Cops: Cape Girardeau woman kills man who returned to rape her second time

Ronnie Preyer. ,
Photo from Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department.
By Heather Ratcliffe
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
10/31/2008

An intended rape victim shot and killed her attacker this morning in Cape Girardeau when he broke into her home to rape her a second time, police said.The 57-year-old woman shot Ronnie W. Preyer, 47, a registered sex offender, in the chest with a shotgun when he broke through her locked basement door.

The woman told police he was the same man who raped her several days earlier. Officials do not intend to seek charges against her.In the first incident, the woman heard glass breaking in her basement about midnight on Saturday.

She went to leave the house, and the man attacked when she opened the front door. He punched her in the face and then forced her into a bedroom, where he raped her, said H. Morley Swingle, prosecuting attorney in Cape Girardeau County.

The victim reported the crime to police, and her landlord repaired the broken window. She was home alone again Friday about 2:15 a.m. when Preyer broke the same basement window. The victim was awake watching television, when Preyer switched off the electricity to her house. She tried to call 911, but couldn't because the power was off.

She got a shotgun and waited as the man began banging on the basement door. She fired when Preyer came crashing through the door. When Preyer collapsed, the woman escaped and went to a neighbor's home, where she called police.

Officers, who arrived within a minute, found a bleeding Preyer stumbling away from the house. He was taken to St. Francis Medical Center, where he died several hours later. Swingle said the victim identified Preyer as the attacker in both incidents.

Preyer, of Jackson, Mo., had wet caulking from the recently repaired basement window on his clothing when he was shot."I will not be filing any sort of charge against this 57-year-old woman, who was clearly justified under the law in shooting this intruder in her home," Swingle said.

Slain immigrant's brother hopes for hate-crime legacy

http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/12/15/nyc.ecuadoran.killed/index.html

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Mourning relatives say they hope a slain Latino immigrant can become a symbol against hate crimes.

Jose Sucuzhanay was kept on life support but died hours before his mother arrived from Ecuador.

1 of 3


var CNN_ArticleChanger = new CNN_imageChanger('cnnImgChngr','/2008/CRIME/12/15/nyc.ecuadoran.killed/imgChng/p1-0.init.exclude.html',2,1);
//CNN.imageChanger.load('cnnImgChngr','imgChng/p1-0.exclude.html');
New York City police are still hunting for suspects in the killing of Ecuadorian Jose Sucuzhanay, who died Friday, five days after he was hit in the head with a bottle and beaten with a baseball bat.
Police say racial slurs were yelled during the attack in Brooklyn.
Sucuzhanay's brother, Diego Sucuzhanay, told CNN his brother would always be remembered as a victim of a hate crime and that it was time for them and others to speak out.
"Our brother wanted to make history when he died. And he did already, we should be proud of him, [despite] the way he died, we should be proud of him," he said.
Hundreds of people marched Sunday through the Brooklyn neighborhood where Sucuzhanay was attacked, carrying signs saying "no more hate crimes." Watch marchers protest against hate crimes »
Another Ecuadorian immigrant was killed last month in Long Island, 50 miles from Brooklyn. A teenager has been charged with first-degree murder as a hate crime in the death of Marcello Lucero, 37, who police said was stabbed in the chest as he walked to a friend's apartment.
Don't Miss
New York immigrant dead in apparent hate crime
Family spokesman Francisco Moya said Jose Sucuzhanay, 31, had lived in the United States for more than a decade and was a legal resident.
Diego Sucuzhanay said Jose set up a successful real estate business in a low-income area, thinking he could make a difference there.
He said his brother wanted to help everyone and hired a diverse team, including four African-Americans and two Latinos. He was raising two children: a 9-year-old son and a 4-year-old daughter.
Sucuzhanay died of his injuries Friday at Elmhurst Hospital, hours before his mother arrived in New York from Ecuador, his family said.
Police said Jose Sucuzhanay and his brother Romel had left a party at a church when several men approached them in a car in Brooklyn's Bushwick section, about a block from the brothers' home, on December 7. The men shouted anti-gay and anti-Latino vulgarities and attacked the brothers, police said.
Romel, 34, escaped with minor scrapes and has talked with detectives. Police have released a sketch of one possible suspect in the case.
Police are offering a $22,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone involved in the attack.
In a statement, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg called the attack "a pointless and gutless crime." He promised authorities would find and prosecute those responsible

Slain student called 911, but no one came in time

http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/12/16/grace.coldcase.zimmerman/index.html

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Brittany Zimmerman, a 21-year-old college student who wanted to be a doctor, called 911 as she was being attacked by a stranger, police say.

Brittany Zimmerman's screams and struggle for her life were captured by a 911 tape.

But the police did not come for 48 minutes. By that time, Zimmerman was dead. Her fiance found her body.
Although the dispatcher claimed later to have heard nothing, the 911 tape captured screams, gasps and what sounds like a struggle, according to the court documents.
Spring was in the air when college student Zimmerman returned April 2 from classes at the University of Wisconsin to the off-campus apartment she shared with her fiance, Jordan Gonnering.
He was out when she arrived home. He discovered her body when he returned.
Zimmerman had been stabbed multiple times in her chest, near her heart. She'd also been beaten and strangled, according to warrants released recently. Watch an update on the case »
Zimmerman managed to call 911 at 12:20 p.m. The call was taken by the Dane County 911 center and an internal investigation revealed the dispatcher did not hear any sounds that would signal an emergency.
Because of that, police were not sent to the apartment until 48 minutes after Zimmerman made the call. Her fiance was already there.
Cold Case
Nancy Grace looks at the Brittany Zimmerman case 8 & 10 PM
see full schedule »
Dane County has taken some harsh criticism from the public regarding the delay, and tough questions have been raised about whether a prompt response might have saved Zimmerman's life.
Police are still looking for her killer.
"We are working diligently on this case, have generated significant leads, and are making progress," said Joel De Spain of the Madison Police Department.
The police said they believe Zimmerman was attacked by a stranger. Her apartment door showed signs of forced entry.
After interviews with Zimmerman's family, friends and acquaintances, investigators determined there was no personal motive for the attack.
"In fact, we have not been able to determine any motive yet in this case," De Spain said. He emphasized that police have no reason to believe Zimmerman was the victim of a serial killer.
During the investigation, police have tracked leads pointing to vagrants in Zimmerman's off-campus neighborhood. The vagrants often would knock on doors and beg for money.
Don't Miss
More cold cases
Nancy Grace show page
CNN.com Crime section
"We are still investigating this avenue, but at this time we have not been able to develop any specific suspects," De Spain said.
Zimmerman's family and friends describe her as a loving, warm young woman, who had much to look forward to. She was engaged to the love of her life and had dreams of earning a medical degree, they said. She was idealistic, and her goal was to help people, not to earn a large salary, they said.
Other details in the released warrants reveal that Zimmerman was murdered in her bedroom, that her cell phone was found in "parts," and that her bloody slippers and bloody computer paper were recovered.
The murder weapon is described as a knife, two to five inches long. Police are not saying whether they have recovered it.
DNA was collected from Zimmerman's body, as well as hair, blood samples, footprints and fingerprints. So far, no match has been made to a suspect.
Zimmerman's family is offering a $14,000 reward, and Crime Stoppers is offering $1,000 for tips leading to the arrest and/or conviction of anyone responsible for Zimmerman's death. Please call the tip line at 608-266-6014.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081201/ap_on_re_us/tv_anchor_attacked

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – A television anchorwoman killed in her home had been sexually assaulted and beaten so badly in a suspected burglary that her jaw shattered and she broke a hand while trying to fend off her attacker's blows, her parents said Monday.
"This monster stole my daughter's innocence," said Patti Cannady, the mother of Anne Pressly, on NBC's "Today."
"He took her life. He took her identity. He took our lives," she said.
Police Lt. Terry Hastings did not dispute her remarks and those of her husband, Guy, but declined to offer specifics about the attack. Police and prosecutors have refused to say whether Pressly, 26, was sexually assaulted during the Oct. 20 attack in Little Rock.
"A lot of those details, we want the jury to hear those first," Hastings said.
The 26-year-old anchorwoman for KATV died Oct. 25. An arrest warrant used to pick up Curtis Lavelle Vance, 28, was released Monday but doesn't mention a sexual assault.
Vance has been assigned three public defenders, who began talking with him Monday afternoon. He remains in jail without bond and has yet to enter a plea in the Pressly slaying.
If prosecutors don't seek the death penalty, Vance will face life in prison if convicted of capital murder. In addition, he faces rape and residential burglary charges in Marianna, about 90 miles east, Detective Sgt. Carl McCree said.
Police worked for weeks without a named suspect in the Pressly slaying until DNA collected at Pressly's home matched a sample from an unsolved April rape in Marianna. Authorities there suggested officers investigate Vance, a suspect in several burglaries.
Vance denied his involvement in Pressly's slaying and allowed a DNA sample to be tested, police said. The DNA matched evidence taken from her home, and investigators now say they've solved her case "with all scientific certainty."
McCree has said Vance became a suspect in the burglaries there after his girlfriend sold allegedly stolen items to a pawn shop, though none of Pressly's possessions turned up.
Patti Cannady said she found her daughter in bed, bloody and beaten, after she didn't answer a wake-up call. She said every bone in her daughter's face had been broken.
"Her jaw pulverized so badly that the bone had come out of it," Cannady said. "I actually thought that her throat, it possibly been cut, but that was possibly the first knockout punch. Her entire skull had numerous fractures from which she suffered a massive stroke."

Man Arrested in Brianna Denison Murder Case

http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/12/16/grace.coldcase.zimmerman/index.html

Man Arrested in Brianna Denison Murder Case
Wednesday November 26, 2008
A 27-year-old Sparks, Nevada man has been arrested on suspicion of kidnapping, murder and sexual assault in the case of Brianna Denison. The arrest of James Michael Biela ends a 10-month investigation into the death of the 19-year-old college student who disappeared while sleeping on a friend's sofa in January.
Police said the break in the case came via a tip through the Secret Witness program.
The tip from the witness led investigators to match a DNA sample from Biela's 4-year-old daughter to DNA in the Denison case and others.
Biela (pictured above) was arrested Tuesday night and a DNA sample was taken from him. Denison's family members told reporters today that Biela's DNA matched that found at the scene where Denison's body was found.
Sources said Biela was a pipe fitter who worked on construction projects at the University of Nevada Reno at the time of the sexual assaults. Family members said Biela was dishonorably discharged from the Marines.
During the investigation, authorities said that DNA evidence found in the Denison case linked her killer to at least two other sexual attacks on women near the university from October to December 2007.
Disappeared in the Middle of the Night
On Jan. 19, 2008, Santa Barbara City College student Brianna Denison (left) was home in Reno, Nevada, on winter break and went out partying with friends Saturday night. She spent the night on their couch. When Denison's friends woke the next morning she had disappeared, leaving her personal items behind.
She was last seen around 4 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 20. She slept on a couch near an unlocked glass door using a two-foot teddy bear as an extra pillow. The next morning, she and the teddy bear was gone, but her clothes, purse and cell phone were still there.
After a massive search, her body was found Feb. 15 in a field in south Reno.

Natalee Holloway's Mom: Aruba Investigators 'Not Following Up on Any Leads'

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,454527,00.html

GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, FOX NEWS HOST: And tonight, Natalee Holloway, the American who vanished in Aruba in 2005. Her mysterious disappearance is back in the headlines. Now, the Associated Press is reporting that a new witness has come forward. Who is the witness? And where is Joran van der Sloot tonight

Hunt Is on for Missing Missouri Teens Who Vanished During Football Game

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,442582,00.html

Police continued to hunt for clues into the whereabouts of two missing Missouri teens who disappeared during a football game and have called the boy a suspect — but stopped short of saying they believe he kidnapped the girl.
An Amber Alert issued Tuesday remained in effect for Christina "Paige" Alley, 14, and Levi Carlson, 16, who were last seen Friday night in a maroon 1996 Toyota Avalon with Missouri plate number PD0 A5U, MyFOXKC.com reported.
They vanished during a football game in Lathrop. Alley performed in the band at the game's halftime show and then got permission to leave.
When the pair didn't come home at all that night, Alley's parents called police, MyFOXKC.com reported.
Carlson was originally identified as a victim, but police have now named him a suspect, according to MyFOXKC.com.