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  • Updated
    2
    Apr
    2013
    4:53am, EDT

    Phone records probed after killing of Texas prosecutor and his wife

    View more videos at: http://nbcdfw.com.

    By Alastair Jamieson and Eric McClam, NBC News

    Phone records for two mobile numbers were being examined Monday as investigators probing the killing of a Texas prosecutor and his wife sought possible links to the January slaying of another area district attorney and amid suggestions that a white supremacist was involved.

    Authorities are looking at records for the two mobile numbers between Jan. 1 and Sunday, according to details of a search warrant, made public Monday and reported by NBCDFW.com. No more details were given in the warrant.

    Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife, Cynthia, were gunned down at their home outside Dallas on Saturday. The county’s Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse was shot dead near the county courthouse on his way to work on Jan. 31.

    The search warrant also revealed that the McLellands’ bodies were initially found by a family friend who went to the residence after trying to contact the couple several times without success.

    District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife Cynthia were found shot to death in their home Saturday, just two months after the county's assistant DA, Mark Hasse, was gunned down outside the courthouse. NBC's Gabe Gutierrez reports.

    The slayings have dismayed residents in the county, particularly in its main town, Kaufman.

    "People are in absolute shock here," Joe Gibson, 21, the manager at Moon's Fried Chicken Cafeteria told Reuters.

    Insurance agent Bobby Aga, 68, told Reuters: “We have a strong tradition of law enforcement in this area. The criminal justice system here is something you don't mess with. It's the fabric of our community."

    Authorities have not said the killings are linked and have not announced any leads in the McLellands’ deaths – although a county judge, Bruce Wood, said Monday that "there has to be some connection."

    Several people who are familiar with the case downplayed any possible connection to white supremacist prison gang, the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas, NBCDFW.com reported. Investigators say they have found nothing to indicate the Aryan Brotherhood was involved.

    However, Rep. Ted Poe, a Republican and former Texas prosecutor, told CNN on Monday that he suspected the gang was involved, without saying where he was getting his information.

    On the day Hasse was killed, the Kaufman County DA’s office was named among the investigative bodies involved in a racketeering case against the gang.

    The hate group was suspected of “actively planning retaliation” against police and prosecutors who helped gain indictments in Houston against dozens of its members, the Dallas Morning News reported in February.

    The Aryan Brotherhood has been in the state's prison system since the 1980s, when it began as a white supremacist gang that protected its members and ran illegal activities, including drug distribution, Terry Pelz, a former Texas prison warden and expert on the gang, told the Associated Press.

    Four top leaders of the group were indicted in October for crimes ranging from murder to drug trafficking. Two months later, authorities issued the bulletin warning that the gang might try to retaliate against law enforcement for the investigation that also led to the arrest of 30 other members.

    Hasse's death on Jan. 31 came the same day as the first guilty pleas were entered in the indictment, the AP reported.

    Killing law enforcement representatives would be uncharacteristic of the group, Pelz said.

    "They don't go around killing officials," he said. "They don't draw heat upon themselves."

    Late Monday, Kaufman County Sheriff's office announced that Brandi Fernandez, First Assistant District Attorney, will fill the position of interim DA for a period of 21 days.

    The murders serve as a reminder that officers of courts across the nation continually face threats, although these are rarely carried out.

    Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

    Related:

    Texas community in 'shock' over slaying of DA, wife

    District attorney, wife shot to death in Texas county where assistant DA was killed

     

     

    This story was originally published on Tue Apr 2, 2013 4:53 AM EDT

    56 comments

    "Killing law enforcement representatives would be uncharacteristic of the group" I'm wonder, which part of white supremacy groups behaviors, does violence towards those who oppose their belief system and their known track records towards those they hate, does killing not fall under? No good ever  …

    Show more
    Explore related topics: texas, killings, life, gang, prosecutor, us-news, white-supremacist, featured, da, aryan-brotherhood, updated, crime-courts
  • 24
    May
    2012
    10:19am, EDT

    Alaska mystery: Questions, no answers in Kodiak Coast Guard killings

    By Jim Gold, NBC News

    It's been six weeks since two men were shot to death inside a Coast Guard communications station in Kodiak, Alaska, and investigators still are saying very little except that they don’t believe islanders are in danger.


    Follow @msnbc_us

    Some residents are left to wonder if a killer is roaming their archipelago about 250 miles southwest of Anchorage.

    The FBI leads the investigation into the April 12 shooting deaths of Richard Belisle, 51, and Petty Officer 1st Class James Hopkins, 41.


    No one has been named a suspect or person of interest in the case, Anchorage-based FBI Special Agent Eric Gonzales told msnbc.com.

    FBI.gov

    The FBI, investigating a double homicide at the Kodiak, Alaska, Coast Guard station, asked the public if anyone had seen this white 2002 Dodge Ram pick-up truck and a blue 2001 Honda CR-V.

    “There is an expectation of solving this double-homicide,” Gonzales said. “That’s what we’re all striving for, but I can’t give you a timeline.”

    Kodiak Police Chief T.C. Kamai told msnbc.com that residents need to be patient and confident that federal authorities will solve the case and answer questions the violence raised.

    "People are anxious for some sort of resolution," Kamai said.

    Kodiak, a city of 6,100 on the island that is home port to 770 comercial fishing vessels, has a relatively low violent crime rate so a double-homicide is "huge," he said.

    However, "the town is safe" with no uptick in crime "leading up to or subsequent to" the murders, Kamai said.    

    Three times, authorities have reached out to the public for help the investigation.

    On April 20, the FBI asked if anyone had seen two vehicles, a white 2002 Dodge Ram pick-up truck and a blue 2001 Honda CR-V.

    FBI.gov

    The FBI asked the public if anyone had seen a this blue 2001 Honda CR-V and a white 2002 Dodge Ram pickup truck.

    Vehicles matching the descriptions belong to James and Nancy Wells of Bell Flats, a Kodiak Island town about 12 miles from downtown Kodiak, NBC station KTUU reported.

    James Wells, a civilian rigger who worked alongside Belisle and Hopkins repairing antennas, told KTUU “It’s our policy not to talk to anybody.”

    The FBI searched the couple’s property, KTUU said.

    Gonzales said he could not comment if the cars involved belonged to Wells and his wife or if their home was searched.

    KTUU said one witness told it the cars were seen at the parking lot of a Comfort Inn near the Coast Guard station. The motel’s guest list was subpoenaed by the FBI, KTUU said.

    On May 2, the Coast Guard, working with the FBI, asked for volunteers to search the station beyond the crime scene.

    Gonzales told msnbc.com he could not say if any items turned up by the 120 searchers had any value for the investigation.

    Radio station KMXT at the time said the search did not produce any results, KTUU reported.

    On May 15, the FBI asked to talk to anyone in Alaska who sold, traded, or otherwise transferred any of these .44 Magnum revolvers in the past year: Smith and Wesson Model 29, Smith and Wesson Model 629, or any Taurus model in that caliber.

    Some residents around Kodiak take the investigation in stride. Others are wary.

    “You’re just wondering, ‘Where are the answers? Is this guy still on the loose? Are we still safe in our home?’” Diane Descloux, a longtime Kodiak resident, told KTUU.

    “You know it's a big wild place and things happen,” Kodiak resident Andrew Field told KTUU.

    Follow Jim Gold at msnbc.com on Facebook here. 

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    11 comments

    Love triangle now minus one angle and a witness who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

    Show more
    Explore related topics: alaska, killings, crime, homicide, coast-guard, featured, kodiak

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