Update November 9th: Gag order lifted, here. Victim identified, same last name as murder suspect, here.
O.K. now things are really getting fishy. Maybe Jerry Gordon writing at New English Review is on to something—do we have another* Muslim honor killing here? I’ve written very critically of the Ft. Morgan Times and their editorial squishiness on the joys of multiculturalism, but notice here they are asking the judge to lift the gag order—good for them!
This is the latest on the stabbing death of a young “East African” woman (see post last evening) from the Ft. Morgan Times:
Two agencies involved in the investigation of a fatal stabbing in Fort Morgan have declined to release information on the case, citing a gag order.
After an initial news release reporting that an unidentified East African woman had been fatally stabbed Tuesday night and a suspect had been arrested in Greeley, Fort Morgan Police Chief Keith Kuretich
declined to further discuss the case Wednesday.
The stabbing occurred in a residence in the 400 block of West Kiowa Avenue, and another East African, Ahmed Abdi, 25, of Greeley was arrested on charges of second-degree murder and first- and second-degree assault, according to the initial FMPD news release.
The Morgan County Coroner’s Office declined to release the identity of the victim Wednesday afternoon.
Morgan County District Court Judge Douglas R. Vannoy issued a gag order Wednesday limiting what lawyers, legal representatives and law enforcement officials could say about the case.
The order granted a motion by public defender J. Brandeis Sperandeo to limit pretrial publicity.
The order prohibited lawyers and legal representatives from expressing opinions about character, guilt or innocence of the defendant; talking about admissions, confessions or contents of statements attributed to the defendant; making references to results of investigative procedures; and making statements about the credibility or anticipated testimony of prospective witnesses.
Law enforcement officers were prohibited under the order from discussing the existence or contents of any confession, admission or statement attributed to the defendant; discussing the possibility of the defendant entering a plea; discussing prior criminal records; discussing the performance of any examinations or tests; discussing the identity, testimony or credibility of prospective witnesses; and discussing information that an officer knows or has reason to know would be inadmissible in court.
The Times delivered a letter to the court Thursday morning requesting that the order be lifted.
I’m wondering if the murder suspect, Ahmed Abdi, is related to the Abdis who run the East African Community of Colorado Center in Greeley?
A little later: I just remembered this post I wrote almost exactly a year ago about the church folks of Ft. Morgan getting together with their new Somali neighbors—the Somali men that is! No Somali women could come out to the mixed-gender luncheon.
For new readers:
The US State Department has admitted over 80,000 Somali refugees to the US in the last 25 years and then last year had to suspend family reunification because widespread immigration fraud was revealed through DNA testing.
* Iraqi woman died two days ago of her injuries in Arizona honor killing, here.