Brandon Scott Lavergne - Guilty Plea and LWOP

[JustyThoughts]

Thank you to everyone who made comments over the weekend. Empathy & forgiveness are both powerful and facilitate healing. As said so well, by so many here, this group has been awesome - thanks to everyone for your contributions. Of the cases I have followed in WS, this one is indeed unique in that it was investigated, charged, and with the plea - sentenced in a very tight time period. Cudos to law enforcement, searchers, locals and families.

One (of the several details dangling for me) is related to BSL's hospital visit in NOLA. The Plea Document describes that on the 19th, BSL went to his home and among other things.... "destroyed the clothing he was wearing". This would mean that when he presented at the hospital in NOLA later on the 19th, his shirt would not have the holes/blood expected - following a knife attack by the mystery man at the gas station. We touched on speculation about this weeks ago; now that we know the details as reported by BSL - it sure does raise more questions about how hospital staff (and LE who interviewed BSL there) interpreted BSL's wounds vs his clothing. Makes one go hummmm.

 

[Foxfire]

Images for mickey shunick

http://www.google.com/search?q=mick...ScyULcDiJryBM97&ved=0CE8QsAQ&biw=1024&bih=667

 

[Foxfire]

Wondering if these heart wrenching interviews by Charlie Shunick wasn't somehow the catalyst for BSL's confession?


Charlie Shunick Says “Cut A Deal With Him” If Brandon Scott Lavergne Knows Where Mickey Shunick Is (July 20, 2012)

http://kpel965.com/charlie-shunick-...scott-lavergne-knows-where-mickey-shunick-is/
Charlie Shunick, Mickey‘s sister, says she would do anything to find out what happened to her. She says even if it means Brandon Scott Lavergne, the man indicted for Mickey’s murder, would strike a deal with prosecutors to lessen his sentence if he told authorities what he allegedly did with her body. She says the indictment didn’t bring closure to her family.

'Until we see her body we are never going to 100% believe she is dead'.

Charlie says while the public has been extremely vocal to her and her family about Lavergne getting the death penalty. But she says that doesn’t matter to them because the possibility of the death penalty or life in prison are both “awful” sentences.

http://1079ishot.com/mickey-shunick-sister-charlie-pleads-for-help-video/ May22/2012

Charlie Shunick Speaks Out, Pleads For Help In Finding Her Sister Mickey Shunick

 

[rollinginit]

When I was 12, I was hit by a drunk driver while riding my 10-speed. The police report said the drunk driver (who was a she) was going about 10mph when she hit me. I flew from the bike, over a ditch, into a field. Basically, my bike's back wheel didn't do anything to protect me from the car's impact. It crumbled like paper....so really the car hit my lower back dead on. I was knocked out for a good couple of minutes. My back was in extreme pain when I came to. I remember, I couldn't really move that well. I was not in my right mind at all.

Even if BSL was going slower than 10mph.....it still would have made a huge impact on her body. He was driving a truck. Hitting a bicycle in a truck would actually hit her body....not just the wheel. That wheel didn't do anything to protect her body from the impact of that truck. I just can't picture how anybody can gently tap a bicycle wheel??? Just my opinion

IMO...he hit her and she flew off the bike. Maybe knocked out....but probably had some pain in her back. He might have said something like....OMG, let me get you to the hospital. Maybe he didn't say anything. She might have been out of it for a little bit.

 

[MamaRoux]

I think that's a good possibility. If he didn't try to speak to her, he probably circled around once or twice before he hit her. I have a feeling Mickey sensed something was up, and running into her bike was no accident. From what we've heard about Mickey, she had good instincts. Riding alone that night, her radar would've been up. That's why I don't believe that she got into the truck voluntarily.

We don't know if Mickey was injured when she was knocked off of the bike. She might've broken a leg or an ankle. In the scene that runs through my mind, Mickey couldn't get up. She was sitting on the ground when she saw BSL approaching with a knife in his hand. The mace was in her pocket, and when he tred to grab her, she sprayed him. BSL dropped the knife, and Mickey was able to grab it off the ground. He bent over to take it from her, and she stabbed him in the back. A struggle ensued on the ground, and Mickey got in a few more blows with the knife before BSL wrestled it away from her.

He would have been in a furor, and he probably stabbed Mickey numerous times until has rage was sated. Then he put her in the truck, and drove around planning the next step. There was no way he was going to leave Mickey behind without making sure she was dead. So, he decided on the cane field because he could shoot her there without alarming witnesses. Leaving her body in the open field was too risky. He drove to his house, and so forth. JMO

...but had he stabbed her outside the truck, there would be blood evidence left behind I would think. The street was scoured by searchers and LE and apparently none was found. I still think he didn't stab her until she was inside the truck.

 

[Cocobean]

So far I think everyone has missed my point for a couple days now.

If she was successful in fighting off a rape, then that's her victory that no one should take away talking on a blog. I'm starting to get more and more nonplussed with the number of posters who are taking her rape as a FACT and as a STARTING POINT.

It is all speculation.

NOT ONE BIT OF EVIDENCE - NOT ONE OFFICIAL STATEMENT OR DOCUMENT - HAS SAID SHE WAS SEXUALLY ASSAULTED. WHY ARE PEOPLE TAKING THIS AS FACT, AND THEN GIVING FOLKS HEAT WHO THINK MAYBE NOT?:banghead:

I think I understand what you are saying, CF. From what we have learned it appears that, while BSL's motive more than likely was to sexually assault Mickey, she was able to fight him off and keep that from happening, sadly losing her life in that fight. She was not meek and intimidated by him, she fought like hell to keep him from taking what she was NOT willing to give. I also think that what happened went down so fast that he did not have the chance to do anything to her. I may be wrong about this, but when her body was recovered, she was clothed, correct? If he did rape her, why would he put her clothing back on to bury her, rather than destroying her clothing like he did his own that night?

 

[nola]

Maybe I've read this wrong, but the wording in the court documents (Count 2; page 5; Section 3, #3, (b)) includes the possibility of sexual assault. I pray, no; but BSL motives were sexual (I think we all agree on this point) that night and were sexually oriented with his other known victims.
Regardless, Mickey's warrior spirit ensured that no one else will ever be his victim.
http://www.katc.com/files/lavergne%20statement.pdf Sorry, I know this pdf is sideways.

 

[cluciano63]

I doubt he was able to sexually assault her, as it is not so easy to remove jeans, etc, with one hand. If he was unable to dig, he was probably quite hobbled. But even if he did, we may never know, and it doesn't change anything; I feel certain he intended to do so.

 

[jessielaine]

I would just like to thank everyone here at WS! Y'all have opened my mind to several different things that I may not have thought of myself!

 

[garryb]

Awww...shucks...I can`t take full credit on that tip, not by a long shot! :blushing:

I was jumping off hsmom2`s thought on Ali`s thread, and just wanted to tie it all together and post it here and reiterate it, hoping that Garryb would see it, and perhaps pass it along, in hopes of jogging her memory.

I can be a persistent pest sometimes, if I think something might help.

:websleuther:

That to me is what makes this site work. Many ideas. Your tip about the Horizon disaster was key to putting an event with a date. Thanks again! Going through the motions here....

 

[Foxfire]

Maybe I've read this wrong, but the wording in the court documents (Count 2; page 5; Section 3, #3, (b)) includes the possibility of sexual assault. I pray, no; but BSL motives were sexual (I think we all agree on this point) that night and were sexually oriented with his other known victims.
Regardless, Mickey's warrior spirit ensured that no one else will ever be his victim.
http://www.katc.com/files/lavergne%20statement.pdf Sorry, I know this pdf is sideways.

Although there were blizzard conditions and the temperature was only 11 degrees with 50 MPH winds on Blood Mtn., 01/01/2008. Sixty one year old psychopathic sexual predator/serial killer; Gary Hilton, suffered a broken hand, severe gouging, and bruising by his martial arts trained victim; 24 year old Meredith Hope Emerson. Yet he admitted to raping her only after first denying it during an interview which was a part of his plea deal.

* Note that GMH was advised that forensics would reveal if he was lying. He was asked again and quickly said 'YES. ONE TIME'..
GMH was aware that forensics will not determine the number of times she was raped...
'Manipulative, calculating, and deflective, and very deceptive as was/is BS Lavergne'..

CB: GBI Agent
GMH: Gary Michael Hilton

CB: OKAY. THE UH . . . (PAUSE) . . . UH, I, I GOTTA ASK YOU THIS. WAS THERE ANY UH, SEXUAL ACTIVITY BETWEEN YOU TWO?

GMH: NO
CB: AND, AND KEEP IN MIND NOW WE WILL BE ABLE TO FIND OUT, BUT I'M, I'M, I'M ASKING YOU NOW IF IT, IF IT'S ACCURATE OR NOT, WAS THERE ANY SEXUAL ACTIVITY BETWEEN THE TWO OF YOU?
GMH: YES.
CB: THERE WAS?
GMH: YES. ONE TIME. FIRST NIGHT. I TOLD HER, HONEY, UH, IT WASN'T FORCIBLE, BUT OF COURSE IT WAS UNWANTED . . .
CB: RIGHT, RIGHT.
GMH: SO IT WAS RAPE. BUT IT WASN'T FORCIBLE.
CB: OKAY. OKAY.
GMH: UH, AND I TOLD HER, HONEY, I TOLD YOU I WAS GONNA LET YOU GO...
CB: UH HUH.
GMH: YOU'VE RUN ME AROUND, YOU'VE RUN ME ALL OVER NORTH GEORGIA. MADE ME PUT A HUNDRED AND FIFTY MILES ON MY VAN. WE STILL DON'T, YOU LIED TO ME, YOU'VE RUN ME AROUND, GIVE ME SOME PU...Y.
CB: OKAY.
GMH: AND SHE DID. I MEAN, YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN . . .
CB: RIGHT, RIGHT.
GMH: YOU KNOW.
CB: I UNDERSTAND.
GMH: IT WAS. IT WAS UNWANTED.

* Note that GMH was angry and rationalized that he raped MHE as punishment, due to her noncompliance..
* BS Lavergne had 8+ hours between the time of Mickey Shunick's abduction and leaving for NOLA..

The Mystery on Blood Mountain
http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/the-mystery-on-blood-mountain-part-3/60w3noa

 

[Foxfire]

That to me is what makes this site work. Many ideas. Your tip about the Horizon disaster was key to putting an event with a date. Thanks again! Going through the motions here....

RE: Originally Posted by Wondergirl
Awww...shucks...I can`t take full credit on that tip, not by a long shot!

"Well deserved, Wondergirl"! Prolly how ya come up with your nic, huh?

On another note, the MS Media(local & national) would have been flooded with the news of the Horizon disaster, leaving very little, if any news coverage of the abduction of Alexandria “Ali” Lowitzer
Ali's family suffered two tragedies simultaneously..

 

[LaffySleuth]

Wow, shame on me for mentioning the idea of an assault.

When he plead "not guilty", the court documents speculated there was an assault.

He says there wasn't. I take his word at face value.

Now, I give him the benefit of the doubt because some rapists/SKs don't engage in necrophilia (I said some, not all. Most do.). The fact he went back for her, apparently to bury her, could be true.

But he says he went out basically looking for a "partner" and we're supposed to believe that he didn't do anything else? I lean towards what I said before.

If she did attack him a second time, I believe it's because he attempted to or was in the middle of, which caused her to react that way.

 

[IMPondering]

Wondering if these heart wrenching interviews by Charlie Shunick wasn't somehow the catalyst for BSL's confession?

Charlie Shunick Says “Cut A Deal With Him” If Brandon Scott Lavergne Knows Where Mickey Shunick Is (July 20, 2012)

http://kpel965.com/charlie-shunick-...scott-lavergne-knows-where-mickey-shunick-is/
Charlie Shunick, Mickey‘s sister, says she would do anything to find out what happened to her. She says even if it means Brandon Scott Lavergne, the man indicted for Mickey’s murder, would strike a deal with prosecutors to lessen his sentence if he told authorities what he allegedly did with her body. She says the indictment didn’t bring closure to her family.

'Until we see her body we are never going to 100% believe she is dead'.

Charlie says while the public has been extremely vocal to her and her family about Lavergne getting the death penalty. But she says that doesn’t matter to them because the possibility of the death penalty or life in prison are both “awful” sentences.

http://1079ishot.com/mickey-shunick-sister-charlie-pleads-for-help-video/ May22/2012

Charlie Shunick Speaks Out, Pleads For Help In Finding Her Sister Mickey Shunick

Now Foxfire! You've said all along these types of people have no feelings. Do I see a change of thinking on your part?

 

[reedus23]

Who actually drafts that document? And then is it passed back and forth amd modified until both parties are somewhat agreed? I' m wondering if there was any give and take involved in the wording.

DA typically prepares it. There probably is some back and forth with it if some of it doesn't add up based on the facts known by LE.

 

[danzn16]

respectfully snipped for focus and bbm:

Chicken, as a local, tell me, please: If things happened as you suggest above, is The Advertiser camera at a place along a route he'd likely take, after Mickey was in the truck? I have wondered if what they found on that footage was maybe some erratic move from the truck -- a sudden stop in the street, a big swerve, etc. -- that might have been evidence that a struggle was taking place within.

I really think it just showed Mickey's bike in the back of his truck. Since it is now proven that he did in fact but her bike there and it was probably seen on camera. This would be why it wasn't too obvious at first I guess and why the tape wasn't seized at first.

 

[reedus23]

Started to catch up from the weekend, reading backwards and I think I read enough. First, Garryb, thank you so much for sharing. My thoughts and prayers go to you and your family. As many said, while different, you and your family are also victims of an animal.

I'm not sure where or why there is so much talk about rape etc...Posters are certainly free to theorize about what exactly happened, but that is one answer that we will probably never know. BSL has already plead guilty so there isn't likely to be any further investigation into exactly what he did or didn't do. He is spending the rest of his pitiful life in prison regardless. Regardless of exactly what went down, there is no changing that Mighty Mick fought bravely and by doing so saved countless victims from this animals actions. I would love to see the continued sleuthing carried over to other cases, lord knows there are too many of them. Personally, I think it is time to let Mickey rest in peace when it comes to trying to figure out if she was raped or not. I don't see what end that serves. Just my two cents and as I've learned throughout this process, my two cents are not always right.

 

[Foxfire]

Now Foxfire! You've said all along these types of people have no feelings. Do I see a change of thinking on your part?

Must have been his other self.. LOL

Everyone in the community including the DA was asking for the death penalty.
Was he touched by her heart wrenching plea? Did the suggestion of a lowered sentence plant a seed in his mind? Was it a way for him to save face, giving the false appearance that he had feelings & empathy for the Shunick & Pate families, while accomplishing his true goal of a lighter sentence, and removing the spotlight off of him due to unknown victims?

Guess, only BS Lavergne, know the answers, huh?

 

[FOTOBUG]

i think that's a good possibility. If he didn't try to speak to her, he probably circled around once or twice before he hit her. I have a feeling mickey sensed something was up, and running into her bike was no accident. From what we've heard about mickey, she had good instincts. Riding alone that night, her radar would've been up. That's why i don't believe that she got into the truck voluntarily.

We don't know if mickey was injured when she was knocked off of the bike. She might've broken a leg or an ankle. In the scene that runs through my mind, mickey couldn't get up. She was sitting on the ground when she saw bsl approaching with a knife in his hand. The mace was in her pocket, and when he tred to grab her, she sprayed him. Bsl dropped the knife, and mickey was able to grab it off the ground. He bent over to take it from her, and she stabbed him in the back. A struggle ensued on the ground, and mickey got in a few more blows with the knife before bsl wrestled it away from her.

He would have been in a furor, and he probably stabbed mickey numerous times until has rage was sated. Then he put her in the truck, and drove around planning the next step. There was no way he was going to leave mickey behind without making sure she was dead. So, he decided on the cane field because he could shoot her there without alarming witnesses. Leaving her body in the open field was too risky. He drove to his house, and so forth. Jmo

bessie ~ good account of possible happenings, however the search crews never found a single drop of blood or evidence that mickey was hurt or any trace of her being abducted on that route. If they had a tussle and she was viciously stabbed on the ground, i believe the search crews would have found evidence of it. More questions arise with every plausible scenario.

 

[brenda lee]

Thanks for helping connect the dots. I was thinking she was holding the pepper spray but now I think it was in a pocket of her jeans. I understand more about being hit by a truck while on a bike. Also, I was concerned about how far it was from University to Dean.

I think she was on the street and he pulled up with the "need a ride" line. After other posts, I think he did pull in some place or circle the block. He hit her in the area that was away from the houses and view from Johnston street. After that, things must have happened fast and furious.

I see now the point made about his injuries being done inside the truck. He strong armed her as she was dazed into the truck. When he got in, she pepper sprayed him and got his knife.

I think now I can let it be and honor her memory each and every day by helping others and animals. It is the Mickey way...