Mrs. Torres is in Myrtle Beach. As one person commented on the news site: “People like this cause doubt to be cast on real missing persons cases.” ————————————————————————– As Mike McHugh and I stood in the rain taking picture’s of Shirleyleta Torres’ vehicle parked in the Sheriff’s Office sally port, I couldn’t help but feel a sense [...]

- I have been on vacation since Thursday afternoon and on a wife-ordered sabbatical away from the blog. I see y’all had some good questions about the Lewis trial. Sorry I didn’t chime in, but I see other posters stepped up with answers. Lewis’ prison photo: I have been inundated with folks asking about Robert Lewis’ [...]

As y’all know, Marines with the 26th MEU assigned to the USS Kearsarge are currently involved in operations in Libya. I have been thinking about a report  I read a few weeks ago about one of those many Marines. I get a lot of press releases from the military. Most times I just look at the photos and delete the emails. [...]

- The investigation into last month’s shooting in Swansboro will reveal Austin Zundel struck reserve deputy Adam Stock, a witness told me. We will see that Stock did everything he could to avoid the deadly outcome. – I hate to even address this, but I have had some folks call and ask me about it and I’ve seen comments [...]

- Robert Lewis has been convicted of possession of a weapon of mass destruction and death for having an illegal homemade firearms silencer.  He will spend the next 13 to 16 months in prison. The judge seemingly ignored all mitigating factors in deciding the punishment. Lewis, shackled to another inmate (the guy in the orange [...]

Three very powerful closing arguements were delivered Thursday afternoon in the manslaughter trial of a father accused of leaving a handgun in reach of his toddler who shot himself. The jury continues its deliberations this morning. Robert Lewis swears in before testifying Thursday: District Attorney Ernie Lee and J.B. Askins talking at recess after Lee dropped into [...]

Wednesday proved to be a long, difficult day of testimony in the manslaughter trial of Robert Lewis. I wasn’t surprised to learn the 911 operator who took the call ended up leaving the job. This tragedy has affected everyone. When the 911 recording finished playing at 4 :30 p.m., the courtroom was completely silent with everyone from the jury to [...]

Assistant District Attorney J.B. Askins marks evidence - a bill of sale and other documents related to Robert Lewis’ purchase of the Glock his 3-year-old son later used to accidentally shoot himself in the head – during Lewis’ manslaughter trial Tuesday.  The Glock 22 .40-caliber handgun cost $500 and some change.

- The trial of a father accused of leaving one of his handguns in reach of his 3-year-old son opens today. Read about it here. – Sealed search warrants will no longer hide shady law enforcement investigations. Think I’m kidding? Wait a few more weeks and I will have a perfect example for you. - The FBI in [...]

- The son of  a man airlifted after being tossed from his vehicle in a wreck over the weekend has a pending court case on a charges of speeding, driving while license revoked and careless and reckless driving. - Lawrence Dowsing won’t be getting out of prison anytime soon. He has only been in since September 2009 and has already [...]

  Less than 24 hours after Ryan Casler was sentenced to life in prison his mugshot appeared on the N.C. DOC website. While his case has been adjudicated and his fate sealed (with no apparent mistakes for fodder on appeal), his defense attorney was right, unanswered questions remain in the aftermath of Casler’s conviction. No. [...]

I am not Loose Lips. It has become appearent from comments on the blog that some readers think I am the same person who posts comments as Loose Lips. To be clear, I am not Loose Lips or any other poster. I say what I have to say with my name attached to it. Many [...]

- I have it from a pillar in the Bear Creek community that James Powers, the only publicly-named person of interest in the death of John D. Smallwood, is out of pocket.   An interesting story was recently related to me about how much John D loved to play the lottery so much that instead of [...]

Most often, the rub in a murder trial is not the high drama of innocence versus guilt but first-degree versus second-degree. In the current murder trial of Ryan Casler, his attorney, Jacksonville lawyer Wally Paramore has already conceded more or less to the jury that his client killed Joseph Wells. With the state refusing to [...]

I’m long removed from my seminary days. But even after escaping the trappings of organized religion, I still remember of few Bible passages. One verse that kept me going through years of hardship as I put myself through college while working a full time job to provide for my family was Psalms 37:25. It sounds [...]

- The Ryan Casler murder trial is underway today with jury selection. Casler is accused of stabbing Joseph Wells more than 30 times and leaving his body in a Hubert roadside ditch. – The family of Leota Cheney contacted me to correct the spelling of her name and thank the newspaper for covering her homicide. [...]