Mother sues for $25 million after son's hazing death (AFP)

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The mother of a Cornell University student is suing a fraternity for $25 million after her son was allegedly kidnapped, bound and forced to drink large amounts of alcohol that led to his February death.

George Desdunes, a sophomore at the prestigious Ivy League school, called the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity house in the early morning hours of February 25 to ask for a ride back to his room, but a hazing ritual ensued instead, according to the lawsuit filed by his mother Marie Lourdes Andre.

Freshman pledges kidnapped Desdunes in what is part of a "long-standing ritual that was authorized and encouraged by SAE chapter offices and members," said the lawsuit filed in New York's Kings Country Supreme Court.

The 19-year-old human ecology student was bound by his wrists and ankles with zip ties and duct tape, quizzed on SAE history and forced to drink high amounts of alcohol.

After he lost consciousness, the pledges left him to die on a couch at the fraternity house -- his wrists and ankles still bound, according to court documents.

Desdunes was unresponsive in the morning when Cornell personnel found him. His blood alcohol level was .409 percent hours after the hazing activities, more than five times the legal limit for driving in New York state.

He died in hospital later that day.

"With the death of my son, I find some comfort in knowing that this lawsuit may bring about changes in fraternities that will prevent other families from suffering as I have," Andre said in a statement.

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Florida mother accused of murdering children is divorced (Reuters)

TAMPA, Fla (Reuters) – Julie Schenecker, who is accused of murdering her two teen-aged children, was divorced on Thursday from her husband Parker Schenecker at his request.

Julie Schenecker was arrested January 28 after police discovered the bodies of her son Beau, 13, and daughter Calyx, 16, at the family's home in Tampa. Both had been shot in the head.

Police said Julie Schenecker told them she shot the children because they talked back to her.

Parker, the children's father, is a U.S. Army officer who was on duty out of the country when the murders took place. He filed for divorce in February.

He attended the brief court hearing Thursday morning in Tampa but Julie did not. She has been held in jail without bail since her arrest.

Asked if the marriage was irretrievably broken, Parker Schenecker replied, "Yes."

Hillsborough Circuit Judge Cheryl Thomas said she would rule at a later date on the division of the couple's assets, estimated at $2 million.

Julie Schenecker has asked that she be granted half of the assets so she can hire an attorney to defend her. She is now being represented by a public defender.

Parker has filed a civil wrongful death suit against Julie. The couple did not have any other children.

(Reporting by Robert Green; Editing by Jerry Norton)

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US kidnap victim's mother rails at 'monsters' (AFP)

LOS ANGELES (AFP) – The mother of Jaycee Dugard, who was kidnapped as a child and repeatedly raped over 18 years, has lashed out at the couple who held her daughter, calling them evil "monsters."

In a statement released as California couple Phillip and Nancy Garrido were jailed for life over the abduction and sexual abuse of Dugard, Terry Probyn recalled how her perfect daughter was ripped from her at the age of 11 in 1991.

"I protected her innocence and her purity. She was sweet and kindhearted, a gentle, quiet, compassionate soul. Together forever, bonded for life," she said, describing her eldest daughter's birth and early life.

"Then on June, 10th, 1991 my world went dark. My sunshine was taken away. I asked God, 'What did I do wrong? Why am I being punished? How could anyone with a heart or a conscience... take an innocent child away from its mother?

"For 18 excruciating years, I endured a huge gaping hole in my heart that some evil being had put their hand into and had ripped out. For 18 agonizing years, I guarded what little I had left and lived in hell on this earth."

Damning the couple, who were jailed for 431 years and 36 years, she added: "It was you, Nancy Garrido, and you Phillip Garrido, that broke my heart. You took something that didn't belong to you. You hurt my baby.

"I hate you both for the torment and anguish you put my daughter, myself, and my family through. I am nauseous at the thought of the sexual exploitation and the brutal abuse she endured at your uncaring hand," she continued.

"I am sickened by the reality that she had to suffer your cruel and heartless imprisonment for so long. You are the epitome of disgust, and no amount of jail time or even death will cleanse your corrupt souls."

She added: "You do not deserve to live or die or even exist. Your mother did not give you life to destroy others' lives, and I can guarantee that she would be ashamed to know she bore evil."

"You are nothing, other than selfish, self-serving, self-gratifying monsters. What you have done... is unforgivable and the only satisfaction for me is that I know you will never lay eyes on my daughter again," concluded Probyn.

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In jail visits, Casey Anthony's mother sought answers (Reuters)

ORLANDO, Fla (Reuters) – The mother of accused child killer Casey Anthony asked pointed questions about 2-year-old granddaughter Caylee's fate in a video of a jailhouse visit played on Thursday for jurors.

"Are we going to be able to find her, do you think?" Cindy Anthony asked her daughter on July 25, 2008.

Casey said she hoped so.

"Do you think after this long she'd still be local?" asked Cindy, who at that point was leading a nationwide search for the toddler.

"She's not far. I know in my heart she's not far. I can feel it," Casey said.

Jurors watched three hours of jail visitation videos on Thursday, part of the prosecution's first-degree murder case against the 25-year-old Florida mother who faces the death penalty if convicted.

Prosecutors contend Casey killed her daughter on June 16, 2008 and hid her body in the woods a short walk from the Anthony family home.

Caylee's skeletal remains were found in December 2008 with duct tape wrapped three times around her skull, nose and mouth.

Testimony at the trial in Orlando has shown that Casey lied repeatedly to her mother and friends about the toddler's whereabouts.

Cindy finally called 911 on July 15, 2008 to report Caylee missing after finding Casey's car smelling of death at an impound lot and confronting her daughter, who claimed Caylee had been kidnapped by a nanny.

Defense attorney Jose Baez contends Caylee drowned in the family's backyard pool and the death went unreported.

In the jailhouse videos, Casey's parents repeatedly encouraged her to talk to the detectives who were trying to find Caylee, but Casey claimed they twisted her words. Cindy and George Anthony offered to get an FBI agent or other law enforcement officer that their daughter could trust.

'SHE WAS VERY PERSUASIVE'

Earlier Thursday, jurors heard a taped interview detectives conducted on July 16, 2008 with Casey, shortly before arresting her on charges of providing false information to law enforcement officers, obstructing justice and child neglect.

On the recording, Casey insisted that Caylee had been kidnapped by a nanny, even as she also admitted to the detectives that everything else she had told them was a lie.

"I dropped her off at the (nanny's) apartment," Casey told detectives in a tense exchange.

"No you didn't," a detective responded.

"That's exactly where I dropped her off," Casey said.

"No you didn't. And who did you drop her off with?" the detective said.

"I dropped her off with Zenaida," Casey said.

"No you didn't," the detective said.

By then, Detective Yuri Melich testified, he knew the apartment identified by Casey had been vacant for months and no one named Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez had ever lived in the apartment complex. Many other details provided by Casey about Caylee's disappearance had not panned out, he said.

That interview was conducted at Universal Orlando, where Melich testified he had gone to try to verify Casey's claim that she worked there along with the nanny and two friends whom she said she had confided in about Caylee's disappearance.

One of the friends was Jeff Hopkins, who Casey told her mother was a wealthy former boyfriend whose son Zachary sometimes stayed with Zenaida. Casey claimed to have traveled with him to Jacksonville to rekindle their romance.

A man named Jeff Hopkins testified on Thursday that he was an acquaintance of Casey's in middle school but that, otherwise, "It's not me."

Melich determined that Hopkins worked at Universal from 2001-2002, and Casey had once worked for a Universal subcontractor but not since 2006. Neither Zenaida nor the other friend named by Casey had ever worked at the theme park.

Melich testified that two other detectives brought Casey to Universal's employee entrance. Melich said Casey acted as if she worked there and led the detectives to a building where she claimed she worked.

"She was very persuasive," Melich testified. "Even at this time, I could not imagine this was a ruse."

However, once inside the building, Melich said, "She stops, turns and looks at us and says, 'I don't work here.'"

(Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Greg McCune)

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