Fla. Officials Missed Chance to Save Girl

BROOKSVILLE, Fla. – A sex offender accused of kidnapping and murdering a 9-year-old girl said she was alive inside his home when authorities came to investigate her disappearance earlier this year, according to court documents released Thursday.

John Couey, 46, said he fed Jessica Lunsford for two or three days in a closet in a Homosassa mobile home where he was staying before burying her alive in February. During that time, authorities visited the home but never searched it, Couey said.

“They didn’t search,” Couey said in a March interview with detectives that was included in the documents. “They said they searched the house, but they didn’t search the house the first time.”

A medical examiner determined she died of asphyxiation; investigators said her hands had been tied with stereo wire and two of her fingers poked through the bags.

“She was alive. I buried her alive. Like, it’s stupid, but she suffered,” he told investigators. Asked why he did it, Couey told investigators: “I got scared. … I guess I didn’t want to go to prison. But I’ll go anyway. I deserve it.”

In the interview, Couey said he sneaked through an unlocked door in the home where Jessica lived with her father and grandparents after a night of smoking crack and drinking beer. He walked into Jessica’s bedroom and told the girl to follow him to his sister’s house across the street.

During the next two or three days, Couey raped the girl once and sexually assaulted her at least two other times in his bedroom, he said.

Jessica never yelled out or banged on the closet walls to draw attention, added Couey, who expressed remorse.

“I took an innocent girl’s life that I shouldn’t have,” he said.

Couey, who has pleaded not guilty to capital murder, kidnapping and sexual assault, previously told authorities he kept Jessica alive for one day. Later, Couey told investigators she was alive for six.

Authorities said last month they doubted the veracity of Couey’s statements because he was on drugs at the time of the slaying. Prosecutor Ric Ridgway has said there was no evidence to suggest that Jessica was in Couey’s house for any length of time.

Citrus County sheriff’s spokeswoman Gail Tierney said Thursday that “the evidence certainly would appear to back up what he (Couey) says, and so would the autopsy results that she was asphyxiated.”

Couey’s attorney, Daniel Lewan, also declined to discuss the documents, saying Couey “has invoked his constitutional right to remain silent.”

The girl’s grandmother, Ruth Lunsford, told The Gaston Gazette that “all of us feel that the police did the best they could. … Some of the finest law enforcement is working on this.” She was visiting family Thursday in Gastonia, N.C.

Jessica’s father, Mark Lunsford, who has been touring to lobby for stronger laws to control convicted sex offenders, was in Washington.

Jessica was last seen alive the night of Feb. 23 when she vanished from her bedroom. Her body was found March 19, buried behind the mobile home. Couey had told investigators where to find her.

Couey is being held without bail. Prosecutors have said they will seek the death penalty.

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On the Net:

Jessica Lunsford: http://www.jessicamarielunsford.com/