GUILTY IN - Trisha Cottrell, 29, & two daughters murdered, Rockville, 30 Oct 2005

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A statewide search was under way Monday night for a Parke County man whose wife and two stepdaughters were found slain in their home earlier in the day, police said.
Police identified the victims as Trisha Cottrell, 29, Brittany Williams, 12, and Victoria Williams, 10. The three were found in their rural home just outside Rockville at 8:45 a.m., said Sgt. Joe Watts of the Indiana State Police. The Parke County Sheriff's Department and State Police were searching for Chad Cottrell, 35.
Parke County sheriff's deputies were called to the house by grandparents concerned about the welfare of the children. The grandparents, who were not identified, had not heard from the children, Watts said.
Watts said several schools in nearby Montgomery County, where other relatives of the victims' live, locked their doors to screen visitors, and police escorted some school buses as they took children home Monday afternoon.
Watts said there was no specific information to indicate family members were in danger, but the schools were locked down as a safety precaution. Police canceled Halloween trick-or-treating for the area Monday night.
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051101/NEWS01/511010478/0/NEWS01

Investigators said they wanted to question Chad Cottrell, 35, the girls' stepfather. A witness reported seeing him in a Rockville store about 11:30 a.m., about three hours after the slayings were
discovered, but by late afternoon, police could not say where he was.

"I don't know whether there had been a tumultuous past or problems (between the couple)," said Sgt. Joe Watts of the Indiana State Police.
http://www.wthr.com/Global/story.asp?S=4051935
 
http://www.wthr.com/Global/story.asp?S=4054635
ROCKVILLE, Ind. (AP) - A child survived a weekend attack that left a woman and two girls dead inside a western Indiana home, authorities said Tuesday.

Investigators released no details about the child, who was not harmed, but Parke County Sheriff Charles Bollinger said the child was inside the home for at least a few hours after the killings.

Authorities would not say whether the child was related to the victims - Trisha Cottrell, 29, and her daughters Brittany Williams, 12, and Victoria Williams, 10 - or Cottrell's husband, who remained the subject of a police manhunt on Tuesday.

An arrest warrant was issued Monday charging Chad Cottrell, 35, with three counts of murder, Bollinger said.

and

He was believed to have handguns and rifles and could be suicidal, police said

The girl's grandparents found the bodies when they went to the house after becoming concerned since they had not heard from the family over the weekend, said Sgt. Joe Watts of the Indiana State Police.

Bollinger said the three victims were killed either late Saturday or early Sunday, but declined to release any information on the cause of the deaths.

The grandparents first went to the house on Sunday, but did not go inside, police said.

The Cottrell home had been the site of several domestic violence calls, but Parke County deputies had no reason to suspect that anyone's life would be in danger, Watts said.
 
ROCKVILLE, Ind. (AP) - Minnesota police officers on Tuesday arrested a man charged with killing his wife and two stepdaughters during a weekend attack inside a western Indiana home.

Parke County Sheriff Charles Bollinger said Chad Cottrell was apprehended in central Minnesota's Todd County after he surrendered following a police chase.

A manhunt for Cottrell, 35, started Monday morning after police said the victims' bodies were found in his rural home by the girls' grandparents.

Additional information on the arrest was not immediately available from Minnesota authorities.

More: http://www.wthr.com/Global/story.asp?S=4054635
 
ROCKVILLE, Ind. – Police in Minnesota today arrested the husband of a woman slain over the weekend with her two children, ending a national manhunt that led Indiana authorites to guard members of at least four local families out of fear they might be targeted next.

It was not immediately known whether Chad Cottrell, 35, would fight extradition to Indiana, said Charles L. Bollinger, the Parke County sheriff.

Police identified the victims as Trisha Cottrell, 29, Brittany Williams, 12, and Victoria Williams, 10. The three were found in their rural home just outside Rockville at 8:45 a.m. Monday, said Sgt. Joe Watts of the Indiana State Police.

Bollinger earlier declined to reveal many details of the investigation but said the killings occurred late Saturday or early Sunday and were discovered by the grandparents of the children. Another child in the home at the time of the killings was not injured.

Autopsies were under way today to determine the causes of death.

Bollinger said the dead children were Trisha Cottrell’s daughters and Chad Cottrell’s stepchildren. They lived elsewhere and had been the home on a weekend visit.

More: http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051101/NEWS01/511010478/0/NEWS01
 
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POSTED: 1:00 pm EST November 1, 2005
UPDATED: 1:47 pm EST November 1, 2005


ROCKVILLE, Ind. -- A western Indiana man suspected of killing his wife and his two stepdaughters was arrested Tuesday in central Minnesota, Parke County Sheriff Charles Bollinger said.

Chad Cottrell, 35, was arrested in Melrose, Minn., after he allegedly left a gas station without paying for the gasoline he took, according to the Indiana State Police.

The girls' grandparents found the bodies Monday morning when they went to the Cottrells' house after becoming concerned because they hadn't heard from the family over the weekend, Indiana State Police Sgt. Joe Watts said.


Authorities said a boy survived the attack and was inside the home for at least a few hours after the killings, which police believed happened over the weekend. Police said they believe Chad Cottrell drove the boy, who was not harmed, to another location.

More: http://www.theindychannel.com/news/5223765/detail.html
 
Wow, how horrible for the child that survived to have been in the house for hours after the killings. They don't say anywhere how old the child was, but that's just so sad. And the grandparents found them ... Just a sad story all around. :(
 
Police in Sterns County, Minnesota apprehended Cottrell after a brief pursuit at around noon on Tuesday.

The grandparents of the girls discovered their bodies in their rural Parke County home on Monday morning and made the 911 call to police. Details on the murders have not been released, but police said all three victims were found in their respective bedrooms.

[EDITED to add: Chad Cottrell, the suspect, is the two girls' STEP FATHER]
On Tuesday, detectives were gathering evidence inside the Rockville home where the bodies were found. A family friend said the girls’ father, Ryan Williams, was still in shock over their tragic deaths. “It’s been pretty rough on everybody. We’re just taking it as it comes and hoping they catch him,” said the friend.

More: http://www.wishtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=4057307
 
Heidster said:
Wow, how horrible for the child that survived to have been in the house for hours after the killings. They don't say anywhere how old the child was, but that's just so sad. And the grandparents found them ... Just a sad story all around. :(
Click to expand...
yeah, and it's sad that the girls were just visiting the mother and this monster of a step-father. The real father is devastated. :(
 
I don't get it? Why don't these guys just commit suicide and leave everyone else alone. Apparently the world would be a better place without them. :behindbar

JMHO
fran
 
I thought this one was really odd. Right after finding the bodies, LE puts a guard on 4 other families. That in itself hints at something known behind the scenes. Has he threatened others? Or have a grudge against others? Or did they just think this guy was that dangerous to others?
Now I find that there was another child in the house, who wasn't harmed. Also odd. Who was the other child and how old was it? Where did he leave that other child? I think there will be more info coming out on this one.
 
PrayersForMaura said:
5216718_240X180.jpg


POSTED: 1:00 pm EST November 1, 2005
UPDATED: 1:47 pm EST November 1, 2005


ROCKVILLE, Ind. -- A western Indiana man suspected of killing his wife and his two stepdaughters was arrested Tuesday in central Minnesota, Parke County Sheriff Charles Bollinger said.

Chad Cottrell, 35, was arrested in Melrose, Minn., after he allegedly left a gas station without paying for the gasoline he took, according to the Indiana State Police.

The girls' grandparents found the bodies Monday morning when they went to the Cottrells' house after becoming concerned because they hadn't heard from the family over the weekend, Indiana State Police Sgt. Joe Watts said.


Authorities said a boy survived the attack and was inside the home for at least a few hours after the killings, which police believed happened over the weekend. Police said they believe Chad Cottrell drove the boy, who was not harmed, to another location.

More: http://www.theindychannel.com/news/5223765/detail.html
Click to expand...


The little boy was either in the house for several hours after the attack or he was taken to another location by the killer. If the father removed the boy from the home how did LE know that he...the boy... had been there? If the boy was in the house for several hours then the killer must have hung around for several hours in order for the killer to end up taking the boy to another location???? :confused: The girls must have lived with their grandparents who became uneasy when there was no contact over the weekend. The grandparents must have known that all was not well in that home.

I wonder if the boy was the killer's child. Makes a person wonder why he murdered those two little girls. Maybe they made it known that they didn't like him for a stepdad and that was reason enough for him. I'm glad that they caught him...now if they will just give him what he deserves...LWOP or the death sentence.
 
A sign draped with a black ribbon hung outside Rosedale Elementary School on Tuesday in tribute to two sisters whose short, hardscrabble lives ended violently last weekend.
The memorial was for Brittany and Victoria Williams, who were killed along with their mother, Trisha Cottrell, in a triple homicide that shocked this western Indiana community.
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051102/NEWS01/511020481

An Indiana man suspected of killing his wife and two stepdaughters held a gun to his own head following a chase in Minnesota before he surrendered Tuesday, police said.

Chad Cottrell, 35, was arrested near Oskis, Minn., after he allegedly left a gas station without paying for $40 worth of gasoline he put into his pickup truck, according to police.

During a news conference Tuesday afternoon, police in Minnesota said Cottrell told them to call Indiana authorities because he killed people, KSTP reported.

The Minnesota officers who pursued Cottrell didn't know he was suspected in the Rockville-area slayings until after they handcuffed and identified him, police said.

The Cottrell home had been the site of several police calls, but Parke County deputies had no reason to suspect that anyone's life would be in danger, Watts said.

"They had been out there a number of times for various domestic issues," he said. "Nothing really serious, nothing like this."
http://www.theindychannel.com/news/5223765/detail.html
 
I wonder if the little boy was Chad's and Trisha's child together and that's why he wasn't harmed by this monster...I hope Indiana has the death penalty, and that this ittle boy has some loving relatives to take him in.

Prayers for the father of the two little girls....just awful. :*(
 
The guy who pulled up to pump No. 5 seemed pretty nervous to Ralph Roelike, the attendant who was helping several other customers at the full-service gas station in Melrose, Minn.

"He was in a hurry. He jumped out" and started pumping gas himself, Roelike said. "He kept his head down. I took a good look at him."

Roelike took a good look at the man's Indiana license plate, too, and reported its numbers to police after the driver took off without paying his $40 tab while Roelike was inside Melrose Motor Inc. ringing up another sale.

After a high-speed chase on Interstate Hwy. 94 and central Minnesota back roads Tuesday morning, police arrested the man, who is wanted in the slaying of his wife and two stepdaughters in Indiana.


Full story: http://www.startribune.com/stories/467/5702890.html

It has been working lately w/o a username & password, but if prompted, this one works from BugMeNot.com:

username: franzese
password: sydney
 
"He basically stated, in so many words, 'you don't know who you have' and that he had killed numerous people in Indiana," said Himsl. "Then he said, 'you should have killed me, you should have killed me.' "

Police think they know the motive for the killings, Bollinger said, but refused to reveal many details.

The Cottrell home had been the site of several police calls, mostly on child custody disputes, but authorities had no reason to suspect that anyone's life would be in danger, police said.

Records show life was hard for Brittany and Victoria, who were shuffled between relatives after their mother and father divorced several years ago.

Victoria lived with her father, Ryan Williams, and his wife in Rosedale. Brittany lived in Terre Haute with her maternal grandmother. The girls visited their mother and Cottrell on weekends.

Court records also show the girls were molested from 2001 to 2003 by their paternal grandmother's boyfriend. David A. Thomas, 45, of Terre Haute, was convicted in April on five felony counts of child molesting and is serving a 30-year sentence at the Correctional Industrial Facility in Madison County.

Court records identify Thomas as the longtime boyfriend of their paternal grandmother, Sue Williams. Williams said she believes Thomas is innocent and that Cottrell had been abusing the girls.
http://www.theindychannel.com/news/5237242/detail.html
 
What a twisted awful short life these two girls lived. So many questions, concerning the boy ect.... I would say I hope Cottrell gets what he deserves, but not sure there is punishment enough.
Just shaking my head.....
 
What darling little girls :(
I can't believe how sad their lives were...

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Grandparents of slain girls push for ‘Brittany's Bill'

Representative Clyde Kersey sponsoring legislation to appear before Indiana General Assembly

A Vigo County couple conducted a news conference Wednesday announcing their support for a proposed bill that would require death certificates to reflect an actual time of death.

Rep. Clyde Kersey, D-Terre Haute, is sponsoring “Brittany's Bill,” which will appear before the General Assembly during the January legislative session. The bill would require a coroner to file a supplemental report if a more precise time of death is established after an investigation.

Kersey drafted the bill after the slayings of Trisha Cottrell, 29, and her two daughters, Victoria Williams, 10, and Brittany Williams, 12. Cottrell's husband, Chad Cottrell, was arrested on murder charges and is awaiting trial.

The three were found dead in the Cottrells' Parke County home the morning of Oct. 31 and were pronounced dead at 4:10 p.m., when the coroner arrived

More: http://www.tribstar.com/articles/2005/12/11/news/top_stories_yesterday/top03.txt
 
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