Arnette - Links Only...

[Pauli]

No discussion.. links only

[Battnt]

Sadorus woman last seen Monday 5/21/07

http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2007/05/23/sadorus_woman_last_seen_monday

A Boyfriend's Plea for Help

http://illinoishomepage.net/content/fulltext/?cid=6138

Search under way for missing Champaign woman

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=local&id=5335886

Disappearance of Sadorus woman perplexes friends

http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2007/05/25/disappearance_of_sadorus_woman_perplexes_friends

Police expand ground search for missing Sadorus woman

http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2007/05/31/police_expand_ground_search

Why not search dogs in hunt for woman?

http://www.news-gazette.com/news/opinions/letters/2007/06/10/why_not_search_dogs_in_hunt_for_woman

[Battnt]

Transcript from Nancy Grace 05/25/07

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0705/25/ng.01.html

[Battnt]

Friends Respond to Arnette Search

http://illinoishomepage.net/content/fulltext/?cid=8743

Remains Found Confirmed

http://illinoishomepage.net/content/fulltext/?cid=8755

[Battnt]

Robert Arnette Hearing 10/9/07

http://illinoishomepage.net/media_player.php?media_id=5224

[Battnt]

Estranged husband arraigned in murder

At the request of Public Defender Randy Rosenbaum, appointed as defense attorney, the judge set a preliminary hearing for Oct. 23 and a pre-trial hearing set for Nov. 6.

Rosenbaum asked that bond be reduced from $5 million, arguing that Robert Arnette has many ties to the community and is no flight risk. But the judge agreed with Assistant State's Attorney Steve Ziegler that the nature of the charge and penalties and prior failures to appear in court make him a flight risk. The judge continued the bond amount set over the weekend.
...
Ziegler said in court that Mrs. Arnette had been married but separated from Robert Arnette. The prosecutor said sheriff's deputies had been called to her home in Sadorus on May 20, when she reported that she was with a man she had been dating and was afraid that Robert Arnette was coming to the house.

The prosecutor said Mrs. Arnette told her husband that she no longer wished to continue their relationship.
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"He admits taking her body out of the home," Ziegler said in court. "He admits leaving her body, but he denies burying her."
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In court, Ziegler also said Robert Arnette called Mrs. Arnette's phone and left a message asking where she was, because they had arranged to meet.

The prosecutor said that was apparently an effort by Robert Arnette to "cover his tracks."

Rietz said cell phone records show that the call made on Robert Arnette's phone and received on Mrs. Arnette's phone bounced off of the same cell-phone tower, which would not have been the case if he had been in Champaign and her phone had been in Sadorus.

http://www.news-gazette.com/news/lo...igned_in_murder

[Battnt]

Murder suspect took his case to the Web

During four-and-a-half months of investigation and searches for Naomi Arnette, her estranged husband told investigators he had been to her home the morning she disappeared but she wasn't there.

And Robert Arnette didn't just tell authorities that story – he posted it on a CourtTV message board dedicated to his estranged, missing wife.
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He began posting to the Web site May 30, according to his user profile under the screen name "Deedrick." The alias is his late mother's last name.

Arnette clearly identified himself as Mrs. Arnette's husband on the message board. CourtTV declined to comment for this story, and therefore couldn't confirm Deedrick's identity. But Arnette's sister, Angela Roy, has confirmed that Deedrick was indeed Robert Arnette and that she alerted investigators that he was posting on the Web site.
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His presence on the CourtTV message board was widely known. When the topic became its own forum in mid-September, a thread was dedicated to Arnette's statements. Some of the hundreds of people posting on the board used these statements and tried to construct a timeline for the morning Mrs. Arnette went missing.
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Arnette, who posted using the name "Deedrick" 182 times, described what he said were the events of that morning, his relationship with his wife and his criminal record.
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Other CourtTV users accused Arnette of involvement in his wife's disappearance, and Arnette posted many messages defending himself and detailing his worries about what happened to her.
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Lt. Ed Ogle of the Champaign County sheriff's office said he was aware that Arnette – among many others – were posting on the message board about the case. Neither Arnette's postings nor other speculation in the forum influenced their investigation into Mrs. Arnette's disappearance and death.
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Roy saw users talking about her brother, so she told him and he started posting, too, she said. Roy said she thinks some users may be from the Sadorus and central Illinois area, but others live around the country. The forum has forged close relationships, and users gave Roy tips on what to do about Mrs. Arnette's disappearance, including asking Texas EquuSearch to help find her. The Texas-based volunteer search organization coordinated the search in late September during which Mrs. Arnette's remains were discovered.

Roy said she was careful about what she posted on the public board, but sent private messages to other users about the case.

http://www.news-gazette.com/news/lo...case_to_the_web

[Battnt]

Robert Arnette Preliminary Hearing

Arnette's family continues to struggle with news their brother may have killed his estranged wife. His sister, Angela Roy, says she hates her brother for what he's put their family through. Robert Arnette appeared in court Tuesday on video denying both killing his wife and hiding her body. Naomi's remains were found in a shallow grave just south of Sadorus about three weeks ago. Since then, Arnette hasn't been able to keep his story straight. In an email Robert Arnette's sister sent to a friend and shared with WCIA, she said, "Robert lied to us all for months." She went on to say, "The pain he has caused me and his children is unbearable...yet on the other hand, he is my baby brother and all I see now is that little boy holding his pet rock and it hurts so badly to see what he has become." Arnette will be back in court next month. His bond remains set at 5 million dollars.

http://illinoishomepage.net/content/fulltext/?cid=9265

[Battnt]

ARNETTE TRIAL CONTINUED

http://www.wicd15.com/news/news.shtml#news3

[Battnt]

Court still waiting on forensic reports in Arnette case.

http://www.wandtv.com/Global?story.a...&nav=menu589_2 (includes video)

[2Hope4]

Parental rights terminated for Arnette chldren
By Meg Thilmony
Thursday January 31, 2008
URBANA – Two men's parental rights for the seven children of slain Sadorus mother Naomi Wilson Arnette were terminated Wednesday.

Judge Holly Clemons terminated parental rights for Joseph Wilson, who had five children with Mrs. Arnette, and Robert Arnette, who had two children with her.

The decision came during a juvenile court proceeding at the Champaign County Courthouse. Both men admitted in a December proceeding that they were unfit to parent their children.

Arnette is facing charges of first-degree murder and concealing Mrs. Arnette's death. Her remains were found in a shallow grave south of Sadorus at the end of September. Before that, she'd been missing since May.

"Quite frankly, he cannot be trusted with his children," Clemons said of Arnette. "They deserve much, much, much better."

And of Wilson, Clemons cited several reasons for terminating parental rights to the three girls and two boys he had with Mrs. Arnette. Those include his long estrangement from the children and inability to complete court-ordered substance abuse counseling and anger-management classes.

"If he really wanted to be a father, he would have swallowed his pride," Clemons said, and taken the steps necessary to visit with and parent his children. "That speaks volumes."

Sherman Brown of Champaign, representing Wilson, and Assistant Public Defender David Appleman, representing Arnette, both argued that terminating the men's parental rights wasn't in the children's best interests.

Brown cited the move of the seven children into two separate foster homes, a change from their previous placement with Robert Arnette's sister, Angela Roy. He said those homes have no guarantees for permanent placement.

Brown said Wilson was "kicking himself in the rear end" for mistakes he's made regarding his children, but his continued parental rights would provide potential for a renewed relationship with his kids, especially the younger ones.

Appleman said Arnette has always maintained love and concern for his children, though he hadn't always made wise choices.

Appleman told Clemons he'd like to see the case continued.

The seven children will continue to be in custody and guardianship of the Department of Children and Family Services.

Jack DeLaMar, the attorney for the seven children and their guardian ad litem, told Clemons that terminating the fathers' rights is a way to show the children respect after the tragic events in their lives and refocus them on the future.

"We're asking the court to take a tough step," DeLaMar said, "to gently but firmly refocus (Wilson's two youngest children) on the future. The past is just too painful."

During a permanency hearing following the termination of the fathers' rights, DeLaMar told Clemons he'd like the goal for Mrs. Arnette's five youngest children to be adoption. The youngest is 8 years old.

For the two older children, the goal is independence, DeLaMar said. The eldest is 17.

Appleman said Arnette wants to appeal the termination.


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Find this article at:
http://www.news-gazette.com/news/2008/01/31/parental_rights_terminated

[Grande]

Arnette gets 60 years for murder of estranged wife
By Mary Schenk
Monday, November 3, 2008 9:52 AM CDT

URBANA – A former Sadorus man convicted of murdering his wife and hiding her body will spend the next several decades behind bars.

Champaign County Judge Tom Difanis Monday sentenced Robert Arnette, 39, to 60 years in prison for the murder of Naomi Arnette to be followed by another five years for concealment of a homicidal death. He'll have to serve 100 percent of the murder sentence and at least half of the concealment sentence.

A jury convicted Arnette in August. Mrs. Arnette, 36, was reported missing May 21, 2007. Her remains were found four months later by volunteer searchers in a shallow grave at the edge of a farm field south of Sadorus.

Although a pathologist could not pinpoint the cause of her death, he said a rayon shirt or blouse twisted tightly around her neck could have caused her strangulation.

One of the inconsistent statements Arnette gave sheriff's investigators was that he found his wife's body hanging in her basement and took it down to spare her children from finding her. He further said he put the body in a plastic tote and drove it to woods south of Sadorus.

http://www.news-gazette.com/news/courts_crime_fire/2008/11/03/arnette_gets_60_years_for_murder_of_estranged_wife

[AmandaReckonwith]

This case is obscure now. Time passes, life goes on.
Since this forum basically was "born" out of this case, I thought some of you who remember might like to see the photobucket album of saved pictures.

http://s296.photobucket.com/albums/mm166/crankycrankerson/Naomi%20Arnette/