Tenn. boy, 4, caught with beer, stolen gifts

Thu Dec 17, 5:20 pm ET

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – Tennessee investigators say a 4-year-old boy was found roaming his neighborhood in the night, drinking beer and wearing a little girl’s dress taken from under a neighbor’s Christmas tree.

The child’s mother, 21-year-old April Wright, tells WTVC-TV the boy “wants to go to jail because that’s where his daddy is.” Wright says she and the boy’s father are going though a divorce.

The boy, found outside his house in Chatanooga on Tuesday, was taken to a hospital and treated for alcohol consumption.

Hamilton County Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman Janice Atkinson says the incident is being investigated but the department declined to release the report.

The boy’s mother says she met with child protective services and was told she will get to keep custody of her son.

Police: Vt. woman killed mom, had son bury remains

By JOHN CURRAN, Associated Press Writer – Thu Dec 17, 6:19 pm ET

WESTFORD, Vt. – A woman fatally shot her Alzheimer’s disease-suffering mother three years ago, burned the body and then had her son bury the remains — which she had placed in a suitcase — before filing a missing person report, authorities said Thursday.

AP – This undated photo released by Vermont State Police shows Jeanne Sevigny, 59. Sevigny told police that …

Jeanne Sevigny, 59, killed her mother, Mary Wilcox, because she had become “a drag,” prosecutors said as they announced her arrest on a charge of second-degree murder.

Investigators said Sevigny burned the body in her backyard and brought the remains in a suitcase to her son, who then buried it in the woods behind an elementary school. She told police in November 2006 that the 78-year-old disappeared after overhearing her talking about putting her in a nursing home, authorities said.

Sevigny’s son, Greg Sevigny, 30, was charged with unlawful disposal of a body.

Jeanne Sevigny’s lawyer, John St. Francis, said Sevigny found her mother with a pistol and was trying to wrest it from her when it went off, shooting Wilcox in the chest. Sevigny then panicked, St. Francis said.

“The poor decision-making afterwards is why we’re here,” he said. “Had she taken different steps, I don’t think we’d be here now. But it’s certainly not a homicide. It’s an accident.”

Prosecutor T.J. Donovan, however, said the evidence suggests otherwise.

“The action of burning a body in a backyard, putting the remains in a suitcase and burying that suitcase on the grounds of an elementary school are inconsistent with an accident,” he said.

Asked about the motive, he said: “Annoyance. A drag. An elderly woman with Alzheimer’s.”

Wilcox’s remains have not been recovered. Investigators descended on Westford Elementary School on Thursday to look for it.

The break in the case came when Greg Sevigny’s ex-girlfriend — who had recently obtained a protective order against him — went to police two weeks ago, a state police detective wrote in an affidavit. The woman told investigators that Greg Sevigny told her that his mother showed up at his workplace after Wilcox’s disappearance with a large plastic case and told him to get rid of it.

When asked what was inside, Jeanne Sevigny said: “Your grandmother,” according to the affidavit by Sgt. Lance Burnham.

The girlfriend told police she never reported it because Greg Sevigny had threatened to kill her if she ever said anything.

When interviewed by police on Wednesday, Jeanne Sevigny said she had found her mother with the gun and that they had struggled over it before it fired, but she didn’t know which of them had pulled the trigger. Sevigny said it was all her fault, according to Burnham.

St. Francis said Wilcox had attempted suicide in the past, and that her daughter’s actions in trying to disarm her were out of fear that she was trying to kill herself. The weapon believed to have been used — a pistol — hasn’t been found.

Greg Sevigny told police his mother told him Wilcox had committed suicide. He said the family had been talking about putting Wilcox in a home “because she was getting to be too much,” the affidavit said.

Shackled and wearing a winter coat, Sevigny, of Westford, looked nervously at her husband, Michael Sevigny, as she was ushered into court Thursday. She pleaded not guilty and was ordered held without bail.

He pleaded not guilty Thursday and was released to the custody of Michael Sevigny, who sat in the front row of the gallery but had little to say about the allegations.

“It’s just all confused,” he said.

His son declined to comment afterward.

Fla. man exonerated after 35 years behind bars

By MITCH STACY, Associated Press Writer

BARTOW, Fla. – James Bain used a cell phone for the first time Thursday, calling his elderly mother to tell her he had been freed after 35 years behind bars for a crime he did not commit.

AP – Polk County public defender Robert Young hugs James Bain, right, during a hearing at the Polk County …

• Slideshow:Fla. man exonerated after 35 years in prison

Mobile devices didn’t exist in 1974, the year he was sentenced to life in prison for kidnapping a 9-year-old boy and raping him in a nearby field.

Neither did the sophisticated DNA testing that officials more recently used to determine he could not have been the rapist.

“Nothing can replace the years Jamie has lost,” said Seth Miller, a lawyer for the Florida Innocence Project, which helped Bain win freedom. “Today is a day of renewal.”

Bain spent more time in prison than any of the 246 inmates previously exonerated by DNA evidence nationwide, according to the project. The longest-serving before him was James Lee Woodard of Dallas, who was released last year after spending more than 27 years in prison for a murder he did not commit.

As Bain walked out of the Polk County courthouse Thursday, wearing a black T-shirt that said “not guilty,” he spoke of his deep faith and said he does not harbor any anger.

“No, I’m not angry,” he said. “Because I’ve got God.”

The 54-year-old said he looks forward to eating fried turkey and drinking Dr Pepper. He said he also hopes to go back to school.

Friends and family surrounded him as he left the courthouse after Judge James Yancey ordered him freed. His 77-year-old mother, who is in poor health, preferred to wait for him at home. With a broad smile, he said he looks forward to spending time with her and the rest of his family.

“That’s the most important thing in my life right now, besides God,” he said.

Earlier, the courtroom erupted in applause after Yancey ruled.

“Mr. Bain, I’m now signing the order,” Yancey said. “You’re a free man. Congratulations.”

Thursday’s hearing was delayed 40 minutes because prosecutors were on the phone with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. DNA tests were expedited at the department’s lab and ultimately proved Bain innocent. Prosecutors filed a motion to vacate the conviction and the sentence.

“He’s just not connected to this particular incident,” State Attorney Jerry Hill told the judge.

Attorneys from the Innocence Project of Florida got involved in Bain’s case earlier this year after he had filed several previous petitions asking for DNA testing, all of which were thrown out.

A judge finally ordered the tests and the results from a respected private lab in Cincinnati came in last week, setting the wheels in motion for Thursday’s hearing. The Innocence Project had called for Bain’s release by Christmas.

He was convicted largely on the strength of the victim’s eyewitness identification, though testing available at the time did not definitively link him to the crime. The boy said his attacker had bushy sideburns and a mustache. The boy’s uncle, a former assistant principal at a high school, said it sounded like Bain, a former student.

The boy picked Bain out of a photo lineup, although there are lingering questions about whether detectives steered him.

The jury rejected Bain’s story that he was home watching TV with his twin sister when the crime was committed, an alibi she repeated at a news conference last week. He was 19 when he was sentenced.

Ed Threadgill, who prosecuted the case originally, said he didn’t recall all the specifics, but the conviction seemed right at the time.

“I wish we had had that evidence back when we were prosecuting cases. I’m ecstatic the man has been released,” said Threadgill, now a 77-year-old retired appeals court judge. “The whole system is set up to keep that from happening. It failed.”

Eric Ferrero, spokesman for the Innocence Project, said a DNA profile can be extracted from decades-old evidence if it has been preserved properly. That means sealed in a bag and stored in a climate-controlled place, which is how most evidence is handled as a matter of routine.

The project has a bigger problem with lost or destroyed evidence than getting usable DNA profiles from existing evidence, he said.

Florida last year passed a law that automatically grants former inmates found innocent $50,000 for each year they spent in prison. No legislative approval is needed. That means Bain is entitled to $1.75 million.

Police Gather For Slain Penn Hills Cop’s ‘Final Roll Call’

Officer Michael Crawshaw Remembered For ‘Big Heart’

PENN HILLS, Pa. — For the two and a half years that Officer Michael Crawshaw worked at the Penn Hills Police Department, he began every shift with a roll call.

Police officers hug each other at the ceremonial final roll call for Michael Crawshaw in Penn Hills.

About 100 officers from Penn Hills and surrounding areas gathered for a ceremonial “final roll call” at 4 p.m. Tuesday, marking what would have been the start of a shift for Crawshaw, who was shot and killed in the line of duty over the weekend. Many of the officers cried for their lost brother.

 ”May Officer Crawshaw rest in peace. Protect us from above. Now we will observe a moment of silence,” an Allegheny County radio dispatcher said in his transmission.

• Video – Officers Cry At Final Roll Call
• Video – Final Roll Call Radio Dispatch
• Slideshow – Photos Of The Roll Call And Shooting Scene

 Family and friends will be welcomed Wednesday and Thursday from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Schellhaas Funeral Home (388 Center Ave., West View) for a viewing. A Fraternal Order of Police service for Crawshaw will be held at the funeral home at 8 p.m. Thursday. Funeral services will be at St. Boniface Church of Holy Wisdom Parish on Pittsburgh’s North Side at 10 a.m. Friday.

 Colleagues and members of the Penn Hills community are paying tribute to the fallen officer, who was a campus police officer for the University of Pittsburgh before moving to Penn Hills.

Colleagues and the community left flowers and other tributes at a memorial to fallen Penn Hills police Officer Michael Crawshaw.

 A makeshift memorial with flowers continues to grow in front a large picture of Crawshaw at the Penn Hills police station, and black ribbons have been tied on wreaths outside the building.

 Also on display is a sign with Crawshaw’s name and the phrase “E.O.W. December 6th, 2009.” E.O.W. stands for “end of watch.”

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  A moment of silence was held at the Penn Hills Board of Education meeting in memory of Crawshaw.

 Crawshaw, 32, was shot with a high-powered rifle as he waited for backup to arrive at 201 Johnston Road at about 8:30 p.m. Sunday, county police Superintendent Charles Moffatt said.

 Robert Robinson, 32, of Homewood, is charged with two counts of homicide — one for Crawshaw and one for Danyal Morton, 40, who police said was shot over a drug money dispute shortly before Crawshaw responded to the house and was shot himself.

 More Details: Penn Hills Cop Shot Dead In Car After Drug Shooting

Officer’s Helmet Stops Two Bullets

Officer’s Helmet Hit By Bullets While Confronting Suspect

CINCINNATI — Cincinnati police were investigating an apparent murder-suicide on Sunday night in which a police officer’s helmet stopped two bullets, WLWT in Cincinnati reported.

 Officers said Kaniesha Dangerfield, 22, was found dead in a car at an apartment complex on Sunday afternoon.

 Police Chief Tom Streicher said a man who was with Dangerfield saw Leetae Williams with a gun looking for the woman. Streicher said Williams approached, demanded that Dangerfield get out of the car, and when she didn’t, Williams shot her through the car window.

 The man with Dangerfield, a concealed weapons permit holder, pulled his gun and fired one shot at Williams before his gun jammed, then ran to find help, police said.

 Police cornered Williams, 28, in an apartment later Sunday evening.

 As a SWAT unit entered the apartment, Streicher said, Williams fired two shots blindly through a curtain, both shots hitting the right side of an officer’s helmet.

 Williams then retreated to a back room, where he shot and killed himself a short time later, police said.

 The officer was not injured. He is on administrative leave, Streicher said.

 Streicher showed the helmet to reporters Monday, pointing out the impact points and saying they believe one bullet is still embedded in the helmet’s Kevlar lining.

 Police said they are trying to determine the relationship between Williams and Dangerfield.

Ohio to Test New Execution Method

LUCASVILLE, Ohio — Witnesses to the scheduled execution of a killer who scattered a woman’s remains across two states could have an even more somber experience than those who watched previously when Ohio put nearly three dozen other inmates to death.

 Inmate Kenneth Biros, if executed as planned Tuesday morning, would become the first person in the U.S. to die by lethal injection with a single drug, a process most death penalty experts agree will take longer than the old method. Biros’ procedure would be the first lethal injection since the state’s switch from using a three-drug combination.

 If that method fails, a backup plan allows executioners to inject drugs directly into muscles instead of veins.

 Ohio overhauled its procedure after the failed attempt at rapist Romell Broom’s execution, which was halted by Gov. Ted Strickland in September. Executioners tried for two hours to find a usable vein for injection, hitting bone and muscle in as many as 18 needle sticks that Broom said were very painful.

Broom, 53, was sentenced to die for the rape and stabbing death of a 14-year-old girl. He has appealed the state’s attempt to try to execute him again.

The state had two goals in changing its lethal-injection process. Switching to one drug was meant to end a 5-year-old lawsuit that claims the state’s three-drug system was capable of causing severe pain. Injection experts and defense attorneys agree the single dose of thiopental sodium will not cause pain. The backup procedure allowing muscle injection was created in case a situation like Broom’s attempted execution happens again. Other states are watching Ohio’s change, but none has made a similar switch. Florida, Kentucky, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia are among those saying they will keep the three-drug method.

Biros reached the holding area for death row inmates at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville on Monday morning. The small cell is about 15 feet from the chamber where inmates are put to death.

In the afternoon, he had a snack of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. At night, he was to be served a meal of cheese pizza, onion rings, fried mushrooms, Doritos chips, French onion dip, blueberry ice cream, cherry pie and Dr Pepper soda.

It’s the second trip to Lucasville for Biros, who spent more than 30 hours in the holding cell in March 2007 before the U.S. Supreme Court stopped his execution and allowed him to challenge the state’s method at the time, involving three drugs. Biros, 51, was resting and appeared relaxed, prisons spokeswoman Julie Walburn said.

Ohio inmates generally have taken about seven minutes to die after injection. That’s part of a total process lasting about 30 minutes, from the time witnesses start watching the insertion of the intravenous needles until the warden announces the time of death.

In most cases, an inmate lies still after giving a final statement and following a slight heaving of the chest appears no different from someone who is sleeping.

Anesthesiologist Mark Dershwitz, who consulted with Ohio, estimated death could now come after 15 minutes.

Witnesses will be allowed to stay and watch for as long as it takes, Walburn said Monday.

 Biros’ attorney John Parker and two friends will witness on Biros’ behalf. The mother, brother and sister of Biros’ victim, 22-year-old Tami Engstrom, also will witness.

Biros killed Engstrom near Warren, in northeastern Ohio, in 1991 after offering to drive her home from a bar, then scattered her body parts in Ohio and Pennsylvania. He acknowledged killing her but said it was done during a drunken rage.

Trumbull County Sheriff Tom Altiere, allowed a witness spot under state law, will be the first sheriff to witness an execution since the state resumed putting people to death in 1999, Walburn said.

A federal judge earlier Monday refused to delay the execution, and Biros immediately appealed to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati. The appeals court rejected his request for a stay Monday night, so Biros then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

 Biros argued that the state has failed to fix the problems that led to the unsuccessful execution attempt in September. He said the state still relies on unqualified executioners and lacks limits on how long they are allowed to try to find a vein.

District Judge Gregory Frost, in Columbus, said in his ruling that it appears unlikely that Biros can “demonstrate that those risks rise to the level of violating the United States Constitution.”

The state opposes a delay and says Biros has not shown that its method presents a substantial risk that he would suffer severe pain.

 In asking Frost for a stay, Biros had argued that the new execution method still left vein access issues unresolved, subjecting him to the risk of severe pain, and he had described the one-drug approach as “impermissible human experimentation.” The judge called the arguments unpersuasive.

All 36 death penalty states use lethal injection, and 35 rely on the three-drug method. Nebraska, which recently adopted injection over electrocution, has proposed the three-drug method but hasn’t finalized it.

Ohio killer awaits 1st US 1-drug lethal injection

By ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

FILE – In this undated file photo released by Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, Kenneth Biros is shown. Biros was convicted of killing Tami Engstrom in February 1991. The condemned Ohio killer could become the first person in the country put to death with one dose of an intravenous anesthetic if his execution proceeds Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2009. The execution method, which replaces the faster-acting three-drug process could propel other states to eventually consider the switch. (AP Photo/Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, File)

An Ohio prisons spokeswoman says veins appear accessible on an inmate who could become the first person in the U.S. put to death with a single drug.

Julie Walburn with the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction says two separate checks of condemned killer Kenneth Biros’ (BY’-rohs) right and left arms showed accessible veins.

Walburn says Biros visited with family Monday and Tuesday morning and slept about three and a half hours overnight.

Most death penalty experts agree the new injection of one dose of thiopental sodium will take longer than the old three-drug method.

Walburn said Tuesday the department estimates it will take up to 30 minutes for Biros to die. Previously, inmates typically were declared dead after about seven minutes.

Seattle Police Officer Shoots, Kills Maurice Clemmons, Suspect in Murders of 4 Officers in Coffee Shop

BY Helen Kennedy
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Originally Published:Tuesday, December 1st 2009, 6:58 AM
Updated: Tuesday, December 1st 2009, 3:51 PM

A lone patrolman ended Washington State’s biggest-ever manhunt Tuesday when he stumbled upon the suspected killer of four cops on the side of a road and shot him down.

Now police are going after several family members who helped crazed ex-con Maurice Clemmons while he was on the lam.

The patrolman was checking out a broken-down stolen car on a Seattle roadside at 2:45 a.m. when Clemmons approached, refused orders to show his hands and was killed, authorities said.

Clemmons had a previous gunshot wound to the gut, sustained Sunday when he coldly executed four random Lakewood Police officers in a suburban Seattle coffeeshop.

He also had one of the slain officers’ guns, but did not shoot at the patrolman, officials said.

“We’re very lucky we don’t have a dead police officer from Seattle,” said Pierce County sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer. “This could have very easily turned out totally different.”

Four people who helped Clemmons while he was on the run – including the former cellmate who drove him away from Sunday’s bloody shooting scene – were arrested. More were being rounded up.

“We expect to have maybe up to six or seven people in custody by day’s end,” Troyer said.

Most of those being charged with aiding Clemmons’ getaway were family members.

“We don’t think anyone helped him plan this murder, but his family has enabled him. Even after he killed four officers, they continued to try and save him,” Troyer said.

“They tried to do some medical aid, they tried to hide him, they supplied him with cellphones, they supplied him with money, they were making arrangements to get him out of the state. [It was] just a continuing effort to throw wrenches in our investigation, and so they are going to pay for it.”

Troyer hit out at former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who is under fire for granting Clemmons clemency in 1990, allowing him parole despite being sentenced to more than 100 years in prison.

Huckabee, who has been exploring a presidential run in 2012, blamed Washington state officials for granting Clemmons bail on a recent child rape charge.

“Huckabee made some comments about our criminal justice system and stated that we dropped the ball,” Troyer said.
“That disappointed us. We’re concerned with him taking us to task and possibly blaming us.”

Clemmons, a 37-year-old landscaper with mental problems, bragged about what he was going to do on Saturday night to pals who didn’t take him seriously, said Troyer.

“He said he was going to kill a bunch of cops and to watch the news,” he said.

“The only motive we have is that he decided he was going to go kill police officers. He was angry about being incarcerated for the eight or nine weeks prior to the shootings.”

Troyer said he wasn’t sure if the getaway driver knew he meant to kill cops – or that he had.

“We don’t know what his knowledge was of the event, but we do know that he did drive the vehicle away from the scene after the shootings occured,” he said.

Harvey Lagon, who lives about five blocks from where Clemmons was shot and killed, said the fugitive’s fatal mistake was stealing his car.

“It’s not a very reliable car,” he told the Seattle Times. “We only use it for short trips.”

Maurice Clemmons, once granted clemency by Mike Huckabee, Hunted After Four Cops Executed

By Helen Kennedy
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Originally Published: Sunday, November 29th 2009, 1:26 PM
Updated: Sunday, November 29th 2009, 11:52 PM

Cops Sunday night were hunting a career criminal once granted clemency by former presidential contender Mike Huckabee for questioning in the coffeehouse executions of four cops in suburban Seattle.

A manhunt for Maurice Clemmons, 37, was launched hours after a gunman walked into the Forza Coffee café in Parkland, Wash., and shot each officer in the head as they were doing paperwork on their laptops.

Police officials stopped short of calling Clemmons a suspect, but a former Arkansas prosecutor said he would not be surprised if Clemmons was the killer.

“This is the day I’ve been dreading for a long time,” Larry Jegley, prosecuting attorney for Arkansas’ Pulaski County, told the Seattle Times.

Despite protests from Jegley, ex-Arkansas Gov. Huckabee granted clemency to Clemmons nine years ago, commuting his lengthy prison sentence.

Clemmons was released from custody in Washington’s Pierce County six days ago, pending charges of second-degree rape of a child.

The cops were working on their laptops at 8:15 a.m. in a Forza Coffee café when the shooter walked in and gunned them down, authorities said.

“Two of them were flat executed, sitting writing reports. A third tried to get up and was shot, and a fourth fought his way to the parking lot and got off some rounds,” said Pierce County Sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer.

“These four were targeted,” he said. “There was two baristas and some other customers in there. None of them were hurt or shot at or aimed at. It was not a robbery.”

All four cops were dead when paramedics arrived.

Troyer said it was possible the suspect was wounded.

“We have reason to believe there were shots fired,” he said. “I hope the suspect was shot, because that would tell us who it is.”

Troyer said the reason for the chilling assassination is unknown. “We have no motive at all. I don’t think when we do find out it will make sense,” he said.

The public information officer for the Lakewood Police Department broke down during an attempt to brief the press at the scene.

Workers and customers were so traumatized by the bloody slayings that it took them some time to describe what they saw, police said.

The gunman was described as a scruffy black man in his 20s of medium height wearing a black coat, gray hoodie and blue jeans. A massive manhunt was underway.

The coffee shop is in a strip mall near McChord Air Force Base, 40 miles south of Seattle. It’s part of a small regional chain owned by retired cop Brad Carpenter, who said “this senseless shooting hits extremely close to home to me.”

He began setting up a donation area at each of his cafés for the officers’ families.

A steady stream of residents began stopping by the Lakewood Police headquarters, delivering flowers and handshakes. Several people were distraught even though they did not personally know the dead cops.

“Good men and women I have had the honor of knowing for years are senselessly gone. There is no way to comprehend it,” said Officer Brian Wurts of the Lakewood Police union.

“If you know a cop, tell them how much you appreciate them. It truly keeps us going

Search for suspected coffee Shop Cop Killer Maurice Clemmons Widens

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Originally Published:Tuesday, December 1st 2009, 3:09 AM
Updated: Tuesday, December 1st 2009, 6:31 AM

Officers Claim Family Aiding Killer

Casey/AP

Police block the street where they believe Maurice Clemmons contacted relatives

Dozens of police officers fanned out over two counties, storming homes and canvassing city streets with dogs in an expanded search for a man suspected of gunning down four police officers at a Washington state coffee shop.Maurice Clemmons has received help since the Sunday morning shooting from a network of friends and family who gave him places to stay, medical aid, rides and money, police said. Officers detained a sister of Clemmons who they think treated the 37-year-old suspect’s gunshot wound.

“We believe she drove him up to Seattle and bandaged him up,” Pierce County sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer said.

Police believe people close to Clemmons have misled officers, and Troyer said anyone helping him could face charges. Clemmons’ sister wasn’t in custody late Monday, and her name wasn’t released.

Authorities said the gunman singled out the Lakewood officers and spared employees and other customers at the coffee shop in Parkland, a Tacoma suburb about 35 miles south of Seattle. He then fled, but not before he was apparently shot in the torso by one of the dying officers.

Killed were Sgt. Mark Renninger, 39, and Officers Ronald Owens, 37, Tina Griswold, 40, and Greg Richards, 42.

Police said they aren’t sure what prompted Clemmons to shoot the officers as they did paperwork on their laptops. Clemmons was described as increasingly erratic in the past few months and had been arrested earlier this year on charges that he punched a sheriff’s deputy in the face.

Troyer told the Tacoma News-Tribune that Clemmons indicated the night before the shooting “that he was going to shoot police and watch the news.”

Police surrounded a house in a Seattle neighborhood late Sunday following a tip Clemmons had been dropped off there. After an all-night siege, a SWAT team entered the home and found it empty. But police said Clemmons had been there.

Police frantically chased leads on Monday, searching multiple spots in the Seattle and Tacoma area and at one point cordoning off a park where people thought they saw Clemmons.

Authorities found a handgun carried by the killer, along with a pickup truck belonging to the suspect with blood stains inside. They posted a $125,000 reward for information leading to Clemmons’ arrest and alerted hospitals to be on the lookout for a man seeking treatment for gunshot wounds.

“We need to get him into custody and we need to end this,” Troyer said Monday night.

Authorities in two states were criticized amid revelations that Clemmons was allowed to walk the streets despite a teenage crime spree in Arkansas that landed him an 108-year prison sentence. He was released early after then-Gov. Mike Huckabee commuted his sentence.

Huckabee cited Clemmons’ youth in granting the request. But Clemmons quickly reverted to his criminal past, violated his parole and was returned to prison. He was released again in 2004.

“This guy should have never been on the street,” said Brian D. Wurts, president of the police union in Lakewood. “Our elected officials need to find out why these people are out.”

Huckabee said on Fox News Channel’s “The O’Reilly Factor” Monday night that Clemmons was allowed back on the street because prosecutors failed to file paperwork in time.

Pulaski County Prosecutor Larry Jegley, whose office opposed Clemmons’ parole in 2000 and 2004, said Huckabee’s comments were “red herrings.”

“My word to Mr. Huckabee is man up and own what you did,” Jegley said.

Clemmons was charged in Washington state earlier this year with assaulting a police officer and raping a child, and investigators in the sex case said he was motivated by visions that he was Jesus Christ and that the world was on the verge of the apocalypse.

But he was released from jail after posting bail with the assistance of Jail Sucks Bail Bonds.

Documents related to those charges indicate a volatile personality. In one instance, he is accused of gathering his wife and young relatives and forcing them to undress.

“The whole time Clemmons kept saying things like trust him, the world is going to end soon, and that he was Jesus,” a Pierce County sheriff’s report said.