Jessica Lunsford ...

[YASNY]

Jessica Lunsford, the little Florida girl that was murdered ... the first one ... was raped and buried alive. What a terrible monster that man must be. They should skin that sick piece of s*** alive.

[Steff]

Yea.. they released the official court docs.. I was debating posting this, but since you did I will...

 

 

New information in the case of Jessica Lunsford

 

New information about the death of 9 year old Jessica Lunsford. Investigators are releasing new details about her murder. They released a detailed report this afternoon.

 

9 year old Jessica Lunsford went missing in February. Investigators found her body 3 weeks later after a sex offender confessed to her murder.

 

10 News reporter Dave Bohman was in Citrus County at the sheriff's office, with more on the report.

 

Much of the 200 pages of discovery are very technical in nature, the descriptions of the evidence and the investigation.

 

It appears that when the prosecution tries John Couey for the murder of Jessica Lunsford…it will be painting a picture of Couey as a longtime sex offender.

 

In these recently released documents, an investigator writes that 30 years ago, one of Couey's relatives was, quote "infatuated with young girls", and describes an incident with a five year old.

 

It also notes two incidents in Homosassa in the early 1990's.In once incident Couey is described as writing love letters and making advances towards a 14-year-old waitress at the restaurant he worked.In another incident a women claims that when she was a child, Couey exposed himself at a discount department store and tried to get her to go with him.

 

And the documents shed light on a clue that was released shortly after the search for Jessica began in late February….deputies said the only item missing from Jessica’s room was a purple dolphin her father won for her at the Florida state fair.

 

When her body was discovered march 18th, a detective notes, quote: "the victim was holding a purple colored stuffed dolphin toy in her arms."

 

 

Another report..

 

 

Jessie Buried While Alive, Documents Say

 

By JIM TUNSTALL [email protected]

Published: Apr 21, 2005

 

HOMOSASSA - Jessica Marie ``Jessie'' Lunsford spent the last hours of her life bound and buried alive in a partial kneeling position while she clutched one of her favorite dolls, a purple stuffed dolphin, prosecutors say in documents released Wednesday.

When her body was found buried March 19 in a 4-foot- deep grave, the 9-year-old Citrus County girl was wrapped in two plastic trash bags that were knotted at her head and feet, the state attorney's office said in 292 pages of evidence - released to the defense Tuesday - that revealed the nature of her death.

 

The files include statements from investigators, the coroner's office and John Evander Couey, 46, the convicted sex offender who investigators say gave them a statement saying he raped and killed Jessie.

 

The documents released Wednesday say Jessie's wrists were bound with stereo wire and two of her fingers poked through the plastic, arguably an indication she tried to escape her makeshift tomb.

 

The documents also say she was kept alive for an unspecified period near the home she shared with her father, Mark, and grandparents, Archie and Ruth.

 

Authorities say Couey gave them information only her killer would know.

 

Jessie was buried 150 yards from her home, behind a trailer Couey shared with three other adults.

 

She was dressed in shorts and a tank-top shirt, different from the nightgown authorities and her family say she wore before she disappeared.

 

A coroner's report states she suffocated.

 

The documents say there was no other sign of trauma.

 

Assistant State Attorney Pete Magrino would not discuss the taped statements by Couey or other details of the case.

 

The recording ``will not be released to the public until the trial,'' Magrino said.

 

Couey is charged with first- degree murder, sexual battery on a child under 12, kidnapping, and burglary with battery.

 

Prosecutors say they will seek the death penalty if he is convicted on the murder charge.

 

Couey, despite his recorded statement to authorities, has pleaded not guilty.

 

His court-appointed attorney, Assistant Public Defender Dan Lewan, could not be reached for comment.

 

Investigators say Jessie's grave was partially concealed by a mound of leaves and debris that littered the back yard where she was buried. It is still not known whether she was buried before deputies, volunteers and search dogs combed the yard in the first days of their search.

 

Citrus County Sheriff Jeff Dawsy has said Couey's account of things was jumbled because he was in a drug haze at the time of the crimes. Evidence collected near the grave includes two glass crack-cocaine pipes and three pornographic magazines, according to investigators' statements.

 

Other sheriff's interviews suggest that Couey's three housemates used alcohol and drugs and may have harbored him from deputies seeking to arrest him on a misdemeanor violation of probation charge shortly after Jessie was reported missing.

 

Last month, his half sister, Dorothy Marie Dixon, 47; Madie Catherine Secord, 27; and Matthew Oley Dittrich, 31, were charged with misdemeanor obstruction, but prosecutors dropped the charges, saying Florida lacks a law making lying to deputies a crime in their case.

 

Meanwhile, investigators searching Couey's bedroom say they seized the sleeve from a Shirley Temple videotape, ``Curly Top,'' and several items of bedding or clothing that tested positive for blood or could contain blood samples. The file has no information about the source of the blood.

 

They unsuccessfully sought a pair of leather gloves authorities say Couey said he wore during the abduction.

 

On Feb. 23, the night she was last seen alive by her family, Jessie went to church. She was discovered missing by her father the next morning, a day she anticipated taking the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, documents say.

 

A door of the family's mobile home was found unlocked.

 

Prosecutors say sometime during the night of Feb. 23 or early the next morning, Couey slipped into the Lunsford home and snatched the girl, leaving no signs of a struggle and without waking her grandparents, who were sleeping in another part of the house.

 

At the time, authorities say, he had not reported his move to Jessie's neighborhood. Registered sex offenders are required to report a change of address.

 

Couey was stopped on a probation violation March 12 in Savannah, Ga., but the warrant did not carry out-of-state arrest authority, so he was released. He was arrested on a revised warrant March 17.

 

The next day, after he underwent a polygraph test but before he knew the results, he made a statement of guilt, authorities say.

 

 

 

 

:headshake

[Steff]

A good thing from this tragedy..

 

 

 

House Passes "Jessica Lunsford Act"

 

Apr 19, 2005 4:46 pm US/Eastern

TALLAHASSEE (AP) With the abduction and murder of yet another child fresh in their minds, members of the House unanimously passed a bill Tuesday to give certain sex criminals either life sentences or lifetime satellite tracking after they get out of prison.

 

Named the Jessica Lunsford Act after a 9-year-old Homosassa girl who was abducted and killed -- allegedly by a sex offender -- the measure still needs approval from the Senate, which is considering similar legislation.

 

House passed the bill two days after another sex offender was charged in the abduction and murder of 13-year-old Sarah Lunde of Ruskin.

 

The bill (HB 1877) would set a mandatory sentence of 25 years to life in prison for people convicted of molesting children under 12 years old. If the person serves less than life, their prison time would be followed by monitoring by global positioning system for the rest of their life.

 

Jessica Lunsford's father Mark, who also helped look for Sarah Lunde while she was missing, was at the Capitol as lawmakers took up the bill named for his daughter. He was pushing for that legislation and another bill that would get tough on probation violators.

 

 

 

Such a shame it took the murder of a child for this to happen...

[Goldmember]

fry that f***ing piece of s***...

[YASNY]

This is so horrid. I've lost a child in a car accident, but I cannot imagine what this girl's parents are going through. As far as that new law goes, I have very mixed feelings on that one. I know of a kid .. a guy, that was 18 and dating a 17 year old .... they fooled around and the girl's father found out about it and he's tagged with a sexual preditor label now. There has to be some common sense applied to these laws.

[The Critic]

When her body was discovered March 18th, a detective notes, quote: "the victim was holding a purple colored stuffed dolphin toy in her arms."

 

This line really got to me. That poor innocent little kid....oh, s***, this is beyond horrible.

Whenever I hear about something like this, I think about my daughter and my heart just breaks for the people who loved these kids.

[southsider2k5]

There is no punishment bad enough for this guy. They ought to just put this guy into general population and accounce who is he, and what he did. Problem solved.

[Steff]

When her body was discovered March 18th, a detective notes, quote: "the victim was holding a purple colored stuffed dolphin toy in her arms."

 

This line really got to me. That poor innocent little kid....oh, s***, this is beyond horrible.

Whenever I hear about something like this, I think about my daughter and my heart just breaks for the people who loved these kids.

 

 

 

This and the comment that her fingers had torn the bag, indicating that she attempted to get out from being buried made me physically ill..

[Steff]

Some more details...

 

 

Details revealed about 9-year-old girl's death

Documents show that Jessica Lunsford might have been alive as her grave was filled.

By ABBIE VANSICKLE

Published April 21, 2005

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

INVERNESS - For weeks, rumors swirled that the man suspected of killing Jessica Lunsford kept her inside his home for a time, then buried her alive.

 

Documents released Wednesday suggest those grisly accounts are true.

 

Investigators found Jessica just as John Couey told them they would.

 

She was sitting upright in a 4-foot-deep grave, her wrists bound in front of her body with stereo wire. Two of her fingers had poked through the plastic trash bags stretched tight over her body. In her arms she clutched the stuffed purple dolphin that had been missing from her bedroom.

 

Her body bore no sign of injuries that would have caused death. Medical examiners ruled she died of asphyxiation, or a lack of oxygen.

 

That leaves open the likelihood that Jessica was alive in her grave as dirt and leaves were shoveled over her.

 

After his arrest, Couey, the 46-year-old sex offender charged with kidnapping, sexually assaulting and killing Jessica, gave investigators a rough timeline of Jessica's last hours, according to reports in nearly 300 pages of documents released by prosecutors.

 

Couey, who since has pleaded not guilty and awaits trial, told authorities in two taped interviews after his arrest that he took Jessica from her bed in the middle of the night, slipping past the girl's sleeping grandparents and Corky, the family dog.

 

He said he took her to his mobile home, about 150 yards from Jessica's home, sexually assaulted her and kept her captive inside a closet. Then, he dug a grave in the backyard, tied her up in trash bags and piled dirt on top of her body.

 

Jessica may have been in the closet when investigators knocked on the door and talked with Couey's housemates.

 

But it's possible that no one will ever know.

 

The dates and times of Couey's timeline are vague, likely the result of Couey's "drug haze," said Citrus County Sheriff Jeff Dawsy.

 

Couey's half-sister, who also lived at the mobile home on Snowbird Court, told investigators she and Couey often drank and used crack cocaine. Two crack pipes were among items investigators found at the home.

 

The documents released Wednesday morning filled in more pieces in the puzzle surrounding Jessica's murder. They included references to a note Couey wrote expressing feelings for a younger person, and described twists in the investigation that moved the focus from Jessica's family to Couey.

 

Jessica vanished from her home overnight Feb. 23.

 

Her grandparents, Archie and Ruth Lunsford, tucked her into bed about 10 p.m. Archie told investigators he got up about 4 a.m. to let the dog out but didn't notice anything wrong.

 

Jessica's father, Mark Lunsford, discovered she was missing the next morning. He heard her alarm clock going off. Her bed was empty, her stuffed dolphin gone.

 

The investigative documents outline the path that ultimately led to Couey.

 

They show suspicion initially pointed toward Jessica's grandfather after investigators found a man's briefs in a laundry hamper in the family home. The underwear tested positive for blood. Jessica's grandfather and father both passed polygraph tests.

 

Nearly everyone who had come in contact with the family was under question that first day. Investigators asked about the family's letter carrier, a trash collector and a man who lived nearby.

 

They also checked sex offenders and predators registered at addresses near Jessica's home. They showed Ruth Lunsford photographs of the more than 200 offenders and predators registered in Citrus County. None looked familiar.

 

Investigators canvassed the neighborhood, twice stopping at the mobile home and speaking with Couey's housemates. They didn't learn he was living there until days later, when the search was expanded to check the whereabouts of more of the county's offenders. Couey wasn't where he was supposed to be, which raised their suspicions.

 

His half-sister, Dorothy Dixon, and her daughter, Madie Secord, told investigators they had lied about Couey. He was living with them, but just after Jessica's disappearance, he asked them for a bus ticket and $200.

 

Authorities arrested him near a Salvation Army shelter in Augusta, Ga. After his confession, Georgia authorities also found among his belongings in Georgia a pearl-handled knife and a photograph of a woman.

 

Authorities say they found Jessica's body exactly where Couey told them it would be, between an air conditioner and a set of steps. A short-handled shovel lay nearby. Wet leaves covered the newly turned dirt.

 

Jessica was wearing a pink tank top, checkered shorts, a white and red bra and panties, they said. She was reported to be wearing a pink nightgown and white shorts the night she disappeared.

 

Investigators also found several notes written by a "John," which may explain the prosecutor's request for a handwriting sample from Couey. One note was found partially burned in a fire pit in the backyard. It was written to "Marie," which is Jessica's middle name.

 

More notes found in the garbage and inside the home were addressed "For Marie" and "Hi" from "John." Investigators also found a letter that described the writer's feelings for the recipient, including the writer saying he or she was much older than the recipient.

 

In Couey's bedroom, investigators found a sleeping bag on top of a mattress. Both had stains on them. They also found a filet knife, magazines and a case for a Shirley Temple movie called Curly Top, in which the actor portrays a young orphan.

 

Times researcher Carolyn Edds contributed to this report. Abbie VanSickle can be reached at 352 860-7312 or [email protected]

[sec159row2]

There is no punishment bad enough for this guy.  They ought to just put this guy into general population and accounce who is he, and what he did.  Problem solved.

 

what about the chipper that saddam's sons used to torture soccer players??

 

but definitely put him in feet first....

[Kid Gleason]

what about the chipper that saddam's sons used to torture soccer players??

 

but definitely put him in feet first....

 

Anything. Just get the f***ing bastard off of the planet that I occupy.