LITTLE ROCK, Ark., Dec. 1, 2008
Parents: Slain Anchor Sexually Assaulted
Family Of Fatally Beaten Ark. Woman Says Evidence Shows Attack Was More Than Robbery
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Anne Pressly never regained consciousness and died five days after being savagely beaten in her Little Rock home. (AP Photo/KATV Television)
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Suspect Curtis Lavelle Vance is shown in Little Rock, Ark., on Nov. 26, 2008. (AP/Little Rock Police Dept., HO)
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Play CBS Video Video Ark. Reporter Death A Homicide Melissa Dunbar-Gates, best friend to Anne Pressly, an Arkansas reporter who died from wounds sustained during a robbery, tells Julie Chen the police are doing all they can to find her killer.
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Interactive Crime Beat Statistics and specifics on crime in America.
Guy and Patti Cannady talked with the "Today" show's Matt Lauer on Monday, five days after suspect Curtis Lavelle Vance was arrested in the Oct. 20 beating death of KATV anchorwoman Anne Pressly.
They said while the police were investigating the case as a homicide, there's a lot of evidence that there was more to it than that.
"This monster stole my daughter's innocence," Patti Cannady told NBC's "Today" show. "He took her life. He took her identity. He took our lives. Our lives have radically changed as a result of what's happened to Anne."
Patti Cannady said her daughter suffered a broken left hand in the attack. "She fought for her life, she fought her attacker," she said.
Patti Cannady went to her daughter's Little Rock home after she didn't answer a wake-up call and found the 26-year-old had been beaten beyond recognition. Every bone in her face had been broken, Cannady said.
"Her jaw pulverized so badly that the bone had come out of it," she said. "I actually thought that her throat, it possibly been cut, but that was possibly the first knockout punch. Her entire skull had numerous fractures from which she suffered a massive stroke."
Pressly died in the hospital five days later without regaining consciousness.
Police did not return a call Monday morning seeking comment on the Cannadys' comments.
Guy Cannady said the family still has many questions about the murder. He said the police theory is that Pressly interrupted a random robbery, but he isn't convinced of that.
"Well, it's just unbelievable that a random robbery like this would involve the brutal slaying of Anne in this way. There just seems to be a lot more to the whole story than just a robbery gone bad," he said. "I think he could have been a stalker."
An arrest affidavit filed Monday morning in Little Rock District Court shows police believe "several items belonging to Ms. Pressly were taken from her residence during this attack." In Marianna, police said Vance is a suspect in several burglaries in the eastern Arkansas city, about 90 miles from Little Rock. A detective there said Vance became a suspect in the burglaries after his girlfriend sold reportedly stolen items to a Helena-West Helena pawn shop.
Little Rock police Detective Tommy Hudson wrote in the affidavit that Pressly died after suffering "blunt force trauma" during the attack. Hudson wrote that Vance denied being in Little Rock the day of the attack on Pressly and allowed detectives to swab a DNA sample from his saliva.
"It was confirmed with all scientific certainty that Mr. Vance is the DNA contributor of the suspect in Ms. Pressly's murder," the affidavit reads.
Guy Cannady said they had mixed feelings about the arrest.
"Obviously, good news for us, but bittersweet in the sense that now that exits from the first chapter of this, her attack, and now into the next chapter, which is the capture of the suspect and into now the trial phase."
Vance is being held without bond at the Pulaski County jail. He is also accused of raping an east Arkansas school teacher in April.
Pressly worked as a morning anchorwoman for KATV and had a small role as a conservative commentator in the Oliver Stone movie "W." She lived alone in the city's Pulaski Heights section, a mix of mansions and bungalows near a country club.
Pressly's mother, visiting from out of town at the time of the attack, found Pressly a half-hour before the anchorwoman was due on air. The anchorwoman had been beaten severely on the head and upper torso.
© MMVIII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Add a Comment See all 39 Comments
- OK, I did not read the article with the picture of the suspect yesterday.
So the suspect is black? So what?
IF he is guilty, then castrate and emasculate him, no pain killers, nothing, then later, after the bleeding stops, fry him in the electric chair. No stays, no appeals, just fry him.
Now, to all the Libtards out there, now that I know the suspect is black, and I feel the exact same way about him that I did before I knew his race, am I a racist for thinking he should be castrated and emasculated before being fried in the electric chair?
Like a previous post said "I don''t care if his name is Charles Emerson Winchester III from Harvard or Exeter" chop off his junk and fry him!
Whoever brutalized that woman is a monster and should die a horribly painful slow death. - Reply to this comment
- Also this woman was an active member of a Christian church, who lived her beliefs. Is it really so hard for some to beleve that a few women still save themselves for marriage?
Her virginity though not really anyones business, is not some made up fairy tale. - Reply to this comment
- A libtard is someopne who wants to understand some animal who rapes and kills.
A conservative understands an animal who rapes and kills, needs to be wiped off the face of the earth. - Reply to this comment
- He is just a SCUMBAG that happens to be black.... too bad his MOMMY didn''t flush him down the toilet when she had the chance.....
- Reply to this comment
- Explain, if you dare, how anyone can leave race out of it?
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Posted by CloverNYC at 06:00 PM : Dec 01, 2008
A white woman allegedly got raped and killed by a black guy. I would like to see the black guy hung if he is found guilty. I didn''t leave race out of it. Doe''s that make me racist? - Reply to this comment
- Jetsetter08,
I see your point but consider this, please
In an ideal world race would not be a factor but the fact is that her blonde hair and blue eyes are prominent in the color photo that has been clearly posted at several news sites for all the world to see.
The photo of her alleged attacker who is black is also posted for all the world to see. These facts make it difficult to leave race out of it.
Then there is the additional release of information that she was raped, the subtle like a sledgehammer implication that she was a virgin, and that her hand was broken when she supposedly tried to defend herself all add fuel to the racist fires.
Explain, if you dare, how anyone can leave race out of it? - Reply to this comment
- In my neck of the woods this animal would be strung up, and his ***** stuffed in his mouth. How bout a little old fashioned southern justice?
Posted by cwbyht at 04:30 PM : Dec 01, 2008
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No, you ninny. This is racist. Note the difference. - Reply to this comment
- Crime is crime, rape is rape, murder is murder, scum is scum. It is what it is, lets keep race out of it.
- Reply to this comment
- What a surprise... a black man is accused in Arkansas no less of brutally murdering and raping a blonde blue eyed white woman described as ''''innocent'''' and who ''''broke her hand fighting off her attacker.''''
Guess there is no possibility on earth that a white man killed her... a white man who was possibly her lover?
No way. It had to be a black man. Had to be.
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Posted by CloverNYC at 04:02 PM : Dec 01, 2008
You would have to be racist or not to intelligent to post a comment like this. - Reply to this comment
- All it takes is a raped, dead blonde blue eyed woman and a black suspect to bring you backwoods rednecks out from under the chicken coop.
If she had been an inner city black anchorwoman who was raped and brutally murdered, you would conjecture it was a drug deal gone sour or baby mama drama - you would not be on this board talking about castration, hanging and referring to the accused as an ''animal''
HYPOCRITES. - Reply to this comment
- I don''t care if it was a white guy named Whitney Ellingsworth III from Exeter and Harvard. HANG THE ***!!
- Reply to this comment
- Clathrate,
In America the accused is innocent until proven guilty but obviously not where you come from. - Reply to this comment
- If she had been an inner city black anchorwoman, you would not be on this board talking about castration and referring to the accused as an ''''animal''''
Hypocrites.
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Posted by CloverNYC
Not true. I want this guy dead and to suffer because he is an evil SOB, regardless of his race or that of his victim. - Reply to this comment
- Missybelle,
The chicken coop is calling you. Please crawl back under it and leave having an opinion to someone with a brain. - Reply to this comment
- To outlive your children is the universal nightmare of every loving parent.
May God comfort their hearts. - Reply to this comment
- See, what I blame is the black man''s hate for whites, and who better to take out rage and hatred on than a woman who can''t fight back? Maybe it would be better not to perpetuate the race card as an excuse for just getting by.
- Reply to this comment
- If she had been an inner city black anchorwoman, you would not be on this board talking about castration and referring to the accused as an ''''animal''''
Hypocrites.
Posted by CloverNYC at 04:49 PM : Dec 01, 2008
Are you pretending to be clairvoyant? Because, you know, how do you know this? It''s criminal no matter the race. - Reply to this comment
- You know I''m a white guy raised in a all white town but moved south and lived there 25 years. You ignorant fools trying to prove your not racist by saying it might be a white gut HIS DNA WAS THERE I would dought she had a drug addicted thief over for tea. I''m so sick of folks giving black scum a walk to prove there not racist {YES there''s white trash to}. Folks that try to disprove there racist end upproving they are. This sick piece of trash thought it would be fun to mall a white women if your interested in truth he was and is the ultimate racist.
- Reply to this comment
- All it takes is a raped, dead blonde blue eyed woman and a black suspect to bring you backwoods rednecks out from under the chicken coop.
If she had been an inner city black anchorwoman, you would not be on this board talking about castration and referring to the accused as an ''''animal''''
Hypocrites.
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Posted by CloverNYC at 04:49 PM : Dec 01, 2008
You know buddy, I had to step back and look at your post. I''m a 66 year old white guy living in the state of Texas. After due consideration, I tend to agree with you, sadly though......... - Reply to this comment
- All it takes is a raped, dead blonde blue eyed woman and a black suspect to bring you backwoods rednecks out from under the chicken coop.
If she had been an inner city black anchorwoman, you would not be on this board talking about castration and referring to the accused as an ''animal''
Hypocrites. - Reply to this comment
