Post by Anja Nieser on Sept 10, 2006 22:18:19 GMT -5
Couple convicted of torture, murder bound for death row
A Rialto couple convicted of keeping a 16-year-old girl as a sex slave for
2 weeks before they tortured and killed her are on their way to death row.
"This is humanity at its worst, deviant sexual predators preying on young
girls and giving in to their wildest, sickest fantasies," said Chief
Deputy District Attorney Michael Rushton.
Michelle Curran was kidnapped from near home in Las Vegas in 2001 by
Michael Forrest Thornton, 50, and his partner, Janeen Marie Snyder, 26.
The teenager's body was found in a horse trailer on a Rubidoux ranch in
April 2001. She had been strung up hand and foot in a tack room, sexually
assaulted, and shot point blank in the head.
The 2 were sentenced to death Thursday by Riverside County Superior Court
Judge Paul Zellerbach. Snyder becomes the 15th woman on California's death
row.
Only 4 woman have been executed in state history and none since the U.S.
Supreme Court allowed the death penalty to resume in 1976.
Prosecutors believe the couple is responsible for at least 1 other murder,
a shooting in Oklahoma and other rapes.
Rushton said they were "among the most evil" people he had ever come
across.
It is believed that in March 1996, the couple kidnapped 14-year-old Jessie
Peters and took her to Lake Arrowhead where they killed and dismembered
her, Rushton said. That case never made it to trial.
It also is thought they shot a woman in Oklahoma four times, Rushton said.
The woman survived.
The youthful Snyder was used as bait to lure young girls into Thornton's
grasp, investigators found.
The trial lasted 6 months and included 129 witnesses. They were convicted
in March, and the jury recommended death for both in May.
They were found guilty of several special circumstances that made them
eligible for the death penalty, including kidnapping and torture.
(source: The Inland Valley Daily Bulletin)
A Rialto couple convicted of keeping a 16-year-old girl as a sex slave for
2 weeks before they tortured and killed her are on their way to death row.
"This is humanity at its worst, deviant sexual predators preying on young
girls and giving in to their wildest, sickest fantasies," said Chief
Deputy District Attorney Michael Rushton.
Michelle Curran was kidnapped from near home in Las Vegas in 2001 by
Michael Forrest Thornton, 50, and his partner, Janeen Marie Snyder, 26.
The teenager's body was found in a horse trailer on a Rubidoux ranch in
April 2001. She had been strung up hand and foot in a tack room, sexually
assaulted, and shot point blank in the head.
The 2 were sentenced to death Thursday by Riverside County Superior Court
Judge Paul Zellerbach. Snyder becomes the 15th woman on California's death
row.
Only 4 woman have been executed in state history and none since the U.S.
Supreme Court allowed the death penalty to resume in 1976.
Prosecutors believe the couple is responsible for at least 1 other murder,
a shooting in Oklahoma and other rapes.
Rushton said they were "among the most evil" people he had ever come
across.
It is believed that in March 1996, the couple kidnapped 14-year-old Jessie
Peters and took her to Lake Arrowhead where they killed and dismembered
her, Rushton said. That case never made it to trial.
It also is thought they shot a woman in Oklahoma four times, Rushton said.
The woman survived.
The youthful Snyder was used as bait to lure young girls into Thornton's
grasp, investigators found.
The trial lasted 6 months and included 129 witnesses. They were convicted
in March, and the jury recommended death for both in May.
They were found guilty of several special circumstances that made them
eligible for the death penalty, including kidnapping and torture.
(source: The Inland Valley Daily Bulletin)