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Mexico’s drug war: Latest 49 dead bodies

May 14, 2012

In Monterrey, Mexico police found 49 mutilated bodies spread around the entrance to the town San Juan on a highway that connects the industrial city of Monterrey with Reynosa. The 43 men and 6 women with their feet, hands, and heads chopped off were found before dawn on Sunday. Some of the bodies were in plastic garbage bags, most likely brought to that spot and dropped from a back of a dump truck, said Nuevo Leon state security spokesman Jorge Domene. A white stone arch that welcomes visitors to the town was spray painted with the words“100% Zeta”. It is referred to the Zetas drug cartel.

In Mexico the number of body dumpings has increased in the last 6 months due to the growing fight between the Zetas and Sinaloa Cartel. In less than a month, the maimed bodies of 14 men were left in a van in downtown Nuevo Laredo and 23 people were found hanged or decapitated in the same border city. Near Mexico’s second-largest city, Guadalajara, 18 dismembered bodies were left out in the open. Nuevo Laredo like Monterrey is considered Zeta territory. Guadalajara has long been controlled by gangs loyal to Sinaloa.

The Sinaloa Cartel is said to be run by fugitive drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman and its allies, said the federal Attorney General’s office in a statement on Sunday. The office is offering $2 million reward for any information that can lead them to the arrest of Guzman, Zetas leader Heriberto Lazacano and Miguel Trevino. The two cartels have emerged as Mexico’s two most powerful gangs and are battling over strategic transport routes and territory.

The Zetas are a temporary gang without real territory or a secure stream of income, unlike Sinaloa with its profitable cocaine trade and control of smuggling routes and territory, said Raul Benitez Manaut, a security expert at Mexico’s National Autonomous University. But the Zetas are heavily armed while Sinaloa has weak weapon enforcement, he said.

Drug violence has killed more than 47,500 people since President Felipe Calderon launched a step up offensive when he took office in 2006. Mexico is now in the middle of a presidential race to replace Calderon. Drug violence seems to be rising but none of the candidates have referred directly to the mass killings. They all say they will stop the violence and make Mexico a more secure place but offer small to none details on how their plans would differ from Calderon’s.

What are your thoughts?

Bain Girls Found!

May 11, 2012

The Bain family was reported missing on April 27th. It was mother Jo Ann and her three daughters. On May 4th the bodies of Jo Ann and her eldest daughter Andrienne were found at Guntown, Mississippi. The two young girls that remained missing were Alexandria, 12, and Kyliyah, 8.

Just yesterday, the end of a days-long manhunt seemed within reach. A tip to the FBI led officers to the area. The tip was not that Mayes had been spotted but that there was an old log cabin at the back of a church that might be a good hiding place.

State officers approached the area and noticed the two girls lying on their stomachs. From where they lay they could see Adam Mayes, the man who took them from their home in Tennessee and had them hiding in the Mississippi woods.

As the officers drew near Mayes he pulled out a gun and shot himself in the head. The girls watched as it happened. “They were close enough to see what was going on when he killed himself,” FBI spokesman Jason Pack said. The girls were tended to by two agents and taken to a hospital.

“They were scared and relieved,” Pack said. “They were hungry and thirsty. They gave them water, and we drove them out right away. “There is no evidence that Mayes and the girls actually used the cabin but they were believed to have been in the area for a few days, Pack had said. “There was no shelter or anything. It looks like they were in the open woods. They were dehydrated and dirty, like they were here for several days,” he said.

Alexandria and Kyliyah were released during the night from Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital in Tennessee, hospital spokeswoman Sara Burnett said.
Adam Mayes’ mother-in-law, Josie Tale, told HLN’s Nancy Grace on Thursday that Mayes may have believed he was the father of the two girls he was accused of kidnapping.

Police said Teresa Mayes told them she was in the Bains’ garage when Adam Mayes killed Jo Ann and Adrienne Bain. In affidavits, investigators said the Mayeses drove the bodies of Jo Ann and Adrienne Bain to Union County in northern Mississippi where they were found in a shallow grave in Guntown. Mayes and Teresa had been charged with two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of especially aggravated kidnapping.

Bobbi Booth, Mayes’ sister-in-law, described Adam Mayes as “aggressive, abusive, crazy obviously.” “I never dreamed that he would do this,” she had said.

What are your thoughts?

Neo Nazi kills family

May 3, 2012

Five people found dead at a Gilbert home and the killer is reportedly JT Ready. JT was a will known white supremacist and was going to run for Pinal County Sheriff at one point. Numerous police officers and ambulances were dispatched to the area of Warner and Cooper Rds in Gilbert about 1:00 p.m. on Wednesday due to reports of shots fired. JT had been living with his girlfriend Lisa Mederos for the last two years.

In Lisa’s home JT Ready apparently shot and killed 47-year-old Lisa Mederos, Lisa’s daughter 23-year-old Amber Mederos, Amber’s 24-year-old fiance Jim Hoitt, and Amber’s 16 month old daughter Lilly, according to a law enforcement source. Lilly was found still alive, but she died at the hospital. We’ve learned another daughter of Lisa’s, a 19-year-old, is alive and was the one that found the blood bath.

This information has not officially been released by the Gilbert Police.

Ready is dead, however it is not clear whether his death wound was self-inflicted, “as there is multiple weapons on scene,” an official said. There were reports of domestic violence between Ready and his girlfriend earlier that day.

Several drums of an unknown liquid were found in the back of the home. Hazmat crews were securing the scene Wednesday night and detectives were not able to go in until 10 p.m. to gather evidence and remove the bodies. In the chemicals current state they did not pose any threat and no homes were evacuated.
“If I had any inkling that this guy was violent or anything like that, there’s no way they would’ve stayed there, my daughters wouldn’t have put one foot in that house… I regret not even looking into it,” said Hugo Mederos who was Lisa’s ex- husband.

It’s not yet clear what the motive may have been. The FBI and other agencies are assisting in the investigation.
What are your thoughts? Why were there so many dead and so many weapons?

Reed foster family has taken in 160 kids over the past 28 years!

May 1, 2012

28 years ago, Lyle and Sandy Reed, parents of two small children decided to become licensed in caring for foster children. Sandy was the one who suggested they become foster parents. It was something she’d wanted to do since she was an adolescent and would frequently visit an aunt in California who cared for foster kids. Both Sandy and Lyle grew up in big families so foster care made it possible for them to expand their own family and give a temporary safe place to children in need.

Over the years they have cared for more than 160 children and have been with the state’s Child Protective Services through dozens of administrators and at least four child-welfare-reform efforts. Two of their four biological children also serve as foster parents themselves.

At the moment fourteen kids live on the Reeds’ widespread property in Queen Creek including five foster kids, two sibling groups, and a developmentally delayed toddler they’re in the process of adopting. They’ve adopted nine other foster children, including two of the four Avondale quadruplets who made headlines 14 years ago after they were abused by their biological parents.

The first foster child placed with the Reeds’ was a weeping baby named Carrie, born to a heroin-addicted mother. “She had a catlike scream,” Lyle recalled with a grimace. “For our first foster child, it was kind of tough.” The baby stayed with the Reeds for 18 months. Sandy recently got in touch with Carrie through Facebook and sent her baby photos. Carrie, now 28, was adopted and lives in Hawaii. “You have to be extremely flexible to do this. Expect the unexpected, and you’ll be fine,” Sandy Reed said.

They say little has changed except the drug of choice parents prefer whose children come through their door. In the beginning it was heroin, then cocaine and crack, then methamphetamine. Now they are seeing more babies like Carrie being born with the drugs in their system.

The couple has an optimistic view of Arizona’s latest efforts to improve an overburdened system. This includes internal process improvements and a new CPS investigative unit. They’ve heard many of the same complaints for decades which are too few caseworkers, high turnover, and difficulty getting sufficient mental-health treatment for traumatized children.

Esther’s Hope, Mission Community Church in Gilbert had a meeting on April 9th that drew more than 360 people whom were interested in becoming licensed foster parents. Their goal is to find homes for at least 100 children by the end of the year and enlist additional members to support foster families with transportation, meals and even yard work.

Arizona’s 3rd execution this year!

April 25, 2012

In 1992, Thomas Kemp was an ex-convict working as a maintenance man in Tucson. When a past prison mate named Jeffrey Logan escaped from an honor farm in California, he and Kemp teamed up, purchased a gun and went looking for a victim.

They found a college student by the name of Hector Juarez, 25, who had left his apartment to get a late-night snack. Kemp and Logan seized him in the parking lot outside his apartment. They forced him to withdraw money from an ATM, stripped him naked and shot him in the head. Then they discarded his body near the Silverbell Mine in Marana.

Kemp and Logan drove to Flagstaff and sold Kemp’s truck, then carjacked a couple and forced them to drive to Durango, Colorado. The couple got away and contacted police. Logan was arrested in Denver and led Tucson police to Juarez’s body in the desert. Kemp was arrested in a homeless shelter in Tucson. While in jail in Pima County, Kemp confessed to killing Juarez.

Logan received a sentence of life in prison. Kemp was convicted of first-degree murder, armed robbery and kidnapping. At his sentencing a month later, Kemp told the court that Juarez was “beneath my contempt” because he was not an American citizen.

Thomas Kemp was put to death in Florence on Wednesday morning. This is Arizona’s 3rd execution for 2012. Kemp was insubordinate to the end. “I regret nothing,” were his last words.
Then he trembled as the drugs coursed through his veins and went still.

What is your opinion on the death penalty? Should Kemp have just lived the rest of his life in jail like his partner in crime Logan?

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