MISCARRIAGE OF JUSTICE!

    And, Rivera continued, Kevin Major didn’t speak with police until 2009, when “you cooperated because you were charged with a federal crime.”

    “Right,” the witness said.

From today’s article by Janet Kelley, “Four face trial for 2004 slaying of woman,” (click here).

    This is an unbelievable miscarriage of justice!  Where’s the physical evidence?  Where is it?  Let me remind you that I have a five-year-old article on the murder of Heather Marie Nunn on the original LIP News site (click here).

    From the Intell article quoted on October 26, 2004, there is this:

    “A team of 25 investigators spent Sunday night and Monday trying to identify the man who shot Nunn at least two times in the chest before fleeing her home at 224 Pearl Street.”

   “The slaying suspect apparently dropped a pair of gloves and vomited in an alley near the Pearl Street home after the shooting,” police said.

    So, 25 investigators never mention it may have been more than one man?  Twenty-five investigators never mention that it may have been a robbery gone wrong?

    Who owned the gloves?  Whose DNA was in the vomit? 

    Five years later they arrest and charge four men based on the “word” of a man who was just charged with a federal crime?  Where’s the physical evidence?

    This is corruption.  This is a disgrace.  Lancaster Detective Nate Nickel should be fired and this whole case should be investigated by an outside agency.

Please check back later today for more on ADA Randall Miller.

LOOKING FOR INFORMANTS!

   Johnson, 29, had been working with the Lancaster County Drug Task Force, hoping to earn leniency on criminal charges that could have sent her to state prison, Bowman said.

    The day, after their conversation, Bowman said he was told Johnson was dead.

Today’s front page story by Janet Kelley, “Police: Victim ID’d her killer,” (click here).

    This is the most amazing story of incompetence and corruption I have ever read.  If this is true, the drug task force and the Lancaster Police failed to protect this woman – in fact – they set her up to be killed.  Unbelievable!

Please check back later today…

JUDICIAL &

POLICE MISCONDUCT!

    Jodi Wolff, who covered the sentencing of Joy O’Shea Woomer yesterday for this site, said this about Judge Ashworth, “He said the jury inferred about the morphine.”  I confirmed that with her again this morning.

    Well, the jury may have “inferred,” it, but Judge Ashworth just flat out told them she had it.  On January 17th of this year I published “JUDICIAL MISCONDUCT?” (click here) and said this:

    “Brent Weaver was in the sole and exclusive custody of an adult.  His death was neither self-inflicted nor accidental.  The defendant had access to controlled substances including morphine.  There was testimony that she had vials of unknown substances in her home.”
    These were among Judge David Ashworth’s last words to the jury when he was charging them first thing Friday morning before they began deliberation in the Joy O’Shea Woomer murder trial. 

    During this “speech,” and a second time when the jury came back with questions at mid-morning, the Judge basically said Woomer was in possession of morphine.  The court transcript needs to be checked very carefully for his wording, because the second time he stated “her morphine,” referring to the “weapon,” I almost jumped out of my chair. 

    The prosecution never proved in any shape or form that Woomer was in possession of morphine. I believe it is gross misconduct on the part of the Judge and merits an immediate appeal.

JUAN LOPEZ

    We learned the excellent news today that America’s Most Wanted TV show is doing a piece this Saturday on businessman Juan Lopez who was killed in December of 2007 (click here). 

    WGAL-TV did a piece about this unsolved murder in November of 2009, and never one to mince words, I published “DETECTIVE BONILLA MUST GO!” the day they aired it (click here).  In case you’ve forgotten, I’m reprinting it here:

A DISGRACEFUL

PERFORMANCE!

    Who the hell does Lancaster Detective George Bonilla think he is?  Is he aware that his job is to protect the public?  Does he realize that he is paid by the public?  Who the hell does this man think he is?

    Yes, I am referring to the Detective featured in WGAL-TV’s piece on the unsolved murder of Lancaster businessman Juan Lopez almost two years ago (click here).  His answers border on being bizarre, disinterested, disgusting and are just plain unacceptable. 

    He’s heard that the perpetrators who shot Lopez in cold blood during daylight hours and took thousands of dollars in cash “were planning this as a caper?”  Is that a sick joke?  Is this man aware there are two killers on the loose and his job is to catch them before they kill and rob again – not to mention bringing closure and some sense of peace to Lopez’s family?

    “It was a robbery that was botched up or whatever?”  The robbers faces were covered “somewhat?”  It’s a “possibility” that the killers are still in the area?  The police still won’t release the video of the robbery almost two years later?

    When and how did the public in Lancaster come to think these answers – or non-answers – were acceptable from someone they pay to protect them?  

    Why is this man still working for and being paid by the public?  This man should be fired immediately.  He has no respect for the victim, his family or the public.

    This is absolutely unacceptable!  “Detective” Bonilla has to go!

Please check back tomorrow for ADA Randall Miller and a pink elephant?

TOBY HICKEY

        Do any of the Lancaster Newspaper reporters have a memory?  Is there one who understands that their job is to hold public officials accountable and protect the public?

    For over a month the Lancaster City Police refused to identify a police detective who arrested two fifteen-year-olds in a skateboarding incident.  That is simply unacceptable.  It is inexcusable and should be investigated.

    The reason seems to be clear.  Officer Toby Hickey has a very disturbing history.  Why hasn’t this been mentioned by the Lancaster Newspapers?  Does no one have a memory or the ability to search their own archives?

    From the last story to date on the incident, “Teens in fracas with police had church’s OK to skateboard,” (click here) there is this:

    At one point, Hickey reportedly drew his gun — a report police will neither confirm nor deny.

    Did he or didn’t he?  If the reporters had checked their own archives they would have found this:

City cop disciplined for fight, threat

CINDY STAUFFER. Lancaster New Era, Jul 20, 2005

    A Lancaster City police officer has been disciplined by his department, after being charged with punching and threatening family members during an argument last month.

    Officer Toby Hickey initially had been charged with two counts of simple assault and terroristic threats after the June 15 dispute, which took place at his father’s Lancaster Township home.

    But Lancaster City Police Chief William Heim said today he decided to lower the charges to harassment because that charge better fit Hickey’s actions. Harassment is a summary offense.

    Hickey paid his fines and costs of $143.87 Monday at Magisterial District Judge Mary Sponaugle’s Lancaster Township office. Heim said the police department took administrative sanctions against Hickey but would not detail them, saying it is a personnel matter.

    Heim did say that if an officer is charged with a summary offense, sanctions can include a formal reprimand, a requirement that the officer undergo counseling, suspension from duties without pay or even termination.

    Hickey, 35, a six-year veteran of the department who has been commended for his work, has returned to his regular patrol officer duties, Heim said. Hickey was not working today and was not available for comment on the incident.

    According to the original arrest warrant affidavit, Hickey became involved in an argument with family members after his 20-year-old niece called Hickey’s father a name. Hickey grabbed his niece by the face and punched her in the face, the niece told police. When her 16-year-old brother tried to intervene,

    Hickey choked and punched his nephew several times, the nephew told police. When the 53-year-old father of the two tried to intervene, Hickey struck his brother-in-law. The brother-in-law told police that Hickey later told him, “If I see you on the street, I am going to kill you.”

    City police officers who responded to the scene said the brother-in-law had a scrape on his forehead and that the niece and nephew had red marks on their faces and complained of pain. Hickey also had scratches and scrapes, officers observed.

    District Attorney Donald Totaro said today that an assistant district attorney assigned to the Domestic Violence Unit reviewed the case and determined that criminal charges were appropriate, but that it was up to city police to determine what charges would be filed.

    Heim said, “Harassment is the appropriate charge and typically is what is brought against anyone who engages in similar conduct.” Harassment charges can be brought against someone who strikes, kicks or pushes someone else, the chief said.

    That charge generally would rise to assault if there would be bodily injury or substantial pain, Heim said. “We wouldn’t bring the more serious charge unless there had been a previous history or other calls,” he said. “Officer Hickey’s record, both on and off the job, up to this point has been unblemished.”

A LIFE CHANGING DAY - 2

        This comment came in about my initial story on the skateboarding incident posted on February 5, “LET’S HEAR THEIR SIDE,” (click here):

    Some punk hits a cop with a skateboard. What other side do you need to hear?

    This was my response:

    I want to hear how and why he stopped them. I want to know how he identified himself. I want to know his attitude towards them.  I want to know why he was going to arrest one of them (obscenities?). These two fifteen-year-olds just had their lives changed forever. I want to know what their parents think. I want to know whose property they were skateboarding on.  I want to know if they have ever been in trouble before.

    Get the idea?

    Very interesting details about all of this are coming out as this story develops.  Again, click here for today’s Intell/New Era article, “Teens in fracas with police had church’s OK to skateboard.”  Was this just a “fracas?”  What history does this detective have?

Please check back tomorrow.

GRILL THEM!

    Lancaster Detective Nate Nickel hung up on me at 1:12 p.m. Monday afternoon.  I was questioning him about the murder investigation of Heather Marie Nunn who was killed on Sunday, October 24, 2004. 

    I asked him if a description of the gloves found at the scene had been released to the public.  He said, “No.”  I asked him what kind of gloves they were.  I asked him why they didn’t release a description or photograph to the news media as someone might be able to identify them.  He said, “…it was not pertinent to release that information.”

    I asked him if a description of the gun used in the killing had been released to the public.  He said, “No.”  I asked him why not.  He said I was “grilling” him.  He hung up on me.

    It’s been over three months since someone shot Heather Marie Nunn three times in the chest in her home with her two daughters upstairs in the house.  Why haven’t the police released a description or picture of the gloves the killer apparently used?  Couldn’t someone recognize them?  Why haven’t the police released a description of the type of gun?  Couldn’t someone recognize it? 

    We pay the police to protect us.  There is a second killer on the loose.  If the Lancaster Detectives can not solve this crime, then outside help needs to be brought in now. 

    I posted this in January of 2005 and it remains archived here on this site.

    This morning, New Era editor Ernie Schreiber wrote an editorial, “City detectives’ tenacity pays off.”

    Schreiber says:

    They had pieces of information, but not enough to bring charges. So for five years, they kept at it, slowly adding to their files.

    Finally, the pieces fell together and they could charge the suspects they believe responsible for the robbery and killing.

    So what finally “fell together?”  After five years what piece of information allowed them to suddenly charge the suspects?

    Ernie doesn’t bother to mention that during the five years these men were free, one allegedly committed another murder and Nunn’s family lived in fear.

    The police put on a dog and pony show five years after a brutal murder to hide terrible police work.

    Whose DNA was in the vomit?  Why was there never a mention of more than one killer?  Whose gloves were found at the scene?  Why did they shoot Heather Marie Nunn in the chest three times?

    Let’s see what happens when these four men go to trial.  Did police arrest the killers or four men they want off the streets?

    It is pathetic editorials like Ernie’s and the terrible coverage by his reporters over the years that has allowed awful police work to go on in this city for decades.

    The public pays the police to protect them.  This is an absolute disgrace and outrage.

    Later today – there is more on a skateboarding arrest I wrote about several weeks ago.  These papers must already feel Ron Harper, Jr. breathing down their necks - click here for “Teens in fracas with police had church’s OK to skateboard.” 

24 HOURS!

    Justice, Doesn’t it bother you that the police failed to pursue this case aggressively enough, even after identifying the actors and the weapon within several months of the murder, that another person was killed by one of these idiots several years later?

A comment in to this site under “FIVE YEARS AND FOUR MEN?” below.

    It should concern everyone in Lancaster.  This is unacceptable to say the least!  Heads should roll!

    “Turn yourself in,” Chief Keith Sadler advised Stewart, because “you know we’re going to find you.”

 A follow-up to the story in today’s paper, “Police seek tips to catch accused killer,” (click here).

    Oh, that’s a great sound bite, Chief!  You left an alleged killer on the street for over five years but now you’re going to find him? 

     Two young girls heard their 24-year-old mother being shot to death Sunday night inside their Pearl Street home, police said.

      A team of 25 investigators spent Sunday night and Monday trying to identify the man who shot Nunn at least two times in the chest before fleeing her home at 224 Pearl Street.

      The slaying suspect apparently dropped a pair of gloves and vomited in an alley near the Pearl Street home after the shooting, police said.

      ‘We won’t stop until this case is solved,’ Gatchell (Detective Lt. Sam Gatchell) said. There are a few people we are considering as suspects, and I’d like to hope that an arrest could be made within 24 hours.’

From an Intell article on October 26, 2004, “As daughters bathe, man kills mother in city home,” (click here).

    Where’s the DNA evidence?  All these years the police had DNA and it took them five years to arrest these men?  Why do all the initial reports only talk about one man?  Those 24 hours stretched into over five years!  In the meantime one of those charged allegedly killed someone else and who knows what the others have been doing? 

    The federal authorities need to come in and investigate this investigation.  This is an absolute disgrace!

Please check back later today…

SOMETHING IS WRONG!

        There is so much going on and little time to attend to it this afternoon but it will come tomorrow:  The Lancaster Police are seeking a witness to a skateboarding incident in which a 10-year detective who they still won’t identify was allegedly struck in the head with a skateboard by a 15-year-old who was then arrested; Robert Field, publisher of NewsLanc.com, goes off the deep end (again!) and there are murder charges brought today against four men for the October 2004 murder of Heather Marie Nunn.  You can read the official police press release here.  Something is very wrong here.  Very wrong!

    On a personal note to a young emailer to this site:  I’m sorry if what you read on my site upset you.  As you get older, you may come to understand.  You sound like a lovely person and I wish you well in the future.  The internet is a huge and sometimes overwhelming source of information.  I understand that when someone googles the name of someone I have written about, a reference to this site will come up.  I take that responsibility very seriously.

    Please check back tomorrow and also see the “BREAKING NEWS” immediately below.

OUTRAGEOUSLY BAD

 POLICE WORK!

        For months, police talked to friends, neighbors and everyone they could think of who might help them learn what happened that night.

    Months later, police received a tip that led them to a house in the first block of Seymour Street.

    There, Detective Sgt. Jarrad Berkihiser found a gun, which ballistics experts confirmed was the murder weapon.

    Eventually, detectives also learned that Major, Jordan and both of the Stewarts, who are cousins, had all been at that same Seymour Street home on the day of the murder, according to court documents.

    It was there, according to court documents, the four men plotted to rob the young woman. They returned there afterwards and talked about killing Nunn during the botched robbery, according to court documents.

    While it was Major who police said had the gun and fired it, all four men participated in the attempted robbery and the killing, according to detectives.

    Today, more than five years later, city police plan to announce they have filed homicide charges against the four men they say are responsible for Nunn’s killing in 2004.

Today’s front page article by Janet Kelley on the murder of Heather Marie Nunn in October of 2004, “4 accused of ’04 killing,” (click here).

    So what was the big break-through that led to them finally charge these men over five years later?  Are you kidding me?  Kelley is going to praise the police for solving this crime?

    It is reported one of the men is awaiting trial on homicide charges stemming from a stabbing last year.  That could have been prevented.  If the crime played out the way the police describe it above, what took them over five years?  Again, what was the break-through?

    The police should not be praised for allowing her family and daughters to live in fear.  They should not be praised for solving a crime they apparently could have solved much sooner.  The police should be investigated for their sloppy handling of this case.

    Click here for my report on this case in January of 2005.

Please check back later today.

HE JUST NEEDED A JOB!

Detective Joseph P. Geesey after the verdict in Joy O’Shea

 Woomer’s trial.

    Joseph P. Geesey was 22 and unemployed, with a wife and family to support, when he first walked into the Lancaster city police station looking for work.

    There was no message from God, I just needed a job, he said. Plain and simple.”

    The police hired him, trained him and put him in uniform.

    But police work soon became more than just a job to Geesey.

    It turned into a career in law enforcement and criminal investigation that he said still fascinates, excites and challenges him today - 50 years after he was sworn in on July 1, 1958.

The opening paragraphs from Janet Kelley’s July 5, 2008 New Era article, “Case Closed?  Not for this Guy,” available in the newspaper archives.

    The day the New Era printed this story - I published and it was true – that I received an email from my webhost that morning reminding me that my domain name, LancasterLynching.com, was due to expire.  I renewed it and the site remains up.

    I chuckle every time I read this.  I wonder what would have happened if a black man had walked into the police department looking for work in 1958?  I know what happened to a black man, Robert L. Henderson, Jr., in 1981 after he took Detective Geesey into Federal Court for violation of his civil rights.  I know Detective Geesey tried to have him killed in a most horrific way.

    I know the Lancaster Detectives never solved his attempted murder nor another one several months later committed by the same three men.

    I know that Detective Geesey has been the lead detective on two infamous, long ago unsolved murders of two young women, Lindy Sue Biechler and Christy Mirack.

    Someone recently sent a comment to this site saying I had “cooked-up” the story of the Lancaster Lynching and Detective Geesey.  Not quite.  As a 27-year-old journalist I stumbled onto this story and took a photograph.  A photograph that has haunted me ever since.

    I tried everything I knew for almost two years to get someone to act on the story, until fear and friends made me put it away.  I put it in a box.  I stopped writing.

    I found the box – and opened it – when I went looking for old letters from a boyfriend relating to the incest story. 

    In September of 2001, I published a special eight page paper edition of the Lancaster Independent Press entirely about the Lancaster Lynching story.  I distributed it in Lancaster two days before 9/11.  It was the second story to go on this site, after the incest story, in the fall of 2004.  I gave the story its own website in September of 2007.  This story is far from over.

    Whenever I see Detective Geesey’s name involved with a case, I sense trouble, deception and lies.  And so it is with the prosecution of Joy O’Shea Woomer six years after Brent Weaver’s death.

    He told me in person outside the courtroom as the closing arguments were about to begin, “They want me in there.”  And so 74 year-old Detective Joseph Geesey, looking like a kindly grandfather, sat by the prosecution’s table.

Please check back tomorrow…

JOY, ROSEBORO, BIGMAC

THREATS & MORE!

    Nearly 600 Fans!!! I talked to Joy today. She was so grateful for all of your support and love. She sends her thanks. Keep spreading the word. We want to have 1000 fans by the end of next week. I would ask all Nurses to share our cause with their colleagues.

From JusticeForJoy.org (click here and click on the Facebook link.)

    Actually, she had 622 fans the last time I checked this morning but it literally is growing by the minute.

    I called the Court Reporter’s office in Lancaster last week and they told me Judge David Ashworth has requested a transcript of Joy O’Shea Woomer’s trial.  The woman who answered the phone also stated copies are $.90 a page and she estimated the total cost at about $1,500.  That’s right – and you can not pick and choose portions/pages.  If anyone gets a copy, please let me know and we can share and copy it much cheaper.  My local Staples wants $.08 per page!

TRASHBACK GALA!

    This email in:

    You should check out the TB thread in the “Off-Beat” section where the TB’ers are planning their next get-together.  Mac is going to Vegas for 5 days.  The same woman who is on medical assistance and has no job.
    Pardon me if I’m a bit peeved, since I can’t afford a trip to Vegas, have to work for a living and pay for my medical care.  And I surely can’t afford to go out gambling and drinking every week to boot.  I wonder if she’s made the connection that her major dental woes may be the result of all

her boozing.

    What a hoot!  Yes, BigMac is planning the grand Trashback gala to be held this coming weekend!  Ain’t life grand!  I’ll be taking cup cheese!

ROSEBORO STORY NOT OVER!

    Speaking about the Trashback forum, this was posted by “Chance” a/k/a Deb Fitzkee under an article about the Roseboro Funeral Home being sold:

    Purg did you and hyprocisy get tired of just posting on another website. Like the I’ve heard touch. Guys in jail where he belongs. End of story.
    Following from Purg in a PM
    Hey buckaroo,,you have too much time on your hands.

    What is wrong with this woman that she is so worried about my site?  I think another Trashbacker had a good response and posted this:

    Chance, WTF does this post have to do with the Roseboro case? Keep your silly little childish forum games to yourself and PM.  Maybe you should break away from the PC every now and then.

    Oh, and Deb, it is not the “end of the story.”  In case you haven’t heard, Roseboro filed an appeal and Judge James Cullen is coming to his time deadline in ruling on that appeal.  Oh, and once again, 48 Hours is doing a segment and M. William Phelps is writing a book, “Love Her To Death” on the crime.

OUR OWN BERNIE MADOFF

    On an icy morning last week, Sensenig’s home on Valley View Road in East Earl Township was quiet; no one appeared to be home. At the southern edge of the property, large dogs sat in wire cages. Plans by Sensenig’s son to expand a kennel on the property drew protests in 2005 and 2006.
Associate Sunday News Editor Gil Smart in his front page story today, “MISPLACED FAITH?” (click here).
     Did you even knock on his door, Gil, to see if he was home?  What a joke of a story.  It is unreadable!  This is the Associate Editor of the Sunday News and he can’t write!  How is that possible?

    This big “investigative story” has six pictures and illustrations along with it and a sidebar story by Smart.  And yet it says almost nothing.  If Sensenig is the Bernie Madoff of the Wenger Mennonites, then say so!  Jesus, this is bad!

DON’T THREATEN ME!

    And speaking of investigative stories, two commenters to this site have crossed the line on the Lancaster Lynching story and their comments will no longer be posted.  When you get several people this upset and angry, you know you have hit the truth.

    There will be much more tomorrow on the background of the Lancaster Lynching story.

LANCASTER LYNCHING

    This email in:

Becky,

     I have been reading and commenting here and there on your site. My question is what is your relationship with the Woomers and why not write for the Weavers. Your site is on the justice for joy site and is mentioned on her son’s site.

     I just don’t understand why you write about Woomer’s side and not Weavers. I’m sure there are stories from their side and I’m sure they feel some sort of pain as well.

     Also, where did you get your information about the detective? I read the news article and really am not convinced he did anything. If you had an interview with someone, who was it (no need to name, just how you found this person).

    I am going to answer the question about the detective – specifically Lancaster County Detective Joseph Geesey - today and the other questions tomorrow.

    I moved to Philadelphia in the very early ‘80’s after being the editor of the paper edition of the Lancaster Independent Press.  I was freelancing as a reporter for the Philadelphia Tribune, America’s oldest Black newspaper and a twice weekly.

    In May of 1981, I went to a newsstand to buy the latest edition and saw a headline, “Man critical after Lancaster lynching try.”

    I thought it had to be a mistake of some kind – there could not be a lynching in my Lancaster!  I didn’t own a car so I took a train the same day.  I went straight to the crime scenes and realized immediately that at least one of the three men who committed this horrendous crime had to be familiar with the area and thus had to live or work nearby. 

   To make a very long story short, I became very suspicious of one man who worked very close to the crime scenes.  The vehicle used to abduct Robert Henderson was also parked right in the lot.

    On May 21, I took a train to Lancaster.  I walked to the Coe Camera Shop and purchased a Polaroid Instamatic camera.  I walked to Hazel Street and the crime scene.  I said to a neighbor I had spoken to several times before, “I’m going in there to take a picture.  If I’m not out in five minutes, please call the police.”

    I walked into Brookshire Printing and saw the man I wanted sitting around a table with two other men.  I raised the camera and took a picture of all three.  The one who recognized me is on the right and he put his head down.  The other two had no idea who I was and almost smiled for me.

    The next day the Lancaster Newspapers ran police sketches of the three assailants.  I had taken a picture of all three of them, sitting around a table at Brookshire Printing, less than half a block from where the two assaults occurred.

    The police never “solved” this attempted murder or one five months later committed by the same men.  There will be much more this weekend.

~ By Detective Geesey ~

ANOTHER

UNSOLVED CASE

“Abducted Man’s Car Returned Here”

[Editor’s Note:  This is the complete article from the Lancaster New Era on September 21, 1981.  The story, with no byline, features a large photo of Rhoads’ car with the passenger-side door open and Detective Geesey standing by the door holding a bag of evidence.  The photo is credited to New Era photographer Richard Hertzler.]

    A city police detective returned Daniel Rhoad’s car to Lancaster from Virginia on Saturday and today will begin sorting through two bags of evidence found inside the car. 

    After Rhoads’ stolen car was found in rural central Virginia last Tuesday, Lancaster Detective Lt. Joseph P. Geesey flew to Richmond, Va. to recover the car and work with Virginia State Police in gathering evidence that they hope will lead them to the identity of Rhoads’ three abductors.

    In the photo above, Geesey is removing the bags of evidence from the car.

    Geesey said through the cooperation of Virginia authorities, they were able to trace the route of the car from Pennsylvania to Virginia.

    Inside the car, police said numerous empty beer cans and whiskey bottles were found, along with several fingerprints.

    The fingerprints and other evidence were returned to Lancaster by Geesey, and the detective will now attempt to match the fingerprints with possible area suspects.

    Because Rhoads’ abductors crossed state lines, the information, including copies of the fingerprints, also will be sent to the FBI to be placed for comparison on a central suspects file.

    The car was found in fair condition 35 miles west of Richmond with a flat tire, police said.  After minor repairs, Geesey was able to drive it back to Lancaster, where it will be kept at the police station as evidence.

     Rhoads, a retired Armstrong executive, was abducted in the fifth floor of the Prince Street parking garage on Sept. 11 when three men forced their way into his car.

    The men beat, stabbed and robbed Rhoads before throwing him over a 50-foot embankment.  Rhoads was discovered along a roadway in West Hempfield Township by a passing motorist.

    Rhoads, of 645 Oakwood Lane, is listed in good condition at St. Joseph Hospital, but is expected to be kept in the hospital for a least another week, according to his physician.

Coming tomorrow - articles by New Era reporters Janet Kelley and Tim Mckeel on the Rhoads assault.  Later, why did the three men drive to Goochland, Virginia?  And why didn’t the Lancaster Police ever tell us the very obvious answer?

TWO WAYS TO TESTIFY?

    2006 – Ron was miserable and essentially leading a separate life.  He met a woman through his band – a real party girl who loves all the things Ron enjoys (watching sports on T.V., hearing bands in bars, partying, etc.).  The day after we returned from a family cruise, the week I found out my mom had breast cancer, and 2 weeks before Holy Week, Ron told me he wanted a divorce.  He left in March and our divorce was finalized on Rebecca’s birthday, October 6.

From Joy O’Shea Woomer’s biography (click here).

    Also on Friday, Ronald Woomer told the jury he was inside his ex-wife’s home a few weeks prior to the child’s death.

    He and his wife had separated, Woomer testified, and he went to the house, “looking for anything I left behind.”

    What he noticed, Woomer said, were bottles of pills, vials of clear liquid and syringes, some with needles.

    On another visit, during the same time period, Woomer said he looked in his estranged wife’s computer bag, noticing two vials of clear liquid and two syringes with needles.

    Defense attorney Christopher Patterson asked Woomer about a conversation he had with the defendant’s brother in 2008.

    The two men could not agree over the price of a house that Woomer wanted to buy, Patterson noted.

    “Didn’t you say there were two ways you could testify? One way was favorable to your ex and one way was unfavorable,” Patterson asked.

    Woomer said that was not the way the conversation was worded.

From today’s article, “Homicide jury hears nurse’s account of death,” (click here).

    The prosecution re-played the 911 tape from the morning the boy died, so Weaver could identify voices on the call. The witness shed a few tears and, once again, so did the woman seated at the defense table accused of the killing.

CBS-21, “Dad of Victim Testifies in Joy Woomer Trial,” (click here and then click on the story).

    Did they ask Ronald Woomer if he asked his wife why she had all these bottles and syringes laying around?  Was he believable?  Did he look at his ex-wife while he testified? 

    There was certainly nothing damning in what Joy Woomer relayed to Detective Joseph Geesey, except possibly this:

    While working to revive unconscious, unresponsive 11-year-old Brent Weaver, paramedics paused to ask his parents a question:

    Should they continue?

    “Of course,” answered the father, Mark Weaver.

    But the boy’s mother, Carol Weaver, said, “Wait a minute; let’s think about this,” according to the private duty nurse in the home that morning.

    “She did not want to put him through this,” Joy O’Shea Woomer told detectives, if it was going to cause the boy any pain or have negative results.

    I am so frustrated.  I need to see eyes and facial expressions and hear the tone of the voices.  I need to know who is believable and who is not.  The prosecution wants this woman to spend the rest of her life in jail!

    LIP News will be reporting live from Lancaster for several days next week.

GREEN WITH ENVY?

    On a far lighter note, “man with a plan” posted this on the Lancaster Online Talkback forum:

    Hope the Eagles do better than the first two times against the Cowboys.  Beating a team three times in one season is rather difficult, so I believe the Eagles have the advantage. 

    That’s a heck of a plan!  Have you met Andy Reid?  You two should do lunch!

    I say this with great reluctance and fear:  Go Eagles!!!

WHO CAN GET MORPHINE?

    This comment in today under “IT IS IN HER HANDS” below:

    Hey we live near Reading, Philly, York and Lancaster… You can get morphine on street corners… Remember 222 is the gateway for drugs… I could get some today if I wanted it.  A lot of people get it for back pain too…

    This would contradict the reason Joy O’Shea Woomer was arrested six years after the death of Brent Weaver.  From the November 1, 2009 article, “Nurse’s trial postponed until January,” (click here) there is this:

    The prosecution’s case appears to hinge largely on the testimony of forensic pathologist Dr. Wayne Ross and Steven Knoub, chief executive of Hospice of Lancaster, where Woomer previously worked.
    Just one day before police arrested Woomer, Knoub told Lancaster County Detective Joseph Geesey “it was possible for a nurse to pilfer morphine in 2002,” according to a police affidavit.

    And this was part of a comment posted on the Lancaster Online Talkback forum under an article about the trial of Joy O’Shea Woomer:

    Who in their right mind would believe an otherwise sane nurse intended to kill this little boy she’d never met before?

    Who indeed?  This trial is getting stranger and stranger.

Have a great Friday and please check back tomorrow…

WOOMER TO TAKE STAND

    Patterson announced Joy Woomer will be taking the stand later in the trial.

    CBS-21

    It is very rare for a defendant to take the stand, especially in a murder trial.  It usually only means one thing – unless the defendant is representing themselves and/or mentally impaired – it means the defendant is innocent.  If she is not, the prosecution should have no trouble proving it in their cross examination.

    Joy O’Shea Woomer spent the last 15 months of her life in a jail cell on a six-year-old charge of purposely murdering a severely physically handicapped boy she met for the first time the night he died.  She is no longer a licensed nurse.  She has missed the last year-and-a-half of her own two children’s lives.

    Briefly while she was blogging from prison, she spoke of a never seen before cherry tomato on her salad as making her day, her week and her month.

    Was she, as Assistant District Attorney Randall Miller alleged in his opening statement, full of malice and did she deliberately set out to kill Brent Weaver?

    Was she a sloppy and careless nurse?  Was she overworked and tired?  Or did something else happen that night?

    Where did the morphine come from and how was it introduced into Brent’s body?  Why are his parents trying to send a woman they met for the first time that night to jail for the rest of her life?

    What in the world is going on here? 

    By taking the stand, Joy O’Shea Woomer’s own testimony will determine her fate.

    Please note that both Jenni Joyce of CBS-21 (click here) and Dara Rees of ABC-27 (click here) are covering the trial along with the Lancaster Newspapers.  Please click on the links and watch their videos. 

JOURNALISM 101

    If the woman who claims to own the vehicle filed a stolen car report with the police, that report is a public document and the woman should have no expectation of anonymity.

The first post on the Lancaster Online Talkback forum under today’s lead front page story by Associate Editor Gil Smart, “MYSTERIOUS CASE of the MISSING MUSTANG,” (click here).

    That’s one of the first lessons you learn, Gil!  Where is this woman’s name?    How can you call yourself a reporter?  And why have the police spent eight months and God only knows how much of the public’s money to have no answers?  Why didn’t you ask them that, Gil?

    Why is this pathetic rehash on the front page?  Why don’t you report on the “mysterious” death of Lydia Colon-Torres, Gil?  That’s a front page story.  There is no cause of death by the coroner three months after his autopsy?  What is going on with this investigation?  Can you imagine her children, family and friends going through the holidays with no answers?  This is an outrage and tomorrow I will follow-up with the coroner, the Lancaster Police and the District Attorney’s office.

A CIVIL SOCIETY?

    NewsLanc.com has an interesting Watchdog piece about Editor Marv Adams’ incredibly stupid column this week, “Ripped from police logs,” (click here for the column and here for NewsLanc.com):

   In his column, Editor Marv Adams reports “An Allentown woman, 45, was charged with open lewdness after Manheim Township police were told that she got out of her vehicle and urinated in the open at Route 501 and York Road. On a Friday. At 11:04 a.m.”

WATCHDOG:  In a more civilized setting, people would just look the other way.  Some people have weak bladders and the urge comes suddenly.  A man can keep a cup in his car.  What is a woman to do?

    Columnists can get desperate to find things to write about during the holiday season.  May we suggest tolerance?

     Interesting concept.  And Marv has been desperate for three years.  He either writes about his emails or the police log.  It’s sad to see an editor this bad.  Seriously.  And instead of insulting his readers as usual (other than by his column, of course) he ends with this:

    And to all, a happy New Year. Thanks for reading.
    Which is a sure sign no one is reading!

GET A LIFE, CHANCE!

    litlmo ever post on Lipnews along with lilmiss and Hyprocrisy Hunt? Just checking member profile.

This was posted by “Chance” on the Lancaster Online Talkback forum under the article, “Body of missing Maryland girl found in woods.”

    Chance, you have crossed the line!  Your repeated rants about me have been noted – but to go under a serious topic and accuse posters of also posting on my site is beyond absurd and goes to childish and ridiculous.

    I don’t know any of the posters you just named and I would have no way of knowing if any did post on my site.   This is a free country the last time I checked – and they are free to read and post where they like.

    Why don’t you get a life, Chance, and touch base with reality? 

DIRTY FAMILY LAUNDRY?

    In case you haven’t noticed, there’s been a bit of an exchange with some Trashbackers on this site.  The following was posted by a retired policeman – yes, I said policeman:

    She, becky, started in on me several years ago. We went at it pretty good for awhile. Then I got tired of her bull and let her have it. She sends me an e-mail saying not to e-mail her again. She thinks she is the greatest investigator since Sherlock. She wouldn’t know an investigation if it slapped her in the face. She loves to bad mouth cops and hates Joe Geesey with a passion. You have to wonder about someone that airs her dirty family laundry on a web site for everyone to read about. She is a total dingdong.

    I will address all aspects of his post later this week including Detective Joe Geesey who will soon be featured in an upcoming trial - but for today - apparently if the police receive a phone call from a teen-aged girl saying her father is molesting her, the police should ignore it and write it down/off as “dirty family laundry.”  Unbelievable!

TIME TO RULE!

    There’s been no decision by Judge James Cullen about the appeal in Michael Roseboro’s murder conviction.  Will his decision come before the New Year?  It’s time for a ruling, Judge!

COVER-UPS

    The town’s police chief and two officers were charged by federal prosecutors with orchestrating a cover-up in the beating death of Ramirez, an illegal immigrant.

    …But with the allegations in this week’s indictments and revelations, surrounding the civil lawsuit, this has become a case about hate crimes and a whole lot more — a small town police department run amok.

From this morning’s New Era editorial, “Town in glare of national spotlight.”

    This was Lancaster for many years – possibly still is - please see the Lancaster Lynching story – click here.  I think we need the Feds to come in and examine the “mysterious” death of Lydia Colon-Torres and what is being done about it.

    And Stephen Diablo, our Klan member, and the man claiming to be bi-racial (sorry, I missed that in his Talkback posts) with a black wife pays this site a visit and extends an invitation (click here)!  Lititz, huh?  Who would’ve guessed?

Please check back later today…

TURKEY TIME!

    Just in time for turkey day we have this:

    The former top administrator for the Lancaster County GOP will stand trial for allegedly soliciting sex from an undercover city police officer posing as a prostitute.

“Ex-head of GOP to face trial,” (click here).

    Doesn’t this make you wish you were a defense attorney?  Can’t  you just feel all that money in your pocket?  The possibilities here are endless!  He thought she was in trouble.  He was asking directions.  He wanted to know her recipe for pumpkin pie.  He wanted to know how often to baste his turkey.  He wanted her opinion on the piece of jewelry he just bought his wife. 

    I hope the prosecution has something better up their sleeve than what is presented here.  It is legal to stop your car and talk to someone isn’t it?  Maybe the officer is hard of hearing?  She obviously has a bad memory.  I thought officers write down a detailed report immediately after an arrest?

    From the article:

    Higgins said she couldn’t recall much of the conversation word for word, but she said the nature of the exchange was that Coder wanted to pay her for sex.

    Maybe he just wanted free sex?  Is that illegal?  There’d be a ton of arrests at every bar in Lancaster if that were the case.  Doesn’t money have to change hands?   

    And there is this:

    Once the agreement was reached, Higgins said Coder then told her to get in his car, but she refused.

    “I made an excuse that I didn’t want to get in because there were (surveillance) cameras in the area,” Higgins said.

    The first post under the article on the Lancaster Online Talkback forum was this:

    It’s nice to see the cameras finally have some role in fighting crime in Lancaster. 

    What a hoot!  In fact, I’ll give it two hoots and the post of the week award.

    Darn, I wish I had gone to law school!

    LIP News will be on break until Sunday, November 29 when daily publishing will resume. 

Have a great Thanksgiving! 

CAN JANET COUNT?

    Within days of the assault, East Hempfield Township police arrested Ortiz and Cook, and charged each of them with aggravated assault, conspiracy and recklessly endangering another person.

    …Within days, probation officers and sheriff’s deputies located the pair and took them into custody.

Janet Kelley in today’s article, “Pregnant assault victim testifies,” (click here). 

    Twice in this story – twice – Janet Kelley tells a huge lie!  Is she delusional, senile, stupid, sloppy or does she have a problem with the truth?  Whatever, she should be fired!  This is unacceptable!

Please check back later today…

SPLITTING HAIRS?

    On March 25 of 2005, I celebrated the six-month anniversary of this site with this (click here for “THANK YOU”):

    I’ll say one more thing on a heavy note and then I have a birthday to celebrate.  As a reporter, I have had the hairs on the back of my neck raised several times.  During the “Lancaster Lynching” story, which is coming soon, and while reading some articles on the Cortney Fry murder.  On the Talkback Board, the names Lindy Biechler, Christy Mirack and Mary Ann Bagenstose would keep coming up.  I didn’t pay much attention.  I hadn’t lived in Lancaster and knew nothing about their cases.  But then, with the whole grand jury thing, I thought maybe they would be part of the “investigation” (doubtful, seeing as their have been two prior grand juries in this county since their murders) so I very briefly pulled some information.  And I saw something there that raised the hairs on the back of my neck as they have never been raised before.  What is going on in this town?

*******

    I was brutally murdered on December 5, 1975 between 6-7 pm in my Spring Manor apartment located in Manor Township, Lancaster County.

    Leading up to my murder, I told my friends that I thought I was being watched.  My murderer attempted to sexually assault me and then he stabbed me repeatedly in the neck, chest and back leaving me on my living room floor.  I know who my murderer is and he knew who I was.  This was not a random act.

        I am asking for people who knew me and anyone who might have information about my murder to come forward and fight for me and my family to help solve this murder.

LindyandChristy.com - Lindy Biechler:  “Do you know who murdered us?” (click here and put your cursor over her photograph).

DETECTIVE GEESEY

SHOULD BE NERVOUS TODAY!

Lindy Biechler’s killer should be nervous today.

Said Geesey: “We’re about two steps behind them.”

Walter had some advice for the killer.  “Don’t buy any green bananas,” he said.

Detective Geesey said investigators think they know the motive for the murder, which he declined to disclose. Fitzgerald said that’s a key to solving the case.

“We have other things to look at that we hadn’t thought about or delved into that deeply,” Geesey said. “There are people we want to take a look at and people we want to concentrate more on.”

    These are all quotes from Cindy Stauffer’s New Era article of June 16, 2006 regarding the unsolved, brutal murder of Lindy Biechler, “Probers to killer: We’re getting closer,” (click here).

    Okay, Detective Joseph P. Geesey, you’ve had over three years to arrest this man – actually - over thirty years!  What happened to the “two steps behind them?”  Is this man smarter than you, Detective Geesey?  Did he freeze his green bananas? 

Please check back later today…

DETECTIVE GEESEY

SHOULD BE NERVOUS TODAY!

Lindy Biechler’s killer should be nervous today.

Said Geesey: “We’re about two steps behind them.”

Walter had some advice for the killer.  “Don’t buy any green bananas,” he said.

Detective Geesey said investigators think they know the motive for the murder, which he declined to disclose. Fitzgerald said that’s a key to solving the case.

“We have other things to look at that we hadn’t thought about or delved into that deeply,” Geesey said. “There are people we want to take a look at and people we want to concentrate more on.”

    These are all quotes from Cindy Stauffer’s New Era article of June 16, 2006 regarding the unsolved, brutal murder of Lindy Biechler, “Probers to killer: We’re getting closer,” (click here).

    Okay, Detective Joseph P. Geesey, you’ve had over three years to arrest this man – actually, over thirty years!  What happened to the “two steps behind them?”  Is this man smarter than you, Detective Geesey?  Did he freeze his green bananas? 

Please check back later today…

~ Is The Public Safe? ~

CORONER & POLICE

DISAGREE

    “If the police have reason to suspect a crime, they can take action if they feel they have to,” Lancaster County Coroner Stephen Diamantoni said by phone this morning regarding the mysterious death of Lydia Colon-Torres. 

    It has been over a month since Diamantoni performed an autopsy on Colon-Torres and he has not released a cause of death nor an indication of whether foul play was involved to the public.

    In separate interviews last week and this week with Lancaster Police spokesperson Lt. Todd Umstead and District Attorney Craig Stedman, they disagreed with the coroner.  Stedman said that while he knows the Lancaster Police have worked hard on this case, “We’re still waiting for the coroner to make a determination.”  Stedman said an arrest cannot be made without the determination that a crime has been committed.

    Umstead said the same thing.  The police cannot make an arrest unless it is known a crime has been committed.

    Diamantoni insisted several times that the police could take action and said at least one policeman was present when the autopsy was performed and that the police have access to the autopsy report as it stands today.

    He said her cause of death has not been determined and he is waiting for tissue studies and “historical information” on Colon-Torres before declaring a cause of death.  He said he did not know how long that would take.  He also would not comment on what he meant by “historical information.”  He said “Further investigation is needed into why her body was found where it was and why it was in the river.”

    When I said that sounded like the responsibility of the police and not the coroner, he said this was a “very difficult case” and that there are “highly unusual features surrounding the death” of Lydia Colon-Torres.   

    He also said that when he is working together with law enforcement, he does not release any details.  When questioned whether this is in the best interest of the community – if a killer is on the loose - and the emotions of her family, he again stated the police can take action if they feel a crime has been committed.  He said her family members will appreciate him “getting this right.”

    In the meantime, a neighbor reports that Colon-Torres’ three children are living with her mother and new tenants have moved into the home Colon-Torres lived in on Beaver Street.  The neighbor also said of the day she disappeared, September 25, that Colon-Torres was unusually happy.  “She acted like she had just won a million bucks and she could spend it all on herself,” the neighbor said.

Please check back tomorrow…

*** BREAKING NEWS ***

     There were “highly unusual features surrounding the death” of Lydia Colon-Torres, Coroner Stephen Diamantoni said in a phone interview this morning.

Please check back later this afternoon…