LEILA FOWLER - 8 yo (4/2013) - / Charged: Brother, Isaiah Fowler 12 yo - Valley Springs, CA

Community on edge as manhunt for girl's killer resumes
Police: Suspect is armed, dangerous 6:51 AM PDT Apr 29, 2013

VALLEY SPRINGS, Calif. (KCRA) —A community is on edge Monday as authorities continue to search Valley Springs for a man they said killed an 8-year-old girl at a house on Rippon Road, in Calaveras County.

More than a 100 officers from various law enforcement agencies are in town to patrol the area as children head back to school Monday morning.

Many of Leila Fowler's classmates had been kept indoors over the weekend following her death.

As authorities continue their investigation, the community has been asked to keep their windows and doors locked.

Already, investigators have fingerprints and what they believe to be DNA evidence from the crime scene, they said at a Sunday evening news conference.

One day earlier, police said a 12-year-old boy encountered an intruder in his home, and the man ran away.

The boy went to check on his sister and found she had been stabbed.

The Calaveras County coroner said Fowler suffered several stab wounds. She was later pronounced dead at a hospital.

An autopsy is planned for Monday.

Several law enforcement agencies are searching the area for a man described as being white or Hispanic with longer gray hair. He is 6 feet tall, with a muscular build and was last seen wearing a black long-sleeved shirt and blue pants.

Leila Fowler CNN

Residents in the area were being warned via reverse 911 and Nixle mass notifications systems to lock their doors and report suspicious activity.

An area search of Valley Springs continued throughout Saturday night and into Sunday, police said.

Leila was a third-grader at Jenny Lind Elementary, in Valley Springs. Grief counselors will be at her school Monday.

Parents are asking for extra patrols at the bus stops, to keep children safe.

A candlelight vigil is scheduled for Tuesday at 7 p.m.

People who know the family told KCRA 3 that Leila was one of seven children, and that her parents were very involved with the community and Little League.

If anyone sees a person matching the description, they are asked to call 911 or the Sheriff's Office immediately. Tips can also be provided to the 24-hour tip line at 209-754-6030.

The Calaveras County sheriff and the District Attorney's Office are investigating.

http://www.kcra.com/news/search-on-for-man-who-killed-9yearold-in-valley-springs/-/11797728/19924002/-/6xla45z/-/index.html

Poor little angel.  I hope they catch that monster.  William

Detectives quiz sex offenders in hunt for California girl’s killer

Posted on: 8:16 am, April 30, 2013, by Web Staff,
updated on: 08:17am, April 30, 2013

VALLEY SPRINGS, California (CNN) – Investigators interviewed registered sex offenders in the Northern California community where an 8-year-old girl was stabbed to death — but officials won’t say if sexual assault is part of the unsolved crime.

“They have been interviewed and in some cases they have been photographed and in some cases they have been searched,” Calaveras County Sheriff’s Capt. Jim Macedo said late Monday night.

So far, despite an extensive manhunt and beefed-up security at schools in Valley Springs, authorities don’t have enough information to name a suspect or even create a composite sketch in the death of Leila Fowler.

“This is a sad time,” said Calaveras County Sheriff Gary Kuntz. “We will not rest until we capture the responsible person.”

Leila, an 8-year-old known for her bubbly personality, was stabbed to death at her home over the weekend.

Her 12-year-old brother says he saw an intruder in the family’s home before finding his sister suffering from stab wounds.

All police have to go with is a sketchy description: a white or Hispanic male with a muscular build, about 6 feet tall, wearing a black long-sleeved shirt and blue pants.

The thought of a killer on the loose in Valley Springs, a small town about 60 miles southeast of Sacramento, has many on edge.

“When your husband is walking around with a pistol on his hip to protect his family you get a little scared,” one shaken woman told CNN affiliate KRON.

Home alone

Police say Leila and her brother were home alone on Saturday when he saw an intruder leaving the house.

He then found his sister stabbed and severely wounded. She died minutes after arriving at the hospital, authorities said.

Since then, police have been running down leads, searching in attics, storage sheds in the mountainous, rural community.

Authorities have also combed the home and the neighborhood for evidence.

“We did collect fingerprints during that search,” Macedo said, “and we did collect what we believe to be DNA. Those prints and DNA will hopefully be processed within the next week.”

Parents devastated

All around Valley Springs, purple ribbons, Leila’s favorite color, are tied to stop signs and at schools as the small community tries to find a way to support her crestfallen parents.

The couple was at a Monday evening news conference listening intently as authorities said they would do everything they could to catch the killer.

The mother cried throughout the briefing and gasped as a detective read the results of the young girl’s autopsy.

She died, authorities said, of shock and hemorrhages caused by multiple stab wounds.

The parents were too overwhelmed to speak at the news conference.

But earlier Monday, the mother spoke to CNN via her Facebook page.

“We are devastated,” Crystal Walters said. “She didn’t deserve this. … She was so full of life.”

A candlelight vigil is planned for Tuesday evening.

http://wtvr.com/2013/04/30/leila-fowler-sex-offenders-questioned/

Candlelight Vigil Offers Leila Fowler’s Mother A Chance To Speak

April 30, 2013 11:35 PM

VALLEY SPRINGS (CBS13) — Song and candlelight filled the night as a community begins to say goodbye to 8-year-old Leila Fowler. Her family showing their pain, but also their gratitude.

Tuesday night was the first time Leila’s mom Krystal Walters and Leila’s brother Justin Fowler spoke in public since her death.

As the mourning beings, the small community of Valley Springs remains on edge. It’s been more than three days since the 8-year-old was found stabbed to death inside her home. Deputies say her 12-year-old brother reported seeing an intruder leaving the home, only to discover his sister wounded.

Tuesday was all about the prayers and memories for the little girl.

In related news, a Placerville woman fought off an intruder who tried to kidnap her 15-month-old child. Police arrested the man and sent in samples to compare to the Valley Springs case, though they say they’re just covering all of their bases.

http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2013/04/30/candlelight-vigil-offers-leila-fowlers-mother-a-chance-to-speak/

Murder of Leila Fowler, 8, Stuns Small Town in California

By Howard Breuer
04/30/2013 at 07:00 PM EDT

The stabbing of an 8-year-old girl in her home in Valley Springs, Calif., has residents of the small town loading their guns and keeping their kids home from school as police – who have few clues – search for the killer in hilly, remote terrain.

Police say Leila Fowler's 12-year-old brother, who was home with his sister on Saturday, spotted an intruder, who ran out of the house. The boy then discovered his sister severely injured and phoned his parents, who were at a Little League game. The girl was pronounced dead at a local hospital. The county coroner says she died from multiple stab wounds.

Friends say the third-grader had a heart-warming smile, loved the color purple and was a daddy's girl. Fowler's slaying has devastated the 10-square mile community of about 3,500 in Calaveras County, where residents typically keep their doors and windows open and the biggest newsmaker most years is the jumping frog contest written about by Mark Twain in 1865.

Now, residents say, their guns are loaded.

"This is way too close to home," Julia Poland, who has a 13-year-old daughter, told the Modesto Bee. "This kind of thing does not happen here."

So far, police seem to have few leads.

The brother described a muscular white or Hispanic man in a black shirt and blue pants, about 6 feet tall, with long, gray hair. Another witness who saw a man running from the home offered a similar description.

Police, with help from dogs and volunteers, have searched houses, attics, crawl spaces, sheds, outbuildings and tall grass. Investigators also lifted fingerprints and DNA from the house (lab results should take about a week), and checked with local registered sex offenders and parolees.

A candlelight vigil was planned for Tuesday evening at Leila's school, Jenny Lind Elementary.

Sheriff's Capt. Jim Macedo says Leila's parents, Barney Fowler and Krystal Walters (who stood behind him at a press conference but were too distraught to speak) ask that anyone with a tip call (209) 754-6030.

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20696171,00.html

Jason Wryrynen Arrested: Man Could Become Suspect In Death Of 8-Year-Old Leila Fowler

Posted: 04/30/2013 8:17 pm EDT
Updated: 04/30/2013 8:41 pm EDT

Police are looking into the possibility that a man, they said, tried to kidnap a baby in Placerville, Calif. may also be responsible for the killing of an 8-year-old girl who was killed 46 miles away.

Jason Wryrynen, 44, was arrested and charged with kidnapping and burglary charges on Tuesday, according to KCRA. Police in Placerville have contacted authorities in Calaveras County to look into any potential connection to the killing of Leila Fowler.

Cops said the mother of the 15-month-old baby "struggled with and overpowered" Wryrynen before police arrived.

"I am very thankful she is OK," Patricia Patino, the mother of the alleged kidnapping victim, told KTVU.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/30/jason-wryrynen-arrested_n_3189206.html?1367368907&icid=maing-grid7%7Cmaing12%7Cdl34%7Csec1_lnk2%26pLid%3D306686

'Shot in the dark': Is alleged Calif. kidnapper tied to 8-year-old's murder?
By Elizabeth Chuck, Staff Writer, NBC News

A man arrested for an alleged kidnapping 50 miles north of and three days after the fatal stabbing of an 8-year-old is being investigated in the girl's murder, but officials concede the link between the cases is a "shot in the dark."

Jason Wayrynen, 42, was arrested Tuesday in Placerville, Calif., the morning after a vigil was held Leila Fowler, a Valley Springs, Calif., third-grader who was stabbed by an intruder in her home on Saturday afternoon while she was at home with just her older brother.

Leila's murder, which happened while her parents were at a Little League game, has left parents in her small community terrified to leave their kids' sides while officials hunt down the killer. The circumstances surrounding Wayrynen's arrest on Tuesday bore enough similarities to Leila's case to prompt authorities to take a DNA sample from him and compare it to DNA recovered from the Valley Springs crime scene.
In Tuesday's alleged kidnapping, a mother told police she and her 15-month-old girl were followed into their Placerville apartment by Warynen, who they didn't know. Once inside the apartment, Wayrynen allegedly tried to kidnap the girl, the mother told police, while another woman in the apartment ran into the bedroom, locked the door, and called police.

Wayrynen was arrested and is being held on $250,000 bail.

"It's truly a shot in the dark," said Placerville Police Captain Mike Scott. "There's some similarities in the suspect's description ... and that an unknown intruder enters the residence with the intent to harm a child."

The suspect in Leila's murder is believed to be about six feet tall, and either white or Hispanic, with a muscular build, according to authorities. Wayrynen, of Camino, Calif., next to Placerville, is 6'1'' and 200 pounds, with blond hair and blue eyes.

Calaveras County Sgt. Christ. Hewitt said DNA and fingerprints were collected from the scene of Leila's murder, and said he hopes the results of Wayrynen's DNA sample will come back "within a week or two."

"Right now, it seems to be very unlikely that they're connected, but of course, we have to take measures to either rule out that person or see if in fact they're involved. It's just standard investigative practice," Hewitt said.

The case still has no leads, Hewitt said.

"We do not know the motive. We don't know if it was intentional, if it was random. We do not know yet," he said.

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/05/01/18002269-shot-in-the-dark-is-alleged-calif-kidnapper-tied-to-8-year-olds-murder?lite


El Dorado County Sheriff's Office
Jason Wayrynen, 42, was arrested on Tuesday morning.

Hopefully this is the right man. Either way he's off the street's right now. William

The Investigation Continues in the Murder of Leila Fowler

21 hours ago
by Andria Borba

VALLEY SPRINGS - Another day, another press conference without definitive answers or an arrest in the murder of 8-year-old Leila Fowler.

Calaveras County Sheriff Gary Kuntz says it could take two weeks to get DNA results back from he bags of evidence removed from he Fowler home on Rippon Rd. Thursday.

Kuntz says the now discredited neighbor who claims to have seen a man with scraggly hair exit the Fowler home after Leila was stabbed to death was only trying to help.

And despite backing off her description, they are sticking with the one from Leila’s 12-year-old brother. Though, he hasn’t sat down with a sketch artist yet either.

As far as where Leila’s murderer might be, Kuntz didn’t seem to have a direct answer. He hopes to have answers soon.

Read more: http://fox40.com/2013/05/03/the-investigation-continues-in-the-murder-of-leila-fowler/#ixzz2SNNcrFZC

Leila Fowler's brother, 12, arrested in her stabbing death


May 11, 2013, 11:04 p.m.

A 12-year-old boy was arrested Saturday in the stabbing death of his younger sister, Leila Fowler, inside their Northern California home.

The arrest came after a manhunt for a supposed intruder who the boy had said committed the crime.

"Citizens of Calaveras County, you can sleep a little better tonight," Sheriff Gary Kuntz told reporters.

The boy, whose name was not made public, will be charged with murder, the county sheriff announced at a news conference, according to the Associated Press.

The slaying made national headlines and had authorities warning residents of the tight-knit area where the crime occurred to lock their doors and remain vigilant.

Leila and her brother were home together on the night of April 27 at the family home in Valley Springs, a rural town of 7,500 residents southeast of Sacramento. Their parents had gone to a Little League game.

The boy told investigators he had heard an intruder, then saw a man running away from the home. The boy said he then found his severely injured sister. He called his parents, then 911, officials said.

An autopsy determined Leila, 8, died of shock and bleeding as a result of multiple stab wounds.

Her brother's account sent authorities scrambling to find the killer. They fanned out in the rural foothills area, searching indoors and out for any sign of the intruder. Extra patrols were dispatched to the elementary school where Leila was in the third grade and along area school bus routes.

Following "an expansive investigation" that consumed more than 2,000 man-hours, police arrested Leila's brother shortly after 5 p.m, according to a Sheriff's Department press release. As part of the investigation, authorities seized several knives from the home Leila shared with her father, stepmother and siblings to determine if one could have inflicted the fatal wounds.

Kuntz declined to answer questions about what the department deemed "an ongoing investigation."

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-leila-fowlers-brother-12-arrested-in-her-stabbing-death-20130511,0,2061602.story

What a sad outcome.

Maybe he didn't really do it? The first thought is always "who was last with the victim?" but it seems he would have had blood on him or his prints on the knife. Yet I can't see the LE arresting Leila's brother, which is a big step, if they didn't have convincing evidence against him. And Twinkletoes, yes, this is an incredibly heart-breaking outcome.

Dad wants evidence in Leila Fowler's stabbing
Tuesday, May 14, 2013

CALAVERAS COUNTY, Calif. -- The father of a 12-year-old boy accused of fatally stabbing his 8-year-old sister said he'll believe his son is innocent until he sees evidence that proves otherwise.

Barney Fowler told The Associated Press the family is backing the boy, who was arrested Saturday after a crime that terrified this Central California foothill community.

"Until they have the proper evidence to show it's my son, we're standing behind him," Fowler said. "If they have the evidence, well that's another story. We're an honest family."

Fowler had said he planned to address the media Tuesday at the sheriff's substation in Valley Springs, but sheriff's officials said in a brief statement late Monday that the news conference was canceled. No reason was given for the cancellation, and a sheriff's spokesman did not return calls from the AP.

The boy told investigators on April 27 that he encountered a random attacker in the family home while his father was attending a Little League game. He described the man as tall with long gray hair

The boy said the man ran away and he found his sister, Leila Fowler, bleeding.

Leila's death set off an intense manhunt in the rural community where some residents had moved to escape big city crime. The Calaveras County Sheriff's Office spent more than 2,000 man-hours amassing evidence and searching door-to-door.

Residents of the rural community began locking their doors and calling authorities when they thought they saw men who fit the description.

They also held fundraisers for the Fowler family and turned out by the thousands for a candlelight vigil in Leila's honor.

"We're thankful to the community and all they've done for my daughter," Fowler said.

He echoed comments made earlier Monday by his son, Justin Fowler, 19, who told the AP the family was in shock and extremely sad about the boy's arrest.

"We're just in a fog," Justin Fowler said.

Rumors began spreading last week around town that the 12-year-old was a suspect. The AP is withholding his name because he is a juvenile.

"I know there were a bunch of rumors going around saying it could possibly be him but nobody wanted to say that he could do that," said Maureen Lourenco, whose children attend middle school with the boy. "I have a 12-year-old son and my daughter's 14 and I just can't fathom them doing that."

Residents say the Fowlers are good neighbors who never caused any problems. Now after fearing for weeks that a random intruder had committed a heinous crime in their midst, they're dealing with another kind of reality.

"To kill a little girl? Eight years old? I don't understand how" they handle that, neighbor Arturo Magallon said.

People across the mountain community were relieved there had been an arrest, and the crime did not appear to be the work of an intruder.

"I see a lot of people now starting to walk again like it used to be before," Magallon said.

Investigators initially maintained the boy was being questioned only as a witness.

The Fowler family is now trying to cope with what could be a double tragedy.

"We're just trying to stay positive, but it's hard," Justin Fowler said.

Days after his sister's killing, the 12-year-old brother appeared at a vigil for her. Justin was photographed with the name "Leila" written on his forearm. Barney Fowler attended with his fiancee, Krystal Walters.

"We're a strong family," Barney Fowler said Monday. "We're staying strong."

On Monday, counselors were talking to the siblings' classmates at Toyon Middle School.

"Our kids are experiencing a lot of mixed emotions," said Superintendent Mark Campbell. "We have a degree of ease that it's not a random assailant, but it's a double whammy from our school perspective. We lost a student and we stand to lose another. It's a lot for our kids to process."

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/state&id=9102228

Boy, 12, charged with second degree murder in stabbing death of sister, 8

SACRAMENTO, Calif. The 12-year-old boy accused in the stabbing death of his 8-year-old sister has been charged with second degree murder, the boy's lawyer told CBS Sacramento station KOVR-TV Tuesday. The boy was arrested Saturday in connection with the killing.

Attorney Mark Reichel told The Associated Press Tuesday that the boy might have lied about seeing a long-haired intruder fleeing the family's home, but that doesn't make the boy the killer.

Reichel, who met with the boy Tuesday, said his client might have made up a "macho" story about scaring away the intruder because he was scared.

Reichel visited the scene Tuesday.

Leila Fowler was found April 27 with knife wounds.

Leila Fowler's parents believed she was fine when they made a 911 call to authorities from another location.

A recording released Tuesday indicates a woman called 911 after getting a call about a mystery intruder from the 12-year-old.
The caller, who said she was the girl's mother, said the children, including Leila Fowler, were OK. She was not at home at the time.

"My children are at home alone and a man just ran out of our house. My older son was in the bathroom and my daughter started screaming. He came out and a man was in the house," the panicked caller says in the call made April 27. "They said they're OK."

She added, "My daughter is freaking out right now."

In fact, Leila Fowler was dying of stab wounds.

Her brother told police he had scared off an intruder. For two weeks, Calaveras County sheriff's investigators searched door-to-door for witnesses and evidence.

Reichel said he and his law partner, Steve Plesser, had not yet seen the evidence against their young client, which is in the hands of the Calaveras County district attorney's office.

The boy is due to appear in juvenile court Wednesday.

Reichel had said earlier Tuesday that, after visiting with the boy, he and Plesser met with the family and toured the hillside home where the stabbing took place. Reichel declined to say what they spoke about.

"They're all doing as well as can be expected under the circumstances, and the circumstances are not good," Reichel said.

Reichel said the boy's story about interrupting a long-haired intruder who fled the home sounds like bravado, not an excuse to cover up a killing.

"He's 12. The odds are just as good that he lied and gives a macho story that he chased away the attacker. Someone kills your sister? I'm not sure he didn't stay in the bathroom and cry," Reichel told the AP.

The children's father, Barney Fowler, was at a Little League game, and the siblings were home alone. The boy called his father and his fiancee to report that Leila had been attacked, and the couple called 911 and sped to the home.

Frightened residents locked their doors and loaded weapons, fearing that a random attack had taken place in their midst.

"How does a 12-year-old commit the perfect crime?" said Reichel, whose firm was part of a team that two years ago successfully defended members of the Hmong community, including former Gen. Vang Pao, against charges they plotted to overthrow the government of Laos.

Reichel declined to comment on the emotional state of the boy or his family.

"They're going through a very difficult time," he said.

Barney Fowler spoke briefly with AP on Monday and said, "Until they have the proper evidence to show it's my son, we're standing behind him. If they have the evidence, well that's another story. We're an honest family."

His son Justin, 19, described the family as "being in a fog."

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57584538/boy-12-charged-with-second-degree-murder-in-stabbing-death-of-sister-8/

Maybe he didn't do it. Time will tell. I would imagine that they have some evidence otherwise why would they arrest him. My sister and I fought a lot but I would have never killed her, or even hurt her badly. William

Leila Fowler / KCBS-TV

Rift grew quickly between Fowler family, law enforcement

Posted: Tuesday, June 24, 2014 8:36 am
Updated: 8:37 am, Tue Jun 24, 2014
by Dana Nichols

Tension over interviews with children

Tension began growing between investigators and Leila Fowler’s family within days of her death, according to statements made during a hearing Monday in Calaveras County Superior Court.

Leila, 8, was found stabbed to death in her Valley Springs home on April 27, 2013. Her brother, Isiah, was arrested two weeks later on a murder charge.

In the first days after Leila’s death, investigators from multiple agencies looked for an intruder that Isiah Fowler had reportedly seen fleeing the house.

But while investigators testified during a hearing Monday that members of the Fowler family were initially cooperative, they also admitted early signs of strain in the relationship.

According to statements by law enforcement officers, Barney Fowler, the father of both Leila and Isiah, several times cut an early end to interviews between investigators and Isiah.

How investigators handled those interviews with Isiah is an issue because of a defense motion to suppress statements Isiah made during four interviews. The motion argues that the statements are not admissible because Isiah was subject to unlawful arrest and interrogation.

Those interviews took place at Isiah’s home, at Mark Twain Medical Center later the night of the slaying, and on both the evening of April 27 and on April 29 in an interview room at the District Attorney’s office.

While the defense argues that Isiah was unlawfully treated as a suspect without probable cause, prosecutors and investigators say he was in fact treated merely as a witness.

Deputy District Attorney Dana Pfeil, for example, asked many questions like this one of Calaveras County Sheriff’s Detective Wade Whitney: “Did you ever indicate he was going to be placed under arrest?” Pfeil asked of Whitney’s handling of Isiah during an interview on April 27.

“No,” Whitney said.

Similarly, Whitney and others testified that they did not handcuff Isiah and went to lengths to show him he was free to leave during interviews.

Defense attorney Mark Reichelt, in contract, used his cross-examination questions to look for evidence that in fact investigators already considered Isiah a suspect, rather than a mere witness, early in the investigation.

“Did you see anything on Isiah that looked like blood?” Reichel asked Whitney.

Whitney said no. “He did not appear to have been involved in any sort of a fight,” Whitney said of Isiah’s appearance the evening following the slaying.

Still, within two days after the slaying on April 29, the Sheriff’s Office had obtained a search warrant allowing it to collect DNA material from all Fowler family members using so-called “buccal” swabs that wipe small amounts of tissue from the inside of a cheek.

Another person who testified Monday was Gary Sims, an investigator for the District Attorney’s Office. Sims said he got Barney Fowler’s permission to photograph Isiah nude the day of the slaying by explaining that since Isiah was the only other person in the house, it was important to document his condition in case defense attorneys for another suspect later tried to shift the blame to Isiah.

Under questioning from Reichel, Sims said that at the time he saw Isiah as a witness rather than a suspect.

Conflict grew on May 9, when investigators asked Barney and the rest of the family to allow uninterrupted opportunities to interview children in the family, including Isiah. Barney Fowler at one point stood up and stormed out of a meeting room at the District Attorney’s Office, taking his family with him, said Capt. Jim Macedo.

“He was concerned law enforcement would be too tough on his kids during those interviews,” Macedo said. Macedo said Barney Fowler got angry, sometimes using foul language.

A few minutes later in the parking lot outside, Barney Fowler did agree to allow his children to be interviewed, but only if either he or his fiancée, Crystal Walters, was present, and only if a particular FBI agent Barney Fowler mistrusted did not participate.

Macedo agreed to the terms. Allowing the interviews.

Two days later, 12-year-old Isiah Fowler was arrested on murder charges.

The hearing on whether to suppress evidence from Isiah’s interviews was set to continue at press time Monday.

http://www.calaverasenterprise.com/news/article_8f3c17dc-fbb4-11e3-940a-0019bb2963f4.html

Judge rules brother's rights were not violated in Leila Fowler murder case

George Warren, KXTV
9:30 p.m. PDT June 24, 2014

SAN ANDREAS - The judge in the Leila Fowler murder case said her brother's rights were not violated during five interviews by sheriff's investigators without a defense attorney present.

A two-day hearing prompted by Isaiah Fowler's defense team led to Judge Thomas A. Smith refusing to suppress statements made by the boy before he was arrested.

Isaiah, 12 at the time, was the only other person at the family's house in Valley Springs when Leila was stabbed to death on April 27, 2013.

His attorneys said the tone of the interviews quickly shifted from detectives considering Isaiah a witness to them believing he was the killer.

And during the two-week period leading up to Isaiah's arrest, the attorneys said Barney Fowler was put in the nearly impossible position of being his son's guardian, while trying to find out who killed his daughter.

"This is extremely rare that this happens, and it's not appropriate because it leaves the 12 year old -- the main suspect in a homicide case -- completely on his own," attorney Mark Reichel said.

Reichel and his law partner Steve Plesser said that during the fifth and final interview, Barney Fowler acted as an agent of the law during the interrogation, which led to a vague confession from his son.

"He expressed some confusion and said, 'Well, if I did something I don't remember it. But I didn't do it.' And that's what the prosecution has chosen to view as a confession, and it's clearly not," Plesser said.

Calaveras County District Attorney Barbara Yook declined to comment as she left the courthouse.

Reichel believes if the judge had ruled in their favor, the case against Isaiah Fowler would have crumbled.

The trial is set to begin Aug. 12.

http://www.news10.net/story/news/local/oakdale/2014/06/24/leila-fowler-brother-court-ruling/11335025/

Oh why can't I paste? It worked well with Lepages in first grade.

Evidence of DNA from an unknown male, found on a hair strand on Leila's body and the fact that the medical examiner absolutely ruled out the possibility that any knife in the house could have caused the injuries to this child, plus the fact that no blood or detergents were found in plumbing should get her brother out of jail....now I will post this and try to add link info from CBS.

Cbsnews.com/news/attorney-evidence-shows-intruder-not-brother-killed .....and that's all I can see so hope that helps.

I would really love to know just what "evidence" the prosecutors had against this boy in the first place.

So now there is a big banner across the entire forum "Open the link:" and it quotes the whole thing that I couldn't paste. That is really cool!

Where can I find this link.  What forum?




TIA.

?