Faux acid attack victim pleads not guilty

Rigoberto's Suicide

I wonder if this one could've been prevented.
Click here: "LA Teacher Suicide Sparks Test-Score Debate"

The Beatles -Let It Be

Let It Be

I think when my times comes, I will fight to the death.
But then again, maybe I won't.
Maybe I'll be hurting so bad, I'll just yield to sleep's sweet escape or embrace.
Who really knows what we do until we do it?.
Those who say they've died and come back, may really have been there.
Down the tunnel, to the bright light, greeted by the comforting images of family members and friends. Seen angels and/or God.
Or maybe they just experienced some kind of electrical brain  explosion pre-shutdown, like the last circle of light on one of those old tv's we used to turn off.

Regardless, I think today, this P.I. needs to let go and let God... The Great Spirit... Allah... Moses... Jehovah... Jesus.... Buddha... Mother Earth...The Universe.... whoever.... do his/her thing.
I can not change any one's mind for them.
It is by virtue of being human, we are allowed to make our own decisions.
This song is a favorite of a friend and mine's. Very old, very good.
Perfect tune for a Sunday afternoon.
I am posting it to honor him and remind myself of a few things.

Now it is time to step away from the computer.... and let it be.

stop suicide

Worried

Sooner or later, I am going to have to take a major break from blogging to write a book I have committed to. However, I have become use to this blog.... and telling shorter stories, conveying important messages.... and selfishly, releasing my own  inner professional demons here.
P.I.'s aren't like police, we don't have our own built-in employer funded psych program.
We have to work out everything that happens to us in both life and business in our heads.
My wake-up call this morning was from a woman who was being stalked.
Sometimes.... it all  becomes a bit overwhelming for we P.I.'s and that is happening to a friend of mine this weekend.
He is in another country and I am hoping he will go to a hospital or the American Embassy, however, he feels hopeless and helpless... as he has cancer, complete financial ruin... and is actually sitting at home, cutting out his own tumors.
He says he has no family left in the U.S.
He is physically wiped out.
I do believe he has resigned himself to die.
Were I rich I could do something about this in a heart beat
I am not however.
And it appears to me he determined to just exit planet earth without a final fight.
If I call and have the authorities in a third world country intervene, who knows how much worse it could get for him. They could lock him in a psych ward.
That would be the end of him.
I and others have laid out several viable options.
What he does with all this info is up to him.
So for me, this is a hard time to have to exit the internet  for the day.That's why I figured the least I could do for my friend.... and myself.... is to write this blog.
And post the video above.
I will link him to it and tell him again here:
you are loved.
Please don't give up, don't leave, without one last fight.


Life can turn on a dime.... unless you cut it all off too soon.

Seattle police briefing on West Seattle shooting.

Grandma's Got A Gun

If any doubt exists in your mind that people are getting crazier than usual out there, please consider this article about a recent event in  West Seattle... which will no doubt make the national news.
Grandma comes down the stairs and starts shooting her children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews.
An estimated 20 rounds were fired, three family members were killed.
According one interview with a nephew afterward, "there was no emotion in her face."
Based on the attached article that describes Grandma's killing spree, we will be spared a trial  because Grandma killed herself too.
Now everyone is saying "why, why why?"
I know why.
Evidently, she had a history of mental illness.
She went ballistic.
Literally.
I've been on the very street where this happened, at a house just a few doors away.
I recall when I was in that neighborhood there were children playing everywhere.
For the kids in this family, "play"  is not the key word anymore.
"Pray" is better.
Because every family member who witnessed and  survived this must find a way to deal with the most unthinkable, unimaginable of crimes... committed by the one person in the word responsible for their very existence.
Grandma.
Just follow this link to the Seattle P.I.'s story.
http://www.seattlepi.com/local/427319_newshoot24.html?source=mypi

Smile, You're On Facebook Camera!

Big Brother is watching.
See why I don't have a profile pix?
Facebook Sending Photos of You for Criminal Investigation

Just Another Day In P.I. Paradise

I took a very early ferry out yesterday morning. First one. The sun hadn't risen, the fog was thick over Puget Sound.
I was up most of the night before investigating on the computer.
I recall looking at the clock and seeing the 3:30 am light and realizing the boat I was taking would be in less than two hours.
I remember setting my alarm to allow for for 1.5 hours sleep.
For an unknown reason.... and the first time... I chose the "rooster crowing wake up call" on my cell,  thinking that would somehow soften the blow of such an early rising.
No such luck.
The Droid Rooster is a horrible wake up call.
It was worse than the nightmare I was having.

It gets harder and harder as you get older to pull all-nighters. Though there are certain advantages.
Like no phones ringing.
Complete and total quiet.
P.I. data-bases don't shut down at night.
Computers run faster.
And when you are investigating Defendants on My Space, Facebook, and every other Social Network site you can imagine, it's like looking in windows, through photo albums, reading minds, tracking actions and being 100% invisible.
What continues to amaze me is the fact that many people don't have a clue  that what they post on their Facebook walls is revealing, can be used as evidence... and some cases, incriminate them.

The day this concept first hit home for me was when I took on a case the Defendant claimed was our client's fault. The lawyers and their client didn't want to sue.... to go to trial. They preferred to settle out of court.
However, the Defendant, a 23 year old male college student, refused to accept liability for the accident. His version of events just didn't add up, yet he insisted his insurance company take the case to trial.
Then I got a call from the Attorney I was working the case with. He was laughing and said just six words. The DEF's first and last name, plus "Go to My Space."
Then he said, "I'll hold on."
So off to the DEF's My Space  I went and it was a gold-mine of incriminating evidence.
My laughter soon melded with the attorney's.
The kid was not just a liar, he was an idiot.
Not only did the DEF post about the accident the night it happened, with photos of his car...
he also documented every hour of that entire evening, every drink in his hand during the party he was at before he hit our client head-on. He was clearly drinking all day.
And even better than that, he added these words, "missed a curve... ouch" on his Twitter account.
His insurance company settled out of court.

When I first became a P.I., I spent much of my time in courthouses,  countless hours, cruising through microfilm, hand- pulling records. These days, it's amazing what can be gathered through a computer, public records, a state license, and by following all Federal and State privacy laws.

Now I think Facebook takes Private Investigation to a whole new level.
Even the FBI is here. http://www.facebook.com/FBI
Facebook is quite the info source for an Investigator.
And a good P.I. can usually find a back door in.

Facebook has also become a graveyard of sorts. There are memorials set up for the deceased.
And for the living, who've been stalked,  insulted, or go into hiding, there are always cybertrails to follow when you need to find them.

So before you post something on your wall think about what you are posting.
PI's are much like truffle hounds.
Once we're on a scent, we're relentless.
And following that scent is much easier now... especially with today's social media.
So be careful what you say and post.
It could come back to haunt you.

20 Words To Change

Acid Girl's Charges - Theft

I confess I am more than bit fascinated/obsessed by this case.
And as I was just about to race out for the day, I discovered Prosecutors shared some details of the behind the theft charges associated with this self-mutilating crime.
One of things Bethany Storro wanted to pay for from the sympathy funds she received from the public was an acid face peel. All I can say at the moment is "unbelievable". You never really know what's going on inside someone's head.
Maybe that's why I love my job so much. Never a dull, predictable, boring day or case.
And every time I go into one of those "oh woe is me" modes.... I walk in a home, a police station, a jail, study and sketch an accident scene, photograph a victim's injuries.... or hear about a case like this... I am so grateful for both my health and sanity.
Just follow this link and maybe you'll feel a little better about your own state of mind today.
Wash. woman burned in acid hoax charged with theft - CharlotteObserver.com

Stopping Stalkers

Some of us will go through life having never been stalked.
To those of you free from this behavior, you have no clue how lucky you are. 

Most stalkers have a screw loose, or a screw too tight, or they are just plain screwed up.  They may have delusions, illusions, obsessions... yet does it really matter why?
For whatever reasons,  they pursue with such relentless persistence, it can really be soul and gut- wrenching for the person being stalked to deal with. The more you try to make them go away, the more it turns them on.

I've dealt my my fair share of stalkers on behalf of clients. My job is to make them stop and I/we do. Often with the assistance of restraining orders, police, video cameras, human surveillance...and the threat of their public exposure or criminal and/or civil charges.

I have a link I'd like to share with you. This is one of the best sites on the web for all kinds of information and I find their stalking page so right-on in presenting stalker counter-measures, I decided to add it here, today, this way.

So here it is. A way to fight back. Just enter this powerful portal:
http://www.baddteddy.com/stalkers/stalkers.htm

Police Say Wash. Acid Attack Self-Inflicted

Acid Girl - "The story behind the story"

What kind of young woman throws acid in her own face and carries the whole hoax out for so long....talking to media from her hospital bed, her once attractive face wrapped in bandages?
This act of self-mutilation resulted in many victims, not just two other women in our country injured in copycat crimes.
Bethany Storro also accused a woman of color of committing this crime.
Just like Susan Smith accused the same, only this time, a black male, of drowning her boys. Susan Smith was the one killed her sons.
Ultimately, both women confessed. Yet I can't imagine the weight and worry anyone of color felt while the search for the alleged perpetrators of these lies went down.
And I am grateful to law enforcement professionals with the powerful ability to elicit those confessions.
Still that inevitable question remains?Why?
Screws loose? Low self-esteem? Meth trip? Media crazy? Whacko Parenting?
I have been a bit haunted by this case. Then I stumbled upon this article.
I think it does a great job of plumbing the deaths of this woman's psyche.
Just click here: The story behind the story of the acid hoax | The Columbian

Stick Fight

One Day in The Life

I've been away from the blog too long.
That's both a good thing and a bad thing.
It's good because I am busy investigating cases... which means I am out helping people and making money. 
It's bad because the blog has remained static.

I've decided I need a wealthy benefactor, a lottery win or at the very least, a best selling book.
I'm going for the last two.
So I bought three Lotto tickets today, along with my Hi Rev Coffee at the corner gas station before hitting the road.
In all, this day took me 177 miles round trip.
I made it through two accident investigations and took pictures of a decimated car, and some gnarly  injuries.
I followed one person around during lunch to see who he was with when he wasn't at the job his girlfriend found out he lost months ago.
I was surprised to see an accident happen when someone ran a stop sign. There were plenty of witnesses present, I handed the police officer my card and exited that scene.
I called 911 when I saw two men fighting outside an apartment complex where kids were playing.
One appeared to have a pipe of some kind.
I  stayed in my car, grabbed my binoculars, waited and watched until the police came and I drove away.
My last job of the day was delivery of a subpoena.
I wanted to get this last task done early and fast because the car ferry lines home on Fridays can take forever.

So I ran into the supermarket, got a bunch of cheap flowers, knocked on the door and asked the woman who answered for my subject by name... even though I knew it was her, I'd seen her picture.
She said, "That's me!" excitedly,  "who would send me flowers?"
She had a great big smile and I got a huge rush as I handed her the flowers and a set of folded papers.
"An attorney, " I  said, attempting to look serious even though it was hard to contain my joy at this last task being done. "You've been served."
Normally I linger a little, savor the aftershock.
This time, I turned on my heels with the image of her mouth hanging open, the papers and flowers in her hand, as I sprinted for my car in one heavy-duty Seattle downpour.
The ferry line wait was a full two hours.
I alternated between phone calls, organizing case files, cleaning out my car and listening to radio commentators discuss the Vacouver woman who threw acid in her own face and blamed a black woman. She faked the whole thing.
And here I sit.
Friday night, the P.I. is finally home, everyone's sleeping but me. Dogs snore louder than people sometimes.
I have an early boat out tomorrow, so I will close for now, while I prep for a Saturday case that couldn't wait until Monday.
This is one day in the life of just one P.I.
Always different. Ever challenging. Endlessly intriguing.
And ultimately, exhausting.

Stephen Lynch Lullabye - Adults Only

The Best Divorce Letter(s) Ever

Follow this link: Divorce Letter- Hysterical - FilmiCity Forums

RE: The Cycle Of Abuse "We Are The Fallen - Bury Me Alive"

The Cycle Of Abuse

People abuse each other.
That is a fact.
It can be verbal, it can be emotional, it can be physical, it can be sexual, it can predatory for monetary gain.
It can be manipulative, it be can be deceptive. It can be cruelty cloaked in humor. It can be subtle or overt sarcasm. 
It can take any shape or any form in its expression.
However, the cycle itself is quite predictable.
It works like this:
The abuser abuses. That means the abuser insults, hollers, bullies, cheats, hits, lies, steals money, whatever.
Then other person... the victim or target... takes it.
Hopefully the target/victim lives through it.
Then the abuse stops for a window of time while the abuser cools off in jail, or leaves, or gets his/her sanity back, temporarily.
Then, the abuser, appearing humbled courts the victim by providing apologies, excuses, love.
The victim thinks he or she is going crazy.
How can someone be so kind one moment and cruel the next?
Is it a Jekyll and Hyde thing? Or more a Sybil, multiple personality thing?
Or is it just a learned....behavioral...or genetic... thing?
Passed down from one multi-generational dysfunctional family to another?

After the abuse episode, everything appears cool...
though the victim is really walking on eggshells or shattered glass...
until the abuser begins to heat up again.
One wrong move, word, question, look, action... on the victim's part.... and the abuser goes from 0 to warp(ed) speed instantaneously.
It happens over and over and over again... usually, escalating.

For some people the cycle of abuse begins in childhood.
For others, it begins in a relationship.
And for others still, the abuse is self directed.

I think the following song reflects what an abuse victim feels.
Abuse is a form of  living death.
And the cycle of abuse doesn't stop, until someone (ideally, the abuser) dies, or some powerful legal or higher force intervenes.
And the latter, that intervention part, is usually only temporary.

Thank you to my friend Denida Zinxhira, for the link to above song.
I don't know a better way to show what I am saying here.

Holly Washa

Praise for New Execution Technique

The opening quote of this story from the Seattle Times about today's execution here in Wa State disturbs me:

"Friday's execution of Cal Coburn Brown, the first time the state has used just one drug in a lethal injection, was carried out "professionally, humanely and was dignified," according to the state Department of Corrections.

Here's what seriously ticks me off.
Why should Brown's execution be professional, humane and dignified, when he showed 21 year-old Holy Washa, the young woman he kidnapped, raped,  tortured for hours, then murdered... no mercy?
There was nothing humane or dignified in Holly's death.
Why does her murderer deserve the luxury of an easy out?
I am very glad this guy was put out of our misery and has exited the planet.
If were ever released, he would kill again.

I just wish he suffered more.
Link to Story: Local News | Execution of killer brings praise for state's new method | Seattle Times Newspaper

Worst Political Speech Ever- Phil Davison-GOP

Assist Needed RE: The Following Two Links

The best part of having your own blog is being able to say what you what.... when.
So I am going to say this.
Drew Peterson is a killer scumbag. Everyone knows he killed his wives.
The people who buy his bull are in denial, idiots, or like the limelight and notoriety.
And the only reason Peterson has gotten away with it...
besides being a psychopath and having no conscience...
is because he's a former cop who knew enough about evidence to be dangerous and not get caught.
I've been working a murder case for 10 years and still, the perp, a criminal attorney has evaded indictment... let alone conviction.
What really worries me is this dude, Peterson, getting out on a technicality.
And when newspapers like the Sun-Times publish articles like this, therein lie the technicalities.
Should you feel the outrage I did after reading Susan Murphy Milano's blog articles, stand up for justice and comment on Susan's articles right there in the comment section.
That is the way the newspaper will hear our voice.
It is up to all of us to speak for the victims, living and dead.
A confession.
I have dark fantasies about Peterson's fate.
None of them end up well for him.

Susan Murphy Milano's Journal: Part 2 - Drew Peterson "Blood On The Rocks"

Link:
Susan Murphy Milano's Journal: Drew Peterson: The Chicago Sun-Times "Blood on the...: "Once again, without any regard for Kathleen Savio or Stacy Peterson’s family the Chicago Sun-Times has printed another letter from for..."

Susan Murphy Milano's Journal: Part 1- Profiling A Psychopath Series: Drew Peterso...

Link To: Susan Murphy Milano's Journal: Profiling A Psychopath Series Part 1: Drew Peterson: "According to the Institute of Relational Harm and Public Psychopathy Education, there are approximately six million men in the United stat..."

Free Background Sources

I shared this link with a friend tonight and I decided to  share it with readers of this blog as well.
It's the first item on the list of my "Fave Free Links" on the left side of this blog.
This is a great start to any background, locate, asset search, you name it.
The list will grow in the days and weeks ahead. I add to it whenever I can.

Licensed P.I.'s use both the  public, free data sources... and, paid investigative databases which require a license and a legally permissible reason.... to access information the general public may not have access to. The paid databases are fast and cut right to the chase.

The thing about free databases is avoiding the advertisers on the free sites who lure you in and then try to get you to pay for searches.
Over time you get good at identifying those lures... they are usually colored boxes that stand alone.
Getting into backgrounds takes time, so be patient with yourself.
Bookmark this link below. This is truly a great site.
One day you will need it for something... or someone.
Start every search here, free.
Link to: Public Records Free Directory - Nationwide Directory of Public Record Resources

What Goes Around Comes Around

RE: Marshmellow Murder

It's a crime what happens to these little guys.Allegedly their tiny vocal chords  emit a scream that strikes a note way too high for we humanoids to hear.
The next time you open up a Jar of Mr Marshmellow, or have yourself  s'more s'mores, think about this  tragically revealing video.

Multiple Labor Day Murders

Leona Lewis -" You Cut Me Open and..."

RE: Bleeding Love

It was a simple trade-off over coffee.
I handed her the envelope, she gave me the rest of the money due.
In the envelope was evidence of her man's betrayal.
That would be 30 years of marriage to the surgeon who provided her with an affluent lifestyle, prestige and facade she was reluctant to give up.
Also, there was an equally important issue she had to deal with.
They'd refinanced their house after an arduous process.
Unbeknown to my client... the spurned wife... some of that  refinance money was spent on a little love nest --  a live-on houseboat her husband co-signed for his trophy girl the day after the refinance funds cleared the bank account.
That could constitute fraud I told her. I made quite a few suggestions... good ones, in my opinion.
The best being divorce and prosecution and/or a civil suit.
She didn't seem to care. She was flat, with a zombie-like affect.
Zero. Zip. Nada.
Expressionless.
She had what I have heard described as "the stare of a thousand miles" -- it's a look you see in people who survived unimaginable tragedies. You see them they're staring off into space, lost in a galaxy of thought. Expressionless.
"Are you okay?" I asked as I leaned forward, touched her arm lightly and made strong eye contact,
"No," she said, "I'm bleeding. My heart's bleeding."
I knew she  meant it figuratively, not literally. Still...
"You want me to call 911?" was all I could think to ask.
She shook her head no.
"It's not that kind of bleeding," she said.
There was a pause. A long one. I broke it.
"What now?" I asked. "Divorce?"
Again she shook her head no.
"This isn't the first time... and you're not the first P.I. I've hired" she replied.
" So, I'm just going to keep bleeding until it stops." She got up, shook hands and we parted ways.

I was left wondering... if she ever stopped bleeding.

Motorcycle Love Story: Do You Believe It?

Motorcycle Accident Love Story - True or Not?

As an Auto Accident Investigator, I have investigated more auto and motorcycle accidents than I can count. Lately, the motorcycle investigations have increased exponentially....due, I believe, to a number of factors -- the high price of gas, cars, the desire for some people to feel free on the road rather than confined, so they buy bikes.

There are the new bikers.... the younger unexperienced drivers, cocky newbies, addicted to the "fast and the furious," the movies, video games and the rush. They buy crotch rockets, race down the freeway at ridiculous speeds, and show off doing wheelies. They have no clue what happens when a human body and concrete meet at 90 mph.

Then there are the bikers who've been riding  Harleys, Triumph, Indians... you name it..all their lives either in groups, clubs, or gangs. They're good riders. They know people often don't see motorcycles at intersections. They also know some people hate bikers and will deliberately cause a hit. They are very defensive drivers.

There are also the mid life-crisis types, who choose the Gold Wings over the Harleys.

In my opinion, most of the bikers -- the older ones and many of the younger one --  are very serious, very responsible and cautious when it comes to their rides and passengers.
They are as protective of themselves as they are of their bikes.

And in the accidents I investigate, since I investigate on behalf of the victims, the bikers are not at fault.
A vehicle hits them, either claiming they didn't see them, or it was the biker's fault when it wasn't.
In almost all of my motorcycle investigations, I work for the attorney who represents the victims. My job is to find the evidence to substantiate the case.

If my clients... the victims...live, they are usually shattered.
I will never forget one guy, who had a part of his skull cap removed and sewn into his side to preserve it while he was in a coma in Intensive Care.
He did live, his frontal skull cap section put back in place. But he was never the same.
The image of his handsome, 18 year old son weeping at his side in the hospital will never escape my head.
Nor will the many hospital visits I have had with the young women in hospitals, nursing homes, or graveside markers..,.. who rode on the back of their honey's bikes.

In most of my cases, the biker passengers are hurt worse than the biker drivers. Their arms wrapped around the driver's waist is no challenge for the law of physics in a hit. Off they fly and off I go to meet them.... or their families, if they live.

I have seen the clip above a few times.
I don't know what to make of it because it is allegedly 100% true. However, I just can't see the dialogue going on, the helmet exchange, the whole romantic scenario happening in the instant it takes for an accident to occur.
I also wonder why the guy wore the helmet to begin with and then gave it to the girl.
They both needed the helmets.
So I am therefore suspect and wonder if you might be too.

The Sound Of Forgiveness

Of People And Llamas

Today, someone called me while I was on the road.
It was a male client I had grown closer to than most because he was so damn nice and  his wife was cheating on him so blatantly. Not just once, not just twice, but with a third man.
We got pictures of this.
Now my client was no John Edwards, Jesse James or Tiger Woods.
However, my client was your better-than-average looking Joe, made over a six-figure income and he had a heart of gold.
He married this woman he met on the net about 10 years ago, she was 10 years his junior. 
She had an empty heart she wanted to fill with his gold and he became her Fort Knox.

They met right smack dab in the middle of the internet bubble so there was a lot of equity she could suck out of him. She got it all: a Beemer;  Cigarette Boat; the Jimmy Choos; Versace and Vera Wang on stand-by; endless travels;  single evenings that cost more an an average America's food budget for a month;  massive plastic surgery and the requisite American Express platinum card (though she sorely wanted the black one).

Then... the economic bubble burst and their relationship began to implode....
and ultimate explode.
As the housing and stock market collapsed, my client lost his job.
And  his self-entitled wife who never worked, was not happy with the bills that wouldn't stop coming.
Now did she appreciate the bill collectors who wouldn't stop calling.
However, she refused to work because she felt it was "beneath her".

One day, my client told me she socked him in the eye.
He laughed off the dark bruise and told everyone he walked into a wall...
though he told me he pushed her first  and she hit him back.
So if he called the police, he thought he go to jail. They'd believe her when in fact, he made the first move.

He said she cried, she was so sorry, claimed it was just a reflex from when her daddy use to beat her.
He believed her. 

Then, when his unemployment benefits were running out and the retirement account was tapped out, she ("allegedly") cut the brake lines on my client's car because there was a hefty insurance policy on his life.
Fortunately, the crash was minor, it was the insurance adjustor who discovered the cut brake lines.
It was my client who discovered his missing pocketknife in the trash can. the knife had serrated edges, the same edges made on his brake lines. 
I strongly and repeatedly suggested my client press criminal, civil and/or divorce charges.
He refused.
"No way," he said. "It's no longer about denial," he said to me, "It's about economic survival. And right now, to quote the Blues Brothers, it's cheaper to keep her."

So instead, he took her off as the beneficiary to his will and told her.
Second he told her he was onto her.
He said there was note and evidence in his safe deposit box, the key with his younger sister....
plus a letter and photos with his P.I. should he meet an untimely death.
And he told her if anyone was going to leave the house first, it would be her.
She could take her clothes and anything else she came into the marriage with.
Otherwise, until the sheriff evicted him from the house he wasn't budging.
She held her ground and said half the house was hers by community property laws, so she is staying too.
The only upside to this nightmare is no kids are involved.
What we got is a battle of the wills that has escalated to a war.... that will hopefully result in either no casualties, or a total of just two.

So there they both sit to this very day.
The house is in foreclosure and neither will move an inch.
Neither wants to pay the first divorce filing fee.
Neither wants to budge an inch.
This morning, her bright red BMW was repossessed, he told me on the phone with glee.
He owns his pickup outright.

So as I was thinking about the lunacy of this during my morning rounds, I came home to an email --  second in my favorite llama series a detective friend sent me.
Evidently, we share the same sick sense of humor.
Even though this video is a few years old, I've never seen and therefore posted it before.
I got a thing about these llamas... and the predicament they're in.
It reminds me of the lifeboat my client and his wife are in.
Good vs evil attempting to balance each other out to survive.
Wonder how this story will end?