Miana was a nice girl...she was well liked at school, she was active in her church and she even worked part time as a student worker at a horse farm in Gerrardstown.

She didn't have to die...she never did anything to anyone...

I am at a total loss of words over this senseless murder...

Roger Smith, may you burn in hell along with the rest of your psychotic family. You and the rest of your family have done NOTHING good for the community and should be ASHAMED at your family members actions.

I am so angry that I couldn't sleep last night. I am still angry.

My sincerest condolences to everyone associated with this young girl.

Stormchaser is referring to this:

http://www.herald-mail.com/?module=display...993&format=html

Friday October 14, 2005
W.Va. teenager found slain
Police say the girl might have died by having an object tightly bound across her throat

by CANDICE BOSELY

martinsburg@herald-mail.com

GERRARDSTOWN, W.VA. - A 14-year-old girl was found dead inside the basement of her Gerrardstown, W.Va., home early Thursday evening, according to Berkeley County Sheriff Randy Smith.

Capt. K.C. Bohrer of the Berkeley County Sheriff's Department identified the girl as Mia Stewart. Bohrer said the victim might have died as a result of having an object tightly bound across her throat.

The girl's mother was tied up and beaten with a baseball bat, but was able to free herself and run to a neighboring home to call 911, Smith said.

A man who fled on foot from the home when sheriff's deputies arrived was taken into police custody, Smith said.

"We found some items in the possession of the suspect that belonged to the victims' residence," Smith said.

Investigators remained at the home at 195 Reunion Corner Road off W.Va. 51 for several hours after the initial 911 call was received at 5:37 p.m.

Sgt. Willie Johnson, an investigator with the sheriff's department, said there were no signs of forced entry into the home.

He said early indications were that the girl was not sexually assaulted, but he said he could not comment further because of the ongoing investigation.

After darkness fell and lights inside the house were turned on, deputies could be seen walking around inside the home. An orange paper jack-o-lantern was visible inside one of the home's upstairs rooms, while horses and ponies grazed in a large fenced-in pasture in front of the house.

Smith said the girl's mother was taken to City Hospital in Martinsburg, W.Va., for treatment of her injuries, which Smith said appeared to be serious.

A neighbor, who asked that her name not be printed, described herself as an artist who recently moved into the normally quiet neighborhood.

"I had just finished a fairy (piece of art) for the little girl," the woman said. "I watched her get off the school bus (today)."

She said she had knocked down apples from a tree in her yard and was getting ready to take them to the family for their horses when police cars started pulling up the home's long driveway.

Another neighbor said he knew the man who was taken into police custody. He said the man and his family had lived in a house across the road from the victims' home.

Outside of the victims' house, which was surrounded by yellow police tape, a deputy took photographs of the suspect from several angles before placing him into the back of a police cruiser.

Berkeley County Schools spokeswoman Jaimee Borger confirmed the girl was a ninth-grader at Musselman High School.

Crisis teams will be at the high school and Musselman Middle School today to talk with students and staff.

"It's my understanding the student was a well-known student," Borger said.

why did he have to gag her so well that she couldn't breathe?

God, what a frightening way to die...makes my heart break each time I think of it...

and then to hit the mom with a baseball bat...


this guy is a total canidate for the chair...better yet...park him outside Eastern regional jail and let people throw stones at him...

Terrible

I don't want this to turn into a gun debate but:This is exactly why I have a shotgun.

I just hope friends/family don't abandon the mom.She's going to need someone for some time to come.It's very hard to go it alone.I know.
Mia IS safe now.

this guys brother chased my wife and daughter into our house and then tried to open the door. I wasn't home yet but they called the police...long story short..several deputies came out...said they knew he was mental...but "he'd never hurt anyone before". he was living in a tent on his mom's property adjacent to the back of my property.

After the deputies left he was walking down the road and i confronted him. He denied doing anything but then charged onto my porch and took a swing at me. I struck him in the head with my 4 d-cell maglite and we tumbled thru the porch wall and into the bushes in the front yard.

the police came back, arrested him for assault, property damage with injury, obstruction and trespassing. He served 60 days at Eastern Regional Jail and was released last month.

that 60 days gave me the oppertunity to arm my house with pepper spray at each door and a 30,000 volt stun gun. I wanted a handgun but the wife was against it. She said she wanted something a little less lethal.

With this latest turn of events I wonder if she feels the same way. I tell my girls whenever they are home to keep all doors locked and never open it for anyone.

I felt so awful when I read the article on the front page, and then to log on here and learn all this...it's horrible! How scary to have to live in a neighborhood being tormented by such people.

Does the victim (mom) have any other family living with her?

My condolences as well...

My God.

Awful.

My prayers are with the family.

Storm -- do you know if all the locals, including that family, knew how dangerous this guy was acting? Or did fear (of libel or retribution) keep things quiet?

WVD -- May your tribe increase. I only wish this Mom had had the chance to stop this bastard with one just like yours, before it was too late.

My heart goes out to these people.

Does anyone know the motive? I mean... was this guy simply a nutcase?

I assume robery was the motive...

everyone in Gerrardstown knows about the Smiths...

If everyone knew about this "alleged" criminal slime, why would a next-door neighbor leave their empty home unlocked, and a young girl home alone. Of course it gives the "alleged" slimeball no right whatsoever to do what he did, but in the name of common-sense I would not leave my empty home unlocked even if I didn't have an "alleged" nutcase next door.

I hope this SOB gets the electric chair (does WV have that?)-- if he's found guilty by a jury of his peers in a court of law, of course. Until then, I hope he is real popular among other inmates while in jail.

I don't think we do have the death penalty.The four that beat my girl to death only got #1)60yrs,#2)40yrs,#3)20yrs,#4)20yrs.

Yep they've got some real "winners" living out there in the hills of West Virginny. Makes me sick to my stomach just thinking about it. This is just plain terrible!

We've got our share of "winners", too, B.

Speak for yourself, Snoop.

I know that the gun wouldn't have been any good in this situation.(duh).
Guess I should've been clearer in the first message.
The reason i said what i said is because we seem to have some real "doozy" of some citizens here in and around the Valley.A few years back,there was one set of brothers that took a girl they knew up on the mountain and raped her and then beat her till they thought she was dead,but she managed to crawl up to the road and make it to a house to get help.
Then there was another "upstanding" citizen who was B&E in the area and everyone knew who it was,but couldn't do anything till the cops caught him "redhanded".
And we've also had two families fueding and had a drive by shooting right on my lane.
So,hence the message.

Regardless, I'd rather have a gun here rather than two baseball bats.

If a criminal gets in my place before I do, he or she will have access to whatever I've got in place to protect myself. Right now, I'd walk into them having my baseball bat in hand. If I didn't have baseball bats, they'd have access to my eye spray, my knives, anything.

So what do you propose I do to protect myself?

I thought you had a glowy pink sword?

Don't know what to tell ya cept learn self defense/hand to hand.
Any perps also have to get in the gate past the "pups" here

I've been thinking about taking self defense classes and/or martial arts. Anyone out there have experience in any of these?

Heather, I believe WV is a "shall issue" state for a concealed carry permit. Probably need to take a course by a certified instructor and then you can carry a concealed handgun in all but a few public places. Actualy, in WV I believe you can open carry w/o a permit. Check with the local cops or google it.

Also, having a gun in the home could possibly have been helpful to the Mom in this case - you cannot rule it out. A hidden or combo locked gun possibly could have been retrieved by the Mom when she broke lose, possibly she coulda shot the bastard and maybe, maybe, the outcome would be different.

I would've sent a dozen roses if she did.

Click to view attachment

the only problem is that any weapon can be wrestled away and used against you. Mrs. Stewart more than likely had a serious head wound that could have affected her eyesight and balance.

I have non-lethal defensive weapons in my house. I purchased pepper spray and have it placed by each door in the house and there's a 30,000 volt stun gun strategicly placed. The kids were scared at first but when I showed them how they worked they felt more comfortable.

btw..I got a nice email back from Mrs. Games-Neely, she said a plea bargain hasn't been offered.

Also she said that a murder committed in the commission of a burglery is still a felony. You don't have to prove intent for the charge of felony murder (murder in the first degree)

hope this helps everyone. Roger will not get off.

I do. Shhhh.


I don't want to carry one around, Snoop. That would increase my chances of shooting myself in the foot.


Naomi, I've reached green belt twice. Once in taekwondo and hapkido, the other in just taekwondo. Two separate schools. I'd recommend tkd or karate, but not kickboxing. Kickboxing just beats the hell out of your legs.

I went to Park's Martial Arts in my early 20s. It used to be on Penn. Avenue in H'town, but not anymore. It was a good school, but I have no idea what they're like now. Jamie is a good martial arts instructor...and I'll just leave it at that and keep my personal opinions to myself.

A year or two later I went to Gold's Gym in M'burg. They were just worried about money money money and the quality of instruction wasn't great either.

I'd love to get back into it myself but I feel so busy already. Give it a try, Naomi. I loved it. Thought it was fun.

The preliminary hearing for Roger Smith will be on October 21, 2005 at 11:45AM infront of Magistrate Snow.

This is a public hearing and I urge everyone to attend.

Naomi...

I took Taekwondo in Annapolis, reached my orange belt.

Am taking classes again here, locally, and have my blue belt. I have every intention (unless unforeseen circumstances occur) of getting my black belt and beyond.

I'm not sure, practically, if TKD is the best martial arts for self-defense. It relies very heavily on kicking and punching. So, in general, a woman is going to be at a disadvantage, particularly as we age.

However, my instructor does a great job of throwing other martial arts and styles into the mix, including "ground" defense (or grappling), and weapons... things which aren't often included in traditional TKD dojos. I would definitely research/ask questions before signing up with any particular school. Some are heavily focused on the "art," others are focused on the "sport," and others are a blend.

I think my school is a nice blend, but I'm prejudice, maybe. Also, my school is full contact: IMHO, important if you ever plan to use it against someone in a self-defense situation. If you train to pull your punches, you may end up pulling them at the wrong time out of habit.

Personally, martial arts is one of the best things I ever decided to do. I have every intention of studying another style sometime in the future. I also plan to encourage my kids to get involved, too. It's a self-esteem builder. You'll feel more confident, which in itself can prevent you from being targeted as a victim.

If you get serious about it, let me know. There are things you should ask schools before you sign up, such as belt testing fees, contract length, student/teacher ratio, etc.

Heather A friend of mine has gone to a martial arts place that has locations in Martinsburg and Charles Town. They offer a 30 day free trial, so I may have to check it out!

Get off your high "know-it-all" horse, TB, because you don't know it all. Unless you were there or have access to non-public information, you don't know that a gun would have been of no help, just like I don't know it would have helped. The difference is that your hatred for guns makes it impossible for you to admit you don't know it all or consider scenerios where a gun could have helped. I'm willing to admit that either scenerio is possible, you aren't. So whose comments are self-serving?

EVERYBODY RE-READ MY FIRST POST,PLEASE!

Fighting over guns will not change whats happened.

A mother's only child is dead and she'll be burying that child this week.
The fact that this animal was allowed to be in society at all without medical help is against all logic.He had a history.Red flags and bells should've been going off along time ago to keep this goof away from the rest of us. It should've been mandatory for him to get/accept help! Things have got to change not only here in WV but all over the country.

WVD -- I appreciate your perspective, but that's just like saying, "Fighting over sentencing laws will not change what's happened". True, but beside the point.

Nothing will change what's happened, and it is indeed a horrible tragedy that makes me thank God I have my family. Preventing tragic events like these from happening in the future is all we can try to do. And no one approach by itself is ideal. Stricter sentencing laws - keeping criminals in longer, etc. - is one way. Self-protection is another. Early intervention to try to get future criminals off the "wrong path" is another. More parental responsibility is another. Lots of things need to be looked at and fixed, and I do not pretend to suggest gun laws of any type are the be-all and end-all, but they are one part of the equation.

I heard today that he was convicted in VA for attempted rape and kidnapping, was sentenced to 6 years and all but 2 were suspended !

You are so blind sometimes, TB. Everyone has an "agenda" to "push", yourself included. But when it is your agenda, well then, that's okay but we won't call it an agenda because that sounds bad. Try honesty for a change.

Ya see, your agenda (and mine to an extent, and WVD's) is regarding why "this animal was allowed to be in society" and to address why there was "not enough prison space, not enough money for criminal justice, not enough reliable mental health facilities" etc.

But since there apparently was not "enough prison space, not enough money for criminal justice, not enough reliable mental health facilities" involved in this tragedy, should I say that "interjecting your hypothetical theories that they might have made a difference serves no purpose"?

My 2 cents:

Maybe shooting the guy wouldn't have changed the outcome in THIS situation, but it would have changed the outcome in the NEXT situation. You know... the one where this guy gets out of jail in 5 years and then tries the same thing on another victim...

If he had gotten shot and killed this time, he wouldn't be around to commit his next crime.

But then again, I'm not much of a believer in the whole "rehabilitation" thing.

To each his own. I personally choose to run like the wind rather than risk losing a violent confrontation. I'd rather do my part to keep weapons out of the picture altogether rather than risk having my own weapons turned against me. But I do also believe that reasonable minds may differ. Martial arts training sounds like a very reasonable approach if you feel like you have to do something, but I'll never be one to carry any sort of weapon.

One of my favorite martial arts guys, Loren Christensen--who's written countless books, served in the military & fought in wars, worked as a cop, etc.--says this is what you should do when confronted with a big, violent guy:

"Stick your finger in his eyeball up to the third knuckle, then turn and run like a gazelle on an African plain."

Someone said this "alleged" murderer had a "family" nearby. Has the family spoken? Are they living near the survivors? Do nearby residents fear the remaining family?

I wonder if this murder will have a significant effect on burglar alarm sales, or gun sales, or self-defense classes, for those living nearby?

I wanted to add something here. I find that women, in general, tend to be more "security conscious" than men. Perhaps because we're more vulnerable because of our gender, size and strength. Maybe because "sex" assaults happen mostly to women. Maybe because media/tv/movies/news about psycho killers who attack women tend to feed our fears.

Sure... I'm making some sweeping generalizations. There are some tough ladies and some wimpy men out there.

Not really saying anything... except maybe to note that in this case, two females were attacked by one male. I'd say that says something about the odds, eh?

I think rightly so, not just because they're more often victims of sexual assaults as opposed to any other kind of assault though. I think my insistence on not carrying any weapons makes more sense for me in part because of my size. If anybody seriously considers messing with a guy my size they're almost certainly going to be bringing deadly force and a willingness to use it. In that case avoidance or surrender are my most viable options.

A woman, on the other hand, might be more likely to be confronted by someone who might think twice if confronted by a weapon.

In this particular case, I don't know but I can't help but wonder if there might have been a different outcome if either the girl or her mother had been carrying pepper spray for example. Did they hear anything suspicious before actually encountering and being overcome by the guy? Who knows? In any event this is a very scary story for all of us working parents who have "latchkey" children at home.

In elementary school, the first time my parents referred to me as a latchkey kid, I thought I had a disease.

So any of us mentioning a gun and how it might have helped in this case have "control freak obsessions" and are "tacky" in the mind of Miss High and Mighty. Wow, will I lose sleep over that one. I bet WVD was brought to tears.

Peacefrog mentions martial arts; BMIC pepper spray. Neither "is mentioned in any newspaper account". Do they both "have a control freak obsession that as long as they have those capabilities that they are captains of the control freak universe"?

See, you just plain have a prejudice against guns and gun owners, TB. You just can't stand them. I'll bet if you had to read one issue of The Armed Citizen (http://www.nraila.org/ArmedCitizen/Default.aspx) your head would explode because you just couldn't comprehend it!

Another note for animal lovers... dogs make great security systems.

Mine are my first line of defense.

They're Bibs,not coveralls.

x2

Just don't dare suggest or insinuate that a dog or two could have made any difference to the Stewart family or you'll be a thick-headed, obsessive, control-freak dolt!

Nope, there is nothing that could have changed what happened, absolutely nothing. Oh -- except prison space, money, and mental health facilities. Cuz TB the crime prevention guru sez so.

How bout "skirts"?

Here's an article on the funeral http://www.journal-news.net/news/story/101...al_101905_n.asp how sad.

so very heartbreaking. I've lost an unborn child and that was traumatic enough, I could not imagine losing a child of that age and having to go through the funeral and burial. My heart goes out to this family...

Please remember that Roger's preliminary hearing is tomorrow (friday) at 11:45AM
in front of Magistrate Snow. I will double check today as to exactly where this will be.

The address is 120 West John Street. They have not assigned a courtroom as of yet but it will be posted at the entrance to the courthouse.

This hearing is open to the public and we need to pack to room with Miana banners and signs.


Let's make it real obvious to Mr. Smith we will not let him forget.

It's up to the judge whether you can have your banners and signs.Some judges don't want THEIR courtroom turned into a circus. Ya never know.