Holly Dembie: The Devils in the Details

Last week the full 911 taped conversation was released by the Lorain County Sheriff's Department pertaining to the murder of Holly Dembie, 33 years old, and mother of a young son.

I was disturbed listening to the call placed by the killer, Lorain County Correctional Officer, William Dembie. When the connection was made to 911, Dembie asked whom he was talking with as he identified himself to the dispatcher. The operator, when dispatching emergency response personnel, could be heard saying "he's a CO, I know him personally." The dispatcher was upset, trying to maintain composure, you could hear it in her voice.

Click below to listen to the 911 call (Language may not be appropriate for all audiences):

Mobile users click here: http://5.wews.com/zrj

Dembie, on the other hand, was matter of fact. "I killed my wife, oh my ex-wife" and he laughed. During the call Dembie said, " I had enough." The 911 operator did her best to keep the situation calm and under control during the call and Dembie, when asked, stated his weapons were locked up and he was not armed.

In a bond hearing last week Dembie's defense attorney stated in the court proceedings that his client was a victim of "battered spouse syndrome," and based on whatever circus carpet he flew in on, was trying to have the charge reduced from murder to manslaughter because of "evidence." The evidence amounts to Dembie's immediate family going on what they may have been told by Dembie not anything they ever witnessed.

Dembie killed his wife because she was ending the marriage and he was furious. What Dembie had enough with was the fact that Holly was no longer able to be controlled by him. A classic, by the book, case of intimate partner violence resulting in homicide.

The prosecutor should likely consider building a time line of events 2-3 weeks before Dembie murdered his wife.

• Take cell phones (is there a tracking device on it), computers, the GPS devices if on one or both of the vehicles (get a print out.)
• If possible find out when the knife was purchased.
• Why was the child with the mother-in-law? Who made those arrangements?
• Go into Dembie's time on the job to see when he punched in or out 20 days prior to establish pattern of conduct.
• Go and secure the phone records from where he worked in Lorraine County to see how many times he called her during working hours.
• Look at the computers in the office where he worked get print out using his sign in access code.
• If possible subpoena his credit card records to see if there was a charge for computer services that could show tracking.
• Speak to the attorney Holly Dembie met with prior to her death.

If William Dembie is a victim of Battered Spouse Syndrome, I will eat my computer board!

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Susan Murphy Milano is a staff member of the Institute for Relational Harm Reduction and Public Pathology Education. She is a specialist with intimate partner violence prevention strategies and high risk cases and available for personal consultations through the Institute. She is also part of the team at Management Resources Limited of New York.

Susan is the author of "Time's Up: A Guide on How to Leave and Survive Abusive and Stalking Relationships,"Moving out, Moving on, and Defending Out Lives. Susan is the host of The Susan Murphy Milano Show, "Time'sUp!" . She is a regular contributor to the nationally syndicated "The Roth Show" with Dr Laurie Roth and a co-host on Crime Wire.

If you would like to schedule Susan Murphy Milano for interviews, please contact: ImaginePublicity PO BOX 14946 Surfside Beach, SC 29587 Phone: 843.808.0859 email- contact@imaginepublicity.com

A Special Place in Hell For Killer With A Badge?

A cop whom according to reports and former officers working along side of him "should have been stripped of his commission as a law enforcement" officer long ago. A departments rank and file that looked the way over an anrgry and controlling cop on Friday evening cost two people and possibly a third their lives.

Charlotte Grahn filed for divorce in August of 2009. She was afraid of her husband a Clackamas County, Oregon deputy sheriff. Charlotte believed if she pressed charges for the beatings he would get fired from his job. And that would only make Jeffrey Grahn more violent. But others knew like Sheriff Craig Roberts and on a private site for law enforcement someone in the know commented:

"Unfortunately the guy had been unstable for quite a while and the Boss chose to ignore it. This is not a surprise for those who had to work with Grahn.

When you're married, have kids, choose to get a girlfriend in the courthouse, that ends up getting you moved from the courthouse to graveyard patrol. When you suck as a Patrol Sgt. because none of the troops trust you, then you divorce your wife, but can't control her afterwards..... God speed Charlotte, you were an angel to put up with him.
Grahn...rot in hell!!"

Another law enforcement officer on site said:
"Suffice it to say that for those of us that had to work with this SOB, this was no surprise. Ask yourself why senior guy's who could hold day shift for the rest of their careers would bid off to nights when Grahn bid days?"

Charlotte was out for the evening with two of her girlfriends and a local establishment in town. Jeffrey Grahn walked in and the couple began to have a heated discussion. She went outside to get away from him. He shot her in the parking lot. Then this piece of grabage went back inside and shot the pther two women and the table. Kathleen Hoffmeister died instantly and Victoria Schulmerich is in critical condition fighting for her life. After shooting all three women Jeffrey Grahn committed suicide.

Now, three children are orphans because a small town refused to see that Jeffrey Grahn had no buisiness as a sworn law enforcement officer. They all knew that this guy was trouble. They all knew he was dangerous and yet his remained in a position of authority. Grahn could not deal with the fact that his wife was no longer under his private lock and key.

Because the police department and the union looked away they need to be held accountable. The Grahn children and the surviving families of the two victims shot likely have a lawsuit to file in the near future. The Attorney General John Kroger office needs to hire a special task force and make approppriate command changes within this depatrtment. A state-wide protocol should be considered and implemented for officers going through divorce. As in this tragic case the rank and file including the employee's within the department must be held accountable.

No one was willing to take action and come forward when Grahn started exhibiting strange behavior.

On Friday, February 12, 2oo9, the brotherhood of the badge kept it's code of silence and innocent lives were hijacked all in the name of shear ignorance.

The “Mammone Monster:” A Killing Machine

Sporting a style fashioned from the movie “No Country For Old Men’s” savage killer, James Mammone III has been found guilty of three murders and several other charges. Not just any run of the mill murder of a stranger for money, not a murder for sex, and not a murder of passion, but a cold blooded, calculated and premeditated act of a killing machine carrying out a spree of violence against his own children and family.

In June of 2008 Marcia Eakin (Mammone) filed for an order of protection and James was arrested on a charge of domestic violence, and according to the court records he made threats to kill her. This order was still in force on June 8, 2009 when James Mammone decided it was time to carry out his murder plan that had been in the works for a year. His motive was to "inflict emotional pain" upon his ex-wife, and how better to do that than to kill the very beings that were her life, her children, her mother, the man she was dating, and ultimately Marcia herself.

Question for the judges and attorneys who may be reading this: "Should a person who is under an order of protection, has made threats to kill, and has been arrested for violence, be granted unsupervised visitations with their children? How did someone convicted of domestic violence have access to weapons?"

The marriage between James and his wife, Marcia, was over. Marcia had to file for divorce in secret, keeping all knowledge and documentation away from James and their home. James discovered her plans and, according to her trial testimony, he said to the children, "It was time for mommy to go to her grave" as well as telling Marcia "If you leave me, I will kill you and the children." Marcia was granted the divorce and moved to a location that was undisclosed to James for her safety per the divorce agreement. The visitation exchanges of the children, 3 and 5, were ordered to be made at the home of Margaret Eakin, Marcia's mother.

The day of June 8, Marcia and James met at her mother's, exchanged the children and she played tennis with her friend, Harold Benjamin Carter. She started receiving text messages from James in rapid succession, asking her to meet him and the children for ice cream, then escalating to a level that seriously concerned Marcia and her friend. Marcia called 911 when he told her he "was ready to die for my love tonight." The final text message from James read, "Last chance."

While Marcia and her friend, along with police and other personal friends were scouring the area searching for his car, James Mammone, according to his plan, took his two children, strapped in their car seats, to the parking lot of the Westminster Community Church and brutally stabbed each one of them in their necks. But he was not finished with this night of terror.

He then drove to the home of his children's grandmother, found her in a bedroom and shot her, then beat her with a metal lamp. Her husband, Marcia's father, escaped being killed by minutes, according to Mammone himself.

As all of this horror is playing out, Marcia had no idea what was transpiring. She and her friend return to her home. At around 5:30 am, James Mammone is found pouring gasoline all over the truck belonging to Harold Benjamin Carter and trying to set it on fire. Marcia once again alerts 911, saying that he also was trying to get into the house. You can hear the call HERE. Mammone fails at setting the truck on fire, and leaves the area with his two dead children still strapped in their car seats.

Police finally caught up with James Mammone entering his own driveway. He was cooperative at the time of his arrest and confessed to the killings because he wanted to "inflict deep emotional pain upon his ex-wife."

James Mammone lost his power and control over his wife and children, but in the final, desperate act of exerting his "manhood" he willfully became a killing machine, the "Mammone Monster," in the same way Matthew Schneider did when he murdered his ex-wife, Brandy Schneider in the same Stark County, Ohio area just weeks ago. Brandy also lost her life to a system which doesn't take "protection" seriously and allows women and children to die needlessly at the hands of a proven abuser.

There are many steps along the process of escaping a violent relationship that victims should be given clear and concise instruction on how to keep themselves and their children safe. It should be the standard when anyone has applied for an order of protection, has been hospitalized for injuries inflicted, or even when police are called to a home. Women (men) and children do not need to die at the hands of a manipulative, controlling abuser.

Manhunt Continues for David Kromer

She was abducted from her home town in Sandusky, Ohio. Over the weekend in a field filled with debris a few states away in Erie, PA, the State police discovered the body of Carla Westholfen.

According to Erie officials the Erie Times News reported that the victim had a "number of wounds" that appeared to have been caused by a "sharp force instrument." The cause of death was listed as "suspicious."

Recently, the woman ended a relationship with a man she was dating by the name of David L. "Jody" Kromer ( shown below) 56, of Margaretta Township, Ohio. Police have issued a nationawide manhunt for this individual.

David Kromer is 6' 1" tall, weighing 210 pounds, he has blond hair and blue eyes. He is possibly driving a blue 2000 Jeep Cherokee with Ohio license plate DQW 3569 or Carla Westhofen's tan 2002 GMC Envoy with Ohio license plate AXS 6883.

Anyone one who has seen or has information about this case is asked to call the Erie County Sheriff's office at 419-625-7951. Police have issued warrants for David Kromer's arrest on charges of murder and kidnapping.

After Carla Westhofen ended the relationship and concerened for her safety she obtained a court order of protection. David Kromer violated that court court order and was arrested. He posted bond and likely continued to stalk Carla. In some situations obtaining a court order of protection or having the abuser arrested can anger the abuser. And when the person ends the relationships does not implement safety changes as it pertains to their residence, security alarms or mace, self defense the outcome can be deadly. If you are a victim it is important to have a personalized safety plan.

In addition, the National Domestic Violence coalition provides assistance to shelter, information and services free of charge in your afrea 24/7. Please before you secure an order of protection consider placing a call for steps you can implement, if you are able, prior to obtaining a court order. The number is 1-800-799-SAFE.

Registered Sex Offender, Drug Dealer Hired as Traffic Cop

Lorenzo Shepherd spent years behind bars for being a drug dealer and sex offender, but now he's being given a second chance through a program operated by the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Over three decades, Shepherd has been arrested, charged and convicted of more than a dozen crimes, from theft, to drug trafficking, to rape.

He's also a registered sex offender. Beginning next week, he will be a Cleveland police traffic control officer thanks to the program and the Cleveland police.

Even though his most recent conviction for drug trafficking was two years ago, Shepherd said he's rehabilitated.

"You can trust me. You can feel safe around me," he said.
But Cleveland's police union is outraged by the hiring of Shepherd.

"A guy who has spent his entire life breaking laws is now in charge of enforcing them? It's a ridiculous notion," said union president Steve Loomis. "It's asinine. It's complete insanity to have this guy on the payroll within the Department of Public Safety."

Shepherd, who has been arrested by some of the people he will now serve with, said he is worried how the officers will react to him.

He asks them to give him a chance.