Murdered Couple’s Family to Hire PI

Family of murdered former Dispatch employees Graham and Kate Lizamore are hiring a private investigator to help find answers to the pair’s brutal death last week.

Kate’s sister, Patricia Hayes , yesterday said they wanted an independent investigation into the killings.

“The family will be looking at that route just to assist with the investigations. A private investigator will be used for this. We need to know what happened and why they were murdered,” said Hayes.

On Friday last week, the Lizamores were found dead in their Pinetown home near Durban.

Their death, which has shocked many of their former colleagues and friends, has puzzled police and family members after it was established that nothing was taken from their home.

Last week, the couple’s family had to call police to investigate why they were not responding to numerous phone calls.

On arrival at the couple’s home last Friday, police noticed that the main door was unlocked. Their bodies were discovered in a toilet.

Graham’s legs and hands were tied at the back while Kate had a black plastic bag around her head.

According to the police, the couple’s bodies were partly decomposed, suggesting they might have been murdered a few days earlier.

KwaZulu-Natal police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Vincent Mdunge confirmed there was nothing taken from the couple’s home.

“Detectives are currently combing the couple’s place to check for any clues that might assist in their investigations. We are following any information that will assist us with this case,” said Mdunge.

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Private Investigators are Victims in Alleged Scam

For the private investigators who authorities say became victims of Kevin Sianez, the job wasn't the cloaked adventure and jaded triumph of Hollywood. Many were just scraping by, trying to pick up scarce jobs via the Internet when they crossed paths with the one-time police officer.

Dave Qualls of Qualls Investigations in Elkton, Md., said he did a surveillance job in 2006 as a subcontractor for Orange County-based Sianez, who found Qualls through an online search. Qualls spent two weeks on the job and sent Sianez the results. It wasn't until after Qualls received weeks of promises to pay — and an overnight envelope that arrived empty — that he began to believe he'd been scammed.

The police didn't help, saying it was a civil matter, so Qualls took to the Internet to warn others. But almost as soon as he posted a complaint, one appeared attacking his business. Others who were allegedly defrauded and tried to give warning also said they found themselves under attack and without recourse. Some said they had to change their business names, while others — such as Qualls — decided it just wasn't worth the effort to fight back.

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Tony Hayward Fired and Asked to Repay Spill Cleanup Costs

Everyone expected Tony Hayward, embattled CEO of BP Oil to be fired eventually over his mishandling of the Gulf oil spill, but it was a big surprise when news came out that BP is holding Hayward personally responsible for the cost of the clean up.

The results of a private investigation

by BP on the cause and subsequent botched clean-up efforts indicate that Hayward knew ahead of time that this was going to happen and that it was going to be the biggest environmental disaster in US history.

Proof comes in the fact that just weeks before the oil platform explosion occurred, Hayward cashed in a substantial amount of stock

to pay off his mansion in Kent, England. That, and the fact that any caring CEO would not have gone yacht watching when the handling of the oil spill was his responsibility. Those two factors were the primary reasons blame for the entire fiasco was placed squarely on Hayward's slight, but firm shoulders.

But before we feel the slightest twinge of pity for Mr. Hayward, understand that men like him don't usually end up actually having to pay anything and regularly go on to head other businesses making ridiculous sums of money. Besides, as Hayward once said, "I am but a lowly geologist who just happened to be in charge of the wrong platform at the wrong time."


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Hobbs to Stay in Jail Family Hires Private Investigator

The first time JoAnn Hobbs saw her son after he was charged with killing his 8-year-old daughter and her young friend, he blurted out that he'd confessed to the slayings, she said.

"Mama, they broke me," she said he told her.

She believed Jerry Hobbs III when he told her he was forced to confess after 20 hours of interrogation in May 2005 — and she believes him today, she said.

After staying silent for years out of fear of jeopardizing the Zion case, she said she decided to speak up Wednesday after Lake County prosecutors were granted a second two-week continuance to investigate DNA evidence linked to another man in custody.

Hobbs' attorney also filed a motion asking for a hearing to argue that Hobbs should be released on bond. Judge Fred Foreman set a status hearing and bond hearing for Aug. 4.

For now, Hobbs, 39, remains in jail with a murder trial scheduled Oct. 6. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

"He was optimistic about getting out but, after today — he's scared," said JoAnn Hobbs of Wichita Falls, Texas. "It's like they are still trying him for something he didn't do."

She has talked to her son several times weekly on the phone but hasn't seen him in two years, she said.

Hobbs said her son's public defense team has discouraged her from visiting, saying he had received death threats and that they couldn't guarantee her safety. Hobbs was kept isolated from other prisoners for more than four years, she said, spending most of his time drawing pictures and reading.

"I can understand a mother's frustration at seeing her son incarcerated for a crime that she believes, perhaps rightly, that he didn't commit," said Keith Grant, assistant public defender. "However, she and we remain united in our goal to see Jerry released."

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Cargo Theft’s Private Eyes

“To be a cargo theft investigator, you need to be both passionate and dogged. There’s a misconception out there that if you don’t recover stolen cargo in 48 to 72 hours, you’ll never see it again. We’ve actually made recoveries 30 days, 60 days, even a year later. That’s why you’ve got to be willing to not let go of a case.” –Scott Cornell, national manager, specialty investigations group, Travelers Investigative Services

They don’t carry badges, handcuffs, or firearms. They don’t drive supercharged squad cars or wear matching monochrome suits and sunglasses. Yet they are some of the most potent weapons facing off cargo thieves these days: the Special Investigations Group (SIG) within the Inland Marine division at Travelers Insurance

Organized five years ago, SIG’s mission is twofold – investigate cargo thefts while helping clients adopt policies and procedures to “harden” their operations against such criminal activity. Scott Cornell, today SIG’s national manager, got the group off the group with himself and just one other agent. Now, however, he commands a force of nine agents scattered across the U.S. – agents that for the most part are former law enforcement personnel that specialized in working the cargo theft beat.

“We’ve got agents in New Jersey, Dallas, TX, Atlanta, GA, Los Angeles – all the ‘hot spots’ where most cargo thefts occur,” he explained to me recently. “You’d also be surprised how difficult cargo theft investigations are, how far stolen goods will travel, and by how much logistical knowledge our investigators need. Furthermore, we’re on call 24/7, which means a lot of nights and weekends are spent working these crimes.”

While they have neither the firepower nor the arrest capabilities the law enforcement units dedicated to combating cargo theft do – such as the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Dept.’s Cargo Criminal Apprehension Team, known as the Cargo CATs for short – Cornell’s team possesses one distinct advantage; national investigate scope.


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'Die Hard' Director Pleads Guilty in Wiretap Case

LOS ANGELES — "Die Hard" director John McTiernan pleaded guilty Monday to lying to FBI agents and a judge during the investigation of Hollywood private investigator Anthony Pellicano in a wiretapping case.

McTiernan, 59, entered his plea to two counts of making false statements to the FBI and one count of perjury for lying to a federal judge while trying to withdraw a guilty plea. He could face up to a year in prison.

Attorney S. Todd Neal, who represents McTiernan, said the plea will allow his client to appeal certain pretrial rulings made by a federal judge.

"We continue to believe that the charges against him were developed in an unfair way," Neal said. "The FBI should not be in the business of ambushing citizens with surprise phone calls in which they ask 'questions' for which they already know the answers."

McTiernan previously pleaded guilty to lying to federal agents in 2006 about the investigation of Pellicano. The director later withdrew that plea, arguing he didn't have adequate legal representation.

Pellicano was convicted in 2008 of wiretapping film producer Charles Roven for McTiernan and of bugging the phones of celebrities and others to get information for clients.

Pellicano was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison.

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Jesse James Accused Of Hiring Private Investigator To Frame Ex-Wife

The bitter custody battle between Jesse James and Janine Lindemulder took a bizarre twist on Wednesday when the motorbike mogul was accused of trying to put his ex-wife behind bars for tax evasion through a private investigator he had hired.

Lindemulder’s lawyer Richard Masson claimed that in 2006, James hired Oregon private investigator Brad Martin to spy on Lindemulder. Masson told the court that he had proof that Martin passed on information to special IRS agent Todd Anderson, which ultimately led to Lindemulder going to jail. He argued that James’ actions showed how much he did not want Janine to co-parent Sunny.

James admitted that he hired Martin to find out where Lindemulder and six-year-old daughter, Sunny, were staying at the time, but he denied that he received any report on his ex-wife from the private investigator.

James’ lawyer John Schilling said that Masson’s claims had no relevance to the custody case because Lindemulder plead guilty to tax evasion, which had nothing to do with his client.

Commissioner Thomas Schulte agreed with Schilling, ruling that the allegation that James had hired Martin to trace Lindemulder in Oregon (and the claim that Martin had allegedly turned information about Janine into the IRS) was irrelevant to the case and not in the court’s interest to pursue.

Earlier in the hearing, the court heard how James instructed Sunny not to tell her mom about Sandra Bullock adopting Louis Bardot last April because he didn’t trust her to keep it secret.

He said, “I told Sunny not to tell Janine because I knew she would leak the information to the tabloids.”

James also raised concern about Janine continuing to work in the porn industry and doing exotic dancing because it could end up with her going to jail and not paying taxes again.

He did concede during cross examination that Sunny was happy when she visited her mom, and that he would be willing to offer visits or Skype conferences between the pair if their daughter was permitted to move to Texas.

Later in Wednesday afternoon’s proceedings, the tough biker teared up when he admitted he is still receiving therapy to cope with his personal childhood abuse.

The reality star, who spent a month in rehab in Arizona after his marriage to Oscar winner Sandra Bullock crumbled over womanizing, got emotional during the custody hearing.

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Use of PI in City of Montreal Probe Attacked, Opposition Calls Move 'Disturbing'

MONTREAL - Questions are being raised about the city of Montreal's decision to use private investigators to grill a civil servant in 2008 over an alleged phony-billing scheme in the city's computer-systems division rather than leave the matter to police.

As The Gazette reported yesterday, a high-ranking city director wrote to a Surete du Quebec investigator on the case in February 2009 saying the civil servant, Gilles Parent, admitted under questioning by the city's investigators that he made up the involvement of former city executive committee chairperson Frank Zampino in the scheme in order to gain the confidence of a city contractor who was allegedly being told to pay false invoices.

The letter, from city director Pierre Reid, was accompanied by excerpts from a transcript of Parent's interview on Sept. 10, 2008, with two investigators from the firm Navigant Consulting.

Zampino's lawyer, Claude-Armand Sheppard, gave the documents to The Gazette last week. He said Zampino, who quit politics earlier in 2008, gave him the documents. Zampino has never been questioned by the police in the matter, Sheppard said.

Reid's letter and the interview excerpts also say that Parent made up the names of two people he said worked in the mayor's office and the city's legal department and were involved in the alleged scheme.

The city's policy is to launch an internal probe whenever administrative irregularities involving a municipal employee are flagged, but the city contacts the police as soon as any criminal activity seems apparent, city spokesperson Gonzalo Nunez said in an email response to questions from The Gazette yesterday. The city filed a complaint with the SQ on July 4, 2008, he added, two months before Parent's questioning by the private investigators.

"The city does not investigate cases of a criminal nature since that's the job of the police, but as soon as we note the presence of elements of a criminal nature in the case, we transfer the case to the police," Nunez wrote.

The city apparently went farther than its policy in the case, the opposition Projet Montreal party contends.

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PI Bala to Meet French Cops Tonight

LONDON: Private investigator P Balasubramiam is on his way to Paris, where he will be a key witness in investigations into suspected corruption in the Malaysian purchase of submarines.

He is due to meet French investigators at 8 pm Malaysian time.

A source said French police had officially contacted him and told him they were keen to record his statement this afternoon in Paris at police headquarters in Nanterre Prefecture.

Bala is travelling with lawyer Manjeet Singh Dhillon.

Malaysia completed the acquisition of the two Scorpene submarines last year, but the deal with DCNS, a French defence conglomerate, was struck in 2002, when Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak was defence minister. Najib led the negotiations with the French government.

The probe is focused on a €114 million (US$151.1 million) commission paid to a company called Perimekar, which investigators suspect was established in 2001 purely to receive the kickback.

Perimekar is a subsidiary of KS Ombak Laut Sdn Bhd, which is controlled by Abdul Razak Baginda, a close Najib associate and lover of the late Mongolian beauty Altantuya Shaariibuu, who was a translator in the deal. Abdul Razak was charged with abetting in her murder but was eventually acquitted.

Balasubramaniam, whom Abdul Razak hired to keep Altantuya from harassing him for money, has alleged that Najib had a relationship with the murdered Mongolian.

In an interview broadcast on YouTube, Bala — as he is known to Malaysians — also claims that he was a victim in a high-level conspiracy to cover Najib’s tracks in the Altantuya affair.

He alleges that he was bribed and blackmailed to leave Malaysia and that the culprits were Najib’s brother, Nazim, and carpet dealer Deepak Jaikishan, a close friend of the Prime Minister’s wife.

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Family and Friends of Missing Woman Mitrice Richardson Plan Fundraiser to Hire a Private Investigator

Family and friends of a young woman missing since she was released from a Los Angeles County sheriff’s station almost 10 months ago plan to host a fundraising event Sunday to collect money to hire a private investigator to help search for the woman.

Mitrice Richardson, who turned 25 in April, has not been seen since she was released from the Malibu/Lost Hills sheriff’s station in the early morning of Sept. 17, after having been arrested for failing to pay a restaurant dinner bill. She was without her cellphone, purse or car, which had been impounded, relatives said.

Richardson’s family want to hire renowned private investigator Lawrence Olmstead, according to a statement released by Richardson’s family. Olmstead has helped in cases such as last year’s rape and murder of Southern California teen Amber Dubois by convicted sex offender John Gardner and the 1997 killing of actor Bill Cosby’s son.

Richardson’s father, Michael Richardson said in the statement that the fundraiser was necessary because “I have exhausted my savings and reduced my method of living severely” since his daughter’s disappearance.

Private donors and corporations have contributed several items to be raffled off during Sunday’s event at Leimert Park, including a 22-inch flat-screen television, a digital camera and a personally autographed jersey from New York Giants linebacker Antonio Pierce.

Last month, Richardson’s mother, Latice Sutton, filed a negligence and wrongful death lawsuit against Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department officials. The suit alleges that authorities neglected to provide Richardson with a medical or psychiatric evaluation after she was seen to be behaving in an infantile manner in video footage taken of her in a holding cell.

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Investigator Files Suit Against San Bernardino

SAN BERNARDINO - A private investigator hired by Police Chief Keith Kilmer in 2009 to examine problems in the Police Department has filed a lawsuit against the city in an attempt to force the city to pay bills that City Hall's legal team says are unwarranted.

The case was filed Tuesday in San Bernardino Superior Court. The investigator, William Schneid, began work for Kilmer in June 2009. The city has thus far paid Schneid about $22,000, but his lawsuit claims he is still owed nearly $39,000.

The suit alleges that the city has broken an oral contract with Schneid by refusing to pay remaining bills.

Schneid's work included the investigation of a police sergeant who has been accused of illegally detaining individuals without probable cause and stealing Police Department funds.

There was no written contract between Schneid and the Police Department, and the City Council did not authorize payment for Schneid's investigation. San Bernardino policy requires the council to greenlight expenditures of $25,000 or more

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Private detectives: A Pre-Nuptial Priority for Some in India

NEW DELHI — The wedding, to be celebrated in sumptuous Indian style, was due for June and everything was progressing smoothly until the groom suddenly lost interest.

Suspicious of an affair, the bride did what increasing numbers of anxious lovers and nervous families are doing in India: she rang a private detective to find out why.

In a country where nine out of 10 marriages are still arranged and modern social pressures are putting the institution under pressure, the industry of snooping on lovers has expanded fast over the last five years, say insiders.

In this case an investigation by the agency AMX -- "marriage is a gamble," says its website -- revealed that the groom had recently discovered he was HIV positive.

The discovery was made by an attractive female undercover agent sent by the agency, who befriended the groom and found his medicine.

The wedding was eventually called off, like 20 percent of cases after a probe, AMX boss Baldev Kumar Puri told AFP.

"A pre-matrimonial investigation is your duty," Puri said. "A post matrimonial investigation is much more costly."

Puri and others, like Kunwar Vikram Singh, director of the New Delhi-based Lancers agency, are in a growth industry being driven by social changes and the way in which weddings are arranged.

In cities, families are relying increasingly on small advertisements in newspapers and websites or specialist dating agencies to find the perfect match for their children.

The problem is that everyone exaggerates, or even lies, about their qualities.

"Unlike the old days when a close-knit society meant that marriages were usually held between known families, these days marriages are increasingly being arranged through unknown, unfamiliar sources," said Singh.

"There is an increased risk involved in dealing with strangers."

To bridge the trust gap, private detectives are taken on to assess candidates without their knowledge.

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Private Investigators Working to Solve the Murder of Slain British Columbia Real Estate Agent

With private investigators now believed to be working to solve the murder of realtor Lindsay Buziak, Saanich police have revealed more about their own investigation, which has so far led to no arrests.

"One of the first things to lead you (to solving a crime) is the why, and we have not been able to figure that out," said detective Sgt. Chris Horsley, who's working on the file since the incident in February 2008.

"We have theories and strong inclinations that would support the theories, but we have nothing definitive. We never have been able to positively identify why Lindsay was murdered."

This week media outlets reported Buziak's father, Jeff, as saying PIs are now working on solving the murder, but police are not aware of any such investigations.

"If these private investigators are actively speaking with people...we haven't heard of anything. And we normallyl expect to receive phone calls if there's someone going around asking questions about an open case," Horsley said.


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