Bodies found under viaduct

   A man and woman found under a viaduct this morning apparently had fallen to their deaths from between the eastbound and westbound lanes of I-70 at Manchester Trafficway, Kansas City police say.
   Police think the victims may have climbed over the viaduct after a minor traffic accident on Saturday, not knowing there was a 70-foot drop to the ground.

Star story

Sex toys, parakeet found in fugitive's cabin

  By Judy Thomas

   A search of the Tennessee hideaway rented by escaped convict John Manard and his alleged accomplice, dog lady Toby Young, after their arrest Friday night turned up a smorgasbord of surprising items.
   Along with jigsaw puzzles, guitars, guns, books and sheet music, authorities combing through Cabin #9 at the East Port Marina & Resort found numerous sex toys, whips, kinky lingerie, a pornographic DVD and a computer.
  And a blue parakeet.
  The couple, missing since they fled Lansing Correctional Facility on Feb. 12 with Manard hidden in a dog crate, were captured northeast of Chattanooga after a high-speed chase.
  In an interview on Saturday, U.S. Marshal's Deputy Bob Church, of the Eastern District of
Tennessee,told me how the whole thing came down.
   He said the U.S. Marshal's Nashville office was contacted Friday with information that Manard may be in the Chattanooga area.
   “We located the vehicle in Chattanooga by a mall parking lot,” he said. “We weren’t sure exactly where it would be, but that’s a pretty busy mall area, and there’s a lot of hotels and stuff over there.”
   Church said they saw the pickup drive past them in the parking lot Friday night.
   “We noticed there was no tag on the vehicle,” he said. “So that was what lit us up. We did not see them get into the vehicle, but we saw what appeared to be a male and a female inside.”
   The pickup headed north on Interstate 75, Church said, and four marshal’s deputies in two unmarked cars fell in behind. They also contacted the U.S. Marshal for the Middle District of Tennessee, who called for a helicopter and several support units.
   “They covered two directions of travel out of Nashville in case he switched directions on us,” Church said. “We also had some other people coming south on I-75 that were several exits above us.”
   The chase began about 30 miles north of Chattanooga, Church said, when the pickup passed some state patrol cars sitting in wait at on on-ramp.
   “The troopers were set up there ahead of us, and we were giving markers to them as we were coming,” he said. “I said, ‘He’s on you now,’ and as the truck passed under the underpass, the state troopers jumped right on them. They never knew we were following them until the troopers lit them up.”
   Church said the driver of the pickup refused to pull over.
   “Then he switched directions on us,” Church said. “He cut across the median and started heading south on I-75. He was exceeding 90, a hundred miles an hour.”
   Church said the pickup headed south for five to 10 miles.
  “He tried to pass some troopers on the right, because they were running zig-zag on him,” he said. “Then he lost control and skidded across the interstate and went on into the median again. That’s when he crashed into the trees.
   “He tried to get out, but the troopers were up on him by that time. He was arrested without incident.”
   The arrest was made in McMinn County, between Chattanooga and Knoxville.
   “He didn’t show us any resistance,” Church said. “He said, ‘I’m not going to give you any trouble. I just wanted to be free again.’ She was pretty passive.”
  Church said no weapons were found on the couple.
  “I believe we took 180 bucks off of him,” he said.
   The pickup was mangled in the crash, Church said.
  “We took them both to the hospital for observation,” Church said. “He said his chest hurt and his leg hurt. They took X-rays and they cleared him.”
   Church said the episode lasted about an hour.
   “It was pretty electric,” he said. “We had more blue lights than Kmart ever thought about. They were coming out of the woodwork, with cops flying everywhere, the helicopter in pursuit. And the longer it went, the more police assistance you got, because you were starting to cross county lines.”
   Church called the chase "amazing."
   "In my career, I’ve never done anything like that."

Today's stories:
Fugitives' cabin fever
Capture pleases murder victim’s family
Sunday's stories:
Mistakes led agents to fugitives
From planning to capture: A timeline

Previous posts:
Toby Young: Family's most important
Cable TV show on John Manard escape
New pix of John Manard & Toby Young
KDOC wants to fire guard who let Manard out
KDOC: No new leads in escape
The many tattoos of John Manard
Manard escape van found
Manard: People have disappointed me
Wanted: Escaped killer John Manard
John Manard: The pre-escape interview

Caught in Tennessee

From the Kansas Department of Corrections 9:44 p.m.:

• Lansing Correctional Facility escapee John Manard and the woman wanted in connection with aiding and abetting his escape, Toby Young, were taken into custody at approximately 8:40 p.m. Friday, February 24, 2006 by local, state and federal law enforcement authorities in Chattanooga, Tennessee. 
• Lansing Correctional Facility Warden David McKune was notified by the United States Marshal’s Service that Manard and Young were taken into custody following a brief vehicle chase.  There were minor injuries reported during the capture, Toby Young was taken to a local hospital as a precautionary measure.
• Manard and Young will be held in a jail in Tennessee until they are extradited to Kansas where he will be prosecuted for Aggravated Escape from Custody and she will be prosecuted for Aiding and Abetting Escape and Aiding a felon.

Full press release  PDF
Star story

First word this evening, I think: KCTV5, at 9:45 p.m.

Previous posts:

Toby Young: Family's most important
Cable TV show on John Manard escape
New pix of John Manard & Toby Young
KDOC wants to fire guard who let Manard out
KDOC: No new leads in escape
The many tattoos of John Manard
Manard escape van found
Manard: People have disappointed me
Wanted: Escaped killer John Manard
John Manard: The pre-escape interview

Scam of the Week: Flood cars

The Scam: Flood-damaged vehicles
The Targets: Used-car buyers
The Hook: Unbelievably low prices - literally
The Scammers: Fly-by-night salesmen and dealers
How to avoid being victimized: 1) Research the car market 2) Seek a reputable dealer 3) Inspect the vehicle...and more. See this week's Consumer Corner on this topic by Kansas AG Phill Kline. Or read it here.

Pictured vehicle featured on Wichita's KSN-TV story about flood-damaged cars.

KCK double homicide: IDs

The two men whose bodies were discovered by a man walking his dog yesterday at 11th & Esplanade in Kansas City, KS, have been identified by police:

• Francisco Rodriguez, Hispanic male, 22
• Geraldo Pablo Borjas Ramirez, Hispanic male, 26

From the KCKPD 10:55 a.m.:
Cause of death has not been determined and autopsies are in progress.  The incident is being investigated by the departments’ Criminal Investigations Division. Anyone with information is encouraged to call the Criminal Investigations Unit at 913-573-6020 or the Tips Hotline (816) 474-TIPS.

"They've got Glocks! They're going to kill us!"

Update Friday, Feb. 24, 2006:
Sheriff Vescovo called me back yesterday morning and referred me to David Baker, a private attorney in Kansas who handles civil rights cases.

This increased my interest in this case considerably. Kansas? A civil-rights-law specialist?

"Clay County and its officials will vigorously defend against this lawsuit," Baker told me in a voice-mail response after I emailed him the complaint.

Original post (Feb. 22, 2006, 4:22 p.m.):
Two Clay County Drug Task Force members fired into a fleeing SUV whose driver panicked after seeing them pull their weapons, a lawsuit filed in federal court here today alleged.

The officers wore plainclothes, Mary Brockhoff said in a 23-page civil rights complaint. The suit names as defendants Clay County Sheriff Paul Vescovo, the county, the drug task force and three officers.

Vescovo's office did not return phone calls this afternoon (See update 02/24/06).

The incident happened Feb. 25, 2004, when Brockhoff and her daughter's  boyfriend left her apartment to investigate a vehicle Brockhoff thought had been sent by her estranged husband to watch her, the complaint said.

The drug cops got out of the vehicle and drew their weapons when Brockhoff's SUV approached, the complaint said.

"They've got Glocks! Oh, my God, they've got Glocks! They're going to kill us! Drive, Eric!", Brockhoff shouted, according to the suit.

KC police stopped the SUV and charged Brockhoff with possesssion of meth and pot; those charges were later dismissed, the complaint said.

In the lawsuit, Brockhoff says drug agents were acting on "unverified information" provided by a private eye indirectly employed by her estranged husband. The suit seeks $1 million actual and $100 million punitive damages.

You can allege almost anything in a lawsuit, and that doesn't make it true. But this case may be interesting to watch. Decide for yourself: Read the complaint.

Overland Park daily offenses

Daily report from Overland Park police.

Offenses Feb. 23, 2006: XLS PDF

Data also available at www.opkansas.org

Also see:
Crime mapping by Overland Park police
Past Overland Park crime reports in this blog

Daily report from Overland Park police.

Offenses Feb. 23, 2006: XLS PDF

Data also available at www.opkansas.org

Also see:
Crime mapping by Overland Park police
Past Overland Park crime reports in this blog

Daily report from Overland Park police.

Offenses Feb. 23, 2006: XLS PDF

Data also available at www.opkansas.org

Also see:
Crime mapping by Overland Park police
Past Overland Park crime reports in this blog

Offenses Feb. 23, 2006: XLS PDF

Data also available at www.opkansas.org

Also see:
Crime mapping by Overland Park police
Past Overland Park crime reports in this blog

Offenses Feb. 23, 2006: XLS PDF

Data also available at www.opkansas.org

Also see:
Crime mapping by Overland Park police
Past Overland Park crime reports in this blog

Offenses Feb. 23, 2006: XLS PDF

Data also available at www.opkansas.org

Also see:
Crime mapping by Overland Park police
Past Overland Park crime reports in this blog

Offenses Feb. 23, 2006: XLS PDF

Data also available at www.opkansas.org

Also see:
Crime mapping by Overland Park police
Past Overland Park crime reports in this blog

Offenses Feb. 23, 2006: XLS PDF

Data also available at www.opkansas.org

Also see:
Crime mapping by Overland Park police
Past Overland Park crime reports in this blog

Offenses Feb. 23, 2006: XLS PDF

Data also available at www.opkansas.org

Also see:
Crime mapping by Overland Park police
Past Overland Park crime reports in this blog

Offenses Feb. 23, 2006: XLS PDF

Data also available at www.opkansas.org

Also see:
Crime mapping by Overland Park police
Past Overland Park crime reports in this blog

New again: JoCo sheriff's blotter

New last week, this feature at www.jocosheriff.org is new again, with a new headline and improved descriptions.
PIO Master Deputy Tom Erickson told me the report now comes from a dispatch data source, so will include both calls that result in a report and some that don't.

2 assist-the-officer calls in 1 shift. The one in Olathe was an accidental trip, Erickson told me. Dispatchers are looking up the other one for him.

Reports taken on Feb. 23: XLS PDF

Leawood police activity for huge unprecedented block of time

I don't know why, but today's Leawood PD Activity file goes all the way back to the 17th!

06/02/17 0721 to 06/02/23 2216: PDF

Leawood police activity 2 days ago

Daily report from Leawood police.

Feb. 22, 2006 12:41 a.m. to Feb. 23, 2006 12:10 p.m.: PDF

All manner of police blotters

Here are police blotters for 35 Kansas City area cities, printed today in Neighborhood News sections of The Star. Some are links, others are PDF files.

Blue Springs-Grain Valley-Jackson County-Oak Grove
Download blue_springs_blotter_20060222.pdf

Buckner-Independence-JaCo-Raytown-Sugar Creek-East Kansas City
Download indy_blotter_20060222.pdf

Kansas City
Download city_blotter_20060222.pdf

Kansas City, KS-Bonner Springs-Leavenworth-Lansing
Download wyco_blotter_20060222.pdf

Leawood-Overland Park
Download bv_blotter_20060222.pdf

North Patrol Divisions (Kansas City)-Excelsior Springs-Gladstone-Kearney-Liberty-North Kansas City-Parkville-Riverside
(Temporarily lost in cyberspace)

Olathe (66061, 66082)-Overland Park (66210, 66213, 66221)
Download olathe_blotter_20060222.pdf

Overland Park-Fairway-Merriam-Mission-Prairie Village/Mission Hills-Roeland Park-Westwood/Westwood Hills/Mission Woods
Download sm_blotter_20060222.pdf

Shawnee-Lenexa-Merriam
Download shawneelenexa_blotter_20060222.pdf

All The Star's crime stories today

Links to crime-related stories in The Star today:

Aaron Barnhart: A delicious retelling of diet doctor’s slaying
Caught on Tape: School shooting
Stylish, bulletproof threads
Rustling on the rise in Missouri, across U.S.
Investor pleads guilty to 104 felonies
Accused Lawrence arsonist to face trial
Defiant mother, passer-by foil carjacking near gallery
Metropolitan Digest
Judge orders ex-coach to stay away
Legislation involving arrest warrants fails to clear Kansas House hurdle
Burglars caught on tape in Overland Park VIDEO
Anything to provoke publicity (Mike Hendricks column)
House advances bill imposing harsher penalties on sex offenders
Report: Broncos LB pleads guilty to DUI
Senate unanimously approves cruelty to animals bill
Bill on unattended children passes, despite senators' skepticism
Senate advances bill restricting picketing at funerals
House advances bill taking drivers license from deadbeat parents

On menu for restaurateur: Prison

A Chillicothe restaurant owner who said his income was like, um, $20K, but the feds said was more like $395K, has been sentenced. From U.S. Attorney Todd Graves' office:
Chang King Wu, 40, sentenced this morning, 1 year 9 months, no parole, $95K IRS payback due. This counts Wu's obstruction of justice (lying to the IRS cops), prosecutors said.
Accessory-after-the-fact Hue Hien Chung, 41 - Wu's bride in a traditional Vietnamese wedding, the feds noted - got 2 years probation.
News release

KCK double homicide today

From KCK police 4:12 p.m.:

• A walker discovered two dead men on roadside near 11th & Esplanade, 12:30 p.m.
• No IDs, no other info.
• Call detectives at (913) 573-6020 or TIPS Hotline (816) 474-8477.

KCKPD news release
Even shorter story

Platte DUI penalty could be 15 years

PLATTE CITY, Mo. (AP) — A man charged with involuntary manslaughter as a result of a head-on collision that killed a woman could face 15 years in prison, the result of a stricter drunken driving law passed by the Missouri Legislature.
Todd N. Hickox (right), 37, of Platte City, was originally charged with leaving the scene of a motor vehicle accident, after colliding Saturday with a car driven by an 84-year-old woman from Leavenworth, Kan...
Story

If Mom kills Dad, should kids visit?

Squeaky wheel effect?...in Maryland, if Mom kills Dad, the kids may not visit her in prison unsupervised, under a proposed new law:

• ANNAPOLIS- Maryland legislators must soon decide if an effort to help a few families avoid protracted and emotionally draining court battles is worth passing a law eliminating the custody and visitation rights of a parent convicted of the murder of an immediate family member.
• Has passed state Senate 47-0...
• Story

Thanks and a hat tip to Star reporter Debra Skodack!

Mom charged in crash that hurt her kids

From today's Metropolitan Digest:

Jackson County prosecutors charged a Kansas City woman Wednesday in connection with an SUV crash that seriously injured two of her five children.

Chonese Hardin’s blood-alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit and she had cocaine in her system when she rolled the sport-utility vehicle Tuesday night, prosecutors said. She was speeding and swerving, and no one in the SUV was wearing seatbelts when she lost control in a southbound lane of U.S. 71, prosecutors said. Her children range in age from 4 to 11. The 4-year-old was badly injured.

Hardin, 27, faces two counts of second-degree assault and five counts of endangering the welfare of a child.

Photograph provided by KC police

Don Bosco: 1000s helped, 2 complaints

Don Bosco Center has been around since 1940 and is well-known for its help to Northeast residents, immigrants, needy families and just about everybody else.
So it was a little surprising to get a letter recently describing the organization's adopt-a-family Christmas program like this:
"I should like to warn the public at large about what seems to be a charity scam..."
The writer's gripe: A $20 fee collected by Don Bosco for each donee. Adopt a family of four, as the writer and her officemates did, and the fee is $80.
The writer was no crank. She's Marilyn J., a triage nurse in Johnson County, an RN, and said she responded to the Nov. 24 all-day telethon on Star 102FM.
"I heard nothing on the radio about this and saw no mention of it in the letter that I was sent before Christmas," she wrote. "It seems there is now a fee before you are able to do charitable works."
Don Bosco director Nick Scielzo (right) jumped at the chance to respond to this. Yes there's a $20/donee fee, he said. That's for "continuing program costs" year-round.
Donors receive nothing in writing about the fee, he said, but telethon volunteers check off a box on their interview form confirming they've told donors about the fee.
Star 102 promotions director at the time, Neal Dunker, said one other donor also complained about not knowing about the fee.
Possible culprit: Phone problems that plagued the telethon, held at Zona Rosa, for more than an hour. Marilyn J. said she got disconnected three times, and Scielzo and Dunker both confirmed the intermittent phone service.
"If there was an error in communication, we apologize," Scielzo said. "But no one was being misled intentionally at all."
Don Bosco serves 1,800-2,000 persons a day and does the best it can with its dollars, Scielzo said. The Christmas program, now in its eighth year, helped 716 families and 2,118 persons last year, he said.
Here's Don Bosco's 990, the form that not-for-profit organizations are required to file with the IRS. I didn't see anything out of the ordinary in its finances, but I'm no expert.
Marilyn J. says she won't be back next year. But, from what I can tell, scam-like this is not.

Columbine-area teen up on gun charge

DENVER (AP) — A 16-year-old boy was arrested Wednesday after postings on the popular Web site MySpace.com allegedly showed him holding handguns, authorities said.
One photo allegedly showed him lying on a floor surrounded by nine rifles with the caption, “Angel o’ death on wings o’ lead.”
Evergreen High School is in the same district as Columbine High School.
Story

8 days of Kansas City crime

These files are daily compilations, lists of all calls to Kansas City police that resulted in a case report. Files are ordered by street and house number, and cover Sunday, Jan. 29, through Sunday, Feb. 5. Key: CRN is case report number; PONUM is police officer number. REPORTAREA is the police beat. ADDRTYPE is A for address or I for intersection.

kccrime20060219.xls
kccrime20060218.xls
kccrime20060217.xls
kccrime20060216.xls
kccrime20060215.xls
kccrime20060214.xls
kccrime20060213.xls
kccrime20060212.xls

All The Star's crime stories today

Links to crime-related stories in The Star today:

Overland Park police patrol results in arrests, tickets
Thieves test their mettle, and may settle for sizzle
Anti-fraud proposals discussed
Confession in fatal fire recounted
Need a lift? Lawmaker’s wife gets copter ride after train derails
Animal case foes shake hands, come out fighting
Vehicle at heart of escape probe
KC man gets 5-year sentence in jewelry robbery
Missouri man returned to U.S. on parental kidnapping charges
 

Best bet for bank robbery: Britain

Bank robbers in our area recently got away with amounts ranging from $190 to about $8,000, from what I've seen. Compare:

Feb. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Bank of England Governor Mervyn King ordered a review of security arrangements for the storage of banknotes after at least 25 million pounds ($43.6 million) was stolen from a depot in southeastern England.

The ``Great Train Robbery'' gang (right) in 1963 stole 2.6 million pounds, worth about 50 million pounds today. In December 2004, a Belfast branch of Northern Bank was robbed of 27 million pounds.

JoCo sheriff - daily report

Daily report posted by the Johnson County sheriff's office. Today: A missing person/runaway and a burglary-in-progress...

Reports taken Feb. 22, 2006: XLS PDF

Also available at www.jocosheriff.org

Overland Park daily offenses

Daily report from Overland Park police.

Offenses Feb. 22, 2006 XLS PDF

Data also available at www.opkansas.org

Also see:
Crime mapping by Overland Park police
Past Overland Park crime reports in this blog

Daily report from Overland Park police.

Offenses Feb. 22, 2006 XLS PDF

Data also available at www.opkansas.org

Also see:
Crime mapping by Overland Park police
Past Overland Park crime reports in this blog

Offenses Feb. 22, 2006 XLS PDF

Data also available at www.opkansas.org

Also see:
Crime mapping by Overland Park police
Past Overland Park crime reports in this blog

Offenses Feb. 22, 2006 XLS PDF

Data also available at www.opkansas.org

Also see:
Crime mapping by Overland Park police
Past Overland Park crime reports in this blog

Offenses Feb. 22, 2006 XLS PDF

Data also available at www.opkansas.org

Also see:
Crime mapping by Overland Park police
Past Overland Park crime reports in this blog

Offenses Feb. 22, 2006 XLS PDF

Data also available at www.opkansas.org

Also see:
Crime mapping by Overland Park police
Past Overland Park crime reports in this blog

Offenses Feb. 22, 2006 XLS PDF

Data also available at www.opkansas.org

Also see:
Crime mapping by Overland Park police
Past Overland Park crime reports in this blog

Offenses Feb. 22, 2006 XLS PDF

Data also available at www.opkansas.org

Also see:
Crime mapping by Overland Park police
Past Overland Park crime reports in this blog

Offenses Feb. 22, 2006 XLS PDF

Data also available at www.opkansas.org

Also see:
Crime mapping by Overland Park police
Past Overland Park crime reports in this blog

Rare Ferrari destroyed: only 399 left

MALIBU, Calif. (AP) — Authorities are investigating the circumstances behind a spectacular crash on Pacific Coast Highway that destroyed a rare Ferrari Enzo estimated to be worth more than $1 million.
The red Ferrari was going at least 100 mph when the driver lost control and struck a power pole, investigators said. The car — one of only 400 made — shattered, with its engine coming to rest on the highway and its wreckage scattered.
Story