Commercial Real Estate in Memphis and our Galaxy

From the Dallas Morning News:

The family spokesman for a Dallas man accused of fatally stabbing a real estate professional in McKinney says that Kosoul Chanthakoummane is innocent and that he doesn’t believe evidence gathered at the crime scene ties his friend to the homicide.

Jason Herrin, boyfriend of Mr. Chanthakoummane’s sister, said Mr. Chanthakoummane, 25, came to Texas seven months ago for a new start after having been in prison since age 16.

“We thought this would be the best place for him, away from his old crowd,” Mr. Herrin said. Mr. Chanthakoummane was released from a North Carolina prison in February after serving seven years of an 11-year sentence for two counts each of aggravated kidnapping and aggravated robbery.

“This was his fresh start. … Do you think he’s going to do something to go back to prison?”

He’s 25 and has already spent seven years in prison? He’s a kidnapper and a robber? Read more »

The police are certain they’ve got the right guy in the Sarah Anne Walker murder. They’re learning more stuff about the creep now. From the McKinney Courier-Gazette:

North Carolina Public Safety and Corrections officials confirmed that 25-year-old Kosoul Chanthakoummane, the man McKinney police believe killed 40-year-old real estate agent Sarah Anne Walker, tied up and robbed two elderly women when he was 16 years old.

Union County Superior Criminal Court clerk officials of Monroe, N.C., said court records show Chanthakoummane pled guilty to two counts each of second-degree kidnapping and robbery with a dangerous weapon on Aug. 6, 1998, for which he received a maximum sentence of 11 years in prison.

I’m not a math major or anything Read more »

The Dallas Morning News has a big article on the capture of Kosoul Chanthakoummane:

A Dallas man with a violent criminal past sits in the Collin County Jail, accused of stabbing Sarah Anne Walker 27 times. And McKinney police are confident they have the right man.

Police will not say that a DNA match led to the arrest of Kosoul Chanthakoummane, 25, but sources told WFAA-TV that DNA taken from physical evidence at the crime scene matches the suspect’s DNA.

Forensic evidence, which McKinney police refused to elaborate on, combined with witness statements and a composite sketch that resembles Mr. Chanthakoummane, all led police to the suspect. Then they factored in his felony record.

“All of these pieces start to funnel in the same direction” toward Mr. Chanthakoummane, said McKinney police Capt. Randy Roland, who oversees the criminal investigation unit. “We are absolutely confident that he committed this crime.”

From today’s McKinney Courier-Gazette:

McKinney Police Capt. Randy Roland said at a Wednesday afternoon news conference that the McKinney Police Department believes “unequivocally” that 25-year-old Kosoul Chanthakoummane is the man who killed Sarah Anne Walker.

“We’re proud to stand before you and say that unequivocally, we believe we’ve got the killer in jail and we look forward to a jury trial so that the jury can hear the evidence that we’re going to present, and they’ll come to the same conclusion that we’ve reached today,” Roland said. Read more »

From The Commercial Appeal:

In all, producers said 16,000 people registered. At least half were singers. Each singer was allowed to take one guest into the Forum, but some performers came alone, so the number of auditions easily could have been more than 9,000.

The show’s executive producer, Nigel Lythgoe, said the 16,000 turnout is the second biggest in the show’s six-season history, short of a 20,000 turnout in Washington, but easily ahead of the 13,000 who showed up in New York, the next biggest “Idol” magnet.

Lythgoe said there is “no correlation” between the number who register and the number chosen to move to the next rounds, but he expected at least 200 contestants to move to new rounds today and Tuesday.