January 31, 2008

Baby Was Murdered Before Being Thrown Onto Texas Roadside

GALVESTON, Texas — An autopsy has found that a 3-month-old baby boy was murdered before being thrown onto a Galveston roadside, still strapped into his car seat. The infant's death was ruled a homicide by blunt force head trauma, said John Florence, chief investigator for the Galveston County Medical Examiner's Office.

Police in Texas have identified the biological father of the baby, the last person known to be with the child, and are calling him a person of interest in the infant’s death, according to MyFoxHouston. A search was under way for Travis Mullis, 21, after an Alvin woman, whose name hasn't been released, tentatively identified the body as that of her son. She contacted police on Tuesday, saying she hadn't seen her son since Mullis took him that morning.
A couple who were bird-watching discovered the baby’s body Tuesday afternoon after first mistaking it for a doll.

The couple believed to be the baby's parents had argued the night before the infant was killed, police said Wednesday. Galveston Police spokesman Lt. Jorge Trevino said the couple had been fighting Monday night in their home in Alvin, about 30 miles northwest of Galveston. "I don't know if there was a history of that," he said. By the time the child's father left with his son sometime between 5 a.m. and 5:30 a.m. Tuesday to get a car repaired, the couple was no longer arguing, Trevino said.

The mother began calling hospitals hours later after becoming concerned about the baby because the father had left with few provisions for the child. The boy, wearing only a diaper, ended up in a grassy area Tuesday morning near Seawall Boulevard in this island city about 50 miles southeast of Houston.

A Galveston couple found the body as they drove slowly along a road looking for wildlife. There had been initial reports that the infant might have been thrown out of a moving vehicle. "But the location of the child and the baby seat is not consistent with a moving vehicle," Trevino said. "It was likely the car was stopped." The infant was in the car seat when it was tossed and the child was apparently ejected when the seat hit the ground, Trevino said.

A nationwide search is being conducted for the father, who dyed his hair blonde before the infant's death. The discovery of the baby's body comes just three months after a fisherman found the remains of a 2-year-old girl in a plastic box that had washed ashore in Galveston Bay. That child, dubbed "Baby Grace," was later identified as Riley Ann Sawyers of Spring.
Riley's mother and stepfather are charged with capital murder in her beating death.

Man Killed 8-Year-Old Daughter, Then Himself

Wife Found Bodies Two Hours After Argument, Authorities Say

INDIANAPOLIS -- A man shot and killed his 8-year-old daughter before fatally shooting himself in an east-side Indianapolis house Wednesday afternoon, police said. The bodies of Dwayne Johnson Jr., 28, and his daughter, Jordan Johnson, were found inside the house in the 3900 block of Fletcher Avenue, police said.

Police said the man had argued with his wife, Ginger, in the house at about 3 p.m. Wednesday, and that the wife left. Shortly after 5 p.m., the wife returned with her mother and found the bodies, according to police.

Johnson's wife called 911, and medics and officers who arrived determined the man and the child were dead, police said. Authorities said they believe the man and his daughter were the only ones inside the house when the shootings happened.

Relatives said Johnson and his wife were having marital problems. "I know that they were in the process of starting a divorce, and he didn't want (his wife) to have (their daughter)," Johnson's aunt Donna Allen told 6News' Renee Jameson. "I guess he just couldn't wait until it went through the court systems. He took his way out instead. Police said they had no record of any prior problems at the address where the shootings occurred.

Atherton-Zeman: Patriots - take a stand against domestic violence - Framingham, MA - The MetroWest Daily News

I must admit, with head hung, that as a football fan....I've been out of it this last half of this season and I apparently live under a rock, because I did not know that there were DV charges against Randy Moss?!? HHHMMM...I do like this writers take on it, I urge you to read this and spread it around. There are many things said here, that others....especially men in general need to read and take to heart!

Atherton-Zeman: Patriots - take a stand against domestic violence - Framingham, MA - The MetroWest Daily News