Recently in Murder Category
Poor Kelsey Briggs and her family were on my heart today. The poor baby was beaten to death by her stepfather, ahile her real father was serving his country. The DHS reports are on the website, Kelsey's Purpose. Her family is in our prayers this Christmas. I am so sorry she was taken from you.
God knows what it is like to have your child murdered. He cares for you and for Kelsey. I hope you will seek His help dealing with your loss.
Johnia Hope Berry was an ETSU graduate who moved to Knoxville to enter the master's program at UT. On December 6, 2004, someone entered her Brendon Park Apartment and brutally stabbed her to death. Her killer is still at large.
For more information on Johnia, please see the Metro Pulse Online Article about Johnia Berry, or vist the website set up by Johnia's family
There is a $37,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the murder of Johnia Hope Berry on December 6, 2004.
AURORA - No "credible" adult or child has seen Aaroné Thompson in at least 18 months, Aurora Police Chief Daniel Oates said during a news conference Friday, almost three weeks after the girl's father reported her missing.
Based upon that and other "useful evidence," which he would not discuss, Oates said his department is confident the girl, who would have turned 7 Wednesday, is dead.
"I'm here tonight to state emphatically that this is a homicide investigation," Oates said outside police headquarters. "Nothing that has been brought forward . . . by Aaron Thompson or Shely Lowe changes our position."
Oates also urged Thompson, the girl's father, and Lowe, his girlfriend, to cooperate with detectives instead of making their case in the media that Aaroné is alive and police aren't doing enough to find her.
"I'm a parent," said Oates, who has two school-aged daughters. "It's not logical that if my daughter was missing that I wouldn't cooperate with police. If they truly care, as they claim to about Aaroné, they need to come talk to us. They hold the key."
The couple's interview with reporters was arranged by Sam Riddle, who took on the role of family spokesperson shortly after Thompson reported Aaroné missing.
Riddle arranged for Denver attorney Leta Holden to represent Lowe, but just hours before Oates' news conference, Holden called one of her own to announce she was withdrawing from the case.
After declaring the case a homicide investigation, detectives focused their search on the East Kepner Place house, including using dogs that can detect decomposing bodies and digging up portions of the backyard.
Oates said there was no reason for the department to continue the missing person search when they had enough information to believe the girl had been killed months earlier.
"We have found not a single, credible person who has seen Aaroné in approximately 18 months," he said. "I'm a parent; many of you are parents. . . . When my children were 7 years old, by that point in their lives, there were hundreds of people who saw them, if not daily, then on a regular basis."
The couple's seven other children - including a week-old baby girl - and Lowe's teenage brother, have since been taken away from them, and placed into protective custody with Arapahoe County Human Services.
Holden was working with Lowe on trying to get the children back or placed with relatives. Another custody hearing is set for Thursday, but Holden was unsure exactly who would represent Lowe in that proceeding.
Down the street from the house where Aaroné reportedly lived, a prayer vigil was held to call on the community to renew the search for her.
Vigil organizer Alvertis Simmons said authorities would still be looking for the young girl if she were rich and white instead of poor and black.
"If she was blonde, blue-eyed, she'd be on the front of every national publication," Simmons said. "There isn't even a reward out for this baby."
olveraj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-5113
In this case, I believe it is not a matter of race, but of the "identity" formula. Not many people can say "this could happen to me", because it is hard to understand a family with more than seven children, especially one that doesn't know where some of its progeny are.
My best friend, Jen, and I have been discussing the double murder case of Kara Beth Borden and David Ludwig for a few days. Jen offers some insight into how Kara Beth may think.
I asked her specifically how she thought a young girl could possibly go with a man who had just murdered her parents. J. said , very matter-of-fact, that she has seen "boy-crazy" girls who will put up with anything to be with the object of their obsessions. In her experience, working with teens, she has seen girls whose fantasies of happily ever after and true love become so important that nothing else matters.
In the case of these two, the allegations of a sexual relationship betwen the two offers even greater support for this theory. Although girls mature faster than boys, no fourteen year old child is able to handle the emotional effects of a sexual relationship. In addition, I have found that most children have not even developed the cognitive ability to reason through problems and see cause and effect relationships until the age of fifteen or sixteen. Couple these two factors together, and the results can be pretty disastrous. According to those close to the couple, Kara had grown increasingly isolated and withdrawn as she became more focused on David.
So when a child such as Kara is made to feel special by someone who she finds attractive, and he is able to at least temporarily represent this ideal, aggressive man, she may be unable resist the fantasies of love and marriage. This is apparently what happened, according to the statements they have made since David's arrest. He is no longer charged with kidnapping, and it has been published that the two planned to get married and establish a new life for themselves, away from Pennsylvania.
She got in the car and said she wanted to "get as far away as possible, get married, and start a new life," Ludwig told detectives.
Kara Beth Borden is indeed a victim in this mess.
In the case of David, I have a few theories as well...
“David Ludwig and his friend called it ”night patrol.“Dressed in dark clothing, the two filmed themselves as they readied to break into a local home with assault rifles and other guns, according to a new court document.Ludwig, who allegedly shot and killed his girlfriend Kara Borden’s parents in their Lititz home Sunday morning, and the friend then decided to continue their ”night patrol“ by going to the Borden home, according to the court document.
[Borden's] friend did tell police that he and Ludwig had taken guns and gone out on several occasions on ”night patrol,“ with ”plans of forcible entry,“ according to the court document.
Police discovered the film on one of Ludwig’s two laptop computers seized earlier this week. The film shows Ludwig and a friend, Samuel Peter Lohr, 19, of Lititz, engaged in ”night patrol.“ The film shows the two, dressed in dark clothing, ”entering a secured room within the Ludwig home. Once Ludwig and Lohr entered this secured room, they handled various firearms that included handguns, assault type rifles and a large assortment of ammunition for these weapons,“ the affidavit said.
I had discussed the story with a friend when the story first came out, and I told him that, based on the Christian statements on Kara Beth Borden's Blog, and those on David Ludwig's Blog, that the murder must have been committed for what David considered a ”righteous“ reason, such as rescuing Kara Beth from abuse.
There were certainly two sides to this guy.
As for all of the guns, I was raised to believe owning a firearm for hunting and protection is a right. I was raised that respecting a firearm, and knowing how to be safe with it was a responsibility. I was also taught that life was precious.
This boy, it would seem, never learned the last two of these lessons. I gave him the benefit of the doubt when I first read about him. Now I realize how wrong I was.
Technorati Tags: David Ludwig, Kara Beth Borden
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