MISSING MOM AMBER ELKINS' BODY ID'D

THE SEARCH for missing mom Amber Elkins reached a tragic conclusion yesterday, when forensics teams identified her body yesterday.
The 20-year-old vanished on July 24 and cops have charged her boyfriend James David “JD” Clarke, with her murder after a huge amount of blood was found on her abandoned green pickup truck.
According to investigators, he did not help them find the body, of the woman he'd been dating for just over a month.
Instead members of the Texas Equusearch Church her corpse which had been dumped in a wooded area near her home in Humble.
 On Monday, the medical examiner positively identified the body as Amber Chantel Elkins and ruled the cause of death to be homicide.

According to Harris County District Clerk records, Clarke did not request an attorney at his first court appearance Monday, and no attorney is listed.
He is being held on a $250,000 bond and his arraignment is scheduled for Aug. 12 The Courier reports.
Elkins’ family meanwhile, has set up a memorial fund, according to a family friend, for donations for services, while any additional funds will be put in a trust fund for Elkins’ 9-month-old daughter Ava.
They can be made at Wells Fargo or Wachovia Bank locations under the Amber Elkins Memorial Fund, account number 9740341004.

JURORS VISIT ANTHONY SOWELL'S HOUSE OF HORROR

CREEPY TONY

CREEPY Anthony Sowell's house, where he is accused of killing 11 woman and hiding their remains was visited by jurors before opening statements in the potentially explosive case. The alleged serial killer is thought to have lured his victims many who had a history of drug abuse  with the promise of booze or narcotics into his Cleveland, OH home.
Then, prosecutor's assert that when they were wasted, he struck, strangling or beating them to death. 
So far 11 bodies have been identified at his duplex.  
The women disappeared one by one, starting in October 2007 and ending in September 2009. It was thought that showing the jurors the Cleveland, OH home where it's believed the killings took place, would help them gain some perspective for the upcoming testimony.
But Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Dick Ambrose was keen to point out that what jurors see 
"is not evidence, since conditions may have changed since the time of the events in this case."
It took nearly three weeks to seat the jury from a pool of about 200 prospective jurors and now the trial is expected to start today.
Sowell, a former marine, faces the death penalty if convicted of  eighty-five counts of murder, rape and kidnapping.
He originally pled not guilty by reason of insanity but has since changed his plea to simply "not guilty."

CHRISTIAN CHOATE': 'A VERY SAD, DEPRESSED CHILD'

THAT SOUND you hear is one a thousand asses being covered. The murder of Christian Choate just goes from bad to worse. In a diary, he wrote how he was hungry, thristy and wanted to die.
The 13-year-old boy's body was recovered from a shallow grave in a Gary, Indiana trailer park after years of horrific abuse and being held captive in a dog cage. The details in documents released Friday are heartbreaking to say
the least. His father Riley 'White Trash' Choate and stepmother Kimberly Kubina have been charged with his murder.
The report states: “Christian wrote of why nobody liked him and how he just wanted to be liked by his family. Christian stated that he wanted to die because nobody liked the way he ‘acted.' Christian’s writings detail a very sad, depressed child who often wondered when someone, anyone, was going to come check on him and give him food or liquid. Christian often stated he was hungry or thirsty.”
So, now he's dead. The report also outlines sexual molestation allegations against his natural mother, Aimee Eriks Estrada's live-in lover, Silas Estrada. Christian also alleged that his mother may have been "inappropriate" with him. Now, why is it we're against the death penalty?
According to the Chicago Sun-Times: The guardians of Christian Choate were investigated numerous times by Department of Child Services for physical abuse, educational neglect, and molestation. A caseworker last saw Christian on June 30, 2008.
Nice job.

DEATH FOR JAMES HAWKINS; MADE GIRL CUT UP MOM

UPDATE: Sinister James Hawkins, 33, who made his daughter watch as he stabbed and strangled her mother before making her hold the head as he severed it and put it in the freezer has been sentenced to DEATH. A
A jury issued a death sentence Saturday for the Memphis man found guilty of murdering the mother of his three children and then dismembering and disposing of her body. MORE FROM FOX MEMPHIS
 Twisted James Hawkins, 33, repeatedly sexually abused his 15-year-daughter who was just 12 when her mother was killed and threatened to kill her if she told anyone about their relationship.
Then in February 2008 the violent psychopath stabbed and strangled her
mother in front of them.
His two sons testified as well saying their father took them to buy a saw the day of the murder and that they helped him remove a mattress from the couples bedroom.
Worse still, he then tried to blame his daughter for the slaughter, claiming he was only helping his daughter clean up after she had murdered her mother.
Outside the courtroom, relatives of Gaither wept loudly and hugged each other after they heard the verdict. A prosecutor said the jury clearly believed the children's testimony.
"They were completely truthful and forthright," prosecutor Jennifer Nichols said outside the courtroom.
The jury next will decide if he should be sentenced to death.

CHRIS CHEARY SAYS HE DIDN'T MURDER SOPHIA ACOSTA

THE MONSTER accused of murder in the May sex slaying of little Sophia Acosta entered a plea of not guilty yesterday. Cops say Chris Cheary, 20, murdered, assaulted and tortured Sophia in Tulare County, California. If convicted he faces the death penalty.
Sophia's uncle Nick Williams said: "I hope that he gets everything that's coming to him. It does give some closure. You know, it gives some satisfaction, but we want to see it through til the end."

Cheary was busted almost a month after Sophia was found barely alive. She later died and an autopsy showed she had suffered numerous injuries. Cheary--naturally--says she fell and hit her head. Her mother Erika is also being investigated.
He told CBS47: "I would never touch that little girl. I love her more than I love myself."

COPS MAKE ARREST IN SGT. KENNETH VANN MURDER

 COPS in San Antonio, Texas have nabbed the thug they say murdered one of their own. On Sunday afternoon, Mark Anthony Gonzales, 41, was arrested at his home in connection with the murder of Sgt. Kenneth Vann. On May 28, Vann was murdered in cold blood as he sat at a traffic light. The triggerman came up beside him and blasted away. Vann didn't even have time to draw his weapon.
The 48-year-old veteran's slaying stunned San Antonio as it appeared to be for no good reason
and a whopping $127,000 in reward money was raised.

Cops had been looking for the driver of a 2009 or later model royal blue crew cab Ford F150. Gonzales was at home with his wife and children when he was arrested. Investigators said anonymous tipster closed the deal. A similar weapon used to kill Vann was found in  the home.
Hundreds turned out for the memorial service of the deceased deputy, who had been on the force for 25 years. Vann was buried Friday at the cemetery at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Spring Branch.
Vann left behind three children and his wife, Yvonne, who is also a sergeant with the Bexar County Sheriff's Office.
Yvonne said last night:  “I know he'll get the death penalty, because that's what it calls for, and he'll get the death penalty as much as my husband did.” 

MORE IN THE SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

COPS BUST BEAU IN SEX SLAYING OF SOPHIA ACOSTA, 3

COPS IN California have made an arrest in the sinister beating death and sex assault of three-year-old Sophia Acosta. The little girl was murdered three weeks ago and now detectives have charged her mother's boyfriend in the heinous slaying. Christopher Rey Cheary, 20, will face charges of murder, felony assault on a child causing death, sodomy on a child under 14 years old, and felony sodomy.

Sophia's great grandmother Ruth Williams said:
"She loved me and I loved her and she never wanted to go home she wanted to stay with me all the time and until he come along she was at my house every day. I'm happy they arrested him that's where he belongs but it's only just begun."
Sophia's autopsy revealed a litany of injuries.
Her father Obie Acosta said on hearing of the arrest: "Right now there's a lot of emotions going through my head. Right now and just to know that he's right here, it's kind of getting to me but I'm just glad that they got him in custody already."
Obie said he and Sophia's mother, Erika Smith, have another child together. The child is with protection services.
Cheary could face the death penalty. If guilty, we say: Good.

DNA HELPS CRACK 1994 LA COLD CASE MURDER

KILLER?

THE case baffled cops for well over a decade but a determined detective refused to be beaten and now thanks to DNA a brutal killer has been brought to justice. Kevin Bernard Smith Jr is charged with the bloody shooting Rupert Thompson and the attempted killing of Thompson’s wife, Dorothy in their LA home back in 1994. The pair were nearly asleep in their ground floor bedroom when Dorothy Thompson woke to find a gunman at the foot of their bed after hearing some glass shatter.
The man then blasted her in the torso before her husband got up and struggled with the thief in their front garden but he managed to escape. 
Rupert Thompson, then 73, later died and Dorothy Thompson was partially paralyzed in her right shoulder.
LAPD Detective Steven Castro refused to give up and after reviewing the cold case in 2009 he decided to give the blood DNA evidence another try.
He said: “There were a couple of drops of blood not id’d. I requested it be submitted again, with the advances in DNA.”
His attempt paid off and he got the hit on Smith, who was in a Mississippi prison on an unrelated drug conviction at the time, from a national database in August 2010.
He has since pled not guilty to charges including murder, attempted murder and robbery.
Castro added: “I am happy that I was fortunate enough to give Dorothy Thompson the news."
Now, he said he  hopes that she will be able to see Smith, who is currently undergoing a psychiatric evaluation judged in court.