More Information Is Being Released:
04/19/10 - 1:50 P.M. Update: Binder's Friends Wary Of Fugitive's Account
Friends of Vince Binder question the word of one of three fugitives charged with his kidnapping that the FSU graduate student approached the men to buy pot in the middle of the night.
“This is coming from a fugitive’s mouth who is going to say whatever he can,” said friend Beth Frady. “I don’t think Vince would be that stupid.”
Tallahassee police also cautioned against putting too much faith in the statement by Kentrell Johnson, one of the three men who broke out of a Louisiana prison then went on a crime spree that ended in Miami.
Spokesman Danny Jeter said investigators have no evidence to support that Binder tried to buy pot from the men. "Who knows what is the truth," Jeter said.
Johnson also told investigators that the three men kidnapped Binder to rob him. After they purchased gasoline in Madison County, Johnson said is accomplices, Quentin Truehill and Peter Hughes, walked off with Binder, but returned without him. Binder remains missing.
When asked if investigators are searching Madison County for the 29-year-old’s body, Jeter said: “We are continuing to try to locate Mr. Binder.”
He said that the intense effort is not confined to one location, but rather involves many leads.
1:20 P.M. Update: Prison Escapee Talks To Investigators About Binder
One of the men now charged with the kidnapping of FSU student Vince Binder told Tallahassee investigators that his fellow prison escapees "didn't have to kill him (Binder) that way."
That is according to a probable cause report released today by the Tallahassee Police Department.
Tallahassee investigators attempted to interview all three of the men who are now charged, but two requested an attorney. Kentrell Johnson, however, told investigators that the three met Binder near a gas station in Tallahassee and intended to rob him, according to the report.
Johnson said that Binder approached them to buy marijuana, according to the report.
Johnson said they told Binder to get in the truck and were planning to rob him. They drove Binder to an ATM, but the ATM was broken. Binder asked to exit the truck, but they would not let him. They drove him to a gas station in Madison County, where they purchased gas with Binder’s card.
"Johnson advised he was high on drugs and fell asleep, but at some point after the gas
was purchased he said Truehill and Hughes (the other two who are charged) walked off with Binder and did not return with him," according to the report.
Johnson then made a statement to the effect that "they didn't have to kill him," according to the report.
Once Johnson realized that Binder had not been found, he then requested an attorney.
Quentin Truehill, Peter Hughes and Kentrell Johnson have been charged with Binder's kidnapping. They escaped from a prison in Louisiana.
Binder was last seen walking from a friend's home on April 2.
According to the report, his credit/debit card was used at ATMs and gas stations in Tallahassee, Madison, Jacksonville and various locations along I-95 South ending in Miami.
Binder’s driver’s license and debit card were used at a Wachovia Bank in Opalocka. The bank clerk became suspicious and alerted security, since all of the occupants of the car were African American, and Binder is caucasian.
The car drove off before security could make contact. Security did obtain the license plate number on the car. The car was registered to a Shirley Marcus of Miami. US
Marshalls visited Shirley Marcus, and met two men, who gave false names.
Miami police recovered a car in Miami that was stolen near where Truehill, Hughes and Johnson escaped from. U.S. Marshalls found a Florida I.D. card belonging to Chris Pavlish of Tallahassee, maps of Tallahassee, and an ATM receipt from Binder’s account in the car.
Pavlish was robbed earlier in the area where Binder was last seen. There was also another robbery, less than a mile away, with matching suspect and vehicle descriptions.
The two men Marshalls saw with Shirley Marcus matched two photos of the escaped prisoners.
http://www.tallahassee.com/article/...D-Binder-s-friends-wary-of-fugitive-s-account
