GUILTY AZ - Amber Hess, 17, Queen Creek, 22 June 2007

[chicoliving]

~snip~

Vasquez says the two suspects apparently had planned the murder for a couple of weeks.

He says based on statements made by the suspects, this was "one brutal, brutal murder."

He alleges the two went to the girl's home and beat, stabbed and choked her, and then took the body to a desert area and set it on fire.

He says the victim's missing car was found yesterday near the home of one of the suspects.

He says evidence taken from the car and from a search of the suspects' homes linked them to the crime, and that statements made during interviews with investigators led to their arrests.

Vasquez says he's recommending that the teens be charged as adults.

http://www.abc15.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=52958dc4-f169-4fe9-8909-87da9b4be87c

 

[Jeana (DP)]

How amazingly horrible these two kids are! Where do these guys come from???? Geezus!

 

[CaliKid]

:furious: What kind of teenagers is our society raising? You don't like somebody so hey, let's kill them! Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. We'll stab and choke her and then set her body on fire. :furious:

 

[chicoliving]

Presser:

Significant developments yesterday with the ID via dentals of Amber and the arrest late last night of the two boys.

Thanking all those involved, the dif agencies. Going to answer questions. The Hess family is present, they've suffered a huge tragedy and assisted with this case during this time.

How did the arrest come about? From collection of significant evidence and statements made.

Fox News closed the feed so that was about it.

 

[MissieMt]

This is disgusting. What could that poor girl possibly have done to make them hate her so much?
Prayers for her family.

 

[kwatson696]

Vasquez wants to charge the two teens as adults.
http://www.postchronicle.com/news/original/article_21288872.shtml

YA THINK...................Duh....What they did was awful they need to be treated and tried as adults.....

 

[chicoliving]

~snip~

That assault is believed to have happened late Friday or early Saturday. Detectives aren't sure if Hess let the two boys into her home or if they forced their way inside.

"From what I'm told this girl fought for her life in that home, and she didn't die easy — it was very brutal," Vasquez said in an interview from Salt Lake City, where he is attending a law enforcement convention. "If they had been adults I would be screaming for the death penalty in this case."

Detectives got several anonymous tips that led them to the boys who were arrested. One tipster told of the teens coming to borrow supplies to use to use in cleaning up after the murder, Vasquez said.

Search warrants were served at the boys' homes late Tuesday, and "quite a bit" of evidence linking them to the crime was seized, Vasquez said. He said the crime was one of the most vicious he has seen in 30 years in law enforcement.

"She just didn't die quick enough for them. So they just kept doing different things to her," the sheriff said. "It's amazing in today's society how vicious 16-year-olds can get."

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,286981,00.html

 

[kwatson696]

Don't think it matters much but she had a my space.......

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=12572027

 

[azwriter]

Local sources are reporting one of the boys arrested, Todd, was a close friend to Amber. They hung out together at her house. They were not involved as boyfriend/girlfriend.
It's being suggested Todd's girlfriend didn't like Amber and she may be behind the idea to eliminate Amber from Todd's life. But wasn't physically involved in the killing.
I live in the area where this is taking place. The entire Valley in the Phoenix Metro area is in shock.
Queen Creek is a quaint community where everyone knows each other. It's growing fast but it still has a heart.
Less than a month ago in Queen Creek, an 18-year-old high school graduate was killed in an auto accident. The response from the community was amazing.
This gal was a former cheerleader and well known around the area of Queen Creek. Her former classmates came together and planned and held a public memorial for her, complete with a memorial video. At least a couple of her friends were at the house with her mother constantly because the mother was so distraught.
These kids held a car wash before the gal was buried and raised near $3,000 for the family to help bury their pretty daughter.
And, now Queen Creek has yet another dark day where one of its teenagers' life is taken by a brutal murder. I feel for all the residents of that city.

 

[mom3dd]

Political correctness your not allowed to hurt anyones feelings and if you do they are allowed to take their frustrations out on you. Thats our society now.
Can't punish the kids they might get their feelings hurt. Can not correct kids they just need to be shown how over and over and over "do over" ( which I never heard of until a year or two ago) Movies and games and TV violence numbs them so they have no clue as to what killing really means. And if yo do something you won't get punished we will take care of you in comfort airconditioning, color TV sitting around in the living room with a few of your closest friends 3 squares a day and you don't have to do laundry, cook, clean, worry about anything, What more could you ask for. Work Heaven help us

 

[Taximom]

Well, I guess if parents don't want to punish their children for bad behavior when they are in charge....the justice system will take over for them.

I'm glad there's no quibbling over charging them as adults. Yay for the prosecutor.

I wonder if it didn't start out as a rape situation that went bad....horribly bad.

 

[chicoliving]

Two teenage boys are now charged as adults in the killing of a Queen Creek girl whose burned body was found in the desert near Florence, Pinal County Sheriff Chris Vasquez said Wednesday.

The 16-year-olds, identified as Todd Hoke and Nicholas Castillo, were charged in a criminal complaint Wednesday afternoon with one count each of first-degree murder in the killing of Amber LeAnn Hess, 17. Her body has been positively identified using dental records, Vasquez said.

They were ordered held on $1 million bond at a brief court hearing.

Both boys were students at Coolidge High School, where Amber recently graduated, authorities said. They lived within blocks of her home.

http://www.kpho.com/news/13563363/detail.html

 

[BrowneyedEmily]

I'm not sure if this blog is talking about the same Todd Hoke or not, but if it is, how terrifying:

http://oldoldman.blogspot.com/2007/01/he-who-dwells-in-darkness.html

And there are two myspace accounts for a Todd Hoke in AZ:

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=165647117

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=173226348

I haven't found anything on Nicholas Castillo though.

 

[White Rain]

This case sounds kinda like the Heather Rich case...a 16 yr old murdered by three of her friends in Oklahoma. Anyone remember her?

a link:
http://www.washburn.edu/faculty/pfecteau/redstate.htm

 

[chicoliving]

~snip~

Hoke and Castillo were charged in a criminal complaint with one count each of first-degree murder. They were ordered held on $1 million bond at a brief court hearing this afternoon.

Both boys and their parents waived their rights to an attorney at the time of their questioning.

http://www.abc15.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=52958dc4-f169-4fe9-8909-87da9b4be87c

Looks like their mug shots at the link.

 

[Bobbisangel]

I can't begin to understand why those boys would do something so horrible. If Amber and Todd had been friends...good friends...for a long time how could he do that to her? Those two boys have to have evil in their hearts there is just no other explaination. To think of what this poor girl went through as she tried to save her own life is more then I can stand to think about and at the hands of someone she must have trusted. Sounds like Todd convinced the other boy to come along and join in the fun.

I would like to ask each and every person who has taken the life of another and who now sits in prison for the rest of their lives....WAS IT WORTH IT?????

 

[kwatson696]

"From what I'm told this girl fought for her life in that home, and she didn't die easy , it was very brutal," Vasquez said. "If they had been adults I would be screaming for the death penalty in this case."

http://www.philly.com/philly/wires/ap/news/nation/8209277.html


So at what age can they ask for the death penalty? For the crime they committed I don't think any kind of rehab. or youth offender facility will do any good, If I were her parents I would be screaming for justice.....*sigh*

 

[JinxieJada]

situations like this are hard enough to read about - but when you factor in how close these two were....well how do you continue to trust people?

how do we trust our children's friend, even the ones that we think of 'as our own" seeing that when things like this happen, it shows you really don't know anybody?

he tortured her imo, so he was getting his rocks off one way or another by doing so, how the *advertiser censored** ones does it in the first place is beyond me, but how ones does it to someone they know, love, care about etc, wtf goes wrong in these people's brains to cause this?

 

[Sleuthster]

I'm not sure if this blog is talking about the same Todd Hoke or not, but if it is, how terrifying:

http://oldoldman.blogspot.com/2007/01/he-who-dwells-in-darkness.html

And there are two myspace accounts for a Todd Hoke in AZ:

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=165647117

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=173226348

I haven't found anything on Nicholas Castillo though.

This is Nick Castillo's myspace
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=70784854

 

[BrowneyedEmily]

A MySpace friend of Nick's changed her profile name to "I'll Miss You Todd & Nick." Forgive me, but I feel so angry that these monsters are getting feelings of affection from others. I don't know what's wrong with the world today, why these crimes are so prevalent, but I hesitate to place the blame anywhere but on society and the family of those who kill, especially when it involves children and adolescents like these.