Captive Prey – Bizarre Death of Incarcerated Native American

Photo courtesy of the Justice For Raymond Eacret Facebook Page

He was supposed to be released from the Humboldt County Jail in time for dinner. He called his mom to let her know that all of the charges were dropped and he was coming home. He would never make it. Instead, he was beaten to a bloody pulp and strung up in his cell. The case was labeled a suicide and dismissed. Who did this to Raymond? Why wasn’t he allowed to go home?

Raymond Johnathan Eacret, 34 was arrested on June 19, 2015, for a misdemeanor parole violation and was scheduled to be released by June 26, 2015. He wouldn’t survive that long. He was found dead within hours of his release. Immediately conflicting reports arose around this young man’s death. At first, they said he was found hanging in his cell. Then it was reported that he was found hanging in the medical unit of the prison which a fellow inmate claims its impossible to do in that facility. A witness claims to have seen them bring Raymond into the Medical unit beaten, bruised, and unconscious.

The distraught mother tried to see her son, but the coroner refused until after an autopsy was completed. Raymond Eacret a card-carrying member of the Yurok Tribe was denied his final rights as a Native American. When Sheila was finally able to see her son she was shocked by the state of his body. He had two black eyes, a broken nose, and was covered in bruises. It looked as if he’d been kicked in the back and his ribs broken. They were left protruding through the skin. There was a three-inch deep cut across part of his neck, but not all the way around it. A secondary bruise circled his neck but was much lighter in color making you wonder if someone had strangled him to cover up a beating.

A few hours before his death, Raymond had called his mom to tell her not to worry. The charges against him had been dropped and he would be home by dinner time. If this were a suicide why would he call his mother? Why would he commit suicide when he was being released and the charges were dropped? It didn’t make sense. Raymond had struggled with meth addiction but was trying desperately to start over. Why would he commit suicide now? How did he get broken ribs and bruises from a suicide?

If you’d like more information check out my True Crime Tuesday Video where the team and I cover this case along with a few more from this same area.

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Shattered: Behind Every Story Is A Shattered Life (Synova’s Case Files Series)

Follow the heart-rending cases Synova first wrote about on her blog in 2018. Filled with missing persons’ cases, unsolved homicides, and even serial killer cases, this book will give you a greater insight into the shattered lives behind every story. Cases Included in this book: Jayme Closs, Haley Owens, Josh Robinson, Timothy Cunningham, Carol Blades, Pam Hupp, Arthur Ream, Angela Hammond, The Springfield Three, Jennifer Harris, Danny King, Angie Yarnell, Jack Robinson, Madelin Edman, Alexis Patterson, Amber Wilde, Sandra Bertolas, Jennifer Casper-Ross, Crystal Soulier, Jody Ricard, Carmen Owens, Brandon Tyree McCullough & The I-70 Serial Killer

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September 18, 2024 0

The Strange Death of Codie Novack: Domestic Violence or Accident?

Photo courtesy of the Justice For Codie Facebook Page

“Your daughter is on an autopsy table”

The phrase rings in the poor mother’s ears to this day. April had been calling around conducting her own missing persons investigation trying to find her daughter Codie Novack. There had been issues of domestic violence in her relationship and now Codie had missed two appointments on the morning of January 5th, 2023. She hadn’t come home, and she wouldn’t answer the phone. Where was Codie?

“Your daughter is on an autopsy table”

Strangely the GPS on her phone said she was at the sheriff station but when this desperate mother called she was repeatedly told that Codie was not there. Finally, she gets a hold of the boyfriend and he utters the phrase that would change her life forever.

Cody

Codie Novack, 27, was staying in a shared house in Ocala Florida at the time of her death. It was a three-bedroom house that was rented out by the room. She had her own space but shared the living quarters with other people. They weren’t necessarily her friends, but this was her living arrangement at the moment.

Several “narratives” emerged at the beginning of this brutal saga, but none of them made sense to anyone who knew Codie.

The boyfriend was the one who actually called 911 around midnight. At 12:17 a.m. the EMTs declared her officially dead. His narrative was that she fell hit her head and neck and then decided to go to sleep. He checked on her a couple of hours later and found her cold.

The EMTs found her covered in bruises, but the report also states that rigor mortis had set in and she had a lot of visible lividity. These two things don’t happen instantly upon death. Rigor mortis takes up to 2 hours to begin its processes. This means that Cody

Codie died closer to 10:00 pm on January 4th. Of course, all of this is unofficially my opinion. When April tried to ask law enforcement about the time of death she was told that those were TV answers, insinuating that the science wasn’t legitimate. If you study how rigor mortis works you will realize that this has been a go-to method for finding times of death for decades. So what science is illegitimate here?

Codie was covered in bruises and there were some lacerations on her face. Strangely there were lacerations on both sides of her face as if she had stood herself up and had fallen again. The strange bruising patterns around the neck and collarbone are what concerned me. Yet none of these bruises seemed to change the narrative of the story. She has bruises around her elbows as if someone has grabbed her, and bruises on her legs all the way around her kneecaps. Strangely she doesn’t have any bruising on the palms of her hands as if she fell and caught herself. Instead, she has bruises on the knuckles, backs of her hands, and her wrists as if she were covering her head in a defensive maneuver.

I cannot go into detail on all of the strange bruises that were found on this poor woman’s body, but none of them add up to an accidental death in my book.

After fighting for 19 months, April still doesn’t have any definitive answers to any of the questions about her daughter’s case. The only definite answer is she is gone, yet the case was closed within thirty days. Check out my interview with April using the link below.

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September 11, 2024 0

“I killed the wrong Sharon Jones” – A Murderer’s Phone call

Image courtesy of Who Murdered Sharon Beatrice Jones? Facebook Page

On the day of the funeral, a grieving sister received the worst of phone calls.

“I’m sorry. I killed the wrong Sharon Jones,” the caller hung up before she could get more information. What happened to the ECSU student in dorm room #125 on March 4, 1984? How did she end up strangled with a belt and tied to her own bedpost? Forty years and still no one knows why.

Sharon B. Jones, 21 returned to the ECSU campus early from spring break to prepare for her student teaching job. She arrived around 9:30 pm and spoke to the Assistant Housing Director, Herbert Williams to gain entry into the Mitchell Lewis Dorm on the S.E. side of the campus. Williams and his cousin Adrian Douglas escorted the woman to her room.

Image courtesy of Who Murdered Sharon Beatrice Jones? Facebook Page

Monday morning Sharon’s body was discovered in the room. She was naked and lying face down. She had been strangled with a white belt tied to a bedpost. There was evidence of blunt force trauma above the right eye and bruising above the left ear. Strangely the window was broken from the inside of the room leaving glass outside on the ground. A small amount of blood was found on the windowsill. Detectives found a bloody dumbbell under one of the beds when searching the room.

It seemed like the case was doomed from the beginning. Williams and Douglas told investigators that Jones was nervous walking to her room alone when she noticed a light above her dorm room when no one was supposed to be there. Investigators researched the light and found there was one other woman who had stayed on campus during spring break. Her name was Angela Jones. (No Relation)

Angela was dating a 31-yr-old man by the name of Delantry Terrial Tafton. Tafton was somewhat of a campus troublemaker and had recently received a 14-week suspension. Although he wasn’t supposed to be on campus, he had spent the night with Angela and left around 7 am the next morning. Both Angela and “Tee” claimed a stranger had knocked on their door around 11 pm asking for their names.

The police chief stated within days that the motive must have been malice or jealousy since they couldn’t find evidence of a robbery and the sexual assault tests were inconclusive. They dialed in on Tafton and refused to look elsewhere. This hasty rush to a motive effectively eliminated other possible suspects and is most likely the reason why this case is still cold 40 years later.

During the chaos that engulfed the campus after the brutal murder, the funeral arrangements were made for Sharon Beatrice Jones. On the day of the funeral, Sharon’s sister Lisa gets a phone call from a stranger. The man sounded young. Before she could say anything, the man pleaded his case.

“I’m sorry. I killed the wrong Sharon Jones.”

Before the confused woman could respond the line went dead. Lisa didn’t know what to think and now three decades later no one knows why Sharon died or who killed her. I realize Tafton shouldn’t have been on campus, but I’m wondering why no one thought it was suspicious for two men to escort one girl to her dorm room all because of a light. Did anyone investigate Williams and his cousin? Why was his cousin there anyways? Did he work there?

If you have any information on this case, please contact the Elizabeth City Police Department at (252) 335-4321

This blog post is an excerpt from Synova’s book: Shattered

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September 6, 2024 0

A Serial Killer’s Little Black Book – The Tiffany Sessions Murder Mystery

This blog post is an excerpt from Synova’s book: Shattered

The daughter of a powerful real estate mogul was snatched on her evening powerwalk just a short distance from her apartment. Thirty-five years later cold case investigators find a clue in a serial killer’s tattered black address book. Eleven years have passed since the discovery, and still, Tiffany Sessions’ body hasn’t been found. What happened to this college student?

________________________________________

Tiffany Louise Sessions, 20 was a finance/economics major at the University of Florida in 1989. Her roommate said she returned from the holiday break on a fitness craze trying to lose a goal of 14lbs. She had a trip planned and like many other coeds wanted to look great for the summer. This had prompted the young blond to start power walking in the evenings near her apartment complex. On the night of February 9, 1989, she set off promising the roommate she would return within the hour. She left behind her keys, wallet, and jewelry, but not her favorite golden watch given to her by her father. She never took that thing off.

When Tiffany didn’t show up within the hour, the concerned roommate jumped in her car and drove along Tiffany’s usual route. Perhaps she had fallen and needed medical attention. Tiffany was nowhere in sight, and the police were called in. That phone call would set off a thirty-five year investigation that is still unsolved today.

Tiffany’s parents divorced when she was three months old, but both parents vowed to find their daughter whatever it took. Tiffany was Hillary Sessions’s only child. She set out trying to find every way possible to distribute flyers and posters. Patrick Sessions was the President of a major real estate corporation, and that’s how he handled the case. Instantly, he took charge and began pouring resources and manpower into the search. While there is much animosity between the two parents, and it’s easy to start blaming each other, both of them are doing everything in their power to find Tiffany.

A thousand volunteers joined to search for the missing coed, but her body was never located. Police plowed through false leads, false confessions, and pranksters preying on the victim’s families. Twenty-five years passed without answers. In 2014, the authorities finally found an obscure connection that pointed to an incarcerated serial killer.

Photo courtesy of Murderpedia.com

Paul Rowles was convicted in a case that had a ton of eerie similarities. The astute detective began to research Rowles movements at the time of Tiffany’s disappearance and found everything lined up. Rowles not only lived in the area, but he also worked delivering scaffolding to a construction site along Tiffany’s jogging route. Rowles had missed work on the very day of Tiffany’s abduction and moved from the area a short time afterward.

Investigators visited the prison to interrogate Rowles but found he was dying of cancer in the prison hospital. The convicted serial killer was in a coma. Time had run out. After the monster’s death, investigators raided his cell for any clues. There they found a tattered black address book. In this book, he had documented many illicit things including the date of Tiffany’s disappearance. Beside the fateful date was written, “#2.”

Photo courtesy of Alachua County Sheriff’s Office

According to the timeline of murders, Tiffany Sessions would have been his second killing. Although the investigators and the family agree that Paul Rowles killed Tiffany, there hasn’t been enough evidence to prove it without a doubt, and Tiffany’s body has never been recovered. The eerie clue was found eleven years ago, and investigators are still running down leads.

Do you have any information that would help solve this mystery? If so, please contact the Alachua County Sheriff’s Cold Case Unit at (352) 367-4161.