gozgals
Joined: 28 Jul 2005 Posts: 2892 Location: A Place Called Vertigo
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Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2008 7:11 am Post subject: Notable Murder Convictions Without a Body |
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This story is now coming to light due to Casey Anthony being charged with the murder of her child Caylee without a body. In this article, they discuss various other cases where people have been convicted when there wasn't a body. Tom Capone was one person, a popular case Ann Rule wrote a book about.
Of course Han's case is discussed. He was tried without the body of his wife but he did give up the information eventually on where Nina was to cut a deal.
Thank God we can now take these people to court with evidence. They may not get the DP but doing some hard time for 20 plus years is some kind of justice for the families.
(fair use)
Notable Murder Convictions Without a Body
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Associated Press by Fox News
Snip
Notable cases where the prosecution was able to get a conviction despite the homicide victim's body never being recovered:
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In the 1950s, West Palm Beach municipal Judge Joe Peel had earned a reputation for straddling both sides of the law. When Senior Circuit Judge Chillingworth, his superior and a pillar of the West Palm Beach community, disciplined him for representing both the husband and wife in a divorce, Peel hired a World War II veteran and moonshiner to kill Chillingworth. On June 15, 1955, Floyd "Lucky" Holzapfel and George David, bootleggers who relied on Peel for protection, abducted Chillingworth and his wife Marjorie, took them out into the ocean, killed them and dumped the bodies. Evidence at the Chillingworth house quickly ruled out robbery as a motive and investigators were stumped. But four years later, Holzapfel mentioned his role to a friend, who turned him in. Lincoln and Holzapfel were granted immunity in return for their testimony. Peel was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. Experts regard it as the first time a conviction was achieved without a body.
More recent cases:
An Alva, Okla., jury deliberated two hours in September 2007 before convicting Katherine Rutan in the murder of her 6-year-old son, Logan Tucker. Prosecutors said Rutan killed her son on June 23, 2002, so she could be with her boyfriend. Key evidence included a boyfriend who testified that she told him she wished she could kill her children and get away with it. Rulan's other son, Justin, told the jury that his mother took his brother into the woods and returned without him. She was sentenced to life in prison.
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Nina Reiser, wife of Linux software designer Hans Reiser, disappeared in September 2006 in Oakland, Calif. Nina, a Russian native, married Reiser in 1998 and filed for divorce a year later. The divorce was still pending when she disappeared, though she had already gained custody of the couple's two children. Hans Reiser claimed his wife had abandoned him and the children, but prosecutors said he had "motive coming out of his ears," including large child support payments and evidence Nina had an affair with his best friend. Reiser rejected a three-year plea deal to voluntary manslaughter, but four months after being convicted of first-degree murder last April he agreed to lead investigators to his wife's body in return for a lesser sentence. He is serving a 15-year-to-life sentence for second-degree murder.
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http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,438661,00.html
Click link for the rest of story |
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