At 7:13 pm: "Texas police find children's bodies in mass grave: report"
At 8:50 pm: "Judge says tip on mass Texas grave false"
The story went all the way from Texas to Calgary and Montreal in less than an hour.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110608/us_nm/us_usa_crime_bodies;_ylt=AjTqphLyUiAmb4aW7nf.aT_Za7gF;_ylu=X3oDMTNhbGhjbG1pBGFzc2V0A25tLzIwMTEwNjA4L3VzX3VzYV9jcmltZV9ib2RpZXMEY2NvZGUDZ21wdG9wNTAwcG9vbARjcG9zAzEEcG9zAzEEc2VjA3luX3RvcF9zdG9yaWVzBHNsawNqdWRnZXNheXN0aXA-
HARDIN, Texas | Tue Jun 7, 2011 10:08pm EDT
HARDIN, Texas (Reuters) - A false tip from a psychic prompted Texas authorities to swarm a rural home looking for a mass grave that included children.
"There's no crime scene," Liberty County Judge Craig McNair told reporters as deputies, Texas Rangers and FBI agents wrapped up a fruitless search that gained national media attention.
McNair and Capt. Rex Evans, spokesman for the Liberty County Sheriff's Office, said authorities said the woman who twice called in the tip would be investigated for making a false report.
Evans said the sheriff's office decided to take the tip seriously because the psychic claimed children's bodies were among those at the home in Hardin, about 51 miles east of Houston.
"A this time no bodies have been recovered. We have investigated this part of the scene as much as we can," Evans said. (Reporting by Heather Nolan; writing by Kristen Hays; Editing by Doina
HOUSTON, Texas — Authorities converged on a residential property near the Texas town of Hardin on Tuesday night after the sheriff's office received a phone tip from a self-professed psychic that 25 to 30 dismembered bodies were buried there.
By 8 p.m., Liberty County Judge Craig McNair said that no bodies were found inside the house. Cadaver dogs were inside and found nothing.
A preliminary search by law enforcement officers earlier in the day found evidence of what they believed was blood, but no sign of anything else, leading them to suggest the call may have been a hoax.
A search warrant was obtained and a quick look around revealed nothing out of order. A state law enforcement source confirmed that officials had obtained the warrant and entered the residence, after making a fruitless search of the property.
A foul stench emanating from the house was found to be coming from piles of rotting garbage. And the blood found at the residence was related to an earlier incident, the source told the Houston Chronicle.
"At the moment, there's no validity to the report," the source said. "There's nothing that matches what the psychic said."
Col. Steve McCraw, head of the Texas Department of Public Safety, echoed that judgment.
"There's nothing been confirmed . . . and we don't have any confirmation that bodies have been buried," McCraw said. "We're working with our local partners, and anytime there's a report of this nature we have an obligation to work with our local partners to determine if it's factual or not."
McCraw confirmed that the initial report to local authorities of the mass grave came from a tip provided by a self-professed psychic.
"There was a tip, but no bodies have been found," McCraw said.
Texas Rangers and other state investigators rushed to the scene to assist Liberty County sheriff's deputies late Tuesday evening, after officers found what looked like dried blood at a residence the tipster claimed was the site of a mass grave containing dozens of bodies, including children.
The resident of the house, Joe Bankson, said nothing will be found and that he has no idea to what the tipster was referring.
"It's very serious," said Bankson, a 44-year-old long-haul trucker reached on the road in Dallas. "Finding out that the police are in my yard for dead bodies? That's kinda panicking me. I ain't killed nobody. We've had the cops out at our house, but never for nothing like that. Somebody called the police on my dogs one time."
Bankson told the Chronicle that he and his family have lived at the house for three years. He and his wife left Sunday for a haul to Georgia.
"I haven't killed anybody," he said. "And I have a lot of friends, but I haven't helped anybody bury any bodies."
Bankson said the blood that officers noticed on the porch of his home came from his daughter's former boyfriend, whom Bankson said cut himself intentionally a couple of weeks ago.
"He got drunk and cut his wrist," Bankson told KHOU-TV. "It took me all day to clean the inside of the house. I'm not sure I got it (the blood) all."
He said the boyfriend was an Army soldier who was AWOL and is now in a military psychiatric ward. Bankson told KHOU that a police report was filed with the sheriff's department after the suicide attempt.
McNair said local prosecutors might pursue charges against the tipster if there proves no foundation for the call.
Hardin is about 87 kilometres northeast of Houston.
Read more: http://www.canada.com/news/evidence+mass+grave+Texas+authorities/4908342/story.html#ixzz1OeD1gXd5
At 8:50 pm: "Judge says tip on mass Texas grave false"
The story went all the way from Texas to Calgary and Montreal in less than an hour.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110608/us_nm/us_usa_crime_bodies;_ylt=AjTqphLyUiAmb4aW7nf.aT_Za7gF;_ylu=X3oDMTNhbGhjbG1pBGFzc2V0A25tLzIwMTEwNjA4L3VzX3VzYV9jcmltZV9ib2RpZXMEY2NvZGUDZ21wdG9wNTAwcG9vbARjcG9zAzEEcG9zAzEEc2VjA3luX3RvcF9zdG9yaWVzBHNsawNqdWRnZXNheXN0aXA-
HARDIN, Texas | Tue Jun 7, 2011 10:08pm EDT
HARDIN, Texas (Reuters) - A false tip from a psychic prompted Texas authorities to swarm a rural home looking for a mass grave that included children.
"There's no crime scene," Liberty County Judge Craig McNair told reporters as deputies, Texas Rangers and FBI agents wrapped up a fruitless search that gained national media attention.
McNair and Capt. Rex Evans, spokesman for the Liberty County Sheriff's Office, said authorities said the woman who twice called in the tip would be investigated for making a false report.
Evans said the sheriff's office decided to take the tip seriously because the psychic claimed children's bodies were among those at the home in Hardin, about 51 miles east of Houston.
"A this time no bodies have been recovered. We have investigated this part of the scene as much as we can," Evans said. (Reporting by Heather Nolan; writing by Kristen Hays; Editing by Doina
HOUSTON, Texas — Authorities converged on a residential property near the Texas town of Hardin on Tuesday night after the sheriff's office received a phone tip from a self-professed psychic that 25 to 30 dismembered bodies were buried there.
By 8 p.m., Liberty County Judge Craig McNair said that no bodies were found inside the house. Cadaver dogs were inside and found nothing.
A preliminary search by law enforcement officers earlier in the day found evidence of what they believed was blood, but no sign of anything else, leading them to suggest the call may have been a hoax.
A search warrant was obtained and a quick look around revealed nothing out of order. A state law enforcement source confirmed that officials had obtained the warrant and entered the residence, after making a fruitless search of the property.
A foul stench emanating from the house was found to be coming from piles of rotting garbage. And the blood found at the residence was related to an earlier incident, the source told the Houston Chronicle.
"At the moment, there's no validity to the report," the source said. "There's nothing that matches what the psychic said."
Col. Steve McCraw, head of the Texas Department of Public Safety, echoed that judgment.
"There's nothing been confirmed . . . and we don't have any confirmation that bodies have been buried," McCraw said. "We're working with our local partners, and anytime there's a report of this nature we have an obligation to work with our local partners to determine if it's factual or not."
McCraw confirmed that the initial report to local authorities of the mass grave came from a tip provided by a self-professed psychic.
"There was a tip, but no bodies have been found," McCraw said.
Texas Rangers and other state investigators rushed to the scene to assist Liberty County sheriff's deputies late Tuesday evening, after officers found what looked like dried blood at a residence the tipster claimed was the site of a mass grave containing dozens of bodies, including children.
The resident of the house, Joe Bankson, said nothing will be found and that he has no idea to what the tipster was referring.
"It's very serious," said Bankson, a 44-year-old long-haul trucker reached on the road in Dallas. "Finding out that the police are in my yard for dead bodies? That's kinda panicking me. I ain't killed nobody. We've had the cops out at our house, but never for nothing like that. Somebody called the police on my dogs one time."
Bankson told the Chronicle that he and his family have lived at the house for three years. He and his wife left Sunday for a haul to Georgia.
"I haven't killed anybody," he said. "And I have a lot of friends, but I haven't helped anybody bury any bodies."
Bankson said the blood that officers noticed on the porch of his home came from his daughter's former boyfriend, whom Bankson said cut himself intentionally a couple of weeks ago.
"He got drunk and cut his wrist," Bankson told KHOU-TV. "It took me all day to clean the inside of the house. I'm not sure I got it (the blood) all."
He said the boyfriend was an Army soldier who was AWOL and is now in a military psychiatric ward. Bankson told KHOU that a police report was filed with the sheriff's department after the suicide attempt.
McNair said local prosecutors might pursue charges against the tipster if there proves no foundation for the call.
Hardin is about 87 kilometres northeast of Houston.
Read more: http://www.canada.com/news/evidence+mass+grave+Texas+authorities/4908342/story.html#ixzz1OeD1gXd5
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