UPDATE 10/7/08 - Alan Jones has been arrested and charged with second-degree murder in the strangulation death of Erin Maxwell.  Jones is Erin’s adult stepbrother who was home alone with her at the time of her death.  Also arrested were Erin’s father, Lindsey Maxwell, and her stepmother, Lynn Maxwell. They are each charged with six counts of endangering the welfare of a child. Alan Jones is being held on $100,000 cash or $250,000 surety bond.  The Maxwells are each being held on $2500 cash or $5000 surety bonds. Warrants were issued Friday after indictments were handed down by a grand jury in the case.

Alan Jones, Lindsey and Lynn Maxwell

Our member RMiles has pics and video at his blog, Shadowscope - thanks, Richard, for the update!

Palermo, NY - Erin Maxwell died on August 29, 2008.  She was eleven years old.  This week her cause of death was ruled a homicide, but her family says that the medical examiner is wrong.  They say that Erin’s death was a tragic accident caused by her roleplay of the opening scene from the movie Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End.   That movie opens with a young boy singing the pirate’s shanty “Hoist The Colours” with a noose around his neck. At the end of the scene, the child is hanged.  Erin’s family says she must have been playing pirates. Read more