# Sick crimes in Illinois



## Cloud Cover (23 Mar 2008)

Reproduced from CNN iaw the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act.

Story Highlights

Disabled pregnant woman used as target practice

Investigator: "This is heartbreaking" 

Dorothy Dixon was 6 months pregnant and lived in the basement

Housemates tortured Dixon for weeks, and withheld her social security checks

Dixon also had a year-old child, who weighed 15 lbs. at time of mom's death

Next Article in Crime »



     
ALTON, Illinois (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.


Five adults and a 12-year-old child were charged with Dorothy Dixon's murder.

 Dorothy Dixon ate what she could forage from the refrigerator upstairs, where 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, 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."


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## Mike Baker (23 Mar 2008)

That's sick! :rage:


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## armyvern (23 Mar 2008)

Unfuckingbelieveable.

I am ill, physically ill. Nauseated.

Oh my gawd ...

Ready the pots of boiling oil ...


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## geo (23 Mar 2008)

Where is a ditch when you need one.
There is only one way to "properly" recompence the treatment that was dished out by this Riley character.


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## Flip (23 Mar 2008)

Geo,

I think Riley is a symptom of a depraved and indifferent society.
This tragic mess was allowed to go on for some time.

From what I have heard from my sister (who's a nurse) - this kind of thing 
isn't nearly rare enough. 

There is no justice to find here.....IMHO


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## geo (23 Mar 2008)

well... I am disgusted regardless of the excuses and mock tears that this Riley type might dish out to the judge.
There is only one way to deal with this kind of behavior and it starts and ends with..... a ditch!

Use the ditch a couple of hundred times and the other lowlifes might get the message IMHO


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## Ex-Dragoon (23 Mar 2008)

They should all be burned at the stake. _All_ of them.


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## Infanteer (23 Mar 2008)

Anyone want to argue against the gallows for this one?


"Ooooohhh, there might be the chance that they're innocent - we need to allow the system to rehabilitate them."  :

Perfect reason I believe public hangings should be brought back....


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## Flip (23 Mar 2008)

> Anyone want to argue against the gallows for this one?



Am I being baited?  ;D

I will agree that there is no "rehabilitation". I don't think there is deterrence either.

Geo, I'm a little shocked at your lack of concern for the environment....  

My original comment was more along the lines of social services having dropped the ball.
This young woman should not have been left to society at large without some oversight.

I don't know how to legislate humanity or decency. This story (and others) makes me wish I did.


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## RTaylor (23 Mar 2008)

Tattoo the American flag on their forheads.

Drop into the middle of Taliban/insurgent territory.

Problem solved.


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## DFW2T (23 Mar 2008)

I'm with Geo on this one!  

Although I think a ditch is too kind.  Maybe a garbage dump/dumpster or something along those lines is more appropriate.

Absolutely sickening.


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## lone bugler (23 Mar 2008)

well i just found another reason for the death penalty. This is just so much worse than first degree murder and that's saying something


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## NL_engineer (23 Mar 2008)

geo said:
			
		

> well... I am disgusted regardless of the excuses and mock tears that this Riley type might dish out to the judge.
> There is only one way to deal with this kind of behavior and it starts and ends with..... a ditch!
> 
> Use the ditch a couple of hundred times and the other lowlifes might get the message IMHO



1+

You could have added the "kneel down and face" part  ;D



			
				Infanteer said:
			
		

> Anyone want to argue against the gallows for this one?



It costs more to do it that way: you have to buy the rope, and build the gallows (wood, nails, etc).  With the ditch: there are plenty around (or easily built with readily available tools), and the 40 cents for the bullet  :sniper:


On a serous note, I hope the court convicts him, and doesn't go with the insanity card  :


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## mckee19 (23 Mar 2008)

Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth............


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## blacktriangle (23 Mar 2008)

Sick freaks.

Boondock Saints anyone?


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## kratz (23 Mar 2008)

I am sick. This is happening in the middle of a modern society, by an organized group of people. Taking advantage of someone.  > > :skull:


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## PMedMoe (23 Mar 2008)

kratz said:
			
		

> I am sick. This is happening in the middle of a modern society, by an organized group of people. Taking advantage of someone.  > > :skull:



Not only taking advantage of someone, but taking advantage of someone with diminished mental capabilities.  This is no different than if they had done this to a child.
Un f***ing believable, as Vern said.


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## Ex-Dragoon (23 Mar 2008)

We can only speculate that her pregnancy was not something she had any input on. Any bets she was raped by these sick f*cks as well?


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## TCBF (23 Mar 2008)

- If this had happened in Canada, their names would have been withheld for 'privacy' reasons. 

 - Up here, we give people like that jobs in old folks homes, then call it an 'accident' when their broil an old woman in scalding bathwater.   We have institutionalized abuse.


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## Flip (23 Mar 2008)

Ex Dragoon - I had assumed as much when I first read it.

Consent doesn't come from someone living the way this person was.

TCBF - you're probably right on both counts.


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## 1feral1 (23 Mar 2008)

geo said:
			
		

> Where is a ditch when you need one.



Exactly!!

Time for a .22 short


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## Red 6 (23 Mar 2008)

.22 short is too good for them, Wes. .45 caliber would make sure there'd be no tomorrow for them. You always think there's nothing new under the sun, but then you hear about something like this. How do people like this look at themselves in the mirror? Their lawyers will probably file some lame-ass defense and get them life with parole. 

cheers, Mark


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## 1feral1 (23 Mar 2008)

I was thinking of economics  ;D

A piece of rope, a tree and a chair is cheaper


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## Yrys (23 Mar 2008)

Hijack

Not speaking of the lady in the article, 



			
				Flip said:
			
		

> Consent doesn't come from someone living the way this person was.



but having work with people with intellectual disabilities, I disagree. Some of the women and men I work with wanted to have
sexual relations with their boyfriends/girlfriends. I think the degree of the disability have to be evaluate as the knowledge of
"what is a sexual relationship" and protection for pregnancy and STD ...

(what was scarring their parents the most was, after "being taking advantages" was the pregnancy fear. Will I have to take care of another generation?)


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## Kat Stevens (23 Mar 2008)

I have a 19 year old autistic son.  People wonder why I'm so protective of him and am in no hurry to turn him loose in the world. Then I see something like this... who's the paranoid now?  Fucking turds, time to cull the herd, with extreme prejudice.


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## RTaylor (23 Mar 2008)

I agree 110%.

Live practice targets = solid option.


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## 1feral1 (23 Mar 2008)

Agreed also, as they are only sorry because they got caught.


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## Ex-Dragoon (23 Mar 2008)

My personal opinion is when a person(s) can have that much lack of respect and compassion for another living being there is nothing redeeming and salavageable about that person. take them out now before they do any more wrong.


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## Mike Baker (23 Mar 2008)

Wesley  Down Under said:
			
		

> Agreed also, as they are only sorry because they got caught.


Exactly. May God have mercy on their souls.



			
				Ex-Dragoon said:
			
		

> My personal opinion is when a person(s) can have that much lack of respect and compassion for another living being there is nothing redeeming and salavageable about that person. take them out now before they do any more wrong.


I agree with that as well, 100% These people are a sickness, one that which we must rid our world of.


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## kratz (23 Mar 2008)

PMedMoe said:
			
		

> Not only taking advantage of someone, but taking advantage of someone with diminished mental capabilities.  This is no different than if they had done this to a child.
> Un f***ing believable, as Vern said.



I  am mad at anyone who can not defend themselves. I took my earlier post to include the child, senior or in the case of this news item diminished capabilities, that I did not have to state why I was upset.


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## JesseWZ (23 Mar 2008)

In my opinion, the ditch is a far too quick, far too kind way to administer justice.


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## Bruce Monkhouse (23 Mar 2008)

Come inside the 'system', even stuff like this doesn't suprise anymore......

......just to further show what a pathetic setup we have in both the U.S. and here, I can guarantee that more money will be spent on "rehabilitating" [read coddling] these stooges than ever will be spent on the young child involved in this.
They will have p$ychologi$t$, $ocial worker$, etc at their beck and call and the kid will be lucky to see a dingy children's aid ward.


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## NL_engineer (23 Mar 2008)

JesseWZ said:
			
		

> In my opinion, the ditch is a far too quick, far too kind way to administer justice.



Ibet the CIA has some "specialists" that would do the job

Wes, the rope wears out after a wile, and costs more then a bullet.


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## armyvern (23 Mar 2008)

Infanteer said:
			
		

> "Ooooohhh, there might be the chance that they're innocent - we need to allow the system to rehabilitate them."  :



Again!!??!! They've already put her (Riley) in the spotlight before as a bright shining example of "rehabilitation". Scary thought that they'd take her back into the Social Work employ and allow her access to the vunerable given her past history of parasitism and substance dependancy without complete and long lasting follow-up on her. I find it horrible that they did follow up on her enough to declare her "fully rehabilitated", yet not enough to garner the fact that a client under her care lived under her very roof, let alone that the client was being tortured to death slowly.

Unfortunately, Social Workers themselves see acts of this nature far too often and sometimes I wonder how they can continue in the face  of constant despair dealing with some very horrendous circumstances; I can only imagine what wrath they'd like to wreak upon this monster who preyed from amongst their ranks upon society's most vunerable.


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## 1feral1 (23 Mar 2008)

NL_engineer said:
			
		

> Wes, the rope wears out after a wile, and costs more then a bullet.



Recycled shoe laces??


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## benny88 (23 Mar 2008)

Wesley  Down Under said:
			
		

> Recycled shoe laces??



   Environmentally conscious....way to kill two birds with one stone Wes!


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## TCBF (24 Mar 2008)

- Speaking of Social Workers:  Two Social Workers are walking through an inner-city alleyway.  They walk past the naked body of a garroted young woman. One social worker turns to the other and says "Whoever did this needs our help."


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## geo (24 Mar 2008)

Sick!


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## Infanteer (24 Mar 2008)

Anyways, is this thread going anywhere?


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## Cloud Cover (14 Aug 2008)

from cnn.com/crime,  

WARNING: DO NOT READ IF YOU ARE SENSITIVE TO DESCRIPTIONS OF VIOLENCE

Killer taped boy's torture, prosecutor says
NEW: Joseph Edward Duncan III carefully planned family's killing, prosecutor says

Duncan killed four family members, kidnapped two children

Standby counsel says Duncan may offer no argument for why he should live

Duncan pleaded guilty in December, asked to fire his lawyers in May 

Next Article in Crime »



     
BOISE, Idaho (AP) -- The crime was meticulously planned, the killer choreographing every step from his surveillance of the doomed family to the videotaped torture of one of his youngest victims.

Yet something as simple as a locked back door, or fiercer family dogs, might have turned Joseph Edward Duncan III away.

Duncan's federal sentencing hearing opened Wednesday with U.S. Attorney Thomas Moss outlining how the convicted pedophile terrorized the Groene family, all because he wanted to "live out his fantasy" and exact revenge on society for perceived wrongs.

Duncan pleaded guilty last year to 10 federal charges in the kidnapping of two siblings, ages 8 and 9, and the murder of the older child. The jury will determine whether he should serve life in prison or be executed.

Moss told jurors they'd have to watch video footage of the sexual torture of 9-year-old Dylan Groene, filmed shortly before Duncan killed him.

Duncan forced 8-year-old Shasta Groene, the sole survivor, to watch the video. He also made her watch as he killed her brother, jurors were told.

Duncan, who is representing himself, told the jury Wednesday that most of what Moss said was fair and accurate "up to the point of what occurred at the campground."

He said he would testify so he could try to "clarify things."

His standby legal counsel, Judy Clarke, has said Duncan doesn't plan to offer any mitigation, such as evidence of his own traumatic childhood.

Shasta's videotaped statements to police will tell her story in court. It's not known if she will offer a victim impact statement.

Duncan's past is littered with arrests and prison time for crimes ranging from car theft to rape and molestation. He is suspected in the 1996 slayings of two half-sisters from Seattle and is charged with the 1997 killing of a young boy in Riverside County, California.

In 2005, he went to Idaho. Duncan broke into the Groenes' Coeur d'Alene home, bludgeoning 13-year-old Slade Groene, his mother, Brenda Groene, and her fiance, Mark McKenzie, before abducting Shasta and Dylan. Duncan has already pleaded guilty in state court for the three murders; the federal case concerns the crimes against Shasta and Dylan.

Duncan had researched police investigation procedures and took steps to avoid getting caught, Moss told jurors. He bought too-large tennis shoes at a thrift store so no bloody footprints would lead police to him. He wiped down shotgun shells before loading them so there'd be no fingerprints. He loaded the first shot with BB pellets because he thought he'd have to shoot the family dogs and didn't necessarily want to kill them.

He had a video camera, a computer and a GPS device filled with locations he thought would be handy, such as potential campsites, Moss said. He brought with him the framing hammer he used to bludgeon the older victims.

On the night of the murders, Duncan crept across a field to the home, using a low-visibility red-bulb flashlight to guide his way. He peered into a window and saw the children sleeping. One of the family dogs saw him and growled, frightening him enough that he retreated to the fence, Moss said.

"He made a decision: `If that back door is locked, I'm going to abort,"' Moss said Duncan later told police.

When he turned the handle, it opened. Then the terror began.

The dogs scurried away when they saw Duncan's gun, Moss said. Duncan bound the family, took the youngest children outside and beat the others to death.

Then he drove away with Dylan and Shasta, making sure they knew he had killed their relatives as he headed into the Montana wilderness.

The trio camped for several weeks at the end of a remote road. When Duncan left the camp, he tied the children to a tree with a dog chain.

On June 22, 2005, Duncan left Shasta at the camp, taking Dylan to a cabin, where he videotaped himself sexually abusing and torturing the boy.

"Heinous, cruel and depraved are tough words in the English language, but none of these words ... fully express the outrage of what you will see," Moss told jurors.

After they returned to the campsite, the first thing Duncan did was show Shasta the video, Moss said.

Then, at some point during the next four days, Shasta heard a gunshot and turned to see Dylan clutching his stomach where he'd been hit. She watched as Duncan walked over to Dylan, held the gun to his head and pulled the trigger. The gun didn't fire, Moss said, so Duncan reloaded and fired again.

Duncan wrapped the body in a tarp, threw it on the campfire and let it burn until it was reduced to ashes. He then took Shasta back to Coeur d'Alene, stopping for a meal at a Denny's restaurant, where a waitress recognized the girl and called police.

Dylan "deserves the justice that only you can provide," Moss told the jury.


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## geo (18 Aug 2008)

Good god, if the above is true, this man deserves death - no two ifs ands or buts about it!

Just when you need a good deep ditch........


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## Harley Sailor (18 Aug 2008)

I'm sorry, but I can't agree with the many on either case.  None of these people deserve death.  What htese people need is a small niddle in the back of the neck. Just enough to make them a quad.  That way they can live out the rest of their lives in a chair, remembering what they did to get there.


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## geo (18 Aug 2008)

... guess you'll have to pony up their "board & lodging" at the local penitentiary cause I have no interst in keeping him there...


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## Sub_Guy (18 Aug 2008)

Death sounds like the only answer, he doesn't sound remorseful at all, so a needle in the back isn't going to do anything to harm him.

Some guys are plain old crazy and the world would be a better place if they no longer existed, I would sleep better at night knowing that this POS was dead.

Don't forget to lock your back door, something I bet this guy wishes he could do now that he is in prison!


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## Niteshade (18 Aug 2008)

Both cases are sick and disgusting.

It seems the main discussion (besides the aforementioned) is: What is the "best" way to punish them?

My thoughts are as follows:

I am aware the expense will be greater on the tax payer, but I guarantee people might think twice before committing violent crime.

The adage "eye for an eye" ring a bell?

Shot 30 bb's into the victim over time? You get 30 bb's over time.
Skin burns? You get skin burns.
Cuts and deep bruising? You get cuts and deep bruising.

The hard part is finding the person/group of people to actually do the hard work of dispensing the pain. Maybe the surviving family/victims?

I am sure you get the idea. If someone knows they will be staring their own death in the same manner in which they issued it - perhaps they may think twice?

This is assuming this scum think like normal people... but we all know this is clearly not the case.

Just my $0.02.

Nites


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## geo (18 Aug 2008)

Niteshade,
While family members might claim to want a chance for retribution at their own hand.... I would not give them the immediate satisfaction cause, at some time in the future, it'd cause neverending nightmares ... instead of giving relief.  Simply knowing that the animal is no longer able to hurt anyone should provide closure and permit family to move on with their life.


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