Seattle Crime Reports : Seattle Crime Blog : Seattle, Washington

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The City of Seattle, along with Tacoma and the state of Washington, has agreed to pay $11 million to the victims of Ronald Young, a sicko who brutally sexually assaulted his foster kids and posted pictures of the abuse on a pedophile website.

It seems the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children informed SPD of Young's demented postings in September 2003, yet he was not arrested until March of the following year. Seattle cops say they passed the info along to Tacoma police, yet Tacoma says they didn't get it for a while..and, while all of this is happening, Young's victims were still being abused.

I don't even need to comment on how horriblly they botched this one. Knowing for six months and doing nothing because you thought it had been passed along is inexcusable. Now, eight victims suffered another six months of abuse and now the city has to cough up a portion of that $11 million to make everything go away.

I feel like the city slips into these situations far too often. Guess who really pays when the city settles like this? Taxpayers. If the city could just use some of that money they pay out in lawsuits to simply imrpove the way things are run, I can almost guarantee things like this would virtually cease to exist.

People like Young will always be around. An improved system would make it possible to limit the effects of demented mind's like his.

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It must be an embarrassing day for Darin L. Bolar, the convicted sex offender who found his face plastered across newspaper stands this morning after being arrested on suspicion of serial groping. But then, he's probably got more to worry about at this point than his reputation:

Bolar, who was also charged with second-degree robbery in the theft of the cell phone of man who reported the Saturday attack, has an arraignment set for June 4 in King County Superior Court. Bail was set at $500,000 - an amount that prosecutors sought because of his criminal history, which includes a "strike" offense under the state's two-strikes law for repeat sex offenders.

Bolar, who has a criminal history stretching back to 1984, seems to be in a bit of a pickle: a string of sexual assaults on his record - including two felony convictions for child rape - won't help things when he's brought to trial. Police still believe there's at least one more suspect out there...a second arrest could take some of the weight off his shoulders. But even if Bolar somehow gets off the hook, when the entire Puget Sound has seen your face prominently displayed next to an above-the-fold story titled "Groping suspect arrested," much of the damage has already been done.

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This week brings yet another sex scandal for my alma mater Seattle University...and this one not involving members of the clergy:

Andrew Douglas Franz, an associate professor of military science at SU, was arrested Friday by the Canon City Police Department after he flew into the Colorado town about an hour away from Colorado Springs.

Franz, 41, believed he was meeting an underage female he had corresponded with online, authorities said. He didn't know he had been communicating with investigators from the Fremont County Combined Investigative Response Team.

If the details provided in this King 5 broadcast are any indicator, Andrew Franz is in some serious hot water.

Using the username sugardad4u33, the suspect apparently began chatting last December with an undercover agent posing as the mother of a 13 year old girl. After the meeting was arranged, Franz told the "mother" that he'd bring muscle relaxants and alcohol for the girl (and that's not all...when arrested, he also had a necklace adorned with cherries, some Viagra and lingerie). Doesn't take much to guess he what he was planning.

Oh...and If that wasn't creepy enough, Franz also supposedly commented that the girls at Seattle University were "too old" for his interests. Because everyone knows that 18 is the new 40.

After the jump, check out the full e-mail that Seattle University's outgoing provost John Eshelman sent to the student body shortly after news of Franz's arrest broke.

Continue Reading...

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I wrote a couple weeks ago about David Torrence, a Level 3 sex offender who managed to cut off his GPS tracking bracelet and vanish into thin air.

Well, now Torrence is back in custody:

A registered sex offender who lived under a bridge in Snohomish County for three days before cutting off his state issued GPS tracking ankle bracelet and disappearing has turned himself in to police in to police in Camden, Arkansas, according to the US Marshals Service.

Let's hope this time, he doesn't get out of jail...and even if he does, authorities find a better home than a bridge within walking distance of his victim.

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Some readers may remember when this story of Sean Hart and "JF1" (Juvenile Female One) broke in 2007. Following his arrest, Hart was charged with 11 criminal counts - including transporting a minor across state lines for immoral purposes - after he allegedly arranging for a 12-year-old California girl to be flown up to Washington...with the apparent intent of "pimping" her on the streets. Over a 12 day period, Hart forced the girl - sometimes with the help of his fists - to whore herself out and do all sorts of sexually degrading activities.

Few would disagree at the heinousness of such sleaze. So when I saw a P.I. story last week about Hart receiving an "extraordinary" jail term for his crimes, I was pleased.

Until I saw just how "extraordinary" the sentence was:

A Seattle pimp who turned a 12-year-old girl into a prostitute received an extraordinary five-year prison term Friday.

U.S. District Judge John Coughenour cited the victim's age in sentencing Sean Hart to a term that is almost three times longer than federal guidelines.

Five years...and that's only because the judge was willing to push the envelope on what federal guidelines recommended.

Judging by the statement that Hart's sentence is almost 3 times as long as the recommendation, we'll assume that the suggested prison term is between 21-24 months...or a maximum of two years in prison for physically and sexually assaulting underage girls to make a profit.

This site shows a table highlighting the "scoring" system that the federal government uses to determine sentencing guidelines. Based on the wording in the P.I. article, we can assume that Hart (or Hush, as he was known on the streets) was ranked at an offense level of 16, which brings a 21-27 month sentence.   

Having 50 grams of crack cocaine in your possession? That's a level 38, which comes with about 21 years in prison. What Hart did carries the same sentence as someone caught with 10 kilograms of weed (around $3500 worth).

The Assistant U.S. District Attorney shares my sentiments, and made a sound byte-worthy point in front of reporters:

[AUSDA Jill] Otake warned the court that "street-level gang members are leaving the drug trade and engaging in the pimping of women, because the risk of apprehension is less."  

It's time to revise these sentencing guidelines; until that's done, the problem will only get worse. When compared to drugs, pimping is more profitable, less risky, and carries a smaller penalty.  Doesn't take a genius to see where this could be going.

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When David Torrence, a convicted rapist and registered sex offender, cut off his ankle bracelet tracking device and simply disappeared, the first questions asked were concerned with how the Department of Corrections tracks sex offenders.

To heed criticism, the DOC has since announced an improved system for such circumstances; now, if someone like Torrence disappears without a trace, the DOC will notify the offenders' previous victims that their assailant has escaped:

The head of the state Department of Corrections has ordered that victims of sex crimes must be notified when those convicted of the attacks remove their state-issued GPS tracking device.

Clap, clap, clap.

So this is the band-aid that the DOC has unleashed on a seriously flawed system? The fact that this wasn't already a policy is hard to believe. How hard is it to pick up the phone and let the victim know their attacker is on the loose?

"I'm glad they are trying to change their policy, but I can't believe they didn't do it before," said the woman [his victim]. "I never thought I would be living through this nightmare again. I just hope he goes to prison where he belongs."

I'm with her...especially because Torrence recently served a one-year sentence for failing to register as a sex offender. This guy obviously has no interest in following the law. 

The story gets weirder: Torrence was also not able to find housing, so the DOC permitted him to live under a bridge, just a few miles from where his victim lived. 

Under a bridge? Seriously? But don't worry, the person in charge of monitoring Torrence checks his GPS history "frequently." Phew! I was worried for a minute. Given Torrence's history, there are a few things that should never have happened (including allowing him to live under a bridge within walking distance of his victim, despite his propensity for dodging his "sex offender" status).

There's more to the new GPS system. While officials originally said that they had no idea how Torrence could have cut off the bracelet, we now know that four of the registered 90 GPS-using sex offenders have done so, and only two have been caught again.

It may be time to take a look at why situations like this are allowed to happen...instead of trying to deflect bad publicity by saying you'll do something in the future.

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Police misconduct can take many forms and, sadly enough, it often goes unpunished. Tales of officers walking away unscathed from questionable shootings or overly aggressive arrests seem to have become the norm over the last 20 or so years, particularly in Seattle but also in most major cities where population growth and urban expansion have played a role.

All history aside: when it comes to the case of Carlos Torres, a former State Trooper, the courts have proven that justice really is blind.

Torres was recently convicted for sexually assaulting a Federal Way woman after falsely arresting her for DUI in 2005. On Wednesday, a Judge dealt him the maximum one-year sentence for his crime:

A trooper for almost 10 years, Torres, 46, was convicted of first-degree custodial sexual misconduct in March. The victim, a woman from Federal Way, had been driving home late one night in 2005, when Torres pulled her over for a suspected DUI.

Torres told the woman's passengers -- her boyfriend and teenage daughter -- to go home, while he handcuffed her. He took the woman, then 38, to two police stations in search of a working breath-test machine. As he drove around, he began talking about sex, according to prosecutors.

The woman's blood-alcohol level registered at 0.05 percent -- below the legal limit -- but Torres took her to the Pierce County Jail for booking. When the jail was full, he drove her to a deserted weigh station in Federal Way and began asking her about sexual fantasies. Then he sexually assaulted her.

It's a shame that Torres' maximum penalty was just a year - especially when it was known that he had a history of using his position of power to take sexual advantage of women. When you have sworn to protect and serve, you've also made an oath to serve the best interests of citizens everywhere. Torres not only betrayed that oath, he did so in the worst possible way.

But what goes around comes around. And Torres - like so many of the other convicts we've covered in this blog - better watch his ass. Literally.

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I have long struggled with the fact that this country is more concerned with locking up petty drug dealers than child sex offenders, and this case - reported in the Times - only reaffirms my stance:

Police say Henry Richard Newell approached the boy who was with his father inside a supermarket in the 1400 block of Broadway on April 2. While the boy's father was a few feet away talking to a salesperson, Newell walked up to the boy and said, "Come with me," according to charging documents.

Later in the little blurb about the incident, we get a rundown of Newell's criminal past:

Newell, who is homeless, has a prior felony conviction in Oregon for raping an 11-year-old girl and is a registered sex offender, according to the documents. He is being held in King County Jail in lieu of $50,000 bail and is scheduled to be arraigned May 7.

Does it get much worse than raping an 11-year-old?  Even if this gets the max sentence for "attempted luring," I'm guessing he's back out on the streets before too long. I know sex offenders have one of the lowest re-offend rates of all criminals, but it seems there are far too many cases of the justice system letting creeps like Newell slip through the cracks.

I'm sure his 11-year-old victim is still dealing with the horrendous crime he committed against her. This time, let's try to keep him where he belongs...behind bars.

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While I may not necessarily agree with the Seattle Crime Blogger's take on legalizing prostitution, we are in agreement that the SPD's insistent focus on staking out Rick's Cabaret is beyond ridiculous.

This 2006 article from the P-I details one of the biggest raids ever conducted in Seattle, when three paddy wagons (does anybody still use that term anymore?) showed up to arrest 14 dancers at the Lake City club. Three paddy wagons? For years, police have claimed that they don't have the resources to effectively clean up the city's many open-air drug markets, but they seem to be willing to do whatever it takes to stop lonely old men from getting some extra love in a poorly lit back room.

Outside of that, many have forgotten what happened after the infamous "Strippergate" story started to develop. A 2007 report, also from the P-I, details some of the bizarre reports filed by undercover officers involved in the sting:

"One Seattle cop reported that he grabbed an exotic dancer's breasts several times as she gyrated in his lap."

Why that officer did this, and why he would ever write this in his own report, remain an unexplained mystery.

Another cop details having spent $100 on consecutive lap dances with the hopes that the stripper would eventually offer sex for money. Don't get me started on the entrapment problems here...but $100? Something tells me that wasn't the only time such a situation arose.

One detective reported that he had purchased 300 lap dances while working undercover.  With a dance running $20 to $40, we're talking $6,000 to $12,000 of taxpayer money being spent to bust a dancer for a misdemeanor crime.

According to the P-I, I'm not alone in my assessment:

[Some defense attorneys and legal experts] question the department's priorities: why undercover cops need to be so aggressive in cases that rarely rise above a misdemeanor, and that are frequently dismissed as the result of a court diversion program.

And after all the money, time, and resources spent, we end with a grand conclusion of Frank Colacurcio Jr, whose father has long been linked to local corruption, agreeing to pay $10,000 in fines and spend a year on probation.  All said, the city came out with a $55,000 settlement.  I'm guessing more than that was spent on the "investigation."

Greg Nickels and members of the City Council have these types of cases a priority, because a headline including the phrase "Strippergate" is sure to illicit more attention than almost anything else.  But listen to the radio sometime: Rick's is still advertising, and guessing by the packed parking lots I see when i drive home every day, business is doing just fine.

We don't have to make prostitution legal. Just stop wasting the taxpayer money and the Seattle Police Department's resources on silly cases that aren't helping to stop serious crime.

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...that efforts to regulate prostitution are pointless?

Snohomish County sheriff's deputies arrested two dancers at Honey's topless club for investigation of prostitution on Sunday.

Deputies had been investigating the club, in the 12900 block of Highway 99, to determine whether there was prostitution going on, said sheriff's spokeswoman Rebecca Hover. Two 19-year-old women, one from Lynnwood and the other from Everett, were arrested.

[...]

In recent weeks, Seattle police vice officers have made at least six arrests at Rick's, a strip club on Lake City Way Northeast. Police said they have gone into the club twice for separate prostitution investigations.

There are many folks who've made strong arguments in support of legalizing prostitution, but few have said it as simply and eloquently as George Carlin:

"Selling is legal. Fucking is legal. Why isn't selling fucking legal?"

Interesting point, George. Now just tell that to the federal government. We hear you two have already got a pretty good rapport.

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Staying in line with her credo of "keeping families safe," Governor Gregoire recently signed a bill that will allow police to collect DNA samples from a broader range of sex offenders. The bill, heavily influenced by the rape and murder of Zina Linnik (a Tacoma girl raped and murdered on July 4th of last year by a convicted sex offender), increases the number of sex-related crimes that can warrant forced DNA submission.

 

House Bill 2713 will add several misdemeanor and gross misdemeanor sex crimes to the list of offenses that require offenders to submit a sample of their DNA to the Washington State Patrol’s crime lab so it can be kept on file and compared to evidence found at other crime scenes. They include soliciting a prostitute and fourth-degree sexual assault.

Currently, only felony crimes require a DNA sample from criminals. The crime lab had 161,000 such samples on file as of last month and had analyzed and entered profiles of 97,000 of them into the state database.

The bill also plans to allow law enforcement to post the names of Level 1 sex offenders, the least likely to re-offend, on the statewide offender website if they fail to report their addresses to police.  Sex offenders may have the lowest re-offense rate of any almost criminal. but when one does fall off the wagon, the result is almost always shattered lives. Just look at the fact that the creep who did this to Linnik was connected to so many other unsolved crimes.

These are all ideas that, in my opinion, took way too long to get developed...but at least they're finally rearing their heads.  My only concern with this is how well the government will be able to maintain the systems they are proposing: the back-ups at state crime labs, who would be processing the DNA, have a notorious history of being extremely bogged down with excess work. How quickly can they get this database up and how well can they maintain it?

Guess we'll have to (gulp) put our faith in the state of Washington to handles this one right.

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Let this be a lesson to teenage criminal thugs everywhere: next time you commit a crime, it's probably a good idea to avoid publishing details of your devilry on MySpace...no matter how badass you think those details may be, and no matter how cool you think they'll make you look. Case in point: the above article, from this morning's Seattle Times.

The victim, a 16 year old girl from Bellevue, was supposedly raped by four male teenage suspects. The Times' report claims the young men gave the victim alcohol, then took turns having their way with her in the back seat of a car on November 18, 2007. The girl's mother knew something was up when the suspects dropped her off at home afterwards, and the subsequent medical examination confirmed that an assault had occurred. Police were called in, and shortly thereafter...

The girl went to MySpace.com, found profiles for two of the teens and identified them as two of her assailants, according to a police affidavit.

Police got a search warrant for MySpace.com records and found descriptions of the attack.

"The messages included details of the assault ... and confirmed that four males were involved," Detective Carl Kleinknecht said.

In other messages, two suspects and other recipients exchanged ideas that included possibly killing the girl if she went to police, concocting a cover story and even boasting of the attack. [Note: Of course, any emphasis in this passage was added by the Seattle Crime Blogger - Ed.]

Foolish move, boys...but not one that you're alone in making. Almost since social networking took off, young people of the MySpace generation - sometimes suspected criminals, sometimes victims, sometimes a little bit of both - have been leaving online clues that ultimately come back to bite them. Recently in Seattle alone, it happened with Amanda Knox, it happened with Allen Joplin, and now it's happening with these four youths.

When will these kids learn? You're either a web 2.0 fanboy or a derelict criminal; there is no grey area. And for those who try to create one - as appears to be the case with these four suspects - the outcome is as predictable as the ending to M. Night Shyamalan's The Village (a film that totally sucked, by the way).

UPDATE: For those who were wondering: why yes, we did publish this post before Dan Savage offered his almost identically-cited  coverage in SLOG a few minutes ago.

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Hope you all haven't filled up on pumpkin pie, because this evening, those tireless reporters from across the pond bring us a late night Thanksgiving treat: Rudy Hermann Guede, the convicted drug dealer and YouTube buffoon recently arrested in connection with Meredith Kercher's slaying, has been officially linked to the victim's body.

And it gets better. According to reports from The Times Online, DNA found on Kercher's corpse offers definitive proof that Guede had sex with the victim the night of her death.

Someone better stick a fork in Guede: like so many other turkeys on this fourth Thursday in November, he's done.

There seems to be little argument against his presence in Kercher's bedroom that night, judging by the evidence as reported:

Last night’s results showed Mr Guede’s DNA matched that found on a tampon which indicated that Ms Kercher had what was described as “violent” sex on the night she died. It also matched the DNA found on toilet paper in the bathroom.

The article claims that Guede has admitted to being in the house when the murder occurred, but that  an unknown "Italian man" committed the crime. The only Italian man I've seen mentioned so far in connection with this case is Raffaele Sollecito. Is that who he is referring to? Or is it someone else entirely? One way or another, the simple fact that Guede admits presence but denies any wrongdoing makes it clear that like Sollecito and Amanda Knox, this suspect has joined in the never-ending blame game.

When speaking to a German judge, the Times Online reports, Guede even went so far as to claim that he was in the bathroom when the actual crime was committed and (valiantly, no doubt) attempted to resuscitate the victim after finding her throat slit.

But wait...don't earlier reports say it took Meredith Kercher an excruciatingly long time to die? I'm no doctor, but I'm almost positive that you can't resuscitate someone who is still alive and conscious.

Judging by their response in the article, Guede's lawyers are desperately trying to keep this new DNA link from sinking their case:

One of Mr Guede’s lawyers, Vittorio Lombardo, said the test results did not mean his client was guilty. He said: “These results need to be carefully looked at. Rudy has not denied being in Meredith’s house, and the tests do not say that the sex was not consensual.

“Rudy maintains he was in the bathroom when Meredith was killed, and these tests do not show anything which contradicts that.”

Keep on working for that paycheck, Vittorio. We'll see whether the sex was consensual - and whether "Rudy" was actually in the bathroom at the time of the attack - as more details are revealed.

Meanwhile, the featured story at CNN.com this evening relates to Amanda Knox's recently released jailhouse note (which we reported on earlier today). Nothing too exciting about this piece, although it does give a little more of the text from Knox's note regarding why she initially placed blame on her employer Patrick Lumumba:

In her statement, Knox said she saw Lumumba in "flashes of blurred images."

"I saw him near the basketball court. I saw him at my front door. I saw myself cowering in the kitchen with my hands over my ears because in my head I could hear Meredith screaming," she wrote.

"But I've said this many times so as to make myself clear: These things seem unreal to me, like a dream, and I am unsure if they are real things that happened or are just dreams my head has made to try to answer the questions in my head and the questions I am being asked.

Then, the quote of the century:

"But the truth is, I am unsure about the truth."

And that's what they used to hold Lumumba in custody for two weeks?

Jesus. Maybe the Italian judicial system really is fucked.

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That didn't take long.

Rudy Hermann Guede, the fourth suspect named by police in the murder of Meredith Kercher (and subject of the bizarre YouTube video we wrote about yesterday), has been arrested in Germany on suspicion of sexual assault.

He was reportedly caught after falling into a trap that so many criminals in the technology age seem unable to avoid: while he may have been careful to cover his tracks in the real world, Guede's ultimate downfall was his inability to do the same in the digital one.

From The Telegraph:

Police confirmed that he was caught after sending a message to the Daily Telegraph on the Internet.

Police monitoring his Facebook account recorded a message that Guede sent late last night.

At that point, he became traceable through the IP address of the computer he was using.

In the message, Guede said he was aware he was the target of an international manhunt, and wanted to clear his name. He wrote: "I know that [I am a suspect]".

He added: "The reson [sic] I want to talk with police man, cause the news give at me a wrong profile."

Betrayed by your IP address. An all-too-common occurrence nowadays. When will people learn?

The Times Online, meanwhile, is reporting Guede claimed that at the time of his arrest, he was "on his way back to Italy to give himself up." Oh, Rudy...what a stand-up guy.

Judging by the reports, this suspect doesn't seem to be the most beloved man around. The 62-year-old patriarch of an Italian family who adopted him gives us some dirt in The Telegraph:

The father, Paolo Caporali, 62, told the Italian national newspaper La Repubblica: "It is pointless to hide the fact that for me, Rudy was a disappointment. I hoped to help him build a future, I thought I had given him an opportunity. But as the months passed I understood I was mistaken, that my hopes were all met with delusion.

"He said he was at school, but he skipped class. He preferred to spend the day in front of the television or with video games. He had little wish to study, and even less to work." [Emphasis, again, added by the Seattle Crime Blogger - Ed.]

The same article reports that even Georgio Armani, the fashion designer whose photo with Guede (above) has been making its way around the web, was quick to cover his own ass:

On Monday the Armani Group released a statement saying the photograph of Guede with Mr Armani was taken as a tourist photo at the Armani/Nobu Bar in Milan at Mr Guede's request. It said: "Obviously, Mr Armani has never known Mr Guede."

Most likely a wise move. A leading figure in the fashion world, Armani would have some explaining to do further down the line if he didn't nip any possible speculation in the bud.

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Remember the Amanda Knox video that swept the Internet after her arrest, purported to show the young suspect drunk with some friends (a video that has since been removed from YouTube)?

Well, another YouTube video has been discovered, this one said to be of Rudy Hermann Guede, the man police have identified as their fourth suspect in the murder of Meredith Kercher. And this clip is even stranger than it's predecessor. Better watch while you can, because it seems quite likely to be taken offline in the coming days.

I don't really know what to say about this. But in a world dominated by what Monica Guzman at the P-I's Big Blog has aptly called "the court of public opinion," this can't be a good opening statement for Mr. Guede.

This video is just one of a few interesting developments in the Kercher case today. More updates to come this afternoon, when I get home from work and have time for more analysis.

Thanks to the Times Online for finding and publishing the link to the above video.

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The big news in the Amanda Knox/Meredith Kercher saga this morning: a fourth suspect exists, folks, and police have reportedly issued a warrant for his arrest.

So who is this mystery man?

We don't know. Local news sources show that police have thus far declined to identify him - perhaps because doing so might make executing said warrant a bit more difficult - but he is, according to the AP article reprinted in the Seattle P-I, "believed to be a [N]orth African linked to drug-dealing who lived near the cottage where Kercher was killed."

Upon news of this development, Charles Mudede at SLOG said it best: "The plot thickens."

It sure does. I can't wait to see A) who this individual is; B) what explanation he has for being in Kercher's bedroom; and C), most importantly, which of the other suspects he points an accusatory finger at first.

Meanwhile, a journalistic aside: for their coverage of these developments, both The Seattle Times and the P-I reprinted the same Associated Press article (written by Frances D'Emilio). But each presented the piece a bit differently from the get-go. A couple of major differences stuck out in my mind.

First, look at how they both begin. Here's the opening paragraph from The Times...

New fingerprints have been discovered on the pillow of a British student found slain in her bedroom in the Italian university town of Perugia earlier this month, a lawyer for the victim's family said Saturday.

...and here it is in the P-I.

New, bloody fingerprints have been discovered on the pillow of a British student found slain in her bedroom in the Italian university town of Perugia earlier this month, a lawyer for the victim's family said Saturday.

While the Times eventually brings up the "bloody" issue, they don't do so until the third paragraph.

[The lawyer] said he did not know whether the prints, described as "bloody," belonged to a potential new suspect in the case but said they did not belong to any of the three suspects now jailed in the probe.

Notice that it's just one word - "bloody" - but it definitely has an impact on how the story reads. Not only does including it in the first paragraph work in the sensationalist angle (which devotee readers will know I'm all for), but it also makes a stronger suggestion that whoever those fingerprints belong to is involved in Kercher's murder. Is the P-I going for shock value, or is The Times just playing it cautious? Or is something else entirely going on here?

Second point of note: The Times completely leaves out any reference whatsoever to the North African suspect! Their article proceeds like this:

The Milan daily Corriere della Sera reported that one of the prints on Kercher's pillow was that of a man's thumb, but Maresca said he had no details about the prints, including whether they were believed to be those of a man.

Knox, 20, and her 23-year-old Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, are being held in a Perugia jail as suspects in Kercher's sexual assault and fatal stabbing.

The P-I, meanwhile, has loads of additional information sandwiched between the two paragraphs cited above. I've put this content in bold italics below to further illustrate my point.

Milan daily Corriere della Sera reported that one of the prints on Kercher's pillow was that of a man's thumb, but Maresca said he had no details about the prints, including whether they were believed to be those of a man.

"One step away from (finding) a fourth" suspect, was the headline on the Turin newspaper La Stampa's story about the fingerprint development.

Meanwhile, the Sunday Times of London reported that Italian authorities issued an arrest warrant for a fourth suspect, "believed to be a north African linked to drug-dealing who lived near the cottage where Kercher was killed."

Kercher's 20-year-old American roommate, Amanda Marie Knox, a University of Washington student from Seattle, and Knox's 23-year-old Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, are being held in a Perugia jail as suspects in the woman's sexual assault and fatal stabbing.

Granted, these differences are largely explained at the end of the P-I article, where it reads that "Seattlepi.com staff contributed to this report." But you'd think that if The Times wanted to provide up-to-date coverage, they'd at least have included more on the "fourth suspect" angle.

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On my post analyzing Amanda Knox's MySpace page, commenter Travis Oberlander writes:

Hey, really great coverage on this story. I've been very interested in it since I'm a UW alumni. The company that I work for has also been following the story as it develops. We actually jumped on it really early and we were able to grab a screen shot of a revealing short story that Amanda wrote and posted to her Myspace blog in 2006. It's by no means a confession but it does give a little insight into her inner thoughts.

Travis has done what I neglected to do during the one day I had access to Knox's profile: he got a screenshot of her most notorious blog entry, which has since been cited in multiple media reports and web forums, detailing what The Telegraph describes as "the drugging and rape of a young woman." (The screenshot I've linked to above includes what appears to be about the first half of Knox's story...not the whole thing, but enough to give readers a glimpse at her writing voice and into her mind).

From The Telegraph's article on the rape story, published last week:

In [the story], an older brother Edgar, challenges his younger brother Kyle over a woman called Victoria.

His brother responds, laughing: "Icky Vicky, huh? Jeez, Edgar. You had me going there. A thing you have to know about chicks is that they don't know what they want," before attacking him.

As Travis points out, authorities obviously cannot consider this story a confession. But it is useful, even if as nothing more than another piece in the increasingly difficult Amanda Knox puzzle.

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The Telegraph reports today that Amanda Knox, the UW student studying in Italy suspected in the murder of her roommate Meredith Kercher, expressed little concern after discovering her friend's corpse.

The comments were made by a friend of Kercher's, which means that it is best to take them with a grain of salt: after all, it seems reasonable that people from the Kercher camp would be looking to demonize Knox in attempts to secure a guilty verdict in the case.

Still, if accurate, the claims shed a sinister light on a suspect whose MySpace page portrays her as no different than the thousands of other 20-something college girls from the Emerald City.

Robyn Butterworth, one of the last people to see Miss Kercher alive, told police in Britain that Amanda Knox, 20, "seemed proud" of being the first person to see the body.

[...]

Miss Butterworth, who was on the same university exchange programme as Miss Kercher, said she had run into Knox on the day Miss Kercher's body was found.

In a statement to the Northern Constabulary in Scotland, she said: "I went into the police waiting room. It was around 10.30pm. In the waiting room was Amanda, Meredith's flatmate.

"She kept talking about how she had found Meredith and seemed proud of being the first to find her. She behaved as if she was not upset." [As usual, emphasis in the above selection was added by the Seattle Crime Blogger - Ed.]

These are very vague statements. "Seemed proud"? "Behaved as if she was not upset"? Sounds fishy.

What would the suspect have to do to prove to Ms. Butterworth that she was upset? Obviously Knox's reaction to the death of her flatmate wouldn't be as severe as the reaction of one of Kercher's close friends. Is Butterworth saying that since Knox wasn't emotionally distraught or tearful at the death of her roommate, that immediately counts as a strike against her?

Just an observation...

Meanwhile, The Telegraph's coverage yesterday - while the Seattle Crime Blogger was temporarily out of commission - includes some new developments worth noting:

• Meredith murder suspect "caught on CCTV" - A closed circuit TV camera purports to show Knox entering the home where Meredith Kercher died on the night of the crime (apparently contradicting previous statements the flip-flopping suspect already made).
• Hair found in Meredith's fist may identify killer - Ohh, forensics! From the article: "A few strands of hair found in Meredith Kercher's clenched and bloodied fist may hold the clue to the identity of her killer, it has emerged," it says. "Dr Luca Lalli, the pathologist who conducted the autopsy on Miss Kercher, said he had discovered 'some hairs, some skin cells and some other fibres' on her body." If the hair belongs to one of the three suspects currently locked in a Perugian jail, I'd imagine this would just about clinch the case. How could you talk your way out of this one?

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The Daily Mail has the latest scoop this morning. They've published the photo above, which purports to show the crime scene Perugian police discovered after breaking down the door to Meredith Kercher's room on Nov. 2.

[Police] decided to break down the door to Meredith's bedroom after her other flatmate Romonelli Filomena said that it was strange that it was locked and that Meredith was not answering either of her mobile phones.

According to the report the room was a shocking sight.

The report says: "With the door opened there was a chilling scene in so far as the room was found in disorder with blood stains everywhere, on the ground and on the walls, and also under the duvet of the bed a foot could be seen."

Unfortunately the picture is pretty grainy, probably because, as the reporter notes, it is "photocopied from a police crime scene photo."

Her lifeless body is clearly visible in the centre of the image under a duvet next to the bed. Her foot can be seen from beneath the duvet.

Maybe it's just my eyesight, but I can't see the foot at all. Unless...is it the blurred portion just to the right of the letters "A" and "E"?

Meanwhile, The Seattle Times is reporting that Meredith's body has finally been returned to England.

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The Times Online has another great piece on the Amanda Knox case.

This one focuses less on the crime and more on Knox, and how she was supposedly consumed by the excesses of Italian life upon her arrival in Perugia. Just look at the headline: "All-American sweetheart who plunged into world of drink, drugs and easy sex." How could you not want to keep reading?

There are a number of interesting points brought up in this article. If half of the author's claims are true, the Amanda Knox being so aggressively defended by her UW peers may not be the wholesome person friends are claiming:

When she arrived in Perugia for a three-month stay, Ms Knox, 20, was seen as an all-American sweetheart, a soccer player of note and an accomplished rock climber.

But something happened to her in those three months, according to people within the university community of the Umbrian hill town. At some point, apparently quite early on in her stay, she lost control. In the town’s seedier bars, she soon became known as someone who was capable of intense jealousy and rage. She dedicated her free time to the drink, drugs and easy sex of Perugia’s nightlife. [...] One acquaintance said that Ms Knox had not been corrupted by any particular person because she was 'already up for it'. She had plunged fresh from Seattle into a world of vodka, marijuana and free-and-easy sex.

Some of the article's highlights:

• It continually comes back to claims that indicate erratic sexual behavior (that Knox slept with her boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito on the first night they met; that she had a reputation for picking up men from local bars; and that she brought some of these "strange men" back to the flat she shared with murder victim Meredith Kercher).
• The author notes that Perugia is "Italy's Ibiza," a cosmopolitan city where immigrants and students mingle closely and where a lot of older men spend their free time hanging with college students in their 20s. " 'There are a lot of older men who hang around the student community,' said Mirko Palmesi, an Italian-Canadian who recently left Perugia after studying at the University for Foreigners. 'I used to ask myself all the time what these older types were doing with us.' " Good question.
  
• Italy's easy access to alcohol (which students of Knox's age in America do not experience), the piece notes, is dangerous for foreigners - especially when coupled with the abundance of money that people who can afford to study abroad usually possess.
  
• One extremely interesting point that I haven't seen mentioned anywhere else: "Marijuana was grown by the students at the whitewashed cottage Ms Knox and Ms Kercher shared with two Italian girls and Ms Knox and her boyfriend admitted smoking on the evening of the murder, which they claim accounts for their confused accounts and memory lapses." I'd heard Sollecito's claims that he couldn't remember much from the night of the crime because he had smoked a joint. But they were growing pot in the same house where Kercher was killed? Why hasn't this come out in the Seattle press, who seem to have an affinity for highlighting pot-related crimes?

The article also seems to hint at something that will surely become a bigger issue in coming weeks: the many faults of study abroad programs.

I've been in college and seen how students view study abroad, and it is no question that the claims implied by this report - mainly, that study abroad programs are a joke, and little more than an excuse for students to go party in another country for a few months - are entirely accurate. Anyone who pays for their child to study abroad and actually thinks that they are going for the education is naive beyond words (I'll expand on this in a blog entry sometime down the road).

All in all, a great article. Somebody buy the reporter a drink.

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Lots of great e-mail response from folks who saw Seattle Crime Blog mentioned on King 5 last night (I'm still trying to find the video somewhere online, and will link to it when I do).

One reader writes:

Have you been following the coverage of this story in the
foreign press? The British press is far more graphic and outspoken
than the American press, which sometimes gets it into a lot of trouble
(like with the Royal Family). [...] I think it would be well worth your time to surf over to
www.dailymail.co.uk to check their coverage. They're saying TONS more,
and a lot sooner, than the wimpoid press in Seattle will divulge about
our girl Amanda.

I'd come across The Daily Mail a few times so far in my investigation, but upon receiving this reader's tip, I headed back over to their site, where I came across a fine example that validates our tipster's claim.

The example comes in the form of this article that the Mail has had up since late yesterday afternoon. It adds an interesting twist to the case - but has so far received absolutely zero coverage in The Seattle Times or the P-I.

Apparently on October 30, a Roman man received a text message from an unknown number with the cryptic message, "For me, tomorrow or tonight Meredith dies." From the Mail:

At the time, the man assumed the message was sent by mistake and he deleted it.

But earlier this week he heard reports of the murder, which has left Italy stunned, and contacted police in his hometown of Rome.

They are now trawling through vast quantities of phone data to retrieve the message and check if it was sent by one of the three suspects.

Phone records have already proved vital in the police investigation and it is known that in the hours after the killing there was heavy text and call traffic between Amanda Knox and boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito.

Some people are already disputing the legitimacy of this message. On the Mail's comment page, Ben from Birmingham writes:

Something in the text story doesn't ring true.

You receive a text message from an unknown number saying that someone will die and not do anything about it?

I share Ben's skepticism. They may do things different in Italy, but I'd imagine that in much of the civilized world, when an individual receives death threats on their cell phone they would have at least some interest in following up on it. But then again, you never know. The media shouldn't accept this message as fact, nor dismiss it immediately, until the phone records come out.

Regardless of the story's accuracy, why would the local press here in Seattle not cover this? While no direct link has been established between this text message and Kercher's murder, it is certainly an interesting development that locals should be made aware of. Any thoughts, readers?

Meanwhile, in their (less-than-in-depth) coverage, The Seattle Times is reporting that Knox has accused her boss, 38-year-old Congolese club owner Patrick Lumumba, of "of knifing her British roommate to death."

Let the fingerpointing begin.

[As usual, the Seattle Crime Blogger has added emphasis in all of the excerpts cited above - Ed.]

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About an hour ago, King 5 reporter Elisa Hahn came by my office and interviewed me regarding the Amanda Knox case. Apparently the folks at King 5 have been reading my coverage of Ms. Knox, and wanted to speak about the role MySpace and Facebook have played in the media response so far.

Assuming I don't get left on the cutting room floor, the report should air tonight on King 5's 5:00 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. news programs. Check it out if you can...

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An Italian judge ruled this morning that Amanda Knox, the University of Washington student jailed in Perguia, will remain behind bars.

According to the Guardian Unlimited, the judge's ruling will allow authorities to hold 20-year-old Knox, as well as her Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito and Congolese co-worker Patrick Lumumba, in jail for up to a year without facing formal charges in the murder of Meredith Kercher:

In her 19-page ruling, Judge Claudia Matteini said there were "serious indications of guilt" that warranted keeping the trio in jail. She also warned that if released, the suspects could attempt to leave Italy, noting that Knox is from Seattle, Washington, Lumumb[a] is from Congo and Sollecito could seek his girlfriend's help to flee.

Meanwhile, over at West Seattle Blog, there's a link to the statement recently released by Knox's family. It says:

The events that have unfolded in Perugia, Italy over the last few days regarding our daughter, Amanda, have shocked and devastated our family. We love our daughter very much and certainly stand by her through this ordeal. We know she is probably frightened and upset about what has happened, and needs all the support her family can give her.

We would ask the media to respect the privacy of the members of our families and friends, and refrain from putting further pressure on them for interviews and comment, especially our children.

Interesting day so far...and its not even 10:30 yet.

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Anyone who has clicked the link to Amanda Knox's MySpace page (which I included in my last post) will know that, as of about 4 p.m. yesterday afternoon, her profile was set to private.

Once again, Monica Guzman at the P.I.'s Big Blog got the scoop first, updating readers that both Knox's MySpace and Facebook profiles have disappeared from the public eye.

And once again, the comment section includes a rant from someone unfamiliar with the purpose of the Internet. Welcome to the spotlight, grammatically handicapped author of comment #64334:

The internet has become too public. None of what was seen online has any serious relation to the case. But innocent things like the youtube video and Myspace info are easily blown out of proportions by zealous media. The internet should be a place to share and be open. Instead it can badly misused. [As usual, emphasis has been added by the Seattle Crime Blogger - Ed.]

How foolish we reporters are, thinking that something somebody puts up on the Internet is - gasp! - public information. The Internet is "a place to share and be open." You're right: Amanda Knox was open, and the media is sharing. Shocking, I know.

And just for you, commenter, we've included images of what you can't find on MySpace today: Amanda Knox's profile page, exactly as it was when taken down yesterday. Check it out after the jump.

Continue Reading...

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The European tabloids are having a field day with this one.

Amanda Knox (pictured, right), a Seattle native and University of Washington student currently studying abroad in Italy, has been arrested in connection with the sexual assault and murder of her housemate, Meredith Kercher. The local press is all over it as well, as in-depth articles have appeared in both The Seattle Times and the P-I.

I won't go into the specifics of the case here: the P-I and Times articles are plenty detailed when it comes to balanced reporting, and for good old-fashioned sensationalist news, check out the Times Online, the Daily Mail, and any other British papers you can get ahold of. They're doing journalism the way it used to be: seedy, exciting, and yellow as hell. The latest twist, according to the Times Online? That Kercher was killed after "refusing to take part in a violent orgy." (God, this case is going to sell a lot of newspapers).

What is worth noting is the slew of Knox defenders jumping on her critics, despite the fact that the suspect, according to the articles I've read so far, has already "confessed to playing a role in the slaying." Italian authorities have yet to announce exactly what that role is.

After Monica Guzman wrote an update on it in the P-I's Big Blog (special kudos to Ms. Guzman for being the first blogger I found linking to Knox's MySpace page), a wave of comments - many from people claiming to be friends of the suspect - flooded in.

Some of the highlights (emphasis in each comment has been added by the Seattle Crime Blogger):

• One unregistered user left this gem as comment #63873: "There is also no reason for the (London) Times reporter to e-mail Amanda's friends, including myself, for interviews. I dislike the notion of him tracking down my e-mail from links on Amanda's Facebook profile. [...] Amanda doesn't deserve this media maelstrom." Are you serious? Has this commenter been living under a rock for the past four years? Welcome to the world of the Internet, baby. If you don't like the idea of being discovered through your Facebook profile...then don't have a Facebook profile.
• Another unregistered user, following up with comment #63880, gave a more reasonable response: "It doesnt matter if you know her or not, if she's commited or aided in the killing of a housemate then why doesnt she deserve this media "maelstrom"? [...] Im disgusted that some of you are more worried about this suspect's reputation rather than the feelings of the family of friends of a murdered girl." Well said, despite the wave of spelling and grammar errors. If Knox is in fact involved, the idea that her reputation is more important than due process reeks of subliminal ethnocentrism.
  
• In response to all of the claims that Amanda is a nice person who could never commit murder, the most recent comment as of 10 a.m. - also from an unregistered user - sums it up quite succinctly: "They say Ted Bundy seemed like an awful nice guy too. Ya just never know." Appearances can be deceiving. It'll be interesting to watch this situation develop, and to find out more about just who Amanda Knox really is. I don't know where I stand on the case at this point...it's still too early to tell. But before anyone defends (or attacks) Amanda Knox, we should wait for more details to emerge.
  

The best news? Now that I've got a link to Knox's MySpace page - which shockingly is still online as of 10 a.m. Wednesday - I've taken screenshots galore. We'll be posting an "Anatomy of...", in which I dissect the pertinent details of that MySpace page, later this evening tomorrow. Stay tuned...the Seattle Crime Blog will be covering this story closely.

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There's something going down in Georgetown.

This article in the P.I. - currently one of the most hotly discussed items at the site's Soundoff page - describes community outcry over casual sex encounters allegedly taking place in the public restrooms at Georgetown Playfield.

Public sex is nothing new (entertain yourself with a good case study and rent Cruising, pictured at right) and has been all over the news lately after the Larry Craig fiasco.

But with this case, there's a twist: what would have once spread via word of mouth is now more easily communicated using Craigslist and other cruising websites.

The author of the post-in-question left little to the imagination. It would be hard to misinterpret this request:

"Looking for fun in Georgetown," the post was titled. "Looking for someplace fun to get off with other men? Georgetown park bathroom between 11:00 a.m. and 1 p.m. is a great place. Hit me up if you would like to pick a time."

Dealing with locations known as a draw for sexual activity is a tricky subject. How do you enforce community standards without wasting police resources and, more importantly, ruining the lives of those who participate?

As SLOG reported on Oct. 5, a sex sting at a park in Tennessee led to the arrests of 40 men for activity similar to that mentioned in the P.I. article. The men - some of whom held respected positions within the community - had their names and photos published in the Johnson City Press. One of those men, 55-year-old Jerry McCloud, killed himself the next day. I'd say that's not an approach we'd want to take here.