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Arrested were Royce D. Sykes, 30,
address given as 13761 Klondike, Desoto, Mo. (formerly of Lincoln)
and 30-year-old Angel R. Johnson, 30, 19 Terrace Court, Lincoln.
Sykes is being held on $2 million bond at the Logan County Jail on
seven counts of first-degree murder. Johnson is being held on
charges of concealment of a homicidal death and obstruction of
justice, with a $100,000 bond. Both of the accused have unrelated
pending criminal charges and backgrounds.
[Royce Sykes]
Sykes is a 5-foot-11 white male
weighing 220 pounds, with green eyes and brown hair. He was arrested
last week in Festus, Mo., on a Logan County felony warrant for
attempting to manufacture a controlled substance. He allegedly
possessed materials used to make meth in the Dec. 3 incident.
Logan County Detective Doug McCartney
picked up Sykes at 1 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 31, from the Jefferson
County Jail.
Bobb was found slain in Kickapoo Creek
Park by an early morning walker around 9 a.m. It was estimated that
he was left for dead only hours earlier. He was found on a remote
park path near the train trestle that borders the north and east
side of the park.
While Bobb had been stabbed and lost a
significant amount of blood, an autopsy revealed he actually died of
an air embolism in the lungs related to a blunt force trauma to the
neck.
The area where the initial struggle
began is outside the park and has been known as frequented by drug
users and dealers. The bridge area is said to be used as a common
drug drop and cash exchange location.
[to top of second column in
this article]
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Investigators on the scene were able to
determine that a struggle first took place at the train trestle, and
then Bobb fled through the bramble toward the park. It appeared that
he attempted to hide in some downed branches at the edge of a path.
He was apparently flushed out of there and chased down the path
farther into the park before he fell. At that place a final, single
wound to the neck was inflicted, and he was left to die. Blood
marked the entire path that Bobb had traveled, indicating he was
wounded during the initial skirmish at the trestle.
The ground was too dry to provide
absolute evidence, but only one perpetrator was suspected.
Logan County Sheriff's Department
Chief Deputy Rick Bacon is to be commended for his efforts as
lead investigator in the four-month-long case. With no eyewitnesses,
investigators were put to the test to come up with suspects. They
patiently conducted hundreds of interviews, weaving together what
little information and evidence they had.
Also working on the case from the
Sheriff's Department were Mark Landers and Doug McCartney. They were
assisted by state police crime scene technicians. Logan
County Coroner Chuck Fricke and Deputy Coroner Warren Rogers
contributed, providing information about the cause and manner of
death.
Sykes is scheduled to appear in court
on Monday and Johnson on Tuesday.
If convicted, Sykes will face a minimum
of 20 years in prison. The combination of charges against him could
make him eligible for the death penalty.
Johnson's
charges on concealment of a homicidal death and obstruction of
justice could land her in prison up to five years.
[Jan
Youngquist]
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[FEB. 3, 2003]
A 14-year-old Lincoln youth
was taken by ambulance to Abraham Lincoln Memorial Hospital
following an apparent accident. Hospital personnel attempted to save
Cash Tapper, son of Alan and Marilyn Tapper of rural Lincoln;
however, despite their attempts he died at 4:22 p.m.
Cash was in the eighth grade at C-EL.
An autopsy will be conducted Monday.
The Logan
County Sheriff's Department and coroner's office is investigating
the incident.
[Jan
Youngquist] |
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President Bush
orders flags flown at half-staff
[FEB.
3, 2003]
A proclamation
by the President of the United States of America
honoring the Memory of the Astronauts Aboard Space Shuttle
Columbia:
As a mark of respect for Rick Douglas
Husband, William C. McCool, Laurel Blair Salton Clark, Kalpana
Chawla, Michael P. Anderson, David M. Brown, and Ilan Ramon who gave
their lives during the mission of STS-107 aboard the Space Shuttle
Columbia on February 1, 2003, I hereby order, by the authority
vested in me as President of the United States of America by the
Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, that the
flag of the United States shall be flown at half-staff at the White
House and upon all public buildings and grounds, at all military
posts and naval stations, and on all naval vessels of the Federal
Government in the District of Columbia and throughout the United
States and its Territories and possessions through Wednesday,
February 5, 2003. I also direct that the flag shall be flown at
half-staff for the same length of time at all United States
embassies, legations, consular offices, and other facilities abroad,
including all military facilities and naval vessels and stations.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set
my hand this first day of February, in the year of our Lord two
thousand three, and of the Independence of the United States of
America the two hundred and twentyseventh.
GEORGE W.
BUSH
[The
White House]
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