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Teen's Disappearance Helps Unravel Large-Scale, Incestuous Sex Ring
Updated: Monday, November 3 2014, 04:30 PM CST
BAY MINETTE, Ala. (AP) -- By most accounts, 19-year-old Brittney Wood
was with uncle Donnie Holland the night of May 30, 2012, the last time
anyone saw her. Holland - who was under investigation for horrific sex
crimes at the time - died from a bullet within days in what was ruled a
suicide.
The investigation that followed has publicly unraveled what authorities
describe as a dark, twisted tale of perversion in the working-class
neighborhoods and piney backwoods of coastal Alabama.
Eight of Woods' adult relatives and three family friends have been
charged with dozens of felonies in two counties as the alleged members
of an incestuous ring that authorities say shared children for group
sex. Holland was the leader, prosecutors say, of what has been described
as the largest sex ring ever uncovered in Alabama. Wood was a victim
and likely key witness.
"Brittney could have been huge," said prosecutor Teresa Heinz. "She
could have corroborated so many things."
Wood is presumed dead, but authorities haven't found a trace of her and
no one is charged in her disappearance.
Even without Wood to testify, two of her uncles and an older brother
already have pleaded guilty to sex charges, and jurors this month
convicted a friend of Holland's of multiple sex charges in the first
trial. Others - including the missing teen's mother, Chessie Wood, and
two aunts - await trial.
Chessie Wood denies committing any crime, but says some of her closest
relatives are guilty of abusing children, including of abusing her
daughter.
"There are innocent people in this and there are guilty people in this,"
Wood, 39, said in an interview. "I don't know how the judicial system
is going to figure it all out because they're not the sharpest tools in
the shed."
Chessie Wood, accused of having sex with a young female relative, said
she had no idea what was going on in the family until after her
daughter's disappearance.
"The No. 1 thing here is to find Brittney. The No. 2 thing is to get all
these sick (people) off the streets," she said.
Authorities are making plea-bargain offers and getting ready for more
trials, but questions persist. Perhaps most troubling, why didn't child
welfare workers pursue charges following what prosecutors describe as
multiple complaints about sexual abuse within the family going back at
least six years?
"You'd be surprised how many of them had prior allegations. Nothing
happened," said Heinz, an assistant district attorney in Baldwin County.
"You have to wonder what wouldn't have happened to these children if
something had been done. And Brittney might still be alive."
The case is so big officials don't know exactly how many kids inside and
outside the family might have been victimized; estimates range from 11
to 16 children who were as young as 3 or 4 when they were first molested
or made to watch adult relatives during drug-fueled orgies. The
children of the suspects have all been placed in foster care or with
relatives who weren't involved in the crimes.
Brittney Wood isn't the alleged victim in any of the cases filed so far;
each involved other young people, mostly within her family. But the
investigation mushroomed only after she was reported missing and her
uncle Donnie had died.
Authorities believe group sex and child sexual abuse went on for three
generations in two families that merged when Holland married Wendy Wood,
Chessie Woods' sister.
"Donnie was the manager. He'd say, 'I've got this child and this adult,
come on over,'" said Mobile County Assistant District Attorney Nicki
Patterson.
Brittney Wood, meanwhile, led a life that was troubled long before folks
on the Alabama coast came to know her smile because of missing persons
fliers posted in store windows and shared on social media.
The single mother of a daughter born when she was 17, Wood was molested
as a child by a step-grandfather who went to prison for the crime, said
Patterson. Before she went missing, Patterson said, Wood was using drugs
and had a gun for personal protection while bouncing between relatives'
homes; others often cared for her daughter.
A relative reported Holland for allegedly abusing one of the family
girls in February 2012, authorities said, and word spread through the
clan. Private Facebook messages provided to The Associated Press by
Stephanie Hanke, Brittney Wood's stepmother, show that a female relative
informed Wood about being raped by three male relatives on May 27, just
three days before Wood vanished.
The night of the disappearance, cellphone records and witness accounts
indicate Wood left west Mobile with Holland and crossed Mobile Bay into
Baldwin County, where Holland was found two days later inside his SUV by
his wife and one of her friends. He had been shot in the rear of his
head behind an ear, which authorities considered an odd spot for a
self-inflicted wound.
Holland was scheduled to be questioned about allegations of sexual abuse
the very day he was found in the car on an isolated dirt road.
Wood's cellphone battery was in the vehicle with Holland, but there was
no sign of the teen. Her gun was there as well, it was the only gun in
the car. Holland never regained consciousness and died several days
later.
After Holland died, relatives and police wondered about Wood.
"We didn't even realize she was missing until after they found him
shot," said Hanke.
Searches for the teen began and the sex abuse probe picked up, too. Two
of Woods's uncles, Dustin Kent and Scott Wood, were arrested within
three weeks and later pleaded guilty to rape and sodomy. Aunts and
family friends were eventually charged.
This month, family friend Billy Brownlee, 50, was convicted in Baldwin
County on charges of sexually abusing a girl in the Holland family when
she was about 12. Brownlee claimed Donnie Holland forced him into the
acts against his will, but jurors needed only 20 minutes to return a
guilty verdict.
Donnie Holland's 35-year-old wife, Wendy, is set for trial in early
December in what could be a key prosecution. Court records show she has
pleaded not guilty, and Heinz said she shows no interest in a plea
agreement.
Still, authorities wonder how child sexual abuse could go on for years
between so many people without anyone being charged until 2012. One girl
accused an uncle of sexually abusing her as early as 2008, Heinz said,
but welfare workers found the complaint unsubstantiated.
"You look at these reports and wonder, 'Why? How did it not go
anywhere?'" said Heinz.
Barry Spear, a spokesman for the Alabama Department of Human Resources,
said privacy statutes prevent the agency from commenting.
"I can't even say whether we're had any involvement with this family at
all," Spear said.
Read More at: http://www.keyetv.com/news/features/top-stories/stories/teens-disappearance-helps-unravel-largescale-incestuous-sex-ring-21964.shtml
Read More at: http://www.keyetv.com/news/features/top-stories/stories/teens-disappearance-helps-unravel-largescale-incestuous-sex-ring-21964.shtml
text size
Teen's Disappearance Helps Unravel Large-Scale, Incestuous Sex Ring
Updated: Monday, November 3 2014, 04:30 PM CST
BAY MINETTE, Ala. (AP) -- By most accounts, 19-year-old Brittney Wood
was with uncle Donnie Holland the night of May 30, 2012, the last time
anyone saw her. Holland - who was under investigation for horrific sex
crimes at the time - died from a bullet within days in what was ruled a
suicide.
The investigation that followed has publicly unraveled what authorities
describe as a dark, twisted tale of perversion in the working-class
neighborhoods and piney backwoods of coastal Alabama.
Eight of Woods' adult relatives and three family friends have been
charged with dozens of felonies in two counties as the alleged members
of an incestuous ring that authorities say shared children for group
sex. Holland was the leader, prosecutors say, of what has been described
as the largest sex ring ever uncovered in Alabama. Wood was a victim
and likely key witness.
"Brittney could have been huge," said prosecutor Teresa Heinz. "She
could have corroborated so many things."
Wood is presumed dead, but authorities haven't found a trace of her and
no one is charged in her disappearance.
Even without Wood to testify, two of her uncles and an older brother
already have pleaded guilty to sex charges, and jurors this month
convicted a friend of Holland's of multiple sex charges in the first
trial. Others - including the missing teen's mother, Chessie Wood, and
two aunts - await trial.
Chessie Wood denies committing any crime, but says some of her closest
relatives are guilty of abusing children, including of abusing her
daughter.
"There are innocent people in this and there are guilty people in this,"
Wood, 39, said in an interview. "I don't know how the judicial system
is going to figure it all out because they're not the sharpest tools in
the shed."
Chessie Wood, accused of having sex with a young female relative, said
she had no idea what was going on in the family until after her
daughter's disappearance.
"The No. 1 thing here is to find Brittney. The No. 2 thing is to get all
these sick (people) off the streets," she said.
Authorities are making plea-bargain offers and getting ready for more
trials, but questions persist. Perhaps most troubling, why didn't child
welfare workers pursue charges following what prosecutors describe as
multiple complaints about sexual abuse within the family going back at
least six years?
"You'd be surprised how many of them had prior allegations. Nothing
happened," said Heinz, an assistant district attorney in Baldwin County.
"You have to wonder what wouldn't have happened to these children if
something had been done. And Brittney might still be alive."
The case is so big officials don't know exactly how many kids inside and
outside the family might have been victimized; estimates range from 11
to 16 children who were as young as 3 or 4 when they were first molested
or made to watch adult relatives during drug-fueled orgies. The
children of the suspects have all been placed in foster care or with
relatives who weren't involved in the crimes.
Brittney Wood isn't the alleged victim in any of the cases filed so far;
each involved other young people, mostly within her family. But the
investigation mushroomed only after she was reported missing and her
uncle Donnie had died.
Authorities believe group sex and child sexual abuse went on for three
generations in two families that merged when Holland married Wendy Wood,
Chessie Woods' sister.
"Donnie was the manager. He'd say, 'I've got this child and this adult,
come on over,'" said Mobile County Assistant District Attorney Nicki
Patterson.
Brittney Wood, meanwhile, led a life that was troubled long before folks
on the Alabama coast came to know her smile because of missing persons
fliers posted in store windows and shared on social media.
The single mother of a daughter born when she was 17, Wood was molested
as a child by a step-grandfather who went to prison for the crime, said
Patterson. Before she went missing, Patterson said, Wood was using drugs
and had a gun for personal protection while bouncing between relatives'
homes; others often cared for her daughter.
A relative reported Holland for allegedly abusing one of the family
girls in February 2012, authorities said, and word spread through the
clan. Private Facebook messages provided to The Associated Press by
Stephanie Hanke, Brittney Wood's stepmother, show that a female relative
informed Wood about being raped by three male relatives on May 27, just
three days before Wood vanished.
The night of the disappearance, cellphone records and witness accounts
indicate Wood left west Mobile with Holland and crossed Mobile Bay into
Baldwin County, where Holland was found two days later inside his SUV by
his wife and one of her friends. He had been shot in the rear of his
head behind an ear, which authorities considered an odd spot for a
self-inflicted wound.
Holland was scheduled to be questioned about allegations of sexual abuse
the very day he was found in the car on an isolated dirt road.
Wood's cellphone battery was in the vehicle with Holland, but there was
no sign of the teen. Her gun was there as well, it was the only gun in
the car. Holland never regained consciousness and died several days
later.
After Holland died, relatives and police wondered about Wood.
"We didn't even realize she was missing until after they found him
shot," said Hanke.
Searches for the teen began and the sex abuse probe picked up, too. Two
of Woods's uncles, Dustin Kent and Scott Wood, were arrested within
three weeks and later pleaded guilty to rape and sodomy. Aunts and
family friends were eventually charged.
This month, family friend Billy Brownlee, 50, was convicted in Baldwin
County on charges of sexually abusing a girl in the Holland family when
she was about 12. Brownlee claimed Donnie Holland forced him into the
acts against his will, but jurors needed only 20 minutes to return a
guilty verdict.
Donnie Holland's 35-year-old wife, Wendy, is set for trial in early
December in what could be a key prosecution. Court records show she has
pleaded not guilty, and Heinz said she shows no interest in a plea
agreement.
Still, authorities wonder how child sexual abuse could go on for years
between so many people without anyone being charged until 2012. One girl
accused an uncle of sexually abusing her as early as 2008, Heinz said,
but welfare workers found the complaint unsubstantiated.
"You look at these reports and wonder, 'Why? How did it not go
anywhere?'" said Heinz.
Barry Spear, a spokesman for the Alabama Department of Human Resources,
said privacy statutes prevent the agency from commenting.
"I can't even say whether we're had any involvement with this family at
all," Spear said.
Read More at: http://www.keyetv.com/news/features/top-stories/stories/teens-disappearance-helps-unravel-largescale-incestuous-sex-ring-21964.shtml
Read More at: http://www.keyetv.com/news/features/top-stories/stories/teens-disappearance-helps-unravel-largescale-incestuous-sex-ring-21964.shtml
Mr Mbuzi said it was undisputable that Maureen and Aaron Musonda where living as husband and wife despite knowing very well that they where siblings.
So what?
Particulars of the offence are that Aaron Musonda on dates unknown but between December, 2013 and February 27, 2014 in Kabwe knowing Maureen Musonda was his sister had unlawful carnal knowledge of her.In the second count incest by female particulars of the offence are that Maureen on dates unknown but between December 1, 2013 and February 27, 2014 in Kabwe knowing Aaron to be her brother permitted him to have unlawful carnal knowledge of her.
Still no mention of any victim. Because there isn't one. This shouldn't be crime.
Another report at zambia.news24.com....
The offence against the two carries a minimum sentence of 20 years.Neither of them have hurt anyone. They're not a threat to anyone. If they are, in fact, genetically related, they are half siblings who did not grow up together. This whole prosecution was outrageous and prison for any length of time is an injustice, but twenty years? The court should do the right thing and set aside the conviction and set them free, and apologize. The only reason they should have to be in a courtroom is to get married.
The couple has since been remanded to custody and are currently awaiting sentencing during their next appearance in the Kabwe High Court.
People in consanguinamorous relationships need to remember to protect themselves.
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