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Animal Hoarding in Wittmann, AZ

May 23, 2012

An 81-year-old Lucienne Touboul again faces a dilemma for animal hoarding. Deputies went to the home about 6 a.m. on Wednesday because Touboul had an outstanding warrant related to an incident two years ago. She was arrested Wednesday on suspicion for 26 counts of animal neglect and cruelty after it was discovered she was hoarding 64 cats. The cats were evaluated by a veterinarian and are being transferred to the Sheriff’s Office Animal Safe House in the old First Avenue Jail.

The arrest was made almost two years after police found Touboul with more than 104 cats in her residence. At the time, most of the cats had to be euthanized. Three years before that, a judge had ordered Touboul to give up almost all of her cats except a handful. In the 2010 case, the cats showed signs of severe respiratory disease, were severely underweight, and had ruptured eyes due to ulcers. Nine dead cats were found in freezers. There was evidence that some of the cats were used for human consumption.

Touboul admitted to police at the time that she would use the dead cats to make soup. Touboul in 2010 had told The Republic that she froze the deceased cats until a friend visited to help her properly bury them.

Gary Patronek, who founded a research group in Boston to study animal hoarders, previously told The Republic that hoarding can be a coping mechanism. He said animal hoarders often lack insight. They don’t see the filth, dead animals and unlivable conditions obvious to everyone else.

In the past, Touboul told The Republic she was born in North Africa and that her husband and five sons were beheaded in Morocco. Morocco went through a violent nationalist movement in the 1970s but Touboul’s claim is unconfirmed. Touboul moved eventually to Arizona where she worked as a nurse. She has lived in her Wittmann home for 13 years. Touboul is in custody in the Fourth Avenue Jail.

What are your thoughts on hoarding?

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?

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?

Is FBI’s Most Wanted Robert Fisher in Payson, AZ?

April 23, 2012

It’s more than a decade old mystery. Police say a Scottsdale’s Robert Fisher allegedly set fire to his home killing his wife and children and then he vanished.
Fisher’s wife and two children were found dead in their home in 2001. Robert Fisher is the main suspect in the triple murder. Then wife, Mary, 38, and their children, Brittney, 13, and Bobby, 10, were found murdered. Authorities believe he slit their throats, shot his wife in the head and blew up the home to cover it up.

A trail of evidence was found outside of Payson 10 days after the murders. His wife’s SUV, one of Fisher’s hats and the family dog. But since then, there’s been no real trace of the man on the run. He’s on the FBI’s Top 10 Most Wanted List and the reward is $100,000. Fisher hasn’t been seen since and his disappearance remains one of the largest unsolved obscurities the valley has ever seen. A lot of people want to know where is he is. Is Fisher still alive?
Now, we have learned there are some new developments in the case, and he could be hiding out HERE IN THE STATE. The FBI alerted local law enforcement about the new developments. The information was meant to be confidential but it was somehow disclosed to the public.

For some reason, the FBI thinks Fisher could be in Payson. The FBI is searching the area to make sure he’s not in an old cabin or trailer. The agency has not mentioned what tipped them off to search for Fisher in Payson again. But, they do still receive tips from people who think they know where Fisher might be hiding. Police say the reason why it’s so difficult to find Fisher is because he doesn’t have anything that stands out about him. By now, Fisher would be 51. He would walk with an upright posture and pushed-out chest because of a lower-back surgery he had.

What is the possibility that Fisher is still in the same state he committed a murder? Wouldn’t he at least leave the state after he fled from the scene? If he is in Payson, can the community do something to help track him down?