Celina Cass, 11. N.H. deceased

[cannongal]

http://www.unionleader.com/article/20120...AMPSHIRE02


Two people who saw Celina Cass at her West Stewartstown apartment the night before she was reported missing — and may have been among the last to see her alive — said they have been told by the authorities not to speak with the media.

Cassandra Hunt and Jason Atwood visited Celina's stepfather, Wendell Noyes, on the porch at 863 Washington St. while Celina played on the computer and watched television inside in the nearby living room on the evening of July 25, 2011. A massive search was launched the following day.

Celina, 11, a girl who loved yoga and catch-and-release fishing, was found murdered a week later. Her body was found not far from home, wrapped in a blanket in the Connecticut River.

When reached by phone, Hunt, a self-employed massage therapist, and Atwood, who live together in West Stewartstown, confirmed they had visited the Noyes apartment, but didn't say what time and refused to say anything about that summer night.

But on a Facebook wall attributed to Hunt, Celina is mentioned several times, as is a discussion with detectives.

On Jan. 5, a posting says: “I have a lot on my mind but I highly doubt all of it is warm and fuzzy after another day of talking to Detectives...... Makes me miss her soooo damn much!”

On Oct. 5, 2011, a posting says: “I just wish I could have done more for Celina. I still have a hard time with the fact that I saw her and talked to her the night she went “missing”. I just miss her soooo much.”

And on July 27, 2011, during the search for Celina, a posting says: “Sitting here acrossed (sic) the street, feeling helpless, and questioning everything from the day before is un-nerving. I can only pray to God that he protects Celina in her time of need and watches over the family. Please Dear Heavenly Father bring her home safe and sound. Please help find Celina Cass.”

Atwood, who called the New Hampshire Sunday News to make sure it was clear they did not want to be interviewed, said: “We are devoted and have been spoken to and ordered not to speak to (the) media. It's a devastating loss to the North Country, and I'm sorry she's gone.”

Celina's mother, Louisia Noyes, has said she went to bed at 9 that night. Wendell's mother who often slept over, had already gone to bed.

Kevin Mullaney, 23, a friend of the family who also lived at the apartment and was recently jailed on unrelated charges, has said no one was awake when he returned home at midnight and went to bed.

Celina's sister, Kayla, 14, with whom she shared a finished bedroom in the basement, was staying at a friend's house.

Authorities have refused to say how Celina died, except to say it was a homicide. No one has been charged in connection with the death.

The Coos County Superior Court clerk's office said a grand jury was still sitting Friday at 4 p.m. when the court closed for the day.

Noyes said she was upset Thursday to hear from a customer of the consignment shop where she worked that a grand jury in Lancaster was involved in the investigation.

Besides issuing indictments, grand juries can also investigate difficult cases.

Senior Assistant Attorney General Jane Young wouldn't say whether a grand jury has been empaneled or whether one met, citing professional conduct rules. She would not say where she was working Friday.

“I worked today,” Young said when asked if she worked in Lancaster.

Young said her office continues to “have a dialogue with” Noyes. “Because this investigation is ongoing, we cannot provide a lot of details.”

Noyes has moved to Lemington, Vt. She broke up with Wendell Noyes shortly after Celina's death. Mr. Noyes could not be reached for comment. Early on in the investigation, police seized his pickup truck.

Kevin Mullaney moved to Vermont with Louisia Noyes and Kayla, but moved out two weeks after a dispute over rent.

His father, Mark Mullaney, an unemployed cook and electrical worker, and Noyes have rekindled a previous relationship.

Kevin Mullaney, who declined an interview request, is being held in Coos County Jail in West Stewartstown on $31,000 cash bail. He is accused of forging Noyes' name on a check, possession of stolen property, breach of bail and felon in possession of a firearm. The Colebrook Chronicle reported he was convicted of stealing six vehicles in 2007.

State police told the New Hampshire Union Leader that Kevin was arrested in Franconia on Dec. 22, accused of misuse of license plates and drug possession.

Noyes, who has faced financial difficulties even while working, has just been laid off from the Lads and Ladybugs consignment shop in Colebrook.

“What does a trapped rat do?” Noyes asked when reached by phone, her voice full of emotion.

Jeannine Brady, the shop's owner, said she felt sad about having to lay off Noyes.

“The store is having a slump at the moment,” said Brady, who is also Noyes' friend.

She said the business is downsizing to a new location near the IGA in February.

As more time passes, Brady said, townspeople worry someone will get away with Celina's murder.

“I think there is a group of people who feel maybe it will never be solved,” Brady said.

Noyes said she has been sick for two weeks. Still, she had to fill out the paperwork to see whether she is eligible for unemployment benefits.

“Right now, I can't deal with the public. I don't want to deal with the public,” Noyes said.

And she fears she will never have closure.

“Someone stole my daughter,” Noyes said.

“I just want justice for my daughter. Please, that's all I want.”

[Lady Cop]

"Noyes said she was upset Thursday to hear from a customer of the consignment shop where she worked that a grand jury in Lancaster was involved in the investigation."


upset?? why? that's GOOD news.

boy, there is a LOT more than meets the eye in that article! they're all
and it's becoming clear to even the shop owner.

"self-employed massage therapist?"
i know another name for that.

thanks for the article CG!

[cannongal]

"Noyes said she was upset Thursday to hear from a customer of the consignment shop where she worked that a grand jury in Lancaster was involved in the investigation."


upset?? why? that's GOOD news.

boy, there is a LOT more than meets the eye in that article! they're all
and it's becoming clear to even the shop owner.

"self-employed massage therapist?"
i know another name for that.

thanks for the article CG!

Actually, Cassandra Hunt (a house visitor on the last night Celina was seen) is the 'self employed message therapist. The shop owner who had to lay off Louisa is Jeannine Brady and it a thrift shop or second hand store.

I have all sorts to say about Louisa, herself, but my blood pressure would rise too much-thanks for putting the pic up-I tried twice and it kept blowing the margins in the preview, so I said fuck it and left it out.

[Lady Cop]

Actually, Cassandra Hunt (a house visitor on the last night Celina was seen) is the 'self employed message therapist.

yes i know, i was making off-the-cuff comments about the article.

[Lady Cop]

Boston Herald
COURT DATE: Eunice Richards, above, pictured last summer in Stewartstown, N.H., says she was questioned by New Hampshire prosecutors Friday about her son, Wendell Noyes, before a grand jury hearing testimony in the death of Celina Cass.

A grand jury in northern New Hampshire heard testimony last week about the murder of 11-year-old Celina Cass, the Herald has learned, with two witnesses saying prosecutors grilled them about Wendell Noyes, the estranged husband of the girl’s mother.

Noyes’ mother, Eunice Richards, 77, said prosecutors put her on the stand at the Coos County Superior Court in Lancaster for hours Friday, hammering her on his whereabouts and activities the last night Celina was seen alive — and about anything he said after her disappearance.

“They just kept asking over and over and over and over. It was a living hell that day, just going through the mess that woman put me through,” Richards said, referring to the line of questioning by a prosecutor she identified as New Hampshire Senior Assistant Attorney General Jane Young, who has been the public face of the investigation since Celina vanished.

Richards, of Canaan, Vt., stayed overnight at Celina’s West Stewartstown home the July night the girl disappeared. After an intensive weeklong search, divers found Celina’s body near a dam in the Connecticut River, about a quarter mile from the house.

Richards said she saw her son only in passing the night Celina was last seen, and that she went to bed about 8:30 p.m.

She said Young asked her persistently about anything Wendell Noyes said after the girl’s disappearance.

“He didn’t say much to anyone,” Richards told prosecutors.

Celina’s mother, Louisia Noyes, separated from Wendell Noyes shortly after the girl’s body was discovered.

Noyes, who now lives in Colebrook, N.H., has said he does not know what happened to Celina. Wendell Noyes could not be reached for comment.

Eunice Richards said the others summoned to court include another son, Josh Richards, his wife, Telina, and Noyes’ sister, Winny O’Neil. Josh Richards, 39, of Clarksville, N.H. confirmed that his wife and sister were subpoenaed but questioned outside the grand jury.

Telina Richards did not return calls requesting comment, and Winny O’Neil could not be reached.

Josh Richards said he agreed to provide a DNA sample, and that “about 80 percent” of the prosecutors’ questions had to do with his brother, Wendell. Investigators also asked about his brother’s past, Richards said, including prior relationships with women.

Noyes was charged with threatening to throw a former girlfriend down a flight of stairs in 2003, according to court records. He was ruled incompetent for trial and committed to a mental institution.

“They asked an awful lot of questions about Wendell,” Josh Richards said. “They made my wife cry, they made my sister cry. We didn’t go there for that. We went there to help.”

“Wendell — I talked to him yesterday. I asked him point blank: Do you know what happened to her, do you know who killed her? He said no.”

Prosecutors, he said, did ask whether he knew Kevin Mullaney, 23, who lived in Celina’s home along with her older sister and mother, Louisia Noyes. Mullaney is the son of Louisia Noyes’ current boyfriend. His attorney, Wendy Roberts, has declined several requests for comment.

[cannongal]

“They asked an awful lot of questions about Wendell,” Josh Richards said. “They made my wife cry, they made my sister cry. We didn’t go there for that. We went there to help.”


WTF? Doesn't a grand jury decide if there is enough evidence on a case to bring charges up against a person? Just who the hell did Wendall's brother think he was helping?

[Lady Cop]

i am so disgusted with the NH AG office.

Union Leader
feb. 29
LANCASTER — A 24-year-old West Stewartstown man questioned extensively by authorities in connection with the death of 11-year-old Celina Cass in that town last summer has been indicted on three felony charges apparently unrelated to the murder case.

But the little girl's mother, Louisia Cass, and her stepfather, Wendell Noyes, are listed as victims in a forgery indictment against Kevin Mullaney.

A Coos County Superior Court grand jury spent most of Friday considering whether to bring charges in cases given to them by county prosecutors. They returned some 50 indictments, which court personnel processed Monday before making them public on Tuesday.

Included were three indictments against Mullaney, a man with an extensive criminal record who was staying as a guest at the Cass-Noyes home last summer. Following the killing, Louisia Cass separated from Wendell Noyes, who at the time had been her husband for about a year.

Mullaney departed at around the same time, and the three-story apartment house on Route 3 in the center of West Stewartstown Village became vacant shortly thereafter.

Mullaney was indicted Friday for forgery, a Class B felony, between Oct. 1 and Oct. 14 last year in a case involving a check drawn on a First Colebrook Bank account that authorities say belonged to Cass and Noyes.

According to the indictment, Mullaney “did, with a purpose to defraud … or with knowledge that he is facilitating a fraud … make, complete, execute, authenticate, issue, transfer, publish or otherwise utter ... a check … from the bank account of Louisia Cass and/or Wendell G. Noyes, so that it purports to be the act of another, Louisia Cass. …”

The amount of the check was not reported in the indictment, which did list an address of 7163 Route 114 in West Stewartstown, where Mullaney was living approximately three months after the death of Celina Cass.

The grand jury also indicted Mullaney on a Class A felony, receiving stolen property, on Dec. 12 of last year in Stewartstown. That involved an Iver Johnson TP .22-caliber, semi-automatic pistol, allegedly the property of Sharon Abbott.

He was also indicted on a Class B felony count of being a convicted felon in possession of firearms, also last December in Stewartstown, in connection with the same pistol. According to the indictment, Mullaney was convicted of a felony-level charge of theft in Coos County Superior Court in 2008.

Seven months after the death of Celina Cass was ruled a homicide, no one has been charged with the crime, although prosecutors from the New Hampshire Attorney General's Office have questioned witnesses before the grand jury in the Lancaster court.

kevin mullaney

[Lady Cop]

a little movement in this case??

nhpr

A Coos Country Grand jury met today/Monday in Lancaster as the investigation into the death of 11-year-old Celina Cass continues.

As NHPR’s Chris Jensen reports, the dead girl’s stepfather was questioned.

Wendell Noyes is the stepfather of Celina Cass, whose body was found last August in the Connecticut River not far from her home in Stewartstown.

Noyes is thought to have been one of the last people to see the girl before she disappeared from her home.

Noyes spent much of the day being questioned behind closed doors by officials including Senior Assistant Attorney General Jane Young.

A little after 4 pm Monday Noyes left the court house, trying to cover his face with his arm so he couldn’t be photographed and muttering under his breath in response to questions.

Young came out a little later and also declined to discuss the case other than to say the investigation was continuing “diligently.”

The grand jury first met in January.

[Donovan]

You ever get the feeling looking at this family and think that, murder or no murder, that poor little girl's life was going nowhere good? What a mess....

[Lady Cop]

haven't forgotten you Celina.
even though the Assistant Attorney General seems to have. :(

WHAT HAPPENED WITH THE GRAND JURY TESTIMONY JANE YOUNG??

[cannongal]

Taken from: http://www.unionleader.com/article/20120.../707089967

Stewartstown readies rally for murdered girl

By NANCY WEST
New Hampshire Sunday News

Snow-covered flowers line the headstone of Celina Cass on Saturday in the Northumberland Cemetery. (Charles Jordan/The Colebrook Chronicle)
Justice for Celina.

That’s what everyone who loves Celina Cass wants for the murdered 11-year-old North Country girl. As the one-year anniversary of her death nears, Celina’s community plans a candlelight vigil to tell the world she has not been forgotten.

T-shirts have just been printed with her picture and those words — "Justice for Celina" — that many plan to wear to the vigil in the West Stewartstown town square on July 26 at 7 p.m.

Townspeople say they are angry no one has been arrested in connection with Celina’s slaying, that there is a murderer on the loose who may still be among them.

“I really want whoever did this to know her murder will be solved; you will be caught,” said Amanda Chapple, who is helping with the vigil. “She was too good a girl. We won’t forget her.”

Chapple, who babysat Celina and her sister, Kayla, when they were younger, said she wants to keep the pressure on to find Celina’s killer. The vigil is a group effort, she said.

“This is a collaboration of the whole community — the teachers, classmates, parents of classmates. This community is a family,” Chapple said.

Celina’s mother, Louisia Noyes, has moved again, this time to Colebrook. Citing irreconcilable differences, she filed for divorce against Wendell Noyes, Celina’s stepfather, in April. Divorce records show Wendell Noyes was ordered to temporarily pay Louisia Noyes $600 a month in alimony and her health insurance, but they shed no light on the criminal investigation.

Mrs. Noyes didn’t seek a restraining order, and had sought $289 a week in alimony, according to court records.

Her lawyer, Philip Waystack, said in the records that Mr. Noyes receives $4,000 a month from a military pension and Social Security. Mrs. Noyes’ total income was listed at $2,127 a month, which included $550 in child support benefits for Kayla paid through Social Security benefits of her father, Adam Laro, plus $320 in food stamps. The divorce has not been finalized.

They were married for less than a year when Celina disappeared, but had lived together for five years before that, according to court records. Waystack wrote that Mrs. Noyes was so traumatized by her daughter’s death that she is still unable to work.

Senior Assistant Attorney General Jane Young has released little information about the investigation, including the cause of death, to the frustration of many in this town of about 1,000 people near the Canadian border.

“Celina has not been forgotten,” Young said on Friday. “I still talk to investigators more days of the week than not.”

Celina’s body was found wrapped in a blanket submerged in the Connecticut River on Aug. 1, 2011, not far from the apartment she shared with her mother, stepfather, sister, and a boarder in West Stewartstown.

Celina was last seen alive on July 25, 2011, sitting at a computer in her living room. Her disappearance drew national attention as hundreds searched for the little girl who loved to play basketball and was looking forward to starting the sixth grade.

“State police continue to actively investigate this case. Any lead that came in has been investigated,” Young said.

She also confirmed that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is also still involved in the case.

“To what extent we need them, they are involved,” Young said.

Celina’s mother wants someone to be held accountable.

“I want justice,” Mrs. Noyes said. “Yes, I’ll fight for justice for Celina.”

Authorities have not updated her about the investigation, she said.

“My life is a living hell,” Mrs. Noyes said. “I have my good days and my bad days.”

Jeannine Brady, the owner of Lads and Ladybugs consignment shop in Colebrook, Louisia Noyes’ friend and former employer, said the anger is growing in the area as weeks turned to months, and now a year with no arrest.

“About once a week, someone asks me if I heard anything,” Brady said. “I know that it’s very important for people to do the vigil for the one-year anniversary.” People speculate all the time about who may have done it, she said. “What is it that they haven’t gotten that they need? Why have they not been able to solve this?”

People need to know, she said. “The reality is there is somebody out there who committed her murder,” Brady said.

Kevin Mullaney, 24, the boarder who was living with the Noyes family when Celina disappeared, has been sent to state prison in Berlin for crimes unrelated to Celina’s murder. He was sentenced to three to six years after having been convicted of reckless conduct.

He was also sentenced to two concurrent sentences of two to four years each for receiving stolen property and being a felon in possession of a firearm, according to Jeffrey Lyons, spokesman for the Department of Corrections.

Mrs. Noyes has rekindled her relationship with Mullaney’s father, Mark Mullaney.

“I want the person that murdered my daughter to be convicted. I want the death penalty,” Mrs. Noyes said.

“My daughter did not deserve to die. She did not deserve to have someone who came in my home and took her away.’’

Amanda Hurlbert of Colebrook said she barely knew the Noyes family, but wants to see justice for Celina.

“At this point, most people are angry that nothing has happened,” Hurlbert said. “They wonder if it was brushed aside because of bigger cases in the state, like the shooting of the Greenland police chief.”

Chapple cleaned the apartment after the Noyes family moved out after Celina’s death.

Much had been left behind, she said. “There were photo albums, a picture of Celina in a cap and gown graduating from kindergarten, all left behind.”

Her youngest daughter has sometimes been fearful since Celina’s murder.

“She’s getting better, but at night she goes around the whole house and makes sure all windows and doors are locked. It’s rough,” Chapple said.

“It’s gotten to the point we feel we are such small community that the authorities have forgotten about us.

“We have been left in the dark. It’s not fair.”

Chapple said she worries that Celina has been forgotten.

“My heart breaks for Celina,” Chapple said.

[Ma Huang Sor]

Sooner or later there will be a break in this case. Stuff like this just can't be that random, one would hope.

[Lady Cop]

Celina’s mother, Louisia Noyes, is a grasping stupid pig looking for a free lunch. any dick will do.

[sharit]

Celina’s mother, Louisia Noyes, is a grasping stupid pig looking for a free lunch. any dick will do.

Love it!

[Lady Cop]

sloppy pig louisa. left her child's photos behind??

Chapple cleaned the apartment after the Noyes family moved out after Celina’s death.

Much had been left behind, she said. “There were photo albums, a picture of Celina in a cap and gown graduating from kindergarten, all left behind.”

[Duchess]

a picture of Celina in a cap and gown graduating from kindergarten, all left behind.”

Only someone who didn't care would leave a milestone photo behind.

[Lady Cop]

good video here, with Louisa and Celina's sister Kayla:

http://www.wmur.com/news/nh-news/special...index.html


WMUR

WEST STEWARSTOWN, N.H. -
It was nearly a year ago that an 11-year-old West Stewartstown girl was reported missing, and her family said they are still desperate for answers in the case.

Celina Cass was last seen on July 25, 2011. Her body was pulled from a nearby river a week later. While her death was ruled a homicide, there have been no suspects named and no arrests made.

Her mother, Louisia Noyes, said her life has fallen apart since Celina was killed. Celina's sister, Kayla Laro, said she misses the shy girl who loved to play dress up.

"She was really amazing, and I miss her a lot," Kayla said. "It's been hard without my baby sister. Someone to take care of."

Noyes said she and her daughters went everywhere together.

"Kayla's always been a little social butterfly, but Celina really liked to be with Mommy," Noyes said.

The sisters shared a bedroom in the basement of their Main Street home, but the night Celina vanished, Kayla was at a sleepover. The Noyes household was a busy one, with lots of people coming and going at different times.

Celina had just finished fourth grade at the Stewartstown Community School, where teachers said she was shy until you got to know her.

"We'd talk about her weekends, when her and her mother and Kayla would go shopping," said teacher Meg Miller. "We'd call them little fashionistas."

Miller taught Celina reading for three and a half years and cheered for her at basketball games. Miller said life is different now.

"I don't think it's fear anymore," she said. "I think a lot feel angry for not having it solved. And angry that this person or persons are getting away with this. We want this to be solved."

There were just 10 fourth-graders in Celina's class, and teachers said that overall, it has been a difficult year. They dedicated the front page of the yearbook to Celina.

"I want the end to come and find out who did it," Miller said. "Because she should never have died the way she did."

Kayla will be a freshman in high school this fall. She has a boyfriend now and loves clothes, but she said tears flow every day for her baby sister.

"I'm just glad that they're still working on this," she said. "I mean, I'd rather have them have found the person that did it, but I'm just glad that they're still working on it."

The lack of information is frustrating for the family.

"I want proof. I want evidence," Noyes said. "No one will tell me nothing. It's so frustrating."

Noyes reached out to News 9 in June, saying she was exasperated by the apparent lack of progress in the investigation.

"It would be an awesome thing if they could get the person off the street who did this, but it's never going to make anything better, and it's never going to bring my baby girl back to me," she said. "I want the death penalty to whoever did this to my daughter."

Noyes and Kayla now wear matching gold crosses.

"These are my sister's ashes," Kayla said. "We put them in necklaces so we can keep them close to our heart, and so she will always be with us."

Parents at Celina's school are organizing a vigil on July 26 to mark the one-year anniversary of her death. Organizers said it will be held at the same gazebo where candlelight vigils were held a year ago by a community hoping she would be found safe.

Now, the community is hoping that justice will be served.

[Jimbone]

This is the case I found Mock from... hard to believe it's been almost year.

[Maggot]

Someone got away with murder.

[cannongal]

Someone got away with murder.

Maybe, Maybe not......

Taken From: http://www.fox25boston.com/news/stepfath.../353419819

WEST STEWARTSTOWN, N.H. —
A New Hampshire man has been arrested in connection with the 2011 death of his 11-year-old stepdaughter.

Wendell Noyes, 52 faces a second degree murder charge for the killing the death of Celina Cass by submerging her body in the Connecticut River.


On July 26, 2011, 11 year old Celina Cass was reported missing from her West Stewartstown, New Hampshire home.

Six days later on Aug. 1, 2011, Celina’s body was recovered from the Connecticut River, near a dam, about
a half mile from her home.

The investigation into Celina’s murder has remained active for the past five years.

A warrant for Noyes’s arrest was issued Monday. He will be arraigned Tuesday.