Blagg: Arrest has been made
Teresa
it was just reported on the Channel 9 news program
in Denver!
I'll post updates as I see them.
Teresa
Teresa
Abby, Jennifer Blagg Have Been Missing Since November
Wayne Harrison and Kim Ngan Nguyen, Staff Writers
Posted: 5:09 a.m. MDT June 6, 2002
Updated: 6:31 a.m. MDT June 6, 2002
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. -- Michael Blagg, the husband of the missing woman
whose body was found in a landfill Wednesday, was arrested late last night
for suspicion of murder.
The arrest occurred hours after dental records confirmed that the body
belonged to 34-year-old Jennifer Blagg.
Michael Blagg was arrested at his mother's home in Warner Robins, Ga. by
Warner Robins police officers, said Janet Prell, a spokeswoman for the Mesa
County Sheriff's Department.
He faces one count of first-degree murder and is being held on $1 million
bond, Prell said.
Mesa County Sheriffs said that their top priority is looking for his
6-year-old daughter, who is also missing.
They also said that the 34-year-old mother had been shot in the head. Mesa
County Sheriff Riecke Claussen would not comment on what kind of weapon was
used.
"Our goal is to resolve the case and prosecute someone," said Claussen.
Her mummified body was found Wednesday at the Mesa County Landfill attached
to the human leg and foot that were discovered, but not disturbed, the day
before.
Claussen said that a backhoe was digging out a section of garbage at about
10:15 a.m. Tuesday when an investigator spotted what appeared to be a human
body part inside the backhoe's bucket.
"They had just scooped a load out and were getting ready to swing around and
drop it when one of the investigators said, 'Hey, I think I see something,
" said Claussen.
Investigators put a large tarp on the ground and set the bucket on the tarp.
That's when they called the coroner to examine the remains.
Detectives closed the area as a crime scene, leaving the remains still in
the bucket overnight.
"The forensic pathologist was called out and able to verify it was a human
leg and foot," said Claussen. They found the remainder of her body in the
bucket Wednesday after removing other trash.
Authorities said that Jennifer Blagg's body was identified through dental
records.
Investigators still haven't located Abby Blagg, her 6-year-old daughter, but
were continuing their search of the dump. Jennifer and Abby vanished from
their home Nov. 13.
Michael Blagg told police that he came home from work and discovered his
wife and daughter missing and a large pool of blood on the bed in the master
bedroom. There was no other blood in the house and no sign of forced entry
in the home.
The Mesa County Sheriff's Department said that there was so much blood lost
they feared that both were dead. DNA tests later showed that the blood
belonged to 34-year-old Jennifer Blagg.
Michael Blagg told investigators that he last saw his wife and daughter when
he left for work that morning. The family van was still in the garage when
police were called that afternoon. It was impounded as evidence in the case
and authorities have not disclosed if any forensic evidence was found in the
van.
Blagg moved from Grand Junction on May 15, the day after investigators began
rummaging through the landfill.
"This has just been an extremely difficult six or seven months for him,"
Michael Blagg's attorney, Stephan Schweissing, said Wednesday. "It's
certainly very important for him to find out what happened to his family.
We're supportive of continued investigation."
Michael was fired from his management job at the Ametek Dixson plant, three
months after his family's disappearance, after stolen office equipment was
found in his home.
On Feb. 10, he was questioned for 10 hours about his wife and daughter's
disappearance. The next morning, he tried to commit suicide by slashing his
wrists. He has steadfastly maintained his innocence in the disappearances.
Tuesday's gruesome discovery came 16 days after investigators first began
digging in the landfill for the Blagg bodies. They sorted through 2,000 tons
of trash before making the discovery.
Investigators were looking through an area where waste was dumped between
October and January. The area contained trash picked up from Ametek.
Ametek officials said that Michael Blagg had access to an industrial trash
compactor at the company's manufacturing plant and had the authority to call
for trash pickup service.
The search for the Blaggs moved to the county landfill after several
organized efforts, one with more than 2,000 volunteers combing the rugged
terrain near their house, proved unsuccessful.
The Colorado Bureau of Investigation and Federal Bureau of Investigation
were called in to help search the landfill for additional remains. The dump
will remain closed to allow investigators to expand their search.
"Initially our search was more of a massive search where large quantities of
trash were pulled from the landfill looking for evidence. Now that we've
found something and we've verified that, it will take up more of the
character of an archaeological dig," said Claussen.
This week's discovery will keep investigators at the landfill for at least
another two weeks, unless the remains of Abby Blagg are found sooner.
Teresa
By Bill Scanlon, News Staff Writer
June 6, 2002
Landfills are excellent preservers of years-old hot dogs, newspapers and --
yes -- human bodies, forensics experts say.
Grand Junction authorities found the corpse of Jennifer Blagg in a landfill
near town Wednesday. She had been missing since November.
Bulldozers constantly move soil over landfill deposits, compacting them and
keeping oxygen away.
"It's phenomenal," said Diane France, director of the Lab for Human
Identification at Colorado State University. "Things just don't decompose
there."
The compacting and the oxygen-free environment "really create a fantastic
environment for preservation," said France, who is also president of the
volunteer group Necro Search, which examines bodies to help police solve
crimes.
In that environment, insects, which speed decomposition, can't get to the
body.
That helps preserve the soft tissues, which can help identify the cause of
death.
The environment isn't as helpful in determining how long ago death occurred.
A body buried in compacted soil and starved of oxygen can look like it has
been there two days, when it's really been there eight, according to
Forensic Pathology journal.
And if insects can reach the body, they can be helpful in estimating time of
death and identifying a wound. Forensic etomologists can estimate the time
of death by examining the larvae stages of bugs that sometimes live only a
few days, said Rick Amend, Adams County coroner.
The methane gas in landfills could speed decomposition, but if it can't get
into the compacted soil, the gas is more likely to keep insects from the
body.
Coroners have to adjust their conclusions based on the environment in which
the body was found, Amend said. "The environment has an absolute impact on
the state of decomposition."
Bodies covered by compacted soil may have all the skin intact, but the skin
is likely to have turned darker, France said.
To identify the gender, forensics experts look at the pubic bone in the
pelvic cavity. The pubic bone is wider in females.
The pubic bone also is helpful in estimating age in adults because it
changes form rather predictably as a person ages, France said.
Cause of death still can be determined if the soft tissue is gone or if the
bones have been broken by greatly compacted soil.
Cuts, gunshot wounds and blunt trauma often shows up on bones.
Forensics anthropologists are constantly trying to make more precise
delineations and expect someday to be able to hypothesize that a corpse was
of Celtic or Slavic or West African or Latin ancestry.
Teresa
prime suspect's mother!
Teresa
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
06.06.02
Suspect's mom says son didn't hurt anyone
By BECKY PURSER The Daily Sun
WARNER ROBINS, Ga. - Michael Blagg, who was arrested late Wednesday night
by the Warner Robbins Police Department, had been under FBI surveillance
since he moved to Warner Robins in mid-May to stay at his mother's home,
said Janet Prell of the Mesa County Sheriff's Department.
The body of Blagg's wife, Jennifer, was pulled Wednesday from a pit of
garbage in the Mesa County Landfill, Prell said. Positive identification of
the body was made from dental records, she said.
Blagg left Grand Junction on May 15, two days after investigators began
picking through trash at the landfill for the bodies of Jennifer and his
daughter, Abby.
"He did nothing to hurt his wife and child, that I can tell you," said his
mom, Elizabeth Blagg, Wednesday afternoon at her Beaver Run Drive home.
However, she declined comment on whether her son had been staying at her
home near Leisure Lake.
A white Dodge Stratus with Colorado tags was parked in the driveway of the
two-story Warner Robins home Wednesday. Prell confirmed that Blagg drives a
white Dodge Stratus but could not confirm or deny the tag number.
Michael Blagg, who has maintained his innocence since he reported his wife
and daughter missing in November, also declined comment through his
attorney, Stephan Schweissling, a criminal defense attorney in Grand
Junction.
The discovery of the body, coupled with a Mesa County coroner's discovery
of a gunshot wound in an undisclosed location of Jennifer's body, has
upgraded the disappearance to a first-degree murder investigation, Prell
said.
Blagg, a former upper-level business manager and former Navy commander, has
been living at his mother's Beaver Run home for about two weeks, Prell said.
Teresa
DID keep a gun in the house.
Teresa
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
06.06.02 Michael Blagg arrested
MIKE WIGGINS, MARIJA B. VADER and SHANNON JOYCE NEAL © 2002 The Daily
Sentinel
Georgia authorities arrested Michael Blagg late Wednesday night on
suspicion of first-degree murder in connection with the shooting death of
his wife, Jennifer Blagg.
The arrest came only hours after Mesa County sheriff's investigators found
Jennifer Blagg's body at the Mesa County Landfill.
Blagg, 39, was arrested without incident at 11:45 p.m. EDT at his mother's
house in Warner Robins, Ga., said Lt. Joe Wetherington of the Warner Robins
Police Department.
Blagg was being held on $1 million bond, said Sgt. John Coleman of the Mesa
County Sheriff's Depart- ment.
"He was very quiet and cooperative," Wetherington said, adding that the
Blagg family was awake at the time of the arrest.
Blagg was at the Houston County Sheriff's Department awaiting extradition
to Mesa County.
Blagg's attorney, Stephan Schweissing of Grand Junction, said he had
received word from Blagg's family that he had been arrested. Schweissing
said he did not know the circumstances of Blagg's arrest and had not seen
the arrest warrant issued by Mesa County.
Earlier Wednesday, investigators pulled the body of Jennifer Blagg from a
pit of garbage at the landfill, nearly seven months after authorities say
the mother was shot to death inside her home and her body was driven away in
her van.
Sheriff's deputies found Jennifer's body about 8 a.m. in an area where
trash from Ametek-Dixson had been dumped. Michael Blagg worked at
Ametek-Dixson at the time his wife and daughter disappeared.
The Mesa County Coroner's Office identified the body through dental records
and determined Jennifer Blagg had died from a gunshot wound, said forensic
pathologist Dr. Dean Havlik.
Mesa County sheriff's officials would not say what kind of firearm was used
or where Jennifer Blagg was shot. Dispatch reports Nov. 13 - the day the
34-year-old mother and 6-year-old girl were reported missing - indicated
Michael Blagg kept a gun in the house.
Michael Blagg told police he returned home from work and found a pool of
blood in the master bedroom and his wife and daughter gone. Authorities said
DNA evidence found in Jennifer's van indicated it was probably used to
remove Jennifer's and Abby's bodies from their home.
Blagg moved in mid-May from Grand Junction to Warner Robins, Ga., located
about 15 miles south of Macon.
Investigators are now focusing on trying to locate Abby's body. They will
return to the landfill at 7 a.m. today to resume the search.
"Our efforts are concentrated right here to try to find Abby," said
sheriff's Lt. Stan Hilkey.
The discovery and identification of Jennifer's body provided a major boost
for authorities baffled by the Blaggs' disappearance and significantly
increases the chances of prosecuting Jennifer's killer.
Sheriff's investigators found a human leg buried in debris Tuesday, but
didn't know there was an intact body attached to it until Wednesday.
A backhoe had scooped out a load of garbage Tuesday morning and was
preparing to dump it onto the ground when an investigator spotted the leg
hanging off the lip of the backhoe's bucket. Officials laid down a tarp, set
the bucket on it and stopped search efforts for the day.
As investigators carefully sifted through the debris Wednesday morning,
they made a discovery even more significant than they originally thought.
"They were able to remove the leg from the rest of the debris and
discovered it was actually attached to an entire corpse," said sheriff's
spokeswoman Janet Prell.
Coroner's officials recovered the body about 10 a.m. and performed an
autopsy at Community Hospital.
Mesa County Coroner Rob Kurtzman said the body was decomposed and partially
mummified. Havlik said the cause of death was "very obvious."
Marilyn Conway, Jennifer's mother, said the news of her daughter's fate
brought an end to uncertainty.
"I believe her pain is over with, and that is a blessing," Conway said
Wednesday night from her home in Haltom City, Texas.
Conway hopes authorities will continue to find answers to questions that
still linger.
"We have prayed individually and churches have prayed for us to have an
earthly closure, and that it will come in my lifetime, and I believe we will
have that," Conway said.
Investigators have searched about half of a pit that stands 100 feet wide,
100 feet long and 15 to 20 feet deep. Newspapers and other documents found
during the search indicate investigators are searching an area where trash
was dumped the week the Blaggs vanished.
"Until we find Abby, we are going to exhaust that area as much as possible
until we move to the next step," Hilkey said.
Authorities began searching the landfill May 15 after a large-scale
volunteer search across the Grand Valley and hundreds of interviews turned
up nothing. Blagg moved to Georgia two days later.
Gulffritallary
> "He did nothing to hurt his wife and child, that I can tell you," said his
>mom, Elizabeth Blagg, Wednesday afternoon at her Beaver Run Drive home.
>
Someone should ask her why the killer of her granddaughter and daughter-in-law
so thoughtfully returned the van to the Blagg's home after using it to
transport the dead bodies of the females:
Patty
> Just what we've come to expect from the
> prime suspect's mother!
>
> Teresa
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I wonder what her mother thinks now about Blagg.
Patty
Jane Cactus
%%%
IBegg2Differ, you were right that the body remained intact (when Linda
questioned the news report). Good call. Most LE would have unceremoniously
dumped the stuff from the bucket, and then examined it. They really did the
right thing here.
JC
Kris Baker
Teresa wrote in message <1qIL8.117791$352.5972@sccrnsc02>...
Thanks for all the news stories, Teresa!
Kris
DedNdogYrs
months after his family's disappearance, after stolen office equipment was
found in his home.>
It's interesting how many times someone suspected of murder has turned out to
be a thief.
Dogs & children first.
Gulffritallary
>It's interesting how many times someone suspected of murder has turned out to
>be a thief.
It's sort of to be expected - if you can kill your wife and child and place
them in a trash compacter - what are your limits?
Sahkanaga
"DedNdogYrs" <dednd...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20020607063453...@mb-fa.aol.com...
Teresa
> >it was just reported on the Channel 9 news program
> >in Denver!
> >
> >I'll post updates as I see them.
> >
> >Teresa
>
>
> Thanks for all the news stories, Teresa!
>
> Kris
You're welcome, Kris.
I had to work today, so I just now sent
a few more articles.
Teresa