Newspaper Page Text
Missing man was in debt, investigators say
Family loaned him to run business
By Stephen Gurr
Staff Writer
The co-owner of a Cumming
business who has been missing since
mid-November was facing serious
financial problems before he disap¬
peared, Forsyth Sheriff’s officials
said.
Fabian Casas Jr. was several
months behind on the rent at
Achilles Automotive, an auto repair
shop on Canton Road, and his sister
was preparing to fly in from Texas
after loaning him a substantial
amount of money to launch the busi¬
ness, investigators said this week.
Casas, 27, remains missing,
though authorities say they have no
reason at this time to suspect foul
play. He was last seen by business
partner Mickey Densmore inside the
shop on the night of Nov. 14, where
ruling may
change school dress codes
By Crystal Ledford
Staff Writer
A recent ruling by the
Supreme Court may change
the way school systems mon¬
itor gang members and activ¬
ities.
On Monday, U.S. District
Court Judge Beverly Martin
ruled a dress code that was
used in Gwinnett County
Schools in 2004 was “uncon¬
stitutionally vague” in refer¬
ence to gang clothing.
The ruling came as a
result of a law suit filed by
Marilyn Tillman, the mother
of an African-American stu¬
dent at Brookwood High
School in Gwinnett. Tillman
accused the school system of
unfairly and repeatedly pun¬
ishing her son
after finding
him guilty of
“gang-related
activity”
based solely
on suspicions
about the
color and
style of his
clothing.
Believing
the policies
were uncon¬
stitutional,
and that the
school’s disci
p 1 i n a r y
her son were racially moti¬
vated, Tillman and her son
filed the lawsuit in April of
2004 after school officials
refused to expunge the gang
references from the college
bound student’s record or to
change their policies.
During the 2002-2003 and
2003-2004 school years,
Gwinnett’s policy prohibited
“any conduct to represent a
gang or group affiliation,
loyalty or membership” and
allowed high school princi¬
pals to set dress code poli¬
cies for their individual
schools.
Judge Martin said
Gwinnett Schools’ policy
was too vague because it
failed to define what consti
tuted gang-related activity or
even what a gang was.
Martin also said the high
school policy failed to identi¬
fy what gang words or sym¬
bols were.
Local school officials are
now wondering what impact
the ruling will have on their
discipline policies.
“I actually haven’t read
the complete ruling yet so
I’m not sure what effect it
will have on our policy,” said
David Adams, director of
school safety and manage¬
ment with Forsyth County
Schools. “But I can tell you
that whatever the Supreme
Court says to do, we’ll do it.”
Forsyth County Schools
2005-2006 Code of Conduct
and Discipline Procedures
forbids the wearing of cloth¬
ing and accessories that dis¬
play gang affiliations as well
as racial or ethic slurs, hate
speech, vulgar or obscene
language or images, or prod¬
ucts promoting the sale of
alcohol, tobacco or illegal
he was working late on bookkeeping
matters, according to his wife,
Crystal Casas.
Fabian and Crystal Casas were
separated at the time he went miss¬
ing; he kept an apartment in
Alpharetta while she lived with their
two small children in Cumming.
Casas’ car was left at the business
with the keys inside the locked
building.
Forsyth Sheriff’s Capt. Mark
Hoffman said Friday that efforts to
contact Fabian Casas through his
cell phone and e-mail accounts have
been unsuccessful, though cell
phone records show that someone
accessed the cell phone’s voice mail
after Casas went missing. Casas’
wife also said it appeared an e-mail
in his account had been opened
since his disappearance.
Bank records have not provided
drugs.
Another section of the
code states “garments, jewel¬
ry, body art and tattoos that
communicate gang alle¬
giance may not be worn at
school, and no item may be
worn in a manner that com¬
municates gang affiliation.”
Adams said that the sys¬
tem’s gang policies are kept
“broad” intentionally since it
is nearly impossible to clear¬
ly define what constitutes
gang clothing, symbols or
behavior.
“They’ll pick normal
items like a university sweat¬
shirt or a certain color head
band,” he said. “One of the
big things now is a certafn
shirt with a snow man on it
to that the wearer is a
We're not trying to step on anybody's
civil liberties, but we do have a vested
interest in being able to monitor what
kids are wearing. We want to stop
gang activity before it happens since
anything related lead to gangs can quickly
to violence.
- David Adams, director of school safety and
management
qq ^
cocaine dealer.
“And these things change
almost constantly,” he added.
“What’s the going thing (for
a gang to wear) today proba¬
bly won’t be the thing next
week or next year. We do our
best to keep up with the
trends, but it’s hard.”
Adams said he tries to
stay as abreast as possible of
current gang trends through a
network of other school dis¬
cipline officers from around
the country.
“There’s school systems
from New York, California,
all over,” he said. “We try to
keep a handle on what’s
going on out there by com¬
municating with each other.”
”
■
In Loving Memory of
Jackson Bradley Sams
Dec. 6,2004-May 13,2005
Son of Joel & Jessica Sams
Grandson of
George ° & Brenda Sams &
J.C. , & „ Karen _ Burgess
any leads, Hoffman said.
“We’ve been investigating every
lead we’ve come up with and so far
we haven’t found Mr. Casas,”
Hoffman said. “You have a male
estranged from his wife, having
financial difficulties. That could
point in any number of different
directions.”
Hoffman said that during the
year or so that Casas has run the
shop, “his family has been very sup¬
portive in lending him the money to
start the business. That was coming
due. His sister was coming to check
on the business and possibly look at
becoming an active partner.”
Anyone with information about
the whereabouts of Fabian Casas Jr.
is asked to call the Forsyth County
Sheriff’s Office Criminal
Investigation Division at (770) 781-
2200 .
Forsyth County Schools
do not have the major prob¬
lem with gangs that many,
more urban school systems
do, but Adams said gangs
definitely are present here.
“We’ve been fortunate
that we haven’t had any
major problems here, but we
do have gangs and this is
something that we are con¬
cerned about,” he said. “I
think one of the main reasons
we haven’t had the problems
that some systems have had
is the fact that we take action
quickly whenever we think
there’s an issue.”
Adams said teachers are
trained to keep a watch out
for gang related clothing and
symbols and to report them
“We then don’t
waste any
time we
call the par¬
ents in as
soon as
something is
brought to
our atten¬
tion,” he said.
“Usually
after a meet¬
ing with the
parents, we
don’t have
any more
problems
with that stu¬
in
they’re often some of our
best behaved students after
that (meeting).”
Adams said that ability to
act quickly is why he hopes
no major changes will have
to be made to the system’s
gang policies.
“We’re not trying to step
on anybody’s civil liberties,
but we do have a vested
interest in being able to
monitor what kids are wear¬
ing,” he said. “We want to
stop gang activity before it
happens since anything
related to gangs can quickly
lead to violence.
“Our codes need to stay as
broad as possible for the safety
of our students,” he added.
A Poem For Jackson*^
(Our Sink “ fireball”)
One year ago today, you came
into our hearts to stay; but little
did we know, how soon you’d
have to go. j?ou were such a
special with bou, and you filled our
homes joy-but now there’s
only sadness We in place of former
gladness. know that you're
withjesus, and we’re so proud
J'oryou-but without you here
in our aims, we don’t know
what to do. We long to see you
once again, to kiss your little
face, four
passing left us with a hurt, that
time cannot erase. We wonder
what you’re doing; If your hair
is still as red-we all believe that
“Jesus!” was the first word that
you said Wc though we’d see
you learn to walk and grow to
be a tnan flowever, God, in
his great wisdom, chose
another plan.file took you far
away from us; to a better place
you’ve gone; you've passed
we’ll see you by? f <f bye-when lhwu h
on etu an ' %
until then, our days an spent,
constantly missing you.
!
si
V -
W^A
Photo/Submitted
Fabian Casas Jr., shown in an undated family photo, has been miss¬
ing since Nov. 14.
Jeremy Jones sentenced
to death in Alabama court
Prime suspect in abduction of local woman
By Stephen Gurr
Staff Writer
The prime suspect in the
disappearance of a Forsyth
County hairdresser was sen¬
tenced to death Thursday by
an Alabama judge in an unre¬
lated slaying, a sentence met
with approval and praise from
those close to the local case.
“It’s Christmas,” Douglas
County Sheriff Phil Miller
said of the death penalty
imposed on 32-year-old
Jeremy Jones, a suspected
serial killer. “It’s a great thing.
I don’t know how many peo¬
ple Jeremy Jones has killed,
but I know he won’t kill any¬
one else. It’s certainly reassur¬
ing to me and everyone else
in law enforcement and the
families of those he’s suspect¬
ed of killing.”
Among those Jones is sus¬
pected of killing is Patrice
Endres, who authorities
believe was abducted from
her Matt Highway hair salon
in north Forsyth on April 15,
2004. Douglas County
authorities took over the
investigation after Jones told
detectives he drove Endres to
that county, where he is
believed to have murdered her
and dumped her body into a
creek that flows into the
Chattahoochee River.
Numerous searches have
yielded no body and Jones
has not been charged with
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FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS — Sunday, December 4,2005 —
n
Jones
New Orleans authorities also
have charged Jones with the
murder of 45-year-old
Katherine Collins. Jones
remains a suspect in another
Douglas County killing as
well.
Miller said he hopes that
Jones will be more forthcom¬
ing with information now that
he faces execution. Detectives
from Douglas County trav¬
eled to Mobile County, Ala.,
to interview Jones shortly
after he was convicted last
month in the murder of 44
year-old Lisa Nichols of
Tumerville, Ala.
“There’s some things still
unanswered in all three of our
cases, Miller said. “There’s
more for us to do from a law
enforcement standpoint.”
Miller said Jones provided
new information about the
Endres case during his last
interview, but there still was¬
n’t enough to bring a murder
charge against him.
“We’ve got to have more
evidence,” Miller said.
E n d r e s ’
death. Jones
does face
murder
charges in
Douglas
County in
the 2004
death of 16
year-old
Amanda
PAGE 3A
Endres’ husband. Rob
Endres, said Thursday that
any sentence other than death
would have left him “utterly
dismayed.”
“As vicious and heinous
as this man is, how can it be
anything other than death?”
Endres said. “I applaud the
judge’s decision.”
Endres had praise for
Alabama Attorney General
Troy King’s office, which
prosecuted the Nichols case,
while he remained frustrated
at the progress of his wife’s
case.
He has talked of petition¬
ing Georgia Attorney General
Thurbert Baker for help.
Rob Endres acknowl¬
edged that Jones may never
face trial in Patrice Endres’
disappearance.
“There may be nothing
forthcoming ever for Patrice,”
Rob Endres said. “So this
(death sentence) has got to be
some measure of justice for
Patrice. It doesn’t give me any
closure or satisfaction, except
to know that this evil individ¬
ual will never be on the street
and never hurt another
woman.
Said Miller, “There’s no
question he’s a murderer, and
he’s probably a serial killer,
so yeah, he got his just
rewards.
“I hope I’m alive the day
they shoot him up with what¬
ever they shoot him up with.”