I just heard on Nancy Grace tonight that a cadaver dog hit on something outside of the apartment. That is all that was really said about it other than they might bring the dog back out tomorrow. I knew it when I made my first post that this baby was dead by the hand of that scum she called mom. She weighed 17 pounds when she went missing, why bother to feed her?
http://www.commercialappeal.com/news...other-missing/Little Lauryn Dickens, all of 10 months old, remains missing even though her mother was charged Thursday night in her disappearance.
Police charged Shakara Dickens, 19, with aggravated child neglect and endangerment as well as false reporting.
Dickens has been jailed in the women's facility since her arrest Tuesday night. She is due in court at 8:30 this morning.
[...]
According to an affidavit, Norfleet and Dickens hadn't talked since late August, and her phone was blocked from receiving calls originating at the jail.
Police also said Dickens has given conflicting accounts of what happened to her daughter to family and friends.
But authorities still don't know where the infant is.
According to the affidavit, they have "probable cause to believe that the child has sustained serious bodily injury."
Homicide investigators used cadaver dogs Tuesday to aid in a search of Dickens' residence at the Raleigh Village Apartments, 4992 Yale.
The dogs turned up a scent of human remains at the apartment, Rudolph said. However, police found nothing definitive at that spot.
Still, cadaver dogs are al so able to detect places where human remains were once located, even if they have since been removed, according to a local expert.
"If the body had deteriorated at that spot, I would think they could," said Patty Wood, a canine-search specialist who works with the Shelby County Sheriff's Department.
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http://www.helpfindmychild.net/lauryn-dickensMemphis police said the father of 10-month old Lauryn Dickens may know where she is. The baby has been missing since September 7th. Investigators issued a "City Watch Alert" Friday, September 17 for Lauryn, who was last seen wearing a brown onesie with a pink flower and pink dots.
huh? well where is she then? (father/article doesn't elaborate)
where's the Bold Fairy when you need him? I just KNOW you all are pointing & laughing at me in the "point & laugh" thread that I can no longer see!! :(
http://www.myfoxmemphis.com/dpp/news...#39;s-behaviorRelative of Missing Baby Frustrated with Mother's Behavior
Shakara Dickens Bond set at $2 Million
MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The mother of a missing 10-month-old made her first appearance in court this morning where her bond was set at $2 million. FOX13 spoke with a cousin of Shakara Dickens Friday, who said she felt the need to talk on behalf of the missing baby.
19-year old Shakara Dickens is charged with Aggravated Child Abuse and False Reporting and one of her relatives is talking about little Lauryn's disappearance.
She also said she feels other members of the Dickens family know more than they're letting on.
Shakara Dickens stoically listened to her charges read in court Friday morning. The 19-year old was arrested Tuesday night and charged in her 10-month-old baby's disappearance.
Lauryn Dickens was reported missing on September 15th, although the child's mother said she hadn't seen her baby since the September 7th. Kayla Davidson, Dickens' cousin, said the jailed-young mother's actions don't reflect those of a concerned parent.
"Just Sunday she was out at the club," said Davidson.
Davidson, also the mother of a 10-month-old, can't understand why her cousin let so much time pass before reporting her daughter's disappearance to police.
"I think she's disturbed honestly, just a simple word. She's disturbed."
Davdison grew up with Dickens, both went to Craigmont High School. She said she's frustrated with the way the family has handled little Lauryn's disappearance.
"They don't want to give any statements. They don't want to talk to the news but why not if it's anybody in my family or anything like that, I'm going to want to come forward. I'm going to want answers, I would want to say something and let it be known."
According to Davidson, Dickens has another child, a little boy around 2-years old. She said since Lauryn's birth, Dickens seemed to resent the baby girl.
"She treated Lauryn different because Lauryn's father is in jail and he's can't help her, so I guess she blamed Lauryn for it," said Davidson.
Davidson is pleading with Dickens and other family members to speak out, so Lauryn can be found.
"If she did something, she did. If she didn't, she didn't. I mean they should want to get to the bottom of it."
Davidson also said she knows plenty of people, including family members that would have taken Lauryn if Dickens was no longer able to care for her daughter.
[...]
Last edited by Whisper; September 24th, 2010 at 10:16 PM.
"Rescuing one animal may not change the world, but for that animal their world is changed forever!" - Unknown
For every murdered child
We fly with all prevailing winds of change,
For any quirk of fate we may arrange.
We are not "meek" or "mild";
Don't turn your back when twilight dims the sky -
We'll haunt the perpetrators till they Die
http://www.commercialappeal.com/news...er=yahoo_feedsMemphis police search warrants presume missing baby is dead
As her mother appeared in court today facing a charge that could earn her 15 to 60 years in prison, the central question remained: Where is 10-month-old Lauryn Dickens?
Search warrants make it clear that the working theory for Memphis police is that the toddler is dead.
Outlining the evidence police targeted in searches of two homes, investigators wrote in warrants that they were seeking “human remains of Lauryn Dickens and trace, DNA, and biological evidence.”
[...]
General Sessions Criminal Court Judge Karen L. Massey told Dickens, who was dressed in orange jail garb, that she faces 15 to 60 years in prison without parole on the aggravated child abuse charge alone.
Dickens told police that she had told the father, Benjamin Norfleet, 19 — in Shelby County Jail on a number of vehicle burglary, weapon and other charges — that she could no longer care for Lauryn. He sent the woman, she claimed.
However, police said in court documents that their investigation showed that Norfleet had not spoken with Dickens since late August. Furthermore, calls from the jail to her phone had been permanently blocked.
The inconsistent stories Dickens gave police included that she had given the child to the father’s parents, police said in a court affidavit.
“Other than Shakara Dickens, no one acknowledges having seen Lauryn Dickens since Sept. 6,” investigators said in the court document.
Until Sept. 2, Dickens and the child lived in a Raleigh home in the 2700 block of West Hickory Bluff with her mother, Traci Dickens, according to a search warrant.
Shakara Dickens was in the process of moving to an apartment in the Raleigh Village complex at 4992 Yale. A baby bed was the only piece of furniture in the apartment, a witness told police.
During a search of the Raleigh apartment complex on Tuesday, a rescue and recovery dog trained to detect the odor of decomposing human remains indicated finding the odor at Dickens’ apartment, a search warrant said.
The 19-year-old’s family includes a 3-year-old boy, who is in the care of a family member, officials said.
"Rescuing one animal may not change the world, but for that animal their world is changed forever!" - Unknown
For every murdered child
We fly with all prevailing winds of change,
For any quirk of fate we may arrange.
We are not "meek" or "mild";
Don't turn your back when twilight dims the sky -
We'll haunt the perpetrators till they Die
This is so fucked up. Baby's fault? how? i'd love to her explain that one.
I was so hoping a scent wouldn't be found....this is just getting worse, confirming all our fears!"She treated Lauryn different because Lauryn's father is in jail and he's can't help her, so I guess she blamed Lauryn for it," said Davidson.
On this VIDEO, apparently grandmother has been vocal and uncooperative. Now how is that helping the case IF this woman is innocent?? makes zero sense and I do think the family knows more on what happened.According to the document, a FEMA dog trained to detect the odor of decomposing human remains, detected that scent at the apartment. No human remains were found. The apartment is the last place police say little Lauryn was seen alive.
What is wrong with these people? the mother threw eggs at the reports car, sent nasty email, posted shit on her facebook!? IF they are trying to help Shakara, this is NOT working! They also searched the grandmother's home/car and car has not been returned...hmm. sounding suspicious this behavior of hers.
How juvenile And she's a grade school teacher? Classy.Sources say she isn't being as helpful as she could in the search so we went to find out why.
She didn't give News Channel 3 an interview but she did send a message.
Tracey Dickens is Shakara's mother, a Memphis City School teacher and the grandmother of 10-month-old, Lauryn.
Tracey Dickens has the baby's picture as her Facebook profile.
There are other photos of the baby and Shakara and Shakara's other child on the page. They're listed under the heading "People I love."
Sources say Tracey Dickens isn't cooperating in the search for her missing grandaughter.
Dickens isn't saying where Shakara's other child is or if she knows anything about the missing baby. She rushed passed our camera and ignored the my questions as she left her Raleigh home.
Dickens didn't answer my questions but she or a friend did send a message to me just minutes before. Eggs were thrown at photographer Tyler Chow and me. They missed their mark.
However, the grandmother did pass along another message. While we were sitting outside her home she posted a new Facebook status. It said, "Thinkn (sic) abt (sic) throwing eggs at the news reporters in front of my house. Be sure to quote me while u (sic) run b----."Thursday, police searched the home and car of Shakara Dicken's mother, a 4th grade Memphis City School teacher. They haven't said what was found there, but we've been told the car is still in police custody.
Yep, she knows something, maybe feels threatened for reasons I could guess on. I think this will turn out sadly to be a twisted tale of depravity and at the center of it all a dead innocent baby. Be found sweet girl.
Shakara Dickens affadavit
Report child Abuse 1-800-4-A-CHILD * Missing and Exploited 1-800-THE-LOST
The grandmother is a teacher and we all know that since that is the case she is obligated by law to help in abuse/neglect/murder cases against children so you would think she would be concerned about her own granddaughter. But, then again since the story said the grandson is staying with relatives I doubt if it means her so why should she care about the granddaughter if she cares nothing about the grandson. I really think the grandmother just doesn't want to be bothered with the whole thing - you know, like mother like daughter.
And then the shit of SHAKURA WAS OUT AT THE CLUB LAST SUNDAY WHILE HER DAUGHTER WAS MISSING !!! The world was out looking for Granddaughter/daughter while grandmother is busy writing smack on her facebook and daughter is out trolling for father number 3.
Shakura knew when she hooked up with these father's of the year that they had no money and had been in and out of jail and now she's bitching about how they don't help her financially - she should have got off her back and stood on her feet instead and got her ownself a fucking job. It is the 21st century for Christ's sake and women do support themselves.
Officials say missing baby's mother could be charged with murder
Updated: Sep 27, 2010 5:34 PM CDT
Where is baby Lauryn Dickens?MEMPHIS, TN (WMC-TV) - The mother of a missing baby was charged with abuse last week, but officials said a murder charge is still possible.
Shakara Dickens, 19, remains locked up at Jail East on a $2 million. She faces decades behind bars if convicted on her current charge.
The Shelby County District Attorney's office has prosecuted defendants for murder in the past when a victim's body was never located. In this case, police continue to process evidence collected from two residences and a car connected to Dickens.
September 27th, 2010 2:22 pm ET
[...]
Lauryn lived with her mother, Shakara Dickens, 19, at the Raleigh Village Apartments on Yale Road in Tennessee when she went missing.
Shakara told police that she had given Lauryn to a stranger who identified herself as a friend of the baby's father on September 7th, but did not report her missing until September 15, according to a police spokesman. She said the woman came because she had told Lauryn's father that she could no longer care for her.
[...]
The father, Benjamin Norfleet, 19, is in jail on charges related to vehicle break-ins. According to an affidavit, Norfleet has not talked to Shakara since August.
In the Memphis police search warrants, investigators wrote that they were seeking "human remains of Lauryn Dickens and trace, DNA, and biological evidence."...
Nothing yet but I still have a smidgen of hope.
The cadaver dogs found the scent IN Dickens home, not surprised her scent was found there...outside would be a different matter.
This tho....oh, damn, just eats me up.
Be found alive and well little Lauryn.According to the affidavit, they have "probable cause to believe that the child has sustained serious bodily injury."
Of course the baby is dead. We've known that since the story broke.
Now it's just a matter of finding her little body.
IF the baby were still alive, by now the alleged woman who has her would have seen the news and brought the baby back.
"We must all go through a rite of passage, and it must be physical, it must be painful, and it must leave a mark." Captain Howdy, Strangeland.
What does the Bible say about Judge Not? Read here: http://www.cfirecm.com/QandA/Judge%2...e%20Judged.htm
http://www.monkeyboobies.com/gallery...3-1/ohnoes.gif
http://www.threadbombing.com/data/me...hno_viking.gif
If they're cadaver dogs they'll be picking up the scent of a dead body though. I'm afraid finding her alive at this point is just wishful thinking on our parts.
I am not an Ulsterman but yesterday, the 1st. July, as I followed their amazing attack, I felt that I would rather be an Ulsterman than anything else in the world." (Cpt Wilfred Spender, 2nd July 1916)
my god...this is turning into a baby girl version of baby gabriel :(
where's the Bold Fairy when you need him? I just KNOW you all are pointing & laughing at me in the "point & laugh" thread that I can no longer see!! :(
http://www.wmctv.com/Global/story.asp?S=13254703Nearly a month after 10-month-old Lauryn Dickens disappeared, her mother appeared in court Friday on charges in connection with her disappearance.
Even as Shakara Dickens appeared in court, investigators were no closer to finding the location of her baby.
[...]
A crowd of Dickens's family and friends showed up for the hearing.
"The family is still really in a state of shock," Wells said. I think they're very concerned about the child and they're very concerned about Miss Dickens."
But they continue to avoid making a public statement about Dickens and her missing baby.
"They're coming together and sort of closed themselves up and taking this time," Wells said. "It's really almost a mourning time for them to kind of understand what's happened to this family."
Dickens will be back in court October 21st for a preliminary hearing, where the state will have to show probable cause.
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She hid the body this well? Really? I mean, she isn't that bright to begin with... So how was she so brilliant to hide the dead body so well?
I love my country - its the government that scares me.
It's a tiny body. In a dumpster dumped in a landfill it wouldn't be that hard to lose him forever. Mark Hacking murdered his wife Laurie and stuck her in a dumpster. When they eventually found her remains (after he confessed) it was only 13 pounds of hair, bones and tissue. And she was 120 lbs while alive.
Love withers under constraint; its very essence is liberty. It is compatible neither with obedience, jealousy nor fear. It is there most pure, perfect, and unlimited when its votaries live in confidence, equality and unreserve. - Percy Byshe Shelley
We love where the lightening strikes, and that's not always where we thought it would.-Carolinablue
I believe that what we do for others is all we leave behind when we die.-Carolinablue
Originally Posted by tenntitanfan
I think you are right. It's amazing how these baby killers think the general public and police investigators are short bus riders. Look, for anyone who has kids, you know that a baby at 10 months will not go to a stranger. They are hiding their head on your shoulder. They do not feel safe with strangers.
There is no way this camel cunt let some geriatric "kidnapper" take her baby. You don't have to have a gawddamn law degree to understand what has happened, just a weekend of MIAMI CSI will provide you with enough lay person forensics to decipher the splooge sucker is a lying heap of shit. Quick question: does anyone know if it is legal to torture the "person of interest" still or have we gotten all pussified in our interrogations now.
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I wonder if this was a miss print. Can't find anything on the court hearing.
Last I read they were seeking DNA...did they find any evidence? are they awaiting on results?Dickens will be back in court October 21st for a preliminary hearing, where the state will have to show probable cause.
This case is ending up like so many. Unsolved. No body. No justice.In the Memphis police search warrants, investigators wrote that they were seeking "human remains of Lauryn Dickens and trace, DNA, and biological evidence."
During a search of the Raleigh apartment a trained cadaver dog detected human remains.
When are people going to realize that if they don't want their child anymore they need to give it to someone who cares? And by that, I don't mean Jesus. I would never, ever hand my children over to a complete stranger - I wouldn't even hand my kids over to their dads friends! Its either him or no one at all - not his family, not my sister, not any of either of our friends. Does she really think she can get away with this bullshit story? Didn't people already learn from Casey Anthony that you can't go around making up stories about handing your kids over to people and then poof they disappear? Well, apparently not :/
Hope they find her, dead or alive - either way shes out of the hands of that monster of a mother she had.
Agggh. Well @Nell no cereal for me this a.m. cause that paints a gruesome visual. I just cant believe that there is nothing else about this baby. They just gave up? No one wanted to go through the landfill to locate the baby? This so called mom isnt going to give any info and neither is the grandmother. Where is the remains of baby Lauryn? Why isnt anyone in law enforcement trying to find them?
http://www.myfoxmemphis.com/dpp/news...-disappearancePolice still don't know what happened to little Lauryn Dickens but a Memphis judge is sure her mother had something to do with it. He sent the case to the grand jury Wednesday.
Shakara Dickens is charged with aggravated child neglect and endangerment as well as false reporting. Her daughter has been missing since September.
After hearing testimony from police and the child's father, the judge decided it was enough to move the case forward.
[...]
Homicide Detective Sgt. Lundy says they're still searching for the child who will turn one next week, hoping for a positive outcome.
"I would love to find her alive, but I don't think that will be the case," said Lundy.
Little Lauryn Dickens' first birthday is later this week. Meanwhile, Shakara Dickens is still being held on a $2 million bond.
http://www.commercialappeal.com/news...r-neglect-fal/The father, Benjamin Norfleet, also 19, who was incarcerated on unrelated charges, testified in a preliminary hearing today that he never sent anyone to pick up the child.
Also, police said jail phone records support his testimony that Dickens had blocked his calls from jail to her phone.
Other witnesses, one an employer, testified that she gave other accounts, including that she had given her daughter to the father’s parents.
Police homicide detective Kevin Lundy testified that that story was false, adding that while he still hopes the baby will be found alive, the evidence now indicates that may not be the case.
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Opening Arguments in Baby Killer Trial
http://www.myfoxmemphis.com/dpp/news...l-rpt-20120320Sometimes if you tell a lie long enough, and to enough people, is it possible that even you start to accept it as the truth?
Unfortunately, for the sequestered jurors in the case of accused murderer, Shakara Dickens, it will be left to them to weave their way through what Shelby County prosecutors insist is a web of untruths, Dickens created to cover-up the disappearance and believed death of her 9-month-old daughter Lauryn in September of 2010.
While Dickens sat expressionless during opening arguments and the first day of testimony in her trial, prosecutors accused the 21-year old of telling three different stories regarding her child's disappearance. A full eight days after the baby was last seen Dickens and her mother walked into a Memphis Police precinct in Raleigh to file a missing person's report.
"She came in and told me that she had spoken with her child's father because she was having trouble taking care of her child and she told me that when she spoke to her child's father he told her he was going to get someone to come over and take the baby," said MPD Officer Donna Boykins.
While filing the police report Dickens was extensively questioned about the identity of the woman who allegedly came to pick up her baby and take her away. Dickens provided few answers except the woman was white and in her 40's. She also failed to provide police the person's name, address or telephone number. Officer Boykins testified she did speak by phone with the baby's incarcerated father who denied he'd relayed instructions to Dickens about what to do.
"I just wanted to see if he had spoke with her and if he had sent somone over to get the baby? And if so, where was the the baby at? Was it your intention to go get the baby if that happened?" she asked.
"Yes, Maam."
The case marks only the 4th time in more than 40 years a Shelby County murder trial has proceeded without locating a body. Which makes the prosecution's case rely on the reactions of a cadaver dog, who prosecutors allege reflected a decomposed body had been present in Dickens' home and car. In his opening argument defense attorney Murray Wells told jurors the inconclusive evidence didn't support a murder charge.
"What the barking dog does is locate evidence of human remains. That's the point. That dog did not locate any human remains," said Wells. "No blood. No hair. No evidence."
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Suspect's Mother Testifies in Dickens Murder Trial
http://www.abc24.com/news/local/stor...3no1fqsSg.cspxThe teen mother on trial for murdering her infant daughter told so many lies, even her mother didn’t know what to believe. That was the testimony in the second day of Shakara Dickens' first degree murder trial.
She’s accused of killing her nine month old daughter in September 2010. The baby’s body has never been found.
Tracey Dickens has lost her granddaughter and her daughter could be locked up for life. She was visibly upset when she took the stand to testify against her daughter.
Shakara's mother told jurors she was angry because she felt police stopped looking for her baby granddaughter, and that her own daughter let Lauryn become a missing child.
The problem was no one got a straight story from Shakara Dickens.
Tracey Dickens was out of town on Labor Day weekend in 2010; when she came home, Lauryn wasn’t there. She asked her daughter what happened.
She said Shakara told her "that she was with her paternal grandparents and they would be looking after her."
Tracey Dickens said she called them, but "they didn’t have Lauryn," she said.
She confronted her daughter again and got a different story.
"I told her what they said and asked, 'Who had the baby?' She told me she put the baby up for adoption."
In a text message shown to jurors, Shakara Dickens told her mother she went to a place called Adoption Connection. She even went as far as to say the adopting couple's name was Lisa and Richard Brown. Still confused, Tracey Dickens called the adoption agency.
"They said they didn’t have an adoption for Lauryn."
She testified her daughter then told her a third version; this one involved a call from the baby’s incarcerated father.
"She told me she gave her baby to a woman Ben sent to take care of her until he got out [of prison]."
While concerned family worked for the truth, trying to find the missing infant, text messages between friends revealed Dickens was making plans for a new tattoo and a night out clubbing. A text message sent September 12, 2010 said, “my dress real little, don’t call me fast”
The father of Lauryn Dickens also took the stand, telling jurors he never sent anyone to pick up his daughter from Shakara.
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It's as if this crazy bitch stole Casey's playbook!
Jurors in Memphis murder trial told mother partied after baby went missing
http://www.commercialappeal.com/news...er-not-bother/In the days when her 9-month-old daughter was first missing in 2010, Shakara Dickens added to an existing tattoo, bought new party clothes and went clubbing with friends, prosecutors told a jury in her murder trial Tuesday.
Shakara Dickens, 21, listens to opening arguments Tuesday morning in criminal court. Dickens is charged with first-degree murder in the presumed death of her missing baby girl, Lauryn.
Jurors were shown a photo of a smiling and stylishly dressed Dickens at a nightclub event called "Swagged Out Sunday" and a witness later testified that Dickens had a tattoo on her back that said "Benjamin" -- the baby's father -- altered to say "All About Benjamins," a reference to money.
Dickens, 21, is charged with first-degree murder in the presumed death of her baby Lauryn, whose body has never been found.
"You're going to have to use your common sense," state prosecutor Jennifer Nichols told Criminal Court jurors of the circumstantial case. "At the end of this trial, we're going to ask you to find Shakara Dickens guilty of killing her daughter."
Defense attorney Murray Wells countered that Dickens' behavior was not admirable during the weeks of September 2010 when she reported her baby missing, but that there is no evidence that the mother harmed her child or that the little girl is dead.
"At the end of this trial, there's a pretty good chance you're not going to like my client," Wells told the seven men and seven women of the jury.
"We're not asking you to like Shakara Dickens ... but this case is not about being a bad mother. ... They have to prove that Lauryn Dickens is dead and they can't prove that. Lauryn Dickens is a missing child at this point."
Dickens reported her daughter missing on Sept. 15, 2010, telling police she gave the child to an unknown woman allegedly sent by the baby's father, Benjamin Norfleet, who was in jail at the time for burglary of a vehicle and other charges.
But police said jail records showed Dickens had blocked his calls and that she could not have made such an arrangement with Norfleet.
Prosecutors said Dickens also falsely told police that she had given the baby to an adoption agency and that she had given the baby to Norfleet's parents.
Nichols said a cadaver dog indicated a corpse had been at Dickens' Raleigh apartment and around a car the defendant had been driving. The defense called the evidence "just a barking dog" and not proof of murder.
The baby's pediatrician, Dr. Jeffrey Thompson, said Lauryn was a healthy baby when he saw her for her nine-month checkup on Aug. 20, 2010. She weighed 16 pounds and 15 ounces and was 271/2 inches tall.
"She was a normal baby," Thompson said, adding that he treated her for a dry-skin condition.
On cross examination, the doctor also said there was no sign the small girl had ever been abused.
Later, police officer Donna Boykin testified that Dickens reported her daughter missing on Sept. 15, 2010, but gave only vague information and did not appear to be upset.
Boykin said Dickens said she gave her baby to a white woman sent by the child's father, but that she did not know the woman's name, address, phone number or any other way to contact her. The officer indicated that Norfleet, the child's father, did not support Dickens' account.
A friend of the defendant, Toya Rockamore, said she traded text messages with Dickens the next day.
Rockamore texted: "Where's Lauryn?"
Dickens replied: "Don't really want to talk about it... its nerve wrecking depressing and scary... I'm tired of ppl asking me questions that are not the police."
Dickens, who has been held on $2 million bond since her arrest, faces life in prison if convicted as charged.
The trial before Judge J. Robert Carter Jr. resumes this morning.
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Shakara Dickens: Case Going To Jury Friday
http://wreg.com/2012/03/22/shakara-d...o-jury-friday/The state and defense have rested their cases in the murder trial of Shakara Dickens.
And this last day of testimony was very intense at times including a jail house confession from Dickens.
Dickens’ fellow inmate Lynette Lane told jurors Dickens confessed to her in Septmeber of 2011.
“We were in church and the lady was preaching and talking about how God will forgive you of your sins, and Shakara started crying and said God will not forgive me for what I’ve done,” said Lane.
Lane said Dickens then said she “Did what she was in there for.”
The defense claims that could mean her other charges of child abuse and neglect but not murder.
The defense also tried to raised doubt over whether Lauryn was ever in fact murdered, and pushed the lack of evidence of a murder.
The prosecution also called Dickens former boyfriend Maurice Gray.
He was with Dickens the weekend Lauryn went missing, “I asked her where she was and she said told me she was gone.”
Those paternal grandparents took the stand Thursday and said baby Lauryn was not with them and they hadn’t seen her since early June.
They weren’t even in town the weekend Dickens claimed Lauryn was with them.
Dickens also told people she gave Lauryn to a stranger sent by the baby’s father who was in jail.
Dickens phones records show no call was made.
Dickens also told several people including her mother she gave Lauryn up for adoption at Adoption Connection.
Carla Procter works there and says it’s not possible.
“Did you even have any records of anyone named Shakara Dickens contacting you all or contacting you all Or coming to you office to look through books to find someone she trusted to adopt her child?” asked Prosecutor Jennifer Nichols.
“No ma’am,” answered Procter.
Jemiece Adamson also took the stand. Adamson described herself as Dickens former best friend, “She told me that I should be out here helping her find her child instead of questioning her and accusing her of something which I wasn’t. I just needed to know what was going on with my godchild.”
She then told her to get out of her life and they haven’t spoken since.
The defense’s only witness was juvenile court bailiff Linda Lee.
She gold jurors she saw baby Lauryn with two women at a motel off poplar in September of 2010.
Lee says she called 911 but not missing child investigators ever followed back up.
Closing arguments will start Friday at 9 AM.
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http://www.commercialappeal.com/news...-presumed-dea/A jury this afternoon found Raleigh mother Shakara Dickens guilty of second-degree murder in the death of her 9-month-old daughter, who was last seen in September of 2010.
The Criminal Court jury of seven women and five men returned its verdict after a week-long trial in which prosecutors presented circumstantial evidence that Dickens killed and disposed of baby Lauryn, though in a manner and location that may never be known. Defense lawyers argued that the state only showed that the little girl went missing, not that she was killed.
“Look at her, this lady in her pretty pink sweater,” prosecutor Jennifer Nichols said, pointing at the defendant during closing arguments this morning. “I’m asking you to find her guilty of murder in the first-degree. You don’t have to know how, you don’t have to decide what she did. Lauryn is gone... She’s not going to tell us where her bones are. She’s going to take it to the grave.”
She faces more than 50 years in prison on her convictions of second-degree murder, aggravated child neglect and false offense reporting. The first two counts carry punishment up to 25 years in prison with no parole.
[...]
“This case is still a missing-person case and now the state wants you to close it out for them,” attorney Arthur Horne told jurors. “You don’t get to guess.”
State prosecutors argued that Shakara Dickens killed her daughter because she was an inconvenience to her desire to party with friends.
“She put herself first over her child,” prosecutor Reginald Henderson said, rejecting the defendant’s accounts of giving her baby to various other people or agencies for adoption. “Don’t let anyone tell you there was a rush to judgment (by police.) They checked out every one of those ridiculous stories.”
[...]
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At least this jury got it right!
Sweet Lauryn fly away to heaven.
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http://www.waff.com/story/18857252/m...r-own-daughterThe mother convicted of murdering her own daughter admitted that she put her hands over her little girl's mouth and nose until she went limp.
Shakara Dickens took the stand at her sentencing Friday and confessed to the crime she has denied since the day her 9-month-old daughter was reported missing in 2010.
Dickens testified that she could not find a babysitter for her daughter on September 7.
"Lauryn saw me crying and she started crying," Dickens said during her testimony.
When her daughter would not stop crying, Dickens said she put her hands over Lauryn's nose and mouth.
"I don't know what I was thinking, I don't know what was wrong with me but I was holding her, I put my hands over her mouth and nose and she passed out," said Dickens. "I realized what I was doing and I stopped. She started crying and I did it again and her body just went limp."
She said that is when she grabbed a towel from the bathroom and a trash bag from the kitchen.
"I got scared. I got a towel and I wrapped her up," she said. "And I put her in a bag and I put her in the garbage."
Shakara Dickens said she took the garbage bag, containing her daughter's body, downstairs and put it in an empty dumpster two apartment buildings away.
When asked if she ever went back to the dumpster, Dickens said she had not but that she watched as it was emptied at 4 a.m. a few days later.
Shakara admitted that the stories she told detectives early on in the investigation were false. At one time, she said she gave Lauryn up for adoption.
"This closes the door on any possibility that maybe it didn't happen or maybe it was an accident. Because clearly under these circumstances it was obviously not an accident. So that kind of gives everybody closure as to what happened in this case," said Prosecutor Reggie Henderson.
[...]
At today's hearing, the prosecution recommended she be sentenced to 19 years for the crimes. The judge accepted the recommendation.
She will be given credit for time already served. Dickens will not be able to appeal the sentence.
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