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Thread: John Joseph DeBlase - Alabama Death Row

  1. #1
    Administrator Michael's Avatar
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    John Joseph DeBlase - Alabama Death Row


    Natalie and Chase DeBlase


    John Joseph DeBlase


    Police: Dad of 2 missing Ala. children will be charged with murder now that 1 body found

    An Alabama man who told authorities that he buried his two young children will be charged with murder now that investigators have found remains believed to be his 3-year-old son, police said Wednesday.

    Mobile Police Officer Chris Levy said the discovery of a boy's bones in rural Mississippi gives authorities enough evidence to file two murder charges against John DeBlase. Levy said authorities are convinced the remains found Wednesday morning are those of Chase DeBlase, but they're conducting tests to confirm the identity.

    Levy told The Associated Press that prosecutors gave police approval to prepare the murder charges after the bones were found in woods near Vancleave. DeBlase, 27, is being held on charges of child abuse and corpse abuse, and he has been assisting authorities in the search for the children's bodies. Remains of the 5-year-old girl haven't yet been located.

    John DeBlase told investigators he dumped the boy's body in March.

    "Everything we found is absolutely consistent with the information he gave to us on what to look for," Levy said.

    The father has also told authorities he dumped the body of his daughter Natalie in the woods north of Mobile in June.

    Police say the boy was last seen in March and the girl in June, but their disappearances weren't reported until authorities in Kentucky received a tip recently. Mobile police began investigating last month.

    John DeBlase claims the children were killed by their stepmother, Heather Leavell-Keaton. She is jailed in Louisville, Ky. on child abuse charges and awaiting return to Mobile. Leavell-Keaton says DeBlase poisoned them.

    Police aren't ready yet to charge Leavell-Keaton with killing either of the children, but Levy has said that both suspects shared responsibility for their deaths.

    The couple's families echo each one's allegations. Leavell-Keaton's mother said her daughter had tried before to leave a lying, controlling man, and they suspect he poisoned the children. DeBlase's parents, however, said they believe it was a violent and unpredictable stepmother who manipulated their son into helping cover up slayings she committed.

    Still, they're not excusing DeBlase.

    "I can't believe John is responsible for this, but I know he could have prevented it," Deblase's mother, Dorothy, told The Associated Press before the boy's body was found. "But if Heather told him to go jump off a bridge, he would go jump in a river."

    DeBlase was arraigned earlier Wednesday on the lesser charges. A judge set a preliminary hearing for Jan. 4. His court-appointed attorney didn't immediately return a telephone message.

    Levy said witnesses told authorities both suspects beat the kids on numerous occasions.

    "We have some incidents where people observed them striking the children with objects," Levy said, adding investigators are disturbed no one came forward sooner. "The children had some injuries that warranted medical attention which they never properly received."

    DeBlase and Leavell-Keaton had been together since 2008, but they were not legally married. The couple met on the website MySpace while DeBlase and his children were living with his parents and Leavell-Keaton was attending nearby Spring Hill College in Mobile.

    Her mother, Helena Keaton, said her daughter was legally blind and dependent on DeBlase because of her limited eyesight.

    "She does not know really what happened to the kids. We suspect he poisoned them," Keaton told the AP, adding that her daughter smelled really bad breath on both children.

    "They had the same symptoms. They were not eating, they were not drinking. They were beginning to use the bathroom on themselves although they were potty trained," she said. "John would not take those children to get medical care."

    In the spring, Keaton said, DeBlase forced Leavell-Keaton to go on a long ride. DeBlase finally stopped and got something out of the vehicle, Keaton said, but Leavell-Keaton — who was pregnant at the time with DeBlase's third child — was unsure what it was.

    Keaton described DeBlase as a controlling, "habitual liar."

    "She has tried to get away from John before, and he has tracked her down," Keaton said.

    The couple moved to Kentucky without the children this summer, and Leavell-Keaton had DeBlase's child in August.

    DeBlase's parents gave a very different account in an interview before the bodies were found. They say Leavell-Keaton controlled the relationship, wouldn't allow DeBlase to take his children to church and forced him to move out of their home with the kids.

    They told the AP they suspect Leavell-Keaton killed the kids during a fit of rage while DeBlase attended night classes to become a personal trainer, then manipulated him into getting rid of the bodies.

    The grandparents last saw the children in February when they tracked down their son and Leavell-Keaton at a trailer park in the rural Alabama town of Citronelle.

    Leavell-Keaton's family never met the kids, and DeBlase's parents didn't even know the woman was pregnant.

    They say the pain of losing their grandchildren is unbearable. They described Chase as a rambunctious little blonde-haired boy and Natalie as "the princess," with penetrating big blue eyes who loved baking cookies with her grandmother.

    "They were our reason for living," Richard DeBlase said, tears running down his cheeks. "We watched them from crawling to walking and I can't tell you how badly it hurts us."

    Source

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    Alabama Suspect Claims Children Were Tortured to Death

    But the woman claimed the father, 27-year-old John DeBlase, killed the children and dumped their bodies in woods of south Mississippi and Alabama.

    The conflicting testimony was given Friday at a preliminary hearing for DeBlase and his common-law wife, 22-year-old Heather Leavell-Keaton.

    The judge ruled there was probable cause to send the case to a grand jury.

    DeBlase is charged with murder in the deaths of 3-year-old Chase and 4-year-old Natalie DeBlase.

    Leavell-Keaton, who is not the biological mother, is charged with aggravated child abuse and abuse of a corpse.

    The hearing included grisly testimony and claims that Leavell-Keaton called the children "demon spawns from hell."

    http://www.wtok.com/home/headlines/A...113082029.html

  3. #3
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    Related story

    Ala. woman faces murder charges in 2 kids' deaths

    A prosecutor said Friday he will file capital murder charges against a woman accused in courtroom testimony of beating her common-law husband's two children while they were bound, calling them "demon spawns from hell," and letting them die.

    Mobile County District Attorney John Tyson Jr. said he decided to seek tougher charges against Heather Leavell-Keaton, 22, after getting new information on the same day as the gruesome testimony. Tyson would not disclose what his office learned, citing the ongoing probe.

    The prosecutor said he has not decided whether to seek the death penalty against Leavell-Keaton. Leavell-Keaton, who is already jailed on other charges, will have a hearing next week on the two new counts against her.

    "This is an awful, awful set of facts and circumstances," Tyson said.

    During a hearing Friday, investigators testified that Leavell-Keaton told police that the children's father, 27-year-old John DeBlase, used rat poison to kill his children and dumped their bodies in woods of south Mississippi and Alabama. He is charged with two counts of felony murder and two counts of corpse abuse in the deaths of 3-year-old Chase and 4-year-old Natalie DeBlase.

    The judge ruled at the preliminary hearing for DeBlase and Leavell-Keaton that there was probable cause to send the case to a grand jury.

    Leavell-Keaton, who is legally blind and not the children's biological mother, was earlier charged with aggravated child abuse and abuse of a corpse.

    During testimony, Angela Prine of the Mobile Police Department recounted DeBlase's statement to detectives that Natalie died last March 4 after Leavell-Keaton duct-taped her hands, feet and mouth and put her in a suitcase. DeBlase said he attended classes and returned about 10 p.m., finding Natalie still in the suitcase and dead.

    Leavell-Keaton sat in a chair at the side of the court and appear to mutter to herself as Prine read DeBlase's statements. Later, Leavell-Keaton mouthed, "That's a lie."

    Attorneys for DeBlase have said he maintains his innocence.

    According to DeBlase's statement to detectives, the girl's body was buried after he stopped at a store to buy a shovel and drove to a rural site in Alabama, with Leavell-Keaton and his son in the car.

    He said Chase died last June 20 after Leavell-Keaton got angry during potty training and the child urinated on himself. She duct-taped his hands and legs, bound a broomstick behind his back, and later stuffed a sock in his mouth, according to the father's statement to detectives. DeBlase went to bed, saying he was still stressed out about Natalie's death and wanted Chase freed by the time he got up, but the boy was dead in the morning.

    According to the testimony, he put the body in a garbage bag and drove to Mississippi to bury it.

    The police department's Prine testified that DeBlase first told detectives his children were kidnapped by masked men at a park on Fathers' Day. He later said the children were tortured and killed by Leavell-Keaton.

    But Prine testified that Leavell-Keaton told detectives DeBlase killed the children. She described to detectives how each had vomited a black substance before dying.

    Prine also read interviews from various witnesses who described abuse by Leavell-Keaton of the children. Prine said Dana Mullins told detectives the family lived nearby for three weeks in December 2008 and that Leavell-Keaton beat Natalie, forced her to sit for lengthy periods in a chair and called her "evil brat" and "whore."

    Creighton Hobbs, an acquaintance of DeBlase's, said he saw Leavell-Keaton shake the children, call them "demon spawns from hell" and put them in a corner.

    The bodies were found in December when Leavell-Keaton, seeking a protective order after moving to Kentucky, disclosed they were dead. Authorities said DeBlase took them to the sites.

    The couple had separate arraignments Thursday. DeBlase, his hands in handcuffs, looked down and showed no reaction as details of the children's torture and deaths were read.

    According to testimony, the biological mother, Corrine Heathcock, had not seen the children for more than a year when they died.

    Darryl Bender, an attorney for Leavell-Keaton, said his client feared for her life and that of the now 7-month-old child she had with DeBlase. He said toxicology tests could prove the children were poisoned.

    And Bender questioned why none of the people who gave statements to detectives about the children's abuse called authorities to report the couple.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...010706252.html

  4. #4
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    DeBlase children slowly poisoned to death with anti-freeze, investigator testifies

    MOBILE, Alabama -- The stepmother to Natalie and Chase DeBlase slowly poisoned the young children with antifreeze by pouring it into their food in an effort to kill them and have less responsibilities, a Mobile police detective testified this morning.

    Heather Leavell-Keaton, 22, is charged with two counts of capital murder in the deaths of Natalie, 4, and Chase, 3, who were the children of her common-law husband, John DeBlase.

    The siblings were reported missing in November, and they hadn't been seen in months. Investigators discovered Chase’s remains in a wooded area near Vancleave in coastal Mississippi on Dec. 8, and Natalie’s body was found near Citronelle in north Mobile County three days later.

    In a preliminary hearing this morning, Mobile police Detective Angela Prine testified that Keaton, while in Mobile County Metro Jail, confessed to the killings to another jail inmate.

    According to the detective, Roseanna Russell was assigned in jail to help Keaton, who is legally blind, and Keaton started talking about the case.

    Keaton said that she and John DeBlase first poisoned their dog with anti-freeze "to see how long it would take to kill a living thing," Prine said.

    When asked why they wanted to kill the children, Keaton said "it would be better if they had less responsibilities" and that "her and John wanted to have their own family," the detective said.

    The couple bought gallons of antifreeze at Walmart, the detective said, and they cooked their own meals separately from the children's meals.

    John DeBlase would pour the antifreeze into a cup, and Leavell-Keaton then added it to the children's food, the detective said.

    Both children slowly got more sick, including vomiting and other signs of organ failure.

    Natalie died on March 4 after she was placed in a bathtub, Prine said, and they dumped her body near Citronelle.

    For a few months, they stopped poisoning Chase for a few months, but decided that he would be a "liability" after he started crying and asking for his missing sister in front of other people, according to testimony.

    On June 20, Chase got very sick and died, Prine said.

    On the way to dump his body in Mississippi, Keaton said she and John DeBlase stopped at a video game store to buy two games because they didn't have any more responsibilities, according to the detective.

    Prine said that the stepmother also recounted several incidents of torture and abuse the children suffered.

    Keaton was jealous of Natalie, according to the detective, and she burned her with cigarettes and hot candle wax, pulled out her hair in clumps, and beat her with a fly swatter.

    On the day she died, Natalie was locked inside a suitcase, which was sitting in their kitchen as her father cooked, according to the detective.

    John DeBlase faces two counts of felony murder and two counts of abuse of a corpse in connection with his children's deaths.

    Keaton's defense attorney, Richard Horne, attempted to call DeBlase to the witness stand to testify in the hearing. DeBlase briefly appeared in court, but he invoked his constitutional right to remain silent.

    After the hearing, Horne said the allegations are "horrible events, if my client committed those things."

    "I still do not believe for a minute that she committed these crimes," Horne said. "I believe that was her husband's doing, not her ... I don't know what her level of awareness was, but she's not the kind of person who would do something like this. She is functionally blind and some of this stuff would be physically impossible for her to accomplish."

    Horne said he believes that DeBlase made an agreement with the prosecution to cooperate in the case. Prosecutors said that the charges are based on the evidence.

    At the end of the hearing, Mobile County Circuit Judge Rick Stout ruled there was enough evidence to send the capital murder charges to a grand jury.

    Prine testified that Russell, the inmate who says she heard Leavell-Keaton confess, was in jail for about two weeks on a theft charge, but Russell had no charges pending against her when she talked to investigators.

    Mobile County Assistant District Attorney Jo Beth Murphree said Russell was not offered anything in exchange for her testimony, and the information she provided led the prosecution to bring the capital murder charges in January. Leavell-Keaton was already in jail on charges of aggravated child abuse and abuse of a corpse.

    Capital murder is punishable by life in prison without parole or the death penalty.

    http://blog.al.com/live/2011/02/mobi..._children.html

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    Charges against John DeBlase upgraded

    John DeBlase was first charged with two counts of felony murder for the deaths of his young children, 4-year-old Natalie and 3-year-old Chase. Now he's charged with two counts of capital murder and could possibly get the death penalty if he's convicted.

    Mobile County District Attorney Ashley Rich said new evidence was presented to the grand jury in this case and it upgraded the charges.

    Earlier this year, Heater Keaton, the children's step mother, pleaded not guilty to capital murder.

    Prosecutors said Roseanna Russell was assigned to spend an hour a day to help Keaton in Metro jail. During that time, Keaton allegedly told Russell she and the children's father, John DeBlase, used antifreeze to poison the children.

    The information investigators received from Russell led to the upgraded capital murder charges against Keaton.

    District Attorney Ashley Rich would not discuss what new evidence was presented in this case.

    "The grand jury indictment says he did intentionally cause the death of Chase and Natalie DeBlase by poisoning and/or starvation and/or dehydration and/or asphyxiation and/or other cause unknown to a grand jury," said Rich.

    The children's remains were found dumped in wooded areas near Vancleave, Mississippi and Citronelle.

    "As a prosecutor, we deal with some of the most horrific crimes a person will ever see," said Rich. "This one is especially tough."

    John DeBlase is scheduled for an arraignment where he will enter a plea to the new charges of capital murder next week.

    The District Attorney plans to seek the death penalty in both of the cases.

    John DeBlase's mother said they were shocked to find out their son is now facing capital murder.

    Court records show DeBlase said Natalie died in March 2010 and Chase died in June of the same year. Their bodies were found at separate times, too.

    Chase was found under a pile of sticks in Vancleave, Mississippi. Natalie was found in Citronelle. Both bodies were discovered in December 2010.

    http://www.fox10tv.com/dpp/news/loca...arges-upgraded

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    DeBlase case: Father, stepmother of slain children plead not guilty to capital murder

    MOBILE, Alabama -- A couple accused of torturing and poisoning two children to death pleaded not guilty by mental disease in court this afternoon.

    A judge ordered that a state forensic psychologist evaluate John DeBlase, the children’s father.

    His common-law wife, Heather Leveall-Keaton, has already been evaluated although a report has not yet been completed, court officials said.

    DeBlase, 27, and Leavell-Keaton, 22, are charged with capital murder in the deaths of 4-year-old Natalie DeBlase and 3-year-old Chase DeBlase.

    Investigators in December found the siblings’ bodies dumped in separate wooded areas in Mississippi and Alabama one month after they were reported missing.

    In arraignment hearings Wednesday, DeBlase — who appeared to have dramatically lost weight while in jail — and Leavell-Keaton entered pleas of not guilty or not guilty by reason of mental disease or mental defect.

    Both are being held in Mobile County Metro Jail, although they are driven to court separately and kept apart.

    Defense attorney Jim Sears said that DeBlase has mental health problems, but he declined to be more specific.

    A Mobile County grand jury last week upgraded charges against the father from felony murder to capital murder.

    Sears said that DeBlase found out about the new charges in jail watching the local news on TV.

    “He’s heartbroken that his children are dead,” Sears said. “He was very firm in saying he had nothing to do with the death of his children.”

    Indictments allege that DeBlase and Leavell-Keaton intentionally killed the children by poisoning and/or asphyxiation and/or starvation and/or dehydration.

    If convicted of capital murder, the defendants would face the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole.

    Leavell-Keaton also faces two counts of aggravated child abuse. She is accused of burning, scratching, beating and starving the children.

    District Attorney Ashley Rich said on Wednesday that there is no evidence indicating that the couple are insane.

    Rich wouldn’t comment when asked whether prosecutors could say exactly how the children died.

    In previous court hearings, police have said that Leavell-Keaton slowly poisoned the children by pouring antifreeze into their food because she no longer wanted to be responsible for raising them.

    Police said Natalie, whose body was found near Citronelle, died in March 2010, and Chase, whose body was found near Vancleave, Miss., died in June 2010.

    http://blog.al.com/live/2011/08/fath...slain_deb.html

  7. #7
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    20 motions heard in Deblase case

    A hearing wrapped up Thursday in the case of Chase and Natalie Deblase. It’s a story that shook the Gulf Coast.

    Investigators said the two young children were tortured, poisoned and then dumped in wooded areas. Their father, John Deblase, and his common law wife Heather Keaton have been charged with capital murder.

    The pair pleaded not guilty by reason of mental defect last August.

    Judge Roderick Stout heard more than 20 pretrial motions. Both Deblase and Keaton were in the courtroom.

    Deblase, sitting beside his legal team, was visibly trembling throughout the hearing.

    Jim Sears, his attorney said he caught a bug in jail.

    Most of the motion dealt with the jury selection process. Sears said they want to make sure they have a fair chance moving forward.

    "We are looking forward to having a fair trial and getting his side out,” said Sears.

    Another motion filed was to dismiss one count. In the original indictments, one count was listed twice, just worded differently. Both agreed to the change.

    District Attorney Ashley Rich said this won’t have an effect on the trial or possible sentence.

    Rich said Thursday was a step forward to a much anticipated trial.

    "It’s been a long time, and we’re very anxious to get this case so that we can get a resolution of this matter and we and put it to rest. All the citizens in Mobile County are concerned, and we just want to make sure that we get this case tried and get it to a jury," said Rich.

    Because of the ruling on the indictment, the case has to return to a grand jury where re-indictment is expected.

    Keaton and Deblase will be tried separately. Deblase will be tried in October, and Keaton’s trial is set to begin in January. Both face the death penalty.

    http://www.fox10tv.com/dpp/news/loca...n-deblase-case
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  8. #8
    Member Member Gooch33's Avatar
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    It is disturbing the hell out of me, and making me downright sick to see how many cases of deaths/murders of children are popping up in these threads. For the life of me, I can not understand what would drive someone to harm a child, let alone kill their own children. I do not have an ounce of sympathy for these vermin and they deserve the needle. These stories are so difficult to read, and many times I end up just closing them, or skipping a good portion.

  9. #9
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    Judge reluctantly postpones trial of Mobile man accused of killing children

    The judge in the John DeBlase child murder case this afternoon reluctantly postponed the Mobile man’s capital murder trial – again.

    Attorneys for DeBlase, who stands accused of killing his two young children and dumping their bodies in the woods, asked for the delay to give their expert witness more time to review DNA evidence. Mobile County Circuit Judge Rick Stout said he was not inclined postpone the case and proposed holding off before making a decision.

    But Mobile County District Attorney Ashley Rich said she had several witnesses flying in from out of state and that if the judge were going to delay the trial, he should do it now. He agreed but admonished the lawyers to get the case ready.

    “I’ve said it before: We need to get this case tried,” he said.

    Instead of Jan. 7, the case now will be tried on April 1, which was to be the date that co-defendant Heather Leavell-Keaton’s trial was supposed to start. That trial now will begin June 4.

    The April date is the fourth trial setting in the case.

    Defense attorney Ashley Cameron said that the case is complicated and the consequences for her client dire. With the possibility of the death penalty, she said, it was better to make sure the defense had all the time it needed.

    “I don’t really understand why there’s such urgency to get this case to trial,” she said.

    The latest issue had to do with DNA testimony. Cameron said her expert witness needed more time. She said she accidentally had misplaced the DNA report prepared by the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences and had to ask prosecutors to give her another copy last week.

    That, Stout said, is indicative of how the case has proceeded.

    On another issue, the judge ordered the defense to give him by Thursday a preliminary report of a consultant helping to prepare for the penalty phase of DeBlase’s trial if the jury convicts him. During that phase, defense lawyers will be able to put on any evidence they have to convince the jury that their client should not be executed.

    Cameron argued that prosecutors are not entitled to have the opinions of the expert witness.

    “That’s stuff that we feel we don’t have to turn over, and the rules say we don’t have to turn over,” she said.

    Rich argued that since the defense has wide latitude to present mitigation evidence – hearsay rules do not apply, for instance – prosecutors should have the right to know what claims the defense plans to make so they have a chance to counter it.

    “I’ll agree with that. I think that puts you at an unfair disadvantage,” the judge said.

    Stout said he would review the preliminary report and decide whether it should be given to the prosecution.

    http://blog.al.com/live/2012/12/judg...tpones_tr.html
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  10. #10
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    Deblase trial delayed for fifth time

    A high-profile local capital murder case has been delayed again until June 4, 2013.

    This latest delay, pushing the trial date back from its April 1 start date, marks the fifth in the capital murder trial.

    John Deblase and his common law wife Heather Keaton are accused of torturing and killing Deblase’s two young children, Natalie and Chase Deblase. The children's bodies were found in the woods in 2010.

    FOX10 asked Mobile County District Attorney Ashley Rich why the case has not gone to trial yet.

    "It’s not unusual that we have this many delays in a capitol murder death penalty case where we have two co-defendants who are being tried separately, and we have the volume of paper that we have in this case,” said Rich.

    Rich said she cannot comment on why the trial was delayed and said the continuances don’t affect tax dollars.

    "So far we haven't had to expend any additional amounts of money because of the continuances. It’s just another day in the life of the Mobile County District Attorney's Office,” said Rich.

    The defense team is, however, court appointed, which means they are paid with state tax dollars. Officials said we won't know what the total bill is until the expenses are turned in and the trial ends.

    We do know is every time they go to court and the trial is delayed, the more hours are added to a bill paid out of tax dollars.

    http://www.fox10tv.com/dpp/news/loca...-is-it-costing
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