Category: Murder

Murder, News

Can You believe he killed her? Man arrested For Jogger’s Murder

The ReadyWriter

chanel-lewis-549x329The father of Chanel Lewis, the man suspected of raping and strangling Queens jogger Karina Vetrano, said his son is “a humble kid”.

“It’s extremely surprising… he’s not the person for that,” said Richard Lewis, 70, a retired schoolteacher.

Vetrano, 30, was savagely beaten, raped and strangled while jogging in a Queens park near her father’s home in Howard Beach, NY on Aug. 2. Phillip Vetrano found his daughter’s body among tall weeds in a Queens park later that night.

DNA recovered from Vetrano’s body and cell phone did not match anyone in the crime database.

Police released a sketch of a suspect spotted near the crime scene. But the sketch yielded no new clues and the case went cold.

Investigators focused on 20-year-old Lewis as a suspect after reviewing a 911 call from someone in the area who reported Lewis was acting suspiciously after the murder.

Police say Lewis voluntarily submitted DNA sample after they interviewed him last week. His DNA matched scrapings taken from under Vetrano’s fingernails.

Lewis was arrested around 6 p.m. Saturday outside a home on Essex Street where he lived with his mother, Veta Lewis, his two sisters and the sisters’ small children.

He will be charged with murder and sexual assault, NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce told reporters.

According to police “This defendant admitted to attacking the victim, admitted to beating her, to strangling her and dragging her body into the weeds,” Queens assistant district attorney Michael Curtis said.

However from looking at the physical makeup of Lewis and his frailness, verses Vatrano’s fit physique, it looks like she could kick this man’s ass. He doesn’t look capable of murder.

Lewis received three summonses — dating back to 2013 — for loitering in the area where Vetrano’s body was found.

Richard Lewis said his son did well academically at a high school in Far Rockaway. He said Chanel aspired to work in social services after he graduated.

I’m sorry but I believe police was so anxious to solve this case, they’re pinning this girl’s murder on Lewis.

Murder, Racially motivated, Racism in America, Racist

Four white men ordered to pay $840,000 for Jim Crow-style killing of Mississippi black man

The ReadyWriter

untitledThey called their malicious outings “Jafrica” when these Mississippi teenagers from predominantly white Rankin County piled into their cars and drove into predominantly African American Jackson, Mississippi to “kill a nigga“. These trips were named for a portmanteau of “Jackson” and “Africa,” a nod to their specific and evil mission: to terrorize strangers for no other reason than that they were black. An evil act and racist behavior passed down from the Jim Crow era of their ancestors. 

Sometimes they carried weapons; other times they operated solely with their fists. The young people targeted those who were homeless or drunk, because they would be easier to prey on and less likely to report an assault.

James Craig Anderson (pictured above), was killed during a “Jafrica” outing that day, a hate crime that led to arrests and sentences for 10 young people involved, all of whom pleaded guilty.

On Monday, four of the most prominent co-conspirators — Deryl Dedmon, 23, John Rice, 23, Dylan Butler, 24 and William Montgomery, 26 — were ordered by a federal judge in Mississippi to pay $840,000 in restitution to Anderson’s estate. The restitution case was prosecuted by the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department.

imrs_wdpThe four men (one of them pictured left), all of whom are white, were previously found guilty of committing a racially motivated act that resulted in Anderson’s death, and they are each serving between seven and fifty (50) years in prison.

Law Enforcement, Murder

NJ man completes 30-year murder sentence only to kill his mother two days later

The ReadyWriter

Steven-PrattSteve Pratt of Atlantic City, NJ had just served a thirty (30) year prison sentence for killing his neighbor after an argument. He rung the neighbor’s doorbell on October 11, 1984 and shot him dead.

Fast forward, thirty (30) years later and Pratt is now 45 when he is released, and he returned to the Atlantic City neighborhood where his 64-year-old mother resided (pictured inset above). Neighbors said the woman took the bus to work religiously at 6:00 am every morning, never could they have imagined she’d loose her life at the hands of her son, two days after he was released from prison.

On the Sunday morning after Pratt’s release, police found Gwendolyn dead from blunt force trauma to the head. Pratt was charged, and at his initial court appearance, he wept.

“I have failed,” Pratt told the judge, his voice barely audible, the Press of Atlantic City reported. “I don’t want a trial. I’m guilty.”

Lawd have mercy Jesus, this story is sad and heart breaking!

Pratt officially pleaded guilty to manslaughter this week. He is expected to be sentenced to 25 years in prison, according to the Associated Press.

Conversations Of A Sistah, Murder, Racial tension, racial unrest, Racist, Suicide, Tracy L. Bell - Blog Talk Radio

Suicide or Murder? Tonight on “Conversations Of A Sistah”

The ReadyWriter

sandrablandbooking-552

Controversy and speculation surround the events of Sandra Bland’s death. The 28 year old Chicago woman who committed suicide in a Waller County (Texas) jail was stopped by state trooper, Brian Encinia for failure to signal before changing lanes.

The dashcam video shows, Encinia approaching Bland’s car and asking to see her driver’s license and insurance. Bland not only had an attitude with the officer but she was noncompliant when the officer asked her to extinguish her cigarette.

Bland refused to put her cigarette out and subsequently refused to follow the officer’s order to get out of her vehicle. She calmly obliged and exited her vehicle with her hands in the air when the officer pulled out his stun gun.

sandrablandbooking-550At some point a scuffle ensued, Bland kicked the officer and he arrested her for assault. Three days later Bland was found dead in her jail cell of an apparent suicide.

While there are many theories behind Bland’s mysterious death, her being dead in her booking photo is just one of them.

So in a racist county such as Waller County (Texas), was it suicide or murder?

Join me tonight at 6:30 p.m. on “Conversations Of A Sistah” as I address this question and talk about the comparison between Bland’s suicide and that of another black woman in the same cell the day before.

I will be taking your calls on this subject at 1-917-889-7872, please press “1” to speak with the host.

All “Conversation links” in this post will access the show!

See you on the air!

 

 

Mike Brown, Missouri News, Murder, Racial tension, racial unrest

Missouri Teen Laid to Rest

The ReadyWriter

 

mike-brown-funeral-550x608

Mike Brown the 18 year old unarmed teen, who was executed by a Ferguson, Missouri police officer was laid to rest yesterday, in an emotional and moving service attended by over two thousand mourners.

In a rousing speech, the Rev. Al Sharpton reminded mourners that 18-year-old Brown “should be in his second week of college.” And described how Brown’s body was left on the street for hours after he was killed “like nobody cared about him, like he didn’t have any loved ones, like his life value didn’t matter.”

“We’re required in his name to change this country,” Sharpton said to cheers. “Justice is going to come! Justice is going to come! Justice is going to come!”

The vast majority of mourners at the Friendly Temple Missionary Baptist Church were African-American and many said they were deeply moved by the funeral.

Brown’s stepmother shared how Mike told her a month before he was gunned down in the streets that he kept dreaming about death.

“I’ve been dreaming of death, seeing pictures of death, seeing pictures of bloody sheets hanging on clotheslines” ‘That touched me” his stepmom said. “That’s what it was like when he was laying there on the street (after being shot). He prophesized his own death.”

Right now, a St. Louis County grand jury is considering whether to charge the white officer with a crime. Wilson, 28, has not been seen since the killing and has made no statements.