"A California man facing life in prison for crashing his car into a UPS truck will not dispute that his actions resulted in the death of the driver when his trial opens Monday in Nevada County Superior Court.
Instead, Scott Krause's defense will argue that the defendant believed he was trying to escape man-eating subterranean beings when he ran into Drew Reynolds' truck on Jan. 6, 2004.
Krause has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to five felony counts, including first-degree murder, carjacking, and burglary, stemming from a string of alleged criminal activities leading up to the fatal highway crash.
In three court-ordered evaluations, the defendant stated he was fleeing subterranean beings he called 'hemadrones' when he carjacked a commercial vehicle near a Nevada City, Calif., gas station and then crashed into Reynolds' service vehicle.
'Everything had to do with his escape from the hemadrones,' said Nevada County District Attorney Michael Ferguson. 'According to the defendant, he wasFkF afraid they were going to put him in cargo and ship him to China to be eaten.'
Calls to public defender Gary Gordon went unanswered.
The evidentiary burden will fall on the defense to prove that Krause, a known methamphetamine addict with a history of drug-related arrests, was suffering from a pre-existing mental condition that either prevented him from understanding the consequences of his actions or knowing the difference between right or wrong.
A psychologist testified in a preliminary hearing that when he examined Krause in 2002, the divorced father of two displayed signs of delusions and paranoid schizophrenia.
He also testified that for at least two years before the incident, Krause was using methamphetamine at least twice a day.
'This "
Jun 28, 2005
Ohio Nursing Home Resident Dies After Sunbathing
"Temperature Was In Mid-90s"
POSTED: 12:22 pm EDT June 27, 2005
WATERVILLE, Ohio -- A woman sunbathing for several hours in 95 degree heat at her nursing home was found unconscious and died at a hospital with a temperature of 109 degrees, a coroner's investigator said.
Staff members at the Heartland of Browning nursing home periodically checked on Patricia Matney, 49, before she was found unconscious in the late afternoon, said Steve Kahle of the Lucas County coroner's office.
Matney, who had multiple sclerosis, regularly spent time outdoors at the facility, said Julie Beckert, communications director for owner HCR Manor Care. She was found in a courtyard popular with residents and visitors that is monitored by staff, the company said in a statement.
The coroner's office started an autopsy Monday.
HCR is assisting officials in their investigations, Beckert said.
'Quality care is of paramount concern at Heartland,' the company's statement said.
Matney lived in the 120-bed nursing home near Toledo since 2001. "
POSTED: 12:22 pm EDT June 27, 2005
WATERVILLE, Ohio -- A woman sunbathing for several hours in 95 degree heat at her nursing home was found unconscious and died at a hospital with a temperature of 109 degrees, a coroner's investigator said.
Staff members at the Heartland of Browning nursing home periodically checked on Patricia Matney, 49, before she was found unconscious in the late afternoon, said Steve Kahle of the Lucas County coroner's office.
Matney, who had multiple sclerosis, regularly spent time outdoors at the facility, said Julie Beckert, communications director for owner HCR Manor Care. She was found in a courtyard popular with residents and visitors that is monitored by staff, the company said in a statement.
The coroner's office started an autopsy Monday.
HCR is assisting officials in their investigations, Beckert said.
'Quality care is of paramount concern at Heartland,' the company's statement said.
Matney lived in the 120-bed nursing home near Toledo since 2001. "
Jun 16, 2005
'Child sacrifices in London'
By Richard Edwards Crime Reporter, Evening Standard
16 June 2005
Boys from Africa are being murdered as human sacrif ices in London churches.
They are brought into the capital to be offered up in rituals by fundamentalist Christian sects, according to a shocking report by Scotland Yard.
Followers believe that powerful spells require the deaths of "unblemished" male children.
Police believe such boys are trafficked from cities such as Kinshasa where they can be bought for a little as £10.
The report, leaked ahead of its publication next month, also cites examples of
African children being tortured and killed after being identified as "witches" by church pastors.
The 10-month study was commissioned after the death of Victoria Climbié, who was starved and beaten to death after they said she was possessed by the devil.
The aim of the Met study was to create an "open dialogue" with the African and Asian community in Newham and Hackney. In discussions with African community leaders, officers were told of examples of children being murdered because their parents or carers believe them to be possessed by evil spirits. Earlier-this month Sita Kisanga, 35, was convicted at the Old Bailey of torturing an eight-year-old girl from Angola she accused of being a witch.
Kisanga was a member of the Combat Spirituel church in Dalston. Many such churches, supported mainly by people from West Africa, sanction aggressive forms of exorcism on those thought to be possessed.
There are believed to be 300 such churches in the UK, mostly in London.
The report was put together by an expert social worker and lawyer for the Met after talking to hundreds of people in African communities in a series of workshops. It uncovered allegations of witchcraft spells, child trafficking and HIV-positive people who believe that by having sex with a child they will be "cleansed".
An extract reads: "People who are desperate will seek out experts to cast spells for them.
"Members of the workshop stated that for a spell to be powerful it required a sacrifice involving a male child unblemished by circumcision. They allege that boy children are being trafficked into the UK for this purpose."
It adds: "A number of pastors maintain that God speaks through them and lets them know when someone is possessed.
"It is therefore their duty to deliver the child or adult from the evil spirit.
"After much debate they acknowledge that children labelled as possessed are in danger of being beaten by their families.
"However, they would not accept they played a role in inciting such violence."
Last month Scotland Yard revealed it had traced just two out of 300 black boys aged four to seven reported missing from London schools in a three-month period.
The true figure for missing boys and girls is feared to be several thousand a year.
The scale of the problem emerged through the murder inquiry following the discovery of a child's torso in the Thames in September 2001. The identity of the victim, named Adam by police, is not known but his background was traced to Nigeria. It is believed he died in a ritual sacrifice.
John Azar, who helped the police on that inquiry, told Radio4's Today programme that the known cases could be "the tip of the iceberg".
Police working on the Adam case have found children are being sold to traffickers on the streets of major African cities for less than £10 and then smuggled into the UK. The children arrive in London armed with false documents and accompanied by adults who believe they will bolster their asylum claims.
Dr Richard Hoskins, a lecturer of Theology and Religious Studies at King's College, said: "We know this through work we have been doing on the Adam inquiry. These children are ripe for people to abuse. They are easy prey."
A Met spokesman said: "We undertook a project aimed at improving our knowledge of issues impacting child abuse within the African and Asian communities of London. The aim of the project was to open a dialogue within these communities and encourage a debate which would help reduce the risks of harm to children."
The report says there is a wide gulf between these communities and social services and protection agencies with many people in ethnic communities scared to speak out.
The report concludes police face a "wall of silence" when dealing with such cases.
Experts differ on the merits of the Scotland Yard report.
Dr William Les Henry, a lecturer in sociology at Goldsmiths College, said aspects of the reports were pigeonholing crimes together and were patronising and racist.
He said: "When we think about these cases we can see the same kind of patterns of behaviour in European cultures but they are interpreted in completely different ways.
"This is one of the crises with social sciences anyway, when they are supposedly interpreting the folk ways or cultural habits of alien cultures." He said that the models such reports are based on are that "Africans are less civilised, less rational".
But Dr Hoskins said: "This is very detailed, qualitative report that actually comes out of the communities.
"This is not white people saying this. This has actually comes from the communities authored by people in the community and that really stymies the racist line." He added: "We are dealing with real cases here. When you actually talk to them, these are hard and fast facts.
"So I don't think we are getting wrong, but it is right to treat it sensitively."
He believes vulnerable people are being manipulated by spiritual leaders.
"This is absolutely what is going on. They are often very vulnerable, poor people.
"It is people in positions of power and money that are manipulating poor people."
Jun 15, 2005
Oprah Winfrey could be a Zulu
DNA experts have questioned Oprah Winfrey's belief that she is a member of South Africa's Zulu nation.
The African-American chat-show host announced during a recent visit to South Africa that she had had a DNA test that had shown her to be a Zulu.
She also told South Africans she felt "at home" in the country.
"I went in search of my roots and had my DNA tested, and I am a Zulu," Ms Winfrey said at a seminar in Johannesburg last week.
Professor Himla Soodyall of South Africa's National Health Laboratory Service said it was likely that Oprah Winfrey would have taken a mitochondrial DNA test.
Genetic line
"This involves tracing only one particular line in a person's ancestry, which passes from mother to all her children but then only transmitted to the next generation by her daughters," she said.
There is not much to distinguish between various linguistic groups... because they have diversified more recently than genetic differences
Professor Himla Soodyall
In other words, the test can trace a genetic line of a person only to their mother, their maternal grandmother, and so on, matching only one ancestor in each generation.
Identifying a person on the basis of their DNA can only be done by comparing their DNA results with the those of other people who were already tested and their data recorded in a database.
"The conclusion that she had Zulu ancestry would indicate that Oprah's mitochondrial DNA lineage must have had an identical match to someone in the global database who was identified as a Zulu individual," Prof Soodyall said.
Language groups
Prof Soodyall pointed out, however, that genetic lineages did not correspond precisely to cultural or linguistic groups such as the Zulu nation.
"There is not much to distinguish between various linguistic groups, particularly the different language groups spoken in southern Africa, because they have diversified more recently - perhaps within the past 1,000-1,500 years - than genetic differences which have been evolving in our species for about 150,000 years ago," she said.
The historical movement of people around the African continent makes the situation still more complicated.
This could, however, explain how Ms Winfrey's DNA matched with a sample from a Zulu person, even though most African-Americans have ancestors who have been traced to west Africa as a consequence of the slave trade.
According to most historical accounts, the Zulu nation was consolidated only after the departure of slaves from west Africa to the Americas.
South Africa nevertheless has a special place in Ms Winfrey's heart.
"I'm crazy about the South African accent," she said. "I wish I had been born here."
The African-American chat-show host announced during a recent visit to South Africa that she had had a DNA test that had shown her to be a Zulu.
She also told South Africans she felt "at home" in the country.
"I went in search of my roots and had my DNA tested, and I am a Zulu," Ms Winfrey said at a seminar in Johannesburg last week.
Professor Himla Soodyall of South Africa's National Health Laboratory Service said it was likely that Oprah Winfrey would have taken a mitochondrial DNA test.
Genetic line
"This involves tracing only one particular line in a person's ancestry, which passes from mother to all her children but then only transmitted to the next generation by her daughters," she said.
There is not much to distinguish between various linguistic groups... because they have diversified more recently than genetic differences
Professor Himla Soodyall
In other words, the test can trace a genetic line of a person only to their mother, their maternal grandmother, and so on, matching only one ancestor in each generation.
Identifying a person on the basis of their DNA can only be done by comparing their DNA results with the those of other people who were already tested and their data recorded in a database.
"The conclusion that she had Zulu ancestry would indicate that Oprah's mitochondrial DNA lineage must have had an identical match to someone in the global database who was identified as a Zulu individual," Prof Soodyall said.
Language groups
Prof Soodyall pointed out, however, that genetic lineages did not correspond precisely to cultural or linguistic groups such as the Zulu nation.
"There is not much to distinguish between various linguistic groups, particularly the different language groups spoken in southern Africa, because they have diversified more recently - perhaps within the past 1,000-1,500 years - than genetic differences which have been evolving in our species for about 150,000 years ago," she said.
The historical movement of people around the African continent makes the situation still more complicated.
This could, however, explain how Ms Winfrey's DNA matched with a sample from a Zulu person, even though most African-Americans have ancestors who have been traced to west Africa as a consequence of the slave trade.
According to most historical accounts, the Zulu nation was consolidated only after the departure of slaves from west Africa to the Americas.
South Africa nevertheless has a special place in Ms Winfrey's heart.
"I'm crazy about the South African accent," she said. "I wish I had been born here."
ThePittsburghChannel.com - News - Alleged Chicken-For-Sex Offer Lands Meat Man In Jail
KEENE, N.H. -- A door-to-door meat salesman from Maine is accused of assaulting a potential customer after she turned down his offer of chicken in exchange for sex.
Ryan Park, 22, of Waterboro, Maine, is accused of grabbing the woman in Stoddard, N.H., and forcefully kissing her after she rejected his offer last month.
Park has been charged with assault and is due in Keene District Court on June 28.
Ryan Park, 22, of Waterboro, Maine, is accused of grabbing the woman in Stoddard, N.H., and forcefully kissing her after she rejected his offer last month.
Park has been charged with assault and is due in Keene District Court on June 28.
4 held in goat-for-coke scheme
Wednesday, June 15, 2005
Associated Press
Four men were ordered to stand trial in the theft and butchering of a pet pygmy goat, allegedly so its meat could be traded for crack cocaine or money.
James W. Albright, 37, Gilbert W. Fisch, 38, Charles W. Smith Sr., 48, and Charles W. Smith Jr., 20, all of Connellsville, were held on theft, cruelty to animals and related charges yesterday.
Albright allegedly dragged the goat from its pen and tied it to a shrub, where he and Smith Jr. beat it to death on Dec. 24 in Bullskin Township, about 35 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, police said. They then took the goat to Smith's residence, where his father and Fisch skinned it and cut it up, police said.
Police said Albright told them he intended to get money or drugs for the goat, but got neither.
Associated Press
Four men were ordered to stand trial in the theft and butchering of a pet pygmy goat, allegedly so its meat could be traded for crack cocaine or money.
James W. Albright, 37, Gilbert W. Fisch, 38, Charles W. Smith Sr., 48, and Charles W. Smith Jr., 20, all of Connellsville, were held on theft, cruelty to animals and related charges yesterday.
Albright allegedly dragged the goat from its pen and tied it to a shrub, where he and Smith Jr. beat it to death on Dec. 24 in Bullskin Township, about 35 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, police said. They then took the goat to Smith's residence, where his father and Fisch skinned it and cut it up, police said.
Police said Albright told them he intended to get money or drugs for the goat, but got neither.
Abortionist accused of eating fetuses
Kansas City clinic closed
as grisly house of horrors
A Kansas City abortionist is out of business after investigators discovered a grisly house of horrors at his clinic with fetuses kept in Styrofoam cups in his refrigerator and one employee accusing him of microwaving one and stirring it into his lunch.
The unsanitary conditions in Krishna Rajanna's clinic prompted legislative approval of new abortion regulations in Kansas, a bill that was vetoed by the governor. Rajanna's activities have reportedly been the subject of law-enforcement investigations for nearly two years.
Rajanna first came to the attention of police in September 2003 when he called police to investigate alleged employee theft.
Detective William Howard of the Kansas City Police Department responded.
"I thought I had heard and seen every vile, disgusting crime scene, but was in for a new shock when I started this investigation," he would say later. Howard turned the matter over to the local district attorney and three state agencies.
Topping the list of horrors was an employee's account that she and others witnessed Rajanna "microwave one of the aborted fetuses and stir it into his lunch," as Howard recalled earlier this year when testifying before a Kansas House committee.
Rajanna denied the accusation. But he did keep fetuses in Styrofoam cups in the refrigerator along with food and drink.
"Dr. Rajanna lacked personal hygiene," testified Howard. "His hair was messy, hands dirty, and his clothing was wrinkled and stained. He put on old, used foot booties while we were there."
Howard testified the clinic was dark, dingy, had poor lighting and smelled musty. There were dirty dishes in the break-room sink and on the table, trash everywhere, and roaches crawling on the countertops. Howard was afraid to sit down.
Howard noted there were no hazardous waste containers anywhere. (An employee later testified Rajanna took home all contaminated, medical and biohazard waste for residential trash pick-up.)
As for the "procedure room," Howard's partner spotted dried blood on the floor and said the room looked "nasty."
Two dishwashers located next to the staff toilet served as sterilizers, according to employee testimony. Photographs show the toilet was bloody and functioned as a human waste disposal in the literal sense.
On Saturday, the State Board of Healing Arts voted unanimously to revoke Rajanna's license.
In March, a board inspector made two surprise visits to Rajanna' clinic. He reported the facility was unclean and that he found syringes of medications in an unlocked refrigerator. The inspector also reported finding a dead mouse in the hallway.
Rajanna said in his 10 years of performing abortions in Kansas City, no patient has complained about care.
Rajanna can appeal the decision to district court. He argued that he had not been given an opportunity to meet with the inspector to correct the deficiencies. But board members concluded that Rajanna's clinic represented a danger and said that as a doctor, he shouldn't have needed the board's prodding to keep a clinic clean and safe.
Board members also noted that Rajanna had been previously disciplined, in 2000 and 2001, for not properly testing his patients for their blood types and for improperly labeling medications. Also, in February, Rajanna signed an agreement to improve his clinic's conditions and paid a $1,000 fine.
With Rajanna's case pending, abortion opponents won legislative approval of a bill requiring abortion clinics to obtain an annual license from the Department of Health and Environment, hire surgeons as their medical directors and report patient deaths to the state within a day. The measure also mandated that the department set standards for equipment, medical screenings, ventilation and lighting.
But Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, an abortion-rights advocate, vetoed the measure, saying medical professionals – not legislators – should set standards.
as grisly house of horrors
A Kansas City abortionist is out of business after investigators discovered a grisly house of horrors at his clinic with fetuses kept in Styrofoam cups in his refrigerator and one employee accusing him of microwaving one and stirring it into his lunch.
The unsanitary conditions in Krishna Rajanna's clinic prompted legislative approval of new abortion regulations in Kansas, a bill that was vetoed by the governor. Rajanna's activities have reportedly been the subject of law-enforcement investigations for nearly two years.
Rajanna first came to the attention of police in September 2003 when he called police to investigate alleged employee theft.
Detective William Howard of the Kansas City Police Department responded.
"I thought I had heard and seen every vile, disgusting crime scene, but was in for a new shock when I started this investigation," he would say later. Howard turned the matter over to the local district attorney and three state agencies.
Topping the list of horrors was an employee's account that she and others witnessed Rajanna "microwave one of the aborted fetuses and stir it into his lunch," as Howard recalled earlier this year when testifying before a Kansas House committee.
Rajanna denied the accusation. But he did keep fetuses in Styrofoam cups in the refrigerator along with food and drink.
"Dr. Rajanna lacked personal hygiene," testified Howard. "His hair was messy, hands dirty, and his clothing was wrinkled and stained. He put on old, used foot booties while we were there."
Howard testified the clinic was dark, dingy, had poor lighting and smelled musty. There were dirty dishes in the break-room sink and on the table, trash everywhere, and roaches crawling on the countertops. Howard was afraid to sit down.
Howard noted there were no hazardous waste containers anywhere. (An employee later testified Rajanna took home all contaminated, medical and biohazard waste for residential trash pick-up.)
As for the "procedure room," Howard's partner spotted dried blood on the floor and said the room looked "nasty."
Two dishwashers located next to the staff toilet served as sterilizers, according to employee testimony. Photographs show the toilet was bloody and functioned as a human waste disposal in the literal sense.
On Saturday, the State Board of Healing Arts voted unanimously to revoke Rajanna's license.
In March, a board inspector made two surprise visits to Rajanna' clinic. He reported the facility was unclean and that he found syringes of medications in an unlocked refrigerator. The inspector also reported finding a dead mouse in the hallway.
Rajanna said in his 10 years of performing abortions in Kansas City, no patient has complained about care.
Rajanna can appeal the decision to district court. He argued that he had not been given an opportunity to meet with the inspector to correct the deficiencies. But board members concluded that Rajanna's clinic represented a danger and said that as a doctor, he shouldn't have needed the board's prodding to keep a clinic clean and safe.
Board members also noted that Rajanna had been previously disciplined, in 2000 and 2001, for not properly testing his patients for their blood types and for improperly labeling medications. Also, in February, Rajanna signed an agreement to improve his clinic's conditions and paid a $1,000 fine.
With Rajanna's case pending, abortion opponents won legislative approval of a bill requiring abortion clinics to obtain an annual license from the Department of Health and Environment, hire surgeons as their medical directors and report patient deaths to the state within a day. The measure also mandated that the department set standards for equipment, medical screenings, ventilation and lighting.
But Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, an abortion-rights advocate, vetoed the measure, saying medical professionals – not legislators – should set standards.
Jun 10, 2005
Potato-chip can sits where woman's ashes were
Synagogue sued over missing ashes
Potato-chip can found in place of woman's remains in mausoleum
By ROMA KHANNA
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle
Carlos Antonio Rios/Chronicle
When relatives of Vivian Shulman Lieberman went to visit her final resting place in a Houston mausoleum one year ago today, they discovered that the cedar chest containing her ashes was missing.
In its place, behind the locked, glass door of Lieberman's niche in Congregation Beth Israel's mausoleum, was a can of sour-cream-and-onion potato chips.
The ashes are still missing, says Philip Hilder, an attorney for Lieberman's two daughters.
"We have been devastated," Marcelle Lieberman said this week. "We hope we will be able to find her remains before we die, to give us closure of some sort."
The strange disappearance led Marcelle Lieberman and her sister, Harriet Lieberman Mellow, to file a lawsuit recently against Congregation Beth Israel and two funeral businesses.
Officials with the synagogue and the two companies deny responsibility.
"It is obviously very upsetting to the family and to all three of the defendants," said Neal Manne, a lawyer and Beth Israel board member who is representing the synagogue. "But a lawsuit is about whether there is any legal responsibility, and Congregation Beth Israel did not do anything wrong."
Though it is not unheard of for bodies to be mixed up before cremation or even buried in the wrong graves, officials with national cemetery groups say such a disappearance is extremely rare once ashes have been placed in a mausoleum.
"This is a first for me," said Robert Fells of the Virginia-based International Cemetery and Funeral Association.
In addition to suing Beth Israel, which owns and operates the cemetery on West Dallas just west of downtown, the sisters are suing the companies that arranged for their mother's cremation and inurnment, Levy Funeral Directors and Schlitzberger's Family Craft Monumental Services. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages and alleges that each defendant was negligent and intentionally inflicted emotional distress.
Beth Israel, one of Houston's largest Reform congregations, played a major role in the Liebermans' lives, the lawsuit states. Vivian and Seymour Lieberman bought side-by-side mausoleum niches in 1964.
The Liebermans were active in the community, with Vivian working as a Texas Children's Hospital volunteer and Seymour being honored with an exercise trail named for him in Memorial Park.
He died in February 1981 and his ashes were placed in the mausoleum. His wife died July 2, 2003, at age 95.
In their lawsuit, the daughters say they arranged for her cremation through Levy Funeral Directors and gave its director, Stan Ford, a cedar chest in which to put the ashes. Ford locked the chest and gave it to Schlitzberger's, which was to make a brass nameplate for the chest, the daughters contend.
But when a Schlitzberger's employee took the ashes to the mausoleum in July 2003, he discovered another person's remains in Lieberman's niche, according to the lawsuit.
About two weeks later, after the congregation's executive director learned of that problem, a Schlitzberger's employee placed her ashes in the niche, court documents state.
Marcelle Lieberman says she visited the niche that July and her sister visited in fall 2003.
The daughters say they returned to the mausoleum together on June 10, 2004, their father's birthday, and discovered the potato chip can in their mother's niche.
A locksmith opened the niche and Houston police took custody of the can, which still contained potato chips.
"To their added horror," the lawsuit states, "Harriet and Marcelle learned that the ... can had been visible in the niche for at least six months."
The daughters allege that Schlitzberger's failed to close and lock the niche.
Company co-owner Dianne Schlitzberger says none of her employees ever had a key.
"Putting the name tag on the box is a little thing," she said. "We wouldn't ruin our reputation by losing something so valuable."
She noted that the mausoleum itself is never locked.
Manne said that although the congregation owns and operates the cemetery, families get keys to the niches they purchase.
"They can do with them as they wish," he said. "Some choose to leave them in the lock at the niche and some don't."
The lawsuit also alleges that Congregation Beth Israel breached its contract by "placing the remains of another person in the niche" and "by failing to provide adequate care, maintenance or security for the mausoleum."
"It is unknown at this time whether this was an individual episode," Hilder said, "or if that is a snapshot to wider problems."
Manne maintains that the synagogue fulfilled its duties.
"In court, we will be able to demonstrate what happened and that it was not related to anything Beth Israel did," he said.
The lawsuit also claims that Levy Funeral Directors failed to ensure that Vivian Lieberman's ashes were in a secure place.
Greg Bolton, a spokesman for Service Corporation International, the parent company of Levy, says the funeral home upheld its responsibilities.
"We fulfilled the family's wishes by arranging for the cremation and delivering the remains to the custody of the mausoleum," he said. "We had no involvement or knowledge of anything that happened after that."
Potato-chip can found in place of woman's remains in mausoleum
By ROMA KHANNA
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle
Carlos Antonio Rios/Chronicle
When relatives of Vivian Shulman Lieberman went to visit her final resting place in a Houston mausoleum one year ago today, they discovered that the cedar chest containing her ashes was missing.
In its place, behind the locked, glass door of Lieberman's niche in Congregation Beth Israel's mausoleum, was a can of sour-cream-and-onion potato chips.
The ashes are still missing, says Philip Hilder, an attorney for Lieberman's two daughters.
"We have been devastated," Marcelle Lieberman said this week. "We hope we will be able to find her remains before we die, to give us closure of some sort."
The strange disappearance led Marcelle Lieberman and her sister, Harriet Lieberman Mellow, to file a lawsuit recently against Congregation Beth Israel and two funeral businesses.
Officials with the synagogue and the two companies deny responsibility.
"It is obviously very upsetting to the family and to all three of the defendants," said Neal Manne, a lawyer and Beth Israel board member who is representing the synagogue. "But a lawsuit is about whether there is any legal responsibility, and Congregation Beth Israel did not do anything wrong."
Though it is not unheard of for bodies to be mixed up before cremation or even buried in the wrong graves, officials with national cemetery groups say such a disappearance is extremely rare once ashes have been placed in a mausoleum.
"This is a first for me," said Robert Fells of the Virginia-based International Cemetery and Funeral Association.
In addition to suing Beth Israel, which owns and operates the cemetery on West Dallas just west of downtown, the sisters are suing the companies that arranged for their mother's cremation and inurnment, Levy Funeral Directors and Schlitzberger's Family Craft Monumental Services. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages and alleges that each defendant was negligent and intentionally inflicted emotional distress.
Beth Israel, one of Houston's largest Reform congregations, played a major role in the Liebermans' lives, the lawsuit states. Vivian and Seymour Lieberman bought side-by-side mausoleum niches in 1964.
The Liebermans were active in the community, with Vivian working as a Texas Children's Hospital volunteer and Seymour being honored with an exercise trail named for him in Memorial Park.
He died in February 1981 and his ashes were placed in the mausoleum. His wife died July 2, 2003, at age 95.
In their lawsuit, the daughters say they arranged for her cremation through Levy Funeral Directors and gave its director, Stan Ford, a cedar chest in which to put the ashes. Ford locked the chest and gave it to Schlitzberger's, which was to make a brass nameplate for the chest, the daughters contend.
But when a Schlitzberger's employee took the ashes to the mausoleum in July 2003, he discovered another person's remains in Lieberman's niche, according to the lawsuit.
About two weeks later, after the congregation's executive director learned of that problem, a Schlitzberger's employee placed her ashes in the niche, court documents state.
Marcelle Lieberman says she visited the niche that July and her sister visited in fall 2003.
The daughters say they returned to the mausoleum together on June 10, 2004, their father's birthday, and discovered the potato chip can in their mother's niche.
A locksmith opened the niche and Houston police took custody of the can, which still contained potato chips.
"To their added horror," the lawsuit states, "Harriet and Marcelle learned that the ... can had been visible in the niche for at least six months."
The daughters allege that Schlitzberger's failed to close and lock the niche.
Company co-owner Dianne Schlitzberger says none of her employees ever had a key.
"Putting the name tag on the box is a little thing," she said. "We wouldn't ruin our reputation by losing something so valuable."
She noted that the mausoleum itself is never locked.
Manne said that although the congregation owns and operates the cemetery, families get keys to the niches they purchase.
"They can do with them as they wish," he said. "Some choose to leave them in the lock at the niche and some don't."
The lawsuit also alleges that Congregation Beth Israel breached its contract by "placing the remains of another person in the niche" and "by failing to provide adequate care, maintenance or security for the mausoleum."
"It is unknown at this time whether this was an individual episode," Hilder said, "or if that is a snapshot to wider problems."
Manne maintains that the synagogue fulfilled its duties.
"In court, we will be able to demonstrate what happened and that it was not related to anything Beth Israel did," he said.
The lawsuit also claims that Levy Funeral Directors failed to ensure that Vivian Lieberman's ashes were in a secure place.
Greg Bolton, a spokesman for Service Corporation International, the parent company of Levy, says the funeral home upheld its responsibilities.
"We fulfilled the family's wishes by arranging for the cremation and delivering the remains to the custody of the mausoleum," he said. "We had no involvement or knowledge of anything that happened after that."
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