By Sam Wheeler
Ashland Daily Tidings
Posted: 2:00 AM November 22, 2011
Ashland residents are shaken by what police describe as a violent murder that took place on the Central Ashland Bike Path Saturday afternoon."It's just really scary," said Susan Berry, 62, whose home sits a few hundred feet away from where the crime took place."We bike together frequently on the path," she said, looking down and clutching the hand of her young adopted daughter, whom she did not want to be named.The body of 23-year-old David Michael Grubbs, of Ashland, was found near Hunter Park by someone using the popular walking and biking trail at about 5:35 p.m. Saturday. Grubbs' body was bloody and lying in the middle of the path, said Ashland Police Sgt. Tighe O'Meara.Police have declined to say what weapon was used in the attack, except that it was a "large, sharp-edged object," and that Grubbs' fatal wounds were inflicted to his neck and head. Initial reports that Grubbs might have been a gunshot victim proved false once investigators were able to examine his body.
O'Meara said police believe Grubbs was dead less than 30 minutes before his body was found."It's just so unfortunate that nobody saw it happen," said another Ashland resident, who did not want to be named because she was afraid of revealing herself to a killer who was still on the loose. "I think we are all a little distressed. It's kind of odd to have something like this happen here."Her home also is a few hundred feet away from where Grubbs' body was found.Berry, who has lived in Ashland for just three months, said she was surprised by residents' attitude that they live in an oasis."People aren't on guard here," she said. "They all think they are safe."The last murder in Ashland took place about seven years ago, in late 2004. There were two murders within the city limits that year. The first was the bludgeoning death of predatory sex offender David Evan Rice, 68, of Ashland, and the other was the stabbing death of Samuel Rath, 23, of Ashland. Both victims knew their attackers.
Police said at this point in their investigation, they do not believe there was any connection between Grubbs and his killer.Working in conjunction with the Jackson County Sheriff's Department and police from Medford, Phoenix and Talent, Ashland police will bolster its presence on the bike path, said O'Meara."We'll be performing extra patrols and performing some high-visibility patrols," he said, "both to further the investigation and provide a visible presence."Police on Monday stopped passers-by around Hunter Park, seeking any information about Saturday's attack.Police are requesting anyone with information to call 541-482-5211. To leave an anonymous tip, call 541-552-2333.
The Ashland School District sent an email Monday morning to parents of students at Walker Elementary, John Muir and Ashland Middle schools, warning them to exercise caution on the way to and from school, Superintendent Juli Di Chiro said.Grubbs' body was found only a few hundred feet away from the playground at Walker Elementary, and just a few hundred yards down the bike path from the middle school."Police are calling this a random act of violence," said Di Chiro. "That definitely heightened my level of concern around the safety issues with our students walking and biking to school."While she stressed that the schools are safe, her message to parents advised students to walk to school in pairs or groups and avoid the bike path if possible. Elementary school students should be accompanied by an adult on the path and shouldn't walk any route alone, the email said."That goes for all students ... the older students should be walking in pairs or groups, and keeping their cellphones handy," said Di Chiro. "He (Grubbs) was just a kid walking home from work."Di Chiro said that until police can identify a suspect, those precautions will remain in place.
On Sunday, Southern Oregon University public safety officials sent out an email to its students as well, asking them to stay alert in the wake of the attack."Please be aware of your surroundings when you are out and about," the email from Rich Walsh, SOU campus public safety co-director, read. "We recommend if you use the bike path to travel in pairs or groups."The email also recommended students inform others before they use the bike path, and to carry a flashlight, whistle and cellphone if traveling at night.Grubbs, who lived on California Street and worked at the local Shop'n Kart, was believed to be walking home from work, said some of his fellow employees and friends.Store manager Vernon Hull said Grubbs walked to and from work on the bike path frequently."He was just a great kid," said Hull, turning away before becoming too emotional. "I don't think there is anything left to say."Andrea Venenable of Ashland works at Shop'n Kart and was a good friend of Grubbs', she said.On Monday, she knelt down sobbing beside the still visible stain of blood left on the bike bath where her friend was killed."I just can't believe someone would do this to him," she said. "He was too good of a kid for this to happen."If there is any truth behind what they say about only the good dying young," she said, "then David was one of them."After about 15 minutes kneeling beside where Grubbs died, Venenable rose to her feet."What a sick criminal."Reach reporter Sam Wheeler at 541-499-1470 or email swheeler@dailytidings.com.
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This case was suggested to me by a reader and once I looked at it, it just grabbed me. This is one of the most violent, outrageous and unjust murders I have ever heard about. I mean, he is walking home from work and somebody chops his head off with a sword or an ax? Right out in the open, on a bike path, in daylight? Wow. That's incredibly gutsy on the part of some lunatic. This person had to be highly motivated, right? But then why is everyone saying that no one hated David, he had no enemies, no one to fear? If this is true, then this is a random murder and how scary is that? I mean, somebody is brave enough to do this to a total stranger? All of these questions just had my head spinning and I had to look at the charts. I had to see what they would say.
Ok, I know the cops say he died about a half an hour before he was found and he was found at 5:35 pm. So they believe he was killed around 5:00. I am not going to argue the timeline but I am going to say that the chart to show me his death was one I drew for 4:30 pm. As I've said a thousand times before, there are disparities between time on Earth and time in the heavens. It can be variable and hard to pin down. But take a look at this chart for 4:30 and you will see the death pattern emerging. This does not mean he died at 4:30, it simply means that the factors leading to his death were already in play at that time.
David's marker, the first house ruler, is Venus and she is in the eighth house. Big marker for death. Combined with Pluto, also in the eighth, the markers describe a violent death. Pluto, a violent descriptor in forensic charts, is disposed of by Saturn, which rules the bones and the dead body. So the purpose of the violence was death; this was no accident and contrary to general belief at this time, he may have been targeted. Because the death pattern appears in an earlier chart, I run a chart for 4 pm, as well, to see if conditions are appearing that point to this event.
The first thing I notice is that the tenth house ruler is Saturn and it is in the sixth house. This would be an indicator for his current location and we can see he is still at work. But also note that the seventh house ruler is still Scorpio and Pluto is in the ninth house. This person who killed him is already outdoors, on that path. This is way ahead of his arrival we can assume since he is still at work. Mars, co ruler of this attacker, is in the fifth house. So we can assume the person is also in an area where people play and exercise. We know the playground was only a few hundred yards away and that many people used the path to run and jog as well as ride bikes. So the fifth house here makes total sense. Notice the Moon is there, as well, predicting that David would be found on the path soon. Both of these planets are disposed of by Mercury which describes children (as well as the fifth) and we know the elementary school was close as well. In fact, there were children nearby when it occurred.
The first house ruler, Venus, is already in the eighth even in this early chart. It is disposed of by Jupiter in the twelfth and these planets are also in mutual reception. Mutual reception and translation of light are two factors that bring things to pass. The eighth house ruler in mutual reception with the first house ruler tells us that his death would come to pass; circumstances would allow it. So in using these two charts, for the hour before the murder, we are able to determine viability as they do reflect the facts as we know them.
The next chart, for the time of death as reported by the coroner, we see other factors emerging. In fact, it starts looking like David Grubbs knew his killer and that there was a personal reason for his killing. I will show you what I see and you can determine this for yourself.
Notice that at the recorded time of death, Mercury rules the first house and it is in the seventh. Notice also that it is close to the node. By their placement in the seventh in Sagittarius, they are disposed of by Jupiter, the seventh house ruler. This looks an awful lot like he had planned to meet somebody along the way. Or, at the very least, the person who attacked him knew he would be there at this time. Either way, it suggests they knew each other. Jupiter also is disposed of by Venus, which rules (in this chart and the earlier ones) the fifth house. The fifth house suggests romance as does Venus. Jupiter in Taurus is a feminine placement and Venus is a traditional ruler of women. Has anybody considered that this was done by a woman? That she may have been romantically involved with David? Or, at the least, infatuated and possibly jealous? Mercury as his marker shows him to be younger than her and possibly not interested or only seeing her as a friend. But Mercury is also disposed of by Jupiter and sitting in the seventh, so it might be that his purpose in being where he was at that time was to meet up with her. I'm going to pretend I'm on Criminal Minds right now and ask who it was who found the body. Was it a woman?
This is the time that police believe he actually died. However, this chart is beyond the death pattern shown in the previous charts so maybe their timing is a little off. Pluto remains in the eighth but it no longer rules an angle. It does dispose of the fourth house ruler, however. The other ruler of the fourth, Mars, is actually in the fourth. So this brings the Sun into play. And since it rules the fourth house, we are looking at an event that occurred very near to David's home and probably involved a neighbor. This is underscored by the rulership of the Moon over the third house. I realize that David used this path to walk home everyday so this makes it a "neighborhood" location and because of this, there were people who knew he used the path, especially people from the local area. So this brings some things to mind. We know this attacker did not work where he did because he was at work and this person was shown to be on the path already. We also have a good idea that the attacker may have been a woman and someone either involved with or interested in David. Jupiter in Taurus can describe a larger woman and we know she was older (his marker being Mercury). I know it's not but it kind of looks like his mother from here. Fourth house ruler at play with the Moon and Venus. I do not think that is what's it's saying actually but that the woman is older and perhaps large in size and is either interested in him and jealous or just outright angry at him, perhaps for a snide remark or a rejection. Mercury in Sagittarius is quite capable of jokes and snide remarks.
This last chart is for the time he was found. I am not a psychic but I have a feeling that this woman either "found" his body or was hanging around nearby when they did. Jupiter in Taurus disposed of by Venus with Venus closely aligned with Mercury, David's marker, just makes it seem to me that she never left the area after the attack. She hung around to see what happened next. And here's the reason I think she pretended to find him there. Not only is Jupiter in Taurus disposed of by Venus with Venus close to Mercury, Saturn in Libra, the marker for the body, is disposed of by the same Venus. Saturn in Libra, interestingly enough, is in the fifth house, which shows it laid out in the "playground" or "exercise area". Libra also describes areas where people meet and hang out. A body in this house could never be hidden or buried. In fact, I am sure she wanted it found and she was maybe the one who "found" it. I do not believe that anyone would put this woman together with David but she knew him somehow. Perhaps she shopped in the grocery store and he bagged her stuff.
Neptune in Aquarius is rising into the angular tenth house and describes all too well the confusion the authorities felt at the find. They had no idea what happened or why. In fact, they still don't. Neptune is disposed of by Uranus in Aries, which rules the tenth house. Murders are rare in this part of the woods, as reported in the facts, and something like this just took them by surprise. They had no idea what to do with it because they had so little experience with brutal murders. This is a part of the reason they are unable to solve it and they are clinging to false beliefs. Neptune can do this. But this was not a random attack, it wasn't some "crazy" stranger. This woman (yes, I think it was a woman) knew this young man and had a reason, however ridiculous, to kill him this way. I am not sure they will ever find her.
Last seen in New York City, New York, on May 18, 1989
Vital statistics: Black male. Born on March 30, 1987. Black hair, brown eyes. He has a figure eight shaped birthmark on his neck. Last seen wearing a blue jacket, a floral print shirt, blue jeans and green and white sneakers. Was two at the time.
NCIC number: M-377468704
Circumstances: Dansby was last seen in a park on 114th Street and Lenox Avenue around seven in the evening. He was last seen with two children.
Classified as a Non-Family Abduction.
If you have any information on Dansby's whereabouts, please e-mail For the Lost at this address. Or you may contact the New York City Police Dept. at 212-694-7781. All information sent by e-mail will be kept confidential.
Vital Statistics at Time of Disappearance
# *Missing Since*: May 18, 1989 from Manhattan, New York
# *Classification*: Non-Family Abduction
# *Date Of Birth*: March 30, 1987
# *Age*: 2 years old
# *Height and Weight*: 2'6, 30 pounds
# *Distinguishing Characteristics*: African-American male. Black hair, brown eyes. Christopher has a birthmark shaped like a figure eight ("8") on his back. He has a burn scar on his thigh.
# *Clothing/Jewelry Description*: A blue jacket, a floral print shirt, blue jeans and green and white sneakers.
Details of Disappearance
Christopher was last seen at the /Martin Luther King Jr. Towers/playground located at 113th Street and Lenox Avenue in Harlem in the New York borough of Manhattan on May 18, 1989. His mother had been with him in the park and decided to go to the store for food, but she did not have Christopher's stroller with her, so she left him in the care of of several relatives at the park.
When Christopher's mother returned half an hour later, he was gone. The relatives told Christopher's mother that they had seen him playing with a red ball. Christopher had not brought a red ball to the park and his mother could not find one in the vicinity. It had apparently vanished along with her son. A seven-year-old boy from Christopher's neighborhood told authorities he saw Christopher walking on west 111th Street later in the day. According to the witness, Christopher was accompanied by an unidentified African-American male with braided hair. Christopher has never been seen again.
Christopher's case shares striking similiaries with the disappearance of Shane Walker who disappeared from the same playground in August 1989, three months after Christopher did. Both boys were African-American toddlers and lived in the same apartment building. Both disappeared on the same day of the week (Thursday) at roughly the same time (Shane at 5:00 p.m., Christopher at 7:00 p.m.) In addition, just before his disappearance, Christopher was playing the same two children who were with Shane when he was last seen. Police still aren't sure whether the cases are related, however.
Authorities investigated the possibility that the boys' cases were connected to a black market baby-ring operation and that the infant Andre who was abducted from Brooklyn in March 1989, was possibly another victim. All of the children are African-American. The three cases remain unsolved and it is unclear what happened to any of the missing children.
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I can't resist cases that involve small children. Although this is stone cold and there is the general belief that he was taken by the same person or persons who took several other children, I still wanted to chart it. Perhaps after doing this one, I will be able to glean something from the other cases that might create a link that would help solve this. When I ran the first chart, I was stunned. It is probably the most glaring chart I've seen in quite awhile. I will show you what I mean as I analyze it. This first chart was drawn for the time he was last seen, 7 pm. Reports of that hour have him walking away with a black man who had his hair in braids. Here, in this chart, you can clearly see that he is, indeed, in the company of someone and the prospects don't look good.
The first thing that popped out at me was a death pattern. It looked to me that the child was already dead and I might have believed it if I hadn't read reports that he was still alive at 7 pm. Of course, reports depend upon the reliability of the person who reported the information. So I pushed past that and tried to read the charts otherwise. I knew, from the beginning, that this child was not with his mother and was basically "on his own". The people who were "caring" for him were not "watching" him or they would never have left him just wander off. In my opinion, their credibility is in serious question here. To be safe, I used Mercury for the child instead of the fifth house ruler. You can see Mercury in the seventh house with other planets. This shows us the child in the company of other people but I am not sure at this point if this is the people who were "watching" him or somebody else. You can see the tenth house ruler, the Sun, and the seventh house ruler, Venus with Mercury. They say he walked away with a single black male but this chart shows at least two people. So which is it?
Another factor that I have to consider is that the tenth house ruler always points to someone adult, probably male and in control of the child, as it usually marks the father. The seventh house ruler is a person who enters the event at some point. The first house ruler, in this instance, must be the people or person who was supposed to "watch" the boy. This is Scorpio, ruled by Pluto and Mars. Pluto is in the twelfth house with the Moon and Mars is in the eighth house, a grouping that often describes a death pattern. Pluto is right with the Moon in the twelfth house and remember that the Moon is always a secondary marker for the subject. Mars as co ruler of the first sitting in the eighth is a descriptor for a criminal. And since Mars is disposed of by the Moon, I feel confident in saying that this person was targeting this boy. The actions of this criminal appear to be directed towards our subject, the two year old child. So this makes me believe that this was not a random act; there was a plot afoot to take this boy. Notice also the node at the nadir in the last degree of Pisces. The fourth house usually rules the home but it also describes the family, the close relatives, the mother in particular. Why is the node in the fourth if the person who took this boy is a stranger? It just doesn't make sense.
Not long after the boy is last seen, here is the chart for the next half hour. As you can see, Mercury remains in the seventh house, meaning he is still in the company of someone else. The Sun has moved off the tenth house cusp and now we see Mercury there, which indicates the second person obvious in the last chart has now moved on. Mercury is close to Venus, which still rules the seventh, so the child is still in the company of that person. But this is only one person, as the witnesses claimed. So perhaps no one ever saw the other person? Or perhaps this other person was one of the babysitters and they let this child go with this man? There was contact there so I am not sure which is what. But the child is still with this other person, Venus in Gemini. The other patterns in the chart are consistant but I am reconsidering my first impressions. Mars rules the first house and it is in the eighth house, commonly a marker for violent death. But in this chart Mars rules the fifth house of children. But the fifth house, combined with the eighth, is a combination that most often describes sexual activity. With Mars or Pluto, it can be construed as rape or assault. Mars is disposed of by the Moon which is a secondary marker for the child. So it is possible that this person raped the boy. Also, the Moon is with Pluto in the twelfth house and the twelfth house is another death house. I will not say that this is not a death pattern, because I believe it is, but it also seems to describe someone in hiding. The twelfth house relates to hidden things as well as confinement and death. So the boy was hidden and probably constrained in some manner. He was also assaulted and perhaps, in the act of this assault, the boy died. I know that it is common belief that the boy was taken and sold into adoption but there are no markers for money in this chart. Money did not change hands and it does not look like the boy changed hands either, at least not before he died. I am sorry the charts say this because I would like nothing more than to say this boy was still alive. But if you credit the charts with the truth, then the boy is most likely deceased.
And here is the thing. The death pattern remains consistant in the charts for 8 pm and 8:30 pm, which shows that the boy is "still dead". And there is one more thing I have to point out. Please notice that the Sun is exactly conjoined to the fixed star grouping, The Pleiades, or "weeping sisters", an omen that portends a situation of great sadness and grieving. It is also within minutes of the fixed star, Miram, which means someone is lying. And also within 3 degrees of Algol, or Caput Algol, the most violent star in the heavens. I do not believe the reports given by the other people and I find them suspect because they allowed this child to walk off with a stranger. Some babysitters. The presence of a violent star like Algol and the Weeping Sisters, as well, is a marker for murder and mayhem. It was present in many famous cases, such as the Gainseville Ripper, Ted Bundy's assault on the Tallahassee dormitory and several of Jeffrey Dahmer's murders. It almost always describes a violent death and if it is also placed in the tenth house, the case will get national attention. In this case, the conjunction occurs around the seventh house cusp, showing us a violent person who kills this boy. At the time of the kidnapping, this conjunction is right at the seventh cusp with the Sun ruling the tenth house. This case got some interest in the news but was mostly a private matter that simply went cold. Because of the tenth house involvement with the death pattern planets, I am suspect of the child's father and wonder why he is never mentioned in this case.
Using whatever resources I have at my disposal I will attempt to describe the person who abducted this child. Venus in Gemini is his marker. Venus is also closely aligned with Mercury and Jupiter, all in the sign Gemini and all in the seventh house. He is involved with a number of people and has an interest in children. I agree with speculators that this person has taken children before and the number of planets in Gemini makes me think he uses kids to get other kids. This child was seen playing with two kids who were also seen playing with another boy who went missing. This makes complete sense. The charts seem to be describing exactly that. And because of that link, I do believe that this case is related to others in the same area. Venus in Gemini describes a person who is fast talking and fast walking; good at handling people, glib, witty and sometimes critical or difficult. There is a soft voice and possible singing ability, fast music such as rapping, using words and good at rhymes. This person is creative and good with his hands. He has hobbies that require dexterity and cleverness; he can be quite a hustler at times. This man walks fast and darts about quickly, he is hard to keep up with. He is good with kids but probably doesn't have any of his own. I do not see specific perversities here so I cannot say if he is the rapist or if he gets these kids for someone else. Venus in Gemini seems to imply more than one person. But all of the planets connected to Venus are disposed of by Mercury, so there is a good chance that he makes a business of these children and that there has been more than one.
I do not believe the boy is still alive. I just do not see money here so it's hard for me to imagine the child was stolen for cash. The only small lead in that direction implicates the child's family. This is shown in the abduction chart (7 pm) where Uranus rules the fourth house (the family) and is sitting in the second (money). I hate to implicate the family in this without more aspects supporting it but there is a very tiny possibility that they sold the child to this man for money. But with Saturn and Neptune also in the second, hugging Uranus, it doesn't look like it was very much money. So that leaves me suspect of this altogether. Who would do this to their child for a small amount of money? In fact, Neptune may show that they were bilked and never paid and Saturn may be saying that the payment was delayed and much smaller than expected. So again I am not going to follow this any further and just say that it's highly unlikely that money played a part in this murder.
Venus in Gemini often describes piano and guitar players, people who use their fingers to create music. It can also describes painters and sketchers, sculptors, writers and tattoo artists. Gemini also rules cars and transportation so this person may drive a cab or delivery vehicle. Gemini also rules tools like scissors and, by relation, hair dressers and dressmakers, especially with Venus in Gemini. So these are all possible public occupations for the man who took this child. He could be driving a cab all day and looking for kids. I think it's interesting that he was described as having dreadlocks; dreadlocks are a very Gemini hairstyle, with the locks looking like fingers. My bet is he was also a smaller man, thin and wirey and quick on his feet. He took that child quickly and hardly anybody noticed as he dashed away; a very Gemini kind of thing to do.
In trying to discover what happened to the child and where the child might be found is done by tracking Saturn. After a death pattern appears and the assumption is made that the subject is dead, Saturn then becomes the marker for the body. This is because Saturn rules the gates to the afterlife and in the human body, it rules the bones. Most bodies are reduced to bones quickly after the spirit leaves. So in these charts we will take a look at Saturn and try to discover what was done with the child's body.
In the charts that follow the death pattern, Saturn is in the sign Capricorn and remains in the second house. The sign Capricorn is an earth sign and the second house is ruled by Taurus, also an earth sign, so it can be assumed that the body is underground. He has been buried. Both Taurus and Capricorn imply dirt. The second house usually concurs with a small area, something like a park or memorial of some sort, but one with small animals. Not the ones with hands like squirrels and raccoons but those that are close to the ground and move slowly. This would include turtles, snails, tortoises, porcupines, armadillos, mollusks, hermit crabs and other land animals that are small in size but have a protective shell. This does not mean scorpions or snakes which are ruled by the eighth house or small furry animals with hands as they are described by the third house. There may be a water source nearby from where the turtles and crabs emerge but it will not be a central focus of the park area. If there is no water source nearby then the kind of animals are more greatly restricted, mainly being tortoises, armadillos, snails and porcupines.
It is in the type of small park that the boy is buried. Since Saturn disposes of itself, is in natural dignity and rules the cusp of the house in question, it has total dominion over the boy and where he ended up after death. But the aspects and placement of Saturn have a great deal of information to offer. Mars is directly opposed to Saturn from the eighth house and then from the seventh house, while ruling the twelfth. The twelfth house rules over the end of life, the process of dieing and the afterlife. It most often describes the final resting place. Mars in opposition is in the sign Cancer, which reintroduces the possibility of a water source nearby. So if there is a park in that area of the city that has a water source nearby it is the place to look. The water source does not have to be deep or large. Cancer rules the crab and crabs are semi aquatic, spending a lot of time in shallow water. So this water source can be anything really from a retention pond to a small lake. But it would not be large enough to house sizeable fish because that terrain belongs under the rulership of Pisces.
Another aspect that influences the analysis is the sextile from Pluto to Saturn as Pluto rules the first house in most of the charts. Pluto's influence over the matter reinforces the probability that the boy was buried because Pluto describes disturbed ground. It also describes areas that are filled with bugs and debris, muck and trash. This area would smell badly and even have a sewer odor about it, perhaps even sewer runoff nearby. Pluto is in natural dignity in the sign Scorpio so it is powerful in this chart but the sextile is not a powerful aspect. So it's influence is somewhat mitigated. So I would think with all these factors, you would be looking for a small park or memorial area with sandy dirt and small crawling animals like turtles. This area should be near a water source and might have some muck or mud, pools of standing water, bugs like mosquitos and flies and a bad smell. It is in this type of area that this boy was buried, probably deeply, most likely in the sand and not the mud. Saturn so close to Neptune and retrograde means the boys body was well hidden and would not surface for years, maybe even decades. Saturns aspect to Pluto and Mars indicates that the body may be revealed when work is done in that area, when the ground is stirred or disturbed. The body may actually be unearthed by an earth moving machine and one can only hope that it doesn't end up in the trash, a common outcome for objects ruled or influenced by Pluto. In that regard, if work has already been done in the area then the search should move to the local landfill. And, of course, as with all retrograde planets, most especially Neptune, it may well be that the body will never be found but continue to be hidden by nature.
Circumstances: Kipling was last seen on his way to school in Merritt Island, Florida on the morning of March 27, 1979. He never arrived for classes that day and has never been heard from again.
First Name: Kipling R
Middle Name: R
Last Name: Hess Iii
Details
Age When Last Known Alive: 12
Race: White
Sex: Male
Height: 64.0
Weight: 90.0
Location>
City: Merritt Island
State: Florida
County: Brevard
Status Missing
First name Kipling
Middle name R
Last name Hess III
Nickname/Alias
NCMEC number 1151903
Date last seen March 27, 1979 19:10
Date entered 12/21/2009
Age last seen 12 to 12 years old
Age now 47 years old
Race White
Ethnicity
Sex Male
Height (inches) 64.0
Weight (pounds) 90.0
Circumstances
City Merritt Island
State Florida
Zip code
County Brevard
Circumstances
Kipling was last seen on his way to school in Merritt Island, Florida on the morning of March 27, 1979. He never arrived for classes that day and has never been heard from again.
I do realize that they consider this case solved. They have accredited this boys disappearance to a serial killer who was in the area at the time. They have also accredited this same serial killer with several other unsolved disappearances involving young boys. They never proved any of it in court and there is no evidence to directly support these claims but it does help the cops close some cold cases. In most of these cases, very little police work was done. This happened in the 1970s and I lived in the area at that time and can tell you it was a sleepy place and the cops spent more time in the doughnut shop then they did chasing dangerous felons. They loved to write traffic tickets and chase pot heads, though. LOL. On two of the cases in question, the cops did not even look for the boys. I am still working on one of the cases privately so this one has some interest for me. If the same person killed both of these boys I should be able to tie together descriptors in both charts. I am hoping to be able to not only do that but to make a strong attempt to locate the body of either of these boys. So I wanted to run charts to see if what I find matches what the cops theorize happened.
To be fair, I want to include information given by the cops that ties this particular serial killer to the Hess case.
"John Rodney McCrae is the one and only suspect in Kipling's case. He met Kipling a few days prior to the child's disappearance, at a church carnival, and later assisted in the search for the missing boy. Several years later, police found a missing persons flier for Kipling taped in McCrae's locker at work". According to witnesses, I might add, McCrae was seen to intervene on some boys who were bullying Kipling. Kipling appears to me to be just the type of boy that would be bullied and also easy to prey upon. Don't ask me why I say that. Just a feeling.
Anyways, John McCrae died in prison so whether or not he did this is no longer a matter, except that if he didn't do it then somebody else got away with taking this boy. Whether the boy is dead or alive today is also an unknown. I would like to see if things match up in the charts. If they do, then this is more proof that Astrology does work, even though this is in reverse, it is proof that it should work in forward. I never blame the charts for the lack of evidence in any case; I blame the human reader, who is working with a seriously clouded vision.
My first problem with this case was the screwy time data. They report that the boy was off to school at the time he disappeared but then they give 19:10 military time as the time. I don't know if they're dumb or just asleep but 19:10 is 7:10 IN THE EVENING. The morning time would be 7:10. Midnight is always zero. So I took a leap of faith and assumed they meant 7:10 am and not that the boy was taking evening classes. So I am using that time in this first chart. And looking at it, I right away notice that the first house ruler is conjoined the Moon in the twelfth. This indicates a secret of some sort. Something private that is shared, perhaps. So perhaps Kipling when off to school that morning with a secret plan of his own, such as meeting up with someone no one else knew about? Notice that the seventh house ruler is in the eleventh house. This shows someone this boy knew or wanted to be friends with. Could this be the secret? Plans to meet up with someone he considered a friend but not someone he told his parents about? The weirdest part of this chart is that the Moon and Mars (the chart rulers) are disposed of by Neptune in the eighth house. This implies a secret about sex. I don't know why but I think this 12 year old boy may have been too young to be making plans to have sex with someone? Would the short meeting at the Carnival be enough time for this man to make such a proposition and obtain consent? I am not sure but it seems like a stretch to me. Not saying it's impossible, though. Looking at the tenth house ruler in the fifth sort of blindsides me; this aspect shows sex with an adult male! I say that because the 10th house points at patriarchal figures and most often describes the father in the charts of young boys. I am not going to expound on this any longer except to say that these aspects cannot be ignored.
The next group of aspects I notice seem to support the idea that Kipling had met his abductor in the past. Moon ruling the fourth from the twelfth shows this person had either been to the boys home or neighborhood and they had met and maybe even had a previous rendezvous. When I first saw this I assumed that this involved someone from his family or close circle of friends because of the fourth house connection. But the carnival in question was in the neighborhood, there in his home town, not far from where he lived. I am not sure of exactly where Kipling lived but Merritt Island but the island is a short bike ride or walk around and even shorter car ride, more like a hop, from one end to the other. Therefor the carnival could be said to be in his "neighborhood". So perhaps this is the meeting the chart is referring to. Jupiter in Cancer in the fourth emphasizes family entertainment, a "fun" place. It can also indicate churches in the area and I am thinking this was probably a church carnival. Jupiter rules the ninth house and this also points to churches. We have had many church carnivals in the local area over the years. Moon trine Jupiter leaves no doubt in my mind that Kipling was excited by the carnival and by his new found friend, the man who defended him from bullies. There is emotional excitement in this placement and I am thinking he was more than happy to meet up again with his abductor. These placements clearly support the trip to the carnival and the meeting of a new "friend". And they fully support the police theory that this boy was taken by John McCrae.
The next chart I drew was for a little over an hour after the boy was last seen. We are not aware, at least there are no eyewitness accounts, of when he was abducted or where. We just know he never made it to school. I assumed he walked to school as no mention of a bus was made. This chart, for 8:30 am, clearly shows the boy at the abductors home. The first house ruler, Venus, is in the tenth house (the fourth from the seventh). Notice how the seventh house ruler, Mars, is conjoined with the Moon (the chart co ruler) in the eleventh house. The eleventh house describes many things, from friendships to dreams, on the one hand, but on another, it describes unharmonious relationships, marriages that end in divorce and often unwanted sexual attention. Notice that Mars, the seventh house ruler, is close to the fixed star, Markab, which can describe using or shooting a gun. The Moon is close to the fixed star, Scheat, which can mean death by drowning. Venus in the tenth house also opposes the fixed star, Phecda, which can indicate sex addiction. And then, at the same time, Mars (the seventh house ruler) and the node (in the fifth house) are tied up in a T Square with Neptune in the eighth house. This layout has sexual components that are hard to miss.
Another thing I see here is that Uranus, which is at the seventh house cusp, is trine Mars (the seventh house ruler) and square Venus (the first house ruler). I would think that perhaps this was a blitz attack on the boy, taken by surprise and a sudden turn in events. All planned out by his attacker, of course (node in the fifth) and ending up in a sexual assault, or so it would seem. Pluto, the seventh house co-ruler, is disposed of by the first house ruler, Venus, which tells me that this person targeted the boy. His whole purpose in this event was to get the boy alone.
The charts for the next few hours all show the same slow development with a stellium in the eleventh house, Pluto in the fifth and Neptune moving through the seventh house. This was a ruse, no doubt. Perhaps he invited the boy over to meet other kids, to play games, to look at videos? The fifth house could be any form of entertainment, including sex play. Perhaps the videos were porn movies? Neptune in the seventh means he misled the boy in some manner, most likely about who he really was and what he really wanted. at 9:30 am, Mercury becomes the first house ruler. Mercury is the natural ruler of children and, in this chart, also rules the fifth, a house that is attributed to children and children's activities. I don't know about Kipling's interest but if there was a sport he was enthusiastic about, this could have been part of the lure.
In the chart for 10:30 am, the stellium moves into the tenth house, emphasizing the fact that this boy is in this man's home. Perhaps they have moved into the living area of the home (tenth house) or around a swimming pool (Pisces). This appears to be a brick and mortar house. Now, my question would be, if the charts are correct here, did this McCrae person live in a home in the Merritt Island area? It is known that he worked at the local prison, which is in a town many miles north of the island. The charts do not appear to show anyone in a car or going for a drive. But I must assume a car was involved because of the way he disappeared. They would have been seen walking together if they had, indeed, walked to the home. Yet, it is the chart for 8:30 am, an hour later, that shows him in the home. And an hours drive is quite within the distance I am familiar with from the island to the area where the prison is located. Would Kipling have gone along for a drive so far from home with a stranger (or newly made acquaintance)? If so, there must have been tremendous motivation.
Going back to the chart for 7:10 am, when he was last seen before he went missing, I want to point out a few more things. The first chart is always the most revealing in these cases. Notice how the first house ruler, Mars, is conjoined to the Moon in the twelfth. This shows someone disappearing into hiding, being stashed away somewhere, perhaps restrained and/or confined. Also note that Mercury, the universal marker for children, is under the Sun's beams. This always shows grave danger. The north node is in the sixth house, disposed of by Mercury. The tenth house ruler, Saturn, is in the fifth house, also disposed of by Mercury, and retrograde in motion. Neptune is in the eighth house. I believe there is a direct motivation and purpose in this abduction, mostly to kidnap children, have sex with them and then dispose of them where they will never be found (node in the sixth). The conjunction of the Moon with Markab may mean that he forced this boy at gunpoint. This may be why the boy was willing to sit through an hours drive. He knew he was in trouble already. The boy's ruler, Mars, is disposed of by Neptune in the eighth. These planets are also square. This points to the boy either having a secret or having secret knowledge, which he was, perhaps, reluctant to reveal. Or, it may mean that the boy had secret knowledge of exactly what this man wanted and was not willing to participate. The square shows resistance of some sort.
Running the charts forward, I encounter the first death pattern at 3:30 pm. This does not mean he died at 3:30 pm, just that the stars compelled his death at this hour. It may have occurred later in the day or just before the pattern formed. In the chart for 3:30, you can see that the first house ruler is in the eighth, the eighth house ruler is in the fourth, the Moon is in the eighth and the twelfth house ruler is in the eighth. This combined with the Moon in the eighth along with Mercury, the Sun and Mars. Mercury, the Moon and the Sun are all disposed of by Mars, which co rules the fourth. These are all houses of ending, coming to end, dieing and passing over. The fourth house also describes coffins and burial sites and the tenth house shows their location. The Moon has left it's conjunction with Markab so I do not believe that Kipling was shot. He was probably forced along with a gun but he was not shot. Saturn in the first is rising to the twelfth and shows the body becoming bones. It is in the sign Virgo. It is disposed of by Mercury in Aries in the eighth. The Moon is also in Aries. Mercury in Aries is a marker for where his body ended up but it is retrograde so it would be many years before it was found. There are no markers indicating the body will never be found. The sixth house markers earlier in the day indicate that the purpose was to make sure he wasn't found and this has been a stumbling block for many decades. But none of the rulers indicating the boy or the body are in the sixth house. So it is possible to find him, just that it would not be done for a very long time.
Since the seventh house ruler is Jupiter and it is in the third house, I say he took the body in a car from his home to the place where he dumped it. Neptune in Sagittarius is in the fourth house, so this describes the grave or disposal site. Venus in Aquarius rules the tenth so this shows the area where that happened. Saturn is close to the node so it is possible that this burial place was familiar to the murderer, a place where he had either visited before or had dumped other bodies there. This place would be described by Venus in Aquarius and Mercury in Aries. This would be someplace recently dug up or under construction (Aries), near a highway or other major thoroughfare (Mercury), involve a garden of some sort (Venus) and airplanes or other flight systems (Aquarius). The place on Merritt Island that best fits this description is the Rocket Garden at Kennedy Space Center. Back at this time in our history, the whole place was under construction of one sort or another. I am doubtful that the abductor had access to the center directly but that complex is surrounded by woods and swamps and a protected area known as the Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge. Neptune in Sagittarius may reflect an outdoor area that is hidden, dark or hard to access. This describes a large portion of the refuge and the surrounding scrub. There is water in that area filled with gators and snapping turtles (Mars in Pisces).
Considering that Venus, the tenth house ruler, is at the descendant and that Mars co rules the fourth house with Pluto, I would say that the place he was killed AND the place he was buried would be very near to where this man lived at the time. Since he worked at the prison, which is very close to the Space Center, and is in a town called Sharpes, not far from the area where many NASA engineers bought homes. That area is very closely proximate along a very large highway system that actually runs up most of the state (US Highway 1). All of this fits the profile so I am ready to say that this boy was buried somewhere in the refuge or any nearby outdoor area where the Rocket Garden would be visible. His abductor could access much of the external area there by car but would have to get out on foot to move farther into the swamps. It is my opinion that the boy was likely buried in a swamp (Aquarius, Pisces and Aries). If the grave was shallow, most of his body may have been scattered by alligators but some of the bones may be located in the swamps. But if the grave was deep, then his skeleton may be in tact. He could have been buried close to the road there because the traffic is sparse and moves by really quickly. Back then, it would have been even more desolate. If he did it at dusk, no one may have seen him digging. But I am not sure how unusual that would seem back then when so much of the area was under construction.
Anyways, I do think the charts support the idea that he was abducted and murdered by the man he met at the church carnival. This means that John McCrae did kill Kipling even though he denied it to the end. And it creates a possibility that he did, as well, murder the other boys he also denies killing. I will be working on those charts to try to draw comparisons in those cases and determine if the charts support the idea. This sort of study helps to determine if Astrology can match the facts in known outcomes. If it does, this supports the assumption that it should be able to do the same in advance.
HOLLYWOOD, Fla. — Investigating one of the nation's most prominent unsolved murders, a Hollywood detective pitched softball questions and homemade muffins to a serial killer.
He asked: Did you kidnap freckled 6-year-old Adam Walsh from a Sears in 1981?
"Nothing to do with it,'' Jeffrey Dahmer answered, taking another muffin.
The word of Dahmer, a sociopath who stashed severed heads in his refrigerator, was instrumental in Hollywood police deciding he was not Adam's killer despite contradictory statements from two witnesses.
It is a case with Treasure Coast ties. Adam’s father, John Walsh, now a resident of Vero Beach, used his grief and anger to become one of America’s highest-profile crime-fighters as the host of “America’s Most Wanted.” Adam’s severed head was found in Indian River County.
In December 2008, with Walsh's parents present, Chief Chadwick Wagner called a press conference to say deceased drifter Ottis Toole -- long suspected but never prosecuted -- killed Adam. Adam's parents believed it and Broward prosecutors said Toole was the only valid suspect. Case closed.
But had authorities fully explored Dahmer's time in South Florida, they would have found more evidence implicating him than Toole, The Miami Herald found.
The evidence includes two additional witnesses who said they saw him at the mall with Adam that day, another who placed Dahmer at the scene of an eerily similar abduction attempt two weeks earlier, and people who said he had access to a van fitting an early description of the getaway vehicle.
The 29-year-old murder remains among the most vexing unsolved crimes in America, and no one can say with certainty that Dahmer -- or any of the other myriad suspects to drift through the case -- snatched the child.
Yet by focusing so heavily on Toole despite layers of contradictions in his long twisted tale, Hollywood police may well have missed leads pointing to Dahmer, according to fresh interviews and a review of thousands of documents.
A DISHEVELED STRANGER
``Once I saw that picture of Dahmer, I said, `That's him,' '' Janice Santamassino remembered. ``That's who I saw.''
July 27, 1981 was the first day of Santamassino's vacation, and she drove her daughter and son to the Hollywood Mall on Hollywood Boulevard across from police headquarters. After nearly slamming into the back of a blue van parked illegally outside the west entrance of Sears, she parked, and went inside.
Santamassino wanted sandals for her daughter Lori, 4, but first the girl asked to play an arcade game. Lori approached a game next to a boy wearing an oversized hat, shorts and a striped shirt and played for 10 minutes, the mother said.
On their way out of the toy department, Santamassino looked down an aisle and saw a disheveled man. She said their eyes met. She grabbed her daughter's hand and walked away. ``He just gave me a bad, uncomfortable feeling. It was spooky,'' she said.
She later heard an intercom call for Adam Walsh. A distraught woman and man were at the customer service desk, but the boy at the video games was gone. So was the creepy guy in the toy aisle.
A massive search ensued. Hundreds of volunteers scoured Hollywood's streets, and helicopters and boats filled the skies and waterways. Posters of Adam, clad in a little league uniform and flashing a gap-toothed grin, were plastered everywhere.
Watching the news that afternoon, Santamassino realized she had seen Adam. She called police and then again the next day but said she never received a return call. Not in 1981 nor in 1996, when she called America's Most Wanted after the show, hosted by Adam's father John Walsh, ran a piece on Adam. The show forwarded the tip to Hollywood police.
Contacted by a writer in 2009 and shown a picture of Dahmer, she said he was the man she saw.
UNRETURNED CALLS
Others say they contacted police in the days after Adam's abduction without reply.
They include Jennie Warren, interviewed by state attorney's investigator Phil Mundy in 1996 after a media lawsuit prompted the release of the case file. She was dismissed after she said she didn't see Toole, she said.
Warren told The Miami Herald she saw Adam with his mother Reve that day. She also noticed a man at the video games wearing beige khakis ``like army fatigues.'' He stood next to Adam and stared at the screen.
Warren says she could have picked out the man in fatigues had the investigator placed his picture in the lineup with Toole. ``I wish my mind could take a picture, because it would be him: Dahmer.''
Interviewed recently, Mundy had little recollection of the Warren interview. He did recall broader discussions among authorities about the problems Dahmer witnesses would have posed should Toole be prosecuted.
In 1991, Dahmer emerged as one of the nation's most infamous killers after his arrest on charges involving decapitation, necrophilia and cannibalism. He had 11 severed heads in his Milwaukee apartment.
For some of those present in Sears the day of Adam's disappearance, the photo of Dahmer reignited a 10-year-old memory. They recognized him as the man they saw in the store that day Adam vanished.
Among them was then-Miami Herald pressman Willis Morgan. He had told police he was in the Radio Shack in the Hollywood Mall that day and felt threatened when a stranger aggressively approached him.
He followed the man into the Sears toy department before turning away.
That man was Dahmer, Morgan now told police.
Bill Bowen, an Alabama TV producer, reached the same conclusion independently. He had reported seeing a man lift a struggling, protesting child and sling him into the back of a blue van -- illegally parked outside Sears.
Now, after seeing the news coverage out of Wisconsin, he too was convinced Dahmer was the man he saw.
On a suggestion from FBI agent Neil Purtell, who interviewed Dahmer after his Wisconsin convictions and thought he had tacitly admitted killing Adam through his overly fervent denials, father John Walsh urged detectives to visit Dahmer.
Dahmer told Detective Jack Hoffman he came to Miami in March of 1981 after his early discharge from the Army due to alcoholism while in Germany. He said he had no vehicle, never went to Hollywood, and worked long hours at a Collins Avenue sub shop. He said he never killed children but didn't want to rot in prison and would admit to Adam's murder if it meant a death sentence.
``If Jeffrey Dahmer had committed the Adam Walsh homicide, he would have confessed to this crime,'' Hoffman wrote.
Dahmer was killed in prison in 1994.
THE BLUE VAN
Had Hoffman followed up on Dahmer's statements, he would have found that Dahmer lied about his hours and was often sent home due to drinking, according to his boss, Ken Haupert Sr. As an employee of Sunshine Subs, Dahmer had access to a blue delivery van, according to eight people.
For months after Adam's abduction, police stopped blue vans across the state based on the sketchy statements of 10-year-old Timothy Pottenburgh, who said he'd seen Adam pulled into a blue van outside Sears. Hoffman eventually threw out the blue van theory, citing time discrepancies in Pottenburgh's story.
But Santamassino said she saw a blue van parked illegally outside Sears' west entrance, as did Bowen. Another dismissed witness, Phillip Lohr, said he saw a blue van parked illegally outside the toy department around the time of Adam's abduction. Lohr remembered seeing a man carrying a struggling, freckled child out Sears' toy department exit, though he didn't call police until 1997. He said he was unsure of what he'd seen that day and later felt guilty about doing nothing.
Adam's body was never recovered. A severed head identified as Adam's was found Aug. 10, 1981 in a canal on the northbound side of the Florida Turnpike near mile marker 130.
Two Publix truck drivers called the next day, Aug. 11, to report seeing a blue van parked off the Turnpike near mile marker 131 just after midnight on Aug. 7.
Denis Bubb saw a man with a flashlight down near a canal and radioed Clifford Ramey, following behind. Ramey looked to see if the driver had mechanical problems and saw the man leaning through an open sliding side door and fumbling around with a bucket, he said. He didn't notice a flat tire and the hood wasn't up. Both say they talked to Hollywood police and were told the incident had nothing to do with the Adam Walsh murder.
Ramey's glance was brief, but he thought the van had no front passenger seat, he told The Herald. The shop's blue van, former store co-owner Darlene Hill told the Broward State Attorney's Office in 2007, had ``a milk crate for a passenger seat.''
Another Dahmer connection may be found in the report of a near-abduction in a North Palm Beach Sears exactly two weeks before Adam's disappearance. At the time, investigators believed it was strikingly similar to the Adam Walsh abduction and had two witnesses create a composite sketch.
Investigators dismissed the link after speaking with a Sears security guard who said he'd chased a shoplifting boy around that time and believed the sketch looked like himself.
Hoffman wrote that Jane and Matthew Houvouras, the witnesses, agreed that the security guard was the man they'd seen, as did Terry Keaton, the child who was nearly kidnapped, and his mother.
Reached in 2010, Jane Houvouras said she told Hoffman that neither she nor her son believed it was a security guard. He wasn't in uniform.
Keaton, 10 in 1981, and his mother, Ginger Pantel, also told The Herald the man in Sears was not a security guard. It was Dahmer, Keaton said. ``In my heart, I truly believe that was the guy who tried to get me that day.''
Hoffman did not respond to an interview request.
Charles Morton Jr., chief assistant state attorney in Broward County, noted in a letter to The Herald that the new witness accounts ``add intrigue and mystery to Adam Walsh's tragic death'' -- but are problematic.
``The delayed Dahmer identifications would raise serious legal and moral questions in a potential prosecution of Dahmer,'' he wrote.
SLIPSHOD RECORDS
But all four Dahmer witnesses say they contacted police in 1981, though police -- who admitted to shoddy record keeping in the initial weeks of the investigation -- have no record of their tips. Also, Warren wasn't shown Dahmer's picture in a lineup in 1996 and Santamassino was never contacted by authorities.
And though police and the Walsh family say authorities thoroughly investigated Dahmer even after that interview over muffins, documents suggest otherwise.
A report obtained by The Herald shows police did investigate Dahmer's time in South Florida -- for two weeks. The investigation began after a writer contacted them in 2002 with the names of people who remembered Dahmer and said he had access to a blue van.
Detective John Kerns spoke to Sunshine Subs' 1981 night manager Ken Haupert Jr. and Michel Pelletier, the owner of parent shop Mr. Pizza. Pelletier said he didn't remember Dahmer and only had trucks. Haupert Jr. remembered Dahmer but no blue van, he said.
After a few dead-end records checks, Kerns concluded that ``this investigation has not established any link.''
He didn't contact other potential witnesses. Darlene Hill says Pelletier did own a blue van, which she used herself to move furniture.
She said it belonged to Mr. Pizza. ``You could walk in at any time and pick up the keys,'' Hill said. ``It was absolutely chaos and people would take the van. Sometimes, maybe they'd bring it back that day and maybe they wouldn't.''
Sunshine Subs manager Haupert Sr., who gave Dahmer a job, also remembered a blue delivery van used for Mr. Pizza. And, he recalled the day Dahmer showed him the body of a dead man behind the store. Dahmer's name is on a police report of the incident 20 days before Adam disappeared. The medical examiner's office ruled the death was by natural causes.
``If the police called I would talk to them,'' Haupert said.
Kerns, now retired, had ``no comment.''
The state attorney's office also conducted a brief investigation in 2007, interviewing Hill and Pelletier. Prosecutor Morton interviewed Morgan, but nothing came of it.
Then in 2008, Morton and the state attorney's office learned that Hollywood police wanted to close the case.
Their man: Ottis Toole.
TOOLE'S SHIFTING STORIES
Toole, a pyromaniac, story-telling drifter, surfaced as a suspect Oct. 10, 1983, the same day a TV movie aired about Adam. Sitting in a Duval County jail cell he told a Brevard County detective he had gotten into mischief in Fort Lauderdale. The detective mentioned it to Jacksonville Detective J.W. Buddy Terry.
That was a day before investigators around the country flocked to Louisiana to learn if Toole and one-eyed lover Henry Lee Lucas had killed in their jurisdiction. Together the duo had admitted to hundreds of murders, though today nearly all the confessions are considered inconclusive or outright lies.
Less than two weeks later, Hollywood police called a Friday night press conference to announce Toole as Adam's killer. The Toole and Lucas murders ``make Charles Manson look like Huckleberry Finn,'' said Assistant Chief Leroy Hessler.
Police said Toole knew details only the killer could and led them to the site where Adam's head was found. They planned to charge Toole on Monday, Hessler said.
But when police met with Broward State Attorney Michael Satz, no charges followed. Toole's statements show why prosecutors would be uncomfortable. He said he did it and then said he didn't. Then he did. Then he didn't. Then he did.
He couldn't initially identify Adam, said he took the boy around Jan. 1 and said Lucas chopped off Adam's head. But Lucas was jailed in Maryland when Adam was kidnapped.
Also, detectives showed him pictures of Adam's severed head and the canal scene where it was found, including the Florida Turnpike mile marker -- before asking him to lead them to the crime scene.
After Toole's first recantation that night, Detective Terry spent 12 minutes alone with him and Toole again confessed. Toole later signed an informal story rights deal with Terry. Terry insisted it was a joke, but was demoted when his superiors found out.
Investigators never found Adam's body in the myriad places Toole said he disposed of the remains, and had trouble vouching for his whereabouts in late July 1981.
``My opinion, as is most everyone else from the city of Hollywood, is that he did not do this killing,'' then-Lt. J.B. Smith concluded in 1984. ``We can't confirm one thing he has said.''
Today, Ron Hickman, one of two original lead case detectives, agrees. ``Bogus,'' he said.
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Sorry about the long preamble but I wanted to provide background enough for the reader to see that this case is still in dispute. In fact, it is still unsolved in my opinion. There are just too many variables and no one was ever tried for it. I am not saying that Toole did not do it because I do not know who did it. But both Toole and his partner in crime, Henry Lee Lucas, were famous for claiming responsibility for all sorts of horrific crimes but few of these were ever proven. In fact, it was believed that these men were both serial confessors with mental disorders; in fact, their life stories are so outrageous that they had to be fibbing about some of it. Only one murder was ever credited to Lucas and several others were credited to Toole, mostly by his confession and little else. Neither man was known for killing children, however. They were homosexuals for the most part but they were not pedaphiles. And neither was Jeffrey Dahmer for the most part; his victims were mostly adult males. Witnesses who claim it was Jeffrey Dahmer seem credible to me yet the police are correct in stating that Dahmer had no problem confessing to everything he did after capture so the fact that he denied doing this makes his guilt questionable. He wanted the death penalty. He was very unhappy when he did not get it and if he could have, I am sure he would have committed suicide. So lieing about the Walsh case just doesn't fit his profile. Although there is also the problem of his alcohol abuse and there were things he did that he had a hard time remembering. So who did kill Adam Walsh? I have no idea and I do not think that anyone else has any idea, either. I am just hoping the charts will give me some clues.
According to all sources Adam disappeared July 27 1981 around 12:15 pm from the mall. Using the chart for 12:15 pm I decide to use Mercury as the child's marker. He was not in the company of his parents at the time so the fifth house doesn't work for me and he was not really in control of his own actions so the first house ruler doesn't apply. Mercury is the universal marker for children and I use it in every case where a child is not with their parents but is still too young to be considered an adult. Notice in this chart that Mercury is in the tenth house, which shows us the child in a public place of business. Mercury is disposed of by the chart co ruler, the Moon, which is in the ninth house. The ninth house does describe games and gaming. Not betting though. It mostly describes spectator sports and athletics but It is ruled in this chart by the sign Gemini, which describes games played with the hands. This boy is playing a game by the charts and we know, by the facts, that he was playing video games in the mall. Notice that the seventh house ruler, which describes the person the boy is about to meet, is Mars. This shows us a male. Mars is also in the ninth house, not far from Mercury and the node, so this person is in the game room at the same time that the boy is. In fact, Mars is disposed of by the Moon in Gemini, showing an interest in the games. The Moon is disposed of by Mercury, which tells us as well that this person likes to be around children. The north node conjoined the Sun in the tenth house is a sign that this person had been in the game room in the mall before and that this person had planned to be there on this day. Sun rules the eleventh house and the eleventh house is a marker for children as well. So the north node conjoined the Sun can allow us to be pretty sure that this person was there in the game room on that day because he or she had an interest in being around the kids.
There are some other interesting markers in this chart. Notice that the first house ruler is Venus and it is in fall in Virgo. This person has had great difficulty in relationships and is likely divorced and unhappy about being alone. There is awkwardness and lack of confidence. Venus is in the eleventh is a marker for divorce. It is also a marker for romantic attractions and here in the sign Virgo disposed of by Mercury shows an affection for younger people, possibly even children. Focusing on children in this chart you can see that the fifth house ruler is Uranus, situated in the second house and disposed of by the seventh house ruler, Mars. This person brings money to the game room to offer coins to the kids. This person uses the money to attract the kids and to get closer to them.
In the chart for 12:30 pm things change. You can see that Mercury has left the 10th house for the 9th. This shows us the child, Adam, leaving the mall (the tenth house) and going into the parking lot (the ninth house). Notice that Mars, the seventh house ruler, is still in the ninth. And here's the thing. Pluto is rising and just now attaching to the Ascendant. Pluto is disposed of by Venus, the first house ruler, in the eleventh. Now you should also be watching Neptune as it moves from the fourth to the third. We are now seeing an abduction. The ninth house is the third from the seventh and shows us the abductors car. You can see Mercury there, possibly getting into the vehicle. But when Neptune moves from the fourth to the third and opposes the Moon, which moves into the eighth house at that same time, you will see the child being hidden in the vehicle. Pluto at the first cusp shows us aggression and force. Saturn in the twelfth shows us a binding or capture. All of these planets are disposed of by the first house ruler and, in turn, the first house ruler is disposed of by Mercury. This person came here for exactly this, to take a child. Adam just happened to be available. Moon in Gemini in the eighth shows us possible entrapment and death for sexual purposes. Gemini also describes knives.
Mars in Cancer is in fall so this person has a hard time controlling himself. Mars usually defines male energies so I will begin referring to the abductor as he or him from now on. Mars is disposed of by the Moon so the actions of this person are triggered by emotional needs and fears. He feels driven to do what he does. He cannot help himself. Mars and Mercury are not conjoined but they are in the same sign, showing an affinity for Adam. There was something about this boy that brought back a memory or a feeling. Both planets disposed of by the Moon in the eighth, there was a sexual component in the attraction and a recognition. There will be something similar about this man as a boy to who Adam was at the time. He sees himself in the boy.
As the day progresses, Saturn begins to rule the fourth from the twelfth, which tells us that this man took Adam home or to a place were he was living at the time and held him there. Saturn is in Libra so the child was kept on the second floor of the home or in an area above the ground, such as in an attic, on a shelf in a closet, in an overhead cabinet or compartment, etc... Pluto in the twelfth trine the Moon in the eighth describes a violent death. The Moon in Gemini describes knives. Pluto often defines dismemberment. We know the boy was decapitated as they found his head in a waterway. Mars in Cancer seems to fit this pretty well. Mars as the seventh house ruler disposed of by the Moon in Gemini also makes me think that this was the preferred method of murder for this person, using a knife and taking off the head (Mars is the natural ruler of Aries). Mercury in Cancer square Pluto in Libra shows violence towards the child and the possible leaving of evidence in water. This is all in hindsight however, I must admit, and cannot be easlily seen in this way from the future.
I am pretty sure that Adam was killed the same day he was abducted. The chart for 2 pm shows us a clear death pattern. The first house ruler, Mars, in the eighth house along with the Moon. Pluto remains in the twelfth and the fourth house ruler, Uranus in Scorpio, is now in the first house. Pluto's constant presence in the twelfth house shows us that the boy was actually "being murdered" the entire time until he died. What this means exactly I will leave to the reader but this is the scenario described by the charts. I take it to mean that every thing that happened to Adam after he was taken was a part of the eventual murder. This man took him to kill him. There never was another thought or plan. Notice in the chart for 2 pm, which is the death pattern chart, that the tenth house ruler, the Sun, is conjoined the node. The Sun describes the home of the abductor and Adams place of death. The Sun conjoined the node implies that this location had been used for this purpose in the past and was a part of the plan on this day as well. This man took children to this home and killed them. And Adam was not the first nor was he likely the last. This home had been used for this purpose before. Descriptors for the home include the Sun in Leo and Venus in Virgo. The Sun in Leo is in dignity so it takes precedence over Venus. The Sun in Leo describes a stately home or a home in an upscale location. It is probably either yellow or green in color with something red in the trim or decoration. The Sun places it in a commercial or business district, perhaps downtown. There should be government buildings nearby such as the police station, the library, city hall, etc.. If these are apartments, they are large and garish, most likely yellow with red artwork or trim. These apartments (or this home) would be large enough to have a den and a fireplace. There would be a chimney on the home or chimneys on the roof of the apartment house. This is a fixed location and is not moveable; it is not a boat, a car, an RV, a mobile home or a trailer. It is an older apartment house or a home. It is large and garish with a den and fireplace.
The man who took Adam is marked by Venus in Virgo and Mars in Cancer. Because both of these planets are in fall, this is a weak person with co dependancies and no strength of character. There is some sexual perversion and taste for the unusual. Drugs or alcohol are a problem with Neptune opposing the Moon and Mars disposed of by the Moon. Venus in Virgo gives a matronly nature, a feminine personality that tends to be picky and peculiar, like the stereotypical 'little old lady'. Mars in Cancer gives a personality that is not open or honest, tends to hide the true feelings and to lie about the desires or goals. What this person desires may be unacceptable in most circles. There is a tendency to pursue the lowest segment of society, the poor, the drug addicted, the outcast, and to hang in these circles. This is due to an extreme lack of self respect and a negative attitude which assumes failure before trying. Alcohol abuse and suicidal tendencies are likely. This person has no self control or discipline and cannot hold a job for long. Interestingly enough, the Moon was in Gemini on this day and Jeffrey Dahmer was a Gemini. Ottis Toole was a Pisces.
Traditional readings give Mars in Cancer the following physical markers. A short, wirey and muscular body with a fast, active walk. Dull, dirty complexion with light brown or blond hair. Sharp, hazel gray eyes and a hooked nose. It also gives a crafty nature, clever and wiley. Can be cruel, violent, revengeful and addicted to drink. Often an imposter, pretending to be someone he is not. A taker who gives nothing in return. Now, this is interesting. The dull complexion fits both men while the blond or light brown hair fits Dahmer. The hazel eyes don't fit either; Toole had brown eyes and Dahmer had blue eyes. Neither man has a hooked nose. However, they both could be said to we wiley and crafty. Also cruel and violent, as proven by their crimes. Dahmer was addicted to drink. Toole was known to take on other identities. Toole was short but not so muscular. Dahmer was tall and paunchy. A little of this and a little of that. No decision makers here.
Taking the other marker, Venus in Virgo, you get a taller person with an average body type. This placement gives a "good looking" person. Again, the hair is light brown or blond. And again, brown or hazel eyes. This placement gives dimples and a nice smile. This placement makes one a neat dresser. It also often gives a double life, where one person presents at work and with family while leading a secret perverse lifestyle in secret. Now, again, this gives a little here and a little there. Like I said, Toole had brown eyes and here this is a marker. But Dahmer was blond and both placements describe blond hair. Neither man would be said to be particularly "good looking" but I would think this would apply more so for Dahmer than for Toole, who was rather grotesque. Neither man was a neat dresser, with shirt tails hanging out and dirty pants. Again, this would be Dahmer more than Toole as Dahmer was able to dress well enough to get and keep jobs for periods of time while Toole was so filthy he would not be even interviewed by most employers. Dahmer definitely led a double life, one which presented itself to family and at work and another that went on at night in secret. Not that he was ordinary by any means; he was usually drunk and did not hold jobs for long. His family was aware that he was an alcoholic. But no one knew he was a rapist, murderer and cannibal. Unlike Toole, who did little to cover up the fact that he was a criminal. There was no one who did not know that Toole was an outlaw. So the double life attribute would apply to Dahmer more than Toole but even then not so much.
So the markers for the abductor are not helping us much in determining which man actually did this. Or perhaps it was someone else altogether? This is possible.
One other marker I would like to investigate is the vehicle. We have been told that the child was taken off in a blue van. Sightings of the blue van are widely reported and it is also a reported fact that Dahmer drove a van during the time in question. Throughout the charts for this event, Cancer marks the ninth house. The ninth is the third from the seventh and describes the vehicle used by the abductor. Although at the time of the abduction Gemini rules the ninth, we find that Mercury is in Cancer and both Mars and Mercury are in the ninth at the time, in the sign Cancer. As the day unfolds, Gemini leaves the cusp and Cancer takes over. So Cancer is the consistant marker for the abductor's vehicle. Cancer is a water sign, which implies the color blue, but it actually describes a green color. Mercury, on the other hand, which marks the ninth house at the time of the kidnapping, is a better marker. It describes a light blue or azure as a color. Mercury and the Moon are in mutual reception so I would venture to guess that this vehicle was a light bluish green color. The sign Gemini (and the planet Mercury) implies more than one compartment, like you find in a work truck or a van. However all cars and vehicles are described by Gemini so this is not the strongest marker. So, again, these markers are not that definitive. They do seem to support the reports of the blue vehicle, however. But whether this was a van, a truck, or just another car, is not easily found in these charts.
At the time of the abduction, the fixed star Mirach was in the seventh house, so the person who kidnapped Adam was drunk. Venus, the first house ruler, also opposes Fomalhaut, so there was an addiction involved, either to drugs or drink. The Moon is conjoined the fixed star Hoedus so there was lust and probable rape involved in this event; lascivious behavior. Within another few degrees, the Moon is sinister to Bellatrix, which also describes obsessive lust and rape. At the same time, the Moon opposes Sabik, which is a marker for perversity. Mercury is also conjoined to Geidi Prima, a fixed star that marks rape. There are many markers here indicating sexual attraction, perverse desires and rape. This assures us that Adam was kidnapped for sexual purposes alone. And this is an indicator that this was repeat offender was sexual predators do not stop at one child. Also supporting this idea is the out of sign conjunction between Venus and Phecda, a fixed star that describes sex addiction. And, as if we need this affirmation at this point, the last note to make is the 1 degree conjunction between Mercury, the child's marker, and the fixed star Pollux, which defines misfortune or calamity.
Everyone has always wondered what happened to Adam's body and why it was never found. The boy was decapitated and only the head was found. I am not fond of doing grisly work, such as looking closely at how someone was killed or what was done to their body and such but this being a big mystery I decided to make a run at it. Right away, I ran into trouble because of the nature of Astrology. There are sign assignments to various parts of the body, such as Gemini for the hands and Capricorn for the knees, etc... but there are no planetary markers for this. Although Aries rules the head in general, it would not be said that the planet Mars on its own would describe the head of the body. In fact, I believe Mars has been assigned the genitals but I am not sure. My instincts would tell me that the first house of the natal chart is the best descriptor of the head and face but I am not sure that is the case in an event chart. So you can see that this would amount to nothing more than a shot in the dark. And this is for the head, which is a singular part of the overall body so consider how you can just mark the entire body with one planet or sign. In forensic work, Saturn rules the skeleton and therefor often rules the body's remains. I use it as the marker for the body in almost every chart I do involving a death but I have never tried to track the head and body separately and I am not sure it can be done. You can see in the death chart, as shown above, that Saturn is in Libra in the eleventh house. Now, does Saturn describe the body as a whole or the body without the head? And if the head is not attached to the body then can we use Saturn to track it? These are questions I am not sure I can answer. And I have learned through my work with these charts that when in doubt, go to the Moon. Always go to the Moon. And here the Moon appears to provide some answers.
First of all, at the time of death, Moon is in Gemini in the eighth house. This shows physical death. Gemini is a dual sign, showing two sides or parts to any issue. In my opinion, the Moon is showing us the two body parts, the head and the rest of the body. Notice that the Moon is disposed of by Mercury in Cancer in the ninth. The head was found in a canal (Cancer) in a wooded, swampy area (ninth house ruled by Cancer). Mercury and the Moon are in mutual reception, showing reciprocity between the two. I beleive this shows us the body and the head, as two separate entities. And if this is taken to be the case, we safely say that both parts were tossed into the water but in different places. One was tossed in the outdoors, in a body of water in a wooded area. This is Mercury in Cancer in the ninth house. The other was put in the water also (Moon disposed of by Mercury in Cancer) but in a place where there was a fork in the river or canal (Gemini) and traveled off in another direction. In fact, the body may have been in more than one piece. Gemini would describe an area with swifter moving currents and overhanging scrub while Cancer would describe more stagnant water in a more swampy area. Since we know the head was found, you would take Mercury's position in the ninth and call it southwest. And then you would take the Moon's position in the eighth and call it more west than south. So starting with the vantage point of where the head was found you would move west from there in a still somewhat southerly direction until you came upon a faster moving body of water. This is where the body was dumped. This is the best that I can offer from my own experience with the charts. It is unlikely to be useful at this point but it does provide interesting study and learning opportunities for those of us who are trying to develop a viable system.
Now, last but not least, I would like to compare Adam's birth chart to the death chart. When I decided to do this, I was amazed at what I found. Although I do not have Adam's time of birth, I believe just the placements themselves can render a great deal of information we can find useful. Looking at the solar chart I drew, you can clearly see a cluster of planets in Scorpio around the Sun. Notice that the death chart has Scorpio rising at the time of death and Uranus in the first house, exactly conjunct his natal Moon. This conjunction describes sudden events, of course. Sudden, unexpected events, for better or for worse. Transiting Uranus was also stationary that day, moving into retrograde motion, and therefor sitting on his Moon literally without movement towards separation. Also, note that the marker for his killer, Mars in Cancer, is trine Adam's natal Mars, providing a window of opportunity. Adam was feeling good that day and was friendlier than he should have been.
Another marker in the transits is the sinister approach of the Saturn - Jupiter conjunction to the boy's natal Pluto. This type of aspect reeks of animosity, anger and sadism, with violence to the corporal body (Saturn). In many composite and synastry charts I have done, when I see aspects between Saturn and Pluto like this one I tell people that even if they do get along with this other person right at this time, this will not always be so and the outcome could become violent or, at the very least, a bitter breakup with many regrets.
Forensic Astrology is the art of using charts to determine the nature of events as they occurred in unsolved crimes and missing persons cases. The method I use is uniquely mine as I have over 35 years experience in Astrology, both Forensic and in general.
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