News from the Lone Star State

[TexasStooge]

FW man ID'd among bodies in van

Police trying to confirm identities of two others

By JEFF MOSIER and SELWYN CRAWFORD / The Dallas Morning News

FORT WORTH, Texas – The family of Lonnie Leffall thought the remains of the 93-year-old retired barber were buried next to his wife after he died in September 2000.

Now they are not sure what happened to his body before and after the funeral. Mr. Leffall was one of three elderly men – two of whom are still unidentified – whose remains were discovered this week in a van parked in a Hurst neighborhood. Police said they believe that the bodies were stored in the van owned by a mortuary transportation service since late last year.

"It's pathetic the way things are turning out," said Waymon Lefall, a nephew of Lonnie Leffall. "You read about this stuff. When it comes to one of your own, that's something else."

Wanda Williams of DeSoto, Mr. Leffall's great niece, said she had purchased an urn for her uncle's ashes from Williams Funeral Home in Fort Worth.

"They told me if I wanted to go out to the cemetery when they put it in the ground, I could, but I chose not to," she said. "So I'm assuming that they went ahead and did it. My understanding from the funeral home is there is something in that urn, and they're going to dig it up."

Pamela Moore, the daughter of Waymon Lefall, said she was told the body was cremated after his death.

"Williams Funeral Home supposedly gave us his ashes," she said. "That's what we were told."

Mr. Leffall's wife, Naomi Leffall, died in 1997 at the age of 82.

Johnny Stanley Jr., one of the owners of Williams Funeral Chapel, declined to comment about the origins of the ashes provided to the Leffall family.

"I couldn't say until the investigation is over with," he said.

Ms. Williams said the ordeal started when the medical examiner's office called her and asked for the name of her uncle's doctor and dentist so they could identify him.

"I took care of him. I loved him," she said. "Can you imagine burying a loved one 41/2 years ago, and now this comes up again? ... It has been not just traumatic, but emotionally draining."

Ms. Williams said her uncle's remains were supposed to have been cremated Friday. She said she plans to examine the ashes this time.

Mr. Stanley said he knew Mr. Leffall, whose barbershop was a couple of blocks from the funeral home. Mr. Stanley declined to comment further, citing consideration for his family.

Officials said Williams Funeral Chapel contracted with North Star Transportation Service, owned by Donald Short, to transport cadavers.

Lt. Mark Krey, a Fort Worth police spokesman, said it appears the bodies found this week were kept at various cold storage facilities until about November or December and then moved to the van. They were discovered Wednesday morning after Mr. Short's vehicle was repossessed.

Dental and fingerprint experts at the Tarrant County medical examiner's office identified Mr. Leffall on Friday. They were still trying to determine the identities of the two other men.

All three were believed to have died in 1999 or 2000 and were supposed to have been cremated.

Early Friday night, police had not filed charges against Mr. Short, who could not be reached for comment.

Police said that Mr. Short was cooperating but that his paperwork was a mess. That disorganization was hampering the efforts to identify the bodies.

Mr. Leffall was described as a well-known barber in the Stop Six neighborhood where he lived and worked as long as anyone could remember.

Before his death in 2000 at age 93, he cut the hair of countless generations in his East Fort Worth neighborhood, rarely calling attention to himself. His old neighbors and friends were horrified to learn that Mr. Leffall had become the center of media attention 41/2 years after his death.

"It's terrible," said Jessie Polk, who owns a barbershop near Mr. Leffall's old business. "I can't understand how that could happen."

Those who knew Mr. Leffall shook their head in disbelief when they heard the news.

"It's shocking that it took so long to find," said Algie Wilburn, a former neighbor. "Whoever is responsible should be liable for this."

Ms. Williams said that to know her uncle was "to love him."

"I guess the reason he made me the executor was I loved to sit and listen to him tell me stories about my grandfather," she said. "He didn't have a car. I took him to his doctor's appointment. I took him out to eat."

Mr. Wilburn, 69, said he first met Mr. Leffall at his barbershop, a gathering place for many in the neighborhood. Mr. Wilburn was only 10, but he remembered Mr. Leffall as a quiet, good-natured man who went about his business and was the definition of an upstanding citizen.

"He was a gentleman who never got his name in the paper," Mr. Wilburn said.

LaGina Thomas grew up two houses away from Mr. Leffall's barbershop on Ramey Avenue.

"He was a nice man, very private," the 39-year-old said. "Cutting hair, that's what he loved doing."

She still remembers the times Mr. Leffall gave her free strawberry soda from the drink machine in his shop.

Ms. Polk said she still appreciates Mr. Leffall for giving her a start in the business. He hired her in 1967, when she was fresh out of barber college. She worked there and at other area shops before opening her own business in 1974.

"He was legend in his time," she said. "He cut hair until he just got too old."

Ms. Williams said her husband reminded her that it was just her uncle's shell that had been left in a van for years.

"But still, when you think about his shell bouncing around for three or four years, it kind of blows you away," she said.

[TexasStooge]

Woman suspected of swindling law firms arrested

By DON WALL / WFAA ABC 8

NEWS 8 EXCLUSIVE

DALLAS, Texas - Police in Dallas have finally arrested a woman suspected of swindling lawyers in Houston.

It all started with a suspicious co-worker whose Internet search uncovered the apparent con artist.

Dallas police arrested Tamera Montgomery for felony theft after a series of crimes allegedly committed against several law firms in Houston, where she briefly worked as a paralegal.

Montgomery kept changing jobs before the law could catch up with her, and she might have continued her apparent crime spree in Dallas if not for that co-worker.

Shawn Sutherland, a law clerk at the Storm Law Firm on the 71st floor of the Bank of America Tower in downtown Dallas, briefly worked with Montgomery.

"Certain things just didn't add up," Sutherland said. "She took a job, worked a week, then was sick a week, then quit abruptly. It was just a vibe."

Because Sutherland was suspicious, he did a Google search of her name and found a news story done by News 8's sister station KHOU. As it turns out, Montgomery was wanted by Houston police.

"Then it popped up with her photograph, and that's her," Sutherland said. "She sounds like she's got experience playing cons."

Sutherland called Houston reporter Jeff McShann, who called police.

As it turns out, eight Houston law firms had complaints, including thefts of checks. In one instance, jewelry from an estate case, locked in a safe deposit box, disappeared from a law firm - and so did Montgomery.

The jewelry later showed up at a local pawn shop.

"She'll go in and work at a business two to three weeks and gain their trust," said Rick Anderson of the Houston Police Department. "She'll get a paycheck, and go in and steal business checks, make them out to herself and go into mom and pop stores and cash the checks."

Montgomery was apparently shopping her resume to other North Texas law firms when she was arrested.

"I feel bad for her in a way, because her life is so messed up," Sutherland said. "But it definitely made for an exciting Friday afternoon."

[TexasStooge]

Parts of Plano still offline

By MARISSA ALANIS / The Dallas Morning News

PLANO, Texas -- About 1,400 homes and small businesses in west Plano were without telephone service or Internet connectivity Friday as the result of a damaged cable, and the outage is expected to last throughout the weekend.

A subcontractor for a water company inadvertently sliced through a Verizon underground cable at about 2 p.m. Thursday.The subcontractor was performing new construction work at the southeast corner of Preston and Parker roads.

Since Thursday, Verizon crews have been on the scene splicing around the damaged cable. The cable contains 3,000 copper phone lines. Technicians are working 15 feet underground.

“In their left hands, they have one phone line and in their right hands they have the other,” said Bill Kula, a Verizon spokesman. "They have to match up and find which line corresponds to another through our phone testing.”

Mr. Kula said while the crews are making progress, it is too early to project when the restoration will be completed.

[TexasStooge]

Fallen from the ranks

As Armin Cruz returns to Plano after serving time in the Abu Ghraib abuse scandal, an uncertain future awaits.

By SCOTT FARWELL / The Dallas Morning News

PLANO, Texas - At Abu Ghraib, Armin Cruz handcuffed defenseless Iraqi men together in a sexually humiliating embrace. He put his foot on their backsides and pushed, to simulate homosexual thrusting. He forced them to low-crawl across a cement floor, scraping their genitals until it hurt.

In Plano, he was an after-school counselor at Christie Elementary School. He was known to sprawl on the floor with kids for hours, helping with homework, coloring pictures, playing cards. He was gentle, his co-workers say, and patient.

Mr. Cruz, a military intelligence analyst and 24-year-old college student from Plano, was sentenced in September to eight months in jail for his role in abuse of Iraqi prisoners, an international scandal that put a grotesque, obscene face on the American military.

When he returns home to Plano in a few days, with time off for good behavior, he will be the first soldier convicted of crimes at Abu Ghraib to face another judgment – that of his hometown.

Mr. Cruz does not appear in the most shocking photos from the infamous prison, those that show soldiers with devilish grins, thumbs up, next to battered corpses. But in one published image, he is standing, hands on hips, in shorts and shower shoes, looking at a tangle of nude bodies.

Were it not for that frozen moment, and a tearful admission at his court-martial nearly a year later, those who know Mr. Cruz – friends, former teachers, Army buddies – say they would not believe it.

The young man they know was a stickler for rules, unfailingly polite, tender-hearted.

"All of us were appalled to see and hear what happened in that prison," said Dr. Scherry Johnson, associate dean and director of teacher development at the University of Texas at Dallas. "How could this student we know be so different from this portrayal on the news? So we look for reasons."

Was he following orders? He says, "No."

Did he cave in to peer pressure? Maybe, but Mr. Cruz testified, "there is no way to justify" the abuse.

Did the war make him do it? Mr. Cruz has been found to have post-traumatic stress disorder.

Attack's emotional scars

Like many others, Dr. Johnson considers her former student, who joined the Army Reserves in September 2000, more misunderstood than malevolent.

A mortar attack at Abu Ghraib in September 2003 killed two soldiers, including Mr. Cruz's boss and best friend, 26-year-old David Travis Friedrich. Mr. Cruz took five pieces of shrapnel and was awarded the Purple Heart, but those who know him say his emotional wounds never healed.

He had recurring nightmares and hallucinations. He relived the blinding white light of the blast, the sight of his friend's shredded body, the emptiness in his eyes as he died.

Mr. Cruz testified that he asked a senior sergeant for counseling after the attack, but it was denied. Soldiers who served with Mr. Cruz at Abu Ghraib, and court documents, support that assertion. He has since been diagnosed and is being treated for post-traumatic stress disorder.

Even so, Maj. Michael Holley, the Army's lead prosecutor, argued during Mr. Cruz's court-martial that the 1998 Plano Senior High School graduate had every advantage – loving parents, a good education and an upbringing steeped in military discipline and moral decision-making.

Armin Jose Cruz, Mr. Cruz's father, was the first Cuban-American to graduate from West Point, in 1977. Mr. Cruz's mother, Doreen, is a middle school teacher and former nun.

Mr. Cruz, according to the Army attorney, betrayed his family's values and those of his country.

"There is a very fine, but distinct and important line between an Army in the service of the nation and a mob of armed individuals each seeking their own interests," Maj. Holley said during the court-martial. "We must hold, at all costs, to the right side of that line."

Stephen Karns, Mr. Cruz's Dallas attorney, said the question is not whether Mr. Cruz deserves to be punished – he pleaded guilty, apologized to the Iraqi prisoners and accepted full responsibility for his actions. The question is one of fairness.

Mr. Cruz's "mistake at Abu Ghraib does not define his character – it contradicts it," Mr. Karns wrote in an appeal of his client's sentence.

"He's not saying he's not guilty because he was denied counseling," Mr. Karns said. "But it factored into his decision-making. How much did it impact Armin? We'll never know."

Mr. Cruz's untreated stress disorder may have clouded his judgment, he said, when a soldier from his unit, Spc. Roman Krol, shook him awake about 10 p.m. on Oct. 25, 2003.

Mr. Krol, a military intelligence interrogator at Abu Ghraib, told Mr. Cruz that three Iraqi prisoners had raped a 15-year-old boy, and military police guards were punishing them. He then asked Mr. Cruz what proved to be a fateful question: "Wanna check it out?"

'Crossed the line?'

Mr. Karns said his client did not orchestrate the abuse that night at Abu Ghraib, as alleged by some of the prison guards. He says Mr. Cruz did not smile, laugh or pose for trophy-type photos with the prisoners.

But in published reports and public testimony, two GIs who were not charged in the scandal said Mr. Cruz seemed to take perverse pleasure in the Iraqis' pain.

Kenneth Davis, a former sergeant in the Maryland-based 372nd Military Police Company, said that at one point in the hourlong abuse, Mr. Cruz turned to him and asked sarcastically, "Do you think we crossed the line?"

Mr. Davis said he replied, "I'm not sure – you are MI [military intelligence]." He said Mr. Cruz told him the men were being interrogated and said, "We know what we are doing."

Spc. Israel Rivera, a military intelligence analyst like Mr. Cruz from the 321st Reserve Battalion in Austin, said the military police guards were in control.

Mr. Rivera said Mr. Cruz told him that one of the men "held the boy and the other one ... raped the boy." The third detainee was said to have witnessed the crime but would not provide an accurate account of what happened.

Like most prisoners at Abu Ghraib, the three Iraqi men – Wassam Muhammed Athab Al-Jamaeli, Yasser Ashurr Nyuf Al-Delami and Khalid Mohseim Flayah Al-M'Hamadaoui – were accused of crimes, not considered terrorists with intelligence value, and would not normally have been interrogated by military intelligence analysts such as Mr. Cruz.

An investigation revealed that the men were innocent of rape.

In testimony, Mr. Rivera said Mr. Cruz considered the abuse "entertainment."

The three Iraqi men were naked in a cell and a guard was shouting obscenities at them through a megaphone when Mr. Rivera and Mr. Cruz arrived. The guards pulled the men out of the room and ordered them to lie on their stomachs and crawl around the floor.

Mr. Rivera said Mr. Cruz then assisted in handcuffing the Iraqi men together, shouted homosexual slurs at them and demanded that they admit to raping a young male prisoner.

"Cruz and the other people were making them act as though they were having sex – using their feet to push on the detainees' hips so they would be touching each other," Mr. Rivera said. "The detainees were screaming for Allah, begging them, and begging me to make them stop."

Patriot, idealist

Mr. Cruz, a barrel-chested lifeguard with a black belt in karate, volunteered to deploy to Iraq in spring 2003, even though he could have finished his final semester of college, earned his teaching degree and joined the ROTC as an officer.

But Mr. Cruz was patriotic and idealistic, his friends say.

After the mortar attack, that changed.

Where once his phone calls and e-mails home were breezy and self-assured, the tone became intense and panicked.

"With all this stuff happening, I really need prayer," said friend Kitty Martin, 34, paraphrasing a note home from Mr. Cruz. "He said he was dealing with a lot of emotions because his friend just died in front of him."

And even though most of Mr. Cruz's supporters say his behavior in the incident at the Baghdad Central Confinement Facility at Abu Ghraib is morally indefensible, they say he should not be condemned.

By its nature, they say, war is inhumane.

The result is that good men and women become desensitized, and sometimes, good people are dehumanized.

"I think all the guys over there ... come back with some sort of emotional trauma," said Stephanie Wright, a physician who dated Mr. Cruz before he deployed to Iraq. "He has a lot of guilt for what he was doing and what he was expected to do in that war."

Ms. Wright said she and Mr. Cruz exchanged e-mails and spoke on the phone at least once a week while he was in Iraq. She recounted a conversation with Mr. Cruz that she said offers insight into what he was dealing with at Abu Ghraib, and how he was feeling.

"They look at me straight in the face and they tell me they want to kill me," Mr. Cruz told her. "You hear that every day, and eventually you don't have compassion for them anymore."

Before judging her friend, Ms. Wright said, people should consider other evidence of his character.

Several years ago in a college class, Mr. Cruz met a single mother who was estranged from her family and feeling alone. He brought the young woman and her son home and asked his family to take them in.

As recently as last summer, the woman and her child still had a bedroom in the Cruzes' Plano home.

"Though there is no biological connection, nor a romantic relationship, Armin sensed a woman and child in need, and was willing to respond," wrote Mr. Cruz's mother, Doreen, in court papers. "The love our son demonstrated for this child was the most pure and tender of any we have witnessed in all of our combined years. [This child] has grown up with the love and support of our family unit, and a father-figure through our son."

Skewed judgment

Dr. Clyde Flanagan, a retired Army colonel who spent nearly 20 years treating Vietnam veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder, said soldiers accused of abuses are typically guilty of errors in judgment, not flaws in character.

Severe stress and mortal fear, said the psychiatrist and professor at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine, often clamps off soldiers' ability to think through problems.

"Where otherwise, they may think of alternatives when appraising a situation," said Dr. Flanagan, who has not examined Mr. Cruz, "they may become more limited in their alternatives ... and overlook long-term consequences."

Then, when soldiers see their buddies killed or find their bodies mutilated, as happened in Vietnam, there is no rational outlet for the aggression.

"That's when you get these soldiers going into a village and killing women and children," he said. "They couldn't discriminate."

In testimony at his September court-martial in Baghdad, that's essentially what Mr. Cruz said happened to him at Abu Ghraib.

When asked why he participated in the abuse, Mr. Cruz said he saw the Iraqi prisoners as "three guys who killed two soldiers, injured me, injured my boss" in the mortar attack.

Staff Sgt. Fred Krapf, 51, lived in the same "hooch" with Mr. Cruz at Abu Ghraib, and worked side-by-side with him performing first aid on their mortally wounded comrade.

After he learned his friend had died, he said Mr. Cruz insisted they visit his body in a makeshift morgue to grieve and say goodbye.

Illuminated by a flashlight, Mr. Cruz knelt before the refrigerated vault the size of a single-car garage. He placed his hand on his friend's leg and dissolved into tears.

"I can't believe he's gone," Mr. Cruz said, sobbing. "I can't believe this happened."

Hours later, the two men climbed on top of a bomb-damaged former Iraqi Republican Guard barracks in Baghdad. Silence hung between them, except for the occasional helicopter shredding the air as it landed at a nearby airport.

Mr. Cruz tossed rocks into an empty field and wondered out loud if there was anything more he could have done to save his buddy.

"I assured him, 'Armin, you were phenomenal,' " Sgt. Krapf said. " 'You took charge. You did everything you possibly could. You wouldn't give up, and that says a lot about the kind of person you are. Don't blame yourself.' "

Sgt. Krapf said Mr. Cruz leaned on him that night because he was an older, more experienced soldier.

"The more time you have in a calm environment after something like that, your mind races," Sgt. Krapf said. "You ask, 'Why me? Why not me?' You ask all the what-ifs."

What lies ahead?

The next big question for Mr. Cruz: What happens when he returns home?

His attorney, Mr. Karns, said his client still plans to finish working toward his teaching degree, and like his mother, become a public school teacher.

That prospect faded late last month, though, when Lt. Gen. Thomas Metz, former commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, denied a legal request to overturn Mr. Cruz's bad-conduct discharge.

That quiet campaign for clemency was led by Mr. Cruz's attorney and his parents, and buttressed by more than 40 letters of support from Mr. Cruz's college professors, a handful of teachers and principals from the Plano Independent School District, and two Plano police officers.

But perhaps Mr. Cruz's most powerful advocate was Maj. Holley, the man who prosecuted him. In December, he wrote a letter to Lt. Gen. Metz:

"My professional assessment is that ... Private Cruz's life was marked by distinction, by genuine selfless-service to others, and by honorable conduct. I recommend that clemency in some form be granted."

Texas' teacher licensing board will ultimately decide whether Mr. Cruz can work in a public school classroom.

Jim Thompson, the lead lawyer for the State Board for Educator Certification, said the state would consider whether Mr. Cruz's conviction suggests he may be a threat to students.

"I don't think we'll find a precedent on this offense," he said, "but it's not that hard to draw an analogy to assaultive behavior of abuse of authority type behaviors. You can draw your own conclusion about the likely outcome."

In what could be seen as either a tragic irony or poetic justice, Mr. Cruz says he himself was abused while being held in a military prison in Germany.

After Mr. Cruz complained, he was eventually moved to a military jail in South Carolina, where he is serving the balance of his sentence. An investigation into the incident is ongoing, said Mr. Karns, who would not provide further details.

Dr. Johnson, Mr. Cruz's UTD professor, said she and others were stunned that "someone we knew got caught up in a terrible situation for themselves and the country and those prisoners," she said.

"One of the saddest parts of this war is that lots of kids come back very different."

[TexasStooge]

Elvis exhibit to grace next State Fair

Now and then, there's an exhibit such as State Fair's

By DAVID FLICK / The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS, Texas - After nearly 50 years, the spirit of Elvis will return this year to the State Fair of Texas – or at least his red crushed-velvet bedspread will.

The bedspread, which once lay on the King's 9-by-9-foot bed in Graceland, will be among 250 Elvis artifacts on display at the Hall of State when the fair opens next fall.

So will the "Tree of Life" pendant that friends gave Elvis for his 30th birthday – which became his favorite piece of jewelry – and the Drug Enforcement Administration badge he received from President Richard Nixon.

Then there are the garish rings, his Army induction papers and his employee identification from Precision Tool Co., where he held his first job.

And what would an Elvis extravaganza be without the King's white two-piece leather suit he wore in a Las Vegas floor show?

The items will be the centerpiece of an exhibit dedicated to the history of rock 'n' roll and organized by the Dallas Historical Society. It will also pay tribute to Texas musicians who influenced Mr. Presley and those who were influenced by him.

But there will be no mistaking the center of attention.

"The Elvis artifacts are what are going to grab people," said Alan Olson, the society's director of collections. "The other stuff is nice, but what people are going to come out to see is Elvis."

Mr. Olson said fair organizers decided on the musical theme after a series of years when the top historical draws were exhibits on Bonnie and Clyde, World War II and the assassination of President Kennedy.

"We thought we'd do something this year to get away from death and destruction," he said.

The Elvis artifacts are part of "The King's Ransom," a traveling exhibit assembled by three longtime collectors. Russ Howe, one of the three partners, said the artifacts were accumulated over 30 years.

"It started out as a hobby and became a sickness," he said.

Mr. Howe's favorite part of the collection is the Bible found on the singer's nightstand the day he died.

"I like it because it's so personal," he said. "You look at it, and you can see all the verses he underlined."

Among those who have vowed to see the Fair Park exhibit is Betty Pitcock, who attended the Elvis Presley concert at the Cotton Bowl on Oct. 21, 1956.

Ms. Pitcock, 77, who lives near White Rock Lake, said: "I don't remember many details about it, other than that he was wonderful. He was just like he was advertised on television."

Although Elvis was still at an early stage in his career and not quite respectable to mainstream tastes, he received an enthusiastic reception at the State Fair.

"They say women threw their panties at his feet, but I don't remember anything like that," Ms. Pitcock said. "We weren't in seats close enough where we could see the bottom of his legs, so I can't say for sure."

At the end of the concert, people just "cheered and cheered and cheered."

Ms. Pitcock was among them.

"I was a fan then," she said, "and I've never stopped being a fan."

[TexasStooge]

Free formula for new moms may end

By REBECCA RODRIGUEZ / WFAA ABC 8

DALLAS, Texas - Those diaper bags full of free infant formula that go home with new moms might soon be a thing of the past.

Critics said the free formula is bad for breastfeeding, and there is now an effort in the Texas Legislature to ban the practice.

Tiffany Lauterbach is still basking in the afterglow of becoming a mother for the first time. She has lots of plans for two-day-old Gracie, among them a decision to breastfeed.

"My intention is six months for the short term goal," Lauterbach said. "12 months is the long term."

But when she packs up to go home in a couple of days, she'll get one of the diaper bags with a generous sample of infant formula.

Presbyterian Hospital's lactation coordinator Nuala Murphy said it sends new moms a mixed message - and may even set them up for failure.

"The research is showing us that moms who are getting free formula (or) babies who are getting supplements in the hospital ... these moms are having a hard time getting their milk supply established," Murphy said.

Breastfeeding may seem like a natural thing to do, but the bottom line is it's just not that simple. Studies show that while a vast majority of moms intend to breastfeed, less than three months after giving birth only 27 percent actually succeed at it.

Several bills filed in the Legislature aim to encourage breastfeeding by banning the formula gift bags. Formula would still be available when it is medically necessary, and for low-income families.

Some believe it'll work because it leaves a new mother no choice.

"The milk supply is a supply-and-demand issue, so the more she nurses the more milk she'll have," said Vicky Suarez of the La Leche League.

It might seem like a tough-love approach to new moms, but experts believe with such overwhelming evidence about the benefits of breast milk, it's an attitude whose time has come.

[TexasStooge]

Couple Faces Murder Charges In Infants' Deaths

HOUSTON, Texas (KPRC NBC 2) - A Conroe father's statement to police about the death of his 2-month-old son was the subject of a pretrial hearing Friday for his capital murder trial, Local 2 reported.

Bruce Moren, 26, has been charged with capital murder of a baby boy, 2-month old Kyle Moren, in August 2003, and a baby girl, 5-month-old Cheyenne Moren, in January 2001.

Bruce Moren appeared before a judge Friday for a pretrial hearing. The judge is expected to decide if his statements to police would be admissible for his upcoming capital murder trial.

In that statement, Bruce Moren's attorney Gerald Bourque said his client told investigators that he possibly caused the baby's deaths by wrapping the children too tight in their blankets.

Despite that statement, Bourque said his client his innocent.

"Even the explanation of 'I must have wrapped the baby too tightly,' really is in response to information he has received from law enforcement officers," Bourque said.

Local 2 asked Bourque why his client made that statement.

"He's trying to find out what happened," Bourque said.

Investigators originally thought Jessica and Bruce Moren's son died of sudden infant death syndrome in 2003. However, investigators became suspicious when they discovered that the couple's daughter died of the same illness in 2001.

In September 2004, a judge charged the couple with capital murder in the infants' deaths.

"At first, (the medical examiner) thought it was a SIDS death due to natural causes. But after looking at this case more closely, and also looking at the fact that there was another child in the same home that died -- probably in the same manner -- (the medical examiner) changed the findings from natural causes to possible suffocation," Child Protective Services spokesperson Estella Olguin told Local 2 during a September 2004 interview.

The Morens remain in the Montgomery County Jail in lieu of $250,000 bond each on capital murder charges after their Sept. 13 arrests at their Conroe apartment.

Bruce Moren's mother told Local 2 in September that her son is innocent of the charges and never hurt his children. But she and other sources said they went through the couple's apartment after they were arrested and found disturbing items that raised serious questions about the children's mother.

Local 2 reported that Bruce Moren was not the biological father of either child. He reportedly met Jessica Moren when she was pregnant with her first child. After the first child died, the couple separated but reunited when she was pregnant again with someone else's child.

Jessica Moren, currently in jail, is pregnant with her third child.

Officials said Bruce Moren worked as a prison guard for the Texas Department of Corrections, and Jessica Moren works for a temp agency.

Panorama Village Police Chief Jim Green told the Houston Chronicle in September that he could not disclose why investigators are treating the 2003 case as a homicide. But the police inquiry prompted Conroe police to reopen the case into the Jan. 18, 2001, death of Jessica Moren's daughter, Cheyenne.

If convicted in court of capital murder, the Morens could be sentenced to death.

[TexasStooge]

Police Arrest 17-Year-Old Sex Assault Suspect

HOUSTON, Texas (KPRC NBC 2) - Police arrested a 17-year-old boy who they said sexually assaulted and kidnapped a woman at knifepoint from her south Houston apartment, Local 2 reported Friday.

Donnie Leonard Ware, 17, was charged with aggravated kidnapping and aggravated sexual assault Friday for allegedly breaking into a woman's apartment in the 2800 block of Ruth and sexually assaulting her numerous times early Tuesday morning.

Investigators said the suspect threatened the woman with a knife and stole cash from her purse before forcing her, at knifepoint, to get dressed and get into her car, where the two drove to an ATM.

However, officials said when Ware's attempt to get more cash was unsuccessful, he forced the victim out of her car and drove away with her cell phone.

Police recovered the vehicle a short time later with three people inside, one of whom was Ware.

But the suspect ran. Police took the other two passengers into custody.

Investigators said they determined Ware's identity by calls he made on the victim's cell phone, and he was eventually located in a residence near the victim's apartment.

Police said Ware is also wanted in Arizona on an aggravated sexual assault and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon charges.

Anyone with information should call HPD's Sex Crimes Unit at (713) 308-1180.

[TexasStooge]

Charity Catches Thieves Stealing Donations

HOUSTON, Texas (KPRC NBC 2) - Some bold thieves in Atascosita have been helping themselves to donated clothes and items meant to help charities expecting to help people in need, Local 2 reported Thursday.

Police said a charity targeted by the thieves set up a surveillance sting Monday and caught two men in the act of stealing the donated items.

Authorities identified the suspects as David Noe and James Holt, and estimated that the men had stolen about $20,000 from several charities.

People who made the donations told Local 2 they were outraged to learn what happened to their donations.

Noe and Holt have been charged with burglary of a building because they had to cut locks to break into one of the collection boxes.

[TexasStooge]

90 MPH Crash Kills Wrong-Way Driver

HOUSTON, Texas (KPRC NBC 2) - A driver died Friday morning after he drove the wrong way on a west Houston freeway at speeds of more than 90 mph, police told Local 2.

Police said the Honda Civic slammed into a telephone pole before hitting a pickup truck that was sitting at a red light at about 1:30 a.m. on Highway 6 at Piping Rock Lane.

The driver of the Honda died upon impact.

Witnesses told investigators the driver was flying down the wrong side of the road and never slowed down before he lost control of his vehicle.

Police are waiting on a medical examiner's report to determine if alcohol was involved in the crash.

"It could be alcohol. It could be drugs, or it could be a medical condition. We don't know," Houston Police Department Officer Rosalie Stafford said.

Local 2 reported that the driver of the pickup truck was shaken up but not hurt in the collision.

[TexasStooge]

Homeland Money for West Lake

WEST LAKE, Texas (KEYE CBS 42) - The West Lake fire department is one of six in Texas receiving a new round of grant money from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. West Lake firefighters will receive $440,000 to help purchase new equipment, upgrade medical services and help fund education programs.

[TexasStooge]

San Antonio PD Busts 3 With Cocaine, Money, Weapons

SAN ANTONIO, Texas (KSAT ABC 12) - A month-long investigation put three men behind bars Saturday evening, facing federal charges after San Antonio police busted them with drugs, money and weapons.

The bust happened at about 4:30 p.m. Saturday. Officers with SAPD's gang detail and narcotics unit seized nine kilograms of cocaine, $6,600 in counterfeit money and a shotgun.

Officers followed the men to a house on Gavilan Drive, where they thought a drug transaction might take place. Shortly afterward, they surrounded the truck and arrested the men.

"These are not normal street dealers," said Sgt. Sam Esparza, of the SAPD. "These are traffickers. There is a big supplier out there who is supplying to these individuals."

Officers said the drugs have a street value of about $900,000.

Officers said this bust could lead to more arrests.

[TexasStooge]

50 Rounds Exchanged During Police Shootout

SCHERTZ, Texas (KSAT ABC 12) - A Schertz police officer escaped serious injury late Thursday despite a hail of gunfire from two weapons allegedly fired by a 48-year-old Comal County man he had stopped for speeding.

Schertz Police Chief Stephen Starr said Officer Richard Kunz pulled over Michael Kennedy for speeding on north Interstate 35 near FM 1103 at 11:30 p.m. when the officer noticed Kennedy was carrying a handgun.

Seconds later, Kennedy then allegedly took out an assault-style rifle out of his Toyota Corolla and emptied 30 rounds from an AK-47 and then from a .9mm handgun, Starr said.

Kunz, hidden behind his cruiser, managed to fire off 16 shots, three of them hit Kennedy in the back and neck. Kennedy was listed Friday in serious condition at Brooke Army Medical Center.

Kunz was not hurt but his patrol car was riddled with 30 bullets.

"Our officer was extremely lucky," Starr said. "We do a lot of firearms training here, and he reverted to the training that we initiated here at the department and everything fell into place. And that's what we look for."

Starr said three weapons and several magazines of ammunition, including a sidearm in a holster, were recovered from Kennedy's car.

Kennedy faces attempted capital murder charges.

The Texas Rangers are investigating.

Kunz was placed on administrative leave with pay while the investigation is ongoing.

[rainstorm]

Couple Faces Murder Charges In Infants' Deaths

HOUSTON, Texas (KPRC NBC 2) - A Conroe father's statement to police about the death of his 2-month-old son was the subject of a pretrial hearing Friday for his capital murder trial, Local 2 reported.

Bruce Moren, 26, has been charged with capital murder of a baby boy, 2-month old Kyle Moren, in August 2003, and a baby girl, 5-month-old Cheyenne Moren, in January 2001.

Bruce Moren appeared before a judge Friday for a pretrial hearing. The judge is expected to decide if his statements to police would be admissible for his upcoming capital murder trial.

In that statement, Bruce Moren's attorney Gerald Bourque said his client told investigators that he possibly caused the baby's deaths by wrapping the children too tight in their blankets.

Despite that statement, Bourque said his client his innocent.

"Even the explanation of 'I must have wrapped the baby too tightly,' really is in response to information he has received from law enforcement officers," Bourque said.

Local 2 asked Bourque why his client made that statement.

"He's trying to find out what happened," Bourque said.

Investigators originally thought Jessica and Bruce Moren's son died of sudden infant death syndrome in 2003. However, investigators became suspicious when they discovered that the couple's daughter died of the same illness in 2001.

In September 2004, a judge charged the couple with capital murder in the infants' deaths.

"At first, (the medical examiner) thought it was a SIDS death due to natural causes. But after looking at this case more closely, and also looking at the fact that there was another child in the same home that died -- probably in the same manner -- (the medical examiner) changed the findings from natural causes to possible suffocation," Child Protective Services spokesperson Estella Olguin told Local 2 during a September 2004 interview.

The Morens remain in the Montgomery County Jail in lieu of $250,000 bond each on capital murder charges after their Sept. 13 arrests at their Conroe apartment.

Bruce Moren's mother told Local 2 in September that her son is innocent of the charges and never hurt his children. But she and other sources said they went through the couple's apartment after they were arrested and found disturbing items that raised serious questions about the children's mother.

Local 2 reported that Bruce Moren was not the biological father of either child. He reportedly met Jessica Moren when she was pregnant with her first child. After the first child died, the couple separated but reunited when she was pregnant again with someone else's child.

Jessica Moren, currently in jail, is pregnant with her third child.

Officials said Bruce Moren worked as a prison guard for the Texas Department of Corrections, and Jessica Moren works for a temp agency.

Panorama Village Police Chief Jim Green told the Houston Chronicle in September that he could not disclose why investigators are treating the 2003 case as a homicide. But the police inquiry prompted Conroe police to reopen the case into the Jan. 18, 2001, death of Jessica Moren's daughter, Cheyenne.

If convicted in court of capital murder, the Morens could be sentenced to death.

sounds horrible

[TexasStooge]

Remains of bodies in van identified

By MARY ANN RAZZUK / WFAA ABC 8

FORT WORTH, Texas - The Tarrant County medical examiner has identified the remains of three elderly men found last week in a repossessed van.

Ophelia Douglas said her nephew Otis Hughes was supposed to be cremated and buried after his death five years ago at age 56. But she got a call this week from county officials notifying her his remains were among those found in the van.

"This coming May will be five years (since) they found him on his birthday," said Douglas. "I was kind of shocked, because I thought that was all done and over."

Hughes' remains were found along with those of two other men, who the medical examiner identified as Thomas Shadowens, 89, and Lonnie Leffall, 93. The medical examiner said all three died of natural causes.

Fort Worth police are trying to determine who was responsible for transporting the bodies from the funeral home to the crematory. Many people were left wondering how something like this could happen.

"You just assume it's taken care of in an appropriate manner, and you don't think that something would go wrong or something didn't finish," said Tarrant County commissioner Marti Van Ravenswaay.

"It's just shocking news to me to hear something like this," said former neighbor Alzie Wilberne. "You would think someone would be put away normally."

Lonnie Leffall's neighbors remember him as a good man and popular barber who worked in the Stop Six neighborhood in southeast Fort Worth.

"He was a legend," said friend Jessie Polk. "Everybody knew him - he was a good man."

For now, the case remains under investigation.

"Whoever owned that van and left the van there, I think something should be done about it," Douglas said.

[TexasStooge]

Seminar traffic to flood downtown

By TONY HARTZEL / The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS, Texas - Downtown commuters, here's an early warning: Get up and get moving earlier on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Sold-out motivational seminars at both Reunion Arena and American Airlines Center will challenge even the most optimistic motorists those days.

"We're trying to let commuters know their rush hours may not be so normal," said Christy Ricketts, AAC marketing director.

With almost 40,000 people headed to and from the arenas each day, roads will be jammed around downtown.

The central business district typically accommodates 120,000 workers a day.

Local agencies have pumped up their response. Additional police will help direct traffic. The Texas Department of Transportation will post information on its overhead traffic signs encouraging regular commuters to exit into downtown early.

Dallas Area Rapid Transit will provide special event service to the arena.

"We've put in extra trains, and we're running extra service," said DART spokesman Morgan Lyons.

Light-rail passengers can stop at Union Station for Reunion Arena events. AAC eventgoers should look for light-trail shuttle trains with a black "DART" destination sign. The trains will pick up passengers at all stations between Pearl Street and the West End. The Trinity Railway Express also will make stops beside AAC.

Parking lots open at 6 a.m. at AAC and at 6:30 a.m. at Reunion.

Events begin at 8 a.m. and 9 a.m., respectively, and will end around 4:30 p.m.

Once the AAC lot is full, motorists will be directed to parking lots at Market Center, where shuttle buses will be available.

"We're preparing for a full-house event," Ms. Ricketts said.

[TexasStooge]

Smoldering body of woman found in street

DALLAS, Texas (WFAA ABC 8) - A woman's smoldering body was found early Sunday in east Oak Cliff, police said.

A medical examiner's report on Monday identified the victim as Laura Cate, 42.

The body was discovered about 4:50 a.m. in the street in the 400 block of Holden Avenue.

Police said they believe Cate was killed elsewhere and dumped at that location.

Police do not know how the victim died, but they do not believe it was the fire.

Tanya Eiserer contributed to this report.

[TexasStooge]

Law easier on resisters of DWI tests

AUSTIN, Texas (WFAA ABC 8/AP) – Texans who drink and drive and then refuse to take a test measuring their blood-alcohol level may be getting off easier than those who agree to the test.

According to the most recent statistics, 43 percent of Texans arrested on charges of drunken driving or boating in 2003 refused such tests, and in many of those cases, drivers received a six-month driver's license suspension instead of a misdemeanor drunken driving conviction, the Austin American-Statesman reported Sunday.

Under Texas law, people accused of drunken driving must provide a blood or breath sample, but it's not a crime to refuse. The penalty for refusing is the license suspension, and the issue can be raised against the driver in a related court proceeding.

In first-time cases, the consequences for taking the test and having a blood-alcohol content above the legal limit of .08 percent is a three-month license suspension and a misdemeanor drunken driving conviction, which carries a maximum punishment of six months in jail and a fine of $2,000.

Law enforcement groups have complained about the law, and the County Attorneys Association and the Texas Municipal Police Association are calling for legislation that would make refusing a blood-alcohol test a crime.

But lawmakers haven't embraced the legislation this session. And similar bills filed in the past also received "a chilly reception," said Keith Hampton, a lobbyist for the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association.

"Criminalizing it doesn't make any sense," Mr. Hampton said. "It is your constitutional right not to incriminate yourself or be subject to unreasonable search and seizure."

[TexasStooge]

Meth lab suspected in Garland blast

GARLAND, Texas (WFAA ABC 8) — An explosion and fire inside a Garland house Saturday afternoon may have been caused by a mishap at an illegal methamphetamine lab, police said.

Jimmye Cyganik, who lives across from the house in the 1500 block of Elizabeth Street, was startled by the blast just before 2 p.m.

"I heard a big loud boom, and I thought a transformer might have blown," Cyganik said. "All of a sudden, people started coming out of that house, out of the woodwork. I don't know how many—about 5 or 6 of them."

Cyganik said the occupants of the house briefly stood on her lawn with her and told her that "nothing" had happened and that she was all right. "The one that told me that took off the other side of my garage, and I looked out my back door and he was going over my back fence," she said.

Police said the explosion happened in the kitchen area of the house, blowing out a wall and all the windows.

"It has all the makings, and looks like it was probably a methamphetamine lab that was cooking," said Garland police spokesman Ofc. Joe Harn.

He said it was not immediately clear whether anyone was hurt, because all the occupants fled. "We are monitoring hospitals to see if anybody shows up," Harn said.

Cyganik said something like this has happened once before in her neighborhood. "I got kind of scared, but I kind of had an idea of what it was," she said.

"I have a heart condition. I don't need to be getting too excited."

WFAA-TV photojournalist Tom Loveless and online producer Walt Zwirko contributed to this report.

[TexasStooge]

Tough times for 'strong babies'

After mom's unexpected death, family unites to raise four brothers who share first name

By MARK WROLSTAD / The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS, Texas - First there's Sirverick, just turned 10.

He has a brother in kindergarten, also named Sirverick.

In between are the second-grade twins, Sirverick and Sirverick.

Brothers so courteous and close together, sharing the same name – it rhymes with "Eric" – are notable, even unforgettable.

Normally the boys get noticed not for their name so much as their intelligence, their energy and a bearing beyond their years.

These aren't normal times, though, for the four South Dallas brothers suddenly without their mother.

Adrianne Williams, a 28-year-old single parent, died for reasons yet to be explained and was buried last week at services marked by tears and strength.

She was a dynamic force in the boys' lives, relatives and friends said, a devoted and high-spirited if often unemployed mom who gave her sons what she could in a downtrodden neighborhood, whose only guarantee for many of its black residents is poverty.

Ms. Williams' happy, lively boys have not been left alone, though, and those around them – an extended family of aunts and cousins and friends, as well as school and church supporters – vow they won't be.

"They've been my babies, and they'll always be my babies," Tieas Williams said of her four nephews, whom she intends to continue raising after the death of her only sibling.

"I've been there since Day One."

The youngest, known as Ty, has already started calling her "Mama."

Outside the church after the funeral, Ty anxiously reached up to Ms. Williams, patting her tummy and trying to draw her attention.

"This is Adrianne's baby boy," she said. "He's a good boy."

The brothers' anguish was clear at their mother's wake, where she lay in an open casket. A relative recalled telling Ty to touch his mother on the arm "and tell her you love her."

The kindergartener complied. He later had some striking words of comfort for a 20-year-old cousin.

"Motivation," the 6-year-old said, perhaps repeating something he'd been told. "It's gonna be all right."

Throughout the funeral, the boys were stoic.

They've picked up a reassuring line that they all repeat: "My mama's gone to heaven to be with my granny."

"They are strong babies," said Stacey Armstrong, a cousin who lives near the family.

Life with the boys

Relatives mostly call the brothers by their middle names. In order: Lemone (pronounced le-MAWN); the 8-year-old twins, Leon and Juquinn (shortened to "Ken"); and Tyrone, 6.

The boys and their mother moved in with Ms. Williams and her two children again about a year ago, living in the drooping gray clapboard house she rents with assistance from Dallas County.

A wall in the cramped living room holds a portrait of a dark-skinned Jesus and a huge heart-decorated sympathy card "To Sirverick and Family" from Ty's classmates. "We love you," it reads.

"I sit here and think about the good times," Ms. Williams said, seated on a low, worn couch as she thumbed through photos. Asked to elaborate, she added, "Taking the kids to Chuck E. Cheese. Shopping. Getting our nails and hair done."

Her hair had been streaked in pink, a tribute to her sister's favorite color.

A few feet from where she sat, a shattered screen door sagged. She broke through it in grief and disbelief the early Sunday morning she learned her sister was dead.

"All the pain and suffering is over with, and I'm gonna go on and raise the boys," said Ms. Williams, who turned 31 the day after the funeral.

The two sisters, with no car and having never married after dropping out of A. Maceo Smith High, shared parenting duties.

Their mother also was a single parent. She died of congestive heart failure five years ago at age 45.

Ms. Williams coughs frequently as she speaks and has the same disabling condition, she said, snacking on candies and soda.

"I want them to have a better life than I had," she said of her nephews, as well as her boy and girl, ages 10 and 8.

Uphill fight

By some measures, the young brothers already face an uphill fight in the years ahead.

Along streets where lives are marooned by drugs and unemployment, the children hurry home to chained-up bicycles and grassless yards.

They're the namesake sons of Sirverick Gossett, relatives said, a father who's been in prison for more than a year on drug charges. Relatives explain that all four boys were given the same name simply because Adrianne Williams deeply loved Mr. Gossett.

Now 28, he was arrested three times in less than a decade for delivering or possessing a controlled substance and was sentenced to three years on the most recent charge. His sons have visited him a few times at the prison in the Beaumont area, the family said.

The dangers of drugs aren't far from their doorstep; dealers sell on the Williamses' block, relatives said.

"That's the one thing that most concerns me," said Monica Walker, a combination godmother/older sister to the Williams sisters and a constant presence in their home. "I'm going to help with those boys for the rest of my life till the Lord takes me away from here."

Their street is marked by boarded-up homes, littered lots and three churches.

Yet while the family is poor, it's rich in love and faith, said Ms. Armstrong, the cousin.

"It didn't matter if we had a penny," she said, sometimes approaching the speaking cadence of a preacher. "You can be rich and be miserable, and you can be poor and have as much love and support as you need. Love has brought us through a lot of hardship.

"I think that's really what makes a family strong."

Adrianne Williams often took the youngsters on the long morning walk to Martin Luther King Learning Center but left the school conferences to her sister. The Sirvericks are known as sweet, bright and "very mannerable," said one educator, who called them favorites at the school.

A friend remembered the boys' mother cheering them and laughing as they rode their bikes in last month's MLK Day parade.

Committing to Christ

Two weeks before she died, she stood up in church and committed her life to Christ, friends recalled. "That was the very poignant thing," said the Rev. Lloyd Facen Sr. of Warren Avenue Christian Church. "She said she was trying to get her life together."

The brothers' renown is large in the modest church, which they've attended for a couple of years. They make up about a quarter of the children's choir and seem mature for their ages.

One of the twins has told the pastor he's going to be a preacher, Mr. Facen said, and another boy has asked him, "How's the car running, Reverend?"

"They are strong little young men," the pastor said. "But I think they're still at a loss.

"You never get over things like this. You just eventually accept it."

On Feb. 13, Adrianne Williams had been to a late party and stopped at a restaurant with a male friend before 5 a.m., relatives said. The man found her locked in the car and thought she'd fallen asleep, so he called her sister. He soon discovered that Ms. Williams wasn't breathing, but he drove her home before calling for help.

Her sister faced the tragic scene with six children in various states of shock and distress.

The family doesn't believe that drugs were involved but is waiting for toxicology results from the medical examiner's office.

"You would never know if she had problems," said Ms. Armstrong, who remembered what a fast runner her cousin once was. "She didn't carry her problems on her shoulders or in her face."

In need of support

At the funeral, the boys wore blue shirts, long ties and dark trousers bought with donations from school staff and others.

Male role models – at church, at school and in the family – will be crucial to their development, said Mr. Facen, the pastor.

"They're going to need a lot of support there and financial support," he said, adding that the community hopes to create a fund for the family. "Just think about it: four boys."

Barbara Banks, a school administrator, sounded a rallying cry for the community.

"These are four strong young African-American men who can become leaders," she said at the funeral. "Be interested in them. We can do nothing for Adrianne now but love her in our hearts.

"But the children are the future."