Police identify 8 people killed in Georgia

[sabrina 1]

Source: CNN

Police identified the victims as Michelle Toler, 15; Michael Toler, 19; Russell D. Toler Jr., 20; Chrissy Toler, 22; Joseph L. West, 30; Russell D. Toler Sr., 44; Guy Heinze Sr., 45; and Brenda Gail Falagan, 49.

They were found dead Saturday in Brunswick, Georgia, about 300 miles southeast of Atlanta, on the Atlantic coast.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/09/01/georgia.killings/index.html?eref=igoogle_cnn

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They are holding the man who made the 911 call, but on charges of being in possession of marijuana. He has not been charged with the murders. He claimed the murdered people were his family.

[Catherine Vincent]

1. What a horrible tragedy!

[sabrina 1]

2. It is, a whole family and one of the victims

was a downs syndrome child:

At one point, while the maintenance man, known only as Mike, talks to dispatchers, Heinze goes in the mobile home and reports that his cousin, identified as Michael, is breathing. The maintenance man said that Michael is a "young man with Down syndrome." Heinze reports the youth's "face is smashed in," he said.

I do not think he survived as his name appears to be on the list of dead victims. Heinz is the 22 year-old who is in custody and who made the 911 call.

[fishnfla]

3. gun violence or not?

the other LBN thread is unreadable. I do wish people would get the facts before argueing their pet causes (can you say teabaggers in the health care debate?)

without shooting it would seem to take more than one person to commit these murders

[sabrina 1]

5. I don't think there is any information on how they were killed

yet. This report says the police have not released the results of the autopsy.

[fishnfla]

7. it seems to me

hey now I'm speculating.

if the victims were shot, an autopsy would be cut and dried.

If they were bludgeoned, and more than one assailant, the autopsy would be harder and the murder weapon(s) very important evidence.

I believe one of the victims is still alive and may ID the killer(s) is why they are playing close to the vest

[xultar]

10. Nope that last victim died. I don't think they were able to ID. I can't believe

8 people were beaten to death in one location. That don't make no dang sense. Seems to me they had to be shot first and then beaten.

Can you imagine being in a room and one guy is beating another guy to death and not helping...then that same guy goes to another guy and starts beating.

Even with two people doing the beating the other 4 should have been able to put the two attackers down.

[dgibby]

12. There were 9 victims.

One is still in the hospital in critical condition.

NEW: Warrant claims caller took shotgun from house

Investigators release names of eight people found dead in mobile home

Ninth person hospitalized in critical condition, police say

Glynn County, Georgia, police have been tight-lipped about case

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/09/01/georgia.killings/index.html?eref=igoogle_cnn

[xultar]

19. I thought the 9th died on sunday, or at least that is what I heard on my way to work mon...

must have been in error.

It was a RW am station (with the best traffic) so I guess them being wrong is common place.

[fishnfla]

13. one victim still alive

caller said " they're all beat"

remember the XBOX slayings?

[benEzra]

21. Not if the victims were killed in their sleep.

A blow to the head with a hammer would probably not waken the other occupants of the house.

[undeterred]

22. Clearly, there must have been more than one attacker.

[sabrina 1]

15. You may be right that they were not shot

I think most people thought that's how they died probably because of reports from news outlets like the Daily Mail. They referred to the killer as a 'gunman' but later in this article, admit that they police have not revealed how the victims died.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1210225/Eight-person-dies-trailer-park-bloodbath.html

Police are hunting a gunman who murdered eight people in a mass shooting at a trailer park.

Guy Heinze Jnr, a relative of some of the victims, returned home and found several family members either dead or dying.

> snip

Despite local reports suggesting that the victims had been shot, police have so far refused to confirm how they died.

A recording of a phone call released between Heinze Jr and an emergency service operator appeared to suggest that the victims had been beaten to death.

The article says that the 'killer is still on the loose' and that the police are asking for help finding him/her, although they 'have no leads'. The guy who is being held supposedly had a gun in his car. He is also charged with 'tampering with evidence'.

Very bad reporting, but not surprising from the Daily Mail. But that may be why everyone assumed there were guns involved.

However it happened it is a horrible tragedy, many of them just teenagers.

[fishnfla]

16. I think he grabbed that gun to protect hisself

maybe the killer(s) was looking for him

[sabrina 1]

17. Yeah, that's possible

Or, he might have been fearful, if it was his gun, that if the police found it, he would be implicated in the crime. If he is not guilty, what a horrible shock for him, he will never get over it.

If drugs were involved, he may have had a suspicion about who did it (he was arrested for illegal possession of prescription drugs, marijuana and tampering with the evidence. That was probably removing the gun from the house.

I don't think they would 'removing the gun from the house' if they thought he had used it to kill the victims with. Maybe that's all it was, removing it in a panic in case he'd be blamed.

Or as you say, to protect himself. But then why put it in the car? He did seem to be shocked and very concerned for his cousin who was still alive.

[RaleighNCDUer]

11. It would appear, from the few facts revealed, that there were multiple

perps as apparently a couple of the victims were beaten to death - no specifics on the others. That would indicate at least two persons involved - one to commit the attack and one to hold the others at bay.

[dgibby]

4. According to CNN,

the family member who made the call attempted to conceal a shotgun (taken from the house) in his car, and his lawyer says he has NOT been ruled out as a suspect.

[FirstLight]

6. yes, horrible...why is it being kept so hush-hush?

Or maybe my question should be: Why is it that we know more details about so omany other crimes almost immediately, and this one is being kept so quiet?...or does it mater, should all crimes be kept quiet so that the details can't poison the potential jury members?

...and isn;t it a better idea to have MORE info out there, so that people can look out for the killer/s...?


hmmm...just doesn't sound right to me

[fishnfla]

8. see post 7

conjecture on my part

[caseymoz]

9. Right. Why so hush-hush?

It sounds to me like this police chief, Matt Doehring, probably just keeps the department very disciplined about talking to the press.

If you think about it, the press not actually sensationalizing the crime scene to the public is more like what should happen. We're just amazed that this is finally being imposed, for whatever reason.

Of course, another possibility is that maybe the scene was just that grizzly, and nobody, the police chief included, wants to go into detail about it.

[JonQ]

14. I'm not going to be the least surprised

if this turns out to be drug related.

Not saying it is, as the details seem sparse at the moment, but it just gives off that impression.

Horrible tragedy either way.

[sabrina 1]

18. It could be, but they were fairly poor people

definitely not big time dealers.

Strange statements from the police though. They said that 'killer is not among the dead nor is it the sole survivor'. Yet, they also said that there is 'no manhunt'. And they said, the guy who made the call is neither a suspect or not a suspect.

If it was for drugs, it couldn't have been for much. Neighbors say the father was a wonderful man who had a big heart. They say he never refused anyone a place to stay which is why there were so many people living there. All four of his own children, his daughter's boyfriend and his two siblings. There was no mention of a wife, and the survivor is believed to be a child.

If someone would kill that many people over drugs (police haven't said they found any drugs and neighbors have not mentioned drugs either, yet) they are a very dangerous person and I don't know why the police are basically saying 'don't worry, we're not looking for anyone' yet, saying they have no idea who did it.

[benEzra]

20. They can't do a manhunt until they have a suspect.

They may be withholding details of the murder weapon (apparently some sort of blunt object) either because they don't know exactly what kind it was yet and don't want to air speculation, or else they are witholding details so that publication of the details doesn't muddy the investigation.

If I had to guess, I'd say the guy removed the shotgun from the house because he was afraid to be busted for pot possession with a gun in the house (mandatory 5 years in Federal prison for simple possession if you own a gun if it's referred to the feds, IIRC, unless that's been changed recently). Or maybe he was afraid the police would take it and wanted to retain it in case the murderers later came back for him, who knows.

[sabrina 1]

23. Well, you appear to be correct

about the motives of the police. They have said they do not want to reveal anything right now as that would give the perpetrator an advantage. They also said it is one of the worst crimes they have ever investigated.

I do agree with you regarding the taking of the gun. I think I already said above, that he could have been afraid of being implicated, doesn't mean he had anything to do with the killings. Or, as someone else said, he may have wanted to protect himself not knowing if the killer was still around.

He may know something though, and once he recovers from the shock, assuming he's innocent, the police may be able to get a list of possible suspects from him. I hope so because whoever did this is a pretty dangerous individual.