Sex offender charged in Justin Bloxom's death 3/30/10 Stonewall, LA

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http://www.ksla.com/Global/story.asp?S=12248486
(Video at link)
Statement from Kevin Horn; DeSoto murder suspect's brother
April 2, 2010

"I want to first start by saying on behalf of myself and my family we are deeply sorry for Justin Bloxom's death.

This has been the hardest thing my family and I have had to deal with, but I know it in no way compares to the pain that the Bloxom family is feeling. I'm not asking for sympathy from anyone. I just want the Bloxom family to realize my family and I are trying to do the right thing.

My family and I have deepest sorrow for Justin and his loved ones.

I, Kevin Horn, brought my brother to DeSoto Parish Sheriff's Substation immediately after finding out that Brian was the prime suspect in this heinous crime. Brian will not find any support from us because we do not condone a murderer.

My family and I have been thrown into this nightmare and do not want to believe that this is true, but unfortunately we have to deal with the facts that are in front of us.

Please do not judge our family as we are the ones that brought Brian in and are in no way trying to protect him from justice. He chose his life and now he must pay for the crime he committed."

 

Sincerely:

Kevin Horn

wow! super respect shouted your way Kevin Horn! more families should do what you have done when they know that a family member has harmed or murdered someone else...hats off to you sir!

[MuffyBee]

http://www.ktbs.com/news/classmates-honor-slain-student/
Classmates honor slain student
Tuesday, April 6, 2010

STONEWALL --  North DeSoto elementary, middle and high school students returned to classes Tuesday for the first time since their schoolmates, Justin Bloxom, was murdered last week.
 
 Students shared their memories of Justin, 12, and voiced their support for his family.

 At the end of their tribute, students released balloons containing messages and prayers into the sky as a visual expression of their silent prayers.

 The school has been on spring break. Justin was spending the night with a friend when DeSoto Parish sheriff's investigators believe he was lured outside by a man pretending to be a young girl. A convicted sex offender, Brian Horn, has been arrested.

 "We thought about the good memories that he left us and we began to consider what kind of memories are we going to leave others," Principal Keith Simmons told students during an assembly at the football stadium.

[Nut44x4]

 Monday, April 12, 2010
Grand jury hears evidence today in Justin Bloxom homicide case

MANSFIELD — A DeSoto grand jury is expected today to indict a Keachi man in connection with the March 30 death of a 12-year-old Stonewall boy.

And if that happens, District Attorney Richard Johnson is prepared to shave some time off of what can be a lengthy court process by immediately having Brian Douglas Horn, 34, arraigned. Then he'll file a notice of his intent to seek the death penalty.

That all depends upon the grand jury agreeing to upgrade the charge against Horn from second-degree to first-degree murder. Horn has been jailed since his arrest within hours of the discovery of Justin M. Bloxom's body.

The lesser charge initially was appropriate, Johnson said last week. But more evidence firmed up as the investigation progressed supports first-degree murder, he added.

Authorities believe kidnapping became an element of the crime when Horn used false pretenses to get Bloxom into his cab and drive away with him.

DeSoto Parish Sheriff Rodney Arbuckle said Horn pretended to be a young girl and sent cell phone text messages to Bloxom. The "girl" told Bloxom she would send a cab to pick him up so they could meet.

However, it was Horn, a registered sex offender with prior convictions involving offenses with underage girls, driving the Action Taxi cab. Sightings of that cab in the Stonewall area early on the morning of March 30 prompted a search of an area alongside of U.S. Highway 171 within a few hours of Bloxom being reported missing. Bloxom's body was found in a pool of water in a wooded area off the highway.

Horn surrendered to DeSoto sheriff's authorities after his brother took him to the Stonewall substation.

Horn, who is held without bond, is being represented by the Capital Assistance Project of Louisiana, Inc.

"I think the family deserves a fast and speedy trial," Johnson said.

Just how fast it can progress will be up to the DeSoto judge who is assigned the case. But by arraigning Horn today instead of waiting for the May arraignment date will save some time.

"And by setting a timeline for all pretrial motions to be filed will fast-track it also," Johnson said.

The grand jury convenes at 9:30 a.m.
http://www.shreveporttimes.com/article/20100412/NEWS03/4120314/Grand-jury-hears-evidence-today-in-Justin-Bloxom-homicide-case

[Nut44x4]

Justin Bloxum bill passes Senate committee to restrict sex offender employment

May 20, 1:08 PM
Shreveport Headlines Examiner
It has been only 3 shorts months since Justin Bloxum was kidnapped and murdered. Police say, Brian Douglas Horn lured Justin to his death after he met him on Facebook.

This week a bill that would restrict employment opportunities of registered sex offenders crossed its first hurdle Tuesday with favorable support from a Senate committee.

Senate Bill 789, co-authored by Sen. Sherri Cheek, R-Shreveport, and Rep. Richard Burford, R-Stonewall, would prohibit registered sex offenders from driving taxicabs, limousines and buses. It also would make service-type jobs, where entry would be required into residences, and carnival rides off-limits.

Cheek refers to the bill as the Justin Bloxom Bill in memory of the 12-year-old Stonewall boy who was killed March 30. Brian Douglas Horn, a registered sex offender with two prior convictions involving sexual activity with juveniles, is charged in Bloxom’s death.

Seated near Bloxom’s mother, Amy Bloxom, and the boy’s grandparents, Don and Madelyn Witham, Cheek told Senate Judiciary Committee members the bill is a work in progress with more amendments to be added before its introduction next week on the floor of the House of Representatives. Changes are being made with input from district attorneys and the attorney general’s office to ensure the proposed law is “workable and enforceable.”

Amy Bloxom did not address the committee.

“He was an honor student, played on the junior varsity team. He was full of promise,” Cheek said of Justin Bloxom as she “put a face” on the North DeSoto Middle School seventh-grader for the committee members. “Justin was killed by a predatory monster, a registered sex offender. ” It hit home; it’s very personal.”

Justin Bloxom’s family realizes the legislation won’t bring him back, but it will be a step in “this not happening to another child,” Cheek said.

DeSoto Parish Sheriff Rodney Arbuckle reviewed some of the background of the case, telling committee members the suspect, Horn, who worked for Action Taxi in Bossier City, used a cell phone and posed as “Amanda,” a teenage girl, as he talked via cell phone text messages with Justin Bloxom.

Horn, 34, of Keachi, got a list of phone numbers from a friend of his step-daughter, Arbuckle said. Horn’s conversation with Justin Bloxom was tracked through text messages, including the plan for “Amanda” to send a taxicab to pick up Justin Bloxom from a friend’s house.

“When the cab arrived, Justin had no reason to doubt that he was doing what Amanda told him to do,” Arbuckle said. “Justin got in the cab, and that’s the last ride he ever took.”
Bloxom’s body was discovered in a shallow pool of water beyond a fence line off of U.S. Highway 171, just south of the Stonewall corporate limits, a few hours after he was reported missing. Horn became a suspect when investigators learned his taxi, which ran out of gas, was sitting in the same vicinity within a short time span of Juston Bloxom’s disappearance.

As part of the ongoing investigation, Horn’s brother-in-law was interviewed and he shared a conversation he had with Horn about committing crimes. Horn said using a taxicab would be a good way to commit a crime and go unnoticed, Arbuckle said.

“We believe his sole purpose to take a job with this taxicab was to commit a crime of violence against a child,” Arbuckle added.

Committee chairwoman Sen. Yvonne Dorsey, D-Baton rouge, wiped tears from her eyes as she accepted a motion from Sen. Robert Adley, R-Benton, to move the bill forward as amended.

“We have other prohibitions we plan to put in but we have to define what they are,” Cheek said in a separate interview.

http://www.lindenhurststrangerdanger.com/?p=67