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| Martinez, Christina 5-3-97/AZF970510; May 10 1997 | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Aug 22 2006, 08:34 PM (971 Views) | |
| ELL | Aug 22 2006, 08:34 PM Post #1 |
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![]() ![]() ![]() Case #: 000410-1058 Victim: Unknown, Jane Doe #7 Suspect: Craig Jacobsen A.K.A. John Flowers Location: 3507 S. Maryland Parkway Las Vegas, NV 89109 Date: Late April/early May 1997 Synopsis: On 05-10-1997 the body of an unidentified female was located by hunters in a remote, desert area near Florence, Arizona. On 08-16-1997, the wife of Craig Jacobsen led police to the grave-site of another female, identified as Ginger Rios, which was in very close proximity to the one previously discovered on 05-10-1997. Jacobsen pled guilty to murdering Rios and is currently in the Nevada State Prison system. Jacobsen also admitted to killing the other female in Las Vegas and burying her in Arizona. He said her name was Mary Stoddard and that her father was a chiropractor. She is described as follows: Caucasian female, 16-18 years of age, approximately 5' 4" tall. On her right, pinkie finger she wore a yellow metal ring with two clear stones and one light purple stone. On her left ring finger she wore a yellow metal ring fashioned like two twisted wires with the letters "M" or "W". See below for photographs of the rings. It is believed she was in Las Vegas, Nevada at the time of her murder http://www.lvmpd.com/bureaus/homicide_coldcases.html |
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| PorchlightUSA | Jan 2 2007, 01:11 PM Post #2 |
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Unidentified White Female Discovered on May 10, 1997, in the desert outside of Florence in Pinal County, Arizona. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Vital Statistics Estimated age: 16-18 years old. Approximate Height and Weight: 5'4"; 120 - 135 lbs. Distinguishing Characteristics: Brown hair. Clothing: On her right, pinkie finger she wore a yellow metal ring with two clear stones and one light purple stone. On her left ring finger she wore a yellow metal ring fashioned like two twisted wires with the letters "M" or "W". See below for photographs of the rings. Other: Suspect, Craig Jacobsen A.K.A. John Flowers said her name was Mary Stoddard and that her father was a chiropractor. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Case History On May 10, 1997, the body of an unidentified female was located by hunters in a remote, desert area near Florence, Arizona. On August 16, 1997, the wife of Craig Jacobsen, A.K.A. John Flowers led police to the grave-site of another female, identified as Ginger Rios, which was in very close proximity to the one previously discovered on May 10, 1997. Jacobsen pled guilty to murdering Rios and is currently in the Nevada State Prison system. Jacobsen also admitted to killing the other female in Las Vegas and burying her in Arizona. He said her name was Mary Stoddard and that her father was a chiropractor. It is believed she was in Las Vegas, Nevada at the time of her murder. Jacobsen admitted to the Las Vegas Metro Police that he killed the victim at the Lake Mead National Recreation Area and transported her body to Arizona. Since August 1994, the remains of five women have been found within a four-mile radius in the far eastern portion of the Las Vegas Valley, including the Lake Mead National Recreational Area. Victims' Rings -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Investigators If you have any information about this case please contact: Pinal County Sheriff's Office Detective Solis 800-420-8689 or Las Vegas Metro Homicide Cold Case Detail 702-229-2653 You may remain anonymous when submitting information. Las Vegas Case Number: 000410-1058 NCIC Number: U-026486436 Please refer to this number when contacting any agency with information regarding this case. Source Information: Las Vegas Review Journal Las Vegas Metro Homicide Cold Case Detail http://doenetwork.us/cases/269ufaz.html -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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| PorchlightUSA | Jan 2 2007, 01:13 PM Post #3 |
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http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/199...-Tue-1997/news/ Tuesday, August 26, 1997 Man boasted about bodies, ex-worker says A suspect in the death of a singer paid for secret photographs of women, a former employee says. By Joe Schoenmann Review-Journal Craig Jacobsen, held in the death of Las Vegas singer Ginger Rios, bragged of using the desert as a graveyard and had an employee take secret photos of unsuspecting women in Las Vegas casinos. That employee also told police he remembers finding three women's wedding bands in the glove compartment of Jacobsen's truck in 1996. Jacobsen, 26, is suspected in the death of Rios and another unidentified woman, found near each other in the Arizona desert. A police source said Las Vegas police traveled to the Los Angeles County Jail Monday to question Jacobsen, who was arrested in Los Angeles after U.S. Customs agents searched his Phoenix Spycraft store looking for illegal surveillance equipment. Though Las Vegas police focused only on Rios in Monday's meeting, they are also interested to know if Jacobsen has any information about the bodies of five other women found in the desert in the last two years. Since August 1994, the remains of five women have been found within a four-mile radius in the far eastern portion of the Las Vegas Valley, including the Lake Mead National Recreational Area. Florida police, meanwhile, said they were checking their files of unsolved slayings. "I know we don't have any unsolved homicides that would fit this particular style," said Police Chief John Kintz of Longboat Key, Fla., near Tampa. "But I'm going to contact surrounding agencies to see if they have anything similar." That Jacobsen is being considered a suspect in any slaying is a surprise to Kintz, who got to know Jacobsen professionally during Jacobsen's adolescence. "I was always convinced he was a con man and a thief and a very convincing one," Kintz said. "But I never had seen any pattern in his past to indicate that he was a potential serial killer." Jacobsen, also known as John Flowers, owned at least three Spycraft stores in the Southwest when he was arrested Aug. 16. His Las Vegas store on Maryland Parkway is where police believe Rios was killed on April 4. Jacobsen, according to affidavits and police records, liked to pass himself off as a government employee with ties to the FBI, CIA and Drug Enforcement Administration. That's just what Bernard McLoughlin thought he was when he met Jacobsen in the spring of 1996 at a coffee shop in downtown Las Vegas. That brief meeting was the start of a four-month relationship in which McLoughlin was employed by Jacobsen to do one thing -- secretly photograph dark-haired women, many of whom worked in casinos and hotels. "I never took a picture of a blonde, to tell you the truth," said McLoughlin. Rios was an attractive 20-year-old with long black hair who sang and danced with the local band Salsa Machine. Las Vegas police also interviewed McLoughlin on Saturday. Sgt. Kevin Manning, commenting on McLoughlin's story, said, "There are some incredible implications when you think about it." McLoughlin, 62, is a roamer with no permanent address who says he takes odd jobs to get by. In the short time that he knew Jacobsen, he said, he earned $900 to $1,000 for taking the pictures and recording the voices. Jacobsen always paid him with crisp new $20- and $50-dollar bills. Though he traveled from Phoenix to Lake Havasu and Gila Bend, Ariz., it was in Las Vegas, McLoughlin said, where he took many of the pictures. Armed with a tiny fish-eye camera lens pinned to his shirt lapel, which led to a button-controller in his hand, McLoughlin would prowl the Plaza, among other casinos, candidly photographing women. He also used a palm-sized, hand-held camera. "He'd say, 'Take pictures, I want to see what they look like,' " McLoughlin said. "And he wanted faces, not backsides, not buttocks or legs. Faces. And no one trashy or trampish." The scheme evolved to the point where McLoughlin would carry a microcassette recorder to tape the voices of some of the women who served as waitresses. "You know, I'm looking at it now and thinking I should have dropped the dime on him back then," he said. "But I had no idea." McLoughlin said Jacobsen boasted to him about leaving bodies in the desert. They were in Lake Havasu at the time. "He said, "You know, from here to Provo, Utah, we use the desert as a government graveyard,' " McLoughlin said. Jacobsen liked to glorify himself, saying he was a government employee working at different times for the CIA, FBI or the Drug Enforcement Administration, McLoughlin said. In reality, Jacobsen actually did some work for the FBI, according to Kintz. It was after Jacobsen was arrested in 1991 in Longboat as he drove around with a fake driver's license wearing a Rolex watch. Kintz arrested him and found evidence of a California computer heist in his Cadillac. The paperwork led later to the burglary of $250,000 in computer equipment from a California company called Grid Systems. Jacobsen was also tied to several local computer burglaries totaling roughly $60,000, said Kintz. During a routine criminal background check, Kintz found evidence that Jacobsen was wanted in New Hampshire. The Rockingham County Sheriff's Department issued a warrant for his arrest in October 1991 for forced-entry burglary of a non-residential property. While in the Manatee County Detention Center in 1994, Jacobsen penned some poorly worded and spelled requests to jailers. In one "contact form" dated Aug. 24, 1994, he wrote in a childlike scrawl, "I know they are put poison in my food -- I'm getting worse for little by think is that OK -- You know I'm OK and my voices told me to drop the suits so I can be OK in time for heaven." Jacobsen had actually filed a lawsuit against Kintz and the Manatee County sheriff. Kintz said Jacobsen claimed his credit history and reputation were ruined by Kintz's investigation. "The funny thing is, by the time his court date came, he was already a fugitive," Kintz said. Jacobsen became a fugitive in 1995 after pleading no contest to four counts of burglary, four counts of grand theft and single counts of resisting arrest and impersonating an officer. It was between court hearings, Kintz said, that Jacobsen disappeared. |
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| PorchlightUSA | Jan 2 2007, 01:14 PM Post #4 |
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http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/200...s/20887015.html Friday, March 14, 2003 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal Suspect in two killings pleads guilty to one By GLENN PUIT REVIEW-JOURNAL A suspect in the killings of two women pleaded guilty to one murder Thursday, then authorities disclosed the body of the second victim has been misplaced. John Flowers, 32, reached a plea agreement in the slaying of Las Vegas entertainer Ginger Rios that makes him eligible for parole in 19 years. But after Flowers admitted murdering the 20-year-old singer and dancer, prosecutors disclosed that Arizona authorities have lost the body of a woman that was buried a few hundred yards from Rios' remains. The plea caps a high-profile case that started April 4, 1997, when Rios ventured into Flowers' Spycraft store on Maryland Parkway to buy a book. She never emerged. Her husband, Mark Hollinger, was waiting outside the store and asked Flowers where his wife was. Flowers told Hollinger that Rios had left five minutes earlier, according to court records. "In fact, her lifeless body was already in a back room," Clark County prosecutor Ed Kane said in court Thursday. Rios' disappearance was a mystery in the Las Vegas Valley for months until Flowers' wife came forward and told Las Vegas homicide detectives that Flowers killed Rios. Flowers' wife then led police to a rural desert area in Pinal County, Ariz., where Rios' body was found in a shallow grave. Flowers had used concrete to secure the body in the ground about 18 miles from the city of Florence. Authorities, however, continued to search the area. They soon found another woman's body in a similar shallow grave one-eighth of a mile from Rios' remains. Flowers was immediately considered a suspect in that woman's death. But the brown-haired Jane Doe, believed to be in her teens or early 20s, has never been identified because her body was badly decomposed. Detectives with the Pinal County Sheriff's Office had a facial reconstruction created from the woman's skull, but it did not lead to a positive identification. On Thursday, Clark County prosecutor Ed Kane confirmed an account provided by Rios' father, George, indicating Arizona authorities do not know the location of the unidentified woman's corpse. Pinal County detectives did not return a phone call seeking comment on the matter Thursday. George Rios said his family had been concerned that Flowers somehow might escape justice, so his family pressed Arizona authorities to try to identify the woman. They learned the corpse was missing. George Rios said he and his wife, Denise, eventually traveled to Pinal County to meet with detectives. He said they were told a private cemetery buried the woman's body in a pauper's grave and lost the resulting paperwork, and the location of the grave with it. "Some definite errors were made, and we feel that this girl is a party to what is going on with us," Rios said. "This girl has a mother, a father ... and possibly someone is looking for her." George Rios said the Arizona detectives told him they took DNA samples from the body before it was buried, meaning she could be identified if police get a lead on who she is. Las Vegas Homicide Lt. Tom Monahan said it is possible to prosecute a murder case without a body. He also said it is standard procedure for medical examiners to take photos of dental X-rays and to secure tissue samples, which could aid in a prosecution. However, it could not be confirmed Thursday that such precautions were taken with the Arizona Jane Doe. Chuck Teagarten, a spokesman for the Pinal County Attorney's Office, said the county is looking into the matter. He was optimistic that a statement would be released sometime today. After court proceedings were over Thursday, Kane said the plea agreement with Flowers was reached to avoid trial because his defense could have presented a litany of evidence showing Flowers was mentally ill. Kane said in statements to police, Flowers admitted killing Rios. Flowers said he snapped because he thought Rios was going to harm his toddler, who was in the store at the time. Kane said he did not believe this account. He believes the murder was sexually motivated. "When he talked to the police, he asked if any semen had been recovered," Kane said, adding that Rios' panties were found around her ankles. But Kane was worried that Flowers' claim about snapping and killing Rios might lead to a second-degree murder conviction or less. A jury in the case would not have heard about the unidentified woman buried near Rios. With the plea, Kane was guaranteed Flowers would receive a life sentence, even if he is eligible for parole in about 19 years with credit for time served. "I view the likelihood of him ever getting out as very unlikely," the prosecutor said. "It's very frustrating," George Rios said of the possibility that his daughter's killer may someday get out of prison. "It's scary." |
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| PorchlightUSA | Jan 2 2007, 01:15 PM Post #5 |
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http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/200...s/20894906.html Saturday, March 15, 2003 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal Arizona sheriff's office denies responsibility for misplaced body Spokesman says private company buried homicide victim after autopsy, then lost records detailing location By GLENN PUIT REVIEW-JOURNAL John Flowers, right, pleads guilty Thursday to first-degree murder in the 1997 killing of Las Vegas entertainer Ginger Rios. Photo by Gary Thompson. This is a facial replica of an unidentified woman found buried close to Las Vegan Ginger Rios in rural Pinal County, Ariz., in 1997. The loss of a homicide victim's body in the John Flowers murder case was described as "unfortunate" by an Arizona law enforcement official on Friday. But Mike Minter, a spokesman for the Pinal County, Ariz., Sheriff's Office, said the office is not to blame for losing the body of one of two women Flowers, 32, is suspected of burying in the Arizona desert. Minter said instead, it was a private company that buried the body after autopsy. That company then lost the records detailing where the woman was buried. "We are not the keeper of the records, and apparently they had some lousy record keeping," Minter said. News of the misplaced body first surfaced on Thursday, shortly after Flowers pleaded guilty in Las Vegas to killing Las Vegan Ginger Rios in 1997. The 20-year-old is one of the two women Flowers is suspected of burying in rural Pinal County. The second woman, who was found within one-eighth of a mile of Rios' body, has never been identified. Authorities have said Flowers has always been considered a prime suspect in her death. Under the terms of a plea agreement reached this week in the Rios case, Flowers is expected to be sentenced to life in prison with parole eligibility after about 19 years. Bothered by what they see as a relatively light sentence for their daughter's killer, Rios' parents expressed frustration this week over how Arizona authorities have handled the case of the unidentified woman. "Losing the body? It's unbelievable," said Rios' mother, Denise. Denise Rios said Friday she and her husband, George, want the woman in Arizona identified because it could possibly lead to another prosecution of Flowers. This in turn could lead to a harsher sentence for the convicted killer, they said. Flowers will be eligible for parole at approximately 51 years of age. "If we can identify her, we could get him put away for the rest of his life or even get a death sentence," Denise Rios said. "She's someone who is missing. She is someone's daughter. There might be someone out there who is looking for her." Attorneys for Flowers said Thursday there is nothing to link him to the second woman's slaying. Minter was unable to provide several specifics Friday about exactly how the woman's body was misplaced. Contacted Friday afternoon, he was not able to immediately access the name of the mortuary business that misplaced the body. He said it was his understanding, however, that after autopsy, the body was buried by the private company in Pinal County and that the records detailing the location of the remains were subsequently lost. "It's unfortunate," Minter said. "The mortuary was the one that lost the records detailing the location." George Rios said he was told by Pinal County detectives that the loss of the body prevented them from securing a second facial reconstruction. This is a process in which an artist uses a dead person's skull to craft a clay sculpture representing what the victim's face may have looked like. It is likely, Minter said, that the unidentified woman's tissues and blood samples were preserved at autopsy, meaning if police were to get a lead on the woman's identity, they could go back and still confirm who she was. "It's still an open case," Minter said. "We do go back and review open cases periodically, looking for new information and new evidence." Clark County prosecutor Ed Kane said although the body is technically a Pinal County case right now, Las Vegas police Detective Jeff Rosgen has been working to see whether the young woman could have been abducted from Las Vegas. "I know that they have checked against any women missing from the Las Vegas area at about that time, and they were not able to make a match," Kane said. The veteran prosecutor pointed out that Flowers has traveled extensively in his life. In addition to living in Las Vegas, he has resided in both Southern California and throughout the Northeast. "He's traveled around," Kane said. "He obviously could have met her anywhere in the United States or, for that matter, the world." Denise and George Rios said they have been frustrated by the lack of developments in the Arizona case, and they said they will not rest until they are convinced Arizona authorities have done everything they can to identify the woman. "She should be identified," Denise Rios said. "We feel very strongly about it." Thursday's guilty plea in the Ginger Rios slaying capped a tortuous criminal case in which Flowers' sanity was a frequent issue. After a series of mental health exams, Flowers was deemed competent to stand trial. But in 2000, he pleaded guilty but mentally ill to charges of murder and battery with intent to kill. Under the terms of a plea agreement, he was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. In 2001, the Supreme Court ruled that defendants in Nevada have a right to present an insanity defense when accused of a crime. Flowers then sought to overturn his conviction on the grounds that he had wanted to plead not guilty by reason of insanity from the initial stages of his case. A judge granted his request, ruling the Supreme Court decision gave Flowers the right to present such a defense. Ginger Rios was killed in April 1997 when authorities say she visited the Spy Craft bookstore, which was owned by Flowers. The store was at 3507 S. Maryland Parkway. Four months after Ginger Rios disappeared, Flowers' ex-wife, Cheryl Ciccone, told Las Vegas police she had discovered Ginger Rios' body in the back of the store in a pool of blood. Ciccone told police Flowers confessed that he killed Rios. Ciccone eventually led authorities to the Arizona desert, where Ginger Rios' body was buried. |
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| PorchlightUSA | Jan 5 2007, 09:33 PM Post #6 |
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http://z10.invisionfree.com/usedtobedoe/in...opic=7086&st=0& |
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| tatertot | Jul 3 2010, 12:19 AM Post #7 |
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http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/identified11.html Christina Marie Martinez The victim was located on May 10, 1997 in the desert outside of Florence in Pinal County, Arizona. She was identified as Christina Martinez in June 2010. Martinez was missing since May 3, 1997 from Phoenix, Arizona. |
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