Amityville Horror Copy-Cat Killing

 

 

“High Hopes” were dashed this month for a Brazilian Family as their son killed them in their sleep. Marcelo Pesseghini [age 13] allegedly shot and killed his mother, father, grandmother, and great aunt in the middle of the night then casually went to school the next morning, returned home, and shot himself dead in the head.

 

The killings are believed to be a chilling re-enactment of the Amityville family massacre whereby Ronald DeFeo Jr., shot and killed his parents, two brothers, and two sisters in their beds at their home in Amityville, Long Island, New York back in 1974. One of Marcelo’s friends said that “He [Marcelo] planned to kill his parents during the night so that no-one would notice then escape in the parents’ car and live in an abandoned place.” The friend also claimed that Marcelo planned to be a “hit man” when he grew up.

Marcelo allegedly shot all four of his victims in the head with a .40 caliber pistol at the family home in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Police later recovered a .32 caliber revolver inside a backpack that Marcelo had taken to school. CCTV footage shows Marcelo casually walking to and from his school in the northern part of the capital after the murders.

In a recent press conference Itagiba Franco, from the Sao Paulo police homicide department, reported: “Everything seems to indicate that Marcelo killed his parents and relatives.” Sao Paulo police commander, Benedito Roberto Meira, said there was no sign of a break-in at the house and ruled out “an act of revenge by a criminal group” against the teenager’s family.

Still, there are some that believe that Marcelo is innocent of the crime. Since the killings several Facebook pages have sprung up proclaiming his innocence. One Facebook page actually has more than 26,000 "likes" currently. Others say that the killings may have come from Brazilian police officers, who were allegedly being investigated for some shady actions. It was reported that Marcelo’s mother had previously provided useful information in an inquiry into police officers suspected in a series of ATM robberies. That and the fact that gangs continue to target police officers in the area continue to fuel suspicions. More than 70 Sao Paulo police officers were killed by gang members last year. Both parents were police officers.  

Marcelo had posted a picture of the infamous Amityville “Ghost Boy” picture on his Facebook page last December. The Amityville Ghost Boy picture emerged two years after the Lutz family fled the house, claiming that it was haunted (which “The Amityville Horror” book and movie were based on). The picture is said to show the ghost of the youngest victim of the DeFeo massacre.

Family members killed:

• Luis Pesseghini (father) - 40-year-old police sergeant [found dead in bed]
• Andreia Pesseghini (mother) – 30-year-old military police officer for 16 years [found on her knees dead in the bedroom]
• Benedita de Oliveira Bovo (grandmother), 65-years-old [found dead in bed]
• Bernadete Oliveira da Silva (great aunt), 55-years-old [found dead in bed]
  

Amanda Knox’s Final Conviction Appeal Just Around Corner

Not really breaking news or much of a shock, but just moments ago Amanda Knox’s lawyer, Luciano Ghirga, told the Florence daily La Nazione that she will not be attending her conviction appeals hearings in Italy. The appeals of Amanda Knox and Raffele Sollecito against their convictions will begin on September 30, 2013, and will take place in Florence.
 

Knox will be up against a whole new Italian authoritative regime when her appeals begin. In September Florence’s current chief prosecutor, Giuseppe Quattrocchi, will retire and Deputy Chief Prosecutor, Dr. Armando Spataro, is expected to take his place. Dr. Spataro is known to be one of the toughest prosecutors in Italy. Italy also has a new attorney general for Tuscany, Dr Tindari Baglione, who is expected to select the prosecutors for the appeal soon. 

Italian law permits Knox not to attend the appeal, where she will instead be represented by her lawyers. According to Mr. Ghirga, Knox “is not trying to run away from anything; she just doesn’t understand why a retrial is necessary.” So, by that logic: because Knox doesn’t understand why a retrial is necessary (even though it’s common practice in Italy for such a thing) she believes she should not attend because they have not proven to her why this is even necessary. Amanda Knox’s logic is never short on entertainment value. 

This past Sunday CNN featured the Amanda Knox story on their “Crimes of the Century” series; and once again CNN outdid itself by actually topping its previous record of reporting half-truths and outright errors associated with this story. They featured a host of pro-Knox-hacks, painted Knox as a poor girl who continues to be persecuted by evil autocrats tied to a medieval court system, and of course they made several references to the Knox-o-holics' "Darth Vader," Guiliano Mignini.

Trial Date Set for Oscar Pistorius

Oscar Pistorius was indicted today for the Valentine’s Day murder of his then girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. Among other things, the indictment reads, “The accused did unlawfully and intentionally kill a person.” The double-amputee Olympian, a.k.a. the Blade Runner, was charged with planning and premeditating Reeva’s murder, which comes with a mandatory sentence of life behind bars.

Pistorius’ trial was set announced today to begin on March 3, 2014. The entire trial, however, could take place in several different phases, likely lasting a year or more because of potential motions and postponements along the way. A list of more than 100 state-witnesses was listed in the indictment. Pistorious’ legal team is yet to release their witness list.

Pistorius also was indicted for allegedly violating South Africa’s firearms-control act. In South Africa, people can possess ammunition only if they are licensed to own a gun, and their ammunition must be specific to that weapon. Pistorius claimed that he stored the ammunition for a gun that his father owns.

Pistorius continues to maintain his innocence; he claims he mistook Reeva for a burglar.

Adding to the misery for the Steenkamp family, Reeva would have celebrated her 30^th birthday today.

 

One of Sweden’s Most Notorious “Serial Killers” About to be Released!

 

Once considered Sweden’s worst serial killer, 63-year-old Sture Bergwall’s (a.k.a. Thomas Quick) last of 8 murder convictions was overturned today after he withdrew his confessions.

Bergwall confessed to more than 30 murders over the past three decades, but was convicted of only 8 of them. He later said, however, that he had lied to investigators because he craved attention and was heavily medicated. Retrials were ordered for all 8 cases, but prosecutors said that without the confessions they didn’t have enough evidence to go back to court. Today they dropped the final case, which involved the death of a 15-year-old boy who had disappeared in northern Sweden in 1976.

Bergwall was convicted of the boy’s murder in 1994 even though there was no technical evidence linking him to the crime, and the cause of death could not be established. In what will surely come to be known as Sweden’s greatest miscarriage of justice of the modern era; Attorney General, Anders Perklev, told reporters in Stockholm that the debacle “has to be considered as a big failure for the justice system.” Bergwall will undergo psychiatric evaluation to determine his release date from the secure mental health unit where he has been held since 1991.

Shootout in Hackensack, NJ Leaves Man in Critical Condition

It all started last night at around 1:00a.m., when Hackensack, NJ Police Department received a call that there was an armed man in the Railroad Avenue and Newman Street housing project. Sgt. James Dalton and Officer Franklin Bay, who were patrolling on foot, responded. The suspect, identified as Robert Leonardis, 22 (from Hackensack), was confronted by the officers at the corner of the two streets, and a foot-chase ensued. Two additional officers arrived as Leonardis fled the scene. That’s when Leonardis opened fire on one of the patrol cars, striking the hood and windshield that Officer Joseph Ayoubi was driving, which went through the windshield, narrowly missing Officer Ayoubi. Officer Ayoubi slammed on his breaks, which caused Officer Brett McCarthy, was driving closely behind, to slam into the back of Ayoubi’s vehicle. 

The officers returned fire and struck Leonardis multiple times, dropping him at the corner of First and Sussex streets, where he was apprehended. Officer Ayoubi suffered a facial injury, started bleeding, and believed he had been shot due to the impact he had felt. However, it was determined the injury was a result of a piece of windshield and not from a bullet. No officers were hit, and they were treated and released with minor injuries. Leonardis was taken to Hackensack University Medical Center where he underwent surgery and remains in critical condition. 

                                            See Raw Police Footage at the Scene (below)

Recovering Hair and Semen from Clothing after a Sexual Assault

When recovering biological evidence from a crime scene it must be handled with extreme caution, as it is highly perishable. This article discusses the recovery of hair and semen from bedding and clothing left at the scene after a sexual assault. After an initial search of the scene—done to locate the evidence—the evidence should be well photographed and videotaped. Also, it should be noted that investigators must wear protective clothing—at all times, no matter what evidence is being collected—changing them every time new evidence is collected, as well as using tools, such as tweezers and so on.

Clothing

The clothing of the victim can contain vital clues, such as trace material and biological evidence. Careful documentation of where the clothes were found is important. Clothing should be examined at the scene by forensic analysts, using a UV Light, Blue Light, or Forensic Light source to identify stains. All biological evidence should be air-dried before being packaged. Likewise, bed linens should be in the same manner. If there are stains, they should be marked, air dried, then packaged by folding the edges toward the center and placed in a paper bag. It is vital that investigators avoid coughing, sneezing, and avoid touching their faces and other areas of their body’s that might aid in contamination of the sample collected. All stains collected should be accompanied by a control sample, which can be obtained from an unstained area near the collected stain. Each item of semen evidence should be packaged separately, and if transport of the entire item—such as the whole bed—a portion around where the stain is located should be cut out and sent to the lab, for practical purposes. All biological evidence should be transported at room temperature. 

Hair

All hair should be recovered from a scene. Hair should be collected using gloved fingers or tweezers, placed in paper bindles or coin envelopes, then placed in larger envelopes, which should be folded and sealed, then labeled by the crime scene investigator. All biological evidence must be packaged in paper bags or other “breathable containers” and not airtight containers, which can cause growth of bacteria that can degrade the evidence. The basic rule that most lab assistants follow for storage of biological evidence is to refrigerate wet or liquid evidence and freeze dry evidence. After a barcode is placed on the item, and corresponding bar code is place on the property receipt, all DNA material should be placed into a designated biohazard area.

 

In the Lab 

Human hair can not only be inspected by tested for DNA; it can also be compared to other hair samples in order to determine whether or not two samples could have had a common origin (by use of a comparison microscope). Using various testing methods at the lab, such as the restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) process or the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) process, DNA can be extracted from semen, which can be examined and amplified in order to determine the genetic profile of the individual who left it behind. Of course, if it is the suspect’s semen, and no samples to compare it to, it should be held for safe keeping, and hopefully investigators will find a suspect; at which time, the investigators can take a DNA sample from the suspect and compare it to the earlier collected sample. 

Of course, once the original sample is collected, investigators can first check the DNA data base run by the FBI, known as the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS). The CODIS system is an electronic database that houses DNA profiles that can identify suspects. As of April of 2012, CODIS contained over 10 million offender profiles (NDIS Statistics, 2012).