Sex offender admits to killing FL girl, Jessica Lunsford; missing since February - Big Big Forums

Jolie Rouge · 03-18-2005, 07:31 PM

3/18/2005 6:57 PM

John Evander Couey was arrested in Georgia on Thursday on a probation violation. -- Getty Images

HOMOSASSA, Fla. (AP) — A registered sex offender has admitted kidnapping a 9-year-old Florida girl from her bedroom last month and killing her, authorities said Friday. "I've got my man," Citrus County Sheriff Jeff Dawsy told a news conference.

Dawsy said John Evander Couey confessed to investigators after taking a lie-detector test. The sheriff said Jessica Lunsford's body had not been found, but Couey gave them a general area to search.

Authorities cordoned off an area Friday near the home of Couey's half-sister, who lived about 150 yards from the home Jessica shared with her father and grandparents. Investigators said Couey sometimes stayed at the home, but Jessica's father said he had never met him.

Couey, 46, had been named as a "person of interest" in the case but was not initially charged. He was arrested in Augusta, Ga., on Thursday on a probation violation for failing to notify officials that he was moving, a requirement for sex offenders.

Authorities said Couey left Florida on or about March 4, about a week after the girl's disappearance, after telling relatives that police would be looking for him.

Jessica, a third grader, was last seen when she went to bed Feb. 23 in the home where she lived with her father and grandparents. She was discovered missing the next morning, with an unlocked door and a missing stuffed animal serving as evidence of her disappearance.

Couey has an extensive criminal record that includes arrests for burglary, carrying a concealed weapon and indecent exposure. In 1991, he was arrested in Kissimmee on a charge of fondling a child under age 16. Records don't show how the case was resolved.

During a house burglary in 1978, Couey was accused of grabbing a girl in her bedroom, placing his hand over her mouth and kissing her, Dawsy said. Couey was sentenced to 10 years in prison but was paroled in 1980.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/...M_Exclude=Juno

Faithfully · 03-18-2005, 07:47 PM

This is so, so sad. God bless that poor baby, and her family.

purplerose23 · 03-18-2005, 07:59 PM

The real sad part is that I live in N Augusta! I was downtown yesterday and probably SAW the man! I was with my nieces and fiance! To top it off, they had a double homicide just in N AUgusta last night too! This was just a few blocks from me at a business! Things are getting way out of hand!

nanajoanie · 03-18-2005, 08:28 PM

Saw this on the news tonight. So sad and senseless.

No rhymn or reason

Hopefully the creep/pervert will cough up where little Jessica is....The family is probably more that devesated knowing she is gone but where................My heart goes out to all of them. I can't even imagine

DAVESBABYDOLL · 03-18-2005, 08:33 PM

man

*sigh's

Jolie Rouge · 03-18-2005, 11:26 PM

Child Rapist, Murderer Hanged in Iran
Wed Mar 16, 2005
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer

PAKDASHT, Iran - A young man convicted of raping and murdering 16 boys was lashed 100 times, and then hanged Wednesday in front of a large, angry crowd who pelted him with stones and scuffled with police.

Mohammed Bijeh, 23, confessed in court to raping and murdering the children, between March and September 2004. Iranian media have said Bijeh burned the bodies of his victims, all boys between 8 and 15. Bijeh was sentenced to one death sentence for each murder he confessed and 100 lashes of the whip for the rapes.

An accomplice, Ali Gholampour, was acquitted of involvement in the murders but was convicted of taking part in some of the kidnappings, to which he confessed. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison and 100 lashes. Bijeh's verdict was carried out in Pakdasht, a small, impoverished town about 19 miles southeast of Tehran, after being upheld by the Supreme Court. It was the same town where the murders took place.

Approximately 5,000 spectators — including women and children — gathered to watch the flogging and hanging. Riot police circled the area. Some in the crowd threw stones at Bijeh as he was flogged, shirtless and hands tied to an iron pole. He fell to his knees three times as he received the lashes. A relative of one of the victims broke police security and attacked Bijeh with a knife, wounding his back before police dragged him away.

After the flogging, a rope was put around Bijeh's neck and attached to a hook on a crane. The crane's arm jerked upward and Bijeh's body dangled, drawing applause from the crowd.

Some people burst into tears, crying out the names of their injured children. Some shouted, "Shame on you, Bijeh!"

After about 20 minutes, the body was lowered and a doctor confirmed Bijeh was dead. Many in the crowd, some of them other family members of the victims, repeatedly tried to approach Bijeh's body but were prevented by riot police. Scuffles continued for at least half an hour.

The case provoked national outrage in Iran. Sixteen police officers were reprimanded for dereliction of duty and the Interior Ministry criticized the police for failing to catch the suspects after the first crime.

Many of the people in Pakdasht supported the hanging. "Public executions reduce the occurrence of offenses. Bijeh destroyed many families. He deserved more than death," said resident Zahra Khaleghi.

But Dariush Mehraban said public hangings only promote violence.

"Many criminals have been hanged, but offenses have never reduced. It's an ugly scene that a human being is hanged even if he has committed many crimes. Revenge is not the solution," said Merhraban, who watched the hanging.

Convicts are hanged in public in Iran only if a court deems that their offenses deeply affected public sentiment.

Iranian courts are controlled by hard-liners. Iranian reformists say public executions hurt the country's international image and reflect badly on Islam.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...p/iran_hanging

nightrider127 · 03-19-2005, 06:20 AM

This is so sad. I was hoping they would find her alive.

May the dirty dog that did this horrible deed get everything he deserves.

Denise1972 · 03-19-2005, 08:09 AM

I just watched Jessica's father give a press conference on Fox News. I am crying my eyes out. My god how can anyone kill a child. That poor father. My heart goes out to him. Even the anchors on fox news were crying. Its heart wrenching. Sex offenders should be hung as soon as convicted. There are 5 sex offenders in my small town of 3000, and 3 of them are in my neighborhood. One is directly down the street. Scary thing is, the police want him for failing to register this year or last year as a sex offender. Why the hell dont they just go to his house and arrest him??????? I dont get this crazy world sometimes

Jolie Rouge · 03-19-2005, 08:26 PM

Police find Jessica Lunsford's body
'She's home now,' girl's dad says; sex offender held in slaying
March 19 2005
Peter Cosgrove

Candles, cards and other items lie in a makeshift memorial near the home of Jessica Lunsford's family in Homosassa, Fla., on Saturday.

HOMOSASSA, Fla. - The body of missing 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford was found early Saturday, a day after officials said a registered sex offender confessed to kidnapping and killing the girl.

Citrus County Sheriff Jeff Dawsy said Jessica’s body was found during an overnight search in a densely wooded area, only about 150 yards away from the home the girl shared with her father and grandparents.

'She’s home now'

Jessica’s father, Mark Lunsford, visited the search scene shortly after sunrise and gave a brief, emotional statement to reporters. “Everyone heard me say, time after time, that she would be home,” Lunsford said, his eyes hidden behind dark black sunglasses. “She’s home now.”

John Evander Couey, 46, confessed to kidnapping and killing Jessica after taking a lie-detector test Friday in Georgia, Dawsy said. She disappeared from her bedroom more than three weeks ago.

“We’re en route to bring him back home,” said Dawsy, who added that he wants Couey to face the death penalty. “This guy is not a quality person, by any means. ... He’s truly a piece of trash,” the sheriff said.

'Bunch of druggies' also charged

Dawsy said that four other people were charged in connection with the case, three of them with obstruction for failing to notify police when Couey allegedly told them he had committed a crime. A fourth, the sheriff said, was picked up for questioning in the case but was charged only with failure to pay child support in an unrelated matter.

Dawsy called the four “a bunch of druggies” and said he would urge prosecutors not to allow them to plea-bargain for reduced sentences.

The body was found in the area around the trailer home of Couey’s half-sister.

Crews worked through the night in temperatures that dipped into the low 40s. Bright search lights were erected around the perimeter, and several candles left from a late-night vigil burned nearby.

A stream of official vehicles came and went throughout the pre-dawn hours, and a state mobile forensics unit left the scene about 3:30 a.m. — about the time Jessica’s body was found and taken to nearby Leesburg for examination.

Mark Lunsford has said the family did not know Couey, who was arrested Thursday.

“He may have interacted with Jessica,” Dawsy said. “But there is no relationship between Couey and this family.”

'He will pay'

At a news conference late Friday from Ohio, the girl’s mother, Angela Bryant, repeatedly made the same vow: Couey, she said, “will pay.”

“This man’s hurt too many people,” she said through tears. “He’s hurt too many children. And one of them is my daughter. He took her life from her and she didn’t deserve it. He will pay. He will pay. For hurting them children out there and my daughter, he will pay.”

Jessica, a third grader, was last seen when she went to bed in her home Feb. 23. She was discovered missing the next morning, with the door unlocked and her stuffed animal gone. The clothes she had laid out for school were still in place, and her shoes weren’t missing.

More than 100 police and volunteers, with help from bloodhounds and helicopters, searched the area about 60 miles north of Tampa for days following her disappearance. Jessica’s family made emotional appeals on national television for her safe return.

Sex offender disappeared

Detectives grew interested in Couey while interviewing all registered sex offenders in the area. They tried to contact Couey at his home in Homosassa five days after Jessica disappeared and discovered he no longer lived there.

When investigators followed up with the half-sister, she denied that Couey had lived with her. But another relative confided to a detective that Couey sometimes stayed at the home.

Authorities said Couey left Florida on or about March 4 after telling relatives that police would be looking for him. He was arrested in Augusta, Ga., on a probation violation for failing to notify officials that he was moving, a requirement for sex offenders. He was awaiting extradition to Florida on Friday.

Couey has an extensive criminal record that includes 24 arrests for burglary, carrying a concealed weapon and indecent exposure. In 1991, he was arrested in Kissimmee on a charge of fondling a child under age 16. Records don’t show how the case was resolved.

During a house burglary in 1978, Couey was accused of grabbing a girl in her bedroom, placing his hand over her mouth and kissing her, Dawsy said. Couey was sentenced to 10 years in prison but was paroled in 1980.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7190457

Jolie Rouge · 03-21-2005, 03:44 PM

Capital charge likely in Florida girl's killing
Sheriff says charges expected soon
Monday, March 21, 2005

INVERNESS, Florida (CNN) -- The suspect in the kidnapping, slaying and possible sexual assault of a 9-year-old Florida girl could be charged as early as Monday, authorities said.

Citrus County Sheriff Jeff Dawsy said that investigators are meeting with state attorneys later Monday and that suspect John Evander Couey would see an array of charges related to the case. "One of them is capital murder, and we [the state] will seek the death penalty for this individual," Dawsy said."

If charged Monday, Couey, 46, a sex offender with a long criminal history, would be arraigned Tuesday, Dawsy said.

Authorities found Jessica Marie Lunsford's body about 4 a.m. Saturday buried behind the home of Couey's half sister in Homosassa, north of Tampa. That residence is within eyesight of Jessica's house. Officials took the child's body to Leesburg for an autopsy, and Dawsy said there is evidence that someone sexually assaulted the child.

Couey made his first court appearance in Citrus County on Sunday, telling a magistrate judge that he understood his rights and the charges he faces. Judge Stephen Spivey set bond at $905 on a probation violation charge but said there would be no bond on a second charge of failure to comply with sex-offender registration requirements.

Couey allegedly confessed to abducting, killing and burying Jessica.

"I believe some of it," Dawsy said. "I don't believe everything he has told us. I think he was in a drug-induced haze for a portion of the time. We may never have a true timeline," he said. "There were two people that knew -- Jessica, who's gone, and this individual Couey, and because of his state with drugs, he was all over the place."

The sheriff and other sources said the suspect entered the house during the night of February 23, made his way to Jessica's room, covered her mouth, ordered her to remain quiet and forced her to leave. "There was no forced entry. The residence was unsecured," Dawsy said of the home where Jessica lived with her grandparents and father.

Couey may have held her captive for a day or two, investigators said.

Investigators awaited results of a test on evidence from the home where Couey was staying, and officials have informed the girl's family about the details surrounding Jessica's death. "Actually, it was a relief because I don't have to wonder," said Mark Lunsford, Jessica's father.

He said he is spearheading an effort to change the law to keep repeat sexual offenders incarcerated. "There should be a law for Jesse," Lunsford said.

He also had words for the suspect: "I hope you rot in hell, and I hope you get the death penalty, and I hope you can find it somewhere in you to be a man and stand up and take your punishment."

CNN's Susan Candiotti and Paul Courson contributed to this report.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/03/21/lu...ase/index.html

Jolie Rouge · 03-23-2005, 11:56 PM

[b]Police tapes reveal accused killer's 1991 plea for help
'Prison ain't going to help me,' Couey said in confession
Wednesday, March 23, 2005 [/i]

(CNN) -- The man charged with killing 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford confessed in 1991 that he tried to molest a 5-year-old girl, telling police "I need help," according to a tape obtained by CNN.

The suspect, 46-year-old John Evander Couey, was charged this week with capital murder, burglary with battery, kidnapping and sexual battery on a child younger than 12.

Couey had been arrested 25 times previously in Florida -- the same state as where he allegedy kidnapped and killed Jessica.

In the confession recorded 14 years ago, he described what he did to the 5-year-old girl in her back yard. "She was riding across and I went over there, and she offered to go in the back yard to jump on the trampoline. And I said 'OK.' We went back there and she was jumping on there," he said on the tape. "I asked if she wanted to play hide and go seek and she said yes, so we did."

Couey acknowledged to police that he exposed himself, that the girl then sat on his lap -- voluntarily, he claimed -- and that he put the girl's hand on him. "Then her mother come out and yelled for her and I took off," Couey said.

"I feel that prison ain't going to help me," he said. "I got a 10-year sentence and I done got out in three years, and it doesn't really help. I feel that I need help for myself. That's why I'm confessing to my crime that I committed tonight, 'cause I want help for myself so I will never have to be this again. I mean I feel bad about it, really I do. I feel that if I can get help for myself then I can make a better person out of myself," he said.

Couey was given the maximum sentence for attempted molestation -- five years -- and was out on parole after two years.

He told police at the time that his effort to molest a young girl was not a one-time event. A written report by the officer who took the taped confession said: "Couey admitted that this was not the first child he had ever touched, however, this is the first time he was caught."

The officer continued: "Couey admitted to molesting his wife's daughter, however, she agreed not to report the incident if he left the house and gave her a divorce, which he did. Couey knows he has a problem, however, has never sought medical assistance to help him control his sexual attraction for young children."

CNN tried unsuccessfully to locate Couey's former wife for comment.

Fourteen years after Couey's plea for help, police sources said, he entered Lunsford's house the night of February 23, made his way to the girl's room, covered her mouth, ordered her to remain quiet and forced her to leave.

Authorities found her body March 19, buried behind the home of Couey's half sister in Homosassa, Florida, north of Tampa.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/03/23/couey/index.html