31 May 2004
Why aren't they still together?...
Dr. Richard Schmidt met nurse Janice Trahan in 1982 at the Lafayette
Medical Center in Louisiana. She was his patient and then his mistress.
After a 10-year extramarital affair - during which she had six other
affairs - Trahan divorced her husband and had Schmidt's child on the
promise that he would leave his wife for her. When she finally decided to
end the relationship, in 1994, Schmidt rang her to say he was coming over
to give her another B12 shot for her chronic fatigue. Trahan left the
door unlocked and awoke to find Schmidt standing over her. She changed
her mind about the shot, but he administered it anyway and left quickly.
Several months later, a gynaecological check-up revealed that she had HIV
and hepatitis C.
When Trahan decided to sue Schmidt for injecting her with the two
nasties, a search warrant was obtained for Schmidt's office and home.
The thick file on Trahan cast doubt on his claim that he'd never treated
her as a patient. Further investigation revealed that Schmidt had
contacted a patient with full-blown AIDS a few months earlier to request a
blood sample. A hepatitis C patient told a similar story. A year later,
scientists at Baylor University were able to link the AIDS patient's
genetic material with that in Trahan's case. Schmidt was convicted of
attempted murder in 1998 and remains in prison today.
22 April 2004
A love story.
Linda Riss, a 22-year-old receptionist in New York's West Bronx, began
dating married negligence lawyer Burt Pugach in the fall of 1957. After a
year, she concluded that he didn't really intend to divorce his wife and
therefore ended her relationship with him. Pugach says that he began
harrassing Riss, hiding in the bushes by her family's home, and
threatening to kill her if she didn't resume the relationship. Riss said
"The police officer at the desk told me they weren't going to do anything,
because he was a lawyer".
When Riss became engaged to someone else, Pugach told her, "If I can't
have you, no-one else will have you, and when I get through with you,
no-one else will want you". The next morning, Heard Harden came to her
door with a cardboard box containing lye... Pugach now claims that he had
merely asked Heard to beat Riss up, not throw lye in her face and blind
her. Preparing to go home after three months in hospital, Riss was hurt
again - when her fiance called off the engagement.
Pugach was sentenced to 15 to 30 years in prison for soliciting the
attack. Released after 14 years, Pugach proposed to Riss, with whom he
was forbidden contact, via a television interview. The two met for a date
in 1974. As to why she married him a few months later, she cited her
belief that the government holds more blame for the attack than Pugach
does, her Christian sense of forgiveness, a fortune teller's advice, fear
that Pugach would end up with another woman, and her "need to move
forward".
The couple are still married. They did have a close call a few years
ago when Pugach, now 76, violated the terms of his parole by harassing a
woman with whom he was having an affair.
15 September 2003
Here is the disturbing story for September.
In a report from Norway, Bashkim Hasani was stabbed to death by two of his
children while in hospital in December 2002. His other daughter, 18, and
her mother have also been charged in the case. Admitting her guilt, the
20-year-old daughter explained, "Without exaggerating, I was raped at last
three times a week" over a 10-year period. She confirmed in court that
that was over a thousand times in total.
She described how she was never safe, whether on trips, in the woods, or
behind the half-open door of her bedroom. Hasani forced her to watch porn
movies with him and later humiliated her by asking her to bring her
lesbian girlfriend home for a threesome.
Of the decade of abuse, she said, "He used to say that I was like a dead
corpse, that he didn't feel like it but that he had needs. 'You must
imagine that I am someone else. That is what I do and that is why it's so
easy for me to feel good...I don't bother to look at your face, to see
that you are crying. I can't understand that you can be in pain when I'm
enjoying myself.'" She also described her constant fear of pregnancy.
The woman, who has yet to be sentenced, said, "Sometimes I showered with
my panties on because I didn't want to see myself. I started to wear
boys' pants and big sweaters so that no one would think of me like my
father did. I don't understand why nobody noticed that I changed my
behaviour. I was alone."
24 August 2003
How not to deal with your family... unless you want to get caught...
Australia's Sef Gonzales allegedly wanted to inherit $1.2 million and was
annoyed that his parents didn't approve of his girlfriend. They had also
threatened to take away his car and had found out about his poor marks at
university. So he rush-ordered lethal plant seeds online and made a
poison. His mother recovered after being taken to hospital with a fever
and abdominal pain. After his family were stabbed to death two weeks
later, the poison was found in Gonzales's room. Gonzales was charged with
killing his mother, father, and sister in turn as each arrived home.
Two years later, the case has gone to trial. Things have not gone
Gonzales's way. His legal team walked out of the courtroom on him. Then
the court refused to let him use his parents' money for his legal
bills.
Gonzales claimed he was having sex at the La Petite Aroma brothel at the
time of the killings. He said he came home to see someone run away from
the bodies, which Gonzales then hugged. Dogs found no trail to follow,
nor was blood from any such hugs found on Gonzales. However, police did
find a trace of paint on his jumper - the same paint used by the supposed
attackers to write 'Fuck off Asians' on the wall of the home. The
prostitute he claimed to have been with had taken that week off. Also,
Gonzales had paid a taxi driver $50 to claim he drove him to the brothel
that night, but that taxi wasn't in service at the time.
Gonzales further complicated his situation by giving a detective
falsified copies of his family's death certificate, with exact times of
death added.
14 June 2003
Here's a heart-warming story for us all, and a reminder that such loving relationships seldom go unpunished.
Australian gigolo Shane Maurice Chartres-Abbott, 28, stood trial for
raping a client and drinking her blood. He had told her he was a vampire
who drank blood to stay alive. After the attack, in which a chunk of the
woman's tongue was ripped out, her mobile 'phone was found in his bag.
Her blood was on his jacket, the court was told. The gigolo, for his
part, insisted that the truth was simpler: the woman had wanted him to be
part of a snuff movie in which he would die. He said she decided against
it because she liked him.
His lawyer, Alan Hands, applied for Chartres-Abbott's name to be
suppressed due to the male prostitute's fears of embarassment and possible
retribution. Judge Bill White ruled that there was no evidence of a
threat to Chartres-Abbott's life. He later sent the jury home early
because the accused's address appeared on evidence they were to be shown.
As Chartres-Abbott left his home in northern Melbourne for court, two
attackers rushed up the driveway. Shot twice in the neck, he died.
12 May 2003
This isn't a proper feature, but I decided to run it because.
From the South China Morning Post we learn of a 70-year-old woman
from Guangzhou province in southern China, famed for its
not-quite-picturesque SARScape. She went to the Huangpu District People's
Court to petition for a divorce from her husband, who she says forced her
to marry him 50 years ago.
Her husband, 83, assured the court that he would mend his ways. The
court threw out the woman's suit, calling it unreasonable. The pair hold
the record for being the province's oldest couple to be involved in
divorce court proceedings.
28 March 2003
Will this lady be in the news again in another couple years?
This charming news comes to us from Lorain, Ohio, where a mother of three is being charged with child endangerment. Police found Amanda Phillips's trailer filled with cat faeces, cockroaches, dirty clothing, and rubbish. The police report also mentions the children being bathed in a bathtub filled with Pine-Sol cleaner - the plumbing had apparently stopped working that day. Dead roaches were stuck in a clear liquid on the floor.
The report described the kitchen in glowing terms: "the entire kitchen counter covered with dirty dishes ... hamburger that had a spoiled odor to it" and a fridge containing only the remains of a bag of frozen French fries and two bowls of what police "could not determine what it was and if it was for human consumption". A cat crawled through a hole leading to the bedroom, where more dirty dishes greeted police.
By way of explanation, the 23-year-old Phillips explained that she has three children and just can't keep up. She is pregnant with a fourth. Phillips reportedly threatened to hurt herself, so she was taken away for evaluation and then to jail.
11 March 2003
A nice happy family.
In a plea bargain agreement, Caroline Marie Mayer of Punta Gorda, Florida,
pleaded guilty to child neglect and attempted sexual activity with a
minor. Mayer, who is infertile, used her 16-year-old daughter as a
surrogate mother, watching as her husband, Andrew Christopher Mayer,
impregnated the girl three years ago. After the girl told her aunt that
her stepfather molested her and stated under oath that "they pulled me out
of bed at midnight and asked me if I'd have a baby for them", Andrew was
sentenced to 15 years in prison. Caroline and Andrew had planned to
replace their baby's name on the birth certificate with Caroline's.
State prosecutor John L. Burns said the plea agreement was based solely
on the victim's wishes. Mayer will serve one year, less time already
served, is not to contact her daughter or any minor for eight years, and
will be classified as a sex offender for the rest of her life.
22 December 2002
Just in time for Christmas, here is a story of a troubled family to make you a little more uncofmortable as you sit warmly and wholesomely around your tree.
Jackie Cruse's younger daughter died several years ago after placing her
hand in a pile of cocaine and cupping her hand to her mouth and nose, said
the girl's grandmother, Iva Mae Cruse. In 1998, Cruse placed her other
daughter, Ciara Jobes, in the care of friend Satrina Roberts. Jackie died
of an AIDS-related illness in July.
About a year ago, teachers noticed that Jobes, then in eighth grade, was
often dirty, didn't wear a coat in winter, sometimes missed school, often
wore a wig, and had taken to stealing food off others' trays. Seeing
signs that Jobes was being beaten regularly, school counselor Cassandra
Cousins contacted the Department of Social Services, she said, but they
didn't respond "because the child did not come in and complain of being
beat or hit or hurt". The girl didn't come to school at all this year.
Now Roberts, 31, stands accused of starving and beating to death the
15-year-old Jobes. When police recently responded to a 911 call from
Roberts, they found the 73-pound corpse near a kitchen stove, where they
believe it had been placed in an attempt to reverse rigor mortis before
authorities arrived, reports the Washington Post.
13 September 2002
We can now look forward to many more fucked relationships thanks to this
featured recipe for a fucked relationship.
So far, more than 400 people have signed up for a new dating service
designed by psychoanalyst Frederick Levenson. To actually start
operation, initally in New York and Los Angeles, Levenson would like to
see his 'TheraDate' service reach 750 members. The idea is that the
members' therapists will fill out confidential questionnaires which will
be used for matchmaking. Levenson said those with similar experiences can
use their history as building blocks for compatible long-term
relationships.
25 August 2002
The New York Times tells us of Dale Vincent 'Rooster' Bogle's
family, a Salem, Oregon, clan in which 28 have been convicted so far -
siblings, grandchildren, and cousins. Bogle taught his children to break
into liquor stores and steal tractor-trailers before they were 10 years
old. Some of the children's earliest memories are of being beaten for
being cowards who refused to steal for their father and of their mother's
blood.
Tracey estimates that he has stolen over 300 big rigs. In an incident
that landed Tracey, then 15, in jail, he and his brothers rammed one of
these vehicles through the side of a gun store and made off with the
weapons inside.
Bogle's youngest son, Tracey, 29, is serving 15 years for kidnapping,
rape, assault, robbery, and burglary. Helping out with the crimes was one
of his older brothers. Rooster's oldest son, Tony, is serving a life
sentence for murder. Their mother was released from jail last month. An
Oregon Department of Corrections analysis conducted by Fay Gentle showed
the cost of incarcerating just five of the Bogles to be near $3
million.
Perhaps the greatest cost incurred by the state for a Bogle is that of
the care of Rooster's newphew, Louis, 42, whose arrests number 25. Five
days after being released from prison, he sought methamphetamines from
Mexican drug dealers to whom he owed money. They shot him up with liquid
Drano. Left paralysed from the neck down, Louis described himself as "too
mean to die".
Florence Bogle Black, a neice of Rooster, remembers her father abusing
her mother. He sexually molested Florence when she was 11, but she says
"I don't hold it against him; he was drunk" though "after that, I
changed", turning to meths, cocaine, and heroin. She had her first child
at age 15. While most of the female Bogles turned to drugs rather than
violence, Florence was convicted of stabbing her husband and her best
friend - who was also her husband's mistress.
Florence's sister, Tammie Bogle Stuckey, is an exception to the pattern.
Her current husband is a former inmate, and she endured two abusive
marriages, emerging to help run five halfway houses for newly released
inmates. "They're just like my family" she said. And in some cases they
are. Her son, Jason Bogle James, 27, was one resident. From taking acid
at age 13, he progressed to heroin and robbery. Stuckey kicked him out of
the programme for not following the rules. At least, she says, in prison
"he's not out trying to get himself killed".
Ricky Bogle, the son of one of Stuckey's cousins, said from solitary
confinement at Oregon State Correctional Institution - his home after he
stole a car - "Man, when you are raised in this family, it's hard to get
away from it".
18 August 2002
We don't usually feature touching stories, but we'll make an exception
for this one as we near the anniversary of the 11 September attacks in the
US.
Kimberly Diaz, the girlfriend of a police officer who died in the World
Trade Center last September, has applied for death benefits for the two
children she bore him. This came as a surprise to Joan Callahan - Officer
Liam Callahan's wife and the mother of his four other children.
Both women worked at the Journal Square PATH station in Jersey City.
Officer Callahan, 44, met Diaz four years ago but didn't tell her he was
married until Diaz was pregnant, whereupon - according to Diaz - he began
giving her $200 a week for the child.
The night before Officer Callahan died, he told his wife he would be
spending the night at a Port Authority police station in Jersey City so he
would be ready for the early-morning shift. He left Diaz's house at 6
a.m. to go to work. Diaz, who is currently having DNA tests conducted on
her children, said "My doctor told me I got pregnant the day before he
died". September 12 was the Callahans' twentieth wedding anniversary.
Officer Callahan was a volunteer firefighter, PTA president, and regular
churchgoer.
11 August 2002
This guy's relationship with his wife was probably fucked - but you
can see for himself, as the couple are now separated... His mother
blames the current state of his life at least partly on his
upbringing.
Robert Edwin Nitz, 39, has cost Michigan taxpayers over $1 million. He
has stabbed and cut his belly at least 40 times to "feel
better", whether in solitary confinement - most recently on the way
to the prison loo on 27 July when he grabbed a guard's pen - in sanitoria,
in ambulances, or in full view of his neighbours. A surgeon who has
operated on Nitz's abdomen four times said "People feel used. He
needs to be somewhere, but I don't know of an institution that can take
him". Nitz, who has used the side of a zip to dig out of a prison
cell, broken his handcuffs to cut himself with the sharp ends, torn open
his belly with his fingers, stopped taking his psychotropic medicine so he
could drink, and stolen a friend's car for a cross-country trip, said
"People like me need more understanding".
Nitz now has only four feet of remaining functioning bowel, whereas most
people have 26.
Nitz's career of malefaction started early; at age 12 he started setting
fires for attention. Since then, most of his prison time has been for
arson, and Oakland County Sheriff's Department arson investigator David
Row said "I don't think Robert ever stopped. He just got better at
it". Without this hobby, in prison, he turned to suing people; seven
of the eight lawsuits he filed were thrown out immediately.
12 July 2002
Florida's St. Petersburg Times reports on a rather lovely family.
Richard Chouquer was being a caring babysitter for a friend's two children
and minding his own two kids while his pregnant girlfriend Amandy
Lawrence, 22, went on a methamphetamine run. Two-year-old Alfredo Montez
soiled his trousers, so Chouquer apparently had little choice but to beat
him to death with his hands. Wrapped lovingly in a 101 Dalmations
bedspread, the child's body was placed in the trunk of the family car, in
which Chouquer and his girlfriend took the other three children, fled the
trailer park where they lived (surprise!), and dumped the body by a wood,
where it was found not by the helicopters, dogs, or all-terrain vehicles
that were part of the search but by a passing motorist.
While the search proceeded, Chouquer and Lawrence's neighbours kept
asking the couple to turn the music in their trailer down. "Oh, they
partied", said neighbour Elbert Edwards, 70.
Alfredo and his sister were left with Chouquer and Lawrence by Jeanna
Swallows, who claimed she had to go to a job interview. But she couldn't
say where the interview was and admitted to having a drug problem. We
have no way of knowing if she needed a babysitter during her own meths
run. In any event, when she returned to collect her children, no-one was
home, and she eventually had Chouquer and Lawrence's roommate call
authorities. She didn't want to call herself because she was in violation
of the terms of her probation.
Chouquer has served jail time for abusing his children from a previous
marriage.
A tale of jealousy, marriage before the grave has settled, and more in this dysfunctional family...
From the Palm Beach Post we have the family of George E. Loikits,
58, and Rosangela Loikits, 27.
A 12-year-old girl said she didn't want to go home because her
stepmother might hit her in the face. Seeing no bruises, a police officer
said he would have to take her home. So she showed Officer Danielle
Daunais the bruises and lacerations on her leg, back, buttocks, and inner
thighs. The girl's stories were lurid: the children being forced to eat
the dog's faeces when they wouldn't play with the animal, one girl being
forced to drink a cup of urine when she asked for a drink afterward,
and more.
Officers went to the home and found the girl's two siblings covered in
bruises. The underwear of one was caked in dried blood. All three
children were removed to a group foster home. The 12-year-old's parentage
was not obvious from existing records. The youngest two girls were the
offspring of George and Rosangela's sister Silvia, whom he married six
months after Silvia's death.
One of the girls said her father didn't talk to the girls or hug them
because Rosangela would get jealous. Another told of the refrigerator
being locked and under surveillance by a camera, being drenched in boiling
water for taking a hot shower, etc.
The Loikits family's lawyers say the family's happiness was clear from
videos taken over the years. Rosangela's lawyer said "emotional
difficulties" and coming from a remote area of Brazil contributed to
her problems. George's lawyer said his client knew nothing of any abuse
and was away most of the time on business (as a FedEx pilot).
More past featured fuckednesses..
Our featured fuckedness for February is Josephine Gray. The Associated
Press report that she kept a collection of powders and herbs in her
bedroom. Friends spread stories of voodoo curses. But what we do know is
that the Rockville, Maryland, woman's boyfriend, Clarence Goode, was found
dead and stuffed into a trunk. Authorities allege that she did it for the
insurance money.
This is not unheard of. But Gray, 55, has also seen the death of her
husband William in 1990 and her previous husband Norman Stribbling in
1974. According to court documents, Gray asked each of her partners to
kill the previous one. Stribbling was shot to death, for which Gray
collected $16,000. Goode's policy was worth $95,000.
Grey was not broiught to trial for the earlier two deaths, as the
charges were dropped when witnesses disappeared. In 1990, her children
warned police that they thought she would kill again, and William later
expressed the same concern to police, a month before he died.
If you want, you can go back to our home.