Pittsburgh Post-Gazette from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania • Page 10

PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE FRIDAY, JANUARY 30, 1998 A-10 Man's obsessions turn deadly Abortion bombed, clinic killing 1 But Thomas Carr refused to accept that and repeatedly called detectives and visited their offices in East In addition, he contacted the Pittsburgh PostGazette, complaining that police were inot properly investigating his daughter's death. After checking iwith authorities, the newspaper agreed with police that Carr's claims, were unfounded. "We never discouraged him from visiting or calling us," Freeman said! "He was a frequent caller and he often visited. His theories on why she died were nonsensical, 'there As the train approached, she got up and stood between that set of tracks and the ones the train was traveling on, he later told detectives. The worker said his train passed without injuring her.

A short time later, police were notified by two young men that a woman had been struck by a train on those same tracks. The woman had been killed instantly. It was Janla Carr. As they do in all unnatural deaths, detectives treated Janla Carr's as a homicide until they could show otherwise. Tests indicated she hadn't been raped.

There were no scratches on her that would indicate she had Roster of attacks By The Associated Press Cases of abortion-related violence: Jan. 16, 1997 Two bomb blasts an hour apart rock Atlanta building containing abortion clinic. Seven people injured. Unsolved. Dec.

30, 1 994 John Salvi opens fire with rifle inside two Boston-area abortion clinics, killing two receptionists and wounding five others. Sentenced to life without parole, he kills himself in prison in 1996. Nov. 8, 1 994 Dr. Garson Romalis, who performs abortions in Vancouver, Canada, shot in the leg while eating breakfast at home.

July 29, 1994 Dr. John Bayard Britton and his bodyguard, James H. Barrett, slain outside Pensacola, abortion clinic. Paul J. Hill, 40, a former minister and anti-abortion activist, convicted of murder and sentenced to death.

Aug. 19, 1993 Dr. George Tiller shot in the arms as he drives out of parking lot at his Wichita, clinic. Rachelle "Shelley" Shannon convicted and sentenced to 1 1 years in prison. March 10, 1993 Dr.

David Gunn shot to death outside Pensacola, clinic, becoming the first U.S. doctor killed during an anti-abortion demonstration. Michael Griffin convicted and serving a life sentence. CLINIC FROM PAGE A- or Injure," he said. BI Agent Joseph Lewis said the bomb apparently was in a package, but it was not immediately known what kind.

A year ago, two bombs went off hour apart at a clinic in Atlanta, injuring seven in the second blast that bombing is still unsolved. Hours after the explosion in Bir-Jmingham, the surrounding area regained sealed off while bomb experts in masks and heavy protec-Hive gear combed over it. "We still have a hot scene. We're being very cautious because of what happened in Atlanta," said the ATFs Brian Lett The bomb went off about 7:30 am just outside the main entrance of the New Woman All Women -Health Care clinic, rocking nearby -luildings at the university and leav-'ling a crater outside the blackened, entryway. The explosion occurred as clinic employees were arriving but about 30 minutes be fore doors normally open to patients.

"We were shaking. We were 30 seconds away from being in that Jot," said Terry Hermes, yho was taking his wife, Lisa, to her counseling job at the clinic. His wife, who has worked at UNCLAIMED CONFISCATED SEIZED PROPERTY AUCTION Vanf ty of goods from abandoned property. bankruptcy, rcposessions. liquidations.

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Lie 2903-L. PRECIOUS CARGO TRADING CO. TOLL FREE (888) 823-3416 Coming Soon: www.preciouscargo.com i 4. CARR FROM PAGE A-1 Wounded, he fired two more shots into his chest. A short time later, in UPMC Presbyterian, he died three days short of the one-year anniversary of Janla's death.

"He was somebody we just couldn't satisfy," said Pittsburgh Eolice Cmdr. Ronald Freeman, who ad numerous discussions with Carr about Janla's death. "He not only never came to grips with his daughter's death, I think he never came to grips with a lot of things in life, unfortunately." 'Love-hate' relationship Janla Carr and her father had what friends characterized for police as a "love-hate" relationship. Janla Carr would tell her friends that her father had abused both her and her mother, who died of cancer about five years ago. Yet Thomas Carr, who told police he was a retired U.S.

Postal Service supervisor, paid for the apartment Janla Carr kept in a former mansion in the 5100 block of Fifth Avenue, Oakland. And the elder Carr, who lived on Murray Hill Avenue in Squirrel Hill, also paid rent on his late wife's former residence in the Morrowfield Apartments in Squirrel Hill, where Janla often stayed. "It was not a close relationship. Although there was some contact, it was sporadic as far as we know," Freeman said yesterday. Janla Carr, who had suffered with mental illness for years and had numerous stays in Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, graduated from college but held no job.

She was generally reclusive, although she did have some friends. "She was well-liked and considered harmless," Freeman said. "She was known to a lot of people as someone who would roam the streets at night, early in the morn-' ing, in odd hours and with odd behavior. "She was at one time an exceptionally beautiful woman, but toward the end, based on what her friends said, she deteriorated and didn't take care of herself as she had before." Amid the clutter in her Fifth Avenue apartment were "thousands and thousands" of handwritten pages of her thoughts, ideas and Freeman said. She often tried to get them published but was unsuccessful.

Neighbors of Thomas Carr's said he didn't care rnuch for his property. His home was described by a neighbor as being in such disrepair that pigeons would fly in and out of holes in it. Windows are covered by what appear to be sheets, debris is strewn about outside, and the house appeared not to have been painted in 50 years, she said. Police said Carr had long-standing feuds with some neighbors over the condition of his home. Several neighbors interviewed yesterday said that while Carr was reclusive, they had not had problems with him.

A man obsessed Late on the night of Jan. 31, 1997, a worker on a train moving through Oakland near Neville Street spotted a woman lying on an adjacent track. several clinics, added: "I hope I can retain the belief that what I'm doing is right and not be scared off. After this, I don't know." Witnesses said the off-duty police officer appeared to have been killed instantly, while the counselor lay injured "in the yard as the smoke rose from the blast Her charred clothes were partly torn away. The victims were identified as Officer Robert D.

Sanderson, 35, and counselor Emily Lyons, 41. Both were from Birmingham. Lyons suffered extensive abdominal, leg and facial injuries, including the loss of an eye. The police officer "had gotten off work and he had just gotten there," Coppage said. Gov.

Fob James, a Republican who opposes abortion, offered full state support in the investigation, saying, "I cannot think of any more cowardly and reprehensible act." He said "those responsible should be "tracked down, indicted, convicted and executed." The blast shook a second abortion clinic a block away, the Summit Women's Clinic, knocking things off the wall. Michele Wilson, a volunteer at the Summit Women's Clinic, said the Summit has not received any threats or unusual communications in the last few days. The New Woman clinic did receive a written threat recently, she said, but it was a letter from someone officials there had heard from before and they were not overly concerned. Investigators said that a number of witnesses were being questioned but that there were no immediate suspects. Among those questioned was a regular anti-abortion protester who was across the street when the blast occurred, said David Lackey, an anti-abortion leader who went to the scene and called the explosion a "heinous act." Members of the Atlanta task force that is investigating the clinic bombings there as well as bombings at the 1996 Olympics and a gay nightclub headed to Birmingham to see if there was any connection.

"At this stage of the game, we DETtlll Lots of Answers for the CIRCUIT CITY. IlKfS D.SH NE1W0RK 18 don't know if there's any connection," said Bill King, an ATF agent in Atlanta. Hermes said he reached the scene about 30 seconds after the blast. "There was a huge crater in the yard, and there were dirt clods scattered everywhere. All the windows were just totally gone," he said.

Authorities used a robot to examine what appeared to be a canister, similar to a coffee can, that was found near the clinic, but it was later found to be harmless. The search for a possible second device was hampered because dogs sniffing for a bomb kept finding explosive debris that was scattered by the blast. Five people have been shot to death at U.S. abortion clinics, one in 1993 and four in 1994. Numerous clinics around the country have been bombed over the years.

"This is the first death that we have seen from a bombing of an abortion clinic," said Vicki Saporta, director of the National Abortion Federation. The New Woman clinic is one of four in Alabama challenging new state laws barring a certain type of late-term abortions. An anti-abortion march on Saturday to mark the Roe vs. Wade anniversary included the clinic on its route. Way You Talk5 Wireless Services Authorized Dealer SAillMTE SYSfei APPLIANCE AND SATELLITE HEADQUARTERS For the lowest PrlceCall tit From Anywhere 1-800-427-2897 'SEE ITOtE Lots of Choices, FOI was no logical connection daughter's death." Freeman said Carr would switch between anger and civility.

"There was no consistency in his behavior except inconsistency." In addition to his behavior; what concerned detectives was -Carr's claims of having a large gun collection. But because Carr never threatened anyone, there was5nothing police could do. "He would point his anger in different directions, one tirfie.at'his neighbors, another time would be angry at us and other times he would be angry at some nebulous government agency," said. "There was nothing concrete that we could point to. There was nothing we could take to court to have him committed." Freeman said they tried to persuade Carr to give his gun collection to a third, neutral party, but he declined.

1 After nearly a year of trying to persuade homicide detectives that his daughter had been murdered, Carr called Assistant Chief Earl D. Woodyard Jr. earlier this month, saying that a neighbor of his had killed his daughter. Woodyard said there was no logical basis to what Carr told bin? but, because he was not familiar with the case, he consulted with Freeman. He agreed with the homicide squad's conclusion.

"I was satisfied but he never would accept it. He just would not face reality as the facts deemed it," Woodyard said. Phantoms turn deadly On Tuesday, Carr went to the Butler Eagle newspaper office and told an employee that he wanted to talk about his daughter's death, that he tried to get Pittsburgh police interested in it but he no longer trusted them. He said her murder involved a top political aide 'of a gubernatorial candidate. who said he was on the run, was referred to Post-Gazette reporter Dennis B.

Roddy. The next day, Wednesday, Thomas Carr walked into the Cranberry at 10:30 a.m. and approached cellular phone salesman Greg Hengelsberg at a kiosk near the entrance. Carr asked about security features of the telephones, complaining that his telephones were being tapped. They talked for a while ana then Carr said he had to get something.

"He came back a second time and was talking normal," Hengelsberg recalled. At lunchtime, Hengelsberg went to the store cafeteria and sat at a table. Carr came in and sat down next to him. "He said the same people tapping phones were the ones who killed his daughter. He said he was wanted by the FBI and the state police," Hengelsberg said.

"One minute it would be a normal conversation, and then he would get serious That they had gotten to his daughter and now were after him and whoever was tapping his hones had played it for the woman was in love with and she had dumped him and never spoke to him again." Hengelsberg said he didn't believe anything Carr was saying but just thought he was telling tales to make conversation. A short time later, at 1:50 p.iji., Roddy received a message on his voice mail at work. The caller said he was Thomas Carr and had been referred to Roddy by the Eagle. He said he wanted to talk about how a neighbor killed his daughter and stole his stamp collection. About 2 p.m., Carr called a newsroom employee of the Butler Eagle and delivered a similar message.

At 3:56 p.m, he called Roddy back, again getting his voice mail. He reiterated his referral by the Eagle and added, "These police are following me all over," Carr said. "All right. Bye, bye." The call ended. A few minutes later, he called the Eagle and said police were closing in on him and he didn't expect to be around.

Carr returned to Hengelsberg's kiosk about 5 but the salesman was busy with another customer. "He looked at me and waved, and I waved back. He took off his tassel cap, and I went back to what I was doing," Hengelsberg said. i Carr walked about 20 yards away, out of Hengelsberg's line of vision. And then the first shot was fired.

"It sounded like a balloon popping. It didn't register. And then someone said someone had a guij. I said, 'It's that old guy, Arid my customer said, 'How did you "It was just the way he was talking. Of all the people I met that day, if something like that happened it had to be him." Staff writers Dennis B.

RodSy and Jim McKinnon contributed to this report Janla Carr's 1 985 passport photo "He was somebody we just couldn't satisfy." Pittsburgh police Cmdr. Ronald Freeman been thrown into the train's path. She hadn't been beaten all of the injuries were from being struck by the train. Friends told detectives Janla had recently been released from Western Psych and seemed happy. But they also said she had not been taking her medication.

The physical evidence, combined with the train worker's report of earlier seeing a woman lying on the tracks and Janla's mental health history, led detectives to believe she had committed suicide. But because an accidental death could not be ruled out, the manner of death was officially ruled by the coroner's office as undetermined. Thomas Carr felt otherwise. He gave detectives the torn piece of newsprint upon which Janla had 19 years earlier written a note about seeing a man in her apartment building who got up from a couch and looked at her in a strange way. She wrote: "I'm in trouble." Thomas Carr told detectives the note showed his daughter was a murder "He attached himself to that piece of paper," Freeman said.

"There was nothing at all there. We read that and read that and read that. It was nonsensical stuff written 19 years earlier. "There was nothing to suggest a murder, there was no reason why someone would want to kill her." 1898 JANUARY 1998 mm nr 'I -v' EVERY FIXTURE AND LAMP IN STOCK INCLUDED IN THIS SALE ALL SALES ARE FINAL NO REFUNDS NO RETURNS ON DOUBLE DISCOUNTS Saturday til 3 p.m. Plenty otFREE parking llllllll JWILIiWMIl I4JW IIJ JH.PI PW imWIT J'IM IHIIuiy I "Ml uui im.Hllini 4-.

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