sarahhod
02-16-2009, 07:20 AM
Serial killer/soldier suspect in woman’s strangling (http://blogs.denverpost.com/coldcases/2009/02/15/serial-killersoldier-suspect-in-womans-strangling/)
by Kirk Mitchell on February 15, 2009
http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site36/2008/0908/20080908_101029_470dots.gif
Name: Helen Hernandez
Where body found: Just off Bacolite Mesa Road in Pueblo County
Agency: Pueblo County Sheriff’s Department
Date killed: June 15, 2004
Cause of DeathStrangulation
Suspect: Jeffery Newsome, 45, serving life prison term in Alabama.
A former Fort Carson soldier discarded nude bodies of a girl and young women in remote areas in Germany, Guntersville, Ala., and possibly Pueblo County.
Jeffery Newsome is a suspect in the death of Helen Hernandez, whose body was discovered on July 5, 1984 off Baculite Mesa Road.
http://blogs.denverpost.com/coldcases/wp-content/photos/Helen2.jpg (http://blogs.denverpost.com/coldcases/?pp_album=main&pp_cat=default&pp_image=Helen2.jpg)
Newsome, 45, is currently serving a life prison sentence in the St. Clair Correctional Facility in Alabama for killing Kim Vaughn, according to Alabama Department of Corrections records.
In that case Vaughn’s body was discovered nude near Alder Springs, Ala. in 1986 close to where witnesses saw Newsome’s jeep stuck in mud, said Sonny Riddle, Marshall County Sheriff’s investigator.
She had been strangled, Riddle said.
Helen Hernandez, courtesy Pueblo County Sheriff’s Department
Newsome was later convicted of killing Christianne Lutz, 17, whose body was found in 1986 near an Army base in Germany after he was dishonorably discharged on a drug case, according to a news article by The Advertiser-Gleam of Guntersville, Ala.
Riddle had gone to Germany to testify against Newsome. While he testified, Newsome never showed any emotion, he said.
“He stared straight ahead, never looked at me,” Riddle said. “He was very cold.”
Newsome was sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison after he claimed in court that he accidentally choked her to death with a wire.
Riddle said despite his claim that it was an accident, Newsome hid the body in a forest.
Riddle also collected evidence that tied Newsome to the death of Fran Cox, who disappeared in 1987. Her body was found by Boy Scouts camping on Buck Island in 1989. Newsome had been dating her at the time.
Newsome didn’t become a suspect in the death of Helen Hernandez of Pueblo until after his convictions in Germany and Alabama. Pueblo sheriff’s investigators had done a national search for information about similar cases.
On June 15, 1984, Hernandez was returning home from her manufacturing job in Colorado Springs when she disappeared, said Lt. Don Leach, of the Pueblo County Sheriff’s Department.
Hernandez had graduated two years earlier from high school and had never gotten into trouble before, Leach said. Decades later he would get calls from her friends asking whether the case was solved.
On the day she went missing, Hernandez drove passed Fort Carson, where Newsome was stationed.
Her vehicle was later located abandoned alongside Interstate 25.
Her nude body wasn’t discovered until July 5, 1984. She, too, had been strangled, Leach said.
Investigators questioned Newsome about the murder, but he denied having anything to do with it. But the similarities between Hernandez’ murder and the deaths of women in Alabama and Germany are remarkable, he said.
“He’s clearly a person of interest,” Leach said.
Two years ago, investigators submitted DNA evidence discovered in connection to Henderson’s case. Leach declined to say what the tests determined, if anything.
Solving the homicide that is nearly a quarter century old will take good police work, he said. He said he’s not sure what will make the difference.
Contact information: Anyone with information about the case is asked to contact the Pueblo County Sheriff’s Department at 719-583-6400. Denver Post reporter Kirk Mitchell can be reached at 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com
(http://blogs.denverpost.com/coldcases/2009/02/15/serial-killersoldier-suspect-in-womans-strangling/)
by Kirk Mitchell on February 15, 2009
http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site36/2008/0908/20080908_101029_470dots.gif
Name: Helen Hernandez
Where body found: Just off Bacolite Mesa Road in Pueblo County
Agency: Pueblo County Sheriff’s Department
Date killed: June 15, 2004
Cause of DeathStrangulation
Suspect: Jeffery Newsome, 45, serving life prison term in Alabama.
A former Fort Carson soldier discarded nude bodies of a girl and young women in remote areas in Germany, Guntersville, Ala., and possibly Pueblo County.
Jeffery Newsome is a suspect in the death of Helen Hernandez, whose body was discovered on July 5, 1984 off Baculite Mesa Road.
http://blogs.denverpost.com/coldcases/wp-content/photos/Helen2.jpg (http://blogs.denverpost.com/coldcases/?pp_album=main&pp_cat=default&pp_image=Helen2.jpg)
Newsome, 45, is currently serving a life prison sentence in the St. Clair Correctional Facility in Alabama for killing Kim Vaughn, according to Alabama Department of Corrections records.
In that case Vaughn’s body was discovered nude near Alder Springs, Ala. in 1986 close to where witnesses saw Newsome’s jeep stuck in mud, said Sonny Riddle, Marshall County Sheriff’s investigator.
She had been strangled, Riddle said.
Helen Hernandez, courtesy Pueblo County Sheriff’s Department
Newsome was later convicted of killing Christianne Lutz, 17, whose body was found in 1986 near an Army base in Germany after he was dishonorably discharged on a drug case, according to a news article by The Advertiser-Gleam of Guntersville, Ala.
Riddle had gone to Germany to testify against Newsome. While he testified, Newsome never showed any emotion, he said.
“He stared straight ahead, never looked at me,” Riddle said. “He was very cold.”
Newsome was sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison after he claimed in court that he accidentally choked her to death with a wire.
Riddle said despite his claim that it was an accident, Newsome hid the body in a forest.
Riddle also collected evidence that tied Newsome to the death of Fran Cox, who disappeared in 1987. Her body was found by Boy Scouts camping on Buck Island in 1989. Newsome had been dating her at the time.
Newsome didn’t become a suspect in the death of Helen Hernandez of Pueblo until after his convictions in Germany and Alabama. Pueblo sheriff’s investigators had done a national search for information about similar cases.
On June 15, 1984, Hernandez was returning home from her manufacturing job in Colorado Springs when she disappeared, said Lt. Don Leach, of the Pueblo County Sheriff’s Department.
Hernandez had graduated two years earlier from high school and had never gotten into trouble before, Leach said. Decades later he would get calls from her friends asking whether the case was solved.
On the day she went missing, Hernandez drove passed Fort Carson, where Newsome was stationed.
Her vehicle was later located abandoned alongside Interstate 25.
Her nude body wasn’t discovered until July 5, 1984. She, too, had been strangled, Leach said.
Investigators questioned Newsome about the murder, but he denied having anything to do with it. But the similarities between Hernandez’ murder and the deaths of women in Alabama and Germany are remarkable, he said.
“He’s clearly a person of interest,” Leach said.
Two years ago, investigators submitted DNA evidence discovered in connection to Henderson’s case. Leach declined to say what the tests determined, if anything.
Solving the homicide that is nearly a quarter century old will take good police work, he said. He said he’s not sure what will make the difference.
Contact information: Anyone with information about the case is asked to contact the Pueblo County Sheriff’s Department at 719-583-6400. Denver Post reporter Kirk Mitchell can be reached at 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com
(http://blogs.denverpost.com/coldcases/2009/02/15/serial-killersoldier-suspect-in-womans-strangling/)