Jayson and Kellisue Ackernecht

A reader has asked me to review a story coming out of Johnstown, New York. Back on September 30, 2008, Kellisue Ackernecht, 36, left work as a shift supervisor at 9:45PM, and has never been seen again.


Photo from Find Kellisue.WordPress.com

Shortly before 2:00 a.m., police found Kellisue’s car, engulfed in flames, on a road that her husband, Jayson Ackernecht, says was not her normal way home. Kellisue was nowhere to be found.

Read moreNeighbors in that area say they heard what they believed to be gunshots that night.

[WTEN] According to some neighbors, they heard noises about 90 minutes earlier. Two loud noises that to them sounded like gunshots.

“I heard the gunshot, I jumped out of bed, looked out my window and I looked up and down,” Stewart told NEWS10.

The The Leader Herald reported that Kellisue was reported missing by her husband:

“[Ackernecht] was reported missing about the same time the 1998 Saturn sedan she was driving was found engulfed in flames at West Montgomery and Chestnut streets, also known as Frog Hollow.”

What do the police think? As of October 8, 2008, WNYT reports:

“It could be a missing person. It could be foul play,” said Johnstown Police Lt. Mark Gifford. “We are not ruling out anything at this point. The person could be voluntarily missing also.”

As of January 23, 2009, police are still saying this case can’t be labeled a “criminal matter.” Due to the car burning up completely, they are unable to conclusively determine if the car fire was due to arson, or if the car malfunctioned. They have also previously said the husband, Jayson Ackernecht, has cooperated and is not a suspect.

A week after the disappearance, Dennis Ackernecht, Jayson Ackernecht’s uncle, said the following to WTEN:

“It was Tuesday afternoon. [Jayson] stopped by and he was distraught […] He thinks that somebody kidnapped [Kellisue]. That could very well be,” Dennis Ackernecht said.

Jayson Akernecht did his first interview approximately two months after his wife disappeared. I think it is very interesting.

Ackernecht: I… cry… day after day…night after night.. I worry about her. My daughter worries about her….wondering where she is.

The reporter talks about the case–about how many in the city have formed their own opinions, and says “now for the first time ever, Jayson is speaking out…”

Ackernecht: I.Would. Never. Harm. My. Wife. I. Had. Nothing. To. Do. With this. At all. I. had. to. have. the. police department… come to my house…personally… and wake me up….. to… tell me. that my. car. was. on fire.

The reporter says Jayson has his own theory that his wife is very much alive.

Ackernecht: We think… she just took off… and left…….with somebody else….. Who? We don’t know yet.

The reporter has a message for his wife, “a plea for both him, and their 9-year-old daughter.”

Ackernecht: If you are out there someplace, wherever you are, please come home.

This interview is littered with hot spots, if you want my opinion. Jayson is completely void of emotions. That’s a huge red flag. He talks very controlled, and I noticed he moves his head (very slightly) in a yes motion at times, as if he is confirming what he said, to himself. This is very strange behavior for someone who is being honest. It’s almost as if he is thinking to himself, “Yeah, that’s right.” Most people don’t do this.

I find it odd how Jayson says he “worries about her”, yet shortly thereafter tells us he believes she “left with somebody else”. Aren’t these two somewhat contradictory? If he believed his wife left, you would expect him to mad and upset, but not so much worried.

Can you hear the pauses between nearly every word? It is indicative that he is thinking about what he says before he says it. This is not a good sign at all.

Don’t you find it fascinating that he says the police had to “wake him up” to tell him that “his car” was on fire? Why doesn’t he mention that it was his wife’s car? Is this a form of distancing? People who harm others are often known to do this. He also never uses her name, Kellisue. It’s notable.

I also have to wonder did Jayson report his wife missing, or not? If he did report her missing, did he just go right back to sleep? That would be odd. But it would also be odd if he didn’t report his wife missing. Either way, what Jayson says here is odd.

Did Jayson ever go and look for his wife that night? Does anyone know? I’d be curious.

I am troubled by this statement as well. Jayson says, “We think… she just took off… and left…….with somebody else….. Who? We don’t know yet.”

Jayson is clearly, without any doubt, thinking on his feet here. The pauses are very indicative of this, in how they lay out in the sentence.

Notice, also, he first said he thought she was kidnapped. Now, strangely, like Drew Peterson, he wants to suggest that he believes she “left with somebody else”. Why the change of beliefs? Did he get some evidence to point him in one direction over another? A caring husband who loved his wife wouldn’t jump to these conclusions without some sort of proof, and from what I have read, there is no indication that she left with anyone else.

Normal caring and compassionate spouses would also be notably worried about foul play, since the car burned into nothing recognizable, but we don’t ever hear that Jayson worried about that–not even the week after her disappearance. That’s a mambo red flag. Overwhelmingly huge! Why do all of Jayson’s theories involve his wife being just fine, when the rest of her family worries about foul play? Everyone else thinks it is strange she has never reached out to her daughter, and I agree.

I also find a huge problem when Jayson pleads for his wife to come home. He says, ” If you are out there someplace…”

If?

Doesn’t he supposedly believe she is with “somebody else”? This shows us that he doesn’t truly believe this, or he wouldn’t say “if”. It’s a strong indication he doesn’t believe she is out there.

This is very sad. Jayson Ackernecht, if you want my opinion, knows much more than he wants to admit, and I think the reason for this is very ominous. I don’t trust Ackernecht’s story here whatsoever. It’s all too classic, and that is painful to write.

48 Hours: Cynthia Sommer

Did you see 48 Hours, An Invisible Enemy, last night?

I’ve written several posts on Cynthia Sommer. Click on the labels below to read them all, and see my thoughts on this case.

Amanda Knox Trial: Roommate Testifies

Here is an interesting article about the ongoing trial for Amanda Knox.

It’s interesting that Knox would shower after finding her living quarters with the door open and not secure. Mind you, she was supposedly all alone. Add to that, she sees blood in the bathroom.


Read moreI know I certainly wouldn’t have. I would have felt vulnerable and exposed by just having found my door open. Forget about getting undressed and taking a shower. I would be nervous someone could be hiding in the closet to get me!! If I saw blood, I would have been out the door. How about you?

There is also this article which says:

“Amanda Knox suffered a blow in her trial for the murder of British student Meredith Kercher today when the judge in the case ruled admissible an alleged confession she wrote shortly after the killing.”

Furthermore, it says, “In the note, it is believed she says that she had to cover her ears to block out Miss Kercher’s screams…” (See my original post on Knox here).

However, on the other side of the fence, I do not follow the logic of this statement by Judge Micheli:

“In his 100-page report, Judge Micheli concluded that Guede was freely admitted to the house because someone let him in and that can be no-one else but Amanda Knox.'”

How can he say conclusively that Kercher wasn’t the one let Guede in the house, or that someone else could have been in the house and let Guede in the house? Am I missing something?

To read all my posts on Knox, click on the label below.

For those of you who VOTED YES, could you identify a couple of things for me? You can write me personally, or post below. First, are you a man or a woman? Second, why wouldn’t you be afraid? Thanks! You can comment below anonymously, if you don’t feel comfortable.

Beaten Black Liberian Immigrant Arrested

“….for grand larceny, possession of stolen property and unauthorized use of a vehicle.” This is the case I asked you to decide on the other day. See the developing news story and video here.

Read moreApparently, Kamara (the immigrant who was beaten) was driving a stolen Nissan Altima with three friends Monday night when they ran a red light and crashed into another vehicle. All four occupants of the stolen car fled the scene. Police caught one of the occupants, and since then, Kamara has been arrested (source).

I thought that you, my readers, would find this interesting. I am not surprised. In fact, I have to wonder, did he recently steal the car, or was this awhile back? I’d be surprised, with all the spotlight on his beating, that he would have just done it, although it is possible. I’d be really curious to know the details.

I can’t help but wonder if this is a piece to a much larger puzzle…

Thanks, Nancy, for the update to the story!

Updated 11:38 am: Police say he stole the car on Monday morning. “A law-enforcement source said Kamara used ‘advanced techniques’ to break into the car, based on his statements to cops. ” Furthermore, “Kamara potentially faces a maximum of two and one-third to seven years behind bars if convicted of the top count. ” (source).

Off Topic: Hard Drive Failure

I purchased a new HP TouchSmart computer back in August. Yesterday, my hard drive failed. I called tech support, and they confirmed what I already knew. They offered to send me a replacement hard drive. I asked about free data recovery, and they said they didn’t offer that. If this was a random failure, I could absolutely understand. But I have since found out it is not.

Read moreAfter I setup a replacement to be sent, I went online using my husband’s laptop last night, and I looked up hard drive failures for the TouchSmart. To no surprise, I found I wasn’t the only one. Through some more reading, I found this article, and this article, which states these hard drives are “failing at an alarming rate”. It also states that Seagate, the manufacturer of my hard drive, is offering owners of their flagship hard drive, the Barracuda 7200.11 free data recovery.

Was I ever happy! That’s the model I have! Both articles say:

“…if you are unable to access your data due to this issue, Seagate will provide free data recovery services,” the company said. ‘Seagate will work with you to expedite a remedy to minimize any disruption to you or your business.'”

So this morning I called Seagate, and to my surprise, I got the run around. Seagate said that I bought my hard drive through HP, so they won’t deal with me. They say that I need to deal with HP, and when I call HP, they tell me they aren’t required to honor this because it is not written in “their guidelines”.

Good old big business squishing the little guy. I am so tired of it.

I called HP corporate, got put back into their technical support queue, and got the run around a second time. Finally, I called customer service back again, and I demanded a manager, and I was given to the “Executive Customer Relations” department, but it was fruitless as well. They refuse to help me because well, they chose not to. End of story.

My hands are tied.

Yet when I look at everything quoted in the article online by ComputerWorld.com or the MaximumPC.com, Seagate doesn’t say that they will only help people with affected hard drives that were purchased directly through them, does it? No, it doesn’t!

When I type in my product serial number at Seagate, it clearly says “DRIVE IS AFFECTED”

I feel violated.

To people who are experiencing this failure, like I am now, do know there is a law firm out there that is considering a class action lawsuit. You might want to put your name on the list. But I just spoke with them, too, and well, if you bought your hard drive through HP (built into your new computer), well, they aren’t interested to represent you. The waters get murky in this case. Too murky. If you are affected, like me, feel free to post an e-mail below and let me know if you want to be contacted if I get any help.

I have also contacted the local media investigative team to get the word out there. If a manufacturer of a product is offering a free service to fix a defective product, they should stand by it. I should not be denied because I bought their product through another company. Most people don’t buy hard drives by themselves. They buy them inside already manufactured computers.

This has been a very negative experience for me with both Seagate and HP.
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Other People Talking about experiencing the same thing with HP and Seagate.

Update: 02-09-2009:
HP sent me another Seagate drive — same model with the same defective firmware on it, though Seagate does say that this unit by the serial number is “not affected”. I wonder if I will crash again like it did for the other guy in the forum above?

Update: 2-26-2009:
http://eyesforlies.blogspot.com/2009/02/my-hard-drive-is-back.html

It took HP 14 days to send me recovery disks. This is absolutely unacceptable.

The people who I had repair my hard drive, One Data World Recovery, told me that I run a 40% chance that this hard drive will fail, too.

Update 6-11-2009:
My second hard drive replacement failed this week, and what did HP do? They send me another defective drive by Seagate. This is unacceptable.