Rosemary Comanse

Husband Charged in Fatal Hammond Shooting

May 17, 2011

CROWN POINT | Lake County prosecutors have charged James Comanse, 48, with murder and battery in Sunday's shooting of his wife, Rosemary Comanse, "Rose."

Police were called about 3 p.m. to the 1100 block of West 177th Place in Hammond, where Rosemary Comanse, 47, was found dead from a gunshot wound.

Court documents filed Tuesday state witnesses told police James and Rosemary Comanse had been separated for about a year.

James Comanse was visiting the home Sunday, is believed to have gone up the stairs, and after about five minutes, others present at the time heard a loud boom, police said.

Police were told Comanse also struck another family member in the head with a gun before the gun could be taken away.

Police found Rosemary Comanse's body in an upstairs bedroom.

An autopsy found the woman died from a single gunshot wound to the back of the head at close range, court documents state.

Police confirmed the couple's son, James "Jimmy" Comanse Jr., pleaded guilty in 2009 to voluntary manslaughter in the death of 18-year-old Marcus Ponce.

The younger Comanse, 29, is serving a 20-year prison sentence for the crime.

Obituary

ROSEMARY COMANSE, HAMMOND, IN. Rosemary Comanse (nee Serrano), age 47, of Hammond, passed away Sunday, May 15, 2011. She is survived by four children: James R. Jr., Brian A., Erik R., and Alyssa B. Comanse; five grandchildren: Tristin, Alyze, Mariah, Jayden, and Illiana; mother, Josephine Anaya; five sisters: Yolanda, Margaret, Rita, Violet, and Inez; and nieces and nephews. Visitation will be at Fife Funeral Home, 4201 Indianapolis Blvd., East Chicago on Friday, May 20, 2011 from 4:00-8:00 p.m. Cremation to follow. Rosemary was a loving and devoted wife, mother, grandmother and sister. In lieu of flowers, donations to the family appreciated.

Mya Lee

Mom's boyfriend accused of murder in toddler's death

June 24, 2010

CROWN POINT | A Chicago man is facing murder and other multiple charges in connection to last year's death of a Hammond toddler left in his care.

A probable cause affidavit filed Tuesday alleges Stacey M. Daniels, 30, told police he struck his girlfriend's daughter, 21-month-old Mya Lee, with a brush causing the girl to lose her balance and hit her head.

The child died at 7:25 a.m. July 24, 2009, at the University of Chicago Comer Children's Hospital from what the Cook County Medical Examiner's office determined a homicide resulting from child abuse, the affidavit states.

An autopsy found the girl suffered brain edema, a subdural hematoma and multiple scalp hemorrhages. Her legs showed signs of bruising of a type doctors said is not typical of bruising suffered by toddlers, including a large hematoma on her right thigh.

Daniels is charged with murder, two counts of battery and three counts of neglect to a dependent.

Daniels is alleged to have told police he was at his girlfriend's apartment in the 2200 block of Woodhollow Avenue in Hammond, where he stayed off and on, when the child was injured on the morning of July 23, 2009.

Daniels reported Mya as still asleep about 7 a.m. when her mother left for work leaving the child in his care, the affidavit states.

Daniels said the child woke up crying about 7:05 a.m. and continued to cry, which he said was not unusual. He was trying to get the girl ready to leave to stay with a babysitter when he picked up a hairbrush and tapped the girl on the thigh as she walked away from him, he told police.

The child lost her balance, fell, hit her head on the floor, and started to cry, he said.

Daniels said he put the child back in her crib and left the room after which he heard "a shaking sound" coming from the bedroom. Re-entering the bedroom, Daniels said he found the girl unresponsive and shaking uncontrollably before going limp.

Daniels is alleged to have told conflicting stories of how the child hit her head.

The child's mother told police she had gotten up at 5:50 a.m. to get ready for work and had asked Daniels to take the child to the babysitter for the day.

She reported the child as healthy and uninjured that morning but for a braid that had been pulled from her head when it got caught in a shopping car.

Dannette Adkins

Man cleared in rape case by DNA evidence now charged in girlfriend's slaying

December 28, 2008|By Azam Ahmed

Exonerated of rape by DNA evidence in 2006, Marlon Pendleton was pardoned in October by Gov. Rod Blagojevich, clearing the way for him to receive $140,000 for his wrongful imprisonment.

But the good news didn't last long.

Last week, Pendleton, who spent almost 10 years locked up for a rape he didn't commit, was charged with murder in the death of his girlfriend, Dannette Adkins, 45. Her body was discovered in his sister's Hammond home, where Pendleton was living.

Pendleton is being held without bail at the Lake County Jail in Indiana. His criminal record also includes a separate rape conviction.

Pendleton was featured in a Tribune article this year about the heavy backlog of pardon applications sitting on the governor's desk, some that had been sitting for years. Since the story, the governor has pardoned more than 40 people convicted of felonies, including Pendleton, and a handful of other wrongfully convicted people.

Other news:

Her body was discovered in his sister's Hammond home, where Pendleton was living.

Pendleton is being held without bail at the Lake County Jail in Indiana. His criminal record also includes a separate rape conviction. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-update-pardon-bd-28-dec28,0,5479899.story

A Hammond man was charged with murder in connection with the death of a neighbor found unconscious in his home.

Dannette Adkins, 45, died at a local hospital from blunt force trauma, said the Lake County coroner's office, which ruled her death a homicide.

Police said Adkins and the suspect were romantically involved, and evidence inside the man's car led to his arrest shortly after paramedics transported her from his house to the hospital. http://www.thetimesonline.com/articles/2008/12/21/news/lake_county/docc106fb1f94c7150f862575260012e200.txt

McKinley Collins

Dad's dead, mom's in jail, kids want her charges dropped

Posted: Monday, 28 September 2009 8:34AM

HAMMOND, Ind. (STNG) -- Their father is dead, their mother is in jail, and the children of McKinley and Athena Collins feel like justice is not forthcoming.

"We just feel like our mother has been railroaded," Natasha Collins said during an interview where her pain and that of her brother, McKinley Collins Jr., was palpable.

"I pray every single day that the Lord would spare any other family from what we're going through," Natasha Collins said as tears streamed down her face. "We haven't had time just to grieve our dad.''

The siblings said they'd like to see charges against their mother dropped.

Athena Yevette Collins, 51, of Hammond, who is charged with murder in the shooting death of their father, McKinley Collins, 54, had tried to reconcile with their father after she moved from Chicago to Hammond without him more than a decade earlier.

On Aug. 5, 2008, a violent argument ensued at the Collins' home. Athena Collins, who had been the victim of domestic violence in the past, told officers who showed up at the White Oak Avenue home that her husband had tried to kill her.

A knife lay near her husband's right hand. Eight hair extensions ripped from Athena Collins' head lay on the kitchen floor, and an iron with bloodstains sat in the kitchen. The gun Athena Collins admitted she fired at her husband was on the kitchen table.

Athena Collins had a large knot on her head and several knife wounds on her body, but investigators said in court records they felt the knife wounds may have been self-inflicted. She also told police her husband tried to kill her. He choked her, punched her, hit her with the iron and ripped out her hair extensions, according to court records.

Defense attorney Catherine Lake, who is seeking to suppress statements her client made, said the notion that Athena Collins would cut herself badly enough to require surgery is preposterous.

Athena Collins had a gun because the man who shot her son, leaving him partially paralyzed and in a wheelchair, had been seen a few doors down in the neighborhood.

Prior to the shooting, Natasha Collins said her mother was trying to see if the couple could make their marriage work. Athena Collins allowed him into the home, but didn't let him move all his belongings from Chicago.

After the shooting, their mom, a certified nursing assistant, traveled to Nebraska and stayed with her sister. Collins and the family were still grieving the loss of their maternal grandmother. "She was totally distraught, depressed," her daughter said. She had attempted suicide and was hospitalized.

Natasha and McKinley Collins said they have been unable to convince the Prosecutor's Office to drop the charges against their mother. In fact, beyond being told of court dates, there has been little communication between the Prosecutor's Office and Natasha and McKinley Collins.

"We were told they would take it to a grand jury, but they never did,'' Natasha Collins said of the nine months between the shooting and charges being filed.

"She always stood up for what is right," Natasha Collins said of her mother.

"This isn't justice for her. This isn't justice for us. What about the truth?"

Diane Poulton, a spokeswoman for Lake County Prosecutor Bernard Carter, said: "Whenever a family has to deal with the fallout of a violent crime committed against a loved one it is a highly stressful time. Added to that stress is having to deal with the criminal justice system, which tends to move slowly and often in ways that do not make sense to someone unfamiliar with the system.

"The emotional turmoil caused by having a family member charged with killing another rarely ends with all of the surviving family members being satisfied with the outcome in the courts. It requires a delicate balance from the Prosecutor's Office of being sensitive to the family's needs and those of the case.''

Meanwhile, Lake and Trial Supervisor Mary Ryan will be back in court to continue with evidence in the motion to suppress Collins' statements. They have had six days of hearings thus far before Magistrate Natalie Bokota.

Terra Haselberger

Hammond Couple Found Killed in Apparent Murder-Suicide

June 26, 2009

HAMMOND | A young man and woman were found dead in their rented house on a quiet Woodmar street Thursday afternoon in what police described as an apparent murder-suicide.

Investigators said Terra Haselberger, 22, suffered gunshot wounds to her neck and face, and Jeremy Fields, 31, was found with a single gunshot wound to his head at 6930 Chesapeake Place shortly before 4 p.m.

A large-caliber pistol lay on the floor near Fields' body, detectives said.

Neighbors reported an older sister of Haselberger, who has lived with couple in the home for the past two years, found them after Haselberger failed to return to her job as a receptionist at a nearby chiropractic clinic after lunch, police said.

Family members who gathered at the scene along the Erie-Lackawanna bike trail across from Elmwood Cemetery at 169th Street declined to talk about Haselberger, who grew up in Dyer, or Fields, who was from Valparaiso, except to say that he was unhappy with his recent inability to find work.

Neighbors said Haselberger also worked at a part-time job at a Hobart restaurant to make ends meet. But there were signs of trouble between the couple, they said.

Police were called to the couple's home on a domestic disturbance report on New Year's Eve, when neighbors said Fields chased Haselberger down the street firing a pistol.

Haselberger sought refuge at a neighbor's house, but then declined to tell the responding officers who was threatening her and they left on another call, said the neighbor, who asked not to be identified by name.

"I spend all my time with my boyfriend, who I love more than anything in this entire world," Haselberger recently wrote on her MySpace page, which featured photos of the couple with new tattoos of each other's names. "And pretty soon I will be his wifey!!!"

"And I also have an amazing family," she wrote.

Obituary

TERRA L. HASELBERGER HAMMOND/ FORMERLY OF DYER, IN Terra L. Haselberger, passed away on Thursday, June 25, 2009. She is survived by mother, Brenda Haselberger; one brother, Matthew Haselberger; two sisters: Rachel and Nicole Haselberger; grandparents; Lorraine Kraatz and Charles (Nadine) Haselberger; many aunts, uncles and cousins; one nephew, Nathan Daniel Haselberger; preceded in death by her father, Daniel in 2001; and grandfather, Roger B. Kraatz Sr. in 2007. Funeral services will be Tuesday, June 30, 2009 at 10:00 a.m. at the Fagen-Miller Funeral Home, 1920 Hart St. Dyer, IN. Interment Memory Lanes Cemetery in Schererville, IN. Relatives and friends may meet with the family on Monday, June 29, 2009 from 3:00-8:00 p.m. Terra was an employee of Hofferth, Family Chiropractic, where she served as an Office Manager. She enjoyed summer, going to the beach, helping others, whether young or old, her smile made you feel loved and welcomed. Her vibrant personality, contagious laugh, love of her family will be forever missed and cherished. Our lives will never be the same due to this tragic loss. Terra graduated in 2004 from Lake Central High School. Donations to the family would be appreciated

Pamela Payne-Bennett

Coroner Rules Deaths a Murder-Suicide

Police found revolver in Hummer

March 4, 2009

HAMMOND | Hammond police said they continued Tuesday to piece together events leading up to a murder-suicide at the Hammond Marina.

Pamela Payne-Bennett, 55, of Parkland, Fla., and Calvin Douchee, 39, of Cary, Miss., died Monday after a gun was fired and an SUV submerged in the water, Hammond Police Chief Brian Miller said.

Payne-Bennett was shot multiple times in the torso, and Douchee was shot twice in the chest, Lake County Coroner David J. Pastrick said.

Pastrick said the coroner's office ruled the deaths a murder-suicide.

The two had a "long-term friendship," Miller said. He declined further comment.

Reached at a south suburban Chicago phone number Tuesday, Douchee's daughter, Shaqeia Johnson, described her father as "a loving person" but had no further comment.

Miller said both Douchee and Payne-Bennett had family in the Chicago area.

Payne-Bennett's family could not be reached Tuesday for comment.

Payne-Bennett and Douchee pulled into the marina Monday afternoon, telling a security guard they wanted to drive around, Miller said.

The pair were sitting in a black Hummer H2 with a Florida license plate about 12:45 p.m. Monday when a security guard told them they couldn't park on the marina's boat ramp, Miller said.

The guard said Douchee told him, "It will just take a minute."

Shortly after that, shots were fired, Miller said. The woman fell or was pushed out of the Hummer, and the vehicle rolled into the water, he said.

The vehicle submerged into the frigid water, and dive crews later retrieved it. Douchee's body was slumped in the driver's seat, police said.

Police also found a revolver in the Hummer, Miller said.

Miller said evidence technicians went into the water Tuesday and recovered clothing that was in the vehicle. The case remained under investigation Tuesday afternoon.

Luiz A. Gonzalez

Hammond Man Killed in Domestic Violence Incident

LUIS A. GONZALEZ, age 36, of Hammond, Indiana passed away Saturday, July 21, 2007. (Ridgelawn Funeral Home).  He was shot and killed by 13 yr old male in domestic issue.

(No other information could be found.  Please comment if you'd like to add information for dear Luiz).