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Thread: Willa Blanc Pleads Guilty Receives LWOP Sentence in 2009 KY Slaying of Walter Sartory

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    Willa Blanc Pleads Guilty Receives LWOP Sentence in 2009 KY Slaying of Walter Sartory

    Death penalty sought in Sartory case

    BURLINGTON - Prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty for the 48-year-old former cleaning woman accused of kidnapping, drugging and killing a 73-year-old reclusive millionaire.

    Willa Blanc and her son, Louis Wilkinson, 28, face complicity to murder, kidnapping, theft and abusing a corpse charges in the death of Walter Sartory, whose burned body was found in a field outside Indianapolis in March.

    Sartory, a retired mathematician who suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and a severe social phobia, had numerous investments - many of which were transferred into Willa Blanc's name after his death, investigators said.

    Commonwealth's Attorney Linda Tally Smith told a judge Thursday that she intends to seek the death penalty for Blanc, but has not decided whether to seek the same punishment for her son.

    Blanc and Wilkinson, both of Union, appeared in Boone Circuit Court Thursday where Judge Tony Frohlich scheduled a competency hearing for Wilkinson on Jan. 7.

    After the mother and son were arrested at a Sharonville motel March 14, Blanc told a public defender that Wilkinson is "of low mental functioning and would be unable to invoke his own right to counsel," according to court records. So, she asked the public defenders to represent her son.

    However, investigators at a hearing earlier this year disputed that claim, saying Wilkinson was highly intelligent and well-spoken.

    After his arrest, Wilkinson began telling detectives about what happened leading up to Sartory's death. Wilkinson told deputies that he arrived at the house he shared with his mother on Feb. 16 or 17 to find Sartory taped to a chair in the basement. He also told deputies this his mother was drugging Sartory and that he had to perform CPR on the elderly man three times. After about a week, Wilkinson said he carried Sartory to a van but was stopped by his mother.

    He was not able to finish his story because a judge ordered that detectives stop questioning him until he could talk to the public defender his mother asked to represent him.

    The mother and son are now represented by two different public defenders.

    Blanc's attorney, Joanne Lynch, asked the judge Wednesday to reduce Blanc's bond from $10 million to $100,000 cash.

    "We are asking to set what we believe is a more reasonable bond," Lynch said. "We're not even anticipating that our client could make that particular bond."

    Lynch pointed out that Blanc's bond is more than 13 times higher than any other inmate in the Boone County jail.

    Tally Smith asked the judge to not reduce the bond, saying that Blanc tried to elude authorities and is a flight risk.

    "The gravity of the offenses clearly justify a bond in that amount," Tally Smith said. "This is a death-penalty-eligible offense and the Commonwealth plans to file notice of intent to seek the death penalty."

    Frohlich had not issued a ruling on the bond by Wednesday evening.

    Investigators say after Sartory died his body was stuffed in a trash can, driven to Indiana in a rented minivan and burned. During Thursday's hearing an attorney for the minivan's owner, BMC Rentals, asked that the van, which is being held for evidence, be released.

    Tally Smith said that both the prosecution and defense are waiting for laboratory tests. After the results are returned, the defense will have to decide if they need the evidence to be independently evaluated.

    But BMC attorney Jim Kidney told the judge that the van was cleaned and rented eight times after Willa Blanc used it.

    "It was sanitized," Kidney said. "If there was anything there or any substance it has been compromised to the nth degree."

    The van has been held for 274 days and in that time BMC has lost about $16,000 in rental fees it could have made on the van, Kidney said.

    http://nky.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/AB/20091202/NEWS0103/912030349/

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    Schizophrenic genius whose worst fears came true

    As with many paranoid schizophrenics, Walter Sartory's life was governed by fear. Convinced that the CIA was spying on him, the brilliant mathematician and scientist moved to a secluded home in Kentucky, where he filled the garage with powerful computers and withdrew from the world, devoting his time to stock market speculation.

    Helped by a natural genius for statistics, Sartory swiftly managed to amass a US$14m ($19m) personal fortune. But the money didn't make him happy. Instead, voices in his head began to overshadow his life, telling him that the outside world was full of mysterious and hostile people who were secretly plotting to murder him.

    In the event, his worst fears were justified. At some point last February, the researcher, who had spent 30 years working at Oak Ridge in Tennessee, one of the secretly built US government laboratories where the atomic bomb was developed, was abducted and gruesomely murdered. Police say hundreds of thousands of dollars were then emptied from his bank accounts. His body was chopped into pieces, driven across state lines, and burned. The ashes were spread in woodland. A charred pair of steel-rimmed spectacles was all that was recovered.

    The forthcoming trial of Sartory's accused killers is already the subject of morbid public interest. But comparisons to the troubled genius at the centre of the Hollywood film A Beautiful Mind have made Sartory's murder an object of national fascination.

    Aged 73, the scientist fitted the tragic victim role perfectly, down to his aptitude for chess, and his eccentric wardrobe and mannerisms. Meanwhile the mother-and-son pair accused of his murder n Willa Blanc and Louis Wilkinson n make textbook pantomime baddies. Blanc is the alleged author of the macabre murder plot and is being held in the local jail on $10m bail. She faces the death penalty if found guilty.

    On the basis of a partial confession by her son, detectives believe Sartory was held captive in a basement for a week, strapped to a chair with duct tape, drugged, and ordered to reveal passwords and sign documents that gave them access to his fortune. The accused have both pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of murder and kidnapping. On 20 January, Wilkinson will face a hearing to decide if he is fit to stand trial.

    The story has appalled the American public. "We all struggle to have faith in mankind," Linda Tally Smith, the prosecuting attorney told the Los Angeles Times this week. "To think that a man who was already paranoid, who lived his whole life in fear of others, could fall prey to something so horrific is heartbreaking." An affidavit filed by police in the case detailed Mr Sartory's sad life story, painting a portrait of a widely respected scientist whose classified work involved designing nuclear reactors and creating centrifuges which are commonly used in medical research.

    A gifted inventor, he also held at least 3 patents. He retired in 1992 and devoted his life to searching for extra-terrestrial life, and investing on Wall Street, creating complex algorithms, mostly in his head, that helped to transform his modest retirement savings into an impressive investment portfolio.that grew to be valued at $14 million. Last January, according to the Los Angeles Times, Sartory had a shy date with a woman he met through an internet site for people with personality disorders. They held hands.

    His private life, however, was overshadowed by mental illness. He believed the CIA had him under surveillance, using specially trained ants. A tiny circle of loyal friends who tolerated his occasional eccentricities would phone him almost every day.

    Apparently it was these friends who first revealed that the scientist was missing. Last February, concerned that he had stopped returning calls, Ann Cartee is said to have contacted police, forwarding them a recent email he had allegedly sent her detailing his worries about a local woman who had begun "barging into" his home. By the time detectives had begun to piece together what had happened, it was too late.

    That woman, it is claimed, was Willa Blanc. According to the police affidavit, she befriended the frail man, tempted him into her home, forced him into the cellar, and tied him up. It is the prosecution's case that Sartory, bound, gagged, and unable to gain access to the medication he took each day to prevent panic attacks, Sartory survived a few days. But eventually, he became disturbed, and suffocated. The motive for the crime, it seems, was straightforward greed.

    Blanc apparently had a gambling habit and a taste for expensive jewellery. After allegedly gaining power of attorney over the elderly mathematician, she and her son, it is alleged, embezzled US$200,000, spending vast portions of it in casino boats on the Mississippi.

    Though both suspects have pleaded not guilty to murder, kidnapping, and embezzlement, detectives in the case claim that a paper trail connecting Sartory's bank account, Blanc and beneficiaries including her attorney and her mortgage company leaves serious questions for them to answer.

    According to the reports of officers who searched the buildings where he spent his last days, his living room had been converted into a monitoring station full of computers that analysed radio signals from outer space in search of alien life. The rest of the house was littered with "to do lists" detailing his daily tasks, from brushing teeth to taking medication.

    Blanc's living room concealed darker secrets. The police affidavit said that in a collection of books about the law, the title of the most well-thumbed title "was along the lines of How to Choose Your Prey".

    (source: New Zealand Herald)

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    Slain man's estate sues 5/3, Fidelity

    The estate of a reclusive Hebron millionaire who was kidnapped and killed in 2009 has filed a federal lawsuit seeking more than $1 million from two financial institutions that held his accounts.

    The estate of Walter Sartory, whose burned body was found in March 2009, wants Fidelity Brokerage Services and Fifth Third Bank to return the $210,000 it says was taken by the woman accused of killing the 73-year-old retired scientist.

    In the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Covington, the estate also seeks to recover $1 million that Sartory's investment account would have gained had it not been liquidated at Willa Blanc's request.

    Prosecutors say Blanc, 48, and her son Louis Wilkinson, 28, kidnapped Sartory in mid-February 2009, drugged him and held him duct taped to a chair in the basement of their Union home. Sartory died about a week later, said investigators who found his body March 13 in an Indiana field.

    Blanc and Wilkinson are charged with murder, kidnapping, abuse of corpse and exploitation of an adult. The pair face the death penalty when the case goes to trial.

    The suit, filed by Florence Attorney Joe Conley on behalf of estate administrator David Koenig, details how Blanc used fake documents, including a power of attorney, in order to gain access to the more than $2 million in Sartory's accounts.

    "All of the documents...purporting to be signed by Sartory were forged," the lawsuit states. "None of the signatures bore any resemblance to the actual signature of Sartory."

    Both Fidelity and Fifth Third had several of Sartory's signatures on file and should have known the documents were fake, the suit states.

    Blanc used the power of attorney to have her name added to Sartory's Fifth Third account and then presented it to Fidelity and asked that $10,000 be transferred to the Fifth Third account, it states. She then used another form supposedly signed by Sartory to transfer $200,000 to the bank account.

    "Fidelity paid items that were not properly payable," the suit states, "as a result Fidelity is strictly liable to the estate of Walter Sartory for reimbursement of those items."

    Around the same time, Blanc told Fidelity she wanted to liquidate Sartory's entire investment account and wanted a check for $1 million. This prompted Fidelity to sell all of Sartory's stocks - many of which he had held for 26 years. While Blanc did not get the money from the sale, Fidelity sold the stocks at the "lowest point of the current bear market," the suit states.

    Fidelity held the account in cash, which deprived the estate of at least $1 million that the stocks would have made when the market rebounded, the suit states.

    Fifth Third also allowed Blanc to use the forged power of attorney to add her name Sartory's account and give her access to his safe deposit box where she removed 13 gold coins worth $950 each, the suit states.

    The suit demands that Fifth Third pay back the $200,000 Blanc withdrew and $12,350 for gold coins.

    The lawsuit was initially filed in Boone County Circuit Court then moved federal court last month. On April 15, U.S. District Judge Danny Reeves issued a stay in the case after the parities told the judge they were trying to settle the dispute. If the case is not settled or dismissed by June 15 the parties must file a report telling the judge where the case stands.

    Conley said Friday that the lawyers have had discussions, but that they have not yet reached an agreement. Cincinnati attorney Ben Dusing, who represents Fifth Third, and Covington attorney Robert Craig, who represents Fidelity, could not be reached for comment.

    The estate was opened in February 2010 after Sartory's friend, Ann Cartee, submitted an affidavit stating Sartory had a will and a trust. The will specifies that his estate be given to the Vanguard Fiduciary Trust Co. or the Walter Kenneth Sartory Family Trust, a revocable living trust. Cartee said that she is one of the beneficiaries of the trust.

    http://news.cincinnati.com/article/2...text|FRONTPAGE

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    Trial date set in murdered millionaire case

    BURLINGTON - The mother and son accused of kidnapping and killing a Hebron millionaire are scheduled to stand trial in January 2102, nearly three years after the man's death.

    On Wednesday, Boone Circuit Judge Tony Frohlich set the trial for Jan. 26, 2012.

    Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Willa Blanc, 48 and her son, Louis Wilkinson, 28, who are accused of kidnapping Walter Sartory in mid-February 2009, drugging him and holding him in their basement duct-taped to a chair. Sartory died about after about a week, said investigators who found his body March 13 in an Indiana field.

    The pair's trial had been scheduled twice before but was pushed back because prosecutors and defense attorneys were waiting on laboratory results. A pretrial hearing in the case was also scheduled for Sept. 7.

    The trial is expected to last about five weeks, said Boone Commonwealth's Attorney Linda Tally Smith.

    Blanc and Wilkinson are charged with murder, kidnapping, abuse of a corpse and exploitation of an adult. Blanc is being held on $10 million bond and Wilkinson is being held on $5 million bond.

    Sartory was a retired scientist who suffered paranoid schizophrenia and a severe social phobia. He had more than $2 million in investments at the time of his death. In addition to murder, Blanc and Wilkinson are also charged with raiding his accounts after his death.

    According to a lawsuit hoping to recover the money filed in federal court, Blanc used several forged documents to transfer at least $210,000 of Sartory's money into her name.

    Sartory's estate filed the suit against Fifth Third Bank and Fidelity Investments in April alleging that the financial intuitions should have known the documents, including a power of attorney, were fake. The suit is in the process of being settled, according to federal court records.

    The suit also blames Fifth Third for giving Blanc access to Sartory's safe deposit box, from which she removed 13 gold coins worth $950 each.

    http://communitypress.cincinnati.com...yssey=nav|head

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    Cleaning lady pleads guilty to exploiting reclusive millionaire

    A former cleaning lady admitted Thursday that she kidnapped a reclusive Hebron millionaire nearly three years ago in hopes of getting the elderly man’s money.

    Willa Blanc, 50, pleaded guilty to nine charges in Boone Circuit Court on Thursday including not releasing Walter Sartory alive, burning his body and raiding his bank and investment accounts.

    She will receive life in prison when Judge Tony Frohlich sentences her next month.

    Timeline: William Sartory

    In March 2009, 73-year-old Sartory’s burned body was found in an Indiana field two weeks after the retired scientist was reported missing. Sartory, who suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and had severe social phobia, had told friends in the weeks before his disappearance that he was suspicious of Blanc whom he met when she cleaned a neighbor’s home nearly a year earlier.

    Prosecutors had planned to seek the death penalty for Blanc at a trial set to begin next month.

    In return for her guilty pleas, Commonwealth's Attorney Linda Tally Smith agreed to drop the murder charge. Because Sartory was kidnapped and not released alive and because the crime was motived by financial gain, even without pleading guilty to murder Blanc, under Kentucky law can still be sentenced to life in prison.

    Blanc's son Louis Wilkinson, 30, who also faces murder and kidnapping charges in the case, is set to stand trial next month.

    However, as part of her plea Blanc agreed to give investigators a full account of what happened to Sartory in February and March 2009. After that, prosecutors will decide how to proceed in Wilkinson's case.

    When Frohlich asked Blanc if she was satisfied with her public defenders, Blanc praised her attorneys.

    "I think they've done a wonderful job," she said.

    He asked if she thought they investigated her case thoroughly and did everything they could to defend her she replied:

    "With me as their client, absolutely."

    Deputies and prosecutors said that the pair held Sartory drugged and duct taped in the basement of their Union home for about a week in February 2009. When the man died, Blanc and Wilkinson drove his body to Indiana where they told friends they needed to burn a dead dog, police said.

    While he was being held, Blanc raided Sartory’s bank and investment accounts.
    Sartory, a scientist who had retired from a job at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee was worth millions of dollars, according to court records. Blanc spent $210,000 and had access to a Fidelity account with $1.3 million, investigators said.

    Investigators said Blanc had a power of attorney for Sartory that was supposedly signed Feb. 18. Deputies also found a trust agreement supposedly signed by Sartory on Feb. 24 that gave Blanc 60 percent of his assets in the event of his death.

    When Sartory disappeared, Blanc’s $290,000 home was being foreclosed on and she owed property taxes. On March 6, Willa Blanc paid $3,600 in property taxes due on the house.

    http://communitypress.cincinnati.com...sey=nav%7Chead

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