Third suspect faces trial on fatal fire

Posted in Related Deaths

9-29-2014 Ohio:

Two of the three people accused of helping start a house fire that killed two deaf people have been sentenced to prison and a third is now set to go on trial in October.

A Seneca County judge said Charles Schaeffer, 44, Fostoria, will go on trial Oct. 27 on charges that include complicity to aggravated murder and complicity to aggravated arson. His defense lawyer, Mark Klepatz, told the judge that Schaeffer didn’t want to consider a plea deal.

“We are not accepting anything because my client has said from the beginning that he didn’t do it,” Klepatz said.

Authorities said a railroad flare was used to start the May 26 fire in Fostoria. The fire killed 48-year-old Daniel Marker Jr. and 44-year-old Tara Vance, and injured a third person.

A detective said in court this past June that one of the suspects acted out of revenge after accusing Marker, the home’s owner, of sexually abusing a child.

Fostoria police had been looking into the abuse allegations made against Marker, who was a registered sex offender, before the fire, detective Shilo Frankart said.

Double murder suspect/child rapist claims his roommates were thinking of grooming boys

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8-18-2014 Washington:

TACOMA — A child rapist from California allegedly admitted killing his two roommates in their Spanaway-area home Sunday, telling police he suspected they were interested in grooming young boys for sex, according to court documents released Monday.

Richard Atkisson, 40, appeared in Pierce County Superior Court Monday. He was ordered held in the county jail without bail while deputies continue investigating the murders. He is wanted in California on $50,000 arrest warrant for a sex charge, the documents state.

Court documents say Atkisson used a pipe Sunday to beat both Joseph Moisa, 60, a registered sex offender, and Michael Henderson, 20, inside the Spanaway-area home he had shared with them for the past year.

Henderson died after Atkisson allegedly forced him to his knees and continued beating him. Moisa didn’t die from the beating, according to the documents, so Atkisson used a plastic bag over his head to suffocate him.

Police ID bodies found at Oceanfront hotel

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12-25-2013 Virginia:

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) - Police have identified two homicide victims found at an Oceanfront hotel last week.

According to James Cason with the Virginia Beach Police Department, the bodies were discovered in a fifth-floor room Thursday by a housekeeping employee at the Comfort Inn in the 2300 block of Atlantic Avenue.

Monday, police identified the victims as 31-year-old Lenny McDannell, of New Castle, Delaware, and 32-year-old Joshua Zettles of Virginia Beach.

Before Zettles went down to the Oceanfront hotel, he spoke with his sister Jackie, who did not want her last name revealed.

"The last time I saw him was earlier [Thursday] afternoon," said Jackie. "We were making plans to get together the following day as a family."

Jackie said Zettles was going to the Oceanfront to see his friend, McDannell, who is a registered sex offender in Delaware.

10 On Your Side could not get in contact with McDannell's family.

Sex Offender Shot Dead by Police After 37-Hour Hostage Standoff — 2 Bodies Found in N.J. Home

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5-12-2013 New Jersey:

TRENTON, N.J. (TheBlaze/AP) — Police stormed a New Jersey home early Sunday and fatally shot a registered sex offender who had held his girlfriend’s three children hostage, ending a 37-hour ordeal and recovering the bodies of the girlfriend and one of her children, authorities said.

As TheBlaze reported yesterday, officers initially went to the South Trenton home Friday afternoon and found a man was barricaded inside. A relative Carmelita Stevens, 44, said she hadn’t spoken to her in weeks and was worried, authorities said at a news conference Sunday. Upon further investigation, authorities then discovered her children hadn’t been to school in 12 days.

Police entered the home through a rear door and smelled an odor consistent with that of a decomposing body, Trenton Police Director Ralph Rivera Jr. said. The officers also noticed maggots throughout the residence.

They found 38-year-old Gerald “Skip” Tyrone Murphy in an upstairs bedroom and he told them he was armed with a gun and explosives and had three children with him, Mercer County Prosecutor Joseph L. Bocchini Jr. said. Officers noticed one of the dead victims before they retreated from the second floor and rescued Stevens’ 19-year-old son from the basement, who said he hadn’t seen her or his siblings since about April 24.

Homes on the surrounding block were evacuated as a precaution, and police tape cordoned off the street in front of the house. A SWAT team was called, and an arson bomb unit was also on the scene. Police said Murphy could be seen from a window holding a black handgun.

Sheriff: Man killed couple because husband was sex offender

Posted in Related Deaths

Vigilantes were members of Crew 41: Note article: "Killing Sex Offenders: The Apparent Hypocrisy of Crew 41"

7-24-2013 South Carolina:

JONESVILLE, SC (FOX Carolina) - Union County Sheriff David Taylor said two arrests were made in a double-homicide case after two people were found dead inside a Jonesville home Monday.

Taylor said a neighbor called 911 at about 8:40 p.m. and wanted deputies to check on the residents in a home on Furman L. Fendley Highway.

He identified the victims as Gretchen Parker, 51, and Charles Parker, 59, and said they lived in the home where they were found dead.