Posted on 07/01/2007 12:30:41 AM PDT by beaversmom
A graduate student working in a forest radioed for help before she was found dead, and a colleague responding to her plea unwittingly accepted a ride from the man suspected of killing her, officials said.
Authorities have not said how Alyssa Heberton-Morimoto died, but an autopsy was planned for Friday. Her body was found late Tuesday in an isolated part of the San Isabel National Forest, 75 miles southwest of Denver.
The suspect, who has used the names Dennis Cook, Dennis Lee Cook and Robert R. Amos, was being held Thursday for investigation of first-degree murder. Park County officials said they were not sure whether he had a lawyer.
Heberton-Morimoto was a summer intern for the Colorado Geologic Survey, which locates and maps hazards such as sinkholes and avalanches. She was working with Karen Houck, a professor at the University of Colorado-Denver, where she was a graduate student in environmental sciences, survey director Vince Matthews said.
Heberton-Morimoto and Houck had separated Tuesday to go to another site for lunch. Houck heard Heberton-Morimoto's cries over the radio but could not find her. When Houck went for help, she unknowingly accepted a ride from the suspect, he said.
They then encountered a forest ranger on the road, and Houck got into his vehicle.
"I think we're extremely fortunate this isn't a double tragedy," Matthews said.
The Park County Sheriff's Department confirmed that Houck got into a vehicle with the suspect.
Park County sheriff's investigators said the suspect had been camping in the area, and they arrested him Wednesday. They have not said what led them to him.
Kansas records show the suspect was known as Dennis Cook when he was convicted of second-degree murder in 1982. He was transferred to a Colorado prison later that year; Kansas officials would not disclose the reason. He was paroled in 2000.
No one answered Houck's office or home phone Thursday.
Related article:
Suspect in Forest Murder Killed Before
http://cw2.trb.com/kwgn-park-county-murder-suspect,0,6446864.story?coll=kwgn-home-2
Rehabilitation at its finest. Barf.
I would like for the members of the Kansas parole board who let this creature go free to have to look the woman’s family in the eye and explain themselves. If not burn in hell.
If the sentence was 15 years to life, and he was convicted of assault while in jail and tried for other crimes including arson, don’t you think this constitutes a reason to hold him just a wee bit longer than two years above the minimum? Shameful. Borderline depraved indifference.
When this guy gets sentenced (again), the Kansas parole board members need be present for identical sentencing. Accountability.
All three-time convicted felons, violent or non-violent, should also be put to death.
I am tired of sharing my planet with people who can't play by the rules.
-ccm
It’s the judges. They rise up out of scum lawyers. Then, they become politicians.
Another reason to carry a sidearm in the woods around here.
This girl went into the woods, and her support had to hitch a ride from a stranger. It also sounds like both were unarnmed, so any predator like a mountain lion or a bear or this guy would be unimpeded. Sounds like this school should not send students into the real world until they add a course on how to deal with reality.
Totally agree...we need to execute violent felons, and, repeat felons.
Our society continues to slip when we value the rights of criminals over the rights of victims. Also, the rate of recidivism among executed criminals is zero.
” All three-time convicted felons, violent or non-violent, should also be put to death.
I am tired of sharing my planet with people who can’t play by the rules”
Careful there, the libs are changing the rules. In CT if you have a gun stolen and you don’t report it you will become a criminal. If it happens twice you are a felon.
They can’t ban guns so they seek to make everyone a felon.
“It also sounds like both were unarnmed, so any predator like a mountain lion or a bear or this guy would be unimpeded.”
A Ruger Super Redhawk Alaskan in .454 Casull would have been appropriate for any of those predators.
Better yet, sued. Money is the universal language and deterrent.
These government entities are immune to lawsuits, but..
There may be a glimmer of hope.
I heard a radio report a few days ago concerning a couple, don't recall where, that had some dead trees in their yard.
They needed a permit to cut them down. The local authorities and environmentalist refused to allow the tree cutting.
One of the trees fell and killed the husband.
The wife sued the government agency and environmental org., the government claimed immunity.
A judge has ruled that the suit can go ahead.
Since our laws rely on precedent, this ruling may be used in the future to bring justice to these parole boards, criminal psychologists, soft judges and other screwy government agencies.
Until we start making judges and parole boards legally (and financially) culpable for their stupid decisions, we'll keep having these problems. If you or I screw up in our jobs and cost a life, we get sued into oblivion, if not charged with manslaughter. Why aren't these people responsible for their actions?
I understand your thinking, but can’t agree. In our system of anarcho-tyranny, where there are so many laws that virtually no citizen couldn’t be convicted by a Nifong, and where charges are filed (or not) with caprice, this could be a disaster.
While I understand where you’re coming from, we have devalued the felony to the point where I could not support your program, without a serious review and overhaul of what constitutes a felony.
You and I are on the same page on this; see my previous post, as well as the first quote on my FR home page.
The members of the parole board deserve to be hung. They should be sued and charged with negligent homicide. Pressure should be brought on local politicians to have them fired. Their names and addresses should be spread far and wide in order to make future employment difficult.
Walking around in a forest, a citizen should be carrying a weapon...if they weren’t so hard to get.
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