Case Files

In this project, I will be writing five 2-1 page documents about cases and how they’ve related to experiences my family members have had. DISCLAIMER: If you’re not okay with graphic detail and/or murder I do not recommend reading some of these cases there will always be a disclaimer before any of this content is read for readers. Now onto our first case….

Beltway Sniper: The murders that shocked the nation’s capital and the nation itself had started three weeks earlier. On October 2, 2002, a sniper’s bullet struck down a 55-year-old man in a parking lot in Wheaton, Maryland. By 10 o’clock the next morning, four more people within a few miles of each other had been similarly murdered. 

The attacks were soon linked, and a massive multi-agency investigation was launched. The case was led by the Montgomery County (Maryland) Police Department, headed by Chief Charles Moose, with the FBI and many other law enforcement agencies playing a supporting role. Chief Moose had specifically requested our help through a federal law on serial killings. 

Within days, the FBI alone had some 400 agents around the country working the case. They had set up a toll-free number to collect tips from the public, with teams of new agents in training helping to work the hotline. Their evidence experts were asked to map many of the evolving crime scenes digitally, and our behavioral analysts helped prepare a profile of the shooter for investigators. They had also set up a Joint Operations Center to help Montgomery County investigators run the case, and this was just the beginning of an end.  The first shootings were not initially found connected, but law enforcement soon realized that those two acts of violence were just the first of more than a dozen shootings over the next 23 days. Investigators determined that bullets from the first seven shootings were fired from the same weapon ( a high-powered .223 caliber rifle). 

On the morning of October 3, four people were shot within approximately 2 hours in Aspen Hill and other nearby areas in Montgomery County. Another was killed that evening in the District of Columbia, just over the border of Silver Spring. In each shooting, the victims were killed by a single bullet fired from some distance. The pattern was not detected until after the shootings occurred on October 3. Fear quickly spread throughout the community as news of the shootings circulated. Many parents went to pick up their children at school early, not allowing them to take a school bus or walk home alone. Montgomery County and District of Columbia schools declared a lockdown, with no recess or outdoor gym classes. Other school districts in the area also took precautionary measures, keeping students indoors. 

At this point, Malvo and Muhammad started covering a wider area and taking more time between shootings. The snipers relentlessly pursued their killing spree until October 23. While no shooting occurred on October 23, the day is significant for two reasons. First, ballistics experts confirmed the tenth fatality in the Beltway shootings. Second, in a yard in Tacoma, Washington, police searched for bullets, shell casings, or other evidence that might provide a link to the shooters. A tree stump believed to have been used for target practice was seized. 

The incident came to a close on October 24, when Muhammad and Malvo were found sleeping in their car at a rest stop off of Interstate 70 near Myersville, Maryland, and subsequently arrested on federal weapons charges. Police were tipped off by Ron Lantz, who noticed the parked car. (Four hours earlier Chief Moose had relayed this cryptic message to the sniper: “You have indicated that you want us to do and say certain things. You have asked us to say, ‘We have caught the sniper like a duck in a noose’. We understand that hearing us say this is important to you”. Moose asked the media “to carry the message accurately and often”. This vague and arguable reference to a Cherokee fable has never been properly investigated or explained by the media.) Lantz used his truck to block the exit from the rest stop while he alerted the police. A Bushmaster .223-caliber weapon and bipod were found in a bag in Muhammad’s car. Ballistics tests later conclusively linked the seized rifle to 11 of the 14 shootings, including one in which no one was injured. 

On November 17, 2003, by verdict of his jury, Muhammad was convicted in Virginia on all four counts in the indictment against him; capital murder for the shooting of Dean H. Meyers, a second charge of capital murder under Virginia’s anti-terrorism statute, homicide committed with an intent to terrorize the government or the public at large, conspiracy to commit murder, and the illegal use of a firearm. The jury unanimously recommended that Muhammad be sentenced to death. On March 9, 2004, a Virginia judge sentenced John Allen Muhammad to death. On November 10, 2009, Muhammad was executed by lethal injection and pronounced dead at 9:11 PM. He declined final words and also to have his last meal published, it is said that it was chicken and red sauce, and some cakes. 

Malvo was initially arrested under federal charges, but they were dropped. He was transferred to Virginia and sent to jail in Fairfax County; charged with two capital crimes and the unlawful use of a firearm in the murder of FBI analyst Linda Franklin. Malvo confessed that he “intended to kill them all.” The trial was moved to the city of Chesapeake in southeastern Virginia. He pleaded not guilty because of insanity to all charges because he was under Muhammad’s complete control. In 2006, Malvo confessed that the pair also killed victims in California, Arizona, and Texas, for a total of 17 victims. Lee Boyd Malvo is incarcerated at the Red Onion State Prison, located in Virginia(last known of 2022). Now onto our next case.

Casey Anthony: In 2008, the world was captivated by the bizarre behavior displayed by Casey Anthony. The then-22-year-old single mother from Orlando, Florida, was revealed to have spun a web of lies to cover up for the disappearance of her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee, that summer; the Facebook photos of her partying around town and a dearth of emotion in interviews fueling the charges of first-degree murder before Caylee's body was discovered later that year.

However, there would be no closure for those outraged by a mother's neglect of her child, as Casey escaped conviction in 2011, Caylee arrives after Casey's repeated denials to other family members about her pregnancy. Although she suggests possible partners, including then-fiancé, Jesse Grund, and another young man who supposedly died in a car accident, the identity of Caylee's father is never publicly revealed.Caylee was raised in the Orlando home of her grandparents, Cindy and George Anthony, but the day after an alleged family argument on Father's Day, June 15, Casey leaves with her young daughter and rebuffs efforts to reconcile in person.After learning that a family car used by Casey had been impounded, George retrieves the car and is overwhelmed by the smell that remains even after a bag of trash is removed from the trunk.

 Cindy tracks down her daughter later that day and, over a string of 911 calls, reports that Caylee has been missing for a month, demands Casey's arrest and notes the vehicle's odor, saying, "It smells like there's been a dead body in the damn car."Casey leads investigators on a pair of wild goose chases, first to the uninhabited apartment of a nanny named Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez, who allegedly ran off with Caylee on June 9, and then to Universal Studios, where Casey pretended to have a job. She is arrested and charged with child neglect, lying to investigators and interfering with a criminal investigation.

 The hearing introduces evidence that a cadaver dog had zeroed in on the odor of human decomposition in the car trunk and the Anthonys' backyard, as well as Cindy's admission that they had all seen Caylee after June 9. Although Casey is being held on relatively minor charges, the judge is disturbed enough by the evidence and the young mother's seemingly indifferent behavior to set bail at $500,000. California bounty hunter Leonard Padilla announces that he has paid the $500,000 with the hope that Casey will lead them to Caylee.

 The reversal comes a day after Casey's arrest for allegedly stealing and cashing checks from a friend, with the angry crowds demonstrating outside the Anthonys' home contributing to the decision. "I came, I gave it my best shot, she didn't want to talk to me. What can I say?" Padilla says. Anthony will again be released after other parties combine to post the bond on September 5, although she will return to jail by the end of the month. 

The unsealed indictment also charges her with aggravated child abuse, aggravated manslaughter, and four counts of providing false information to law enforcement. In response, Casey's lawyer, Jose Baez, says his client's actions will become clearer at trial: "I sincerely believe when we have finally spoken, everyone, and I mean everyone, will sit back and say, now I understand, that explains it."October 24, 2008: Forensic reports from an examination of Casey's car are released. The reports note that a hair strand discovered in the trunk is "microscopically similar" to those found on Caylee's brush and showed "characteristics of apparent decomposition." Additionally, an air sample from the trunk is found to contain chemical compounds consistent with human decomposition. The bones are found in a bag in a wooded area less than a half-mile from the Anthonys' home by utility worker Ray Kronk. It is later revealed that Kronk had sought to convince police to search the area back in the summer.

The Orange County chief medical examiner reports that the bones showed no evidence of trauma and that Caylee's death is being ruled a "homicide of undetermined means." Although the skull is found with duct tape around the nose, mouth, and jaw, the advanced state of decomposition ultimately prevents investigators from pinpointing an exact cause and date of death.

After almost six weeks of testimony and 400 pieces of evidence presented in court, the jury of seven women and five men takes less than 11 hours to reach a verdict of not guilty.

Casey receives a four-year sentence and a $4,000 fine for the four counts of lying to police, but the prison time is canceled out by the nearly three years already spent behind bars and credit for good behavior. Casey exits the Orange County Jail shortly after midnight, passing the approximately 100 protesters who showed up to demand justice for Caylee. "It is my hope that Casey Anthony can receive the counseling and treatment she needs to move forward with the rest of her life," her lawyer says in a statement.

Leonard Peltier: Leonard Peltier is an imprisoned Native American considered by Amnesty International, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the National Congress of American Indians, the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Rev. Jesse Jackson, among many others, to be a political prisoner who should be immediately released. Leonard Peltier was convicted for the deaths of two FBI agents who died during a 1975 shoot-out on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Mr. Peltier has been in prison for over 29 years.

The Wounded Knee occupation of 1973 marked the beginning of three years of political violence on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The tribal chairman hired vigilantes, self-titled as “GOONS,” to rid the reservation of American Indian Movement (AIM) activity and sentiment. More than 60 traditional tribal members and AIM members were murdered and scores more were assaulted. Evidence indicated GOON's responsibility for the majority of crimes but despite a large FBI presence, nothing was done to stop the violence. The FBI supplied the GOONS with intelligence on AIM members and looked away as GOONS committed crimes. One former GOON member reported that the FBI supplied him with armor-piercing ammunition.

Leonard Peltier was an AIM leader and was asked by traditional people at Pine Ridge, South Dakota, to support and protect the traditional people being targeted for violence. Mr. Peltier and a small group of young AIM members set up camp on a ranch owned by the conventional Jumping Bull family.

On June 26, 1975, two FBI agents in unmarked cars followed a pickup truck onto the Jumping Bull ranch. The families immediately became alarmed and feared an attack. Shots were heard and a shoot-out erupted. More than 150 agents, GOONS, and law enforcement surrounded the ranch.

When the shoot-out ended the two FBI agents and one Native American lay dead. The agents were injured in the shoot-out and were then shot at close range. The Native American, Joseph Stuntz, was shot in the head by a sniper’s bullet. Mr. Stuntz’s death has never been investigated, nor has anyone ever been charged in connection with his death.

 According to FBI documents, more than 40 Native Americans participated in the gunfight, but only AIM members Bob Robideau, Darrell Butler, and Leonard Peltier were brought to trial. This is seen as unfair and/or justified by the people there are two sides to these feelings. Mr. Robideau and Mr. Butler were arrested first and went to trial. A federal jury in Iowa acquitted them on grounds of self-defense, finding that their participation in the shoot-out was justified given the climate of fear that existed on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Further, they could not be tied to close-range shootings.

Leonard Peltier was arrested in Canada on February 6, 1976, along with Frank Blackhorse, a.k.a. Frank Deluca. The United States presented the Canadian court with affidavits signed by Myrtle Poor Bear who said she was Mr. Peltier’s girlfriend and allegedly saw him shoot the agents. Ms. Poor Bear had never met Mr. Peltier and was not present during the shoot-out. Soon after, Ms. Poor Bear recanted her statements and said the FBI threatened her and coerced her into signing the affidavits.

Mr. Peltier was extradited to the United States where he was tried in 1977. The trial was held in North Dakota before United States District Judge Paul Benson, a conservative jurist appointed to the federal bench by Richard M. Nixon. Key witnesses like Myrtle Poor Bear were not allowed to testify and unlike the Robideau/Butler trial in Iowa, evidence regarding violence on Pine Ridge was severely restricted. An FBI agent who had previously testified that the agents followed a pick-up truck onto the scene, a vehicle that could not be tied to Mr. Peltier, changed his account, stating that the agents had followed a red and white van onto the scene, a vehicle which Mr. Peltier drove occasionally.

Three teenage Native witnesses testified against Mr. Peltier, they all later admitted that the FBI forced them to testify. Still, not one witness identified Mr. Peltier as the shooter. The U.S. Attorney prosecuting the case claimed that the government had provided the defense with all FBI documents concerning the case. To the contrary, more than 140,000 pages had been withheld in their entirety.

An FBI ballistics expert testified that a casing found near the agents’ bodies matched the gun tied to Mr. Peltier. However, a ballistic test proving that the casing did not come from the gun tied to Mr. Peltier was intentionally concealed.

The jury, unaware of the aforementioned facts, found Mr. Peltier guilty. Judge Benson, in turn, sentenced Mr. Peltier to two consecutive life terms. Following the discovery of new evidence obtained through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, Mr. Peltier sought a new trial. The Eighth Circuit ruled, “There is a possibility that the jury would have acquitted Leonard Peltier had the records and data improperly withheld from the defense been available to him to better exploit and reinforce the inconsistencies casting strong doubts upon the government's case." Yet, the court denied Mr. Peltier a new trial. During oral argument, the government attorney conceded that the government does not know who shot the agents, stating that Mr. Peltier is equally guilty whether he shot the agents at point-blank range, or participated in the shoot-out from a distance. Mr. Peltier’s co-defendants participated in the shoot-out from a distance but were acquitted.

Judge Heaney, who authored the decision denying a new trial, has since voiced firm support for Mr. Peltier’s release, stating that the FBI used improper tactics to convict Mr. Peltier, the FBI was equally responsible for the shoot-out, and that Mr. Peltier's release would promote healing with Native Americans.

Mr. Peltier has served over 29 years in prison and is long overdue for parole. He has received several human rights awards for his good deeds from behind bars which include annual gift drives for the children of Pine Ridge, fundraisers for battered women’s shelters, and donations of his paintings to Native American recovery programs.

Mr. Peltier suffers from diabetes, high blood pressure, and a heart condition. The time for justice is short. Currently, Mr. Peltier’s attorneys have filed a new round of Freedom of Information Act requests with FBI Headquarters and all FBI field offices in an attempt to secure the release of all files relating to Mr. Peltier and the RESMURS investigation. To date, the FBI has engaged in several dilatory tactics to avoid the processing of these requests. 

John Benet Ramsey: The John Benet Ramsey case had to do with a young girl who was killed and found in her own basement. In the John Benet case, there were difficulties in the investigation, different theories about the case, and the media had an influence on the case. One major problem in the investigation was some of the evidence not being collected. 

For example, there was a flashlight found that could have been a murder weapon but was not collected as evidence. Another problem was the ego of some of the detectives which led to their egos getting in the way of solving the case. For example Boulder, Colorado police denied help from the FBI, even tho they have had no experience with murder cases that have national attention. A major flaw was the procedure the police used for the case was improper. 

One way was the media instantly blamed the parents for murdering Johnbenet. The media had a couple of theories about how JohnBenet was killed. A few theories were she had wet her bed one night and her mother killed her out of rage. Another was her brother killed her out of jealousy since she got a lot of attention because of her being in pageants and he had felt not as important or wanted the attention for himself. The media did not hesitate to trash Ramesy’s reputation and name by making people believe they had something to do with little Johnbenets murder. Since the media labeled the Ramseys as guilty, people were close-minded about other ways she could have possibly died from. 

Although one theory did stick out and was a possibility of being true this theory was called the Intruder theory. One piece of evidence that supports the intruder theory is that there was an unlocked basement window that has been recently opened and closed, which could have been a possible way for an intruder to get in and out with ease. Another piece of evidence was the male DNA found on Johnbenets body that hadn’t matched any of the other family members. Along with another attack very similar to Johnbenets Ramsey's murder only months later. DISCLAIMER: SA is mentioned in the next segment. There was a man who broke into a house (that is near Ramsey’s residence) and sexually assaulted a 14-year-old girl. Upon reviewing how the investigation was done from the start it is apparent that the media and the Boulder Colorado police department did not help in solving the case. It is very unfortunate that Mrs.Ramesy passed away and that the rest of the family has been unable to see justice done and have closure but this will be as much as I can say on the case. I do wish with time and patience they will receive closure eventually.