William Frank Simmons Finally Charged In 15 yo Murder Of Teen

[WriterOnFire]

A man long suspected of being the last person to see 15-year-old Kaelin Rose Glazier in November 1996 has been charged with her murder.

William Frank Simmons, 30, was indicted Wednesday on one charge of murder, Jackson County District Attorney Mark Huddleston said.

He was arrested Wednesday night in Grants Pass on a charge of parole violation stemming from an old drug charge. The murder charge was added Thursday morning.

He was being held without bail and was set to be arraigned at 1:30 p.m. today in Jackson County Circuit Court.

Investigators have focused on Simmons for more than a decade. They named him a person of interest in the case in January 1999, Huddleston said.

Simmons has a criminal history dating to 1998, when he turned 18, with convictions for first- and second-degree theft, fraudulent use of a credit card, identity theft and delivery of methamphetamine, court records show. He has been in and out of jail numerous times on probation violations.

The murder charge carries a life sentence with a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years in prison, Huddleston said.

Kaelin was last seen alive in the evening hours of Nov. 6, 1996, at a home on Johnson Road where Simmons lived with his grandparents. They reportedly had watched a movie together when she stopped by the house on a walk from her nearby home to the Applegate Christian Fellowship in Ruch for a youth group meeting.

In the week's following her disappearance, investigators wondered if the South Medford High School sophomore could have run away, and searchers combed the rural neighborhood's hillsides and sought national attention for the missing girl.
No sign of her was found until, on April 8, 2008, a man working on his property discovered Kaelin's remains in a field just across Haven Road from where Simmons lived in 1996.

The discovery reinvigorated the investigation, which was then taken on by an interagency task force that included Jackson County Sheriff's Department, the Medford Police Department, the Oregon State Police Forensic Laboratory, the Jackson County District Attorney's Office and the FBI.

http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs...9/NEWS/4090327


This is actually really close to where I live & I was relieved to finally see an arrest, but at the same time, I am still very frustrated at the lack of details released. I'm kinda leaning toward jealous wannabe boyfriend, since the accused was 16 at the time of her disappearance. I just heard on the local news that he goes to court on May 8th to plead, so I'll update as I can.

[WriterOnFire]

Sorry for not updating this story, but there did not appear to be any court dates yet as the articled promised. At least not that I could confirm or find info on. I will continue to look & update when I hear something new.

[Dakota Valkyrie]

Simmons has been held without bail since his April 2010 arrest.

The last known person to see Kaelin Glazier alive will stand trial for her murder today in Jackson County Circuit Court.

William Frank Simmons, 31, long has been the primary suspect in the death of the 15-year-old Ruch teen more than 15 years ago, according to District Attorney Mark Huddleston, who will prosecute the case.
[...]

His murder trial, which has been postponed multiple times by his defense team, will be presided over by Judge Benjamin Bloom. It was originally assigned to Judge Tim Barnack, but defense attorney Andy Vandergaw requested Barnack be removed because his years as a prosecutor with the District Attorney's Office could potentially make him biased.

http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs...303/-1/NEWSMAP

[Dakota Valkyrie]

A jury found a Jackson County man guilty Tuesday of manslaughter but not murder in the 1996 slaying of a 15-year-old girl in the rural community of Ruch.

The jury voted 10-2 to convict William Frank Simmons of manslaughter, a charge the judge told them they could turn to if they could not reach a unanimous finding on the murder charge.

Murder indicates someone intended to kill someone. Manslaughter applies to cases where death was the result of recklessness or negligence.
[...]

Michael Bertholf, Simmons’ public defender, belittled the circumstantial case. He claimed police zeroed in on an uneducated, unsophisticated and poverty-stricken 16-year-old with a history of run-ins with the law and refused to consider any other suspects in the case, Bertholf said.

Simmons was 16 when Kaelin Glazier disappeared. He was the last person known to see her alive.

Glazier disappeared on a moonless night on Nov. 6, 1996. Her body was not found until April 2008, when a neighbor of Simmons was mowing a field and found a skull and one tennis shoe sticking out of the ground. Dental records and a ring identified the remains as Glazier.

Experts testified her head was wrapped in duct tape and a cut on a rib indicated she may have been stabbed. Simmons was arrested two years later.
[...]

A state police criminalist testified Glazier’s head and face had been wrapped in duct tape. The position of her body and clothing suggested she had been dragged there by her feet.

Forensic experts testified that a cut mark on a rib and marks on a wire in her bra indicated she was stabbed, and she may also have been hit in the face.

Though the duct tape was analyzed, it never turned up any fingerprints. A state police forensic scientist testified DNA found on it had not come from Simmons.

http://www.registerguard.com/web/new...ghter.html.csp

The murder trial against William Simmons may be over, but his attorneys say new information could change things.

The defense attorney made that announcement moments after Simmons was convicted of manslaughter Wednesday. That information may have an effect on the case as Simmons awaits his sentence for the death of Kaelin Glazier.

Right now, Simmons is sitting in the Jackson County Jail. He is scheduled to be sentenced for the manslaughter charge on March 14th, but a statement made by his defense attorneys may have an impact on what happens next.

Simmons was convicted yesterday and faces a minimum of 10 years in prison. After hearing the verdict in court yesterday, Simmons attorneys said they wanted to delay the sentencing until March because there may be more information that affects the case.

The District Attorney's Office says it has not received any motions yet from the defense about what they plan to do, but said defense attorneys can use this time to present evidence that affects the trial, or information that affects the punishment.

http://kdrv.com/page/239158

Juror Rod Durham says prosecutors did not have enough evidence for a murder charge.

After hours of deliberations a Jackson County jury found William Simmons guilty of manslaughter in the 1996 death of Kaelin Glazier. However, the same jury cleared Simmons of murder.

Juror Rod Durham says there was not enough to prove Simmons murdered Glazier.

"They didn't have any direct evidence and very little circumstantial, so I could not vote guilty on murder,” he said.

He says prosecutors did not have anything that directly tied Simmons to Glazier's death.

"He was close to his property and he was the last person who saw her -- that's really all they had. Maybe if they had more circumstantial evidence like they saw him arguing with him at the store or they were lovers, but there was none of that,” Durham said.

The weapon was never found and even after 15 years he says Simmons story stayed the same.

"I just didn't believe that he did it, but he knew something about it,” he said.

However, Durham was also convinced Simmons was not completely innocent. He says a tape played in court was key in making his decision. It was recorded years ago when police interviewed Simmons a month after Glazier disappeared.

"He was very calm and just the way that he talked, I sensed that he probably didn't do it, but he knows something,” he said.
[...]

http://www.ktvl.com/articles/simmons...aks-trial.html

[Abroad]

He says prosecutors did not have anything that directly tied Simmons to Glazier's death.

"He was close to his property and he was the last person who saw her -- that's really all they had. Maybe if they had more circumstantial evidence like they saw him arguing with him at the store or they were lovers, but there was none of that,” Durham said.

It amazes me that they returned a verdict of manslaughter, if this was really all they had on him.......?