From Whispers to Roars

[Gaia]

Police: Sex offender killed teenage girl
Posted by Mike Aquilia 5 hrs ago


Panama City - Police say a registered sex offender from Georgia has confessed to killing a 13-year-old girl.

The body of Melinda Hinson was found Thursday in a Panama City hotel room registered to Mathew Caylor.

Police say the 33-year-old Caylor gave a "very detailed and very lengthy confession" to investigators. They're working to validate the claims.

The girl and her family had been living in the hotel since moving from Kentucky last fall.

Caylor checked in June 28th.

He's charged with murder, sexual battery and failing to register as a sexual offender. He had been arrested the day before the girl's body was discovered after being accused of trying to rob two women.

http://www.tampabays10.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=84661
_________________
Mahatma Ghandi
"This is our moment, this is our time, this is our chance to stand up for whats right" Bono
"If we don't stand up for children, then we don't stand up for much." Marian Wright Edelman

"Until They Come Home"

[Gaia]

ANALYSIS: After girl's death, reflections on sex offender law


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August 09, 2008 10:31:00 PM
By S. Brady Calhoun / News Herald Writer

PANAMA CITY — The strict sex predator laws enacted in Florida and Panama City did not save 13-year-old Melinda Hinson.

Authorities said her accused killer, Matthew Caylor, a sex offender from Georgia, broke probation and violated Florida's sex offender laws when he came to live at the Valu-Lodge on U.S. 98 in late June. Caylor, who previously had been convicted of molesting a child, was supposed to register with the Bay County Sheriff's Office before taking up residence in town. There also was a restriction in Panama City as to where he could live.

Instead of following the law, authorities said Caylor went on a crime spree that ended a few hours after Melinda's death.

While law enforcement officials stress the importance of the sex offender laws, groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida contend the laws actually are making communities less safe, said Courtenay Strickland, director of public policy for the ACLU in Florida.

"I think we are certainly in agreement with law enforcement and other advocates out there that the goal is to protect our communities from violence," Strickland said.

However, she said research has shown that residency restrictions in Florida's municipalities and counties do not work.

In Florida, sex offenders and predators have to register with a local sheriff's office and notify authorities if they move. Although sexual predators essentially qualify as sexual offenders, as well, sexual predators' crimes are more serious, usually involve violence and they generally face longer sentences.

Investigators are supposed to keep tabs on the offenders, and authorities often turn to this group as suspects when crimes are committed. Their mug shots and addresses are kept on national and statewide databases.

Florida law also bans sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of a school, or other places where children congregate. Panama City, like several other Bay County municipalities, enacted a stricter restriction, saying the offenders could not live within 2,500 feet of a place where children congregate.

Local reaction

The ACLU has asked Gov. Charlie Crist to convene a task force to look into these laws. Strickland said the state needs to enact a law that will invalidate all of the sex offender laws created in Florida's towns. It would be replaced with a new law that should be uniform, easy to understand and give offenders a fair chance to comply, she said.

Instead of being monitored, sex offenders are being "pushed underground because they cannot find a way to live in compliance with the rules and restrictions," Strickland said.

This seems to be the case, at least to some degree, in Bay County, where several times public notices have been sent out that inform the public that a sex offender will be living under a local bridge. If they are homeless, sex offenders are harder to track, Strickland said, and more likely to commit another crime instead of establishing a "lawful lifestyle."

Local law enforcement officials disagree and said two local cases show the need for residency restrictions and monitoring.

Caylor is accused of attacking two women in a Panama City Beach condo on July 8. The women fended him off, and he came back to the Valu-Lodge, where he raped and killed Melinda, according to police.

Caylor was captured by the Sheriff's Office just hours after the slaying. His place of residence and status as a sex offender made him the prime suspect in Melinda's case, and he ultimately confessed to that crime, investigators said.

"Let's say Caylor would have been stopped the day before in a traffic stop," said Sgt. John Corley of the Bay County Sheriff's Office. Because of the current sex offender laws, "he would have been incarcerated and the crime would never have occurred."

The laws also give law enforcement an advantage in the tense, early moments of homicide, rape and missing-person investigations, said Capt. Jimmy Stanford of the Bay County Sheriff's Office. If a crime has been committed in a certain area, investigators will know if any sex predators live in that area and will check in on them, Stanford said.

"You never know which one of these guys is the ticking time tomb," Stanford said.

County rules

Although the state's sex offender law does apply, Bay County does not have its own ordinance that forces the suspects to live more than 1,000 feet from schools and similar places where children gather. The Sheriff's Office has asked the county to enact such a law, but so far the commission has not obliged.

Stanford also said he would be in favor of longer prison sentences for sex offenders, but officials can only enforce the law as written.

"You read it every day around the state, around the nation," Stanford said.

Stanford said the Edward Lee Brown case, like the Caylor case, prove the necessity of the sex offender laws.

Investigators said Brown, a Panama City Beach resident, detained a child who was riding her bicycle for several minutes on July 18. Brown, who had just been released from prison for attempted sexual battery on a child under 13, was arrested and charged with false imprisonment of someone under the age of 13 and failure to register as a convicted felon.

And while most in the law enforcement community seem to be in favor of the sex predator laws, it was not investigators who called for the change.

"It's the general public" who wanted the laws, said Lt. Mark Aviles, of the Panama City Police Department. He added that most people do not care if they are living near a convicted burglar, but they do care if a child molester is living next door.

"I've got two kids," Aviles said. "I support (sex offender laws), too."

http://www.newsherald.com/news/panama_67354___article.html/city_reflections.html
_________________
Mahatma Ghandi
"This is our moment, this is our time, this is our chance to stand up for whats right" Bono
"If we don't stand up for children, then we don't stand up for much." Marian Wright Edelman

"Until They Come Home"

[Gaia]

Caylor defense motions dismissed



November 06, 2008 10:12:00 AM
By S. BRADY CALHOUN / News Herald Writer

Circuit Judge DeeDee Costello denied two motions in the Matthew Lee Caylor case this week.

Caylor is charged with first-degree murder, sexual battery with great bodily force and aggravated child abuse. He's accused of raping and killing 13-year-old Melinda Denise Hinson on July 8 at the Valu-Lodge motel in Panama City.

Caylor's attorney, Walter Smith, asked Costello to dismiss the sexual battery and aggravated child abuse counts, describing them as so undefined that they would mislead the defendant in the preparation of of his defense.

The case is scheduled for trial.


http://www.newsherald.com/news/caylor_69455___article.html/child_battery.html
_________________
Mahatma Ghandi
"This is our moment, this is our time, this is our chance to stand up for whats right" Bono
"If we don't stand up for children, then we don't stand up for much." Marian Wright Edelman

"Until They Come Home"

[Gaia]

Posted: 5:11 AM Oct 30, 2009

Jurors convict man in girl's death
A Panhandle jury has found a convicted sex offender from Georgia guilty of raping and killing a 13-year-old Panama City girl.

PANAMA CITY, Fla. (AP) - A Panhandle jury has found a convicted sex offender from Georgia guilty of raping and killing a 13-year-old Panama City girl.

Melinda Hinson's body was discovered by a maid in July 2008 at a Panama City motel where the girl was living with her family. Matthew Caylor confessed to killing her in a videotaped statement played for jurors, who convicted him Thursday afternoon.

Caylor's attorney had asked jurors to convict him of second-degree instead of first-degree murder, saying the 34-year-old man had consensual sex with the girl and then strangled her without premeditation. Jurors disagreed, convicting him of the more-serious first-degree charge.

Jurors could recommend life in prison or the death penalty for Caylor when they consider his sentence on Friday.
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Information from: The News Herald, http://www.newsherald.com

http://www.wtvynews4.com/home/headlines/67522727.html
_________________
Mahatma Ghandi
"This is our moment, this is our time, this is our chance to stand up for whats right" Bono
"If we don't stand up for children, then we don't stand up for much." Marian Wright Edelman

"Until They Come Home"