The Carr Brothers and the Wichita Massacre!

 

The crimes of the Wichita Horror demonstrate the cruel depths to which human beings can sink. But something good can be seen in the survival of H.G. which underlines the awesome power of the will to live. As she told the court, "I had no choice in what Reginald and Jonathan Carr did that night, and I wasn't given the choice to save Brad, or Aaron or Heather or Jason. I had a choice to lie there and die or to get up and live. I chose to live. And I will still choose to live." In the midst of so much ugliness, her example offers hope.--The Wichita Horror by Denise Noe

--A friend and I were debating the death penalty yesterday, and she mentioned that she was friends with one of the victims of the Carr brothers.

--I thought it might be good to reflect on this case, since they have recently been in the news.  Both brothers were originally sentenced to death.  Yet, this past Friday, the Kansas Supreme Court overturned the death penalty sentences.  The reason the court gave was that the 2 brothers should've gotten separate sentencing trials.  So, they will both get new sentencing trials to determine whether they should get the death penalty or life in prison.

--I found an in-depth article on the case on Crime Library.  I have to say it is one of the most horrific crime sprees that I've ever read about.  The torture that the Carr brothers put the 5 men and women through on December 14th was beyond the pale.  If anyone ever deserved the death penalty, it is these 2 men.


The Wichita Massacre/Wichita Horror!
--Reginald (22) and Jonathan Carr (20) already had criminal records when they arrived in Wichita, Kansas in 2000.
--On December 8th, 2000 they robbed 23 year old Andrew Schreiber
--On December 11th, 3 days later, they shot and killed 55 year old Ann Walenta
--On December 14th, their crime spree took a dramatic and heinous turn.  The Carr brothers broke into a house where 5 young people were gathered.  Brad Heyka, Heather Muller, Aaron Sander, Jason Befort and a woman known only as H.G. were stripped naked, bound and subjected to unimaginable horror.  They were all raped and forced to have sex with each other.

The Carr's ransacked the house for valuables and forced 4 of the 5 to take them to their ATM's and withdraw money.  They then drove the 5 victims to a snow-covered soccer field.  They shot all 5 of them execution style and ran them over with a vehicle.  H.G. was the only survivor, saved by a hair clip which deflected the bullet.  She ran a mile naked in the snow to get help.

The Carr brothers returned to the house and stole more items and beat and stabbed H.G.'s dog Nikki to death.  The Carr's were later found to have the stolen items from the house in their possession.  There was DNA evidence linking them to the victims, and witnesses placing them at the crimes.  They were charged with 113 crimes, 5 counts were for capital murder, multiple counts of rape and robbery and a charge of animal cruelty.

The Victims
--Andrew Schreiber was a 23 year old, 6 ft. tall Assistant Baseball Coach at Newman University in Wichita.  Although he was only robbed and wasn't physically assaulted, he dealt with survivor's guilt after learning of what the 2 brothers did to all their other victims.

--Ann Walenta was a 55 year old cellist and librarian with the Wichita Symphony Orchestra.  She was a wife and a mother of 2 grown children.  She was shot while attempting to flee, she clung to life for several days and was able to talk to police before she died.

--H.G. (her name is protected because she survived the attack and is a rape victim) was a 25 year old school teacher.  She was dating one of the other victims, Jason Befort.  Befort had an engagement ring for H.G., but hadn't popped the question yet.  The ring was stolen by the Carr brothers.

--Jason Befort was a 26 year old popular science teacher at Augusta High School, and the boys' junior varsity basketball coach.

--Brad Heyka was a 27 year old valued employee at Koch industries.  He was thought to have a bright future, receiving several promotions.  

--Aaron Sander was a 29 year old devout Roman Catholic who was hoping to go into the priesthood.

--Heather Muller was a 25 year old  who was attending graduate school at Wichita State University.  She was also a pre-school teacher at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic School.  The school created a reward that it honors students with each year in her memory.  It is called the Heather Muller Love of Faith Award. 

Ted Bundy-Serial Killer Profile #1

--I have always been interested in true crime and serial killers in specific.  I blame my Mother for this, since she has the same fascination.  It must be passed on from Mother to daughter because my daughter is the same.  She recently wrote a research paper on serial killers for school.

--Therefore, I decided it would be good idea to do some more in-depth research and start writing some profiles.

--Ted Bundy is one of the more notorious serial killers.  There were a lot reasons for this.  He was young, charming and loved the spotlight, choosing to represent himself during his trials.  All of his victims were young and beautiful.

--He was a notorious liar, so some of the details about who he killed are still in doubt, since he confessed different things to different people.

Details:
--He confessed to 30 murders, 20 of which are verified, but he is suspected of killing many more
--He murdered women in 6 states--Washington, Oregon, Utah, Colorado, Idaho & Florida
--He escaped from prison twice
--He attacked 6 women in Florida after he escaped, 3 were murdered and 3 survived
--He represented himself during his trials, proving that a "man who represents himself has a fool for a client".
--The reasons/motive for killing have been attributed to his resentment towards his mother (who stuck by him to the very end), and that all the women he murdered looked similar to a girlfriend who devastated him by breaking up with him.
--He never knew the identity of his biological father, there is some suspicion that his grandfather was his real father, but this was never verified.
--His first victim is suspected to be Ann Marie Burr who was only 8 years old, he was only 14/15 at the time.  She disappeared on August 31, 1961, Ted was her paper boy and there were several other connections that make it very likely he was the killer.  He confessed to Detective Keppel that there were, "some murders" that he would "never talk about", because they were committed "too close to home", "too close to family", or involved "victims who were very young".

Books I've Read about Bundy:
--Ted and Ann: The Mystery of a Missing Child and her Neighbour Ted Bundy--Rebecca Morris
--The Stranger Beside Me: Ted Bundy The Shocking Inside Story--Ann Rule