XPost: alt.fan.states.iowa, soc.culture.african.american, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
   XPost: sac.politics   
   From: stanley@gmail.com   
      
   Four white people were charged Tuesday in the alleged murder of a Black   
   man whose body was found burning in a ditch in rural Iowa earlier this   
   month, but authorities said it did not appear that he was targeted because   
   of his race.   
      
   Speaking at a joint press conference with local civil rights leaders,   
   Dennis Reilly, police chief in the small town of Grinnell, said he   
   understood why the death of Michael Williams, 44, had created a   
   "heightened sense of danger" among the town's Black residents.   
      
   "I want to be clear to say: This was not a random act of violence," he   
   said. "Those responsible for this heinous act, they knew each other. They   
   were associates. They hung out together. Mike was part of their circle."   
      
   The four people charged in Williams' killing are Steven Vogel, 31; his   
   mother, Julia Cox, 55; Roy Garner, 57; and Cody Johnson, 29. Vogel was   
   charged with first-degree murder and abuse of a corpse, according to a   
   criminal complaint filed in Poweshiek district court.   
      
   The others have been charged with destruction of evidence, abuse of a   
   corpse and accessory after the fact, according to Adam DeCamp, Special   
   Agent in Charge at the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.   
      
   It wasn’t immediately clear if Vogel, Cox and Garner have lawyers. Cox and   
   Garner were being held at Poweshiek County Jail, DeCamp said. Vogel was at   
   Marshall County Jail, where he had already been in custody on unrelated   
   charges, DeCamp said.   
      
   Authorities declined to discuss a potential motive, and DeCamp said it   
   wasn’t clear when Williams was killed. He said the last time Williams   
   appears to have talked with anyone was between Sept. 11 and Sept. 13.   
      
   Williams, who was from New York state, moved to Grinnell about 12 years   
   ago, according to his aunt Paula Terrell. She told the Des Moines Register   
   that he worked at fast-food restaurants but had recently been unemployed   
   because of health problems.   
      
   The complaint cites a witness who told investigators that on Sept. 13,   
   Vogel allegedly showed him Williams’ body, which was wrapped in plastic in   
   the basement of Cox's home. Vogel allegedly admitted strangling Williams   
   and asked the witness if he could help move his body, according to the   
   complaint.   
      
   On the same day, Vogel allegedly asked Cody Johnson to help him move   
   Williams’ body. Johnson told investigators that he tried to help, but they   
   were unable to move Williams, according to the complaint. Two days later,   
   Vogel asked Johnson for help again, the document says.   
      
   According to the complaint, Cox told investigators that her son loaded a   
   “long object covered with a brown blanket” into the truck of a man she   
   lives with, Roy Garner. Vogel, Garner and Cox then drove to a gas station,   
   where Vogel bought fuel. They traveled several miles east before Cox   
   allegedly helped Vogel move Williams’ body into a ditch, the police   
   documents state.   
      
   Williams' body was found Sept. 16, shortly before 6 p.m., when   
   firefighters responded to a report of a blaze in a ditch on the side of a   
   road. Authorities found that he had been bound by rope and duct tape, and   
   wrapped in cloth and plastic. The medical examiner identified Williams the   
   next day and later determined that he had likely been strangled before his   
   body was set on fire.   
      
   Speaking to reporters Tuesday, Betty Andrews, president of the Iowa-   
   Nebraska NAACP, said that it was “understandable that having a body of an   
   African American man found burning in a small town in Iowa would raise   
   several red flags and concerns.”   
      
   Andrews said her office had received “numerous” calls and inquires about   
   the slaying, but she added that there appeared to be “no indication that   
   Mr. Williams was targeted because of his race.”   
      
   Williams’ aunt, Paula Terrell, told the Des Moines Register that her   
   family had been pleading with him to return to New York.   
      
   "All we wanted was for him to come home,” she told the newspaper. “Now we   
   have to bring him home in the worst possible state.”   
      
   "We will fight for justice," she added. "This is our family's mission, no   
   matter what — we will fight for his legacy to be remembered as who he was:   
   a loving, kind, gentle giant who loved his family, who loved his   
   children."   
      
   https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/not-random-act-four-charged-after-   
   black-man-strangled-set-n1240776   
      
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