True Crime-Josh Powell,Toddlers Missing Suspiciously, Murdering Co-Workers, Barefoot Bandit….More

PIC OF DAY

Josh Powell Burns in Hell Even As You Read

In 2009 I covered this story on this Blog.  I was a bit flip on that post though I did lament that the disappearance of Susan Powell on Dec. 6, 2009 was likely a disappearance along the lines of Drew Peterson's wife.  Murder by husband I call it.

According to Susan's husband Josh, on the evening of 12.6 he packed up his kids for a camping trip even though it was a Sunday night, odd night to go camping, and it was freezing cold.  When he came home his wife Susan was missing.  He took his two boys along, then age 2 and 4.  Again, awful young for a freezing Sunday night camping trip.

In retrospect it's kind of obvious that Josh came up with this story to explain away any stories his young ones would tell about a late night foray in the family car because anyone with a brain looking for an story of the circumstances of his wife's disappearance would come up with something more believable than that tall tale.

In fact it's been reported that Josh and Susan's young boys HAVE been telling their grandparents-Susan's parents who had custody of the boys-that Daddy went for a drive late one night and Mommy was in the trunk.

Susan Powell's parents have got to be the most grif-stricken people on the planet.  For about a week ago, Josh Powell opened the door to allow his sons in for a supervised visit.  He slammed the door on the social worker charged with overseeing the visit.  As she frantically called for help, Josh Powell poured gasoline all over his house and sons and blew up the house, himself, and those two babies of God.

Very often in my life I've had to believe there is a heaven for various reasons.  This story makes me HAVE to believe in hell.

Josh Powell needs to burn and suffer every second of every minute from now until the rest of eternity.  May God forgive me and it, of course, His will, but I take comfort that the man suffers for the innocents that he could have left alive and did away with his own self.  Those young boys had already lost their mother.  Now Josh Powell denied them the life she gave them.

And to any well-intentioned liberals who might want to gloss over this awful crime, take a gander at the plain truth of Utah's Pierce county's Sheriff:

"Let's not refer to this please in public as a tragedy. This was not a tragedy. This was a horrible murder of two little kids. Let's not dress it up, let's not sanitize it. Let's call it what it is, which is something deeply wrong, which is not a tragedy, which is something evil," said Pierce County Sheriff Paul Pastor. "This is going to hurt everybody's heart who's been involved. This is a horrible, heart-breaking situation."

May those beautiful boys be in heaven with their mother and may the happiness denied them on earth be with them as Jesus watches over them.

Woman Who Stabbed and Mutiliated Co-Worker Over 330 Times Gets Life Without Parole

Here's an outrageous crime that happened in my home state of Maryland.  Brittany Norwood stabbed, beat and cut her co-worker, Jayna Murray over 330 terms as could best be determined by investigators.  The two were working as yoga instructors.  When it first happened Norwood told investigators that two men broke into the yoga studio, raped and attacked both of them.

For somebody teaching the calming art of yoga, Norwood went out of control over what it believed to have been a routine co-worker disagreement.

Norwood did plead for a lenient sentence but the judge wasn't buying it.  He said Norwood was a danger to the community and sentenced her to life without possibility of parole.



Jayna Murray's father David and mother Phyllis, left
, and brother Dirk and sister-in-law April, right.


Jayna Murray's family and fiance gave victim statements that captured the depth of their despair.  Norwood's lawyer argued that the murder was not pre-meditated and I'm thinking it probably wasn't.  If you're going to PLAN a murder you'd likely use a neater and quicker weapon, like a gun.

This rather silly defense didn't buy Norwood a chance at parole because as the judge determined, she who can stab and beat and bludgeon a co-worker 330 times in a rage really should be behind bars lest someone else make her mad in the future.

Another Baby In the Arms of Jesus

There were three adults at home the night some stranger came into the house and kidnapped precious little 20 month old Ayla Reynolds.  It's a small house and it's a bit difficult to believe that someone somehow stumbled into the home where Ayla's father, Justin DiPietro (I don't know why Ayla's last name is the same as her mother but I assume they weren't married), his girlfriend and her child, slept in the basement.  Justin's sister slept on the main floor with her child while Ayla slept in a separate room.

There was a quantity of Ayla's blood found on the floor of that basement where Ayla's father and his girlfriend slept but investigators only specified that it was more blood than would come from a small cut.

Ayla's mother was in a rehabilitation facility, which is why DiPietro had temporary custody of the child.

Sometimes the worst thing that happens to children is being born of the wrong parents.

Investigators are searching for Ayla's body and no one's yet been arrested or confessed to her murder.

Entire School Staff Replaced After Two Teaches Arrested on Bizarre Sex Charges

It's just the strangest story. 

And while I'd advocate throwing the book at teachers doing the things two teachers at Miramonte Elementary school in Los Angeles did, even I'm given pause at the notion of firing ALL of the teachers.

Superintendent John Deasy is seeking to clear the school from a cloud of distrust and suspicion stemming from last week's arrest of former third-grade teacher Mark Berndt, 61, who is accused of feeding 23 children his semen during bizarre "tasting games" in his classroom from 2005 to 2010.


A second teacher, Martin Springer, was arrested four days later after two girls said he had fondled them in class in 2009.

Actually the teachers weren't fired, they were moved to other schools.  When the above scandal broke there was a wave and anger and distrust, as one might expect, by parents whose childrens were so abused.

The school administration must have been desperate so they've re-assigned all the teachers in the school.  I suspect that after a thorough investigation the students will return to the school and cleared teachers will once again be assigned to classrooms.
The teachers' union, of course, is protesting everything.

"Barefoot Bandit" Lucky to Be Alive

I'm so glad Colton Harris-Moore is going to jail for six and a half years I could do a happy dance.

This sneering nothing-burger captured the bored imaginations of the world during his crime spree that had him dubbed, with no small amount of admiration, "the barefoot bandit."

At times the bad guys amonst us do capture the fancy of the bored and this might well explain the public's wonder at Harris-Moore who went on a two year crime spree, stealing planes and boats, often while barefoot or completely naked.  A state judge even called him a  "triumph of the human spirit."

There's been the typical boo-hoo about Colton's sad childhood, parents that abused drugs and liquor, his daring and dash.  A movie is already in the works.

The only positive thing to come out of this is that Harris-Moore, who flew airplanes with no formal training, AFTER he stole them, is that he wants to fly straight, forgive the pun.

I would say to younger people they should focus on their education, which is what I am doing right now," he said. "I want to start a company. I want to make a difference in this world, legally."

I wish him luck but don't count me among the stupid who think crime is way cool.

Read the True Crime post about "Cowardice at Sea".