John Lennon Wood is charged with
the murder of Angie Mosden.
Posted on 03/09/2002 11:23:20 PM PST by kattracks
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C., Mar 10, 2002 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- An acquaintance of a Green Beret's wife whose husband is on duty in Afghanistan has been charged in her savage beating death.
John Lennon Wood, 20, of Fayetteville was charged with first-degree murder Saturday in the death of Angie Mosden, 40.
Mosden was killed early Thursday when Wood allegedly smashed in the glass French doors of her house and beat her with a baseball bat before stabbing her. Police said two of the couple's three daughters were home and one, a 12-year-old, tried to stop the attack before she fled.
"I didn't do a ... thing," Woods said while being taken in handcuffs to a magistrate's office Saturday.
Mosden's husband, Green Beret Sgt. Maj. Richard Mosden, returned from Afghanistan on Friday after learning of his wife's death.
"There he was fighting on one front to make sure that the homefront would stay safe," said Army Maj. Jay Peterson, a neighbor of the family. "And now, he has to find out that it wasn't."
Physical evidence indicated that Wood had been at the scene of the crime, said Cumberland County Sheriff Moose Butler said. Lt. Sam Pennica, head of the homicide division, declined to discuss the evidence.
Police say they don't know the motive.
Wood, a restaurant dishwasher and cook, was convicted in January 2001 of second-degree burglary and received a 16-month suspended sentence. He is also charged with first-degree burglary in the Mosden case.
He is being held without bond and is scheduled to make his first court appearance Monday.
Copyright 2002 Associated Press, All rights reserved
"“I didn’t do a (expletive) thing,” he said. He made profane threats about filing lawsuits."
I predict ol' boy is going to have a rough time of it in the big house. My guess is that he's a sexually repressed loser.
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too...
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...
Oh-oh you may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one...
I hope some day you'll join us
And the world will live as one...
-ccm
-ccm
Naming your kid after John Lennon REALLY IS a dangerous, anti-American thing to do!
But getting a look at this suspect, I'd say he would stick out pretty good in an islamic country. HEck, he's going to stick out in an American prison if he's convicted.
The wife of a Special Forces soldier on duty in Afghanistan was savagely killed inside her home two weeks after telling a co-worker her phone lines had been cut in the middle of the night.
Angie Mosden, 40, was killed early Thursday by someone who smashed in the glass French doors and beat her with a baseball bat before stabbing her. Police said two of the couple's three daughters were home and one, 12-year-old Laura, tried to stop the attack before she fled.
Sgt. Maj. Richard Mosden was expected to return home as early as Friday to bury his wife.
Sheriff's officials said there was no evidence indicating the slaying was related to Mosden's military duties.
"We'll find out who did it," Sheriff's Sgt. Larry Epler said Friday. "We're working on leads now."
Laura and 15-year-old Jennifer have been placed in the care of a family support unit of the 3rd Special Forces Group. The third daughter, who is 18, does not live at the Mosden home.
Two weeks ago, a man knocked on Mosden's door at 4 a.m. and claimed he had a delivery, Epler said.
"She wouldn't open the door and later that morning when she got up and let the dogs out, she saw footprints in her yard and that her phone lines had been cut," said Brenda Shaw, the victim's supervisor at the Wal-Mart store where she worked.
Mosden reactivated the alarm system in the home and had been diligent about leaving lights on outside the house, neighbors said.
Associated Press
I had read about this earlier, didn't they say one of the daughters tried to fend off the attacker but failed? After that she escaped? If so, couldn't she positively ID the guy? I'd guess unless he was wearing a mask and I don't recall.
I'm glad they moved fast on this, though. I want to hear that they are 100% sure he's the guy.
And yeah, if he's the one, I hope his "dance card" is "full" every night in the big house. None of that sexual repression stuff there.
When Wood was being taken in handcuffs to the magistrate’s office, he vehemently denied guilt.
“I didn’t do a (expletive) thing,” he said. He made profane threats about filing lawsuits.
Sheriff Moose Butler said that the family had been notified of the arrest. Mosden’s husband, Green Beret Sgt. Maj. Richard Mosden, was in Afghanistan when she was killed. He returned home Friday night.
“At least it brings some closure to the crime, as far as the arrest,” the sheriff said.
Butler said the arrest came about as the result of physical evidence that placed Wood at the scene of the crime. Pennica would not discuss that evidence.
Sheriff’s investigators spent more than 36 hours at the house, piecing together evidence. They were on the scene until about 3:30 p.m. Saturday. Among the items carried out of the home on Saturday afternoon was a computer. Investigators also collected items from woods off Buhmann Road near the house.
Wood lived on the 6800 block of Deer Horn Court in Fayetteville, just outside the Beaver Run subdivision off Cliffdale Road. Wood is a dishwasher and cook at Captain Jerry’s Seafood & Family Restaurant on Reilly Road, investigators said.
He was picked up at his home.
Pennica said that Wood has a history of burglary charges. In one case in September 2000, Pennica said, Wood showed up at a house early in the day asking for someone he knew. He was told that his friend was sleeping and left, but came back at 3:30 a.m. and broke into the home. Pennica said the friend’s father caught him and held him until lawmen arrived.
He was convicted of second-degree burglary in that case in January 2001 and given a 16-month suspended sentence.
He is also charged with first-degree burglary in the Mosden killing. He is being held without bond and is scheduled to make his first court appearance Monday.
Confrontation
According to Pennica, Mosden heard a noise at her home about 4 a.m. Thursday. She was wary because a stranger had rung her bell and cut her telephone line two weeks earlier, so she set off the burglar alarm. Moments later, the intruder broke out the glass on a back door with a piece of wood and entered the house. Mosden met him in the living room with a baseball bat, Pennica said.
A neighbor who had been awakened by the sound of the alarm saw the man flee and provided a description similar to the one provided by Mosden’s daughters. The witnesses described a thin white man.
According to autopsy results, Mosden was stabbed numerous times. She was 40.
Two of her daughters, age 12 and 14, were in the house but were not injured. The 12-year-old, who had been sleeping with her mother, tried to fight off the assailant, investigators said. Then she climbed out a bedroom window with her sister to call 911 from a neighbor’s house.
Mosden’s husband, Sgt. Maj. Mosden, is in the 3rd Special Forces Group, which has been involved in the battle against al-Qaida forces in Gardez, Afghanistan, for more than a week.
3rd Group losses
His wife’s death was the second loss in a week for the families of the 3rd Group. A member of the unit, Chief Warrant Officer Stanley Harriman, was killed on March 2 by enemy fire in the war in Afghanistan.
Reserve Deputy Craig Marks said he had served with Harriman and Sgt. Maj. Mosden during his days as an Army captain. Saturday, Marks watched the perimeter of the house until officers took down the crime scene tape.
‘‘This has been a pretty terrible week for a lot of people,” he said.
Army Maj. Jay Peterson, a neighbor of the family, said he feels horrible for Sgt. Maj. Mosden.
‘‘There he was fighting on one front to make sure that the homefront would stay safe,” Peterson said. ‘‘And now, he has to find out that it wasn’t.”
Staff writer Rebecca Logan can be reached at 486-3559 or loganr@fayettevillenc.com
A cross of roses adorns the front yard of the Mosden home in the Beaver Run subdivision
The man began beating and stabbing her and then ran away. Pennica did not want to indicate the location of the fatal stab wound because, he said, it is something only the killer can verify.
Neighbors in the Beaver Run subdivision off Cliffdale Road said they didn’t know the Mosdens well. Co-workers of Angie Mosden’s at the Wal-Mart on Skibo Road said she was a “sweet lady” who was private and did not socialize outside work.
Mosden worked at Wal-Mart for about two years, rising to become a customer service manager, according to a store manager. The store has provided food and clothing to the family.
“Anything they need, they can call us,” he said.
Pam Durbin, a military spouse who lives in Beaver Run, placed a cross of red roses in Mosden’s front yard.
“It’s sad, and if her daughters or her husband sees it, I want them to know we care,” she said.
Durbin said she met Mosden for the first time a couple of weeks ago, when Mosden told neighbors about the man who had rung her bell about 4 a.m. and said he had a special delivery. Mosden refused to open the door.
“She said she figured it was kids playing a prank,” Durbin said. “About 15 or 20 minutes later, she said she went to let the dogs out and she saw a man in a white T-shirt run away. She went to call 911 and picked up the phone and it was dead. He cut her phone line.”
Outside, Mosden found “drug needles,” according to Durbin.
On that occasion, Mosden used her husband’s cell phone to call 911. Durbin said Mosden made changes around her home -- including getting deadbolt locks for the doors and reactivating the alarm system.
“She said she was frightened and that she would watch her back now,” Durbin said.
Lawmen, Durbin and other neighbors believe someone wanted to kill Mosden and that no amount of security could have prevented it.
“From what happened to Angie, if someone is bound and determined to kill you, it doesn’t matter if you have an alarm, locks or anything,” Durbin said.
Pennica agreed.
“This woman had every security measure in place other than having a guard posted,” Pennica said.
Another Beaver Run resident, Sylvia Bisbee, is worried because the attacker hasn’t been caught. She said she feels relatively safe with her four dogs, but she is still anxious.
“I’m making sure pins are in the windows and the doors are locked and the alarm is on,” she said. “People are terrified. It’s too close.”
Bill Melen, who lives across the street from the Mosdens, said many Beaver Run residents, including him, own guns and are ready and willing to use them if necessary.
“I’m not too worried about it,” he said. “I think this is an isolated thing. This is a nice, quiet area.”
The wife of a soldier in Sgt. Maj. Mosden’s unit said Friday that his wife’s death was the second loss in a week for the 3rd Special Forces Group. A member of the unit, Chief Warrant Officer Stanley Harriman, was killed on March 2 by enemy fire in the war in Afghanistan.
“It’s just too much,” the woman said. “ They said as soon as (Sgt. Maj. Mosden) found out about his wife, he was digging through his bags to get a picture of her. ... If the guys were back right now, whoever did this wouldn’t be alive very long. With Special Forces guys, you don’t mess with their families.”
Staff writer Missy Stoddard can be reached at 486-3571 or stoddardm@fayettevillenc.com
It will be curious to see where this goes.
I'm not sure we have a 'simple burglary' gone bad.
But lights and the alarm did not deter an intruder who broke in early Thursday and beat Mosden with a baseball bat and fatally stabbed her while her two daughters were also inside.
One of the girls, 12-year-old Laura, was sleeping with her mother when the intruder broke in, according to Sgt. Larry Epler with the Sheriff’s Office.
Mosden, who was 40, died before emergency workers arrived.
Mosden’s husband, Sgt. Maj. Richard Mosden, is with the 3rd Special Forces Group. He is in Afghanistan.
A spokeswoman with 3rd Group said Thursday afternoon that Mosden was on his way back to Fayetteville and that the children were with a 3rd Group family support unit.
Investigation begins
The Mosdens live in the Beaver Run subdivision in western Cumberland County.
Alan Weir, who lives a few doors down from the Mosdens, said the girls, who are 12 and 14, banged on his door about 4 a.m. yelling “please let us in.”
“They were panicking,” Weir said. “They said ‘Someone with a knife is at my mom’s.’”
The youngest girl tried unsuccessfully to intervene while the older sister jumped out a front bedroom window. The younger girl followed her out.
Weir dialed 911 when the girls arrived on his doorstep, but it was too late.
Sheriff’s officials on Thursday were investigating a motive for the crime. They had not determined whether anything was stolen from the house.
Yellow crime scene tape surrounded the front yard of the brick, ranch-style home. A dark green four-door Kia Sephia was parked in the side driveway.
Lawmen were searching for a white man in his early 20s with a slim build. They said the man is about 6 feet tall and has shoulder-length blond hair that is parted down the middle. The intruder was wearing a teal, button-down shirt with a white T-shirt underneath. He also had on black jeans and black boots.
Epler, the Sheriff’s Office spokesman, said the intruder came through a wooden privacy fence in the back yard. He smashed the glass in a French door, triggering the alarm, and entered the house. Lawmen would not say whether the man used a knife from the house or if he brought a weapon with him.
Neighborhood fears
Jamilez Brown, who lives with his parents across the street on Elk- horn Drive, said he is good friends with the Mosden girls, especially 18-year-old Dawn, who rents an apartment nearby.
“I chill with Dawn and Jennifer all the time,” he said, referring to the two oldest girls.
Brown said his family’s phone line was also cut a couple of weeks ago. He said he would like for his parents to move.
“I’m not staying here now,” said Brown, who is 18. “I’m telling my parents they need to get a hotel or something.’’
Bill Melen, who lives across the street from the Mosdens, said the news was “very unsettling and upset the wife quite a bit.”
Melen has lived in Beaver Run for seven years. He said the Mosdens were one of the first families to move into the neighborhood. The area is predominantly active and retired military, he said, with a few civilians.
“It used to be senior (non-commissioned officers) and officers,” he said.
Melen said Sgt. Maj. Mosden had been deployed two or three times since September.
Melen said he will be more vigilant about security. “It’s hard not to think she was targeted because her husband was gone,” he said.”
Shaw, Angie Mosden’s supervisor at Wal-Mart, remembered her as “a sweet lady who didn’t bother anyone.”
“It’s definitely a big loss,” she said. “She was very nervous because her husband was gone. She took off for a little over a week before he left. She was worried about him, but she didn’t really talk about it too much.”
Staff writer Missy Stoddard can be reached at 486-3571 or stoddardm@fayettevillenc.com
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