AL AL - Heaven Ross, 11, Northport, 19 Aug 2003

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Just a thought:
Has anyone seen the Cold Justice Television series on TNT? they are looking for cold cases to investigate. Here is the link: http://www.tntdrama.com/series/cold-justice/tips/
The only problem is Law enforcement needs to request the investigation. This is the message from their site.
"IF YOU ARE A CIVILIAN, PLEASE NOTE: We can only review your case if asked by the local enforcement agency. Please call the law enforcement agency handling your case and ask the agency to submit the case below."
Thanks
 
The stepdad offered to drive her to school because her backpack looked heavy....? It would be interesting to find out what investigators found in her backpack...
 
The blue suede tennis shoes have been stuck in my mind ever since I read through this thread a week ago. I know Shae was described as a tomboy who wasn't afraid to get dirty but those shoes were also described as her favorite pair. Now, I've had suede shoes before and wearing them in the rain was a surefire way to make them look dirty and dingy.

If I were a little gal who wanted to wear her favorite suede shoes on a rainy day, I might bug someone to give me a ride to school. I'd probably refuse to waver in my desire to wear that particular pair.
 
I'd like to know how many times he offered to give them a ride to school. Here's a guy, who to my understanding but correct me if I'm wrong, was documented as having been abusive to her in the past, but now he is so observant and thoughtful that he offers to drive her to school because her bookbag looks heavy. My kids' bookbags are extremely heavy every day. It drives me nuts but it just seems like that's how schools are these days. More and more stuff coming home, and kids breaking their backs lugging it. What was so different this day, if this wasn't a usual habit of his?
 
Just a quick question because i have not read any of the threads or comments expect for the last 10 or so. I will read more though this weekend. But I am just asking anyone whom has followed this case closely if anyone ask the newspaper delivery person if they seen anything unusual that morning.....Good night.
 
Everything here points to the stepdad.

I worked at a group home for girls 12-21 for 7 years and most of them had been physically and/or sexually abused. Of the 100+ girls who came through there in that time, only 2 had been sexually abused by their biological fathers. All the rest of them had been sexually abused by their stepfathers or mother's paramour.

And if you don't think a mother would forsake their only children for a man, you are sadly mistaken. Many of these girls were out of their homes because the mother believed the man in her life and not her own child about what was happening in that house.

The bed wetting, the cramps, the inappropriate attention from mother's paramour, the physical abuse, the fire, etc. Everything points to stepdad.


Sad, really, that because of the mom we will probably never know what really happened. I do believe mom is covering up. I also believe that perhaps Alex knows more about what went on and now that she's an adult, may some day talk.

RIP Heaven LaShae Ross. You deserved better.
 
Did they find answers in investigation of the house fire? How convenient for the fire to happen after Shae disappeared...
 
I read through all the pages and firstly, my thoughts really go out to Shae. Such a sad end to her short life.

Secondly, there's something that stands out to me about the dates of these three young girls....school starting up. Is it possible that all these young girls were abducted close to school letting back in? Meaning, routines are not set up and usually everyone is running around hectic until a routine is set in place. Also, all were around age 11...that was about the age I started pushing for my independence...IE: Mom not walking me to the bus stop.

Just a thought that popped into my head as I read through the pages.
 
johnny said:
As far as the race card etc. that never was my intention and not my torch to carry , moot point.

My intention was to post information so that others can provide there on editing not me. In order to have the best understatnding we have to look at all issues and decide for ourselves what needs to stick. We hopefully improve our views and abilities as we recognize improvements and quality. Of course some people may still be stubborn enough to be using Commodore computers.

As far as Shae's family I believe the mother is being overly critical of the police department and too defensive of Kevin and herself. While we were in Northport asssisting in the search efforts we noticed several problems but kept our focus on finding Shae. The mother seems offended that she and Kevin are being questioned and say it is because he is black, ?? The mother says her children think of him as there father? The sixteen year old brother who was physically abused and Kevin was arrestesd last year may not think of him that way (also they have had many arguements)

Even while the Tuders were at the trailer park talking to the family there were multiple incidents. The police came and took Kevin in for questioning and the mother got very angry making threats that she'd give the police a reason to arrest her pulling a knife from her pocket. Police were not present but five members of the Tuders family were in shock. Also when they said they were looking for blood in his car she was quick to point out that they would find blood but that it was hers (the mothers) blood that they would find because she had hit her head uhh eye.....now the story is Kevin and her may have fought in the car?? And it goes on and on and on... so the reason for them being suspects is one because as the statistics show most of the time it is a family member or friend and in this case there are some concerns..........still we aren't looking for the mother and Kevin but Shae an eleven year old child.

Again you have to start from the beginning and those who are around ...everyone is a suspect.....unfortunately thats one of the many tragedies that accompanies a missing child
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I lived in Northport, T-town, and the surrounding areas around this time. I noticed a difference in the way that Northport officers and T-town officers handle certain situations due to my former job and an incident that took place at my home. I also experienced accusations regarding racism from a Tuscaloosa police officer during his off hours. Do you know which police force she was addressing at the time? Ttown? Northport? Were they working collectively as they sometimes do?

I had a lot of negative racially charged experiences when I lived in the area, but they were never actually in Northport. They were always started by customers of my former job that lived primarily in the areas between Northport and Berry or outside of Ttown going toward Duncanville. I always found that to be very odd.

I dealt with Northport officers almost daily when I was working near Samantha and never had issues with them, so this to this day makes me very, very curious.
 
RichKelly said:
The dump site seems important, its most likely not something the killer would "stumble "on... more likely he's familiar with it .

Manner of death, and post mortem findings, would be important to determine any linkage analysis , if police are withholding it , its most likely for exclusionary reasons, or because there feel there's a link with it to other unsolved crimes.

Id be interested to know how far she had to walk from her home to the bus stop, which route she took, ... I find it odd, that the step father went and picked up his wife, after retrieving her older sister, then went to she school, to call police, instead of looking for her, I know id be riding around screaming , Its my findings that parents will usually do anything to deny the notion that their child has been abducted, I find it odd (albeit slightly) they didn't ride around looking for her 1st . But that's not indicative of anything in and of itself .

Id also be interested in knowing the length of time, between Shae leaving the house, and her step father, meeting her sister at the bus stop, was it enough time to pick up the child kill her drive a total of 12 miles, then meet her sister, it seems unlikely from what's reported

the Arson is another interesting finding, however, if it was to destroy evidence, why wait a month ? the police had most likely already gone through the room.

I don't have enough info to say whether or not I feel this is related to the abduction of Shannon Paulk despite the similarities

Its also odd that the one gentleman interviewed stated that ALOT of "bad stuff" goes on back there yet no one ever discovered her remains before that .

Again I feel the dump site is a BIG key
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Driving twelve miles in this area, especially at that time of day isn't the fastest thing in the world to accomplish. When I lived in Northport, it was less than five miles from my house to work and this trip often took in excess of fifteen minutes due to traffic.

I can remember when I first moved to Northport, I was relocating from a DV situation. I recall wanting to go job hunting and look for a place of my own in Holt and my host family was very against it, due to drugs and minor crime.

One thing I can say is that a LOT of the streets and even "country" roads in this area are paved in some fashion. This road appears to be dirt and gravel and it makes me believe that it was definitely someone familiar with the area.

I do not personally believe that Kevin Thompson is responsible for what has happened to Shae, but I believe that he may have done other things.

I do have some really bad experiences with racism in the area. My experience that my daughter and her father appear to be white. My daughter is a strawberry blonde with blue eyes and a fair complexion, similar to her father. When he took a job at a popular Mexican restaurant nearby, it became apparent to some that my daughter and her father are in fact, biracial. Numerous threats came in, but when my landlord at the time threatened to kill us "dirty sp**s," I became very frightened and worried. The police couldn't have cared less. A black woman was hired at my workplace and only worked there for six hours before she quit, due to receiving multiple threats of violence. I also had a police officer (no, I'm NOT kidding) accuse me of racism (and try to get me fired from my job) because he paid me with a credit card and the man with a fleet card got faster service - Of course, this is because fleet cards have their own separate card and card reader.

I've always, always wondered if the fire, at the very least, wasn't set by someone nearby or close to the family out of spite of their relationship: perhaps as a way to draw further suspicion to Shay's family. It's not likely, but it's not impossible. I LOVE Alabama and I enjoyed living in Northport, but in particular areas of the town, hate and racism are very alive and well.

I just hope that they find who is actually responsible.

Other than that, I just don't know what to think.
 
FWIW, here is a Tuscaloosa news article on the 10-year anniversary that includes a photo gallery and some pieces of information on the case. The photo gallery includes a map and aerial photo of the remains site.

Reading through this case for the first time. A few comments:

As a poster lamented earlier in the thread...there does not appear to be a detailed timeline in this case; :banghead: no released, detailed statements from the family members on what happened in the hours preceding and following the scene at the bus stop. Everything is glazed over in general descriptions offered as fact. These broad-brush stories are of little use. To crack this, a detailed timeline is necessary to establish opportunity and eliminate possibilities.

The backpack was discovered with the body. This one factual detail does help focus things in a little bit.

LE does not comment about clothing with the remains. Silence. Nothing about clothing at all that I saw. Clothes present? Clothes absent? If present, matching the description given? Details of the remains withheld by LE, perhaps to leave something to (in)validate future confessions.

The remains site was known to the perp prior to the murder, IMHO.

There is at least an order of magnitude more distracting information in this case than factual detail focused on finding the murderer. A good investigative reporting job is needed to surface facts and evidence. These things seem to have gone missing soon after Heaven.
 
From the Tuscaloosa news article mentioned above by BondJamesBond: "Investigators have never said how Shae was killed. Her family doesn't even know."

I think this speaks volumes. Waiting for someone to slip up, as the chance of any new evidence surfacing would probably be zero after all these years. Wonder what secrets her bedroom held?
 
Cyan said:
Driving twelve miles in this area, especially at that time of day isn't the fastest thing in the world to accomplish. When I lived in Northport, it was less than five miles from my house to work and this trip often took in excess of fifteen minutes due to traffic.

I can remember when I first moved to Northport, I was relocating from a DV situation. I recall wanting to go job hunting and look for a place of my own in Holt and my host family was very against it, due to drugs and minor crime.

One thing I can say is that a LOT of the streets and even "country" roads in this area are paved in some fashion. This road appears to be dirt and gravel and it makes me believe that it was definitely someone familiar with the area.

I do not personally believe that Kevin Thompson is responsible for what has happened to Shae, but I believe that he may have done other things.

I do have some really bad experiences with racism in the area. My experience that my daughter and her father appear to be white. My daughter is a strawberry blonde with blue eyes and a fair complexion, similar to her father. When he took a job at a popular Mexican restaurant nearby, it became apparent to some that my daughter and her father are in fact, biracial. Numerous threats came in, but when my landlord at the time threatened to kill us "dirty sp**s," I became very frightened and worried. The police couldn't have cared less. A black woman was hired at my workplace and only worked there for six hours before she quit, due to receiving multiple threats of violence. I also had a police officer (no, I'm NOT kidding) accuse me of racism (and try to get me fired from my job) because he paid me with a credit card and the man with a fleet card got faster service - Of course, this is because fleet cards have their own separate card and card reader.

I've always, always wondered if the fire, at the very least, wasn't set by someone nearby or close to the family out of spite of their relationship: perhaps as a way to draw further suspicion to Shay's family. It's not likely, but it's not impossible. I LOVE Alabama and I enjoyed living in Northport, but in particular areas of the town, hate and racism are very alive and well.

I just hope that they find who is actually responsible.

Other than that, I just don't know what to think.
Click to expand...


These cases are difficult to pin down.

but in any case, you always start with the victim and work OUT. You do a victimology assessment on the victim, why was she a victim.

Her lifestyle seems riddled with red flags, and experience, and history have taught us that you don't usually have to look far when theres enough of them.

Sometimes when theres only 1!

I can remember a murder case, solved, because the detective investigated the meds the girl was taking !

Theres a lot the points to him, therefore that would have to be eliminated as even a possibility before we took a further, look at something global like a hate crime.
 
T4Tide said:
http://www.wvuatv.com/content/young-man-killed-train-brother-missing-girl-found-dead-holt

Heaven's brother killed yesterday.
Click to expand...

My deepest condolences to the Ross family.

They have been through so much pain, agony, suffering, and absolute loss! :cry:

In the embedded video their father stated he was sure it was a tragic accident, with his son playing loud music in his headphones, unaware of the train approaching behind him. :(

My faith allows me to believe Heaven and her brother are together, once again, on the other side.

:tears:

I wish them the strength they will need in they days, months and years to come. I will hold them in my thoughts and prayers.

:rose: :rose:
 
Usher737 said:
"Before moving to Northport, Shae’s family lived in Holt."

This statement bothers me for some reason. The killer had to be someone local who knew how to get the abandoned house.

Does anyone know why her sister left for the bus stop without Shae that morning?
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Just now looking into this case. If the information that I have found is correct, then Beth Lowery or Hazel(maybe her mom) lived in several locations between 1992-2009 just blocks away from where the body was found...
 
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