WHAT THE %#@ IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE......

This is utterly diguesting and completely repulsive. How do such animals exist?


Torture Death Shocks Illinois Town

By JIM SUHR, Associated Press Writer

Posted on Mar 22, 1:16 AM EDT


ALTON, Ill. (AP) -- Banished to the basement, the 29-year-old mother with a childlike mind and another baby on the way had little more than a thin rug and a mattress to call her own on the chilly concrete floor.

Dorothy Dixon ate what she could forage from the refrigerator upstairs, where prosecutors say housemates used her for target practice with BBs, burned her with a glue gun and doused her with scalding liquid that peeled away her skin.

They torched what few clothes she had, authorities say, so she walked around naked. They often pummeled her with an aluminum bat or metal handle.

Dixon - six months pregnant - died after weeks of abuse. Police have charged two adults, three teenagers and a 12-year-old boy with murder in the case that has repulsed many in this Mississippi River town.

"This is heartbreaking," police Lt. David Hayes said. "It was almost as though they were making fun of the abuse they were administering. This woman was almost like living in a prison."

Investigators put much of the blame on Michelle Riley, 35, who they said befriended Dixon but pocketed monthly Social Security checks she got because of her developmental delays.

Dixon saw little, if any, of the money, Hayes said. For months she weathered the torment to keep a roof over her head and that of her year-old son, who weighed just 15 pounds when taken into state custody after his mom's death.

"I've never seen an almost conspiratorial effort by a group of people to continuously torture someone until she finally died, then not really show any remorse," Hayes said. "It was just a slow, torturous, tragic way to die. I highly doubt Dorothy Dixon even knew she was dying."

Riley, 43-year-old Judy Woods and three teenagers, including Riley's 15-year-old daughter, LeShelle McBride, are charged with first-degree murder, aggravated and heinous battery, intentional homicide of an unborn child, and unlawful restraint. Riley's 12-year-old son is charged as a juvenile.

Riley, her daughter, Woods and 16-year-old Benny Wilson have public defenders who did not immediately return messages for comment. An 18-year-old defendant, Michael Elliott, planned to get his own attorney, court records show.

All remain in jail on $1 million bond.

Messages left with a Chicago-area sister of Dixon went unreturned, but neighbors, Hayes and newspaper accounts offer a mosaic of the months leading to Dixon's demise inside the small, white, blue-shuttered house.

Riley and Dixon, police said, had lived in Quincy, a Mississippi River town about 100 miles north of St. Louis, Mo. Quincy is where Riley worked as a coordinator for a regional center that helps the developmentally disabled with housing and other services. Dixon was a client.

For years, an impoverished Riley struggled raising her children. Her use of methamphetamine and cocaine brought drug convictions in 2002 and 2004. But with treatment and housing help from the Quincy YWCA, Riley put her life in order - so much that in February of last year, the Quincy Herald-Whig did a story on her comeback.

Last summer, Dixon and Riley moved into the $800-a-month, three-bedroom rental in Alton about 15 miles north of St. Louis. From the start, neighbors Chad Hudson and Terri Brandt considered Riley trouble.

"Michelle was evil, vindictive. Manipulative," said Hudson, convinced the teenagers were Riley's powerless minions.

"She was angry, vicious," added Brandt.

Riley considered Dixon her slave, making her rub Riley's feet until Riley fell asleep and forcing her to run naked around the house when she got in trouble, the neighbors said.

"Being in their house was like being in a prison day room," Hudson said. "They just sat around the kitchen table and fought."

There was little question that Riley ruled the roost.

While doing fix-ups on the home last fall, landlord Steve Atkins saw Riley "barking orders" at the children and everyone else. Atkins joked to her whether he needed to call the Army and see if they wanted their drill sergeant back.

"She didn't laugh about it at all," Atkins said. "Obviously, I hit a nerve."

Atkins said Dixon generally kept to herself "but was always nice when she spoke to you." He saw no hints she'd been suffering or tortured.

"I would have never, ever suspected something like this," he said. "It's definitely shocking."

Police said Dixon was allowed out of the house but didn't say under what conditions. Hayes didn't know who the father of Dixon's fetus is.

Hayes said things apparently came to a head Jan. 30, when investigators believe that Woods, during a dispute, beat Dixon on the head with an object Hayes wouldn't identify. The next day Woods found her dead.

Hayes watched the autopsy and found her injuries disturbing. X-rays revealed roughly 30 BBs lodged in her. Deep-tissue burns covered about one-third of her body - her face, her chest, her arms and feet - and left her severely dehydrated. Her face and body showed signs of prolonged abuse. Many of her wounds were infected.

None of the injuries, Hayes said, proved singly fatal to Dixon. Her system already was taxed by her unborn baby.

"The autopsy sort of indicates her immune system just shut down," he said. "It was not capable of fending off any more."

In the rental home's basement, Atkins said, he found spots of blood in a shower and tiny smears on the concrete floor, washer and dryer.

"It's disgraceful the way this girl died, as kind and as sweet as this girl was," he said. "She didn't deserve to die the way she did. It's just terrible, senseless. It's just a total shame."

Highway Robbery

For those of you stateside or those that have credit cards based out of US Banks, how close do you look at your statements? For those with US based bank accounts, how closely do you review your statements? In the past 3 months, I have been charged fees of $20.00, $20.00, $39.00, $39.00, $3.78, $15.00, $2.54, $39.00, $5.46, $50.00, $25.00, and $25.00 through no fault of my own. These charges have been assessed onto my accounts that have been open for many, many years. What gives? They say the accounts that prevent these service fees were not linked or the payment was received after 5:00 pm.

In the case of my bank, in order to for them to waive fees you must maintain minimum monthly balances. They said I was assessed the fees for the past few months because the accounts were unlinked. I was like let’s get this right, these accounts in the past 3 years have not changed….the direct deposit is the same, the withdrawal methods the same, the type of account the same…but all of a sudden I did something to cause the fees to begin being assessed. Give me a break! A 10 minute phone call and they credited me back the fees. “Oops”, was all I got. What if I haven’t noticed? A few days work goes to Chase for no reason. Then my other bank, on my loan, for the past year there has been no service fee…all of a sudden this year they charge me one. I didn’t notice for the first 2 months of the year as I just shred the envelope without even opening it! But I “accidentally” opened the March statement and there was a balance of $100.00, for a loan service fee and late fees. They refuse to help over the phone and I was unable to make it to the branch in person until a few days ago. “Oops” was all I got there as well. And to make it worse, they charged me $25.00 late fee for each January and February. If I didn’t open the envelope, then I would have paid $350.00 extra this year without even realizing it.

Now on to the credit cards….. I pay all my bills online either through electronic transfer or online bill pay. But if I forget until the day before or the day they are due, then even though I pay the minimum amount due, they don’t process it until after 5:00pm. By that time they have already assessed a late fee because it wasn’t received by 5:00pm on the due date. I mean for a few hours they are charging me $39.00 or $15.00 late fee as well as finance charges. This is pure highway robbery! I try to fight the charges usually or make a note to remind myself to pay earlier. Worse case I yell and *(#&$ and threaten to take my business elsewhere. In the past they relented, but they don’t care anymore…they are making so much money off late fees, finance charges, service fees, loan refinancing on their old customers that they don’t need new ones.

So if you are like me and don’t always have time to read every line of your statement, let this serve as a warning to start. We are getting fleeced by these banks….and if you don’t catch it, you’re giving them free money and if you do, well all you’ll get is an “oops”. I hate banks!

Rock Band

My mom signed me up to play the clarinet in 4th and 5th grade. I was really, really pathetic. No rhythm, no beat and definitely no soul. I just sucked at it. Whenever there was a concert performance for the parents, the instructor asked that my parents keep me home. I am glad he did, as I would have ruined the whole concert, not by just playing of beat, but I probably would have clumsily knocked over all the music stands and taken a few my fellow musicians down with me. But I never let that bad experience sway me away from wanting to become a musician...and I always imagined being in heavy metal band rocking and rolling while the mosh pit in front of me went crazy with lunatics. I was definitely born to rock and roll! Don't tell me you you've never played the air guitar or imagined your pencils as drum sticks and hit a few beats on you desk!

I never picked up another instrument since my beloved clarinet, that is until this past weekend. I got to play both the drums and guitar....and hot damn I was playing with the best of the best, rocking and rolling and even becoming the lead singer for Nirvana!! Can you imagine?!?!?! Too bad it was in my basement...and the only one enjoying it was me. My band mates booed me and XBOX threatened to self destruct, if I didn't stop right then and there.

If you haven't played RockBand, you seriously have been missing out. What a swwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwweeeeeeeeeeeeeeettttttttttt game. Here are some pictures of last Saturday night when we "Rocked da house"! "We" is used here to me everyone else except me...they told me I could be the manager and promoter, a role I happily accepted after seeing myself on camera.

Mensaf

Call me what you like but I really don't care for mensaf too much. Sometimes I refuse to eat it, other times I will just have a little. Of course my favorite part of it are the toasted nuts on it, snobar (pine nuts) and almonds! I always request my own little bowl be toasted...even when invited to dinner at others homes...yep, I'm not too shy to have my own requests. There were only a few of us this evening for mensaf so we didn't go all out with the serving tray overflowing. There was just enough, so that we wouldn't have left overs. Enjoy the pictures...

RIP Officer Morelli

Today as I was working out at the gym enjoying the NCAA Tournament, I saw the breaking news ticker at the bottom of the screen..Officer Shot....and my heart sank. We run this risk every time we dress in our blues and put on that shiny badge. But unfortunately he didn't make it. DOA. I didn't find out until later that he had sadly passed away, or else the fitness center would have seen my embarrasig reaction. He was only 38 years old and had spent the last 11 years as an officer and has survive a brush with death in December.

Today his name will forever be etched into a memorial for fallen heroes so that generations will come to know about his love for serving and protecting. And his name will be among those of fallen heroes read in Washington D.C. in few months.

Today we lost one of the good guys, one of our own, and one of my brothers. I have never heard his name prior today and may I, those who served alongside him and especially those who he served, never forget his name after today.

Officer Morelli, End of Watch, March 21, 2008.