Randel Thomas Charged With Murdering His Own Child

September 30, 2009

Yet another innocent child has been killed, allegedly murdered at the hands of his father, according to Bolingbrook, Illinois police.  Last Friday, September 25, 2009, a 911 call was received at 2:05 p.m. in that city's emergency dispatch center about a child not breathing.  As a result, an ambulance was sent to a home in the 100 block of Jeffrey Lane where 5-month-old Christopher Thomas was reported by paramedics as unresponsive.  The child was immediately transported to Adventist Bolingbrook Hospital, where he was pronounced dead thirty-eight minutes later.

After Christopher's death, investigators from the police department went to the residence where they found Christopher's father, Randel L. Thomas, 19, along with his grandparents, at home.  Following the autopsy that was conducted the next day, and conferences with the district attorney's office following the interviews, Thomas was arrested on Monday evening, September 28, and taken to the Will County Jail in Joliet where he was charged with first-degree murder in the death of his son.  Bond was set at $5 million on Tuesday, September 29, pending a preliminary hearing scheduled for October 26 at the Will County Courthouse.

According to the results of the autopsy performed by Coroner Patrick K. O'Neil the day after Christopher's death, the child died as a result of being suffocated.  Based on O'Neil's findings and interviews with Randel Thomas and other relatives, the boy allegedly died because of his father "pushing down on the (child's) head with his hand, thereby suffocating him."  Police believe the child had been lying on a bed, and his head had purportedly been pushed face-down into the mattress.

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Mystery in Kentucky: The Death of William Sparkman

September 28, 2009

William E. Sparkman, Jr., 51, affectionately known as "sparky" by some, of London, Kentucky, was found dead at about 6:30 p.m. in a remote area of the Daniel Boone National Forest, not far from a cemetery in southern Clay County on Saturday, September 12, 2009.  He reportedly had been hanged, and had "fed" written onto his chest with a felt pen.  The single father worked two jobs—one as a substitute teacher in the Laurel County school system, and also as a field representative for the U.S. Census Bureau.  He was also a Boy Scout leader.  The area where his body was discovered was described by Clay County Deputy Sheriff Gary Harris as "sparsely populated," and is known to have ongoing drug activity such as methamphetamine labs and outdoor marijuana growing operations.  The police at this time, however, are reporting that they have not yet found any links to Sparkman's death and the drug activity.

Although police have not yet confirmed many of the details surrounding Sparkman's death, his body was purportedly discovered by a man, his wife, and daughter who had paid a visit to the nearby cemetery.  Although his body was hanging from a tree, his feet touched the ground.  According to one of the witnesses, Sparkman's body was nude and his hands and feet were reportedly bound with duct tape.

"The only thing he had on was a pair of socks," the witness said.  "And they had duct-taped his hands, and his wrists.  He had duct tape over his eyes, and they gagged him with a red rag or something.  He was murdered.  There's no doubt….they even had duct tape around his neck…they had…his identification tag on his neck…duct-taped to the side of his neck on the right side, almost on his right shoulder."

His body was approximately 50 yards from a 2003 Chevrolet S-10 pickup truck.  The police were not yet saying who the truck belonged to, or whether it was even Sparkman's.

The question on the minds of his family and those who knew him, as well as that of detectives investigating his death, is:  Who would want to kill a middle-aged census-taker and teacher and scrawl "fed" on his chest?  Was the killer or killers trying to send some type of message?  If so, what was it?  Stay out of that area?

One of Sparkman's co-workers at Johnson Elementary School, a retired state trooper, had warned Sparkman to use caution "when you go over to eastern Kentucky to do your census work." His co-worker had purportedly told him that some of the people residing in that area may not understand that his business there was to simply collect statistics.

At this point, the circumstances of Sparkman's death remain a true mystery.  Sparkman's body has been sent to the state medical examiner's office for an autopsy, according to Clay County Coroner James Trosper, which will hopefully shed more light on the circumstances surrounding his bizarre death and will perhaps be able to officially determine the cause of his death.  Preliminary reports, however, said that he likely died from asphyxiation.

Kentucky State Trooper Don Trosper said that even though it was obvious that Sparkman's death was not a result of natural causes, investigators were not rushing to judgment and were consider all possibilities.

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Albinos Being Murdered in Tanzania for Body Parts

September 22, 2009

For quite some time now, members of the albino population in the East African nation of Tanzania have been being brutally murdered, literally slaughtered, by people who believe that potions and charms made from their body parts, usually created by witch doctors, will make them wealthy and cause their lives to be filled with good luck.  Albinism is a genetic condition that causes the absence of pigmentation to a person's hair, skin, and eyes.  In many parts of Africa, albinos are commonly spurned and singled out because of their condition, often because people believe their condition was caused by a curse having been placed on them by an enemy.  Many of the unfortunate victims have been children, who have been left to die after having their arms and legs crudely cut off, usually with a machete or similar cutting device.  It is a common practice for witch doctors to grind the victim's bones, one of the ingredients of the potions they sell as good luck charms for big bucks.

"They are cutting us up like chickens," one albino said.  "Our biggest fear now is the fear of living.  If you leave work at night as an albino you are unsure of reaching home safely.  When you sleep, you are unsure of waking …."

One sad case involved that of 13-year-old Elizabeth Hussein, who left her home to walk to the village to watch a film about Jesus.  However, she never made it home.  After watching the film, she was attacked along her route by a mob, wielding machetes, who literally hacked her to pieces.

Since 2007, fifty-three known albino children and adults have been murdered in a manner similar to that of Elizabeth Hussein, so that their murderers can obtain money, often thousands of dollars, for their body parts.  In one instance, a man was accused of attempting to sell his 24-year-old wife to a Congolese businessman for $2,000, and in another instance a woman was accused of selling her albino baby daughter to a group of men who butchered her and drank her blood.

"My experience working with victims suggests that the perpetrators are greedy people who want to get rich quick," said a volunteer who works with a British charity.  "In rural areas, people can sacrifice their own child.  In urban areas, educated and rich people will look for somebody else's child."

Because the Tanzanian government seems to be doing very little to stop the senseless slaughter of innocent people for what most westerners would consider ridiculous nonsense, thousands of Tanzanian albino citizens are literally living in a state of "fear and abandonment," according to Peter Ash, the founder of the British Columbia non-profit group, Under the Same Sun, which is dedicated to help bring the slaughter of albinos in Tanzania and other African nations to an end.

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