Shades of Serial Killers gone by
There is word in today's Herald Sun that Andrew Dalzell had plans to adopt a 13-year-old from Virginia and that his girlfriend was in on the plan.
Sounds to me like Bernardo / Homolka redux.
AND - of course - now his bond has been reduced:
Police eye Dalzell ties to girl, 13
By BETH VELLIQUETTE :
The Herald-Sun
bvelliquette@heraldsun.com
Jan 11, 2005 : 9:51 pm ET
CARRBORO -- Despite a judge's ruling Monday to throw out Andrew Douglas Dalzell's confession that he killed Deborah Leigh Key, the Carrboro Police Department still is investigating Dalzell -- including whether he was trying to lure a girl he met on the Internet to live with him in North Carolina.
A search warrant affidavit says Carrboro police found evidence on Dalzell's computer that led them to investigate whether he had established a relationship with a girl of about 13 on the Internet and was planning to "adopt" her.
"We've been in contact with authorities in other states regarding this information," said Lt. Jim Phillips of the Carrboro Police Department. "We've followed leads in Virginia and West Virginia, and it remains an active investigation."
On Nov. 16, Superior Court Judge James Spencer signed a search warrant request to search the computer records of Yahoo!, a California-based company that offers free e-mail and other Internet services.
Dalzell had always been a suspect in the disappearance of Key, who was last seen in downtown Carrboro on Dec. 1, 1997.
On Sept. 8, Carrboro police officers drove 140 miles west to Stanley, where Dalzell was living with his girlfriend and her family. They arrested him for stealing property from a hobby store where he once worked, and later that night, he confessed to killing Key.
The confession was ruled inadmissible on Monday because the officers failed to give Dalzell his Miranda rights before interrogating him and because they failed to follow North Carolina law regarding the proper criminal procedure after someone is placed under arrest.
While in Stanley, the officers served a search warrant on the residence to seize items from Dalzell, including his computer.
In requesting another search warrant, Cpl. Anthony Westbrook, an investigator with the Carrboro Police Department, wrote an account of what led him to seek the search warrant for an e-mail account of Master--Inquisitor1976, which was a name registered to Dalzell.
"On Sept. 8th, 2004, a search warrant was served on the residence of Andrew Douglas Dalzell. This resulted in the seizure of a computer belong to Dalzell," the affidavit states. "A search of the computer was conducted and various items were discovered stored on the hard drive."
In a file called "Pix," police discovered 561 images and photographs of a pornographic nature, the affidavit states.
On Sept. 21, Carrboro police charged Dalzell with six counts of third-degree sexual exploitation of a minor because six of the pornographic photos appeared to be of minor girls engaging in sexual activity with an adult. Dalzell is awaiting trial on those charges, for which he is being held in the Orange County Jail under a $20,000 bond.
The affidavit also says that a sub-file in "Pix" contained a file labeled "Carrie." "Of these images, 49 photographs depicted a female approximately 13 years of age modeling various outfits in different settings. One photograph depicted only the exposed breasts and abdomen of a young female, approximately 13 years of age," the affidavit states.
Police found another file on the computer that was labeled "Direction to Carrie," the affidavit states. "Included in this file were various links to MapQuest.Com, which listed detailed directions to an address in Richmond, Virginia," it says.
Once the officers discovered the material on Dalzell's computer, they began an investigation to try to determine who "Carrie" was and to find out whether Dalzell had some type of relationship with her.
"An interview was conducted with Dalzell's girlfriend, Stacey Palmer," the affidavit states. "Palmer stated that 'Carrie' was Dalzell's cousin who recently lost her parents in a tragic accident."
Palmer told police, according to the affidavit, that she and Dalzell were going to adopt "Carrie" as their own daughter and raise her. "An interview was conducted with Juanita Mullen, Dalzell's mother, who stated that no such relative existed," the affidavit stated.
Westbrook wrote that he later learned from a confidential source that Dalzell met "Carrie" in an Internet chat room. "Carrie" allegedly agreed to run away to live with Dalzell in North Carolina and was waiting for him to come to Richmond to pick her up, Westbrook said in the affidavit.
Because the photograph of a girl's breasts and abdomen was in the "Carrie" file, police became concerned that some adult may be sexually exploiting the young girl in the photograph via the Internet, Westbrook wrote.
"Records potentially located in Dalzell's Yahoo! Internet account, screen name Master--Inquisitor1976, may have additional information in identifying "Carrie," it the affidavit says.
The search warrant requested Yahoo! to provide information about "Master--Inquisitor1976" and his profile, address and other information. It also requests all photographs, files, Internet links and/or downloads from Master--Inquisitor1976.
Westbrook conducted the search on Nov. 16 and seized 78 pages of data from the Yahoo! account of Master--Inquisitor1976, which includes e-mail addresses, archived e-mails, saved photographs and saved profile information, according to a court document that lists the items seized in the search.
On Dec. 7, Orange-Chatham Superior Court Judge Wade Barber signed another search warrant request from Westbrook. Using the information he obtained when he searched Master--Inquistor1976's records, he wanted to again obtain a search warrant for Yahoo! for another account. The person who held that account sent an e-mail in August to Master--Inquisitor1976 that included three photographs of a juvenile wearing various lingerie outfits, exposing her buttocks, the affidavit states.
Westbrook obtained a computer disk of information about the other person's e-mail account, according to an inventory of items seized.
Phillips declined to say much about the investigation into "Carrie," except to say it is an active investigation that has moved from Virginia to West Virginia.
Dalzell, 28, remains in custody in the Orange County Jail under a total of $90,000 bond.
Although Barber ruled his confession to Key's murder inadmissible during his trial for second-degree murder, the charge still stands. His bond for the murder charge is $60,000.
But because Dalzell's confession cannot be used during the trial, his attorney, Orange-Chatham Public Defender James Williams, is expected to file a motion to reduce his bond on the murder charge, since Carrboro police reportedly do not have much other evidence linking Dalzell to Key's murder.
Dalzell also faces charges of larceny by an employee, misdemeanor possession of stolen property, financial identity fraud and obtaining property by false pretenses for allegedly stealing fantasy figurines and art supplies and a customer's credit card number from a Chapel Hill hobby store where he worked. Police said he used the credit card number to obtain $100 worth of services from a Russian mail-order bride service on the Internet.
His bond on those charges is $10,000.
posted by John Allore @ 1/12/2005 11:37:00 AM
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