Reply from Ziyad Abid + Book Rumors

On August 27, this blog asked Ziyad Abid to tell his story. On November 5, we got a reply.

The email reads the following: 
"I would like to inform you that your proposition is honored just as many other reporters throughout the year. I don't need to sell anything to anyone because I am not in need for money. I appreciate the offer. I would like to inform you that the War

I would like to inform you that your proposition is honored just as many other reporters who have contacted me throughout the year. I don't need to sell anything to anyone because I'm not in need for money, I'm sure everybody know that, but I do appreciate the offer. I would like to inform you that the Warrensburg community does not need to beg anybody for anything because it's not right, but I understand what you meant by saying that. I do believe that the family of the victim along with the rest of Warrensburg community have the right to know what truly happened in this case, only when the time and place is right.
Much respect to you and the rest of the Warrensburg community. Note: This case is holding a very serious story that was not provided to the public. What was provided was not even close from reality good luck.
Sincerely
Ziyad.T.Abid (Z)
 -------------------------
I replied to him and asked him to reconsider, that if he truly is innocent, an honest interview could really shed some good light on it. It's really the last line that intrigued me, but as I started thinking about it, I think the last line was bait. He wants me to ask, wants me to dig deeper. In addition, he posted this on his Facebook page:

  "Some secrets are meant to be hidden or buried". I have a serious concern with that one comment. What secret was coming out? What did his defense team "bury"? He reminds me so much of Chris Brown. Instead of being remorseful of his actions, he instead rubs it in everyone's face. The mark of a true narcissistic individual. He won't be telling his story now, but he said that he would tell it eventually... wonder when? When people stop  caring about this case or worrying about the man that got away with murder?

UPDATE: After seeing a post on Blaine Whitworth's memorial page, I followed the link to a Youtube video. The caption read that Ziyad sold his rights to a Saudi Arabia marketing company and was currently writing a book. I emailed Ziyad back (At this point, he's always being very polite and I truly do appreciate that he responds, even if I don't know what to think about this whole situation). He replied that he is NOT writing a book right now, but eventually would like to.


Interesting... More as it develops...

Missing Local: Dana Bruce 10/4/2008

It bothers me how certain cases make national news, garner national coverage, outrage, and searches, and some barely make the local tv station. Such is true with the disappearance of 23 year old Dana Bruce from Sedalia, Missouri in October 2008. I first heard of the case when I saw her MISSING poster at a convenience store.  From the start, the outlook didn't look good. And now, the case has grown cold as it approaches its 5 year anniversary.

Little has been made public about Dana's disappearance, which is a bit alarming. It seemed that the case never had much of a start and that the trail went cold as immediately as she went missing.

Dana was the single mother of two children. She had gone out to a local bar "Malone's on Main" in Sedalia that evening. She was reportedly seen with a man in a late model, red Ford F-150 and left the bar with him around 11:30. She returned to the babysitter's home around midnight and gave the babysitter extra money and asked her if she would stay the evening. She never returned home.

While police have identified the man that Dana was with that evening, he soon traveled to Atlanta, GA. Police flew to Atlanta and questioned him when he was arrested there for possession of marijuana and driving while suspended. He has been named a "person of interest" but police never named him publicly, so there's not much to go on after that. They interviewed him in October 2008 and that's the last time any news reports about a suspect in the case have been written.

She reportedly has no credit cards, debit cards, cell phone, car, or checking account, so there hasn't been any activity to track since she disappeared. Her friends and family claim that she was a 'devoted' parent and would not leave her children, and foul play is suspected.
                                                          ------------------------
I've thought about Dana for a long time and always wondered what happened to her. Unfortunately, it doesn't look good for Dana, and she probably was an easy target. She only weighed a reported 93 lbs at the time of her disappearance; the man that she left with wasn't someone that was familiar to others, and likely, was someone she had just met.

The lack of followup in this case is very frustrating, but I tend to think that the police didn't think Dana was a very high priority. She was young, with two children that she had with a man that has several pages of criminal infractions on Missouri CaseNet. She herself had been arrested in 2006 for theft and incarcerated after. She had no links, other than her children, to be tracked: no cell phone GPS, no car to be searched for, no money outlet. If she wanted to disappear, she could have...easily.

But that's not what happened. But what DID happen to Dana Bruce?

Several theories are available on sleuthing websites of Dana's disappearance. One claimed that the "person of interest" was a 34 year old that worked for Pro-Energy in Sedalia and they had just laid fresh concrete at the construction site, but this was never reported in any news stories. The police reportedly used scent dogs around the site, according to this article.

There were a couple of searches for Dana in the months following the disappearance. There were also websites and Myspace pages set up to find Dana, and all have come down. The only one that stands is the Dana Bruce Tribute Page on Facebook, which is updated occasionally but usually not about Dana- other information about missing locals.

Missouri is still a densely rural area, especially where Dana disappeared. Twenty miles away is Knob Noster State Park, which is a nearly 4,000 acre park near Whiteman Air Force Base and Warrensburg, Missouri. Forty miles in the other direction is Warsaw, Missouri, which is home to the Harry S Truman Reservoir/Truman Lake, a massive lake with many side areas.

Granted, without anything to go from, police may not know where to start searching for Dana. But it doesn't seem like they're doing much to find out, either.As the five year anniversary of her disappearance approaches, it's the perfect time to get her name and her face back in the news. It's time to organize searches, share her photo, and revisit the person of interest in Georgia.

 It's time to lay her to rest and give her the peace she deserves.


Source:
http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/b/bruce_dana.html

We've Piqued Someone's Interest....

Well, well, well. Look what we have here. Apparently, this little blog in the sleepy town has piqued the interest of someone in Saudi Arabia. Could it be?

If Ziyad Abid is really reading my blog, here's my proposition to you: tell your story. Email me at centralmosleuth@gmail.com. Give me an interview, and profess your innocence. Or, if you prefer, sell out the President for springing you.  This town is begging for answers. If you're willing, I promise to give you a non-biased interview.

Email me and tell your story. Centralmosleuth@gmail.com. What do you have to lose?

Ziyad Abid Keeps the Rumor Mill Churning

Ziyad Abid is currently over 7200 miles away in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, but he still has the residents of Warrensburg Missouri by the throat.

Yesterday, Ziyad's dormant Facebook profile came to life. First posting two smiley faces, then this:

We know that this is Ziyad's real profile, but until yesterday, everything was completely private- even the day he was arrested. So now it's public, you can message him, add him as a friend, and see all of his posts?

The reason that this came to my attention is because it has been shared over 250 times, but he pulled it down earlier today/last night. It's still being shared from the screenshot above, from Vince Bertucci.

I have to admit that I was stumped when this popped up. He's crediting President Obama from springing him from jail... but I think he's lying. As stated before, Ziyad is smart. Smug, even. From his very first mugshot, you can tell he doesn't care what's happening to him because he has carefully orchestrated everything. He also know about the Obama controversy, and as a narcissist, he revels in the fact that this little town is still talking about him, and loathing him- and he knows they can't do anything about it. 

Another interesting piece of information that hasn't been widely reported... he passed a lie detector test. An excerpt from The Daily Star Journal follows...



Warrensburg – After passing a lie detector test that focused on a murder accusation, Zayid Tariq Abid, 24, arrived Wednesday in Saudi Arabia, his lawyer, Patrick Peters of Kansas City said.
“He and his dad left Monday – flew to Washington, and flew out from there yesterday – and got into Saudi Arabia today,” Peters said.
Abid could have left immediately Aug. 2 after the state dropped the murder charge against him, but waited to work on his immigration status so that he could return to the country if he chooses, Peters said.
Abid received a “voluntary departure order” from an immigration judge before leaving.
“He needs to do some work to be able to come back, but it’s better than if you just leave; he could have just left,” he said.
Abid also went voluntarily to a former FBI agent who administered a polygraph test regarding the Sept. 1 murder of downtown business owner William “Blaine” Whitworth, 25, Warrensburg. The state charged Abid with the murder and armed criminal action based on a confession made, allegedly, by the accused trigger man, Reginald L. Singletary Jr., 28, Warrensburg, who is in the Johnson County Jail awaiting trial.
“Abid didn’t do anything – didn’t conspire with Reggie, ask Reggie, threaten Reggie, tell Reggie... He had nothing to do with Reggie killing Blaine Whitworth,” Peters said. “We didn’t legally need to at all, but we wanted to get polygraphed on it just so we could say, ‘Ha, told you so.’ He didn’t commit murder, didn’t pay to commit it, didn’t offer to pay to commit it, didn’t threaten or coerce.”

Obviously, his lawyer is a prick, but we already knew that.

After deleting the post about the President, he posted this: "Tomorrow night all behind the scenes pictures will be on my wall see you then" 

Intriguing, yes. He's continuing to hold everyone in suspense. And the more we talk about it, share it, and get in a tizzy, the more he wins. 

Ziyad Abid: Innocent or Mastermind of Murder?

The purpose of this blog is to explore every angle, even the unpopular ones. There is no doubt this will be an unpopular post, but it should be explored. No one else is writing it, so here it is.

Warrensburg has had time to process the release of Ziyad Abid. Overwhelmingly, many people do believe that President Obama's visit directly correlated to his release. And truth be told, they will continue to believe it, no matter how little evidence that links them (currently-none), the rumor is still driving hoards of people to this page. The stats from this page are as follows, and as you can see, the traffic sources show that people are seeking information about it. Possibly to confirm what they think they know, and I do hope that they spend a minute or two opening their minds to the fact that there's another option.

It occurred to me the other day, to consider the most unpopular opinion of them all: that Ziyad Abid is innocent of all charges.

I reported in the first post that a rumor swirled about Blaine borrowing money from Abid to keep his bar(s) afloat. This would give Abid motive to want Blaine killed; Blaine owed him money, or, Blaine was not cooperating with Abid to either repay the loan. Either way, if money was exchanged, there was surely some sort of trail. Blaine didn't seem to be the kind that would have a Cayman bank account, so if he was to borrow, say, $10,000-25,000 from Abid, it would have appeared somewhere.

1) His bank account (wire transfer, unusually large deposit)
2) He used it to pay mortgages, renovations, etc, which would have raised red flags if traced back- "5,000 in a bank account and he didn't touch it, but paid payments, bills, and contractors"?
3) Found in his home after the investigation-
4) Blaine would have documented it or told someone about the loan, that could swear under oath to the information.

Anyway you slice it, Ziyad Abid was not going to walk into a bank and withdraw money of a significant amount; write a check, or authorize a large wire transfer to Blaine's bank account (which would easily be tracked by his social security number).

This author has to deduce that this rumor is untrue. Any appearance of impropriety, or paper trail would have been enough motive to keep Abid in jail.

Let's turn to Reginald Singletary. He had the motive, means, and opportunity to kill Blaine, and he first admitted in September 2012 that this is exactly what happened.

Motive: It has been reported that Reggie was fired from Blaine's bar a week prior to Blaine's death. He was angry, is known to have a temper (Case net reports that he was charged with a Protection Order from his wife/ex-wife (Adult Abuse w/o stalking, 2010), and originally admitted to this crime. At this time, he also implicated Ziyad Abid, with the story that Abid hired him. Police arrested Abid after Reggie.

Means: Reggie had a gun, obviously. What's unclear is whose gun it was. It likely wasn't Ziyad's, as he legally could not own a gun with nonimmigrant status in the U.S. If it was stolen or procured illegally, it would likely not be traced to Ziyad, so it was probably Reggie's. We do not know if the gun has been recovered.

Opportunity: Reggie worked for Blaine and he knew his schedule. He knew that Blaine was going to be going to the bar around 9 or so, and he knew that he lived alone. It is dark around this time in September in Missouri, so he knew he would have less chance of being seen. (But this was risky- at any given time, neighbors could have been outside or driving home)

Ziyad's attorney, Patrick Peters, has called Reginald Singletary a "pathological liar". (Note: please check out Peters' website, where this is the opening statement:

"You think the criminal justice system is fair? We don't want to alarm you, but it's you and your attorney against . . . the government. The same folks that can't fix a pothole are running the system, and if you think it's fair, you're in for a rude awakening...

Patrick & Shelley Peters"

http://www.peters-lawyers.com/

If Reggie is a liar, and he knew he was caught, why not implicate his roommate, the wealthy Ziyad Abid, who could have also had the Motive, Means, and Opportunity.

Motive: If he really wanted to purchase Blaine's bars, killing Blaine could have been a way to do it. Note: I don't think he wanted Blaine's bars. Abid had no support in the US, and the Warrensburg bar  market is not as fruitful as it used to be. He would likely receive his degree in aviation, return to Saudi Arabia, enjoy an aviation career like his father. He didn't need to buy a couple of bars in Warrensburg to be successful.

Means: Ziyad had the means to get a gun, or to promise Reggie a good amount of money (even if he had no intention of following through to pay) to kill Blaine.

Opportunity: If Ziyad wanted to do it himself, he could have. He could have known Blaine's schedule as well.

There are two distinct theories to this murder. You can think that Ziyad got off on a technicality, a good lawyer or a bad justice system. If you believe this, you have to admit that he left little room for mistakes. He didn't leave a trail of money or evidence. He didn't crack under pressure from investigators. (As stated before, anyone that Blaine let in on a possible loan, obviously didn't swear under oath or produce any proof that Abid had a hit on Blaine)

 Or you can choose to believe that he didn't do it. He was simply a victim of circumstance, a poorly constructed confession that took 11 months to crack. He obviously wasn't loved by the media, with his smirk in his mugshot and his blasé attitude during all court appearances.

And finally, why did Reggie's story change? In the July 18 article in the Daily Star Journal, it was stated that Reggie wasn't willing to testify against Abid. Many people have claimed that Abid's family have paid Reggie for his silence. This is possible; however, Reggie is looking at life behind bars right now, so I doubt that he would give up any chance of acquittal or a reduced sentence, just for money for his prison commissary costs.

Whatever you choose to believe, any intelligent person has to admit that there are several variables here, and that if Abid really did get away with murder, either the state didn't do enough research to dig up the dirt, or Abid so carefully masterminded this entire situation, that the entire case hinged on Reggie's confession.

And if that's all they had, folks, the jury likely would have returned a not guilty verdict. It's tough to hear, because we want justice for Blaine, but at the same time, the state didn't meet their burden of proof. Whether it was "fair" or not means nothing in the grand scheme of things. Criminal Justice at its finest.

Sleuth

August 2, 2013: Charges DROPPED against Ziyad Abid

Warrensburg was stunned today when Prosecuter Lynn Stoppy announced that Ziyad Abid, one of the accused defendants in the murder-for-hire plot that resulted in Blaine Whitworth's death on September 1, 2012, would go free. Residents are outraged. As they should be- but who should they be angry with?

Stoppy's statement, in addition to a quote from the Missouri Attorney General's office.

Johnson County Prosecuting Attorney Lynn Stoppy released a statement early Friday that announced the case was dismissed.

“Very recently, our understanding of evidence previously obtained from a critical witness has changed,” Stoppy said in the release. “As a result, the state is currently left without sufficient evidence to support the prosecution at this time.”

The Missouri Attorney General’s Office, which has worked on the case since late June at Stoppy’s request, also released a statement about the case.

“Since being appointed to assist with the case approximately four weeks ago, we have carefully examined the evidence as it has developed,” the statement reads. “The prosecution does not currently have sufficient evidence to proceed with the case. First degree murder is the most serious offense that the State can charge. We have an ethical obligation to dismiss a case once it becomes clear that the evidence presently available to the prosecution is not sufficient to proceed.”

(Quotes courtesy of digitalburg.com)

Seems like most of the fingers are being pointed at Lynn Stoppy and even President Obama, who was in Warrensburg last week to give a speech on the economy. I've already covered the ridiculous rumor about President Obama, and as predicted, he wasn't in town long enough to take his 25 car motorcade to the Johnson County jail to "free Abid". As if he would want to anyway.

Obviously, there's no evidence to support any Obama linkage to the case. (Well there wouldn't be, would there?!) But let me just say that if Obama had anything to do with this, it would be political suicide. And is it not even considered that no one would immediately report Obama's involvement, with proof? There's a lot of money to be made for someone who can prove that the President of the United States is interfering with a court case. Politics 101/CJ 101 states that you have to let the system take its course. Presidential pardons come AFTER a guilty verdict.

Unfortunately, this case has been wrought with difficulty from the get go. First, it was the back and forth battle about Abid's bail. According to the Missouri state constitution, Abid had every right, as a man who committed a crime in the state of Missouri, to be treated fairly and receive his bond at a reasonable amount. Of course, with his specific (and sometimes uncertain) financial circumstances, the bond tug-of-war drug on for months, from the original order of no bond to be posted, to allowing a $2 million bond with certain conditions, and then when it was posted by the Saudi government on Abid's behalf in June, the denial of bail by the judge.

Now, the evidence aspect: Stoppy is quoted saying that the evidence from a "critical witness" has changed. One can only assume that the critical witness is Reginald Singletary, and for one reason or another, he has decided not to testify. While the prosecutor has remained tight-lipped about what evidence they had against Abid, it seemed that it hinged on one very important piece: Singletary's confession that Abid hired him to kill Blaine for money. Since no other details are available, we must assume the following:

1) There is no money trail between Ziyad & Reginald. 
Abid is from Saudi Arabia, and while he may have access to local banks and financial institutions, he would not be able to go into any bank and withdraw a large sum of money (It is assumed the large sum of money would convince Singletary it was worth killing another person over) Of course, he would wire it- but a large wire transfer would have alerted authorities and given them a paper trail between Abid and Singletary.

2) There are probably no incriminating texts or suspicious phone calls between the suspects. 
Abid and Singletary were roommates, so they probably spent a lot of time talking about this event in person. This may have been on purpose, a strategic move by Abid to not incriminate himself. It could have also been just dumb luck. Either way, with a court order, some texts/calls could be retrieved. However, it could be considered circumstantial evidence.

3) Reginald Singletary confessed and implicated Ziyad Abid on September 4, 2012.
It has been widely publicized through the Sherrif's department that Singletary confessed. In this confession he implicated Abid. Okay. So either Singletary is telling the truth, and attempting to say, "I did it, but he made me", OR, he's lying. Of course, no one wants to believe that Abid is innocent. It's not the way to go. And hey, he probably isn't. But fortunately for Abid, Singletary isn't speaking now. And all fingers are pointing to Singletary. He confessed; he, by all accounts, pulled the trigger. There's no money trail because money didn't exchange hands. That evening, Abid was downtown and even spent time with Blaine's friends after they heard he was killed. Singletary wasn't around.


4) The Unknown. 
How did the authorities know to question/arrest Singletary and Abid mere days after the murder? Some of Blaine's employees had spoken to the police and expressed their concerns about the two suspects, so this may have been part of it. Where's the murder weapon? It hasn't been discussed or revealed about the gun that killed Blaine.

So, this case, stripped down, is not much against Abid and a lot against Singletary. And that is precisely why the Missouri Attorney General, and the Johnson County Prosecutor, Lynn Stoppy, felt it was best to drop it. They know that Singletary will be found guilty. They atleast have that. And this sucks, for everyone involved, but it is perfectly and completely legal.

One last, final note on the Obama situation. Obama was here for all of 2 hours. He flew in on Air Force One and immediately proceeded to the University of Central Missouri around 4:45. Around 6:00 pm, there was a live feed of him returning to Whiteman and boarding Air Force One. There wasn't any time for him to poke his nose in this case, not that he would even want to (or care to!). But that's okay. If it helps you sleep at night, enjoy your theories, minions.

-Central Missouri Sleuth

Obama's Visit to Warrensburg, Missouri

President Obama is planning a visit to Warrensburg, Missouri, on Wednesday. Of course, this means that most residents in this very conservative town are protesting. Oh, but they're too lazy to protest. Mostly, they just write shit on Facebook and repost this ridiculous rumor:

The rumor is that Obama is coming to Warrensburg for the sole purpose of freeing Ziyad Abid! For some reason, this makes so much sense to the Warrensburg conspiracy theorists. So much, in fact, that everyone is in a tizzy, trying to make this a national case!

Here are the FACTS.

FACT. President Obama is coming to Warrensburg, Missouri to speak about the economy. Why? Because Missouri, including the University of Central Missouri, is part of an Innovation Campus initiative. This "offers accelerated degrees in high demand fields". UCM has been in partnership with Lee's Summit R-7 and other Missouri colleges and schools to start and develop this program, and it's pretty revolutionary. What's so great about an accelerated degree? Well, shorter time in school means less loans, and more time working and making money! (WOW!)

But no, there's not reason enough for Obama to come to Warrensburg.

FACT. Whiteman Air Force Base is a mere 15 minutes from Warrensburg. To the public's (and this author's knowledge), Obama has never toured Whiteman Air Force Base, home of the B2 Bomber. Hmm.... B2 Bomber... sounds familiar. Oh yeah, that's because they just went to North Korea to show off what we got in case we had issues with them...

But no, there's still no reason that Obama would come to Warrensburg.

Oh, but the Facebookers have it alllllll figured it out! He's coming to save Abid. Yeah... cause being a former Harvard law professor, he has no regard for the law.. (oh, the comments I'm going to get for that one!). Oh, and of course, Obama is Saudi Arabian... oh wait, that's not right. BUT he's MUSLIM AND BY GOD YOU CAN'T DISPUTE THAT, right?

Jesus. This entire thing is so ridiculous. Everyone is so worked up, thinking that Obama is going to storm the Johnson County jail and unlock Abid himself!

QUESTION. Why would Obama want to commit political suicide by springing Abid?

Answer: He wouldn't.

State of Missouri Vs. Ziyad Abid & Reginald Singletary (Part I)

Chances are, you've heard of the Blaine Whitworth case. As of early June 2013, it was featured as a Yahoo!  news story, along with the Associated Press. Since the murder, there have been many rumors and many conflicting press reports. Namely, the recent Yahoo story (reprinted on several local news stations' sites), doesn't quite match up to everything else that has been reported since the murder last fall.

So what's truth and what's fiction? And why is this a nationwide case from a town of less than 20,000? Let's start at the beginning. The players are as follows:

--Blaine Whitworth- (Victim)  25 year old UCM graduate who returned to Warrensburg after working on the oil rig for several months. (As he returned to Warrensburg, he purchased a home, drove a new truck, and leased/bought the two bars). When he returned, he poured several hundred thousand dollars into renovating Bodie's (a Warrensburg townie bar that's been around for 30+ years) & purchasing/leasing Molly's, formerly Johnny's Pour House. While several people have claimed that Blaine "owned" both bars, he did not. He was likely under a lease for both, but he definitely did not own Bodie's, which has been owned by the Bodenhamer family for years. Blaine approached the owner with a few other fraternity brothers and they leased it to update it and reach a different population. Before the "new" Bodie's opened, some of the fraternity brothers were cut out of the deal, and Blaine was the person they said that cut them out.

Blaine was rumored to have made "over $100,000" while working on the rig, and in Warrensburg language, a 25 year old making that kind of cash was considered "rich". But think of it this way- if he did make over $100k, and then he returns to Warrensburg, "buys" two bars, owns a home, drives a nice truck, and has to keep both businesses afloat, $100k just simply isn't going to go that far. Yes, he probably was mortgaged to the hilt. But in a 2012 economy, exactly how much credit would a local bank extend to a 25 year old?

NOTE: The Warrensburg bar scene took a major hit in 2008 and has never fully recovered. Fitters, arguably the most popular bar/restaurant in town, took over a decade to become what it is, and they still have slow nights.

--Reginald Singletary- (Suspect #1) Reginald "Reggie" Singletary was a 27 year old college student at Missouri Valley Community College. He was a college football player/coach, and is divorced with two children. At the time of the murder, Reggie was working for Blaine. Some rumors say that he was fired right before the shooting. It has been referenced in several articles, but we will know more when the case goes to trial.

--Ziyad Abid- (Suspect #2)- Known as "Prince", Ziyad is a Saudi Arabian national who was studying aviation at UCM. His roommate was Reggie Singletary. Ziyad was frequently seen downtown at all of the bars, namely Molly's, Blaine's bar. He wore expensive watches, was reported to always be purchasing drinks for ladies at the bar, and flashing money on his Facebook page and downtown. He told many people he was a "Saudi Arabian prince", which later would lead to rumors that he would be receiving "immunity" for his crime.

What follows is an account of what happened to Blaine on Sept 1, 2012. This version of the story is from reports from Molly's employees and sources close to Blaine at the time.

On Sept 1, 2012, Blaine was leaving his home to go to Molly's for the Saturday evening  shift. He was showered and had one of his bar shirts on. As he exited his home, he was shot twice. (Rumors have claimed it was twice in the head, execution style. This has not been substantiated thus far) The cops arrived and found him in his front yard/driveway around 9:30 pm. He was dead. In his truck was the cash box for the bar, holding several hundred dollars. It was untouched.  Rumor quickly spread throughout Warrensburg of Blaine's death. That evening, Ziyad Abid was seen at Molly's before the news arrived. He also joined a group of friends to mourn Blaine's death that evening.

This happened to be Labor Day weekend, so Police Chief Bruce Howey announced that the Major Case Squad would be investigating it Tuesday morning. By Tuesday evening, Reggie & Ziyad were arrested. Reggie had allegedly confessed to shooting Blaine, at the request of Ziyad. Reggie told the police that Ziyad had paid him to kill Blaine. Other rumors state that Ziyad threatened to kill Reggie's family if he didn't kill Blaine.

.........But why would Ziyad want Blaine dead? Good question. Sources close to the case have stated that Blaine knew his life was on the line, and expressed this to his managers and close friends. Police interviewed Molly's & Bodie's employees and were informed of this right away.

-Part of this blog is to explore, and possibly dispel rumors related to the case. One of the biggest rumors that has been floating around Warrensburg is that Ziyad had given Blaine a loan to keep his business(es) afloat, but wanted a part of the business after the deal was made, and Blaine refused. Ziyad felt that by killing Blaine, two bars on Pine Street would be available for purchase. As mentioned before, Blaine was considered "rich" by many people in Warrensburg. He was living the American Dream by "Owning" bars, making money- that's what people saw when they looked at him.

What if he had come up short, and Ziyad offered a solution? He was known to many as a "Prince", everyone believed he truly was royalty and just like with Blaine, he was thought to have unlimited cash flow. This rumor has been widespread but not published in the paper or any other news stories- but I'm not surprised. Maybe they're keeping it in their pocket for trial. Since Blaine's death, no one has uttered an ill word about him- he was the hometown hero. 

I have a feeling that the trial will show a different side of the three players that we haven't quite seen before. There was a reason Blaine was killed. I'm not saying it was a good or valid reason- but there was a reason. Rumors have swirled around drugs, money laundering/loans, and more. We don't quite know what the prosecution or the defense has to bring to the table... but I'm pretty sure it's going to change the way that this town remembers Blaine- and maybe everything wasn't what it once seemed.

Welcome to Central MO Sleuth!

Central MO Sleuth is a new blog for all things crime in Central Missouri- the inspiration from this blog came from the current murder case making headlines- the murder of "bar owner" Blaine Whitworth- hometown hero, who was gunned down in front of his home on September 1, 2012. But we'll get to that later...

Central Missouri happens to have more crime than one would think. Maybe it's because we're kind of in the middle of nowhere, with lots of wooded areas, state parks, farm land, and well, meth heads. As with all small towns, this area is home to a lot of people with ahem, how should we say this... biased views. 

This blog is an objective one- open for ideas and discussion- but racism will not be tolerated. I'm a college educated professional- I don't claim to be a cop or attorney- in fact, that's what makes this so great. Viewing these cases from the outside in is the best way- and anyone else can add the information that they know in the comments. 

Email me at centralmosleuth@gmail.com if you want me to feature a story/case. 

Happy Sleuthing!