Post by jjmcgr on Jun 16, 2006 19:51:32 GMT -5
Police Investigating Malvo's Account of Shootings
By Ernesto Londoño and Eric Rich
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, June 16, 2006; 5:48 PM
Law enforcement officials in Texas, Florida and Louisiana said today that they are trying to corroborate the claim that sniper Lee Boyd Malvo made to authorities in Maryland earlier this year implicating himself and accomplice John Allen Muhammad in four shootings that have not been previously publicly attributed to them.
Malvo told law enforcement officials that the pair was responsible for the May 27, 2002, homicide of Billy Gene Dillon, of Denton, Tex., and a Los Angeles man shot earlier that spring whose identity could not be determined.
According to a source familiar with the case, Malvo also took responsibility for the non-fatal shootings of John C. Gaeta, 54, of Albany, La.; and Albert Michalczyk, 76, of Tucson.
"We're a professional law enforcement agency," said Wayne Shelor, a spokesman for the Clearwater Police Department in Florida. "We will revisit this. We will be speaking with [sniper] task force members today. If Mr. Malvo has pertinent information -- circumstantial or otherwise -- we would be very receptive."
Shelor said his department has not been able to independently corroborate that Malvo made the claim. He stressed that investigators will need more evidence in order to charge the pair in the shooting and noted that Malvo has lied about crimes in the past.
Lt. Tommy Corkern, a spokesman for the Hammond Police Department in Louisiana, said detectives at the agency called their local FBI office seeking corroboration of the claim. "We're working on that as we speak," Corkern said. "We haven't gotten a law enforcement verification about it yet."
Corkern said authorities in Louisiana would like to press charges against the pair if they're able to confirm the claim.
"I don't think realistically we would get our hands on him," Corkern said, noting that the snipers face charges in several cases. "We'd like to know for a fact that it was them instead of someone else lurking around."
Tom Reedy, a spokesman for the Denton County Sheriff's Office, said investigators there are also trying to verify the information. "Until we get official confirmation, we're treating this as completely hypothetical," Reedy said.
Malvo was interviewed extensively by law enforcement officials in preparation for his testimony at Muhammad's trial last month in Maryland.
He has provided conflicting accounts of shootings in the past and testified last month that he lied to investigators after he and Muhammad were arrested.
The claims bring the list of confirmed and suspected sniper shootings to 27, including 17 homicides, and add two states to the list of jurisdictions that could file charges against Muhammad and Malvo.
Malvo also said recently that the pair was involved in five homicides and two nonfatal shootings outside the Washington area to which they had previously been linked by varying amounts of physical and circumstantial evidence.
These are the slayings of Keenya Cook, 21, of Tacoma, Wash.; Jerry Ray Taylor, 60, of Tucson; Million A. Woldemariam, 41, of Atlanta; Claudine Lee Parker, 52, of Montgomery, Ala.; and Hong Im Ballenger, 45, of Baton Rouge. The survivors are Kellie Adams, 27, of Montgomery; and Wright Williams Jr., 55, of Baton Rouge.
Unlike most of the Washington area slayings, which targeted random victims shot from afar with a powerful rifle, some of the earlier shootings were conducted at close range with a .22-caliber handgun.
In September and October 2002, the snipers committed 10 homicides and wounded six people in the Washington area. Muhammad has been convicted of murder in Virginia and Maryland for his role in the sniper shootings and is awaiting execution in Virginia.
Malvo was convicted of murder in Virginia, where he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, and has agreed to plead guilty to six counts of first-degree murder in the Maryland slayings.
Malvo's attorneys, William Brennan and Timothy J. Sullivan, declined to comment on the information Malvo shared with law enforcement in recent months. "We are fully aware of the universe of Mr. Malvo's potential criminal problems," they said in a statement yesterday. "We have received several inquiries from other jurisdictions concerning possible investigations."
Muhammad has consistently claimed his innocence. When he defended himself at his recent trial in Montgomery County, he argued that he was framed by authorities.
By Ernesto Londoño and Eric Rich
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, June 16, 2006; 5:48 PM
Law enforcement officials in Texas, Florida and Louisiana said today that they are trying to corroborate the claim that sniper Lee Boyd Malvo made to authorities in Maryland earlier this year implicating himself and accomplice John Allen Muhammad in four shootings that have not been previously publicly attributed to them.
Malvo told law enforcement officials that the pair was responsible for the May 27, 2002, homicide of Billy Gene Dillon, of Denton, Tex., and a Los Angeles man shot earlier that spring whose identity could not be determined.
According to a source familiar with the case, Malvo also took responsibility for the non-fatal shootings of John C. Gaeta, 54, of Albany, La.; and Albert Michalczyk, 76, of Tucson.
"We're a professional law enforcement agency," said Wayne Shelor, a spokesman for the Clearwater Police Department in Florida. "We will revisit this. We will be speaking with [sniper] task force members today. If Mr. Malvo has pertinent information -- circumstantial or otherwise -- we would be very receptive."
Shelor said his department has not been able to independently corroborate that Malvo made the claim. He stressed that investigators will need more evidence in order to charge the pair in the shooting and noted that Malvo has lied about crimes in the past.
Lt. Tommy Corkern, a spokesman for the Hammond Police Department in Louisiana, said detectives at the agency called their local FBI office seeking corroboration of the claim. "We're working on that as we speak," Corkern said. "We haven't gotten a law enforcement verification about it yet."
Corkern said authorities in Louisiana would like to press charges against the pair if they're able to confirm the claim.
"I don't think realistically we would get our hands on him," Corkern said, noting that the snipers face charges in several cases. "We'd like to know for a fact that it was them instead of someone else lurking around."
Tom Reedy, a spokesman for the Denton County Sheriff's Office, said investigators there are also trying to verify the information. "Until we get official confirmation, we're treating this as completely hypothetical," Reedy said.
Malvo was interviewed extensively by law enforcement officials in preparation for his testimony at Muhammad's trial last month in Maryland.
He has provided conflicting accounts of shootings in the past and testified last month that he lied to investigators after he and Muhammad were arrested.
The claims bring the list of confirmed and suspected sniper shootings to 27, including 17 homicides, and add two states to the list of jurisdictions that could file charges against Muhammad and Malvo.
Malvo also said recently that the pair was involved in five homicides and two nonfatal shootings outside the Washington area to which they had previously been linked by varying amounts of physical and circumstantial evidence.
These are the slayings of Keenya Cook, 21, of Tacoma, Wash.; Jerry Ray Taylor, 60, of Tucson; Million A. Woldemariam, 41, of Atlanta; Claudine Lee Parker, 52, of Montgomery, Ala.; and Hong Im Ballenger, 45, of Baton Rouge. The survivors are Kellie Adams, 27, of Montgomery; and Wright Williams Jr., 55, of Baton Rouge.
Unlike most of the Washington area slayings, which targeted random victims shot from afar with a powerful rifle, some of the earlier shootings were conducted at close range with a .22-caliber handgun.
In September and October 2002, the snipers committed 10 homicides and wounded six people in the Washington area. Muhammad has been convicted of murder in Virginia and Maryland for his role in the sniper shootings and is awaiting execution in Virginia.
Malvo was convicted of murder in Virginia, where he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, and has agreed to plead guilty to six counts of first-degree murder in the Maryland slayings.
Malvo's attorneys, William Brennan and Timothy J. Sullivan, declined to comment on the information Malvo shared with law enforcement in recent months. "We are fully aware of the universe of Mr. Malvo's potential criminal problems," they said in a statement yesterday. "We have received several inquiries from other jurisdictions concerning possible investigations."
Muhammad has consistently claimed his innocence. When he defended himself at his recent trial in Montgomery County, he argued that he was framed by authorities.
