The investigation into the death of a man found in a burning storage building behind a home on County Road 495 continued today as detectives try to determine how he died.
Smith County Sheriff Larry Smith said he had not received official word as to the man’s identity, but the Tyler Morning Telegraph has learned the person listed at the residence is a 36-year-old registered sex offender, whom authorities have not been able to locate since the fire. Full Article
I don’t think the authorities WANT to get a positive ID on this body. If they do and it does indeed turn out to be the body of the missing sex offender, they’ll have to admit that the registry opens offenders up to deadly vigilantism. That incident could be used to justify dismantling public sex offender registries. We should do like England and keep the S.O.R. accessible only by law enforcement. In England, even non-compliant sex offenders’ identities are not released to the public because they acknowledge the potential for atrocities such as this to occur.
An investigator who had been inside the home said there were signs of a struggle and wads of human hair were on the floor in several locations.
Smith said Tuesday that it was unclear if the death was a homicide or suicide.
Jeeze, it ain’t rocket science. Really? Signs of a struggle and wads of human hair on the floor? This is angering in many ways; first, the damn registry is to blame, second; the police would rather just cover this up, but can they actually be that stupid?
Any registered citizen that’s been threatened or vandalized and reported it to the police have probably had their report or complaint pooh-poohed by the authorities. Let’s see, in my case, garage windows shot, tires slashed twice, house egged and one death threat received. Police response: it’s coincidental. Has nothing to do with being on a registry, has nothing to do with seven officers in full police gear doing a compliance check at 5:30 pm so the neighbors can see…nope, it’s all coincidental. When one majors in stupid, it’s no wonder they can’t solve a crime.