April 18 FLORIDA: Man Is Charged With Killing Florida Girl, 13 A registered sex offender confessed to killing a 13-year-old girl who disappeared a week ago, saying he got into an argument with her and choked her in her house, the sheriff said Sunday. David Onstott, 36, was charged with 1st-degree murder Sunday, a day after investigators found Sarah Lunde's partly clothed body in an abandoned fish pond, Hillsborough County Sheriff David Gee said. Sarah was last seen April 9, shortly after returning home from a church trip. Early the next morning, Onstott paid an unexpected visit to look for Sarah's mother, Kelly May Lunde, whom he once dated, Gee said. After Sarah let Onstott into the house, they argued, and Onstott put her in a chokehold and killed her, Gee said. Sarah's 17-year-old brother came home later and found the front door wide open and his sister gone, but the family initially assumed Sarah had gone to a friend's house. She was not reported missing until last Monday. Gee said Onstott "went to great effort to keep her body from being discovered." Onstott, who has a rape conviction, has been held without bail in the Hillsborough County jail since Tuesday on unrelated charges. Pat Courtney, his attorney, did not return a phone message. Sarah's relatives and members of her First Apostolic Church congregation filled the pews Sunday to mourn her. Her friends dropped to their knees and wept. Sarah's mother was too shaken to talk, but her brother, Larry May, said: "It's devastating; it's just unbelievable." "Everybody has things they wished they'd done -- spending more time with their children or keeping in closer contact," he said. Among the mourners were Mark Lunsford, whose daughter Jessica was found dead last month after she was kidnapped from their Citrus County home, and Roy Brown, whose daughter Amanda was murdered in 1997 by a convicted child molester in Tampa. Both men had lent their support to the Lunde family during the week, and Lunsford had helped search for Sarah, saying some members of her family had helped search for his daughter in February. "It's sad that it takes something like this to bring a community together," Lunsford said. "America needs to wake up. The next child could be yours." Congregants said that, on any other Sunday, Sarah would have spent the afternoon walking with other church members to houses to hand out Bibles. The church had become her refuge from troubles in her life, including times when she had run away from home. "People asked me: 'Why did she come here, why did she spend her time here?' " said Matt Fontana, the youth minister at the church. "Because she found love here. . . . Now she's in heaven." The small church normally draws only about 50 congregants for morning services, but its pews were filled with more than double that Sunday. Sarah had started coming to the church three years ago on her own, and no other members of her family attended with her, church leaders said. She often would call 2 or 3 families to arrange for a ride and they would all arrive to get her. "Every Sunday we talked about who was going to pick up Sarah," Sherry Cook said. "I can't believe we're not picking her up this morning." (source: Washington Post) OHIO: Amnesty International welcomes Ohio death sentence case decision FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: MONDAY 18 APRIL 2005 KENNY RICHEY CASE: NEWS THAT SUCCESSFUL APPEAL NOT SET ASIDE WELCOMED Amnesty International UK and UK death penalty defence charity Reprieve welcomed today's news that the state of Ohio will not be able set aside an appeal that earlier this year overturned the conviction of Kenny Richey, a Scottish man on death row in Ohio. Mr Richey won an appeal against his sentence in January this year. The successful appeal to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati overturned Richey's conviction for arson and murder in the state of Ohio in 1986. One of the reasons cited was the "incompetent" work by Mr Richey's lawyer at his original trial. Today's decision by the same court means that Mr Richey must now be set free by the state of Ohio unless the state attempt to mount a re-trial of the entire case. The 25 January appeal ruling specified that Ohio needed to release Richey or re-try his case within 90 days. Today's decision will start the 90-day 're-trial or release' period for Mr Richey unless the state of Ohio files a fresh petition in the US Supreme Court. Mr Richey, who was originally sentenced to death in 1987 and has now been on death row for 18 years, has always protested his innocence and evidence has since emerged casting serious doubt on Mr Richey's guilt. Amnesty International UK Director Kate Allen said: "We are pleased and relieved that Ohio will not be able to have Kenny Richey's appeal re-heard. "Kenny has endured 18 years on death row fighting to clear his name after a flawed trial - it is surely time for Ohio to accept the view of its senior court and set about releasing this man immediately." Clive Stafford-Smith, the leading British-born US death penalty lawyer and founder of UK death penalty organisation Reprieve, said: "This is excellent news for Kenny. Now the prosecution must decide whether or not to retry him. "I am confident that if they take the time to sit down and objectively review all the evidence they will come to the conclusion that Kenny is innocent and end the case." Mr Richey, who has a Scottish mother and grew up in Edinburgh, is also the subject of a longstanding campaign from a Scottish woman, Karen Torley. Ms Torley, now engaged to Kenny, said: "I am pleased that the court has denied Ohio's request to have another hearing. This injustice has gone on long enough. It is time to set Kenny free and let him live with his family." For several years Amnesty International and Reprieve have been pressing the UK government to keep up pressure on the US authorities in line with the government's policy of opposing the death penalty in all instances. Last year the government confirmed that it has a "comprehensive lobbying strategy" over Richey's case. The case has attracted appeals on Mr Richey's behalf from the late Pope John Paul II, the former Archbishop of Canterbury and US actress and anti-death penalty campaigner Susan Sarandon. In a resolution passed in June 1992, the European Parliament expressed its doubt concerning the validity of the sentence. (source: Amnesty International UK) OKLAHOMA: Out of rubble, new resolve ----Tim McVeigh's attack left many scars, but a new city is emerging "I forgave Tim McVeigh before he died. ...If you are able to do it, the feeling you get in your heart is tremendous."----Emmett "Bud" Welch, father of victim The worst day of Florence Rogers' life began with a routine meeting in her 3rd-floor office in the Murrah Federal Office Building. It was April 19, 1995. Rogers called some aides together to discuss an upcoming audit for the federal employees credit union she supervised. The easygoing Rogers was known as "Mother Goose," and the women who worked for her as "Flo's girls." They sat in a semi-circle around her desk. About 20 minutes into the meeting, Rogers turned away from her staff for a moment to check something on her computer screen. When she turned back, at 9:02 a.m., they were gone. Katherine Finley, Jamie Genzer, Valerie Koelsch, Claudette Meek, Jill Randolph, Victoria Texter and Sonja Sanders. "I didn't even hear the explosion," Rogers recalled. "Suddenly, instead of a ceiling and office walls, all I could see was the blue sky. The building was blown away . . . My people dropped down into the basement. 6 floors of rubble collapsed on top of them." Rogers, 69, now retired, suffered cuts, bruises and a neck injury, but she was the only person in the room to survive the blast. In all, 168 were killed and 500 hurt in what was then the worst terrorist attack in American history. 10 years ago this week, a truck bomb delivered by Pendleton native Timothy J. McVeigh turned life inside-out for Rogers and other residents of Oklahoma City. But the attack didn't defeat them. "We should be known as the community that defeated terrorism," said Kari Watkins, executive director of the national memorial here. "A terrorist tried to divide us and destroy us . . . Instead, it made us stronger." Since the bombing, the city has mourned its losses, as it will again in a series of ceremonies this week. Many wounds - physical and emotional - have healed. Signs of a resurgence can be seen in the downtown area, not far from the bomb site. Since the bombing, the community has seen one success story after another. -A beautiful and tranquil national memorial stands on the blast site, turning a place of misery into one of the most popular tourist attractions in the region. A half-million people visit the memorial each year, coming from all over the world. A new federal building was constructed nearby. -Major projects were built in the central business district, including a $34 million stadium for the city's Triple-A minor league baseball team, a $22 million library and learning center, an $88 million sports and entertainment venue, and the $26 million Bricktown Canal, which spawned the development of restaurants, night clubs and a Bass Pro store. -Private developers raised $667 million for other projects, including airport renovations, a new art museum and two major medical campuses. Aside from the Oklahoma City National Memorial, it would be wrong to say that any of the projects were the result of the bombing, said Mayor Mick Cornett, 45, a former television news anchorman. But he believes the bombing united city residents and strengthened their resolve to turn their community into a cosmopolitan 21st century showplace. "Our attitude here is, when you get knocked down, you grab hands and pull yourselves back up," said Cornett. "I think our religious faith had a lot to do with our recovery. We have 1,200 churches in a metropolitan area of 1.2 million people." "People here are very strong," said the Rev. Jack Poe, an Oklahoma City Police Department chaplain who has counseled many of the rescuers. "Victims focus on things you can't change. Survivors concentrate on what you can change. We're survivors." And yet, for many who live here, painful memories won't go away. Patti L. Hall has physical and emotional scars to remind her. 18 surgeries later Hall, 67, also worked in the credit union office. Moments before the bomb went off, she left her desk and walked to a closet to get a can of air freshener, because a man with terrible body odor had just left her work area. "A girl who worked with me, Robbin Huff, sat down at my desk for just a minute, while I was getting the air freshener," Hall said. "When the bomb went off, Robin was killed. She was pregnant. That has haunted me ever since - survivor guilt. Why did I live?" But Hall hardly got off easy. Dug out of the rubble by rescue workers, she was in a coma for more than 5 weeks. She has had 18 surgeries since the bombing. She walks with a pronounced limp. A metal rod runs from the toes of her left foot to her shin. She still needs medication for sleep, pain and bouts with depression. Her religious faith, her sense of humor and volunteer work with the Salvation Army have helped Hall to carry on. But she still spends time lamenting her losses. Hall said she knew at least 100 of the people who died that day. Message of peace "It's tough to live in a city where the thing you're known for is a tragedy," said Hall, speaking in a hushed voice during a recent visit to the memorial site. "Every time I come back here, it's hard to imagine this really happened. Every anniversary, I think I'm going to be OK, but it hits me hard." Emmett "Bud" Welch, 65, whose daughter, Julie Marie, died in the blast, has found his own way to deal with the pain. The bombing turned Welch, a former gas station owner, into an international crusader against the death penalty and human rights violations. Welch has spoken about human rights in London, Rome, Kenya and dozens of other places all over the world. "For 11 months after the bombing, I dealt with my situation by drinking. I'd go to the bomb site 2 or 3 times a day, with my head splitting from a hangover," Welch said. "Finally, one day, I said, "What are you doing to change your life?' "I remembered how Julie was so adamantly opposed to the death penalty. She felt so strongly, she started an Amnesty International chapter in her high school at age 16." Welch opposed the death penalty, too. He decided that the best way to honor his daughter was to tell the world some of the things she would have said. Welch's crusade has upset some people in Oklahoma City, who believed that both McVeigh and co-conspirator Terry Nichols deserved the ultimate punishment. "I forgave Tim McVeigh before he died," Welch said. "I don't think everyone has to forgive, but if you are able to do it, the feeling you get in your heart is tremendous. I am at peace." Welch and Hall said they feel solidarity with victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York City, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C. But, like many Oklahoma bombing victims, they feel their community was financially shortchanged by the federal government. After 9/11, the government gave billions in compensation to people who lost loved ones. Those families received an average tax-free payout of nearly $1.7 million. No such fund was established for victims in Oklahoma City. "I have nothing but sympathy for the 9/11 victims, but I am bitter toward the government, and the way they treated us," Hall said. "We were attacked by terrorists. We suffered just like they did in 9/11." Only 3 men - Army veterans McVeigh, Nichols and Michael Fortier - were convicted in connection with the bombing. Conspiracy suspicions McVeigh was put to death in June 2001. Nichols is serving a life prison term, with no hope of parole. Fortier, who played a lesser role in the crime and became the government's prime witness, was sentenced to 12 years. McVeigh went to his grave insisting that he alone was the mastermind of the attack, with help from Nichols and minimal help from Fortier. But many Oklahomans refuse to believe that McVeigh and Nichols alone could pull off such a horrific crime. Federal and state grand juries found no evidence to indict others in the bombing. Cornett and Watkins said the vast majority of people in the community do not believe there was a wider conspiracy. Hall disagrees. She said she and many victims believe McVeigh had help from other sources. Charles D. Key, who served in the Oklahoma State Legislature at the time of the bombing, still believes McVeigh had help from terrorists from the Middle East. Jane E. Graham, an employee of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, is also convinced of a larger conspiracy. She suffered partial hearing loss in the bombing and witnessed the deaths of five close co-workers. Graham believes a second bomb exploded after McVeigh's truck bomb. She said the 2nd bomb was planted in the basement of the building, probably by members of al-Qaida, with help from the government itself. A half-hour before the explosion, Graham said, she arrived for work and saw two federal agents in "raid jackets," talking to a third man outside the building. She believes the three men had something to do with the bombing. "People have a hard time believing the government would be involved in killing innocent people," Graham said. "I really believe God saved me because of what I saw and what I know and nobody can ever change that." She says the government may have gotten involved in order to make a case for the passage of stronger gun control laws. The government has denied any role in the bombing. Some of those who believe in a bigger conspiracy plan to protest at the memorial during 10-year anniversary ceremonies on Tuesday. That upsets Tom Kight, an Oklahoma City businessman who lost his stepdaughter, Frankie Ann Merrell, in the blast. "(Tuesday's) ceremony will be a time to remember the victims. This day is for them," said Kight, who strongly disagrees with the conspiracy theories. Kight did not hesitate when he was asked what will be on his mind when he visits the memorial for Tuesday's ceremony. "Frankie," he said. (source: Buffalo News)
