Murder Most Foul: Jealousy, passion and crime

Shocking end of the birthday party as victim attacked with an ax, set on fire.

Birthday celebration ended in the brutal murder last Friday in Estonia, in small village called Kuusiku (Tartu County).

Reportedly there was an argument  between men that attended the party. Police say a motive for the killing was jealousy.

The victim, 26 year old Kristjan was attacked with an ax, then dragged into a field and set on fire. Police cannot say whether the victim was still alive when his attackers poured gasoline on his body to set him alight.

Initially five people were taken into custody. Three of them were released, two suspects are now in custody on suspicion of murder.

One of the suspects is victim’s 21 brother Kristo. Another suspect, 19 year old Erkki has admitted the killing.

It was reported that the woman has dated both brothers, she has two children with younger brother Kristo. The woman also allegedly dated Erkki, who is her step-brother. Erkki’s father and woman’s mother have been in the relationship in the past.

Estonian press describes killing as ‘crime of passion’.

link

Finnish murder case in Spain. Woman brutally murdered for refusing to smuggle drugs

FINLAND: A BODY discovered on a property in Mijas is that of missing Finnish teenager, Jenna Lepomaki, Malaga National Police have confirmed.

 

Four people have been arrested, three of them in Finland.

The 19-year-old came to the Costa del Sol on holiday invited by two Finnish men, aged 18 and 20, who she had met online, as the mother of one of them lived in Mijas.
Her family attempted to dissuade her from coming, but the men paid for her trip and she arrived on June 20.
She spent the first few days in a hostel in Fuengirola, but when the young man’s mother, 37, and her partner, 47 and also Finnish, went away, Jenna moved into the house.
In July, her family reported her missing in Finland, and this was communicated to the Spanish police.

They discovered that the teenager had reported them to the Guardia Civil in Mijas because they had allegedly attacked and threatened her when she refused to transport cocaine from Spain to Finland.
She also reported that they had taken away her passport. From June 29, her mobile phone was turned off.
Spanish police discovered that the two men had left Spain, travelled to Ireland and then back to Finland, where they have now been arrested, and focused their investigation on them both for their involvement in Jenna’s disappearance and their possible links to cocaine trafficking.

18 year old suspect gives the finger during court hearing (Iltalehti)

It is reported by Finnish press, that the parents one of the murder suspect helped to cover up the crime. They are both arrested. Also another 18 year old man was arrested in Finland accused of killing 19 old Jenna, apparently co-perpetrator. It appears she was killed inside the house and the killers attempted to cut her body into pieces and then burn her remains, but having failed to do so, they hid it.

Jenna’s almost mummified body was found wrapped in a sleeping bag hidden amongst some bushes and leaves. The body was missing both legs and one arm. Part of the arm was found in a barrel located on a construction site nearby.

Family rented a property in Spain.  All accused are Finns.

EUROWEEKLY

Amy Bishop: ‘It wasn’t me, I wasn’t there’

Amy Bishop is a Harvard educated neurobiologist, former professor of the University of Alabama in Huntsville (United States) . In February, 2010 during a faculty meeting, Bishop, 44  went on a shooting rampage, killing three of her colleagues and wounding seriously three more.

She was arrested shortly after the shootings.

As she was escorted away by the police, she told the reporters: ‘No way, they are still alive’.

Amy Bishop arrested

Apparently the motive for the shooting was that she was recently denied tenure which means she was about to lose her job.

It was also reported that she was a sole provider for the family, her husband James Anderson and their four children. Perhaps she was under a lot of pressure and she snapped.

However, soon many alarming details started to emerge from her past that suggested this may not be the case.

>In a bizarre twist, it was revealed that more than 20 years ago Bishop fatally shot her 18-year-old brother, Seth Bishop. It was concluded that Seth’s death was an accident.

Bishop shot her brother at the family home in Massachusetts. Based on the recollection of an arresting officer, Bishop, then 20, shot her brother three times, then ran from the house and attempted a carjacking, Boston Globe reported. Police arrested her at gunpoint and were booking her when the former chief ordered a halt to the process and released her to her mother. He later said the gun went off accidentally when she was learning to unload it.

It is not known what would have been a motive for the alleged killing. She reportedly had an argument with her father that morning, possible motive could have been revenge. Perhaps she responds to stress or stressful situations by going ballistic which suggests mental issues. According to some reports she was never properly questioned, because she was ‘highly emotional’ and the case was closed quickly. If it was a cover up, it was more likely a family cover-up than police cover up, they didn’t want to lose both of their children. And Amy may have gotten away with murder. Her parents still insist it was an accident. The case may be hard to prove decades later. The case was re-opened after Alabama shootings and Bishop was indicted in brother’s death.

In another twist, Amy Bishop and her husband were also questioned in mail bombing incident of Harvard professor Dr. Paul Rosenberg, in 1993. Their home was searched, but no evidence was found to link Bishop to the incident. Investigators believed she had a motive to target Rosenberg,  allegedly she was concerned that she was going to receive a negative evaluation from Rosenberg on her doctorate work. The bomb never exploded. A medical researcher, Rosenberg had recently attended a seminar on letter bombs—the Unabomber had struck twice that year—and this heavy package looked suspicious. So, gingerly, he cut the tape around the edge with a knife and peeked inside. Two pieces of pipe, each about 6 inches long, were fixed in place. Wires were visible. He carefully shut the box, alerted his wife, and fled. No-one was ever charged with the crime which would have been an attempted murder.

After Alabama shootings the court ordered mental evaluation which will likely be submitted into evidence.

Madison County corrections officers escort accused UAH shooter Amy Bishop to a courtroom for her plea hearing on Thursday, Sept. 22, 2011. (Photo blog.al.com)

The crimes she committed are outrageous, but the media coverage at least to some extent, has been unfair. That was hardly a first time such incidents took place, but most commonly shootings are carried out by men. In those cases suspects are often described as ‘ordinary’, ‘quiet’, ‘normal’ or even ‘loving husbands and good friends’, etc. As it would be more acceptable if perpetrator is a male. There were reports that Bishop was an ‘oddball’, ‘crazy’, and ‘bully’. That neighbours ‘cheered’ when she moved out and colleagues and the students just couldn’t wait to get rid of her. Also claims that ‘she was dangerous’ and she was out of control and mentally unstable according to court documents in civil case Johnson vs Karbhari, Bishop and Anderson link

Jane Velez-Mitchell; HLN even made an assumption that all professors, scientists are somehow suspicious.

They can walk around in their white coats and keep their heads in some laboratory cage and nobody questions them.’

Hilarious. Whatever one may think about ‘nutty’ professors, Bishop is first academic in US history to be accused of such crime. If  she was a taxi driver, would they draw similar conclusions?! Of course not.

Given that mental illnesses are poorly detected and treated in US, it is likely we will never know what is wrong with Amy Bishop.

However there is nothing to suggest she suddenly snapped. The crime was planned, she went to a shooting range before the murders, she bought a gun.

She appears to be in denial, during her interrogation hours later Bishop would insist, “I wasn’t there” and “It wasn’t me’. But it is possible she was just setting herself up for insanity defence.

A trial date has been set for Amy Bishop-Anderson for March 19, 2012.

She pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.

Interestingly, Amy Bishop is a second cousin to famed author and Academy-awarded screenwriter John Irwing, best known for his novels ‘The World According to Garp’ and ‘Cider House Rules’.

Boston.com

wired.com

Mistrial Declared In Eileen Adams Case

Eileen Adams, 14 old Ohio schoolgirl, was supposed to go to her sister’s west Toledo home after school on December 18 of 1967 – but she never got off the bus.

Eileen Adams

A month and a half later, two Michigan brothers found a rolled up rug tied up with a lamp cord in a field.

She had a three inch nail drilled in the back of her heard and cord wrapped around her neck.

An autopsy concluded Adams had been strangled.

Case went cold pretty soon and lingered in police files for decades.

Until 1981 when Robert Bowman’s ex wife went to police and said Bowman killed Adams and she was a witness:

She said she heard some noise in the basement, she opened a wooden door and was stunned to find a naked young girl tied-up and ‘hanging like Jesus’. Her arms were outstretched and she had tape covering her mouth.

Ms Bowman said she knew the girl was alive because: ‘I looked in her eyes.’

‘I was horrified, I was screaming, I was shaking,’ she added. ‘I didn’t know what to think.’.

Victim’s was found hogtied with telephone cables and with a nail driven in her head

(crime scene photo/Daily Mail)

Officers found Bowman in Florida living in a shell of a burned out building. Inside the burned out building, officers found Bowman had suspended a Spider man doll from the ceiling upside down with string binding the dolls ankles. The string was also wrapped around the doll’s neck and down its back.

There was also a Ken doll that had a nail in the back of his head. Bowman lived with roaches, rats, and snakes which he named and treated like pets.

However prosecutor said there was not enough evidence to charge him.

In 2006, police reopened the case again at the request of Adams’ parents. This time, detectives tested for DNA, also victim’s body was exhumed.

Robert Bowman was arrested and charged with murder. At the time he had been living under a tarp in the desert in California.

Bowman went on trial in August 2011. Experts testified during the trial about DNA found on the victim’s clothing. According to testimony, the random likelihood that the DNA would be found in the general population was 1 in 4.15 million. Bowman’s ex-wife was a prosecution key witness. She stated that she was afraid of Bowman who threatened to kill her and their newborn daughter if she told anyone.

After about 2 days of deliberations jury was unable to reach a verdict and mistrial was declared. Jurors voted 10-2 vote to convict, Toledoblade reported.

Robert Bowman, now 75 year old, in court. Wtol.com

A gag order has been issued in the case preventing attorneys from discussing the previous trial or any future plans. Judge Gene Zmuda set an Aug. 29 pretrial.

Bowman remains charged with murder in the first degree and was returned to the jail after the mistrial was declared. If convicted on the charge, he faces up to life in prison.

UPDATE Bowman was found guilty of murder in the  first degree and was sentenced to life in prison Friday, October 28, 2011. Bowman said he intended to appeal the conviction.

Toledoblade.com

Daily Mail

Drinking Deadly Kool-Aid

Folie à deux is a psychiatric syndrome in which symptoms of a delusional belief are transmitted from one individual to another.

It is very interesting phenomena and there seems to be little research available about mental disorder called Folie à deux (Those are french terms, in english ‘a madness shared by two’ or ‘shared psychosis’) The same syndrome shared by more than two people may be also called ‘folie à plusieurs (madness of many).
The cause of the syndrome is not known and it is generally poorly understood.

The phenomena can be related to many events some less harmless than the others, for example UFO sightings, but also cult culture and many very serious crimes.

I am not an expert and the issue is poorly researched and explained. One reason for that is obviously that it is believed that disorder is very rare.

I am not going to focus on UFO sightings, but rather on criminal cases and criminal behaviour.

First, I would say the mental disorder may be more common than generally believed.  While scientific community almost ignores the disorder, it is possible that this is the cause of atrocities that killed millions.

Actually the whole nation may be affected by it. Did Germans drank Hitler’s kool-aid when they believed he is a great leader and doing the right thing. That wars and holocaust were justified because their leader said so?  Hitler was obviously paranoid schizophrenic and it is particularly dangerous if country’s leader is a mentally ill person.

In the history of crime perhaps the most publicized cases about ‘madness shared by two’ are ‘The Papin Sisters’ case link (via crimemagazine) and more recently the case of two identical Swedish twins sisters Sabina ja Ursula Eriksson. (link v Wiki)

In both cases it is assumed that the sisters had psychosis they shared. Madess of two can develop between two people that have unusually close relationship. For example 15 year old boy’s case, his mother was considered the dominant psychotic individual. The son was the passive recipient. It is common in such cases one person is more dominant and the another one is more like associate.
The parent-child relationship, also spousal and sibling relationships, is very common in folie à deux. There are numerous cases where heinous crimes are committed by man and wife/girlfriend is more passive accomplice. Of course it doesn’t mean that all those cases are cases of shared psychosis.

In United States expression ‘They have been drinking Kool-Aid’ is well known. For example in Casey Anthony case many suggested that Cindy and George ‘drank Casey’s kool-aid’, which means her parents believed something that is not true, they were delusional.

“Drinking the Kool-Aid” refers to the 1978 Jonestown Massacre; the phrase suggests that one has mindlessly adopted the dogma of a group or leader without fully understanding the ramifications or implications.

More than 30 years ago in Jonestown the members of the cult led by Jim Jones committed mass suicide by drinking deadly coctail of syanide, drugs and Kool-Aid (some believe it was Flavor Aid, both are soft drinks). More than 900 people died. One witness said: ‘There was no panic or emotional outburst and people looked like they were in a trance’ link v wiki

Photo mass suicide in Jonestown

It can be also concluded that some spree-killers may copy crimes committed by person they idolize. For example in Finland Pekka Auvinen killed 8 people in 2007 and wounded 12 more in shooting spree that occurred in Jokela High Scool where Auvinen studied. It is known he idolized  Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold who commtted similar crime in 1999 at Columbine High Scool in United States. Auvinen believed some people are superior than others and declared that ‘humanity is over-rated’. In Finland Matti Saari shot and fatally injured ten people  at Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences in Kauhajoki in 2008. It is believed he was influenced by Auvinen.

Norway’s Anders Breivik allegedly idolized ‘Unabomber’ Ted Kaczynski. He copied them both – bombing carried out by more or less trained terrorist-style that included planning for years and killing sprees carried out by so-called ordinary schoolboys. Breivik’s motive for unleashing his vendetta was allegedly political.

There are many similar events, shooting sprees most commonly occurring in United States, but also spreading to other countries. In Brazil gunman killed 12 children at a school in Rio de Janeiro this year. In Netherlands Tristan van der Vlis shot dead 6 people in shopping mall in April this year. The list goes on and on.

It seems likely that one highly-publicized event triggers many similar attacks.

If those are cases of ‘shared psychosis’ it is not clear, but apparently one perpetrator seem to be influenced by another.

Some researches say that people who develop that kind of psychosis are often isolated and they may have stress issues. Likely the disorder can be related to some sort of trauma or traumatic events.
However this doesn’t explain why some individuals are more vulnerable to develop the disorder than the others.

Hopefully in the future there will be more studies about the phenomena.

http://www.medscape.com/