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From the Los Angeles Times

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Alleged assassination plot heightens Iran-Saudi tension

Allegations that Iran sought to kill the Saudi ambassador to the U.S. have given rise to new drama. It comes as the two Mideast powers seek to outmaneuver each other at a time of regional upheaval.

by Jeffrey Fleishman and Patrick J. McDonnell, Los Angeles Times

October 13, 2011

Reporting from Cairo and Beirut

The two Middle Eastern powers have been battling for preeminence in the Muslim world for decades but the alleged Iranian plot to assassinate a Saudi Arabian ambassador has heightened the tension between them during a time of intense regional upheaval.

The new drama has arisen as Saudi Arabia and Iran seek to outmaneuver each other in matters such as the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the future of Iraq and the bloody political uprisings sweeping much of the region. Their mistrust, fueled in part by sectarian strain, is sharpened by Iran's nuclear development program and Saudi Arabia's long-standing ties to the U.S., Tehran's most potent enemy.

If the assassination scheme is true it would "represent a very serious ratcheting up of what has emerged as one of the most critical … confrontations in the Middle East," said Rami G. Khouri, director of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut. "Iran backs a revolutionary political export movement that scares the daylights out of the Saudis."

The animosity between the Sunni Muslim monarchy in Riyadh and the Shiite Muslim theocracy in Tehran has played out for years in diplomatic back channels and in proxy conflicts from Iraq to Lebanon. A 2008 State Department cable quoted the Saudi ambassador to Washington, Adel al-Jubeir, the target of the alleged assassination plot, as saying his country wanted the U.S. to launch military strikes on Iran "to cut the head off the snake."

With their vast oil reserves and ultraconservative schools of Islam, the two countries are now adjusting strategies to address upheavals that have threatened autocrats in nations including Syria and Bahrain, transforming the political calculus of the Arab world. As they recalibrate regional agendas, Saudi King Abdullah and Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also face internal pressure for change.

Since the 1979 revolution that overthrew the U.S.-backed shah, Iran has assumed the mantle of a revolutionary Islamic state thumbing its nose at Washington and its chief regional ally, Israel. The Shiite republic's brash polemics and uncompromising stance toward the West have won admiration and partly inspired young activists across the region.

The Sunni monarchy of Saudi Arabia, guardians of the great shrines of Islam, has often found itself on the defensive, inextricably tied to its unpopular political patron, the United States, and unable to react nimbly to events.

For all their disputes, they are much alike: strongly religious oil powers buttressing their repressive governments against voices of reform. Iran could feel additional strain if the assassination plot allegations draw new international economic sanctions that increase its isolation. Recent statements clearly suggest this is on the minds of Iran's leaders.

"The Americans have launched a stupid mischief," said Ali Larijani, speaker of the Iranian parliament. "Maybe they are after creating an artificial crisis and creating problems among regional countries.... There is no reason for Iran to carry out these childish actions."

Strain between Saudi Arabia and Iran has already grown as a result of the "Arab Spring" movement that unfolded across the region early this year. Riyadh sent hundreds of troops into neighboring Sunni-controlled Bahrain in March to help crush an uprising by the majority Shiite population. Although the protests against Bahrain's royal family erupted over Shiite claims of discrimination, the Saudis said Iran orchestrated the unrest in a ploy to destabilize the Persian Gulf through sectarian strife.

Syria is another crucial test. Syrian President Bashar Assad, a longtime ally of Iran, has for months ordered his security forces to brutally suppress antigovernment protests. The ruling Assad family belongs to the Alawite sect — an offshoot of Shiite Islam — and is pivotal to Iran's influence not only in Syria but also in Lebanon, where Tehran backs the militant group Hezbollah as a counterbalance to Israel.

If Saudi Arabia were to provide financial and weapons support to the protesters in Syria, the majority of whom are Sunnis, it could severely weaken or even topple Assad, leaving Iran without an important proxy. Such a gambit by Saudi Arabia would also suggest that its biggest ally, the U.S., was prepared to be more aggressive in pushing Assad from power and checking Iran's regional ambitions.

"This could break the Syrian-Iranian bridge," said Nabil Abdel Fattah of Al Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Cairo. "The downfall of Assad's regime would eventually revive Saudi Arabia's role in the region at the expense of Iran."

Hilal Khashan, a political scientist at the American University of Beirut, said the U.S. arrest of an Iranian American suspect in the foiled assassination comes as a Syrian opposition umbrella group, the Syrian National Council, is lobbying for recognition from foreign governments.

"This means that the U.S. is ready now for a more active role in Syrian affairs," he predicted.

Relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran worsened after the 1979 Iranian revolution when the theocracy of Ayatollah Khomeini challenged the legitimacy of the Saudi royal family, underlining centuries of sectarian resentment. The tone spurred a race between the two countries for influence in a Middle East seeking to economically and politically capitalize on petrodollars.

There is no suggestion of imminent military conflict between Riyadh and Tehran, but they have been entangled for years in Shiite and Sunni bloodshed in post-Saddam Hussein Iraq and in the support of opposing Palestinian factions. Iran has been blamed for a number of assassinations and terrorist attacks in the region, including the 1996 bombing of Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia that killed 19 U.S. service members.

Passions have been further inflamed by Iran's nuclear development program, which the West and Saudi Arabia say is aimed at producing nuclear weapons. Tehran says the program is for civilian and medical purposes and says Saudi Arabia is part of a conspiracy to contain Iran. A unified front against Iran would also repair U.S.-Saudi relations, which have been strained by Washington's support for pro-democracy movements across the region.

Political analyst Khouri and others doubt that Iran was behind the latest assassination attempt.

"If the Iranians were involved in this kind of plot, I don't think they'd chose this kind of guy to do it," Khouri said by telephone from the United States. "They're much more professional."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-saudi-iran-tensions-20111013,0,6281197,print.story

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U.S. ups pressure on Iran over alleged plot to kill Saudi envoy

Top officials, including Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and White House Press Secretary Jay Carney, lashed out at Iran, pledging that the United States would increase its efforts to isolate the country, already the target of economic sanctions in connection with its nuclear weapons policy.

As it has before, the White House insisted that no options were off the table in dealing with Iran, which Carney accused of "a dangerous escalation of the long-standing use of violence."

On Tuesday, U.S. officials announced they had foiled a plot to assassinate Saudi ambassador Adel Al-Jubeir. Two men, including a member of the Iranian special foreign actions unit known as the Quds Force, were charged in New York federal court with conspiring to kill the diplomat.

Manssor Arbabsiar, an Iranian American, is in custody; the whereabouts of the other man are unknown, officials said. Arbabsiar, who lives in Texas, traveled to Mexico, where he tried to hire a purported member of a Mexican drug cartel to carry out the assassination with a bomb attack at one of the ambassador's favorite restaurants in Washington, according to U.S. officials.

In addition to the criminal charges, the U.S. announced sanctions against five people, including two described as senior officials of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, who were accused of overseeing the alleged plot. Iran has called the charges a "fabrication."

Carney said he could not answer questions about details of the alleged plot, but he left no doubt about the target of the administration's anger.

“Clearly, senior levels of the Quds Force were engaged in the plotting,” Carney said at a televised briefing. “We will hold Iran accountable for its actions here.”

Carney said the United States would work bilaterally and through international institutions such as the United Nations "to continue to isolate Iran." Those steps will likely include additional sanctions. Carney said such sanctions have already been working to weaken Iran's economy but that no options were being ruled out in dealing with this latest incident, a repetition of the longtime U.S. position that it would consider any step to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons.

"Diplomats are concerned with a flagrant violation of international law," Carney said. "We don't believe we will have any difficulty in persuading other nations that this is a very, very serious matter."

Carney's comments closely tracked those of Biden and Clinton earlier in the day, as the Obama administration seized on the alleged plot to further its preexisting policy to isolate Iran.

"It is an outrageous act, where the Iranians are going to have to be held accountable," Biden said on ABC's "Good Morning America."

"It's an outrage that violates one of the fundamental premises upon which nations deal with one another, and that is the sanctity and safety of their diplomats," he said.

Speaking in Washington, Clinton urged other nations to join in condemning Iran.

"This kind of reckless act undermines international norms and the international system. Iran must be held accountable for its actions," she said in televised comments.

"We will work closely with our international partners to increase Iran's isolation and the pressure on its government, and we call upon other nations to join us in condemning this threat to international peace and security," she said.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/nationnow/

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Gunman kills 8 at Seal Beach salon

A suspect is arrested. A custody dispute is blamed in the worst mass killing in county history

by Tony Barboza, Louis Sahagun and Nicole Santa Cruz, Los Angeles Times

October 12, 2011

A gunman apparently enraged over a custody dispute walked into a crowded Seal Beach hair salon where his former wife worked and opened fire, killing eight people and critically wounding another person in the deadliest shooting in Orange County history.

The attacker sprayed Salon Meritage with gunfire Wednesday afternoon as victims fell to the floor and those who could escape ran onto the street or hid in neighboring businesses in the bustling area of trendy restaurants and shops along Pacific Coast Highway, authorities and witnesses said. The gunman continued firing outside, where he shot one man who apparently tried to flee in a Range Rover.

Photos: Seal Beach shooting

"He just didn't stop. Anybody he saw he was shooting," said an Anaheim woman who was in a stylist's chair when the gunman began firing. "It went boom, boom, boom. I was afraid he was going to shoot everybody."

An officer saw the suspect leaving the area as police responded to reports of the gunfire. The man was arrested about half a mile away and was the sole suspect in the rampage, authorities said.

Police on Wednesday night had not released the alleged gunman's name or the identities of the victims, nor had they established a motive. But friends and witnesses who knew the salon employees said the alleged gunman was Scott Dekraai and he appeared to be targeting his former wife, who was a stylist at Salon Meritage. They said the couple had been involved in a bitter custody dispute involving their son.

The midafternoon rampage stunned the normally placid beach community. Just one homicide had been reported in the city in the last five years, authorities said.

"A crime of this magnitude is not something Seal Beach is familiar with," Seal Beach Police Sgt. Steve Bowles said. "This could be one of our greatest tragedies."

Six people were pronounced dead at the scene. Three others were taken to the trauma center at Long Beach Memorial Hospital, where two later died, police said. All the victims were adults.

One of those slain was salon owner Randy Fannin, according to niece Tami Scarcella.

Dekraai, 41, allegedly stormed into the salon about 1:30 p.m. and appeared to be looking for his former wife, Michelle Fournier, according to friends and witnesses. Dekraai is a resident of Huntington Beach. It was unclear whether Fournier was among those killed.

According to Los Angeles County Superior Court documents, Dekraai initiated a divorce case in 2007 against Fournier, whose last name was then Dekraai, court spokeswoman Mary Hearn said. A judge ruled that all contact between the couple had to be via text or email, except for a 10-minute phone call once a week to discuss their child's education and well-being.

At the time of the court dispute, Hearn said, it appeared that Dekraai was awarded custody and Fournier had to comply with several conditions to see the child, such as to not consume alcohol 24 hours before visiting. In August 2010, the case was transferred to Orange County Superior Court at Dekraai's request, according to Hearn.

Fournier always seemed to be in a great mood and enjoyed her children, said Judy Rodriguez Watson, co-owner of the Bay City Center where the salon is located. "She was a sweet, sweet, loving happy mama," Watson said. "She was always showing off photos of her kids."

She said she believes Fournier has three sons.

Outside the salon, which was cordoned off with yellow crime scene tape, witnesses described a chaotic scene in which multiple rounds were fired inside the business and in the parking lot. Kimberly Criswell, who owns a neighboring salon, said at least two shots were fired in front of her business as the attacker shot at the man in the Range Rover.

"My receptionist looked outside and yelled, 'He just shot that man!'" Criswell said.

The gunshots, said Riley Riggs, 27, were followed by several minutes of "eerie silence."

"I could still smell gunpowder in the air," said Riggs, a San Luis Obispo resident who was staying at the Pacific Inn, across the street from the center.

Then a man yelled at arriving police officers, pointing toward the gunman down the street. "He's in a white truck! He's in a white truck! That way, that way!" Riggs recalled the man shouting.

As investigators gathered evidence at the white and green, two-level complex, workers from neighboring businesses gathered beyond the crime tape. Some shook their heads and cried as they remembered friends caught in the gunfire.

"This is a shock to the whole community," said Dion Martini, a manicurist at a nearby salon on Main Street. "All of us around here have worked together at one time or another.

"I just can't imagine anybody being that sick to go in and do that to anybody."

Friends remembered Salon Meritage owner Fannin, who was about 6 feet tall with a dash of gray in his black hair, as a man who fostered a family-like environment in his small business. Workers celebrated Christmas together and enjoyed birthday parties.

"He was precious," said Lydia Sosa, a former employee. "He was, like, the most wonderful man you'll ever meet."

Outside Dekraai's Huntington Beach home Wednesday evening, an American flag was flying and a basketball hoop marked the spot where neighbors said the father often played with his son.

The light-blue home was cordoned off by police tape as detectives searched the residence.

Christa Andrews, a 30-year-old homemaker with three children who lives down the street, said Dekraai moved in about two years ago. He told her that he had been in the military, and that a leg injury caused him to limp. He also mentioned that he had been going through a rough patch with his wife.

Andrews said Dekraai played soccer and rode bikes with the boy, who appeared to be about 7 years old. The family had a dog named Conway.

Patty Roach, a hairstylist who has lived in the neighborhood for 25 years, said Dekraai seemed at home in the unassuming community where middle-class families raise their children.

Her husband, Roach said, could not believe what had happened. She said he kept saying: "There's no way it could have been him."

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-1013-seal-beach-shooting-20111013,0,581853,print.story

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30 jailers punished for inmate beatings, report says

Sheriff's Department watchdog releases study on inmate abuse. Sheriff Baca plans to install more video cameras in jail to document misconduct.

by Jack Leonard and Robert Faturechi

Los Angeles Times

October 13, 2011

In the last two years, Los Angeles County sheriff's officials have disciplined more than 30 jail employees for beating inmates or covering up the abuse, according to a report from the agency's watchdog obtained by The Times.

Other deputies "get away" with unnecessary force against inmates because "they craft a story of justification … which may be impossible to disprove," according to the report by the Office of Independent Review, which monitors discipline in the Sheriff's Department.

The report comes in response to growing allegations of inmate abuse inside the nation's largest jail system and has been released as the FBI investigates several cases of potentially criminal misconduct by deputies.

Full coverage: Jails under scrutiny

The report documents a dozen cases in which deputies were either fired or suspended in connection with inmate beatings. But those who were punished may be only a fraction of those who actually used excessive force. Investigations into excessive force, especially those that involve relatively minor injuries to an inmate, can be "lackluster, sometimes slanted and insufficiently thorough," the report said.

The report by Michael Gennaco, who heads the Office of Independent Review, is expected to be made public Thursday. But even as the watchdog circulated his findings, department officials revealed Wednesday that several more deputies not mentioned in Gennaco's report had just been disciplined in connection with the beating of an inmate.

In that case, an inmate who was concealing a makeshift knife in his rectum refused to be X-rayed. A sergeant instructed the deputies to handcuff the man to a bench while the sergeant went to consult with a supervisor. The deputies instead took him to a clinic inside Men's Central Jail.

Gennaco, in an interview with The Times, said the deputies told the inmate that they had plans to put a bucket under him and "wait for nature to take its course." The inmate allegedly took a swing at the deputies. After a short struggle, the deputies took the inmate to the ground, where he was punched, kicked, pepper-sprayed and kneed.

Footage captured by a camera attached to a deputy's stun gun showed that the inmate was on his stomach, "with no evidence of resistance or movement, but the Taser is applied anyway," Gennaco said. The stun gun was used a second time, and the footage again showed no resistance.

"The deputies wrote in their report that the reason the Taser was used is because the inmate was trying to crawl away," Gennaco said. The footage disputed that, he said. One deputy was fired and three were suspended. The sheriff's internal investigation into the 2010 incident will be forwarded to prosecutors for possible criminal charges.

Gennaco's report to county officials described similar accounts of abuse. It catalogs a variety of factors that contribute to deputies using excessive force. Many of the 3,500 deputies working in custody facilities are newly hired and face the prospect of violence from inmates who have long criminal histories. Deputies are expected to use force to protect their colleagues and vulnerable inmates.

However, while most deputies complete their jail tours without engaging in misconduct, the environment "may tempt an ungrounded deputy to inflict unnecessary harassment or violence on an inmate who is not a threat but is simply giving him a difficult time," the report said.

Attempts to prove misconduct are often thwarted by deputies and inmates who have incentives to lie and a lack of physical evidence to support conflicting accounts of what happened, underscoring the need for more surveillance cameras in the jails, the report said.

In some of the disciplinary cases in which video footage was available, the cameras provided evidence of excessive force that would not otherwise have been provable. Sheriff Lee Baca told The Times that he planned to install 69 cameras inside the Men's Central Jail by the end of the year. Gennaco wrote that he was "heartened by the apparent activation of a too-long delayed plan."

The report is at times critical of the department's handling of abuse allegations and comes days after Gennaco drew fire from county Supervisors Zev Yaroslavsky and Gloria Molina, who questioned his independence.

The report said department investigators who examined minor force incidents sometimes failed to interview all potential witnesses or to look at medical records of an injured inmate.

Among the cases highlighted in Gennaco's report was an incident in which a deputy thought he heard an inmate mumble something disrespectful and began punching the inmate in the head and neck. The deputy initially ignored a sergeant who witnessed the "unprovoked attack" and screamed for him to stop hitting the inmate. The department fired the deputy and suspended his partner for not telling the truth about the incident.

In another case, a deputy and a custody assistant entered the cell of a mentally ill inmate and struck him in the head with their flashlights. When they realized later that he was bleeding, they did not seek medical help. Instead, the custody assistant gave the inmate towels to clean up the blood in his cell. The injuries and the alleged attack were discovered and treated only when a deputy on the next shift noticed them.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-jails-brutality-report-20111013,0,5511010,print.story

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Documents subpoenaed from Atty. Gen. Holder in 'Fast and Furious' probe

The Republican chairman of the House oversight committee contends Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. knew more about the failed ATF gun-tracking operation than he has admitted.

by Lisa Mascaro, Washington Bureau

October 12, 2011

Reporting from Washington

A leading House Republican investigating the ATF operation dubbed Fast and Furious subpoenaed documents from Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. on Wednesday, escalating the confrontation over the botched gun-tracing program.

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, issued a far-ranging subpoena seeking all communications between Holder, his deputies and the White House in connection with the now-defunct operation run by the Phoenix field office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Issa contends the attorney general knew more about the operation than he has told congressional investigators. Holder strongly denies that.

Full coverage: ATF's Fast and Furious scandal

Fast and Furious, started in 2009, ended in January. ATF agents allowed illegal "straw" buyers to purchase more than 2,000 firearms, expecting to track them to drug cartel leaders in Mexico. But many of the guns vanished, only for some to turn up at crime scenes on both sides of the border. The Mexican government says the weapons have been found at about 170 crime scenes there. And two were found in Arizona where a Border Patrol agent was shot to death.

"It's time we know the whole truth," Issa said in a statement. "The documents this subpoena demands will provide answers to questions that Justice officials have tried to avoid since this investigation began eight months ago."

The top Democrat on the committee, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings of Maryland, called the 22-point subpoena a "fishing expedition" that seeks tens of thousands of pages of sensitive national security materials beyond the scope of Fast and Furious.

"Rather than legitimate fact-gathering, this looks more like a political stunt," Cummings said.

The Justice Department said it had been providing Issa's committee with documents and information about the operation and would continue to do so.

"We've made clear from the beginning that the department intends to work with the committee to answer legitimate questions," Justice Department spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler said. "However, this subpoena shows that Chairman Issa is more interested in generating headlines than in real oversight important to the American people."

Issa and Sen. Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, have been investigating Fast and Furious as GOP lawmakers have intensified criticism of Holder's role. Holder has said he did not know the scope or details of the operation until it became public this year.

President Obama defended Holder last week, saying neither he nor his attorney general knew federal authorities were allowing illegal gun sales.

Also last week, Holder issued a sternly worded rebuke to allegations that he was misleading Congress. After Republican Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona suggested the administration was an accessory to the crimes that have been committed with the lost guns, Holder said such "irresponsible and inflammatory rhetoric" could not go unchecked.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-atf-guns-20111013,0,2498606,print.story

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Texas man jailed 25 years for murder is exonerated

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Wednesday declared Michael Morton innocent of killing his wife, Christine, according to Paul Cates, a spokesman for the New York-based Innocence Project, which represented Morton in appealing his conviction. The ruling makes Morton eligible to receive $80,000 from the state for each year he was wrongfully imprisoned, about $2 million total.

Morton, 57, an Austin grocery store worker, had been convicted of beating his wife to death and sentenced to life in prison, although he maintained his innocence, blaming an intruder.

Cates told The Times that the Innocence Project is now working with the Williamson County district attorney's office, which prosecuted Morton, to investigate allegations that prosecutors suppressed evidence that could have cleared Morton early on, including evidence showing someone cashed one of his wife's checks and used her credit card after he was imprisoned.

"We want to get to the bottom of why this wasn't turned over so it won't happen again," Cates said.

Williamson County Dist. Atty. John Bradley told the Austin American-Statesman on Wednesday that he will not file new charges against Morton. Bradley could not be reached for comment at his office north of Austin late Wednesday.

Morton remains on parole and won't be allowed to leave Texas until the appeals court's ruling takes effect in 30 days, Cates said.

Morton has been staying with his parents in East Texas since his release. Nina Morrison, an Innocence Project lawyer, told The Times that she called Morton on Wednesday to tell him about the ruling.

"He's thrilled and relieved and looking forward to the next chapter in his life, but also still determined to get to the bottom of how and why he was wrongfully convicted in the first place and make sure it doesn't happen to anyone else," Morrison said. "There's still a lot of unanswered questions and he very much wants answers."

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/nationnow/2011/10/texas-man-jailed-for-25-years-exonerated.html#more

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John Wayne Gacy victims unearthed in bid to identify them

But many of his victims were never identified, something that has always troubled law enforcement officers as well as families who have long wondered whether their missing loved one fell prey to Gacy.

Now, in a bid to provide answers for all involved, the remains of several of Gacy's unidentified victims are being exhumed and subjected to cutting-edge DNA technology. Such tests weren't available back in the 1970s when Gacy was roaming the streets in and around Chicago looking for his next victim.

Relatives of young men who disappeared in the 1970s -- up until Gacy's 1978 arrest -- are urged to come forward and undergo a saliva test to help determine any DNA link to the skeletal remains found buried on Gacy's property or stowed in a crawl space in his Chicago-area home.

Authorities say it could help bring some finality to one of the worst serial killer cases on record. Gacy's case is responsible for helping to make the word "crawl space" a creepy term, and turning clowns into the stuff of nightmares.

Gacy was ultimately convicted of 33 murders. He was executed in 1994.

"Thank God for DNA. Now we can know with some real certainty," Clyde Snow, a forensic anthropologist who worked as a consultant to the Cook County medical examiner's office on the Gacy case, told the Chicago Tribune.

Detectives told the Associated Press that the passage of time might actually work in their favor: Some families who never reported the victims missing and never searched for them could be willing to do so now, a generation after Gacy's homosexuality and pattern of preying on vulnerable teens were splashed across newspapers all over the world.

"I'm hoping the stigma has lessened, that people can put family disagreements and biases against sexual orientation [and] drug use behind them to give these victims a name," Det. Jason Moran told the wire service.

In particular, there are eight unidentified bodies that authorities hope to give name to. But there's someone else looking for answers too: Sherry Marino. Her son Michael was labeled "body No. 14" among the skeletal remains found at Gacy's home. But a few things have always nagged at her, she told the Tribune. For one, the body was dressed in unfamiliar clothing. And it took examiners 18 months to identify him using dental records, a time lapse that Marino has always found odd.

Now, she is working with law enforcement officials to get some answers and is in the process of exhuming the body identified as her son, who had dreamed of becoming a musician when he grew up. He was 14 when he vanished.

"Mrs. Marino has been waiting some 35 years to finally determine whether this is in fact her son," her attorney Steven Becker told the Tribune.

And she's holding out for any shred of hope, Becker said, that authorities were mistaken and that her son might still be alive.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/nationnow/2011/10/john-wayne-gacy-victims-unearthed-in-bid-to-id-them.html#more

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