The Inspector General of the Department of Defense has been asked to postpone an investigation in how the military handled the rape investigation of Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach — a decision local law enforcement said was wise. The D.A. and the Sheriff agree now is not the time to be investigating the rape allegations, now [...]

I knew John was a hard-working Sheriff’s detective and active in his church, but good grief , a singing referee too? Read the sports story here. Watch a video of John singing here. I honestly don’t where he finds the time. Comments to this blog are unmoderated. Any questionable comments should be reported to localdesk@freedomenc.com [...]

The U.S. Supreme Court has set precedent that future police mistakes will not necessarily mean evidence will be excluded at trial. But for now, prosecutors say a convicted murderer got to deal out of a life sentence because Jacksonville police failed to read him his juvenile rights.  Instead of folding up though, JPD investigators worked through the error and put together an [...]

 A teenager that used a sawed-off shotgun to end the life of a man that tried to help him in 2007 pleaded guilty Monday. He will spend more than a quarter of a century in prison. Read the news here. Questions linger whether he could have gotten more time. I will be following up on that [...]

103 Meadow Trail went on the auction block Monday to a resounding silence. Looks like no one is prepared to pay $102,000 for that house of horrors. Read news here. A very somber photo of the Laurean residence last January: Comments to this blog are unmoderated. Any questionable comments should be reported to localdesk@freedomenc.com or [...]

I had the flu last week and it was mean to me. I have not been that sick since I was a child. I am 110% now and will have some info on Laurean’s home and a murderer going to prison later today. Thanks for the get well e-mails. Meanwhile, life on Azeroth never stops. Slaying [...]

The third suspect in the 1972 shooting death of a Camp Lejeune Marine received a $5 million bond at his first appearance Tuesday. Rodger Gill is fighting extradition and has a probable cause hearing scheduled for March 24, according to family members. Read news article here. Illinois newspaper, The News-Gazette has an article Online about N.C. [...]

Raleigh police say they have arrested a man responsible for two murders in the late 1990s. Read the whole story at NC Wanted. Comments to this blog are unmoderated. Any questionable comments should be reported to localdesk@freedomenc.com or the newsroom at 910-219-8451. Those comments deemed irrelevant or inappropriate may be deleted.

A gunman forced a female taxi driver into the trunk of her cab and took a shot at deputies before fleeing. Read news article here. Former political cartoonist turned investigator, John Michael Moore drew this sketch for the Sheriff’s Department. Detectives later developed a suspect. There are being tight-lipped about it, but I bet he [...]

Authorities have charged another former Marine in the 1972 shooting death of Camp Lejeune Marine Sgt. William Miller. Read news article. More information should be available later this week. Check out the Web site “Miracles Still Happen 36 Years later,” hosted by Miller’s family. It is well done and emotionally stirring, like this photo of [...]

Daily News reporter, and my good friend, Suzanne Ulbrich has done us all a favor and gathered some good advice for how to survive this year in the less than stellar economy. Little late for me with the maintaining healthy credit article though. My credit score is lower than my IQ. Do yourself a favor, take [...]

The newspaper began a new Sunday series in the newspaper today. It will look at various pending murder cases and see where they are in the pipeline. Too many times, the paper reports on a homicide when it happens and then nothing is said until the trial more than a year later. Since I have [...]

A melodramatic trial came to an end this week with a surprise ending. I have a feeling the story is far, far from over though. Marriage break-ups hit a new low during this ordeal as a female probation officer’s handgun came up missing and was found in an air vent in her estranged husband’s house. [...]

An Onslow County man who is accused of killing his sister in the summer of 2007 will not get the needle if he is convicted. Read news article. While my Libertarian bosses might dig it, I think it is a shame a person can shoot another person, be caught red-handed and not at least face [...]

Army 2nd Lt. Holley Wimunc was shot in the head, according to autopsy reselts released today. Read the article and view the autopsy here. Comments to this blog are unmoderated. Any questionable comments should be reported to localdesk@freedomenc.com or the newsroom at 910-219-8451. Those comments deemed irrelevant or inappropriate may be deleted.

Erin Gould is up and moving and in physical therapy, according to a reliable source developed my Mike McHugh. Authorities did not believe she would make it due to the severity of her head injuries, but she is proving to be a strong person. Our thoughts and prayers are with her and her family while [...]

An Onslow County Magistrate interjected herself into a December trial over drainage ditches, causing a mistrial. Less than two weeks later, authorities arrested the defendant in the case and charged him with shooting the prosecuting witness. Read the news article here. Several court officials I spoke to today are not happy about the way this [...]

OK. I don’t think we are supposed to be talking about internal operations, so if this post is gone, you will know why… Molly DeWitt won an argument with me the other day. It was an argument I was proud to have and happy to lose. You see, we were arguing over who would get to [...]

Evan was not my best friend, but we were close. We grew up in the same church, but lived in different counties, so we went to different schools. It wasn’t until after his father killed himself that we really began to hang around together. By the time we were 16 and could drive, we were [...]

Almost one year exactly from when Maria Lauterbach’s body was found and authorities announced her assailant had fled to Mexico, history is repeating itself just north of here. The missing Sampson County woman I told you about Friday is dead. Authorities found her body in a wooded area not far from her home this weekend, [...]

It was one year ago today that authorities found Maria Lauterbach and her unborn son in a shallow grave behind Cesar Laurean’s Half Moon community home. Laurean was already on a bus bound for his native Mexico. There were many, many law enforcement officers who took part in that investigation and made Laurean’s arrest in Mexico [...]

D.A. Dewey Hudson is being sized up by newly elected Sen. Kay Hagan for a possible presidential appointment to U.S. Attorney for the state’s Eastern District. It’s an honor to even be considered. There are only 93 U.S. Attorneys in the in the entire country. Read the news here. Hudson arriving at 103 Meadow Trail exactly [...]

Police in Maryland have arrested three suspects with the stolen handguns from Eastern Outfitters. Read the news here. One of those suspects, Arthur Hicks is on parole on a robbery with a dangerous weapon conviction. He has been convicted of a long list of robbery related crimes, according to the N.C. Department of Correction. Another [...]

A former local school teacher due in court next week on sex charges involving his students is dead instead. Read the news here. Read about his arrest here. And his dismisal from Swansboro High for “personal reasons.” Comments to this blog are unmoderated. Any questionable comments should be reported to localdesk@freedomenc.com or the newsroom at 910-219-8451. Those [...]

Sound familiar? The Sampson County Sheriff’s Department is searching for a missing woman and her son. The woman’s estranged husband is a suspect in her disappearance. Problem is, authorities think he has fled to Mexico, according to a law enforcement official who spoke to me on the condition I not reveal his name. Investigators are hoping [...]

Two suspects broke into Eastern Outfitters on N.C. 24 and stole around a dozen handguns Thursday morning. Read story here. Comments to this blog are unmoderated. Any questionable comments should be reported to localdesk@freedomenc.com or the newsroom at 910-219-8451. Those comments deemed irrelevant or inappropriate may be deleted.

WITN’s New Bern Bureau Chief Ken Heineck scored a big story Thursday by interviewing a man accused of animal cruelty earlier this week. Read about it here. And watch the video. Since the alleged crimes happened outside my coverage area, I could just watch and enjoy. I was fascinated with Wednesday’s news that this guy was accused of having a dog’s head [...]

JPD busted a Kinston couple yesterday for allegedly breaking into seven cars at an auto repair shop. Read article here. The Kinston Free Press reports that Jackson accused Kinston businessman Wilbur King of sexual battery. A judge disagreed. Read the article by Justin Schoenberger. The trial coverage reads like something out of Page Six. Comments to this [...]

A source close to the family says Erin did not know why she was in the hospital when she woke up and has been asking for her husband. I don’t know whether she is amnesic or what, but it is sad to think she is asking for her husband considering authorities say he tried to kill her [...]

Daily News Content Editor Jennifer Hlad has posted information from the Marine Corps about the death of a Marine aboard Camp Lejeune this week. Read it here. Federal investigators believe the Marine committed suicide. The details are gruesome. He was reportedly being treated for depression, tried to cut his eye out and stabbed himself to death, [...]

Homicide victim Vickie Lewis was beat to death and had her throat cut, according medical reports. Read news here. ————————- And thanks to Amanda and Jennifer for getting the info up Online this morning. When do these people sleep?

Onslow County Sheriff’s Detective Mark Scott has charged two Marine snipers in the shooting death of a horse. Read news article. Montano and Joslyn posing for a MySpace photo, dated the same week as the shooting. And if there is any doubt, the photograph’s poster says “if your (sic) wondering, thats deffenitly (sic) a grenade in my mouth.” Ironically, [...]

The FBI announced today its biggest job-hiring blitz in its 100-year history, according to the FBI’s Web site.   The Feds plan to pick up more than 2,000 professional staff employees and 850 special agents. All the jobs are posted on the newly redesigned FBI Jobs Web site. They are looking for people with the following skills: Computers and foreign [...]

Once a week from now until corporate tells me to knock it off, I will be posting a couple of screenshots featuring Ravenbone’s journey through the World of Warcraft. Ravenbone receives training from a ghostly priest in the Undercity: Searching for serpentbloom in the Wailing Caverns:

The JPD are on the hunt for an attempted bank robber. Read the news article here. People posting comments on the news story – made before police released the suspect’s photo – eluded that they expected the robber to be black. So, I wonder, what does it do to the mind of a white racist when the [...]

The sale of the Laurean home was postponed. Read about that here. I did have a chance to look inside as potential buyers checked it out before the auction. I took a few photos. The garage: Carpet in one bedroom: View of the backyard from the master bedroom:

When I began this blog in April I had intentions of hanging around the courthouse more often and reporting on what was happening. Unfortunately, crime and other stories have precluded me from spending as much time on Court Street as I would have liked. It’s a shame too. I have a feeling I have missed [...]

Johnnie Lee Gurley is getting out of prison after 36 years. He went to the big house for kidnapping a woman and raping and terrorizing her for almost five hours. It took a jury only 35 minutes to give Gurley life in prison. I wonder whether the Parole Commission even thought about it that long before setting him [...]

Several people have approached me about the financial dealings of a local nightclub owner. I have not looked into it yet because of the Holidays. But I was contacted by a woman claiming to be with a local TV station. She asked me questions about why I was writing a story about this “upstanding businessman.” Something about the [...]

103 Meadow Trail to be sold today. The site of a brutal 2007 homicide and the gruesome temporary burial site of a pregnant woman will be on the auction block today.   Marine Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach vanished Dec. 14, 2008; the day authorities believe she was beat to death with a crowbar in Cpl. Cesar [...]

Nigel and Andre Bullen have been dead for three years. Their family is in pain. I cannot imagine loosing one of my sons, let along two at the same time. It is time for someone who knows what happened that September day to step up and tell it. Regardless of any entanglements the Bullens might [...]

I have heard from a reliable source that Erin Gould ”opened her eyes and also gave thumbs up.” I hope she makes real improvements in the next several weeks. Read Amanda’s article about what happened to Erin.

And the moral to the story is…don’t get shot if you’re wanted by the cops. Read the story here.

Friday, Jan. 11, 2008, was an altogether simultaneously sad and hectic day. There was literally more happening in the Lauterbach case than the newspaper could report. Late Thursday, Sheriff Ed Brown was in a good mood, convinced that when Marine Sgt. Daniel Durham’s plane touched down he would tell them where Maria was hiding and everything [...]

I have compiled what I believe to the 10 most captivating local crime stories of the last year. These are the stories that got our readership talking. No. 1: “Maria” Former military reporter Kevin Forsythe fielded a phone call on a cold January Sunday afternoon from a family member worried about a Marine that had [...]

I have compiled what I believe to the 10 most captivating local crime stories of the last year. These are the stories that got our readership talking. Special Mention: “things are bad all around” As I got to know the rank and file of local law enforcement this year, one common denominator surfaced no matter [...]