Charlie Sheen's Body Language Says 'Crazy Like a Fox'

by Dr. Lillian Glass

After watching Charlie Sheen on his recent home videos and on CNN with Piers Morgan I am more convinced than ever that he has gotten over on everyone. Yes, there is no doubt that he appears as though he is in some type of manic phase with his constant movement, high level of anger and agitation, and pressured speech rate. But if you listen carefully between the lines, Charlie knows exactly what he is doing. And no doubt Charlie will come out ahead of this as far as making money goes and being even more popular than ever before. Having said that, if he is in his manic phase and if he is drinking and drugging along with it, there is a super high risk he may get even more angry and violent and either do himself in or do physical harm to others.

In my latest book Toxic Men, I write about Sheen being one of the most toxic men based on his alleged history of violence towards women. He was accused of beating a woman up back in the 90′s. He shot Kelly Preston, John Travolta’s wife, in the arm once when they were dating. He threatened and abused ex wife Denise Richards. His Christmas fiasco with holding a knife to Brook Mueller’s throat also shows his extreme violent tendencies .

So, based on this, there is a high probability that Charlie may physically harm or even kill someone out of his uncontrolled anger and rage. Another possibility is that he may accidentally kill himself by ingesting either too much of something or a combination of something. I say accidentally because there is no question that Charlie appears to have narcissistic tendencies. While delusions of grandeur often accompany a manic phase, what is really confusing is that Charlie’s delusions of grandeur are a reality.

He thinks he can get millions of followers to rally behind him, and guess what? He can! He thinks he can make million and millions from representing product, and guess what? He can! He thinks he will be a huge film star. And guess what? He will be! People will flock to see his movie just to see how he turned out. Can he get insured? Absolutely. He is so cleaver that before any physicals or drug tests are done he will make sure he is clean, just like he did when he recently took a test with cameras rolling.

The fact that he is in such great shape at his age, complete with ripped abs, and with all the partying he has done is also impressive to many fans as well as non fans.

Battle Against the CBS Suits

CBS absolutely knew who they hired when they hired Charlie. They knew he could do the role, but what he didn’t know was that he could do it so well and make the show such a hit and a cash cow for them.

That is why they let him get away with so much for so many years, turning a blind eye. They felt that his personal life was his personal life, and as long as he showed up on the set and did what he was supposed to do, it would be no problem. In fact, they were of that mindset when Charlie had his latest binge in New York City hotel and caused a public embarrassment. While most companies would immediately fire an employee after such a fiasco, or after the fiasco in Aspen at Christmas when Charlie put a knife to his wife’s throat and CBS turned a blind eye.

In show business, bad press may be good press. It keeps your name out there. His bad-boy behavior certainly didn’t hurt his image or CBS's ratings. So they kept him on. A long as he made money for them, they did not care what he did in his off-camera life. Charlie knew that, and he knew he was safe with his $2 million income an episode. So he had no worries.

During this last binge, the only reason he was given a break in production was that CBS knew Charlie was their cash cow and wanted him to take care of whatever ailed him. They were willing to wait until he sorted himself out. They were willing to give him 30 days or longer to dry out in a rehab facility and put the show on hiatus until he returned. Charlie was the show, so they were willing to wait for him.

But Charlie didn’t want to wait. He didn’t want to be in rehab. He didn’t think he needed to have anything rehabbed. He loved his life. He loved that he could get away with anything. He loved that he could have any woman or as many women as he wanted. He loved the hookers and prostitutes and having two women at once. He loved the fights and the high drama inside and outside of his life. He loved his his kids. He loved the drugs and drink. He loved getting whatever he wanted at the snap of a finger. And most of all he loved Charlie as we have all seen on his many interviews. The common theme is Charlie loves Charlie and considers himself omnipotent.

CBS knew he was getting out of control and believing his own press as being the greatest and even God-like, as we have all seen in his on-camera musings. When Charlie wanted to get back to work a day or so later instead of taking off the 30 days or whatever it took to get “well,” CBS for the first time in Charlie's life said "No!" They really wanted him to sort himself out and at the same time wanted to show they were the one who were in control and had the power, not Charlie.

So Charlie, like any spoiled child who doesn’t get his way, went on a tirade and threw a tantrum. He took his tantrum to the airwaves to tell everyone how bad and awful the producer Chuck Lorre was to him.

This no doubt freaked out my dear friend, public relations maven Stan Rosenfeld, who, no doubt, said "No way! You can’t do that! This is career suicide to trash your producer in public! I am having nothing to do with this! I am out of here!" This didn’t phase Charlie in the least, as he certainly didn’t need a PR person to get press. Everyone in the media clamored to get some airtime or press time with him. In a few day period he generated major league press all by himself by appearing on every major morning and entertainment show including CNN's Piers Morgan.

While he was an angry mess on every morning show and shocked viewers with his rhetoric and outrageous sayings, the ratings went through the roof. People never saw this Charlie Sheen before. They always saw a clean and funny watered down version of him on Two and a Half Men. Now, they saw him raw and angry. I even commented about him on CBS’s "The Insider" saying how angry and hostile he looked body language wise.

Charlie on CNN

When Charlie arrived at the CNN Studios to do Piers Morgan’s show, there was tension in the air. I was even at the CNN studio shooting the Nancy Grace Show and everything there seemed to be on lock down.

There was a heaviness and nervousness in the air, and people were walking on eggshells. You couldn’t roam around freely as usual and there were only certain rooms you could be in. Security was everywhere and in full force. It was because Charlie was on the loose, and no one knew what would happen. Would he fly off the handle? Would he harm someone? So as a precaution, they wanted to keep everyone away from him and out of his path.

When I walked out of the CNN studio to get into my limo, a throng of paparazzi three-feet deep were waiting outside for Charlie, to take his photo, as soon he emerged from doing Piers Morgan’s show. Because they were so anxious and camera-trigger happy, they immediately began flashing away at me when someone yelled out, "That’s Dr. Glass," Then, the multitude of questions and cameras came at me as I was asked what I thought about Charlie Sheen on CNN as I was getting into my limo. Since I didn't see the show at the time because I was busy filming the Nancy Grace show, I had nothing to say except that I didn’t get to see it.

I did manage to see the show while I was in an airport in Salt Lake City that Sunday. Charlie was not as angry on the show. In fact he was hilarious at times. He was bright and sharp, and clearly knew what he was doing and saying. He did not seem crazy at all. In fact, Peirce also remarked that he didn’t think Charlie was crazy and actually thought Charlie was great and charming.

The Cardinal Sin in Hollywood

But those who did not find Charlie's interview charming was CBS. Charlie committed the Cardinal sin in Hollywood, biting the hand that feeds him. He was discussing money, whether or not he would return, and the negotiation process. This is a huge no-no. That is why there are agents and lawyers. You cannot discuss this on the air. It made CBS look bad as well as all producers.

Because of Charlie's popularity, he used his forum to, in essence, badmouth his employers and put them in a bad light. They could have none of that, and rightfully so. So, they fired him last Monday. They clearly had enough of him making them look like the bad guy when all they did was give him a chance to sort himself out.

Charlie was shocked and no doubt went on a binger as he ranted and raved and looked even more out of control and manic than ever on his homemade reality show. He looked awful as he had no makeup or hairstylist to make him look good. It was just raw Charlie.

When his kids were taken away, it was sad and horrible, but the right thing to do as kids cannot be anywhere near this man now. He seemed to take it in stride, but when the reality sets in that he will not be seeing his kids when he wants to, it will no doubt have a huge emotional impact on him. Maybe that will be the catalyst for him to sort himself out. One thing is for certain: He truly loves those kids, and that was evident on the video.

Charlie will Fight his Firing and Will Probably Win

Charlie's legal battle with CBS is far from over and no doubt a settlement will take place. No one wants a drawn-out trial, which would keep this ugly situation alive. It won't look good for CBS as Charlie's growing popularity would make them look like the big, bad wolf, even though they were not. Marty Singer, a great contracts attorney who also specializes in defamation against celebrities, will make sure Charlie comes out ahead, and he will, from a financial point of view.

I think CBS would rather settle than see the likes of Charlie on the set of Two and a Half Men. I am sure that producers would rather stick hot coals in their eyes than see Charlie show up on the set again. There is talk of replacing him with Rob Lowe, whom I have known for years. That would be a great move, in my view. Besides being funny, Lowe is definitely easy on the eye and would attract a lot of female viewers.

Charlie Capitalizes on his Infamy

On his latest home reality show, he was funny. I even laughed out loud. He gets under the table and takes a swig of something and says he isn’t going to tell us what it is because he hasn’t gotten paid for it. So, now it is all about money as we hear how he is getting this offer and that offer. Charlie will probably make more money than ever and make more of a name and a brand for himself than ever before. He will probably make so much that he may end up producing his own movies and end up one of the biggest moguls and powerhouses in Hollywood. Since he is such a porn-star aficionado, perhaps he may even produce some porn as well.

The money machine has started the sound of ka-ching already. There is a winning T-shirt line and a Tiger’s Blood drink and "I'm on a Drug Called Charlie Sheen" T-shirts. “Pulling a Charlie Sheen” will no doubt become part of our vernacular. I am sure that "troll" T-shirts are on the way. Maybe there will even be a cartoon series and a reality show or even a film called “Charlie's Trolls." The point is that Charlie has reached the tipping point in a good way, and his money-making machine has become viral with his Charlieisms.

With social media and good old marketing, Charlie doesn’t need CBS. If he doesn’t kill himself with drugs or end up in prison for hurting or killing someone, Charlie has a lucrative future ahead of him. Even though CBS gave him the boot, Hollywood being what it is and seeing how much he can make will give him yet another chance. Someone else will offer him a show, either cable, NBC or ABC. No doubt it will be a hit. Film offers will come in, and people will flock to see train wreck, crazy Charlie.

But as I said, Charlie is not crazy. He may be manic and angry and hostile, but Charlie is still  a funny, talented, consummate actor, as we have even seen in his over-the-top ratings on his own reality show. Charlie clearly knows what he is doing. Charlie is bigger than ever and is here to stay, unless he does himself or someone else in.

Read More

Child Killer Coming to a Neighborhood Near You

by Stacy Dittrich

He sat on his front porch steps in South Kingstown, Rhode Island, on a sunny day in May 1975 when he spotted 5-year-old Jason Foreman (pictured, left) walking in front of his house. Bored, then-16-year-old Michael Woodmansee thought to himself, “I wonder what it would be like to kill someone?” Without blinking an eye, Woodmansee called out to the young boy, brought him inside his home, and proceeded to stab him in the chest. Seven years later ,he tried to murder a 14-year-old boy. Now, 35 years later, Woodmansee is about to be released.

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Don’t even think the word “rehabilitated,” because I can assure you it will not apply in this case. Unfortunately, it will take the murder of another child to wise up the criminal justice system. Believe me, it will happen. All Woodmansee (pictured, right) knows is prison, and he clearly isn’t wired right. The details of the horrific murder Woodmansee committed are nauseating. Only after his arrest did police discover Jason’s remains and learn how he had met his fate. Jason’s bones were sitting on Woodmansee’s dresser. He had written journals throughout the years giving investigators a front-row seat to his crimes.

Many say Woodmansee actually consumed Jason’s remains, but that hasn’t been proven, as the journals are still sealed. Regardless, the vicious disregard for human life and consequence shown by Woodmansee is truly frightening. Let’s not forget, it was impossible to prove whether or not Jason was sexually assaulted. The fact that Woodmansee targeted another male in his second attack tells me there is a strong possibility his crimes were sexually motivated. But, Woodmansee will never admit to that.

Woodmansee was sentenced in 1982 to 40 years in prison. To date, he has only served 28 years, but Rhode Island law states that the sentences of inmates can be shortened by good behavior and prison jobs. The prosecuting attorney in the case, Susan McGuirl—now a Superior Court judge—told the Providence Journal that Woodmansee’s early release was “shocking,” and added, “He should of gotten a life sentence, but, stupidly, I allowed a plea bargain to go so I wouldn’t have to put up with the agony of hearing all the evidence at the time.” (Raise eyebrow and shout a big WTH here.)

I truly hope Judge McGuirl will be prepared to stomach the details of any future murders committed by Woodmansee, because, frankly, she didn’t do her job and did a great disservice to the community, the victim’s family, and parents everywhere. It was her job to know that early release would be a possibility and explain it to the victim’s family at the time. It is highly doubtful they would have agreed to this had they known. The community in South Kingstown is outraged, and they are protesting, with good reason. I submit that not only should they protest this monster’s release, but they should demand Judge McGuirl’s disbarment.

For those of you who believe in rehabilitation, I’ll refer you to the case of Joel Yockey (pictured, left) who was sentenced to 25 years for kidnapping and raping a young girl. The parole board deemed him rehabilitated and let him out after only serving seven years. Within two weeks of his release, he kidnapped Kristen Jackson, 14, raped her and dismembered her body. Some of her remains have never been found. 

There’s your rehabilitation.

Woodmansee himself might take pause before his release. Just recently, when speaking to ABC news radio, Jason Foreman’s father, John, stated emphatically, “I do intend, if this man is released anywhere in my vicinity or if I can find him after the fact, I do intend to kill this man.”

Can you blame him? Some legal analysts say John Foreman can’t be prosecuted for making the threat for a myriad of reasons. Most importantly, they said there isn’t a jury on the planet that would convict him.

Bottom line: The criminal justice system failed miserably in this case. I can only hope that the Rhode Island criminal justice system will redeem itself before this animal is released in August.

Read More

Remembering Notorious B.I.G. on 14th Anniversary of His Unsolved Murder

by Cathy Scott

"My son's albums, to me, are a celebration of his life." Voletta Wallace, a couple of years after her son's murder on March 9, 1997, said those words in a telephone interview about the murder of Biggie Smalls. She's proud of what her son accomplished in his short life but frustrated that his murder remains unsolved.

Fourteen years after the slaying, the music of Biggie Smalls–a k a Christopher Wallace–is as big as ever. But his murder doesn't appear any closer to being solved than it was shortly after his murder following a VIBE magazine party outside the Petersen Automotive Museum, in Los Angeles, on the eve of the release of Biggie's double-disc album, ironically titled "Life After Death."

No one knows what else Biggie, a New York-based rapper who performed as The Notorious B.I.G., would have accomplished had he not been cut down that fateful March night. He was embraced by his Brooklyn community and rap fans worldwide. What we do know is that Biggie's music, after his death, topped the charts and sold millions of CDs. Like Tupac Shakur before him, Smalls is bigger in death than in life. Biggie was known for his semi-autobiographical lyrics and storytelling and his easy style of rap.

Shakur was killed in Las Vegas six months before Smalls in what some have called eerily similar drive-by shootings. Biggie and Tupac unfortunately became tragic victims of the culture of violence depicted in their lyrics.

Smalls, who died at 24 years old, had been mentoring younger rappers, including hip-hop singer Lil' Kim. On the 14th anniversary of the shooting, Lil' Kim posted her sentiments on Twitter: "On this very day a great soul was laid to rest. Now on this very day we celebrate the rebirth of a beautiful Life! R.I.P Biggie Baby."

Smalls' record producer, Sean "P Diddy" Combs, also took to the pages of Twitter to remember his friend: "Today is #BIGGIEDAY–send me all your videos, links, photos, exclusive content. ALL things BIGGIE so I can tell the world!!"

Spreading the word about her son is music to Mrs. Wallace's ears, to keep her son's legacy alive. But, while Biggie's music keeps his memory on the forefront, his mother, a single mom who worked as a pre-school teacher to support her son, holds out hope his killer (composite sketch, right) will one day be found and brought to justice. Despite the length of time without a named suspect (although a task force in L.A. has been, for several months, looking into the cold case), she keeps the faith.

"I'm not only hoping," Mrs. Wallace told me, "but I am praying that they catch the dog who killed my son. I can't wait. I know that's a trip [to Los Angeles] I'm waiting to take ... to look the murderer in the face."

Cathy Scott's book, The Murder of Biggie Smalls, is a biographical and true crime account of his life and death.

Read More

'The Bitch made me do It!' Defense

by Pat Brown

You know, if it weren't for all those bitches in the world, we would have a whole lot less crime.

Consider poor Joran van der Sloot. Twice, bitches have messed up his life. First, Natalee Holloway dies on him while trying to force him into sex on the beach (or after falling off a balcony while stupid drunk), and now he is languishing in a South American prison because another bitch, Stephany Flores Ramirez, took her pants off and snooped on his laptop. Geez, what's a guy to do with hos like this in the world? Joran can only hope that the jury will understand his temporary insanity and realize that he only bludgeoned and choked Stephany to death because "The bitch made him do it."

Mayor Marion Barry, the long-serving Washington, D.C. politician, had his career ruined by another bitch, Rasheeda Moore, who enticed him away from his wife to her hotel room and stuck a crack pipe in his mouth. "The bitch set me up," defense didn't work very well for Barry because the jury couldn't get it that Barry was sucked in by this siren. Post-prison, Barry got reelected and the second time he was caught with drugs, his career was dealt a death blow. Apparently, this time the bitch split before the cops showed up and left him high and dry with nobody to blame but himself for getting caught.

Convicted serial rapist, Sammie Lee Nichols, was just a teen when he unfairly got 149 years to life when two bitches took advantage of him on separate occasions, forcing sex on this underage kid. He explained to the jury how he had been a victim of statutory rape. In fact, he was so terrorized by these adult women's sexual assaults on him that he had to hold a gun to their heads during the acts just to protect himself from further harm. I guess, in this case, the bitches did it to him.

One of the hallmarks of a high level of narcissism and psychopathy is not taking responsibility for one's actions and always blaming someone else for one's poor choices or crimes. It is always someone else's fault. Many serial killers have an interesting way of twisting their crimes into a "Bitch made me do it" scenario. "All I was did was knock at her door and when she answered, she got all nasty toward me." Of course, it will be proven later in court that Mr. Handyman was carrying duct tape, rope, and a knife in his tool bag.

Serial killer David Bullock blamed one of his many victims, saying "He started messing with the Christmas tree, telling me how nice the Christmas tree was, so I shot him." He also used "The bitch made me do it" excuse, claiming one of his female victims "laughed in his face," causing him to have to shut her up with a firmly applied pillow over the offending wordhole and a bullet to the mouthy bitch's brain. Sometimes, the victims don't have to do anything except be who they are. Thugs like Daniel Rodriguez and Daniel Aleman, who were charged with a hate crime in the brutal assault of a gay man, simply believe their victims "deserve the beat down."

Women, though, almost always get blamed by the offenders who attack, rape, and kill them. If a woman was walking home from work on an isolated road, jogging alone at dusk, or exiting a bar at closing time into the parking lot, the perpetrators of crimes against them will say she was asking for it; if she had any sense of decency, she wouldn't have been there, and since she wasn't decent, she deserved what she got.

The truth is, when you get caught doing nasty things to defenseless women, pretty much all you have to salve your ego is to tell yourself and everyone else, "The bitch made me do it."

Note: Female offenders also toss blame around to avoid accepting responsibility for their crimes. They may say, if they murder their husband, "The bastard made me do it," and claim he was abusive or that she feared for her life (due to the fact women are more vulnerable in a domestic situation, this can sometimes be true). Women who are part of serial killer teams may claim their partners forced them into it or they fell under his spell. However, women more often than men to claim a psychiatric disorder as an excuse. And, oddly, women are more likely than men to simply tell the truth: it was fun, I was sick of him, I got tired of taking care of the baby, I killed them because my boyfriend didn't want my kids around.

Read More

Another Eye Witness: In-Car Cameras

by Andrea Campbell

Signaling for a car to pull over. A car with strangers. Stopping a car. Approaching a strange car. Not knowing who or what you will encounter, a routine stop—maybe not. It sends chills down my spine. Does the officer’s heart beat just that much faster as he approaches a car on foot? 

On May 20, 2010, police officer Bill Evans (pictured above left) stopped a white van with Ohio license plates at 11:36 a.m. on I-40 in West Memphis. Soon after, Office Brandon Paudert (pictured below right), the police chief’s son, joined him at the stop on an off-ramp—mile marker 275—near College Boulevard. Both Evans, 38, and Paudert, 39, were members of a criminal interdiction team, which stops cars in a city where two interstates meet. “There are lots of drug dealers and criminal elements passing through that city," said Oakland Police Chief Rick Jewell, a former assistant chief in West Memphis. "There's a lot of drugs and a lot of money.” Word has it that drug interdiction is dangerous business. 

Deadly Stop
A few minutes later, one of the two suspects wrestled Evans to the ground. A gunshot from an AK-47 followed and both officers went down. The suspects sped away. Chief Paudert arrived on the scene to find his son, a seven-year veteran with the West Memphis force, shot in the head and the neck, lying dead on the pavement with his service weapon in hand. Evans was airlifted to the Regional Medical Center in Memphis but died of gunshot wounds. 

More Chaos
A manhunt ensued and 90 minutes or so later, the white minivan was spotted at a local Walmart. Lots of gunfire was exchanged, leaving Crittenden County Sheriff Dick Busby shot in the arm and his chief deputy, W.A. Wren, shot in the abdomen. The suspects, identified as Jerry Kane, 45, and his son Joseph, 16, were both killed.  An overhead video of the Walmart parking lot shootout is on YouTube. 

But another important piece of evidence, an eyewitness, is a dash cam video shot from a police SUV that shows the Kane teenager firing an AK-47 before exiting with his father. 

Mobile Video
According to the January issue of Evidence Technology Magazine, the significance of video as evidence during police murder investigations has played out multiple times across the United States. Tampa, Florida also saw Officers David Curtis and Jeffrey Kocab murdered during a traffic stop. Apparently, Kocab’s video system recorded the events leading up to the killing—an audio version as well of the killer, a woman in his company, which led to identification information.

In a recent survey of police agencies nationwide, 94 percent of respondents said they feel that, “Mobile video recording is a technology that is here to stay.”

On-duty Deaths
In 2010, 61 officers were murdered by gunfire and on-duty deaths were up last year by 26 percent—that’s high. This year, the statistics are getting off to a worse start as 11 officers were shot in a single 24-hour period in January. 

More Bad News
Even though an increasing number of officer deaths have been caught on dashboard cameras, several problems exist. To begin, many times the images are dicey. Sometimes the identification ratio is nonexistent. Alan Slamon, President of the Law Enforcement & Emergency Services Association (LEVA), which trains police analysts, claims that it is an uphill battle because there are no regulation standards for operation, format or storage, rendering many systems difficult if not impossible to analyze. 

And under the present economic downturn and restraints, when cities are laying off policemen, they cannot afford to train or maintain upkeep of a video-management system. There are only fifteen vendors offering in-car video police recording systems where originally 40 firms existed six years ago.

On a brighter note, the National Institute of Justice is working on rectifying the standards by supplying a selection and application guide for law enforcement agencies.

Body-Worn Cameras
One other option that is pretty cool is the body-worn camera system. Post Falls, Idaho police department uses both the in-car camera and the body type. Police Chief Scot Haug estimates that his officers spend less time in court and the department gets fewer complaints from the public because the recorder catches such a perfect record. The body-worn system is produced by VieVu, a Seattle, Washington, company and sells for around $750. When motor officers need to leave their vehicles it gives a whole new perspective. 

In Memory Of

Robert Brandon Paudert, a sergeant, is the son of the West Memphis Chief of Police and is survived by his wife and three children.

Officer Thomas William (Bill) Evans was a nine-year veteran of the department, a was a member of the Drug Interdiction Unit, and the nephew of the West Memphis Chief of Police. He is survived by his two children.

Memorial photos courtesy of The Officer Down Memorial Page and Police Special site.

Read More

Who Killed Dawn Viens?

by Cathy Scott

This week, investigators, working with a crew of firefighters and coroner's office personnel, used jackhammers to dig up the concrete floor and tear down the interior walls of the Thyme Café, owned by Dawn and David Viens. They also used a cadaver-sniffing dogs. They were looking for Dawn.

Unfortunately, they didn’t find her–not yet, anyway. Dawn, in her late 30s, was reported missing 16 months ago after she was last seen at the restaurant in the quaint village of Lomita, California. It’s the latest turn of events in a case that has left her distraught family and friends searching, to no avail, for her body. Police, on March 3, filed a murder charge against her 47-year-old husband David.

Earlier in the week, David, after learning he was a suspect in his wife's disappearance and as a way, apparently, to evade police, dove off of an 80-foot cliff.

That day, Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies had received information that Viens had been driving near the rugged Pacific coastline. Fearing he might attempt suicide, a patrol unit was dispatched, found him and began following his car. When Viens spotted the black-and-white in his rear-view mirror, he sped toward a lighthouse parking lot, parked and jumped out of the car. Also there was Kathy Galvan, Viens’ live-in girlfriend. Deputies witnessed the pair wrestling with each other, intervened, and that’s when Viens broke free and jumped off the cliff to the beach below.

But David had not plunged to his death. He was life-flighted, in a helicopter, to a local hospital. Doctors, following surgery to repair massive internal injuries and broken bones, put him in a medicinally induced coma to keep swelling of his brain to a minimum. He was in intensive care and classified as in critical conditon.

After the jump, Sheriff's Lt. Dave Coleman described surviving such a jump as “amazing.”

"That was a pretty steep cliff, and he landed squarely on the rocks below,” the lieutenant told AOL News. “The area is steps away from the Trump National Golf Course.”

Then, Coleman told AOL News, “We intend to talk to him in the hospital. He has carried a tremendous amount of guilt for some time because he knows he killed her. He will be arrested and charged with Dawn's murder."

And that’s exactly what they did. Once Viens was lifted from the coma, authorities once again interviewed him. Then the case was sent to the district attorney’s office, and, on March 3, the charge of murder was handed down against David Viens for the death of his wife.

Concerned family and friends had reported Dawn missing about three weeks after she was seen, for the last time, at the couple's restaurant in the quaint village city of Lomita. The couple had previously owned Basil & Rosemary's, also in Lomita, but it went out of business. After her disappearance, David remodeled the restaurant, prompting sheriff's deputies to search there for Dawn's body.

In 2005, Viens was arrested in Florida and ultimately served prison time for drug trafficking, according to the Daily Breeze. At the time, Dawn described her husband to authorities as a "middle dealer" and, "due to the dealing," the couple were able to enjoy a comfortable lifestyle. 

Just after David’s failed attempt at suicide, a handmade note was posted on the cafe's front door, along with flowers left there, that read, “RIP Dawn Viens.”

Indeed. It is a sad but compelling case. And so it is that I am letting the cat out of the bag and reporting here that the Dawn Viens story is my next true crime book, which will be my ninth nonfiction book. It has all the elements, and my agent agrees.

If you knew Dawn or David, frequented one of their restaurants, or have any information about the couple, please feel free to contact me at: Cathy At CathyScott dot com.

Photo credit of Dawn Viens: LACrimeStoppers

Read More

How to Poison a Small Country

by Deborah Blum

Late last year, the news service Reuters reported a story with the headline "Prenatal Arsenic Exposure Quadruples Infant Death Risk." As the opening paragraph further explains, if pregnant women are exposed to high levels of arsenic, their babies are more likely to die in the first year than "infants whose mothers had the least exposure to the toxic mineral."

At first look, this might appear to be one of the world's most obvious findings. The element arsenic is one of the oldest known naturally-occurring poisons on Earth, found scattered through rocky beds of minerals around the place. It was reportedly identified by the Roman Catholic scholar and alchemist Albertus Magnus (also known as St. Albert the Great) in 1250 and almost immediately recognized for its homicidal potential.

The murderous Borgia family, of 15th century Italy, was notorious for its ruthless use of arsenic to eliminate enemies, but the Borgias weren't alone in recognizing its potential. Arsenic was so commonly used to remove unwanted relatives during the 18th and 19th centuries that it was nicknamed "the inheritance powder." A metallic element, arsenic kills by disrupting cellular metabolism to such a degree that it can literally poison every cell in the body. The body stores arsenic in tissues (bioaccumulation), meaning that it is dangerous both in acute and chronic exposures.

There's no surprise–and one might think, no news value–in the fact that prenatal arsenic exposure might pose a serious health risk. Except that this finding doesn't derive from one more neatly controlled laboratory study. It comes from what I'm going to call a living experiment, in which the test subjects turn out to be human beings and those statistics about infant risk are actually based on tallying up dead children.

To explain: During the 1970s, international aid agencies came up with what seemed like a brilliant plan to stem a plague of water-borne illnesses in the Asian country of Bangladesh. Cholera, typhoid, dysentery were killing citizens by the thousand. As the pathogens responsible lived in surface water, public health officials decided the answer lay in cleaner supplies underground. Aid organizations joined together to install wells in disease-troubled villages, reaching down into the germ-free ground water below. They chose simple, relatively inexpensive tube wells, placed thousands of these over-sized drinking straws into the shallow aquifers.

At first, it seemed to work like a blessing. Infant mortality rates dropped by 50 percent as the rate of water-borne diseases dropped. But by the mid-1990s, a strange epidemic of other illnesses began to appear–some symptoms rather like cholera (lethargy, severe stomach pain, nausea and diarrhea), but others wickedly their own: such as a roughening and darkening of skin, a corrosion appearance of lesions on hands and feet:

In fact, as a team of researchers from adjacent India concluded in 1995, these were classic symptoms of arsenic poisoning. As it turned out, no one had done a good geological survey of the bedrock surrounding the aquifers. And with the best of intentions, the live-saving wells had been drilled into area unusually rich in naturally occurring arsenic.

As an ingredient in the complex recipe that makes up the Earth's crust, arsenic is relatively rare, about 1.5 parts per million over all, and is usually brought to the surface as a waste byproduct of mining other ores. The problem is that it's not distributed evenly around the planet. Arsenic-dense mineral deposits cluster unevenly. To be fair, we often discover them only when illnesses appear; we now can state conclusively that one such region lies beneath the Ganges River Delta, where Bangladesh and the West Bengal province of India come together. Others are known in Thailand, Taiwan, in an underground swath across mainland China, in the Latin American countries of Chile and Argentina, and in states of the American West such as New Mexico and Nevada.

As a result, in Bangladesh, the nice little tube wells drew poison-laced water right into the homes and lives of millions and millions of people. Earlier this year the World Health Organization described the problem in Bangladesh as "the largest mass poisoning of a population in history."

This conclusion was reinforced by a comprehensive report in the British medical Journal, Lancet, which concluded that some 77 million Bangladeshi had been exposed to toxic levels of arsenic and that such exposure was responsible for more than 20 percent of the deaths in a population study group from the region. "The results of this study have important public health implications for arsenic in drinking water," the authors noted, with some understatement.

The use of well water has reduced the deaths from waterborne illness. It hasn't, as hoped, eliminated that problem. The rivers and streams of Bangladesh, too often contaminated by raw sewage, remain carriers of often deadly illnesses. And for this reason, many people living in the country still prefer to use well-water.

And for this reason, Bangladesh now serves a living laboratory for the study of arsenic exposure. The Reuters story is based on a study, "Arsenic Exposure and Risk of Spontaneous Abortion, Stillbirth and Infant Mortality" in last November's issue of the journal Epidemiology. "We observed clear evidence of an association between arsenic exposure and infant mortality," Dr. Anisur Rahman of Uppsala University Hospital in Sweden and colleagues wrote.

Let's call this exposure with a capital E. Some of pregnant women tested had blood arsenic levels above 1,000 micrograms per liter. In the United States, normal levels are considered to be between zero and 15 micrograms per liter. Do you wonder that all did not end well with those pregnancies? As Rahman points out, the mechanism for arsenic-induced infant mortality is not known and that further study might eventually yield some protective treatments for people living in poisonous regions.

But I suspect that these mothers would not have chosen to participate in this accidental experiment, and would far have preferred that we understand arsenic another way. I do appreciate that we try to gain from mistakes, get smarter, do things better. But the poisoning of Bangladesh also makes me appreciate a very old saying attributed to the 12th century French abbot, St. Bernard of Clairvaux: "L'enfer est plein de bonnes volontés et désirs." It translates, roughly, as "the road to hell is paved with good intentions."

Read More