christine2448
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Maricopa Jane Doe 1999 Thread #2
- Thread starter Angie4b1g
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christine2448
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Also at the true crime link a missing girl is mentioned and story told, her name Jessie Kay Peters.
It seems someone confessed and was convicted of Jessie's rape, murder, etc, BUT, find no evidence of a body being recovered....what do you all think of this???
Did I just miss it???
The Daily Breeze July 14, 2006
Former Hermosa girl was 'most innocent of victims'
Jessie Kay Peters (check out her picture on the true crime blog!) was 14 years old when she disappeared in 1996. Recently, her family learned she had been brutally raped and killed.
By Larry Altman
Daily Breeze
For 10 years, Jessie Kay Peters' whereabouts remained a mystery. The blond-haired, blue-eyed girl who spent her first 12 years of life in Hermosa Beach vanished March 29, 1996. She was just 14. "She didn't take any clothes," said her aunt, Charylene McCain. "She didn't take anything with her."
Family members circulated fliers and posted Jessie's photograph on national Web sites. Her mother, convinced that Jessie ran away, held out hope. But some family members suspected the worst. "I thought maybe she might be alive out there somewhere," said her grandmother, Claire Arvanetes. "I always had that hope she would some day come back. (But) I just knew somebody took her against her will."
For a decade, there were no clues in Jessie's disappearance. And then, as a gruesome murder trial unfolded in recent months for a man and a woman charged with killing another teenage girl in Riverside County, Jessie's family learned what happened to her in graphic, horrifying detail.
Prosecutors believe Jessie died the same day she vanished. Evidence revealed that the couple kidnapped Jessie, raped and killed her for sexual gratification, dismembered her body and dumped her remains off Dana Point, Riverside County Deputy District Attorney Michael Rushton said. "The evidence is very compelling that they killed Jessie Peters," Rushton said. "This girl was simply chosen out of the blue. This little girl did nothing. She was essentially lured way from her home under a false pretense and held captive and murdered.
"She is the most innocent of victims." Prosecutors believe Michael Forrest Thornton, 50, and Janeen Marie Snyder, 26, targeted Jessie as part of a sexual obsession with teenage girls. She is believed to be their first victim, at least the first one prosecutors know about, Rushton said.
Convicted pair worked as a team
Thornton and Snyder were convicted in March of torturing and killing Michelle Curran, a 16-year-old girl who disappeared April 4, 2001, on her way to school in Las Vegas. Curran's nude body was found April 22, 2001, in a horse trailer in Rubidoux in Riverside County. Ligature marks on her wrists and ankles revealed she had been strapped to harnesses and equestrian equipment before she was shot once in the head.
Thornton and Snyder, prosecutors said at trial, worked as a team, luring young girls, feeding them drugs and having sex with them. Two young women -- 14 and 15 years old at the time -- testified that the couple also tortured and sexually assaulted them.
Rushton said in an interview that the couple held Curran captive in the trailer for 14 days, then killed her as part of a sexual fantasy. "They are heinous criminals," the prosecutor said. "They are sexual deviants."
Jessie apparently met the same fate as Curran, prosecutors now believe. During the trial's penalty phase, a psychiatric expert who examined Snyder testified the woman told her she lured Jessie away from her Glendora home at Thornton's direction, Rushton said. "They held her at gunpoint and took her up to Lake Arrowhead, where they handcuffed her to a bed," Rushton said. "Thornton raped her, and they drowned her (in a bathtub), dismembered her and disposed of her in the ocean."
Thornton's former wife, Pamela Bibens, testified during the trial that she overheard her husband discussing how to dispose of a young girl's body parts. Bibens said she heard Thornton say he killed the girl and cut up her body. Bibens told the jury she and Thornton lived in a Lake Arrowhead mobile home. Her husband told her to go into her bedroom and "don't come out whatever you hear," according to trial coverage in the Riverside Press-Enterprise.
Bibens said she later heard her husband and Snyder talk about how long it took for the girl to drown, and how to weigh down body parts. The girl was Jessie, whose mother, Cheryl Peters, had worked for Thornton as a beautician in one of his hair salons. Thornton and Bibens owned a chain, The Fixx, with locations in the San Gabriel Valley and the Inland Empire. Snyder, a troubled friend of Thornton's daughter, moved in with the family.
Jessie lived with aunts in the South Bay and attended Hermosa Valley School, but wanted to live with her mother in Glendora. At 12, she moved. Two years later, she was gone. "We were hoping and praying she would call and come home," said her aunt, Candance Garcia. "We couldn't figure out what happened to her. It was so frustrating. I prayed and asked God, 'Bring her home. We want her back.' There was no word."
Time passed. In 2001, prosecutor Rushton and investigator Larry Lansford began looking into the Curran murder. They heard rumors of the death of another girl, one whose mother had worked for Thornton.
'What an evil thing to do'
Jessie's family learned the details about Jessie's slaying toward the end of the five-month trial. "I was shocked. I was mortified. I felt pain in my heart because of what they did to her," said Jessie's grandmother, Arvanetes. "How horrible those people were. What an evil thing to do." "I think if I didn't have God in my life, I don't think I would be able to handle it," said Garcia, Jessie's aunt.
McCain described her niece as a wonderful kid who loved her older brother, Robert, and going to school. "I went to her class at Hermosa Valley. Her desk was separated from all the rest of the kids," McCain said. "She was smiling really big. I said, 'Why are you here?' She said, 'Because I was bugging all the kids.' "
Her grandmother recalls attending church, taking walks and reading the Bible together. "I remember she loved flowers. She loved animals. She loved fireflies. She loved being with me," Arvanetes said. "She was very beautiful and very attractive."
Glendora police Sgt. Ted Groszewski said his department, which took the original missing person report, will meet soon with Riverside County investigators to discuss the evidence against Thornton and Snyder in Jessie's case. Glendora detectives will review the case with the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office to determine whether murder charges will be filed.
Some of Jessie's family members will speak Oct. 24, when Thornton and Snyder are sentenced in Riverside County court. A jury recommended in May that Thornton and Snyder receive the death penalty. Rushton said the testimony about Jessie helped persuade jurors to choose death. "We just feel such sorrow for the family of Jessie Peters," Rushton said. "They were completely victimized. It's obvious they suffered a great deal."
Knowing they will never see Jessie again, her family members Saturday will hold a memorial service at the Covina Assembly of God Church. Charles Biller, the church's pastor, said he will offer encouragement and comfort. "The girl was a Christian. She had been a member of the church two years prior to the incident," Biller said. "They have that assurance and comfort knowing that she is with the Lord."
Family members later will pray and release doves from a boat off Dana Point. "There is some closure in some way," Garcia said. "At least we know now what happened. "For me, I have more peace about it. I know that we are all destined for not this life anyway. We are all going to die and we are all going to be in heaven if we have Jesus in our heart.
"There's no way, without the Lord in our life, I could have a peace like this knowing what happened."
Hermosa Beach News
Copied w/permission
It seems someone confessed and was convicted of Jessie's rape, murder, etc, BUT, find no evidence of a body being recovered....what do you all think of this???
Did I just miss it???
The Daily Breeze July 14, 2006
Former Hermosa girl was 'most innocent of victims'
Jessie Kay Peters (check out her picture on the true crime blog!) was 14 years old when she disappeared in 1996. Recently, her family learned she had been brutally raped and killed.
By Larry Altman
Daily Breeze
For 10 years, Jessie Kay Peters' whereabouts remained a mystery. The blond-haired, blue-eyed girl who spent her first 12 years of life in Hermosa Beach vanished March 29, 1996. She was just 14. "She didn't take any clothes," said her aunt, Charylene McCain. "She didn't take anything with her."
Family members circulated fliers and posted Jessie's photograph on national Web sites. Her mother, convinced that Jessie ran away, held out hope. But some family members suspected the worst. "I thought maybe she might be alive out there somewhere," said her grandmother, Claire Arvanetes. "I always had that hope she would some day come back. (But) I just knew somebody took her against her will."
For a decade, there were no clues in Jessie's disappearance. And then, as a gruesome murder trial unfolded in recent months for a man and a woman charged with killing another teenage girl in Riverside County, Jessie's family learned what happened to her in graphic, horrifying detail.
Prosecutors believe Jessie died the same day she vanished. Evidence revealed that the couple kidnapped Jessie, raped and killed her for sexual gratification, dismembered her body and dumped her remains off Dana Point, Riverside County Deputy District Attorney Michael Rushton said. "The evidence is very compelling that they killed Jessie Peters," Rushton said. "This girl was simply chosen out of the blue. This little girl did nothing. She was essentially lured way from her home under a false pretense and held captive and murdered.
"She is the most innocent of victims." Prosecutors believe Michael Forrest Thornton, 50, and Janeen Marie Snyder, 26, targeted Jessie as part of a sexual obsession with teenage girls. She is believed to be their first victim, at least the first one prosecutors know about, Rushton said.
Convicted pair worked as a team
Thornton and Snyder were convicted in March of torturing and killing Michelle Curran, a 16-year-old girl who disappeared April 4, 2001, on her way to school in Las Vegas. Curran's nude body was found April 22, 2001, in a horse trailer in Rubidoux in Riverside County. Ligature marks on her wrists and ankles revealed she had been strapped to harnesses and equestrian equipment before she was shot once in the head.
Thornton and Snyder, prosecutors said at trial, worked as a team, luring young girls, feeding them drugs and having sex with them. Two young women -- 14 and 15 years old at the time -- testified that the couple also tortured and sexually assaulted them.
Rushton said in an interview that the couple held Curran captive in the trailer for 14 days, then killed her as part of a sexual fantasy. "They are heinous criminals," the prosecutor said. "They are sexual deviants."
Jessie apparently met the same fate as Curran, prosecutors now believe. During the trial's penalty phase, a psychiatric expert who examined Snyder testified the woman told her she lured Jessie away from her Glendora home at Thornton's direction, Rushton said. "They held her at gunpoint and took her up to Lake Arrowhead, where they handcuffed her to a bed," Rushton said. "Thornton raped her, and they drowned her (in a bathtub), dismembered her and disposed of her in the ocean."
Thornton's former wife, Pamela Bibens, testified during the trial that she overheard her husband discussing how to dispose of a young girl's body parts. Bibens said she heard Thornton say he killed the girl and cut up her body. Bibens told the jury she and Thornton lived in a Lake Arrowhead mobile home. Her husband told her to go into her bedroom and "don't come out whatever you hear," according to trial coverage in the Riverside Press-Enterprise.
Bibens said she later heard her husband and Snyder talk about how long it took for the girl to drown, and how to weigh down body parts. The girl was Jessie, whose mother, Cheryl Peters, had worked for Thornton as a beautician in one of his hair salons. Thornton and Bibens owned a chain, The Fixx, with locations in the San Gabriel Valley and the Inland Empire. Snyder, a troubled friend of Thornton's daughter, moved in with the family.
Jessie lived with aunts in the South Bay and attended Hermosa Valley School, but wanted to live with her mother in Glendora. At 12, she moved. Two years later, she was gone. "We were hoping and praying she would call and come home," said her aunt, Candance Garcia. "We couldn't figure out what happened to her. It was so frustrating. I prayed and asked God, 'Bring her home. We want her back.' There was no word."
Time passed. In 2001, prosecutor Rushton and investigator Larry Lansford began looking into the Curran murder. They heard rumors of the death of another girl, one whose mother had worked for Thornton.
'What an evil thing to do'
Jessie's family learned the details about Jessie's slaying toward the end of the five-month trial. "I was shocked. I was mortified. I felt pain in my heart because of what they did to her," said Jessie's grandmother, Arvanetes. "How horrible those people were. What an evil thing to do." "I think if I didn't have God in my life, I don't think I would be able to handle it," said Garcia, Jessie's aunt.
McCain described her niece as a wonderful kid who loved her older brother, Robert, and going to school. "I went to her class at Hermosa Valley. Her desk was separated from all the rest of the kids," McCain said. "She was smiling really big. I said, 'Why are you here?' She said, 'Because I was bugging all the kids.' "
Her grandmother recalls attending church, taking walks and reading the Bible together. "I remember she loved flowers. She loved animals. She loved fireflies. She loved being with me," Arvanetes said. "She was very beautiful and very attractive."
Glendora police Sgt. Ted Groszewski said his department, which took the original missing person report, will meet soon with Riverside County investigators to discuss the evidence against Thornton and Snyder in Jessie's case. Glendora detectives will review the case with the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office to determine whether murder charges will be filed.
Some of Jessie's family members will speak Oct. 24, when Thornton and Snyder are sentenced in Riverside County court. A jury recommended in May that Thornton and Snyder receive the death penalty. Rushton said the testimony about Jessie helped persuade jurors to choose death. "We just feel such sorrow for the family of Jessie Peters," Rushton said. "They were completely victimized. It's obvious they suffered a great deal."
Knowing they will never see Jessie again, her family members Saturday will hold a memorial service at the Covina Assembly of God Church. Charles Biller, the church's pastor, said he will offer encouragement and comfort. "The girl was a Christian. She had been a member of the church two years prior to the incident," Biller said. "They have that assurance and comfort knowing that she is with the Lord."
Family members later will pray and release doves from a boat off Dana Point. "There is some closure in some way," Garcia said. "At least we know now what happened. "For me, I have more peace about it. I know that we are all destined for not this life anyway. We are all going to die and we are all going to be in heaven if we have Jesus in our heart.
"There's no way, without the Lord in our life, I could have a peace like this knowing what happened."
Hermosa Beach News
Copied w/permission
White Rain
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Hey guys...just became interested in this case last night...read thru every thread....so many missing people yall provided looked like it could "be" this person.
There is NO doubt that this girl was beautiful...
Regardless of that...one question I have IS:
She supposedly jumped OR was pushed...IF SHE WAS PUSHED then WHY would the people ( a guy and girl if I am not mistaken) EVER come forward? Why EVER put yourself in the line of fire?
From some reports the couple said "she appeared to be a prostitute AND jumped..."
Whether she was or not....
At the beginning LE DID NOT know who this couple was....WHY WOULD THEY (the couple) EVER COME FORWARD IF THEY HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS? They could have gotten away SCOTT FREE....
I just want it to be known that I don't know if she jumped OR was pushed but I discard/discredit nothing....
Too me her face DOES not look like a jump victim...instead it looks to me like a BEATEN victim....Beaten on one side. etc.....
But THAT is JUST ME....
There is NO doubt that this girl was beautiful...
Regardless of that...one question I have IS:
She supposedly jumped OR was pushed...IF SHE WAS PUSHED then WHY would the people ( a guy and girl if I am not mistaken) EVER come forward? Why EVER put yourself in the line of fire?
From some reports the couple said "she appeared to be a prostitute AND jumped..."
Whether she was or not....
At the beginning LE DID NOT know who this couple was....WHY WOULD THEY (the couple) EVER COME FORWARD IF THEY HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS? They could have gotten away SCOTT FREE....
I just want it to be known that I don't know if she jumped OR was pushed but I discard/discredit nothing....
Too me her face DOES not look like a jump victim...instead it looks to me like a BEATEN victim....Beaten on one side. etc.....
But THAT is JUST ME....
Zanko
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My understanding is that the vehicle stopped or was stopped at the time of the "accident" and that the police interviewed the car's occupants. There was something in the previous thread about the fact that LE had some suspicions and that the male in the vehicle had a criminal record, but nothing much else was said about this couple. I'm just not sure if they could have gotten away. Maybe the "accident" was witnessed. The fact that they stopped could have been the reason why LE didn't investigate them further.
JDB
Tybee you will never be forgotten
:crazy:
The men in both cases Smart's and Michaela are way to old.The sketch they did on Michaela case the guy was maybe mid 20's and with a pock marked face. That sketch is burned in my brain as I lived not more then 2 miles where she went missing.I think that if this UID is not her. Michaela was dumped either in Niles canyon or the hills going from San Mateo over to half moon bay.
The men in both cases Smart's and Michaela are way to old.The sketch they did on Michaela case the guy was maybe mid 20's and with a pock marked face. That sketch is burned in my brain as I lived not more then 2 miles where she went missing.I think that if this UID is not her. Michaela was dumped either in Niles canyon or the hills going from San Mateo over to half moon bay.
Zanko
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Doe Network reported on March 23, 2008 that the DNA information has been updated. It now reads:
DNA: Available nucDNA in FBI NMPDD
I believe it used to read that her DNA was in CODIS. It's good to know they are still working on identifying her.
DNA: Available nucDNA in FBI NMPDD
I believe it used to read that her DNA was in CODIS. It's good to know they are still working on identifying her.
AmandaBrown23
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someone has to be missing her. I hope some how she can get some justice and soon.
White Rain
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Fairy1
VOTE!!!
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I cannot believe no one is looking for this beautiful girl. LE was lax in not getting more info from the people in the car. Who were they, how could they not have asked this girl her name, where did she come from??? As I recall, they claimed she asked them to drive her "through" Arizona. That tells me she was from somewhere other than Arizona and on her way to somewhere in particular. So they said. This case is so frustrating!!!
BeavisMom62
No, Butthead is NOT here!!
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I found the article in the Arizona Republic's archives. Should I risk posting the whole article here (had to pay $2.50 for it)?
Mods, can she, can she, huh? Pretty please, please, please???!!!! :blowkiss:
Meyahna
Member
I don't think that'd be allowed this is strictly forbidden I think to disseminate these articles in public.
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Boy, I thought I was finished work today... Ok. here's the info from the Jan. 30, 1999 article. Two things are listed differently than other sources - height (5'7") and location found (mile marker 193).
Height - 5'7"
Weight - 130 lbs.
Eyes - blue/grey
Hair - sandy blonde
Lips - thick, bowed
Eyebrows - thin, plucked
Estimated age - 17
Items - gold necklace with gold ring on it with letters "DMA"
Car - blue Cadillac
Speed - approx 75mph
Location - southbound I-10, near Sun Lakes, AZ
Persons in car:
Alonzo DeCarlo Fernandez, age 26
Lindsay DeJong
Charges - (Fernandez) - failure to render aid
Destination - Miami, FL
Origin - Ajax Mini-Mart (liquor store) 23rd st & Van Buren, an area frequented by prostitutes & drug dealers
Fernandez says she just jumped into the car. He said he was going to Miami. So did she. They picked up Lindsay DeJong. He said all three got in the front seat. (So they must have been out of the car at some point). They left. After (they were) smoking marijuana, her behavior changed, lots of talking, then suddenly she opened the door. He didn't stop because he was afraid, and saw people stopping to help her.
Okay, that should get around the copyright stuff...
Height - 5'7"
Weight - 130 lbs.
Eyes - blue/grey
Hair - sandy blonde
Lips - thick, bowed
Eyebrows - thin, plucked
Estimated age - 17
Items - gold necklace with gold ring on it with letters "DMA"
Car - blue Cadillac
Speed - approx 75mph
Location - southbound I-10, near Sun Lakes, AZ
Persons in car:
Alonzo DeCarlo Fernandez, age 26
Lindsay DeJong
Charges - (Fernandez) - failure to render aid
Destination - Miami, FL
Origin - Ajax Mini-Mart (liquor store) 23rd st & Van Buren, an area frequented by prostitutes & drug dealers
Fernandez says she just jumped into the car. He said he was going to Miami. So did she. They picked up Lindsay DeJong. He said all three got in the front seat. (So they must have been out of the car at some point). They left. After (they were) smoking marijuana, her behavior changed, lots of talking, then suddenly she opened the door. He didn't stop because he was afraid, and saw people stopping to help her.
Okay, that should get around the copyright stuff...
Fairy1
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Did they ever question the people who frequent the Ajax Mini-Mart? If she was a prostitute, someone there had to have known her. Dang it! For some reason, I always felt they were headed north. Now I know that was not the case. The fact that they've always said she supposedly asked them to drive her "across" Arizona led me to believe she was on her way to somewhere specific for a reason. This new info makes it sound like that may not be the case.
Fairy1
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Thank you so much FMW - this is great info. Interesting that they claim there was "lots of talking" but her name never came up. I call BS. Where are these people????????
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