TheTrenchcoat Chronicles

Over the weekend I received an e-mail from Jennifer Deremus. If the name sounds familiar it's because she is the stepmother of Dakota Deremus. Readers of this sight should know that Dakota died at the hands of Dustin Howard. To make matters worse not only was his death recorded on a cell phone by some of Howard's stupid friends but 16-year-old Howard was charged as a juvenile. By now you should know my stance on that. (For newcomers I'm always in favor of trying juveniles as adults for murder.)

Conversely take the recorded beating of Victoria Lindsay from Florida. Luckily she survived her beating that was also recorded. Her teenage assailants were charged as adults.

In the case of Victoria Lindsay there was national outrage of Biblical proportions. In the case of Dakota Deremus not so much. Mrs. Deremus asked me why that is? Unfortunately it's too simple. It all comes down to saturation.

Do a YouTube search for Victoria Lindsay and 800 videos come up. Do one for Dakota Deremus and only 3 come up and none of them show what happened to him.

Why were Victoria Lindsay's tormentors charged as adults and Dustin Howard wasn't? Dustin Howard killed Dakota Deremus, Victoria Lindsay is alive and recovering. Victoria's attackers could be jailed for life. Dustin Howard will more than likely be released at the age of 19 and have his record erased.

The saddest part is that we shouldn't need a video to be outraged by Dakota's death.

Cleveland Police Release School Shooting Video:
Cleveland police released the surveillance footage of Asa Coon inside SuccessTech Academy going on his shooting rampage. The video doesn't show much except for Coon going through the hallways and police arriving on the scene. There is no footage of Coon shooting or taking his own life.

However if you've seen the photo of Coon after his suicide he looks like a 12-year-old boy. But in the picture I've posted above you see what he really is. An angry gun toting selfish homicidal maniac bent on taking lives because of his own inadequacies.

Widow says Irwin death tape destroyed:
Terri Irwin, the widow of the late Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin has stated that the only remaining copy of the videotape showing her husband's death has been destroyed. The state coroner from Queensland, Michael Barnes, said that the original was returned to Terri Irwin and all copies were destroyed. I hope to God he's right and that some flunky down the line hasn't stashed a copy looking to make a fast buck.

Irwin death film 'will never air':
Steve Irwin's widow Terri has said that the film of Irwin's death will never be aired. If she doesn't have the film destroyed I at least she keeps it under such tight wraps that it doesn't leak out. For her sake and the sake of their children.

You death mutants can suck it.

Thanks to Elessarion for the tip.

The Irwin video: Would you watch it? :
Now it's the BBC's turn to debate the topic. First the pro...

While we might question what kind of person would want to watch such a gruesome spectacle, I suggest there are reasons why we should at least consider making the footage available to the public. Steve Irwin was a well-known public figure, whose popular TV shows regularly drew large audiences.

His death occurred while he was in the process of filming another documentary - hence the existence of the footage in question. The life and death of a public figure are - naturally - of public interest. This is particularly the case when a person is well-known because of the risks he takes.

Up till now we have witnessed Irwin sporting with crocodiles, poisonous snakes and tarantulas, always emerging unscathed and as lively as ever. The footage of Irwin's final film can in itself be regarded as a necessary part of our education: these animals are dangerous, and fooling around with them can be deadly.

And now the con...

Even if his entourage gives the green light and the tape is released - and many believe this last event will inevitably happen - there remains a question of personal morality. Should you, the viewer, watch the footage?

Why watch?

The answer depends on your motives. Are you a marine biologist or ethologist (someone who studies animal behaviour) eager to understand the defensive behaviour of a frightened stingray? Are you a cardiologist or toxicologist interested in aspects of the injury itself?


Before watching the footage, we should ask ourselves: why do I want to watch this? I suspect many people would answer "for entertainment" or "out of curiosity".
Is there not something discomforting about these answers? Do they not reflect a morbid desire to witness a fatal tragedy? Sometimes our instinctive "yuk" response to an event or suggestion is not based on reason but on deep-rooted prejudice or ignorance.

This time, the "yuk" is more firmly grounded. It is a mistake to say that watching the clip in private would harm no one, as the event has already occurred.

It may well harm the watcher, whose humanity and moral sensibility will suffer. Irwin's passion for nature and his exuberance leapt out of the screen. Let that memory remain, and let the footage of his pierced heart disappear with the stingray into the depths of the ocean.

One of the BBC commneters put it best when they said "Irwin is a public figure but not public property".

TOF to Elessarion.

Teen tapes confession to killing:
The Raleigh News and Observer report on material from the Castillo videos that they did not release...

HILLSBOROUGH - On a homemade video, Alvaro Castillo confesses to shooting his father four times, then walks into a room and records the sheet-draped corpse.

"Look at me. I'm not even crying. I just killed him, and I feel fine," the Hillsborough teenager says into the camera.

"I'm not afraid anymore," he says in the video's final scene. "I have to die."

The tape, along with a handwritten letter, arrived at the office of The Chapel Hill News on Thursday, the day after Castillo was arrested and charged with a shooting at Orange High School, and told sheriff's deputies he had killed his father.

In the video, Castillo holds the camera close to his face and says he plans to kill himself and his father. Later, the teenager records a body slumped on a sofa. Two bare legs stick out from under a blood-flecked sheet.

Most of the hour-plus video shows Castillo aiming the camera at a small television playing violent movies. They include "Scarface," "Predator," "The Shining," "Natural Born Killers" and a documentary, "Zero Hour: Massacre at Columbine High."

Castillo narrates the violence, sometimes chiming in word-for-word with actors. He repeatedly uses the mute button to silence profanity.

Grisly scenes prompt a throaty laugh.

"Beautiful," Castillo says, during "Scarface's" final bloody scene, when the lead character floats dead in a swimming pool.

On the video, Castillo notes that he first watched these movies when he was 8 to 10 years old. He taped them, he says, to show how violent the world is.

Castillo also says on the video that his father slapped -- but never punched -- his head, back and rear. His father disciplined his mother "like a child," he says.

The letter also claims abuse: "His threats and abuse took their toll on me."

In another scene, Castillo cocks a shotgun and puts the barrel in his mouth, then points it at the camera. The word "Arlene" is written on a scrap of paper taped to the weapon.

Castillo says his suicide would be "the perfect instant killing."

Near the end of the video, Castillo addresses the parents of the students he plans to kill, displaying a shotgun shell and a 9 mm bullet. He encourages parents to shoot themselves and reunite with their children in the afterlife.

"Once again, parents, I'm sorry about this. I'm sorry about the pain you'll go through," Castillo says. "If you want to be with your children, go with them."

Castillo pants in front of the camera, describing his father's killing.

Before turning off the camera, he says, "It's time."

I also have to commend the N&O for their decision not to post the entire video...

We were selective, however. We decided not to do what Castillo had asked in his letter -- simply make the tape public and allow him, in the letter writer's mind, to join the high school violence pantheon. Instead, we chose the four brief clips that illustrated the progress of the video and complemented the rest of our reporting.

We did not excerpt the graphic sections of the video (where he shows the camera his father's body, for instance) or scenes where he clearly seeks to glamorize his actions.

We will not post the entire video, nor will we give copies to other media. We will work with the AP to make one of the excerpts available to other news outlets.

The videos that Alvaro Castillo sent to a local paper can be found at the following links.

Video 1

Video 2

Video 3

Video 4

If YouTube pulls them they can also be found here.

We all know about Wall Street Journal Reporter Daniel Pearl being kidnapped and brutally murdered in Pakistan. And we all heard about how the killers videotaped his death. One minute he was talking like he was being interviewed and the next someone had slashed his throat. All while being videotaped. The tape was sent to a Pakistani journalist and it eventually found its way to the U.S. State Dept. Which leads me to believe there are multiple copies of this tape. I hope none of the copies will find their way into the wrong hands. I'm specifically speaking of people who trade these kind of videos underground. We've all either heard about or seen "The Faces Of Death" videos where film is shown of actual people dying actual deaths. And there are various websites that also show mpegs of people being brutally killed or maimed. Without delving into the subject of who gets off on this sick shit, I hope for the sake of everyone the Daniel Pearl video never sees the light of day. He had a wife and an unborn child who will never know her father. I'd hate to think if she grew up and accidentally stumbled upon his death video somewhere. Back in the 80's a man who I believe was a Pennsylvania senator by the name of Budd Dwyer called a press conference to talk about being indicted. In the middle of the press conference broadcast live on local TV he took out a pistol, stuck it in his mouth, and pulled the trigger. I happened to be home from school and watching at the time. I was horrified and never wanted to see anything like that ever again. But Budd Dwyer made himself into somewhat of a celebrity that day because since the tape was only shown once on TV it is very rare to get a copy of it but it is out there. There aere even some sites that carry the video from the Columbine High surveillance video. Luckily not all famous deaths make it to light. When Brandon Lee was accidentally killed during the filming of the movie The Crow, the film containing his death was destroyed.

My point is this. Videos involving anyone's death just for the sake of shock viewing should be banned. I'm all for freedom of speech but there is no intrinsic value to any of these tapes. Everyone of those people whose death you may see on tape had a mother, or husband, or child that really cared for them and they have to relive it everytime one of those videos are shown. They need to be banned and banned now. There needs to be some kind of law not unlike the Son of Sam law which states convicetd felons can not profit from their illegal activites through books and movies, etc. The needs to be a law which states no one can profit through the exploitation of someone's death on video or film or any other viewed medium.

As always it was your pleasure.