This article is written for both laymen and certificated police investigators. The layman will not likely know that a state crime statute is an important investigative tool. By just typing in the state crime statute numbers, an investigator can find every case involving that particular crime in the state database, get access to those cases and then compare the evidence in them with the evidence in his own case. This makes it possible for him to solve his case and perhaps several others. Some of the issues here are multi-faceted, further complicating investigations.
This is the law that the police need: https://ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?DocTypeID=HB&DocNum=2891&GAID=17&SessionID=112&LegID=148033
There’s a gap in violent crime data that would help solve a lot of extremely violent crimes if it were filled by a new state crime statute. It would especially help investigators of homicide; abduction; sexual assault; home invasion; and carjacking cases. The crime is commonly referred to as “Express Kidnapping” in the US; “Sequestro Express” in Mexico; and “ATM Tour” in England and Canada. The key elements are 1) the use of force or threat of force; 2) by any person or persons; 3) against any person or persons; 4) in order to bring about an ATM withdrawal; 5) by any person or persons. (A robbery that occurs after the withdrawal is made is not the topic of this article/seminar.) *If you agree that there should be a state crime code for it, then share this with every person you know who might be interested in it, including politicians, criminal justice instructors, and law enforcement officers.
An express kidnapping usually begins as either a carjacking or a home invasion, but it can be any place where the victim is found alone. It is very rare for the crime to begin and end at an ATM because potential victims are careful and will pass by an ATM if they think it is unsafe. The victim is driven to an ATM and the first withdrawal occurs. Once the withdrawal occurs, the criminal then learns how much more is in the account. This becomes the decision point, to kill or not kill. If there is enough cash in the account, the victim will either be held hostage until after midnight when another withdrawal can be made, or murdered and the body hidden to delay the card being reported stolen. If the victim is even noticed missing, the last clue to their whereabouts is a series of ATM withdrawals leading out of the area. As things stand now, no state has a crime statute dedicated to forced ATM withdrawals, so each crime is lumped in with robbery and disappears in the state database. That leaves a meta-search as the only way to find other cases that might involve the same criminal, but that would only cover a city or county at most. Meta-data is a poor substitute for a crime statute. Considering that a car is used in almost all of these cases, statewide and multi-state searching would be best which is only possible with a state crime code section.
SOME EXAMPLES:
(The following cases were taken from online news reports. To verify, search online for “ATM” and the names of the victims and/or the accused.)
Bruce Mendenhall: Mendenhall was convicted in 4 murders and is a person of interest in 51 others. Mendenhall was a cross-country trucker based in Albion, Illinois, about two hours south-east from St Louis. His route took him from Illinois as far south as Florida. His known victims were mostly prostitutes who solicited clients in truck-stops. He left one victim, Sara Hulbert, in a dumpster south of Indianapolis. A closed circuit TV recorded him dumping the body. He was arrested later that day in Tennessee. The early news reports stated that the blood of 10 different women was found in the cab of his truck and he was in possession of 6 ATM cards. Presumably the cards were used to identify his victims for the prosecutions.
Gary Michael Hilton: Hilton was convicted in 4 murders and listed as a person of interest in 81 others. Hilton was a drifter who camped along the Appalachian Trail and in state parks, from Pennsylvania to Florida, targeting victims along the way. He was convicted of the murders of Jack and Irene Bryant who were hiking the Appalachian Trail in North Carolina; Cheryl Dunlap whose car was broken down along the side of a road near a Florida state forest near Tallahassee; and Meredith Emerson who was hiking the Appalachian Trail in South Carolina, when she ran into Hilton. He took Emerson hostage and tortured her for four days, trying to get the PIN from her. She must have realized he was going to kill her because she held out for so long. She repeatedly gave him false PINs, but eventually gave in. In all four murders, he used the victim’s ATM card.
The Town Center Mall Killer (TCMK): Boca Raton, Florida, still at large; victims Nancy Bochicchio and her 7 year old daughter, Joey. TCMK targets women, in luxury SUVs, with small children, in shopping mall parking lots. He also uses handcuffs and ducktape to restrain and blindfold his victims. He carjacked Nancy and Joey Bochicchio from the parking garage of the Town Center Mall. After being taken to an ATM and forced to make a withdrawal, Nancy managed to free herself and tried to free Joey. According to the news, he came up behind her while she was doing this and shot her in the back of the head. He then shot Joey between the eyes. The last place her ATM card was used was several months later in New Jersey. Another victim fitting the same profile was carjacked from the same location the week before, following the same pattern, but there was no homicide.
Jorge Pena, 21 and Khalid Mohamed, 15, victim Mark Evans: Chicago. Pena and Mohamed committed a home invasion of Mark Evans’ apartment. When they learned he only had $3 on him, they forced him to walk to a nearby ATM. On the way, he broke free and attempted to run, but was shot three times in the back killing him. There was no ATM withdrawal and no witness. About a year later, Mohamed made the mistake of bragging about killing Evans. Pena did not appreciate it and killed him for it. When he was arrested for the murder of Mohamed, he confessed that the reason he killed Mohamed was because Mohamed was bragging about having killed Evans. It was in this confession that the ATM connection was established.
Charlie Samuels, victim Lily Burk: Los Angeles. Lily Burk, 17, was delivering food to a homeless shelter when she ran into Charlie Samuels. He carjacked her and forced her to drive to an ATM. The only problem was that her mother’s credit card was not enabled for use at an ATM. Samuels forced her to call her mother to enable the card. Samuels would not allow Lily to tell her mother she was being kidnapped. Her mother refused and told her to just come home. Samuels killed Lily in anger. It turned out that he had at least one other express kidnapping on his record from years before.
Samuel Little: Little was a serial killer who had been active since the early 60’s, before ATMs were even introduced in the US. He came forward and confessed his crimes in order to receive medical care in prison. Before he died, he had admitted to 93 murders, making him the most prolific, living serial killer in the US. The FBI confirmed his confessions in 50 of the murders before he died. He’s included because he’s an example of a criminal adapting to the change in society.
Allen Wade, Michael Jackson, Tiffany Cole: victims Carol and Reggie Sumners. Carol and Reggie Sumners, an elderly couple in St Nicholas, Florida near Jacksonville, were the victims of a home invasion. The Sumners were tied up, placed in their car trunk and driven north into Georgia. They were buried alive in a shallow grave near Valdosta.
The Carr Brothers, Reginald and Jonathon: committed a home invasion in Wichita, Kansas where two women and three men had gathered for dinner. They forced everyone into a closet, then took them one at a time to an ATM. Only two of the victims had ATM cards. They each raped the women, then forced the women to engage in sex, and then ordered the men to rape the women, (presumably they thought to confuse DNA testing). They then took them all to a field and shot them each in the back of the head. One woman was saved by her metal hair-barrette which caused the bullet to ricochet off her head. The shooter then kicked her to knock her down, thinking she was already dead. Earlier in the week, the Carr Brothers had also carjacked and murdered Linda “Ann” Walenta, a cellist with the Wichita Symphony. She too was forced to give up her ATM card and pin. They also abducted a convenience store clerk to force a withdrawal, but did not murder him. Presumably there was not enough money in his account to make it worth a murder. The Carr Brothers were from Dodge City, Kansas, and traveled to Wichita for their crime spree.
John Mills, victims Katherine Kleinkauf, Rachel Crum, age 6 and Kyle Redway, age 4. Guilford Connecticut. John Mills committed a home invasion sometime around midnight. He was looking for money to buy drugs. He used a knife to torture Kleinkauf for her ATM card and PIN. He then stabbed her over 20 times, he then went to the children’s bedrooms and stabbed the boy and girl 6 times each. He then left the house to use the ATM card. Not all of these cases are stranger on stranger crimes. He was her nephew and their cousin.
Edward McDonald, Hamilton Sanchez; victims, the Armanious Family Massacre, Hossam Armanious, father, Amal Garas, mother and two daughters, Sylvia, age 16 and Monica age 8: McDonald and Sanchez invaded the home of Hossam Armanious. They tied up the entire family in the kitchen and blindfolded them with ducktape. The younger daughter got her blindfold off and recognized them as former boarders in the Armanious home. At that point, each of the victims were stabbed to death.
HIDDEN CASES: Not everyone carries an ATM card, but that does not mean they are safe from the criminals who specialize in the pattern. No criminal begins the attack by politely inquiring, “Pardon me, have you an ATM card perchance?” All victims are attacked in the hope they have an ATM card. But failure to have a card can also mean murder.
There are cases of attempted express kidnapping which don’t involve an actual withdrawal even if the victim has an ATM card. There will be victims who don’t have enough money in their account to allow for a withdrawal. Twenty dollars is the minimum withdrawal for most ATMs, but there will be some victims who don’t have $20 in their account at the moment. There might be a balance-check in their records at about the known time of death, but that’s all. There will also be victims who have maxxed out the daily withdrawal limit before being attacked.
A STATUTORY DEFINITION FOR EXPRESS KIDNAPPING: “The crime of express kidnapping is defined as: 1) the use of force or threat of force; 2) by any individual or individuals; 3) against any individual or individuals; 4) in order to bring about an ATM withdrawal 5) by any individual.” This definition is crafted to take into account cases where only one victim and one criminal are involved as well as cases where there are multiple victims and multiple criminals. In some cases, the victim is forced to make the withdrawal. In other cases, the victim is forced to give up the ATM card and PIN while the criminal makes the withdrawal. One pattern that repeats is taking the victim and her child to a supermarket. The criminal controls the mother by threatening her child. He tells the mother to go in and make a withdrawal, talk to no one and come right back out. In these cases, he remains in the vehicle with the child, observing the mother through the front windows, to make sure she does not talk to anyone. (Some supermarkets have adapted to this by getting rid of the big front windows that used to be common. If he can’t see her, he doesn’t send her in. He takes her someplace else.)
ISSUES IN DRAFTING: Each state has its own legislative language. It’s something only a legislative researcher should attempt after becoming familiar with the crime patterns. The above definition should be enough, with the examples, for a legislative researcher to write a comprehensive statute. In the mother/child example, a statute that defined an express kidnapping so that the accused had to actually be the one who made the withdrawal might not apply and would be useless.
COST/BENEFIT:
The cost of adopting a new crime statute is almost zero. Each year, the state must publish a new, official, edition of the state laws. For a new crime statute, it would amount to the cost of the ink and paper for printing the new law. Time must also be allocated for crime statisticians to learn the new statute but this is so negligible, it would come out of existing overhead. It would presumably result in more arrests and prosecutions because it will make the police more efficient, thus saving tax money.
SOME CLOSING THOUGHTS ON EXPRESS KIDNAPPINGS:
- Express kidnappings are unique in the history of criminology because of the decision point. There’s an escalation of violence at work here. Taking a person hostage is where it begins. The criminal then learns there is more money in the account and he wants to get it, but he can’t if he lets the victim go free to report the card stolen. He may hold the victim hostage until after midnight so he can force another withdrawal, and then release the victim. If there’s enough cash in the account, he will murder the victim and hide the body. He is literally rewarded with more money for committing more harm to his victim. This is unique. No other crime has this financial reward for committing a greater harm. In a classic kidnapping, the victim might be murdered to prevent him or her from being a witness, but not to make more money. Like a classic kidnapping though, the victim is in close contact with the criminal for a much longer time than it takes to snatch a wallet or purse. That makes the victim a better witness against the criminal, so there is an added incentive to commit murder there as well. This escalation of violence is also the justification for an increased prison sentence. It will also give the prosecutor something to work with in negotiating a plea agreement.
- The criminals who specialize in express kidnappings are extremely aggressive compared to most other violent criminals. Taking a person hostage is also very difficult, but the criminal may not have already decided to commit murder until he saw how much more he could make for his effort. For him, it’s just a business decision. He’s done the heavy lifting and taken all the risks already. After the first withdrawal, the extra cash is just an incentive to go a little further. It seems unlikely that the first time the criminal commits an express kidnapping he also committed a murder, so all express kidnappings should be reviewed when investigating cold cases/cases that predate the adoption of the statute.
- It seems that the majority of these cases are stranger on stranger crimes, making them harder to solve. There will be a lot of cold cases that benefit from this new information.
- Cold cases that don’t involve homicide should benefit as well. Sexual assault seems to also be a very common collateral crime, a crime of opportunity. It also serves to make the victim more compliant.
- According to the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority, (point of contact, Sal Perry), crystal meth addicts have started to specialize in the pattern. It’s obvious why. There’s usually more cash in a victim’s bank account than in their wallet or purse. It takes little imagination to suppose some junkies going over the edge if the victim doesn’t have an ATM card or no money in the account.
- Because a forced withdrawal almost always involves taking the victim to an ATM, a car is usually used, either the victim’s or the criminal’s. These criminals are very mobile and often cross into other jurisdictions. If the victim is even listed as missing, the last clue to their whereabouts will be a series of withdrawals leading out of the area. (Thanks to Texas DPS for this information)
- Other commentators have suggested that motel room invasions and real estate agents are particularly attractive to the express kidnapper. Motel rooms open right on the parking lot, so breaking in the door is easy and getting away is easy. Real estate agents meet clients in remote locations, which makes them easy victims for an ambush.
- Although no state keeps on-going records of forced ATM withdrawals, there have been one-off studies done of the problem in New York City (NYPD early 1990s), Chicago, (CPD, 1990), and Jacksonville, Florida, (Duval CSO, 2011). The NY and Chicago studies are unavailable, but the Duval study shows the following: Over a 66 month period, out of 499 murders, 8 involved a forced ATM withdrawal, or 1.6% of the total. Of 124 forced withdrawals, 8 ended with murder. This is 1 murder for every 15.5 forced withdrawals. That means that murder is about 36 times more likely in an express kidnapping than a simple robbery. These numbers were taken from meta-data that was analyzed first by bringing up all murders and robberies, then searching the notes for “ATM” and skimming through the cases. Meta-data has several shortcomings: it won’t cover adjoining counties, the entire state or adjoining states; it can be thrown off by a typographical error on the part of either the researcher or the person who typed in the report; it can be thrown off by the use of a term other than the term that the researcher used. (Although “ATM” is probably the most common, “automatic teller”, “bank machine”, “cash machine”, or some local colloquialism such as “Mac Machine” may also be used. “Mac Machine” is common in Pennsylvania.)
- This problem has probably been around ever since ATMs were first introduced in the US in 1968 by Chemical Bank in New York City. The earliest documentation of the problem was in 1977, when the US Treasury changed the rules about who was liable for the loss associated with forced withdrawals. It went from the bank bearing the loss to the consumer/crime victim. After that, it was noted in the US Congressional Record of July 30, 1986, page 18232, statement of US Representative Mario Biaggi, (D, Brooklyn) who called for the FBI to keep track of the problem in the Uniform Crime Reports. (House Resolution 785, 1987) (For those unfamiliar with his name, Biaggi was one of the team of police who developed the original Compstat. He’s also an honoree in the Policeman’s Hall of Fame.)
- Because there’s no statute, there’s also no published, peer reviewed, academic research on this topic. This area is long overdue for study. Banking industry sources report that there’s no real problem. I think it’s a real problem for the victims though.
- These crimes are under-reported in the news for several reasons. An incident may not be deemed newsworthy even if a murder is involved, so it never makes it into the paper. Even if it makes it into the paper, the police may not disclose the connection to a forced ATM withdrawal in order to protect the integrity of their case. It does not help that ATM photos are usually of poor quality, considerably inferior to the camera in even a cheap cell phone. Unless the photo is useful in making an identification, it won’t be given to the news media when the local police ask for the public’s assistance.
- Failure to track this crime pattern amounts to the government looking the other way. This is a scandal in its own right. But, if I were to walk up to you on the street and say “Pick any victim you want, if you will murder that person and bring me their ATM card and PIN, I shall give you all the money in their bank account” you would say that I had solicited a murder and if you committed that murder and I too would be guilty of that murder. Why is it a felony when I do it, but not when the bank board of directors does it? That’s not idle commentary, that’s a serious legal issue. If you’re the chairman of the board of JPMorgan-Chase, how many dead customers do you want your living customers to know about?
Questions? JPZINGHER@GMAIL.COM
ATM CRIME 