Police nix search for murder victim's body

[alleyallen]

This story has come out of the Houston/Harris County area the last couple of days. A 19-year-old college student home for spring break is allegedly murdered by her ex-boyfriend, who dumps her body in a trash container. That container has been emptied twice since then and police estimate her body could be under as much as 40,000 tons of trash.

As a result, and facing a minimum cost of $7 per ton (the total cost could approach $250,000) to search, authorities have said they won't search for her body and instead try to build the case without her remains.

It should be noted that both the victim and suspect are African-American.

http://chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4654969.html



As a parent, I'd be absolutely horrified and stricken if police told me they refuse to search for the body of my child because of the cost, and I don't think I could stomach knowing my child's final resting place is a trash dump.
From the public servant perspective, though, I can understand why there's reluctance, given the cost. But considering the race factor, does this change anything?

 

[Rosie]

Wouldn't they be better off building a case against the suspect with the body? And heck, charge him with the recovery costs -- confiscate everything he owns and collect any low wages he makes in prison. It wouldn't be much, but it'd be better than nothing.

I think that's horrible. Find the body. Since they don't know, the body might not be under 40,000 tons of trash, they might find it sooner than later.

 

[Football_Bat]

And knowing Houston the last 18 months, they might find 10 or 12 more bodies in there.

 

[Ace]

Maybe they could beat a confession out of the boyfriend.

That way everyone is happy.

 

[alleyallen]

Maybe they could beat a confession out of the boyfriend.

That way everyone is happy.

Well, he already confessed, so the beating would be for beating sake, I guess.

Now the guy's saying he put her body into two separate trash containers, therefore her remains are likely located at two separate sites.

Not sure I believe that, especially coming hours after the cops said they wouldn't try to recover her body. Maybe they beat THAT statement out of him.

 

[Ace]

Maybe they could beat a confession out of the boyfriend.

That way everyone is happy.

Well, he already confessed, so the beating would be for beating sake, I guess.

Now the guy's saying he put her body into two separate trash containers, therefore her remains are likely located at two separate sites.

Not sure I believe that, especially coming hours after the cops said they wouldn't try to recover her body. Maybe they beat THAT statement out of him.

Well, if he already confessed, maybe the beating gave some peace to the family and some exercise to the cops.

I still think they should try to find the body, though, unless the family of the victim asks them not to.

I bet if it was a white girl from a well-to-do family, they'd be looking.

 

[Idaho]

In Salt Lake, they looked for Lori Hacking for a few months before finding her in the landfill.

She was white.

 

[Armchair_QB]

According to the story I read today the victim is Aaron Glenn's niece.

 

[silvershadow1981]

of course there were tax dollars spent to find Laci Peterson and Chandra Levy just to name a couple, but of course they'd have to give a damn about a black woman to find her, and considering it's Texas, I doubt they do.

 

[alleyallen]

of course there were tax dollars spent to find Laci Peterson and Chandra Levy just to name a couple, but of course they'd have to give a damn about a black woman to find her, and considering it's Texas, I doubt they do.

Not quite sure I understand your meaning about the Texas crack, but I'm wondering if these circumstances would have the same response elsewhere...

Like Philly, for example.

 

[Armchair_QB]

of course there were tax dollars spent to find Laci Peterson and Chandra Levy just to name a couple, but of course they'd have to give a damn about a black woman to find her, and considering it's Texas, I doubt they do.

Not quite sure I understand your meaning about the Texas crack, but I'm wondering if these circumstances would have the same response elsewhere...

Like Philly, for example.

Or Boston.

 

[sportschick]

I'd think most places would keep looking for her body. Juries have been known to not convict and/or give the death penalty if there's no body.

 

[PHINJ]

of course there were tax dollars spent to find Laci Peterson and Chandra Levy just to name a couple, but of course they'd have to give a damn about a black woman to find her, and considering it's Texas, I doubt they do.

I understand the potential racial aspects to the story, but you do realize there were extenuating circumstances in these two examples, right?

Laci Peterson was a missing pregnant woman; Scott Peterson was convicted of two counts of murder. And I don't imagine that $250,000 in taxes were spent to find the body; it washed up on shore.

Chandra Levy was connected to a very high-ranking politician who was suspected by some to have a hand in her disappearance.

 

[Armchair_QB]

of course there were tax dollars spent to find Laci Peterson and Chandra Levy just to name a couple, but of course they'd have to give a damn about a black woman to find her, and considering it's Texas, I doubt they do.

I understand the potential racial aspects to the story, but you do realize there were extenuating circumstances in these two examples, right?

Laci Peterson was a missing pregnant woman; Scott Peterson was convicted of two counts of murder. And I don't imagine that $250,000 in taxes were spent to find the body; it washed up on shore.

Chandra Levy was connected to a very high-ranking politician who was suspected by some to have a hand in her disappearance.

The city/county spent money looking for Laci Peterson. They actively searched for her for weeks when she first disappeared.

 

[PHINJ]

of course there were tax dollars spent to find Laci Peterson and Chandra Levy just to name a couple, but of course they'd have to give a damn about a black woman to find her, and considering it's Texas, I doubt they do.

I understand the potential racial aspects to the story, but you do realize there were extenuating circumstances in these two examples, right?

Laci Peterson was a missing pregnant woman; Scott Peterson was convicted of two counts of murder. And I don't imagine that $250,000 in taxes were spent to find the body; it washed up on shore.

Chandra Levy was connected to a very high-ranking politician who was suspected by some to have a hand in her disappearance.

The city/county spent money looking for Laci Peterson. They actively searched for her for weeks when she first disappeared.

Did it cost them $250,000?

 

[Armchair_QB]

I have no idea. But that's not really the point.

 

[Ace]

If you know what dumpster the body was thrown in, you can get a pretty good idea where that dumpster was unloaded.

 

[Idaho]

If you know what dumpster the body was thrown in, you can get a pretty good idea where that dumpster was unloaded.

That's what the folks in SLC thought with Lori Hacking when her husband shot her and dumped her in the trash.

After about four months of searching they finally found her in an area of the landfill not remotely close the spot the garbage truck was scheduled to be dumping trash that day.

 

[alleyallen]

If you know what dumpster the body was thrown in, you can get a pretty good idea where that dumpster was unloaded.

Except that in this case, the guy is now claiming he put her body parts in different Dumpsters, and at least two different dump sites have been identified. Also, the trash from those areas has already been dumped twice, hence the thought she might be beneath 40,000 tons (each site gets about 6,000 tons added per day).

 

[Ace]

If you know what dumpster the body was thrown in, you can get a pretty good idea where that dumpster was unloaded.

Except that in this case, the guy is now claiming he put her body parts in different Dumpsters, and at least two different dump sites have been identified. Also, the trash from those areas has already been dumped twice, hence the thought she might be beneath 40,000 tons (each site gets about 6,000 tons added per day).

Did I say it would be easy?