Detailed update on triple murder of 2 women & 9 y.o.girl inside home in TX:Police name 36 y.o.man as killer,but he remains at large
Joe1orbit
Okay, here is an update on Wednesday's triple murder in Texas, where two
women, aged 30 and 38, and a 9 year old girl, the daughter of the 38 year old
gal, were all found massacred inside of their home. Police have made NO arrests
in this triple murder, but they are now saying that they believe all three
killings were committed by one man, 36 year old Louis Castro, who is an
"acquaintance" of all 3 murder victims. Louis has been charged with capital
murder, but the thing is, he is NOT in custody. Police are looking for him, and
if they find him, they will arrest him and charge him with murder. So my advice
to Louis would be: "Run. Run and hide. Run like your life depends upon it,
because it DOES." I think it would have very logical for Louis to head
straight for Mexico immediately after committing this triple murder. If he did
so, there is a good chance that he has made it over the border.
As expected, police are imploring the citizen-slaves who live in TX and near
the Mexican border to become SNITCHES and rat out Louis to them, if they happen
to run across him. We learn that the two women were BLUDGEONED to death, but 9
year old Staci was strangled to death. Interesting. Perhaps Louis simply
realized that for tactical reasons he needed to REALLY attack the 2 adults with
all his strength. He couldn't afford to try and STRANGLE one of them, because
the other could wake up, or fight back, or run away, etc... So he attacked the
two adults with the intent of instantly disabling them, via bludgeoning. Once
they were taken care of, he COULD afford to take his time and SLOWELY strangle
the 9 year old girl to death. It is NOT stated whether any of the 3 murdered
gals were also sexually assaulted. It's also unclear whether Louis was
romantically involved with either of the gals he slaughtered.
Police do have some solid evidence linking Louis to the crime scene,
including a bloody palm print on a tile floor, next to the body of one of the
victims. This print matches up with fingerprint records of Louis that police
already have on file. Hey, ya gotta try and be neat and clean when committing
murders. And if you are NOT neat, you should take the time to clean up the
crime scene immediately after committing the murder(s). A tidy killer is a
successful killer, IMO. :)
I wonder where Louis is, on this Friday evening? Is he sitting in some bar
getting drunk? Maybe he is at a strip club, soaking in some views that he knows
he might never get to enjoy again, if he's caught. I like to think that he is
in Mexico, has changed his appearance, rented an apartment using a false name,
and is eagerly planning out his NEW life outside of the USA.
If you would like to view THREE photos, showing the two adult murder victims
AND Louis as well, who does have a rather menacing facial appearance, along
with a map of the crime scene area and a photo of police wheeling out one of
the dead bodies, just point your web browser to:
http://www.austin360.com/news/001metro/09sept/11/11murders.htm
Hey, do you folks remember the 1991 quadruple murder of FOUR teen-age girls
who worked in a yogurt shop in TX?? That case DID get a LOT of media attention.
The four yeen girls were all SHOT in the back of the head, and then the killer
tried to BURN all of their bodies before fleeing. Well, guess what? We learn
below that NOBODY has ever been arrested or charged in connection with this
somewhat famous 1991 quadruple murder. Another case of a killer TRULY getting
away with a mass murder.
No more posts from me this evening. The news wires are hopping, but I am not
going to spend time online, when I feel the urge to do other things, like play
with my $600 Neo Geo video game system. That's what I'm gonna be doing for the
next few hours.
Take care, JOE
The following appears courtesy of today's United Press International news
wire:
Friday September 11, 1998
Suspect sought in triple slaying
AUSTIN, Texas, Sept. 11 (UPI) - Police in Austin are searching for a suspect
who has been charged with capital murder in the multiple slayings of two women
and a 9-year-old girl.
Police today are asking for the public's help in locating 36-year-old Louis
Castro Perez of Austin, who was described as an acquaintance of the three
victims. Bond was set at $750,000.
Capital murder charges were filed late Thursday against Perez for the slayings
of 30-year-old Francis Michelle Fulwiler, 38-year-old Cinda Rae Barz and Barz's
daughter, 9-year-old Staci Mitchell.
Police Sgt. Ken Cavett says Barz and Fulwiler were bludgeoned to death, while
Mitchell appears to have been strangled. The victims were found early Thursday
in their south Austin home after a friend called 911 at 3:15 a.m. and asked
police to check on the women because he was concerned for their safety.
Cavett says evidence gathered at the scene, including a bloody palm print on
the floor next to one of the victims, allowed them to file capital murder
charges against Perez.
Both Fulwiler and Barz worked at Austin's Gardner-Betts Juvenile Justice
Center, where Fulwiler was a juvenile probation officer and Barz was a
caseworker manager. Mitchell was a fourth-grade student at Barton Hills
Elementary School.
It was the first multiple homicide in Austin since February 1996, when a man
shot and killed his wife and 3-year-old daughter before killing himself.
-------------------------------------------------------
The following appears courtesy of today's Reuters news wire:
Suspect Named In Austin Triple Murder
09/11/98
Reuters
(AUSTIN) -- An arrest warrant has been issued in Austin for a man accused of
murdering three people, including a young girl. Thirty-six-year-old Louis
Castro Perez is accused of the murders of two women and a young girl. Their
bodies were discovered in a south Austin home. The two women had been beaten to
death and the nine-year-old daughter of one of the women had been strangled.
The motive for the murders is unknown.
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The following appears courtesy of the 9/11/98 online edition of The Austin
American-Statesman newspaper:
Suspect charged in killings
at Barton Hills home
Neighbors, friends, still in shock
after deaths of two women and 9-year-old girl
Suspect was acquainted with the victims, according to police.
American-Statesman Staff
Published: Sept. 11, 1998
A suspect was charged late Thursday in the slayings of two women and a
9-year-old girl whose bodies were found after Austin police received a call
asking them to check on the household.
The bodies of Frances Michelle Fulwiler, 30, Cinda Rae Barz, 38, and Barz's
daughter, Staci Mitchell, 9, were found early Thursday in their home in the
South Austin neighborhood of Barton Hills, police said.
Police later issued an arrest warrant charging a suspect, Louis Castro Perez,
36, of Austin, with capital murder. Perez, who remained at-large early today,
was an acquaintance of all three victims, police said. Investigators declined
to elaborate on how he knew the three or to offer a motive for the killings,
the first multiple slaying in the city in two years.
The two women appeared to have been bludgeoned to death, and the girl
apparently was strangled, according to police Sgt. Ken Cavett. Autopsies today
will determine an official cause of death, he said.
A bloody palm print found on a tile floor next to one victim's body matched a
print that police had on file for Perez, said Cavett, who added that he had no
details on whether Perez had a criminal record. Bail for Perez was set at
$750,000, and police said they had no idea of his whereabouts.
Both Fulwiler and Barz worked at the Gardner-Betts Juvenile Justice Center.
Fulwiler was a juvenile probation officer, and Barz was a caseworker manager.
Staci was a fourth-grader at Barton Hills Elementary School, having enrolled
this year after attending Williams Elementary in South Austin since
kindergarten.
Officers were sent to the one-story, four-bedroom house of white limestone and
brown trim after a man called 911 at 3:12 a.m. to request that police check on
the welfare of a resident. The caller said he had been unable to contact the
resident and was concerned for her safety.
Officers knocked on the door of the home in the 2800 block of Rock Terrace
Drive, a winding street of well-kept stone and brick homes, but no one
answered.
Officers then entered the house through a window and found the body of one
woman. Forensics specialists and homicide investigators were called to the
scene, and they found the bodies of the other woman and the child.
Officials would not say where in the house the bodies were found or how long
the victims might have been dead. A co-worker said at least one of the women
was at work Wednesday.
Forensics specialists conducted an exhaustive inspection of the house on
Thursday. Mark Gillespie, forensics manager for the Police Department, said
they were looking for all manner of evidence.
"You name it -- hairs, fingerprints, fibers, dirt, anything that can connect a
person to a crime," he said. "It's like connecting pieces of a puzzle."
Gillespie said DNA evidence would be sent to the Texas Department of Public
Safety for analysis.
The slayings left co-workers, friends, neighbors and classmates stunned and
grief-stricken. School district officials sent counselors to Barton Hills and
Williams schools Thursday and planned to have counselors on hand today, as
well.
"Everybody was really sad. There were children crying," said Williams PTA
President Marguerite Jones. "The children were afraid to go home. They know she
(Staci) was killed in her home, so they are scared."
A letter from Williams' principal concerning the matter was sent home to
parents, and teachers talked with students about the letter before classes
ended.
"It's hard for children to understand that something like this can happen to
someone their age. They were asking the same things we all are -- how can
something like this happen?" said third-grade teacher Janey Santana, who taught
Staci reading last year.
Principal Dottie Riemer at Barton Hills Elementary spent much of the day
calling parents of Staci's classmates. "We wanted to make sure they knew before
the children got home what they were going to be faced with," she said.
Colleagues of the slain women in the juvenile justice system said their deaths
were a personal and a professional loss.
"Both of these women were wonderful human beings, and their sole job was to see
if they could make kids' lives better," said District Judge John Dietz. "I wish
I could adequately express the devastation. There's no sense in this. There's
no reason why you would take two people who dedicated their lives to helping
others."
District Judge Jeanne Meurer, who handles some juvenile cases, said Fulwiler
and Barz had at different times worked directly with the juveniles and had a
good rapport with them. Their popularity with colleagues made Thursday's news
especially difficult, even for people who are used to dealing with violent
crimes, Meurer said.
"You develop an ability to empathize, but it's not quite like being able to
visualize the victims," she said.
Co-workers hugged each other and spoke in hushed tones at the Gardner-Betts
center at 2515 S. Congress Ave. Barbara Swift, the deputy chief probation
officer, said police had asked employees not to discuss the deaths.
"We can't talk about it right now," Swift said. "As soon as we are able to, we
will, but we can't right now."
Court hearings were canceled and juvenile offenders were told that their
appointments would be rescheduled.
Jason Aguilar, 16, who learned upon arriving at the center that his hearing had
been canceled, said he had heard about Barz from other youths in the juvenile
justice system. "She was a good probation officer to the juveniles," he said.
"I heard that she helped a lot of kids."
The Travis County human resources department said Barz had worked for the
county for more than 12 years and Fulwiler had been with the county for more
than seven years.
The mood on Rock Terrace Drive was one of shock and disbelief. Cloudy skies and
intermittent rain added to the somber atmosphere.
"It's a very quiet neighborhood," said Robert Macdonald, 71, a retired highway
policy analyst for the state who lives next door to the victims. "But I guess
the 20th century has come to Rock Terrace."
He and several other neighbors said they didn't know the two women and the
child by name but had found them to be friendly and quiet since they moved in
months ago. Barz was divorced in 1993. Neighbors described her daughter, Staci,
as a latchkey child who, upon arriving home from school, would jingle her keys
to attract Itty-Bitty, her butterscotch-colored cat.
"She was always very pleasant," Macdonald said of Staci. "She would smile."
Julie Biery, another neighbor, said she heard noises and saw a vehicle pull
away rapidly from the house Wednesday morning. She described the noises as "a
banging and a scrape" but didn't think much of the sounds at the time. She said
the car was driven away about 8 a.m. Wednesday, but she didn't get a look at
the driver.
"I'm afraid. I'm afraid for myself and my children," Biery said.
Frances Dudley, who lives on the street, said she did not notice any activity
at the house on Wednesday. "They were just very nice," she said of the two
women and the child. "We just sat on the porch, we were so stunned."
Multiple slayings are rare in Austin. The last occurred in February 1996, when
George Michael Wilson shot and killed his wife, Luann Wilson, and 3-year-old
daughter. Wilson then shot and killed himself.
In December 1991, four teen-agers -- Amy Ayers, Eliza Thomas and Jennifer and
Sarah Harbison -- were found slain in the back room of a yogurt shop on West
Anderson Lane. The victims had been shot in the backs of their heads and
burned. The case remains unsolved.
Staff writers Debbie Hiott, Sharon Jayson, Claire Osborn, Cara Tanamachi and
Rebecca Thatcher contributed to this article.
Joe1orbit
Got some bad news to report concerning Louis Castro, the 36 year old fellow
in Texas who is believed to have gone on a rampage and slaughtered 2 women in
their 30's who lived together, along with one of the women's 9 year old
daughter, bludgeoning the 2 women to death, then strangling the 9 year old girl
to death using a rope or cord, inside of the home where they all lived.
After committing this triple murder our suspect did successfully flee the
scene and remained at large for 48+ hours. We learn below however, that police
received an anonymous tip late yesterday concerning the whereabouts of Louis,
and did manage to find and take him into custody. He now faces three counts of
first degree murder.
In case you missed my last post on this case, you can still view THREE
different facial photos, showing the 2 adult victims and Louis,our new triple
murderer, by launching your web browser to the following URL:
http://www.austin360.com/news/001metro/09sept/12/12murders.htm
We learn that Louis did not make any attempt to flee to Mexico, or even to
leave the city of Austin, although he certainly had every opportunity to do so.
He was arrested as he stood near a public pay phone, and offered to resistence
& made no attempt to flee. Oh well, at least this will help him a LITTLE bit in
terms of a Not Guilty plea, since he did not act guilty in any wa, in terms of
trying to flee or resisting arrest. But that bloody fingerprint that he left at
the crime scene will be a MAJOR hurtle for him to overcome at trial.
Police DO confirm that Louis was DATING one of two women he killed, AND that
there has been a warrant out for his arrest, on unrelated charges, since April.
That arrest warrant was based upon the fact that your pathetic society wanted
to ROB Louis of $72,000 in CHILD SUPPORT money that he had been ordered to pay.
He had ALREADY served 6 months in prison for failing to pay child support.
As I have stated numerous times, the entire mandatory child support payment
system is nothing more than LEGAL ROBBERY. IMO, NO biological creator who is
willing to GIVE UP all of their parental RIGHTS, should ever be forced to pay a
single penny in child support. Your society, very simply, sought to ROB Louis
of $72,000 of his legally earned and own money. And when he refused to let
himself be robbed, he was thrown into jail for six months and then threatened
with more jail time. This is an OUTRAGE. It is a PERVERSION of justice, and I
can totally understand why Louis might develop homicidal rage over the pathetic
attempts of his society to STEAL his legally earned money, simply because he
engaged in the legal act of consensual fornication/copulation, and his sperm
managed to fertilize a woman's egg.
Police do say that NEITHER of the two women that he killed, nor the 9 year
old girl, were part of the child support case under which he was being
persecuted in a brutally unjust manner. There is no motive for the triple
murder, being plain old rage and hate, which is of course a perfectly
legitimate motive, all by itself.
Take care, JOE
The following appears courtesy of the 9/12/98 online edition of The Austin
American-Statesman newspaper:
Police arrest triple murder suspect
Suspect was acquainted with the victims, according to police.
American-Statesman Staff
Published: Sept. 11, 1998
Acting on an anonymous tip, Austin police on Friday arrested the man charged in
the slayings of two women and a 9-year-old girl found dead in their Barton
Hills home early Thursday.
Police, who had been working since Thursday to track down Louis Castro Perez,
weren't expecting to find him in town, said Gary Olfers, commander of the
central investigations division at the Austin Police Department. Perez was
picked up without incident at a pay phone at William Cannon Drive and Bluff
Springs Road in Southeast Austin, Olfers said. Bail was set at $750,000.
Perez, 36, was charged Thursday night with capital murder in the deaths of
Frances Michelle Fulwiler, 30, Cinda Rae Barz, 38, and Barz's daughter, Staci
Mitchell, 9. Police said he was dating one of the women and knew all three
victims, who were found at their home in the 2800 block of Rock Terrace Drive
after a friend asked police to check on their welfare.
Police said Perez's palm print was lifted from a bloody tile floor, and it
matched a print they had on file at the Police Department.
Perez, who has been wanted since April on other charges, had evaded law
enforcement officials who attempted to pick him up a half-dozen times for
allegedly failing to pay $72,000 worth of back child support.
Perez, who served six months at the Del Valle Correctional Complex last year
for failing to pay child support, may have gone into hiding in April to avoid
another arrest on a warrant issued by the state attorney general's office,
authorities said.
"The addresses that (the attorney general's office) gave us were no good," said
Travis County Constable Bruce Elfant. "He kept moving around. They kept feeding
his new locations, and we kept looking."
Also in April, Perez was sentenced to 75 days in jail for a misdemeanor theft
charge that sprung from a July 1995 incident, according to the Travis County
attorney's records. He did not report for sentencing, and county officials
could not say why.
This week's homicides do not appear to be related to Perez's two outstanding
child-support cases, authorities said. Police have not said whether they have
identified a motive for the attacks.
On Friday, the Travis County medical examiner's office ruled that the three
victims died of strangulation and blunt-force injuries. The exact time of the
deaths could not be determined, said Dr. Elizabeth Peacock, deputy medical
examiner, who performed autopsies Friday.
Peacock said Barz died of blunt-force injuries, Fulwiler died of strangulation
and blunt-force injuries, and Staci died of strangulation. The strangulations
involved the use of a rope, cord or similar object, Peacock said. The
blunt-force injuries were delivered to the victims' heads and faces with an
unknown instrument.
Fulwiler's uncle, Bill Crider of Austin, said his niece was acquainted with the
suspect, but not dating him. "He was just a friend," Crider said.
Gina Mojica, Perez's ex-wife and the mother of his three sons, said Perez was
never violent during their marriage, which began when both were teen-agers and
ended more than 10 years ago. Nonetheless, Mojica said before Perez was
arrested that she was worried about her safety and that of her family.
"This is totally, totally confusing and shocking," she said. "This is unlike
Louis."
Perez's address on an arrest warrant was listed as 1809 Margaret St. A woman
who answered the phone at the address and identified herself as Perez's mother
said he doesn't live at the house, which is blocks from Rock Terrace Drive.
Perez previously lived at the Wind Ridge Apartments on Barton Skyway, across
the Barton Creek Greenbelt from Rock Terrace Drive. Keith Hutchinson, who lives
in the same building, said Perez moved out at least four or five months ago.
"He seemed like a fairly nice guy," Hutchinson said.
Friends, relatives and colleagues of Fulwiler and Barz, who worked together at
the Gardner-Betts Juvenile Justice Center, struggled Friday to cope with their
loss.
Francelle Bettinger, Fulwiler's mother, said her daughter had two passions: the
young people she worked with as a juvenile probation officer and her family.
Fulwiler, who went by her middle name of Michelle, had worked for juvenile
court in Travis County since graduating in 1989 from Southwest Texas State
University with a criminal justice degree.
"She loved those kids," Bettinger said. "She really fought for those kids, for
what she thought was best for them."
Bettinger said her daughter worked hard to place juveniles in suitable foster
or group homes. Fulwiler was particularly fond of one boy who had been on the
streets since he was about 3 years old, her mother said.
"She managed to get him a good placement. He would call her and tell her how
happy he was, and she would take him out and buy him a Wendy's and take him on
little shopping trips," Bettinger said.
In her spare time, Fulwiler enjoyed the outdoors. "She loved anything on water
-- the beaches, the lakes and sailing," her mother said. "She was real
outgoing."
Barz was a native of Iowa who moved to Austin after graduating in the early
1980s from the University of Northern Iowa with a degree in social work.
"She loved her job," said her mother, Donna Barz of Newton, Iowa. "She never
once got up and didn't want to go to work."
She enjoyed playing basketball and softball, as well as reading and listening
to music.
Her daughter, Staci, took dancing lessons after school.
"She was a determined little girl," said Kurt Barz, Staci's uncle and Cinda
Barz's brother, who lives in Urbandale, Iowa. "This summer she went fishing
with her grandpa on a creek in Iowa and decided she was going to clean all her
own fish. So she did it by herself."
The Austin school district sent counselors to two South Austin elementary
schools Friday to help Staci's classmates cope with her death. She attended
Barton Hills this year and Williams Elementary previously.
Counselors were also at Gardner-Betts all day. Dobs Rogers, the director of
administrative services, said most court hearings were cancelled again Friday
as employees continued to cope with their grief.
Barz was in charge of finding court-ordered services for children who usually
do not have insurance to pay for things like residential psychological
treatment. Fulwiler worked with newly arriving children.
"They had found a niche," Rogers said. "They enjoyed what they were doing. They
were just ordinary folks doing a good job."