The "Mayors and Crime" trifecta is now in play

First, there's the story of the Mayor of Detroit having his bond revoked for leaving the country.

From the AP:

DETROIT (AP) - Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was jailed Thursday for a bond violation in his perjury case, his pleas for leniency rejected by a judge who made it clear the mayor would get no special treatment.

Kilpatrick, charged with perjury and other felonies over his testimony in a civil trial, apologized and acknowledged that he made a mistake when he visited Windsor, Ontario, minutes away from Detroit, for city business last month. But District Judge Ronald Giles was not moved, saying he needed to treat the mayor like any other defendant.

Now the Mayor of Berwyn Heights, Maryland, had a SWAT team kick in his door and kill his dogs.

Again, from the AP:

BERWYN HEIGHTS, Md. (AP) - Mayor Cheye Calvo got home from work, saw a package addressed to his wife on the front porch and brought it inside, putting it on a table. Suddenly, police with guns drawn kicked in the door and stormed in, shooting to death the couple's two dogs and seizing the unopened package.

In it were 32 pounds of marijuana. But the drugs evidently didn't belong to the couple.

Police say the couple appeared to be innocent victims of a scheme by two men to smuggle millions of dollars worth of marijuana by having it delivered to about a half-dozen unsuspecting recipients.

The two men under arrest include a FedEx deliveryman; investigators said the deliveryman would drop off a package outside a home, and the other man would come by a short time later and pick it up.

A furious Calvo said Thursday that he and his wife, Trinity Tomsic, are asking the U.S. Justice Department to investigate the July 29 raid.

"Trinity was an innocent victim and random victim," Calvo said outside his two-story, red-brick house in this middle-class Washington suburb of about 3,000 people. "We were harmed by the very people who took an oath to protect us."

Calvo insisted the couple's two black Labradors were gentle creatures and said police apparently killed them "for sport," gunning down one of them as it was running away.

Mother Pleads Guilty To Having Sex With Teen

Becky Jo Tatum, previously arrested for unlawful contact with a minor, insurance fraud, drug possession and weapons possession, among other things, has plead guilty to sleeping with one of her daughters friends at a party.

From 10tv.com:

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A mother accused of having sex with a teenager pleaded guilty to the crime on Wednesday.

Becky Jo Tatum admitted having unlawful sexual conduct with a minor. She said that she engaged in sexual conduct with a 14-year-old girl, her daughter's friend, at a party, 10TV's Maureen Kocot reported.

The teenager told police that Tatum's daughter claimed her mother had sex with other teenage friends, Kocot reported.

Bexley police also found more than one ounce of cocaine and a gun inside Tatum's home. She was not allowed to own a firearm because of a 1999 conviction for attempted drug trafficking and a 1998 conviction for promoting prostitution.

Tatum will be confined by an electronic monitoring device until she is sentenced in September. She could face up to 11 1/2 years behind bars.

Another domestic terror attack

Looks like arson and firebombs aren't just things that happen around here.

From the LA Times, it seems there's been a firebomb attack on two UC Santa Cruz scientists.

Santa Cruz -- Firebombs that struck the home and car of two UC Santa Cruz scientists this weekend were part of an increasingly aggressive campaign by animal rights activists against animal researchers at University of California campuses, officials said Monday.

Santa Cruz police officials said the blasts, which occurred three minutes apart, caused one of the scientists, his wife and two young children to flee their home through a second-story window.

There's a reward in the case:

City officials joined in harshly condemning the bombings and urged members of the public who might have evidence in the case to contact authorities. They announced a $30,000 reward, including $2,500 donated by the Humane Society of the United States.

"The threats and attacks are shocking and abhorrent," Santa Cruz Mayor Ryan Coonerty said. "We as a community are unambiguous in our condemnation of these actions. Let me be clear, this is not protest. This is terrorism."

Nationwide, incidents of violence by self-described animal rights activists have been on the rise, according to the Foundation for Biomedical Research, which has tracked such attacks since 1981, when there was one.

In 2000 there were 10 such episodes against biomedical research facilities alone, and in 2006 that figure had grown to 77, according to the group's website. In addition, the type of attacks has changed in recent years.

"Prior to that, the vast majority of actions taken were against institutions -- break into the lab, steal the animals, trash the facility," said foundation President Frankie Trull. "More recently, however . . . they've become much more personal, attacking the researchers at their homes. California seems to be the focus of this activity right now, but not the only focus."

Note that there's also a $110,000 reward in a related case.

Federal and local officials on Tuesday announced a $110,000 reward for information leading to arrests and convictions in the attempted firebombing of a prominent UCLA eye doctor’s car last month.

A group known as the Animal Liberation Brigade claimed responsibility on a website for the act, which authorities described as “domestic terrorism.”

On June 24, an incendiary device was lighted next to a car parked at the Westside home of Dr. Arthur Rosenbaum, who is chief of pediatric ophthalmology at UCLA’s Jules Stein Eye Institute.

The device did not ignite, but authorities said it had the potential to cause great harm.

Rosenbaum has conducted research that, among other things, used monkeys to test procedures correcting severe cross-eyed conditions.

UCLA says that all animal research at the university is humane and meets federal standards.

At a news conference Tuesday at FBI offices in Westwood, law enforcement officials urged anyone with information about last month’s incident to call the FBI at (310) 477-6565; the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives at (888) 283-2662; or local law enforcement agencies.

Anthrax suspect kills himself

As seen on NPR, a suspect in the 2001 Anthrax attacks has apparently killed himself.

The sudden naming of scientist Bruce E. Ivins as the top — and perhaps only — suspect in the anthrax attacks marks the latest bizarre twist in a case that has confounded the FBI for nearly seven years. Last month, the Justice Department cleared Ivins' colleague, Steven Hatfill, who had been wrongly suspected in the case, and paid him $5.8 million.

Ivins worked at the Army's biological warfare defense labs at Fort Detrick, Md., for 35 years until his death on Tuesday. He was one of the government's leading scientists researching vaccines and cures for anthrax exposure. But he also had a long history of homicidal threats, according to papers filed last week in local court by a social worker.

Kinda odd that social workers are only recently filing papers about homicidal threats. You can read them for yourself here.

For a whole lot more on the anthrax attacks, ABC news and links to the invasion of Iraq, check out this opinion piece on Salon. Seems like there's a lot more to this story.

Beheading on Canadian Bus

As seen on the AP

"We heard this bloodcurdling scream and turned around, and the guy was standing up, stabbing this guy repeatedly," Caton said from a hotel in Brandon, Manitoba, where he and other horrified passengers were taken.

Caton said the driver stopped the bus when he became aware of the attack and passengers scrambled off. A short while later, Caton said he re-boarded along with the bus driver and a trucker who had stopped to see what was happening.

He said the suspect had the victim on the floor of the bus and "was cutting his head off" with a large hunting knife.

"When he was attacking him, he was calm," said Caton. "There was no rage or, or anything. He was just like a robot stabbing the guy."

The attacker turned toward them and the three men quickly left the bus, blocking the door as the attacker slashed at them through an opening. The three secured the door to prevent the man's escape. Caton said the driver disabled the vehicle after the attacker tried to drive it away.

As the three guarded the door with a crow bar and a hammer, the attacker went back to the body and calmly came to the front of the bus to show off the head.

Cody Olmstead, another passenger, said the man "dropped the head and went back and started cutting the body." Olmstead said the man later use the head to taunt police.

No reports of the killer saying "there can be only one".

Arson in Columbus, Ohio

Seems like the local media has noticed the apparent uptick in arson in the area. Someone even put together a google map of suspicious fires for the area in 2008.

NBC4i has a story up about one of the more recent cases.

"They set my car on fire at about 2 o'clock this morning," Smith said. "And we went back there. Fire department came and put it out. We went back in the house, laid back to go back to sleep. The next thing you know, that apartment's on fire."

and...

Another fire also considered arson called firefighters out to 536 Bulen Avenue on the city's near East Side. The flames started in a vacant house and spread to an occupied home next door. The family of five escaped safely.

A third suspicious fire actually was the first of the morning and was on the near East Side, too. These flames also started in a vacant home but on the corner of South 18th Street and East Engler Street. No one was hurt, and no neighboring buildings were damaged.

Seems like arson is a harder crime to solve than others. High profile cases, such as the five OSU students killed five years ago are still unsolved.

On April 13, 2003, a fire ripped through a home on East 17th Avenue. When the blaze was finally extinguished hours later, two Ohio State students, Alan Schlessman and Kyle Raulin, were dead, 10TV's Angela An reported.

Also killed in the fire were Andrea Dennis, Erin DeMarco and Christine Wilson -- all of whom were visiting from Ohio University.

In the time since the fire, much has changed.

The East 17th Avenue home has been renovated and remodeled, and most of the students present the night of the fatal fire are graduated and gone.

While the fire is all but a memory to most, Columbus Police Det. Rick Bisutti said one thing had not changed in five years: his search for the arsonist who killed five people.

In the Mexican drug war, the narcos now have a Navy...

In an odd story, it seem the Mexican Navy has seized a submarine full of cocaine.

The Mexican military, working with information from U.S. intelligence services, found nearly six tons of cocaine in a makeshift submarine seized this week off the Pacific coast.

The 10-metre-long, green fiberglass craft was designed to travel just beneath the water, leaving almost no wake.

It was one of Mexico's largest maritime drug seizures and the first time the country has seen drug smugglers using a submarine, the navy said.

Which would seem to indicate the smugglers are trying to avoid the authorities. However, it's not like they're not taking on the authorities directly.

Some 1,700 people have been killed in drug gang violence in Mexico so far this year, and Calderon's frontal assault has failed to stop attacks on police and soldiers.

Drug hitmen shot and killed a policeman in his office in the northern border city of Ciudad Juarez Friday, the first time gunmen have penetrated a police building to murder an official in the city, police said.

It's also not the first time a submarine has been in service to drug smugglers. This story from the BBC is from 2000:

olice in Colombia say they have found a half-built submarine in a warehouse in a suburb of the capital Bogota.

Police chief General Luis Ernesto Gilibert said Russian documents were found alongside the partially-completed vessel.

He said the 30 metre (100ft) vessel would have been capable of carrying huge quantities of cocaine or heroin.

He speculated that, once completed, the submarine would have been disassembled and taken by lorry to to Colombia's Pacific or Caribbean coast.

National Guard still in New Orleans

Speaking of the National Guard, I wasn't aware that the Louisiana National Guard is still on patrol in New Orleans.

It's been nearly three years since Hurricane Katrina's floodwaters devastated parts of New Orleans.

And to this day, the National Guard continues to patrol some of the hardest-hit areas.

The guard's mission is to prevent looting and provide a law and order.

The Guard will stay in the city at least until the end of the year following Gov. Bobby Jindal's decision to extend its tour of duty.

Given the conditions three years ago it was completely understandable, even required, that armed troops were required.

I was surprised that the Guard was still present, but apparently at least some of the citizens of New Orleans want the Guard to remain:

However, Jeffery is one of many residents with an ever-growing concern... that National Guard troops will leave by the end of September. "They actually look after us and they answer our calls. They are the ones we kind of expect when we make a call," says Jeffery.

The Ninth Ward is slowly rebuilding. But Chambliss says that rebuilding and growth may stop if the National Guard troops are taken out. Crime may come back. He says, "Theft, burglary, some assaults and a number of murders have happened."

That's why Jeffery and others with the Holy Cross Neighborhood Association, Citizens for 1 Greater New Orleans, and Silence is Vviolence are petitioning Ggovernor Bobby Jindal to keep the troops here. "Since they're working, why take them away? Why not just add to what they have and then take them away?"

Perhaps New Orleans still isn't capable of dealing with the situation. Or the population doesn't consent to be governed.

National Guard heading toward Chicago?

From the Chicago Tribune:

CHICAGO - Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Wednesday raised the possibility of bringing in state troopers or even the Illinois National Guard to help Chicago combat a recent increase in violent crime -- an offer that Mayor Richard Daley didn't know was coming.

Appearing at signing ceremony for a bill that toughens the penalty for adults who provide guns to minors, Blagojevich said "violent crime in the city of Chicago is out of control."

"I'm offering resources of the state to the city to work in a constructive way with Mayor Daley to do everything we can possibly do to help ... stop this violence," said the governor.

Blagojevich said Daley had not asked for help and he had not talked to the mayor about offering it, adding he would call Daley after he met later in the day with the state police, National Guard and others.

Which seems a bit odd. Daley didn't seem to ask for the help, but there's the Governor offering it.

The role the National Guard would play is apparently undecided. His office did some serious backpedaling:

Blagojevich said it is far more likely that state troopers would be used than guardsmen. In fact, his office moved quickly after the governor's comments to stress in a news release that Blagojevich was not considering bringing in National Guard troops to the city.

"The only way the National Guard would be involved, if they are involved, is with the use of tactical helicopters that are currently used in narcotics operations," spokesman Lucio Guerrero said in a prepared statement.

Likely the prospect of using a military force to keep order in a major city struck some as a little extreme, even if it's so Chicago has a chance at hosting the Olympics in 2016.

Another difference between the UK and the USA

I've always liked that joke about the US and the UK being two countries separated by a common language. One of those "you laugh because it's funny, and you laugh because it's true" kind of thing.

Obviously, there's another differences as well.

Take the sanctity of the home. Apparently in the UK kids can throw rocks at your home for two hours before the police show up, and if you try to chase them off the cops will arrest you.

"My wife called the police at 6 o'clock.

"They just kept on throwing stones through my back gate.

"I left the back door open to stop them smashing it. I have two kids and if one of those stones hit them it could have caused some really nasty damage.

"Suddenly a really big rock came crashing into the kitchen.

"I just grabbed the stick, which was the nearest thing I could find, and chased them off.

"The police turned up just as I was chasing them."

Retired Mr Davis said Pinehurst West was under constant attack from gangs of unruly teenagers and he feared for the safety of his sons Peter John and Jimmy Lloyd.

"One of my neighbours had a seven-month-old baby in their kitchen, when a brick came through the window," he said.

"It showered glass across the baby's face.

"Something needs to be done to stop these kids. They are out there almost every night."

Check the comments in that article as well. Interesting reading from this side of the pond.

You've probably heard of the case of Joe Horn down in Texas. He's the guy that saw two men breaking into his neighbors house. He confronted them in his yard and killed both of them with a shotgun.

As you may also of heard, under Texas law the shooting was legal. Horn's lawyer sums it up:

"I think the evidence showed that Joe was, in fact, within his legal rights to do what he did. He didn't want to do it, but he didn't have any other alternative," said Lambright.

So in two cases the police weren't present to deal with crimes in progress. In the UK, attempting to chase off a gang of kids throwing rocks gets you arrested. Here in the states, you can kill thieves on your front lawn.

In both countries, it's unrealistic to expect the police to be everywhere at all times and to prevent all crime. That's just silly... no system is perfect.

At least here in the states it's not legally required to be a victim.

Knife attacks overtake terrorism as top priority in UK

From the Seattle Times there's this story on an arrest in a vicious knife attack in London:

British police arrested a suspect Saturday in the brutal murders of two French students who were tied up and stabbed scores of times before their bodies were set alight.

The killings have shocked a country already worried by a spate of knife attacks involving young people; 18 teenagers have been slain in London this year.

Officers detained a 21-year-old man on a street in southeast London at about 3:40 a.m. (0240 GMT) Saturday, police said. He was being held at a London police station.

Police would not say whether the arrested man was the prime suspect in the case, and appealed for witnesses to come forward.

On June 29, Laurent Bonomo and his friend Gabriel Ferez, both 23, were bound and stabbed to death at Bonomo's rented apartment, near where the arrest was made. Bonomo had been stabbed nearly 200 times, while Ferez received nearly 50 stab wounds.

The apparent motive is, perhaps as usual, something incredibly banal:

Police said Friday the murders may be linked to the theft of two PlayStation game consoles, which they believe were taken from the apartment the night of the killings. A laptop computer also was stolen from the apartment six days before the attack.

But this strikes me as an interesting tidbit:

The brutal killings have shocked a country already concerned by a spate of knife attacks involving young people. Eighteen teenagers have died in suspected murders in London this year, compared to 27 in all of 2007. Most were stabbed, and police in the city say the fight against knife crime has overtaken terrorism as their top priority.

More proof that banning firearms does not prevent crime. Criminals just find different tools to use in pursuit of the same insane reasons they have for attacking others.

Drunken driver gets 43 years for killing mom, kids

Apparently, Ohio can do something right.

From the AP:

TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) - A Michigan man was sentenced to 43 years in prison Friday for driving the wrong way on an interstate and slamming his pickup truck into a minivan, killing a Maryland mother and four children who were returning home from a Christmas trip. Michael Gagnon of Adrian, Mich., had a blood-alcohol level more than twice the legal limit and marijuana in his system, authorities said.

Lucas County Judge Linda Jennings called Gagnon a dangerous person. "You have a drinking problem and you don't even know it," she said.

Gagnon, 24, had pleaded no contest to five counts of aggravated vehicular homicide and two counts of aggravated vehicular assault.

More on the Upper Arlington threat

On May 13th there was a report that the FBI thwarted a terror threat at an Upper Arlington school. The next day it seemed like the story might be a tempest in a teapot.

Well, today there's this from WTTE:

Teen not being charged over Ohio school threat
June 17, 2008 11:20 EDT

UPPER ARLINGTON, Ohio (AP) -- Authorities have decided not to charge a 15-year-old for an online threat that closed his Columbus area high school one day last month.

An Upper Arlington police spokeswoman says the boy has been referred instead to a program that typically provides juveniles with counseling, community service and supervision. Officer Heather Galli also says the teen and his family have cooperated with investigators.

Upper Arlington High School canceled classes May 14 after police learned of the threat from the FBI. An agent in Tampa, Fla., had seen a Web posting in which the student wrote he would lock school doors that day and fire at students in hopes of killing a number "in the upper 60s."

Authorities say the boy told them he wasn't serious.

So that's that, I suppose. Seems like a kid was acting out and got some attention. Possibly more attention than he was looking for.

More than 10 items or less in the UK? That's a beating to death...

From the UK Daily Mail:

A shopper has died after he was attacked in Sainsbury's in a row over queue-jumping.

Kevin Tripp, 57, was hit so hard in the face as he waited by the checkouts that he collapsed to the floor unconscious and in a pool of blood.

Horrified shoppers, including young children, saw the father-of-one crumple to the ground. He was taken to hospital but died late last night.

Tony Virasami, 37, from Catford, south-east London, appeared in court today charged with his murder and was remanded in custody.

It is alleged his girlfriend summoned him to the store after she accused Mr Tripp of barging in front of her in the queue to pay.

Wow. So, your girlfriend calls you over to throw a beat down on a guy who cuts in line... and you kill him. The sad thing is, besides the obvious, I doubt his girlfriend will face any charges.

UK Anti-gun campaigner stabbed to death

From the BBC:

The grandson of prominent anti-gun campaigner Pat Regan has been arrested on suspicion of stabbing her to death.

Mrs Regan, 53, was discovered at the property on Marlborough Grange in the Hyde Park area of Leeds on Sunday.

The mother-of-six started campaigning against gun crime when her son Danny was shot dead in 2002.

The 20-year-old man was being held on suspicion of murder, police said. It is thought he had been arrested earlier in the day over another stabbing.

I've some sympathy for her, given the circumstances:

Mrs Regan set up a Leeds branch of Mothers Against Guns after her son Danny, 25, was shot at his home in Haydock, near St Helens, Merseyside in December 2002. His killer has not been found.

Unfortunately, Mrs. Regan's death proves in a rather stark way that controlling the tools used in crime is not a valid method of controlling crime. Criminals just find other tools.

Like knives.

Flip o' the tentacle to The Ready Line for passing on the story.

Preliminary Uniform Crime Reports, 2007 and Columbus, Ohio

Well, the preliminary Uniform Crime Reports for 2007 are out.

You may hear about these statistics on the news, if there's not a celebrity off shaving something while the cameras are watching.

When I see them, I like to compare the stats to past years, relate my local area to regional statistics... yes, it's a moment of geeking out with statistics.

Here's a comparison of Columbus, Ohio, violent crime rates to the Midwest:

The chart shows percentage change; negative numbers indicate a decrease of course.

Note that violent crime in general is down in the Midwest by %1.7, but up in Columbus by %5.

While Columbus has had fewer murders than the Midwest as a whole ( down %8 in Columbus vs. down %3.8 regionally ), rape is on the rise in Columbus by %11 while regionally it's down %7.1 .

Other numbers are similarly bad for Columbus. In robbery, we're up %5 while the Midwest is down %3 and in Aggravated Assault Columbus is up %4 while regionally it's down %0.2.

Rates for Violent Crime per 100,000 in Columbus Ohio are as follow:

Violent Crime	Murder	Rape	Robbery	Aggravated Assault
852	11	90	523	228

That's the problem with statistics... sometimes they tell you things you don't want to hear.

How to commit mass murder without firearms

Every now and then, some anti-gun type points to countries like Japan, which heavily regulates firearms to the point of an almost total ban. They say the lack of firearms prevents mass murder by removing the tools of offender.

Bullshit.

TOKYO - A Japanese man rammed a truck into a crowd of shoppers, jumped out and went on a stabbing spree in Tokyo's top electronics district Sunday, killing at least seven people and wounding 10 others.

The deadly lunchtime assault paralyzed the Akihabara neighborhood, which is wildly popular among the country's cyber-wise youth. The killings were the latest in a series of grisly knifings that have stoked fears of rising crime in Japan.

A 25-year-old man, Tomohiro Kato, was apprehended in the attack.

Note that besides such spectacular attacks, there seems to be a rise in attacks overall in Japan:

Once rare, stabbing attacks have become more frequent in Japan in recent years as violent crime has increased.

In March, one person was stabbed to death and at least seven others were hurt by a man who went on a slashing spree with two knives outside a shopping mall in eastern Japan. In one of the worst attacks, a man with a history of mental illness burst into an elementary school in Japan in 2001 and killed eight children. The killer was executed in 2004.

Stories like this are infuriating, but also serve to illustrate that those determined to do hard to others will find a way.

Disarming the populace, who in large majority do not commit violent crimes, serves only to ensure a pool of available victims.

Police officers, for the most part, do an admirable job of dealing with violent crime but even the best police simply can't be everywhere at all times.

Obviously it's best if incidents like this never happen in the first place, but removing firearms from the population does not facilitate that goal, as incidents like this illustrate.

DC to seal off bad neighborhoods

No, really.

D.C. police will seal off entire neighborhoods, set up checkpoints and kick out strangers under a new program that D.C. officials hope will help them rescue the city from its out-of-control violence.

Under an executive order expected to be announced today, police Chief Cathy L. Lanier will have the authority to designate “Neighborhood Safety Zones.” At least six officers will man cordons around those zones and demand identification from people coming in and out of them. Anyone who doesn’t live there, work there or have “legitimate reason” to be there will be sent away or face arrest, documents obtained by The Examiner show.

Lanier has been struggling to reverse D.C.’s spiraling crime rate but has been forced by public outcry to scale back several initiatives including her “All Hands on Deck” weekends and plans for warrantless, door-to-door searches for drugs and guns.

So warrantless searches are too illegal, so set up check points? Arrest people because they're driving down the wrong street?

Peter Nickles, the city’s interim attorney general, said the quarantine would have “a narrow focus.”

“This is a very targeted program that has been used in other cities,” Nickles told The Examiner. “I’m not worried about the constitutionality of it.”

Which other cities? Perhaps some in the former Soviet Union?

For once, I agree with the ACLU:

Shelley Broderick, president of the D.C.-area American Civil Liberties Union and the dean of the University of the District of Columbia’s law school, said the plan was “cockamamie.”

“I think they tried this in Russia and it failed,” she said. “It’s just our experience in this city that we always end up targeting poor people and people of color, and we treat the kids coming home from choir practice the same as we treat those kids who are selling drugs.”

Treating everyone like a criminal only seems to create more criminals. If the population is trained, by police actions, to not trust the police then the job of enforcement becomes harder, if not impossible.

It's the same mentality that says people don't have the right to defend themselves, and deserves the same response.

Woman still recovering from dine and dash hit-skip

As a follow up to an earlier post, the woman hit by dine and dash suspect Michael Rose is still recovering.

From 10tv:

Earlier this week, doctors said it was doubtful Widomski, 28, would ever walk again.

On Friday, Widomski's aunt, Martha Manciano, confirmed the diagnosis.

"(Her spine) was severed in two places and crushed in multiple places," Manciano said. "Naturally she will never walk again."

Liu's husband, Paul, said his wife was recovering from a number of injuries.

"Julie has suffered a fractured sternum, multiple fractures on her ribs, a broken collarbone, her wrist is dislocated and she suffers from a serious concussion and a bruised brain," Liu said.

Let no one say someone trying to run you over isn't using lethal force. Injuries like that would seem to make gunshot wounds almost a simple matter in comparison.

Another link to the Smiley Face drownings?

There's apparently some interest in a 10 year old drowning case which may be linked to the Smiley Face Drownings:

From 10TV:

ATHENS, Ohio — 10TV News on Tuesday learned that investigators were re-examining evidence in the drowning of an Ohio University student 10 years ago.

Police originally determined that there was no foul play in the death of Keith Noble, 10TV's Cara Connelly reported.

According to investigators, Noble, 19, disappeared after a night of drinking on April 24, 1998. About two weeks later, his body was found in the Hocking River.

Now two retired New York City police detectives believe the drowning deaths of 40 male college students – including Noble's – are connected, Connelly reported.

How the investigation is going from "no foul play" to homicide is a question. I'll be interested in seeing if this pans out, or is just speculation.