Hi Guys!

Please look for an update later by Friday, June 20, 2008. I have been really busy, but I have been working on a blog entry.

Kayli is almost walking! She will be one in 12 days! How time flies when you are having fun!

I broke my pinky toe and the bone behind it and found out today I may have to have surgery depending on how it heals. Hopefully, I can just heal with no surgery.

Well, I will get busy on my blog entry and have it up by tomorrow. It is an entry that is local to me because it involves my neighbors. It is very sad, so have a box of tissues handy!

In the meantime, here is a picture of Kayli. Can you tell I am proud of her????

tezi

Paul Burrell, Princess Diana's Butler

I am way behind here. I didn't even realize the inquest into the deaths of Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed were over! I can't say I'm surprised by the outcome, I think it is the right one.

I have to say that I am not shocked by Paul Burrell's behavior at the inquest and afterward. I bought his book, "A Royal Duty," when it first came out. I did enjoy parts of it, but his attempts to malign the Royal Family really turned me off. Personally, I don't see how his wife put up with him. I think he was in love with Diana. I could be totally off base here though.

Here is an article that I found most interesting. I am just taking snippet from it and commenting on them. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.../ndiana401.xml

Diana coroner attacks 'liar' Paul Burrell

The coroner at the inquest into the death of Diana, Princess of Wales has launched a devastating attack on Paul Burrell, suggesting he had lied in the witness box to protect his lucrative career as a reality TV star.


As he began the second day of his summing up at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, the coroner referred to a tape recording, published in a national newspaper last month, in which Mr Burrell admitted to a friend he had included "red herrings" in his evidence to the inquest.

Mr Burrell, 49, refused to return to the inquest to explain the comments he made on the tape and could now face a perjury investigation.

Mr Burrell was also upbraided by the coroner for secretly copying Princess Diana's private correspondence before publishing it in his books.

He said: "All in all, you may think that Mr Burrell's behaviour has been pretty shabby. But beyond the extent to which it reflects his honesty, on whether other matters are true you may think this - it has no impact on the means by which those came their death."

I have to agree with the coroner here. His behavior is shabby. Plus, I think it was downright disgraceful for him to copy Princess Diana's private letters and then publishing it in his books!

Paul Burrell is all about Paul Burrell and he doesn't deserve to make any more money off of Princess Diana! Hopefully, he will face perjury charges for all of the lies he told.

Judge Rejects Molly Midyette's Request!

A Boulder County judge has rejected Molly Midyette's request that the verdict in her trial be set aside. She will be sentenced on Thursday. Here is the link to the article. http://www.timescall.com/news_story.asp?ID=7951


O/T....Real life has been busy lately. Hopefully, things will calm down and I will be able to post more on the blog. I am going to do a longer entry about the Midyette case either tonight or tomorrow, so please look for it!

Molly Midyette Requests New Trial

I knew that Molly Midyette would appeal her conviction, but I didn't think she'd use the grounds that she was a battered wife. After all, she and Alex seemed very much in love in the months before the trial. But, I guess looks are deceiving.

I am very torn about this case. While I do think Molly bears a lot of responsibility for what happened to her son, I feel Alex was the one who inflicted the injuries that killed him. Molly should have put the baby's needs first and got away from Alex, but she stayed. I think Molly should be held accountable for her inactions as far as getting her son away from his abusive father, and I think prison time is most definitely in order for her. How much time? I don't know. I don't think that 48 years would be appropriate if she is truly a battered woman.

Here is the link to the story. Please let me know what you think. http://www.9news.com/news/top-article.aspx?storyid=88318

Hi Everyone!

I have been working on changing the blog. I still haven't found a design I really like.

Later on today, please look for a post about the Midyette case out of Colorado. Molly Midyette is seeking a new trial.

I hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Tezi

I am sorry I have neglected the blog.

Real life has been getting in the way of my cyber-life lately. I have been neglecting my blog and for that I apologize.

Keaton was found deceased on March 3rd. I wish there would have been a different outcome. She apparently drowned after her car went into the creek. My thoughts and prayers are with her family and friends.

I had the opportunity to catch some of the Shawna Nelson trial on Tru-TV in the last few days. It was recorded, but I did enjoy watching Shawna's testimony. She was such a terrible liar. I don't understand why her attorney allowed her to take the stand. Her story was not believable at all. The prosecution only cross-examined her for 24 minutes! I guess they felt she helped her case that much! Luckily, she was found guilty. It will be interesting to see if her husband gets any time on his charges in relation to this case.

I am going to be making some changes to the blog. First, I have asked dark_shadows from WebSleuths to contribute. She has an excellent idea about adding voice clips of missing people onto the information about them available on the Internet. We are trying to figure out a way to get this idea used. If anyone has any ideas, please let us know. I also feel dark_shadows can add a lot to the blog, she is very compassionate about the subjects she posts about, and she can also offer a lot of insight.

Another change I am going to implement is I am going to try to start doing a weekly update on the West Memphis 3 case out of Arkansas. I am hoping in light of the DNA evidence that was tested the WM3 will at the very least get a new trial. Personally, I think they were railroaded. I don't think there was a shred of evidence beyond a reasonable to doubt that convicted them. A great site to look at about the case is: www.WM3.org I will add others when I look them up.

I am also going to change the colors of the blog. Eventually, I hope to find one that is pleasing to the eye! I am also going to correct the links I have posted.

I hope everyone has a great night. Please come back and visit. Remember, this is my first blog and a continuing work in progress. I hope to get the hang of this soon!

Thanks,

Tezi

A Correction...

Keaton's car was recovered, however Keaton wasn't in her car.

My apologies for any pain I may have caused her family and friends.

Urgent--Please Read!

Keaton Renee Byrd has been missing from Camden, Arkansas since February 28, 2008. She was last heard from at approximately 1:30 a.m. in the morning. She didn't indicate anything was wrong at that time, she said she was going home. However, Keaton didn't arrive home. Keaton is my daughter's best friend and a very responsible person. Keaton didn't go to work on Thursday and did not call in either. This was the first indication that something was wrong. Her mother is working with local LE and is asking that anyone who might know anything about what has happened to Keaton to please get in touch with LE.

Keaton was born on April 28, 1984 and she is 23 years old. She has brown hair and eyes. She is 5 foot 3 inches tall and weighs 100 pounds. She has piercings in her nose, ears, and belly. She was last seen wearing grey pajama bottom pants with a black shirt and a pink "hoodie."

She was driving her car which is a 2008 Nissan Maxima. The license number is AR Tag: 159-MNZ. The car is a white four door model.

Anyone with information about Keaton's whereabouts please call either the
Camden, Arkansas Police Department or the Ouachita County Sheriff's Department.

The Camden Police Department's number is: 870-836-5755.
The Ouachita County Sheriff's Department number is: 870-837-2200.

Thank you.

Tezi

UPDATE

Steve Huff has done a blog entry about Keaton. I can't tell you how much I appreciate his help! It can be found here: http://www.truecrimeweblog.com/2008/03/missing-in-arkansas-keaton-renee-byrd.html

Hi Everyone!

Once again, I am sorry I haven't been writing. A lot of things are going on here. Kayli is doing a lot better. I think she is over the worst part of her pneumonia. My husband isn't doing as well. He is still really sick. I am going to have to get him to go to the doctor on Monday, if he isn't doing better by then.

One of my oldest daughter's best friends is missing. She hasn't been heard from since around 1:30 a.m. on Thursday morning. Local LE is looking for her and questioning all of her friends and associates. Her mother is beside herself with fear. My daughter is with her friend's mom looking for her. I am waiting for her mother to call me so I can help her with posters to get the information out that her daughter is missing. I hope she is found safe before that happens though. Things are not looking good though. The local Sheriff's Department is trying to find out where her cell phone last pinged at and then they are going to search that area with canines. Her car hasn't been spotted since she has disappeared. To me, that is really bad news. I am trying to stay positive, but it is getting harder by the hour. I am going to light a candle tonight and say a special prayer that she comes home safely. I haven't posted her name yet, because I don't know what her mother wants to do as far as the Internet is concerned. I am hoping that she gives me permission to post the information because I think it is important to get the word out. If it were my daughter, I would want any and all help that I could get. I do know that a former boyfriend of the girl is being looked at as a possible person of interest. He is also a former boyfriend of my daughter. He is a sex offender. My husband and I didn't know he was a registered sex offender until after he and my daughter broke up and she finally told us about his history. Needless to say, we were very unhappy with her not being honest with us in the beginning. I hope that he gets questioned before he decides to lawyer-up or just leave town.

I am also on "verdict watch" for the Shawna Nelson murder trial out of Colorado. The jury started deliberations yesterday afternoon and broke for the weekend around 5:00 p.m. MST last night. I hope the verdict comes in Monday. I hope to be able to post some case background on the blog this weekend, time permitting.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Tezi

Sorry I haven't posted...

Hello everyone. I am sorry I haven't posted for the last few days. I found out on Sunday that my younger cousin killed himself, so I have been really upset about that.

My grand daughter Kayli has pneumonia, so we have been back and forth to the doctor for the last two days. She's not feeling very well this morning at all. She had to have two shots today, and the doctor thinks that will help clear up the pneumonia. Hopefully, it will clear up or else she will have to be put in the hospital. So, your prayers would be appreciated!

I am going to blog about the trial that I am following. Hopefully, I can get that caught up today.

Everyone have a nice day!

Tezi

An Interesting Trial that I am Following

I am following a really interesting murder trial that is taking place in Fort Collins, Colorado. It has more twists and turns than I can keep up with.
Here is some of the background information:

Police Officer's Wife Gunned Down At Credit Union
Weld County Deputy's Wife Arrested In Case

GREELEY, Colo. -- The wife of a Weld County sheriff's deputy was under arrest Wednesday after the wife of a Greeley police officer was gunned down and killed as she left work.

Heather Garraus, 37, died 30 minutes after she was shot several times in the parking lot of the Colorado State Employees Credit Union, where she worked as a supervisor.

Garraus, 37, is married to Greeley police officer Ignacio Garraus and has a 9-year-old daughter.

Ignacio Garraus is now on bereavement leave, his chief said.

"I just came from a roll call briefing of our officers and it's a pretty, pretty depressed place around the Greeley Police Department right now, as you would expect it to be ... so it's a pretty sad place," said Greeley Police Chief Jerry Garner.

The Weld County Sheriff's Office's online arrest report identified the woman in custody as Shawna Louise Nelson, 35. She was being held without bond for investigation of first-degree murder.

According to public records, Nelson is married to Ken Nelson, a Weld County Sheriff's Office investigator. Records indicated the two filed for divorce in 2005 but were still married.

The shooting happened about 6:15 p.m. just as Garraus was leaving the bank, which is located near the University of Northern Colorado.

The credit union, at 2505 11th Ave., had just closed. Garraus was the only person shot and died later at North Colorado Medical Center. Witnesses in the bank called police to report the shooting. Her coworkers said she was a great friend and can't believe what happened.

"She was a wonderful mother. She was a wonderful supervisor. We all loved her. We were a family. She was just taken from us," said a sobbing Yvonne Younger, who worked with Garraus. "We're never going to be the same again."

~~~SNIP~~~

"She would do anything for anybody. It doesn't matter if she couldn't do it. She would find a way. She would go out of her way for you if you needed something. If you were upset, she would make you feel better. She didn't have one enemy in the whole world. She didn't have one mean bone in her whole body," said coworker Maria Valdez.

Nelson was brought into the courtroom Wednesday afternoon to be advised of the charges against her. She was handcuffed, dressed in an orange jumpsuit, and hid her face behind her long blonde hair.

It's not known how Nelson knows Garraus, but when asked if prosecutors are confident that they have the right suspect, Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck said, "I'm confident enough to file charges on Monday."

Nelson had been a dispatcher for the combined Greeley-Weld County communications center.

When asked what she thought about the suspect, Garraus' friend, Martha Meyer, said, "I have no word to explain it. She took our best friend away from us. She was wonderful and she took her away from us."

~~~SNIP~~~

A motive for the shooting was unclear and police were tight-lipped. Police said any further information on the shooting would have to come from the Weld County District Attorney's office, who has requested the judge seal all documents in the case.

"This investigation is ongoing and therefore I've decided to request that the court seal and not release to the public all search warrants and affidavits in this matter until the investigation will no longer be compromised by the premature release of this information," Buck said.

Because the case involves the wives of two law enforcement officers from two different departments, some in the legal community believe that a special prosecutor should be appointed to the case. However, Buck does not think there is a conflict in the case.

"We do not have a conflict in this case at this time ... I am elected to ensure public safety in Weld County and to prosecute cases in Weld County ... I intend to stay on this case until we identify that there is a conflict or the court identifies there's a conflict. But I don't see a conflict now," Buck said.

Garner said his officers are investigating the homicide, but don't believe there's a conflict either, even though it involves the wives of one of the officers.

"If a law enforcement agency has one of its officers killed in the line of duty, that agency doesn't call another agency in to investigate it. Obviously, you have the emotions of your people who have lost someone that's a member of their family. But if you have an agency that has integrity, that has professionalism, that follows its ethics of law enforcement -- and Greeley does those things -- you're able to grieve for one of your people and still conduct a professional investigation," Garner said.

~~~SNIP~~~

The community of Greeley is stunned and wonders what would provoke such a shooting.

"It's just unbelievable. You wonder how on earth they could be connected in two such different departments," said Greeley resident Helen Norton.

Customers went to the closed bank to use the automatic teller machine Wednesday and talked about the shooting.

"I thought at first maybe it was robbery and then I heard that it had nothing to do with the bank. It had something to do with people," said a customer of the bank.

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/10831912/detail.html

Love Affair May Have Led To Ambush Slaying
Suspected Shooter Was Mother Of Officer's Baby

GREELEY, Colo. -- The ambush slaying of a well-liked Greeley woman may have been the result of a three-year love affair between the suspected shooter and the victim's husband, 7NEWS reported.

Sources told 7NEWS that Shawna Nelson had the child of Greeley police officer Ignacio Garraus about 10 months ago. The officer's wife, Heather Garraus, was gunned down Tuesday evening in the parking lot of the Colorado State Employees Credit Union, where she worked as a supervisor.

Police believe Shawna Nelson put on a mask and hid outside in the parking lot as she waited for the bank to close, the Greeley Tribune reported. Nelson was arrested several blocks away after a bulletin describing her car was issued by police.

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/10839952/detail.html

Shawna Nelson had Ignacio Garraus's child as a result of the affair. After Ignacio told her he wanted to end the relationship and severe his parental rights to the child, Shawna started sending threatening text messages to his cell phone. He then contacted his lawyer who told Shawna to stop threatening the Garraus's. Ignacio never contacted the police department about the threats even though the affair was basically public knowledge.

Shawna Nelson's husband is also a police officer. He has been charged with evidence tampering (I believe that is the charge) for allegedly getting rid of the gun that his wife used to kill Heather Garraus.

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/14043154/detail.html

GREELEY, Colo. -- A former Weld County sheriff's deputy accused of tampering with evidence has pleaded not guilty to charges of handling a gun that his estranged wife allegedly used in the ambush-slaying of a romantic rival.

Ken Duane Nelson was arrested in late July in Walla Walla, Wash., where he now lives. He appeared in a Greeley courtroom Tuesday morning.

Investigators believe he took the gun used in the slaying after stopping his wife's pickup truck shortly after the ambush-shooting on Jan. 23. According to investigators, Nelson stopped his wife's truck shortly after the shooting -- before she was arrested.

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/14650061/detail.html

And if that isn't bad enough, Shawna's best friend has also been arrested with conspiracy to commit murder and criminal attempt to commit murder.

Michelle Moore had an opportunity to save Heather's life, but she didn't. She also worked for the Weld County Sheriff's Department! I bet this whole mess is making them quite proud!

The trial has started, and I will be posting updates to the blog.

UPDATE 2:41 p.m.

Here is the link to the Tribune who has all of the case history and everything to do with trial in a special section. It has everything!

http://greeleytrib.com/article20080218/SPECIAL_MEDIA/792557638

A Great Blog

Hi everyone! I just wanted to say what a great blog Sprocket has. It is one of the best blogs I have ever read. Great trial coverage and and a lot of humor.

I am truly honored to consider Sprocket one of my dearest friends. Please check out her site. The url is: http://sprocket-trials.blogspot.com/

Well, I need to catch up on my reading tonight. Hopefully, I will have something interesting to post tomorrow. Everyone have a great night!

Thanks for reading.

Tezi

Just a Short Post Today...

Just a short post today, both of my daughters have the flu, so I am trying to make sure they are OK and I am keeping Kayli away from them, hoping she doesn't catch it!

I wanted to give a special shout-out to Sprocket and her great blog with its great contributors! They did an excellent job on the Jensen trial that just concluded. I didn't know anything about the case until I read the blog, then I was hooked! The url is: http://sprocket-trials.blogspot.com/

I've Changed the Name of the Blog

Hi everyone! I have decided to change the name of the blog to "True Crime Tidbits and Real Life Ramblings." I think that describes the blog better. If you don't like the name, please let me know and give me a suggestion! TIA....

Today, my granddaughter who is seven months old and I spent the day together. She is trying to crawl and she's into everything. Her name is Kayli. She also has decided that sleep is against her religion. She only takes about a 40 minute nap all day long! She gets up at 6 a.m. every morning and by the time bedtime comes at night, she's got me exhausted! She is the highlight of my life. She has brought my husband and me closer together. He enjoys spending time with her also. He still doesn't change diapers but that's ok. He never changed them with any of our children, so I really didn't expect him to suddenly start changing Kayli's diapers.

The murder of Jessie Davis and baby Chloe really bothers me. I guess it's because I realize just how precious babies are. Not that I didn't know this before, but after Kayli was born, my whole outlook on life changed for the better. I try to live each day to its fullest, because you just never know when life is going to end. Kayli has really helped my husband and me get through the death of his youngest brother who was just 23 years old in August. I just don't understand how people like Bobby Cutts and Scott Peterson (just to name a few) could kill their own children and their mothers before they even got a chance to live. I guess that it is a good thing that I don't understand why they killed them.

I am going to put the baby to sleep now and say a special prayer for baby Chloe and Jessie Davis. I hope they are at peace now that the jury has found Bobby Cutts guilty.

Thanks for reading.

Tezi

One Reason I Am so Interested in True Crime

I guess you could say that I got interested in true crime at a very young age. I always liked watching shows about crime, but when someone I knew came up missing and then later murdered, I was hooked on trying to find out as much as I could about the murder. I am not going to mention any names, because I think the victims of the guilty parties deserve the chance to move on.

This case disturbs me because I knew the accused, the victim, and most of all the children involved.

When I was around 15, a man went missing in the town I lived in. I was very good friends with his step-daughter. However, there were some strange things going on about the time this man disappeared. The strangest thing was my friend's mom was sleeping with her daughter's boyfriend!!! She was around 35 and he was 17. I went to school with this "boy" also. The whole time the man was missing, his brother kept questioning the wife about her relationship with the "boy." Of course she denied there was a relationship, but a blind person could see what was going on.

About two weeks later, the man's body was discovered in an abandoned mine shaft about 80 miles from his home. Someone had beat him to death and tried to set him on fire to destroy his body. His body didn't burn though, so he was identified fairly quickly. After he was discovered the police again questioned his wife, her children, and the other "man." No one said anything about what they might have known about the crime. Basically life went on and this case was shelved.

The mother married the "other man," and they took her children and moved out of the county. Her new husband kept in touch with his family who still lived in the town where the murder occurred. Approximately seven years after the murder, they moved back, mistakenly thinking that the statute of limitations had expired. What they didn't know apparently, was in Colorado, there is no statute of limitations on murder. Around the time they moved back, the eldest daughter (who was my friend in high school), finally told her biological father what happened on that February night back in 1982. Her father then called the police.

The horror of what this "mother" put her children through and the death her then-husband suffered is beyond anything I can imagine.

The murder had been planned for a few weeks. The mother and her new boyfriend wanted to be together, but they didn't want to wait for her to be divorced. They figured the easiest way to get her husband out of the picture was just to kill him. They figured no one would be any wiser. The husband was an over-the-road truck driver, so he was gone a lot and may not have been aware about his wife's affair with her young boyfriend. I don't think if it was ever addressed whether or not the husband knew about the affair.

The husband arrived home one night in February of 1982. He walked into an ambush. The young boyfriend beat him to death with a baseball bat while the wife watched and the children were told to stay in their rooms until they were told to come out. The children heard the murder happen. The oldest daughter described the first hit as "ungodly." After the boyfriend was done beating the man with the bat, the mother made the children come out of the room and clean up the blood and other evidence while she and the boyfriend loaded the body into the car. Then, she made the children get into the car and go with her and the boyfriend to dump the body down the mine shaft.

This poor girl was threatened as were her siblings for years about WHAT would happen if they ever told anyone what happened to the victim. However, in 1989 the eldest daughter could no longer live with the secret and told her father. Both the wife and her husband were arrested very soon after the daughter told her father what happened. Two or three of the children testified at both trials about the horror of that night and the things they lived with since that horrible night.

Both the wife and her "new" husband were convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to 20 years to life. Both come up for parole in 2009. They divorced in the early 1990s, and she took the stand in her own defense to directly contradict the statement her "husband" gave to the police. She never once took any responsibility or apologized to her children for what she made them do. At least the "husband" made the effort to ask for the children's forgiveness as well as apologizing to the victim's family.

In 1993, I had the opportunity to talk to the "new husband" while he was in the same prison as a relative of mine was. He admitted to the murder and he told me he didn't think it was fair that he was tried as an adult, since he was only 17 when he killed the man. I told him I thought it was more than fair, and he should be thanking his lucky stars he was sentenced to death! As it stands right now, he has the better chance at making parole his first time before the board. At least he shows remorse for what happened, but I can't say that his ex-wife does. Personally, I think she just needs to stay in prison for the rest of her life. She destroyed her four children's lives because of her selfishness.

I should say there were other witnesses that actually knew what happened but stayed silent until they were told they would be facing charges unless they told the truth. It was amazing to me that these people could actually live with themselves knowing what happened.

My life has since been touched by a close relative dying in a very suspicious manner. I can say that until a family has answers there is no peace. I know I go to sleep wondering what I can do in order to find out what actually happened to my relative. It's almost like banging my head against a brick wall, because I have found out that the police aren't really interested in digging deeper in the case of my relative. Officially, the case is still "under investigation," but I have the feeling it's in the "round" file.

Well, that about sums up how I got interested in true crime.

Tezi

Apparently I need to learn how to do this blogging thing! Thanks to Sprocket for pointing out one of the mistakes I already made!!!!

I am going to post about a crime case that is close to home for me later on tonight. It involves two people that I used to be acquainted with. So stayed tuned!

Thanks!

Tezi

Welcome!

The purpose of this blog is to discuss true crime cases, trials, and missing persons.

We can also talk about the state of world affairs or just about anything else you would like to talk about.

Thanks for visiting!

Ms. Kayli's Grammy AKA Tezi