The Child Protection eNewsletter
Volume 6, Issue 55
September 3, 2008

Prosecutors believe Caylee Anthony is dead… 

The mother of a missing Florida toddler no longer has an offer of immunity from prosecutors to help in the search.  CNN News story here

The state attorney's office said it had not heard back from Casey Anthony before the offer expired Tuesday morning.  The sheriff's office said earlier that investigators believe 3-year-old Caylee Anthony is dead.

Casey Anthony's attorney, Jose Baez, didn't immediately respond to a phone and e-mail message for comment.

Investigators have been searching for Caylee since mid-July when she was reported missing after not being seen for about a month.  Prosecutors had extended an offer of limited immunity to the child's mother in exchange for her cooperation.

The sheriff's office in Orange County, Florida, now says that lab tests have confirmed that a decomposing body had been in the trunk of a car driven by Casey Anthony. Watch CNN video for why police think Caylee is dead

Investigators have called Casey Anthony, 22, a "person of interest" in Caylee's disappearance.  She faces charges of child neglect, obstruction and making false statements in the case.

"[FBI] laboratory evidence, along with additional evidence that has not been made public, leads investigators to the belief there is a strong probability that Caylee is deceased," the Orange County Sheriff's Office said.  "If any evidence to the contrary is provided, it will be vigorously pursued," the statement added.

Forensics tests confirmed there had been a decomposing body in the car, the statement said.  Detectives disclosed at a July hearing the trunk contained hair samples appearing to belong to Caylee, a strong odor and suspicious stain that glowed under black light.

Even as evidence mounts that Florida toddler Caylee Anthony is dead, her grandmother insisted Tuesday that the 3-year-old is alive and that the child’s mother is only guilty of poor judgment and lying.  MSNBC News story here

“I believe Caylee is with someone that [her mother] Casey had trusted,” Cindy Anthony told TODAY co-host Matt Lauer on Tuesday.  “And I believe that Casey has been, you know, betrayed.

See My Fox Orlando link here  for time line, pictures and updates on this story.

Joseph Edward Duncan III smiles as hears his death sentence…  

A longtime sex offender was sentenced to death for the 2005 kidnapping, torture and murder of a 9-year-old northern Idaho boy after federal jurors who watched video of some of the brutality deliberated just three hours.  CNN News story here

The jurors' recommendation was binding on U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge, who thanked them, dismissed them and then sentenced Joseph Edward Duncan III.

Relatives of the victim, Dylan Groene, remained somber as the jury's decision was announced.  Duncan murdered Dylan's mother, older brother and his mother's fiance to kidnap him and his younger sister, who was sexually abused along with her brother but survived.

"The jury speaks the mind of the community," U.S. Attorney Tom Moss said.  "By the verdict today, they have given voice to the victims."

Duncan showed no reaction other than smiling as the verdict was passed to the judge.

He took Dylan and the boy's then-8-year-old sister, Shasta, to a remote western Montana campsite where he raped, tortured and threatened them before shooting Dylan in the head and burning his body.  Jurors viewed horrifying video Duncan made of him sexually abusing, torturing and hanging Dylan until the boy lost consciousness.

"This defendant is dangerous.  He is a predator who takes pride in his work," prosecutor Traci Whelan said.  "He earned this day.  His actions ... call out for the death penalty."  See also  vol6_iss54

Bernie Ward sentenced to seven years… 

A former San Francisco radio talk show host and former Roman Catholic priest was sentenced to more than seven years in prison for distributing child pornography.  Read AP story here

Bernie Ward, 57, pleaded guilty in May to one count of distributing child pornography.  Prosecutors said investigators found dozens of pornographic images of children as young as 3 on Ward's home computer, including masochistic images of children bound and gagged.

"He traded in the currency of children's suffering," federal prosecutor Steve Grocki said.

Ward, a father of four known for his staunchly liberal views, hosted a nightly radio show until the station fired him when the child pornography indictment was made public in December.

A Stanislaus County woman who exchanged sexually explicit Internet messages with him called police after Ward sent her a photograph of two children engaged in a sex act.  She also provided police with transcripts of a conversation where Ward said he was aroused when his daughter walked in the bathroom while he showered, according to court documents.

"I find it extremely troubling that a parent would say the things he wrote in those messages," U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker said before sentencing him to seven years and three months.  See  vol5_iss80  and  vol6_iss36.

In other news… 

A mother was convicted Friday of killing her month-old daughter by burning her in a microwave oven, with jurors rejecting a defense attorney's claims there was evidence that someone else was responsible.  ABC News story here  China Arnold, 28, showed no reaction when the jury's verdict was announced and then lowered her head, looking down at the defense table. Relatives in the courtroom cried and covered their faces with their hands. They later left the courthouse without commenting. Arnold was found guilty of aggravated murder and could be sentenced to death. The jury was scheduled to return Tuesday to begin hearing evidence in the death-penalty phase of the case.

Microsoft’s latest Internet browser includes a piece of software that allows Internet users to hide the audit trail of websites they have visited.  Fox News story here  The new InPrivate feature on Internet Explorer 8–now in Beta release, and dubbed by many in the Web development community as “porn mode,” a nod to its most obvious use–when enabled automatically conceals sites visited by wiping clean browsing and search history, cookies, form data and passwords.  It also clears the browser cache at the end of each session.  Once the setting is chosen, others using the same computer will not be able to see which sites have been accessed, the company said.  Other browsers have similar functions, but this one is far more prominent.  Although casual users cannot see the previous user’s search history, authorities such as the police will be able to access it if necessary.

The Essex district attorney says test results are back on blood found at the home of a missing Massachusetts boy's father, and he's hopeful the 5-year-old is alive.  abcnews.go.com  Jonathan Blodgett told The Daily Item of Lynn on Wednesday that he can't disclose the results because of the ongoing investigation. But he said:  "We still have optimistic hopes Giovanni Gonzalez is alive."  Police found blood on a mop and a cleaning container in Ernesto Gonzalez' apartment.  Investigators said the father had an open cut and a bandaged finger on his hand that he would not explain. Prosecutors say the boy was dropped off at his father's home August 15.  When the boy's mother went to pick him up two days later, Gonzalez said their son wasn't there.  Gonzalez has pleaded not guilty to child endangerment.  He's held on $500,000 bail.

Because of a federal appeals court ruling, Texas child welfare workers will be required to obtain court orders in most cases before removing allegedly abused children from their homes, officials said.  USA Today News story  The ruling last month by a three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals will also bar welfare officials from automatically removing all children from the home if one child is alleged to be abused.  While unrelated, the ruling came amid scrutiny of the state's removal of hundreds of children this spring from a polygamous sect.  vol6_iss40  "The decision will require us to make some extremely difficult decisions," Carey Cockerell, commissioner of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, said in an "urgent legal advisory."  The memo was sent last week to Child Protective Services staff, the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News reported in online editions.  It said staffers must follow the new policies to avoid being sued for monetary damages.

Investigators are puzzled by the death of two pre-teen siblings whose skeletons were found in a California storage unit.  Fox News story here  Investigators said that dental records identified them as Victor and Tricia Reyes.  They had been dead for two to four years when the discovery of a severed hand last month led detectives to search a Derrell's Mini Storage unit in Bakersfield.  But authorities don't know how they died.  A coroner says they appeared to be 10 or 11.  Police say that their mother died this year of a drug overdose and that their father lives in Mexico.  Investigators say that the woman's other children were known to child welfare officials but that she hid the other two from authorities.

Rose Ron, who has not been seen for three months and is now believed to have been murdered, has been the victim of Israel's worst case of domestic violence in history, detectives say.   Sky News story here  After two weeks of a comprehensive gag order, police have now spoken about the tragic life and almost certain death of the young girl.  Her grandfather has told police he accidentally killed her, but Rose's body has not been found.  The unanswered questions about her fate have shocked the nation and led the Jerusalem Post to ask:  "Is Rose Israel's Madeleine (McCann)?"

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