PDA

View Full Version : Sex offender admits to killing FL girl, Jessica Lunsford; missing since February



Jolie Rouge
03-18-2005, 05:31 PM
3/18/2005 6:57 PM


http://images.usatoday.com/news/_photos/2005/03/18/couey.jpg
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/2005-03-18-missing-girl_x.htm?csp=24&RM_Exclude=Juno

Faithfully
03-18-2005, 05:47 PM
This is so, so sad. God bless that poor baby, and her family. :(

purplerose23
03-18-2005, 05:59 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, 06:28 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, 06:33 PM
man :( *sigh's

Jolie Rouge
03-18-2005, 09:26 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.

http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20050316/capt.vah11003161513.iran_hanging_vah110.jpg

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?tmpl=story&u=/ap/iran_hanging

nightrider127
03-19-2005, 04:20 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, 06:09 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 :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

Jolie Rouge
03-19-2005, 06:26 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


http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/050319/050319_lunsford_hmed_7a.h2.jpg
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, 01:44 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/lunsford.case/index.html

Jolie Rouge
03-23-2005, 09:56 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

Jolie Rouge
04-08-2005, 01:14 PM
Documents Detail Fla. Abduction Case
Cops Were Close to Saving Jessica Lunsford


HOMOSASSA, Fla. (AP) - A 9-year-old girl who was abducted from her bed and allegedly slain by a sex offender might have been alive when officers questioned residents at the mobile home where the suspect lived, according to court documents.

John Evander Couey, 46, who pleaded not guilty to murder Wednesday, had been staying off and on at the mobile home of his half sister, Dorothy Marie Dixon, about 150 yards from Jessica Lunsford's home. ``Couey's timeline of events after he kidnapped Jessica Lunsford leaves open the possibility she was alive and in the house at the time of the first and possibly the second interview,'' the document released Thursday said.

Citrus County sheriff's deputies stopped twice at the sister's mobile home while canvassing the girl's neighborhood after she was reported missing Feb. 24. At the first interview, shortly after Jessica was reported missing, the deputies spoke to Couey's niece and her boyfriend.

The second time, deputies spoke with the niece again and Couey's half sister. No suspicions were raised either time, but authorities say the residents did not mention that Couey was staying at the home.

The detectives said Couey later told them he was hiding in the home during the second interview. He denied ``that anyone else in the house was aware that he had kidnapped the child or that she was being held in the house,'' according to court papers.

Sheriff Jeff Dawsy has said that Couey was in a ``drug haze'' during the abduction, and a time frame on how long she was alive might never be known. The girl was sexually assaulted and buried near the mobile home.

Couey was arrested March 17 in Augusta, Ga.


04/08/05 09:02

http://channels.netscape.com/ns/news/story.jsp?floc=FF-APO-PLS&idq=/ff/story/0001/20050408/0902149005.htm&photoid=20050228NY119&ewp=ewp_news_0205missing_girl

Jolie Rouge
04-20-2005, 06:36 PM
Officials Say Girl Raped, Buried Alive

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - A 9-year-old girl was raped, bound and buried alive, kneeling and clutching a purple stuffed dolphin, state prosecutors said in documents released Wednesday.

Jessica Lunsford's body was found March 19 buried about 150 yards from her house in Homosassa, about 60 miles north of Tampa.


According to the documents, Jessica was found wearing shorts and a shirt - different from the pink nightgown her family said she was wearing when they reported her missing Feb. 24, The Tampa Tribune said in its online edition late Wednesday.

The body was wrapped in two plastic trash bags knotted at her head and feet in a grave covered by a mound of leaves, the state attorney's office said in the documents.

Jessica died of asphyxiation, according to a coroner's report. A convicted sex offender, John Evander Couey, 46, is charged in her slaying. Officials said they believe Jessica may have been alive in Couey's home while police and volunteers searched for her. After she was killed, Couey fled to Georgia.


A message left for Couey's attorney was not immediately returned Wednesday evening.



04/20/05 19:24

http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/ns/news/story.jsp?floc=FF-APO-PLS&idq=/ff/story/0001/20050420/1924189737.htm&ewp=ewp_news_0205missing_girl

Njean31
04-20-2005, 06:42 PM
Officials Say Girl Raped, Buried Alive

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - A 9-year-old girl was raped, bound and buried alive, kneeling and clutching a purple stuffed dolphin, state prosecutors said in documents released Wednesday.

Jessica Lunsford's body was found March 19 buried about 150 yards from her house in Homosassa, about 60 miles north of Tampa.


According to the documents, Jessica was found wearing shorts and a shirt - different from the pink nightgown her family said she was wearing when they reported her missing Feb. 24, The Tampa Tribune said in its online edition late Wednesday.

The body was wrapped in two plastic trash bags knotted at her head and feet in a grave covered by a mound of leaves, the state attorney's office said in the documents.

Jessica died of asphyxiation, according to a coroner's report. A convicted sex offender, John Evander Couey, 46, is charged in her slaying. Officials said they believe Jessica may have been alive in Couey's home while police and volunteers searched for her. After she was killed, Couey fled to Georgia.


A message left for Couey's attorney was not immediately returned Wednesday evening.



04/20/05 19:24

http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/ns/news/story.jsp?floc=FF-APO-PLS&idq=/ff/story/0001/20050420/1924189737.htm&ewp=ewp_news_0205missing_girl

omg :( :( he seriously needs to die asap

Jolie Rouge
04-20-2005, 06:43 PM
Documents give details of 9-year-old's death
Florida eyes tougher sex offender law
Wednesday, April 20, 2005 Posted: 10:32 PM EDT (0232 GMT)

MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- New details emerged Wednesday on the last moments in the life of slain 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford, while Florida lawmakers moved forward on a bill named for her that would impose tougher penalties on sex offenders.

Some Floridians have called for harsher penalties and closer monitoring of sex offenders after the recent slayings of Lunsford and 13-year-old Sarah Michelle Lunde.

As Jessica's father, Mark, watched on Tuesday in Tallahassee, the Florida House unanimously approved the Jessica Lunsford Act. The state Senate will now take up the issue.

Today, 292 pages of court documents were made public detailing the prosecution account of her last days at the hands of her alleged killer, John Evander Couey.

Bound and buried near her home, possibly while still alive, Jessica cradled in her arms a stuffed toy dolphin, the documents say. It was the same stuffed animal that was missing from the girl's home in Homosassa, Florida, when she disappeared, police have said. Her father won the toy for her at a fair shortly before she was abducted February 23.

In a letter found by investigators, convicted sex offender Couey confessed to killing the girl, law enforcement sources told CNN. In a previous confession to authorities, Couey said he buried the girl alive, sources have said.

Police said Couey confessed March 18, a day after he was arrested, and helped them find Jessica's body. A large-scale search involving hundreds of volunteers had failed to find the site, only a few hundred yards from the Lunsfords' home.

Jessica's body was found buried behind a house where Couey lived with his half-sister. Her body was covered by garbage bags, documents said, and her hands were bound with what appeared to be stereo wire.

Authorities have charged Couey, 46, with capital murder, burglary with battery, kidnapping and sexual battery on a child younger than 12 in Jessica's abduction and death. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges. A judge has ordered him to provide handwriting and DNA samples to prosecutors.

A preliminary autopsy report has said Jessica died after being sexually assaulted, but Hernando County Medical Examiner Steven Cogswell said Wednesday that the final report is pending and the cause of the child's death might never be known.

Details released Wednesday, he said, are "initial impressions" on how Jessica died.

After Couey's arrest, Mark Lunsford said he would spearhead an effort to change Florida's sex offender laws. "There should be a law for Jesse," he said at the time.

Unanimous vote

On a 118-0 vote, the Florida House passed legislation that would require longer prison sentences, lifetime probation and electronic monitoring for sex offenders convicted of crimes against children.

The Jessica Lunsford Act would punish the molestation of children under 12 with a mandatory sentence of 25 years to life, "followed by probation or community control for the remainder of the person's natural life and subject to a system of active electronic monitoring."

The bill also would make it a third-degree felony in Florida to harbor a sex offender.

Police in Homosassa initially arrested Couey's half-sister and two others living in her home, accusing them of obstructing justice by failing to notify authorities that he was living there. But prosecutors declined to file charges against the three, saying the withholding of information alone did not constitute a crime and there was no provision in Florida law that required someone to tell police of a sex offender's whereabouts.

Lawmakers say they want to close that loophole in the law.

The state legislation also came days after authorities in Ruskin, Florida, found Sarah Lunde's body in a pond near her house.

Sex offender David Onstott, who previously dated the girl's mother, told authorities he choked the teen and dumped her body in the pond on April 10, Hillsborough County Sheriff David Gee said. Sarah's remains were found Saturday.

CNN's Rich Phillips, John Zarrella and Susan Candiotti contributed to this report.


http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/04/20/florida.killing/index.html

DIRKSWIFE4
04-21-2005, 03:42 AM
I honestly feel they should do the same thing to that creature that he did to that baby.

I sit here and read this and it goes through my mind can you imagine HOW that baby felt, the fear, the terror. I cant stop crying, this is so so sad.

Njean31
04-21-2005, 03:50 AM
i cried too....all last night after reading about this. i hope this wakes people up, these perverts should have NO rights, especially after admitting he did it. why not just go ahead and kill him? why does he get to breathe after burying this child alive after he repeatedly raped her. omgomgomg, i am so sad and MAD over this.

KimNRandy
04-21-2005, 04:20 AM
I like what they did to the guy in Iran. These sickos get away with too much in this country.

An eye for an eye is the fairest justice in these circumstances.

ilvscooby
04-21-2005, 09:31 AM
That is awful...WTF is wrong with people :mad: I'm just bawling after reading that...buried alive and holding on to her stuffed animal. Stories like these make me so ANGRY...now he gets to sit in a nice air conditioned jail cell watching cable tv :mad: :mad: They should do the SAME thing to him that he did to her... I am outraged and saddened, but I can only imagine how her poor parents must feel :(

The punishment should be just as barbaric(if not more) as the crime, maybe then we wouldn't have as many children turning up dead :mad:

Jolie Rouge
02-12-2007, 09:27 PM
Jury selection begins in Lunsford trial
By CURT ANDERSON, Associated Press Writer
Mon Feb 12, 6:22 PM ET

MIAMI - Ruth Lunsford often visits the grave of her granddaughter, Jessica, most recently to tell her that the man accused of kidnapping, raping and murdering the third-grader nearly two years ago is finally about to stand trial. "I went to the grave site and said to Jessie, 'It's almost over,'" she said in an interview. "I know she's looking down on us and saying, 'Good job.' When this is all over, she's going to be doing cartwheels all over heaven. She's going to be saying, 'Amen.'"

Jury selection began Monday in the trial for John Evander Couey, a 48-year-old convicted sex offender who faces the death penalty for Jessica's 2005 slaying if he is found guilty.

Circuit Judge Richard Howard denied a defense request to further delay the trial, saying, "The fact of the matter is, this case is going forward." A few minutes later, he began questioning prospective jurors about their knowledge of the heavily publicized case.

Court recessed for the day after 52 potential jurors were questioned, with 14 returning for a second round of interviews. The will be no jury selection Tuesday because a hearing on a defense motion could take several hours, Howard said. Publicity had forced the trial to be moved from Citrus County, where the abduction occurred, to Miami.

Choosing a jury was expected to consume much of the week, with the final panel sequestered. News organizations are barred from showing the faces of jurors or reporting their names.

Jessica's death had led to tougher sex offender laws in Florida and at least 18 other states and prompted creation of the first-ever coordinated Justice Department effort to track down noncompliant offenders nationwide, such as those who fail to register or aren't living where they are supposed to. "The impacts of Jessica Lunsford's story have been huge," said Ernie Allen, president and chief executive officer of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in Alexandria, Va. "In our view, enormous good has come and thousands of children's lives are going to be saved because Jessica Lunsford lived."

In that way, Jessica has joined a tragic list of other children — Adam Walsh, Jimmy Ryce, Amber Hagerman, Megan Kanka and others — whose names are synonymous with important reforms in the criminal justice system. "We look forward to the day when it doesn't take a tragedy involving a child to motivate people to action," Allen said.

Jessica was abducted one night from her bedroom in the small town of Homasassa. Her body was found three weeks later, on March 19, 2005, buried in garbage bags behind a mobile home a short distance from her own house. She had her favorite stuffed dolphin and her hands were bound by speaker wire, but authorities say it appeared she had tried to poke her fingers through the bags. She died of asphyxiation.

Couey, who was arrested for previous sex crimes involving children in 1978 and 1991, was living with his half-sister at the trailer near the Lunsford home. But authorities searching for Jessica didn't know that, because he had moved there without telling them as required under sex offender registration laws.

As the search intensified, Couey traveled to Georgia, where he was arrested on an unrelated Florida warrant. He confessed to Jessica's abduction and murder to two Citrus County sheriff's detectives who traveled there to interview him, but that taped confession was thrown out by a judge because Couey wasn't allowed to consult a lawyer as he requested.

That means the jury won't hear what is perhaps the strongest evidence against Couey. But the jury will be told that Couey described where to find Jessica's body and that he told jail guards and others about his alleged role in the crime. Prosecutors have DNA and other evidence placing Jessica in the Couey mobile home before she died.

Couey's attorney, public defender Dan Lewan, has repeatedly declined to discuss the case.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070212/ap_on_re_us/girl_slain;_ylt=AnmUnBHKhZJIR4UPXORmwLtvzwcF


Details were released in the "Jessica Lunsford " murder case

This is the case where the girl was taken from her bedroom , and murdered by the sex offender

I can not believe that the police would reveal details this horrible. I feel so bad for this girls family. My heart goes out to them and everyone who knew her. She died a horrible death.

She was sitting upright in a 4-foot-deep grave, her wrists bound in front of her body with stereo wire. Two of her fingers had poked through the plastic trash bags stretched tight over her body. In her arms she clutched the stuffed purple dolphin that had been missing from her bedroom.

Her body bore no sign of injuries that would have caused death. Medical examiners ruled she died of asphyxiation, or a lack of oxygen.

That leaves open the likelihood that Jessica was alive in her grave as dirt and leaves were shoveled over her.


Article below: http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/sptimes/...girl%27s+death

Jolie Rouge
03-07-2007, 03:01 PM
Ex-con guilty in Fla. girl's slaying
By CURT ANDERSON, Associated Press Writer
16 minutes ago

MIAMI - A sex offender was found guilty Wednesday of kidnapping and raping a 9-year-old girl and burying her alive in a case that led to a crackdown around the country on people convicted of sex crimes.

Jurors deliberated about four hours before returning the verdict against John Evander Couey in the slaying of Jessica Lunsford, who was snatched from her bedroom in 2005 about 150 yards from the trailer where Couey had been living.

Her body was found in a shallow hole, encased in two black plastic trash bags. She had suffocated, and was found clutching a purple stuffed dolphin.

The jury next must decide whether Couey, 48, should get death by injection or life in prison.

Couey stood staring straight ahead and swaying slightly as the verdicts were read. Jessica's father, Mark Lunsford, who has helped push efforts for tougher monitoring of sex offenders, showed no emotion.

Couey admitted to investigators shortly after his arrest that he committed the crime, but the confession was thrown out because he did not have a lawyer present as he had requested.

The evidence at trial included DNA from Jessica's blood and Couey's semen on a mattress in his bedroom, as well as Jessica's fingerprints in a closet in the trailer.

Jail guards and investigators testified that Couey repeatedly admitted details of the slaying after his arrest and that he insisted he had not meant to kill the third-grader but panicked as police searched for her.

Couey had a record as a sex offender. In 1991, he was arrested on a charge of fondling a child. In 1978, he was accused of grabbing a girl in her bedroom, placing his hand over her mouth and kissing her.

But authorities had not known that Couey was living near the Lunsford home even though he was required to tell them he had moved.

Jessica's killing prompted Florida and a number of other states to pass new laws cracking down on sex offenders and improve tracking of them through databases and satellite positioning devices.

Sentencing is to begin Tuesday. A psychologist testified for the defense that Couey has signs of mental illness and mental retardation, mitigating circumstances that could help spare him the death penalty.

Couey spent much of the trial drawing with colored pencils

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070307/ap_on_re_us/girl_slain;_ylt=Am5EH0u9b_0korHMMxDq0IVH2ocA



he insisted he had not meant to kill the third-grader but panicked as police searched for her.

What did he think would happen after he placed her in TWO garbage bags then put her in a hole and covered her with dirt ??

I'd flip the switch myself.

SLance68
03-07-2007, 04:20 PM
I personally think they should have lead him out of the court room and just given Jessica Lunsford's father a good 20 minutes alone with him and then we would not have to pay for his appeals or feed his sorry ass while waiting to execute him. JMO!!!!!!!!

LuvBigRip
08-24-2007, 12:23 PM
INVERNESS, Fla. — A convicted sex offender was sentenced Friday to death for kidnapping 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford, raping her and then burying her alive in his yard.

John Evander Couey looked straight ahead as Circuit Judge Ric Howard told him he should be executed for the 2005 crimes that led to new laws in many states cracking down on convicted sex offenders.

Sheriff's deputies hustled the handcuffed inmate out of the crowded courtroom.

The girl's father, Mark Lunsford, teared up as he listened to the judge read a detailed history of the case for nearly an hour. He hugged relatives after the sentence was read.

The jury that convicted Couey in March recommended 10-2 that he die for his crimes, but the decision was left to Howard.

An attorney for Couey, 49, had argued that he couldn't legally be executed because he is mentally retarded, but Howard brushed aside that claim in a strongly worded ruling earlier this month. Mentally retarded people cannot be executed under a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court decision.

The jury convicted Couey of taking the girl in February 2005 from her bedroom to his nearby trailer, sparking a massive search. The third-grader's body was found about three weeks after she disappeared in a grave in Couey's yard, about 150 yards from her own home.

Couey, already a convicted sex offender when he committed the crime, was arrested in Georgia and confessed to the killing. That confession was thrown out as evidence because Couey did not have a lawyer present.

Despite the confession being tossed, Couey incriminated himself other times. Jail guards and investigators testified that he repeatedly admitted details of the slaying after his arrest, insisting that he hadn't meant to kill the third-grader but panicked during an intense, nationally publicized police search.

Prosecutors also had overwhelming physical evidence, including DNA from the girl's blood and Couey's semen on a mattress in his room as well as her fingerprints in a closet where investigators said she was hidden.

Couey has a criminal record that includes 24 burglary arrests, carrying a concealed weapon and indecent exposure. He was designated a sex offender for exposing himself to a 5-year-old girl in 1991.

SLance68
08-24-2007, 01:40 PM
If that Judge had given him anything other than the death penalty I think Mark Lunsford would have had a heart attack. And I don't think the Judge would have made it out of court alive. Now when can we put that needle in this waste of DNA?

ilovecats
08-24-2007, 05:58 PM
Thank you for posting this,I hadn't heard.I can still see her fathers haunted looking face in my head.Although we seem to hear horrifying things everyday,this case has always stuck in my head(the fact that she was right there)

PrincessArky
08-25-2007, 06:03 AM
he is getting off too easy I want him put in a couple of plastics bags and buried alive