Girlfriend Faces Upgraded Charges in Case of Tortured Alabama Kids

ABC- The girlfriend of John DeBlase, the Alabama man accused of murdering and discarding of the bodies of his two young children, is on her way back to Alabama where she will face upgraded charges, court officials told ABC News.

One attorney involved in the case said he expects the woman to be charged with murder.

Heather Leavell-Keaton is expected to arrive in Mobile, Ala., later today. She is currently charged with child abuse, but police want to talk to her about the deaths of DeBlase's 3-year-old son Chase and 5-year-old daughter Natalie.

Natalie was killed and buried in Alabama in March and Chase was killed and buried in Mississippi in June, police said. Mobile Police Officer Christopher Levy said confusion over DeBlase's statements initially led to believe that the boy was the first to die.

Neither child was reported missing until November when Leavell-Keaton went to police saying she feared for the safety of an infant that she had with DeBlase. The baby is currently in state custody.

DeBlase is already charged with two counts of murder. DeBlase's lawyer Jim Sears told ABC News told ABC News today that he was informed that Leavell-Keaton would also be charged with murder when she arrives in Alabama.

"She will be charged with the murders, that's my understanding from the prosecutors," Sears said.

Mobile County District Attorney John Tyson would not confirm Sears' statement.

"At this point murder charges are not authorized by the facts we have discovered. Any investigation takes as long as it takes, and we will absolutely charge what we can as the facts are discovered," Tyson said.

"Currently we have upgraded her charges to aggravated child abuse, abuse of corpses... The investigation is vigorous, ongoing," he said.

Leavell-Keaton was being held in Louisville, Ky., on charges of child abuse in connection to the case. According to arrest warrants from the Mobile Police Department, she has been accused of submitting Chase and Natalie DeBlase to horrific abuse.

The arrest warrant charges DeBlase with allowing Leavell-Keaton to torture Chase while the two slept.

"Allowing Heather Leavell-Keaton (his girlfriend) to duck-tape the childs hands to the side of his legs, tape a broom handle to his back, placing a sock in his mouth and duck-taping it to his mouth, then making the child stand in a corner all night when they went to bed," the warrant says.

According to police Natalie was not spared the abuse allegedly meted out by DeBlase and Leavell-Keaton, his girlfriend since 2008.

A separate arrest warrant outlines that Deblase allegedly allowed Leavell-Keaton to duct-tape Natalie's hands and feet before stuffing her in a suitcase.

"Duck-tape the child's hands and feet, place a sock in her mouth, place her inside a black suitcase and leave it inside a closet from 8 a.m. until 10 p.m.," the warrant says.

Police have not yet given a cause of death for Chase or Natalie, but they believe the abuse played a major factor.

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Mexican Investigator in Falcon Lake Case Beheaded, Officials Say

AH!! This is scary.
(CNN) -- The lead Mexican investigator in the Falcon Lake case, Rolando Armando Flores Villegas, has been killed, his severed head delivered Tuesday in a suitcase to the Mexican military, officials told CNN.

"His head was delivered to the army garrison this morning in a suitcase after he failed to report back home last night," Zapata County, Texas, Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzalez Jr. said.

A spokesman for the attorney general of Tamaulipas state in Mexico, Ruben Dario-Rios, confirmed the killing Tuesday afternoon in a telephone interview.

The report came a day after authorities in the Tamaulipas state attorney general's office gave conflicting information on whether authorities were pursuing a pair of suspects in the case of David Michael Hartley's disappearance.

Hartley's wife, Tiffany, told authorities that her husband was fatally shot September 30 during a sightseeing trip the two were taking on Falcon Lake, which straddles the border.

While Luis Homero Uvalle, a spokesman for the office, told CNN the suspects are brothers who are "well known to this area" -- identifying them only as "El 27" and "El 31" -- Dario-Rios, the chief spokesman for the attorney general said, "We have nothing official about suspects in the disappearance of David Hartley. I do not know where that is coming from."

Dario-Rios said Monday that Flores had not indicated to him that any suspects had been identified.

Eva Rodriguez, Flores' secretary, said the news of his death came as a surprise. "We saw [Rolando] last night," she said. "After he came back [from the search for Hartley] we were all together here in the office. That was the last time any of us saw him."

She said she was not aware that Flores -- whom she described as "very dedicated to his job" -- had received any threats from narcotraffickers.

"What can you do?" she asked. "We're still going to be here. We still have to work."

And, despite the fact that "we're all scared right now," their work will go on, she vowed. "The investigation and search will still continue," she said.

On Monday, Tiffany Hartley, along with David Hartley's mother, Pam, appeared on television talk shows asking for information to help investigators find those responsible for David's death and find his body.

"Until we have him back, it's not final," Tiffany Hartley said on NBC's "The Today Show."

On Sunday, the U.S. Border Patrol, the Coast Guard, and Parks and Wildlife officials were back on the U.S. side of the lake searching for new evidence in the case, said Zapata County Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzales.

Authorities from both nations have been conducting separate searches and holding regular meetings, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Virginia Staab said. But because the disappearance allegedly occurred on the Mexican side of the border, the United States cannot prosecute or make arrests in the case, the sheriff said.

Falcon Lake is a reservoir on the Rio Grande. The U.S.-Mexican border runs through the middle of the lake, with Zapata and Starr counties on the U.S. side.

Rep. Cuellar said 60 Mexican personnel, three boats and a helicopter had participated in the search.

Investigators Study Knife Found Near Slain Pastor's Church

(CNN) -- Investigators plan to examine a knife found near an Oklahoma church where a 61-year-old pastor was killed, they said Friday.

Police found the nude body of Carol Daniels, her arms outstretched, lying behind the altar of Christ Holy Sanctified Church in Anadarko, Oklahoma, about 50 miles from Oklahoma City, a source close to the investigation said.

She died of "multiple sharp-force injuries," according to a preliminary autopsy report that detailed wounds to her neck, back, chest and hand.

Now the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation has submitted a knife for forensic analysis, said Steve Neuman, a spokesman for the bureau. He said Friday that he could not comment on the usefulness of the knife to investigators.

The knife -- 8 to 10 inches long -- was found near a car wash across from the church by a satellite truck operator for CNN affiliate KOCO-TV of Oklahoma City, the station reported. Neuman said investigators appreciate the operator and the station for "handling the situation the way they did."

Meanwhile, KOCO broadcast an interview with an Anadarko man, Robert Robertson, who said he saw someone leaving the church on the day Daniels died.

"At the time, I looked around the corner, he was coming out of the front door," Robertson said in an interview posted on the station's Web site. He said the man "had something like a ski mask on" and "was covered in blood."

Robertson told the station that he sleeps at the car wash and investigators have interviewed him.

Daniels was found dead August 23.

District attorney Bret Burns has described the crime scene as "horrific," the worst he's seen in 17 years as a prosecutor. Jessica Brown, a spokeswoman for Oklahoma's State Bureau of Investigation, has said that the body was "staged" after the killing, but she declined to elaborate.

Daniels' clothes were taken from the scene, and a dissolving agent had been sprayed around her body, the source close to the investigation told CNN.

Investigators have offered a $15,000 reward and brought in an FBI profiler.

Daniels' son, Alvin Daniels, has told CNN that she traveled many Sundays to Anadarko, "in case people came to worship" in the church.

He told HLN's "Nancy Grace" that his mother was "always joking with us and always taking care of us, even giving her last dollar even if she didn't have it."

Oklahoma Pastor Was Found Nude, Stabbed Behind Altar, Source Says

(CNN) -- A 61-year-old pastor who was killed in a rural Oklahoma church was found lying behind the altar with her arms outstretched, a source close to the investigation told CNN.

It was one of the latest details to emerge in the killing of Carol Daniels, whose nude body was found in the Christ Holy Sanctified Church in Anadarko, Oklahoma, in a crime scene the district attorney described as "horrific."

Her clothes were taken from the scene, and a dissolving agent had been sprayed around her body, the source said.

An FBI profiler was brought in during the weekend to assist investigators, Steve Neuman, a spokesman for the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, said Monday. Authorities also have increased to $15,000 a reward for information.

Daniels, from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, was found inside the church August 23. She died from "multiple sharp-force injuries," according to a preliminary autopsy report obtained by CNN. Sharp-force injuries mean cuts or stab wounds.

Diagrams in the autopsy notes show Daniels suffered injuries to the side and back of her neck, her back and her left breast. She also suffered wounds to her hands, a typical spot for defensive wounds resulting from attempts to ward off an attack.

In addition, the autopsy notes say a portion of Daniels' hair appeared singed or burned. The medical examiner classified her death as a homicide.

Daniels' son, Alvin Daniels, told CNN that she traveled many Sundays to Anadarko, about 50 miles southwest of her home, to the church "in case people came to worship."

District Attorney Bret Burns has called the crime scene the worst he'd seen in 17 years as a prosecutor but gave no further explanation. Jessica Brown, a spokeswoman for Oklahoma's State Bureau of Investigation, said last week the body was "staged" after the killing, but declined to elaborate.

Meanwhile, Neuman said, video surveillance from a convenience store near the church is being analyzed, a process that started Friday. He declined to comment on the condition of Daniels' body when found.

Alvin Daniels told HLN's "Nancy Grace" that his mother was "always joking with us and always taking care of us, even giving her last dollar, even if she didn't have it."

He said she took precautions at the church. "She was very cautious for the most part, and she would usually leave the door open in case people came to worship," he said.

The death has unnerved religious leaders in Anadarko, said Ted Mercer, pastor of Grace Christian Fellowship, which is about three blocks from the church were Daniels' body was found.