I love a good mystery! Here are two mysteries that I read last week that were quite enjoyable.
A Dark Anatomy by Robin Blake - a historical mystery set in the 18th century, in the English city of Preston. Titus Cragg is a lawyer and county coroner, assisted by Dr. Luke Fidelis. When the wife of the local squire is found dead in the forest under mysterious circumstances, Coroner Cragg is called upon to determine the cause of death. Superstition, taboos, rumor, and the gaps between social classes all contribute to making the coroner's task even more difficult than he originally expected. Almost gothic in atmosphere, this is the first title in a new mystery series.
Whack-a-Mole by Chris Grabenstein - this is the 3rd title in the John Ceepak mystery series. Ceepak and his partner Danny Boyle are police officers in the resort town of Sea Haven on the Jersey shore. On the eve of a sand sculpture competition, body parts start turning up around the town, and it soon becomes obvious that there is a serial killer at work. When the killer decides to make the stakes personal, Ceepak and Boyle find themselves racing against the clock. I attended the Bouchercon mystery conference in Indianapolis a few years ago, and Chris Grabenstein emceed the charity auction - he is hilarious! He writes this series with nice touches of humor, and Danny in particular doesn't take himself too seriously.
Monday, October 22, 2012
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Wheat Belly Wednesday - Week #5?
I'm not sure exactly what week it is for my Wheat Belly diet, since I was on vacation last week and stayed with the gluten-free plan as best I could, but didn't manage to stay with it all the time. So I'm not sure if I should call this week #5, or start over with week #1.
With three friends from As Good as Gold, I spent the week volunteering at the animal sanctuary for Best Friends Animal Society in Utah. We have done this in past years as well. It was a wonderful week - I spent time working with the dogs and the bunnies, and two mornings working with one of the groundskeepers in the cemetery on the premises, cutting sage, sweeping the sidewalks, and brushing off the markers.
Working in the cemetery is not as depressing as you might think. It's called Angels Rest and it is a very peaceful place. So much love for the animals buried there, from their human companions! It's very spiritual and emotional to work there, and I always feel that I am standing in for the families that can't visit right now. The groundskeepers (Lenny, Dave, and Kurt) encourage us to talk to the animals while we work.
Best Friends has a dining room for the staff and volunteers, and everything they serve for lunch is vegetarian. There is always a salad bar and frequently gluten-free choices like stir-fry vegetables, so the days that we ate lunch there, I was able to remain gluten-free. Cocktail time was easy - wine, cheese, nuts and raw vegetables. For other meals, I tried to make choices that should have been gluten-free, but might not have been since I couldn't see an ingredient list. I had no major stomach upsets, so that was a good thing. But now I am back on my wheat-free plan and hope to see good results in the coming weeks.
With three friends from As Good as Gold, I spent the week volunteering at the animal sanctuary for Best Friends Animal Society in Utah. We have done this in past years as well. It was a wonderful week - I spent time working with the dogs and the bunnies, and two mornings working with one of the groundskeepers in the cemetery on the premises, cutting sage, sweeping the sidewalks, and brushing off the markers.
Working in the cemetery is not as depressing as you might think. It's called Angels Rest and it is a very peaceful place. So much love for the animals buried there, from their human companions! It's very spiritual and emotional to work there, and I always feel that I am standing in for the families that can't visit right now. The groundskeepers (Lenny, Dave, and Kurt) encourage us to talk to the animals while we work.
Best Friends has a dining room for the staff and volunteers, and everything they serve for lunch is vegetarian. There is always a salad bar and frequently gluten-free choices like stir-fry vegetables, so the days that we ate lunch there, I was able to remain gluten-free. Cocktail time was easy - wine, cheese, nuts and raw vegetables. For other meals, I tried to make choices that should have been gluten-free, but might not have been since I couldn't see an ingredient list. I had no major stomach upsets, so that was a good thing. But now I am back on my wheat-free plan and hope to see good results in the coming weeks.
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Missing Tuesday - Angela Marie Finger
Angela Marie Finger disappeared from Las Vegas, NV on June 25, 2006. She may be missing by choice, or she may be held against her will.
Born 11/8/1983, Angie is the daughter of Michelle and Patrick Finger. She has a brother, Josh, and a sister, Jen. Angie was employed as a cage cashier at the Monte Carlo casino in Las Vegas; she worked for the Monte Carlo hotel and casino for two years and had been promoted twice. Her family describes her as bright, sweet, and close to them.
All that changed when Angie met a man named Craig Raether on the Internet. Raether said he was 27 years old, and that his parents had been killed in a car accident. After meeting online, Raether came to Las Vegas to meet Angela in person in May 2006, and also met her mother, Michelle. Michelle disliked him from the start and suspected he was lying about his age and background. She describes him as smooth and manipulative, and believes that he may have gotten Angie involved with drugs. Raether proposed to Angie the day after meeting her. Although her parents did not like Raether, their opinions had little impact on Angie.
Shortly after meeting Raether, Angela’s personality changed; she began dressing provocatively and acting disrespectfully to her parents. Michelle and Angie argued frequently. Angie and her parents went out for dinner and bowling on Father’s Day (June 18, 2006), and began to discuss her brother Josh’s upcoming wedding. Michelle indicated to Angie that her new boyfriend was not welcome at the wedding, which triggered a huge argument and Angie stopped speaking to her mother. That was the last time her family saw Angie.
Michelle went on a planned vacation to Florida and attempted to contact Angie several times while she was out of town. When she returned, she decided to go visit Angie at her condo. When she arrived, she discovered that the condo was completely cleaned out. The phone was disconnected and the family had no way to contact Angie. She had also walked off her job. Her parents heard that she had moved in with her boyfriend and an older woman, but they did not see or hear from her for a year.
They were frantic with worry and began digging for any information they could find. Michelle located a woman who had shared an apartment with Raether and said that he had tried to get her to go against her parents’ wishes but that she had refused. Angie’s parents contacted the Las Vegas Metro Police and gave them the information that they had collected, but nothing came of their efforts. In 2007, Michelle Finger had a heart attack. Her greatest fear while recovering was that she would die without knowing what happened to Angie. She decided to devote her life to finding her daughter.
In May 2007, Michelle was able to contact the real Craig Raether through the Classmates.com website. Craig said that the real name of man that Angie was with was William Matthew Smolich. In 2006, Smolich was actually 37 years old, not 27 years old as he told Angie and her family. Craig Raether was a former friend of William Smolich, and Smolich stole his identity; Smolich also used the alias Shawn Odow. He was a convicted pedophile wanted in Colorado for failing to register as a sex offender. Smolich was also wanted on charges in Arizona.
Craig’s information confirmed Michelle’s worst fears. Wanting to help Michelle find her daughter and to stop Smolich from using his identity, Craig began doing some investigating of his own. Within a few days, he sent Michelle links to a number of porno websites that Smolich operated and asked if the girl featured on the site was Angie. Although it was heartbreaking for Michelle to look at the sites, she confirmed that it was indeed Angie.
Angie’s mother combed through the websites and found a Colorado telephone number listed on one site. When she dialed the number, Smolich answered; she called him by his real name and demanded to speak with Angie. Smolich apparently transferred the call to another number and stayed on the line when Angie answered. Michelle quickly told her Smolich’s real name and that he was a convicted sex offender. She asked Angie where she was and told her she would come and get her. About ten seconds later, the phone line went dead. Michelle tried calling again repeatedly, but the number would go directly to voicemail. After Michelle’s phone call, Smolich took his websites offline. After October 2007, all traces of Angie and Smolich vanished – it was like they fell off the face of the earth.
Michelle contacted the Boulder County police department regarding Smolich, but they seemed uninterested in pursuing the information. Continuing her investigation, Michelle discovered that Smolich had rented office space in Mesa, AZ. She drove to Mesa and staked out the building for several days, but did not see Smolich or Angie. Local police obtained a search warrant and located an address for Smolich, but when they went to the address, he had already moved out.
Angie supposedly boarded a Greyhound bus in February 2007 in Portland, OR. Later in 2007, she was seen by several photographers at photo shoots in the company of her husband/boyfriend/manager who was really William Smolich. The most notable was the Arizona Shootout 2007, a nude photo shoot held in Phoenix. She identified herself as Angela Raether at least once, and said she was registered with a modeling agency as Angel the model. The couple appeared relaxed and comfortable together. Later, a man who identified himself as Randy Albrecht and said he was Angie’s uncle (Michelle’s brother) told one of the photographers that Angie had left Las Vegas voluntarily to get away from the dysfunctional relationship she had with her mother. He also made disparaging comments about Michelle and Patrick Finger. If that IS true, Angie should at least contact her family and tell them that she is all right, and then move on with her life.
The last information the family received was in February 2008. A man who purchased a car at an auction found some of Angie’s belongings inside. He returned the items to her family but nothing proved helpful. Angie's parents separated in 2011; the stress of searching for their missing child undoubtedly contributed to the collapse of their marriage.
The FBI is investigating her disappearance and believe that Angela is in danger and may have met with foul play. In 2008, they requested Angie’s dental records for comparison with a body found in the Las Vegas area, but apparently there was no match. Angie may be a victim of human trafficking. She may have gone with Smolich willingly at first, but may now be unable to get away from him, as she has not contacted her family in over six years. Her mother says that even if Angie was angry with her, she would never have cut off contact with her dad and her brother and sister.
Angela Marie Finger was 22 years old at time she vanished; today she is 28 years old. She is 5’7” and weighs 105 lbs., a Caucasian female with brown shoulder length hair with red highlights and hazel eyes. She usually wears contact lenses and always has her nails done in a French manicure. Her ears and navel are pierced; she has a nose ring on the right side. She has two tattoos, one on her right arm (butterfly tribal band) and another on her lower back (sun with a heart in the center and a crescent moon in the heart). Her nickname is Angie, but she may also use the aliases Jordan, Angel, Crimson Heart, or Marie.
William Matthew Smolich remains on the Most Wanted list in Colorado. He is Caucasian, 5’11” tall and weighs 196 lbs, with blond hair and brown eyes. He is considered dangerous and anyone who might see him should not attempt to apprehend him.
If you have any information, contact the FBI’s Las Vegas field office at 702/636-5033, or the Las Vegas Metro Police Department at 702/828-2907.
Born 11/8/1983, Angie is the daughter of Michelle and Patrick Finger. She has a brother, Josh, and a sister, Jen. Angie was employed as a cage cashier at the Monte Carlo casino in Las Vegas; she worked for the Monte Carlo hotel and casino for two years and had been promoted twice. Her family describes her as bright, sweet, and close to them.
All that changed when Angie met a man named Craig Raether on the Internet. Raether said he was 27 years old, and that his parents had been killed in a car accident. After meeting online, Raether came to Las Vegas to meet Angela in person in May 2006, and also met her mother, Michelle. Michelle disliked him from the start and suspected he was lying about his age and background. She describes him as smooth and manipulative, and believes that he may have gotten Angie involved with drugs. Raether proposed to Angie the day after meeting her. Although her parents did not like Raether, their opinions had little impact on Angie.
Shortly after meeting Raether, Angela’s personality changed; she began dressing provocatively and acting disrespectfully to her parents. Michelle and Angie argued frequently. Angie and her parents went out for dinner and bowling on Father’s Day (June 18, 2006), and began to discuss her brother Josh’s upcoming wedding. Michelle indicated to Angie that her new boyfriend was not welcome at the wedding, which triggered a huge argument and Angie stopped speaking to her mother. That was the last time her family saw Angie.
Michelle went on a planned vacation to Florida and attempted to contact Angie several times while she was out of town. When she returned, she decided to go visit Angie at her condo. When she arrived, she discovered that the condo was completely cleaned out. The phone was disconnected and the family had no way to contact Angie. She had also walked off her job. Her parents heard that she had moved in with her boyfriend and an older woman, but they did not see or hear from her for a year.
They were frantic with worry and began digging for any information they could find. Michelle located a woman who had shared an apartment with Raether and said that he had tried to get her to go against her parents’ wishes but that she had refused. Angie’s parents contacted the Las Vegas Metro Police and gave them the information that they had collected, but nothing came of their efforts. In 2007, Michelle Finger had a heart attack. Her greatest fear while recovering was that she would die without knowing what happened to Angie. She decided to devote her life to finding her daughter.
In May 2007, Michelle was able to contact the real Craig Raether through the Classmates.com website. Craig said that the real name of man that Angie was with was William Matthew Smolich. In 2006, Smolich was actually 37 years old, not 27 years old as he told Angie and her family. Craig Raether was a former friend of William Smolich, and Smolich stole his identity; Smolich also used the alias Shawn Odow. He was a convicted pedophile wanted in Colorado for failing to register as a sex offender. Smolich was also wanted on charges in Arizona.
Craig’s information confirmed Michelle’s worst fears. Wanting to help Michelle find her daughter and to stop Smolich from using his identity, Craig began doing some investigating of his own. Within a few days, he sent Michelle links to a number of porno websites that Smolich operated and asked if the girl featured on the site was Angie. Although it was heartbreaking for Michelle to look at the sites, she confirmed that it was indeed Angie.
Angie’s mother combed through the websites and found a Colorado telephone number listed on one site. When she dialed the number, Smolich answered; she called him by his real name and demanded to speak with Angie. Smolich apparently transferred the call to another number and stayed on the line when Angie answered. Michelle quickly told her Smolich’s real name and that he was a convicted sex offender. She asked Angie where she was and told her she would come and get her. About ten seconds later, the phone line went dead. Michelle tried calling again repeatedly, but the number would go directly to voicemail. After Michelle’s phone call, Smolich took his websites offline. After October 2007, all traces of Angie and Smolich vanished – it was like they fell off the face of the earth.
Michelle contacted the Boulder County police department regarding Smolich, but they seemed uninterested in pursuing the information. Continuing her investigation, Michelle discovered that Smolich had rented office space in Mesa, AZ. She drove to Mesa and staked out the building for several days, but did not see Smolich or Angie. Local police obtained a search warrant and located an address for Smolich, but when they went to the address, he had already moved out.
Angie supposedly boarded a Greyhound bus in February 2007 in Portland, OR. Later in 2007, she was seen by several photographers at photo shoots in the company of her husband/boyfriend/manager who was really William Smolich. The most notable was the Arizona Shootout 2007, a nude photo shoot held in Phoenix. She identified herself as Angela Raether at least once, and said she was registered with a modeling agency as Angel the model. The couple appeared relaxed and comfortable together. Later, a man who identified himself as Randy Albrecht and said he was Angie’s uncle (Michelle’s brother) told one of the photographers that Angie had left Las Vegas voluntarily to get away from the dysfunctional relationship she had with her mother. He also made disparaging comments about Michelle and Patrick Finger. If that IS true, Angie should at least contact her family and tell them that she is all right, and then move on with her life.
The last information the family received was in February 2008. A man who purchased a car at an auction found some of Angie’s belongings inside. He returned the items to her family but nothing proved helpful. Angie's parents separated in 2011; the stress of searching for their missing child undoubtedly contributed to the collapse of their marriage.
The FBI is investigating her disappearance and believe that Angela is in danger and may have met with foul play. In 2008, they requested Angie’s dental records for comparison with a body found in the Las Vegas area, but apparently there was no match. Angie may be a victim of human trafficking. She may have gone with Smolich willingly at first, but may now be unable to get away from him, as she has not contacted her family in over six years. Her mother says that even if Angie was angry with her, she would never have cut off contact with her dad and her brother and sister.
Angela Marie Finger was 22 years old at time she vanished; today she is 28 years old. She is 5’7” and weighs 105 lbs., a Caucasian female with brown shoulder length hair with red highlights and hazel eyes. She usually wears contact lenses and always has her nails done in a French manicure. Her ears and navel are pierced; she has a nose ring on the right side. She has two tattoos, one on her right arm (butterfly tribal band) and another on her lower back (sun with a heart in the center and a crescent moon in the heart). Her nickname is Angie, but she may also use the aliases Jordan, Angel, Crimson Heart, or Marie.
William Matthew Smolich remains on the Most Wanted list in Colorado. He is Caucasian, 5’11” tall and weighs 196 lbs, with blond hair and brown eyes. He is considered dangerous and anyone who might see him should not attempt to apprehend him.
If you have any information, contact the FBI’s Las Vegas field office at 702/636-5033, or the Las Vegas Metro Police Department at 702/828-2907.
Monday, October 15, 2012
Literary Monday - Two novels of identity
I was on vacation last week and did not have my laptop with me, so I didn't post anything. I spent the week in Utah with some friends from As Good as Gold, volunteering at Best Friends Animal Society's sanctuary near Kanab. I walked dogs, cleaned dog kennels and bunny enclosures, worked with one of the caretakers at the cemetery on the premises, and generally helped with whatever the animal caregivers needed. In the evenings, there was plenty of time to sit around with a bottle of wine and talk, or relax with a book. Two of the books that I read are worth noting.
The Chaperone by Laura Moriarty - When she agrees to act as chaperone for the daughter of an acquaintance (the daughter will later become famous as silent film actress Louise Brooks), wealthy, matronly, lonely Cora Carlisle has her own agenda for wanting to leave her home in Wichita and spend a few weeks in New York City. While Louise attends classes at the Denishawn School of Dancing, Cora sets out to find out what she can about the mother who abandoned her as a toddler. In the process, she comes to realize that her life is far from over, and that the prejudices and social codes of her economic class are often as stiff and uncomfortable as the corset that Cora wears relentlessly for the first half of the book. Cora's life story (past, present, and future) turns out to be very different from what the reader expects when we first meet Cora. A novel of changing identities and beliefs, as well as the transformative power of love and acceptance.
The Shoemaker's Wife by Adriana Trigiani - Known for her Big Stone Gap and Valentine series, Trigiani explores her own identity and family history as she writes the story of her grandparents' lives: how they found each other, lost each other, and unexpectedly found each other again in a new country. Hardship and injustice are no match for true love and perseverence, even when the past catches up with you.
The Chaperone by Laura Moriarty - When she agrees to act as chaperone for the daughter of an acquaintance (the daughter will later become famous as silent film actress Louise Brooks), wealthy, matronly, lonely Cora Carlisle has her own agenda for wanting to leave her home in Wichita and spend a few weeks in New York City. While Louise attends classes at the Denishawn School of Dancing, Cora sets out to find out what she can about the mother who abandoned her as a toddler. In the process, she comes to realize that her life is far from over, and that the prejudices and social codes of her economic class are often as stiff and uncomfortable as the corset that Cora wears relentlessly for the first half of the book. Cora's life story (past, present, and future) turns out to be very different from what the reader expects when we first meet Cora. A novel of changing identities and beliefs, as well as the transformative power of love and acceptance.
The Shoemaker's Wife by Adriana Trigiani - Known for her Big Stone Gap and Valentine series, Trigiani explores her own identity and family history as she writes the story of her grandparents' lives: how they found each other, lost each other, and unexpectedly found each other again in a new country. Hardship and injustice are no match for true love and perseverence, even when the past catches up with you.
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Wheat Belly Wednesday - Week #4
Starting on week #4 of the wheat-free lifestyle. I lost 9.5 lbs. in the first 3 weeks (was hoping for a flat 10 lbs.). We have a wellness program at work and I had to go for standard biometric testing yesterday, including a finger stick blood test where they check your glucose, total cholesterol, HDL, LDL, and triglycerides. My blood glucose was 83, HDL was 68, and triglycerides were less than 45. They use a little machine to analyze the blood sample and the lowest triglyceride reading is 45 – because my reading was lower than that, the technician got an error reading for the LDL number, but the range was still well within the acceptable levels. And that was after eating a bacon cheeseburger (no bun), raw vegetables, and dressing last night.
I had dinner with my brother Jeff and his family last weekend. Jeff has been eating largely wheat-free for almost a year. Last fall, he noticed he was getting a belly and decided to stop eating bread. Just by cutting out two to four slices of bread daily, he quickly lost over 20 lbs. Since they learned that their daughter Jenna is sensitive to gluten, his wife Kim began cooking more gluten-free meals. Jeff still ate products that contained wheat occasionally: pasta once a week, the occasional doughnut at work, cereal for breakfast, a wrap sandwich for lunch. But he began to notice that he felt better on the days that he didn’t consume any wheat. Also, when he had cereal for breakfast, he would be starving by 10 a.m. and really NEED that doughnut (sound familiar?).
Jeff has now cut wheat out his diet completely. There are rare times when he eats foods that contain wheat, but with a gluten-sensitive child, there is less temptation to do so. When he had his last visit with his doctor, Jeff had lost weight and his HDL cholesterol (the good kind) had shot way up while his triglycerides had dropped. When he told his doctor about eliminating wheat from his diet, she said that couldn’t possibly be the reason for his greatly improved cholesterol numbers and actually argued with him when he said that was the only change he had made. Someday, all doctors will be enlightened about the dangers of the grain we call wheat.
And at age 56, Jeff no longer has a wheat belly.
Fall has arrived in Chicago, and it makes me feel more like cooking. I love Italian food but have not been able to find a prepared pasta sauce that is sugar free or very low in sugar. So I fell back on the pasta sauce that I learned to make when fat-free everything was the rage, which happens to be sugar free as well. Consider this to be a basic recipe – I use mushrooms because I like them, but you can substitute whatever vegetables you like (green peppers, zucchini, etc.) and feel free to use fresh herbs like basil and rosemary if you have them on hand. Because I work full-time, I throw everything in the slow cooker before I leave for work, turn it on low for 8-10 hours, and it’s ready when I get home – and the house smells fabulous! You can also cook on the stovetop if you’re going to be home, just remember to stir periodically so the bottom doesn’t burn.
Spaghetti sauce:
2 – 28 oz. cans crushed tomatoes
12 oz. tomato paste
4 cloves garlic, pressed or minced; if using the minced kind that comes in a jar,
use 4 t.
2 medium onions, diced
½ lb. fresh mushrooms, washed and sliced
1 t. salt
2 T. dried Italian seasonings (crush between your palms when adding to sauce
to release the flavors)
¼ t. ground pepper (add more if you like your food hot and spicy)
½ c. red wine
Put everything in the slow cooker and stir to blend. Cover and turn on low; will be ready in about 8 hours. When the sauce is finished cooking, taste and adjust the seasonings – I like my sauce a little on the sweet side, so I usually stir in 1-2 packets of Splenda at the end of the cooking process. Try it over spaghetti squash, rice pasta, or baked with eggplant and ricotta cheese (recipe will follow in a future post).
I had dinner with my brother Jeff and his family last weekend. Jeff has been eating largely wheat-free for almost a year. Last fall, he noticed he was getting a belly and decided to stop eating bread. Just by cutting out two to four slices of bread daily, he quickly lost over 20 lbs. Since they learned that their daughter Jenna is sensitive to gluten, his wife Kim began cooking more gluten-free meals. Jeff still ate products that contained wheat occasionally: pasta once a week, the occasional doughnut at work, cereal for breakfast, a wrap sandwich for lunch. But he began to notice that he felt better on the days that he didn’t consume any wheat. Also, when he had cereal for breakfast, he would be starving by 10 a.m. and really NEED that doughnut (sound familiar?).
Jeff has now cut wheat out his diet completely. There are rare times when he eats foods that contain wheat, but with a gluten-sensitive child, there is less temptation to do so. When he had his last visit with his doctor, Jeff had lost weight and his HDL cholesterol (the good kind) had shot way up while his triglycerides had dropped. When he told his doctor about eliminating wheat from his diet, she said that couldn’t possibly be the reason for his greatly improved cholesterol numbers and actually argued with him when he said that was the only change he had made. Someday, all doctors will be enlightened about the dangers of the grain we call wheat.
And at age 56, Jeff no longer has a wheat belly.
Fall has arrived in Chicago, and it makes me feel more like cooking. I love Italian food but have not been able to find a prepared pasta sauce that is sugar free or very low in sugar. So I fell back on the pasta sauce that I learned to make when fat-free everything was the rage, which happens to be sugar free as well. Consider this to be a basic recipe – I use mushrooms because I like them, but you can substitute whatever vegetables you like (green peppers, zucchini, etc.) and feel free to use fresh herbs like basil and rosemary if you have them on hand. Because I work full-time, I throw everything in the slow cooker before I leave for work, turn it on low for 8-10 hours, and it’s ready when I get home – and the house smells fabulous! You can also cook on the stovetop if you’re going to be home, just remember to stir periodically so the bottom doesn’t burn.
Spaghetti sauce:
2 – 28 oz. cans crushed tomatoes
12 oz. tomato paste
4 cloves garlic, pressed or minced; if using the minced kind that comes in a jar,
use 4 t.
2 medium onions, diced
½ lb. fresh mushrooms, washed and sliced
1 t. salt
2 T. dried Italian seasonings (crush between your palms when adding to sauce
to release the flavors)
¼ t. ground pepper (add more if you like your food hot and spicy)
½ c. red wine
Put everything in the slow cooker and stir to blend. Cover and turn on low; will be ready in about 8 hours. When the sauce is finished cooking, taste and adjust the seasonings – I like my sauce a little on the sweet side, so I usually stir in 1-2 packets of Splenda at the end of the cooking process. Try it over spaghetti squash, rice pasta, or baked with eggplant and ricotta cheese (recipe will follow in a future post).
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Missing Tuesday - Billy Smolinski
Janice Smolinski’s passions used to be gardening and jet-skiing. Now she devotes all of her energy to finding her missing son. She is sure that someone, somewhere knows something about her son’s disappearance. He was last seen by a neighbor on August 24, 2004, and has not been heard from since that date.
William Paul Smolinski, Jr., known as Billy to family and friends, was born on January 14, 1973, to Janice and William Smolinski, Sr. He attended Kaynor Technical High School for three years and then Naugatuck High School for one year, graduating in 1991. He studied auto mechanics at Naugatuck Valley Community College for one year, as well as for his CDL in Bridgeport, CT. He was considering pursuing a career in law enforcement.
Billy is an athletic guy who loves fishing, hunting, horseback riding, snowmobiling, and going to demolition derbies. He also loves listening to music and working on cars. He enjoys drinking beer with friends, and going for cheeseburgers or barbecue at Big Franks in Waterbury. He would often drop in at his younger sister Paula Bell’s house in the morning with a bag of bagels. Billy had no history of drug use, did not have a police record, and did not drink to excess.
He worked as a part-time tow truck driver for Durable Towing and was a full-time apprentice heating and air conditioning technician at Midland Heating & Air Conditioning. He also mowed lawns in the summer and plowed driveways in the winter to earn extra money. He was a dependable employee and had just been offered extra hours at his part-time job. He was physically and mentally in good health.
Billy was last seen at his home at 130 Holly Street in Waterbury, CT, between 3:30 and 3:45 p.m. on August 24, 2004. A neighbor said that Billy rang their doorbell and told him he was going out of town for three days to look at a car he was considering buying and asked them to watch Harley, his five year old German Shepherd dog, while he was gone. When the neighbor went to check on the dog and let her out the next morning, the house was locked and no one was home, but Billy’s truck was in the driveway. A key that was supposed to be hidden outside the house was not there. It is unknown how Billy left the house, whether he was driving someone else’s vehicle or was in the company of another person. The neighbor said Billy was acting normally and did not seem agitated when they saw him.
The Smolinski family found his behavior to be odd, since Billy had just returned from a vacation in Florida, and it was out of character for him to leave town without telling them, especially leaving the care of his dog to someone other than a family member or close friend. At the time he vanished, Billy was a first-time homeowner and was getting his house ready to paint when he had some spare time. Friends reported that Billy was very excited about having his own house and was planning home improvement projects. Inside the house, there was no indication that Billy was not planning to return. A receipt from Burger King time-stamped 2:59 p.m. was found in the trash inside the house, indicating that Billy had picked up the meal right before he spoke to his neighbor and that he had definitely been inside the house before he saw the neighbor. He had unpacked his suitcases after returning from Florida just 48 hours earlier. Also, Billy was devoted to his dog and would never have left without having arranged proper care for Harley. He treated her like his child, and it was seeing Harley left unattended that made alarm bells go off for the family.
Upon learning of his behavior, his family contacted the Waterbury Police Department and wanted to file a missing persons report immediately. Waterbury police refused to take the report and insisted on waiting three days, the time that Billy had specified to his neighbor that he would be gone (to their credit, the police department has since changed their rules about missing persons, realizing that evidence and clues can disappear and trails can go cold quickly). So it was three days before any investigation was begun, even though Billy’s truck was sitting in the driveway. Billy’s wallet and keys were found inside the white Ford pick-up truck. The truck was not checked for fingerprints, nor was it impounded. Prior to his disappearance, Billy deposited most of his last paycheck in his bank account. His accounts have not been accessed since he vanished, nor has his Social Security number been used.
Rather than waiting for the police and their three-day waiting period to be up, the Smolinski family sprang into action, doing everything they could to find Billy: putting up missing person flyers where they would be seen, calling everyone they could think of, contacting the media. Yet, Billy’s former girlfriend Madeleine Gleason and her friend Frances Vrabel were caught on film tearing down the missing person posters, often within minutes of when they were put up.
Gleason claimed that the Smolinskis were targeting her in some way by saturating her neighborhood and the places that she went with the flyers. She went so far as to sue Billy’s mother and sister Paula Bell as well as the Waterbury Observer newspaper in 2006, saying that they were harassing her and that the flyers had damaged her reputation at her job at B and B Transportion, where she worked as a bus driver. The Smolinski family put up flyers by the thousands all over Connecticut and as far away as Grand Central Station in New York, everywhere they could think of that people might see them, in an effort to find Billy. Gleason is not a suspect or even a person of interest in Billy’s disappearance, but her behavior is certainly suspicious for someone who has nothing to hide.
Gleason is several years older than Billy. Just days before Billy’s disappearance, they took a vacation together to Florida. They quarreled during the trip because Gleason kept receiving calls on her cell phone from another man, a married man named Chris Sorenson that Gleason was involved with. When they returned to Connecticut on August 22, after having dated for a year, the couple broke up. After the break-up, Billy went to Gleason’s house in the middle of the night to talk to her; she said that when he left, he was a little depressed but seemed all right otherwise. Although he was angry about Gleason cheating on him, Billy’s family says he was not despondent over the break-up and did not seem bothered much at all.
According to Billy’s phone records, the last three phone calls Billy made were to Sorenson on August 24, but Sorenson said he did not see Billy at all that day. Sorenson said he recognized Billy’s voice on one call, telling him to watch his back.
Madeleine’s lawyer, high-powered Connecticut defense attorney John Williams, has stated that he does not believe Billy is missing at all but went off on his own free will. At first, Waterbury police also believed that Billy left of his own accord. By 2006, the Waterbury police department had exhausted all leads and asked the FBI for assistance. The FBI disagreed with both Gleason’s lawyer and the local police: they believe foul play is involved in Billy’s disappearance and that he was murdered.
Billy’s mother Janice was arrested by the Woodbridge, CT, police for trespassing while putting up flyers about his disappearance; the charges against her were eventually dropped. The family believes the arrest was at the instigation of Madeleine Gleason.
Several years after Billy went missing, the Smolinski family was shocked to learn from a source close to the Waterbury police that Billy’s missing persons file contains information that he was murdered. Police received a tip that Madeleine Gleason’s son Shawn Karpiuk killed Billy and told a friend that Billy got what he deserved, and that he and a friend had buried his body. Karpiuk died of a drug overdose in 2005.
In 2008, Chad Hanson, a local man, was named in at least two anonymous tips as Karpiuk’s accomplice in Billy’s murder. When questioned by police, Hanson claimed to have helped bury Billy off Bungay Road in Seymour, CT, although he said he had no part in Billy’s murder. He said that he helped Karpiuk bury a barrel in a wooded area but did not realize that Billy’s body was inside until later. After a massive police search of the area turned up no evidence, Hanson admitted that he had lied and that he had no idea what had happened to Billy Smolinski. Hanson was serving out the remainder of a jail sentence at a halfway house in Waterbury for charges relating to Billy’s disappearance (making a false statement and interfering with a police investigation) when he escaped. He was recaptured after being on the run for a week.
In April 2012, the family hired a private detective to search a site in a wooded section in Shelton, CT. Jean Petrucelli, a cardiac nurse who lives very close to the area, believes she saw Billy’s white pick-up being driven into the woods followed by a smaller red car as she sat on her back deck on a summer evening in 2004, right around the time that Billy vanished. She noticed the two vehicles because she had never seen vehicles being driven into the woods before, nor has she seen any since. She noticed that the truck had unusual headlights, big and round, and that the grill on the front of the truck was flat; when she saw a photo of Billy’s truck, she immediately identified it as the same type of vehicle, if not the exact same truck. The two vehicles scraped against the trees as they forced their way into the woods. A police investigator agreed to meet Ms. Petrucelli after she contacted them in 2012, but he did not keep the appointment and police never followed up with her, until the private investigator began looking into her story and found evidence that may relate to the case.
The Waterbury police have agreed to reinvestigate the case from the beginning, based on new evidence and leads that were not investigated in 2004. It is always difficult re-visiting a case so many years later: witnesses move out of the area or have passed away; memories are not as clear as at the time of the event; evidence has been destroyed deliberately, by accident, or by nature. The family feels that the police ignored tips in 2004 and did not follow through on other leads. In 2012, the Waterbury police began a complete review of the case from scratch.
In August 2012, the lawsuit against Janice Smolinski and Paul Bell came to trial, and Madeleine Gleason was awarded $52,000 in damages for defamation of character. The Smolinski family is appealing the ruling. Families of missing persons are fearful that if the ruling is allowed to stand, it could alter the way they distribute flyers and disseminate information about their missing loved ones. It could also open the way for any potential witness or suspect to sue a missing person’s family for attempting to locate that person. Many people feel the ruling is blatant censorship and in violation of the Smolinkskis’ first amendment right to free speech.
William (Billy) Smolinski Jr. was 31 years old when he vanished; today he would be 39. He is a Caucasian male, with short light brown hair and blue eyes. He is 6 feet tall and weighs about 200 lbs. He is slightly bow-legged. His left ear is pierced and he wears a small diamond stud earring. He has a tattoo on his left forearm of a blue cross with the name Pruitt incorporated into the design; on his right shoulder is a tattoo of a blue cross outlined in orange. He does not smoke. When last seen, he was wearing a gold rope chain with a cross pendant, blue jeans, a blue work shirt and work boots.
If you know anything about William Smolinski’s disappearance, contact the Waterbury Police Department, 204/574-6941.
William Paul Smolinski, Jr., known as Billy to family and friends, was born on January 14, 1973, to Janice and William Smolinski, Sr. He attended Kaynor Technical High School for three years and then Naugatuck High School for one year, graduating in 1991. He studied auto mechanics at Naugatuck Valley Community College for one year, as well as for his CDL in Bridgeport, CT. He was considering pursuing a career in law enforcement.
Billy is an athletic guy who loves fishing, hunting, horseback riding, snowmobiling, and going to demolition derbies. He also loves listening to music and working on cars. He enjoys drinking beer with friends, and going for cheeseburgers or barbecue at Big Franks in Waterbury. He would often drop in at his younger sister Paula Bell’s house in the morning with a bag of bagels. Billy had no history of drug use, did not have a police record, and did not drink to excess.
He worked as a part-time tow truck driver for Durable Towing and was a full-time apprentice heating and air conditioning technician at Midland Heating & Air Conditioning. He also mowed lawns in the summer and plowed driveways in the winter to earn extra money. He was a dependable employee and had just been offered extra hours at his part-time job. He was physically and mentally in good health.
Billy was last seen at his home at 130 Holly Street in Waterbury, CT, between 3:30 and 3:45 p.m. on August 24, 2004. A neighbor said that Billy rang their doorbell and told him he was going out of town for three days to look at a car he was considering buying and asked them to watch Harley, his five year old German Shepherd dog, while he was gone. When the neighbor went to check on the dog and let her out the next morning, the house was locked and no one was home, but Billy’s truck was in the driveway. A key that was supposed to be hidden outside the house was not there. It is unknown how Billy left the house, whether he was driving someone else’s vehicle or was in the company of another person. The neighbor said Billy was acting normally and did not seem agitated when they saw him.
The Smolinski family found his behavior to be odd, since Billy had just returned from a vacation in Florida, and it was out of character for him to leave town without telling them, especially leaving the care of his dog to someone other than a family member or close friend. At the time he vanished, Billy was a first-time homeowner and was getting his house ready to paint when he had some spare time. Friends reported that Billy was very excited about having his own house and was planning home improvement projects. Inside the house, there was no indication that Billy was not planning to return. A receipt from Burger King time-stamped 2:59 p.m. was found in the trash inside the house, indicating that Billy had picked up the meal right before he spoke to his neighbor and that he had definitely been inside the house before he saw the neighbor. He had unpacked his suitcases after returning from Florida just 48 hours earlier. Also, Billy was devoted to his dog and would never have left without having arranged proper care for Harley. He treated her like his child, and it was seeing Harley left unattended that made alarm bells go off for the family.
Upon learning of his behavior, his family contacted the Waterbury Police Department and wanted to file a missing persons report immediately. Waterbury police refused to take the report and insisted on waiting three days, the time that Billy had specified to his neighbor that he would be gone (to their credit, the police department has since changed their rules about missing persons, realizing that evidence and clues can disappear and trails can go cold quickly). So it was three days before any investigation was begun, even though Billy’s truck was sitting in the driveway. Billy’s wallet and keys were found inside the white Ford pick-up truck. The truck was not checked for fingerprints, nor was it impounded. Prior to his disappearance, Billy deposited most of his last paycheck in his bank account. His accounts have not been accessed since he vanished, nor has his Social Security number been used.
Rather than waiting for the police and their three-day waiting period to be up, the Smolinski family sprang into action, doing everything they could to find Billy: putting up missing person flyers where they would be seen, calling everyone they could think of, contacting the media. Yet, Billy’s former girlfriend Madeleine Gleason and her friend Frances Vrabel were caught on film tearing down the missing person posters, often within minutes of when they were put up.
Gleason claimed that the Smolinskis were targeting her in some way by saturating her neighborhood and the places that she went with the flyers. She went so far as to sue Billy’s mother and sister Paula Bell as well as the Waterbury Observer newspaper in 2006, saying that they were harassing her and that the flyers had damaged her reputation at her job at B and B Transportion, where she worked as a bus driver. The Smolinski family put up flyers by the thousands all over Connecticut and as far away as Grand Central Station in New York, everywhere they could think of that people might see them, in an effort to find Billy. Gleason is not a suspect or even a person of interest in Billy’s disappearance, but her behavior is certainly suspicious for someone who has nothing to hide.
Gleason is several years older than Billy. Just days before Billy’s disappearance, they took a vacation together to Florida. They quarreled during the trip because Gleason kept receiving calls on her cell phone from another man, a married man named Chris Sorenson that Gleason was involved with. When they returned to Connecticut on August 22, after having dated for a year, the couple broke up. After the break-up, Billy went to Gleason’s house in the middle of the night to talk to her; she said that when he left, he was a little depressed but seemed all right otherwise. Although he was angry about Gleason cheating on him, Billy’s family says he was not despondent over the break-up and did not seem bothered much at all.
According to Billy’s phone records, the last three phone calls Billy made were to Sorenson on August 24, but Sorenson said he did not see Billy at all that day. Sorenson said he recognized Billy’s voice on one call, telling him to watch his back.
Madeleine’s lawyer, high-powered Connecticut defense attorney John Williams, has stated that he does not believe Billy is missing at all but went off on his own free will. At first, Waterbury police also believed that Billy left of his own accord. By 2006, the Waterbury police department had exhausted all leads and asked the FBI for assistance. The FBI disagreed with both Gleason’s lawyer and the local police: they believe foul play is involved in Billy’s disappearance and that he was murdered.
Billy’s mother Janice was arrested by the Woodbridge, CT, police for trespassing while putting up flyers about his disappearance; the charges against her were eventually dropped. The family believes the arrest was at the instigation of Madeleine Gleason.
Several years after Billy went missing, the Smolinski family was shocked to learn from a source close to the Waterbury police that Billy’s missing persons file contains information that he was murdered. Police received a tip that Madeleine Gleason’s son Shawn Karpiuk killed Billy and told a friend that Billy got what he deserved, and that he and a friend had buried his body. Karpiuk died of a drug overdose in 2005.
In 2008, Chad Hanson, a local man, was named in at least two anonymous tips as Karpiuk’s accomplice in Billy’s murder. When questioned by police, Hanson claimed to have helped bury Billy off Bungay Road in Seymour, CT, although he said he had no part in Billy’s murder. He said that he helped Karpiuk bury a barrel in a wooded area but did not realize that Billy’s body was inside until later. After a massive police search of the area turned up no evidence, Hanson admitted that he had lied and that he had no idea what had happened to Billy Smolinski. Hanson was serving out the remainder of a jail sentence at a halfway house in Waterbury for charges relating to Billy’s disappearance (making a false statement and interfering with a police investigation) when he escaped. He was recaptured after being on the run for a week.
In April 2012, the family hired a private detective to search a site in a wooded section in Shelton, CT. Jean Petrucelli, a cardiac nurse who lives very close to the area, believes she saw Billy’s white pick-up being driven into the woods followed by a smaller red car as she sat on her back deck on a summer evening in 2004, right around the time that Billy vanished. She noticed the two vehicles because she had never seen vehicles being driven into the woods before, nor has she seen any since. She noticed that the truck had unusual headlights, big and round, and that the grill on the front of the truck was flat; when she saw a photo of Billy’s truck, she immediately identified it as the same type of vehicle, if not the exact same truck. The two vehicles scraped against the trees as they forced their way into the woods. A police investigator agreed to meet Ms. Petrucelli after she contacted them in 2012, but he did not keep the appointment and police never followed up with her, until the private investigator began looking into her story and found evidence that may relate to the case.
The Waterbury police have agreed to reinvestigate the case from the beginning, based on new evidence and leads that were not investigated in 2004. It is always difficult re-visiting a case so many years later: witnesses move out of the area or have passed away; memories are not as clear as at the time of the event; evidence has been destroyed deliberately, by accident, or by nature. The family feels that the police ignored tips in 2004 and did not follow through on other leads. In 2012, the Waterbury police began a complete review of the case from scratch.
In August 2012, the lawsuit against Janice Smolinski and Paul Bell came to trial, and Madeleine Gleason was awarded $52,000 in damages for defamation of character. The Smolinski family is appealing the ruling. Families of missing persons are fearful that if the ruling is allowed to stand, it could alter the way they distribute flyers and disseminate information about their missing loved ones. It could also open the way for any potential witness or suspect to sue a missing person’s family for attempting to locate that person. Many people feel the ruling is blatant censorship and in violation of the Smolinkskis’ first amendment right to free speech.
William (Billy) Smolinski Jr. was 31 years old when he vanished; today he would be 39. He is a Caucasian male, with short light brown hair and blue eyes. He is 6 feet tall and weighs about 200 lbs. He is slightly bow-legged. His left ear is pierced and he wears a small diamond stud earring. He has a tattoo on his left forearm of a blue cross with the name Pruitt incorporated into the design; on his right shoulder is a tattoo of a blue cross outlined in orange. He does not smoke. When last seen, he was wearing a gold rope chain with a cross pendant, blue jeans, a blue work shirt and work boots.
If you know anything about William Smolinski’s disappearance, contact the Waterbury Police Department, 204/574-6941.
Monday, October 1, 2012
Literary Monday - Reinventing yourself in the 15th and 21st centuries
Although my two favorite books from last week are set in totally different eras, ironically the main characters in both books are working on finding their ways through total upheavals in their lives.
Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving by Jonathan Evison - A novel of loss, redemption, and forgiveness, also learning to move on. Benjamin Benjamin is floundering - he has lost his wife and family, hasn't worked in at least a decade (he was a stay-at-home dad), and is nearly out of money. Almost by accident, he stumbles into a course that is offered at a local church on how to be a caregiver. His first patient is a young man afflicted with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. In addition to looking after his physical needs, Ben tries to find activities that will keep Trevor interested and engaged. One project is a large map where they mark all the oddball tourist attractions that they hear about on the Travel Channel and the Weather Channel. Finally they set out on a road trip to visit some of these places, and although the trip doesn't turn out as they had planned, they still manage to do some unforgettable things. A wonderful read.
The Kingmaker's Daughter by Philippa Gregory - this is another installment in Gregory's Cousins' War series, known to us as the War of the Roses (it was called the Cousins' War up until the 19th century - the romantics in the 19th century decided to rename it the War of the Roses). Gregory turns the tables on the protagonists in the last two novels in the series (Elizabeth Woodville in The White Queen and Jacquetta, Lady Rivers in The Lady of the Rivers) so that they are now the villains. The main character here is Anne Neville, queen of Richard III and daughter of Richard, Earl of Warwick, known as the Kingmaker since he deposed Henry VI and put his cousin Edward IV on the throne. Anne and her sister Isabel are pawns in their father's plots, and later in their husbands' plans, with the result that they come into conflict with Edward IV's queen Elizabeth Woodville and her witchy mother Jacquetta. After a disastrous first marriage, Anne decides to make her own choices, but navigating Edward IV's court proves to be tricky. Good biographical fiction about a queen that most of us know only from Shakespeare.
Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving by Jonathan Evison - A novel of loss, redemption, and forgiveness, also learning to move on. Benjamin Benjamin is floundering - he has lost his wife and family, hasn't worked in at least a decade (he was a stay-at-home dad), and is nearly out of money. Almost by accident, he stumbles into a course that is offered at a local church on how to be a caregiver. His first patient is a young man afflicted with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. In addition to looking after his physical needs, Ben tries to find activities that will keep Trevor interested and engaged. One project is a large map where they mark all the oddball tourist attractions that they hear about on the Travel Channel and the Weather Channel. Finally they set out on a road trip to visit some of these places, and although the trip doesn't turn out as they had planned, they still manage to do some unforgettable things. A wonderful read.
The Kingmaker's Daughter by Philippa Gregory - this is another installment in Gregory's Cousins' War series, known to us as the War of the Roses (it was called the Cousins' War up until the 19th century - the romantics in the 19th century decided to rename it the War of the Roses). Gregory turns the tables on the protagonists in the last two novels in the series (Elizabeth Woodville in The White Queen and Jacquetta, Lady Rivers in The Lady of the Rivers) so that they are now the villains. The main character here is Anne Neville, queen of Richard III and daughter of Richard, Earl of Warwick, known as the Kingmaker since he deposed Henry VI and put his cousin Edward IV on the throne. Anne and her sister Isabel are pawns in their father's plots, and later in their husbands' plans, with the result that they come into conflict with Edward IV's queen Elizabeth Woodville and her witchy mother Jacquetta. After a disastrous first marriage, Anne decides to make her own choices, but navigating Edward IV's court proves to be tricky. Good biographical fiction about a queen that most of us know only from Shakespeare.
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