Missing Donna Jou, 19 , San Diego State U Student 6/23/07

[IBE]

Bearlyhere

You look so cute with you angel and dog!

Anyone have info on the April 1 hearing? I can't find info anywhere on  the internet, so far. TIA

[MuffyBee]

Bearlyhere

You look so cute with you angel and dog!

Anyone have info on the April 1 hearing? I can't find info anywhere on  the internet, so far. TIA

I've been searching too, IBE and haven't found anything.  If I do, I will surely post it.  Thank you for all you do IBE.

[IBE]

MuffyBee

TIA

[Bearlyhere]

Bearlyhere

You look so cute with you angel and dog!

Anyone have info on the April 1 hearing? I can't find info anywhere on  the internet, so far. TIA

Thanks, IBE!!!

I am still praying for Donna, her family, her loved ones, and IBE.

[Nut44x4]

Guilty plea in case of missing San Diego studentWed May 6, 3:01 pm ET
LOS ANGELES – A convicted sex offender has pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in connection with the 2007 disappearance of a San Diego State University student whose body has never been found.

John Steven Burgess entered his guilty plea Wednesday in a Los Angeles courtroom and will be sentenced May 18. Prosecutors say the 36-year-old could face five years in prison.

Authorities believe Burgess met Donna Jou, then 19, through an online ad, and the two attended a party where he gave her heroin and cocaine.

Investigators say Burgess told them he panicked after Jou died of an accidental overdose and dumped her body in the ocean.

Burgess just finished a three-year prison sentence for failing to register as a sex offender.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090506/ap_on_re_us/missing_student

[klaasend]

Guilty plea in case of missing San Diego studentWed May 6, 3:01 pm ET
LOS ANGELES – A convicted sex offender has pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in connection with the 2007 disappearance of a San Diego State University student whose body has never been found.

John Steven Burgess entered his guilty plea Wednesday in a Los Angeles courtroom and will be sentenced May 18. Prosecutors say the 36-year-old could face five years in prison.

Authorities believe Burgess met Donna Jou, then 19, through an online ad, and the two attended a party where he gave her heroin and cocaine.

Investigators say Burgess told them he panicked after Jou died of an accidental overdose and dumped her body in the ocean.

Burgess just finished a three-year prison sentence for failing to register as a sex offender.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090506/ap_on_re_us/missing_student

I suppose he thinks he'll get off because it was an accident?

[Nut44x4]

SoCal Sex Offender: "I Gave Her to the Sea"
 
Updated 1:27 PM PDT, Wed, May 6, 2009
A convicted sex offender pleaded guilty Wednesday to involuntary manslaughter and concealment of an accidental death in connection with the June 2007 disappearance of a 19-year-old Orange County woman.

John Steven Burgess -- who is scheduled to meet privately Thursday with the victim's family to discuss her death -- is due back in Los Angeles Superior Court on May 18 for sentencing. He is facing a five-year state prison term.

The plea was in connection with the disappearance of Donna Jou, who was an honors student at San Diego State University. Burgess was charged in March in the Jou case.

When asked by Deputy District Attorney David Walgren to describe the circumstances of Jou's death, the 36-year-old defendant said he answered an advertisement she placed on craigslist.com and brought her to his Palms area house, where there was alcohol and drugs, including marijuana, cocaine and heroin.

"I gave her some," Burgess said, as the victim's family sat two rows behind him in court.

Burgess said he awoke in the morning and "she was gone... she was dead."

"I just, I panicked and got scared and... I made a really bad decision. And I went down to my sailboat and I just, I gave her to the sea," he said.

"Did you put her body in the ocean?" the prosecutor asked.

"Yes, sir," Burgess responded.

The deputy district attorney noted that Burgess had gone with him and detectives to the marina to try to find the young woman's body.

When asked if he would meet privately with Jou's family to answer their questions, Burgess responded, "Absolutely."

Outside court, attorney Gloria Allred said the woman's parents, Reza and Nili, are "very relieved that Mr. Burgess has admitted his role in the death of their beloved daughter" and are going to have "an extraordinary opportunity to have a conversation with him to ask him any and all questions that they may have of him in reference to what happened and what his role was."

Allred noted that the woman's parents are hopeful that her body -- which has not yet been found -- will be recovered some day so they can bury her remains.

"I miss her so much. I am very devastated. I love my daughter very much. The system is using a criminal's statement as a sole source of information," Jou's father, Reza, said outside court, as her mother wept.

Burgess was charged March 17 in connection with the Rancho Santa Margarita woman's death -- just days before he was to be released from prison for failing to register as a sex offender.

Two other charges filed against Burgess in March -- one felony count each of sale, transportation or offer to sell heroin and sale, transportation or offer to sell cocaine -- are expected to be dismissed when he is sentenced.

At a news conference hours after the charges were filed, Los Angeles police Deputy Chief Charlie Beck said he believed Donna Jou probably died of a drug overdose and was dumped into the ocean somewhere off the Southern
California coast.
 
Detectives said Burgess gave Jou heroin and cocaine before she passed out while seated in a chair in Burgess' bedroom.

"A lot of people at the party corroborated it," Los Angeles police Detective Ron Ito said in March.
http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/SoCal-Sex-Offender-I-Gave-Her-to-the-Sea.html

[IBE]

Detectives said Burgess gave Jou heroin and cocaine before she passed out while seated in a chair in Burgess' bedroom.

"A lot of people at the party corroborated it," Los Angeles police Detective Ron Ito said in March.




IMO so noone called 911. They all should be charged and the powers that be know who they are. IMO don't wish their karma.

So the family will meet Burgess in a situation that all are arranging so there is no possibility of a hostage situation.

His jail time is very, very short! Could we stop saying "overdosed" and say "killed" or "died by him giving her drugs"?

[IBE]

quote from newspaper article:
   Two other charges filed against Burgess in March -- one felony count each of sale, transportation or offer to sell heroin and sale, transportation or offer to sell cocaine -- are expected to be dismissed when he is sentenced.


Yippee, everyone come to LA County and cut a deal!

Why will this be dismissed? Why? Why?

Did the ships who searched have the most up-to-date equipment? Was TES here as rumored that the LAPD invited them to search in the ocean, finally?

Burgess and those who were there, keep looking over your shoulders. Karma is following you, IMO

This whole thing is sickening! God Bless Donna and her family.


So for ponder, did he provide the drugs for the rest at the party and that is why they didn't call 911? Too bombed out to save a live.

My late mom used to tell me that retribution will take care of itself in its own time. This will be interesting.

[IBE]

IMO Burgess requested the meeting with the family. I have this from a primary source.

[klaasend]

IMO Burgess requested the meeting with the family. I have this from a primary source.

IBE  - I don't know if I were Donna's family if I could face him.  He's going to end up with only 5 years for what he did.  It's just not fair.

[IBE]

I agree Klaas!

It is not fair!

When I was posting my last post about Karma and retribution, a big wind blast came and made both the front door and the back door pop open. I thought I had had the dead bolt on, but I guess not. With that I took a walk, and watered the flowers.

I feel so sorry for the suffering of Donna, her family, friends and Good Monkeys here who cared!

I am angry, also at the system.

[IBE]

I have a Summons for Jury Service at the same building in which this took place today. It says I can get up to 4 years in state prison for a felony of perjury ie: lying on this summons.

He gets 5 years, and no time for selling, buying, and giving crack and the other drug mixed in a needle, he will probably be out in 2 1/2 years.

You all, come to LA County (Beverly Hills Hillbillies series music in the background) you all come, ya here?

Easy sentencing.

Why, if it is true about the overdose being given, and she passed out, why didn't someone call 911?

Like the givee... Burgess and others or was he alone with her when it happened and did nothing also?

He panicked because he was an unregister sex offender??? He sure stayed in town for awhile, even maybe to post a picture online June 26th (see a few pages back)

I believe in my byline below

[Anna]

IBE,
I know you are upset at this deal he has cut but you did all you could to help this family. 

Now at least they know who, when, where and how their daughter died and where she was likely placed, approximately.  And others at the party more or less confirmed this so there is some element of truth to it.

Five years can be a lifetime under the right/worst circumstances and he may well suffer more in that length of time than more time with better karma, if you know what I mean.

No, this is not perfect nor what you wanted but it sure is better than not knowing for those parents.  At least they have some information to work with and from the source and others.

And you did what you could to help them.

So while not perfect, it's still better than so many parents have in the end, not even knowing what happened or when or even if about their missing.

And maybe just maybe at that meeting the parents will find some sort of sense of what did happen and a peace of mind in at least knowing that.  It's better than not ever knowing at all as so often happens.

I think after a little time has passed and the shock of his deal sinks in, you are going to feel a little better about this.  If it's his karma, bad things happen in prison and can in a short period of time, too.  While this is not true justice, it's at least a little bit of justice.

And I know it has meant the world to her parents that you helped and cared as you did.  Made their burden lighter.  You did all you could.  And this is not what you would want but it is sure better than nothing at all.

HUGS!

Anna

[Nut44x4]

Thursday, May 7, 2009
Parents meet with man who dumped daughter's body
The 19-year-old from Rancho Santa Margarita was last seen in June 2007.

LOS ANGELES – The parents of Donna Jou, a 19-year-old Rancho Santa Margarita woman who disappeared nearly two years ago, finally got a chance Thursday to talk to the man who says he dumped her body at sea after she took drugs and died at his house.

Jou's parents, Reza and Nili Jou, met with Burgess on Thursday in an attempt to get some of their questions answered. The meeting took place at Parker Center, the Los Angeles Police Department headquarters. The Jous' attorney, Gloria Allred, and LAPD detectives were also in the room when the meeting took place, Allred said.

After the meeting, the couple were visibly upset. They took a few minutes to compose themselves in the Parker Center lobby before emerging to speak to the news media.

"Some of our question has been answered," said Reza Jou. "But we must find my child. We are not going to give up until we find Donna."

"Why? Why? Why? When he knows that she's only 19 years old," said Nili Jou. "I have so many whys unanswered. All my whys, nobody can answer my whys. Why did this happen to my baby?"

Nili Jou said that Burgess had apologized to them. "He knew what was the right thing to do when he found her, but chose not to do the right thing. He said that he's sorry. How sincere, I don't know."

The couple showed Burgess photos of their daughter from a red album.

"We wanted him to see that this was a human being who is part of a family," Allred said. "This was a human being, not a piece of garbage that you throw in the ocean."

According to Allred, Burgess gave the couple the following account:

He liked to have parties at his house and somebody told him it would be good if he got more girls to come. He saw Jou's ad and invited her to a party, and she said she'd be interested.

He picked her up on his motorcycle and drove her to his house, which was two hours away in Los Angeles.

They were listening to music. More people arrived. There were some drugs at the party that Jou apparently used, Allred said, citing Burgess.

He said he did not force her to take drugs. It was a long way back to Orange County, so she decided to spend the night and she went to sleep, Allred continued, citing Burgess's account.

He said Jou went to sleep in a chair. About 6:30 or 7 a.m., he woke up and felt for her pulse, according to Allred.

"She was, in his words, gone," Allred said.

He did not attempt CPR. He thought about what to do.

At one point, he put the body in the bed of his truck, drove to Jou's family's house and was going to give her body back to her mother, Allred said.

But he had second thoughts and ultimately put a sheet over her, put her in a duffel bag, put her in his sailboat, sailed out and put her in the ocean, he told the couple, according to Allred.

Burgess said he'd been wanting to tell the truth for a long time, but his lawyer had told him not to talk, Allred said.

He said when he put Jou's body into ocean, he was crying and very emotional. He jumped into the water thinking he would kill himself but got back into boat and went to shore, Allred said.

He said he was like a zombie for days afterward, but he was afraid that people would say that he killed her, so he painted his car black and went home to Florida, Allred said.

He told his mother some of what had happened but not everything, and she told him to get a lawyer, according to Allred.

"I cannot tell you if I believed him word for word," said Nili Jou.

"This man is a con artist. He's a con man. He'll do anything to get himself off easy," said Reza Jou.

Reza Jou said the couple cannot have closure until his daughter's body is found.

Jou was last seen by family members riding in the back of a motorcycle with Burgess.

After she disappeared, law enforcement from Orange and Los Angeles counties began investigating her disappearance. He was picked up in Florida weeks later and extradited to Los Angeles, but authorities said he refused to speak to investigators about Jou.

Friends and Jou family members attended Burgess' court appearances, holding signs outside the courthouse that read, "Ask Burgess where Donna is." Family members launched a Web site seeking tips from the public to find the 19-year-old student and offered a $15,000 reward for information leading to her location.

But though authorities have conducted several searches, Jou's body has not been found.

Investigators with the Los Angeles Police Department said Jou and Burgess exchanged several e-mails since May 2007 regarding drugs and other topics.

Prosecutors said that in exchange for his plea, drug-related charges against Burgess will be dismissed.

Burgess is expected to be sentenced May 18 to five years in state prison.

"Unfortunately, the law that we have is not sufficient to give him the penalty that he deserves," said Reza Jou, who added he believes Burgess should spend the rest of his life in prison.

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/jou-burgess-allred-2398640-body-put

Mother, Nili Jou, far right, is comforted by attorney Gloria Allred, middle, as father, Reza Jou, the parents of San Diego University student Donna Jou leave a meeting with John Steven Burgess Thursday May 7, 2009 in Los Angeles. The Jous met with Burgess, a convicted sex offender who pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter Wednesday in connection with Donna Jou's death, telling the judge he dumped the 19-year-old's body into the ocean after she overdosed on drugs.

[MuffyBee]

Donna Jou's parents get answers about her death
John Steven Burgess, who has pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter, says he 'gave her to the sea.'
By Paloma Esquivel
9:02 PM PDT, May 7, 2009
It was nearly two years ago that 19-year-old Donna Jou left home with a man she met on the Internet and then disappeared.

For almost two years, her parents believed that John Steven Burgess knew what had happened to their daughter but refused to tell them.
 On Thursday, Jou's parents finally got answers to questions that have haunted them.

Burgess, a convicted sex offender, had pleaded guilty earlier this week to involuntary manslaughter and to concealing Jou's body. He agreed to meet with Jou's parents at Los Angeles Police Department headquarters.

They had little choice but to accept the story he told them about the night she died.

"I have so many whys unanswered," Nili Jou, the missing woman's mother, said as she emerged from the meeting.

Burgess, who recently completed a term for failing to register as a sex offender, has said Jou died after he gave her cocaine, heroin and alcohol at a party at his home in Palms. When he awoke the next morning, Burgess said, she was dead. He said he panicked and used his sailboat to dump her body in the ocean.

His plea bargain calls for five years in state prison; he is to be sentenced May 18.

Authorities, who have declined to specify where Donna Jou's body was dumped, said they have searched the area but found nothing.

For two years, Nili Jou held out hope that her daughter was alive.

On Thursday, she said, Burgess told her, "Don't wait anymore. I gave her to the sea."

According to the parents, Burgess told them he found their daughter dead in a chair the morning after the party. He checked her pulse and when he didn't find one, he panicked. They asked if he administered CPR. He told them he knew she was dead.

Burgess told them he put their daughter's body in the back of his truck and drove to her home to return her to her mother. Then he changed his mind.

He covered her body with a blanket, put it in a bag and drove to the ocean.

Nili Jou opened her album and showed Burgess photos of her daughter -- Donna as a baby, Donna in a feathered hat on Thanksgiving, Donna playing in the park and blowing out a single candle on a cupcake. "He wanted to see more," Nili Jou said.

They spent nearly two hours with the man responsible for their daughter's death but left with little clarity. They said they still don't know if he is telling the truth.

"It's his word," Reza Jou said. "He said that he's sorry. How sincere? I don't know."
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-student-death8-2009may08,0,1336151.story

[Edward]

They had little choice but to accept the story he told them about the night she died.

  He is a liar
That is all I have to say about this..

[Edward]

John Burgess faces a maximum sentence of five years in state prison for involuntary manslaughter and concealing Jou's death, when he is sentenced on May 18.

I bet He is out in 2 years... mo.

[IBE]

Thank you Peaches for posting that. I watched the video.

The mother says that her gut feeling is her daughter is still alive.

I trust mom's instincts first so that being said, we need to look at what gangs into sex trade did Burgess live around?

Kermit, this info may still be value if he lied and didn't put her in the ocean but "traded/sold her".

The 18th street gang is just north of there and then there are the Crips there toward LA

[Bearlyhere]