Thursday

Current True Crime-The Closet Murderer; Ashleigh a Runaway?

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The Strange Murder by the Man in the Closet

By all accounts, Jeffrey Freeman was a mild-mannered fellow. He and his wife owned an "investigative" firm, a company that researches criminal and credit histories of applicants for rental units in a suburb of Nashville, Tennessee.

This past Sunday night, 4/10/05 Jeffrey Freeman found a man living in a closet in his house.

That same man, Rafael DeJesus Rocha-Perez, at some point between 10 pm that Sunday night when Jeffrey heard Perez snoring in his closet and around 3:30 pm the following day, 4/11/05, murdered Jeffrey Freeman brutally and left his bashed body in a bathroom.

At least as alleged by Jeffrey's wife, Martha.

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However, Nashville police claim that "'serious time line questions'' remain that the wife has not answered."

Here's the timeline as alleged by Martha Freeman:

Sunday night, 4/10/05, at 10 pm, Jeffrey heard snoring from a closet in his house. He found Rocha-Perez in the closet. According to Martha, Jeffrey then said he was going to take a walk and he wanted this man out of his house.

Then an odd incident not evidently reported by Martha Freeman. At midnight Nashville time, Martha Freeman phoned Jeffrey's mother, Hazel Freeman. This is a weekly thing done by son to mother. Martha Freeman knew this. So she phoned her mother-in-law and explained that Jeffrey was in bed after taking some medicine. Martha didn't explain much about the "medicine" but she did say that she didn't want her mother-in-law to worry, that everything was fine and that Jeffrey was asleep.

The next day Martha ran frantically to a neighbor's house and asked for help. Police found Freeman's body, severely beaten, in the bathroom where he'd been beaten to death, allegedly, by Rocha-Perez.

No one knows if Jeffrey Freeman really took a walk that night. It's an odd thing to do when confronted by a man living in your closet and who had been living there for almost a month. Although it is the sort of mild-mannered behavior that friends of Jeffrey Freeman assert he would take.

Where was Jeffrey when Martha called his mother? Still on his walk?

It's what happened when Jeffrey returned from his walk that is under scrutiny. Because for almost 17 hours after Freeman discovered his "border" until his battered body was found, something sure happened. IF Jeffrey took that walk.

Martha Freeman alleges that Perez got her husband's shotgun, an altercation took place, Perez forced her husband into the bathroom. Presumably after this Martha ran next door to summon authorities. Police found his body at 3:30 pm on Monday, 4.11.05.

Martha Freeman knew that something was wrong at midnight the Sunday before police found her husband's body. She took the time and trouble to phone Jeffrey's mother to ward off her worry should her son not call. Martha Freeman knew that Jeffrey wouldn't be calling his mother that night.

Why?

Was Jeffrey still out on this walk of his? Were Jeffrey and Perez then engaged in a heated argument that would result in Freeman's death some 15 hours later?

Or was Jeffrey Freeman already dead when Martha called his mother?

Authorities obviously have Martha Freeman under serious investigation. Rocha-Perez was arrested the same Monday Jeffrey Freeman's body was found as a result of a tip from Freeman neighbors.

It's not known yet whether Perez confessed but he is being held by Nashville police. Perez had already served jail time for murder. It's not clear if Jeffrey Freeman and Rocha-Perez were acquainted.

As for Martha Freeman, she's either co-murderess or a very creative sort in keeping a man in a closet for almost a month without her husband discovering.

Here's another interesting story from the crime annals similar to this case.
Crime Library.com

Information obtained from the following web site:
The Tennessean

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Ashleigh Markley - Did She Run Away?
Because if Ashleigh Markley didn't leave willingly from her Grandmother's home on March 29, then the Lincoln, California police might well have her death on their hands.

For it was in Lincoln, California where Ashleigh's grandmother lived and it was from there she went missing. Ashleigh lives in Citrus Heights California and it is that police department that considers her disappearance very suspect.

Ashleigh is a 14-year-old white female, 4' 11" tall, 86 pounds, with blue eyes, blond hair, and piercings in her tongue and navel. She has always been a good student in school and is not considered the sort of child who would abandon her studies. Ashleigh was last seen in the company of a Lindsay Jones, also known as Lindsay Rehders. Lindsay was a lady friend of one of Ashleigh's uncles. She was evidently a guest that day at Ashleigh's Grandmother's, along with her father and other relatives.

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This Lindsay woman shouldn't be too hard to spot if description means anything. For her eyebrows are shaved off and replaced with tattoos of barbed wire. She's also known to hitchhike rides from Interstate truckers.

Who knows what politics took place in the law enforcement arena. Evidently Ashleigh's father's family gave a report when she went missing from the Lincoln home. Was there something in how Ashleigh's disappearance was reported that made the Lincoln police consider it a slam dunk runaway case? Because it now seems all parties involved agree that somehow, someway, Ashleigh went off with Lindsay Jones.


Did Ashleigh's mother finally go to her own town's police in exasperation with the lackadaisical response from the Lincoln police? It's reported that the Citrus Heights police have taken over the case and the California division of the FBI has confirmed it is also involved with Ashleigh's disappearance.

Soon these questions will likely be answered. For now, we know that Ashleigh's been missing for three weeks or so, that this Lindsay Jones has also not been seen, and Ashleigh's likely not a runaway.

Although the runaway speculation is mine alone. But by now Ashleigh's picture and missing status has been thoroughly publicized. Not to mention Lindsay Jones of the barbed wire eyebrows. Surely one of them would phone in to someone. Lindsay Jones is not considered independently wealthy or anything. The two women would need money to live.

Could Lindsay have convinced Ashleigh to go off with her on a lark? Two women yukking it up, hitching rides with truckers, enjoying life unfettered by the worries of a normal 14 year old? Could Lindsay have seduced Ashleigh to come meet a friend who wants to meet her? A male friend, perhaps? Or could BOTH of the women have come to some harm, hitching up with the wrong driver?

Whatever the case, it's not likely Ashleigh would willingly be away from home so long. She has no history of such behavior or none that is yet known.

Below references used for this Blog post.
Angels Missing.com
Sacramento Sheriff Web Site

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