Former cop is suspect in 2 killings
Police are searching for Ralph Wright Jr. in the deaths of his ex-girlfriend and son.
Orlando Sentinel
Henry Pierson Curtis
October 24, 2007
[EXCERPTS] A former Orange County deputy sheriff and Eatonville police officer [Ralph "Ron" Wright Jr.] was named Tuesday as the only suspect in the double murder last summer in St. Petersburg of his ex-girlfriend and their 15-month-old son. "After we eliminated everybody else, he was the only one left," police spokesman George Kajtsa said. "He is the focus of the investigation"... The deaths in July of Paula O'Conner and her toddler Alijah, known as "AJ," came months after she created a Web site, militarydeadbeatdads.com, to expose what she claimed was Wright's lack of support. "This is my story," O'Conner began when she wrote the Web site's four-page account of love, betrayal and abandonment. "The Military's lack of response on this situation is beyond absurd"... The bodies were discovered July 6 in O'Conner's home on Dawson Avenue North in St. Petersburg...Wright has not cooperated with the investigation, police said. Investigators are trying to locate anyone who might have seen Wright near O'Conner's home in the period surrounding her death...
EARLIER:
"MY MOTHER AND BROTHER DIDN'T DESERVE THIS"
firstcoastnews.com, WTSP-TV Tampa
By Tammie Fields
7/10/2007
[Excerpts] 18-year-old Victoria Goodin is numb. She can't bear to go inside the St. Pete home that her mother, 37-year-old Paula O'conner shared with Victoria's little brother. A.J. they called him was just 15 months old. "When my brother came along that was her world. Her pride and joy. He'd always been a very happy baby." She says if you were having a bad day you would see his smile and it would make your day better... Goodin lives with her father and was standing in the front yard of her mother's home when the bodies were found. "I just dropped and started screaming where's my brother? Where's my brother?... My mom and brother did not deserve this. They were two of the best people in the world." Goodin says she'll always remember her mother by the way she handled adversity like A.J.'s delicate surgeries for a heart condition... His expensive hospital bills led Paula to hire a private investigator and an attorney for a paternity suit against, Ralph Daniel Wright, Junior. Paula recently learned he was married after she says he fathered A.J. She wrote about the ordeal on the website she created at militarydeadbeatdads.com.... "I couldn't have asked for a better mom, I really couldn't have"... [Full article here]
Arrest made in 2007 Pinellas double homicide
ReplyDeletebaynews9.com
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
PINELLAS COUNTY (Bay News 9) -- A former Air Force sergeant has been arrested in connection with a 2007 double murder in St. Petersburg.
According to the St. Petersburg Police Department, 40-year-old Ralph Daniel Wright, Jr. was taken into custody Wednesday morning in Palatka by Putnam County sheriff's deputies.
He has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder in connection to the July 2007 killing of Paula O'Conner, 37, and her 15-month-old son, Alijah O'Conner.
O'Conner and her son were found dead on July 6, 2007. She had been strangled and her son died of asphyxiation.
Wright was stationed at MacDill Air Force Base at the time of the homicides but has since left the military.
He moved to Orlando and has been working as a truck driver. He was arrested while making a delivery on his route.
Authorities said Wright officially had been a person of interest in the killings since October of last year.
In 2006, O'Conner made a website saying she found out the man she loved was married and lied to her while serving on active duty at MacDill AFB.
In her own words, she described herself as the mother of a sick child without help from the baby's father who abandoned her while she was pregnant.
Police said shortly after the murders that they believed Wright was the man who killed her and the baby.
"He has become the focus of our investigation, we do suspect he has some type of involvement with it," St. Petersburg police sergeant Michael Kovacsev said last year.
Officials said Wright would be interviewed in Putnam County before being transported to the Pinellas County jail today.
http://www.baynews9.com/content/36/2008/12/31/420259.html
Years will pass and some healing does happen but...The memory of our sister's and her baby boy will live with us always.
ReplyDeleteGod bless you Cloudwriter,
You are so right Rosa.
ReplyDeleteGod bless your words as you move forward.
Thinking of Paula and Alijah today. Love to the family.
ReplyDeletei still cant even believe it happened..... crying about it right now.
ReplyDeleteThinking about my auntie paula and aj! Love u guys
ReplyDeleteGod bless you guys. As an Air Force Master Sergeant of 19 years, I am absolutely horrified by this story. I actually stumbled upon the article about your sister by accident. I had never heard of this case!
ReplyDeleteI don't know if anyone from the Air Force has ever reached out to you, but please accept our condolences and deepest apology for what appears to be a stunning lack of accountability to his chain of command. Many, MANY people dropped the ball on this. My biggest regret is that your sister didn't know who to contact early on in her pregnancy to have this guy hanged.
What appears to have hindered her progress in reaching a speedy resolution was this guy was a reservist - and unlike active duty Airmen who work together full-time and see each other every day, reservists meet once a month (during a weekend), so there is plenty of opportunity for things to go unnoticed. This doesn't happen on active duty.
I cringed when she said the Air Force doesn't care, because nothing could be further from the truth. We DO care.
My guess is she was on the right track because he became increasingly unstable. The information appears to have finally landed in the "right" hands. At that point, he knew he was done for, and his panicked response was violence.
Your sister and nephew were beautiful (and such fighters)! May they both rest in peace knowing he has met justice, and will continue to meet justice until he draws his last breath.
Again - I'm deeply, deeply sorry your family's loss.
Paula and AJ, I miss you so much.... I remember loving all over that little boy... love and miss you and will see you at the gates of Heaven
ReplyDeleteApparently this Air Force guy didn't do this. He was exonerated by the States Supreme Court. So we really can't rely so much on the trial courts that can get it so wrong.
ReplyDelete