THALIA STATHIS – HUGUES FRANCOIS – TANYA RUSH
The following is a recompiled version of information available online. Any contribution or correction is welcome.
Thalia Stathis was reported missing on September 26th, 2007 by co-workers at the Arena Diner, Hackensack NJ. Her live in boyfriend Hugues Francois was accused of fatally beating her, after Stathis told Francois that she was planning to break off their relationship. Thalia’s blood was found inside her bathroom and in the trunk of Francois’ car. Jury found him guilty of the murder and Francois was sentenced to 40 years.
Let’s review this slam dunk case.
Thalia Stathis went missing from Hackensack, NJ. September 14th, 2007. Her body was found on July 9th, 2008 on the side of a road on the Southern State Parkway in the North Merrick.
http://goo.gl/N8V9l9
A “laundry-type bag” containing the badly decomposed body of an adult was found Wednesday night.
In 2010, Hugues Francois was convicted of the following counts: 1 - first-degree aggravated manslaughter, 2 - second-degree disturbing or removing human remains, 3 & 4 third-degree forgery, 5 - fourth-degree theft by deception, 6 - third-degree hindering apprehension and he received a sentence of 40 years. He must serve nearly 32 years before being eligible for parole. That is because the sentences are given at the maximums and they are all back to back. I wish all crimes get punished that harshly.
Question is; why is he NOT getting a conviction for first or second degree murder, if the prosecution holds such a strong hand?
FRANCOIS IS ARRESTED SEPTEMBER 26th
On September 26, 2007, Cliffside Park police officers were dispatched to her apartment to check on her welfare, Francois showed up at Stathis' apartment as they searched it, he told police that he hadn't seen or heard from her and figured she merely left, police said.
Police said they initially arrested Francois on Sept. 26 — the day Stathis was reported missing — for drug paraphernalia possession and failure to register under Megan’s Law charges after they caught him walking into his apartment holding a crack pipe.
Francois is taken into police custody on September 26th (for drug charges) incarcerated on September 27th and he is NEVER released after that, with bail first raised from 50K to 150K then to 2M USD.
CRIMINAL RECORD OF FRANCOIS
Francois, served seven years in prison on a 1997 aggravated manslaughter conviction, was being held Wednesday night on $50,000 bail. In addition, police have charged Francois, also convicted in 1997 of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old, with failure to report as a sex offender under Megan's Law, authorities said.
TEEN SLAIN; DRUG LINK SUSPECTED
Date: 02-23-1994, Wednesday
It looked like a drug deal gone bad, and it cost an Englewood teen his life, authorities say. The body of the 19-year-old man was found in a baseball dugout in a Teaneck park, officials said Tuesday. It was the first slaying in Bergen County this year. Karriem Goodwin, who was shot in the head, was found by a group of teenagers walking through Milton Votee Park late Monday, Bergen County Prosecutor John J. …
SUSPECT HELD IN TEANECK SLAYING -- HANDGUN SEIZED AFTER A TIP LEADS TO ARREST
Date: 03-17-1994, Thursday
A gun seized from a man who carried it into a meeting with his probation officer has led investigators to a suspect in last month's slaying of a 19-year-old youth in a Teaneck baseball dugout. Hugues Francois, 19, of 1473 Terrace Circle, Teaneck, was charged Wednesday in the shooting death of Karriem Goodwin, 19, at Milton Votee Park on Feb. 21.
I couldn’t find information about the rape conviction.
THALIA STATHIS
The victim, Thalia Stathis, was employed as a waitress at the Arena Diner in Hackensack where she worked the overnight shift. Harry Mavrozisis, the Arena Diner night manager, testified that Thalia was an "excellent" employee who worked six days a week. Both he and Jimmie Vetsas, another night manager, stated that she rarely missed work.
She earned $200 a day – working 15 hours a day, often seven days a week – to support herself and her live-in boyfriend, Francois.
FRANCOIS IS AN EVIL MAN
Prosecutors also said Stathis had shown up at work with bruises and told co-workers she wanted to break up with Francois.
Thalia's mother, Joanne Stathis, testified that her relationship with her daughter changed "drastically" when Thalia began dating defendant. On September 7, 2007, Stathis first informed her mother that she was leaving defendant and wanted to come back home. Thalia also confided in two Arena Diner customers who became friends, Ronni Sheldon and Janet Teller, in early September 2007, that she intended to leave defendant.
Thalia had a number of telephone conversations with her parents in the days following September 7. On September 10, 2007, Thalia called Joanne, crying. The two met at a local restaurant, where Thalia told Joanne that she had broken up with defendant and did not want to see him again. Thalia returned to work after lunch and Joanne did not see her daughter alive again.
Thalia last reported for work on September 13, 2007. That evening, she told both Mavrozisis and Vetsas that she was going to leave defendant. Thalia told Vetsas that before leaving him she intended to return to her apartment to pick up clothes. According to Vetsas, he advised Thalia that her father should accompany her to the apartment, but Thalia stated it was unnecessary.
Following that evening, Mavrozisis found it unusual and became concerned when Thalia missed her scheduled shifts. When he failed in his efforts to contact Thalia, Mavrozisis ultimately contacted the police four or five days later.
Four or five days? This is from a court document! By all accounts Stathis is reported missing on September 26th.
OPEN ENDED SUGGESTIONS
There are several open ended suggestions in prosecution’s case, however none of them are followed through to a certain conclusion.
News Reports
He told police that it wasn’t unusual for his girlfriend of two years to disappear so he never alerted authorities, prosecutors said.
Court Documents
On September 26, 2007, when Thalia had been missing for approximately fourteen days, Cliffside Park police officers were dispatched to her apartment to check on her welfare. They spoke with defendant, who informed them that he lived in the apartment with Stathis, his girlfriend of approximately three years, and that he had not seen her for about a week.
Prosecution implies that Francois not reporting her girlfriend missing is suspicious, however she’s not reported missing by her friends who saw her in bruises in the past, who were “worried” about her going to apartment alone that night and not showing up for work next day. Similarly her family doesn’t report her missing as well.
January 17, 2008 - FRANCOIS IS CHARGED WITH MURDER - (It is possible in NJ without a body)
News Reports
Francois said nothing other than answering yes-or-no questions at a brief hearing Thursday in Superior Court in Hackensack, where he entered his plea. Several family members and friends of Stathis' attended the hearing and left without commenting.
Francois is represented by Robert Kalisch (public defender)
Court Document
After the close of testimony on the second day of trial, the prosecutor asked the court to advise defendant that he should not be speaking in front of the jury and that he should communicate through his attorney and comply with appropriate courtroom decorum. The judge addressed defendant, pointed out that he did get up and start to speak, and told him that he could not do that. When the judge stated he was not going to debate the issue, defendant said,
FRANCOIS:
If that's the case, why don't you let me represent myself then? Because [counsel is] not doing the stuff I'm asking him to do anyway. So let me represent myself.
I'm competent. I -- I have a high school diploma. I -- I know how to read and I know how to write and let me -- cause there's questions that's not being asked. There's things that are not being said.
After explaining why he considered his defense deficient, defendant made six further requests to represent himself. The judge repeatedly stated he was just telling defendant the rules regarding courtroom behavior and called his counsel "extremely capable[.]" Defendant disagreed and again requested to proceed pro se. The judge stated; [W]e are now in about day five of the trial including jury selection. If there was an application going to be made to represent yourself, it should have been done before trial and I would have considered it.... [T]he Public Defender's Office... assigned [you] Mr. Kalisch and he will be your attorney throughout the matter.
Defendant protested, reiterating that his counsel was not asking the questions he wanted him to ask. The judge again stated that Kalisch would serve as his attorney and advised defendant to contact the Public Defender's Office if there were issues communicating with Kalisch. Defendant then interrupted the judge and asked, "So why can't I represent myself and he sit right here by my side[?]" The judge refused, again noting that the trial was in its fifth day, and "we're not going to be thinking about changing attorneys at this point." Defendant did not renew his request to proceed pro se thereafter.
His attorney, finds it in the best interest of Francois to shut up, while the man is craving for telling. Normally attorneys do that because their idiot client is guilty, and they are worried that the client will incriminate himself at the stand. However, Francois wants to speak but the attorney, the judge and the prosecution do not let this. If Francois will screw himself up, so be it. Why isn’t he allowed to speak?
BLOOD STAINS
News Reports - there are two different versions
I- Lab results from blood found in the trunk of his car didn't produce a match, but it is "consistent" with Stathis' DNA, Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Catherine Fantuzzi told the judge Tuesday.
II- Prosecutors said blood found in the trunk of Francois' car is consistent with that of Stathis' parents.
1. Prosecution probably had Thalia’s DNA but they do not emphasize a strict match with blood samples, instead they prefer to use roundabout wordings. Even if they don’t have Thalia’s DNA during the time she was missing, they can redo the tests after her body is found.
2. In the court document (appeal ruling) the wording changes.
Court Documents
During the course of the interview, defendant stated he owned a vehicle, a 2007 Honda Accord, that was parked around the block from the apartment. He consented to a search of the vehicle.
The floor plate that would have covered the spare tire was missing, as was a carpet padding. A "yellowish brown" substance, containing compounds commonly found in cleaning products, was found below the spare tire. There were also five "reddish brown" stains in the trunk. Three of the stains were tested and found to contain Thalia's blood. A floor mat was missing from the front passenger side of the vehicle.
Following the car search, police re-interviewed defendant, who said the detectives were lying about finding blood in the car. Asked if he had killed Thalia, defendant became "very belligerent very uncooperative" and refused to speak further.
A search of Thalia's apartment led to the discovery of four blood stains in the bathroom. Two of those stains, one found on the wall behind the toilet and the one on the underside of the sink were Thalia's blood.
1. What are the other “blood stains”? Who do they belong to?
2. Blood stains are found UNDERSIDE OF THE SINK and BEHIND THE TOILET. Since blood travels in straight lines, those stains must be caused by spatter. But the corresponding blood marks are not referred. Prosecution implies a possible wild episode taking place in the bathroom and thus hints the bathroom must be thoroughly cleaned. However, they do not officially put this theory forward in court. It’s another OPEN ENDED SUGGESTION that is not concluded to any point. (see below)
3. Prosecution fails to perform a cadaver dog confirmation twice, both inside the car and inside the apartment.
WHERE DID THALIA DIE? (I)
News Reports
Prosecutors said Francois fatally beat Thalia Stathis at their Cliffside Park apartment before disposing of her body. “You murdered my daughter, put her in a bag in the trunk of your car, that she paid for, and threw her out on a highway like a piece of garbage,” Joanne Stathis said.
Court Documents
...prosecutor's concession that the homicide did not occur at the victim's apartment in Cliffside Park.
Although prosecution feeds the press about the possible place of fatal confrontation, they do not officially declare Thalia’s bathroom as a crime scene.
WHERE DID THALIA DIE? (II)
Court Documents
A floor mat was missing from the front passenger side of the vehicle.
Prosecution implies part of the altercation took place in the car. But once again it is an OPEN ENDED SUGGESTION. They don’t query why it is missing. They don’t emphasize when it went missing. Neither the prosecution nor the defense asks Francois about the missing upholstery. Prosecution does not put a scenario how the crime occurred.
HOW THE BODY WAS DISPOSED OF?
Court Documents
Police observed that a blue sheet covered the bed mattress. [This will later be referred again]
The search of the car's trunk yielded two laundry bags containing clothing, detergent and an air freshener as well as other items.
Thalia's body was dressed only in underwear and wrapped in three plastic shopping/laundry-type bags, a garbage bag, and a blue sheet.
Prosecution makes a search in the apartment with the intention to discover evidence of a murder, but they fail to ponder about how the body of the missing person could be disposed of, i.e. they are not looking at missing sheets, curtains, carpets or garbage bags for a potential match in the future, when the body is found. They only vaguely emphasize a color similarity.
From news reports the “bag” takes two forms
a) her body was found decomposing in a vinyl bag on the side of the Southern State Parkway in
b) wrapped in three plastic shopping/laundry-type bags
By referring to the laundry bags found in the trunk prosecution once again implies Francois’ culpability, however one more time this goes as an OPEN ENDED SUGGESTION. Prosecution fails to demonstrate that the bags are similar or identical.
No fingerprinting exercise is mentioned, either they didn’t do it, or they couldn’t find any fingerprints.
HOW AND WHEN DID THALIA DIE? WHEN WAS HER BODY DUMPED?
Andrew Wolodzko, M.D., Deputy Medical Examiner for Nassau County, conducted an autopsy. His examination revealed multiple skull and hand fractures, as well as a fractured hyoid. A toxicology report revealed that no drugs were found in the body. Thalia's death, according to the autopsy, was caused by homicide, specifically blunt force trauma, including multiple blows to Thalia's head. Due to the magnitude of the fractures to the skull, either blow could have been lethal. Accordingly, Dr. Wolodzko identified the cause of death as blunt force head trauma. He also testified that a hyoid fracture is "the hallmark of manual strangulation." He could not tell, however, whether strangulation occurred before or after the blows to the skull.
The prosecution calls an entomologist on the stand to give a testimony that Thalia has been dead for a long period, based on insect activity. However, this is more focused on TOD, prosecution fails elaborate whether or not the body was placed at the discovery site immediately after she was dead, which could be a much simpler matter of observation. Normally it can be inferred that the body is put there mid September 2007. But this is NOT made official.
PHONE RECORDS
A suspicious phone activity may be phone going dead for several hours as in the Kaysi McLeod murder. http://scottleekimball.com/tag/walden/
Prosecution does not refer to a suspicious phone [Francois] activity. That means Francois’s phone is on all the time.
Court Documents
Defendant stated he had last seen and spoken to Stathis on September 14, 2007, when he picked her up from work and dropped her off at her apartment between 2:00 and 3:30 in the morning. Defendant claimed that Thalia wanted him to spend the night with her but he left after dropping her off.
According to telephone records, Thalia's last outgoing call was made to defendant's telephone at 1:56 a.m. on the morning of September 14. The last time Thalia's cellphone was active was at 2:51 a.m. that morning, when an incoming call from defendant's phone was forwarded to voicemail. Telephone records also revealed that at the time of both calls, Thalia's phone was within the area of Hackensack Hospital, a short distance from the Arena Diner.
THE SEARCH PARTY
October 15, 2007
News Reports
Law enforcement officials and a team of volunteers searched the cliffs of the Palisades Sunday for a missing Cliffside Park woman.
http://goo.gl/OMtGaa
The area being searched overlooks Ross Dock in the Palisades Interstate Park in Fort Lee. Members of the Cliffside Park and Englewood Cliffs Police Department, as well as the Bergen County Prosecutors Office combed the area from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. About 30 volunteers from the New Jersey Search and Rescue Squad also helped. The officers are believed to be looking for twenty eight year old Thalia Stathis who was reported missing by co-workers at the Arena diner in Hackensack on September 15. Stathis's live-in boyfriend Hugues Francois has been in police custody on drug related charges since that time. Late last week Francois bail was increased when blood was discovered in his car. Police have not confirmed if that blood belonged to Stathis.
1. In addition to other theories, prosecution probably subpoenaed the phone records and the search is carried out where his phone picks signal, i.e. they don’t observe Francois’s phone moving to Long Island.
2. It is possible that Francois’s started to attack Thalia in the car, then continued in the bathroom, then tucked her body in bags, left his cell open in an area to thwart the police, dumped the body on Long Island and came back to take the phone. That makes him a smart criminal.
3. If the phone was with him all the way to Long Island prosecution could easily find images of the car on surveillance video (as in Evans Ganthier case – Rebecca Koster murder), since they hint the body is carried in the trunk. Francois must cross bridges, these records may be kept longer than usual CCTV footage. Still, prosecution does not make any reference to surveillance videos, whether they ever searched for it.
Court Documents
Defendant stated that he returned to the apartment later on the evening of September 14 to drive Thalia to work but she was not there. He returned to the apartment a few hours later but Thalia was not there and did not answer his telephone call. Defendant contacted the Arena Diner and was told Thalia was not at work.
Defendant called the diner again on September 15 and 23 and also called Thalia's cell phone on September 15, 16, and 21. He returned to her apartment on a daily basis after September 14 "just to see if she was there."
3. Francois calling Thalia repeatedly, now that is the most striking piece of EVIDENCE for me. Based on the call records Francois either has got nothing to do with Thalia’s disappearance or he is perfectly mimicking an innocent person. If latter is the case, that makes Francois an “excellent” criminal in my opinion. I have an ongoing bet that Michael Pak never called Shannan Gilbert (when he is on his own) after May 1st, 2010. However, that will contradict with the facts given below.
THE HISTORY AND NATURE OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THALIA AND FRANCOIS
Court Documents
They spoke with defendant, who informed them that he lived in the apartment with Stathis, his girlfriend of approximately three years, and that he had not seen her for about a week. Defendant was arrested on charges unrelated to this matter.
Francois is capable of maintaining an affair for at least two years (based on news reports) and court documents. Despite Thalia was seen in bruises, she’s OK with going to her home with Francois. There are also witness reports that the relationship was not an unusual affair.
Court Documents
Defendant also presented the testimony of several of Thalia's neighbors, who found nothing disturbing or unusual in defendant's interactions with Thalia.
FRANCOIS IS A FREELOADER
According to Thalia’s mother Thalia bought the car Francois is driving. Francois also lives in her house. Francois is a freeloader and he admits it. That’s the nature of the relationship in past three years.
Court Documents
After Thalia was missing for a few days, defendant became concerned about paying the bills. He admitted he had written and signed a check from Thalia's account to pay a cable bill despite the fact that he did not have permission to use her account. Bank records revealed that the last transaction for Thalia's bank account was a forged check to Time Warner Cable that was cashed on September 17, 2007.
Several items linked to Thalia, including her ATM card and pin number, were found in the interior of the car. A floor mat was missing from the front passenger side of the vehicle.
Prosecution implies Francois is a callous bum who keeps living on the money of the woman he killed. Remember the house belongs to Thalia and Francois pays Thalia’s cable bill for his own comfort. Prosecution fails how the ATM card and the pin number ended up in the car. Francois plays perfect phone tricks but he becomes a donk when it comes to bank things? If Francois is a smart criminal yet careless enough to write a check for cable why doesn’t he write a check for new upholstery in his car? He wasn’t questioned about these curious details, neither by the prosecution nor his own attorney. To that end, prosecution fails to prove charge #2.
WITNESS TESTIMONIES
1. Defendant also presented the testimony of several of Thalia's neighbors, who found nothing disturbing or unusual in defendant's interactions with Thalia.
2. In addition, two taxi drivers testified for the defense. Each testified that he had driven Thalia to the Lincoln Tunnel Motel in North Bergen, where she met a man. One of the taxi drivers testified that he drove Thalia to the motel in September 2007. This was a motel that defendant had identified as a place he visited to get high on drugs.
3. It wasn’t unusual for his girlfriend of two years to disappear.
These are claims that can be verified, but neither the prosecution nor the defense does that. How does Francois and Thalia meet and start a relationship is not elaborated. Thalia may be a casual drug user, this is not elaborated as well.
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I can continue a lot but I think the above is more than enough, I assume point is made. Prosecution’s case is weak, at least not as strong as it should be and I’m not trying to exonerate Francois, as a matter of fact I’m quite wary about the whole exoneration thing. More details are in the references below.
Now, we’re in July 2008. Remember where Thalia’s body was found?
Thalia Stathis went missing from Hackensack, NJ. September 14th, 2007. Her body was found on July 9th, 2008 on the side of a road on the Southern State Parkway in the North Merrick.
http://goo.gl/N8V9l9
Now, move east about a mile on the map to find the next intersection on Southern State Parkway.
http://goo.gl/vGBvUs
Tanya Rush was a drug addicted prostitute living in Brooklyn, projects. She went missing in June 2008 and she was found in a suitcase on the Newbridge Road exit on the westbound Southern State Parkway in North Bellmore on June 27, 2008. The body was dismembered.
As a matter of fact, it was the discovery of Tanya's body that lead to the discovery of Thalia's body. There was a heightened state of alert in DOT cleaning crew and police officers.
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I have a theory that puts the Asian Male (my POI is from Brooklyn as well) on Gilgo Beach in Summer 2005 and the Mom and the Baby after 2008, maybe even later than early 2009. If I’m correct about the Asian Male the perpetrators may have ties to New Jersey as well as Brooklyn.
Now, remember Maureen Brainard Barnes was killed in July 2007 and Melissa Barthelemy was killed in 2009. What happens in the gap?
There may be a lot of explanations, but three of them stand out for me.
1) There is no connection between Thalia Stathis and Tanya Rush murders. It’s pure coincidence.
2) Hugues Francois have accomplices who learned from Thalia Stathis murder that the intersections on Southern State Parkway are excellent places to dump bodies.
3) New Jersey got the wrong guy.
News reports and stuff can be googled, I only add the following.
http://law.justia.com/cases/new-jersey/appellate-division-unpublished/2012/a0757-10.html
