Shawn Arender - Rape & Murder of 6 y.o. Hannah Mack - TB
Posted on Wed, Sep. 12, 2007 6-year-old girl found hanged in Texas By PAUL J. WEBER - The Associated Press CORSICANA, Texas --A 6-year-old girl was found hanged inside her family's garage and had been sexually assaulted before she died, police said Wednesday. Authorities have made no arrests or named any suspects since Hannah Mack's body was discovered by her mother on Monday. They are saying little about their investigation. "I will confirm that the hanging and sexual assault were part of this scenario," Navarro County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Mike Cox said. Cox said several people have been interviewed and no one has been ruled out as a suspect. "We don't want to do anything that would compromise a successful prosecution of this case," Cox said Wednesday before abruptly ending a brief news conference. Neighbors in the rural lakeside community in east Texas are frustrated by the silence so far and worry that a predator remains on the loose. In a letter to the sheriff's department, Navarro County Judge Vicki Gray said an autopsy of the body showed "a multitude of events that together caused the death of this child." No other details were released. Dana Mack found her youngest daughter's body in a garage behind the family's secluded home in Navarro Mills Lake, about 65 miles south of Dallas. Police said Dana Mack began searching after she realized Hannah was missing at a time she would have been getting ready for school. The mother last saw Hannah sleeping on the couch around 1 a.m., according to Jean Langford, the girl's great-grandmother. "(Dana) is just devastated. We all are," Langford said. "This is the worst thing that's ever happened to this family. Hannah was our pride and joy. She was our little sweetheart." Langford said the family had hoped police would be further along in their investigation. "What makes this so bad is that we still don't know who did this awful thing." Those concerns are shared by neighbors. They say imaginations in town are starting to run wild. "My kids sleep in the bed with me," said Pam Gray, who lives next door and whose children rode the school bus with Hannah. "They get off of school and they've heard all the rumors and wild things, and they're terrified." "I'm just concerned about the kids out there," said Harold Hocutt, 75, a neighbor who knows the girl's family. "Little girls. Little boys. It's just something you don't forget. Every time I drive by (Hannah's house), I cry." Police asked state caseworkers to not say whether Hannah's family had been investigated by child welfare officers, said Marissa Gonzales, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. She characterized the request as uncommon. http://www.centredaily.com/news/breaking_news/story/205481.html

Suspect named in girl's murder By PAUL J. WEBER 10 minutes ago CORSICANA, Texas - A 6-year-old girl who had been sexually assaulted was found hanged inside her family's garage, and authorities on Thursday described her mother's boyfriend as the primary suspect. The boyfriend was arrested Wednesday on a charge of possession of child pornography and remained in the Navarro County Jail on Thursday. Sheriff's deputies have not charged him in the death of young Hanna Mack, but they identified him as the primary suspect, Chief Deputy Mike Cox said Thursday. Dana Mack discovered her daughter missing Monday morning about the time the first-grader should have been getting ready for school. The little girl's body was found in a rust-covered garage behind her home in Navarro Mills Lake, about 65 miles south of Dallas. The mother last saw Hanna sleeping on the couch around 1 a.m., according to Jean Langford, the girl's great-grandmother. "(Dana) is just devastated. We all are," Langford said. "This is the worst thing that's ever happened to this family. Hanna was our pride and joy. She was our little sweetheart." In a letter to the sheriff's department, Navarro County justice of the peace Vicki Gray said an autopsy of the body showed "a multitude of events that together caused the death of this child." No other details were released. Neighbors gathered Wednesday evening outside the garage in Navarro Mills, a rural lakeside community in east Texas, and prayed during a vigil. They donated money to the family, held a moment of silence and released balloons into the air. Many worried that a predator could be on the loose. "My kids sleep in the bed with me," said Pam Gray, who lives next door and whose children rode the school bus with Hanna. "They get off of school and they've heard all the rumors and wild things, and they're terrified." Police asked state caseworkers to not say if Hanna's family had been investigated by child welfare officers, said Marissa Gonzales, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. She characterized the request as uncommon. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070913/ap_on_re_us/girl_dead_8

Sep 28, 2007 5:55 pm US/Central Neighbor Charged With Murder Of Hanna Mack 19-Year-Old Arrested In Navarro County Girl's Murder (CBS News) NAVARRO COUNTY Officials have arrested a neighbor and charged him with capital murder in the death earlier this month of a Navarro County girl. Officials arrested Shawn Earl Arender, 19, and charged him with capital murder in the Hanna Mack murder, authorities said at a news conference Friday morning. Navarro County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Mike Cox said Arender lived less than a mile from the Mack's rural home about 65 miles south of Dallas. He was already in jail on unrelated burglary and drug possession charges. Cox said DNA evidence linked Arender to the crime scene. His bond is set at $2.5 million. According to an affidavit when Arender was questioned Wednesday he, "would not give a statement, but put his head on the table and cried." The document also states that a couple of days before being questioned about Hanna's death, Arender cut himself with a piece of glass and was taken to the hospital "because he was depressed." CBS 11 talked to Anders uncle who said Shawn was a 'trouble maker', but he could have never imagined his nephew would be accused of 'something like this'. The 6-year-old girl was found hanging in the family garage on Sept. 10. An autopsy later revealed that the girl had also been sexually assaulted. Dana Mack's live-in boyfriend Kevin Wayne Anders was arrested two days after the little girl's body was found. He was charged with possession of child pornography. Bond was set at $100,000 and he remains jailed. At the time of his arrest Anders was considered the primary suspect in Hanna's death, and as of Friday, he hadn' t been ruled out as a suspect. http://cbs11tv.com/topstories/local_story_271112013.html

November 08, 2007 09:17 am Judge rules on Arender evidence motion No wrongdoing found in destruction of crime scene By Loyd Cook In a short, two paragraph written ruling released Wednesday afternoon, District Judge John Jackson found no reason to issue sanctions in connection with the destruction of a crime scene connected with the Hanna Mack murder case. The six-year-old was found Sept. 10 raped and hanged in the garage/barn beside her home. Shaun Earl Arender, 19, was charged with capital murder after his DNA matched samples found at the crime scene. Arender was in custody on unrelated burglary charges when he was charged with the little girl’s murder and his DNA was on file in a national computer database. It came back positive after initial crime scene DNA test results were run through that database. Jackson’s ruling was succinct. “Relative to the destruction of the crime scene, I find that there is not sufficient evidence which would cause me to impose a sanction at this time,” Jackson wrote in his ruling. “Should other evidence lead me to believe the destruction of the crime scene resulted from bad faith or misconduct, I will not hesitate to impose sanctions in the future.” “Defendant’s Motion to Preserve Evidence is granted to the extent that the subject evidence is known to the State and within its possession,” the ruling continues. “The State is further directed to assist in the preservation of any objects, recordings, or other materials of any nature not in its possession which is known to it and may reasonably constitute evidence, whether inculpatory or exculpatory.” That was the entirety of the written ruling Jackson issued Wednesday. In a related matter, Navarro County Sheriff’s Office officials said Wednesday they are still waiting on the DNA test results connected with Kevin Wayne Anders, the man first named as the primary suspect in the Hanna Mack murder case. NCSO officials have yet to officially rule Anders out as a possible participant in the murder. Anders remains in Navarro County Justice Center jail on possession of child pornograhy charges in lieu of $100,000 bond. Arenders is also in the same jail. His bond is set at $2.5 million. ————— Loyd Cook may be contacted via e-mail at lcook@corsicanadailysun.com http://www.corsicanadailysun.com/news/local_story_312091740.html

Published: November 02, 2007 09:40 pm Arender defense enters evidence motions District judge expected to rule early next week By Loyd Cook The defense team for Shaun Earl Arender, the man accused of the Sept. 10 sexual assault and hanging death of 6-year-old Hanna Mack, entered a motion to preserve evidence connected with the case, a motion heard in a pre-trial hearing Monday. It was a hearing that saw the defense call the county’s district attorney, sheriff and chief deputy to testify as Arender’s lawyers hammered local law enforcement for the Oct. 16 destruction of the two-car garage/barn at the Mack home that was torn down. Mark Griffith, a Waxahachie attorney with Griffith & Associates, is defending Arender along with local attorney Kerri Anderson Donica. Griffith decried the destruction of the crime scene, which was ordered by the property’s owner, as a hindrance to his ability to present a strong defense for his client. “My hands have already been tied,” Griffith said about the building being torn down. “I don’t want my feet to be tied, too, and my eyes blindfolded.” District Judge John Jackson heard the defense’s presentation on its requests, and is expected to issue a ruling sometime early next week. The defense’s motion lists 10 areas of evidence to be preserved in the future, according to a copy of the motion obtained by the Daily Sun from the Navarro County District Clerk’s Office. “To further protect the accused’s state and federal constitutional rights in connection with these allegations against the accused, he requests that none of the evidence seized in this investigation be destroyed, modified or altered without an order from this court, after notice to the State and to the defense of the intent to do so,” the motion states. Assistant district attorney Vicki Foster argued that crime lab tests necessarily destroy some samples because the tests themselves use the sample material to gain a result. “It’s an impossible request ... and one I can’t promise to uphold,” Foster said. Griffith put the local law enforcement establishment on the stand during the hearing. District Attorney R. Lowell Thompson testified he had no prior knowledge of the building’s destruction and read about it afterwards in an issue of the Daily Sun. The defense asked Thompson what he would have done if he had heard of the demolition plans in advance. “I would have asked if detectives had completed their investigation,” Thompson responded. “You wouldn’t have thought it necessary to preserve the crime scene so I can do my investigation?” Griffith asked. “Do you think that’s fair?” “I don’t know that I’m supposed to do your job for you, sir,” Thompson replied. Thompson added that the defense had the opportunity to file a motion to preserve the crime scene before it was destroyed. Griffith noted how short a time it was between his appointment to the defense team and the building’s destruction. But Thompson pointed out that local defense attorney Kerri Anderson Donica had been appointed shortly after Arender was charged with the Hanna Mack murder. Sheriff Les Cotten and Chief Deputy Mike Cox both said they knew detectives investigating the case had completed their work on the crime scene. Both said they felt they didn’t have the right at that point to stop the destruction, since it is private property. ————— Loyd Cook may be contacted via e-mail at lcook@corsicanadailysun.com http://www.corsicanadailysun.com/news/local_story_306214008.html