JACKSON CO.—Evidence that was heavily slanted by ISP testimony failed to sway a six-person coroner’s jury into believing that a young woman’s death a year ago in Carbondale was suicide.
And the tint of the entire matter, coupled with the business the proposed suspect’s father is involved in, has given many citizens across many southern Illinois counties cause to be concerned, as it appears that “connections” will cause sworn officers to prevaricate—if not outright lie—on the stand, and for public officials tasked with seeing justice done to overlook the prevarication.
Background
A Jackson County coroner’s inquest, held January 31, 2013 as an investigative tool in the death of Molly Young, was the scene of the questionable testimony.
Young was 22 when she was shot to death in the home of her on-again/off-again boyfriend, Richie Minton, 21, in Carbondale.
Her body was discovered in Minton’s room on the morning of March 24, 2012; it was determined she’d died a few hours before she was found lying in proximity of Minton’s bed.
But through a series of events that may have been ensured by Minton’s father, Richard ‘Flip’ Minton, and his mother Kathy Knapp-Minton, both of whom work in the law enforcement field in neighboring Franklin County, proper investigative procedures were not undertaken by responding law enforcement, both before and after it was finally determined that Minton could have been the only person present when Young was shot to death.
Richie Minton himself worked as a dispatcher at the Carbondale police department.
All along, Young’s death has been at least alluded to by law enforcement in the area as being a ‘suicide,’ despite the nearly-impossible way this would have had to have been accomplished considering how the handgun used would have had to have been held, and the bullet trajectory that was ultimately determined.
Yet that’s what coroner’s juries are for: determining, for a death certificate and as an investigative tool, cause and manner of death.
And this is what three men and three women from Jackson County finally found on the afternoon of the 31st, although their decision on the manner of death was a little less than what officials in charge of the whole thing seemed bent on putting to rest.
Of the three “manners” of death from which they could have chosen—homicide, suicide or undetermined—the jury chose ‘undetermined.’
And they qualified it by adding that this ‘undetermined’ status was reached “due to lack of evidence presented”…even though it was the state police’s finest investigators who gave the evidence.
Approximately 60 people waited outside the courtroom on the upper level of the Jackson County courthouse on Thursday, January 31, 2013, while coroner Tom Kupferer mistakenly kept them out of selection of his coroner’s jury, which would determine the cause and manner of death of Molly Young. All were allowed back in when Disclosure staff alerted prosecutor Mike Carr that they were being wrongfully excluded from jury selection.
Befuddled proceedings
Apparently, Jackson County hasn’t had a coroner’s inquest or jury in quite some time.
The jury had to be seated, and that, like everything else in Young’s case, was a debacle.
Coroner and doctor Tom Kupferer demanded that the packed courtroom be cleared of everyone except those residents of Jackson County who had been called for jury duty.
This caused a measure of consternation amongst Young’s family members and friends, but was addressed by the only media present that day who knew that what Kupferer was doing was wrong—Disclosure—whose representative asked of new Jackson County prosecutor Mike Carr to cite the statute that allowed a coroner to keep the media out of a proceeding that was neither civil nor criminal, but was investigative in nature and as such, open to the public.
Carr left momentarily, then came back to the scene, entered the courtroom where the proceedings of jury selection were underway, and brought them to a halt.
He then stepped out and announced that media and immediate family of Young’s were allowed back in to the courtroom to watch the proceedings from the beginning.
Kupferer was forced to start over. Coroner’s jury selection is by drawn lots, and is not as complicated as petit jury proceedings, so it didn’t take long, and once the unselected Jackson County residents were dismissed, more observers were allowed back in the courtroom.
In all there were about 60 people present to watch the proceedings, including several Illinois State Police agents who were not present to testify, but merely to observe—somewhat nervously, it seemed—the inquest.
Basics outlined; Rice called
With Kupferer in the judge’s seat, he read to the juror the basics of the case outlining how Young’s body was found on the floor of Minton’s bedroom shortly after 9 a.m. on the morning of March 24, 2012; how Amber Pellegrini at Carbondale dispatch got the 911 call that stated Minton had “awakened to find Molly unresponsive” and he “believed she had overdosed until he found a gunshot wound.”
He also noted how Minton was supposed to have been at work at 7 a.m. that morning but failed to show up. Paramedics arrived and found the decedent, Kupferer said, noting a fatal gunshot wound to the left side of her head. They subsequently notified Kupferer, who arrived and discussed the case with on-duty officers, including those from ISP Zone 7 investigators.
Kupferer then called the first witness to the stand, Capt. Scott Rice of ISP.
Rice, who almost lost his position with ISP some years ago after first poaching turkey, then shooting two mushroom hunters in the Shawnee National Forest, noted he was the incident commander for this case. He spoke very briefly of the facts already in evidence about Young’s body having been found when, where and how it was. The jury had no questions for Rice, and he stepped down.
Autopsy described
At this point Kupferer described the autopsy he conducted on Young’s body, stating who was present and how the chain of evidence in bringing her body to the morgue had been maintained.
He described Young as wearing sleepwear black pants, and a maroon Saluki’s sweatshirt with a St. Louis Cardinals t-shirt beneath it.
The “large gunshot wound” in the left frontal region of Young’s head was described; brain matter and coagulated blood was in her blonde hair, and facial asymmetry was present as a result of the wound.
Her hands were bagged with brown paper bags to preserve evidence; the bags were removed and clippings obtained of her fingernails, with gunshot residue tests being conducted on both.
Kupferer went into great detail describing the size, circumference, and qualities of the gunshot wound, including powder and burns found in the lower half of the wound, where her hair was singed.
Interestingly, a pattern abrasion was found on her right temple area, which Kupferer described as a “slightly red indentation.” A few were also found on the left temple area. Without saying so, it appeared that Kupferer was describing places where the gun barrel had been placed on Young’s head before actually landing on the final location where the shot was fired.
Describing the wound
The bullet had entered the area in the left temple and tracked backwards and slightly down, through the left cerebral and frontal/temporal lobes. It struck the endocranium and left comminuted fracutres in the skull, then ricocheted back along the top of the brain through the left occipital and left parietal lobes of the brain, coming to rest in the parasagittal sinus.
The bullet was retrieved, as well as the jacket from which it had separated. The core and fragments were found, some of the fragments in the base of the cranium.
Also interestingly, Kupferer reported a slight bluish contusion on the top part of Young’s left boot, and below her knee, and a small one on the left thigh. There were otherwise no abnormalities noted from the autopsy.
Kupferer added that it was his conclusion that the final cause of death was a “gunshot wound to the head,” which he probably should not have noted at that point, as that’s what the coroner’s jury was there to decide, in part; but that, it appeared, was just another of the many mistakes the man made on that day.
CSI’s vague testimony
Illinois State Police CSI Danny Glover was then called, testifying with some vagueness to how he found items and features at the scene, including Young’s car, and what he recalled about them.
His testimony was otherwise very brief and focused on the layout of Minton’s very small bedroom, and how Young had been found “laying on the floor between the bed and the north wall, with a handgun and casing nearby. Glover described blood splatters found on the end of the barrel of the gun, and blood spots in the carpet and at the bottom of the closet door near where Young had been shot, then a blood trail across the floor where the body had been moved, explaining that Minton had moved the body to perform CPR. A small amount of blood had been found on his comforter, and on some pajama pants that had been found on the bathroom floor.
Lead agent’s testimony
ISP Zone 7 investigator Aaron Cooper was next to the stand, and at the outset of his testimony described the scene at the apartment as he found it upon arrival, and how he had interviewed Minton’s roommate, Wes Romack, who had worked overnight at Panera bakery in town and had come home at about 5:45 to see a woman’s shoes and purse in the front of the apartment, but when he looked in on Minton, he saw the man with the covers pulled up to his chin, and no one else.
Romack was up for a little while after arriving home, surfing the ‘net and playing guitar, before going to bed.
Minton came to him a few hours later, frantic, telling him to call 911 because Minton couldn’t find his phone, and he’d awakened to find Young shot in his room.
Then, inexplicably, Cooper, under questioning by the coroner, veered into testimony about Young’s and Minton’s relationship over the past two years, and how many times they’d broken up and gotten back together.
And he then testified that Young had recently had a “non-medical” abortion by taking an abortion pill, this he knew per a receipt that had been found in Young’s possessions dated March 9, 2012.
Being oblivious to the fact that there had been no testimony given about any sign of an abortion or previous pregnancy during the autopsy, Cooper continued to testify about how Minton hadn’t wanted her to have an abortion, as he was worried about the soul of the child being stuck in purgatory.
At no time did Cooper offer how he’d come about that information, and at no time did Kupferer ask whether the receipt, which was the sole ‘evidence’ of this ‘fact,’ could have belonged to someone else with whom Young was close or may have even purchased the abortion pill for.
Agent’s slanted testimony
Then, in the most slanted testimony of the day—as he did not offer verification of how they were obtained, chain of evidence, or an affidavit in support from anyone at the phone agency—Cooper spent several minutes testifying about multiple texts that supposedly passed between Young and Minton, Young and Romack, Minton and another girl with whom he’d had a relationship, Chloe Benedict, and other girls and Romack, all in the days, hours and minutes leading up to the gunshot.
These texts supposedly outlined how Young was trying to kill herself with overdoses of prescription and over-the-counter medications; and how suicidal she was.
In these texts, Cooper notably called Molly Young “Young,” and Richie Minton “Richie.” This was notable, because this effort had the effect of distancing the listener (the jurors) from Molly Young, and familiarizing them with Richie Minton. To have been used in the way it was, though, was entirely too obvious for an ISP agent.
Cooper also testified as to the many calls from Amber Pellegrini Minton received when he didn’t show up for work the morning of the shooting, and how he had partied the night before, coming in at about 2:30 extremely drunk after failing to get Benedict to sleep with him.
In a brief set of questions from Kupferer that Cooper answered more along the lines of reality—and which was why, likely, it was kept brief—Cooper testified that the weapon, a 1911 semi-automatic .45 caliber handgun, was legally Minton’s, and that he’d kept it in a locked box, but there were no fingerprints to lift off the box, bullets or weapon. He also testified that even after testing, ISP had found themselves unable to determine a gunshot residue pattern on anyone’s hands, and as a result, they were “unable to definitively say who fired the gun.”
‘Suicidal’
To counter this, Kupferer launched right into a question about evidence that Young was suicidal, and Cooper obliged by reading page after page after page of what he claimed—again, without offering any to the jury, and without any kind of affidavit from anyone in Young’s family about the veracity of the material referenced as actually being generated by her—was her “journals” over the past several years.
In these, Young described herself as suicidal since age 5, and described repeatedly how she hated herself and how she “had a hard life.” She claimed that everyone in her family was emotionally, mentally and physically abusive to her…but not once was any explanation offered as to how, or more importantly, any evidence offered as to why. There were no DCFS reports, no reports from school counselors, no reports from psychiatrists or anyone trained to make diagnoses…just pages and pages of typical teenage angst turned on its ear by allegations of repeated vague abuse, and the desire to kill herself.
In the journals, Cooper mentioned that Young was obsessed with demons, and “thought about them a lot, telling people that; someone said Richie believe that, so she was going along with it.”
A “suicide note” of sorts (“of sorts,” only because it was vague in reference to an actual act of suicide, and was undated) was presented.
It was also mentioned that Young had a Tumblr blogspot page, wherein she wrote of suicide frequently.
No sound heard, excused
Cooper, when questioned about it by Kupferer, noted that there were no signs in Minton’s room of anyone fighting or struggling.
He attempted to excuse the fact that no one had heard a gunshot by way of stating that if the barrel were pressed tightly against Young’s head, it would have a “muffling” effect much like a silencer does.
“I’ve known of a case where someone who was drunk slept through such a gunshot,” Cooper testified. “He (Minton) could have slept through it. When it occurred, and if he was at such a level of inebriation, it’s possible he briefly awoke, didn’t know what it was, and went back to sleep.”
At this point, the family of Molly Young’s, via their spokesperson, Charlie LaMont (a former police officer in Mt. Vernon), were allowed to ask three questions of Cooper.
Lamont asked if Cooper were aware that Minton, too, had a Tumblr page, and that approximately two months prior to the incident, he’d written on it a quote from the Son of Sam murderer, which stated “I’ll make drops of lead fall from her head.”
Cooper replied that Minton’s computer wasn’t obtained until May of 2012.
LaMont then asked if there were any pattern of blood spatter on Minton’s bed; Cooper replied that he wasn’t trained in that field, and the comforter was sent to a lab but there was no final conclusion as to how blood evidence got there, whether it was spatter or transfer; same with the pants in the bathroom.
LaMont asked if Cooper was aware of any drug paraphernalia or contraband occurring in the apartment on that day; Cooper advised that drug agents saw a hookah used for smoking tobacco in the apartment, but there was no reason at the time to believe it was pertinent to the crime of Young’s death.
Evidence washed away?
LaMont asked Kupferer if he could ask another question, and was permitted to do so.
He asked if Cooper were aware that Carbondale police disturbed the scene by allowing Minton to wash his hands and change his clothes prior to the arrival of ISP agents.
“A report said Richie Minton was emerging from the bathroom and came out wearing different clothes, having picked up an article of clothing from the kitchen floor,” LaMont said. “After he was at the Carbondale police department, when his parents and attorney arrived they agreed to allow CSI to collect the clothing, and then did a gunshot residue test. His attorney Terry Green said, ‘Well, he’s washed his hands.’”
Cooper allowed that such action would remove gunshot residue present on hands, but because of the small size of the room, the residue “doesn’t come out in a defined motion; it just goes all over the room,” which would account for it being on his pants, shirt and shorts, all being articles of clothing in his bedroom.
Gunshot residue was found on Young’s right sleeve cuff of her sweatshirt, but none on her left shoulder, Cooper claimed, which “shows gunshot residue analysis is not reliable.”
Kupferer asked Cooper about where the gun was kept, and was told it was in a lockbox with a key pad and a key in case the battery went out on the pad. The magazines were in the box.
Kupferer then asked, as punctuation on the testimony, whether Young was right or left handed, and was told she was right handed.
Kupferer asked Cooper to explain how a right-handed person could reach around the front of her head and shoot herself with a large weapon in the left side of her head.
Cooper did some contortions, coming up with a two-handed grip that may or may not have been how a person could do such a thing, but would account for gunshot residue landing on everything in the room except Young’s left hand and left shoulder.
Jurors questions; then returning the verdict
Jurors asked intelligent questions about measurements of gunshot residue on clothing (and were told “there’s no way to measure that”); whether Young had any training with weapons (she did not); and approximate time of death (best guess would be about 4:45 a.m.).
At 3:25, after nearly three hours of testimony, the jury retired to the jury room to render their decision on the cause and manner of death.
They returned at 4:10 to state that the cause was a gunshot wound to the head; and that the manner was “undetermined due to lack of evidence.”
The coroner noted that a death certificate would be issued with “undetermined” on it…although one had already been issued last year to the family with incorrect information all over it, including inaccurate time of death (10:50 a.m.) and place of death (Young’s own home). Kupferer, when called on it, said it was the fault of the funeral home. The funeral home, when asked about it, advised the family that they couldn’t possibly have made the mistakes, as that portion of the death certificate, on their computerized form, is inaccessible to them; only the coroner can fill it out.
‘Flip’
These, and many other disparities, only lend to the bizarre nature of the entire case.
Added to all this is the fact that Richard “Flip” Minton, who works at the Franklin County sheriff’s department, is one of the only people in downstate Illinois trained at the National Computer Forensics Institute to go through computer hard-drives of people arrested by the state police, feds or other national law enforcement agency such as the secret service…and this is where things start to get weird.
Minton is apparently somewhat feared in downstate, as he’s the one who goes through computers, forensically, and finds what’s in them.
The unspoken sentiment here is twofold: One, it’s that if he knows how to forensically dissect what’s on a hard drive in a computer brought to him, there’s the possibility that he could remotely access—and place upon a computer—something incriminating; and two, if he’s forensically been through certain computers in downstate, who’s to say he hasn’t found incriminating material about certain high-ranking public officials, from the city, county, state and even federal level in southern Illinois.
Whatever, the case, former prosecutor Mike Wepseic in Jackson County seemed averse to touching the Minton case with an eleven-foot pole.
And since no serious or significant investigation has been conducted by either the city of Carbondale or the state, many are now wondering what it will take to get Richie Minton questioned at all, as he’s being watched over not only by an attorney, but by his “influential” parents at all turns.
The ball is now in the court of Mike Carr, who’s made no public statement about the Young death case, but could yet take the step of conducting a grand jury, wherein all the people who were around Minton and Young in her last days can be brought before 16 residents of the county and be questioned without a judge present.
Whether Carr, who’s known to the Disclosure readership area as part of the government’s prosecutorial team who put away former Gallatin County sheriff Raymond Martin two and a half years ago, will do such a thing remains to be seen.