Victim - Melissa Barthelemy

There are several articles that give details about MBB life and trip to NY. There is also a poignant interview with Maureen's sister who explains that her sister had made the trip to NY in desperation to try to make enough money to pay her rent. On the day that she went missing, Brainard-Barnes had left Norwich for New York City for the day. She had said that she planned to return to Norwich the following day. July 9 was a Monday, following a long 4th of July weekend holiday. There is some mystery about the $900. Her mother says she deposited it and her friends say they received a call from her saying she had been robbed. There is speculation that she may have gone back out that evening to try to make up for her loss. Since she had only planned on being in NY one day she may have already arranged a "date" from Conn. before she left. From her computer left in the NY hotel room, LE discovered she was last contacted by a Staten Island police officer through Craig's list. They also discovered the last call ping from her cell phone came from Long Island. Maureen also had ties to Atlantic City where some of her relatives were in the casino business. All these clues raise the possibility that this was not random and may have been arranged by someone she already had a connection with. And like the other GB girls, she disappeared on a holiday week. This makes me think our SK may plan for when his family is out of town for the holiday.

Okay, I get the point with the police officer, that was what made LE looking into cops as suspects. And I get, that on Monday, July 9th, she went to New York. That is exactly what made me wonder. She told, she went to NY, not LI. Wouldn't that mean, if she has made out with a customer, he was in NY?
On the other hand, if she, on other occasions than July 9th, would have stayed in NY, which would make business sense, she must have had some kind of place there and could have picked up a stalker already weeks ago. Looking at the murders before, this SK killed once in a period of at least three months, or if we should believe, he killed only those at LI, even longer than a year. The year, we can forget. I have never heard of a case with such a long cool down period without diminishing it over the next few murders. Correct me, if you know one. Three months+ is rather possible, but still on the upper edge and that long static cool downs would be typical for stalkers.

TIMELINE for Melissa Barthelemy

Here’s another unfinished timeline.

Info on the years from 1985 to December 11, 2010.

PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CONTINUE THE WORK
(But PLEASE ONLY add FACTS/and/or quotes from newsreports)




1985 (ca.) Melissa Barthelemy was born.(don´t know what date she was born?)
She grew up in Buffalo NY

2003 She graduated from Buffalo's South Park High School

2004/2005 Earned her cosmetology license from Continental Beauty School. She worked at a Supercuts in her home town before moving to NYC,

2006-2008
Melissa Barthelemy moved from Buffalo to New York City to make money to start a hair salon.

Melissa worked at a barber shop and was later hired as an exotic dancer.

Eventually working, on occasion, for an escort agency called James Bond Entertainment under the pseudonym Chloe


2009

Thur July 9, Melissa sent a late-night text message to her sister, Amanda. That text was the last time the family would hear from her.

Fri July 10 Melissa Barthelemy saw a client and then deposited $900 into her bank account, her mother said.
Fri July 10 Melissa seems to have tried to call an ex-boyfriend, who didn't answer.
Fri July 10 She also checked her voicemail from two motels in Massapequa, a Budget Inn and a Best Western

Sun Jul 12: that evening Melissa had a lined up a "date" with a client for $1000 (on Long island)
Sun Jul 12: Melissa Barthelemy, 24, was last seen leaving her home on 1149 Underhill Ave in The Bronx (MB's phonenumber:917-574-5957 )
Sun Jul 12: version 1: A call made to Barthelemy's voicemail came from Massapequa, a Long Island.
Sun Jul 12: version 2: Acc to police Melissa Barthelemy's phone had been turned on near Massapequa, on LI, and someone had gained access to her voice mail.
Sun Jul 12: version 3: Phone rec. July 12, show someone accessed MB's voice mail on the evening of her disappearance. Call traced to Massapequa cell tower.
Sun Jul 12: version 4: When cops got MB's phone records, they determined she checked her voice mail from Massapequa, L.I.

2010

Dec 11 Melissa Barthelemy's body found at the north side of Ocean Parkway, Gilgo Beach. She was ” found a few feet into the brush off the parkway" police said.



The seven Jul/Aug 2009 phonecalls, made by the killer to Melissa's little sister Amanda.
Quotes:

According to newsreports, there were seven calls in all.
The caller I.D. displayed the number of Melissa’s missing cellphone
The killer always phoned in the evenings,
The killer always spoke for less than three minutes.
In all phonecalls the caller only wanted to talk to Melissa Barthelemy's little sister Amanda.
One time MB's mother answered, and the killer hung up as soon as he heard her voice.
Whoever was calling knew what Amanda looked like.
Police traced some of the calls to midtown Manhattan; Times Square, and Madison Square Garden, and another to Massapequa.
The killer sounded like an "older white guy"
Authorities tell CBS News he's likely white, between 25 and 40, is intelligent and street-smart
The killers voice was self-assured, a low voice, calmly mocking MB's sister.
"He was calm, in control," "He knew what he was doing." Amanda says.
"The voice on the other end was calm and bland, and never yelled or laughed" her mother, Lynn Barthelemy, said.
The killers was vulgar, mocking and insulting, according to the dead woman's mother, Lynn Barthelemy.
''If you accept it was the killer calling, he certainly had feelings of anger towards prostitutes.'' Mr. Cohen, Lynn Barthelemy's lawyer, said.

The calls abruptly stopped in August 2009 after a Buffalo TV station revealed their existence.


2009 calls from the killer, using MB's cell phone.

7 calls were made, Belowe are the 4 known dates, the last 3 calls has not been disclosed):


Thurs July 16, 2009: first call
Sun July 19, 2009:
Thurs July 23, 2009
Wed Aug 26, 2009: last call ( 01:00 am, lasted ca 40 seconds ) traced to the Times Square area.



SK Phonecalls content:

Thise are quotes from some of the phonecalls:

“Is this Melissa’s little sister?”

“I hear you’re a half-breed.”

'Do you know what your sister is doing? She's a *advertiser censored*.' (1st call according to LB's atty Steve Cohen)

“Are you gonna be a *advertiser censored* like your sister?”

"Do you think you'll ever see to her again?," .... "You won't. I killed her," (after having sex with her, he claimed Aug. 26, 2009, 1AM )
In the final call, the man described in graphic detail to the victim's sister what he had done sexually to Barthelemy, Cohen said.

And according to LB's atty Steve Cohen, in Dec 2011 48 Hours:

The killer also said that he know where Amanda lives and that he might come after her.

and that; "The killer said sexually exposit things as to what he had done to Melissa, and he said sexually

exposit things as to what he was going to do to Amanda"



Melissa's boyfriend, Johnny Terry also recived several phoncalls, probably, from the killer

1.According to Melissa's boyfriend, Johnny Terry, he too recieved taunting calls from someone he described as a "white guy".

2.Terry received over thirty phone calls during an eight month period, the caller mentions tattoos. Terry is quoted as saying, “He was threatening me. He said you liked to do some crazy stuff with Melissa. I know where you be at. Most of the time he seemed drunk. He knew who I was. He knew I had tattoos on my back.” One of the phones used to make these calls was a throw-away phone registered to Mickey Mouse.

3.Earlier that evening (July 12, 2009), the blond beauty told her boyfriend that she might be going to Long Island, a frequent haunt of hers. She regularly hung out there with a girlfriend who also worked as an online escort, as well as at the home of a regular client. Her boyfriend said he would oftentimes pick her up from the john's house."She would go to Long Island a lot," said her boyfriend Johnny Terry, who spoke exclusively with The Daily Beast. "She had some older man she was chummy with."Terry, who law-enforcement sources say was Barthelemy's pimp, said she was very secretive about her plans that night and declined an offer for a ride. "This time she said no," said Terry, who denies that he was her pimp. "I woke up in the morning and she wasn't there."



Additional info:
The NYPD was able to trace the last two calls to the Madison Square Garden and Times Square area.

They traced a second phone, that belonged to her ( Melissa), to an ex-con who said he picked it up after a tussle between hookers in Times Square orchestrated by a pimp.

Fri July 10 She also checked her voicemail from two motels in Massapequa, a Budget Inn and a Best Western

Sun Jul 12: that evening Melissa had a lined up a "date" with a client for $1000 (on Long island)
Sun Jul 12: Melissa Barthelemy, 24, was last seen leaving her home on 1149 Underhill Ave in The Bronx (MB's phonenumber:917-574-5957 )

From the above, it would seem as if MB had been out to LI on Friday, went back to the Bronx and left again, for LI on Sunday.

Does anyone know what she did or where she was on Saturday the 11th? There is no reference to Saturday at all...from anyone?

[ame="http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7297069&postcount=213"]Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community - View Single Post - The GB4 and Shannan Gilbert-Connecting the dots[/ame]

Bumping Melissa Bathelemy's thread from page 3 to page 1 with a trueTV article. <Modsnip>

trueTV
The Long Island Ripper
Melissa Barthelemy
By Kristal Hawkins
http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/...ed/long-island-ripper/melissa-barthelemy.html

"On July 9, 2009, Barthelemy had sent a late-night text message to her sister, <Modsnip>. <Modsnip> was the only family member who knew that Barthelemy was working as an escort, though by then the family knew she was doing exotic dancing rather than haircuts. That text was the last time the family would hear from her. Early the next day, she made a $900 deposit into her bank account, and she seems to have tried to call an ex-boyfriend, who didn't answer. She also checked her voicemail from two motels in Massapequa, a Budget Inn and a Best Western."

So do these two calls from motels in massepequa indicate that she was checking her VM after appts? I wish we knew the times she checked her VM.

wm

waltzingmatilda said:

So do these two calls from motels in massepequa indicate that she was checking her VM after appts? I wish we knew the times she checked her VM.

wm

Click to expand...

I wish, we would know, who actually pressed the buootns on her cell phone. This was already the second day, after she left for NY. So somewhere, she had been for the rest of the night and probably prenoon. Sometimes people need to sleep.

I know this is a stupid question. I live out side the US, and here when your cell phone loses power or you turn it off, uppon turning it back on for use you have to enter a PIN#. Is that the case with normal and/or burn phones in the US?
This would give some insight as to how the SK communicated with the girls.... any info would be appriciated.

I never had to use a pin or have heard of that before.
If that helps any?

I've never had to use a pin either. That feature could vary by phone though.

Here is a link to Melissa's timeline in case anyone needs to refer to it:

TIMELINE for Melissa Barthelemy - Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community

nugzter said:

I know this is a stupid question. I live out side the US, and here when your cell phone loses power or you turn it off, uppon turning it back on for use you have to enter a PIN#. Is that the case with normal and/or burn phones in the US?
This would give some insight as to how the SK communicated with the girls.... any info would be appriciated.

Click to expand...

You can password/PIN protect your phone, but you don't have to. For example, when one of my friends goes into her texts, she has it protected with a code. I don't have any passwords on my phone. So the answer is yes AND no.

I have thought for a while that Melissa having checked her voicemail from the two Massapequa motels on her last known day(s) alive, and then one of the taunting calls placed to her sister having been placed from Massapequa is very significant. It may in retrospect be one of the only mistakes that her killer made.

In the days after Melissa Barthelemy was reported missing in 2009, someone used her cell phone to call her teenage sister in Buffalo at least a half-dozen times. The caller eventually admitted to the girl he was the killer.

New York City police tracked the call to midtown Manhattan and searched near Pennsylvania Station and the Port Authority bus terminal, but the signal went dead. Cellphone records showed a call from Massapequa, on Long Island. Police canvassed the area, asking around at local hotels, but turned up nothing, the official said. There have been no calls in several years.

Click to expand...

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2011-12-10/ny-beach-human-remains/51784606/1

nugzter said:

I know this is a stupid question. I live out side the US, and here when your cell phone loses power or you turn it off, uppon turning it back on for use you have to enter a PIN#. Is that the case with normal and/or burn phones in the US?
This would give some insight as to how the SK communicated with the girls.... any info would be appriciated.

Click to expand...

There are basically two types of cell phones: Type one is a GSM phone that uses the Global System for Mobile Communication to send and receive calls. GSM is the standard used by Europe and most of Asia. GSM phones are used in North America too but it is not the dominant standard. It is the phone with a SIM card. Type two is the CDMA phone. CDMA stands for Code Division Multiple Access. It is the dominant network standard for North America.

Here are some links that explain both standards and the differences between them:

wiseGeek
What is a GSM Phone?
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-gsm-phone.htm

wiseGeek
What is CDMA?
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-cdma.htm

wiseGeek
What is the Difference Between GSM and CDMA?
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-difference-between-gsm-and-cdma.htm


Prepaid cell phones or “burn phones” utilize the same networks as contract phones. So, the brand and model of the cell and the service provider the device is working through determine which network the phone uses. Some prepaid cell phone companies offer access to both networks. Here are some examples:

"T-Mobile's To Go Phone also provides national coverage through their GSM network. Out of network calls are not permitted."

"Tracfone has been around for some time, and provides nationwide coverage primarily through their own network, but provides roaming through partnerships with 30 CDMA and GSM networks. Roaming is free on select GSM handsets. CDMA phones and other GSM handsets are charged double the minutes used."

"Net 10 is a sister network to Tracfone, and offers virtually the same network coverage and service plans. Free roaming is provided on both CDMA and GSM networks."

The-Cell-Phone-Advisor.com
A Comparison of Prepaid
Cell Phones and Service
http://www.the-cell-phone-advisor.com/prepaid-cell-phones.html


Here is a link to an article on how a person might crack/hack GSM and CDMA phones. The article includes info on how someone might obtain a phone's PIN or get into a cell phone without needing the PIN:

IT World
How to hack cell phones better than News of
the World
By Kevin Forgarty
July 08, 2011
http://www.itworld.com/security/181313/how-hack-cell-phone-voice-mail-better-news-world

Something just dawned on me about the calls made by the perp with Melissa's phone. Keeping the call under 3 minutes might not have been relevant. It would of not been enough for the perp to hang up or turn-off the phone at the 3 minute mark to keep from being tracked. LE could still turn it on and off remotely. The perp would have had to do one of three things to keep from being tracked: 1. If Melissa's phone was a CDMA phone, the perp would of had to remove the battery. 2. If Melissa's phone was a GMS phone, the perp would of had to remove the SIM card. 3. The perp could of simply put the phone, whether CDMA or GMS, in a Faraday bag.

Choice #3 would be the quickest, IMO.

Here is a link to a previous post I made with info on how LE can access a cell phone remotely:

Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community - View Single Post - NY-LI 10 bodies found on Beach-Poss. SrlKlr-12/10-4 id'd; more found 3/11 #13

Dwntwnslim said:

Something just dawned on me about the calls made by the perp with Melissa's phone. Keeping the call under 3 minutes might not have been relevant. It would of not been enough for the perp to simply turn-off the phone at the 3 minute mark to keep from being tracked. LE could still turn it on and off remotely. The perp would have had to do one of three things to keep from being tracked: 1. If Melissa's phone was a CDMA phone, the perp would of had to remove the battery. 2. If Melissa's phone was a GMS phone, the perp would of had to remove the SIM card. 3. The perp could of simply put the phone, whether CDMA or GMS, in a Faraday bag.

Choice #3 would be the quickest, IMO.

Here is a link to a previous post I made with info on how LE can access a cell phone remotely:

Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community - View Single Post - NY-LI 10 bodies found on Beach-Poss. SrlKlr-12/10-4 id'd; more found 3/11 #13

Click to expand...

Well, that would be relevant if LE would have tried to track anything before like two or three years had passed.

Peter Brendt said:

Well, that would be relevant if LE would have tried to track anything before like two or three years had passed.

Click to expand...

LE did try to track the phone calls that the perp made from Melissa's phone to her sister.

The New York Times
Serial Killer in L.I. Case Is Seen as Versed in Police
Techniques
By William K. Rashbaum
Published: April 8, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/09/nyregion/09bodies.html?pagewanted=all

"One investigator said the brief duration of the calls thwarted efforts by the New York Police Department to use the signal to pinpoint the caller&#8217;s location and find him, something Lynn Barthelemy said they told her they tried to do four times."

Dwntwnslim said:

Something just dawned on me about the calls made by the perp with Melissa's phone. Keeping the call under 3 minutes might not have been relevant. It would of not been enough for the perp to hang up or turn-off the phone at the 3 minute mark to keep from being tracked. LE could still turn it on and off remotely. The perp would have had to do one of three things to keep from being tracked: 1. If Melissa's phone was a CDMA phone, the perp would of had to remove the battery. 2. If Melissa's phone was a GMS phone, the perp would of had to remove the SIM card. 3. The perp could of simply put the phone, whether CDMA or GMS, in a Faraday bag.

Choice #3 would be the quickest, IMO.

Here is a link to a previous post I made with info on how LE can access a cell phone remotely:

Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community - View Single Post - NY-LI 10 bodies found on Beach-Poss. SrlKlr-12/10-4 id'd; more found 3/11 #13

Click to expand...

I'm not sure how the cell phones work in the states. So please bare with me. Would it be possible that he didn't use Melissa's phone at all. That he just took the SIM card out and use a diffrent phone he knew how to hide with? If that is even possible. THX

nugzter said:

I'm not sure how the cell phones work in the states. So please bare with me. Would it be possible that he didn't use Melissa's phone at all. That he just took the SIM card out and use a diffrent phone he knew how to hide with? If that is even possible. THX

Click to expand...

Good question! Yes, he could of taken the SIM card out of Melissa's phone if it was a GMS phone and put into a different GMS phone. He could of also "spoofed" the caller ID using Melissa's info with a phone of his choosing (GMS or CDMA).

But, IMO, he would of still had to taken additional steps to avoid being tracked besides just cutting the call at the the 3 minute mark.