#lasalle county

[waterfallrecord]

St. Louis Canyon Falls, Illinois

St. Louis Canyon Falls, Illinois

Starved Rock State Park is a wonderful state park to see some fascinating geological features and some amazing waterfalls if you show up at the right time! I’ve posted about LaSalle Canyon Falls and Wildcat Canyon Falls already. St. Louis Canyon Falls in April 2012 There are many parking areas in the park that can lead to different canyons. St. Louis Canyon is unique in that it’s somewhat on…

[don-lichterman]

Chicago weather forecast: Tornado Warning canceled for LaSalle County as severe weather expected | Live radar

Chicago weather forecast: Tornado Warning canceled for LaSalle County as severe weather expected | Live radar

CHICAGO (WLS) — There is a threat of some severe weather in parts of the Chicago area Monday. An AccuWeather Alert has been issued for later Monday, and especially Monday night. A Tornado Warning issued for LaSalle County until 3:15 p.m. was canceled about 3:10 p.m. A Severe Thunderstorm Warning has been issued for Winnebago and Boone counties until 3:45 p.m. A Severe Thunderstorm Warning has…

[morbidology]

The death of 14-year-old Karen Caughlin has been at the centre of a 44-year-old cold case in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada.

Karen was last seen alive at approximately midnight on the 16th of March, 1974. She had spent the evening roller skating with her friends at Rose Gardens in Point Edward. In the mid-morning hours of that morning, a farmer discovered the lifeless body of Karen near the side of Plowing Match Road between Churchill Line and Lasalle Line in Lambton County. Her body was riddled with bruises and contusions.

It was initially believed that Karen had been brutally beaten to death. However, it was later released that her injuries were consistent with being hit by a vehicle. It had been particularly foggy in the early morning hours and its presumed that somebody had accidentally ran into Karen as she walked home. What was clear, however, was that whoever knocked Karen down, decided that instead of seeking medical help, they decided to transport her body 23 kilometres into the ditch where she was left to die from her injuries.

[offender42085]

Post 967

Michael S Swift, Illinois inmate Y52996, born 1991, incarceration intake in 2022 at age 30, scheduled for parole consideration 07/19/2095, with full release 07/19/2098

Murder, Solicitation to Murder

In July 2022, a Mokena, Illinois man accused of stabbing 21-year old Grace Taylor of Ottawa to death pleaded guilty. 30-year old Michael Swift was sentenced to 53-years in prison. LaSalle County State’s Attorney Todd Martin says Swift confessed to Ottawa Detective Sgt. Kyle Booras that he killed Taylor out of jealousy or anger. He says Swift entered Taylor’s south side Ottawa apartment through an unlocked door and stabbed her in her bedroom with a knife he owned. The knife was later found in a trash can at the apartment. Swift apologized to the family of Taylor who were in the courtroom before he was sentenced.

Martin also says a family member called 911 after Swift confessed that he killed Taylor to them. During a search of Swift’s apartment a box that held the knife that he used was found as well as Taylor’s bloody socks. Martin says he is very satisfied with the outcome because he was unsure if he would have gotten a better sentence if the case went to trial. Four other charges in the murder case were dropped.

In August 2022, Swift pleaded guilty to two counts of trying to hire a hit man to kill a LaSalle County Sheriff's Deputy and a LaSalle County judge.

As part of his plea, Swift was sentenced to 25 years in prison. He'll have to serve at least 85 percent of the sentence. His new 25 year sentence will be added to his existing 53 year sentence.

LaSalle County Deputy Ray Taylor was one of Swift's murder for hire victims and is the father of Grace Taylor. He says there is no "why" for what Swift did.

Deputy Ray Taylor and his wife Ann Taylor both gave victim impact statements in court just feet away from Swift and his public defender. Both said they had never heard of Swift before the murder of their daughter.

Kendall County Assistant State's Attorney Ryan Phelps says that while Swift was being held in the Kendall County Jail in Yorkville for the Ottawa murder case, he asked a fellow inmate about hiring someone to murder a judge and Deputy Taylor in September. The other inmate reported Swift to the Kendall County Sheriff's Office which began an investigation where an undercover officer posed as a hit man and spoke to Swift. Swift offered $15,000 to the fake hit man and wanted the murders to happen in the victim's homes.

Two additional murder-for-hire counts were dropped in the plea.

3u

[zugmode]

so what the fuck was in LA water in the 70s that created so many fabulous artists. you’re telling me that bands like the eagles and buffalo springfield didn’t come from like. lasalle county.

[tieflingkisser]

Out of Sight

Officials have responded to an overcrowding crisis in Texas’ largest jail by shipping more people from Houston to far-flung, for-profit lockups with even worse oversight.

Harris County officials have largely blamed the jail crisis on overcrowding and short staffing; as of the November hearing, more than 9,000 people were detained inside a Harris County jail system that had more than 200 vacant jailer positions. And yet they haven’t announced major new efforts to shrink the population they wish to jail. Instead, in response to the jail commission’s escalating pressure, they’ve started shipping even more people in their custody to for-profit lockups far from Harris County. Last month, after the state jail commission threatened to reduce Harris County’s jail capacity if it didn’t comply with minimum standards, the county’s governing body—its five-person commissioners court—unanimously approved a $11.3 million contract to send up to 360 people to a private prison in Mississippi. That’s on top of the roughly 1,300 people whose detention the sheriff’s office already outsources to other private lockups outside the county.  Any pretrial detention, which accounts for more than 70 percent of the county’s jail population, separates families; it also makes mounting a defense more difficult, putting pressure on people to plead guilty. But those challenges multiply when people are sent hundreds of miles away. It may even compound the backlog in criminal cases that has contributed to the overcrowding crisis. According to county data, people now spend on average nearly 200 days in Harris County jail custody, most waiting for their case to be processed, which is far greater than the national average jail stay of 33 days. Defense attorneys say more outsourcing could add to delays in cases as more people must be transported back to the county for court hearings.

[...]

The outsourcing, ostensibly a response to dangerous jail conditions in Harris County, will put even more people in the hands of private prison companies with their own histories of abuse.  CoreCivic, the private prison giant that inked the new contract with Harris County last month to detain people in one of its Mississippi lockups, has long been accused of short staffing, excessive force, and poor treatment at its facilities. Another company Harris County contracts with to house up to 500 people in one of its Louisiana prisons, LaSalle Corrections, has a similarly troubled track record; in 2020, the company lost its contract to run a bi-state jail on the Texas-Arkansas border following years of lawsuits over deaths on its watch.  Harris County detainees shipped to the LaSalle Corrections Center in northwest Louisiana, nearly 300 miles from home, have already warned of dangerous conditions. Rahan Atia, a Houston defense attorney, told me that he started hearing complaints of extortion and threats of violence after he took over the cases of several defendants held there.

[coochiequeens]

“ in 2020 found that some immigrant women held by U.S. immigration officials at a Georgia detention center likely underwent "unnecessary" invasive gynecological procedures, according to a report released Tuesday.”

Washington — A congressional investigation into medical abuse allegations that garnered national attention in 2020 found that some immigrant women held by U.S. immigration officials at a Georgia detention center likely underwent "unnecessary" invasive gynecological procedures, according to a report released Tuesday.

The 18-month bipartisan investigation by the Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations reviewed allegations that women detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at the Irwin County Detention Center in Ocilla, Georgia had endured medical neglect, lax coronavirus mitigation policies and questionable procedures, including hysterectomies. 

The allegations first surfaced in an explosive Sept. 2020 whistleblower complaint by Dawn Wooten, who worked as a nurse at the Ocilla detention facility. 

The investigation's 108-page report is set to be formally presented by Georgia Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff, the chair of the subcommittee, later on Tuesday during a hearing in which officials from ICE, the Homeland Security Inspector General and LaSalle Corrections, the private company operating the Ocilla facility, are set to testify following testimony from Wooten as well as a former immigrant detainee and physicians.

Tuesday's report said investigators did not corroborate "allegations of mass hysterectomies." But investigators said they did find "serious issues" regarding medical procedures and policies at the Georgia facility and the conduct of Mahendra Amin, a doctor whom Irwin County detainees accused in 2020 of performing questionable medical procedures, including, in some cases, without the patients' full consent.

The Biden administration in May 2021 ordered ICE to stop holding immigrants at the Irwin County facility as part of an effort to reform immigration detention. ICE did not immediately respond to a request to comment on the subcommittee's findings. CBS News also reached out to representatives for Amin and LaSalle Corrections, which still runs the Ocilla facility under a contract with the U.S. Marshals Service.

Citing a medical review it commissioned of over 16,600 pages of medical records pertaining to 94 women treated by Amin, the congressional subcommittee concluded that "female detainees appear to have undergone excessive, invasive, and often unnecessary gynecological procedures."

Dr. Peter Cherouny, the obstetrician-gynecologist tasked with reviewing the women's medical records, said Amin's approach to surgical procedures was "too aggressive," investigators said. Cherouny found Amin's care to be antiquated, calling it "pretty good medicine for the 1980s, but we're not there anymore."

"Dr. Cherouny explained that 40 patient records—of the 94 examined—indicated the patients had benign ovarian cysts removed by Dr. Amin, despite the fact that benign ovarian cysts 'generally resolve without surgical intervention,'" the report said.

Cherouny, the report noted, said the risks associated with these surgeries include infection, bleeding, pain and even infertility.

The report said six formerly detained women told investigators that Amin was "rough and insensitive" during medical procedures and failed to be forthcoming about his diagnoses and treatment plans. 

"These women described feeling confused, afraid, and violated after their treatment by Dr. Amin," investigators said. "Several reported that they still live with physical pain and uncertainty regarding the effect of his treatments on their fertility."

The subcommittee called Amin a "a clear outlier" in the number and types of gynecological procedures he performed on ICE detainees. "Ultimately, the Subcommittee's investigation found that Dr. Amin performed just two hysterectomies, one in 2017 and one in 2019, which ICE deemed to be medically necessary," the report said. "However, the Subcommittee did find that Dr. Amin performed an unusually high number of  other gynecological procedures on ICDC detainees."

While the Irwin County detention center held 4% of women in ICE custody between 2017 and 2020, the report said, Amin performed over 80% of certain gynecological procedures on detainees across the U.S. during that time, including laparoscopies, Depo-Provera injections, limited pelvic exams and dilation and curettage procedures.

According to the report, investigators tried to interview Amin, but their requests for voluntary testimony were denied. After the subcommittee issued a subpoena for his testimony, Amin, through his lawyer, said he "declined to provide testimony pursuant to his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination."

Investigators said Amin was under criminal investigation by the federal government as of earlier this year. A separate internal investigation by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and a federal lawsuit related to medical procedures for immigrants held at the Irwin County facility remain ongoing, the subcommittee said.

Tuesday's report found that ICE does not have a policy of securing immigrants' consent for medical procedures conducted outside of facilities overseen by the agency. ICE officials, the report said, "stated to the Subcommittee that it is the sole professional obligation of the off-site provider to obtain informed consent from patients."

The investigation also uncovered 659 reports from detainees who described "delayed or deficient medical care" at the Irwin County detention center between 2018 and 2020. Investigators said ICE and LaSalle Corrections, the private company that oversees the Georgia detention facility, "failed to take effective corrective action" to address the grievances.

Moreover, the report raised questions about ICE's vetting and oversight procedures for medical providers. The subcommittee said ICE was not aware of several malpractice claims against Amin and other physicians or a federal lawsuit against him before the Sept. 2020 whistleblower complaint.

Investigators noted that Amin was not board certified, and had been sued in 2013 by officials in Georgia and the Justice Department, who claimed he committed Medicaid fraud by "ordering unnecessary and excessive medical procedures." The case was settled in 2015, with Amin and his codefendants paying $520,000, but not admitting any wrongdoing, the report said.

[hclib]

Music with MacPhail

In 1907, Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra member William S. MacPhail founded the MacPhail School of Violin. In 1924, the MacPhail School of Music, as it was then known, moved to a new headquarters at 1128 LaSalle Ave. For 80 years MacPhail educated generations of local musicians from that location. Over the decades, the school's class offerings have included everything from toddler music classes to college degrees. When under the umbrella of the University of Minnesota in the 1960s, MacPhail Center for the Performing Arts introduced one of the nation's first Suzuki Method music programs for young learners. Since its founding, MacPhail has counted many esteemed local musicians, including Minnesota Orchestra members, among its faculty. Photos of many of these MacPhail teachers and students are available in the Hennepin County Library Digital Collections.

In 2008, the school moved to a new home on the Mississippi riverfront. From the new building and satellite locations throughout the metro, MacPhail Center for Music continues to educate musicians of all ages, including through programs at our libraries.

[conradscrime]

Who is Swimsuit Boy? Unidentified Doe

May 12, 2022

Known as “Swimsuit Boy” this John Doe is the only unidentified victim of serial killer Dean Corll, also known as the “Candy Man” who operated between 1970-1973 and killed a minimum of 28 young boys and men in Houston and Pasadena, Texas. 

On August 7, 1973, Corll’s teenage accomplice named Elmer Wayne Henley went to a party with another teenage boy. Henley targeted this teenage boy and was going to bring him back to Corll’s home. However, Henley and this boy ended up getting high at the party and left together to get food. 

During this time they found a girl named Rhonda Williams, who had been beaten by her father that night. Henley told her that she could come with them back to Corll’s home. Corll became outraged that Henley would bring a girl back to his home, but Henley eventually got him to calm down. Henley, Rhonda and the other teenage boy smoked and drank until they passed out with Corll then gagging and attempting to restrain Henley with handcuffs. 

Henley woke up and told Corll that if he unrestrained him then he would help Corll abuse the other two teens. Corll told Henley to rape and murder Rhonda, however she ended up convincing Henley to stop. 

Henley tried to get Corll to stop the abuse, claiming that he had hone too far, before taking Corll’s gun. Corll mocked Henley, and Henley ended up shooting him six times before he fell. The other two teens were released and they called the police. During the investigation, Henley led police to a boat shed owned by Corll where 14 decomposing bodies were found. Among these, Swimsuit Boy or Swimsuit Doe was found and remains the only unidentified victim. 

Swimsuit Doe was a male, estimated to be between the ages of 15-19 years old, standing about 5′2 to 5′7 inches tall. He had brown hair that was 7 inches long, but the eye colour is unknown. He had good teeth with no fillings or any evidence of procedures as well as a mild case of spina bifida that may have caused him to struggle with back pain in his life. 

Swimsuit Doe was wearing a grey shirt with a peace symbol on the front and “USMC L84MF” on the back. Some sources believe that USMC stands for United States Marine Corp, possible leading to some connection to the military, but this is unknown. If there was some sort of military connection maybe the Doe had family or friends in the military, or maybe had been enlisted himself. 

The reason for the name Swimsuit Boy or Swimsuit Doe is due to the fact that he was found wearing vertically striped swim trunks that were white, green, red and blue. He was also wearing 12″ cowboy boots with the word NEOLITE across the heel, and dark blue corduroy material, measuring 32x30. The Doe was also wearing a leather ankle bracelet and a brown leather belt with a belt buckle. The buckle was silver and had the letter “C” with gold wings. 

Thirteen different missing persons have been ruled out as being Swimsuit Doe. This includes:

Richard Lamson and Peter Bonick, went missing from San Mateo County, CA on February 22, 1970

Alan Bourque, went missing from Orleans County, LA on March 10, 1970

David Waggoner, went missing from Pasadena, TX on October 9, 1971

Dermot Kelly, went missing from LaSalle County, IL on January 30, 1972

Earl Joggerst, went missing from Jefferson County, MO on August 4, 1972

James Egan, went missing from Ozaukee, WI on August 6, 1972

Norman Prater, went missing from Dallas County, TX on January 14, 1973

Derran Rogers, went missing from Stanislaus, CA on February 27, 1973

Mitchel Weiser, went missing from Sullivan County, NY on July 27, 1973

Joseph Spears, went missing from Harrison County, MS on July 31, 1973

Mark Bachelder and David Hesterlee, went missing from Bryan Beach, TX on September 22, 1974 (unsure why these two are included since they went missing after Dean Corll died) 

One source suggested that Swimsuit Doe could be Ralph Hamton Miller who went missing from Lakeland, FL on September 19, 1970. Miller was 17 years old at the time and stood between 5′5 to 5′10. While he does look similar to the reconstruction there is no proof that he would have plans to go to or end up in Texas. 

Another possibility is that the Doe is James Charles Stanford who went missing from Overland, MO on May 1, 1971. Stanford was 16 years old at the time and stood over 6 feet tall. This does not match up with what they believe the height to be of Swimsuit Doe, however, Stanford had told family members that he wanted to go to Texas or California to join a convent. 

One last possibility is that Swimsuit Doe was never reported missing or the report was never taken seriously. Police would often claim that missing teenagers were just runaways, and hitchhiking was very popular in the 1970′s, and often times people hitchhiked to other states and cities to start new lives and their families just believe that they are not looking to be found or have any contact with them. 

If you have any information that may lead to Swimsuit Doe being identified you can call the Texas Department of Public Safety at 512-424-5074 in reference to case # U0312016. 

The National Crime Information Center case # is U030020650. The NamUs case # is 4547. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children case # is 1109009. The DNA Doe Project is working on this case and hopefully one day the identity of Swimsuit Boy or Swimsuit Doe will finally be revealed. 

[beardedmrbean]

ESSEX COUNTY, Mass. (WHNT) — It was DNA evidence that linked an Alabama man to the murder of an 11-year-old Massachusetts girl in 1988, according to the Essex County Assistant District Attorney.

Marvin C. “Skip” McClendon, Jr., 74, was arrested on April 26, 2022, at his Bremen, Ala. home on a fugitive-from-justice warrant. He pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the killing of Melissa “Missy” Tremblay over 30 years ago.

At a court hearing in September, ADA Jessica Strasnick specified where that DNA evidence was found leading to McClendon’s arrest.

“Specifically, the defendant’s DNA was found under the fingernails of the 11-year-old victim. The defendant offers no innocent explanation for this discovery,” Strasnick wrote in court papers.

At the time of Missy’s death, McClendon, then 41, was in and out of work as a Corrections Officer for the Massachusetts Department of Corrections.

Missy’s body was found lying on the train tracks of the old Boston & Maine Railway Yard. She had been stabbed multiple times. According to DA Johnathan Blodgett, her left leg had been amputated by a train car after she died.

She had disappeared from the streets of Lawrence, Massachusetts, on a late September evening in 1988 while playing around the neighborhood of the LaSalle Social Club. She was reported missing by her mother around 9 p.m. after she and her boyfriend had frantically searched for her.

Her body was found the next day, just one block away from the social club, authorities said.

A van that had been seen in the area was similar to a van that the suspect drove at the time, prosecutors said. No motive for the killing was disclosed.

At the time, authorities found that McClendon had lived in Chelmsford during the time of Missy’s murder, and had multiple ties to the Lawrence area – including a church he attended.

The case was never fully closed, and Missy’s family never gave up hope that her killer would one day be caught.

McClendon was indicted for the murder on June 15 by an Essex County grand jury. On May 13, he pleaded not guilty at an arraignment hearing.

McClendon’s defense lawyer, Henry Fasoldt, filed a motion to dismiss the case against him. That motion will be argued at a hearing set for December 27.

The 74-year-old remains in the custody of the Middleton House of Correction in Massachusetts without bail. He is reportedly kept in “protective custody” and isn’t allowed to leave his cell unless escorted by guards.

Fasoldt wrote in a court document that as a retired corrections officer accused of murdering a child, “[McClendon] is at an elevated risk of violence from other inmates during his incarceration,” adding that “in practice, this means that [he] does not leave his cell until approximately 11 p.m. each night. At that time, he is permitted to shower followed by a short period of recreation.”

If convicted, the charge of first-degree murder carries a penalty of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

[culdesacbot1]

Peru, Lasalle County, IL, USA 41.3480, -89.1086

[morbidology]

The unsolved case of Karen Caughlin's death has remained a mystery for 44 years in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada.

14-year-old Karen was last seen alive at around midnight on March 16th, 1974, after spending the evening roller skating with friends at Rose Gardens in Point Edward. In the early morning hours of the same day, a farmer found Karen's lifeless body on the side of Plowing Match Road, located between Churchill Line and Lasalle Line in Lambton County. Her body was covered in bruises and contusions.

Initially, it was thought that Karen had been brutally beaten to death. However, it was later determined that her injuries were consistent with being hit by a vehicle. Given the foggy conditions at the time, it is believed that Karen may have been accidentally hit by someone while walking home. It is unclear why the person who hit her chose to transport her body 23 kilometers away and leave her in a ditch to die from her injuries.

If you have any information that could assist in this case, please call 1-519-882-1011.

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

"Jailbreakers Accused Again," Windsor Star. January 13, 1943. Page 10. ---- Clothing They Wore When Captured Was Stolen From Cottages ---- Clothing, worn by some of the six men who broke from the Essex County jail on December 29, when they were caught the next day, has been identified by police as having been stolen from Colchester summer cottages. Three of the six men in the jailbreak escaped in prison clothes. All six were wearing civilian clothes when caught about 22 hours after their dash for freedom.

The clothing has been identified as having been stolen from the cottages of J. W. MacDonald, of 835 Giles boulevard east, and Mrs. Winnifred Willis, of Victoria avenue.

The white sweater which James A. Browning, one of the six participants in the prison-break, wore when he was turned out of a hayloft in LaSalle by several small boys playing hide-and-go-seek, has been found to have been taken from Mrs. Willis' cottage.

The sport jacket worn by John Turgeon, another of the jailbreakers, was taken from Mr. MacDonald's cottage.

Police did not know this morning whether charges of theft would be laid against the young jailbreakers in connection with the clothing which they apparently stole during their brief time away from jail.

The men face, too, the possibility of being charged with theft of several automobiles used in their futile flight around the county.

[celebritieswithno-teeth]

Frozen waterfalls in Starved Rock State Park, LaSalle County, Illinois, USA

[diviani]

Frozen waterfalls in Starved Rock State Park, LaSalle County, Illinois, USA