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This is a video of Bascom Lamar Lunsford (fiddle and vocals) and three other musicians (guitar and banjo) singing a song called "Doggett Gap" recorded in Ashville, North Carolina on October 7th, 1928. "Doggett Gap" seems very similar to the more famous "Cumberland Gap", so it could simply be a variation of Cumberland Gap with an alternate title. • Tommy Jarrell: Cumberland Gap (1983)

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) - A court official is recommending substance abuse treatment and home detention for the mother of a missing toddler while she awaits trial on welfare fraud. Federal records show pretrial services officer Brian Kilgore wants the court to intervene in the case of 29-year-old Lena Lunsford, who was caught with synthetic drugs called bath salts. Lunsford's 3-year-old daughter Aliayah (uh-LEE-uh) vanished from her Lewis County home Sept. 24 and hasn't been found. Her mother has since been indicted on multiple counts of welfare fraud but is free on supervised release. Kilgore's petition says Lunsford is unwilling to...

JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA (BNO NEWS) – Inmate John Evander Couey, who was on death row for kidnapping, raping and burying 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford in 2005, has died at a Florida hospital, officials said on Wednesday. He was 51 years old. Couey passed away at 11.15 a.m. local time at Jacksonville Memorial Hospital, where he was transported to on August 12. Gretl Plessinger, a spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Corrections, said Couey died of natural causes. Couey abducted 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford, a native of Gastonia, from her bedroom in 2005 before he raped and burried her. If Couey's body is not...

A convicted sex offender awaiting execution for kidnapping, raping and burying 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford alive in 2005, died of natural causes Wednesday in Florida. John Evander Couey, 51, had been ill for some time and died in a Jacksonville hospital where he had been since Aug. 12, said Department of Corrections spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger.

John Evander Couey, convicted child rapist and murderer has died, depriving Florida and the family of Jessica Lunsford of seeing Couey's death sentence carried out. Mark Lunsford, the victim's father once said of Couey, that he wouldn't mind if Couey died at the hands of another inmate, saying “I would be buying a lot of cigarettes for someone.” Looks like Mr. Lunsford won't have to buy those cigarettes after all. Couey died of cancer today in prison.

The father of a Florida girl abducted and buried alive in a trash bag by a sex offender has blasted a Massachusetts politician who said he'd have to torment young victims on the witness stand if mandatory sentences for offenders passed the state Legislature. Mark Lunsford, whose 9-year-old daughter died in 2005, told the Boston Herald that Rep. James Fagan, a defense attorney, should take the rights of victimized children seriously. “Why doesn’t he figure out a way to defend that child and put these kind of people away instead of trying to figure ways for defense attorneys to get...

Time for a True Crime Update and we've some very intriguing items this week. Supreme Court Justice Scalia's daughter is sentenced and Mark Lunsford's son is what? A sex predator? A report on a most heinous crime of the HIV rapists, a snort from DC's infamous sex blogger, and an attack on a teacher caught on tape. Finally, the Judge was a Beatles fan and his punishment is original and chock full of Beatle lyrics.

Jury deliberated for just over an hour and gave Couey the death penalty.

Fla. Jurors Get Jessica Lunsford Case By CURT ANDERSON (Associated Press Writer) From Associated Press March 07, 2007 12:10 PM EST MIAMI - Jurors began deliberations Wednesday in the murder trial of a sex offender accused of kidnapping 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford from her Florida home and burying her alive in trash bags. In closing arguments Wednesday morning, the prosecutor urged them to convict John Evander Couey, saying overwhelming physical evidence and Couey's own admissions told the story of Jessica's death. "She had a constitutional right to the pursuit of happiness," prosecutor Peter Magrino said. "That defendant right there took away...

Jury will hear accused killer's jailhouse confessions about Jessica Lunsford's murder Corrections Officer John Read testified Tuesday that murder defendant John Couey talked about the crime while in jail. By Emanuella Grinberg Court TV MIAMI — A judge on Tuesday refused to suppress jailhouse statements from a man who allegedly expressed remorse for raping and murdering 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford in 2005. Circuit Court Judge Richard Howard halted jury selection Tuesday in John Couey's capital murder trial to hold a hearing on whether to suppress the statements that the convicted sex offender allegedly made in 2006. After hearing testimony from two...

The confession of a man charged with kidnapping, raping and killing 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford isn't admissible in court, but the discovery of her body can be used as evidence, a judge ruled today. John Evander Couey, a 47-year-old convicted sex offender, gave the confession to detectives, but also told them that he wanted to consult a lawyer. He wasn't given the opportunity to do so. Jessica Marie Lunsford was found kneeling and clutching a stuffed animal, hands tied with speaker wire and fingers poking through the garbage bags in which she was buried alive in March 2005. Two days earlier,...

ORLANDO, Fla. -- The confession of a man charged with kidnapping, raping and killing 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford isn't admissible in court, but the discovery of her body can be used as evidence, a judge ruled Friday.

TIME to CALL/WRITE/FAX to Brad King, Gov. Jeb Bush, and AG Charlie Crist... tell Brad King to DO HIS JOB or resign.. and Tell Gov. Bush and AG Crist to take action to remove Brad King from office if he FAILS to do his job...

BROOKSVILLE, Fla. (AP) - A sex offender accused of kidnapping and murdering a 9-year-old girl said she was alive inside his home when authorities came to investigate her disappearance earlier this year, according to court documents released Thursday. John Couey, 46, said he fed Jessica Lunsford for two or three days in a closet in a Homosassa mobile home where he was staying before burying her alive in February. During that time, authorities visited the home but never searched it, Couey said. "They didn't search," Couey said in a March interview with detectives that was included in the documents. "They...

Is a convicted sex offender living close to you? To find out, go to www.criminalcheck.comResidents out enjoying Dothan city parks may soon notice something out of the ordinary on the park benches. An outdoor advertising company plans to put the names and faces of all registered sex offenders who reside in Dothan on benches in five of the city's parks. Earn Garner, vice president of Bronson Bench Advertising, said the company was asked by Dothan City Commissioner James Reading if they would be interested in donating advertising space to make the public more aware of convicted sex offenders living in...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - With the father of a slain 9-year-old looking on, Gov. Jeb Bush signed legislation Monday that strengthens punishment and monitoring of child sex abusers. The Jessica Lunsford Act requires those who prey on children under 12 to be sentenced to at least 25 years in prison and, if they get out, to be tracked for life. The bill was quickly drafted after Jessica's body was discovered in March, and sped through the legislative process, pushed by outraged lawmakers. Bush said Florida's sex offender laws are already tough, and "this bill will make our laws even tougher....

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — With the father of a slain 9-year-old looking on, Gov. Jeb Bush signed legislation Monday that strengthens punishment and monitoring of child sex abusers. The Jessica Lunsford Act requires those who prey on children under 12 to be sentenced to at least 25 years in prison and, if they get out, to be tracked for life. The bill was quickly drafted after March, and sped through the legislative process, pushed by outraged lawmakers. Bush said Florida's sex offender laws are already tough, and "this bill will make our laws even tougher. It think it is right and...

Sex offender John Couey. Rumors are flying that Couey took Jessica Lunsford into his trailor through his bedroom window. All this happened in the pouring rain. This sounds like a pro to me. Has this man done this before? Is someone looking into the areas he lived before to see if anyone was missing?

MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- New details emerged Wednesday on the last moments in the life of slain 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford... Today, 292 pages of court documents were made public detailing the prosecution account of her last days at the hands of her alleged killer, John Evander Couey. Bound and buried near her home, possibly while still alive, Jessica cradled in her arms a stuffed toy dolphin, the documents say. Jessica's body was found buried behind a house where Couey lived with his half-sister. Her body was covered by garbage bags, documents said, and her hands were bound with what appeared...

Molesters Often Strike Again Saturday, April 16, 2005 By Catherine Donaldson-Evans Jessica Lunsford (search) and Jetseta Gage (search): two young girls recently kidnapped, molested and killed, allegedly by men who authorities said are convicted, registered sex offenders who had served time and were back in the community. Criminologists say it’s all too frequent that the perpetrator is a pathological sexual predator, as in the case of Jessica’s alleged killer in Florida, John Evander Couey (search), and Roger Paul Bentley (search), who Iowa police say murdered Jetseta. “It happens all the time,” said Louis B. Schlesinger, a forensic psychologist specializing in...