Top Stories: Help Us Catch a Killer

Unknown Offender Linked by DNA in Two Separate Cases

150,000 Reward

In October 2009, college student Morgan Harrington left a Metallica concert at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville and disappeared. It would be several months before her body was discovered in a field about 10 miles away.

We need your help to find her killer. The Virginia State Police, Fairfax City Police, and the FBI have released two enhanced sketches of the suspect and are reminding the public there is a reward of up to $150,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the case.

The following agencies are cooperating in the investigation: the Virginia State Police, City of Fairfax Police, University of Virginia Police, Charlottesville Police, Albemarle County Police, Albemarle County Commonwealth’s Attorney, Virginia Tech Police Department, George Mason Police Department and the FBI.

Read the full story at FBI.gov/washingtondc/press-releases/2012/authorities-launch-multimedia-campaign-in-morgan-harrington-murder-case

Kidnapping Victim: Alexandria Bain

Whiteville, Tennessee

April 27, 2012

ALEXANDRIA BAIN

DESCRIPTION

Date(s) of Birth Used:  August 5, 1999 

Height:  5'0" (at time of disappearance)

Weight:  105 pounds (at time of disappearance) 

 Hair:  Brown 

Eyes:  Hazel

Sex:  Female

Race:  White

DETAILS

Alexandria Bain was last seen on April 27, 2012, in Whiteville, Tennessee. She may be in the company of her eight-year-old sister, Kyliyah Bain, and Adam Christopher Mayes. Mayes, who has been charged with especially aggravated kidnapping and first degree murder, may have altered the girls' appearances by cutting or dyeing their hair. If you have any information concerning this person, please contact your local FBI office or the nearest American Embassy or Consulate.

Field Office: Memphis

Accused Tennessee Kidnapper Added to FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives List

WASHINGTON—The Federal Bureau of Investigation announced today the addition of Adam Christopher Mayes to its Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. Mayes is wanted in connection with the alleged kidnapping of four female victims from Whiteville, Tennessee on April 27, 2012. Two of the victims were later found deceased in Mississippi.

On April 27, 2012, Jo Ann Bain, age 31, and her three children—Kyliyah, age 8; Alexandria, age 12; and Adrienne, age 14—were reported missing by Jo Ann’s husband. Her vehicle was later found abandoned.

Federal search warrants were executed at residences in Mississippi on May 4, 2012. During that search, two bodies were found and later identified as Jo Ann Bain and her eldest daughter, Adrienne. Kyliyah and Alexandria Bain remain missing and are considered to be in extreme danger.

State arrest warrants were issued after Mayes was charged with four counts of especially aggravated kidnapping. Mayes is also charged federally with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. He was last seen on May 1, 2012 in Guntown, Mississippi and should be considered armed and dangerous.

Mayes is a 35-year-old white male (date of birth: September 2, 1976), 6’3” tall, 175 to 235 pounds, with brown hair and blue eyes. He has connections to Mississippi, Arizona, Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Florida. Information indicates that Mayes may have changed his and the missing victims’ appearances.

Adam Mayes is the 496th person to be placed on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list, which was established in March 1950. Since then, 465 fugitives have been apprehended or located—153 of them as a result of citizen cooperation.

The FBI is offering a reward of up to $100,000 for information leading directly to the arrest of Adam Christopher Mayes.

Federal Officials Close Investigation into the Death of Sergio Hernandez-Guereca

The Justice Department and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas announced today that there is insufficient evidence to pursue federal criminal charges against a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Office of Border Patrol agent for the fatal shooting of the late Sergio Hernandez-Guereca, a 15-year-old Mexican national shot within a spillway of the Rio Grande River along the United States – Mexico border on June 7, 2010.      

The Justice Department conducted a comprehensive and thorough investigation into the shooting, which occurred while smugglers attempting an illegal border crossing hurled rocks from close range at a CBP agent who was attempting to detain a suspect.  In conjunction with agents from the FBI and Department of Homeland Security, Office of the Inspector General (DHS-OIG), prosecutors from the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office interviewed more than 25 law enforcement and civilian witnesses.  In addition, they collected, analyzed and reviewed:  evidence from the scene of the shooting; civilian and surveillance video; law enforcement radio traffic; 911 recordings; volumes of CBP agent training and use of force materials; and the shooting agent’s training, disciplinary records, and personal history.  Also, they conducted site visits and analysis and consulted with the International Boundary and Water Commission concerning jurisdictional issues.  

The team of experienced prosecutors examined the shooting as a possible violation of U.S. criminal civil rights laws and as a possible violation of federal homicide statutes.   With regard to the federal homicide statutes, the team of prosecutors and agents concluded that there is insufficient evidence to pursue prosecution of the CBP agent for a federal homicide offense.  This review took into account evidence indicating that the agent’s actions constituted a reasonable use of force or would constitute an act of self defense in response to the threat created by a group of smugglers hurling rocks at the agent and his detainee. The investigation also revealed that, on these particular facts, the agent did not act inconsistently with CBP policy or training regarding use of force.  Based on a careful review and analysis of all the evidence, the team concluded that evidence would not be sufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the CBP agent violated the federal homicide laws in the shooting of Hernandez-Guereca.

 The Justice Department also concluded that no federal civil rights charges could be pursued in this matter.  Under the applicable civil rights statutes, prosecutors must establish, beyond a reasonable doubt, that a law enforcement officer willfully deprived an individual of a constitutional right, meaning with the deliberate and specific intent to do something the law forbids.  This is the highest standard of intent imposed by law.  Accident, mistake, misperception, negligence and bad judgment are not sufficient to establish a federal criminal civil rights violation.  After a careful and thorough review, a team of experienced federal prosecutors and FBI agents determined that the evidence was insufficient to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the CBP agent acted willfully and with the deliberate and specific intent to do something the law forbids, as required by the applicable federal criminal civil rights laws.  Moreover, a prosecution under the federal criminal civil rights statutes would be barred because the investigation determined that Hernandez-Guereca was neither within the borders of the United States nor present on U.S. property, as required for jurisdiction to exist under the applicable federal civil rights statute. 

Accordingly, the investigation into this incident has been closed without prosecution.

The U.S. government regrets the loss of life in this matter, and the Civil Rights Division, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Texas, the FBI and DHS devoted significant time and resources into conducting a thorough and complete investigation. The USG commits to continue to work with the Mexican government within existing mechanisms and agreements to prevent future incidents.  The Justice Department is committed to investigating allegations of excessive force by law enforcement officers and will continue to devote the resources required to ensure that all allegations of federal civil rights violations are fully and completely investigated.  The department aggressively prosecutes criminal civil rights violations whenever there is sufficient evidence to do so.

Florida Woman Pleads Guilty to Obstruction of Justice in Relation to Her Husband’s Disappearance

WASHINGTON—Abby Beard Hogan, 50, pleaded guilty yesterday in the Northern District of Florida for her role in the obstruction of a multinational investigation into the disappearance of her husband, James Hogan, then an employee in the U.S. Consulate in Curacao, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Pamela Cothran Marsh for the Northern District of Florida, U.S. Department of State Assistant Secretary for Diplomatic Security Eric J. Boswell, and John V. Gillies, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Miami Field Office.

Abby Hogan pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Gary R. Jones to one count of obstruction of justice.

According to court documents, on the night of September 24, 2009, James Hogan, an employee at the U.S. Consulate in Curacao, a Caribbean island that was part of the Netherlands Antilles, left his home on foot and subsequently disappeared. In the early hours of September 25, 2009, James Hogan called his wife and spoke for approximately three minutes. The next day, when James Hogan failed to report to work, the U.S. government and Dutch and Antillean law enforcement launched an island-wide search and opened an investigation into Hogan’s disappearance. On September 25, 2009, a diver located James Hogan’s blood-stained clothing on a local beach.

Abby Hogan admitted that during the course of the investigation, she repeatedly provided false information to U.S. law enforcement about the time period before James Hogan’s disappearance and withheld relevant information. Abby Hogan initially told investigators that, before his disappearance, she and her husband had an argument. She subsequently modified that statement and claimed that there had been no argument, just a minor disagreement over her husband’s next assignment for the State Department. Abby Hogan further told U.S. law enforcement agents that James Hogan had been in a “good mood” prior to leaving for his walk on the evening of his disappearance. She repeatedly denied that there had been any marital problems or that her husband had been upset, depressed, or suicidal in any way. Abby Hogan further stated that she could not remember the full three-minute conversation before her husband disappeared because she was sound asleep when her husband called. She claimed she fell back asleep after the call and did not awake until the following morning.

According to court documents, after law enforcement interviews, between September 30, 2009, and January 15, 2010, Abby Hogan deleted more than 300 e-mails from her Internet e-mail account. These e-mails contained information that Abby Hogan knew was relevant to specific questions she had been asked by U.S. law enforcement. The e-mails also contained information that she had either previously misrepresented or knowingly omitted during her interviews with law enforcement, including that she was engaged in an extramarital affair; the night James Hogan disappeared, the couple had argued, and he left the house angry and upset; and that she did not want law enforcement to know what had happened that evening.

Abby Hogan faces a maximum of 20 years in prison for obstruction of justice.

The case was prosecuted by Senior Trial Attorney Teresa Wallbaum of the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Frank Williams for the Northern District of Florida. The Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs provided assistance. The case was investigated by the U.S. Department of State, Diplomatic Security Service and the FBI’s Miami Field Office and Legal Attaché Office in Bridgetown, Barbados. Assistance was also provided by Curacao law enforcement authorities.