charges against him and his current fate is unknown

Josef S - jailed for five years in June 2022 for assisting in the murder of more than 3,500 prisoners in Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Aged 101, he is the oldest person to be convicted for Nazi-era war crimes in Germany, but because of age and ill health is unlikely to spend any time in prison

Furchner's trial could be the last to take place in Germany into Nazi-era crimes, although a few cases are still being investigated.

Two other cases have gone to court in recent years for Nazi crimes committed at Stutthof.

Last year a former camp guard was declared unfit for trial even though the court said there was a "high degree of probability" he was guilty of complicity.

In 2020, another SS camp guard, Bruno Dey, was given a two-year suspended jail term for complicity in the murder of more than 5,000 prisoners.