It’s been just over 7 years since Lee Boyd Malvo and John Allen Muhammad were arrested, sleeping in their 1990 Chevrolet Caprice Sedan. The murder weapon the two had used to kill ten people, a Bushmaster .223 rifle was found inside the car, and was later conclusively linked through ballistics to 8 of the 10 shootings, though the eventual conviction that led to Muhammad’s death sentence relates to only a single shooting, that of Dean Harold Meyers, a 53 year-old man who was just pumping his gas.

At the time, in the post 9-11 aftermath of fear and conspiracy, systematic murders by a man named Muhammad and his young disciple added fuel to the fire of religious hatred and disjointed relations that colored the character of national and international decisions. Was Muhammad and the young Malvo a dastardly duo on a mission from Allah?

No, Muhammad was angry at one woman, his ex-wife, who had estranged him from his children. His killing spree, shooting 10 other people and basically scaring the piss out of everyone and anyone living near the Beltway, was his “clever” cover for his plans to murder his ex-wife.

Yeah, this guy killed 10 people, in order to hide the fact that he was going to kill his ex-wife….How does this make sense?

Here’s a list of Muhammad’s victims:

James Martin, age 55, shot and killed, October 2, 2002
Premkumar Walekar, age 54, shot and killed, October 3, 2002
Sarah Ramos, age 34, shot and killed, October 3, 2002
Lori Ann Lewis-Rivera, age 25, shot and killed, October 3, 2002
Pascal Charlot, age 72, shot and killed October 3, 2002
Caroline Seawell, age 43, shot and seriously wounded, October 4, 2002
Iran Brown, age 13, shot and seriously wounded, October 7, 2002
Dean Harold Meyers, shot and killed October 9, 2002
Kenneth Bridges, age 53, shot and killed October 11, 2002
Linda Franklin, age 47, shot and killed October 14, 2002
Jeffrey Hopper, age 37, shot and seriously wounded, October 19, 2002
Conrad Johnson, age 35, shot and killed October 22, 2002

Well, soon we won’t have to worry about him. Governor Kaine over in Virginia, whatever your feelings about his politics has stepped out of the way, and barring some rather lofty judicial intervention or some other major event, Muhammad will be executed by lethal injection this evening at 9:00 PM.

John Allen Muhammad, age 48, was pronounced dead a 9:11pm on Tuesday, November 10th, 2009. He was executed by lethal injection at Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt, Virginia. Relatives of his victims, his attorneys, members of the media and official state witnesses watched as Muhammad’s sentence was carried out.

You can bet the fires of hell burned a little brighter the moment Muhammad’s soul arrived.

Note: “The Final Report – The DC Sniper” is from a CNN special report on the sniper attacks. There’s a lot of opinion mixed in with the facts, so don’t let yourself get sidetracked by the producer’s spin on things. I chose to use the videos because it contained the most thorough examination of the facts surrounding Muhammad’s and Malvo’s killing spree.

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One of the things I’ve noticed about abuse cases like this is that the victims are almost always from the most helpless and difficult of age groups, from newborn through age three. Anyone who has had children knows that this is the age group that tests your patience the most. They cry constantly and can’t communicate why. They won’t go to sleep, no matter how much you want them to or how tired you are. They misbehave and challenge your authority. They refuse to potty train and mess themselves at the worst possible moments.

In this particular case, Silkia Mateo, 22, (Her MySpace Picture Albums – Thanks mamacyn) of Kissimmee, Florida, left her 2-year-old son, Jariel Alexander, and his 6-year-old sibling with her teenaged boyfriend, Jonathan Alicea, while she went to work. I am unaware of the special set of skills a 19-year-old young man has that qualify him to care for two young children, and apparently so was Ms. Mateo, as we shall see.

Alicea had cooked dinner for himself and his two charges, scrambled eggs and hot dogs, which little Jariel refused to eat. This, of course, frustrated Jonathan Ariel, and he grew angry and shouted at the boy. Jariel got frightened, stood up, and proceeded to wet his pants. The boy became defiant and refused to change his pants when Alicea ordered him to.

So we have reached the critical point, when Jonathan Alicea has to make a choice. He can’t let a three year old boy get the best of him, or he’ll walk all over him. So how does he discipline him? Does he take the boy into the bathroom and change his underwear for him, showing him that now matter what, the adult is always in charge. Of course not. Instead, he slapped Jariel hard across the head, slamming it against the wall of the hallway.

Jariel immediately lost consciousness. When he stopped breathing, Jonathan Alicea took a pot of boiling water and poured it over the little boys face in an attempt to revive him. I had to thank God that Jariel never regained consciousness after reading this. I mean who is that stupid to think pouring boiling water on a child’s face is a good idea under ANY circumstances?

Of course, Jonathan Alicea had a slightly different story to tell the police. He told the police that when the Jariel Alexander refused to change his pants:

“This angered Jonathan. Jonathan told me he walked towards [the child] and “pushed” [the child's] head with his left hand. This caused [the child] to lose consciousness immediately.”

After performing CPR with no results, Jonathan Alicea:

“boiled a pot of water and then poured it on [the child] stating he believed it would revive him.”

“During the interview, Jonathan Alicea showed no emotion whatsoever.”

Asked why he waited at least 30 minutes before seeking help, Alicea told police:

“his cell phone is disconnected and he does not like to depend on neighbors for anything.”

The injuries were not reported until the child’s mother returned home from work about 7 PM. Jonathan Alicea came running outside with the lifeless child wrapped in a towel and told her the baby was choking. Doctors at Arnold Palmer Memorial Hospital in Orlando, Florida, said the Jariel arrived at their emergency room covered with burns and suffering from a severe head injury.

Jariel Alexander died at 11:15PM Sunday night. An autopsy is expected to be performed on the young child’s body today. In the meantime, Jonathan Alicea has been charged with First Degree Murder.

Silkia Mateo, mother of Jariel Alexander, has not been charged in this case. Perhaps losing her son is enough of a penalty for leaving her children with Jonathan Alicea, nearly a kid himself.

God help me for thinking this, and even more for actually saying it out loud, but I see these situations where some women are taking up with younger, teenaged boys and using these kids as daycare as a case of them selling themselves for the convenience of having someone to watch their kids while they work.

This is something that’s been eating at me for a long time now, and maybe its time someone said it. Perhaps I’m using the wrong words, or I’m way too rude and crude about it (Let’s face it, subtlety has never been a strong point of mine), but I’m tired of innocent little children lining up for their coffins. I’m also tired of the silence about this issue. I understand that child care is a serious issue for single mothers, but there has to be a better way – and this is certainly not the right way.

I also think the boiling water story that Jonathan Alicea told police is total bullshit. I believe he poured the boiling water on Jariel Alexander’s face to punish him, and that the boy was conscious when he did it. The boiling water torture came first, then the slap to the head. It just doesn’t make sense to me that anyone would use boiling water in an attempt to revive a child who has stopped breathing, and if it doesn’t make sense, it probably isn’t true. I ask you all, have any of you ever heard of anything even remotely close to what Jonathan Alicea did with that pot of boiling water, for the reason he stated?

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Jack Price, the 49-year-old gay victim of a brutal beating in Queens, New York, spoke Saturday to New York daily the Daily News.

Price was attacked last week by two men as he was coming out of a corner deli around 3AM in the middle-class neighborhood of College Point in Queens, Police say.

Price managed to make his way home after Daniel Rodriguez, 21, and Daniel Aleman, 26, kicked and pummeled the 5-foot-6, 130-pound Price in the middle of the deserted street. He was taken to Booth Memorial Hospital where officials say he suffered a broken jaw, fractured ribs and a lacerated spleen.

“I thought I died,” Price told the paper. “I was bleeding all over the place.”

“Better it was me. Someone else may not have survived it,” he added.

Price says the two men followed him to the store and called him a “stupid faggot” and “dumb faggot” in Spanish.

Police nabbed Aleman on Sunday and Rodriguez on Tuesday. Rodriguez was taken into custody by the United States Marshals Services at a relative’s home in Norfolk, Virginia.

“I hope they rot in jail,” Price said. “I don’t understand how someone can do this to somebody. They almost killed another human being.”

During his capture, Rodriguez denied he was homophobic, a claim his sister was willing to support.

“This wasn’t a hate crime.” Christina Rodriguez told the paper. “If he’s guilt of anything, he’ll man up to it.”

Officials, however, have said that Rodriguez has admitted to using an anti-gay slur. He also allegedly told detectives, “I was angry, cause Jack is disgusting.”

New York City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn and a group of city and state officials condemned the attack on Tuesday during an impromptu press conference in front of the hospital.

“Better it was me. Someone else may not have survived it.”

Daniel Aleman And Daniel Rodriguez did their best to show Jack Price that he didn’t matter, that his life was so insignificant that they could insult him and beat him at will, all because he was gay. They wanted to steal his dignity and his humanity. They failed miserably. All they succeeded in doing is showing the world what cowards they are, and allowing Jack Price to show us all how strong a gay man really can be.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

You know, being a crime buff for as long as I’ve been, today it takes a lot to shock me. But I have to tell you that last night I watched a short, two and a half minute video clip that really shook me up. It came from a surveillance camera that overlooks a street in College Point area of Queens, New York, and shows two men beating the ever-living crap out another man.

At no time did the man who was receiving the ass whipping, Jack Price, try to fight back – on the contrary, it seemed to me that he had just been ambushed and was only trying to protect his vital areas. The other two guys, Daniel Aleman And Daniel Rodriguez, were unmerciful, punching his head and face until he collapsed to the ground. Once they had him down, they stomped and kicked him into a helpless figure in the middle of the street.

And what was the reason for such a vicious assault? Was Jack Price a child molester? Were Daniel Aleman And Daniel Rodriguez just common thieves looking for an easy score? No, the reason was neither so honorable nor so common. Jack Price’s terrible crime, the crime that qualified him for a terrible pummeling at the hands of these two young “gentleman”, was that he had the nerve to be a gay man walking on the same street they were on.

That’s right folks, Daniel Aleman And Daniel Rodriguez beat Jack Price nearly to death just because he was a homosexual. Mr. Price, who is openly gay, had walked down to the corner Deli, where he was confronted by Aleman and Rodriguez. Police say the Aleman and Rodriguez taunted Mr. Price and yelled anti-gay slurs while he was in the store early Friday. When he left, they attacked him and stomped on him.

As of late Tuesday, the 49-year-old Price was in a medically induced coma and hooked up to a respirator, listed in critical condition. He was suffering from two collapsed lungs, a broken jaw, a lacerated spleen and several broken ribs. There is still no guarantee that Mr. Price will survive the attack.

Daniel Aleman, 26, was arrested Sunday night, and Daniel Rodriguez, 21, was captured Tuesday night in Norfolk, Virginia. Aleman has already been charged with Second Degree Assault as a Hate Crime, and is being held on $40,000 bond or $20,000 cash bail, and Rodriguez will face the same charge when he is returned to New York. They are looking at 15 years in prison if convicted.

Daniel Rodriguez’s sister said she doesn’t believe her brother is anti-gay. She said her brother wouldn’t have even known the victim was gay and doesn’t believe he would attack someone for their sexual orientation, because he has gay friends he grew up with.

…And some of his best friends are gay.

New York City politicians were quick to line up in order to condemn the attack on Jack Price, led by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who issued a statement saying in part:

“There can never be true justice for Jack Price, the victim of a vicious anti-gay attack early Thursday morning near his home in College Point.”

“Thankfully though, both suspects in the case have now been apprehended. … Hate crimes like this one are particularly distasteful and won’t be tolerated in our city.”

Editor’s Notes: It seems to me that gay men somehow have become the one group of people that those subhumans out there with hate and violence in their hearts still think they can assault and murder at will without any fear of consequences. Why this is so, and what they think gives them this right escapes me, but I am more and more troubled by it every time something like this happens.

Perhaps it’s a guilty conscious that motivated me to write this story. I wasn’t always so open minded about gay people. In fact, I was probably right of center on gay issues. But then there was Matthew Sheppard. That was the first time I saw Fred Phelps and his group of “God Hates Fags” lunatics.

I was watching a report on Matthew’s funeral, and there was Fred and his group, outside the church, holding their signs – you know the ones. – “God Hates Fags” “Matt In Hell” “Thank God For Aids” – I thought to myself, “Wait a minute, aren’t his parents inside right now, trying to mourn their son?” And I realized that if I was going to continue thinking as I did about gays, I was going to have to be on the same side as these people.

Now, I’m not an especially smart person, but I’m smart enough to know that if people who think and act like Fred’s group are on the same side as I am, then I must be on the wrong side. And that’s when I began to come around to the right way of thinking. The reason I’m so sure it’s right, is because it passes my “smell test” – If I was gay, how would I want people to think about me, how would I want them to treat me? The concept of treating people the same way I would want to be treated is nothing new, and it’s never failed me.

Anyways, let’s hope Jack Price can make a full recovery. A man should be able to go to the corner store without worrying about getting the crap beat out of him by two punks with nothing better to do on a Wednesday night.

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Brian Hopf lived with his girlfriend, father, stepmother and stepbrother in a nice little house that his parents owned in Chandler, Arizona. On Monday morning, September 8th, 2009, his girlfriend woke to find their newborn daughter unresponsive in her crib with a deep bruise on her forehead. She immediately called 911, and paramedics rushed the baby to a local hospital, where doctors sent Isabella straight to the neonatal intensive care unit.

After further examination, doctors found multiple skull fractures, swelling to her brain, broken ribs and other body trauma. That “other body trauma” must have been the injuries to her inner thighs and genitals that police mentioned in their report, although they were awaiting the results of more tests before they would come out and say three-week-old Isabella was sexually assaulted. I, on the other hand, don’t have a problem saying that Brian Mark Hopf probably raped his own newborn daughter.

The cops, of course, were anxious to interview Brian Mark Hopf. They wanted to know how such a helpless little child managed to get herself so badly injured. According to Brian, he was feeding Isabella at about 4 a.m. when he accidentally poked her in the eye. The girl cried so hard, he said, she stopped breathing for about a minute. He started chest compressions and she began breathing again, but he didn’t call 911 or tell any of the other four adults in the home.

When police told him about the skull fractures, he responded that he tripped and fell while holding Isabella. How convenient. Doctors disagreed with Brian Hopf’s story. They said the skull fractures were from multiple blows to the head, which caused irreversible brain damage, swelling and bleeding.

No one expected the little girl to survive her injuries, and a week later, Isabella Hopf, 4 weeks old, died.

Violent behavior is nothing new for Hopf. He has a history of domestic violence, and in fact was arrested a month before Isabella was beaten for just that charge. He also has convictions for Marijuana Sales and Identity Theft. He still may face a sexual assault charge for the rape of Baby Isabella.

On Wednesday, September 16th, Brian Mark Hopf was indicted by a Maricopa County Grand Jury on charges of First Degree Murder and Aggravated Child Abuse. If convicted on the Murder Charge, Hopf will face the death penalty.

The second photo down in the story is Baby Isabella Hopf and her mother, Samantha.

Grandma’s Facebook Photo Section, complete with pictures of Isabella and her “awesome” mother Samantha.

This picture is beyond outrageous. It took me a couple of minutes to compose myself when I realized that this was a picture of Isabella after Brian Mark Hopf got finished with her.

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On January 17, 2008, he found Denise Amber Lee, a beautiful 21 year old married mother of two boys.

Michael King didn’t flirt with her, ask her for her phone number or invite her on a date. He instead chose to come on really strong and abduct her from her home at gunpoint, leaving her two terrified children in the house alone. Three hours later, her husband came home to find his sons crying for their mother who was nowhere to be found, with her purse, cell phone and car still there. He called 911 and filed a missing person report with Northport police officers at 3:29 PM.

At 6pm, Michael King showed up at the home of his cousin Harold Muxlow. He asked him if he could borrow a shovel, a can of gasoline and a flashlight. Good old cousin Harold obliged him and gave him the items despite noticing something unusual in Michael’s car, a frightened-looking woman he’d never seen before who was tied up. She begged him to “call the cops”. Harold also noticed that after loading the shovel, gas can and flashlight in his car, Michael hit the woman and knocked her back down into the back seat then took off.

At 6:14 PM, 911 dispatch received a call from Michael King’s cell phone. A frantic woman was heard pleading with a man shouting in the background, at one point saying “I’m sorry. Please let me go. Please let me go. Oh God please please help me please let me see my family again.” The call lasted 6 minutes before being cut off. Incredibly, the police officers searching for Denise because of her husband’s 911 call were not told of her desperate plea for help.

Less than 15 minutes after Denise’s 911 call, the daughter of Harold Muxlow called 911 to report that her father told her he saw Michael King struggling with a woman in his car after borrowing the gas can, shovel and flashlight.

Three minutes after Muxlow’s 911 call, another call was received from a woman describing a dark Camaro beside her on the road, with a man and screaming woman inside. The caller was put on hold because there was a shift change happening at the 911 center. 8 minutes later the call ended when the caller told of Michael King’s car turning down another road and out of her sight.

Police officers arrived at Michael King’s house just 3 minutes after that 911 call, having located his address using the cell phone number recorded during the call made by Denise Lee. They entered the house and found several pieces of evidence indicating a likely kidnapping, one of them being long hair stuck on a piece of used duct tape.

Yet another 911 call was made shortly after that by Harold Muxlow in which he said he’d seen Michael King 15 minutes earlier in another location about 5 miles from where’d he’d been spotted driving around with a terrified woman in his car by the previous caller. By this time there was an all-points bulletin out describing King and his car.

Three hours later a Florida Highway Patrol trooper stopped Michael King on Interstate 75 and arrested him. He was alone, his pants were wet from the knees down and a roadside search of his car revealed a dirty shovel and duct tape. He exercised his right to remain silent and did not answer any questions at all, including any about the disappearance of Denise Lee.

Two days after Michael King’s arrest, the naked body of Denise Lee was found buried in a shallow grave a half mile from where he’d been stopped by the FHP. Denise had been tied up, blindfolded, raped and shot in the right temple.

Michael King pled not guilty to charges of kidnapping, rape and first-degree murder. During his week-long trial in August, his attorneys maintained that another man had committed all the crimes King was charged with, despite the fact that King’s semen was found on Denise’s body, her blood was found on the hood of his car, one of her rings was inside the car, her hair and DNA were found in his house and duct tape proven to be torn from the roll in his car was still stuck to her hair when her body was found.

Thankfully, the jury didn’t buy the bullshit story the defense gave and took only two and a half hours to find Michael King guilty of Aggravated Kidnapping, Aggravated First Degree Sexual Assault and Premeditated Murder on August 28, 2009. The following Friday the same jurors unanimously recommended he be executed for his crimes.

I’ll be waiting for the day I can bid you “Adieu!”, Michael King. I’m going to celebrate the moment you leave this Earth forever, as will the family of Denise Lee and many others.

Florida vs Michael L. King – Kidnapping and Sexual Assault Court Records

Florida vs Michael L. King – Premeditated Murder Court Records

This Story Was Written And Submitted By dooflotchie. Another Great Effort By A First-Time Writer.

Editor’s Note: I have nothing for admiration for Denise Lee. My wife and I watched a great deal of this trial on TruTV these past couple of weeks, and IMHO Denise did more to convict Michael King than any other one person. Not only did she make the 911 call, she also had the presence of mind to leave her wedding ring in his car. Also, when you listen to her beg and plead for her life during the infamous 911 call, and you here Michael King’s own voice taunting her, basically telling her she was going to die, you will realize, as I did, that she was testifying from the grave. She was making sure there was no chance Michael King was going to escape this courtroom with his life.

As for the 911 dispatchers who handled the call from the driver who heard Diane’s screams for help and saw her pounding on the car windows begging her for help, they were damned. They somehow screwed up so badly that although the call came in a approximate 6:35 PM, a Sarasota County Deputy didn’t respond to the spot where King’s car turned off the main highway until almost 8:30 PM – nearly 2 hours later. The only good that has come from Denise’s death was that the entire 911 system for the State Of Florida is now scheduled to be updated.

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Michael Ratley spoke to the media and said that losing everything physical in his life meant nothing since he still had Effie and Aiden, his wife and son. He appeared to be a selfless man who endured a great tragedy and was going to brush it off and move on. Appearances can be deceiving.

You already know it’s not some sappy happy ending story; otherwise, you wouldn’t be reading it here on PYSIH.

One month, to the day, after the fire that put Michael Ratley in the spotlight as a hero, his wife was dead and he lost his hero status.

Following the fire, the couple and infant moved in with Michael’s parents. Their burned out trailer just down the road, marked only by a charred piece of wood in the shape of an arrow nailed to a post.

On the evening of January 27th, 2007, Effie Rachel Ratley ingested some medication and went to bed. Her in-laws were downstairs with the door closed watching television and her son was in another bedroom sleeping. Michael Ratley waited until his wife was asleep and put on some heavy black gloves and grabbed a heavy duty hammer. He silently walked into the bedroom where Effie lay sleeping and proceeded to bludgeon her over the head. It took approximately seven swift blows to appease him.

Police and emergency workers were called to the scene where they were told that Effie had suffered a fall. Emergency workers did all they could to keep her alive and get her to a hospital as soon as possible. Everything EMT’s and doctors did kept her alive for the next four days, when she unfortunately succumbed to her injuries at Shands Jacksonville Hospital. Causes of death listed on the autopsy are a skull fracture and brain lacerations.

Nassau County investigators thought the story of a fall was suspicious and launched an investigation into Effie’s death. Eight months after the incident, Michael Ratley was arrested and charged with an open count of murder. Florida law states that only a Grand Jury can bring a charge of 1st Degree Murder against a suspect. A Grand Jury did eventually indict him on the charge.

Upon Michael’s arrest, an emergency hearing regarding the custody of Aiden was held where he was temporarily placed into the care of Effie’s mother.

Nassau County Sheriff Tommy Seagraves declined to comment on the specific evidence leading to his arrest, but he did comment that forensic evidence played a role. Maybe it had something to do with the hammer and other evidence stashed in the glove compartment of Michaels truck.

In July 2009, Michael finally went on trial for the murder of Effie Ratley. His attorneys tried to get a jury to believe that he was framed by an intruder that he had fought with in the family barn the night before the murder; prosecutors countered that this story was made up by Michael to set the stage for the murder. Prosecutors also presented the jury with questions about why nothing had been stolen or why Effie had not been sexually assaulted if someone had broken in. Basically because there was nothing in Effie’s history that would cause anyone to want to brutally murder her. Defense attorneys claimed evidence found in Michael’s truck was planted by the so-called intruder. There has been no evidence presented that would validate the intruder story at all.

Of course, Michael’s family testified at trial and spoke of how wonderful a person he was and is. How this is something he absolutely wouldn’t do. Family members tried to paint Michael as a wonderful loving father. Prosecuting attorney, Bernie de la Rionda, jumped at the chance to question how much he loved his child by saying, “This loving father had no problem whatsoever — a short distance from his son — exterminating the life of his son’s mother”.

Jurors didn’t fall for the crocodile tears cried by the family and in July they convicted Michael Ratley of 1st degree murder in the death of Effie Ratley. They failed to sentence him to death, but decided that 25 year old Ratley should spend the rest of his life behind bars. Judge Robert Foster sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole on August 18th, 2009.

The announcement of the verdict brought a pronounced “Yes!” from Ratley’s family, obviously relieved his life was spared. Effie’s family was a little upset because they had hoped he would receive the death penalty, but the fact that he is ineligible for parole brings a little consolation.

What’s most disturbing about this story is him pulling his wife out of a fire and saving her one month to the day before he decided to bash her head in with a hammer. Ratley never offered a reason as to why he decided he would have a better life without his wife. He never explained why he would save her only to brutally take her out of the world.

Over the years he had plenty of outs; the couple was married for a little while, then they separated. Michael’s family said it was because he wasn’t mature enough to settle down. Michael had told some people they separated because he wasn’t sure he was enough for Effie and wanted her to have everything she ever wanted. Sometime after the separation, the couple reunited and remarried. Following the second marriage, Effie found out she was pregnant. Being a mom was a lifelong dream of hers and Aiden was a dream come true. It’s heartbreaking that she only got six weeks to dote on her beautiful little boy.

Unfortunately, we will never know WHY he did what he did. I expect defense attorneys to use the appeal process to its fullest extent, so Michael will keep mum and continue to profess his innocence. His little boy, Aiden, will never have any closure as to why his daddy decided to take his mommy away from him and in effect take his daddy away too.

Fortunately, Michael Ratley is sitting behind bars with years on top of years to live with the horror of what he did. I’m happy to know that he is confined to such a small area with only his thoughts and memories. Nothing about this story brings me any joy; besides those small miracles.

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I imagine 36-year-old self employed graphic artist Sean Lynde probably had a resentment against cats well before he moved into his his girlfriend’s Upper West Side apartment on October 1st, 2008. On his Web site, Lynde doesn’t come off as a crazed cat killer, but The Daily News wrote that he made his preference for dogs perfectly clear:

He lists, among his favorite things:

“spending time on The Lake in Maine with my wonderful family and two of the most lovable dogs you could ever meet.”

Three days after Lynde moved into her apartment, Rachael Strate’s 15-year-old pet kitty Cleo was found behind the dryer with a mouth full of laundry detergent and evidence of head trauma. By the end of October, Strate’s other cat, Zoe also mysteriously suffered severe head trauma and had to be euthanized.

Rachel Strate didn’t suspect Sean Lynde in any way, and the following month she the woman adopted two kittens, Willie and Betty. Willie became unresponsive after his first night in the couple’s home and had trouble walking because his legs had stiffened from trauma. He was returned to his adopter.

The second kitten, Betty, died November 24th. Lynde told the veterinarian the kitten had suffered brain damage and stopped breathing after falling off a table, The second kitten, Betty, died Nov. 24. Sean Lynde told the veterinarian the kitten fell off a counter top and just stopped breathing.

After these two deaths, it became painfully obvious to anyone who knew the couple that Sean Lynde was a serial cat killer. In fact, one of their friends actually reported Lynde to the New York City branch of the A.S.P.C.A., but for some reason, nothing was done with the complaint.

Rachel Strate must have been crazy in love, because instead of booting Sean Lynde out on his ass, she instead adopted two more kittens named Emo and Bonafide. I would have thought by now the word would have gotten around and no one would have given her a cat for all the tea in China. The same day he was adopted, Dec. 18th, 2009, Emo was treated for a broken paw. A month later, on January 22nd, 2009, Emo went missing, never to be seen again.

Shortly before Christmas, Bonafide suffered phantom trauma resulting in blindness and brain damage. A month later, on January 23rd, the kitten’s body was discovered with it’s neck broken. That’s 5 dead cats and one severely injured in the space of 4 months. Even Rachel Strate couldn’t fool herself any longer. She broke up with him and went to the A.S.P.C.A.

Six months before Lynde was arrested, a warning was posted on Craigslist that read, “KEEP CATS AWAY FROM THIS MAN.” It was not immediately clear who put up the notice. Lynde was named on the site, which also posted a photograph of him wearing a paper crown from Burger King. “He is currently under investigation for six counts of aggravated animal cruelty,” the site said.

Assistant Director Joseph Pentangelo of the ASPCA, which arrested Lynde, said:

“I’ve never seen this series of incidents carried out against animals in my experience.”

Sean Lynde was arrested Friday, August 14th, 2009, on charges including six counts of felony animal cruelty. He pleaded not guilty at state Supreme Court in Manhattan and was freed on $5,000 bond. He faces 4 years in prison on the animal cruelty charges alone.

He was also charged with harassing and stalking Strate, which are misdemeanors. And this was not Lynde’s first brush with the law. He was busted in March of 2009 after he allegedly punched and broke ex-girlfriend Strate’s Apple Macbook, causing $800 worth of damage, police records show.

Editor’s Notes: So that makes him an abuser of women too – My God, what a cowardly son a bitch! What I wouldn’t give for a chance to get it on with this guy in a fair fight.

All of the other cats I know dislike Sean Lynde as much as I do. This little orange tabby kitten sent in this photo, asking me to include it in my story, and I was more than happy to oblige.

The two kittens in the second picture are Bonifide (l.) and Emo, the last two victims of Sean Lynde. If that picture doesn’t break your heart, I don’t know what will, especially when you go back and read how they were tortured to death. What kind of person can look into those innocent eyes and feel the kind of hate it takes to kill? Sean Lynde is a budding psychopath, and if he hadn’t gotten busted for the cat killings, I think we would have been writing about how he chopped Rachel Strate’s head off.

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As of the 8th of March, 2009, Kenneth Lopez and Danielle McCleary had been dating for about 3 months. They got along famously, like a matched set of knives, or possibly like two jars of pickle relish. Either way, they worked really, really well together and will probably be featured in some kind of parenting documentary at some point.

The couple had recently moved to Tampa, Florida from Illinois, taking up residence in room 108 at the Homestead Studio Suites hotel.

Living and travelling with Kenneth Lopez and Danielle McCleary were Danielle’s two children: a 3-year-old boy and 2-year-old Gabrielle Randel.

For some reason, Gabrielle cried a bit on the night of the 7th of March, 2009. Why, we don’t know.

It could have been related to the reason why Danielle McCleary had scribbled “DumbAss” on her older brother – or it might have been for some other reason. It doesn’t really matter.

But Gabrielle cried enough to seriously torque off Kenneth Lopez. Kenneth, applying those excellent parenting skills, slapped the toddler a bit and told her to shut up.

Gabrielle, like toddlers will do when they get spanked, cried some more.

This ticked off Mr. Lopez a bit more, who decided to take the discipline to a whole new level and brought out a bedsheet.

Once Gabrielle Randel was safely wrapped up in the sheet with her face and mouth covered, Kenneth Lopez took the toddler to pain school, beating and kicking the tot and generally inflicting the damage you’d expect a 21-year-old to be able to deliver to a 2-year-old girl who was wrapped up in a sheet Fortunately for Lopez, the tyke was under the sheet at the time of her beating and was unable to respond in like kind.

The results of the beating could have been featured on the next edition of “World’s most One-Sided Fights.” According to reports, Gabrielle Randel endured extensive blunt trauma to her forehead, a number of bruises and other marks scattered over her body (including a rather distinctive hand mark) and serious trauma to her genitalia.

Gabrielle Randel also experienced a shortness of breath, which quickly devolved into a total lack of breath. Danielle McCleary noticed her daughter’s unconscious and unresponsive condition when she returned to the suite. The whole “not breathing” thing evidently concerned Danielle enough that she called for emergency services.

Emergency personnel were impressed with Danielle’s penmanship in regards to how well she fit “DumbAss” on her son’s forehead. Penmanship is important, kids, don’t let your doctor fool you. Danielle later admitted that she had been the author.

The doctors at the local children’s hospital did what they could for the toddler, but Gabrielle Randel died later on that day, at around 1 in the afternoon.

Her brother hasn’t been handling his sister’s death well. According to officials, he has been having problems sleeping and has a bit of difficulty dealing with the fact that his little sister was mercilessly beaten to death by his mother’s boyfriend. According to his father, Michael Randel (who drove 17 hours straight to Tampa from his Texas home when he heard the news), the boy insists that his sister is still alive, using the definitive proof of pre-existing pictures of her and pointing out that, “Gabbie’s not dead.”

24-year-old Michael Randel told authorities that he had not seen his children in three months because Danielle and Kenneth had left town without telling anyone where they were going.

Kenneth Lopez is being held in jail without bail on a charge of aggravated child abuse, a charge which you’d expect to be upgraded to murder, especially since he admitted to the whole thing.

Danielle McCleary and Michael Randel have had a custody deal worked out for the 3-year-old by a judge. Michael gets to keep the boy for an extended period. Danielle has been allowed supervised visits, as long as she refrains from writing on her son again.

UPDATE: 05/05/2009 – Danielle McCleary Charged In Death Of 2-Year-Old Daughter

Danielle Nicole McCleary, 23, was arrested on April 3rd, 2009 and charged with aggravated child neglect, a second degree felony, and aggravated manslaughter, a first degree felony, according to the Hillsborough County sheriff’s office.

Sheriff’s reports say McCleary was present in the room and witnessed the binding, beating, and compression of Gabrielle Randel by her live-in boyfriend Kenneth Lopez.

Also, on March 19th, 2009 Kenneth G. Lopez was charged with First Degree Murder in addition to the original charge of Aggravated Child Abuse for the beating death of 2-year-old Gabrielle Randel.

UPDATE: 08/22/2009 – Kenneth Lopez’ Trial Moved Back to September

According to his court records, Kenneth Lopez’s trial, which was scheduled to begin with pretrial hearings on August 12th, was moved back to September 24th. Danielle McCleary’s records show her trial is still up in the air.

You can always check the status of these two defendants by clicking on the highlighted links for either Lopez or McCleary, and then clicking on the “Scheduling” or “Docket” tabs. The great thing about using document files to save web pages on DocStoc.com is that the links remain active, and you can navigate throughout the original website just as if you had logged in as a user.

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