Justice for Daniel Ramirez

 Daniel M. Ramirez, a 17 year old who was murdered on July 4, 2007. Daniel was innocent and was murdered for no reason. The family and friends of Daniel believe that Justice can be served, and believe that enough evidence is out there to put those responsible behind bars and bring justice for his loved ones. They believe that not enough effort has been put forth to bring this matter to a speedy conclusion and petition that this case be brought to the attention of a superior government official. They do this in hopes of pushing those involved in this case to devote more time and efforts in bringing the evidence forward that is out there to make an arrest and bring justice forward for Daniel. Daniel was at a party outside on the patio when he gave his seat up to a girl, then the shooting started and Daniel took 1 shot out of 8 killed him. He was shot in the heart and 2 times in the right hand. Daniel took bullets that wasn’t even intended for him. Someone out there took a beautiful,kind and caring young mans life. Daniel’s life was precious and Daniel was so young with a future of hope and dreams that was taken away from him. PLEASE Go here to sign the petition- it only takes one minute to sign: click here:
 Justice for Daniel Petition
Daniel Ramirez was born September 13, 1989 and passed away July 4, 2007. He is survived by his loving mother Deanna & father Richeard Fernandez, two siblings, Stephanie and Richeard Jr., Grandmother Rose Mead, step-grandfather John Mead. Aunts & Uncles and many cousins and friends. Daniel was preceded in death by his brother Jason Ramirez, grandfather Rollie Diehl, and his sister Lisa Fernandez. He was loved by all and will be greatly missed, but will never be forgotten. Visitation will be held Thursday, July 12, 2007, from 5:00 P.M. until 8:00 P.M. at Phoenix Memorial Mortuary Chapel. Funeral Services will be Friday, July 13, 2007, 10:00 A.M. also at Phoenix Memorial Mortuary Chapel, 200 West Beardsley Road, Phoenix, AZ. A family gathering after the funeral service and burial will be held at the North Valley Freewill Baptist Church, 18220 North 20th Street, Phoenix, AZ where food and fellowship will be shared. The Ramirez Family is proudly being served by Phoenix Memorial Park and Mortuary.

Brittanee Drexel- Missing 4-25-2009

More than four months after her disappearance, Brittanee Drexel’s whereabouts remain a mystery.

Drexel, 17, of New York, disappeared April 25 after leaving the Blue Water Resort on Ocean Boulevard in Myrtle Beach.

Almost from the very beginning detectives theorized Drexel was abducted and feared she was in danger. During the first few weeks of her disappearance, police and volunteer searchers with the C.U.E. Center for Missing Persons initiated exhaustive searches.

The main search focused on the North Santee Community in Georgetown County, an area where Drexel’s cell phone last gave a signal the night she vanished.

“Law enforcement stepped right up and said we got something wrong here. A lot of times (missing persons) cases will be downplayed for a week or two until they realize they really have a problem. And then what happens is they realize it’s too late. You don’t capture the media and attention of the community,” CUE founder and director Monica Caison said.

Despite heavy media coverage, inevitably the weeks came and went. The organized searches stopped. Summer dragged on. Eventually Brittanee’s story faded from the headlines, and there was still no Brittanee.

But on Saturday there was a renewed effort to keep her story front and center among the Myrtle Beach community at a missing persons awareness tour, and the person sponsoring that effort knows the pain of a missing person.

Angie Gilchrist’s mother is Alice Donovan who was abducted, raped and killed in November 2002 by Brandon Bashum and Chadrick Fulks.

For years Donovan remained missing, despite the death sentence convictions of her murderers. In late 2008, Gilchrist ran into Monica Caison with the CUE Center, and together they decided it was time to find Alice. Previous searches by CUE, police and others yielded nothing.

“It is the most excruciating, tormenting thing to ever have to deal with. Your life stops,” Gilchrist described of her ordeal with her mother’s murder and subsequent disappearance.

Caison wrote to Fulks in prison, and to her amazement, he sent her a package stuffed with maps pointing to where Alice could be found.

Caison’s crew jumped into action and in January 2009 they found human bones that would later be positively identified as Donovan.

Far from a “success” story, it is a story that brings closure, something Brittanee Drexel’s mom is desperately searching for.

“I still have hope that she’s somewhere out there,” Dawn Drexel said Saturday at the Myrtle Beach stop of CUE’s “On The Road to Remember Tour.”

Dawn left Myrtle Beach at the end of June after spending two months in Myrtle Beach searching and raising money for her daughter’s cause.

Her frustration is growing.

“I just wish people would come (forward) and call one of the tip lines,” Drexel said.

Those tip lines, run by the Myrtle Beach Police Department and the CUE Center, have lit up in the months past, but no tip has generated the clue needed to crack the case.

Dawn, Monica and police are determined to keep the tips flowing, and one of the ways to do that, they say, is through events like the one held Saturday.

It was a small gathering of no more than a dozen folks — from lead detectives to Dawn to Monica to a few who didn’t even know the Drexels — but it was meaningful.

“The whole purpose of the tour is to get their information out, tell their stories, show their pictures and to visit their towns and rally their communities to remind them they’re still missing,” Caison explained.

As for the investigation by police, NewsChannel 15 learned that detectives have brought in an FBI agent to be “thoroughly briefed” on Brittanee’s case.

Detectives are also working with the CUE Center to organize a new search sometime later this Fall when the leaves fall and the terrain becomes easier to navigate.

What won’t become easier is Dawn Drexel’s anguish.

“Brittanee’s 18th birthday is coming up which is going to be very difficult in Ocotber,” Dawn said adding, “I just want to know something. I know my daughter didn’t just disappear off the face of the earth.”

Anonymous tips and information can be called in to the Myrtle Beach Police Department at 843-918-1382 or to the CUE Center at 910-343-1131.

Donations to the planned search effort can be made to CUE, a non-profit organization, by visiting their web site http://www.ncmissingpersons.org or by calling them.

Please help find Lindsey Baum – Missing since 9-26-2009, McCleary WA

10 year old Lindsey Baum disappeared from her hometown of McCleary, WA on June 26th, 2009. By the way she is now 11 years old and her family missed being with her on her birthday. Can you imagine?
The media has forgotten her. Since the ordeal with Michael Jackson immerged among some other news she has been pushed to the back burner. No child should ever be pushed to the back burner when they are missing. Every day they remain in the media there is a better chance of someone seeing their picture and recognizing them. It’s almost as if they say “they are no longer with us since they have been gone so long so no need to provide their picture let’s move on”. Well that’s “Bull crap”!! There is always hope in the family and friends of the missing child and there is always the chance they are still out there alive. Wake up!!! Help me spread the word of not just Lindsey Baum’s disappearance, but for all the children. Let the media know that there is nothing more important in the news than bringing a missing child home.
About Lindsey Baum:
Area Last Seen: Heading East down Maple Street
Wearing: Blue Jeans with Rips in the Knees
Blue Long Sleeve Hooded Shirt
Black Slip on Cloth Tennis Shoes

About Lindsey:
Height: 4 feet 9 inches tall
Weight: 85 pounds
Eye Color: Brown
Hair Color: Brown
Personality: Outgoing
If you are interested in getting involved with Lindsey’s cause than please send email’s to the following links. It doesn’t just have to be about Lindsey, but make it about all missing children and never letting the fall to the side. Keep their picture up there.

Please send a letter to all the media you can. Just copy and paste it over and over again for the missing children and especially Lindsey Baum.

http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=111

Please visit Lindsey’s Baum’s site with any information or just to see her pictures and read updates.

http://findlindseybaum.com/
If you have any information please forward to the following.

Grays Harbor Police operations center at 800-281-6944
Grays Harbor County Information Hot-line (Tip line) (866) 915-8299
Grays Harbor County E911 Dispatch Center (360) 533-8765 (out of county)
McCleary Police (360) 495-3107 or EMAIL soadmin@co.grays-harbor.wa.us

Make sure you click on the squidoo link above for a lot more information about Lindsey, and a lot of links to follow on her case.

Everybody Lost

 The following story was originally posted here:
Everybody loses

Devon, 7, and his brother Ian, 3, went to bed on Tues. night to dream the dreams that little boys dream. I don’t know if they lay awake for a time thinking of what they would do on the morrow, or if they lay awake listening to their parents argue. Neither Devon or Ian will tell us what they dreamed. Only their bodies remain to tell us what happened to them.

Wednesday morning about 7:35 am, their mother ran screaming from their home. Neighbors rushed to aid and comfort her. She reportedly told them her husband was injured inside. One neighbor and a deputy entered the home and found her husband Neal Williams, suffering from stab wounds- possibly from a sword. The children were found lying in their bunk beds with no apparent injuries. It is believed they may have been smothered.

According to neighbors, Manling Williams (I’ve also seen written as Man-Ling Tsang Williams) told them she had gone food shopping late on Tues. night and returned to find her husband injured. However, neighbors say she did not appear dressed to go shopping and they thought they could smell alcohol on her. Police have said there was no signs of forced entry to the home. And they have said they found incriminating evidence in her car. They have also said she has admitted that there were problems at home and have said she made incriminatory statements, more recent articles say that she has confessed.

Man-ling Williams worked as a waitress in a restaurant since Oct. A friend and co-worker reportedly called her on Tues. night and the two went to the restaurant and “hung out” for a while. Allegedly she did not disclose any problems at home. Neal Williams remained at home to put the boys to bed. The co-worker has said that Neal Williams worked for an insurance company and spent most of his time at home. Neal Williams has been described as “reserved” and his mother has said of him

“Neal was a loving father, brother and son,” she said. “I was proud of him. He was friendly, hard working and had a passion for the truth. His boys were the lights of his life.”

His sister has described him as

“My brother was a profound influence in my life. He was a strength and comfort in my times of need and a joy in the good times. He was exceedingly bright, and funny.

Police have arrested Man-ling Williams. On Fri. she was formally charged with the murders of her husband and both her sons. They have also cited special circumstances of lying in wait and multiple murders. By citing special circumstances, she could be eligible for the death penalty.

Two little boys will never wake, never smile, won’t go to school or play again. Their father will never teach them to drive, will never see them wed, will never know what they would grow up to be, will never be able to mourn them.

Just as friends and family will grieve for the father, so will the friends and family of children grieve for them. Little children are not supposed to understand what death or mourning and grieving is. All they will understand is that they cannot play with Devon and Ian anymore. Many times this will cause anxiety in young children, because if their friends died at their parents hands- could that horror happen to them?

Two little children, what was the “crime” they were killed for? Because they lived or because they carried the blood of the man she allegedly killed.

Reports about the family have varied from they were happy, to reports that he yelled at her, to she yelled at him, to they argued. Many couples argue. Many couples even argue to the point they cannot live together anymore. But if that is the case, a divorce is in order- not murder. Killing does not solve the problem, it only creates others. Killing does not wipe out all evidence of the marriage- even if you kill the issue of the marriage the memories are still there.

Haleigh Cain- Rest in Peace

Originally posted on December 19, 2008 by Jaded.  Edited profanity out for this blog.

See original URL at

http://www.dreamindemon.com/2008/12/19/dennis-peewee-creamer-killed-haleigh/

Lynn Haven, FL

She was an adorable little girl. Her favorite book was Humpty-Dumpty. She loved to watch Elmo on TV. She like to be near her grandpa when he worked in the garage, she would sit out there with him and pound away on her little toy workbench. She liked to sneak into the fridge and eat apples, her favorite fruit. After having a little nibble, she would put the apple back. She had a beautiful smile and a mischevious sparkle in her eyes. Little Haleigh was just 2-years-old when she was brutally and savagely beaten to death. She was killed because she wanted some juice and cookies.

According to authorities, the family attended a bonfire the night of December 7. After returning home, Haleigh was put to bed. Her mother, Jessica Krusl, and her mother’s boyfriend, Dennis PeeWee Creamer, retired for the night. Little Haleigh wasn’t down for the night though; she wanted a snack. In her jammies, the little girl made her way to the kitchen for some juice and cookies. Somehow, she disturbed big, bad PeeWee’s slumber…and he was angered.

And that 25-year-old grown man took his anger out on a baby. He kicked Haleigh in the stomach. He threw her across the room. He repeatedly slammed her tiny head into the wall. He forced her to the floor several times. All this took place while her mother slept in the next room. When PeeWee was finished with the beating, he put little Haleigh back into her bed, and left her there. Alone.

PeeWee went back to sleep. Sometime later that night, Haleigh got out of her bed. I’m sure that little girl was trying to get to her mommy…so mommy could make the pain go away. She was halfway to the bedroom door when she collapsed and died. No one knows how long that little girl laid alone in the bedroom, suffering and slowly dying. When PeeWee woke the next day, he looked in on Haleigh and found her dead. He attempted to clean up some of the blood in the room, and left the residence. He left Haleigh there on the bedroom floor…he left her there for her mother to discover. A short time later, Jessica awoke and found Haleigh. Neighbors called 911 after Jessica emerged from the home, screaming.

The autopsy results are sickening. Haleigh suffered broken ribs, a ruptured spleen, a liver so badly damaged it was almost split in half. A ruptured pancreas, bruised kidneys and vertebrae. Her face was smashed so bad, her teeth came right through her tiny lips. The medical examiner is still trying to determine which of the injuries proved to be fatal. Police believe that Haleigh was unconscious or suffocating during most of the attack and might not have been able to cry or scream.

Initially, PeeWee told detectives the injuries occurred after an accidental fall. Detectives reenacted his story with a child-sized dummy, proving that there was no way those injuries were caused on accident. PeeWee finally confessed. He later performed a demonstration on the dummy, showing officers exactly what he did to Haleigh Marie Cain to cause her death.  PeeWee was arrested on Wednesday. He appeared in court on Thursday and was ordered held without bail. The charges are murder and aggravated child abuse. No one else has been charged, but police aren’t ruling out the possibility just yet.

Tabitha Tuders, missing since 2003

Debra Tuders could not shake the dream.

In her dream her family surrounded her: her son, her oldest daughter, her husband, and all of her grandchildren. They were all laughing and playing in nearby Shelby Park in the east area of Nashville, near where they lived. Overhead a plane flew and Debra looked up. Big, puffy, cartoon clouds bounced by, and suddenly her youngest child Tabitha appeared from the clouds.

Tabitha Tuders had been missing from the family for some time. On April 29, 2003 she left the house one morning on her way to the school bus stop. She was never seen again. But here she was, appearing in a dream.

“I called out to her, ‘stay with me, don’t go!’ But she smiled and disappeared. That’s the last dream I had of her.” Debra recalls.

Debra tells this story from her perch on the family couch, where she and her husband “Bo” Tuders invite visitors in to sit. The home has a relaxed feeling, and they welcome guests in as if you are already old friends. Except, “We had to have our house phone removed,” Bo explains; after Tabitha went missing, the crank calls began with kids calling and claiming to be the missing 13-year-old girl. Eventually you will wander into Tabitha’s room to see the Teddy bear collection or photos, the array of stuffed animal key chains and knick-knacks still kept in place. Her favorite bear was from Build-a-bear, dapperly dressed in shorts and a shirt. Tabitha kept her things neat and clean. Debra still cleans the room, although she has removed her daughter’s clothes from the closet.

Tabitha’s bedroom now houses her “MIssing” posters

Bo and Debra have lived in this house for over 20 years, a short drive from Shelby Park and the Cumberland River. They have raised a son and two daughters here. Native Nashvillians, they both worked hard and taught their children the value of an education. Both were proud when Tabitha had made straight A’s on her last report card, sang in the church choir, and had joined the local church. The little house became a home for the three of them when their oldest daughter and son moved out to start families of their own. Debra and Bo met young. “We met at his brother’s funeral,” Debra chuckles, nodding at Bo. “It sounds crazy, but it’s the truth.” Bo smiles mischievously, “She couldn’t pass up my charm.” In a time of high divorce rate and broken homes, these are two people that love one another dearly and adore their family, and gaps are left in both of their hearts with Tabitha gone; it is clearly evident.

Some days, after Tabitha went missing, Debra would leave work and drive down to Shelby Park. Alone, she would then walk up and down for miles along the banks of the Cumberland, thrashing through the waist-high weeds and pushing back the grasses and tangles of vines, searching for any sign. “I was trying to find something, anything, any sign of her.” Bo and Debra made their rounds of national talk shows, to include Montel Williams, sharing the screen with a famous psychic who claimed she was “never wrong;” after filming the psychic sent a representative to offer an off-camera private reading – for $700. Several Metro Police Detectives have handled the case through the years. Volunteers have combed the local areas multiple times. Family members created their own search teams, and have paid out of pocket for posters, flyers, and handouts with Tabitha’s photo and information. Six years later, Tabitha’s photo still hangs on the Tuder’s front porch and underneath it the word MISSING.

The Tuders were not errant parents or bad neighbors. When two local toddlers were found wandering the street unattended, The Tuders notified the police, fearful for the children’s well being. Tabitha was well mannered and her best friends were adults who she cared for. Both the Tuders radiate warmth and kindness, but at times Tabitha would pout that Debra was ‘too strict” with safety rules, such as refusing to let her play with children who shouted foul words at adults or had no rules at home. Now Debra sees these same children “in and out” of known drug dealer’s homes. The story of Tabitha’s 20-year-old boyfriend was a rumor; Tabitha had no boyfriend. Her attendance record at school was good, despite other rumors.
This much we know: Tabitha was not a “wild child” or “bad girl.” She had no history of illegal activity or even unruly behavior at home, school, or in her social life. Tabitha did not run away from home. Someone she knew, as she willingly got into a vehicle, per the last known witness who saw her, picked up Tabitha on April 29, 2003. According to the witness, the driver made a U-turn on Boscobel, and then drove toward Shelby. And this is where the story ends.

“Someone knows what happened,” a friend says sadly. Someone knows the rest of the story, the end of the saga, how the tale will end. They are just not telling, for fear it will implicate them. Until then two good parents, two fine people sit and wonder and wish the people who do know would come forth and talk. Until then an innocent little girl is missing and nothing is left but a well dressed Teddy bear, dusted and waiting on the single bed. Tabitha’s picture hangs, timeless, on the Tuder’s wall. Debra’s voice is fraught with tears when she wonders why her daughter would meet such fate. “She never did anything to hurt anybody.”

13 year old girl missing from Kentucky found safe

Sometime before 4:OO Saturday morning 13-year-old Haley Willett went missing.
24 hours later she was found several states away.
According to Willett’s family, 43- year old Archie Whalen drove from Maine to Owensboro to pick up the teen at her grandmother’s house.
Haley’s grandma and aunt say they are thankful the amber alert worked and Haley will be on her way back home soon.
“It’s been pretty rough not knowing where she’s at if she was safe not being able to contact her,” Tammi Taylor, the teen’s grandmother said.
Police say Whalen has a long criminal history in New York, including convictions for rape, burglary, and sexual contact with a minor.
Haley’s grandma says she was living with her mom and Whalen in Maine as recently as last week.
“My daughter lived in Maine for a couple weeks found out how this man was and decided to get her away, she came back here with me, evidently as soon as they left, he left soon after that to go get her,” Taylor said.
Police say Whalen was on the way to visit relatives near Sturgeon Bay, where he was arrested on a kidnapping warrant in a motel parking lot.
“I’m happy they got him behind bars and I hope he gets a lot of time for what he did to her,” said Kelsey Dockery, the girl’s aunt.
Whalen could be facing more than kidnapping charges.
Authorities are in the process of deciding if Whalen will face state or federal charges

UPDATE: Haley Willet has been found safe. Police say she was located with the suspected abductor Archie Whalen. Whalen has been arrested for kidnapping.

An amber alert has been issued after a 13-year-old girl went missing from her Western Daviess County home. Owensboro Police say Haley Willet was taken early Saturday morning and possibly in route to Hancock, Maine, New York City, or Florida. Police say the suspect is 43-year-old Archie Whalen. They say he is armed and dangerous. The two are believed to be in a 1998 red two door Ford Explorer with a Maine license plate 137RF. FOX 7 has learned the vehicle has scratches down both sides, most of which are on the passenger side door. If you have any information, call the Daviess County Sheriff’s Office at 270-685-8444.

Networking to spread awareness about missing persons cases. Pass it On!

This blog has been set up to help spread awareness for as many of the missing persons cases I can cover, as time permits.

I hope you will join me by getting these cases up on your various social networks, etc. The more attention that can be brought

to each one,  the better chance there is of that person being brought home safe and sound, or at least of their family getting

the closure that they need.

Pass it on….

Stokes County North Carolina: Lawson Family Christmas Day Tragedy

The Ballad of Charlie Lawson
Original Artist: The Carolina Buddies’
March 1930

It was on last Christmas evening
The snow was on the ground
At his home in North Carolina
The miner he was found

His name was Charlie Lawson
He had a loving wife
But they never knew what caused
To take his family’s life

They say he killed his wife at first
While the little ones did cry
“Please papa won’ you spare our lives
For it’s so hard to die”

But the raging man could not be stopped
He would not heed their call
He kept on firing fatal shots
Until he’d killed them all

They did not carry him to jail
No lawyer would he pay
They’ll have his trial in another land
On the final judgment day

They all were buried in a crowded grave
While the angels watched all above
Come home, come home my little ones
To the land of peace and love

And now farewell kind friends and home
I’ll see you here no more
But when we meet in another land
Our troubles will be o’er

 

FindaGrave Virtual Cemetery for the Lawson Family 

 

Background

Charlie Lawson’s parents, Augustus and Nancy, lived in the unincorporated community known as Lawsonville, located ten miles from Danbury, the Stokes county seat. He was born there and, in 1911, married Fannie Manring. They had eight children, but the third, William, born in 1914, died of an illness in 1920. In 1918, following the move of his younger brothers, Marion and Elijah, to the Germanton area, Lawson followed suit with his family. The Lawsons worked as sharecroppers, saving enough money by 1927 to buy their own farm on Brook Cove Road.

The murders

In 1929, shortly before Christmas, Charlie Lawson took his family (37-year-old wife Fannie and their children: Marie, 17; Arthur, 16; Carrie, 12; Maybell; 7, James, 4; Raymond, 2; and Mary Lou, 4 months) into town to buy new clothes and to have a family portrait taken. Since they were far from wealthy, this seemed unusual. The new clothes ultimately became burial outfits. On that day he began the slaughter with his daughters, Carrie and Maybell, who were setting out to their uncle and aunt’s house. Lawson waited for them by the tobacco barn; when they were in range, he shot them with a shotgun, then ensured that they were dead by bludgeoning them. He then placed the bodies in the tobacco barn.

Afterwards, he returned to the house and shot Fannie, who was on the porch. As soon as the gun was fired, Marie, who was inside, screamed, while the two small boys, James and Raymond, attempted to find a hiding place. Lawson shot Marie and then found and shot the two boys. Lastly, he killed the baby, Mary Lou. After the murders, he went into the nearby woods and, a few hours later, shot himself. The only survivor was his eldest son, 16 year-old Arthur, whom he had sent on an errand just before starting his deadly work. The bodies of the family members were found with their arms crossed and pillows under their heads. The gunshot signaling Charlie Lawson’s own suicide was heard by the many people who learned of the gruesome event on the property and had already gathered there. Some rushed towards the direction of the sound and found Charlie Lawson dead, with his two dogs by their master’s side. There were footprints, indicating he had been walking in a small circle for hours.

Speculation and rumors

There were rumors as to why Charlie Lawson would take the lives of himself and his family and it was speculated that Charlie did not murder his family at all, that it was staged to look as though Charlie had committed suicide. One of these explanations was that Charlie had witnessed an organized crime incident, and had been found out, and he and his family murdered for it. Another involves a black man Charlie had started a fight with. Neither of these rumors seemed plausible, or could fit with the facts. All signs obviously pointed to a murder/suicide.

Incest theory

It was not until the book White Christmas, Bloody Christmas, was published in 1990 that a strong claim surfaced. On interviewing many people regarding the Lawson family murder, the book’s authors, M. Bruce Jones and Trudy J. Smith found that several people recounted rumors, and stories regarding Charlie, Marie, and incest. In 1989 the authors had received a call from an anonymous woman. She said she had gone on a tour of the Lawson home shortly after the murders, and the tour guide had told about the incest rumor, which he stated as fact. The day before the book was to be published the authors received a phone call from Stella Lawson, daughter of Marion Lawson, and cousin to the Lawson children. They had already interviewed her for the book. On this occasion she told them she knew the truth as to why Charlie did it. Stella said that at the funeral for the Lawsons, she had overheard Fannie’s sisters-in-law and aunts discussing this. Fannie Lawson had confided in her sisters-in-law, including Stella’s mother Jettie Lawson. Fannie had apparently been concerned about Charlie and Marie. Jettie died in early 1928, meaning Fannie had been suspicious of the incest at least that long before the murders in late 1929.

Aftermath

Shortly after the murders, Charlie’s brother, Marion Lawson, opened the home on Brook Cove Road as a tourist attraction. A cake that Marie Lawson had baked on Christmas Day was displayed on the tour. Because visitors began to pick at the raisins on the cake to take as souvenirs, it was placed in a covered glass cake dish and thus preserved for many years.

Among the many remembrances of the event is a folk song entitled, “The Murder of the Lawson Family”. This song was recorded by the Stanley Brothers in March 1956, released by Columbia Records on the CD “An evening long ago” in 2004.
See Also: The Meaning of Our Tears

 

 

All of them gone but an eight month old baby…..

Motive for hanging deaths unknown

10:47 PM CDT on Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Associated Press

HUDSON OAKS — A young mother who may have been depressed apparently hanged three of her small daughters and herself in a closet using pieces of clothing and sashes, authorities said Tuesday.
A fourth child, an 8-month-old daughter, was also found dangling in the closet but was rescued by her aunt from the family’s mobile home.

“It’s horrendous. That’s all I can say,” Parker County Sheriff Larry Fowler said.

The latest from WFAA.

The woman was identified as Gilberta Estrada, 25. The infant, Evelyn Frayre, was in good condition at a hospital, Fowler said. Authorities did not immediately identify the other children, but Fowler said they were apparently ages 5, 3 and 2.
Filly Echeverria, who said she was the children’s godmother, identified the dead as Maria Teresa Estrada, Janet Frayre and Magaly Frayre.
After Estrada failed to show up for work, her sister, who lived nearby, forced her way into the locked residence in the Oak Hills mobile home park, about 25 miles west of Fort Worth in this rural community of 1,600 people.

KHOU – TV

Alejandra Estrada discovered the baby was still alive when she made a noise, authorities said. She called 911 and said through sobs that the infant was dying. She and her daughter called back two more times to ask the ambulance to hurry, according to a tape of the calls.
The sheriff said the hangings appeared to be murder-suicide because the trailer’s doors were locked from the inside and a relative said the woman had been depressed.
The young mother and her girls were last seen alive Monday evening, he said.

WFAA – TV

The sheriff said Estrada had won a temporary restraining order in August against Gregorio Frayre Rodriguez, who was believed to be the father of the infant and some of the other children, after an attack on Estrada.
The sheriff said the couple had stopped living together in February. Tuesday was the first emergency police call to Estrada’s trailer, and authorities said there was no evidence that Frayre abused the girls.
A telephone listing for Frayre, 38, could not immediately be located.
“I just got a big kick out of watching the kids play over there on her porch, and today it’s sad, very sad,” neighbor Joyce Harris said as other trailer park residents milled about on their porches, some crying and talking softly about the deaths.
Estrada’s trailer was dilapidated, with paint peeling off the brown and white mobile home. Cactus plants and a rose bush decorated the front. Toys and a bicycle littered the back yard.
Texas has seen a number of child killings by mothers in recent years.
Less than five years earlier, another Hudson Oaks family was torn apart when Dee Etta Perez, 39, shot her three children, ages 4, 9 and 10, before killing herself.
Andrea Yates drowned her five children in the family’s Houston bathtub in 2001. In 2003, Deanna Laney beat her two young sons to death with stones in East Texas, and Lisa Ann Diaz drowned her daughters in a Plano bathtub. Dena Schlosser fatally severed her 10-month-old daughter’s arms with a kitchen knife in 2004.
All four of those women were found innocent by reason of insanity. Yates initially was convicted of capital murder, but that verdict was overturned on appeal.