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   Confession leads to girl's body in Florida

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Topic: Confession leads to girl's body in Florida (Read 501 times)

Rhune
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Confession leads to girl's body in Florida
« on: Mar 18^th, 2005, 8:40pm »

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Search under way for girl's body
Sheriff: 'I've got my man'
Friday, March 18, 2005 Posted: 8:17 PM EST (0117 GMT)

HOMOSASSA SPRINGS, Florida (CNN) -- A search is under way in Homosassa Springs, Florida, for Jessica Lunsford's body after Citrus County Sheriff Jeff Dawsy said a convicted sex offender police have been questioning confessed to abducting and killing her.

"John Couey admitted to abducting Jessica and subsequently taking her life," Dawsy told reporters Friday. "I've got my man."

Dawsy said Couey provided general information about where the body could be found, and he said the search could take hours.

Law enforcement sources told CNN that Couey said he buried the girl behind his sister's home.

Couey was staying at the property, which is located across the street from the Lunsford home, when the girl disappeared three weeks ago.

Jessica was last seen wearing a pink nightgown. Her grandmother had tucked her into bed the night of February 23. The next morning, the girl was missing.

Couey, 46, is registered as a sex offender in Citrus County but wasn't living at the address he had given authorities, sheriff's department spokeswoman Ronda Hemminger Evan said.

The announcement came after authorities sealed off Couey's sister's home with yellow crime scene tape.

Dawsy said the girl's father, Mark Lunsford, and her mother, Angela Bryant, who lives in Ohio, have been notified.

"This is a very tough time, not only for me, it's a very tough time for the family," the sheriff said, his voice cracking.

Dawsy said that Couey confessed after taking a lie-detector test Friday.

"At the end of the polygraph, he says, 'You don't need to tell me the results. I already know what they are,' " Dawsy said.

Couey then asked for investigators to be sent back in and apologized "for wasting their time," the sheriff said.

Except for an unlocked front door, the Lunsford home was undisturbed, with no signs of a struggle. Jessica Lunsford lived with her father, Mark, and her grandparents.

The girl's father said he had never seen Couey before or heard his name. He had earlier told reporters he was not convinced that Couey was involved.

Couey was arrested on parole violation charges at a homeless shelter in Augusta, Georgia, Thursday and questioned in the Lunsford's disappearance, law enforcement sources said.

Richmond County Sheriff Ronnie Strength described Couey as "cooperative."

"He was taken without incident. He did not try to hide who he was," the sheriff said. "He told us who he was. And we had no problem whatsoever with him."

A relative told detectives that Couey left Florida for Savannah, Georgia by bus four days later -- under an assumed name. There, he was interviewed by police at a shelter Saturday. But they had no jurisdiction to hold him, and Couey eventually made his way to Augusta, more than 100 miles away when he was arrested at a Salvation Army shelter.

Warrant issued after address change
Authorities said that Couey was among a number of sex offenders being considered after Lunsford went missing.

Under Florida law, a convicted sex offender must register his change of address. When police were unable to find Couey at the home where he was most recently registered, authorities determined he was living with relatives across from the Lunsford home.

Couey's record raised particular concern because his more than three-decade-long criminal history, spanning 24 arrests, including burglary, carrying a concealed weapon, indecent exposure, disorderly conduct, larceny and drug charges.

Couey pleaded guilty to 1991 felony charges of sex offense against a child, fondling a child under 16, and lewd and lascivious conduct in Kissimmee, Florida. He was convicted of indecent exposure in 1987, according to records from the sheriff's office.

During a 1978 burglary for which he was convicted, Couey was accused of grabbing a girl in her bedroom, placing his hand over her mouth and kissing her, Dawsy said.

CNN's Susan Candiotti, Sara Dorsey, Patrick Oppmann, Richard Phillips and John Zarrella contributed to this report.

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rcs_mum
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Re: Confession leads to girl's body in Florida
« Reply #1 on: Mar 18^th, 2005, 10:37pm »

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I think that more than just registering has to be done to keep track of these sex offenders after they are released from prison.
And I think that they should lose their rights of privacy, civil rights etc.
They have done their time, I know, but there are more and more of these sexual offenders are committing worse crimes than what they were convicted of the first time.
Just my opinion.

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Rhune
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Re: Confession leads to girl's body in Florida
« Reply #2 on: Mar 18^th, 2005, 11:27pm »

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What about those bracelet/anklet monitors they put on drunk driving offenders...shouldn't we have something in place like that for this much more serious crime?

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Pocket
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Re: Confession leads to girl's body in Florida
« Reply #3 on: Mar 19^th, 2005, 9:23am »

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Dixie
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Re: Confession leads to girl's body in Florida
« Reply #4 on: Mar 19^th, 2005, 9:37am »

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In light of this most recent horror I thought I would post this website:

http://www.megans-law.net/Megans-Law-Table-Of-Contents.asp#States

Scroll down and find your state. After you click on your state, you need to scroll down to other links. You might have to search around a bit to find the main site for your state but it then allows you to input your zipcode on the Megan's Law website and not only does it list the names of the sex offenders in your area, but also shows their pictures.

I warn you it is a bit frightening because there are so many.

« Last Edit: Mar 19^th, 2005, 9:49am by Dixie »

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Rupey
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Re: Confession leads to girl's body in Florida
« Reply #5 on: Mar 19^th, 2005, 8:31pm »

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Thanks for that info, Dixie.

That man shouldn't have been living across the street from a child, should he? Isn't there a law about sex offenders living near children--or am I confusing this with thinking that sex offenders can't live close to schools or daycares?

This is horrible. When that girl went missing, I imagined that they would not find her alive. May this murderer feel the full brunt of God's and man's judgment.

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AoM
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Re: Confession leads to girl's body in Florida
« Reply #6 on: Mar 20^th, 2005, 8:56am »

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Thanks for that link Dixie, though I probably shouldn't have looked. Of the ten that popped up, 6 of them live within walking distance from my house, literally right down the road.

I guess i am glad to know, my guard will now be up a lot more Sad

My heart goes out to this poor girl and her family. Sometimes you just need to lock these people up and throw away the key

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Dixie
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Re: Confession leads to girl's body in Florida
« Reply #7 on: Mar 20^th, 2005, 10:17am »

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I guess that was my thought AOM. As disturbing as it is, I can't help but wonder if this could have been prevented if they had known that a predator was living next door and what he looked like.

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Rhune
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Re: Confession leads to girl's body in Florida
« Reply #8 on: Mar 20^th, 2005, 11:53am »

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There's no law preventing him from living near individual children as far as I know, just not daycares and schools, etc. However, this guy popped up on their radar cause he wasn't living where he said he was to them at all. They only figured out he had a sister across the street and could have been there, and followed it from there.

Just to add to what Dixie posted, make sure your children see the faces of the people living near your home as well. They should know who to especially watch out for.

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Bumper
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Re: Confession leads to girl's body in Florida
« Reply #9 on: Mar 20^th, 2005, 3:50pm »

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I have refrained from chiming here on this tragic topic but a couple of things need to be said.

I'm not going to Monday morning quarterback this poor little girl's home situation, her Father depending on the grandparents to care for his daughter, why her Mother abandoned the child years ago, why her Father was spending the night with a "friend" or what her else Father or Grandparents should have or should not have done, except to say one thing. If the doors to that house had been LOCKED, the suspect would not have been able to just walk right in while everyone was asleep and snatch that child up. Period!

Crime, whatever type it might be, is 99% of the time, a matter of opportunity. Most criminal types are lazy and just like water, they will follow the path of least resistance. IF the door to that house had been locked, and because his M.O. was that of primarily a sneak-type thief, he would have gone elsewhere. . . . at least that night! He would have destroyed the very stealth he needed to commit the abduction if he had had to use force and make noise to gain entry to the residence.

I usually refrain from recounting experiences. This time I'm going to make the exception. Years ago I worked a case very similar to this exact case. The perpertrator was a B & E thief (break and enter/burgulary) but also had a prior arrest record for exposing himself and peeping into windows. He was entoxicated at the time of the crime (not unusual), broke (usual) and was out prowling looking for a "crime of opportunity". He was working his way thru an apartment project, trying doorknobs to see if any were unlocked.
Now cut to my victim . . . . . . a weekend night, 11:45pm, . . . . her Mother a overnight shift Nurse leaves for work at !!:30pm. Her Father a Store Manager at work and due to get off at midnight. Her teenaged sister upstairs in her bedroom watching TV, bedroom door closed. My victim, a little 9 year old girl, in her nightgown, staying up in the living room watching TV, wanting to wait for her Daddy to come home to put her to bed. She falls to sleep in the chair in front of the TV.
The suspect tries the doorknob and it's unlocked. He opens it, peers in and sees the little girl asleep in the chair. Well, his INTENT was to steal property. Any other time, he would have probably have stolen the TV. But, as I said, theives steal given opportunity. He was already predisposed to committing sexual offenses and the alcohol had already dulled whatever concience this asshole posessed.
He scooped the little sleeping girl up in his arms and hit the door. The child later said that being half asleep, she thought that it was her Daddy picking her up. It wasn't until they were out the door, into the night and he had gone about 50 yards, that she woke up enough to realize that it was not her Dad.

I know as well as I sitting here typing this that this poor little girl down in Florida was most probably like all other young children in that you can pick up a sleeping child, move them around, take them in from the car to the house, take them from the den to their bedroom and put them to bed, and MOST will never fully wake up.
I firmly believe that the little girl in Florida at first thought that it was her Dad picking her up. It was only after she had been spirited out of the house, into the night, that she fully woke up. By then it was too late and her fate was sealed.

In the case I worked, that little girl owes her life to a hole. Her abductor as he carried her into the woods behind the apartments, stepped into a shallow hole. Twisting his ankle and as he fell, he dropped the little girl. She managed to break away from his grasp, run back to her apartment, get inside and lock the door and call the police. If it were not for that hole, I firmly believe that little girl would not be alive today. That suspect would have raped and killed her because as it turned out, the little girl later realized that she recognized the suspect as someone she and her Mother had seen before. He was a stock clerk in the Grocery Store her Mother shopped at. Although the suspect didn't know her, she most likely would have said something to him once she was fully awake in the woods. He would not have left a witness that could later identify him.

I caught the guy later that night thanks to the description the child was able to give. He confessed and was convicted and he got out on mandatory parole after serving 8 years of a 15 year prison term. Today, with parole now being almost eliminated, he would have served 13 of those 15 years. But 8 years in prison were enough for him to learn his lesson. When he got out he started taking a gun on his nighttime crime strolls. Two years ago he broke into a house and when discovered, killed the owner. He now resides on death row.

My point in all this is . . . . that child in Florida would probably be alive today if her grandparents/father had not been so trusting, and taken reasonable and prudent steps to protect themselves by at least locking the front door. I cannot for the life of me, understand how ANYONE in today's world, WHEREVER they live, can say, "I don't lock my doors because I've never had any problems, and that kind of stuff doesn't happen around here".

Lock your doors folks. At least take the first step to protect yourself and your property. Don't make the assumption that because you've never had a problem in the past that you won't have one in the future. In today's world Crime can happen anywhere. Even in YOUR neighborhood.

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lakelady
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Re: Confession leads to girl's body in Florida
« Reply #10 on: Mar 20^th, 2005, 4:04pm »

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Thanks for adding that Bumper.

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Rhune
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Re: Confession leads to girl's body in Florida
« Reply #11 on: Mar 20^th, 2005, 5:07pm »

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Dixie
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Re: Confession leads to girl's body in Florida
« Reply #12 on: Mar 20^th, 2005, 8:02pm »

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I fully agree Bumper. it is sad that this is the world we live in now, but one must ALWAYS be wary of the possibility of danger and take precaution. Things like this can happen any time, any where. The best defense is to be aware and e prepared to react sholuld you find yourself in danger.

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Rhune
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Re: Confession leads to girl's body in Florida
« Reply #13 on: Mar 26^th, 2005, 1:08am »

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Tonight's Amber Alert was a 10 year old girl taken by a long time family acquaintance that they did not realize had a history of sex crimes against children. He killed their daughter, after doing who knows what to her. Her body has already been found. I can't think of any stronger example as to why as parents we MUST take the initiative to go to these registered offenders sites and look at the pictures and read the names and locations of these people. Know the dangers that are around you, as best you can and make your children aware of them. The brother saw her driving away in this man's truck and assumed it was ok and said nothing, because she was leaving with someone they knew...

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Dixie
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Re: Confession leads to girl's body in Florida
« Reply #14 on: Mar 26^th, 2005, 9:56am »

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I thought the exact same thing Rhune. It is all a part of being more diligent as Bumper said. Lock the doors at night. Know who you invite in. Be prepared!

I am also all for life with no parole. These people are not able to be rehabilitated ever. If we can't lock them up forever, at least a GPS device would help.

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