Accused serial killer of 6 in LA,Daniel Blank,leaps from courthouse window & tries to escape,but is quickly recaptured
Joe1orbit
Does the name Daniel Blank ring any bells, folks? Well, if you have been a
faithful reader of all my posts over the past year, it certainly should, since
I have posted about him and his alleged crimes several times. Daniel is an
accused serial killer. He was arrested last year, charged with breaking into
people's homes in Louisiana and slaughtering at least SIX of them. In a case or
two, he slaughtered more than one person during the break in, as I recall he
killed an elderly husband and wife together, in one case. Still, there were at
least 3 separate incidents of murder, more likely 4 or 5, with a 3+ day
cooling-off period in-between, and therefore Daniel does qualify as being a
full-fledged serial killer.
He has NOT stood trial yet, however. Trial is set to begin in March. And in
the VERY interesting update below we learn that Daniel tried to ESCAPE from a
courtroom yesterday, during a pre-trial hearing! Gotta give Daniel a lot of
credit for trying to pull off this daring escape. After being brought to court,
Daniel asked to use the bathroom, then took advantage of the opportunity to
race to a window in the courtroom, BROKE the window open, CRAWLED out onto the
roof/ledge, and then JUMPED to the ground AND began RUNNING away. Very
impressive escape attempt! He apparently injured his leg at some point during
the escape, but ran anyway. Unfortunately, court guards and police were hot on
his trail, since they SAW him bolt from the chair, and Daniel was quickly
recaptured near the courthouse, and unable to comandeer a car or make any
serious headway in terms of putting DISTANCE between himself and his pursuers.
Bummer! Still, I would like to congratulate Daniel on his initiative, and for
choosing to risk his own health and life in pursuit of freedom.
You can bet your bunions that security will be a LOT heavier from now on,
whenever Daniel is transported or appears in court. In fact, the local sheriff
says that Daniel will be forced to wear leg irons from now on, most likely even
during the actual TRIAL, despite the fact that this is CLEARLY prejudicial and
implies guilt to the jury.
For those of you not familiar with this case, I am also providing a second
article which details the nature of the serial killings that Daniel is charged
with, and also tells us that Daniel failed a lie detector test given by the FBI
on the VERY DAY of his arrest, in which he claims innocence to the killings.
Daniel did however, FOOLISHLY confess to the murders soon after being TOLD that
he had FAILED the lie detector test, and his lawyers are now trying to suppress
these audio and videotaped confessions, as Daniel intends to use a Not Guilty
defense.
Police admit that they had NO solid evidence against Daniel of any kind, when
they brought him in for "questioning". I think it is an OUTRAGE how your
pathetic judicial system allows for the VIOLATION of a person's right to
freedom based upon a "hunch" or totally circumstantial evidence. Luckily, I am
WISE enough to know exactly how to deal with cops or the FBI, in any situation.
But i am of course Superior. Most humans are Inferior, and they do not assert
their rights and make STUPID decisions when they are faced with criminal
accusations or are taken in for "questioning".
In a rational society, Daniel's interrogation and the resulting confessions
WOULD indeed be ruled as totally inadmissable at trial. IMO, the law that
forces police to ASK a "suspect" if he wants to have an attorney representing
his interests present during questioning, is a FASCIST and totally outrageous
one. The fact is, EVERY suspect should automatically be FORCED to have an
attorney representing their interests present, even if they vehenmently declare
that they DON'T want such an attorney present.
This confession was totally COERCED. I feel sad that Daniel was STUPID enough
to fall into the TRAP that his malevolent society allows detectives to use in
interrogations, but even more so, I am OUTRAGED that your diseased allows these
types of coercive, manipulative, interrogation traps to be used, and that the
judicial system backs up the police. I'm not SURPRISED though, since your
society is a lie-based and malevolent one.
Take care, JOE
The following appears courtesy of yesterday's Associated Press news wire:
Accused Serial Killer Captured
DONALDSONVILLE, La. (AP) -- A man accused of killing six people during
housebreaks bolted out of a courthouse window Thursday and was caught after a
short chase.
Daniel Blank broke a second-floor bathroom window, crawled onto a roof and
jumped to the ground outside the courthouse, witnesses said. He was chased and
caught, suffering an injury to his leg.
Blank was arrested last year in Texas, where he ran a car repair shop.
He knew all of the victims and worked for some as a repairman. Police say he
robbed to support his gambling in casinos and video poker parlors in Louisiana.
Blank's trial is scheduled to start in March.
AP-NY-12-10-98
--------------------------------------------------------------
The following appears courtesy of today's Reuters news wire:
Accused Killer Captured After Escape
12/11/98
Reuters
(DONALDSONVILLE) -- An accused serial killer has been re-captured after he
tried to break loose of the law by jumping out a second-story bathroom window.
The attempt at escape happened yesterday at the Ascension Parish courthouse in
Donaldsonville. Daniel Blank is accused of killing six people in the river
parishes. He was in court yesterday trying to get a video-taped confession
thrown out. Blank was caught seconds after he hit the ground. The Ascension
parish sheriff says he plans to keep prisoners in shackles at all times in the
courthouse now. Blank was unshackled while he was in the courtroom.
--------------------------------------------------------------
The following appears courtesy of the 12/11/98 online edition of The Baton
Rouge Advocate newspaper:
Published on 12/11/98
Suspect in murders attempts to escape
By JOHN McMILLAN
River parishes bureau
Mild-mannered, accused multiple murderer Daniel Blank Thursday broke out a
window in a second-floor restroom of the Ascension Parish Courthouse in
Donaldsonville and leaped to the ground below where he was a free man for less
than a minute.
"Within 30 to 45 seconds he was apprehended and back in custody," Ascension
Sheriff Jeff Wiley said. "Departmentally, we responded in quick fashion, but it
shouldn’t have happened. There was a security breach here to an extent."
Blank, who usually registers no emotion in his court appearances and is
described by his attorneys as "very quiet," was being brought into the
courthouse for a hearing when the escape attempt occurred.
The hearing was on a motion to prevent the use of video-taped confessions he
made to six River Parish slayings and two attempted murders.
Wiley said four correctional officers brought the small, slightly built
defendant into the courthouse from the Ascension Parish Prison.
Handcuffs, leg shackles and a bullet-proof vest were removed from Blank in an
anteroom between the two courtrooms on the second floor of the old courthouse
building "to make him presentable for court," Wiley said.
After those items were removed, "He told the officers he had to defecate bad,"
Wiley said. "Two of them walked him back to an area that’s used as a juror room
or judge’s chamber that has a bathroom.
"They made a decision to let him take care of his business," Wiley said.
The officers partially closed the bathroom door and Blank sat down on a toilet
in a stall.
"In rapid fashion, he leaps up and slams the bathroom door shut and locks it,
and grabs an old ante-bellum window shutter and breaks the glass and leaps
out," Wiley said.
The sheriff said Blank landed on the roof of a one-story building adjacent to
the courthouse and then jumped to the ground. Sheriff’s deputies outside the
courthouse spotted him and chased him down.
"He didn’t get far," Wiley said.
Blank was then put in the prison van and taken back to jail, Wiley said.
The sheriff then called District Judge John L. Peytavin, who was conducting the
hearing, and the judge asked that Blank be brought back to court to complete
the proceedings.
The judge’s order was carried out and the hearing, with Blank present, was
conducted. The judge said he would study the motion to suppress Blank’s
confessions before issuing a ruling.
Later, Blank was examined at Prevost Hospital in Donaldsonville where it was
discovered he had a broken heel bone. The sheriff said
Blank was being treated for his injury at a state hospital that he declined to
name.
"I don’t want to blame it (the escape) on an antiquated courthouse, but we’ve
always been at a disadvantage in that old courthouse," Wiley said. "It has no
bars on the windows. The reality is, we have no inmate bathrooms, no
inmate-holding facility, but the primary cause was our inattention.
"You don’t partially close the door" on a murder suspect, the sheriff said. "We
had sufficient personnel.
"Our options were to tell him ‘You can’t use the bathroom,’ but we’re all
sensitive to his constitutional rights and they made the call to let him. They
should have reshackled him or stayed on each side of him while he used the
toilet," Wiley said.
The sheriff said he met with the warden of the parish prison and the supervisor
of the detail guarding Blank and, "I’m looking at some administrative changes."
"Nobody was intentionally derelict, but I’ve got to make sure the people
involved (in guarding Blank) are more attentive. The security detail will not
be involved with such a defendant in the future," Wiley said.
"I hate this for the community and for the victims’ survivors," the sheriff
said. "The last thing the public should have to worry about is this guy
escaping,
"They should be able to rest comfortably knowing that my department is on top
of it. What happened leaves a little bit to be desired. It shouldn’t have
happened," Wiley said.
Blank’s next court appearance is scheduled Wednesday when Judge Peytavin will
hear arguments regarding evidence that can be presented during the sentencing
phase of the trial should Blank be convicted.
Trial is set March 2.
Blank is charged with killing Victor Rossi, 41, of St. Amant; Lillian Philippe,
71, of Gonzales; Sam Arcuri, 76, and his wife, Louella, 69, and Joan Brock, 61,
all of Laplace; and Barbara Bourgeois, 58, of Paulina, the small St. James
Parish community where Blank grew up.
Blank also is charged with the attempted murder of Leonce and Joyce Millet,
both of whom were 66 when they were attacked in their home on the outskirts of
Gonzales in July 1997.
--------------------------------------------------------------
The following appears courtesy of the 12/10/98 online edition of The Baton
Rouge Advocate newspaper:
Published on 12/10/98
FBI agent testifies suspect Blank failed lie detector test
By JOHN McMILLAN
River parishes bureau
DONALDSONVILLE — An FBI agent testified in court Wednesday that accused
multiple murderer Daniel Blank failed a lie detector test on the day he was
arrested in Texas.
Near the end of a daylong hearing on a motion to suppress the video- and
audio-taped confessions of Blank, Assistant District Attorney Charles "Chuck"
Long asked FBI Agent David Sparks of Houston, Texas, why he questioned Blank
after administering the polygraph test to him in Onalaska, Texas, in November
1997.
Sparks said he wanted to find out why Blank "had problems" with the test.
"Did you find out?" Long asked.
"No, he didn’t tell me why he failed the test," Sparks replied.
Defense attorney Glenn Cortello immediately objected, arguing the results of
polygraph examinations are not admissible in court.
Long countered that Cortello and his co-counsel, Andy Van Dyke, contended in
their motion to suppress evidence that police officers lied to Blank about the
results of the test in order to get him to confess.
Therefore, Long said, he had the right to show Blank failed the test and there
was no reason for detectives to lie to him about the results. Twenty-third
Judicial District Judge John L. Peytavin did not immediately rule on the issue.
Ascension Parish sheriff’s Detective Mike Toney and St. John the Baptist
sheriff’s Detective Todd Hymel testified at length Wednesday about the 12 hours
they questioned Blank about six slayings, two attempted murders and a burglary.
In Ascension, Blank is charged with murdering Victor Rossi, 41, of St. Amant
and Lillian Philippe, 71, of Gonzales, and attempting to murder Leonce and
Joyce Millet, both 66 at the time they were assaulted in their home on the
outskirts of Gonzales.
In St. John Parish, he is charged with the killings in LaPlace of Joan Brock,
58, and Sam Arcuri, 76, and his wife, Louella, 69.
The sixth person Blank is charged with killing is Barbara Bourgeois, 58, of
Paulina,the small St. James Parish community where Blank grew up in a family of
eight children.
Toney and Hymel each testified they had no hard evidence against Blank when
they began questioning him in a courthouse annex in Onalaska.
However, they said Blank voluntarily agreed to talk with them and was advised
of his rights, including the right not to talk to them and the right to have an
attorney present if he desired, among other rights.
Defense attorneys tried to show that their client was tired when questioned,
was denied cigarettes and food and that detectives used emotionally coercive
tactics to wheedle a confession from Blank.
Hymel said Blank was "advised of his rights nine times, used the restroom nine
times, allowed to smoke nine times on camera and once in the restroom." He said
Blank was given four breaks during the questioning and had four soft drinks and
a cup of water.
While Blank was not fed, the detectives said they did not eat, either.
Toney said Blank became a suspect when a man employed at a casino called the
Sheriff’s Office after seeing a composite drawing made at the direction of the
Millets after their attack.
The caller told detectives a man resembling the composite gambled often at his
casino and had recently acquired a new vehicle, better clothes and jewelry.
When the caller was shown a photograph of Blank, Toney said the man identified
him as the one visiting his casino. However, on cross-examination, it was
elicited from Toney that the Millets were unable to identify Blank as their
assailant from a photograph.
After some investigative work, which also revealed that Blank had worked for
three of the victims and lived next door to a fourth, Toney said members of a
tri-parish task force went to Onalaska and with the assistance of the Polk
County Sheriff’s Office its members made preparations to question Blank.
Once the questioning began, Blank denied any involvement in the six killings
for almost six hours, Toney said. After the first three hours, Agent Sparks
administered the polygraph examination.
After that, Toney said the confessions began. "He cried when he started
confessing," Toney said, "and when his deceased mother was mentioned."
Asked by Cortello why he touched Blank, Toney said, "He was upset and I held
his hand. We tried to comfort him. There’s no denying it."
Hymel said he encouraged Blank to admit guilt because it would bring him
emotional relief and "get that weight off his chest."
He also said he told Blank his dead mother would want him to tell the truth.
Hymel, reading from a transcript of the confession, said he told Blank, "It’s
your opportunity to stand up and be a man instead of being a ... mouse."
"I guaranteed him my efforts to get him someone to talk to" if Blank confessed,
Hymel said
Even so, Hymel said he was prevented from following through with his guarantee
by Blank’s first defense attorney who obtained a court order preventing law
enforcement officers from talking to him.
Hymel said Blank confessed first to the Brock murder, then to killing Rossi and
attacking the Millets. Later, he confessed to killing the Arcuris, Philippe and
Bourgeois.
"He told us things only the killer could know," Hymel said.
Gonzales police Detective Dowell Brenn testified he conducted an audio recorded
confession made by Blank, once he had been booked in St. John, in which Blank
confessed again to killing Philippe and drew sketches diagramming where
significant events took place in her home where she was killed.
Next Wednesday, Judge Peytavin will hear motions in the case regarding what
victim impact testimony would be allowed in the trial, should Blank be
convicted.
Megabite
They have just GOT to get taller courthouses in Louisiana! hahah
MEGABITE
ICQ 7217577
mkr...@gmail.com
Because the entire year leading up to the "confession" we had been told by investigating detectives that our father's case was nearly unsolvable and would likely need a confession in order to "solve" it, when we heard that one had been given we thought it was nothing less than a gift from God and never questioned anything further. As Victor's eldest child and the one who found him in his home murdered, I was selected to testify during the penalty phase of the Lilian Philippe trial to ensure that Blank received the death penalty, something I now deeply regret.
In 2017, nearly a full twenty-one (21) after our father was murdered we were made aware of some vital information that was never shared with us by law enforcement who was knowledgeable of this information all along. In 1999, the FBI rendered results on numerous items that were submitted for forensic testing the year prior. One such item submitted was of course the murder weapon used to kill my father. Two SEPARATE samples of MALE DNA were found MIXED together on the murder weapon, indicating that both samples arrived on the weapon at the same time. When both samples were compared to: my father, Daniel Blank and his girlfriend at the time, the results were quite astonishing to say the least. To be expected, one sample tested positive as a match for my father's DNA. The other sample (which was not tested so far as to establish its exact epithelial cells but only to determine if it was a match when compared to relevant samples), came back with a negative match to Daniel Blank and his girlfriend at the time. The conclusion is that whomever murdered my father is still free and was definitely NOT Daniel Blank. Yes, Blank provided a confession, but people lie. Science, however, does not.
We learned further that in addition to those pieces of forensic evidence being submitted for testing, an additional 998 pieces of evidence from the remaining 6 crimes were also submitted. NOT ONE SINGLE PIECE OF EVIDENCE RESULTED IN A MATCH TO DANIEL BLANK.
After learning this information, our family of course looked further into the actual confession that was given by Daniel Blank. To our surprise, many of the details in the confession contradict information and other evidence which we know for certain to be true confirming that the confession he gave regarding our father's murder is indeed false and possibly even coerced as you suggested in your article below.
The problem with society today, however, is that no one can comprehend why ANYONE would confess to a crime they did not commit. But the truth of the matter is that it happens more often than we would like to consider. Nearly 2% of the prison population is there as a result of false/coerced confessions. Two percent may not seem like a large amount of people until you give that percentage a number. We are talking about prisoners in the hundreds of thousands. In my opinion, one is too many.
Now, my sister and I are working diligently to try to save Daniel Blank's life as well as conducting our own independent investigation into what truly happened to our father. No, we have never been given a reason as to why the FBI report and its findings were kept from us. Sadly, our numerous requests for the murder weapon be retested in an effort to establish the identity of our father's true identity have been denied.
Out of all the murders Daniel "confessed" to, our father's murder is the only one where Daniel (nor anyone else for that matter) was never charged with, indicted for nor faced trial claiming that a guilty verdict could not be secured due to my father's purported lifestyle of being a "ladies man." Yes, we were actually told that.
I understand your article was written many many years ago. I hope you receive my response. I think you'd like to know how right you were about this "confession."
To learn more, feel free to read this article that was written and published by a local news publication here in Ascension in 2017. If you have any additional questions, feel free to write me at mkr...@yahoo.com.
https://pelicanpostonline.com/?p=24606
