News from the Lone Star State

[TexasStooge]

Suspect In Businessman's Murder Headed To N. Texas

Search Continues For Slain Restaurateur

DALLAS, Texas (KXAS NBC 5) -- One of two suspects in the murder of an Oak Cliff businessman could return to North Texas Wednesday.

Jose Felix was arrested Sunday in Chicago.

Meanwhile, crews will continue to search the Trinity River area near Interstate 20 and Dowdy Ferry Road for the body of Oscar Sanchez, a Dallas business owner who was kidnapped and apparently murdered.

Day three of the search in a remote corner of southeast Dallas County could grow broader Wednesday.

The homicide team ended two days of intensive canvassing without finding Sanchez, even though they said they concentrated their efforts right where Felix told them to look.

The search included firefighters dragging the waters of the Trinity River, volunteers on horseback using their high perch in hopes of sighting some piece of evidence, and highly trained dogs specializing in finding bodies.

Although police seem confident Sanchez is dead and his body is in the area, his family said through a spokesman that they still hope for a miracle, but more than anything, they just want answers.

"This is like a roller coaster. I mean, it seems that each time there was some news that might sound good, there was bad news. The family needs closure," family attorney Mike McKinley said.

Police detectives in Chicago are expected to escort Felix back to Dallas, and police hope to get better information from him on their search efforts.

[TexasStooge]

Airtran Plans Growth At D/FW Airport

FORT WORTH, Texas (KXAS NBC 5) -- Airtran Airlines plans to increase its presence at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, possibly even making it a second hub.

Airtran is the only major airline other than Southwest to post a profit in the fourth quarter.

The airline also finished the year with a more than $12 million in profits. Airtran is planning for more growth this year by adding nearly 20 new planes to its fleet.

Airtran is one of several airlines showing interest in taking the gates Delta is leaving behind at D/FW.

[TexasStooge]

Couple Accused Of Selling Stolen Goods On eBay To Go On Trial

Investigators: Couple Stole More Than $200,000 Worth Of Merchandise

DALLAS, Texas (KXAS NBC 5) -- A couple accused of making big bucks by selling stolen goods on eBay will go on trial.

A federal grand jury in Dallas decided there is enough evidence to take Cory Paris and Cassandra Clements to trial.

The couple is accused of robbing sporting goods and camera shops then selling items online.

Investigators said they stole more than $200,000 worth of merchandise from several North Texas stores.

[TexasStooge]

Dallas Highrise Offers Options To Uptown Homeowners

Newest Addition, Azure, To Rise To 31 Stories

FORT WORTH, Texas (KXAS NBC 5) -- The median price for a home in the Dallas/Fort Worth area is just over $200,000. If you want to move into a new condo in uptown Dallas or Fort Worth, you will need to double that price.

The newest addition to the Dallas skyline, Azure, will rise to 375 feet above uptown and offer more than 200 high-end luxury condominiums.

Prices for the condos in the 31-story building start at around $400,000 for a one-bedroom, two-bath home. The 900-square foot unit costs an additional $4,800 a year in association fees.

"We call it Azure because it's going to be reflective of the sky. It's a new urban lifestyle that we see a need for here in Dallas," said Gabriel Barbier-Mueller with Harwood Living.

Buyers will have a lot of choices. The same $400,000 would buy a two-bedroom, two-bath condo in downtown Fort Worth's former Bank One building. The 2,000-square foot unit in The Tower comes with a hefty yearly fee of $7,200.

The Tower in Fort Worth has nearly sold all of its available condominiums.

Buyers who prefer the suburbs could move into a 4,400-square foot home in Allen for about the same cost as the downtown condos. The $400,000 home includes four bedrooms and four bathrooms as well as both a game room and a media room.

The neighborhood association fee for the suburb is just $492 a year.

Developers say it's all a matter of choice, each offering a different lifestyle.

"Azure is a new style of living. You're not just buying a condo, you're buying a landmark, you're buying a lifestyle," said Julie Morris with Harwood Living.

Construction starts on the $100 million building later this spring and new condo owners can expect to move into their new home in just two years.

[TexasStooge]

Kidnap suspect in Dallas custody

DALLAS, Texas (AP/Wire/WFAA ABC 8) - One of the two men suspected in the kidnapping of a prominent restaurateur who is presumed dead was extradited to Dallas on Wednesday.

Jose Alberto Felix, a 28-year-old out-of-work teacher, was placed in a cell by himself at the Lew Sterrett Justice Center on Wednesday night. A spokesman for the sheriff said Felix's bond would be set at $100,000.

Felix and Edgar Acevedo, 24, are suspected in the kidnapping of Oscar J. Sanchez, 30, who authorities said they fear was killed. The two are charged with third-degree kidnapping.

Authorities said Felix is considered a security risk.

"Because of the high-profile nature of the crime he's accused of committing, he was placed in a single cell for his protection," said Don Peritz, a jail spokesman.

Investigators have been widening their search for Sanchez in southern Dallas County, where bloodstained clothing and other items have been found. Fire-rescue teams earlier this week used boats and cadaver dogs to scour shores and shallow sections of the Trinity River.

"Lab analysis could be back as soon as Wednesday" on the evidence recovered Monday, said Dallas police spokeswoman Lt. Jan Easterling.

Felix, who waived an extradition hearing, had been arrested at Chicago Midway airport over the weekend as he tried to board a flight to Guadalajara, Mexico. Acevedo, a former waiter at one of the Sanchez family restaurants, already had fled to Guadalajara from Chicago, authorities said.

Relatives said kidnappers demanded as much as $3 million but dropped that to $78,000 when the family said it couldn't raise more money. The kidnappers did not show up last week to collect the ransom.

Police say Felix told them Sanchez was killed within hours of his abduction and to look in the area near the river for the body. A search of Felix's home yielded shell casings and signs of a bloody struggle, police said.

There is no word if Felix will help investigators as their search for Sanchez continues.

WFAA-TV's Bert Lozano and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

[TexasStooge]

Winning lottery ticket sold in Garland

GARLAND, Texas (WFAA ABC 8) - One lucky North Texan woke up $57 million richer Thursday morning and may not even know it.

Wednesday's winning Lotto Texas ticket was sold at a Tom Thumb grocery store at Northwest Highway and Centerville Road in Garland.

Here are the winning numbers: 1-16-25-26-39 and bonus ball 5.

This is the first Lotto Texas jackpot to be awarded since an $18 million ticket was sold in Watauga last October.

The estimated jackpot for the next drawing on Saturday night is $4 million.

WFAA-TV contributed to this report.

[TexasStooge]

Search begins for missing TCU freshman

By YOLANDA WALKER / WFAA-TV

FORT WORTH, Texas - A TCU freshman is missing, and police have few ideas about his whereabouts.

Donal Hyatt Ratigan was last seen on Monday afternoon. Police held a news conference with Ratigan's father Wednesday afternoon, and flyers are now up around campus.

Ratigan, who goes by his middle name Hyatt, is 18 and an out-of-state student from Atlanta, Georgia. On Monday afternoon, he went to a Whataburger off Berry Street near campus around 1:00. Then, he was last seen around 2:30 getting gas at a Shell Station in the 5400 block of South Hulen Boulevard. He also withdrew some money from the ATM there. Since then, there has been no activity on his cell phone or credit cards.

Police said they've talked to several of Ratigan's friends, who insist he seemed fine over the weekend and the day he disappeared.

His father Donal Richard Ratigan flew in Monday and was emotional while talking to reporters at Wednesday's news conference.

"We want to get in touch with Hyatt, and let him know we love him," Ratigan said. "Hyatt, please call us ... we love you."

Ratigan is driving a silver 2004 Honda CRV with Georgia plates; the plate number is AHL-2181.

The freshman had pledged the Sigma Chi Fraternity, but had not been initiated yet; the fraternity's president would not say if grades were a factor.

[TexasStooge]

Cell phone hoax irks Fort Worth police

By JIM DOUGLAS / WFAA ABC 8

FORT WORTH, Texas - A cell phone hoax triggered a search Wednesday for the third time in recent months, tying up police for hours and costing taxpayers a lot of money.

About 6:30 a.m., someone punched in a code to call a Sprint service center. It was answered in the Philippines, then routed to the Sprint center in Fort Worth when the caller claimed to be a Sprint employee who'd been shot.

When the call came in, Fort Worth police figured they had no time to lose.

"Of course we got Air One up, our helicopter," said Fort Worth Police Lt. Mark Krey. "They ran from county line to county line and didn't find anything."

The call center in Manila conferenced in the Fort Worth call center, which then conferenced in a 911 operator and police officer.

"The person started saying they'd been shot," Krey said. "It appeared to be a female's voice."

No one could get much information.

"They would answer yes-no questions and remain silent for a while, (then) moan and groan," Krey said.

They thought she said she was in a car on I-35, so police searched up and down the highway. Ten patrol cars were in the hunt.

"We notified DPS ... Burleson to the south, Denton and others to the north," Krey said.

Then it went from frustrating to weird.

"We had a female voice, then a male voice, then a child's voice," said Krey. "It became apparent a person was disguising their voice."

Two and a half hours into the call, police decided it was another hoax - not too different from the two young women who locked themselves in a car trunk last spring, then told 911 they'd been kidnapped.

Also, earlier this month a student at a Fort Worth school kept police and federal agents hopping for three days by making prank calls about a kidnapping.

But this time, police don't even know where to start looking for a suspect.

"We don't know if it came from Fort Worth, or the United States of America for that matter," Krey said.

Normally, cell phone calls can be tracked, but because this one went through an independent contractor in the Philippines, officials with Sprint said they're having to dig for information.

They did say, however, they'll keep on digging because this caused so much trouble and expense for so many people.

[TexasStooge]

More issues raised over DeSoto consultant's credibility

By BRETT SHIPP / WFAA ABC 8

DESOTO, Texas - Two days after presenting a report on the gang problem in DeSoto ISD, the school district's consultant is again under fire.

Journalism students at DeSoto High School have uncovered even more problems with the consultant's credibility.

The trouble for intervention consultant Amon Rashidi began with an expose last week in the DeSoto student newspaper the Eagle Eye.

School board members paid Rashidi $65,000, but the student paper reported the consultant may have misrepresented his credentials.

At Monday night's school board meeting, Rashidi tried to set the record straight.

"I don't want anyone to think that because I may say something about the paper and what I thought was wrong, that I don't respect the teachers and administration at the DeSoto Independent School District," Rashidi said.

He then presented trustees with a 40-page gang assessment report. In that report, Rashidi said he interviewed 465 students who are current or former juvenile probationers or parolees.

His findings recommend intervention, as well as an additional $110,000 contract extension.

When asked how he arrived at those numbers, Rashidi told the board, "By interviewing those students that we dialogued with."

But in the back of the room taking notes Monday night was Eagle Eye editor Eric Gentry, who had questions about the report. And after checking Rashidi's figures, he said he found problems with the number of students interviewed.

Gentry said roughly five juvenile parolees and a handful more probationers are registered in the DeSoto area.

"He did say that he interviewed all 465," Gentry said. "I find it hard to believe that he interviewed 465 that don't exist, when there's only five."

The figures Gentry uncovered were confirmed by county officials.

"On any given time period, we may have two dozen youth on probation in that particular zip code area, but not anywhere near that volume," said Mike Griffiths of the county's juvenile justice division.

Rashidi's report detailed the number of juveniles admitting to taking drugs, being runaways or in gangs. Griffiths said Rashidi would have had to make a formal request to gain access to the teens.

When asked if he had received that request, Griffiths said, "No sir, I haven't."

Rashidi declined to respond on camera, but told News 8 by phone, "I don't have to give you anything ... I've given it to the school board."

News 8 also asked him how he obtained the names of the 465 students, to which he replied, "Do you think I'm going to give you that information?"

Gentry said Rashidi will not return his phone calls, but he will continue to try as he works on the next edition of the Eagle Eye.

[TexasStooge]

Architect of Dallas landmarks dies

Local designs included Crescent, Thanks-Giving Square

By DAVID DILLON / The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS, Texas - Philip Johnson, one of the 20th century's most celebrated architects and a peerless shaper of movements, careers and occasionally cities – Dallas and Houston among them – died Wednesday at his famous Glass House in New Canaan, Conn. He was 98 and had been in poor health for several years.

His North Texas landmarks include the John F. Kennedy Memorial, the Crescent, Bank One Tower and Thanks-Giving Square in downtown Dallas and Fort Worth's Water Gardens and Amon Carter Museum.

Mr. Johnson once observed that the great advantage of old age is that "you can thumb your nose at the world and go about your business."

That could stand as the epitaph for his entire career. Just when you thought you knew what he was up to, he was up to something different. He was the quintessential flip-flopper who kept critics and competitors at bay with wit, cosmopolitan charm and an uncanny knack for predicting the next "new new thing," which, as often as not, he was ginning up as he spoke.

Mr. Johnson was born in 1906 in Cleveland to a successful Aluminum Company of America lawyer who greased his son's professional ascent with large blocks of company stock. He studied philosophy at Harvard in the 1920s, then returned to its Graduate School of Design for an architecture degree in 1943.

In between he wrote, lectured and traveled extensively, including a naively enthusiastic sojourn in Hitler's Berlin, for which he later apologized profusely. "I have no excuse for such utter, unbelievable stupidity," he said. "I don't know how to expiate guilt."

In 1932 he collaborated with historian Henry-Russell Hitchcock on "The International Style: Architecture Since 1922," a groundbreaking exhibition and book for the fledgling Museum of Modern Art in New York that introduced European modernism to America and defined Mr. Johnson's early career. He would later donate a major portion of his extraordinary art collection to MOMA as well.

His low, lean Glass House, completed in 1949, became an instant icon of the new wave. "It was the first piece of modern domestic architecture that you could actually get your arms around," recalls Dallas architect Frank Welch, author of Philip Johnson & Texas. It was also clearly influenced by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's Farnsworth House in Illinois. The two would later collaborate on the Seagram Building on New York's Park Avenue, widely considered the finest modern skyscraper.

Flamboyant classicism

But ever the chameleon, Mr. Johnson soon dumped modernism for a flamboyant classicism, illustrated by the original Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth, then by an even more decorative postmodernism epitomized by his Chippendale highboy top on his AT&T building in New York. The tower, and its architect, made the cover of virtually every design magazine in the world, ushering in an era of historicist buildings more about image and narrative than line and volume. In later years he became a leading advocate of deconstructionism, a fragmented, academic and blessedly brief interlude analogous stylistically to a freeway pileup.

Yet through all these stylistic pirouettes, Mr. Johnson remained a champion of new ideas and young talent. Even his severest critics acknowledge his extraordinary generosity toward emerging designers, ranging from Robert A.M. Stern to Peter Eisenman and Frank Gehry. He touted their work in articles and lectures, and supported them behind the scenes by steering commissions and awards their way.

One of his last projects is still under way in Dallas. The Cathedral of Hope plans to break ground in July on a chapel that is part of its $40 million Johnson-designed complex. "I'm just deeply saddened that he won't be here to see it," the Rev. Michael S. Piazza, dean of the cathedral, said Wednesday.

'Gone to Texas'

Much of this would not have happened had he not "gone to Texas." He loved the state for its "frontier freedom" as well as for all the choice commissions it bestowed on him.

"Most of our best work is in Texas," he explained in 1985. "For a while, most of our work was in Texas."

The love affair began in the early 1950s, when John and Dominique de Menil hired him to design their house in Houston, then retained him to create the new campus for St. Thomas University, his last truly modernist design. Soon he was corporate Houston's court architect, designing the twin-trapezoid Pennzoil Place, the Dutch gabled RepublicBank Center (now Bank of America), a freeway version of the Empire State Building called Transco Tower (now Williams Tower) and a dozen other notable and not-so-notable buildings.

Dallas was not oblivious to what was happening on the Gulf. It wooed him repeatedly in the go-go '70s and '80s, starting with the JFK Memorial, followed by the Crescent, the Bank One Tower and Thanks-Giving Square, a response to Mr. Johnson's Water Gardens in Fort Worth. Together with I.M. Pei, he reshaped the public realm of downtown Dallas, giving it instant architectural cachet.

Yet compared to Houston, his Dallas work pales. There he was a form-giver – our image of its skyline is still largely his – whereas in Dallas he was more a purveyor of glib architectural ornament with a knack for pleasing corporate clients without challenging them.

Of the Crescent he once said, "They wanted something fancy, schmancy and I gave it to them."

In Houston, clients such as the de Menils and developer Gerald Hines consistently set the national standard for commercial architecture. In Dallas, his clients were less demanding, happy to have a star architect but not inclined to push him to do his best work.

In nearly 60 years of practice, Mr. Johnson designed several hundred buildings, from houses and churches to museums and skyscrapers. A handful of them are truly significant, including his Glass House, the MOMA sculpture garden, Pennzoil Place, maybe the Crystal Cathedral in California, and the overlooked Art Museum of South Texas in Corpus Christi.

But he is more likely to be remembered not for individual buildings as much as for his scholarship, enthusiasm, prescience and tireless proselytizing for architecture as art.

"It's an odd legacy, really," says Mr. Welch. "He was never just a producer of buildings. He changed the way people thought about architecture. He never lost his enthusiasm for it. It was fathomless, and that rubbed off on people."

[TexasStooge]

Kids threatened over drug money

By TAWNELL D. HOBBS and GRETEL C. KOVACH / The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS, Texas - The discovery of a large sum of money by at least one South Dallas elementary student has proven to be more trouble than treasure, sparking concerns that a drug dealer may resort to violence to retrieve the cash.

Authorities and parents say the drug dealer already has threatened children at their homes to recover the money – perhaps as much as $100,000.

The money apparently was found in the area of J.J. Rhoads Learning Center, where police and school officials took extraordinary measures Wednesday to protect the students and staff.

The district started hearing about students showing up at school with large amounts of cash Monday. Donald Claxton, spokesman for the Dallas Independent School District, said there has been conflicting information about where the money was found.

Parents at the school Wednesday said the money was shared among several students, and possibly others in the neighborhood. The identity of the student – or students – who found the money was not immediately known.

"We do know there are persons of all ages involved," Mr. Claxton said. "We are aware of multiple people that have received varying amounts."

Some parents said Wednesday that they're worried about what might happen to their children.

Erie Roy was watching television with her 12-year-old son Tuesday afternoon when two men stormed through her open front door with two of the boy's friends in tow.

One of the men kept his hand in his pocket as if he had a gun, she said, as one of the boys cried. He pleaded with her son, "Man, give them the money, I'm in trouble man, I'm in trouble."

The intruders towered over her son, who was home sick from school. The man who did all the talking threatened him, Ms. Roy said.

"He said, 'I don't have no problem with killing you. I want my money right now,' " she recalled.

Ms. Roy, a 39-year-old office worker for American Airlines Center, ordered her son into the kitchen and called 911. She put the phone on speaker and started describing the men, who ran out and drove away.

"The police took my name and number and said, 'If they come back, call us.' These are drug dealers. If they come back – I'm afraid," she said, sobbing. "I know they're going to hurt me. What am I supposed to do?"

After the men left her house Tuesday, she got a call from her 17-year-old son's best friend. The friend described two men who'd showed up at Lincoln High School and choked him, demanding their money.

On Wednesday night, Ms. Roy said her house was being watched by three men sitting in a car outside. That's when she sent her sons to a relative for safekeeping.

Ms. Roy said her youngest son was offered money by neighborhood kids Sunday but insists he never took it. Her older son, she said, didn't know about the money until he found out that the men barged into their home Tuesday.

Ms. Roy gave the intruders' license plate number to the police. She's afraid they'll come back.

"I know these people are serious. If they come back, these drug dealers, they're not coming back to have a cup of coffee," she said.

KaJuana Junior, another parent, said her 12-year-old daughter and other students were each offered $200 by a classmate. She said her daughter didn't take the cash.

Sgt. Gil Cerda, a Dallas Police Department spokesman, said that an investigation is under way and that students are being interviewed.

Safety concerns prompted authorities to beef up security at J.J. Rhoads Learning Center on Wednesday. Access to the school was restricted for about an hour as school district police patrolled the campus. The unusual security created an atmosphere of confusion at the school Wednesday afternoon, when children typically are released.

Some parents, including Jackie Austin, said they received phone calls telling them to pick up their children.

"They never did tell me what's going on," Ms. Austin said after retrieving her son.

When parents arrived, access to the building was limited.

"This is outrageous," one man said as he left the school with his young son.

Mr. Claxton said he could not comment on the specific nature of the potential threat to the school and its students. For now, he said, extra security will be stationed at the school.

Ms. Junior, whose daughter was among the students offered cash, doesn't plan to bring her children back to the school until the matter is cleared up.

"It's scary," she said. "We don't know what's going on."

Mr. Claxton said the district plans to send letters home with students to explain what has happened.

"We hope parents will be very understanding," he said.

Aimee Bolender, president of the teacher's group Alliance AFT, said teachers at the school are concerned that whoever is behind the threats could resort to a drive-by shooting. Some teachers, she said, were debating whether to come to work today.

"They need evidence that they will be protected," she said. "They are very, very fearful ... for themselves and their students."

[TexasStooge]

Dean Foods To Spin Off Specialty Food Group

FORT WORTH, Texas (KXAS NBC 5) -- Dairy processor and beverage maker Dean Foods said it plans to spin off its specialty foods group to shareholders.

The Dallas-based company named the former Keebler Foods CEO Sam Reed to lead the new company.

The new group would become a $700 million publicly traded, private-label company specializing in branded, packaged consumer goods with about 1,700 workers.

Company officials say Reed's new management team has invested 10 million in cash in the specialty unit. That gives the managers a 1.67-percent stake in the new business.

Dean is moving its Mocha Mix nondairy creamer, food service dressings, and Second Nature egg substitute businesses to the new company.

The spinoff is intended as a tax-free distribution to Dean shareholders of a new publicly traded stock. It's expected to be completed in the third quarter of this year -- subject to federal confirmation of the tax-free transaction, new security registration and other conditions.

[TexasStooge]

Roofing Scam Preying On North Texas Elderly

HURST, Texas (KXAS NBC 5) -- Three men knocked on Hurst resident Jean Urquhart's front door and offered to repair her roof. Initially, Urquhart thought the $300 price was fair, and she said she trusted the men to perform the work.

The men also said they had had worked for Urquhart's husband and installed the original roof. Then, their claims and actions became suspicious to Urquhart, who is nearly 80.

The men failed to bring the tools necessary to perform roof work.

"He should have a ladder if he's doing roof work," Urquhart said. "(He was) borrowing my paint and my brush to paint with."

The claims of having previously worked on her home's roof also sounded hollow to Urquhart.

"When I came out I said, 'I do not remember you. I don't remember you putting a roof on my house,' " Urquhart said.

She questioned the legitimacy of the claims and the amount the men wanted to charge. In fact, the cost of the job increased from $300 to more than $700. Urquhart, though, said she was intimidated by the men when they began demanding payment.

"He said, 'I'm very serious. We will follow you to the bank and watch you when you go in to get the money, and I will meet you when you come out,' " Urquhart said.

Hurst police still are looking for the men who tried to con Urquhart. A department representative also warned other senior citizens in North Texas to confirm workers' claims of pricing or employment.

"If somebody comes up and says they just want to do work, I'd be real suspicious of that," said Lt. Steve Niekamp, of the Hurst Police Department. "They should be willing to show you some type of identification showing that they are with the company."

Niekamp encouraged people to ask for a telephone number to the business repair people claim to represent, and to call the company while the workers still are on the property.

[TexasStooge]

Schools To Pay Students Who Act As Informants

FRISCO, Texas -- Frisco schools say they will soon start paying students to turn in drug dealers.

School officials hope the program prevents drug problems from taking hold in the new school.

"It encourages them to do the right thing," said Randy Spain, Centennial principal. "We believe our students will do the right thing because it's the right thing to do. We're just after another method to continue to encourage that type of participation."

District officials said parents of students who qualify for the cash would be notified before the child receives payment.

[TexasStooge]

Motorist Leads Police On Chase Reaching 100 MPH

ARLINGTON, Texas (KXAS NBC 5) -- A motorist is on the run after leading Arlington police on a high-speed chase overnight.

Officers spotted a stolen BMW at about 2 a.m. Thursday on Interstate 30.

The chase reached speeds of more than 100 mph before the motorist crashed into a retainer wall at the MacArthur exit in Grand Prairie.

He took off but a passenger was taken into custody.

[TexasStooge]

Police find kidnap victim's body

By JASON TRAHAN / The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS, Texas - Police found the body of missing Oak Cliff restaurateur and father Oscar J. Sanchez Thursday in a wooded area in South Dallas, according to confirmation from the medical examiner's office.

Police said a detective searching near Cedardale Drive and Cleveland Road just south of Interstate 20 found the body covered in construction debris. A command post was set up and access to the 4000 block of Cleveland was blocked. Crime scene investigators and the medical examiner were called to the scene.

Latrayl Boyd, a volunteer from the Sandra Clark Funeral Home, said he and six other volunteers saw the body in a wooded area near the Cedardale-Cleveland intersection.

“We know for a fact it is the body. It was very recognizable,” he said.

Another volunteer, who also identified himself as being affiliated with the funeral home, confirmed the account.

Friends of the victim, some of whom have been helping police with the search, were gathering in the area, which is west of Interstate 45. Since Monday, the search had focused on an area east of I-45 around the Trinity River.

The case has been unfolding since Mr. Sanchez was abducted Jan. 18 after a staged fender-bender in North Oak Cliff about two blocks from his home.

One of the men suspected of kidnapping Mr. Sanchez arrived in Dallas from Chicago escorted by sheriff's deputies Wednesday evening, hours after investigators wrapped up an unsuccessful third day of searching for a body in rural southeast Dallas.

Jose Felix, 28, had been held in Chicago since Sunday, when he was arrested shortly before he was to board a plane to Mexico. A spokesman for the sheriff said Felix's bond would be set at $500,000 on a charge of kidnapping.

A second suspect in the kidnapping, Edgar "Richie" Acevedo, 24, eluded police by flying to Mexico a day earlier. He remains at large.

Earlier Wednesday, Dallas police on horseback searched a field and a quarry south of Interstate 20 near St. Augustine and Middlefield roads. This was in the eastern half of a larger search area bounded by Interstate 45 to the west and U.S. Highway 175 to the east, which is where police said Mr. Felix, under questioning in Chicago, hinted that authorities would find Mr. Sanchez's body.

"We're hopeful that we can help the family," said Sgt. Dennis Wilson as he prepared to put his horse back into a police trailer.

Police said they have not completed tests to determine whether blood-stained clothes and other items found near Dowdy Ferry Road just south of the Trinity River on Monday were related to the search for Mr. Sanchez. A helicopter and ground search of that immediate area as well as boat trips up and down the Trinity River in that general area Tuesday yielded no new clues.

Mr. Sanchez’s family founded and owns La Calle Doce and El Ranchito restaurants. His mother, who was talking to her son when the crash occurred, heard her son utter a greeting, "Hi, Richie," to a man shortly before the phone went dead. The family immediately suspected Mr. Acevedo, according to his relatives.

Ransom demands were made, but no one showed up to claim money at the drop spot. Tracing ransom phone calls and following tips, Dallas police and the FBI on Jan. 19 raided a Duncanville home belonging to Mr. Felix, a Dallas elementary school teacher. No one was inside, but police found evidence of a bloody shooting. A pickup was missing.

By the weekend, Dallas police had received information that the men had fled to Chicago and were staying with Mr. Acevedo's sister. Before authorities could arrest him, Mr. Acevedo had bought a plane ticket and on Saturday flew to Guadalajara.

Early the next morning, Chicago police arrested Mr. Felix at Midway Airport just before he boarded a plane to Guadalajara. According to the sister with whom the men had stayed in Chicago, Mr. Felix apparently stayed behind Saturday to finish the sale of the pickup.

Dallas detectives flew to Chicago on Sunday to interrogate Mr. Felix, who authorities said led them to search rural southeast Dallas County.

April Kinser of DallasNews.com contributed to this report.

[TexasStooge]

Gunman disappears after standoff

By CYNTHIA VEGA / WFAA-TV

DALLAS, Texas - Five hours after being bombarded by bullets from what police characterized as a West Dallas drug house, police ended a standoff without finding the murder suspect they had hoped to apprehend.

A Dallas police gang unit arrived at the house in the 3200 block of Puget Street about 11 p.m. Thursday. They were met with a volley of gunfire.

The gang unit called for backup from the SWAT team, which surrounded the house and finally fired tear gas in order to make entry after a five-hour standoff.

Once inside, they found three men along with guns and cash. "The original assailant that was firing at the officers was not captured," said Dallas police spokesman Sgt. Scott Hart.

One man was arrested on outstanding warrants; the other two men were released.

Police did not find the murder suspect, who was wanted in connection with a fatal shooting last April at a restaurant several blocks away. Hart said an informant had alerted them to the suspect, but the three men taken into custody early Friday told police that man had not been at the location.

No one was hurt.

[TexasStooge]

Midlothian Marine died living his dream

Capt. Lyle Gordon died in Wednesday's chopper crash in Iraq

By GARY REAVES / WFAA ABC 8

MIDLOTHIAN, Texas - A Marine from Midlothian was one of at least 5 Texans among the 31 service members killed in Iraq when their helicopter when down on Wednesday.

The parents of Capt. Lyle Gordon, who was born on Sept. 11, 1974, said his involvement in the fighting in Iraq was all about protecting his homeland.

"We think he was the best kid that ever was," said father Dickey Gordon.

Yellow ribbons welcome visitors to the home where Gordon grew up.

"He always, from a little boy ... he always talked about flying," mother Mary Gordon said.

Gordon was one of two pilots of the chopper that crashed on its way to deliver 30 Marines on a mission to train Iraqis to protect their polling places during the upcoming election.

At Midlothian High, Gordon is remembered as one of their best.

"He was the type of guy who, whatever he wanted to do, he was going to excel at it," said former baseball coach Roonie Clanton.

And when local students sent Christmas gifts to Iraq, it was Gordon who volunteered to deliver them.

"Every time he'd fly to a different place, he'd take a box with him," Mary Gordon said. "He was passing out Christmas all over the place ... all over Iraq."

At Texas A&M, Gordon joined the Corps of Cadets and helped raise the school's mascot, Reveille VI.

But it's more than memories that keep his family going.

"I know where my son is, and I know that he could have come home in a wheelchair paralyzed and had to live 35 or 40 years an angry man," Mary Gordon said. "God saw fit not to put us through that."

As they reflected on their son at home Thursday, Gordon's parents sat in a room surrounded by angels. Now, they believe heaven has quite a few more.

"We want the other parents of the other 30 on that ship to understand and know our prayers are with them," said Mary Gordon. "We feel their grief, and their sons are heroes."

The Pentagon said victims of the helicopter crash also included these other Texans:

• Lance Cpl. Saeed Jafarkhani-Torshizi Jr., 24, of Fort Worth

• Capt. Paul C. Alaniz, 32, of Corpus Christi

• Staff Sgt. Dexter S. Kimble, 30, of Houston

• Lance Cpl. Rhonald D. Rairdan, 20, of San Antonio

[TexasStooge]

Man who allegedly threatened students now in custody

DALLAS, Texas (WFAA ABC 8) - A man who threatened several Dallas school children over alleged drug money surrendered to police Thursday night.

Sylvespa Adams, 23, was charged with aggravated kidnapping, and his bond has been set at $5 million. Police would not elaborate on the source of the kidnapping charges; Adams has two prior arrests on drug possession charges.

Police believe he is the man who threatened eight students after they brought thousands of dollars in cash to the J.J. Rhoads Learning Center on Second Avenue in South Dallas.

The students said they found the money in a park; authorities think it may be drug money.

"The people, they want their money back ... they've been coming to all these houses threatening all these kids." said student Kandis Graves. "I'm afraid - I don't want them coming to my house."

Even though security has been beefed up, about a third of the students at J.J. Rhoads stayed home on Thursday.

DISD officials said security will remain in place Friday morning.

[TexasStooge]

Larger Fort Worth PD gang unit sees progress

By YOLANDA WALKER / WFAA ABC 8

FORT WORTH, Texas - The Fort Worth Police Gang Unit is reporting significant progress since the City Council approved the money to add more officers.

Wednesday night, officers arrested four gang members after a shootout on the city's north side.

"Officers observed a passenger of the vehicle fire five shots in the air," said FWPD Sgt. Bill Dillard. "They recovered three weapons and marijuana."

Fort Worth's anti-gang force is now the largest unit in North Texas, and second only to Houston's gang task force statewide.

Joseph Farah and Kerry Kimball are two of the 38 officers on the beat.

"On the east side gangs are mainly drug-related," Farah said. "Here on the north side, they're still fighting over areas."

Wednesday's incident occurred in the 2200 block of Market Street. Four gang members opened fire on a rival gang.

"Some guys drove down their street, threw up some signs - you know, gang signs - and the other group threw up their gang signs and so they came back and shot at that house," Farah said.

"We happened to have several crime response team officers in the area who heard the shots go out, saw the vehicle and gave chase at that point," said FWPD Det. Kelly Peel.

The suspects, including Hugo Carillo, were taken into custody. It's Carillo's second arrest in two weeks.

"In the gang unit, we try to stay on top of any information that we get, and try to stay on top of things that are going on within Fort Worth," Peel said.

Detectives said activity is increasing and new gangs are popping up all the time, but they insist the patrols are working.

"You talk to the gang members out on the street, and they say 'we're rolling deep' ... they know we're out here," Farah said.