Stacy Sappleton: The Plot Thickens (5/14 NYT)
Maggie
looks like she may have been. But that was more than 30 minutes before the
last call from her cell phone. If she wasn't calling from the future in-laws
house or right outside it, where was she calling from? From the NYT:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/14/nyregion/14dead.html?ex=1085112000&en=9e
4b72c9266089e2&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE
Mix-Up With Cab May Have Preceded Woman's Killing
By SHAILA K. DEWAN and SHERRI DAY
Published: May 14, 2004
Officials investigating the perplexing case of a Canadian woman found dead in a
garbage truck in Queens now believe that a taxi she took from La Guardia
Airport dropped her off on the wrong block, leaving her disoriented and
vulnerable to strangers, a police official said yesterday. The body of the
woman, Stacy-Ann Sappleton, 26, showed signs of a fierce struggle with an
attacker, the official said.
The police also said they were investigating a complaint from her fiancé's
family that they had been told they had to wait 24 hours before filing a
missing-person report on Ms. Sappleton, who was heading to their house when she
disappeared.
The police have said they were notified of Ms. Sappleton's disappearance at
8:30 Saturday morning; Valerie Blair, the mother of Ms. Sappleton's fiancé,
says she first called 911 on Friday afternoon, about six hours after Ms.
Sappleton was due to arrive at the Blair home in Brookville, Queens.
Ms. Sappleton's body was found on Monday morning, leaving open the possibility
that she was still alive when Ms. Blair says she placed the call. Yet the
murder investigation has also led investigators to revise their earlier
estimate that she had been dead less than 24 hours when she was found, and they
now believe she was killed shortly after she disappeared, one official said.
Ms. Sappleton, an insurance benefits specialist living in Tecumseh, Ontario,
had planned to spend the weekend with her future in-laws, making arrangements
for her September wedding.
Her body was discovered by a truck driver emptying Dumpsters at a supermarket;
she had been shot at least three times. The police say there is no evidence
that she was sexually assaulted, but are awaiting test results to make a
determination.
Yesterday, Ms. Blair said in an interview that she was certain Ms. Sappleton
had not been dropped off on her block, and offered some details to flesh out
the new theory. Ms. Sappleton withdrew $40 at an A.T.M. at La Guardia to pay
the cabdriver, she said. The bride-to-be then called her fiancé, Damion Blair,
from the cab for directions, and hung up when she was a block from the home, he
has told investigators. But Ms. Blair said she believed that the cabdriver had
been lost and that Ms. Sappleton, watching the meter, had gotten out before it
passed her $40 limit.
The taxi driver told investigators that he had dropped her right in front of
the house, where the front door had been left unlocked for her, the police
said. But Ms. Blair said the police had taken the driver to the correct block
and asked him if he had been there, instead of letting him lead the way to the
place where he had dropped off his passenger.
The only person home at the time Ms. Sappleton was to arrive, Mr. Blair's
younger brother, was asleep in the basement, the family said. The brother, Marc
A. Blair, a 20-year-old art student at Hunter College, and other members of his
family have cooperated with the police and provided DNA samples, officials
said.
Even after searching the house for forensic evidence, the police said, they
were unable to determine if Ms. Sappleton had entered it. They said there was
no indication that a crime had been committed there. Now, one theory is that
she became lost and accepted an ill-intentioned offer of help, officials said.
But Marcia Thomas, Ms. Sappleton's mother, was dubious. "If he had dropped her
off at the wrong place, wouldn't she have called Damion back?" she asked. She
said detectives had told her that Ms. Sappleton got off the phone with him at
9:18 a.m., and her final known call was made at 9:50 a.m.
Ms. Sappleton visited the house half a dozen times before, but never alone, the
family said. When Ms. Blair came home from work on Friday to find that Ms.
Sappleton was not there, she called 911, she said. She said officers came to
the house, but refused to take a report when they found out the missing woman
was an adult, telling her they had to wait 24 hours.
Ms. Blair said she then called the airline, the taxi dispatchers, and finally
911 again, at which point she was told that the case would be under the
jurisdiction of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, since it
oversees the airport. "I made a million and one telephone calls Friday
evening," she said. "We didn't sleep Friday night."
A Police Department spokesman said he could not immediately confirm or deny Ms.
Blair's account, but said there was no policy of waiting 24 hours to begin an
investigation. But in many cases, people reported missing are not crime
victims, but have disappeared voluntarily.
Damion Blair, 28, a former marine who family members said had been dating Ms.
Sappleton for seven years, has consistently refused to speak to local
reporters. "When she first disappeared, we tried to contact the media, and they
wouldn't help us," he said yesterday before entering his parents' home on 226th
Street.
Ms. Sappleton, who was born in Jamaica and grew up in Toronto, was a quiet
person who would stay home with Mr. Blair on New Year's Eve and spend hours at
the computer when he was stationed far from home, family and friends said.
"She's so quiet,'' said Kay-Ann Williams, who was at the Blair house yesterday
and said she had been Ms. Sappleton's best friend. ""She doesn't like a big
fuss. Her dresses were simple. Everything was so simple. I had to get her to
wear pink tops."
Ms. Sappleton's body will be taken to Toronto for the funeral, to take place on
May 22, her family said.
Maggie
"You can't take your eyes off [it]. It's like Donald Trump's Hair." -- Dan
Neil
Child
"Maggie" <maggi...@aol.comSPAMBLOC> wrote in message
news:20040513232726...@mb-m23.aol.com...
> Well, the police seem to think she was dropped off on the wrong block and
it
> looks like she may have been. But that was more than 30 minutes before
the
> last call from her cell phone. If she wasn't calling from the future
in-laws
> house or right outside it, where was she calling from? From the NYT:
The taxi driver?????
Maggie
>The taxi driver?????
***I doubt it. The police seem to have cleared him pretty quickly (although if
they hadn't he would make a good suspect). She was on her phone for thirty
minutes after she supposedly exited the cab. If he picked up another fare
before she hung up the last time, that pretty much lets him off the hook.
I'm still wondering where she was when she made those calls. The brother is
still looking pretty good to me.
Hownow
<maggi...@aol.comSPAMBLOC> wrote:
The odd thing about this case, of course, is the gunshot death.
Opportunity attackers of women, even in New York, seldom use firearms.
The key to this homicide could lie with the boyfriend.
She might have had more than one reason for the trip to New York.
If she was not sexually attacked then she was searched by her killers.
I'd be interested in knowing where and what sort of bruises were on her
body.
- hm
Hownow
<how...@cogeco.ca> wrote:
And while I'm at it:
If I were an investigator I'd check what time her plane landed at
LaGuardia and when she got into the taxi.
I find it odd that a Canadian woman would fly alone to New York with
less than $40 in her purse.
Was someone supposed to meet her at the airport but did not,
necessitating a trip to the ATM and cell calls back to the boyfriend
for instructions about reaching her destination.
I'd also check with the airline to see if the flight reservation had
been made some time in advance (as one might well do for a planned
trip) and not booked a couple of hours before take-off.
I'd do that just to clear it up.
- hm
Bo Raxo
"Maggie" <maggi...@aol.comSPAMBLOC> wrote in message
news:20040513232726...@mb-m23.aol.com...
it
> looks like she may have been. But that was more than 30 minutes before
the
> last call from her cell phone. If she wasn't calling from the future
in-laws
> house or right outside it, where was she calling from? From the NYT:
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/14/nyregion/14dead.html?ex=1085112000&en=9e
> 4b72c9266089e2&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE
>
Looks to me like she ended up on the street in New York, lost, and with no
money on her. If someone tried to rob her, and she had no cash to give
them, that could precipitate a beating. Her death may be that simple - in a
really bad or unfamiliar area, you always have some small amount of cash
handy to hand over to a mugger. Not too much - don't want to encourage them
to thoroughly search you - but enough for some junkie to get "well".
Threnody
> I find it odd that a Canadian woman would fly alone to New York with
> less than $40 in her purse.
> Was someone supposed to meet her at the airport but did not,
> necessitating a trip to the ATM and cell calls back to the boyfriend
Actually, what struck me was the fact that she had to go to the ATM at all.
In ever metro area I've ever been in, taxis accept credit and debit cards,
which means you don't need to dash to an ATM in order to pay your fare.
Now, if she was an unsophisticated traveller, I could understand, but she
doesn't sound like it.
Shades of Luna in this story, as far as the "what was with the
withdrawals?" issue.
--Threnody
Hownow
<dov...@yahoo.com> wrote:
I've also considered that she did have instructions on how to get to
the home via public/commercial transit, which requires far less money,
but if she had never been to LaGuardia on her own could well have been
frazzled to distraction by all the buses of different companies and
with various destinations that are available ... so decided then to
take a taxi. I can recall doing that myself.
- hm
Maggie
><maggi...@aol.comSPAMBLOC> wrote:
>
>> >"Maggie" <maggi...@aol.comSPAMBLOC> wrote in message
>> >news:20040513232726...@mb-m23.aol.com...
>> >> Well, the police seem to think she was dropped off on the wrong block
>> >and
>> >it
>> >> looks like she may have been. But that was more than 30 minutes before
>> >the
>> >> last call from her cell phone. If she wasn't calling from the future
>> >in-laws
>> >> house or right outside it, where was she calling from? From the NYT:
>> >
>> child said:
>> >The taxi driver?????
>>
>> ***I doubt it. The police seem to have cleared him pretty quickly (although
>> if
>> they hadn't he would make a good suspect). She was on her phone for thirty
>> minutes after she supposedly exited the cab. If he picked up another
>fare
>> before she hung up the last time, that pretty much lets him off the hook.
>>
>> I'm still wondering where she was when she made those calls. The brother
>is
>> still looking pretty good to me.
>>
>> Maggie
>>
>The odd thing about this case, of course, is the gunshot death.
>Opportunity attackers of women, even in New York, seldom use firearms.
>The key to this homicide could lie with the boyfriend.
>She might have had more than one reason for the trip to New York.
>If she was not sexually attacked then she was searched by her killers.
>I'd be interested in knowing where and what sort of bruises were on her
>body.
***Yeah--that gunshot death is one of the things that made me think "drugs"
when I first heard about this (along with the two different names and the other
recent short plane trips). And that may still be the case. OTOH, the fiance's
parents seem to have been expecting her and the cabbie dropped her in their
neighborhood, so the trip looks a little more on the up and up than those other
things might imply. But her own mother didn't know she was making the trip.
Could go either way, I suppose, but a random non-sex crime-related murder seems
awfully unlikely at 10:00 a.m. in a nice neighborhood. I wonder if she was
followed from the airport.
Maggie
>news:20040513232726...@mb-m23.aol.com...
>> Well, the police seem to think she was dropped off on the wrong block
>and
>it
>> looks like she may have been. But that was more than 30 minutes before
>the
>> last call from her cell phone. If she wasn't calling from the future
>in-laws
>> house or right outside it, where was she calling from? From the NYT:
>>
>> http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/14/nyregion/14dead.html?ex=1085112000&en=9e
>> 4b72c9266089e2&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE
>>
>Looks to me like she ended up on the street in New York, lost, and with
>no
>money on her. If someone tried to rob her, and she had no cash to give
>them, that could precipitate a beating. Her death may be that simple -
>in a
>really bad or unfamiliar area, you always have some small amount of cash
>handy to hand over to a mugger. Not too much - don't want to encourage
>them
>to thoroughly search you - but enough for some junkie to get "well".
***She was shot to death.
Hownow
<maggi...@aol.comSPAMBLOC> wrote:
I think we need some sort of explanation from the boyfriend to consider
as to what the cell call was all about. There does seem to be some
loose end as to whether she was, indeed, heading directly to the
in-laws or maybe first to some other destination nearby?
I wouldn't put too much stock in the names thing. Cops are notoriously
bad spellers on reports and things get garbled when passing info to
reporters ... which is why we see a lot of Guiseppes in news reports.
- hm
Child
"Maggie" <maggi...@aol.comSPAMBLOC> wrote in message
> ***Yeah--that gunshot death is one of the things that made me think
"drugs"
> when I first heard about this (along with the two different names and the
other
> recent short plane trips). And that may still be the case. OTOH, the
fiance's
> parents seem to have been expecting her and the cabbie dropped her in
their
> neighborhood, so the trip looks a little more on the up and up than those
other
> things might imply. But her own mother didn't know she was making the
trip.
> Could go either way, I suppose, but a random non-sex crime-related murder
seems
> awfully unlikely at 10:00 a.m. in a nice neighborhood. I wonder if she
was
> followed from the airport.
I am guessing since the wedding is in the in-laws city, and they were the
ones searching for her, that mom isnt' real involvedl
Maggie
>news:20040514165322...@mb-m24.aol.com...
>
>> ***Yeah--that gunshot death is one of the things that made me think
>"drugs"
>> when I first heard about this (along with the two different names and
>the
>other
>> recent short plane trips). And that may still be the case. OTOH, the
>fiance's
>> parents seem to have been expecting her and the cabbie dropped her in
>their
>> neighborhood, so the trip looks a little more on the up and up than those
>other
>> things might imply. But her own mother didn't know she was making the
>trip.
>> Could go either way, I suppose, but a random non-sex crime-related murder
>seems
>> awfully unlikely at 10:00 a.m. in a nice neighborhood. I wonder if she
>was
>> followed from the airport.
>
>I am guessing since the wedding is in the in-laws city, and they were the
>ones searching for her, that mom isnt' real involvedl
***I can't say how involved her mother was in the wedding, but she's been very
involved in the search for her daughter. She arrived in NY over the weekend
after Stacy was reported missing (days before the fiance got there), gave the
press all the details regarding the timing of Stacy's phone calls (which leads
me to think that Stacy's cell phone was on her account), identified Stacy's
body and is staying with the ex-future in-laws. That's why I think it's sort
of odd that mom didn't know anything about the trip.
Child
"Maggie" <maggi...@aol.comSPAMBLOC> wrote in message
> child said:
> >I am guessing since the wedding is in the in-laws city, and they were the
> >ones searching for her, that mom isnt' real involvedl
>
> ***I can't say how involved her mother was in the wedding, but she's been
very
> involved in the search for her daughter. She arrived in NY over the
weekend
> after Stacy was reported missing (days before the fiance got there), gave
the
> press all the details regarding the timing of Stacy's phone calls (which
leads
> me to think that Stacy's cell phone was on her account), identified
Stacy's
> body and is staying with the ex-future in-laws. That's why I think it's
sort
> of odd that mom didn't know anything about the trip.
didn't I read that her fiance identified her body from a photograph?
Maggie
>didn't I read that her fiance identified her body from a photograph?
***I dunno. From CP:
Body of murdered Canadian woman found in New York garbage truck
07:03 PM EDT May 14
NEW YORK (CP) - A Toronto woman was in New York on Tuesday grieving the murder
of her 26-year-old daughter, who had gone to the city to plan her September
wedding.
The body of Stacy-Ann Sappleton was found in a garbage truck Monday in the New
York borough of Queens. She had been shot several times. "She never really ever
liked this place," sobbed Marcia Thomas, who identified her daughter's body on
Tuesday.
http://www.cbc.ca/cp/world/040511/w051154.html
Bo Raxo
"Threnody" <dov...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:Xns94E99A0E5...@24.93.43.121...
> On 14 May 2004, Hownow <how...@cogeco.ca> wrote:
>
> > I find it odd that a Canadian woman would fly alone to New York with
> > less than $40 in her purse.
> > Was someone supposed to meet her at the airport but did not,
> > necessitating a trip to the ATM and cell calls back to the boyfriend
>
> Actually, what struck me was the fact that she had to go to the ATM at
all.
> In ever metro area I've ever been in, taxis accept credit and debit cards,
> which means you don't need to dash to an ATM in order to pay your fare.
>
I've been in plenty of cabs where the darn thing didn't work. Sometimes
it's a matter of not getting a radio signal.
> Now, if she was an unsophisticated traveller, I could understand, but she
> doesn't sound like it.
>
> Shades of Luna in this story, as far as the "what was with the
> withdrawals?" issue.
>
Nah, you're overanalyzing. Not that I haven't done that lately...
Bo Raxo
"Maggie" <maggi...@aol.comSPAMBLOC> wrote in message
>
<snip>
> Could go either way, I suppose, but a random non-sex crime-related murder
seems
> awfully unlikely at 10:00 a.m. in a nice neighborhood. I wonder if she
was
> followed from the airport.
>
Nice neighborhood? This was Queens. I didn't pay attention to the exact
address, but there is a lot of Queens that's a piece of shit. In the early
90s I spent a year in NY, and the first six weeks were at a charming crack
motel while a real estate agent found me an apartment. Much of the borough
was crime-ridden.
I used to call the closest car service to take me hither and yon, one night
the driver turns around, shows me his NYPD badge, and tells me he's an
undercover cop. That most nights they had an undercover cop driving one of
the service's cars, and sent that car on a run to or from a crime hotspot,
including that motel. He said I was obviously not there dealing or pimping
(he'd talked to me a few times before this), and that in the future I should
tell the dispatcher "You don't need to send car number four" when calling,
so they wouldn't waste the undercover unit's time.
It was, needless to say, a startling conversation.
Maggie
>news:20040514165322...@mb-m24.aol.com...
>>
><snip>
>> Could go either way, I suppose, but a random non-sex crime-related murder
>seems
>> awfully unlikely at 10:00 a.m. in a nice neighborhood. I wonder if she
>was
>> followed from the airport.
>>
>Nice neighborhood? This was Queens. I didn't pay attention to the exact
>address, but there is a lot of Queens that's a piece of shit. In the early
>90s I spent a year in NY, and the first six weeks were at a charming crack
>motel while a real estate agent found me an apartment. Much of the borough
>was crime-ridden.
***Every story that's mentioned the neighborhood describes it as very nice,
with pretty much no crime--the kind of place where people leave their doors
unlocked (yeah, I'm having a hard time swallowing that one, too, but that's
what they say). From the Queens Chronicle:
Residents of the quiet neighborhood of one- and two-family homes said they were
shocked by Sappleton’s death. Many in the working- and middle-class area just
north of Kennedy Airport said they routinely leave their doors unlocked.
“I don’t even know what to think,” said one young neighbor as he
hung his head.
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=1861&dept_id=152368&newsid=11644979
&PAG=461&rfi=9
SageJelly
>north of Kennedy Airport said they routinely leave their doors unlocked.
Great...now all the burglers in the NYC area will know where to head!
Bo Raxo
> >Many in the working- and middle-class area just
> >north of Kennedy Airport said they routinely leave their doors unlocked.
>
How many doors did you try and open before you reached this conclusion?
nimue
"Getting well" usually refers to a heroin junkie -- and a junkie who is
"sick" is usually retching and sh*tting and doesn't have the strength to
kill someone for $$$$. A crackhead might -- he is just craving. He isn't
sick like a heroin addict would be. However, your small amount of $$ idea
is a good one. I once heard about someone who carried an alternate coin
purse, just in case, with about twenty bucks in it.
--
nimue
"There was a time when I was young and gay -- but straight."
Max Bialystock
Do not taunt happy fun ball.
SNL
nimue
> On 14 May 2004, Hownow <how...@cogeco.ca> wrote:
>
>> I find it odd that a Canadian woman would fly alone to New York with
>> less than $40 in her purse.
>> Was someone supposed to meet her at the airport but did not,
>> necessitating a trip to the ATM and cell calls back to the boyfriend
>
> Actually, what struck me was the fact that she had to go to the ATM
> at all. In ever metro area I've ever been in, taxis accept credit and
> debit cards, which means you don't need to dash to an ATM in order to
> pay your fare.
Huh? I guess you have never been to NYC, then. Our taxis don't take ATM
cards or credit cards. Maybe in the future they will -- I have heard there
are plans -- but they don't now.
>
> Now, if she was an unsophisticated traveller, I could understand, but
> she doesn't sound like it.
>
> Shades of Luna in this story, as far as the "what was with the
> withdrawals?" issue.
>
> --Threnody
--
nimue
It's a great story, though! Wow.
Threnody
> Threnody wrote:
>> On 14 May 2004, Hownow <how...@cogeco.ca> wrote:
>>
>>> I find it odd that a Canadian woman would fly alone to New York with
>>> less than $40 in her purse.
>>> Was someone supposed to meet her at the airport but did not,
>>> necessitating a trip to the ATM and cell calls back to the boyfriend
>>
>> Actually, what struck me was the fact that she had to go to the ATM
>> at all. In ever metro area I've ever been in, taxis accept credit and
>> debit cards, which means you don't need to dash to an ATM in order to
>> pay your fare.
>
> Huh? I guess you have never been to NYC, then. Our taxis don't take
> ATM cards or credit cards. Maybe in the future they will -- I have
> heard there are plans -- but they don't now.
No, I have not been to New York City. But Boston, Portland (ME), Philly,
Pittsburgh, Chicago, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Detroit, Toronto, Houston,
Dallas, San Francisco and surrounds, Austin, Atlanta, San Antonio, Columbus
(OH), Lexington and Louisville (KY), Savannah, Tallahassee, Montreal and
Orlando do have taxis that you can give a debit or credit card to for your
fare. I was, I repeat, intrigued by the idea of having to stop for cash at
an ATM for taxi fare, considering my experience with taxis in all of these
other metropolitan areas of the United States and Canada.
--Threnody
nimue
Well, I am sure you are not nearly as intrigued by the idea of having to
stop for cash at an ATM for a fare as I am intrigued by the idea of taxis
that can take credit and ATM cards. Wow! I hope that comes to NYC soon --
and as I said, I seem to remember hearing something about it.
OzzieAnnie
"nimue" <cup_o_ca...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:QWHpc.84707$Nn4.16...@twister.nyc.rr.com...
Even Sydney's taxis take credit cards - never imagined NYC cabbies
wouldn't! Wow. Learn something new every day.
OA
nimue
I wish the NYC TLC would learn something new -- wow! Credit cards in a
taxi! Wow!
>
> OA
Lainie Petersen
>
> > I find it odd that a Canadian woman would fly alone to New York with
> > less than $40 in her purse.
> > Was someone supposed to meet her at the airport but did not,
> > necessitating a trip to the ATM and cell calls back to the boyfriend
>
> Actually, what struck me was the fact that she had to go to the ATM at all.
> In ever metro area I've ever been in, taxis accept credit and debit cards,
> which means you don't need to dash to an ATM in order to pay your fare.
Not always. In Chicago, one typically has to request a "credit card
cab" or ask the cabbie if s/he takes credit cards prior to getting in
the cab.
L.