September 1, 2001 – CBS Hourly News – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
September1, 2001 – A reasonably quiet day, unless you were in Sioux City Iowa, in which case, you were reeling over the grisly murder which took place in your town.
According to The New York Times account of the incident:
Saturday, September 1, 2001
A woman, her five children and an acquaintance were killed here and the 23-year-old boyfriend of the woman was arrested today on suspicion of murder, the police said. The Sioux City police chief, Joe Frisbie, called the crime, which was discovered on Thursday, the worst mass murder crime in this city’s history.
The boyfriend, Adam Matthew Moss, was captured without a struggle as he hid behind a pile of plywood, after an all-night search by the authorities, Chief Frisbie said.
The chief offered no motive for the slayings.
Neighbors of the family said that Mr. Moss could be friendly and helpful but that he had a history of violence. His own brother filed a restraining order against him last week.
The body of Leticia Aguilar, 31, was found at her home by a baby sitter on Thursday night, along with those of her children, ages 6 to 12.
The bodies appeared to have been there for a few days, the authorities said. The police said they had recovered a weapon, but did not elaborate.
The baby sitter, Donna Stabile, said she went to the house when the children — Claudia, 12; Zach, 11; Larry, 9; Lisa, 7; and Michael, 6 — did not show up at her home after school. She said that she had a key to Ms. Aguilar’s house and that she used it to enter.
”The first thing I noticed was that their 32-inch TV was missing,” Ms. Stabile said. Then she went upstairs and saw the bodies.
The seventh victim was Ronald Fish, 58, the owner of a tire store and service station whose body was found at his home.
The slayings shocked many in this Missouri River city of 84,000. The police said the last multiple killing in Sioux City was a triple homicide 26 years ago.
The police said Mr. Moss and Ms. Aguilar both worked at the Smurfit-Stone Container Company, which makes cardboard and other paper products. The company said Mr. Moss had quit recently.
Fred Scaletta, spokesman for the Iowa Corrections Department, said Mr. Moss received a year of probation in 1995 for assault with injury.
The next year, he was placed on two years of probation for burglary and theft.
Just last week, Mr. Moss’s younger brother, Jason Moss, obtained a restraining order against him for assault, said Charlene Peterson, a trial court supervisor. She would not provide details.
School counselors were called in to comfort schoolchildren after learning five of their classmates were dead. Three of the children were in elementary school, the others in middle school.
”They were truly wonderful kids,” the Everett Elementary principal, Michaela Hansen, said. ”They were really outgoing and friendly. People liked them. My heart just goes out to that family.”
There was other news – other crime in other parts of the country. Investigator along with a Cadaver Dog were busy sifting through the remains of a house fire in Los Angeles, which was believed to contain the remains of James Beck, who was accused of killing a L.A. County Sheriff’s Deputy while Beck was being served with an arrest warrant.
And the Labor Day weekend was seeing an estimated 33.2 million travelers hitting the road and taking a trip approximately 50 miles or more from their homes. All that, and with gas prices up as much as .50 a gallon over the past month because of a “refinery fire”.
And that’s just some of went happened this September 1, 2001 as reported by CBS Radio Hourly News.
