This Day In History

May 3 1963
Eugene "Bull" Connor directs security forces in Birmingham, Alabama to unleash police dogs on civil rights protesters, and then blast them with high-pressure fire hoses. Unfortunately for segregationists, television networks bring the footage to a shocked national audience. In the wake of the overwhelming public response, President Kennedy quips that Connor "has done more for civil rights than almost anybody else."

May 3 1988
The White House confirms stories that President Ronald Reagan's travel and public appearances are scheduled around astrological data furnished by a mystic in San Francisco. The astrologer also supplies input to the timing of critical international events, such as a recent arms control summit in Iceland.

Father Being Charged in Deaths of Alabama Children

(CNN) -- Police believe they found the skeletal remains of a 3-year-old Alabama boy and were charging his father with two counts of murder as they prepared to search for the man's missing young daughter, also believed dead, authorities said Wednesday.

Authorities are working to verify the remains found Wednesday near Vancleave, Mississippi, belong to Jonathan Chase DeBlase. Police believe he was killed by his father, John Joseph DeBlase, 27, and the father's girlfriend.

Jonathan had not been seen since June, police in Mobile, Alabama, said. Investigators believe he was slain around that time. His sister, 4-year-old Natalie, was last seen in March, when authorities believe she was killed. Earlier, police had reversed the order of the last sightings of the children, but they clarified that timeline Wednesday.

Police, who did not know the children were missing until November 19, contend that the elder DeBlase allowed the girlfriend, Heather Keaton, to abuse the children by restraining them with tape, putting socks in their mouths and confining them.

The boy's skeletal remains were found about 12 miles north of Vancleave, after the boy's father -- who is in police custody in Alabama -- gave authorities information on where the body might be buried, said Jackson County, Mississippi, Sheriff Mike Byrd.

"It was the father who gave us the general area," Byrd told HLN. "He wasn't real sure exactly where he was. ... He claimed he had taken a lot of sleeping pills and didn't quite remember exactly where he was."

Based on that information, the sheriff's office cordoned off a five-mile stretch along a highway and dispatched eight 10-man teams to locate the remains. The body was found about 10:30 a.m., Byrd said.

"We're very certain" the remains are that of the missing boy, Byrd said. "We're just thankful that we found this little boy. Nothing's left but just the skeletal remains."

The body of Natalie DeBlase has not been found, Byrd said, but he indicated authorities believe it near Citronelle, Alabama, about 50 miles north of Mobile.

A spokesman for Mobile Police told HLN that prosecutors are signing two murder warrants against John DeBlase.

Authorities will decide in the next few days whether to charge Keaton in the deaths, Officer Christopher Levy said.

Police believe both children died in Mobile, Levy said.

Levy was not sure when the search for Natalie near Citronelle will begin in earnest.

"This is a one-step-at-a-time, one-day-at-a-time operation," Levy said. "We've had some success with it today. We're going to evaluate our results, then begin the next step."

Levy said he was relieved at the new findings, but said the investigation had taken a toll.

"I have kids that are of similar age and it makes me think about them while I'm out here," Levy told HLN.

Investigators believe that after Jonathan's death, John DeBlase, Keaton and Natalie continued to live in the Peach Place Apartments in Mobile for months, Levy said Monday. They didn't leave until the summer, after Natalie was last seen in June.

"It's really terrible, as if nobody really cared," Levy said of the time that transpired between the sightings and launch of the search. "That's what we can't seem to understand at this point."

Both DeBlase and Keaton are now in custody, and blaming each other for the siblings' deaths.

The investigation kicked off November 18, when Keaton told Louisville, Kentucky, police that she needed protection from DeBlase, who she claimed was holding her against her will.

According to the domestic violence petition, signed "Heather L. Leavell-Keaton," she said, "I feel he may have murdered his children, because he said they were non-responsive. He would not let me check on them." She said DeBlase had told her "choices were made ... and he had to do what he had to do."

Keaton was arrested last week, charged with two counts of willful abuse and neglect of a child.

Three days later, Randall Melville -- who for two days had been hosting DeBlase, his longtime friend -- called Santa Rosa County, Florida, police after hearing news reports about the children's disappearance, according to a report from the county sheriff's department.

When Melville asked DeBlase about it, the children's father yelled, "I didn't do it" and left the home, the report said. Police eventually tracked down DeBlase, who again asserted his innocence before his arrest Friday.

He had been charged with two counts of aggravated child abuse and two counts of abuse of a corpse -- the latter because, Levy said, of his "disposing of the bodies in the woods."

DeBlase had a first appearance on the abuse charges Wednesday and a judge entered a not guilty plea, said Jim Sears, who was assigned to represent the father at the Mobile proceedings.

Sears described his client as being very upset about developments. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for January 4.

On Monday, Mobile County District Judge Charles McKnight set bail for DeBlase at $206,000 -- $100,000 each for the child abuse charges and $3,000 for each count of corpse abuse, according to CNN affiliate WALA.

According to a police complaint, DeBlase between March 1 and November 19 allowed Keaton to tape Natalie's hands and feet, put a sock in her mouth and place her in a suitcase that was put in a closet for 14 hours. He also allowed Keaton to tape Jonathan's hands to the side of his legs, tape a broom handle to his back, place a sock in his mouth and then make the child stand in a corner all night when the couple went to bed.

DeBlase and Keaton had one infant daughter together, according to Keaton's account in the Kentucky police report. Police said one reason Keaton claimed she needed protection from DeBlase was that she feared for the safety of the infant, who was with her in Kentucky.

Levy said the two slain children's biological mother lives in Mobile, but she did not have custody "because, at the time, she didn't have a place to live."

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.

-more details-

Police: Mother Hit Power Pole to Kill Self, Children

MONTGOMERY, AL (WSFA) - A young mother makes a startling and disturbing admission as police arrive on the scene of a car accident in Montgomery Monday.

Officers say they responded to a car wreck in the 1300 block of Woodley Road only to learn from the traffic victim that she'd intentionally slammed her automobile into a power pole in an effort to kill herself and two of her children.

Tia Thompson, 23, and two of her four children, ages three and four, were transported to Jackson Hospital for what turned out to be minor injuries. Thompson hadn't strapped either child into a safety seat and she didn't have a seat belt on either.

The children were treated and released to a grandparent per Department of Human Resources.

When asked, Thompson said she'd received notification that her welfare benefits were being cut off and explained that she could no longer support herself or her children. Thompson said slamming the car into a power pole was was her only option.

She is now charged with two counts of Attempted Murder and was transported to the Montgomery County Detention Facility on what the Montgomery Police called an "excessive bond" of $200,000.

Dutch Youth Lives Under Shadow of Holloway Case 5 Years Later

(CNN) -- It was supposed to be a celebration -- sun, fun and relaxation on a tropical island for recent graduates savoring the heady taste of approaching adulthood.

But instead, the trip to Aruba by a group of Birmingham, Alabama, high school seniors ended in tragedy, as one of their members, 18-year-old Natalee Holloway, never returned home. Questions surrounding her fate are unanswered five years later.

Now, Joran van der Sloot, the youth twice arrested and released in Holloway's disappearance -- seen by many as a privileged playboy who has displayed no remorse or concern over her whereabouts -- has been named a suspect in the stabbing death of a woman in Peru, allegations that hint at a chilling pattern. Van der Sloot was arrested Thursday in Chile following a manhunt.

"It's fair to say that he's a pretty easy guy to point a finger at, a pretty easy guy to say, 'I'm confident suspecting him,'" said Joe Tacopina, who represents van der Sloot in the Aruba case. "And he's earned some of that and some of it he hasn't earned. He's been through the wringer. He's been detained twice in Aruba. There's been absolutely no credible evidence in that case whatsoever ... he was never charged with a crime there. Don't forget that."

Holloway was last seen in the early hours of May 30, 2005, leaving an Oranjestad, Aruba, nightclub with van der Sloot and two other men, brothers Deepak and Satish Kalpoe. She was visiting the island with about 100 classmates to celebrate their graduation from Mountain Brook High School in suburban Birmingham.

Holloway failed to show up for her flight home the following day, and her packed bags were found in her hotel room.

Van der Sloot and the Kalpoes were arrested and released in 2005 in connection with the case, then arrested a second time in 2007 after Aruba's then-chief prosecutor Hans Mos said he had received new evidence in the case. Van der Sloot, then attending college in the Netherlands, was brought back to Aruba. But judges ruled the new evidence -- which included an Internet chat the same day Holloway disappeared with one of the three youths writing that she was dead -- was not enough to keep them in custody.

In the years since Holloway vanished, van der Sloot has consistently denied any involvement in her disappearance, police said.

"He's just totally, totally dragged us all through hell," Holloway's anguished mother, Beth Twitty, has said.

In 2008, a videotape surfaced on Dutch television. In it, van der Sloot tells a man he thought was a friend he had sex with Holloway on the beach after leaving the nightclub, then she "started shaking" and lost consciousness. He said he panicked when he could not resuscitate her and called a friend who had a boat. The two put Holloway in the boat, van der Sloot said, and he went home. The friend told him the next day that he had carried the body out and dumped it into the ocean.

"I don't lose a minute of sleep over it," van der Sloot said.

He later claimed the account was a lie, saying he told the man what he wanted to hear. A court ruled there was not enough evidence to re-arrest him. Aruba chief prosecutor Peter Blanken said the story was "unbelievable and not true."

But it's been van der Sloot's cavalier attitude toward the case that has fueled criticism, as well as conflicting statements he's made. He told Fox News in a 2008 interview he sold Holloway to human traffickers for $10,000, then in a taped interview denied it.

At the time his name first surfaced in the Holloway investigation, suspicion swirled around his parents, particularly his father, an Aruban lawyer training to be a judge. Paul van der Sloot was briefly taken into custody in 2005 on suspicion of involvement in the Holloway case. Authorities said he told his son that police had no case without a body. He was released after three days of questioning.

Holloway's parents, however, have said they met with Paul van der Sloot and continue to believe he had the answers to questions regarding their daughter.

"I remember the day I met with Paul at the prison," Dave Holloway has said. "And the thing that stuck out in my mind was I asked him all the questions, why he hid from the news media. And the last question that I had was, was he involved, and he said no. He said, 'Dave, I can understand your position, but you've got to understand mine. Joran's my son and I'll do everything I can to protect him.' And I believe it."

Van der Sloot's mother, Anita, has said her son told her he was on the beach with Holloway but left her there because she wanted to stay. She has maintained her son's innocence.

However, Tacopina said van der Sloot's relationship with his family has suffered in recent years.

"Joran in the last several years has gone in a very different direction, has not behaved in a way that is acceptable to anybody," he said, referring to van der Sloot's being paid for versions of events in the Holloway case. "It border-lined on pathological, it really did, and quite frankly I think he hurt a lot of people."

Tacopina cautioned against jumping to conclusions, saying that many times a new lead was thought to be the key to the Holloway case but didn't pan out. In March, for instance, a Pennsylvania couple told authorities a picture they took last year while snorkeling off Aruba showed something that looked like a skeleton. Authorities called off a dive team's search after two days, saying they found nothing that resembled the image depicted in the photograph.

New Lead in ‘59 Abduction

AC 360- Before Adam Walsh, Etan Patz and Madeleine McCann. Before the first Amber Alert. Before a young face stared back from the side of a milk carton, there was Danny.

Danny Barter vanished in 1959. He was on a family camping trip to Alabama’s Perdido Bay. He was playing with his dad one minute, gone the next. “Just like that,” recalled his brother, Mike Barter. Danny was 4 years-old.

Over this past weekend, his loved ones returned to the campsite and to the scene of the presumed stranger abduction. They came to remember Danny, and to rededicate a half-century mission to find him.

Even with the passage of time, their faith has not wavered. “We’ve never doubted that he’s not out there, “said Mike Barter. “Until they prove otherwise, we hope one day we will be reunited.”

Their hope has been bolstered by investigators with the FBI and the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office, which re-opened the case last year after hearing of a conversation pertaining to the case. “A lead was sparked when someone was sitting in a public area talking about what happened,” FBI Spokeswoman Joyce Riggs wrote in an email message to the members of the media.

As cold case cops know, a wisp of a lead can turn into a big break, a fact FBI Special Agent Angela Tobon believes can solve the Daniel Barter mystery. “Even if they (people) think it’s insignificant, it’s probably not, Tobon said. “Each little piece of the puzzle may not mean something, but when you put it all together you get the big picture.”

Danny was the third youngest of Paul and Maxine Barter’s seven children. He had brown hair and big brown eyes. “He’s such a very pretty and sweet child,” his mother told the Mobile Register in an article published June 21, 1959. “I can understand why someone would want to take him because he’s such a pretty child.”

Three days earlier, Danny, his parents and siblings were enjoying a family outing near the Gulf Shore. Danny and his dad had just returned from getting some drinks at a store. Tents were pitched. Fishing poles were prepared. And then someone noticed Danny was gone.

“I had first believed that despite Danny’s fear of water he had wandered into the water and drowned,” Maxine Barter said to the Mobile Register. “But not now. I believe he probably walked up the road and someone picked him up.”

The search was extensive and immediate. Hundreds combed the land and the waters looking for Danny. Bloodhounds were given his scent and dispatched to follow it. Alligators were killed and cut open.

But there was no trace of Danny, then or now.

For his parents and the police, the sickening conclusion was quickly reached: he was allegedly stolen by a human predator. Danny’s mom could not fathom the kidnapper would bring harm to her boy. “I hope now that someone did take Danny because I know if anyone wanted him bad enough to kidnap him they would take good care of him,” she said.

Now, 50 years later, the family longs for closure. Paul and Maxine Barter are both deceased, but their children carry on the decades-long pursuit to know the truth about what happened to their brother.

On dannybarter.com, a web site dedicated to finding answers, the family posted this following plea to the public:

“We strongly believe that someone out there knows what happened to Danny and possibly knows him as another identity. We hope to find him safe and sound.”

The FBI is also seeking information on Danny Barter. It has published two photographs of Danny on its web site. One shows the smiling young child, taken in the months before Danny was abducted. The other picture is age-progressed, depicting what Danny would look like today, at 54.

If you have any information on the Danny Barter case, go to dannybarter.com, or contact the FBI, your local police, or the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office in Alabama.

Alabama Man Jailed in Scuba Honeymoon Death

(CNN) -- An Alabama man was sentenced to 4½ years in prison Friday for his wife's death during their honeymoon in Australia nearly six years ago.

David Gabriel Watson pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the October 2003 death of Tina Watson, an Australian court spokesman said.

Watson was 26 when she drowned while diving around the "Yongala" shipwreck, about 42 miles off the coast of Townsville.

Watson had told police that his wife appeared to panic 45 feet underwater and drowned accidentally. However, authorities found inconsistencies in his account.

As evidence of a motive, investigators cited her father's statement that Watson had asked her to maximize her life insurance and make him the beneficiary shortly before their wedding.

The insurance company confirmed that Watson asked about her policy after her death, investigators said.

Townsville Coroner David Glasgow noted in his inquest findings that David was an experienced diver while his wife was a novice.

The couple married in Birmingham, Alabama, and left for Australia two days later.

Woman Shot Through Skull, Makes Officer Tea

"When the officer got there she said, 'What's going on?' She was holding a rag on her head and talking.


She was conscious, but she was confused about what had happened. She had made herself some tea and offered the officer something to drink... She is expected to make a full recovery, while her husband shot himself dead after the attack on his wife."


Read article...

Jury Convicts Alabama Dad of Throwing 4 Kids Off Bridge

(CNN) -- After deliberating for only 45 minutes, a jury convicted an Alabama man Thursday of throwing his four children off a Gulf Coast bridge in January 2008, according to prosecutors.

Lam Luong, 38, admitted throwing the children, who ranged in age from 3 years to 4 months, off the Dauphin Island bridge south of Mobile, according to CNN affiliate WKRG.

Charged with five counts of capital murder, he changed his plea to guilty last week. However, Alabama law requires that all capital cases go before a judge and jury, WKRG said.

The sentencing phase of Luong's trial will begin Friday, the Mobile County District Attorney's office told CNN.

Jurors will decide whether he should receive the death penalty or life in prison without parole. A judge is not bound by the jury's decision, however, and Alabama law requires an automatic appeal in capital cases.

Luong and his wife were having marital difficulties, prosecutors said.

WKRG reported that during opening arguments in the trial, prosecutors told jurors Luong threw the kids off the bridge so he could see the look on his wife's face.

Luong was on crack at the time, and he told investigators they could charge him if they found the children's bodies before breaking into laughter, jurors were told.

The defense called no witnesses, but told jurors Luong was intoxicated at the time and was incapable of forming the necessary intent to be convicted of a capital offense, asking them to convict him of manslaughter, WKRG said.

During the trial, jurors heard about the search for the children's bodies and saw graphic video of the bodies floating in the water, the station reported.

A commercial fisherman recording rough weather off the coast of Venice, Louisiana, found one body, while two duck hunters and a Mississippi marine officer found the other three, according to WKRG.

Luong looked down, away from the overhead screens, when the photographs of the children's bodies were shown.