She Said

Here's what a document examiner I hired (the only one to provide me with a written report) and the attorney she recommended told me.

Update, 3/16/2012: The attorney that wrote the above, Carmen Samaniego, is now running for public office in Bexar County.

They Said

Here's a sample of what a former FBI agent, a former DEA agent, and the lawyer they took me to were telling me. Later (after I fired them), I asked the former FBI document examiner they sent me to for a written report; this is what he told me.

Addresses

This is a page from my 2003 contract with private investigator Ed Hodges. Aside from the fact that he wasn't properly licensed with the State of Texas at the time, it contains other licensing violations as well.
I wonder who these addresses belonged to in June 2003?

A Little Comic Relief

Occasionally my children have school-related activities that result in our driving home rather late at night on back-country roads. Several times when we were heading northwest from Blanco, we noticed a strange glow in the sky that could be seen from miles away and was so striking that it was impossible to miss. Each time when we reached the source, it was the same: an extremely large complex of barns (covering at least an acre and possibly more) that were brilliantly lit from inside, even after midnight.
Eventually, we made a mental note to ourselves about how locate this place in the daytime, and the next time we drove that stretch of road, we did manage to locate the barns. We discovered that they were on what a sign out front said was a "Llama Ranch". We also immediately noticed that there was a private airstrip directly across the road from this complex, a fact which tends to have special meaning to anyone who has lived for any length of time in South or Central Texas.
Later I was surprised to hear that this ranch is owned by a couple I once knew. I particularly remember meeting this couple for the first time years ago when my (now former) in-laws introduced me to them while we were at a local garage; I never forgot this meeting because the wife was wearing sunglasses indoors in a futile attempt to hide an enormous black eye! (I was concerned about her and tried to talk to her alone, but I was prevented from doing this.)
If you attend any of the local parades around here (County Fair, Christmas, July 4th, etc.), you will see llamas paraded up and down Main Street. If you see any of the spectators giggling when they pass, you will know they are "insiders".

Impersonation

When I first hired private investigator Ed Hodges of Arlington, TX in 2003, he insisted I turn over certain items to him because he said they were important pieces of evidence that he needed to examine and turn over to law enforcement. He was very specific about what items he wanted, so I made this list of the items he asked for while talking with him on the phone. A short time later, a man who said he worked for Hodges and had just driven down from Dallas called and asked me to meet him at the Dairy Queen at the I-10/Comfort exit and bring the items with me, plus the hard drive from our family computer (which had recently crashed). I did as he asked, and as I helped him transfer the items to his vehicle (a red car), he told me he was a security guard hired by Hodges to bring the evidence safely to Dallas. I asked him to sign my list as a receipt for the items he was taking from me, and as you can see, he signed and dated it and even marked the time on it in his own handwriting.
After I confronted Hodges in January of 2005 and subsequently fired him, I discovered this man WASN'T either a licensed private security guard or a licensed private investigator, after I was finally told about the correct TX Department of Public Safety (DPS) website and looked him up. [Hodges had given me incorrect information about this because, as I also later discovered, he wasn't properly licensed either--and had used a phony license number on one document.] I also discovered that this man probably was from Kerrville, not Dallas, even though I had invoices with travel charges for him from Dallas, and that he had worn improper attire for a security guard in this state when I met with him.
I filed formal complaints against both men (and several others also involved in our case) with the DPS's Private Security Bureau (PSB), the agency that licenses private investigators and private security guards in Texas, and I provided them with this document and others containing proof of serious violations. However, despite the signature of this document alone proving this guy impersonated a licensed private security guard, the PSB/DPS absolutely refused to prosecute or discipline this man in any way, even after I made repeated complaints.
So much for protecting the public!--I can only conclude that the licensing process for private investigators and private security guards in Texas is worthless. I'll be glad to provide additional information and documentation to anyone who requests it.

June 16, 2007 Email Exchange With Diop Kamau

Here's a sample email exchange between Diop Kamau, Executive Director of the Police Complaint Center, and me that shows very nicely how Kamau frightened me into purchasing various expensive goods and services I never received. It's important to note that this exchange occurred a few weeks before I finally realized I wasn't getting what I paid for and fired Kamau, NOT when I first had contact with him, in the fall of 2006. It's also important to note that I never saw any working security equipment of the type Kamau claimed to be leasing me as mentioned here. I have LOTS more emails like this and can provide copies on request, as I have already done for the Washington, D.C. Attorney General's Office.

I-10 At Comfort

The case of the elderly woman discussed in my previous posting is only one example of the many people who've turned up dead under suspicious circumstances in the I-10-Comfort area. Here are some additional examples for your consideration.
In January of 2000, the body of Yuhuai "J.J." Yan of San Antonio was brought to this area from elsewhere and dumped along the side of I-10 just into Gillespie County (only a small corner of which crosses the interstate). This death was ruled a homicide, and a gun dealer from Kerrville was questioned in the case, but no one has ever been charged.
On 3/12/03, Terry Ingram (52) and Pat Kutzer (59) were found brutally murdered on a ranch very close to the interstate here. A severely mentally incapacitated man from KY who appears incapable of defending himself was charged with this crime after his driver's license was conveniently dropped where it was sure to be found at the crime scene.
On 5/7/04, TX State Trooper Kurt Knapp (28) died in a wreck with another car at this interchange (the same one where the elderly woman in the previous posting was found). An article in a local newspaper stated that Trooper Knapp was working on some sort of special task force at the time.
A 9/2/05 local newspaper article mentioned a man from Comfort who was found dead on the side of the road near I-10. This man was never publicly identified, and no additional information was ever given out. I emailed a request to reporter Zeke MacCormack with the San Antonio Express-News asking him to find out who the man was, but Mr. MacCormack never responded to this.
In October of 2007, Theresa Vallado (38) of San Antonio drove to Fredericksburg for Oktoberfest. As she left town to head home, she was stopped by the Fredericksburg police. Shortly after that, she phoned her husband from I-10 to tell him she'd be back soon, but she never arrived. She was found dead in her vehicle under an overpass near Comfort--near wreaths for two other people who'd been found dead at the same spot on Christmas Eve in 1998.
On 2/2/09, Marietta McDonald (65) and Carla Saylor (44) died in a fiery wreck at the same interchange where Trooper Knapp had perished. A month later, David Guzman (40) of Selma and Robert Valderaz (74) of Comfort died in a flaming wreck nearby, on TX 27 west of Comfort in Kendall County. A month after that, Andrew Quasnitschka (21) died in a fiery crash on I-10 nearby in Kendall County.
These are just a few examples; there are many more, especially if you check a bit farther away in both directions--the Phillip Shue case, for example. Coincidentally, when I was married, my former father-in-law owned and rented out a ranch close to this interchange that was located either at the current site of the James Avery Craftsman's Comfort plant or adjacent to it. I don't know what happened to this property after my marriage ended. There used to be a flea market located across the road from this ranch that my children said their father and step-mother took them to many times, but I believe they said it has since closed down.