unsolved southeast KY murders – Everybody Hates Charlie

Knox and Laurel Counties Kentucky: where criminals are commended and the innocent are condemned

The following was submitted by guest JurisDoctorate as a response to the article, “Rooted in corruption: the early days of Tom Handy, former Commonwealth Attorney of Knox, Laurel counties.” Eloquent and eye-opening, I decided the comment deserves its own dedicated page on this blog.

The most horrifying aspect of the entire kangaroo court system in Knox/Laurel Counties, is that Tom Handy railroaded defendants for over two decades and got away with it. The number of convictions overturned by the Kentucky Court of Appeals, the Kentucky Supreme Court and the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals — convictions procured by Tom Handy’s office between the late 1970s and the late 1990s — is both bewildering and disturbing. Just as the OP documented and outlined in the above story, many convictions were overturned due to egregious due process violations, fabricated or altered evidence, perjury on the part of the Commonwealth’s witnesses, failure to disclose exculpatory evidence to the defense (“Brady” violations), jury tampering, and blatant lies told by Tom Handy, Jimmy Phelps, Johnny Phelps, KSP troopers and other agents for the Commonwealth, while under oath. Any other prosecutor in any other jurisdiction would almost certainly have been disbarred for prosecutorial misconduct and prosecuted for repeatedly perpetrating fraud upon the judiciary in order to railroad criminal defendants of whom the Commonwealth knew were innocent. If the 27th Judicial Circuit (Knox & Laurel Counties) is not the most corrupt and nepotistic jurisdiction in the entire country, I would be hard-pressed to conceive of a scenario where corruption was more abundant.

Tom Handy’s tenure as Commonwealth’s Attorney and Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney is only the tiny tip of the proverbial iceberg. Laurel County now has a jailer who, since being elected into office, has made several millions of dollars by selling electronic cigarettes to inmates. Jailer Jamie Mosley owns Crossbar Electronic Cigarettes, a very lucrative company that manufactures and sells special safety designed electronic cigarettes to jails and prisons throughout the United States. That fact is not problematic in and of itself — it’s the manner in which Jailer Mosley founded and established his multimillion dollar business. Indeed, he started by selling his patented e-cigs to the inmates at the Laurel County Jail — the same jail he was elected to supervise and operate.

Federal and state laws are very clear that a genuine conflict of interest ensues when an elected jailer — who is paid by the county fiscal court — conducts business in a manner where financial gain is being obtained by way of the jailer’s official office. It’s double dipping first and foremost — running a profitable business while conducting the duties for which he is being paid by the good taxpayers. It would be no different than a KSP trooper working as security personnel for a business while on the clock at the KSP post. So, when this conflict of interest came to light and taxpayers began making inquiries into the legal and ethical standpoints of the matter, guess what Jailer Mosley posits to alleviate himself of criminal culpability and malfeasance of office? He did what any good Laurel County politician would do — he told a bold face lie, stating that it was his wife, not he, who owned and operated Crossbar Cigarettes.

By selling e-cigs for a couple of years to the inmates of the jail he was elected to supervise, as well as other county jails in Kentucky, Jamie Mosley’s entrepreneurship paid off and he was able to build the company into the very successful multimillion dollar business it is today. In 2018 alone, for instance, CrossBar profited more than $3.5 million bucks. And he built his foundation while being paid by the taxpayers of Laurel County. Incredibly, he continues to get away with it.

I should also mention the elected Sheriff of Laurel County, Mr. John Root. A more corrupt sheriff there has never been. Sheriff Root likewise profits while on the taxpayers’ dime. For example, he allows several local businesses in Laurel County to own and operate illegal gambling machines, AKA “poker machines”… for a modest fee of course. Proprietors of these small stores are given very clear directives regarding the financial arrangement for being allowed to operate. The Sheriff’s office hosts fundraisers and benefit events throughout the year for a colorful variety of “good causes.” Store owners who operate these poker machines are strongly encouraged to be forthcoming with modest donations to these good causes. In turn, they receive promises that law enforcement will turn a blind eye to the illegal gambling and will not make on-duty appearances at the businesses just as long as the riffraff doesn’t get out of hand. No obvious drug trafficking in the parking lot; no prostitutes being obvious with their goods and services; no public drunkenness to a degree where fights start breaking out; and, of course, free coffee and donuts for the boys in blue. After all, these officers are promoting “good causes” in the community.

These rules apply equally to poker rooms and cockfighting establishments. However, Sheriff Root has recently drawn unwanted attention from some of the more prominent animal rights organizations such as SHARK (SHOWING ANIMALS RESPECT AND KINDNESS), a group which is very active in investigating and trying to shut down venues where cockfights are held, as well as taking steps to have the venue owners arrested and prosecuted. Check out YouTube by searching for the keywords “SHARK,” “Supersheriff John Root” and “Cockfighting.” This group has put a rather intense spotlight on much of the corruption occurring in Laurel County.

To cover even a scintilla of the nepotism, cronyism and public corruption occurring in Laurel and Knox Counties, I would need to pen several chapters of a robust manuscript. Some occurrences are so baffling to believe that they sound like works of fiction. Moreover, I’m so paranoid posting this reply that I have taken steps to spoof my IP address and encrypt all my internet traffic by routing it through a foreign VPN server.

The politicians in the 27th Judicial Circuit would do well to employ caution in their everyday dealings and crookery. I recall that several years ago, Clay County, Kentucky, was knee-deep in political corruption and kangaroo court practices. Most people believed those powerful men could not be touched by the law. On July 9, 2009, the Clay County Circuit Court Judge, Cletus Maricle, Clay County School Superintendent Doug Adams, Clay County Clerk Freddy W. Thompson, and Clay County election officer William Stivers, as well as other Clay County officials, were named in a 13-count federal indictment. The indictment included Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO Act) charges relating to a county-wide vote-buying scheme which allegedly occurred from 2002 until 2007. The four aforementioned officials, as well as other defendants, were ultimately convicted of the charges per a plea agreement with the US Attorney’s office. Although the sentences handed down did not result in prison time, the ordeal ruined the men in the political arena.

Like the officials in Laurel County, the Clay County politicians were being far too bold and arrogant in their corrupt schemes. Their collective disregard for discreteness ultimately led to their demise. I’m no fortune teller, clairvoyant or divine seer, but I have a hunch that several of the top elected officials in Laurel County will likewise be named in a federal indictment sometime within the next two years. Good riddance is my position on it.

In true accord, I hope they get railroaded.

-JD

Full article from The Gleaner here

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/113872092/

and here

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/113872163/

Johnny Bizzack: a possible link between Melanie Flynn, Rebecca Moore, and Betty Carnes?

Update: I believe this obituary may reference John Bizzack Sr., father of John W. Bizzack. More ties between the Bizzack name and the rats’ nest in southeastern Kentucky will be documented in a future post.

More evidence surfaces of ties between Sally Denton’s Bluegrass Conspiracy players to southeast Kentucky: Johnny Bizzack, former Lexington police detective long suspected of helping to cover up the disappearance of Melanie Flynn and the death of Rebecca Moore, has at least one link to Knox County:

Johnny Bizzack served with Charles Hopper, Walter Hopper, H.M. Callihan ect as honorary pallbearers for Bill Collins — Corbin Times Tribune: Feb. 4, 1974. Melanie Flynn disappeared in January, 1977.

Johnny Bizzack, Charles Hopper, Walter Hopper Jr., and H.M. Callihan…

Never mind six degrees of separation, John Bizzack’s name alongside Knox County’s Charles Hopper and Walter Hopper Jr. of funeral home fame downright startled me, especially given the rumor that Betty Carnes had been seen with Charles at a Cincinnati night club before her murder, Charles’ own mysterious death before Delmar Partin’s trial, and the cloud of suspicion that’s followed Johnny Bizzack since Sally Denton zeroed in on his behavior in the Flynn and Moore cases. You may also remember when I questioned George Nichols. medical examiner, about the autopsy report not matching Betty Carnes, he said Walter Hopper, the coroner, was the one who contacted him to retrieve Betty’s body, except Walter Hopper was not the coroner at the time.

H.M. Callihan was in business with Jimmy Renfro around the same time as Melanie Flynn’s disappearance and Bizzack’s acquaintance with these notable Knox Countians:

H.M. Callihan and James "Jimmy" Renfro were partners in Big Four Enterprises

Remember what the CIA contractor I interviewed about Vance Mills, James Renfro and the cocaine trafficking going on in southeast Kentucky said?

I’ll never forget, Johnny Asher said to me one day, ‘We got it figured out back here. You kill a hog, we could never figure out how to get paid when he squeals. But we learned how to use every part of that hog when we’d kill him. But we could never figure our how to get paid for the squeal.’ I couldn’t figure that out for a long time. What in the heck does he mean by that?

“Then they had offered me, ‘If you ever die, we’ll give you a free funeral. If any of your friends ever die, we’ll give them free funerals.’ Well that’s almost unheard of. That’s real southern hospitality they showed me at the start. I didn’t know they was gonna take these people and stuff them full of guns and drugs and network them through the whole country. That’s what they got caught for. And they didn’t get jail for it! What you are dealing with, it’s pretty serious stuff.”

Delmar Partin: Murderer? Or Wrongfully Convicted?

Most people in Bell County Kentucky are familiar with the unsolved murders of Jennifer Bailey and Greta Henson. There are many other unsolved murders or missing persons cases in which the families have no closure, like the case of Robbie Hoskins or the case of Katherine Heck, both missing now for several years.

One murder case I came across that left me scratching my head was the conviction of Delmar Partin for the beating and beheading of Betty Carnes, a crime that occurred Sept. 26, 1993 at a manufacturing plant in Barbourville, Kentucky.

Tremco Inc. is a manufacturing/military-industrial contractor for Oak Ridge laboratories as well as a former contractor for the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion uranium enrichment plant. At the time, Tremco was located thirty miles away from Cumberland Gap, which explains how I initially stumbled onto this 20 year-old murder case: I was searching for local companies with ties to the nuclear industry.

Partin and Betty, coworkers at Tremco Inc., were previously involved in an affair. A Daily News August 18, 1994 newspaper article states:

Handy [the prosecuting attorney] said Carnes and her husband were separated in January 1993, and that she and Partin had an affair from that time until around Easter that year.

It is unclear if the affair precipitated the separation. We do know the timing of the separation of Betty and her husband coincides with the timing of the affair with Partin. The prosecutor is quoted in the same news article, saying:

This defendant, Delmar Partin, was the person who had the motive, and the person who had the last opportunity, and the person who had the will to commit that murder of Betty Carnes.(4)

Except this is not entirely true. Other people could also have been very angry with Betty: her husband Phillip, as well as Partin’s wife. Had Betty been romantically involved with other coworkers?

Beating, decapitating, and cleaning house- all in under 25 minutes

The prosecutor brought up Partin’s opportunity to commit the crime. However, the evidence presented at trial immediately raises doubt that Partin could have committed this crime. The question remains: how could the jury convict so quickly when the case is littered with reasonable doubt? The circumstances concerning the crime which clearly raises questions about Partin’s guilt are as follows:

-September 26, 1993: Betty Carnes was murdered, supposedly at the Tremco plant in Barbourville

-September 26, 1993- Delmar Partin is seen at the Tremco plant. Although it is his day off, he is there to drop off a magazine and some ammo to a coworker. There was no report of a gun used in the commission of this crime. What were the circumstances under which Partin was bringing these items to his co-worker on his day off? Was Partin actually lured to the plant the day of the murder?

-September 27, 1993: Betty’s body is discovered at the Tremco plant, beaten and decapitated, stuffed in a hazardous waste barrel slated for incineration. Delmar Partin is later arrested for the crime. (*Note: what prompted the employee to open a barrel that was scheduled to be incinerated?)

-Despite the bloodiness of the crime, the area in the plant where the crime allegedly occurred was surprisingly clean, save for blood spatter on the ceiling above the 55-gallon drum where Betty’s body was found. Barbara Wheeler, the KSP crime analyst at the time, said hair found in this blood spatter was determined not to belong to Betty. However, Wheeler said no DNA testing of the hairs were performed because no follicles were present. No mention is made if the blood spatter on the ceiling was DNA tested to determine if it actually belonged to Betty or an assailant. (1)

-Conveniently, a bloody apron and gloves were easily located in a room adjacent to where the body was found, which led investigators to conclude the murder took place at the plant. (1)

– No blood was found on Partin’s clothes, car or home.(2)

-The most time Partin had to commit this crime was 25 minutes. 25 minutes to bludgeon, decapitate, scour the crime scene area of blood, launder or change his clothes, wash up, and “pull himself together” after such a dramatic act. If Partin did commit this crime, and completed such an effective cleanup job, why would he leave bloody gloves and an apron behind to be found? I believe this evidence was planted to frame Partin. Otherwise, Partin would have placed the gloves and apron in the drum with the body to be burned.

-A coworker testified “there was nothing unusual about [Partin’s] demeanor when he left the lab area.” (1) In my opinion, this is because Partin did not commit the crime, had no realization Betty had been murdered and was stuffed in the drum in the plant, and therefore had no reason to behave any differently.

-Betty was missing almost an entire day before her body was discovered.(4) To assume this murder was committed and cleaned up in 25 minutes of those missing 24 hours, is incredibly irresponsible of investigators.(3)

Opportunities to acquire important evidence were ignored

-No DNA testing was performed on a hair follicle found in Betty’s hand.

-KSP Detective Grant Adams admitted under oath he did not take fingerprints at the scene, saying he assumed the assailant was wearing gloves. This immediately raises reasonable doubt that Partin was the murderer. Without fingerprints from the crime scene, we’ll never know how many other individuals were in that room with the drum containing the murdered body of Betty Carnes.(3)

-From what I can ascertain, no DNA testing was performed on the blood spatter on the ceiling above the crime scene that contained an unknown person’s hair. Clearly the presence of a third, unknown party whose hair is found in blood spatter at the crime scene, establishes reasonable doubt.

The truth is simple: there is no clear, convincing, let alone convicting evidence that Delmar Partin is Betty Carnes’ killer. Until this case is re-opened and evidence finally tested for DNA, Partin sits in a prison convicted of a crime I believe he did not commit. There is no honor, no justice in imposing a life sentence on a person, with not one speck of blood evidence or DNA to convict.

Assumptions make a mockery of justice

There were so many presumptions made in this case, and no physical evidence to support them. I’ve outlined several of these glaring assumptions that may have helped send an innocent man to prison:

1. Investigators assumed Betty never the left the plant in the almost 24-hour long time period she went missing.

2. Investigators assumed Betty was murdered at the plant.

3. A fiber found in the barrel containing Betty’s body was assumed to be from the same shirt Partin was wearing that day. However, the defense attorney revealed “many people at the plant wear such work shirts.”(4) There was also conflicting testimony on the color of the shirt Partin was wearing to and leaving the plant. If they cannot even decide what shirt he was wearing, how can they say definitively, this fiber was from his shirt?(1)

4. Delmar Partin was assumed to be the only person angry with Betty, because she supposedly ended their affair. Yet no mention is made if investigators assumed Betty’s husband was angry, who had to endure her affair with Partin. Or if Partin’s wife was angry. I would wager neither of these people were happy about Betty and Partin’s relationship. This establishes even more reasonable doubt, and certainly excludes Partin as the only suspect with motive.

5. Hair fragments found in a pocket knife and paper towels in Partin’s home were assumed to be Betty’s, even though there was no DNA proof of this. (1) Did the prosecutor expect the jury to believe that Betty’s decapitation in which “…head had been severed from her body…cut along the chin line to around to the shoulders…[and] it was an even cut,” (4) had been accomplished with a mere pocket knife? I submit that would be impossible. Messy, and impossible. Not to mention, no one is cleaning up a decapitation done with a pocket knife in under 25 minutes. Not even if they had the whole crew of Merry Maids to help.

August 1990: Jennifer Bailey violently murdered

January 1992: Greta Henson violently murdered

September 1993: Betty Carnes bludgeoned and decapitated

All three of these murders were violent, bloody, and involved some kind of dismemberment or mutilation.(7) Were these murders, coincidentally occurring during the Cumberland Gap Tunnel construction, connected?

The Sarasota Herald-Tribune reported in 2005 that Parsons Brinckerhoff had hired at least 30 inspectors with criminal records to work in a subsidiary of the company that held a $150 million contract with FEMA.(5) Interestingly, Parsons Brinckerhoff was one of the main contractors at Cumberland Gap Tunnel. If Parsons Brinckerhoff will hire inspectors with embezzlement, drug and robbery charges to ensure the safety of citizens, do you think they are above hiring construction personnel with criminal records to work on a tunnel?

Did law enforcement investigate or interview any of the out-of-state workers who were in the area at the time working on the Cumberland Gap Tunnel construction?

There is one more coincidence between the Bailey, Henson and Carnes’ murders. Even though the Carnes murder allegedly took place one county over, in Knox County, it was a Bell County judge who was appointed special judge over Partin’s bond hearing. The judge even rejected a request from the prosecutor to reinstate a higher, original bond of half a million dollars for Partin. Thus, Partin was freed on bond after “six properties and an unspecified amount of cash were posted to allow for Partin’s release.”(6) To tie in to the Bailey and Henson murders, the two women were cousins from Bell County; and one of the judge’s family members were associated with one of the cousins.(7)

References:

Tremco Commercial Sealants and Waterproofing: a “frequent partner in military construction projects”

(1) “Decapitation case defense rests quickly.” Daily News, August 23, 1994

(2) “Decapitation case deliberated.” Kentucky New Era, August 24, 1994

(3) “Time now a key in decapitation case.” Daily News, August 21, 1994

(4) “Decapitation trial begins in Knox.” Daily News, August 18, 1994

(5) “Some FEMA inspectors had criminal records.” Sarasota Herald-Tribune, April 25, 2005

(6) “Man who allegedly decapitated co-worker freed.” Kentucky New Era, January 17, 1994

(7) confidential source from Bell County with credible knowledge of the victims