MELISSA SKYE COLLINS, 17 -- MURDERED BY STEPFATHER IN MARYLAND

[HairOfTheDog]

RIP Melissa Skye Collins, 17.

This is a very tragic story.

The grieving (bio) father Lynn Hassinger is a friend of Gunnar's (aka Blindgreed1).

Snip:
A western Maryland man has been charged with murdering his 17-year-old stepdaughter after her body was found hidden his basement on Wednesday, police say.

A neighbor flagged down officers in Hagerstown, Maryland on Wednesday afternoon to report that Melissa Skye Collins hadn't made it to school that morning and hadn't been seen since 7.30am.

Officers became suspicious of her step-father Ernie Chase when they interviewed him and he refused to let them inside.

After obtaining a search warrant several hours later, police discovered Melissa's body 'concealed within the house,' according to police.

Her father said Melissa was afraid of her stepfather and said he was a violent man - but she didn't want to leave her mom or little brothers and sister

Her biological father, Lynn Hassinger, told Daily Mail Online that she was found in the basement.


Detectives promptly arrested ^ stepdad Ernie Chase, 32, and charged him with murder and multiple counts of child abuse.

Police would not say how the girl was killed, why Chase allegedly attacked her or when she may have died.

Mr Hassinger, who lives two hours north of Hagerstown in Pennsylvania, said that she told him that she was scared of her stepfather because he was a violent person.

But, she decided to live with her mother and stepfather in Maryland so that she could look after her little sister and two younger brothers.

Ref: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...ement.html
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I wonder where the mother is in all of this?

[Blindgreed1]

I just got off the phone with Lynn's wife. He is obviously devastated and they are completely broke.

[username]

BG, I'm going to treat this like any other crime thread and wait for the facts of the case to come out (as opposed to approaching you to share personal info about someone you may know).

Like HotD, I have to wonder about the mom...and just generally why the kids were allowed to be around a man that had been described as violent, or very violent and it was known that the kids (or at least the eldest daughter) was afraid of him. That's very sad to me. It happens all the time in domestic abuse cases (mom and kids stay out of fear, financial fear...whatever) but it doesn't make it any less sad. I wish somebody had gotten those kids out of there.

[HairOfTheDog]

Stepfather Confesses

Police say Collins' mother Kristel Chase told them Wednesday afternoon that her daughter was missing (after someone else had flagged down cops to report abuse at the house and they went to investigate).

Here husband Ernie Chase initially told police he assumed Collins had gone to school but officials at North Hagerstown High School said she wasn't' there, according to court records.

Police say they searched the apartment and noticed that Ernie Chase was apprehensive about letting them go to the basement, but they found nothing suspicious.

After a second interview with the mother, police returned to the apartment and noticed changes in the basement, including apparent blood stains on the floor, one wall and a clear plastic bag. Police say they then obtained a search warrant and found Collins' body in the parents' bedroom beneath a pile of clothes.

Ernie Chase then said he had hit the girl in the face, knocking her down, after she talked back to him, police say. He told investigators he then choked her with his hands to keep her from screaming, and said he dragged her down to the basement and strangled her with a cord, according to court records.

Police say Chase told them that after their first visit, he carried the girl's body upstairs to his bedroom, removed her shorts and shirt and concealed the body with clothing.

Chase's preliminary hearing is set for June 18. No defense attorney is listed in court records.

http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/...82771.html
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Another case of a mother bringing a piece of shit with a violent history into her children's lives. I hope Kristel Chase wasn't involved or covering for her creepy, abusive, murderous husband.

Ernie Chase had been convicted of second-degree assault in Dorchester County in 1999 and 2008, and sentenced to three years in prison in each case, according to online court records.

[username]

It's not clear but that makes it sound like the mother was at home during the first, initial investigation where Ernie acted suspiciously. Again, this is speculation but based on that report, she sounds complicit in the crime.

[Duchess]

...and she didn't report her daughter missing until someone else did. That's no kind of mother. Good mothers cherish their children and would have been freaking the hell out at the first sign their child was missing.

[Jimbone]

When I question if there is evil in the world, I just need to see shit like this to remind myself it is all around.

[ramseycat]

I'm very sorry for your friends loss BG. And yours too. I can only imagine how hard it is to see your friend go through this.

[Blindgreed1]

We ALL believe that mom is somehow involved in the cover up. Lynn has wanted to get custody for some time, unfortunately the man can't hold a job.