Murder Trial Jury Deliberations to Continue

STAMFORD -- Jurors in the trial of a Greenwich man accused of shooting two gas station attendants in 2009, killing one of them, asked in state Superior Court in Stamford on Tuesday to review evidence and testimony.

During the trial of Alain LeConte, 24, jurors listened to testimony about three armed holdups he is accused of committing over a two-month period. He allegedly shot two convenience store clerks in the head, killing one in Norwalk and severely injuring another in Greenwich. LeConte is also charged with using a gun to rob a Stamford bodega.

He is facing more than 60 years in jail on the charges.

As they did earlier in the trial, jurors Tuesday heard a secretly taped jailhouse conversation involving LeConte, in which he admitted to many details of the crimes.

"I'm full throttle with this (expletive)," LeConte can be heard saying on the tape, referring to the time period immediately before the 2009 robbery of the Mobil on the Run gas station on East Putnam Avenue in Old Greenwich.

LeConte recalled how he rushed away from the Greenwich crime scene with an accomplice, later identified as Teran Nelson, and they sped toward Bridgeport "like it was a movie."

Nelson, the getaway driver in the robbery, took the stand previously in the trial.

Jurors listened Tuesday to a recording of his testimony.

Nelson testified he acted as a lookout outside the gas station while LeConte entered and, soon after, he heard a popping noise.

"When I heard the pop noise, I panicked and started to run," Nelson said.

Nelson has signed a cooperative agreement in the case, exchanging his testimony to reduced exposure to jail time.

Jurors once again saw video surveillance footage from the Greenwich crime and the Oct. 10, 2009, robbery at the West Avenue Shell station in Norwalk, in which a hooded suspect shot and killed gas station attendant Jose Joaquin Morales.

In surveillance footage from both crimes an armed man dressed in black aims a gun at the attendant.

The attendant in the Greenwich video can be seen exiting the store clutching his head after the man leaves.

David Wash, of Bridgeport, faces robbery and conspiracy to commit robbery charges in connection with the Greenwich crime.

Mustafa Jacobs is facing felony murder, robbery and conspiracy charges for his alleged role in Morales' murder.

Mark Phillips, LeConte's attorney, and Senior Assistant State's Attorney James Bernardi, the case prosecutor, both rested their cases last week.

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.

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