THE UNIVERSITY HALY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, JULY 22, 2009
NEWS
21
CRIME
Six murdered in a two-state rampage
Man accused of killing wife and five others
BY BILL POOVEY Associated Press
FAYETTEVILLE, Tenn. — The man accused of a two-state rampage that left six dead was targeting his estranged wife and killed the others first so they couldn't stop the attack on her, Tennessee authorities said Tuesday.
Tennessee Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Kristin Helm said agents believe 38-year-old Traci Shaffer was the last person to die and that the couple had been having "marital difficulties."
Her husband,
30-year-old Jacob Shaffer, was arrested Saturday in Fayetteville. He's charged with stabbing five people to death in two Fayetteville homes and fatally beating a sixth person in Huntsville, Ala.
Helm said Shaffer "went out of his way" to kill Traci's father Billy Hall, 57, and brother Chris Hall, 34, in their home on a rural street in Lincoln County.
"In this case, he wanted to make sure the father and the brother who were in close proximity wouldn't interfere with him killing his main target," Helm said.
"...he wanted to make sure the father and brother...wouldn't interfere with him killing his main target."
Helm said investigators thought Shaffer then crossed the street to a duplex and killed his stepson Devin Brooks and a neighbor, Robert Berber, both 16, before killing his wife.
The only person left unharmed inside the home was Jacob Shaffer's 4-year-old helm, Helm said.
"She was probably asleep," Helm said. "As far as what she witnessed, I don't know. But she was awake and there when police showed up and found him."
Helm said investigators were still
Huntsville police said Sidney Wade Dempsey was the first victim. He was attacked at Hall Cultured Marble Granite, where he worked and was allowed to live.
investigators were still trying to figure out the motive in the beating death of a 50-year-old man found in a Huntsville business.
Unlike the stabbings in Tennessee, Hall died of blunt-force trauma, police said.
"I think the guy (Dempsey) was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. I think the guy (Shaffer) just decided to start there," said Sgt. Mark Roberts of the Huntsville, Ala., police department.
Helm said Shaffer made a statement to police, but would not say if he confessed to the murders.
"It's a pretty solid case for us," Helm said. "We've got everything we need to prosecute him."
Two assistant public defenders have been appointed to represent Shaffer. Officials from their office were not immediately available Tuesday for comment.
This July 19 photo shows a flower lying on the front porch of a house in Fayetteville, Tenn., where Chris Hall, 34, and father Billy Hall, 57, were found dead. The man accused of killing six people repeatedly stabbed his estranged wife, her family and a neighbor, authorities said Monday.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Florida murder suspect accuses planned attacker
CRIME
PENSACOLA, Fla. — Authorities said a suspect in the deaths of a Florida couple known for adopting numerous children with special needs told them that one man planned the home invasion and fatally shot the couple.
Court documents released Tuesday said 19-year-old Fredrick Thornton told investigators that Leonard Patrick Gonzalez Jr. organized the attack on Byrd and Melanie Billings.
Associated Press
INTERNATIONAL Man called mentally ill for short-lived protest
The 41-year-old German man drove through barricades around Berlin's Victory Column the day before Obama was to speak and poured red paint from his car.
BERLIN — A court has ordered psychiatric care for a man who staged a short-lived protest before Barack Obama's speech in Berlin during his campaign.
The Berlin state court said the man was protesting "injustice and poverty in the world" and is not guilty because of mental illness.
Associated Press
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