Body of Pearland boy found near landfill

SOURCE: Houston Chronicle

After a fruitless day of searching Pearland at the direction of a person of interest in a local student's disappearance, investigators found the missing 18-year-old's remains miles away Wednesday night in a Fort Bend County field.

The body of Josh Wilkerson was discovered about 6:30 p.m. in an overgrown field where FM 518 in Pearland intersects with at FM 521, just west of the Brazoria County line, according to Lt. Onesimo Lopez, a Pearland Police Department spokesman. The site is near a landfill some 11 miles from the Pearland area where searchers spent Wednesday's daylight hours looking for the teen.

The hunt for Wilkerson had been called off at dusk, but the "person of interest" provided detectives with more information. That man is now considered a suspect in the death, Lopez said. As of late Wednesday, ,charges against him were pending.
"He is still being interviewed to get as much information out of him as we can," Lopez said shortly after the discovery of Wilkerson's remains was announced.

Lopez declined to provide details about the condition of Wilkerson's body, citing respect for the family and the integrity of the investigation. Police said they believed the teen may have been beaten.

Earlier Wednesday, more than 200 volunteers — including some of Wilkerson's friends - had searched through woody, weeded and watery areas near the Pearland Recreation Center and Natatorium, in the 4100 block of Bailey Road. He went missing Tuesday after his half-day at a Pearland ISD school, Lopez said.

Horses, drone called in
Searchers chased down unfruitful leads all day based on directions from the suspect - an 18- or 19-year-old acquaintance of Wilkerson's from the Pearland area, Lopez said.
The young man told about an assault and "Josh being left in a field somewhere," Lopez said.
Searchers focused on a field and on an old sand pit full of water near the natatorium, using a Pearland Fire Department boat and sonar provided by Texas Equu Search. Deployed resources also included horses, four-wheel all-terrain vehicles and an airborne drone.

The teen's usual after-school routine included video games, then a trip to the gym to work out.
"He didn't show up at home to play his video games, so the parents got concerned. After a while they decided they were going to go out and look for him," Lopez said. "He has friends in this immediate area, so they went driving through this area to see if they could locate his truck."

Truck found at strip mall
Wilkerson's parents found his vehicle parked at a strip mall in the 5000 block of West Broadway around 5 p.m. Tuesday, and called police.

"There was really nothing out of the ordinary with the truck, so the officers started the ground search trying to see if we could find him," Lopez said. "From interviewing the family and talking to other people, they figured out there's a pretty good chance that he didn't have a jacket and did not have any shoes on."

Pearland police detectives continued the ground search on foot through the night Tuesday, with a couple of four-wheelers and one 4x4 truck until about 5 a.m. Wednesday, when Texas EquuSearch was called to provide additional resources, Lopez said.

The volunteers and law enforcement, on foot and in four-wheelers, returned to the command center near the natatorium just before 5 p.m. Wednesday after the search was suspended.
Wilkerson's parents were not permitted to participate in the search in case something was found, but were "praying" and "circling the wagons," Lopez said.

The couple could not be reached for comment.
Chronicle reporter Dale Lezon contributed to this report.

What's that smell?

TEXAS CITY, Texas — A smell similar to rotten eggs enveloped Texas City about 5 p.m. Monday afternoon after a leak from a subunit at BP’s Texas City refinery.

Workers were doing maintenance work on a sour water compressor on the refinery’s Power 2 unit when workers noticed a smell after a piece of equipment failed, company spokesman Michael Marr said. The odor, which forced some businesses on Palmer Highway about 13 blocks from the refinery to shutter their doors and close windows, lasted more than an hour.

The smell is believed to come from liquid in the subunit that contained hydrogen sulfide, which is a hazardous chemical that has a strong smell of rotten eggs, Texas City Homeland Security Director Bruce Clawson said. The Texas City Fire Department and BP industrial hygienists conducted ground-level air monitoring and did not find any readings of hazardous chemicals in the air, Clawson said.

Between one and two barrels of sour water — which is waste water that contains hydrocarbons and is pumped to an enclosed sewer system for disposal — spilled, causing the offensive odor, officials said.

There was not a shelter in place order for the city, but Clawson issued a phone and e-mail alert to residents notifying them of the situation.

There was a brief shelter in place order within the refinery for areas downwind of the leak, Marr said. BP set up an incident command center and the leak was contained at about 9 p.m.

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SWAT stand-off in Pearland

PEARLAND, Texas – A SWAT standoff ended with a suspect in custody Wednesday night in Pearland.

Police said officers responded to a domestic disturbance call at a home near the intersection of Laura and Liberty around 8:45 p.m. and found a man had barricaded himself inside the residence.

Authorities said a female made it out safely, but a child remained inside.

Police said they believed the man had a gun, so they called in SWAT and negotiators to alleviate the situation.

Authorities said the suspect finally gave up around 11:45 p.m. and was not armed.
He was taken into custody without incident. The child was found inside and was not injured.

Houston murders may be work of a serial killer

by Michelle Homer / khou.com
khou.com
Posted on November 1, 2010 at 1:38 PM
Updated today at 1:42 PM


HOUSTON – Police are looking into a possible link between the strangulation murders of at least three women since June.
The most recent cases involved homeless women. The body of Carol Flood, 62, was found on Oct. 10 in a stairwell behind the old YMCA building. She was partially nude. On Sept. 30, Retia LaFaye Long, 52, was found dead behind the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart at 1700 San Jacinto.

Now police believe the same killer may have strangled Raquel Mundy last June 17, then dumped her body in a field in the 300 block of St. Charles.
Mundy, 24, was murdered after accepting a ride from a stranger when she was stranded downtown.

She had dropped her mom and two kids off at the Greyhound bus station downtown around 1:30 a.m. Thursday. She then discovered her car had been towed from a McDonald’s parking lot across the street.
Mundy tried to call friends and relatives, but couldn’t find anyone to give her a ride to the tow lot. Witnesses saw her get into a grey car with an unknown man, according to police.

Mundy later sent a text message to her mother saying she thought she was in danger and feared the man was going to hurt her.
Angela Collins was still on the bus to California with her two grandchildren when she got the disturbing message.

She tried frantically to reach Mundy. Collins then called several relatives and asked them to try to find Mundy.
By the time the bus arrived in California, there was still no sign of her daughter.
"Next call we got, they had found the body. It was my baby, Collins said as she choked back tears. "This man took away my baby."
An autopsy revealed Mundy had been strangled.

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Police release home invasion 911 call

PEARLAND, Texas – Investigators on Thursday released the 911 recording from a deadly home invasion in Brazoria County.

It happened Sunday around 1:30 a.m. in the 3100 block of Springdale near Fallbrook, in the Silverlake community.

Anthony Williams, 36, was found dead in his kitchen. Deputies said he was shot three times.
His wife escaped the gunman and went to a neighbor’s house to call 911.
"The shooter had on all black, he had on a glove, man he pulled my hair I thought I was dead," she told the 911 operator.

According to investigators, the Brazoria County Sheriff’s Office was first notified about the scene by Comcast Home Security, who reported a burglary in progress.

While deputies were en route, emergency officials received a second call, this time from Williams’ wife.

By the time deputies arrived, the armed suspect was gone. Williams’ wife was not injured.

Investigators released a composite sketch of the suspect two days after the invasion. They said the suspect is about 5 feet, 10 inches tall and weighs around 185 pounds.

Anyone with information on this case is asked to contact the Brazoria County Sheriff’s Office.√\
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9-11 call - backfires because of open laptop.

by Courtney Zubowski / 11 News
khou.com
Posted on October 12, 2010 at 11:37 PM
Updated today at 9:54 AM

HOUSTON -- A woman who called 911 to anonymously report a crime says she’s in fear for her life after the man she turned in called her just minutes after she placed the call.

According to the woman, who does not want to be identified, on Oct. 1, she was driving near Beltway 8 and Veterans Memorial Drive when she witnessed a man in the car next to her beating his passenger. She did not know either one of them.

“I saw him hitting her and he was taking his fist and he was just hitting her, aside her, just hitting her and I’m like this is crazy,” said the woman.

She placed the 911 call at 1:28 p.m. and thought that would be the end of her involvement, but 30 minutes later she learned it was just the beginning.

“About 1:54 p.m. my phone rang back and it was the suspect,” she said. “He was asking me ‘Who was this, who is this’ and I am like, ‘Who is this, you called my number,’ and then he hung up."

After that call came another, and this time it was a woman’s voice, she said.

“She called me just as he hung up and it was like, ‘Ma’am, are you the concerned lady that called about my welfare,’ and I am like,

‘Excuse me,’ and she said, ‘Well I’m OK,’ and I said, ‘Excuse me,’” said the woman.

She received another call the next morning from the Harris County Jail where the suspect was in custody. He was arrested for outstanding warrants, but never charged with assault.

“My phone rings again and it says, ‘You have a call from Harris County processing jail,’ and I immediately hung up,” she said.
“I will never, ever get involved with anything else again, not when it comes to me being fearful of the surroundings in my life.”

A spokesperson for the Harris County Sheriff’s Office says as far as she knows, this is the first time something like this has happened in their department.

HCSO spokesperson Christina Garza said the suspect was put in the back of a Harris County patrol car while the deputy talked to the woman he was accused of hitting. It was then he was able to read the woman’s phone number off of a laptop computer the deputy had left open in the front seat.

“It’s a very unique situation,” Garza said. “It’s never happened and we certainly don’t want this to discourage her, or anybody, from reporting crime to authorities.”

Garza said it’s common practice to keep laptops closed, but it’s not policy. In some situations, deputies are forced to rush out of cars quickly.

”If anyone is to blame in this situation, it’s the suspect who violated such important information and took it upon himself to do this,” said Garza.

Garza said the department is sending out e-mails to all deputies to remind them to keep their laptops closed.

The suspect is not facing charges for memorizing the information, or calling the woman. Garza said there is no proof that he ever threatened the woman.


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The 911 caller disagrees.

“I was threatened,” she said. “I was threatened when he received my information. My information should have been protected. I was threatened at that point, so what point of threat do they not understand?

13 Houston schools receive powder letters

by khou.com staff
Posted on October 8, 2010 at 8:09 PM

HOUSTON – At least 13 HISD schools received envelopes Friday containing a white powdery substance, according to an HISD spokesperson.
A Houston Fire Department Hazmat team was sent to each school to collect the envelopes.
Preliminary testing showed the substance appeared to be non-hazardous. The powder was tested for radiation, explosives and volatile chemicals. Further tests are being conducted.

The schools were Alcott Elementary, Almeda Elementary, Anderson Elementary, Ashford Elementary, Attucks Middle School, Barrick Elementary, Bastian Elementary, Black Middle School, Blackshear Elementary and Browning Elementary.
Fonville Middle School, Briar Meadow Elementary School and Bellaire High School were added to the list Friday evening.
HISD said its top priority is making sure all schools are safe before students return on Monday.

"All of our school administrators are going through their mail and are trying to identify any envelopes that may look suspicious," said HISD Police Chief Jimmie Dotson.
The typewritten envelopes were addressed to the schools, not individuals, and contained no notes. Each contained about a teaspoon of white powder.
The FBI, U.S. Postal Service, HPD and HFD are assisting HISD with the investigation.


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