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~September 29 2002 @ Silver Spring MD - Mia Wachsmuth, 45, was on her nightly walk in her Tamarac neighborhood of Silver Spring. [This dense neighborhood of middle class single family homes is shown on some maps as Coalsville MD. It is near Martin Luther King Park and it is north of the Hillandale Liquor store shooting of September 14.]
A creepy beat-up blue sedan came down her block with two black men inside. The driver was a man who resembled John Muhammad and he spoke to her. "The car startled me and made me jump up on the grass," Wachsmuth said. The car slowly rolled away. Wachsmuth pulled out her cell phone and dialed 911. "The 911 operator walked me home over the phone," she said. "I was running and dodging in between parked cars in case they saw me. I was really scared."
About a half-hour later, a police officer arrived at Wachsmuth's front door. He searched the neighborhood and said he found the vehicle, a blue Chevy unoccupied and parked a few houses down.
Wachsmuth reported the date as being late September, several days before the October 2nd shootings. Also, it was the first night of "perfect weather" after a terrible heat wave broke.
[Temperatures on September 27 had been a humid 81 degrees with a muggy nighttime 70 for a low. But by September 29, after thunderstorms and showers cleared, the daytime temperature was 74 and nighttime temps dipped as low as 57]
The date could not have been sooner than Sept 29, because M & M were in Gulfport MS until about 6pm Sept 28th. Travel time plus 10 hours for sleep/food/potty stops would put them back in DC about 10pm the 29th.
It sounds like M & M spent the night at someone's house in this Tamarack neighborhood. So the date couldn't be Sept 30th, or it would not be possible for police in Fairfax county VA to spot their Caprice a few hours later at 1:30am Oct 1st.

dang, I hate typo's! Post #1 should say SEPTEMBER 20 in red...

September 20 2002 - Petersburg VA - So the unanswered questions still include:
WHY would the pair travel JUST TWO HOURS SOUTH of DC on the evening of Sept 18th to spend the night in Petersburg VA? They HAD to have some urgent 'business' near there late Sept 18, or early Sept 19.
Some possible Islamic-attractions come to mind:

The Mosque in Petersburg... (RED star on map)
Muslim and N.O.I. contacts at Virginia State University, (BLUE star on map)
visiting someone at the Petersburg federal prison? (GREEN star on map)

...Or was it to visit or exchange messages with the other DC sniper - Mir Aimal Kasi at the Sussex 1 State Prison [11 miles south of Petersburg] (YELLOW star on map)
Kasi was later moved to Greensville VA and executed November 14th. He once asked for penpals on the internet while on death row at Sussex.
...The Petersburg Ramada Inn is the RED pin shown in the center of town

The Petersburg VA sighting was 44 hours before the murder in Atlanta GA. They probably slept another 3 hours Sept 19AM, and 7 hours Sept 19PM, plus TRAVEL time to Atlanta is another 8 hours
That leaves 24 unaccounted-for daytime active-hours AFTER the sighting, in VA, NC, SC, or GA.. This is a considerable amount of discretionary time for plotting or planning their illegal activities with other people.

I live close to Petersburg, and work there in the criminal justice system.

There are actually three mosques in Petersburg. Also, the hotel is located right smack on the I-95/I-85 junction, so it offers easy convenient access to the major interstate system. Route 460 is also easily accessible, making it a easy slide to the quickest northern route to Campbell County, where the little muslim playground started by Jamaat Al Fuqua ( called Red House, Va) is located.

Just a few more facts.

Thanks!

I hope that you are saving these various/hard to find reports on your hard disk or on another server in their enterity to prevent them from disappearing as time goes on.

Another gap that has not been researched is where did JM live while he was in the Oregon Nation Guard unit at Portland, Oregon.

Did JM live in the state of Washington or in the Portland area. What mosques did he go to? Who were his contacts.

Since PC Moose was the Political Correctness Police Chief at that time, did these two have any encounters. Moose was also an Air National Guard Member at that time.

Sniper task force has new nerve center in Centreville
Dec 11, 2002

CENTREVILLE, Va. (AP) _ Evidence from 13 shootings believed to have been the work of the Washington-area sniper suspects has been moved to a new task force headquarters about halfway between the courts where the suspects face trials.

Virginia authorities have access to all the physical evidence gathered from the various crime scenes, including the car the suspects were sleeping in when they were captured, the rifle prosecutors believe was used in the killings and letters written by the snipers.

"It's a process of accumulating what evidence you're going to need," said Robert F. Horan Jr., the chief prosecutor in Fairfax County, where 17-year-old John Lee Malvo is charged with two counts of capital murder.

"There's an awful lot of evidence out there that may be of use in some cases and not in other cases. It's a process of sorting it out," Horan said.

The prosecution task force, now down to a few dozen local, state and federal agents, has been investigating 21 shootings believed to be part of a series of attacks that stretched from the Pacific Northwest to the Deep South and the Washington, D.C. area.

Malvo and John Allen Muhammad are charged in 13 shootings _ 10 of them fatal _ in the Washington-area, and are suspected in eight other shootings across the country.

They were arrested at a Maryland highway rest stop Oct. 24 as they slept in the dark blue Chevrolet Caprice they are suspected of using in many of the shootings.

Since the arrests, task force members have been gathering in Centreville to go over sensitive information before dispersing to chase any promising leads, said James A. Willett and Richard A. Conway, assistant prosecutors in Prince William County.

Investigators from Virginia, Maryland and the District and the FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms have shared information and evidence over the past two weeks in individual meetings about each of the sniper shootings in the Washington area and attacks in Montgomery, Ala., and Atlanta that have been linked to the suspects.

"We're reviewing all the evidence in close coordination with the prosecutors," said Prince William Police Chief Charlie T. Deane. "This is a murder case that is a local murder case, and we're preparing it as such, keeping in mind the relationship this case has to all the other cases."

Defense attorneys also are preparing to go to extraordinary lengths in the cases.

Todd D. Petit, Malvo's court-appointed guardian, said he is tracking down information about Malvo's background for a report to be presented to a judge before a Jan. 14 preliminary hearing in Fairfax County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court. The judge will determine whether Malvo will be tried as an adult and face the death penalty.

Petit said he has learned some details from Malvo's mother, Una James, who is in Seattle awaiting deportation to Jamaica.

"She is very concerned about her son," Petit said. "She has been helpful in leading me to information that I think is very important, and people will need to know about her son."

Petit said James has not been able to speak to Malvo. Last month, federal immigration officials ordered her deported.

Muhammad is scheduled to appear Thursday in Prince William County Circuit Court, where a trial date will be set and arguments heard about whether television cameras will be allowed in the courtroom. A number of television outlets have asked the court to allow a broadcast of the trial, arguing that the public has a right to see it.

One of Muhammad's attorneys, Peter D. Greenspun, opposes video coverage. He argues that such coverage would be disruptive and could jeopardize the fairness of Muhammad's trial. Muhammad also is charged with two counts of capital murder.

"Can anyone maintain that the televising of the O.J. Simpson case did not impact the prosecution, defense witnesses and court?" Greenspun wrote in a response to a motion.

Prince William Commonwealth's Attorney Paul B. Ebert also opposes TV cameras.
http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/vaapwire/MGBZDIBTK9D.html

Moose reflects on leading the sniper investigation

FOSTER KLUG
Associated Press Writer Dec 12, 2002

BALTIMORE (AP) _ When Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose realized TV cameras mounted on poles around his headquarters during the sniper investigation were taping officers' notes, he closed the blinds.

He described the moment Thursday as part of the "roller-coaster" task of leading 2,000 investigators as they chased the Washington-area sniper suspects while being the focus of worldwide media attention.

"I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy," Moose told an audience at an emergency preparedness and prevention conference organized by the Environmental Protection Agency. "If you don't stop the killing, people want to say you're a failure. But we were doing a lot of things right."

Moose gave a candid, behind-the-scenes rundown of the events that captivated the country for three weeks in October. He spoke of the fear that gripped the region, and the country, as the random killings continued.

"The pictures, they almost want to make you cry _ people ducking behind their wheel well as they pump gas," Moose said. "All of this pressure's building, all of this fear."

John Allen Muhammad, 41, and John Lee Malvo, 17, are charged with shooting killing 10 people and wounding three during the three-week spree. They are also suspected in eight other shootings across the country.

As the shooting spree dragged on, agents from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the FBI and police from around the country flooded Montgomery County. Moose said investigators used the county police building's laundry room as an office and stored overflowing files in hallways.

Moose said he tried to make sure that all the investigators, many of whom worked successive 18-hour days, were well fed. He also arranged for every worker to have a flu shot.

"You've got to keep them working," Moose said. "I'll feed them; I'll give them flu shots; I'll shine their shoes for them if it helps them work."

After 13-year-old Iran Brown was wounded outside his middle school in Bowie, Moose said investigators had to balance solving the sniper shootings with responding to daily police calls and protecting schools.

He said investigators sifted through 70,000 tips phoned in to the task force.

"People are giving up their brother, their mother, anyone _ and that's before we raised the reward money," Moose said. "But you have to investigate, because you never know when you might have the one clue you need."

And he spoke of the pressure of having the whole world watching as investigators did their job.

"It makes you sit down in your chair when you realize that the president of the United States is receiving daily briefings on your investigation," Moose said. "It changes things."
http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/vaapwire/MGBK5DC1N9D.html

==
I read the _Grinch Who Stole Christmas_ again today and was reminded of the sniper days. We really did, as did the people in Who-ville, carry on even if Chief Moose was given pictures of people crouching at the gas pump. We even sort of held hands in a circle. It was a frightening and bizarre time. Most of us don't have the training a G.I. does who learns how to deal with the possibility each step across a rice patty or a patch of sand may be his last. I'm looking forward to Chief Moose's book when it's finished.