This 'n That

I'm still around, still watching the news on the net and on TV. Yes, I'm still keeping track of what is going on with the cases I've posted about in the past. My brain is having trouble coming up with posts for the blog though. The story behind that is that I got fed up with the new tax hikes the federal and state governments put on cigarettes and have decided to quit smoking. Instead of buying a carton of cigarettes this last time, I bought the patches. (Dummy me, I found out after buying them that I could have gotten them for free if I had signed up for a class at a local hospital! LOL) I started using the patches when I had gotten down to the last pack of cigarettes in the last carton I bought. I managed to make that pack last for 4 days and now I'm on day 2 of having no cigarettes at all. Ugh. I still would love to have a smoke! lol...

So, anyway today's post (which is probably going to be all over the place.) is going to start off with one of the LOL Cats that I thought were really cute yesterday.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Now for the rest of the "news"....

I've been adding a few posts to the other blog I post on, California Fire News. The posts have been mostly earthquake reports that measure over 3.0, but occasionally I find another item of interest. As for the earthquakes, one yesterday was a 4.4 on the Richter scale and it was centered near Malibu. There have been a number of small quakes in the Los Angeles area in the last week or so Hopefully this isn't a buildup to a bigger one.

As for the cases I am watching, a couple of them have been really hard to get news about them because of gag orders that the judges in the individual cases have ordered.

Sandra Cantu (victim) and Melissa Huckaby (accused murderer)
The Sandra Cantu case is one of those that have virtually disappeared from the local and national news broadcasts. The latest hearing for Melissa Huckaby was a very brief one with the defense postponing a plea from the accused and the judge, Linda Lofthus, ordering that the autopsy findings be sealed to "prevent public outrage", plus she ordered a gag order on everyone involved in the case. The next hearing will be May 22nd in the San Joaquin County Superior Court in Stockton. There have been a couple articles recently though. These articles are about the reward that had been offered when poor little Sandra disappeared.

Apparently there is a psychic in the Los Angeles area who thinks she deserves to get some of the reward money even though her "vision" wasn't exactly accurate and the investigators used none of the information provided by any psychics when they were searching for the child. This woman said she predicted the little girl would be found in a "barranca (A Spanish word for canyon or ravine.) and that she was killed in a church, and the killer was someone in the trailer park the little girl called home. Ok, she managed to get 2 out of 3, supposedly. But, since the Tracy police didn't use psychic predictions during the investigation, how much actual "good" did this woman do? I'd say "none".

The other article I found this morning is about the man who did do something to help the Tracy police find Sandra. This guy is the man who found that suitcase floating in that pond on the dairy. The original news reports that came out when Sandra's body was found in that suitcase said that the farm hand(s) who found it had refused the reward. Back then, the reporters said that the cops would be talking to the men. And apparently they did. The man who is receiving the reward money is Jose Luis Franco, and he'll be the recipient of a little more than $20,000. He says he'll be putting the money into a trust account to pay for the education of his four children. He's hoping that they will be able to go to college. Good for him! And good for his family!

The Public Information Officer with the Tracy Police Department, Sgt. Tony Sheneman says that the reward will be going only to Mr. Franco. Not to the supposed psychics who are trying to claim part of that reward. (Can you tell that I don't believe in a lot of the supposed psychics who claim they "solve murders"?)

Sources:
The Tracy Press (hearing and gag orders)
The Mercury News (psychic claim)
The Tracy Press (reward money awarded)

Maria Lauterbach (victim) and Cesar Laurean (accused murderer)
Now that Cesar Laurean has been extradited from Mexico and brought back to North Carolina, he's had his first hearing and an Onslow County judge issued a gag order in the case. The order states that to ensure Laurean's right to a fair trial, prosecutors, law enforcement officials and Laurean's defense attorney are not to release any information to the news media or the public that would "have a substantial likelihood of materially prejudicing an adjudicative proceeding in the matter." (Click here to read the gag order.) So, we'll get very little, if any, information about the case before it comes to trial. Whenever that will be. A date has not been set yet.

Sources:
jdnews.com
Investigation Discovery, The Criminal Report Daily (A very good overview of the case.)

Stacy Peterson (missing/murdered) and Drew Peterson (primary suspect)
Drew Peterson has been making himself seen and heard again. He was on a local morning show there in Chicago and he had the nerve to take his two teenage sons with him and put them on camera to defend their father. I suppose he thought this would be a "good move" to defend himself from the wrongful death suit that has been filed by the family of Kathleen Savio, Drew's 3rd wife who was found dead in her bathtub during a contentious divorce. As far as I'm concerned, he is exploiting those boys. They should not have been on TV defending Drew.

More news about Drew is that the authorities have not given up on searching for Stacy. The divers were out in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal again searching the other day. The searchers weren't commenting on what they were looking for nor on what they found, but they're out there... And from all the sources I've read so far, the searching has to do with the Stacy Peterson case. Plus, apparently Drew was on a talk-radio show this past week and Stacy's sister, Cassandra Cales called in and "lit into Drew". Interesting conversation... lol

Sources:
ABC 7 Chicago
The Herald News
Chicago Sun-Times (Be sure to check out the recording of the radio show and Cassandra's call.)

Caylee Anthony (victim) and Casey Anthony (accused murderer and mom of victim)
The Orlando authorities released a bunch of new documents about the case against Casey Anthony this week. Some of them are fascinating to read and have generated quite a few comments on the InSession message boards. I'm still trying to read through them, so I'll reserve any comment from me for now.. lol

George and Cindy Anthony are still trying desperately to defend their daughter, but the attorneys for Zenaida Gonzalez are asking a judge to force George and Cindy Anthony to respond to certain questions they would not answer during recent depositions. It should be interesting to see if the judge can force those two to behave themselves during a deposition. I've never seen behavior like theirs in a deposition! But then, I haven't been in that many of them.. lol..

Then we have Jose Baez giving an interview to an Orlando TV station where he says that Casey had "very compelling reasons" for her actions when referring to her partying for the 31 days that her child was missing before Cindy Anthony reported her missing. Uhm.. Yeah, right. Baez actually has the nerve to compare Casey's case to Cynthia Sommer's case. (And I'm not even going to link anything to that! Go google!) The "ugly coping" thing that Baez is trying to put out isn't going to work unless he puts Casey on the stand, in my opinion. And how many people think the guy would actually do that?

Sources:
WFTV (List of links to documents)
Orlando Sentinel (also about the documents released)
WESH (Article about the motion to compel the Anthony's to answer questions)
WESH (Article about Jose Baez interview)

Lana Clarkson (victim) and Phil Spector (convicted murderer)
The sentencing hearing for Phil will be on the 29th of this month. The only thing that I've heard since his conviction is that Rachelle and the rest of the "Phil is innocent" groupies are trying to circulate a petition to make the powers that be let him go free. Uhhh... Rachelle, do you really think that a petition is going to let your "dear hubby" out of prison? If so, I think you should sit down and think some more. I don't think it's going to happen.. Phil was convicted of 2nd degree murder and there's the added use of a gun that will extend his sentence. Rachelle, just keep up your comedy act.. You might need it one of these days to earn a living for yourself instead of living off Phil's royalties. Those just might be going to the Clarkson family when they win the wrongful death suit.

~~~~~~~~~~

I think I'll stop for now... Have I given you enough links and stuff to follow? lol... I think I'll go find some carrot sticks to munch on to take my mind off wanting a cigarette.............

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Cesar Laurean Extradited!

UPDATED Below

Almost a year ago, I mentioned in a blog post that Cesar Laurean who is accused of murdering Maria Lauterbach and her unborn son, burning the bodies and burying them in his back yard had been captured and jailed in Mexico. Here is what I wrote back then:

Cesar Laurean; He's still in Mexico awaiting extradition, but law enforcement have released a lot of court documents relating to the murder of Maria Lauterbach. Go here and check out the list of documents. One news site details some phone calls and such from the Laurean home the day he took off for Mexico. Another one (This link has been removed because it led to a dead end.) writes about how Cesar was researching things in Mexico before he left. Things like buying property and finding jobs in Mexico. I couldn't find anything in the articles about how the extradition process is going, so we wait.

On the 15th, an item hit the news from a TV station in Ohio that said Laurean was expected back in the U.S. on Friday. Today is Friday and that station was right. Laurean is on his way to North Carolina right now as I type. Someone on the InSessions message boards said they saw/heard on the news that he had landed in Miami. I haven't heard any of the reports yet, but there are a number of news items coming up with a google search now.

• "Laurean returns to U.S. to face charges" (News 14 in North Carolina)
• Cpl. Cesar Laurean, the Marine accused of killing a pregnant colleague in 2007, returned to the United States on Friday. He landed in Miami around 11:30 a.m.
• "Suspect in pregnant Marine's death on way to U.S." (CNN International)
• Investigators were accompanying Laurean, who fled to Mexico, to the United States on Friday morning, two law enforcement sources said. The FBI said Thursday that Laurean would be extradited to the United States on Friday.

There are more, but why "flood" my blog with all the items that come in the Google news search? I do have to say that I love the title of one of the items that popped up in the search.. It's from a blog in Kansas City:

• "Welcome home, Cesar Laurean" (Crime Scene KC)
• Well, he's not quite home yet. But Laurean, a Marine corporal accused of murdering a fellow officer, has exhausted his extradition appeals and could be shipped back from Mexico soon. (He won't be facing the death penalty, though -- one of the conditions for Mexico to hand him over.)

So finally, the wait is over. Cesar is on his way back to North Carolina to stand trial for murdering Maria and her unborn son. They had to take the death penalty off the table in order to even begin the extradition process, so the heaviest penalty he's facing is life in prison without the possibility of parole. From all reports, Cesar's wife, Marine Cpl. Christina Laurean is still standing by her "man". According to one of the first articles I read concerning the extradition stated that she had just returned from a period of leave, which included a visit to see her husband in a Mexican jail.

The trial for Laurean won't be soon, though. It could take a year or more before he sits in a courtroom with a jury watching him.

The sad part is that while Laurean is "coming home", Maria Lauterbach's father is leaving next week on his way to Iraq for a 4 month deployment. (See this link.) Victor Lauterbach is an Air Force Reserve master sergeant in the 87th Aerial Port Squadron, which is part of the 445th Airlift Wing at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. The squadron is responsible for the on- and off-loading of equipment, cargo and personnel onto aircraft. This has to be a difficult deployment for Maria's father. I'm sure he would like to be there, in North Carolina, to face down the murderer of his daughter and grandson in the hearings in preparation for the trial.

I wonder how much media attention this case will get now... It's been almost a year and a half since Maria disappeared back in December of 2007 and her body found in that firepit in Laurean's back yard in mid-January of 2008. It's time to bring justice to Maria and Gabriel Lauterbach. It's time for Cesar to pay for what he did.

UPDATE

Cesar Laurean is back in North Carolina. He was booked into the Onlslow County Jail in Jacksonville about 8pm EST and is scheduled for his first court appearance on Monday. They're saying he'll be in court shortly after noon.

The photo to the left is his new booking photo. I guess the Mexican jailers treated him well enough. He doesn't look to happy to be back in the U.S. though. His wife isn't commenting to any of the media on the subject of her husband's return to face the charges against him. An Onslow County grand jury indicted him in January 2008 on charges of first-degree murder, robbery with a dangerous weapon, obtaining property by false pretenses, financial transaction card theft and financial transaction card fraud.

Source: JDNews.com

Trial & Crime Watching and Travel

I love traveling, but coming home and trying to catch up on everything that has gone on with the trial and crime watching that I do is sometimes frustrating. Apparently there were a few things happening with the cases that I've been watching during the time I was out and about enjoying the sightseeing and traveling. So, here we go:

• Mario Lozano; I mentioned in my post last night that I'd gotten an email from VINELink that he'd been moved from the El Dorado County Jail. Well, I still don't have any further information on where he's been taken. I'm still working on it and will post his current location when I find out.

• Rex Archer; The local paper, The Appeal Democrat had a little blurb in their "Mid-Valley Briefs" section that says the preliminary hearing had been postponed. Here's what the paper said:

Archer hearing postponed

A preliminary hearing for Earnest Rex Archer, a former Yuba County Board of Supervisors candidate charged with child molestation, was postponed Friday until June 12.

Unavailability of witnesses caused the continuation, according to the Yuba County District Attorney's Office.

Archer has repeatedly failed to respond to requests for comment on the case and answered an e-mail Friday with a "no comment."

• Drew Peterson; Drew's lawyer, Joel Brodsky is working hard trying to get the weapons charges stemming from that "too short" automatic weapon that Drew had dismissed. They filed motions yesterday for the dismissal of charges and the state has 14 days to respond. The preliminary hearing for the charges has been set for June 30th. The lawyers are also trying to get the judge to modify Drew's bond so that he can travel outside Illinois while he's out on bond from the weapons charges. Ok.. I have to wonder where Drew is planning on traveling.....
  
  The Grand Jury heard testimony this week from Stacy's aunt, Candace Aiken and from the 22 year old tanning salon girl, Kimberly Matuska, that Drew has apparently been "wooing". Neither one of them would talk about what they said before the Grand Jury, of course. I can understand them calling the aunt, because she knew both Stacy and Drew before Stacy disappeared and can testify to what she knew of both Stacy and Drew and their relationship. But this 22 year old "girlfriend" of Drew's? What can she testify to? How "sweet" Drew's been to her? Oh.. Yeah.. She did admit that Drew gave her a cell phone and showed it to the investigators. Of course the cell phone has GPS on it, I suppose so Drew can find out where his new girlfriend is whenever he wants. The girl was quoted in one article claiming that "at one point he (Drew) told her he loved her and wanted to spend the rest of his life with her". Geez... I think this girl has had her 15 minutes of fame now and can go back to her tanning salon.
  
  Oh yeah, there was also a news item about the investigators taking the bathtub that Kathleen Savio died in. They're saying that it's a "key piece" of evidence. Lets see, Kathleen died in that bathtub more than 4 years ago now I think. I doubt if there is any real evidence left in it. No blood, no DNA or anything else that can be proven to be part of her death. The only thing I can see for speculations sake is that it would be good for demonstrative purposes during a trial for her murder.
  

• Cesar Laurean; He's still in Mexico awaiting extradition, but law enforcement have released a lot of court documents relating to the murder of Maria Lauterbach. Go here and check out the list of documents. One news site details some phone calls and such from the Laurean home the day he took off for Mexico. Another one writes about how Cesar was researching things in Mexico before he left. Things like buying property and finding jobs in Mexico. I couldn't find anything in the articles about how the extradition process is going, so we wait.

• Les hauts de la Garenne; I haven't followed this one in the news, but have been following it with the posts by Donchais on Sprocket's blog, Trials & Tribulations. From what Donchais posted while I was gone, there's been an arrest, more bones and teeth found along with other things in the excavations of the cellars. Kudos to Donchais for providing excellent coverage of the Jersey Abuse scandal.

I'm sure there are more news items that I've missed posting about here (or even reading about!) but I do need to get busy and get my stuff unpacked, clothes into the washer and spend some "quality" time with the 2 felines I share my home with. They are most insistent that I not be out of their sight right now. lol... So, I'll leave you all for now with a funny picture.....


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