How Could You? Hall of Shame-Lara Corey

By on 4-10-2012 in Abuse in foster care, How could you? Hall of Shame, Lara Corey, Rhode Island

How Could You? Hall of Shame-Lara Corey

This will be an archive of heinous actions by those involved in child welfare, foster care and adoption. We forewarn you that these are deeply disturbing stories that may involve sex abuse, murder, kidnapping and other horrendous actions.

From Westborough, Rhode Island, foster-adoptee Lara Cori/Corey, 22, was arrested in the murder of 19-year-old Joseph P. Webster, who was last seen on March 13, 2012. Joseph was a “severe diabetic ” and had “mild autism.”

“Authorities say the 19-year-old’s body was found in a storage container covered with junk on an abandoned house lot less than a quarter mile away from the Providence, R.I. address of the pair, 19-year-old James Howze and 22-year-old Lara Cori.

The Rhode Island Medical Examiner positively identified Webster’s body Wednesday night, Assistant District Attorney Lisa Casella told Judge Vito Virzi this morning.

An autopsy revealed Webster died as a result of “several injuries” to his body, she said, and his death has been ruled a homicide.

She said his body was indentified using fingerprints.

Howze and Cori both pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, and Casella didn’t reveal any new details about the case. Each was ordered held without bail.

Howze, dressed in a brown shirt, began swaying from side to side when he was led into the courtroom and had to be held in place by one of the guards.

His lawyer, Mary June Ciresi of Providence, said after the arraignment that he “was displeased with all the media present,” and felt intimidated.

Ciresi would not comment on the accusations against Howze, however the attorney for his alleged co-conspirator wasn’t shy about defending his client’s innocence.

“Ms. Cori had absolutely nothing to do with Mr. Webster’s murder,” Michael Erlich of Worcester told reporters outside the courtroom. “I wish we could prove that now, or show that now, but we have to wait until the trial.”

Erlich attempted to paint a sympathetic portrait of Cori in court, saying she was in the care of the Rhode Island Department of Children and Families by age 4 and abused while in foster care.

Her adoptive father was in the courthouse yesterday, Erlich said, and is her only family.

Howze’s family, as it did Monday, made a strong showing, and one family member, as Howze did, took exception to the media coverage of the proceedings.

“Go film them (the Webster family). They need it,” a young woman who referred to Howze as “our brother” said, her middle finger extended in the air, as she walked away from news cameras outside the courthouse.”

Rhode Island pair held without bail on murder charges

[The Metro West Daily News 4/5/12 by Brad Petrishen/Gatehouse News Service]

“Worcester teenager Joseph P. Webster, whose body was discovered in Providence, R.I., on Tuesday, was stabbed more than 10 times in his left chest and upper arm and suffered a punctured lung, police said in court documents released yesterday. It also appears that a family member played a role in the capture of his alleged killers.

Webster, 19, a severe diabetic who had mild autism, was found under a pile of junk in a storage container at 101 Wesleyan Ave., Providence, less than a quarter mile away from the home of Lara Cori, 22, and James Howze, 19, both of whom pleaded not guilty in Westborough District Court yesterday to murder. They were ordered held without bail.

 Webster was found wearing his customary gold cross and chain, khakis and a black T-shirt with the words “Big Dreams” written on it, Mass. State Police Trooper Shawn P. Murphy wrote in a report filed with court papers.

His clothing matched what he was wearing at the Motel 6 in Northborough where he was seen with Cori and Howze several times on March 13, the report says.

“(The three) are observed entering and exiting the motel at various times throughout the day together,” Murphy wrote, noting that the last time they entered, at 10:06 p.m., they all went inside “in a normal manner.”

Late that night, surveillance video shows Howze and Cori driving Webster’s 2003 Cadillac Seville around the rear of the motel and hurrying in and out of the building several times with various items, including bundles of sheets, Murphy wrote.

While driving around Providence searching for Webster, his cousin, Zakaria Khalaf, spotted the Seville surrounded by four people, including Cori and Howze, on March 15 on Arch Street, Murphy wrote.

Khalaf asked if the people knew where Webster was, but sped off, a witness told police, when someone who had been interested in buying the car approached his car.

At that moment, Howze told the man who was helping him sell the car that it was stolen from a man whom he had stabbed and whose body he needed help moving, Murphy’s report says.

Police tracked down and arrested Howze and Cori in Colonie, N.Y., on March 21. While being interrogated by police, Howze admitted he was at the Motel 6 with Webster, the trooper says.

Cori, an alleged prostitute who went by the name “Mercedes,” declined to talk to police, Murphy wrote. She later made incriminating statements to an inmate in an Albany, N.Y., lockup after being arrested, he said.

 Murphy said she told the inmate Webster was a “trick” — or customer — who had stolen money from her.

A website, backpage.com, lists an ad posted on March 14 in which a 22-year-old woman named Mercedes advertises $60 “specials” on Rte. 9 in Westborough. The ad appears to have been hacked, as a sentence reading “and I am in jail” appears at the end of the text.

Cori’s attorney, Michael Erlich, of Worcester said yesterday his client had “absolutely nothing” to do with the murder and that the truth would come out at trial.

He told Judge Vito Virzi that Cori’s life has been one challenge after another, saying she was abandoned by her parents by age 4, abused as a foster child and diagnosed with an auditory processing disorder while attending high school in Scituate, R.I.

Her adoptive father is the only person who came to support her in court, Erlich said.

At yesterday’s arraignment, Howze began swaying side to side when he was led into the courtroom and had to be held in place by one of the guards for a few moments.

At Howze’s initial arraignment on less serious charges Monday, multiple media outlets reported he extended both his middle fingers toward the Webster family while in handcuffs after they applauded his $1 million bail.

When asked by reporters to comment on the gesture yesterday, his attorney, Mary June Ciresi, said he was “scared” and, at 19, didn’t have “the benefit of maturity.”

A member of his family repeated the gesture to news cameras outside the courthouse and she walked to the family car.

“Go film them (the Webster family). They need it,” said the young woman, who referred to Howze as “our brother.”

Howze and Cori — who also goes by Lara Corey — are due back in court May 2 for a pretrial hearing.”

[The Metro West Daily News 4/6/12 by Brad Petrishen/Gatehouse News Service]

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