Anything new on Ashley Smith story? Old threads too full.

[skip fox]

Personally I believe her role in the Brian Nichols story is laudatory and above board (no prior knowledge, as some have suggested, no sexual dimension), but the story sounds as though it's heavily embellished. (Some parts don't even make sense--though in a situation like that, the things people do often defy common sense--like following him in her car and not bolting.)

Anything new today?

[bin.dare]

1. could someone provide some sort of time line ...

... i am particularly interested when the "list" was distributed to the FBI agents.

[bin.dare]

4. answer (some of) my own query ...

...
http://www.11alive.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=60400

There are still many gaps in the 24-hour timeline that Brian Nichols, the suspect in four murders, was on the loose last Friday, but recently released police reports detailing five alleged carjackings clear up some of the timing.

At 9:05 a.m. Friday morning, during the height of confusion at the Fulton County Courthouse, Deputy Solicitor General Duane Cooper was pulling into the parking garage across from the courthouse when a man put a gun to his face and ordered him out of his 2001 Mazda Tribute.

Nichols, the suspect, used the car to flee the chaos.

Two minutes later at 15 Wall Street, Nichols allegedly carjacked a tow truck and drove it to the Imperial Parking Garage at 98 Cone Street.

A 9:14 a.m., Nichols is suspected of dumping the tow truck and carjacking Atlanta Journal-Constitution employee Almeta Kilgo's2004 Mercury Sable on the fourth floor of the garage and from there he headed north on Spring Street.

At 9:16 a.m., inside the parking lot at the Apparel Mart, Nichols allegedly confronted Sung Chung in his 1997 Isuzu Trooper.

Chung, who works at a jewelry store there, told 11Alive News Nichols put a gun to his head and first ordered to get in the passenger seat, and then to the floor board.

Chung said as Nichols was pulling out of the garage, he ordered him to give him his jacket so he could change his appearance.

It was while Nichols was changing into the jacket that Chung saw an opportunity and unlocked the passenger door and jumped out before the car exited the lot.

At the parking lot across from CNN Center, at 9:20 a.m. and only 15 minutes after the first carjacking, AJC reporter Don O’Briant became the final carjack victim.

A surveillance camera at the parking lot showed Nichols wearing Chung’s jacket.

At some point after the final carjacking, authorities say, Nichols boarded a MARTA train and headed to Buckhead. Police say Nichols accosted a couple near Lenox Mall at about 10:20 p.m.

Nichols then allegedly came across a federal agent at his Buckhead home Friday night and killed him. He was captured at a Gwinnett apartment complex Saturday morning.

The details of the gap in time – between the last carjacking at 9:20 a.m. and the couple being assaulted at 10:20 p.m. – are still unclear.

Investigators told 11Alive News they have filled in that gap, but were unwilling to release it.

[redherring]

2. While she seems to be a strong person

I personally do not feel that her preachings had anything to do with Brian Nichols giving himself to the police. So she read a passage or two from "Purpose driven live". She talked about God with him. It took some time, but she was able to persuade Brian Nichols to a degree.Was this really how it happened? From her perspective, she is truthfully insinuating that her words convinced Brian Nichols. But the question to ask is, how exactly was Brian Nichols' brain functioning?
It's obvious to me and to anybody who can think with a clear head that Brian Nichols is a *highly* intelligent individual. A little deranged? Perhaps. A little nutty? Appears to be so. But, as his brother said last night, Brian Nichols worked for Hewlett Packard, perhaps making a 6-figure salary. Thus, I feel that he is very intelligent.
Now, what I think is that Brian Nichols felt that if he were to survive, and perhaps have a chance to not be executed, he needed to show his human side. What better way to do it than to play a gullible woman like a violin? So what Nichols does is, he talks sweetly with Ashley Simpson. He deliberately does it so that when Ashley Simpson is asked questions by the media, it'll make him look like a better man than he really is. So he says things like "you're like an angel sent from heaven" to convince the very gullible Ashly Simpson. She feels that her words are having an effect on Nichols. Little does she realize that Nichols is using her to make it seem like he is deep down a kind, god-loving man, who just went a little berzerk in the head at some point.
Seems like many people do in fact feel some sympathy towards Brian Nichols. Hell, I do too. But Brian Nichols is probably smirking menacingly in his jail cell right now. His little plan worked like a charm. He might not be executed after all.

[skip fox]

3. My feeling is similar. No facts, but the story seems candy(media)coated.

Perhaps, she felt, she could add to the story which may have included some reading but mostly listening to him or staying mum. I'm pretty sure she talked about her daughter and some other personal details--she seemed smart enough to attempt to have him think of her as an individual (since that would make it harder to kill her), perhaps even did some reading. But she knows the only one who can contradict her story is him, and he won't be talking for some time (and no one would believe him anyway). She may have realized the profit potential and stretched the story immediately (realizing that it would be hard to do so the 2nd or 3rd day.

I wouldn't consider any sexual contact for many reasons, esp. the circumstances.

Following him in a car without bolting is possible. He could have told her he'd be back if she ran or that he'd go after her daughter.

[SoCalDem]

5. Just like M&Ms.. thin candy shell on the outside and

the gooey, melty stuff on the inside.. Swallow it fast before it melts.:)

So far, we have now been told that she had a history of "petty crimes".. shoplifting, DUI, ASSAULT, etc..

It's melting, melting, melting..

people are starting to question also how she "happend to have" a complete set of mens clothes for him to change into.. She was supposedly in the middle of unpacking, yet she either had those superfluous clothes unpacked, or knew just which box they were in.

She would have been better off to just say "No Comment" .

[LisaL]

9. Yea, that's real sinister. She had men's clothes-the horror!

She is a widow, and her husband died years ago. Isn't it possible she was dating someone? It's even possible those were her husband's old clothes that she kept.

[SoCalDem]

12. I am not denying that fact.. just musing on the fact that they were

so readily available.. Would you unpack your 4 yrs-dead husband's clothes right away, when you moved to a new place. Those kinds of things tend to be packed away and a memento of a time gone by..not front and center in an apartment-sized closet.

and yes.. she could be dating someone.. It just struck me as odd..:hi:

The media whitewash has made me cynical, and I tend to parse what they try to feed me:)

[LisaL]

14. I think it would be odd if she wasn't dating.

Didn't her husband die 4 years ago?

[FreedomAngel82]

18. I thought she was

dating someone and he had dated someone new but he wanted to still work things out with his ex and thus lead to the whole thing? How long has she been living in Atlanta and where did she come from before? How did her husband get stabbed? Why isn't her daughter living with her if it's been years since her husband's death? I understand taking time for yourself but it's been a few years so wouldn't she want her daughter back living with her and them getting on with their lives?

[LisaL]

23. He had cheated with his ex-girlfriend with another woman,

who had a baby by him just recently. That woman is not Ashley Smith, LOL.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

11. Where's The Link...

Was she really a criminal?

[skip fox]

17. Link and part of story:

http://www.timesreporter.com/left.php?ID=39479&r=2

"As a teen she was arrested for shoplifting and was on probation for a year. Later came arrests for drunken driving, speeding, and battery"

[SoCalDem]

19. NYT had a story today. It's subscription and I lost my password

google Ashley Smith petty crime, and it will pop up.. maybe there are others now :)

[ultraist]

21. NYT article

excerpts

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/16/national/16ashley.html?pagewanted=2

Ms. Smith's first arrest, for shoplifting, was when she was 16. She was not convicted, officials said. Two years later, she was sentenced to one year's probation for under-age possession of alcohol.
In adolescence, she began hanging out with the wrong crowd, said Larry Croft, her former stepfather. Her life changed when she married Daniel Smith Jr., a carpenter. They moved into a three-bedroom house and began fixing it up, and shortly afterward their daughterwas born.

They began to distance themselves from old friends and befriended a neighbor who was a sheriff's deputy, Mr. Croft said. But the old friends taunted Mr. Smith over his ties with the deputy, calling him an informer. He fought them over it, and was stabbed in the heart.

"He died in Ashley's arms," Mr. Croft said.
The stabbing began a dark period in Ms. Smith's life, with arrests for drunken driving and speeding, a probation violation and an arrest for assaulting Mr. Croft, an incident that he dismissed as trivial. Her aunt, Ms. Rogers, took custody of Paige. Eventually, Mr. Croft said, Ms. Smith spent several months at a Christian clinic for drug rehabilitation.

After that, what Ms. Rogers called her niece's period "away from the Lord" ended. "She just really had a turnaround and began being in the Word," Ms. Rogers said. Ms. Smith enrolled in classes to be a medical technician, worked as a waitress and had just learned that she had landed a second job when she was taken hostage, her family said. After being freed, she called her new boss to explain that she might need a few days off.

[FreedomAngel82]

16. I thought her name was

Ashley Smith?

[bin.dare]

6. Reward Rises to $40,000 (maybe > $60,000)

"Smith will now receive at least $40,000 for calling authorities and alerting them to the whereabouts of courthouse killing suspect Brian Nichols. The FBI has not yet decided whether to award another $20,000 to Smith for her efforts."

(more)
http://www.11alive.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=60373

[SoCalDem]

7. They PUBLICIZED $60K, they should PAY $60K

or instead of telling everyone how much, they should just say "substantial" and be done with it.

If they keep renegging on offers of rewards, they might have fewer people willing to "go public" and turn people in..

As shifty as Ashley's story IS/WAS, she DID turn him in, and deserves the reward. So please just give her the money, so we don;t have to keep hearing about this :grr:

[LisaL]

8. They sometimes split the reward when they think more than

one person provided information. Although that does not appear to be the case here.

[skip fox]

10. Why did he go to THAT apartment complex?

Did he know someone there? Was he acquainted with the area?

Has anyone mentioned this?

[LisaL]

13. Haven't heard anything about that.

[bin.dare]

15. and why go to fed agent's home and kill him?

see #4 above: "Nichols then allegedly came across a federal agent at his Buckhead home Friday night and killed him."

[LisaL]

29. For his truck?

[skip fox]

32. Why not hide body or secrete him in truck and take off?

He would have had hours to reach the border.

[bin.dare]

36. clarification: was this Nichols' home or agent's home? n/t

[FreedomAngel82]

20. Interesting

If I was in that guy's situation I would get away and VERY quickly to hide somewhere so I can plan my next move and rest from the previous excitement and let things calm down so I could make my break for it. So how did he know to go there is a good question.

[ultraist]

22. It does seem a bit too serendipitous that he landed in her apt complex

The moment she was returning from a 2 am smoke run.

Miracle? I hesitate to think so.

They both have drug backgrounds, maybe they met that way. Also, she worked in a sportsbar, he liked sports and may well have been a customer there.

It will be interesting to see if this turns out to be a big coincidence or if she did know him. I wonder why the FBI is hesitating to say she will get their reward? Maybe they already have some facts that would show she was not just a random hostage.

[LisaL]

24. He could have been waiting for anyone to show up, and it

happened to be her. He apparently carjacked and assaulted people all day long after his escape. Obviously, these unfortunate people just met him at the wrong time in the wrong place.

[skip fox]

25. But one would either leave town immediately or go where he knew

the area, generally.

I'm surprised he didn't immediately take one of the cars and leave on non-interstates. You could be in Kentucky or Tennessee in a matter of hours. Of course, it would work best if you have a car that won't be looked for. Whyn not Smith's (with her in suicide seat)? That would give him from 2 a.m. until daylight at least.

Just a damned odd case.

[bin.dare]

30. you say he had a drugs background? ...

... i don't recall reading that, do you have a link?
the agent killed was in narcotics, right?

[SoCalDem]

33. Customs... probably illegal drugs enforcement

..curiouser & curiouser

[pen dragon]

26. CNN'S End game on this whole story

The power of purpose -- CNN has miraculously produced an entire program devoted to the book "The Purpose Driven Life" which it alleges was the key Ashley Smith used to save herself and bring Nichols peacefully into the light.

http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/aaron.brown/

Be sure to watch tonight for some good old fashioned CNN shilling for the religious right.

I knew this story was leading somewhere like this

[skip fox]

27. Who killed Ashley's husband? I heard one speculation that Nichols

did it for pay (from Ashley) and thus he gravitated to her complex hoping she could aid his escape.

If her husband had impregnated another woman . . . well.

NOT my speculation.

[LisaL]

28. You heard it? LOL.

The people are coming up with some very strange ideas without any basis for them.
And she didn't help him escape, she turned him in, she called 911 on him. What more do you people want from her?

[skip fox]

31. Want nothing. I'm not a "you people" and believe inquiry should not

be constrained.

Don't mean to sound testy, but dislike all means of squashing speech and inquiry. By the Right OR the Left.

In fact the REAL STORY, in my mind, is the uncritical acceptance of the story by the media. They've done this so often that they seem not to discriminate between stories like this and stories of national importance.

(By the way, I DID hear it and don't lie. I teach at the univ. and even use my real name here. )

[bin.dare]

34. husband's killing was drugs related ...

... apparently his "buddies" thought he was informing on them to a deputy sheriff who was their neighbor.

[skip fox]

35. Was the killed federal agent DEA???

Revenge killing (like the judge)?

[bin.dare]

37. customs = drugs ?

FBI Spokesman Steve Lazarus said Nichols is a suspect in the courthouse shootings and the fatal shooting of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent found dead early Saturday.

The agent was discovered shot to death at an upscale townhouse complex, and his blue pickup truck, pistol and badge were missing.

http://www.waff.com/Global/story.asp?S=3063432&nav=0hBBXNK4

[bin.dare]

38. more details about agent Wilhelm ...

...
In November, Wilhelm was promoted and transferred to the agency's Atlanta office, where he supervised investigations on money laundering, drug and human smuggling, and customs violations.

"We're upset," said Joe Barringer, a fellow agent who came to console Wilhelm's wife, Candee. "David was a great man." The couple had no children.

A nearly 18-year veteran of federal law enforcement, Wilhelm, a native of Salisbury, N.C., had previously been assigned to Customs offices in the Carolinas and Virginia. In 2001, he was the recipient of the Blue Eagle Award, an honor given by the now defunct U.S. Customs Service, for a major drug bust that resulted in the seizure of about 2 tons of marijuana and $2.4 million.

"Dave's real skill was in narcotics and money-laundering investigations," said Kenneth Smith, Wilhelm's superior in Atlanta. "His ability to take down criminal organizations from fragmented information he put together was just incredible."

Wilhelm also had the reputation of being a leader and a team player. "The agents that worked for him were very inspired by him," said Smith. "I was inspired by him to be a better boss."

Todd Elmore, 40, who had been persuaded by Wilhelm to leave the Internal Revenue Service and join his agency, said of his longtime friend: "His passion in life was catching drug dealers, and building new homes." Wilhelm had a general contractor's license, Elmore said, and was laying tile in the bathroom of his new home on the night of his death.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/la-na-atlanta14mar14,1,4665989.story?ctrack=1&cset=true