Home Sweet Home

On June 29 th, I posted about Michelle Dieterle. She and her boyfriend were at her apt, and in the very early morning hours her ex-husband came into the home, ordered the boyfriend to leave and which he did. While he was calling 911, Michelle Dieterle died of stab wounds. When police arrived they found Michelle Dieterle dead, and the ex-husband Ryan Dieterle in the apartment with cuts to his neck. You can find the previous post here.

Normally when I update, I post it at the end of the original post. But there is enough information here that it deserves a separate post.

Originally, police stated there was no sign of forced entry into the apartment. Now authorities believe that Dieterle climbed the side of the building to the balcony, climbed over the rail and gained entry to the apartment.

Ryan Dieterle had gone to court on May 30, on the previous domestic violence charge. Dieterle pled not guilty and asked to be released on bond. The judge asked Michelle if she was afraid of her husband, and she said “Not necessarily” The judge asked Dieterle if he would obey a court order to stay away from his ex-wife and her children. His response was “That is no problem.” Michelle Dieterle indicated she was ok with that.

The judge then issued the protective order for Dieterle to stay away from his wife and her children. And he ordered Dieterle into the electronic monitoring program. The alarm would sound if Dieterle got too far away from home or work. Michelle Dieterle was given the option of having her own alarm that would go off if Dieterle approached her house, but she declined. Sometime on Wed. the alarm went off, when it went off is not given.

Michelle Dieterle’s mother has said that Dieterle had been calling and text messaging her. And that one night in the past he had showed up on her balcony, when he was supposed to be at work.

The grandmother had picked up Michelle Dieterle’s two children the previous Saturday for a week’s visit. So they were with her that night. The two little girls are aged 7 and 8. Dieterle was not their biological father, even though the girls called him Dad. When the grandmother heard the news about her daughter, she had to tell the little girls. “I told them I had really bad news: Their mommy had been killed.” But she did not tell them that Dieterle had killed her.  

Michelle Dieterle was a junior at the University of Cincinnati. She was studying criminal psychology.

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060629/NEWS01/606290359

Many times abuse victims say they don’t think the abuser would seriously harm them. They don’t think the man they know and have loved, could or would go that far. What they often don’t consider is that their belief that the abuser wouldn’t go that far, is often wishful thinking. They don’t want to believe they will go that far. Just because they have stopped short of murder in the past, doesn’t mean they will stop short in the future.

Again, think safety plan if you have to file for a protective order.

A couple of things make me really curious. Just when did that alarm go off on Wed. and what was police response to it? There is no mention of their responding to Dieterle’s address or to Michelle’s. Was Michelle warned of the alarm going off?

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There is information now about what happened when Dieterle’s alarm went off.

The alarm went off at 3:17 AM. But when it flashed up on the computer, police only knew Dieterle left his home, they didn’t know where he went. They say that had Michelle Dieterle accepted the JurisMonitor that was offered to her, that she would be alive today. The JurisMonitor is a personal alarm that will go off if the accused offender comes within 500 feet of the victim’s residence. But since she did not have one, they had no way of knowing that Dieterle was on his way to Michelle’s apartment.

Police say that when Dieterle’s alarm went off, the only thing they could do was file paperwork with the court to revoke his bond, and they did that about 9 am, after Michelle was dead.

Police say they did not have any idea where Dieterle was after the alarm went off, until they received a call from her boyfriend telling them that Dieterle had broken into Michelle’s apartment. The alarms only telll them that the person is not where they should be, but they are not GPS equipped and do not tell them where they are. They say the GPS alarms are more expensive.

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060702/NEWS01/607020391/1077

Maybe it is just me. But I would think that when Dieterle’s alarm went off, a call to the potential victim would be in order. After all that is the reason he was required to wear a monitor while he was out on bond, because of the potential danger to the victim that he represented. Yeah, maybe he just went to the store for a snack or a pack of cigarettes. But better to be safe than sorry.  

Don’t get me wrong. I like the idea of the monitors. If the accused offender has to be bonded out jail, despite the danger he represents to the victim, then I think that putting a monitor on them is great. But the monitor’s are only as good as the system that operates them. A monitor going off, is an indication that the accused offender is beyond the monitoring of the police department, and thus the victim should be notified- irregardless of whether she has the alarm or not.

Yes, Michelle Dieterle made a mistake in not accepting the JurisMonitor. But her real mistake was in trusting the established “system” to keep her safe. Had she had the JurisMonitor she might have been alive today. But one phone call would have had the household awake, alert, and prepared. That might have worked also.

On June 23, neighbors were picking up the mail for one of their neighbors. In the bushes near the home, they found a woman’s body. This happened in Aiken, S.C.

The body was badly decomposed. Identification was made through dental records and she was found to be the 83 year old resident of the home, Dale Baldwin. The autopsy was incolclusive as to the cause of death.

Baldwin had shared the home with her son, Craig Baldwin, 57.  Police believe that she had been dead since about June 16. Police began looking for the son to talk to him about his mother’s death. He is considered to be the only suspect. Police suspect that Baldwin took money from his mother’s bank account before her death.

On Saturday June 24, Balwin was in Lexington, Kentucky at his daughter’s wedding, where he reportedly escorted his daughter down the aisle. His wherebouts after the wedding were unknown. Police say the family was cooperating with law enforcement in the investigation. And they say that Baldwin may have been unaware of the warrant out for his arrest.

On Thursday, S.C. authorities contacted Ashville N.C. authorities and let them know that Baldwin might be in a motel in that city. A sweep of the motel parking lots found Baldwin’s car. A swat team evacuated the rooms neighboring the room that Baldwin had taken, then arrested him without incident. Baldwin has been charged with his mother’s death.  

http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/local/14926648.htm

http://www.wkyt.com/Global/story.asp?S=5093875&nav=4CAL

Talk about things that can go wrong at a wedding! How about finding out that your father killed your grandmother just a few days before your wedding. And that he was arrested just a few days after walking you down the aisle. No matter how much she loves her husband, no matter how beautiful the wedding, no matter how happy she was that day, those wedding pictures are going to be very bittersweet. The first year of a marriage is usually very special. But along with the romance of her first year of  marriage, will be her grandmother’s funeral, and then the legal wrangling that accompany’s any murder trial.

Baldwin made it to her wedding. But if convicted, he will miss the couple’s first home, the birth of any children, the high points and low points of her life. Hopefully he will come to some realization of what he did to her, and how his actions affected her life.

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Police did interview Baldwin in Lexington, Ky while he was there attending his daughter’s wedding. But they did not have enough information to hold him.

Police have said that Baldwin took “tens of thousands of dollars” from his mother’s account. They are not sure how this plays into the case but feel is a factor. They don’t say if the money was recovered.

Baldwin has a criminal history that includes theft by deception, resisting arrest, and alcohol related charges.

http://www.wistv.com/Global/story.asp?S=5102466&nav=menu36_3

Jennifer Barron’s cousin is talking about her cousin who was killed on Saturday. “She had this really cute baby talk,” Ms. Luna said. “She had just a big heart. And she was open to anyone’s input. And she loved getting information and learning.”  Mrs. Luna says that her cousin was in an abusive relationship. But that she loved her husband and wanted to give him a chance. “He became obsessed, controlling, overpowering and didn’t let her see any of the family,” “She tried leaving him several times because he was abusive.”  But she went back.

She left him again about a week before her death. And on Saturday about 9 pm, her husband 39-year-old Jose Trevino came to Jennifer’s sister’s home with a gun. Jennifer had attempted to find refuge with her sister, in another attempt to leave her husband.

After Jose Trevino forced Jennifer to leave, her sister called 911. “She said her brother-in-law came into the house with a gun and took her sister hostage, but she didn’t want to go,” the sheriff’s office said they were told.

A few minutes later the car with Jennifer driving, was spotted by a police officer. He pulled in behind it and called for backup. Another police car arrived and they attempted a felony stop with their lights.

The car pulled to the shoulder of the road, Trevino raised his gun, and shot Jennifer twice in the head. He then turned the gun on himself. Jennifer Barron was pronounced dead at the scene. Paramedics were able to revive Trevino somewhat, and he was transported to the hospital where he was later pronounced dead.

Jennifer Barron leaves behind 4 children from a previous relationship, ages 18, 16, 14, and 10.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/DN-friscomom_26met.ART.State.Edition1.2444d1d.html

http://www.courier-gazette.com/articles/2006/06/28/little_elm_journal/news/news11.txt

You wonder why abusive women go back? Many times an abuser will threaten to harm themselves, the spouse, or even the children. Or they may not threaten, but the spouse instinctively knows. They know from previous experience with the abuser and his reactions through the years. And they know their fear is very real, they have felt the violence before.

And yes, sometimes they love their abuser. Love is a feeling. It is not guided by reason, by thinking or even by knowing what might happen. In other words, what they know in their head, may not be realized in their hearts. That can make them easy targets, when the abuser says he/she is sorry and makes promises to change,

So they go back. Repeatedly. Each time they hope things will be different this time. Each time they hope that the abuser will have learned that they can leave, and will change their behavior accordingly. They don’t realize that by returning, they just reinforce the abusers belief that they are justified in what they did. And they don’t realize that they justify the abusers belief- that no matter what they do, they can control the spouse through intimidation and violence and empty promises.

But one thing they do usually realize……they are in danger no matter if they stay or leave. But if they go back, he has less of an immediate reason to harm them.

Michelle Dieterle, 27, had a male friend over last night. And about 4:30 am they were woken up. Dieterle’s estranged husband Ryan J. Dieterle, 27, showed up.

He told the boyfriend to leave, and the boyfriend left to find a phone and call 911. There was no sign of forced entry at the apartment. The other man called 911 and told them that he feared that Ryan might hurt the victim.

When police arrived, they found Michelle Dieterle dead from stab wounds. Ryan Dieterle was in the apartment, and he also had wounds to his neck. The other man was outside the apartment. Police believe that Dieterle killed his wife and that he received cuts to his neck and hands during the struggle. Dieterle was taken to the hospital for the wounds to his neck.

According to court records, Ryan Dieterle has been charged with domestic violence twice in the past. Once in 1998 and once in May 2006. In 1998 he was acquitted, and a temporary protection order was granted with the one from May.

Dieterle was the mother of two children, but they weren’t at home last night.

Dieterle has been charged with the violation of a temporary protection order and the case remains under investigation.

This was not Michelle Dieterle’s first brush with violence. Besides the domestic violence charges against her ex-husband, police say that in Dec. 2005, Michelle Dieterl had parked her car about 7:45 am at the Job and Family Services where she was employed. She got out of the car and went to pay for parking. She told police that a man with a shotgun then forced her back into her car. He made her drive to an ATM and withdraw some cash. Then allegedly he raped her.

The alleged assailant is still in jail. As she was the witness for the kidnapping and rape, this could put that case in jeopardy. Police do not believe the two crimes are related.

http://www.wcpo.com/news/2006/local/06/28/stab.html

http://www.wkrc.com/breaking/story.aspx?content_id=7CFCFD25-C2CB-4BD0-AE23-DABF091B50BF

http://www.channelcincinnati.com/news/9437642/detail.html

There isn’t much being said about her children. I don’t know where they were that night, or where they are now. And I don’t know if they were his kids or how old they are. They might regret not being there that night, but I am so glad they weren’t.

That is a lot of violence for one person to live through. And finally the ex-husband made sure she didn’t live through it. If police are correct and he received the cuts to his neck from a struggle with her, then she put up quite a fight. And a woman who has survived this much violence, must have been willing to fight for her life. It is sad that she didn’t win this time too.

You are going to get sick of hearing me say this. If there is domestic violence in your home, you need a safety plan. And if you have come to the point of filing for a protection order, you need  to take steps to protect yourself. First of all would be to get yourself to a place of safety. Ad remain there until he is either in jail or at least has gone to trial. You may not feel that your partner or ex-partner would ever go this far. But you may only have one chance to find out. Many times we hear of the friends and neighbors describing the assailants as being nice. But if he/she is willing to violate a protective order, then it is very possible, even likely he/she will do violence again. Don’t take that chance.

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Dieterle was treated and released from the hospital and taken to the jail for the charges of aggravated burglarly and violation of a protection order charges. They are now saying that his neck wounds were self inflicted.

http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060629/NEWS01/606290368

Ryan Dieterle apparently let himself into the apartment.

Murder charges have not been filed against him as yet, but the investigation is continuing.

Prosecutor also says that they will be going forward on the rape case against Tyrone Franklin, the man accused of raping Michelle Dieterle in Dec. He says they have enough DNA evidence to go forward with the case, and will treat it as though they were prosecuting a murder. In a murder, the victim is not present for the trial.

http://www.fox19.com/Global/story.asp?S=5095294&nav=0zHF

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Also posted here

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Ryan and Michelle Dieterle had only been married since May of last year.

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060702/NEWS01/607020396/1056

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Ryan Dieterle has been indicted for murder in the death of Michelle Dieterle and is facing the death penalty.

Allegedly, Dieterle climbed three balconies to reach her third story apartment. Once there he allegedly raped her then stabbed her to death.

Tyronne Franklin, the man charged with raping Michelle Dieterle in a December attack, is in court today on a competency hearing.

http://www.fox19.com/Global/story.asp?S=5230372&nav=0zHF

http://www.wcpo.com/news/2006/local/08/02/murder_indict.html

First of all, this isn’t a crime. This is hopefully about crime prevention! Do you have teens? Do they spend time on the computer? Do you ever wonder about what they do when they are out of your eyesight?

This mom has a solution. The article is too good, so I am not going to post any hints. Just read the article. Then click on the link in the article. And if you end up signing up, stop by her site and say hey. Maybe she can help you with the lingo!

Your kids not on MySpace? Try Xanga, Facebook, Friendwise, Live Journal or one of the other networking sites.

http://www.nashvillescene.com/Stories/Columns/2006/06/29/Suburban_Turmoil_Your_Space_is_/index.shtml

The first report on June 20 came out like this:

Emergency services responded to a report of a 7 year old boy who was having difficulty breathing. Paramedics attempted to resuscitate him, but he was pronounced dead at the hospital.

The boy, his grandmother and his 8 year old sister were visiting with the boy’s 85 year old great grandfather when the boy apparently fell down the stairs. Investigators say the boy died of blunt force trauma to the abdomen.

Neighbors said that officers spent the evening removing items from the home.

http://www.thekansascitychannel.com/news/9402089/detail.html

The second report says:

 Carolyn Cattin, 44, committed suicide in a doctors office on Tues. She and her husband were reportedly there for counseling, and she learned that the charges were to be filed against her. Authorities say that she excused herself from the session to go to the bathroom, and shot herself in a stall. Allegedly neither the husband or the counsler were aware of the shooting, until police announced they were sealing the building off because of the shooting. Cattin had full custody of Aaron Hutson, and she was his grandmother.

Police say they prepared charges against her and were about to file them when they recieved word of her suicide. The charges to be filed against her were first-degree murder, abuse of a child and two counts aggravated intimidation of a victim or witness. Police have said the last two counts were for the alleged intimidation of two children were were present at the time that Aaron died. Both children also lived with Cattin and both children are now in protective custody.

According to an aquaintance, this was a surprise. From her discussions with Cattin, she thought that Cattin was trying to protect the two children from the birth mother and father and she acted like they were her first priorty.

Cattin’s husband, Patrick Cattin, 46, is awaiting extradition back to Kansas where the murder occured. Police say that he has been charged with aiding a felon.

http://www.thekansascitychannel.com/news/9436465/detail.html

http://www.leavenworthtimes.com/articles/2006/06/27/breaking_news/news06.txt

A grandparent is an experienced parent. In order to have a grandchild, they had to have had at least one child. Often the grandparent will be the first one asked for advice when coping with the grandchild gets tough.

This grandmother had raised her child or children. Whether they would be counted as a success or not, at least they lived and were grown and gone. But she was acting as a parent to not one, but evidently three more children. She was not required to. And there were other options out there. Maybe not great ones, but there are options.  So she had choices.

I don’t know what happened that day. I don’t know how Aaron recieved the blunt force trauma. But I know it shouldn’t have been from a grandparents hands.

Two other children. Now they are in protective care. After they witness an alleged murder of ones brother, at the hand of their grandmother. After allegedly being threatened and intimidated by their grandmother. I hope they are now somewhere safe and happy.

And I hope Aaron rests in peace.

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Charges against Patrick Cattin were dropped.

http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-155624737.html

Brock Holmes, 18, had lived with his grandmother 60 year old, Jamie Holmes since about the seventh grade. He had graduated from high school this year. Apparently the two had argued some about him finding a job.

60 year old Jamie Holmes was a custodian at the middle school. Neither Brock Holmes or Jamie Holmes had a criminal record.

Monday morning the fire department were called to the address for a fully engulfed house fire. When they arrived they also found 4 burning cars. Inside the home they found the bodies of six animals and a body burned beyond reconition.

They began searching for the home’s other occupant. They found Jamie Holmes about 5:30 pm hiding in a brushy ravine. With her were a rifle and some shells. Police say that she admitted she lived there, she admitted to killing her grandson and she agreed to cooperate with law enforcement.

Police are saying that this was not a crime of passion. “It was a senseless execution.” They say the two had argued the day previously, but that Brock Homes had fallen alsleep sitting at his computer. His grandmother shot him in the back of the head around 8 am. They say she then set fire to the mobile home and the cars.   

Jamie Homes has been charged with murder and arson.

 Police say that Brock Homes had not seen his parents for several years. Police are attempting to locate Brock Homes’ parents. They have sent the requests to authorities in the state of Washington, the last place that the parents were known to live.

http://www.kauz.com/news/local/3240496.html

http://www.timesrecordnews.com/trn/local_news/article/0,1891,TRN_5784_4806619,00.html

18 and he hadn’t been in contact with his parents for several years. That in itself is pretty sad. No calls to see how he was doing, no holiday or birthday calls. Not even a call to say happy graduation.

Some kids do need to be pushed to begin their independent lives. Sometimes you have to take an example from the birds and ‘push them out of the nest’. I might have sympathized with her, if she had not taken the action that she took. Grandmother had options. He was an adult, she could have put him out of the home, told him he was on his own now. Or she could have driven him to places to seek employment. She could have just cut off any funding and unplugged his computer until he had gotten a job.

Robert Shelton called 911 on Tuesday and said his wife had been shot. Then he hung up. Attempts were made to call the phone number back with no answer.

Officers who responded to the address were met by Robert Shelton and he took them inside where they found Beverly Jean Shelton’s body.

She was 56. She was a wife and a mother. The couple had been married for more than 38 years. They had lived at that address for 34 years.

Police have said that there have been two domestic violence calls to the address in the past two years. One was made Jan. 9, 2005 and one June 2, 2006. No charges were filed either time.

Police took Robert Shelton to the station for questioning, and he was later arrested.

This is described as a quiet neighborhood. Neighbors who knew the couple described them as nice, pleasant, friendly and polite to each other. And they expressed a lot of shock at the news that Shelton was arrested for the murder.

http://www.news4jax.com/news/9434418/detail.html

http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/local/news-article.aspx?ref=rss&storyid=60078

Often you don’t know what goes on inside another person’s home. They may talk about the good things. But the more difficult things are often hidden.

Domestic violence is often hidden. Many times the victims will not only hide it, they will deny it ever happened. Or they will attempt to excuse it. They will say, they were drinking, or not feeling good, or under stress, or he/she just has a problem with his/her temper. They will sometimes see this as something that the abuser cannot control. But I once heard an interesting rebuttal to that. If they get mad in public, do they get violent? Do they do in front of an authority figure? Probably not. They are able to control it, when they want to.