Elizabeth Smart Case Jurors Found Her Testimony Compelling: She's Thrilled!

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Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Elizabeth Smart Says She's "Thrilled" After Guilty Verdict


Elizabeth Smart waited more than eight years for the word she heard Friday.

"Guilty," after a federal jury deliberated five hours to convict street preacher Brian David Mitchell of snatching Smart from her bed, at knifepoint in the dead of night, and having sex with her while he held her captive for nine months.

Smart smiled as the verdict was read, while a bedraggled, bearded Mitchell sat at the defense table, singing hymns with his hands before his chest, as if in prayer.

“Today is a wonderful day,” Smart said outside the courthouse hours later, adding “I am so thrilled to be here, so thrilled of the verdict."

"I hope that not only is this an example that justice can be served in America, but that it is possible to move on after something terrible has happened," Smart said.


Ordeal

It was a dramatic end to a tale that captured the nation's attention since she disappeared in June 2002: A 14-year-old girl mysteriously taken from her home, the intense search and her eventual discovery walking Salt Lake City's streets with her captors.

Smart, now 23, flew back from her Mormon mission in Paris to take the stand, and recount her "nine months of hell."

"The beginning and the end of this story is attributable to a woman with extraordinary courage and extraordinary determination, and that's Elizabeth Smart," federal prosecutor Carlie Christensen said outside the courthouse.

"She did it with candor and clarity and a truthfulness that I think moved all of us," she said.

Smart described in excruciating detail how she woke up one night to the feel of a cold, jagged knife at her throat and being whisked away by Mitchell to his camp in the foothills near the family's Salt Lake City home.

Within hours of the kidnapping, she testified, she was forced into a polygamous marriage with him. She was tethered to a metal cable and subjected to near-daily rapes while being forced to use alcohol and drugs.
Story: Smart storms from court during doctor's testimony

The five-week trial turned on the question of Mitchell's mental health.

The thinly built, gray-haired Mitchell was routinely removed from the courtroom after loudly singing hymns and Christmas carols and taken to another room to watch the proceedings on closed circuit TV.

He kept his eyes closed in court and never spoke to anyone, including his lawyers.

His lawyers did not dispute that he kidnapped Smart but wanted him to be found not guilty by reason of insanity. Such a verdict would have sent him to a prison mental hospital.


'Predatory Chameleon'

Prosecutors countered that Mitchell was faking mental illness to avoid a conviction, labeling him a "predatory chameleon."

Smart testified she believed Mitchell was driven by his desire for sex, drugs and alcohol, not by any sincere religious beliefs.

Jurors did not buy the insanity defense, deliberating for roughly five hours to find him guilty of kidnapping and unlawful transportation of a minor across state lines for the purposes of sex.

As the verdicts were read, the shackled Mitchell sat singing about Jesus Christ on the cross. Smart then turned to her mother and both smiled. Elizabeth Smart later hugged prosecutors.

"It's real!" father Ed Smart said on his way out of the packed courtroom, giving a thumbs up.

Smart and her family had hoped for the guilty verdict and a long sentence.

"(Mitchell) has left a trail of misery behind him," Ed Smart said.

Mitchell could face up to life in prison when he is sentenced on May 25. However, a judge also could impose an unspecified, lesser sentence, prosecutors said.


'Upset and Frustrated'

To the chagrin of the family, the case was delayed for years after Mitchell was declared mentally incompetent to stand trial in state court and a judge refused to order involuntary medications.

Federal prosecutors later stepped in and took the case to trial.

Christensen, the U.S. attorney, said one of the biggest challenges of the case was the six years between the time of the kidnapping and the time the case came into the federal justice system.

A parade of experts took the witness stand to say Mitchell had an array of diagnoses, from a rare delusional disorder and schizophrenia to pedophilia, anti-social personality disorder and narcissism.

Mitchell's former stepdaughter told reporters that she was shocked that jurors didn't see that he was mentally ill.

"He honestly believes God tells him to do these things," Rebecca Woodridge said. "He's upset and frustrated that the Lord is making him go through this."


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Sources: MSNBC, People.com, Google Maps

Zahra Baker's Body Not Found Yet; 911 Call Released

Excerpts Of Two 911 Calls From The Baker Household

Hickory Police released a 911 call from Elisa Baker reporting a fire at the family home and a later recording from Adam Baker reporting 10-year-old Zahra missing. Here are excerpts from those calls:

Call from Elisa Baker, Oct. 9, about 5 a.m.

Operator: 911 what’s the address of your emergency?

Elisa Baker: My husband works for a tree maintenance company and our backyard’s on fire.

Operator: Your what’s on fire?

Elisa Baker: The backyard. We’ve got big mulch piles and wood piles and firewood and stuff.

Operator: OK. What’s your address ma’am?

Elisa Baker: It’s 21 21 Avenue northwest Hickory.

Operator: We’ll get them (firefighters) out there ma’am.

Call from Adam Baker, Oct. 9, 1:58 p.m.

Operator: Hickory police, where is your emergency?

Adam Baker: Yeah, my daughter is missing.

Operator: What is your address?

Adam Baker: - - 21st Avenue NW. The police were out here last night over a fire and ransom note for my boss’s daughter. I got up a little while ago and it appears they took my daughter instead of my boss’s daughter.

Operator: OK, how old is your daughter?

Adam Baker: She’s 10. She’s handicapped. She has a prosthetic leg.

Operator: How long has she been missing?

Adam Baker: We checked in there (her bedroom) last night about 2:30 (a.m. Saturday, Oct. 9) and she was there. And all this happened last night about 5 o’clock.

Adam Baker: I don’t know if they set a fire in the yard to distract us to go out and they snuck in the door. I don’t know.

Operator: I’m not familiar with what happened last night. What happened last night?

Adam Baker: Last night my dog woke me up and I had a fire in the backyard. And somebody had poured gas in my company vehicle that I drive for work.

Adam Baker: They left a ransom note on the company vehicle to my boss saying they had his daughter and his son was next.

Adam Baker: It appears they may have taken my daughter instead of his daughter. …

Operator: So no one has seen your daughter since 2:30 this morning?

Adam Baker: No, like I said, we had all that drama last night. And me and my wife went back to bed. And my daughter is, I think, coming into puberty. So she’s hitting that brooding stage (chuckles). So we only see her when she wants something. That’s about it.

Operator: And did you say she was handicapped?

Adam Baker: Yes, ma’am. She has an above-the-knee amputation.

Operator: She has one leg that is partially amputated?

Adam Baker: Yeah. She has a prosthetic leg that apparently they’ve taken with her. …

Adam Baker: We had an officer here last night. And (my boss) ran through who he thought it might be, like an ex-employee.

Operator: OK, we’re getting the police on the way out there.

Operator: If you find out anything at all in the meantime, before we get the officer out there, call me back. That would help us toward finding your daughter.

Adam Baker: Thank you ma’am.




N.C. Authorities At Caldwell Landfill For Zahra Baker Clues

Calling her a "significant flight risk" and alluding to the "particularly disturbing allegations" against her, a judge on Wednesday increased the bond for Elisa Baker, who is accused of writing a phony ransom note concerning the disappearance of her stepdaughter, Zahra.

Meanwhile, a team of local, state and federal authorities is searching at a Caldwell County landfill for possible clues in the disappearance of 10-year-old Zahra Baker of Hickory, according to a police report.

Hickory police said their agents have joined those from the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation and the FBI in searching for what authorities called "a piece of evidence."

The search is under way at the Foothills Environmental Landfill, on Cheraw Road in Lenoir.

Authorities are not permitting the media near the search site, but they said they will hold a news conference at 1 p.m. today.

Judge Robert A. Mullinax raised Baker's bond from $50,000 to $65,000 at this morning's hearing in the Catawba County Courthouse in Newton. Baker faces a probable cause hearing Nov. 3.

During the hearing, Baker's grown daughter, Morgan Fairchild, told the judge she would fear for her safety if her mother were released.

"If she gets out, I would have to leave the state," she said.

Typically, defendants must pay a bail bondsman 10 to 15 percent of the bond set by the court, in order to get out of jail. The bondsman then guarantees to pay the court the full bond if the defendant fails to show up for trial.

That means Elisa Baker would have to come up with between $6,500 and $9,750.

Her attorney, Scott Reilly, said after the hearing that he doubts she will be able to raise that money -- or enough to cover the $30,000 bond set for her in Burke County, where she faces charges for allegedly writing bad checks.

Reilly said he and his client are looking for consistency and fairness.

"We haven't seen the first piece of evidence," he said after the hearing.

There was one other interesting development at the hearing this morning. Details were released that Elisa Baker has received more than $10,000 from a man in London, including money received as recently as the past week. The man was referred to as "Carlisle Fullman" during today's bond hearing.

It's unclear what relationship, if any, the two have. Baker met her husband, Zahra's father Adam, as part of an online relationship in Australia.

These latest developments follow a report by CNN that authorities have asked Zahra Baker's family members in Australia for medical information that might help them find out what happened to the girl. Hickory police have said they believe Zahra is dead.

Among the evidence being sought, CNN reported, is information about the prosthetic leg that Zahra used. She lost a leg to cancer while living in Australia.

Hickory police on Tuesday released recordings of two emergency calls made from Zahra Baker’s home the day the 10-year-old girl was reported missing.

The calls shed new light on what Zahra’s parents claim happened Oct. 9, and how an early-morning fire and a phony ransom note might have been linked to her disappearance.

The Bakers’ description of events suggests that Zahra may have been kidnapped while her father and stepmother were dealing with a fire in the back yard of their Hickory house. The Bakers also reported that kidnappers might have taken Zahra by mistake in their attempt to actually abduct the daughter of Baker’s boss and landlord, Mark Coffey.

“I don’t know if they set a fire in the yard to distract us to go out, and they snuck in the door,” Baker said of possible kidnappers in his 911 call.

“It appears they may have taken my daughter instead of his daughter.”

The release of the recordings came on the 10th day of the search for the little girl with freckles who was hearing impaired and lost part of one leg to bone cancer. The case has drawn international attention. Newspapers in Australia where Zahra was born have been publishing daily updates.

Zahra’s stepmother, Elisa Baker, has been charged with felony obstruction of justice and is now in jail. She was arrested after police say she admitted writing the phony ransom note, which they say was intended to throw off the investigation into Zahra’s disappearance.

Investigators continue to seek the public’s help in piecing together a timeline of events surrounding the girl’s disappearance. The last person outside Zahra’s family whom police can confirm saw the girl alive was an employee at a Hickory furniture store, who reported seeing Zahra shopping with her stepmother on Sept. 25.

Zahra wasn’t reported missing until two weeks later.

The first 911 call from the Bakers came around 5:30 a.m. that Saturday, when Elisa Baker sounded anxious as she asked for help.

“Our back yard is on fire,” she told dispatchers. “…We have mulch piles and wood piles because we sell firewood and stuff.”

Firefighters and police responded, and while they were there found a handwritten ransom note on the windshield of the Bakers’ SUV parked at the house. The note was addressed to “Mr. Coffey” and said kidnappers had his daughter and wanted $1 million.

When police checked, they found Coffey’s family was unharmed.

The second 911 call came from Zahra’s father at 1:58 p.m. that same day.

He was polite and calm as he spoke to the dispatcher.

“Hickory police, where is your emergency?”

“Yeah, my daughter is missing,” said Adam Baker, 33.

“What is your address?”

“21st Avenue Northwest. The police were out here last night over a fire and ransom note for my boss’s daughter. I got up a little while ago, and it appears they took my daughter instead of my boss’s daughter.”

He explained how someone had poured gasoline on a company vehicle that he parked at his house, and that it might have been a diversion so kidnappers could enter his home.

Adam Baker told the dispatcher that maybe the kidnappers were confused.

“I guess they thought he (Coffey) lives in this house” Baker said.

Coffey owns the house, rented by the Bakers. Adam Baker worked for Coffey at a tree-trimming business that has a storage lot in Burke County – a site authorities have repeatedly searched for signs of Zahra.

Baker went on to tell the dispatcher that he last checked on his daughter about 2:30 a.m. that day – twelve hours before making his 911 call.

“We had all that drama last night,” he said. “And me and my wife went back to bed. And my daughter is, I think, coming into puberty. So she’s hitting that brooding stage (chuckles). So we only see her when she wants something.”

Adam Baker has not been charged in connection with his daughter’s disappearance.


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Sources: AP, McClatchy Newspapers, Myspace, WAFB, WCNC, Youtube, Google Maps

Jaycee Dugard's Diary Sheds Light On Her Captivity

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Jaycee Dugard Diary: "I Want To Be Free"


New court documents give an eerie glimpse of Jaycee Dugard's 18 years in captivity at the hands of alleged kidnappers, with diary entries by her painting a picture of growing despair.

"It feels like I'm sinking. I'm afraid I want control of my life ... this is supposed to be my life to do with what I like ... but once again he has taken it away," Dugard writes in a July 5, 2004, entry. "How many times is he allowed to take it away from me? I'm afraid he doesn't see how the things he says makes me a prisoner."

The journal entries are included in court documents filed Thursday by the El Dorado County district attorney to oppose a motion by Phillip Garrido's lawyer for information on the current whereabouts of Dugard, who is in seclusion.

Dugard was abducted from the street where she lived in South Lake Tahoe, Calif., on June 10, 1991, when she was 11 years old. Prosecutors allege Phillip Garrido and his wife, Nancy, kept the girl in their hidden backyard compound, where she was sexually assaulted and imprisoned for the next 18 years. Garrido allegedly fathered two children by Dugard during her ordeal.

Dugard, now, 29, was found by police in late August. She and her children have been staying at a secret location, and prosecutors say she does not want any further contact from the Garridos.

Acting as a family?

Public defender Susan Gellman has asked the district attorney to provide photos of Dugard's daughters, videos of interviews with the girls, and permission to talk with Dugard in preparation for trial.

Gellman's court request claims the Garridos, Dugard and her two daughters acted as a family in recent years.

"They took vacations together; they went to the library together; they ran a family business together," the defense motion said. "The children home schooled. They kept pets and had a garden. They took care of ailing family members together. They had special names for each other."

However, the district attorney's response filed Thursday paints a different picture, saying Dugard and her children were not part of a "family," but rather captives.

I want to be free

The court documents contain several journal entries that prosecutors say exemplify the Garridos' attempt to gain trust and control over Dugard.

On July 16, 1993, two years after her abduction, Dugard wrote: “I got [a cat] for my birthday from Phil and Nancy … they did something for me that no one else would do for me, they paid 200 dollars just so I could have my own kitten.”

On Sept. 5 of that year, she wrote: “I don’t want to hurt him … sometimes I think my very presence hurts him … so how can I ever tell him I want to be free. I will never cause him pain if it’s in my power to prevent it. FREE.”

Prosecutors contend that even after his arrest, Garrido has continued to try to exert control over Dugard. As recently as Jan. 28, according to court documents, Garrido's attorney sent a letter to her that stated, “Mr. Garrido has asked me to convey that he does not harbor any ill will toward [Dugard] or the children and loves them very much.”

Gellman has also asked that Garrido and his wife, Nancy, be allowed to meet in the jail while they prepare for trial. That motion is scheduled to be heard in court Feb. 26.

Sources: MSNBC

Shaniya's Kidnapper Arrested But Where's Shaniya??...Blame NC DSS, Reform Badly Needed

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Police say 2nd suspect admitted kidnapping NC girl

A North Carolina man has admitted to kidnapping a 5-year-old girl, authorities said Friday, but investigators still have not found the child more than three days after she disappeared from a mobile home park.

Mario Andrette McNeill, 29, admitted to taking Shaniya Davis, said Fayetteville Police Department spokeswoman Theresa Chance. He was charged with kidnapping while authorities dropped charges against another man, Clarence Coe, who was initially arrested in the case.

"We're hoping we find her alive," Chance said at a news conference. "We found Mr. McNeill, and Miss Davis was not with him."

Surveillance footage had showed McNeill carrying Shaniya into a hotel room on Tuesday morning, when she was reported missing from a mobile home park. A hotel worker called police to report seeing a child matching Shaniya's description, but by the time police got there, McNeill had left.

McNeill faces a first court appearance Friday afternoon.

Investigators had used police dogs but could not pick up the child's scent during a search of the neighborhood. They found a blanket that may have belonged to Shaniya in a garbage can outside a neighbor's home.

Shaniya's father, Bradley Lockhart, made a tearful appeal Thursday for his daughter's safe return.

"Shaniya, if you're listening to daddy, I miss you so much, honey," he said. "I'm waiting for you. I'm not going to give up. You don't give up either, honey."






Police: Foul play suspected in Fayetteville girl's disappearance


Cumberland County authorities say foul play is suspected in the disappearance of Shaniya Nicole Davis. The 5-year-old girl went missing from her home, 1116-A Sleepy Hollow Drive in Fayetteville, Tuesday morning.

An Amber Alert was initiated for Shaniya just before noon, Lt. David Sportsman said.

Police responded to the home around 6:50 a.m., and Shaniya's mother told officers that she last saw her daughter at 5:30 a.m. The mother’s boyfriend and her sister, along with an infant and Shaniya's 7-year-old brother were also in the home when the girl went missing.

“There is definitely something not right about the situation. Foul play is suspected,” Fayetteville police spokeswoman Theresa Chance said Tuesday evening.

It is unclear how the child left the home.

"The circumstances surrounding her disappearance are very odd. A 5-year-old usually...(is) not awake at 5:30 a.m. normally, and they just wouldn't leave their home," Chance said. "If she would have wandered out of her home, she would be around here somewhere."

Chance said the family has a history with the Department of Social Services.

"There have been major DSS issues with this family – who has custody, switching back and forth," Chance said.

Chance said it's unknown whether the child's disappearance is related to those issues. Police said Shaniya's father flew in from out of state Tuesday afternoon and was talking to investigators.

"We're treating this as a child in danger, with the information we have," Chance said.

Chance said police have been called to the home before. This summer, officers served a search warrant at the home and found a variety of drugs inside.

The family was not allowed inside the home Tuesday evening after it was deemed a health hazard due to extensive sewage leaks, authorities said.

Police K-9s, firefighters and sheriff's deputies searched the area throughout the day Tuesday.

“We are searching for her and hoping to find her alive, but we just don't know at this point,” Chance said.

Chance noted that search dogs did not pick up Shaniya's scent, which they would have if the child was wandering around outside.

Shaniya is described as 3 feet tall and 40 pounds. She has brown hair and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing a blue T-shirt with pink underwear. She is thin and has a scar on her foot.

Fayetteville police say three registered sex offenders live in the neighborhood. Theresa Chance said the offenders, along with everyone else in the neighborhood, have been interviewed.

The sex offenders are not considered suspects, Chance said.

Anyone with information is urged to call Fayetteville police at 910-433-1856 or call or call 911 or *HP.





After Amber Alert, Incest charge


A Mooresville man who sparked an Amber Alert when he disappeared with his 12-year-old pregnant adopted daughter and her 11-year-old sister now faces rape and incest charges.

Mathew Charles Hess, 40, had already been charged with misdemeanor child abuse and contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile after, authorities say, he took his two adoptive daughters to Tennessee despite the condition of the daughter who was nine months pregnant.

Now he faces additional charges in Lincoln County - indecent liberties with a child, first-degree rape and felony incest between near relatives. Details of the charges were unavailable. Authorities haven't said whether they believe Hess is the father of the older daughter's baby.

Hess and his wife, who is the girls' biological mother, are separated, authorities said. The girls were living with Mathew Hess in Lincoln County when the older girl became pregnant.

The Observer published the girls' names when they were the subject of a large-scale search, but is not naming them now because authorities say at least one was a victim of a sex-related crime.

Authorities believe Hess drove away with his daughters on Sept. 24 after leaving a note for his wife saying he was taking them to school. The girls' mother called authorities soon after, when the pregnant daughter didn't show up for a doctor's appointment.

Last week when the pregnant girl missed an important medical procedure, authorities issued a nationwide Amber Alert.

A motorist in Tennessee who saw the alert on an interstate sign recognized the family's faded green Ford Explorer and called the Tennessee Highway Patrol on Wednesday. Less than half an hour later, the search was over. Social services took temporary custody of the girls.

Two members of the Iredell Sheriff's Office's warrant squad drove to Tennessee on Friday and brought Hess back to North Carolina. His first court date for the Iredell County charges is Nov. 16 in Statesville.

Now, he's in Iredell jail under a $12,000 bond. He's also deemed a flight risk because of the charges in Lincoln County.





How system failed 15-year-old girl gunned down at a Charlotte, NC School bus stop

Tiffany Wright stood alone in the dark, waiting for her school bus.

It was just before 6 a.m., and her foster grandmother had walked back home to get Tiffany's water bottle.

Tiffany, 15, was eight months pregnant but determined to stay on track in school. She wanted to be a lawyer. And after just a few weeks at Hawthorne High, she had impressed teachers as smart and ambitious, despite a difficult childhood.

At 5:51, Tiffany sent a text.

"Wheres the bus?"

One stop away, replied her friend, already on the bus.

At 5:55, as the bus lumbered toward Tiffany's stop, people began calling police to report gunshots.

A school bus dispatcher radioed Tiffany's bus driver: Change course - something's happening ahead.

Tiffany lay dead in the road, shot in the head, that morning, Monday, Sept. 14. Her baby girl was delivered at the hospital and lived a week, but died Sunday.

Nobody's charged in the killings, but police call Tiffany's adoptive brother, Royce Mitchell, a "person of interest."

In the months before she died, local agencies took steps aimed at stabilizing her home life and keeping her safe. But her story exposes failures in the system that was supposed to protect her.

Among the missteps:

•In February, a Mecklenburg court clerk appointed Mitchell as Tiffany's temporary guardian — even though he was a felon who served time in federal prison. He was also tried in 2006 for murder, but found not guilty. And last year, he was accused of domestic violence, though the case was dismissed.

•In July, social workers told police that Mitchell, 36, might have committed statutory rape with Tiffany, but police didn't question him about it for seven weeks, and didn't charge him with the rape until after Tiffany was killed.

•This month, Mecklenburg social services failed to cut off communication between Tiffany, who was in foster care, and Mitchell, said a source close to the investigation.

On the day of Tiffany's killing, Charlotte-Mecklenburg police jailed Mitchell for statutory rape and indecent liberties with a child, naming Tiffany as the victim.

Police defend their work, saying they followed the industry's best practices - which takes time. Police didn't feel a need to rush, they say, because they believed Tiffany was secure, hidden in a foster home with no threat to her safety.

Police say it's hard to prove statutory rape: Of the 262 reports of statutory rape police received over three years, only 16 percent - 42 cases - were accepted by prosecutors.

Experts say statutory rape cases are complicated because they involve victims ages 13, 14 or 15 who often consider themselves voluntary participants in sex with someone at least six years older. So victims can be reluctant to help police.

But child advocates say in cases like Tiffany's, police should act more aggressively. An immediate arrest sends a signal to a suspect and can persuade them to stay away from victims.

"The cases may be difficult to win, but they're not difficult to charge," says Brett Loftis of Charlotte's Council for Children's Rights.

UNCC criminologist Paul Friday says: "Often, nothing is done in these kinds of cases because they're based on improper assumptions about the rationality of someone that age. But the minors are often unaware of disease, birth control and they can be exploited by someone."

Adopted by foster mother

Tiffany first entered the child welfare system as a toddler in Buffalo, N.Y., when her mother lost custody.

She was adopted at 4 by her foster mother, Alma Wright, an older woman with eight grown children, who was excited about raising another child.

One of Wright's grown sons was Royce Mitchell, a star quarterback in high school who'd gone on to play for a semi-pro team in Buffalo. But Mitchell also was indicted in 1999 as part of a drug trafficking ring and went to federal prison.

While he was in prison, authorities also charged Mitchell with an earlier murder, but a jury found him not guilty.

In 2004, Alma and Tiffany left Buffalo for North Carolina, settling near Kings Mountain. Tiffany made friends easily at school and church. She ran track at Bessemer City High School.

In 2007, Mitchell was released from prison and followed his mother to North Carolina.

But last fall, Alma Wright got sick. Friends at church helped out with Tiffany, inviting her for dinners and weekends. Tiffany spent time with Mitchell and his wife, too.

Alma Wright died Jan. 25, and Tiffany moved in with the Mitchells in Charlotte.

On Jan. 30, Royce Mitchell asked a Mecklenburg court to appoint him and his wife as Tiffany's guardians.

On his application, he wrote: "We are seeking guardianship because we were requested to do so by Mrs. Alma Wright before she died."

He wanted to transfer Tiffany to West Mecklenburg High School.

The court set a hearing for Feb. 5 and appointed a child advocate to study the situation and look after Tiffany's best interests in court.

There's no transcript of what happened in court, and the clerk who handled Tiffany's case declined to discuss his decision.

Frederick Benson, a Mecklenburg assistant clerk of superior court, appointed Mitchell the temporary guardian of Tiffany's welfare.

It's unclear if Benson, a lawyer, knew about Mitchell's criminal background. Court clerks are not required to perform background checks in guardianship cases, says Clerk of Superior Court Martha Curran. It's up to each clerk to decide what checks are necessary, and they often rely on court-appointed child advocates to advise them in such cases.

Tiffany's advocate, lawyer Martha Efird, declined to discuss her actions in the case.

It was in the weeks surrounding the Feb. 5 court hearing that Tiffany got pregnant, if hospital estimates are accurate.

But friends say Tiffany, who started at West Mecklenburg High in February, wouldn't realize for four or five months that she was pregnant.

On Feb. 27, clerk of court Benson ordered DSS to conduct a "home study" of the Mitchell household. Officials won't release their findings.

But Mitchell didn't keep custody long, according to several of Tiffany's friends in King's Mountain.

In late March, Mitchell left Tiffany at a group home called With Friends in Gastonia, according to Marlene Jefferies and Cruceta Jeffeirs, two adult family friends who watched Tiffany grow up.

The group home wouldn't confirm that. But the friends say the home reported to social services that Tiffany was abandoned. And she was soon back in foster care.

On March 31, Jeffeirs, a Shelby pastor, wrote a letter to Benson seeking custody of Tiffany: "My desire is to see Tiffany accomplish all the goals that she has set for herself and I believe she can do that in a stable environment with lots of guidance and love."

DSS officials in Gaston and Mecklenburg won't discuss Tiffany's case or answer questions about what steps they took to protect her.

But friends and family say Tiffany was eventually placed in the care of foster parent Susan Barber, in a townhome off Mallard Creek Road in Derita.

By July, it was clear Tiffany was pregnant, friends say.

Barber tried to shield Tiffany from talking to those she believed might be bad influences, according to Tiffany's cousin Brittany Page. But a source close to the investigation said Tiffany and Mitchell continued communicating.

Despite repeated attempts, Barber could not be reached.

As the school year approached, Tiffany prepared to change schools again, this time to Hawthorne High in Charlotte, which offers a special program for pregnant students.

Delayed Investigation

On July 27, social workers reported to police that Royce Mitchell might have committed statutory rape with Tiffany.

It took eight days for a detective to look at the case, and three days more for it to be officially assigned to Teresa Johnson, a detective with CMPD's youth crime and domestic violence unit.

Another 12 days passed before Johnson interviewed Tiffany.

It's unclear when detective Johnson discovered Mitchell's background, but it wasn't enough to ramp up the investigation. Investigators say they believed Tiffany was safe in a foster home and faced no threats from Mitchell.

Police say their performance in the case followed procedure and met standards.

Police interview alleged victims immediately if the crime has occurred within the previous 72 hours, so they can gather evidence that may remain. But in cases like Tiffany's - where months had elapsed since the alleged offense - police try to arrange just one interview when children and teen victims of abuse are involved.

Police acknowledge that strategy takes time but minimizes trauma and reduces the chances that young victims might be led into inaccurate testimony by repeated questioning.

Police also let such victims decide when they want to be interviewed at the county's child-victim center called Pat's Place. There, specially trained interviewers talk to victims, while social workers, psychologists, police and others watch from another room.

Tiffany chose an Aug. 19 interview. She didn't say much during the formal interview. But later that day, Johnson won her trust and obtained enough information to move forward with the investigation.

No response from Royce Mitchell

The next day, Aug. 20, the detective made her first call to Mitchell to ask him about the charge, she says. Johnson left a message and gave him a few days to call back.

When Mitchell didn't respond, she made calls over the next two weeks to social workers and a federal probation officer to ask Mitchell to come talk to police.

Police say they didn't immediately arrest him because they believed they could get better information if he talked voluntarily.

On Sept. 9, a federal probation official told Johnson that Mitchell was not coming in.

On Sept. 10, a team of social workers, police and other agencies held a standard follow-up meeting to discuss how to proceed in Tiffany's case.

On Friday, Sept. 11, detective Johnson phoned Mitchell's wife and left a message. She asked her to call back to discuss Tiffany, Johnson says, but didn't give details of the rape allegation.

That Monday, Tiffany was shot and killed.

As emergency vehicles rolled to the scene, Tiffany's school bus was diverted from its normal route. But the students could see flashing lights. Tiffany's friends on the bus, Cimone Black and Tamia Corpening, began to worry.

"I kept texting her phone...," Cimone said. Then she started calling, but all she got was voice mail.

The bus continued on to Hawthorne. For Tamia, the hourlong ride was excruciating.

Nobody said a word.



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Sources: Washington Post, MSNBC, McClatchy Newspapers, Charlotte Observer, WRAL, Examiner, Google Maps

Shaniya Davis, Missing 5-Year Old NC Girl Seen On Hotel Video...NC DSS Poorly Handles Child Abuse Case, Again

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Missing N.C. girl spotted at hotel, still not found


North Carolina authorities have still been unable to locate a missing 5-year-old girl after surveillance footage showed her being carried into a hotel room by a man now wanted by police.

Police revealed footage Thursday of Shaniya Davis and a man identified as 29-year-old Mario Andrette McNeill entering a Sanford hotel more than 40 minutes before the girl's mother reported her missing Tuesday morning. The hotel is about 40 miles from the girl's home.

A hotel worker called police after recognizing Shaniya but McNeill and the girl had left by the time they arrived.

Clarence Coe was arrested Wednesday on kidnapping charges after witnesses say they saw him take Shaniya out of the Sleepy Hollow Mobile Home Park in Fayetteville. He has denied any wrongdoing.

Officials say they think Shaniya is safe.






Police: Foul play suspected in Fayetteville girl's disappearance


Cumberland County authorities say foul play is suspected in the disappearance of Shaniya Nicole Davis. The 5-year-old girl went missing from her home, 1116-A Sleepy Hollow Drive in Fayetteville, Tuesday morning.

An Amber Alert was initiated for Shaniya just before noon, Lt. David Sportsman said.

Police responded to the home around 6:50 a.m., and Shaniya's mother told officers that she last saw her daughter at 5:30 a.m. The mother’s boyfriend and her sister, along with an infant and Shaniya's 7-year-old brother were also in the home when the girl went missing.

“There is definitely something not right about the situation. Foul play is suspected,” Fayetteville police spokeswoman Theresa Chance said Tuesday evening.

It is unclear how the child left the home.

"The circumstances surrounding her disappearance are very odd. A 5-year-old usually...(is) not awake at 5:30 a.m. normally, and they just wouldn't leave their home," Chance said. "If she would have wandered out of her home, she would be around here somewhere."

Chance said the family has a history with the Department of Social Services.

"There have been major DSS issues with this family – who has custody, switching back and forth," Chance said.

Chance said it's unknown whether the child's disappearance is related to those issues. Police said Shaniya's father flew in from out of state Tuesday afternoon and was talking to investigators.

"We're treating this as a child in danger, with the information we have," Chance said.

Chance said police have been called to the home before. This summer, officers served a search warrant at the home and found a variety of drugs inside.

The family was not allowed inside the home Tuesday evening after it was deemed a health hazard due to extensive sewage leaks, authorities said.

Police K-9s, firefighters and sheriff's deputies searched the area throughout the day Tuesday.

“We are searching for her and hoping to find her alive, but we just don't know at this point,” Chance said.

Chance noted that search dogs did not pick up Shaniya's scent, which they would have if the child was wandering around outside.

Shaniya is described as 3 feet tall and 40 pounds. She has brown hair and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing a blue T-shirt with pink underwear. She is thin and has a scar on her foot.

Fayetteville police say three registered sex offenders live in the neighborhood. Theresa Chance said the offenders, along with everyone else in the neighborhood, have been interviewed.

The sex offenders are not considered suspects, Chance said.

Anyone with information is urged to call Fayetteville police at 910-433-1856 or call or call 911 or *HP.





How system failed 15-year-old girl gunned down at a Charlotte, NC School bus stop

Tiffany Wright stood alone in the dark, waiting for her school bus.

It was just before 6 a.m., and her foster grandmother had walked back home to get Tiffany's water bottle.

Tiffany, 15, was eight months pregnant but determined to stay on track in school. She wanted to be a lawyer. And after just a few weeks at Hawthorne High, she had impressed teachers as smart and ambitious, despite a difficult childhood.

At 5:51, Tiffany sent a text.

"Wheres the bus?"

One stop away, replied her friend, already on the bus.

At 5:55, as the bus lumbered toward Tiffany's stop, people began calling police to report gunshots.

A school bus dispatcher radioed Tiffany's bus driver: Change course - something's happening ahead.

Tiffany lay dead in the road, shot in the head, that morning, Monday, Sept. 14. Her baby girl was delivered at the hospital and lived a week, but died Sunday.

Nobody's charged in the killings, but police call Tiffany's adoptive brother, Royce Mitchell, a "person of interest."

In the months before she died, local agencies took steps aimed at stabilizing her home life and keeping her safe. But her story exposes failures in the system that was supposed to protect her.

Among the missteps:

•In February, a Mecklenburg court clerk appointed Mitchell as Tiffany's temporary guardian — even though he was a felon who served time in federal prison. He was also tried in 2006 for murder, but found not guilty. And last year, he was accused of domestic violence, though the case was dismissed.

•In July, social workers told police that Mitchell, 36, might have committed statutory rape with Tiffany, but police didn't question him about it for seven weeks, and didn't charge him with the rape until after Tiffany was killed.

•This month, Mecklenburg social services failed to cut off communication between Tiffany, who was in foster care, and Mitchell, said a source close to the investigation.

On the day of Tiffany's killing, Charlotte-Mecklenburg police jailed Mitchell for statutory rape and indecent liberties with a child, naming Tiffany as the victim.

Police defend their work, saying they followed the industry's best practices - which takes time. Police didn't feel a need to rush, they say, because they believed Tiffany was secure, hidden in a foster home with no threat to her safety.

Police say it's hard to prove statutory rape: Of the 262 reports of statutory rape police received over three years, only 16 percent - 42 cases - were accepted by prosecutors.

Experts say statutory rape cases are complicated because they involve victims ages 13, 14 or 15 who often consider themselves voluntary participants in sex with someone at least six years older. So victims can be reluctant to help police.

But child advocates say in cases like Tiffany's, police should act more aggressively. An immediate arrest sends a signal to a suspect and can persuade them to stay away from victims.

"The cases may be difficult to win, but they're not difficult to charge," says Brett Loftis of Charlotte's Council for Children's Rights.

UNCC criminologist Paul Friday says: "Often, nothing is done in these kinds of cases because they're based on improper assumptions about the rationality of someone that age. But the minors are often unaware of disease, birth control and they can be exploited by someone."

Adopted by foster mother

Tiffany first entered the child welfare system as a toddler in Buffalo, N.Y., when her mother lost custody.

She was adopted at 4 by her foster mother, Alma Wright, an older woman with eight grown children, who was excited about raising another child.

One of Wright's grown sons was Royce Mitchell, a star quarterback in high school who'd gone on to play for a semi-pro team in Buffalo. But Mitchell also was indicted in 1999 as part of a drug trafficking ring and went to federal prison.

While he was in prison, authorities also charged Mitchell with an earlier murder, but a jury found him not guilty.

In 2004, Alma and Tiffany left Buffalo for North Carolina, settling near Kings Mountain. Tiffany made friends easily at school and church. She ran track at Bessemer City High School.

In 2007, Mitchell was released from prison and followed his mother to North Carolina.

But last fall, Alma Wright got sick. Friends at church helped out with Tiffany, inviting her for dinners and weekends. Tiffany spent time with Mitchell and his wife, too.

Alma Wright died Jan. 25, and Tiffany moved in with the Mitchells in Charlotte.

On Jan. 30, Royce Mitchell asked a Mecklenburg court to appoint him and his wife as Tiffany's guardians.

On his application, he wrote: "We are seeking guardianship because we were requested to do so by Mrs. Alma Wright before she died."

He wanted to transfer Tiffany to West Mecklenburg High School.

The court set a hearing for Feb. 5 and appointed a child advocate to study the situation and look after Tiffany's best interests in court.

There's no transcript of what happened in court, and the clerk who handled Tiffany's case declined to discuss his decision.

Frederick Benson, a Mecklenburg assistant clerk of superior court, appointed Mitchell the temporary guardian of Tiffany's welfare.

It's unclear if Benson, a lawyer, knew about Mitchell's criminal background. Court clerks are not required to perform background checks in guardianship cases, says Clerk of Superior Court Martha Curran. It's up to each clerk to decide what checks are necessary, and they often rely on court-appointed child advocates to advise them in such cases.

Tiffany's advocate, lawyer Martha Efird, declined to discuss her actions in the case.

It was in the weeks surrounding the Feb. 5 court hearing that Tiffany got pregnant, if hospital estimates are accurate.

But friends say Tiffany, who started at West Mecklenburg High in February, wouldn't realize for four or five months that she was pregnant.

On Feb. 27, clerk of court Benson ordered DSS to conduct a "home study" of the Mitchell household. Officials won't release their findings.

But Mitchell didn't keep custody long, according to several of Tiffany's friends in King's Mountain.

In late March, Mitchell left Tiffany at a group home called With Friends in Gastonia, according to Marlene Jefferies and Cruceta Jeffeirs, two adult family friends who watched Tiffany grow up.

The group home wouldn't confirm that. But the friends say the home reported to social services that Tiffany was abandoned. And she was soon back in foster care.

On March 31, Jeffeirs, a Shelby pastor, wrote a letter to Benson seeking custody of Tiffany: "My desire is to see Tiffany accomplish all the goals that she has set for herself and I believe she can do that in a stable environment with lots of guidance and love."

DSS officials in Gaston and Mecklenburg won't discuss Tiffany's case or answer questions about what steps they took to protect her.

But friends and family say Tiffany was eventually placed in the care of foster parent Susan Barber, in a townhome off Mallard Creek Road in Derita.

By July, it was clear Tiffany was pregnant, friends say.

Barber tried to shield Tiffany from talking to those she believed might be bad influences, according to Tiffany's cousin Brittany Page. But a source close to the investigation said Tiffany and Mitchell continued communicating.

Despite repeated attempts, Barber could not be reached.

As the school year approached, Tiffany prepared to change schools again, this time to Hawthorne High in Charlotte, which offers a special program for pregnant students.

Delayed Investigation

On July 27, social workers reported to police that Royce Mitchell might have committed statutory rape with Tiffany.

It took eight days for a detective to look at the case, and three days more for it to be officially assigned to Teresa Johnson, a detective with CMPD's youth crime and domestic violence unit.

Another 12 days passed before Johnson interviewed Tiffany.

It's unclear when detective Johnson discovered Mitchell's background, but it wasn't enough to ramp up the investigation. Investigators say they believed Tiffany was safe in a foster home and faced no threats from Mitchell.

Police say their performance in the case followed procedure and met standards.

Police interview alleged victims immediately if the crime has occurred within the previous 72 hours, so they can gather evidence that may remain. But in cases like Tiffany's - where months had elapsed since the alleged offense - police try to arrange just one interview when children and teen victims of abuse are involved.

Police acknowledge that strategy takes time but minimizes trauma and reduces the chances that young victims might be led into inaccurate testimony by repeated questioning.

Police also let such victims decide when they want to be interviewed at the county's child-victim center called Pat's Place. There, specially trained interviewers talk to victims, while social workers, psychologists, police and others watch from another room.

Tiffany chose an Aug. 19 interview. She didn't say much during the formal interview. But later that day, Johnson won her trust and obtained enough information to move forward with the investigation.

No response from Royce Mitchell

The next day, Aug. 20, the detective made her first call to Mitchell to ask him about the charge, she says. Johnson left a message and gave him a few days to call back.

When Mitchell didn't respond, she made calls over the next two weeks to social workers and a federal probation officer to ask Mitchell to come talk to police.

Police say they didn't immediately arrest him because they believed they could get better information if he talked voluntarily.

On Sept. 9, a federal probation official told Johnson that Mitchell was not coming in.

On Sept. 10, a team of social workers, police and other agencies held a standard follow-up meeting to discuss how to proceed in Tiffany's case.

On Friday, Sept. 11, detective Johnson phoned Mitchell's wife and left a message. She asked her to call back to discuss Tiffany, Johnson says, but didn't give details of the rape allegation.

That Monday, Tiffany was shot and killed.

As emergency vehicles rolled to the scene, Tiffany's school bus was diverted from its normal route. But the students could see flashing lights. Tiffany's friends on the bus, Cimone Black and Tamia Corpening, began to worry.

"I kept texting her phone...," Cimone said. Then she started calling, but all she got was voice mail.

The bus continued on to Hawthorne. For Tamia, the hourlong ride was excruciating.

Nobody said a word.



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Sources: MSNBC, McClatchy Newspapers, Charlotte Observer, WRAL, Examiner, Google Maps

Florida Housewife Faked Her Own Kidnapping...Mentally Ill Or Just Desperate?

Police: Wealthy wife faked her own kidnapping. Lawyers for a Florida woman whom police say faked her own abduction in a bizarre scheme to extort $50,000 from her husband talk to TODAY’s Matt Lauer.

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Police: Florida wife faked her own abduction


It sounds like the sort of romantic-mystery potboiler that keeps readers on the edge of their summer beach chairs: A strikingly pretty Florida housewife with a handsome husband and two beautiful young daughters is kidnapped, sexually assaulted, and held for $50,000 ransom.

Or was she?

Prosecutors contend the strange case of 37-year-old Quinn Gray, who claims she was abducted and held for four days in hellish captivity, is a cleverly planned ruse. They claim her supposed abductor, a 25-year-old Bosnian immigrant, was actually her lover, and that the pair plotted to extort cash from Quinn’s well-heeled husband, Reid.

Quinn Gray and her alleged lover, Jasmin Osmanovic, are charged with extortion. But two of her lawyers appeared on TODAY Tuesday to say that Gray, who has a history of mental illness, is a terrorized victim, not a scheming co-conspirator. The case has set the community around Jacksonville, Fla., abuzz.

Please do this, honey

No one is arguing the basics of the case. Quinn Gray went missing the Friday of Labor Day weekend. A ransom note, written in Quinn’s handwriting, was found tacked to the front door of the Gray’s $4 million home, stating: “There are three men holding me right now, and they want $50,000 cash. Stay at the house NO COPS! Keep your cell phone on you. Keep the kids with you. Please do this honey, please!”

But authorities believe it was all trickery. They believe Gray was having an affair with Osmanovic that began when the two met in June at a gas station where Osmanovic worked, and that the pair cooked up a fake kidnapping plot.

“It became more and more evident to really everybody involved that there was something far more complex and involved than a kidnapping,” St. Johns County Sheriff David Shoar told NBC. “Quinn Gray was not kidnapped.”

Authorities cite, among other things, the manager of the hotel where Gray was allegedly being held saying she “didn’t seem to be in distress at all,” and a 90-minute audiotape they say captured the sounds of Gray and Osmanovic in the throes of passion, and then plotting the details of a fake kidnapping.

Mental illness, substance abuse

But Gray attorney Mark Miller has a simple explanation: Quinn Gray is a very sick woman. Miller told Matt Lauer live on TODAY, “Her reaction to the kidnapping, it may seem bizarre, but it’s all explained by her mental illness.”

Miller says psychiatric problems run in Gray’s family, and that she tried to mask her own emotional problems by abusing alcohol. Gray checked in to the renowned Hazelden clinic in Minnesota last June to receive treatment, but when she checked out in July, she was a virtual mental powder keg, her attorneys say.

“Quinn has grown up with a stigma against recognizing what she was going through,” Miller told Lauer. “She self-medicated for much of her adult life with alcohol; that led to a substance abuse problem. In the middle of the summer, she was treated for alcoholism.

“When she came back, for the next six weeks she was untreated, undiagnosed and she was no longer self-medicating. She was in a manic phase of her bipolar disorder when she was kidnapped.”

That made Quinn Gray easy pickings for the likes of Osmanovic, Miller contends. He said that when the case goes to court, he will move to have the incriminating audiotape tossed out under rape shield laws. Far from being a tape of two people making love, then scheming to collect $50,000, said Miller, the tape is actually “an audio recording of a woman who has been kidnapped, abducted and being raped.”

Standing by his Wife

For now, Quinn Gray is at a psychiatric facility on St. Simons Island in Georgia, and Osmanovic is in jail. Attorney Rick Jancha, also representing Gray, told Lauer Tuesday that she is “doing rather well. Of course she’s very anxious about what’s going on. She’s in the middle of her treatment.”

And Reid Gray is standing by his wife, both believing her version of the events and bankrolling her defense. In a statement, he said, “This has been an extraordinarily traumatic experience for me and my entire family. I am deeply concerned over how this incident has, and will continue to, affect our children. I love my family and will do whatever I can to make sure that Quinn receives all of the help and support that she needs.”

Osmanovic continues to assert to authorities that he and Gray had a six-week relationship that included trysts at his gas station, at a hotel and even at her home. He says Gray made him a house key and gave him the home’s security code — and gave him a cover story to use if anyone came to the door while he was there.

Miller asserts that Osmanovic’s claims, and the prosecutor’s contention that the pair were having an affair, are bogus.

“Not one e-mail, not one text message, not one cell phone record — there is nothing that supports their contention that it’s a faked kidnapping,” Miller said.



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