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Belgian childcare center intruder accused of unrelated murder and planning other attacks...

The suspect in a gruesome knife attack at a Belgian day care center last week has been accused of the "abominable" murder of an elderly lady and planning attacks on other nurseries. news.com.au story here

Three days after the deaths of two babies and a day-care worker, prosecutor Christian Du Four said that 20-year-old unemployed man Kim De Gelder was probably also the murderer of a former farm woman earlier this month.

"The author of the deeds is also the author of an abominable crime committed against a 73-year-old woman on January 16," Du Four said. "There were very concrete elements linking the two incidents," Du Four said, noting that both occurred on Fridays at roughly the same time without elaborating further.

De Gelder was charged with killing two babies, aged six and nine months, and a nurse in a macabre knife attack at a day care center in Dendermonde, southwest of Antwerp, on Friday.

In an attack that shocked the nation, a man barged into the day-care center with a 30cm long knife and began slashing some of the children lying in beds, none more than three years old. As well as the three killed, 10 children and two staff were wounded, some seriously. The nursery nurse was killed as she tried to protect her charges. See vol7_iss5 for more on this story.

The elderly woman's murder had left authorities puzzled as there was no obvious motive with no signs of theft. She was found stabbed to death in her apartment in Beveren, near Antwerp, as her husband was at the neighbors.

According to Flemish television channel VRT, incriminating evidence against De Gelder had been found at the site of the woman's murder.

Although De Gelder, who was arrested on Friday shortly after the attack at the day care center, began speaking to authorities on Sunday, Du Four said that he had not spoken about either incident and therefore had not confessed to them.

The prosecutor said that De Gelder probably would have committed attacks on other nurseries during his rampage on Friday if police had not arrested him. "He had a list of three nurseries in Dendermonde, including the one where he acted," Du Four said.

However, investigators have established no other links between the suspect and the victims or the towns in which they occurred.

Church documents show Indianapolis Archdiocese knew of abuse...

The Archdiocese of Indianapolis has admitted that one of its former priests, Harry Monroe, was a child molester. Indianapolis Star news story here But church officials have never acknowledged they knew anything about the abuse while it was happening.

Now, a host of new documents obtained through a court petition by The Indianapolis Star reveal that church officials knew about allegations against Monroe by 1976–early in an era of sex abuse that lasted from 1974 to 1984.

The documents also make it clear that two former Indianapolis archbishops–the Most Reverend George J. Biskup and the Most Reverend Edward T. O'Meara–were aware of abuse allegations at the time, never reported them to police and continued to assign Monroe to new parish positions, where he preyed on other children.

The newly revealed records–coupled with others already public–show a church hierarchy that twice sought medical evaluations and care for Monroe through a clinic that treated abusive priests from across the country.

"This is a smoking gun," said David Clohessy, national director for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. "It is a clear indication that the hierarchy knew very early on, not about one incident, not about mere suspicions, but they knew enough and were worried enough that they sent him out of state for treatment." See also the SNAP website at http://www.snapnetwork.org/.

The attorney for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, however, said the church acted to ensure that a troubled priest received state-of-the-art treatment. Monroe was returned to ministry only after officials were assured he posed no threat to children. "In this case, the bishop looked to the experts," attorney Jay Mercer said, "and the experts said to him this was not a concern."

Records show that archdiocesan officials had grave doubts about Monroe's fitness for the priesthood before he even left the seminary.

In 1969, while a student at St. Mary's Seminary in Baltimore, Monroe expressed concerns to his mentors about his psychological fitness. But church leaders later allowed him to bypass psychological testing.

In 1972, Monroe was arrested on a charge of indecent exposure after he swam naked in the Ohio River. After the case was dropped, priest personnel director Monsignor Joseph D. Brokhage expressed relief to Monroe that "those ridiculous charges of last summer have been dismissed." He sent Monroe a copy of the letter from Floyd County officials, then urged Monroe to destroy it.

And in 1974, as Monroe was about to enter the priesthood, Brokhage wrote that he had "some reservations about Harry" but lamented that "at this late date nothing can be done but to keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best."

Over the next decade, Monroe would sexually abuse boys on camping trips, in motel rooms and in parish rectories–all while serving as a priest in Indianapolis, Terre Haute and in Perry County, along the Ohio River. Frequently, he would offer the boys–ages 10 to 15–beer, liquor or marijuana as an enticement.

Since 2005, 13 accusers have filed lawsuits against Monroe and the archdiocese claiming the unchecked abuse has caused them a variety of problems.

For more information on clergy abuse see eGuide/vol1_iss36.

In other news...

A Missouri man suspected of fathering four children with his teenage daughter faces charges of killing at least one after human remains were discovered at the rural home where the family once lived, authorities said. AP News story here The 47-year-old man is charged with second-degree murder, endangering the welfare of a child, statutory rape, two counts of incest and two counts of abandoning a corpse. Three of the children are dead. The abuse of his now 19-year-old daughter allegedly began when she was 13, Cass County prosecutor Teresa Hensley said. The Associated Press is withholding the suspect's name to protect the identity of the teen daughter, an alleged sexual assault victim. "For six years (the daughter) was under his control," Hensley said. According to court documents, the teenage daughter told police he had fathered all four children, while the father told detectives he was certain two of them were his. Both said all of the children were delivered at home by the father and his wife. The wife is charged with endangering the welfare of a child for not reporting the alleged sexual abuse. She is free on $10,000 bond.

Texas jurors were set to hear opening statements in the trial of a woman accused of beating her 2-year-old daughter to death, hiding the body for nearly two months and later dumping the remains at sea. Dallas Morning News story here The jury–seven women and five men–will begin hearing statements Tuesday to decide the fate of 20-year-old Kimberly Dawn Trenor. Trenor faces life in prison without parole if convicted of capital murder in the death of Riley Ann Sawyers. The toddler was dubbed "Baby Grace" by investigators who worked to identify her badly decomposed remains after they were discovered in a plastic container by a fisherman in October 2007 on a tiny island in Galveston Bay. During jury selection on Monday, Trenor's attorney, Tommy Stickler Jr., said his client was not responsible for Riley's death and put the blame on Zeigler. Galveston County District Attorney Kurt Sistrunk told potential jurors that someone is just as responsible for a crime if they helped commit it in any way and should have foreseen the possible consequences. For more on this story see vol5_iss72, vol5_iss77, and vol5_iss78.

A convicted killer who was sentenced to death last year for the murder of a 9-year-old Idaho boy has been brought to California to face charges of murdering a 10-year-old boy more than a decade ago. AP News story here A spokesman for the Riverside County district attorney says Joseph Edward Duncan III arrived from a federal prison in Indiana. Authorities want 45-year-old Duncan to face charges for the 1997 murder and abduction of Anthony Martinez. His bound, nude body was found under a rock pile in the California desert. Duncan was sentenced to death last year for the murder of 9-year-old Dylan Groene. Duncan kidnapped the boy and his younger sister from their home in 2005 after killing their older brother, mother and her fiance. He faces life sentences for the latter murders. For more see vol3_iss42, vol3_iss43, vol5_iss11, and vol6_iss70.

The mayor of Portland, Oregon said he would not resign despite calls for him to do so after he admitted he lied and asked a teenager to lie about their sexual relationship. CBS News story here "Tomorrow, I go back (to) work as your mayor. I know I have let you down and made mistakes. I ask your forgiveness," Mayor Sam Adams said in a statement. "I believe I have a lot to offer the city I love during this time of important challenges." Adams, who was just sworn in on January 1, publicly apologized this past week for lying early in his campaign about the relationship with an 18-year-old man in 2005. The scandal has resulted in an investigation by the Oregon attorney general and has divided the city and its gay and lesbian community. The police union and four Portland newspapers have called for his resignation, but Adams has found strong support to remain, including a Friday rally on his behalf at City Hall that drew more than 400 people.

Authorities now say at least four juveniles are alleging that they were molested or assaulted by an instructor at the Dallas County jail. Dallas News story here Additional charges have been filed against Luis de los Santos, who had previously been charged with sexual assault of one of his students. All of the alleged victims were juveniles waiting to stand trial as adults, said Kim Leach, spokeswoman for the Dallas County sheriff's office.

The number of child abuse reports in Jamaica increased dramatically in 2008, the nation's Office of Children's Registry reported. CNN News story here The office received 3,784 child abuse reports last year, up from only 425 complaints in 2007, a significant increase for a nation with a population of about 2.8 million. OCR Registrar Carla Edie told the Jamaican government news service, JIS, that the people of Jamaica have become "increasingly mindful of their legal responsibility to report such incidents," and are increasingly concerned about child safety, given a recent trend of violence against minors in the country. According to JIS, a police report issued late last year said that, between January 1, 2008 and November 1, 2008, 73 children were murdered and 383 cases of carnal abuse were reported.

Hundreds of investigations of online child sexual exploitation and child pornography have been significantly delayed by backlogs at FBI cybercrime labs, according to a Justice Department report released Friday. CNN story here An audit conducted more than a year ago by the department's inspector general found 353 requests awaiting digital evidence analysis. FBI computer forensic personnel on average took about 60 days to examine evidence needed by investigators, the report says. "The processing time for the digital evidence in some cases could take up to nine months, which we concluded was too long," Inspector General Glenn Fine said. The digital evidence involves online communications in which potential child predators and sex offenders target juveniles for sexual exploitation or produce cyber-based child pornography.

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