Man confesses murder after seeing "Passion of the Christ"

AFP ^ | March 26, 2004 | AFP

[patent]

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - A Texas man confessed to killing his pregnant girlfriend, whose death was originally ruled suicide, after watching the controversial film "Passion of the Christ", reports said.

Dan Leach, 21, walked into a sheriff's office in Fort Bend County, southwest of Houston, to admit he made the killing of 19-year-old Ashley Wilson in January look like suicide, police told US media.

"It's a very strong movie," Lieutenant Jim Pokluda of Fort Bend County' sheriff's department, told the Los Angeles Times. "It would make a man think twice about any sin that he has committed."

The Times said Leach went this month to see Mel Gibson's movie about the final hours of Jesus Christ. On March 7, he went to church, announced that he needed to confess a crime and drove himself to the sheriff's office.

Leach was charged with first-degree murder, according to an indictment released Tuesday. But because the indictment is a non-capital charge, prosecutors cannot seek the death penalty, according to Pokluda, commander of Fort Bend County's criminal investigations unit.

Pokluda said Leach confessed to strangling Wilson, with a cord and then staging the death to make it appear she had committed suicide. The body was found in her apartment on January 19.

Police said investigators first thought Wilson had hanged herself and a medical examiner ruled it was a suicide.

Leach allegedly killed the woman because their relationship had ended and he did not want to raise the unborn child, police told newspapers.

[patent]

Note: He committed the murder back in January. Went to see the movie in March (AFTER the crime) and then confessed. When I first read the headline I thought he walked out of the theatre and killed her, and they were blaming the Passion. In fact, the Passion gets the credit for helping the man to admit his sins.

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[patent]

Bumping. Let me know if you want on or off the list. Click my screen name for an entirely out of date and irrelvant description.

patent  +AMDG

[hellinahandcart]

Man, that is a misleading title and first sentence.

If I hadn't already learned the details from previous threads, and was reading about this for the first time, I'd think he killed his girlfriend after seeing the movie.

My senior-year English teacher is spinning in her grave right now.

[laotzu]

"Dan Leach, 21, walked into a sheriff's office..."

Dan Leach?!! That's a Jewish name, isn't it?

I knew this film was anti-semitic.

[lilylangtree]

Some lame excuse. This guy was already a ding dong before see the film.

[patent]

>>>>If I hadn't already learned the details from previous threads,

ARrrggghhh. The search function gets me again. I forgot to tell it to order them by date, not by relevance. Sorry for the overlapping post. This is my punishment for not freeping enough these days.

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[patent]

LOL

[Tallmadge]

Distressing, and sad beyond words...but thanks for posting this, never the less.

The article should really read " man pleads guilty to the murder of _2_ lives " arrghhhh.

[inkling]

Earlier this week, a guy confessed to an unsolved bank robbery he had committed years earlier. A movie that helps change lives for the better.

[hellinahandcart]

Well, it is a different article, so it's not exactly a duplicate. I wouldn't ask for it to be pulled.

I am just amazed at how poorly the AFP author chose his words here. Perhaps it's the translation, or perhaps he wanted his readers to jump to the wrong conclusion and blame the movie for the murder. Who knows?

[Eala]

But in that case the motive for confession was suspect -- he was looking for a better life than living no the streets with some medical ailment for which he would be treated in prison.

[Anitius Severinus Boethius]

Did you actually read the article? He committed the murder in January, saw the movie in March and then confessed. The movie made him realize his sin, it didn't contribute to the crime.

[patent]

>>>>I am just amazed at how poorly the AFP author chose his words here.

I am too, I thought it was the beginning of the "passion viewers resort to violance" thing that those who hate the movie have been claiming would happen. I read it to see if he really killed because of the movie, and was surprised to learn the reality that he only confessed due to the movie.

>>>>Perhaps it's the translation, or perhaps he wanted his readers to jump to the wrong conclusion and blame the movie for the murder.

That may be too, can't find anything real to hold against the movie, so just try to leave the impression. I'm more inclined to view this headline as incompetance though.

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