A Death In Las Vegas ~ Perverted Injustice

Police Budgets and Unsolved Murders

Most people are aware these days that this country’s infrastructure is falling apart and that local and state governments whine about being unable to afford basic services, such as solving murder cases, for a lack of money.
This page is not in any way a political blog, a political campaign, or a political organization. Hence, if some statements or views expressed here are similar to or coincide with those of political organizations such as the Taxed Enough Already” (TEA) Party or perhaps with a tenet of the Libertarian Party, this will occur because both intersect with truth. Having listened to both Republican platforms and Democrat politicians for just about forty years, I believe that there is very little likelihood that in 2014 and beyond either political party, Democrat or Republican, or its advocates will utter statements that intersect with truth. Nor will the unofficial, meaning covert, yet exceedingly large “Progressive” Party or its advocates be expected to make a true statement at any time in the future.

As represented in its classic statue, Justice is reputed to be blind to political and other influences. This blog is about the perversion of Justice, hence “perverted injustice.”
Neither party of power politics has any interest in addressing the problem perceived by most Americans and the many guests living within the borders of the United States, stated above: Both our basic infrastructure and basic services are in decay while tens of billions of dollars are wasted building a police state here in the “Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.”
Paradoxically, police departments like that in Las Vegas complain that more money is needed to solve crimes such as the thirty-four percent (34%) of murders in Nevada that go unsolved year after year. In many of these cases a very passive approach is taken. A posting on a web page and perhaps an offer of a small reward for information, and the case becomes cold.
Cold Cases in Las Vegas waiting for public solution. 
Yet, a look at actual public funds paid to homicide detectives and coroner’s investigators tells another story. 

Name: Raymond C. SteiberPosition: Police LieutenantBase Pay: $118,985.32Overtime/Callback Pay: $47,665.51Other Pay: $29,162.00Benefits: $82,736.31Total Pay & Benefits:  $278,549.14Jurisdiction: Las Vegas Metro Police DepartmentYear: 2013 
Confirmation of these number can be found here.
The same information for the Coroner Investigator who arrived at Jason Turner’s home on September 28, 2005:

Name: John StallingsPosition: Coroner InvestigatorBase pay: $68,549.8Overtime/Callback Pay: $6,523.7Other Pay: $0. 0Benefits: $22,829.5Total Pay: $103,158.2Jurisdiction: Clark CountyYear: 2008
Transparent Nevada confirms these Stallings earnings here.
The reason that these two persons are noted here is that each has played a significant role in creating the necessity for this campaign for justice. John Stallings was the coroner investigator who failed to adequately assess the murder scene while in its midst, and failed to call in a Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) team that day, or at all. Then, approximately seven and a half years later Lt. Raymond “Ray” Steiber told Jason’s still-grieving mother that her son’s case “will sit on a shelf and collect dust” because he lacks the will or desire to complete the investigation. It’s not a lack of money in this circumstance, but a willful failure to follow through with his obligation to the public that pays for Lt. Steiber’s livelihood. 
How Police Department Dollars are Spent


When our police departments become militarized political organizations this country will resemble Germany under the influence of the Brownshirts during the 1920s and 1930s. 


A Typical Brownshirt Uniform The Brownshirts are described here. 


Some American citizens believe this has already happened, and that our circumstances are dire. 

Please let us know what you think, and send contributions to help close this case. Every bit of insight and assistance will be deeply appreciated. Thank you.

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

What Donated Funds Will Be Used For

It’s a sad fact that dozens of television shows aired during any given week actually teach people how to get away with murder. Many of these shows such as Cold Cases, I.D., 48 Hours, or Crime Scene Investigations might seem intended to warn would-be killers to think twice and to think hard about facing inevitable consequences. Don’t do it, they seem to shout. Science and dedicated investigators will catch up to you, arrest you and put you away.

A typical show will include interviews with family members and friends of a victim along with police investigators and criminal profilers. Some also depict interviews with jury members after a verdict has been reached. The pacing of the narrative, carefully staged reenactments, photographic scans of crime scenes and frequent repetition of facts are meticulously combined to make those shows “entertaining docudramas.” Murders that devastate families are transformed into entertainment for mass consumption.

Yet, for many these entertaining docudramas area form of education in preparation for a planned future murder. Ill-intentioned audience members watch carefully for mistakes made by those who are guilty of murder, mistakes and oversights that lead to an eventual arrest and conviction. Those who are interested in committing a murder will note those details that investigators will use to link a killer to his or her crime.

Obviously such a ruthless and devious person hopes never to be caught, never to be prosecuted and held accountable for their crime. Over the past two decades unsolved murders have increased. Read about this here:

Times Record News on Unsolved Homicides

NBC News - More in US are getting away with murder

Rates of Unsolved Murder by State

 And the Nevada rate is ranked 14th highest in unsolved cases. 

Of course, the statistics cited do not include the numerous cases of murder that become filed as "accidental death" or suicide.

Credit producers, researchers and writers of the television shows mentioned above and other shows   throughout the genre. Recognize, too, that “neighborly understanding” in communities all across America that “snitches” are not tolerated. No witnesses dare step forward or speak up; they could well meet a similar fate … or a family member does.

This brings us to the point of what donated funds are to be used for. In addition to filling in gaps in information to form an iron-clad case, we intend to offer monetary rewards to witnesses who come forward with information. Whatever shyness exists in people who know who, how and how J. R. Shenker was murdered might be overcome by the certainty of being paid to talk. This is not to say we don’t know exactly who murdered Jason. That fact has been known since September 28, 2005. Also, how the deed was done has long been known. The complete answer to why this person committed that murder becomes more complex. We know only part of that story, just as we know beyond reasonable doubt that the woman who killed Jason did not act entirely alone in staging the scene and removing personal assets from his bedroom within six hours after his death.

Money can be a lubricant to loosen tongues that will tell us which family members were complicit in Jason Turner-Shenker’s death. It can pay for information regarding insurance payouts to persons who might have been, and seem to have been, accessories. Money can buy information about sources of funds used to buy real estate shortly after the murder. It can pay for computer hard-drive forensic searches that will reveal pertinent secrets. Prudently spent, proceeds from this fundraising campaign should be used to find an explanation as to why the coroner’s investigator failed to perceive that the scene of the crime was obviously staged, or why the same man declined to schedule interviews with key witnesses after the body was removed, or why there was no CSI team assigned to examine the property for evidence, and why very peculiar markings on the victim’s body observable at the place of death and later in autopsy did not prompt sufficient concerns regarding the circumstances of death. Money can and should be applied to discover why a grieving mother’s attorney chose to destroy forensic evidence given to him for safekeeping, and why that same lawyer failed to ask hard, direct questions during four depositions taken, and why he cancelled the most critical scheduled depositions. Money will pay for information about dozens of phone numbers called by the murderer in days and months leading up to that fateful event. Also, there were a series of crimes, break-ins with and without extreme vandalism that took place during Jason’s last few months. Among unexplained yet related crimes, include falsification of “evidence” created by high-level security staff at a casino exactly five months before his murder. Why would a head of casino security work with a top level Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB) agent to conspire and to arrest an innocent young man? And why would the same duo not charge a pair with conspiracy to cheat that casino after falsifying evidence to arrest those two for cheating, when that “conspiracy” is exactly the impression they sought to create with falsified “evidence?” ? One wonders why the same cabal of casino and NGCB officials was subsequently willing to go to extremes to avoid a court challenge to those charges that they conspired to falsely create. Why were so many other people, including the murderer, urging the accused to accept a plea deal despite easily proven innocence? Certainly there was a strong motive to avoid that false evidence being entered into court on behalf of the defense; falsification of evidence is a felony, and that fact would have been exposed in trial. Jason Turner knew some of the answers to these questions at the time of his death. Now, it takes money to dig for and uncover the truth behind these mysteries.

This is but a small sample of the unanswered questions that remain, largely due to failures by many persons in a position to investigate to do so over a period of more than eight years. These and many other direct, pertinent questions have not been asked, so they have not been answered.

Help us get answers by donating to this fund today. Every contribution of any size will be put to good use and deeply appreciated. Thank you.  

On September 27, 2005 Jason Ryan "JR" Turner-Shenker was murdered at his Las Vegas, Nevada home. Police have yet to prosecute his known killer. Private funding is needed to complete a compendium of evidence that will be presented to a Grand Jury later in 2014.

March 31,2014

A Death In Las Vegas ~ Perverted Injustice

In our introductory post we mentioned that a book is forthcoming on the life, death and subsequent investigation into the circumstances of Jason Ryan Turner-Shenker's passing. The title of that book is A Death in Las Vegas ~ Perverted Injustice. It's publication date is set for August 26, 2014; advance sales are currently offered.

There are seldom, if ever, occurrences of murder without motivation. Even in extreme cases in which a killer confesses to commit homicide solely "to see what it would be like to take a life," or "for the fun of it," there is a motive, however perverse. Thus, any successful murder investigation must include an exploration of the killer's motive or motives for committing the crime.

People have said, "the Devil made me do it" an exceedingly large number of times. Often that is an excuse for cruelty against persons or animals, or extreme violence against property, as in vandalism. Far more realistically, we all know, a desire for money is the singular most dominant motive for murder. Our modern society values money more than life. This is the pervasive attitude espoused by mass media. Automobile companies justify probable deaths in defective cars by calculating potential liability pay-outs as being lower than predictable profits from selling multitudes of those defective, dangerous cars. Pharmaceutical companies know that more than 130,000 people will die each year from their chemical concoctions yet justify those deaths by calculating billions of dollars in profits to be made each year. And those who calculate death-to-profit ratios know that not one human being has been prosecuted for creating and marketing death via licit drugs or death by defective automobile. All of us are expected to accept these deaths without protest.

Part of urban life in America for several decades now has included an acceptance that in most, if not all, large cities someone can be found who is willing to kill another human being for as little as $500, or perhaps up to $1,000. From Miami to Seattle, from Boston to San Diego and everywhere in between, these stories persist. It's been said, "life is cheap." It's easy to pass these motivations off as "greed." Harder to accept is the fact that greed is less of a motivation than a ubiquitous devaluation of human life throughout our modern society.

This is not to say that greed does not also permeate society at every level. Indeed it does, here in America and throughout the world.
 
In recent years tens of millions of people have taken to streets, parks and city squares to protest the greed, hoarding of assets and indifference to life representative of that less-than-one-percent of human beings known as “the 1%.” Individual members of that elite group have been lumped together as anonymously those in the “99%” who wore Guy Fawkes masks to hide individual identities. Unfortunate as that undeserved anonymity granted to the 1% families may be, our story, A Death in Las Vegas ~ Perverted Injustice, reveals both extremes within a single family. Jason’s story is a microcosm of this dichotomy between the “1%” and the “99%.”

Despite the considerable wealth amassed by his grandfather, Morris A. Shenker, the sum of the estate accessible to Jason Ryan Turner at the time of his death was close to nothing. Jason’s father, M. Arthur Shenker, Jr., did all in his power to ensure that Jason, his own son, enjoyed none of the benefits of wealth that Morris Shenker had gathered and intended to be passed on to Jason. From the moment of Morris Shenker’s death in 1989, Arthur Shenker actively sought to deprive Jason of any material inheritance that he himself enjoyed, just as he had deprived Jason of every smidgeon of emotional and spiritual nourishment rightfully obligated from father to son. The father enjoyed a decadent life of depravity while his deprived son struggled to find his way in life, happily accepting a new job as a cook within three hours before his sudden death.
Since that day, Jason’s mother Cynthia Turner has spent her life savings trying to attain justice for Jason’s death. Her quest is heroic. Obstacles she has faced have been obstinate, considerable, and sometimes cruel and vicious in word and deed. She has encountered more people working against justice than ever sought to gain it. Privately, and alone, Cynthia Turner has persisted against the ramparts of perverted injustice for more than eight years while a sometimes dense, sometimes light fog of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) obscured her vision. Nevertheless, guided by the light in her heart as the only reliable resource, Cynthia Turner refuses to retreat from the fight for truth and justice.

These are some of the compelling reasons for creation of this memorial fund. A mother's loss of her son, an only child, has been compounded by the oppression of wealth applied to obscure truth, preclude justice and mock those who mourn. A depraved father has systematically deprived his son during life and after his death, failing in every possible way ... including being absent from his son's funeral.

Please, if you will, voice your protest of these circumstances by sending a donation, small or large, to this fund. Click on the link below. Every contribution will be deeply appreciated, and make a difference.

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

A Promising Life Taken Perversely Too Soon

At the time that Morris Arthur Shenker died on August 9, 1989, this well-known friend of President John F. Kennedy and attorney extraordinaire who represented many controversial figures of the Twentieth Century left behind one beloved grandson, Jason Ryan Turner-Shenker.

Jason, or “JR” to his friends and classmates, was born in 1980. During the first five years of his life JR often visited the aging Morris Shenker in his office atop the famous Dunes Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, until Morris retired to St. Louis, Missouri. The young boy was a fast learner who absorbed knowledge like a sponge, especially numbers. This impressed Morris Shenker a great deal, perhaps because the old lawyer was as much known for his financial wizardry as he was for his considerable and formidable skills as an accomplished attorney.

If Morris Shenker and his dear wife Lillian had had their way, they would have raised Jason in their luxurious home as their own. However, Cynthia Turner, Jason’s mother, would not have that. She fought as any good mother would have done to raise Jason herself, and with little help from others if necessary. She chose to do so rather than give Jason up to a life of immeasurable pleasure and spoliation, knowing that the path to corruption seduces so many, so easily.

Hence, Jason grew into adulthood under Cynthia’s guidance to become an uncorrupted young man with integrity, honor, many casual friends, a few sincere admirers, and a compassionate, generous heart. He was not perfect, yet he intentionally mastered skills he once found challenging. He made mistakes and he learned from them, and grew in character as a man.

Jason Turner, a.k.a. "JR" Shenker, believed that truth frees a man from fear; thus he had the courage to challenge those who would treat him wrongly, unfairly, or with deceit.

Because of those good and admirable qualities, Jason was killed by someone he had been magnanimous to, someone who repeatedly betrayed him. Betrayal and death were followed by incompetence, indifference, more betrayal, attempts at exploitation, incidences of fraud, and reasons to suspect a cover-up or whitewashing of initial investigative blunders. 

For these past eight years, with ever-diminishing resources, Cynthia Turner has sought justice for her deceased son. His killer has been known, yet lack of that critical mass of “hard evidence” has precluded an indictment from talking place. According to reliable sources within the district attorney’s office, cases like Jason’s murder are not prosecuted for a lack of funds. Prosecutors are forced to select cases with the highest probability of conviction, and set aside cases that would require expensive investigations with lower chances of conviction.

We know where that body of hard evidence lies, and that it is more than sufficient to lead to a conviction of Jason’s killer once that is compiled and presented to a Grand Jury. We know that the reasonable cost to compile this compendium if evidence from reliable sources will cost an estimated $35,000 and that this evidence will be exceedingly difficult for a defense to refute or negate. We also believe it expedient to offer monetary rewards to reliable individuals who have yet more evidence to support a conviction in this case. Our goal is to offer and expend up to $25,000 in rewards for verifiable information that leads to an arrest and conviction of any and all persons pertinent to the death of J.R. Shenker. To complete this investigation, bring this information to the public as solicitations for information and payments of related rewards, a reasonable project total is $60,000. This is our fundraising goal.

Our efforts are not wild goose chases, or “shooting from the hip,” or pointless exercises in hopes of getting law enforcement officials to reopen a closed case. In fact, this is an open case, one that will remain open indefinitely by order of a court of law, even if its current files sit on a shelf in a back room collecting dust, untouched and not actively investigated by law enforcement.

To complete our efforts and close this case, we need your help. Of course, if you happen to have information about the death of Jason Ryan Turner-Shenker, please come forward and contact us directly about what you know. But for all of you who do not, we ask that you send us monetary contributions to complete this investigation and prosecution. Every contribution, whether small or large, will be deeply appreciated and used to bring a killer to justice. Send your contributions to Cynthia Turner through PayPal.

For anyone who is able to send a contribution of $100 or more, you have the option of requesting a complimentary signed copy of our forthcoming book, postage paid, about the life, death, and investigation following the murder of J.R. Shenker, also known as Jason Turner. To obtain a copy of the book, simply send a note with your contribution along with a mailing address to which you’d like a book sent, or contact Cynthia Turner directly via email.

Whether or not you are able to send a contribution, we hope that you share this information with as many people as possible, through whatever media you most feel comfortable with. Send tweets on Twitter with this link, if you will, and post a link on your FaceBook page, or any other social network. With your help, directly or indirectly, we know that this case can be closed in the near future. Every small contribution you make, whether a gift of money, information, or sharing with others will always remain close to our hearts. Thank you.