HANNA MACK - Aged 6 years - Corsicana, Navarro County, Texas (USA)

Posted: Sat Nov 17, 2007 11:38 am Post subject: Aged 6 years - Navarro County, Texas (USA)

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WARNING THIS STORY IS UPSETTING



Navarro County: 6-year-old girl dies in apparent homicide

Associated Press
September 10, 2007

CORSICANA, Texas (AP) - Navarro County authorities say a 6-year-old girl has been found dead today in her home -- in an apparent homicide.

So far no arrests in the death of Hannah Mack.

A statement from the Navarro County sheriff's office says the girl's body was found by her mother, Dana Mack.

The family's home is near Navarro Mills Lake, about 65 miles south of Dallas.

Authorities didn't immediate provide details on how the child died.

An autopsy will be done in Dallas.
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smokie
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The mother of a slain 6-year Navarro County girl says she wants justice served

KWTX
September 11, 2007

Dana Mack told KDFW television Tuesday her daughter, Hanna Mack, made her day, every day.

Mack found the girl’s body Monday at the family’s home near Navarro Mills Lake, about 65 miles south of Dallas.

Investigators say the girl had been sexually assaulted and left hanging in the garage.

They’re handling the case as a homicide, but have made no arrests so far.

Autopsy results are pending.

The Navarro County sheriff's department is expected to release an update Wednesday.

Meanwhile Mack told KDFW that her daughter was "beautiful, smart, innocent, she would never hurt anybody."

The girl had just started first-grade at Blooming Grove Elementary and was the youngest of three sisters.

Neighbors expressed shock at the death, remembering that the girl was always happy.
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smokie
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Cops Have Suspect in Hanging of Girl, 6

Paul J. Weber
Associated Press
Sep 13, 2007

CORSICANA, Texas (AP) — A 6-year-old girl who had been sexually assaulted was found hanged inside her family's garage, and authorities on Thursday described her mother's boyfriend as the primary suspect.

The boyfriend was arrested Wednesday on a charge of possession of child pornography and remained in the Navarro County Jail on Thursday.

Sheriff's deputies have not charged him in the death of young Hanna Mack, but they identified him as the primary suspect, Chief Deputy Mike Cox said Thursday.

Dana Mack discovered her daughter missing Monday morning about the time the first-grader should have been getting ready for school. The little girl's body was found in a rust-covered garage behind her home in Navarro Mills Lake, about 65 miles south of Dallas.

The mother last saw Hanna sleeping on the couch around 1 a.m., according to Jean Langford, the girl's great-grandmother.

"(Dana) is just devastated. We all are," Langford said. "This is the worst thing that's ever happened to this family. Hanna was our pride and joy. She was our little sweetheart."

In a letter to the sheriff's department, Navarro County justice of the peace Vicki Gray said an autopsy of the body showed "a multitude of events that together caused the death of this child." No other details were released.

Neighbors gathered Wednesday evening outside the garage in Navarro Mills, a rural lakeside community in east Texas, and prayed during a vigil. They donated money to the family, held a moment of silence and released balloons into the air.

Many worried that a predator could be on the loose.

"My kids sleep in the bed with me," said Pam Gray, who lives next door and whose children rode the school bus with Hanna. "They get off of school and they've heard all the rumors and wild things, and they're terrified."

Police asked state caseworkers to not say if Hanna's family had been investigated by child welfare officers, said Marissa Gonzales, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. She characterized the request as uncommon.
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6-year-old Hanna Mack to be buried in Corsicana today
Navarro County girl was found hanged, assaulted Monday

By Paul Meyer
The Dallas Morning News
September 14, 2007

Funeral services for Hanna Mack are scheduled for today in Corsicana. The 6-year-old girl was found hanged in her family's garage earlier this week.

The boyfriend of Dana Mack, Hanna's mother, was identified as a primary suspect in the little girl's death by the Navarro County sheriff's office on Thursday.

Kevin Wayne Anders, 32, was being held in the Navarro County Jail on a charge of possession of child pornography, the sheriff's office said. He was arrested late Wednesday and has not been charged in the murder of Hanna Marie Mack. Bail was set at $100,000.

"Computer files obtained during the initial crime scene investigation revealed the presence of pornographic images of children," said Mike Cox, chief deputy for the sheriff's office.

Hanna's body was discovered by her mother on Monday, hanging in a metal garage that houses an above-ground swimming pool. She had been sexually assaulted, an autopsy revealed.

Documents obtained Thursday show that Mr. Anders was arrested in 1995 in Arlington on charges of sexually assaulting a minor, but he wasn't convicted. In that case, his 15-year-old girlfriend told authorities that he had forced her to have sex three times. A grand jury declined to indict Mr. Anders, and the woman, who couldn't be reached for comment Thursday, later married him, records indicate.

An arrest report released Thursday in connection with the child pornography charge says that Mr. Anders most recently worked as a convenience store clerk and is still married.

Mr. Anders also was convicted in 2005 on a misdemeanor charge of driving with an invalid license. He was sentenced to one month plus 15 days in jail and fined $500, according to Texas Department of Public Safety records.

Sheriff's officials have asked state caseworkers not to say whether Hanna's family had been investigated by child welfare officers, said Marissa Gonzales, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.

Neighbors in Navarro Mills said this week that they saw little to indicate any problems in the two-story pale yellow house that Mr. Anders shared with Dana Mack, Hanna and two older sisters.

Ms. Mack worked as a dishwasher at the local café just down the road. She had moved to town a few months ago. Hanna had just entered first grade at nearby Blooming Grove Elementary School.

Tanya Arnett, whose 6-year-old son, Hunter, attended school with Hanna, said Wednesday that she remembered seeing Ms. Mack with a black eye not long ago. She never asked what happened, and Ms. Mack never volunteered the information, she said.

Another neighbor, Patricia Partney, said word had recently spread about a public fight between the couple at a nearby Dawson carwash. Details of that altercation were unknown.

Ms. Mack discovered her daughter missing Monday morning at a time when she should have been awake and getting ready for school. The crime has shocked the small community of Navarro Mills, about 15 miles from Corsicana near the banks of Navarro Mills Lake.
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Neighbor Charged in Hanging of Girl, 6
Neighbor Charged in Hanging, Sexual Assault of 6-Year-Old Texas Girl

ABC News
9/28/2007

A neighbor of a 6-year-old girl who was found hanged in her family's garage has been charged with sexual assault and capital murder, authorities said Friday.

Hanna Mack's body was found earlier this month by her mother. Authorities said the first-grader had been sexually assaulted and hanged.

Shaun Earl Arender, 19, was linked to the crime scene by DNA evidence, Navarro County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Mike Cox said Friday. Arender lived less than a mile from the little girl's rural home, about 65 miles south of Dallas.

Arender was already in jail on unrelated burglary and drug possession charges. A DNA sample taken from the shirt Hanna was wearing was entered into a Texas Department of Public Safety DNA indexing program Wednesday, and it indicated Arender was a possible match, according to the arrest affidavit.

Arender was questioned Wednesday, and, according to the affidavit "would not give a statement, but put his head on the table and cried."

Two days earlier, he had cut himself with a piece of glass while in custody on the burglary charge and was taken to a hospital "because he was depressed," according to the affidavit.

His bond is set at $2.5 million. It wasn't immediately clear if Arender had a lawyer who could comment.

Family members have said Hanna's mother, Dana Mack, saw the youngest of her three daughters sleeping on the couch around 1 a.m. the morning of Sept. 10. She realized Hanna was missing just before sunrise, and found her body in a garage near the family house.

"I'm just absolutely shocked," said neighbor Pam Gray. "I'll never have that sense of trust here again."
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smokie
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Man, 19, charged in death of hanged girl, 6
Police: Man's DNA a match; focus had been on mom's boyfriend

By Robert T. Garrett and Emily Ramshaw
The Dallas Morning News
September 29, 2007

Navarro County authorities on Friday said they have charged a 19-year-old man with killing a girl found hanged in her family's garage in their rural community this month.

Shaun Earl Arender, who has a criminal rap sheet and a history of mental illness, was tentatively a DNA match with material found on the body of 6-year-old Hanna Marie Mack. For the past two weeks, authorities had been calling her mother's boyfriend the prime suspect.

Mr. Arender has been in the Navarro County Jail on charges of burglary and marijuana possession since Sept. 12, two days after the girl's body was found hanging in a garage next to her home near the banks of Navarro Mills Lake. She had been sexually assaulted, an autopsy confirmed.

On Friday, the Navarro County sheriff's office released documents saying that when homicide detectives questioned Mr. Arender in jail Wednesday, he declined to make any statement. He was then charged with capital murder. Bail was set at $2.5 million.

As late as Thursday afternoon, Sheriff Leslie Cotten had said his investigators believed that Kevin Wayne Anders was a primary suspect in the killing.

Mr. Anders, 32, is the boyfriend of Hanna's mother, Dana Mack. He has been held since Sept. 12 on a child pornography charge. His bail of $100,000 had not been reduced.

Reached at home Friday, Michael Runion, Hanna's grandfather, said the family felt "a whole lot better" knowing that Mr. Anders wasn't responsible for Hanna's death.

"I think it's a huge sense of relief," Mr. Runion said. "Although [Mr. Anders] has some other charges to deal with ... at least it isn't that charge."

Mr. Runion said Mr. Arender is not a relative or family friend.

"We don't know him," Mr. Runion said. "I don't know what went on at that house, but I know I've never seen the guy."

Although arrest records list a Corsicana address for Mr. Arender, the affidavit said he lived in a mobile home near Purdon, just east of Navarro Mills Lake.

Chief Deputy Sheriff Mike Cox said Mr. Arender lived a little less than a mile from the Macks' two-story house.

Sheriff Cotten said Friday that Hanna's family members had told investigators "they thought they had seen [Mr. Arender] walking down the road once or twice but they didn't know him."

Mr. Arender is described in arrest records as an unemployed construction worker.

On Monday, while in jail, he cut himself with glass and had to be treated at a Corsicana hospital, according to the affidavit. It quotes Mr. Arender as saying he was depressed.

According to an online Texas convictions database, in the past two years, Mr. Arender was convicted in Navarro County of a misdemeanor charge of criminal mischief, a felony charge of evidence tampering and two counts of burglary.

Last October, after the burglary convictions, his five-year probation sentence for evidence tampering was revoked. He was ordered to go to prison for three years. It was not clear Friday why he wasn't still in prison.

Mr. Arender also had a juvenile criminal record, one serious enough to land him in Texas Youth Commission custody. An official close to the investigation said Mr. Arender was released four years ago from the agency's Corsicana Residential Treatment Center – the TYC facility reserved for youthful offenders with serious mental health problems.

The official also indicated Mr. Arender was admitted to a state mental hospital sometime after he left TYC custody.

A spokesman for TYC declined to comment, saying only that "state law forbids us from disclosing any information about youth in our custody."

Phone numbers listed for Mr. Arender's mother and brother in Corsicana had been disconnected.

The arrest affidavit said Mr. Arender caused "the death of Hanna Mack by asphyxiation by a manner and means unknown" while in the act of sexually assaulting her.

It said his DNA, kept in a state Department of Criminal Justice database, was a "possible match" with a biological sample taken from Hanna's shirt. It didn't specify if the sample was hair or fluid.

Chief Deputy Cox issued a news release calling the comparison a "positive match."

On Thursday afternoon, Navarro County District Judge Sam Bournias signed an order permitting deputies to take a blood sample from Mr. Arender for further tests. It was unclear Friday when lab tests of the suspect's blood sample would be completed.

Judge Bournias also let deputies search Mr. Arender's trailer home for a necklace and pendant. The affidavit quoted Dana Mack as saying Hanna "always wore" the jewelry, which was missing when her body was discovered. Deputies also were to search for several household items Ms. Mack said were missing.

An employee at the Navarro Mills Café and General Store, where Hanna's mother works, said that Ms. Mack was not there and that "this isn't a good day to talk to her."

supportfromireland
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Posted: Sat Nov 17, 2007 1:07 pm Post subject:

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Smokie

This is such an awful story.I couldn't get through all the parts you posted.So very very sad and worrying as at 19 years old,so young to detect serious problems.I'm finding it hard to not believe in my life-long stance of no to death penalty with all these crimes against children.

May she rest in peace x.
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Concerned about Madeleine
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Joined: 15 Oct 2007
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Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2007 3:45 am Post subject:

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pam supportfromireland wrote:
Smokie

This is such an awful story.I couldn't get through all the parts you posted.So very very sad and worrying as at 19 years old,so young to detect serious problems.I'm finding it hard to not believe in my life-long stance of no to death penalty with all these crimes against children.

May she rest in peace x.


This is such a tragedy...OMG, another poor beautiful baby.

Perhaps Pam you could find it in your heart to agree to the death penalty for those to harm children. I am a supporter of the death penalty personally. I know that God will deal with them ultimately, but there has to be some type of deterrant for these crimes. The problem is that they sit on death row sucking up tax payers dollars for 20 years before it's actually done. I think it should be immediate. Then there would be more awareness of the sentence.
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pam supportfromireland
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Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2007 11:41 am Post subject:

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CAM

It is just something we don't have in Europe and brought up to not harm any human life.Just cage them.It is very complex.
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smokie
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Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2007 9:55 pm Post subject:

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I felt sick to the stomach when I read into these cases too but I wanted to add them so these little ones will not be forgotten. SOMETHING NEEDS TO BE DONE. why why why poor little children
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snowwhite
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Posted: Mon Nov 19, 2007 4:51 pm Post subject:

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God bless little Hannah. You are safe from harm now sweetheart xxx
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hope4maddy
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Posted: Mon Nov 19, 2007 5:52 pm Post subject:

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Oh my goodness, this poor baby. I too could not read all the information...I hate those horrible images in my mind afterwards. This is really so sad. I feel so bad for this family and for what this little girl had to endure. Death penalty all the way. They don't think twice about hurting these innocent babies, we shouldn't think twice about what needs to be done to them. I'm so sorry sweet baby girl. This is unimaginable. May the Lord give this mother strength. I can't even imagine!
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BRING MADELEINE HOME! BRING MADELEINE HOME! BRING MADELEINE HOME! PLEASE FIND MADELEINE AND BRING HER HOME!

Wishing, Hoping, and Praying that today is the day that Madeleine is found and returned!

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Dallas News

14 September 2007

6-year-old Hanna Mack to be buried in Corsicana today
Navarro County girl was found hanged, assaulted Monday

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/DN-girldead_14tex.ART.State.Edition1.4267510.html

PYSIH

19 September 2007

911 Transcript Of The Call Reporting The Death Of Hanna Mack

http://pysih.com/2007/09/19/911-transcript-of-the-call-reporting-the-death-of-hanna-mack/

CBS

28 September 2007

Neighbor Charged With Murder Of Hanna Mack
19-Year-Old Arrested In Navarro County Girl's Murder

Officials have arrested a neighbor and charged him with capital murder in the death earlier this month of a Navarro County girl.

Officials arrested Shawn Earl Arender, 19, and charged him with capital murder in the Hanna Mack murder, authorities said at a news conference Friday morning.

Navarro County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Mike Cox said Arender lived less than a mile from the Mack's rural home about 65 miles south of Dallas. He was already in jail on unrelated burglary and drug possession charges.

Cox said DNA evidence linked Arender to the crime scene. His bond is set at $2.5 million.

http://cbs11tv.com/local/hanna.mack.navarro.2.507296.html

Corsicana daily sun

31 July 2008

Arender trial delayed
August 8 hearing set for motions, new trial date

http://corsicanadailysun.com/local/x212385557/Arender-trial-delayed

Corsicana daily sun

23 September 2008

Arender protests treatment in jail
Suspect in Mack murder appears in pre-trial hearing



http://corsicanadailysun.com/local/x212390133/Arender-protests-treatment-in-jail

Corsicana daily sun

12 February 2009

Plea scheduled in Mack murder

Shaun Earl Arender is scheduled to plead guilty to capital murder in the case of 6-year-old Hanna Mack at 1:30 p.m. Friday in 13th District Court in Corsicana, according to District Attorney Lowell Thompson.

Arender, 22, was arrested following the 2007 slaying of the blonde second-grader from Navarro Mills. The girl was found hanged in a barn next to her family’s house on Sept. 10, 2007. She had been sexually assaulted.

If Arender rejects a jury trial and pleads guilty, he will be sentenced to life in prison without any possibility of parole. It is one of only two possible sentences in a capital case, the other being death, Thompson said.

http://corsicanadailysun.com/archive/x212404879

Fox News

13 febuary 2009

Lawyers: Man Charged With Killing 6-Year-Old Girl Will Plead Guilty

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,492544,00.html

Texas Cable News

13 Fevuary 2009

Girl's confessed killer implicates mom's boyfriend


Kevin Wayne Anders

http://www.txcn.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/tv/stories/wfaa090213_wz_hannamack.1271d084.html

Corsicana daily sun

13 Febuary 2009

Arender confesses, implicates Anders in child's death

Editor’s Note: This article reports on the disturbing sexual assault and murder of a small child in Navarro County. Parts of this report are graphic in nature and may disturb readers.

Shaun Earl Arender, 22, pleaded guilty Friday to murdering 6-year-old Hanna Mack by hanging her in a garage next to her family’s house in Navarro Mills, but claimed that he was led into the crime by Kevin Wayne Anders, the boyfriend of the girl’s mother.

Arender, dressed in an orange jumpsuit and wearing shower shoes and socks, spoke plainly and without much emotion Friday afternoon in 13th District Court as part of a plea agreement to avoid the death penalty. He was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole by District Judge James Lagomarsino.

In his confession on the witness stand, Arender said he and Anders sexually assaulted the little girl and then together they hung her from the rafters with a cord.

http://corsicanadailysun.com/local/x212404983/Arender-confesses-implicates-Anders-in-childs-death

Denton Record

14 Febuary 2009

Man gets life for killing girl, 6

http://www.dentonrc.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/DN-girldead_14tex.ART.State.Edition1.4c2a248.html

Corsicana daily sun

17 April 2010

Justice Without A Murder Charge

Kevin Anders was the live in boyfriend of murdered 6 year old, Hanna Mack. He had been implicated in her murder by Shaun Earl Arender, who's DNA was found on Hanna's half nude body, found hanging from the rafters in her mother's garage.
Arender was arrested, during the murder investigation, for possession of child pornography, and that trial came to it's conclusion, Thursday.
A Navarro County jury found Kevin Wayne Anders, 35, guilty of 10 counts of possession of child pornography after about an hour of deliberations Thursday. Later, he was sentenced to 10 years for each count, 100 total years.
Possession of child pornography is a third-degree felony, with punishments ranging from two to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine for each count.
District Judge James Lagomarsino decided the sentencing.
Anders chose not to take the witness stand in a trial that began on Monday. As the guilty verdicts were being read, he stood quietly, hands clasped in front of him, with only his lips pursing occasionally.

http://www.corsicanadailysun.com/news/local_story_105144435.html?keyword=topstory (Link Broken)

Source of news article: http://www.jurorthirteen.com/BrutalMurderofHannaMack/tabid/1136/Default.aspx

Sentence

After entering a guilty plea to avoid the death penalty, Shaun Earl Arender was sentenced to life in prison without parole for the murder of Hanna Mack.

Hanna's mother's live in boyfriend Kevin Wayne Anders was not convicted of involvement in Hanna's murder but he was found Guilty of 10 counts Of Possesion Of Child pornography and was sentenced to 10 years in Jail for each count each to be served consecutively. Kevin Wayne Anders release date is filed as 12 September 2097. He is eligible for parole 30 July 2021.