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| 1986 Sikes, Shelly, 05/24/86; near Texas City | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Jul 20 2006, 03:55 PM (1,654 Views) | |
| PorchlightUSA | Jul 20 2006, 03:55 PM Post #1 |
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http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/s/sikes_shelley.html![]() Paper: HOUSTON CHRONICLE Date: MON 07/14/1986 Section: 1 Page: 8 Edition: NO STAR Authorities seeking Texas City woman taken from car May 24 Staff Crime of the week is a weekly feature about major unsolved crimes in the Houston area and a part of the Crime Stoppers of Houston program. Texas City and Galveston area officers continue to search for Shelly Kathleen Sikes, 19, abducted from her car May 24. Sikes left her job at Gaido's restaurant on Galveston Island about 11:45 p.m., got into her 1980 blue Ford Pinto and headed toward her home in Texas City about 15 miles away. She was driving on the Interstate 45 feeder, just north of the Galveston Causeway, when a pickup truck forced her off the road in a muddy area. The male driver got out, ran to Sikes' car and kicked out the driver's window. He unlocked the door, pulled Sikes out and was forcing her into his truck when a dark Bronco or Blazer pulled up as if to offer help. However, the abductor waved the vehicle on. Authorities are looking for the driver of this vehicle. The kidnapper then headed north at a high rate of speed. It is believed he took Texas 6 but he may have continued past the Texas City exit. He is described as white and was driving a brown, two-tone Chevrolet pickup. Crime Stoppers will pay $1,000 for information leading to his arrest and indictment. Those having information may call 222-TIPS. They will remain anonymous. |
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| PorchlightUSA | May 4 2007, 02:23 PM Post #2 |
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http://charleyproject.org/cases/s/sikes_shelley.html Shelley Kathleen Sikes Above: Sikes, circa 1986 Vital Statistics at Time of Disappearance Missing Since: May 24, 1986 from Galveston, Texas Classification: Endangered Missing Date Of Birth: September 2, 1966 Age: 19 years old Height and Weight: 4'11, 90 pounds Distinguishing Characteristics: Caucasian female. Brown hair, brown eyes. Sikes is petite in stature. She has a scar on her right knee, half an inch long by three-quarters of an inch wide. She cannot bend her right index finger. Details of Disappearance Sikes was last seen leaving her job as a server at Gaido's Seafood Restaurant on the beachfront in Galveston, Texas just prior to 12:00 a.m. on May 24, 1986. She was a student at the University Of Texas and was staying at her family's residence in Texas City, Texas for the summer. Her home was about fifteen miles from her workplace. Sikes's blue 1980 Ford Pinto was located at approximately 2:00 a.m. the following morning on May 25. The vehicle was abandoned and trapped in the mud along an Interstate 45 access road south of the Galveston Causeway. The driver's side window had been broken and blood stains were discovered on the door and on the driver's seat. There was no trace of Sikes at the scene. John Robert King phoned the police department in El Paso, Texas in June 1987, over one year after Sikes's disappearance. He claimed that he tried to commit suicide the night of his phone call and that he and a friend, Gerald Peter Zwarst, abducted and murdered Sikes in 1986. King was calling from a motel in El Paso, where he was picked up by authorities. He claimed that he and Zwarst murdered Sikes and buried her near King's residence in San Leon, Texas. It was King's blood that was on the inside of Sikes's car. He later reneged on an offer to divulge the location of her body in exchange for a lighter prison sentence. He and Zwarst were both sentenced to life in prison in 1988 for the kidnapping of Sikes. Zwarst claimed that he used PCP or crack cocaine and passed out shortly before Sikes's alleged abduction. Authorities believe that Sikes may have driving alongside King's truck, a two-tone brown Chevrolet pickup, on the highway. King may have been harassing her at the time. Sikes reportedly made an obsene gesture in King's direction, angering him. He allegedly forced her vehicle off of the road, causing her to suffer minor injuries. Blood matching King's type was discovered inside Sikes's car. Witnesses reported that Zwarst and King were assisting Sikes into King's truck and discussed taking her to a hospital for medical treatment. Other witnesses contradicted that sighting, telling investigators that King and Zwarst appeared to force Sikes into the truck against her will. King claimed that Zwarst sexually assaulted her with a beer bottle and buried her alive, a charge Zwarst has denied. Zwarst has maintained that King was responsible for Sikes's murder. Zwarst was offered immunity from a pending murder charge in Sikes's case in exchange for assisting investigators locate her remains in 1990. Zwarst underwent hypnosis and drew a map of a field in San Leon where he stated he last saw Sikes in 1986, but a search of the area did not produce much evidence. A petite-sized white blouse was recovered from the scene. Sikes is an excellent seamstress and made the majority of her clothing in 1986. Her family identified the blouse as one of her handmade garments. Forensic testing on the blouse was inconclusive. Authorities believe Sikes's body had been in the field at one time, but was subsequently moved. She has never been located. Investigating Agency If you have any information concerning this case, please contact: Texas Department Of Public Safety 800-346-3243 Source Information Texas Department Of Public Safety http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/mpch The Galveston County Daily News http://www.galvnews.com/ The Doe Network http://www.doenetwork.org/ The Houston Chronicle http://www.chron.com/ Updated 3 times since October 12, 2004. Last updated June 3, 2006; details of disappearance updated. |
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| PorchlightUSA | May 4 2007, 02:26 PM Post #3 |
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Paper: HOUSTON CHRONICLE Date: WED 09/26/1990 Section: A Page: 21 Edition: 4 STAR Family, officers hope tip leads to victim's body By RUTH RENDON, KEVIN MORAN Staff BACLIFF - A daylong search in a cow pasture Tuesday turned up no sign of a Texas City woman who a tipster reported had been buried there after her abduction in 1986. Workers used a bulldozer to scrape gradually through the soil in their search for the body of Shelley Sikes, 19. Though they found no sign of Sikes after searching about a half-acre, Galveston County sheriff's deputies resumed the search today in the pasture near Bayshore and Avenue D. Sikes was abducted early on May 25, 1986, as she drove home from her job as a waitress at a beachfront restaurant in Galveston. Two men later were convicted of aggravated kidnapping, but authorities have never pinpointed where Sikes' body was taken. Investigators said they received a tip about a month ago as to the possible location of Sikes' grave. They would not say who gave the information. Since then, sheriff's Sgts. Tommy Hansen and Wayne Kessler have been out surveying the rolling area near Spillway Park in this north Galveston County town. Crews mowed the area earlier this month, but search efforts in a three-acre tract of land have been hampered by wet conditions caused by recent rains, Hansen said. "This isn't the first time we've dug for her," Kessler said. "But it's the first time we had something of this magnitude." "I just don't want to get my hopes up," he said. "This is an important case to us. I'd really like to be optimistic. We'd like to find her and let her family bury the girl." Sikes would have turned 24 on Sept. 2, he said. "I certainly hope (the search) recovers Shelly for us," said her mother, Erin Sikes, 44, of League City. "I know it's part of an ongoing investigation, but I just hope this time this is it." "We're all optimistic when something like this comes up," she said. "I just try not to dwell on it all the time. I try to go on with my daily business as much as I can. I've got a lot of support from family and friends. I just want to bring her home. I want to put her where I know she is." Erin Sikes went to the site Tuesday to talk to Hansen but did not venture to the digging area. Sheriff's Major Gean Leonard said officers are taking the informant's tip seriously. "We believe this source, like several sources over the past few years, is sincere as far as motivation," Leonard said. "We believe the source would have reason to have some fairly specific information, or believe that he or she has some fairly specific information." Leonard said investigators have searched other spots after receiving tips since Sikes disappeared. He said, however, that he still believes Sikes is buried somewhere near Galveston Bay in the area of Bacliff and San Leon. On June 28, 1987, Robert King of Bayview and Gerald Peter Zwarst of El Lago were charged with aggravated kidnapping in Sikes' disappearance. The men said they ran Sikes' car off an access road near the north end of the Interstate 45 Galveston Island causeway. King reneged on a promise to lead investigators to Sikes' grave site soon after his arrest. As many as 600 people at a time have combed areas near Gordy Road looking for a grave, but all searches have proved fruitless. Denise Sikes, Shelley's stepmother, said family members were not letting their hopes get too high, but "there's always hope," she said. "There's a hope that the inevitable will finally come, to be able to bury Shelley and say goodbye to her in a Christian way." |
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| PorchlightUSA | May 4 2007, 02:26 PM Post #4 |
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HOUSTON CHRONICLE ARCHIVES Paper: HOUSTON CHRONICLE Date: SUN 07/26/1987 Section: 3 Page: 1 Edition: 2 STAR Unsolved murders not rare for Houston area By BOB TUTT Staff BY ALL ACCOUNTS, success, prosperity and happiness filled the lives of Eddie Bruce McMillan and his wife Jo Ann. McMillan, 49, a Conoco executive, and his wife, 51, a Realtor, were respected, well-liked church-goers who had reared two children to adulthood. They lived in a fine home situated on a lake in an upscale Kingwood neighborhood. But after they had retired on the evening of July 13, an assailant or assailants broke into their home and bludgeoned them to death in their . Their bodies were so badly battered officers believed at first the attackers had blasted them with a shotgun. The intruder or intruders ransacked the house but apparently took nothing of significant value. That adds to the mystery of why they were slain. Harris County sheriff's investigators have found no motives for the killings and have no good leads. Officers say they have little to go on except for tape recordings of two telephone calls an unidentified man placed after the killings to summon authorities to the McMillan home. One of the calls came from the residence itself. Authorities released the tapes to the news media last week and appealed to the public to help solve the case. They hoped someone might help them identify the caller. A grim possibility looms that the McMillan murders could become another case that will remain unsolved. Sometimes, despite all their diligence and best efforts, investigators never succeed in cracking a case. That happens in an estimated 20 percent of murder cases. Some startling murders, like those of the McMillans, committed in this metropolitan area have gone unsolved. One of the most notable involves the slayings of two wives of Houston entertainer Dean Goss. On March 16, 1982, Goss found his wife, Elaine, 43, shot to death in the bedroom of their Meyerland home. She had been shot once in the head at close range. Police could not establish a motive for her murder or find evidence that would solve the case. Goss remarried, but on July 31, 1985, his second wife, Paula, 42, also was slain in the same Meyerland home. Her assailant attacked her as she entered the house at night, acting in what police said appeared to be a state of rage. He viciously beat her, stabbed her repeatedly and shot her in the head at close range. At the time of her murder, Goss was in a hospital for minor surgery, and Assistant District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal later stated publicly he was not a suspect. However, Rosenthal said investigators felt sure the killer was a man close to the family and there was a theory the same person had slain both wives. Police expressed hope that with time the case would be broken, but so far that break has not occurred. Another set of mystifying murders occurred when realtor Elizabeth Shumate, 54, and two of her employees, JoAnn Brown, 46, and Fran Ivey, 60, were slain Aug. 19, 1983. Witnesses saw a man, believed by police to be the killer, enter the office of the Shumate Realty Co. at 16007 Memorial about closing time. At the time, Shumate was talking on the telephone, and the caller told police she heard a man's voice and could tell something was wrong. Police said Brown and Ivey seemed to have feared they were going to be robbed and apparently had time to slip off some jewelry. A diamond ring belonging to Ivey was found under the cushion of a couch. According to the police theory, the killer appeared to be tying Shumate's legs with cord from a venetian blind when she began to struggle. Then he shot her and the other two women. All three were shot in the head. From descriptions provided by witnesses who saw the man enter, the police obtained a composite drawing of the suspected killer, but they never got a firm lead. Another still-unsolved triple murder occurred at League City in Galveston County on the evening of Nov. 2, 1983. One or more persons entered the Corvette Concepts shop and killed the shop's co-owner, Beth Wilburn, 25; her friend, Thomas McGraw Jr., 28, an oil field worker; and James Oates, 22, an electrician who happened to be working at the shop. According to a medical examiner's report, Wilburn suffered 129 stabs wounds in addition to being shot, and McGraw was shot and stabbed 15 times. A sharpened screwdriver remained embedded in McGraw's spine. Oates was shot several times. Police said it appeared to be a crime of passion, but they never uncovered a motive. Even the assistance of a psychic produced no results. Lt. Jim Gibson, who spent more than a year on the case, said it is still under investigation but no good leads have turned up. He said it ranks as the most brutal crime ever committed in that bedroom community. One of Houston's most infamous unsolved murder cases is that of Fred C. Rogers, 81, and his wife, Edwina Harmon Rogers, 79. On June 23, 1965, two Houston police officers went to the Rogers' Montrose area home after one of their relatives reported the elderly couple had not been answering their telephone. Finding the house locked, the officers forced their way in. Inside they saw nothing unusual. Noting food left out on a kitchen table, one of the officers on impulse decided to open the refrigerator door. He received the shock of a lifetime because inside he found the dismembered remains of the couple. That officer was C.M. Bullock, now a captain. "It just looked like a bunch of meat. I didn't immediately know what it was. Just as I was closing the door, I saw the heads through the clear glass of the vegetable bin." Autopsies showed Fred Rogers had been beaten to death, apparently with a blood-stained hammer found in the house, and Edwina Rogers had died from a bullet wound to the head. Their intestines, vital organs and sex organs were missing, but some of these remains were discovered in a sewer line near their home. Evidence indicated the bodies probably were dismembered in a downstairs bathroom. Traces of blood appeared on the bathroom and kitchen floors and on the steps leading up to the bedroom of their son, Charles Frederick Rogers, then 43. The son, a Navy veteran and one-time seismologist, was so reclusive he left home each day before dawn and returned late at night. Neighbors said they hadn't even known he lived in the home. Among items found in his room was a keyhole saw bearing traces of blood and flesh. No trace of the son was found after the murders. For years police sought him as a material witness. In 1975, a judge declared him legally dead. Sometimes authorities get a break that enables them to crack previously unsolved murder cases. That was true in the killings of Houston attorney James Campbell and his wife, Virginia, who were shot to death at their home in 1982. Investigators saw Cynthia Campbell Ray, a daughter of the Campbells, and her one-time boy friend, David West, as prime suspects but almost three years passed before they secured solid evidence against the pair. The break in the case came after Kim Paris, a private investigator, worked her way into West's affections and then secretly recorded a confession she induced him to make. Later, after entering a guilty plea in exchange for a life sentence, West appeared as the state's star witness against Ray. He said he agreed to act as the triggerman after Ray convinced him her parents had abused her. Prosecutors contended Ray's true motive was not vengeance but obtaining a share of her parents' estate. Earlier this year a jury convicted Ray and gave her a life term. Another celebrated case that defied solution for several years was the 1979 murders of Houston socialite Diana Duff-Smith Wanstrath, her husband, John Wanstrath, and their 14-month-old son Kevin. The county medical examiner first ruled Diana Wanstrath had shot her husband and son to death and then committed suicide, but persistent probing by homicide detective Johnny Bonds uncovered that Wanstrath's adopted brother, Markham Duff-Smith, had plotted the murders so he could collect the family's $1 million estate. The investigation also determined Duff-Smith had arranged to have his adoptive mother, Gertrude Duff-Smith Zabolio, murdered in her River Oaks home in 1975. Her death also had been incorrectly ruled a suicide. Duff-Smith and Allen Janecka, the hired killer who acted for him in both cases, were convicted. They are on Death Row awaiting the outcome of appeals. Several others also involved in Duff-Smith's plots drew long prison terms. A more recent case that remained unsolved for more than a year involved 19-year-old Shelley Sikes, a Texas City waitress who was abducted May 25, 1986 as she was driving home. Although the indications were she probably had been killed, her family held out hope she might still be alive. Those hopes recently were dashed when apparent guilt feelings impelled John Robert King, 29, an unemployed Bayview laborer, to confess he and Gerald Peter Zwarst, 32, of El Lago, had forced Sikes' car off the road and abducted her. He said they were high on narcotics. King stopped short of admitting they had killed Sikes but said they had buried her body. The search for her remains continues. Meanwhile, authorities are holding the two men on kidnapping charges. Most law enforcement officers learn to accept that all murder cases won't be solved, said Sgt. M.E. Doyle, a Houston homicide detective. "It may be the crook was clever enough to get away with it," he said, "but it just may be there is a lack of witnesses or evidence. You may have the best suspect in the world in jail, but you have to let him go because of a lack of evidence, and you can't do anything about it. "After you've been in police work a while, you learn there are a lot of frustrations about it, but you just have to go on." Harris County Sheriff's Lt. Drew Warren, who is heading the investigation of the McMillan murders, said he is confident that case will be solved. "It does offer a puzzle or two," he said, "but I feel with a little bit of time and good police work there is a high percentage of clearance." |
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| PorchlightUSA | May 4 2007, 02:27 PM Post #5 |
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http://z10.invisionfree.com/usedtobedoe/in...opic=3695&st=0& |
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| PorchlightUSA | Oct 27 2008, 08:24 PM Post #6 |
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KHOU-TV Shelley Sikes Shelley Sikes was just 19 when two men admitted abducting her and burying her alive. Sikes had just left a Galveston Island restaurant where she worked. Her family and investigators question whether there is still justice for Shelley. Twenty years later they remember the victim through pictures and the stories. Shelley Sikes was a college student at the time of her death. “It’s always just right there under the surface,” said Dana Wild, victim’s sister. “It’s a constant companion her loss,” said Erin Sikes, victim’s mother. Shelly Sikes vanished from her family’s lives exactly 20 years ago Thursday. “Someway it seems like yesterday and sometimes it’s like a lifetime,” said Erin Sikes. Now, the new ordeal is figuring out how to keep the men investigators said killed her, in prison. Erin Sikes said,“The public does not deserve to have them unleashed on them.” John King and Gerald Zwarst are up for parole next June. The men admitted running Shelley Sikes car off the road as she was driving home from the Galveston restaurant where she had been working. They said they abducted her and buried her alive. Both received life sentences on aggravated kidnapping convictions, but were never charged with her murder, The victim’s body was never recovered. “We think about it often,” said Mike Guarino, former prosecutor.“I was D.A. for 20 years. I tried a lot of cases but this is one of the very worst.” Tommy Hanson and Wayne Kessler were the lead investigators in the case. Hanson still keeps Sikes’ file on his desk, frustrated the men never revealed where they buried Sikes body. “Through the years we’ve dug up acres and acres of land in this county based on tips we’ve had with no success,” he said. Shelly Sikes’ family may never recover her remains, but they want justice. Now you may be wondering how the men could be up for parole even though they received life sentences. Well, at the time, a life sentence only meant a mandatory sentence of 20 years. Shelley Sikes’ family plans to petition the parole board to demand their continued incarceration. |
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| PorchlightUSA | Oct 27 2008, 08:31 PM Post #7 |
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KHOU-TV Shelley Sikes Shelley Sikes was just 19 when two men admitted abducting her and burying her alive. Sikes had just left a Galveston Island restaurant where she worked. Her family and investigators question whether there is still justice for Shelley. Twenty years later they remember the victim through pictures and the stories. Shelley Sikes was a college student at the time of her death. “It’s always just right there under the surface,” said Dana Wild, victim’s sister. “It’s a constant companion her loss,” said Erin Sikes, victim’s mother. Shelly Sikes vanished from her family’s lives exactly 20 years ago Thursday. “Someway it seems like yesterday and sometimes it’s like a lifetime,” said Erin Sikes. Now, the new ordeal is figuring out how to keep the men investigators said killed her, in prison. Erin Sikes said,“The public does not deserve to have them unleashed on them.” John King and Gerald Zwarst are up for parole next June. The men admitted running Shelley Sikes car off the road as she was driving home from the Galveston restaurant where she had been working. They said they abducted her and buried her alive. Both received life sentences on aggravated kidnapping convictions, but were never charged with her murder, The victim’s body was never recovered. “We think about it often,” said Mike Guarino, former prosecutor.“I was D.A. for 20 years. I tried a lot of cases but this is one of the very worst.” Tommy Hanson and Wayne Kessler were the lead investigators in the case. Hanson still keeps Sikes’ file on his desk, frustrated the men never revealed where they buried Sikes body. “Through the years we’ve dug up acres and acres of land in this county based on tips we’ve had with no success,” he said. Shelly Sikes’ family may never recover her remains, but they want justice. Now you may be wondering how the men could be up for parole even though they received life sentences. Well, at the time, a life sentence only meant a mandatory sentence of 20 years. Shelley Sikes’ family plans to petition the parole board to demand their continued incarceration. |
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| PorchlightUSA | Feb 25 2011, 10:05 PM Post #8 |
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http://galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?...0f8fbf234b2e613 Cops seek leads on mystery torso from 1971 By Scott E. Williams The Daily News Published January 28, 2008 GALVESTON — In 1971, the disappearance of two Webster girls last seen on 61st Street in Galveston launched an investigation that ended in an arrest and the discovery of a skeletal torso in a Pasadena bayou. More than 36 years later, investigators say they believe the wrong man was convicted, and the torso did not belong to the missing kid police had identified. Sharon Shaw and Rhonda Johnson, both 14, had come from Webster to Galveston in summer 1971 to surf. The pair was last seen alive Aug. 4, 1971, waiting for a friend to pick them up on 61st Street. The friend later told investigators the girls were gone when she arrived. In early 1972, police found the girls’ skulls in Turner Bayou, a month apart. However, months earlier, in the same area, a torso had turned up. Police ascribed the remains as belonging to Phillip Manning, a 13-year-old boy from Pasadena who had gone missing weeks earlier. A few months ago, police learned that Manning, now 49, was alive and well. At 13, he had left home with a trucker, who had offered to make him an apprentice, of sorts. However, months later, Manning abandoned the truck driver, who was abusive. At 14, Manning joined the U.S. Army, even though he was four years below the age requirement. When his true age was discovered more than a year later, he was discharged and sent home, although he ended up in Louisiana. After a lifetime of moves and brushes with the law, Manning now lives in Austin. Galveston police detective Fred Paige said that Manning’s life prompts the question, “Whose bones were those?” Paige said he and other investigators with a variety of agencies believed that the torso likely belonged to Sharon Shaw or Rhonda Johnson. However, he also said detectives wanted to be certain. He asked that anyone with information on the remains call the police at 409-765-3702. Webster resident Michael Self ultimately received a life sentence in the girls’ killings, but police now believe he was innocent. Self died in prison more than 20 years ago. The Webster investigator in the case that led to Self’s conviction was Tommy Deal, who would later be sentenced to federal prison for bank robbery. +++ Mysteries along I-45 Anniversaries of disappearances and unsolved killings can be trying times, not only for the families of the victims, but for others who lost loved ones similarly. Among the unsolved cases of missing and murdered girls and women in Galveston County are: • July 1, 1971 — Brenda Jones, 14, was last seen in Galveston, saying she was on her way to visit a relative in the hospital. She never made it there. Brenda’s body was later found floating in Galveston Bay, about 500 yards west of the Pelican Island Bridge, with a head wound and a piece of cloth stuffed into her mouth. • Nov. 9, 1971 — Allison Craven, 12, vanished from her Galveston home. About three months later, her dismembered remains were found buried in two separate places — in a field near her family’s home and in another field in Pearland, about 13 miles southeast of Houston. • Nov. 19, 1971 — The half-nude bodies of Ball High School students Debbie Ackerman and Maria Johnson, both 15, were found in Turner’s Bayou in Texas City four days after they had gone missing. Both had been shot to death. • Sept. 6, 1974 — Brooks Bracewell, 12, and Georgia Geer, 14, were last seen at a payphone outside a Dickinson convenience store. Their remains were later found in an Alvin marsh. • Oct. 10, 1983 — Sondra Romber, 14, left her Santa Fe home for school but never arrived there. Her father reported her missing the day after he returned home to find his daughter gone and his house unlocked. • Oct. 26, 1985 — Michelle Doherty Thomas, 17, disappeared after leaving her Alta Loma home with a group of friends. Investigators believe she may have been kidnapped and killed because she had served as a police informant in a drug bust. • May 1986 — Shelley Sikes, 19, left her summer job at Gaido’s restaurant for her Texas City home but never made it. Her car was found on Interstate 45’s northbound feeder road about a mile north of the causeway. Her body was never recovered, but Bayview resident John Robert King and El Lago resident Gerald Peter Zwarst were later convicted of aggravated kidnapping, the most severe charge prosecutors could pursue without a body. • Oct. 1988 — Suzanne Rene Richerson, 22, disappeared from the lobby of the Casa Del Mar Condominiums on Galveston’s Seawall Boulevard. One of her shoes was found, but no one has been able to turn up any other trace of her. • Sept. 1991 — The remains of an unidentified woman, known as “Janet Doe,” were found in a Calder Road field, just east of Interstate 45. Her body was the fourth found in the field since 1984. Heidi Villareal Fye, 25, disappeared in 1983 and Laura Miller, 16, disappeared in 1984, both from the same convenience store. The bodies of Fye and Miller later turned up in the field, as did another unidentified woman, known only as “Jane Doe.” • March 5, 1996 — Krystal Jean Baker, 13, was reported missing after being seen last walking in the 4500 block of FM 1765. Her body was later found near Interstate 10 and the Trinity River in Chambers County. • April 1997 — Laura Kate Smither, 12, disappeared while jogging near her Friendswood home. Her body was found weeks later in a Pasadena retention pond. Friendswood Crime Stoppers, at 281-480-8477, is offering a reward of up to $1,000 for information leading to the arrest and indictment of anyone involved in the child’s death. • Aug. 17 1997 — Jessica Lee Cain, 17, disappeared on her way home from a Bennigan’s restaurant in Webster. Her father found her tan 1992 Ford extended-cab pickup on the shoulder of southbound Interstate 45 between exits 7 and 8 in La Marque. Her wallet and keys were inside. The Cains have established a $50,000 reward for information leading to her whereabouts, or to the arrest and indictment of anyone involved in her disappearance. Anyone with information can call the Laura Recovery Center at 281-482-5723. • July 12, 2001 — Tot “Totsy” Harriman, 57, was visiting family in League City when she left for a planned trip up state Highway 35 looking for property to buy. Neither she nor her 1995 Lincoln Continental have been seen since. • July 12, 2002 — Sarah Trusty, 23, was last seen riding her bicycle near Algoa Baptist Church. Fifteen days later, two fishermen found her decomposed body on the Texas City Dike. Her death was ruled a homicide, and doctors determined she had been dead more than a week when her body was found. • Nov. 3 — A man on a motorcycle found the body of Terresa Vanegas, 16, at the edge of a Dickinson High School practice field. Vanegas had last been seen three days earlier at a Halloween party on California Avenue. Her death was ruled a homicide, with police saying she had suffered various types of injuries. • Nov. 10 — A passerby found the body of Amanda Nicole Kellum, 27, lying facedown at the eastern edge of Omega Bay, just north of the neighborhood bearing the same name. She had been beaten and stabbed to death. • July 15 — Beach campers found the body of Bridgette Gearen, 28, on Crystal Beach. Gearen, a single mother who worked at a Beaumont law firm, had been raped, beaten and strangled. Gearen vanished one Saturday night from outside a beach house at the corner of Redfish and Crystal Beach roads that she was renting along with a dozen friends. +++ How To Help Anyone with information in any of these cases can call his or her respective law-enforcement agency: • Dickinson Police Department: 281-337-4700 • Friendswood Police Department: 281-996-3300 • Galveston County Sheriff’s Office tip line: 866-248-8477 • Galveston Police Department: 409-765-3760 • Hitchcock Police Department: 409-986-5559 • Jamaica Beach Police Department: 409-737-1143 • Kemah Police Department: 281-334-5414 • La Marque Police Department: 409-938-9269 • League City Police Department: 281-332-2566 • Santa Fe Police Department: 409-925-2000 • Texas City Police Department: 409-643-5760 • Texas Department of Public Safety, Galveston County office: 409-933-1125 |
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| PorchlightUSA | Feb 8 2012, 11:32 PM Post #9 |
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26 years after her disappearance, relatives of Shelley Sikes still fighting to keep kidnappers locked up Shelley Sikes was 19 when she disappeared in May 1986. Those who wish to submit comments to the parole board can mail their letters to Victim Services Division 8712 Shoal Creek Blvd., Suite 265 P.O. Box 13401 Austin, TX 78711-13401 Or they can fax their comments to 512-452-0825, or e-mail to victim.svc@tdcj.state.tx.us Include State ID No. 02060724 and TDCJ No. 00485451 for Zwarst, and State ID No. 02559332 and TDCJ No. 00479010 for King. Posted: Wednesday, February 8, 2012 3:30 pm 26 years after her disappearance, relatives of Shelley Sikes still fighting to keep kidnappers locked up By FLORIAN MARTIN Houston Community Newspapers | 0 comments It has been 26 years since Shelley Sikes of Texas City was abducted and never returned. It is a long time, but her family hasn’t had the luxury of moving on as one of Sikes’ kidnappers is again eligible for parole, five years after his last hearing. On May 24, 1986, a day of drinking at the beach ended when John Robert King, driving Gerald Zwarst’s car, ran Sikes off the road as she drove home from working at Gaido’s restaurant along the Galveston Seawall. Sikes’ car was found the next morning along Interstate 45 near Dickinson, and the 19-year-old college student was never seen alive again. Sikes is presumed dead but her body was never found. In 1987, King called El Paso police from a motel room there and confessed to the crime, but without a body, police could not charge him or Zwarst with murder. The men were convicted of aggravated kidnapping in separate trials in 1988, and both were sentenced to life in prison. Although they were not ruling on murder charges, former Galveston County Sheriff Gene Leonard said when interviewed in 2007 that jurors in both trials were convinced that King and Zwarst killed Sikes. Zwarst had his first parole hearing in June 2007, 20 years after his conviction. The parole board denied his request and ordered that he become eligible again after five years – the maximum period under Texas law. The same happened for King later that year and he is eligible again in April with the parole decision in October. Back then, Sikes’ family had mobilized all their friends and acquaintances to write to the parole board and tell them to deny parole for Zwarst, and later for King. As one of the criteria for their decisions, parole board members look at public comments regarding a possible parole for an inmate, according to Rissie Owens, chairwoman of the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles. People can send their comments to the board up to 30 days before the set date for the decision, which in Zwarst’s case is June 22, she said. The decision could be made any time within that 30-day period. This time around, thanks to increased significance of social media, Sikes’ family has more options to spread the word. Five years ago, Facebook wasn’t as ubiquitous as it is today and Sikes’ sister, Dana Wild, her mother, Erin Sikes, Wild’s husband Stephen and his sister Stephanie Wild Rothfuchs are taking full advantage of it. Rothfuchs started a Facebook group dedicated to Sikes, “We Miss You, Shelley,” and she and the other family members have been posting messages on their Facebook profiles encouraging people to write to the parole board and to tell others to do the same. While Dana Wild is glad to have the opportunity to inform so many people about her sister’s abductors and what they can do to help keep them in prison, the parole proceedings bring back bad memories for her and her family. They already miss Sikes every year on her birthday and the anniversary of her disappearance, Wild said. The time during the men’s parole eligibility “makes it even worse because we do have to relive that horrible night when we realized she was gone and that someone must have taken her, and then the year that we didn’t know what happened to her, then finding out that she was dead and that these two men had murdered her and then going through the trial.” Wild said it’s hard to get closure, not only because her sister’s body was never found but also because the family will have to fight to keep the two men in prison at least every five years. “Even if he gets denied parole this time and gets put up for five more years, I know that in five more years we’re going to be doing this again. Every time that the sore begins to heal, then something scratches the surface off and it’s bleeding all over again.” If the board denies parole, it has to decide if the inmate is eligible again after one year or up to five years later. If at least Sikes’ body was recovered, then they would be able to say goodbye, Wild said. She still holds her breath every time she hears on the news that skeletal remains were found somewhere, thinking that it could be her sister’s. Both King and Zwarst were offered immunity from further charges if they reveal Sikes’ location, but they either don’t know where she is or refuse to say. Wild lists that as one reason why they shouldn’t be released. In addition, she said, there are still many people living in the area who don’t want Zwarst there. Zwarst is from El Lago. Nor does Wild think Zwarst, who she said has both U.S. and Dutch citizenship, should be able to just move to the Netherlands. “He shouldn’t be able to go somewhere else where no one knows him and live his life out free and do whatever he wants,” she said. Both King and Zwarst need to stay in prison for the remainder of their life sentences, Wild said. Asked if she would wish the death penalty on them, she said, “If you would have asked me that when they were going through the trial, I would have said yes. “At this point, I don’t know. I basically just would like to have my sister’s body back, so that we could at least have a burial for her and have a place to go visit if we wanted to. And if they stayed the rest of their lives in jail, that would be fine with me.” http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/bay_area/ne...c88f7e0888.html |
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| PorchlightUSA | Feb 8 2012, 11:33 PM Post #10 |
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New movie loosely focuses on slain, missing Texas girls, police efforts T.J. AULDS Galveston County Daily News First Posted: October 21, 2011 - 1:07 pm Last Updated: October 21, 2011 - 1:07 pm GALVESTON, Texas — When Janet Miller heard a movie about murdered and missing Texas girls was about to be released and that it was called "Texas Killing Fields," it was too much to take. "I cried all day and into the night," Miller, 64, said. Her daughter, Laura Miller, was reported missing Sept. 1, 1984. Laura's body was found two years later in a field along Calder Drive in League City. Because three other bodies had been found there during a seven-year period, the spot had become known as the Killing Field. "Every day, I think of her," Miller said. "When I heard about the movie, it was rough. It was like her going missing all over again." Miller said she was at first angry the movie, which opened nationwide earlier this month, was coming out. "I was upset because no one notified me," she said. "The parents should know what's going on." "Texas Killing Fields" is a fictional movie loosely based on a series of murders and disappearances that happened in Galveston County since the early 1970s. While the main characters are based on real police officers — Capt. Brian Goetschius, former Narcotics Task Force Commander Mike Land of the Texas City Police Department and former La Marque detective Pam Mitchell — and its title borrows the media name given to the Calder Drive field, no cases from the county are directly mentioned in the movie. "I don't know what the movie is going to be about, but it bothered me," Miller said. "Even though it's fictional, I have mixed feelings about it." Her ex-husband, Tim Miller, who founded the search group Texas Equusearch in response to his daughter's murder, was angry when he first heard the movie was being made. It wasn't until about a month ago that he found out from Goetschius the context of the movie. "Why didn't anyone come and talk to me or any of the other families?" he asked. Now, he sees an opportunity to spread the word about the cases connected to the real Killing Field. "As strange as this may sound . . . we don't know who Jane Doe (body found 1986) is and we don't know who Janet Doe (body found 1991) is, and I am their only voice," Miller said. "I am father to all the girls out there. Even more important than finding out who killed them would be to go ahead and get Jane and Janet Doe identified. "So at least their parents would know after all these years their daughters are not coming home." Closure is what Josie Poarch wants, too. Her sister Heide Villareal-Fye was the first victim found in the old oil field. "We, as a family — especially me still being in this area — are very active with the police department about her case," Poarch said. "Especially this time of the year. This is about the time she disappeared (Oct. 10, 1983), so I get a bit more active about it." Like Janet Miller, Poarch thinks movie producers should have had the courtesy to contact the families of those found in the Calder Drive field. Other than that, what's in the movie is of little interest to Poarch. "I am not interested in seeing it," she said. "I have lived it. To me, it's just another movie. "Every time something like this comes up, it's like reliving it. We're just hoping someone will come forward and say something. We don't know what happened. I don't think anyone knows what happened except the person who (killed Heide)." Poarch is more interested in doing what she can to find her sister's killer — in part in honor of her late father, who kept detailed notes of his own investigation into Heide's case, in part for Heide's daughter Brandy, who was 6 years old at the time Villareal-Fye disappeared and who still lives in the area, and "because she is still my baby sister, and we are not going to forget about it." Erin Sikes also is on a quest — a quest to some day find her daughter's body so she can have a proper funeral. Texas City High School graduate Shelley Sikes, 19, was coming home from her job at Gaido's when she was abducted. Her car was found on the feeder road of Interstate 45. Her disappearance was the first of the cases in this area that brought about a massive search effort and the media attention. "At the time, we just learned by going along," Erin Sikes said. "We had nothing to go on. It was a really huge case in this area because she had so many friends who wanted to help find her." Shelley's body was never found, but John Robert King and Gerald Zwarst were convicted of aggravated kidnapping and remain in state prison. Because Shelley's body was never found, neither man was charged with murder. And Sikes has never been able to bury her daughter, something she wants desperately to do. "I'd like to bring her home," Sikes said. "Unfortunately, the guys in prison won't say where she is because they are afraid they'll be charged with murder. My hope is to bring her home before I leave this earth." Sikes said she is even willing to agree to let prosecutors offer a deal to the men that they would not face murder charges if they would reveal the place where Shelley's body was left. "I didn't think I would ever say that," she said. "I want them to continue to stay in prison, but I would like the final answer to where my daughter is. I also want to know the story of what happened. As horrible as the details might be, you want to know everything." Sikes said she is indifferent to the movie, although at first she was concerned it would open old wounds. "I was not enthused when I first heard," she said. "Not only for me, but if it had been a true-to-life movie what it would do to my family. As I found out more, I knew it was just a made up story. It's a movie, that's all." Sikes said rather than focus on the movie and any attention surrounding it, she's more interested in efforts to fight the parole requests that will come up next year for King and Zwarst. http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/bfff...g-Fields-Movie/ |
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| PorchlightUSA | Aug 10 2012, 10:05 PM Post #11 |
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Vigil set for 15th anniversary of disappearance By Chris Paschenko The Daily News Published August 10, 2012 LA MARQUE — A candlelight vigil next week will commemorate the 15th anniversary of a teenage girl who disappeared without a trace. Jessica Lee Cain was last seen at the age of 17 leaving a Bennigan’s restaurant at Bay Area Boulevard at Interstate 45, where she’d met a group of friends after a performance at Harbour Playhouse in Dickinson. Cain’s father found her car the following morning on the southbound shoulder of I-45 in La Marque between exits 7 and 8, but there was no trace of her. Her wallet and keys were inside the 1992 Ford pickup. Cain’s disappearance was among the mysteries of several women reported missing or found murdered in Galveston County since 1971. A $50,000 reward was established for information leading to Cain’s whereabouts or an arrest and indictment in the disappearance. La Marque police detective Danielle Herman said Thursday she believes there could be a statement from Cain’s relatives at the vigil, which will be from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Aug. 18 at La Marque’s Highland Bayou Park. There will be a dedication of a newly constructed memorial Herman also expected information about a newly issued reward and possibly a team’s review of the case. +++ Mysteries Along Interstate 45 Here is a list of cases of missing and murdered girls and women in Galveston County: July 1, 1971 — Brenda Jones, 14, was last seen in Galveston, after saying she was on her way to visit a relative in the hospital. She never made it there. Brenda’s body was later found floating in Galveston Bay, about 500 yards west of the Pelican Island Bridge, with a head wound and a piece of cloth stuffed into her mouth. Nov. 9, 1971 — Allison Craven, 12, vanished from her Galveston home. About three months later, her dismembered remains were found buried in two separate places — in a field near her family’s home and in another field in Pearland, about 13 miles southeast of Houston. Nov. 19, 1971 — The half-nude bodies of Ball High School students Debbie Ackerman and Maria Johnson, both 15, were found in Turner’s Bayou in Texas City four days after they had gone missing. Both had been shot to death. Sept. 6, 1974 — Brooks Bracewell, 12, and Georgia Geer, 14, were last seen at a pay phone outside a Dickinson convenience store. Their remains were later found in an Alvin marsh. Oct. 10, 1983 — Sondra Romber, 14, left her Santa Fe home for school but never arrived there. Her father reported her missing the day after he returned home to find his daughter gone and his house unlocked. Oct. 26, 1985 — Michelle Doherty Thomas, 17, disappeared after leaving her Alta Loma home with a group of friends. Investigators believe she might have been kidnapped and killed because she had served as a police informant in a drug bust. May 1986 — Shelley Sikes, 19, left her summer job at Gaido’s restaurant for her Texas City home but never made it. Her car was found on Interstate 45’s northbound feeder road about a mile north of the causeway. Her body was never recovered, but Bayview resident John Robert King and El Lago resident Gerald Peter Zwarst were later convicted of aggravated kidnapping, the most severe charge prosecutors could pursue without a body. Oct. 1988 — Suzanne Rene Richerson, 22, disappeared from the lobby of the Casa Del Mar Condominiums on Galveston’s Seawall Boulevard. One of her shoes was found, but no one has been able to turn up any other trace of her. Sept. 1991 — The remains of an unidentified woman, known as “Janet Doe,” were found in a Calder Road field, just east of Interstate 45. Her body was the fourth found in the field since 1984. Heidi Villareal Fye, 25, disappeared in 1983 and Laura Miller, 16, disappeared in 1984, both from the same convenience store. The bodies of Fye and Miller later turned up in the field, as did another unidentified woman, known only as “Jane Doe.” March 5, 1996 — Krystal Jean Baker, 13, was reported missing after being seen last walking in the 4500 block of FM 1765. Her body was later found near Interstate 10 and the Trinity River in Chambers County. Authorities retested DNA evidence in the case and arrested Kevin Edison Smith on Sept. 22, 2010. Smith was convicted April 26 of capital murder, and he was sentenced to 40 years in prison, the longest punishment he could receive under the 1996 state Penal Code. April 1997 — Laura Kate Smither, 12, disappeared while jogging near her Friendswood home. Her body was found weeks later in a Pasadena retention pond. Friendswood Crime Stoppers, at 281-480-8477, is offering a reward of up to $1,000 for information leading to the arrest and indictment of anyone involved in her death. Aug. 17, 1997 — Jessica Lee Cain, 17, disappeared on her way home from a Bennigan’s restaurant in Webster. Her father found her tan 1992 Ford extended-cab pickup on the shoulder of southbound Interstate 45 between exits 7 and 8 in La Marque. Her wallet and keys were inside. The Cains have established a $50,000 reward for information leading to her whereabouts, or to the arrest and indictment of anyone involved in her disappearance. Anyone with information can call the Laura Recovery Center at 281-482-5723. July 12, 2001 — Tot “Totsy” Harriman, 57, was visiting family in League City when she left for a planned trip up state Highway 35 looking for property to buy. Neither she nor her 1995 Lincoln Continental have been seen since. July 12, 2002 — Sarah Trusty, 23, was last seen riding her bicycle near Algoa Baptist Church. Fifteen days later, two fishermen found her decomposed body on the Texas City Dike. Her death was ruled a homicide, and doctors determined she had been dead more than a week when her body was found. Nov. 3, 2006 — A man on a motorcycle found the body of Terresa Vanegas, 16, at the edge of a Dickinson High School practice field. Vanegas had last been seen three days earlier at a Halloween party on California Avenue. Her death was ruled a homicide, with police saying she had suffered various types of injuries. Nov. 10, 2006 — A passer-by found the body of Amanda Nicole Kellum, 27, lying facedown at the eastern edge of Omega Bay, just north of the neighborhood bearing the same name. She had been beaten and stabbed to death. July 15, 2007 — Beach campers found the body of Bridgette Gearen, 28, on Crystal Beach. Gearen, a single mother who worked at a Beaumont law firm, had been raped, beaten and strangled. Gearen vanished one Saturday night from outside a beach house at the corner of Redfish and Crystal Beach roads that she was renting along with a dozen friends. http://galvestondailynews.com/story/333330 |
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| tatertot | May 9 2017, 11:51 AM Post #12 |
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http://www.khou.com/news/local/missing-pie...ecret/438014165 Missing Pieces: A killer's secret Grace White , KHOU 11:17 PM. CDT May 08, 2017 GALVESTON COUNTY, Texas -- This week, we are taking an in-depth look at five murder mysteries. Murders with missing pieces that are preventing investigators from solving and closing the cases. Shelley Sikes was kidnapped in 1986. Two men were even sent to prison, but her body was never found. "She was always the life of the party," said Dana Wild, her sister. A brunette with a show-stopping smile. "She was voted best personality her senior year, she was voted most talented, she was voted Miss School Spirit," Wild said. Shelley, 19, is the last person anyone thought would be murdered. "I thought Shelley of all people, this would happen to Shelley?" said Erin Sikes, her mother. Her mother, sister and police believe they know who did it. Two men went to prison convicted of kidnapping Shelley in 1986. However, her body was never found. "Until we can find her and put her in her grave, it's never closed," said Wayne Kessler, one of the original investigators who worked the case in Galveston County. It was Memorial Day weekend, and Galveston was packed, but one night of partying fueled by alcohol and drugs turned to murder. "She was at work at Gaido's and had gotten off work and was headed home," Wild said. Detectives found Shelley's car, right off the causeway. A Blue Ford Pinto, we found video of it digging through boxes of evidence at the Galveston County Sheriff's Office and pictures few people have ever seen. Despite the evidence detectives had no suspects. Until a year later, when an El Paso dispatcher got this call. Caller: "I think I know something about a girl that's missing in Galveston County." Dispatch: "What's her name?" Caller: "Shelley Sikes" It was John King on the phone, and soon after came an arrest. "I was like jumping up and down, I said, 'We got ya,'" Kessler said. Then came a twist. In a chilling note, King said he wasn't alone, and a guy named Gerald Zwarst might know where to find Shelley's body. "This was their stomping grounds. They were from here, this area was a well-known area for the kids to hang out and party," said Lt. Tommy Hansen with the Galveston County Sheriff's Office. Investigators say King and Zwarst picked Sikes at random on the road. They harassed her, she flipped them off and they ran her off the road. "When they had buried her, they realized she was still alive because the dirt was moving, and they took a shovel and began beating it, until she stopped," Hansen said. "To hear those kinds of things and know how terrified she must have been it's just horrible, no family should ever have to go through anything like that," Sikes said. Shelley's mother had to live with the fact that King and Zwarst wouldn't be tried for murder. Because there was no body, they were only convicted of aggravated kidnapping with life sentences, which at the time carried 40 years. "It's like a sore that can never heal," Wild said. Shelley's family has spent the past decade fighting parole. Even offering to grant both men immunity if they led police to Shelley's body, but instead it turned into a wild goose chase, first with King. "We kinda thought she's gonna be buried behind his house," Kessler said. Then Zwarst led investigators to this blouse found in a sandpit. They thought it belonged to Shelley, but her family wasn't convinced. "I know the papers and everyone says that it was hers, we really don't know if it was hers," Wild said. In the end, detectives think Shelley's body was moved, but King died in prison in late 2015. "There was relief, because I wouldn't have to fight his parole anymore, but then there was anger because he died without telling us where Shelley was," Wild said. Leaving only Zwarst. "He swears to this day that if he knew where she was moved, he'd tell us," Hansen said. Shelley's family is not giving up. "I don't want him to have any kind of a good life to live, because he certainly didn't allow my sister to have any kind of a good life to live," Wild said. Zwarst is up for parole this year and they're preparing for a fight. Still hoping one day they can bring their sweet Shelley home. Shelley's family just got the notification at the beginning of May Zwarst is up for parole this summer. He declined our request for an interview. If you have any information that could help investigators find Shelley's body, call Crime Stoppers. For more information on how to send support letters to the Parole Board tap/click here. |
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