Somer Thompson – How the Police Found Her

The tragic news story of the murder of a little girl named Somer Thompson is one of the current news stories in the online news  today.  Read the article below from CBC news.

How Police Found Somer Thompson and How They Hope to Catch Her Killer

ORANGE PARK, Fla. (CBS/AP) Garbage trucks were the key to finding seven-year-old Somer Thompson’s body and garbage trucks may be the key to finding her killer.

Officials say investigators tailed nine garbage trucks from Thompson’s Florida neighborhood to a Georgia landfill and then picked through the trash as each rig spilled its load.

They sorted through more than 225 tons of garbage before the little girl’s body was found.

At a news conference, Clay County Sheriff Rick Beseler said the quick discovery of Somer’s body, two days after she disappeared, may have saved precious evidence that could lead to her killer.

“Had we not done this tactic,” Beseler said. “I believe that body would have been buried beneath hundreds of tons of debris, probably would have gone undiscovered forever.”

Searching landfills is common when children disappear, but it is unusual to try to zero in on them more efficiently by tracking a neighborhood’s garbage trucks, said Ernie Allen, president of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Somer vanished on her one-mile walk home from school Monday in a heavily populated residential area, about a mile from a stretch of fast-food restaurants and other businesses, in the Jacksonville suburb of Orange Park.

Searchers combed the area before investigators, following garbage trucks that collected trash Tuesday, spotted her lifeless legs in a landfill about 50 miles away.

An autopsy to establish the cause of death is done, but authorities Thursday would not disclose their findings. Beseler would not say if Somer had been sexually assaulted or answer other questions about the condition of the body.

So far the police have questioned more than 155 registered sex offenders in the area. State online records show 88 sex offenders live in Orange Park, a suburb of about 9,000 people just south of Jacksonville Naval Air Station.

Now as the search for a missing girl turns into the search for her killer, the garbage trucks may again play a pivotal role.

Investigators will presumably try to pinpoint the trash bin or garbage can where she was dumped, based on the trash around her and the truck’s pickup route. That could hopefully help them piece together a better timeline and offer a firmer direction for the investigation.

No arrests have been made.”

News Source

Iran sets terms for U.S. ties

This story appeared on the Reuters news site today.  Iran in the news again.  Not sure I understand it.  Just another confusing issue between Iran and the US.  Never-ending story.
“TEHRAN  – Iran has responded to U.S. President Barack Obama’s offer of better relations by demanding policy changes from Washington, but the Islamic state is not closing the door to a possible thaw in ties with its old foe.

Iran wants the United States to show concrete change in its behavior toward it, for example by handing back frozen assets, but Tehran is not pursuing “eternal hostility,” said Professor Mohammad Marandi at Tehran University.

“I think they (the Iranian leadership) are quite willing to have better relations if the Americans are serious,” said Marandi, who heads North American studies at the university.

A day after Obama held out the prospect of a “new beginning” of diplomatic engagement, Iran’s top authority spoke at length on Saturday about its grievances against the United States and said he saw no real policy shift yet by the new administration.
But Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has final say on all matters of state, also added in his speech at Iran’s most prominent religious shrine in the northeastern city of Mashhad: “You change, our behavior will change.”

Marandi said Khamenei did not dismiss Obama’s overture but was “effectively saying that this is simply not enough, that the United States must take concrete steps toward decreasing tension with Iran.”

Iran and the United States have not had diplomatic ties for three decades and are now embroiled in a dispute over Tehran’s nuclear program, which the West suspects is aimed at making bombs. Iran denies the charge.

Saeed Laylaz, editor of business daily Sarmayeh and an outspoken political commentator, said Khamenei in his speech had sent a “counter-offer” to the United States following Obama’s video message on Friday to mark the Iranian New Year. “I think he opened the doors to the United States,” Laylaz said.

FROZEN ASSETS

After taking office in January, Obama talked of extending a hand of peace to Tehran if it “unclenches its fist,” in contrast to his predecessor George W. Bush, who branded Iran part of an “axis of evil” and spearheaded a drive to isolate it.
In his warmest offer yet of a fresh start in relations, Obama said in Friday’s video message: “The United States wants the Islamic Republic of Iran to take its rightful place in the community of nations.”

But Khamenei made clear more than a change in U.S. rhetoric was needed, saying the United States was “hated in the world” and should stop interfering in other countries.

He also spoke of “oppressive sanctions” imposed on the Islamic Republic, Iranian assets frozen in the United States and Washington’s backing of Israel, which Tehran does not recognize.
“Khamenei suggested a very clear way for Obama’s administration, how they can start real action about Iran,” Laylaz said.

Iranian officials have repeatedly shrugged off the impact of U.S. and U.N. sanctions on the country but analysts say tumbling crude prices may make the world’s fourth-largest oil producer more vulnerable to such pressure over its nuclear activity.

Marandi said the United States could make a significant move by giving back Iranian assets blocked after a group of Iranian students seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran in 1979 and held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days.

Analysts have said Iran is setting tough conditions for dialogue to buy time. Adding to uncertainty, it holds a presidential election in June that could strengthen moderate voices backing detente over more hardline opponents.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has demanded Washington apologize for decades of “crimes” against Iran. Tehran also says it cannot let down its guard as long as U.S. troops are on its borders in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But Professor Hamidreza Jalaiepour, who teaches political sociology in Tehran, said Khamenei had delivered a pragmatic message rather than one based on ideology on Saturday.

If the United States eased sanctions imposed on Iran or released frozen funds, Iran was likely to respond, for example in helping to stabilize neighboring Afghanistan, he said.”

Article by By Fredrik Dahl

Source Story and Photo:  Reuters