How not to solve a cold case

Since at least March 3, 2004 the webpage https://www.troopers.ny.gov/Wanted_and_Missing/Missing/view.cfm?ID=7d2586b3-87fc-44bb-b602-52825c71e4f0 https://web.archive.org/web/20120504065637/http://www.troopers.ny.gov/Wanted_and_Missing/Missing/view.cfm?ID=7d2586b3-87fc-44bb-b602-52825c71e4f0 has stated that there is a “Man sought as a possible witness" regarding the disappearance of Suzanne Lyall.

A 2010 article about the case:

Crimesider staff. "Suzanne Lyall Missing Since 1998 After Leaving Her Job." CBS News. May 26, 2010. https://web.archive.org/web/20100529052353/http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20006008-504083.html? appears to indicate that the man had been identified, located, and questioned, in which case he is presumably no longer sought and the webpage ought to be updated.

In the program "Disappeared: Final Exam" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2321176/combined it was stated that the “Nike Man" was identified in February 1999. It would seem to serve the Lyalls, the public, and the "Nike Man" himself no good to continue to represent him on their website as unidentified if in fact he was identified, located, and questioned fifteen years ago.

Caption: ”February 1999 Albany, NY”

Narrator: “Nearly a year after Suzy’s disappearance, prominent billboards and continued news coverage provoke a solid lead in the case. Investigators have finally found the elusive 'Nike Man', the unidentified customer at the convenience store who police say could have used Suzy’s ATM card.”

New York State Police Senior Investigator John Camp: ”We had numerous, many, many calls. Two or three people identified one particular subject who we located and admitted to us he was the 'Nike Man', that he was in the store that day.”

Narrator: “But after an extensive interview, police are struck with yet another disappointment.”

Camp: “At this point there is no credible evidence that we have found that links him to Suzanne’s disappearance.”

Disappeared: Final Exam http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNLyaEGoiow

I’ve made a couple attempts to get the state police to update their webpage for Suzanne Lyall’s case if in fact they did identify the “Nike Man”, but so far I’ve been unsuccessful. If/when the site finally does get updated, at a minimum some kind of press release should probably accompany it so that the information gets corrected everywhere it appears. Ideally, all the places where the information appears would be contacted directly.

There’s quite a few webpages that state that the Nike Man is unidentified:

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/l/lyall_suzanne.html

http://doenetwork.org/cases/2293dfny.html

http://www.411gina.org/cases/lyallsuzannegloria.htm

http://www.nampn.org/cases/lyall_suzanne.html

http://projectjason.org/forums/topic/442-missing-woman-suzanne-gloria-lyall-ny-03021998/

http://briansdreams.com/2014/lyall_suzanne.html

I understand Marianna Boncek’s 2011 book Gone Missing in New York also states that the Nike Man is unidentified.

I’d guess they were all copying the claim from the State Police website, which makes the failure to properly maintain the webpage for Suzanne Lyall that much more problematic.

I am glad that the State Police have a webpage for Suzanne Lyall, though. The SUNY Police used to have one that they did not maintain (her name was misspelled and they never corrected it) which they allowed to become orphaned (not linked from any active webpage) and they ultimately deleted it. Evidently the SUNY Albany Police are wholly uninterested in encouraging tips that might solve the case; given how notoriously corrupt the SUNY Police are, it’s no wonder.

"SUNY police chiefs serve at the pleasure of the campus president, thus are motivated to keep crime stats down by any means […] SUNY can no longer afford to staff, or overstaff, a body, or overstaff, a body which is subject to inefficiencies, manipulation, cronyism, ill motivation and mismanagement." Peter Barry, VP & Legislative Director of NYS University Police Officers Union Local 1792 of the American Federation of State County & Municipal Employees AFSCME, Council 82 & AFL-CIO. (127-128).

http://www.nysenate.gov/files/SUNY%20Testimony%20pt.%203.PDF

Given the eagerness of some SUNY Albany faculty and staff and SUNY Albany Police (Jeannette Altarriba, Clarence L. McNeill, J. "Frank" Wiley, John Murphy, Tamra Minor, Christine Bouchard, Sue Faerman, John Reilly, Janet Thayer, Susan Phillips, etc.) to ignore victims and witnesses of crimes or to engage in or assist in retaliation against them, and the willingness of other SUNY Albany faculty and staff to ignore that problem, one has to wonder how many witnesses in the Suzanne Lyall disappearance might have been threatened or ignored?

The many lies of Clarence L. McNeill: to the US Dep't of Education's Office for Civil Rights

The many, many lies of “President of the SUNY-Wide Judicial Administrator group” and judicial administrator for SUNY Albany Clarence L. McNeill...

The U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) had evidence that Clarence L. McNeill is a liar when they interviewed him, but they did not challenge him about his lies. Clarence L. McNeill told quite a few whoppers to OCR, and they stupidly let him do so. To give but one:

“The witness [Clarence L. McNeill] stated that he sent the December 2011 cease and desist order to the complainant [CKP] to prevent him from contacting various University staff from the communications [sic] department because he [CKP] had graduated and left the university.”

Clarence L. McNeill never sent me a cease and desist order. He falsely claimed on December 9, 2011 that he had imposed a “’cease and desist’ order” on December 6, 2011 and he falsely claimed that I violated that non-existent cease and desist order. Clarence L. McNeill's buddy John Murphy later claimed McNeill's December 9, 2011 e-mail attachment was a cease and desist order, even though McNeill himself did not make that claim in it. I had not even finished my courses on December 9, 2011: final exams began that day and ended on December 16, 2011. McNeill has a bit of a fetish for lies that don't even try to resemble the truth.

Clarence L. McNeill did not state that his rationale was to “prevent [me] from contacting various University staff from the communications [sic] department because [I] had graduated and left the university.” As a rationale that doesn't even make any sense: alumni are not prohibited from contacting faculty after they graduate.

Clarence L. McNeill is an incompetent, brazen criminal. Presumably he is “President of the SUNY-Wide Judicial Administrator group” and judicial administrator for SUNY Albany because SUNY system administration and SUNY Albany like incompetent, brazen criminals?

The many lies of Clarence L. McNeill: lying to the federal government about sexual harassment and assault

The many, many lies of “President of the SUNY-Wide Judicial Administrator group” and judicial administrator for SUNY Albany Clarence L. McNeill...

"The Director also informed OCR that the Office of Conflict Resolution typically receives complaints from the University Police Department, which the University Police Department has already investigated" (8).

"The Director noted that in theory, if a complaint of sexual harassment, including sexual assault, came to his office first, he would conduct the investigation. He noted, however, that in his six years as Director, he has never received such a complaint first; instead, these are usually referred by the University Police Department” (8 n. 7).

http://www2.ed.gov/documents/press-releases/suny-new-york-letter.doc

Clarence L. McNeill lied about having never received a complaint of sexual harassment prior to the University Police Department receiving it.

I had reported sexual harassment to Clarence L. McNeill, Director of the Office of Conflict Resolution, prior to reporting it to the University Police Department, something he claimed to OCR had never happened in six years. I reported on November 18, 2011 9:51:58 AM that Michael W. Barberich had joked about torturing one of his teaching assistants by hooking her to electrodes and shocking her until she screams. I had subsequently reported more to Mr. McNeill in person, and more in writing "The [October 10, 2011 10AM] one-on-one meeting with Dr. Altarriba in which I reported [Barberich's] act of sexual harassment by making an inappropriate sexual joke in a non-sexual context, which she claimed to take seriously at that time, followed soon after that [October 6, 2011] exchange with Debbie Bourassa."

Those are just a couple examples out of others.

As for conducting an investigation, Clarence L. McNeill did not inform me of one; he obstructed my access to the judicial system and sent threats to me and my family. To include but one for now:

"Please take this as a final warning. You need to forget about Prof. Barberich." Clarence L. McNeill to CKP December 8, 2011 10:39 AM

Clarence L. McNeill isn't the only liar at SUNY Albany. SUNY Albany's own policies lie:

"Victims shall: [...]

"Be free from any threat of retaliation or other attempt to prevent the reporting of sexual misconduct;

"Be free from unwanted pressure from campus personnel to: [...]

"Refrain from reporting sexual assaults for any reason, including the fear of unwanted personal publicity.

"Sexual assault is a broad term that includes [...] sexual harassment"

http://www.albany.edu/counseling_center/sexualviolence/sexualassault.shtml

The reality:

At SUNY Albany, victims shall:

be subjected to threats of retaliation and other attempts to prevent the reporting of sexual misconduct;

Be subjected to unwanted pressure from campus personnel to refrain from reporting sexual assaults

The many lies of Clarence L. McNeill: threats of retaliation and other attempts to prevent the reporting of sexual misconduct

The many, many lies of “President of the SUNY-Wide Judicial Administrator group” and judicial administrator for SUNY Albany Clarence L. McNeill...

"Retaliation is an intentional act taken against an individual who initiates any sexual misconduct complaint, including stalking or intimate partner violence, pursues legal recourse for such a complaint, or participates in any manner in the investigation of such a report. Any act of retaliation is prohibited and is subject to judicial referral. Information on how to report retaliation is found in Appendix J." [bold emphasis in original]

http://www.albany.edu/studentconduct/prohibited_conduct.shtml

"Any threat of retaliation or other attempts to prevent the reporting of sexual misconduct will be prohibited and is subject to disciplinary action. Reports of retaliation should be made to the Director of Conflict Resolution and Civic Responsibility (518-442-­5501) and/or the Associate Director of Residential Life/Quad Supervisor (518-442­-5875) who will assist in filing a complaint for university disciplinary action." [bold emphasis added]

http://www.albany.edu/studentconduct/27173.php

http://www.albany.edu/studentconduct/assets/Community_Rights_FINAL_10-28-11.pdf

http://www.albany.edu/studentconduct/assets/Community_Rights_FINAL_2-12-13.pdf

http://www.albany.edu/studentconduct/assets/Community_Rights_FINAL_4-1-2013.pdf

http://www.albany.edu/studentconduct/assets/Community_Rights_FINAL_8-23-2013.pdf

http://www.albany.edu/senate/images/CAFFECoR_report_complete(1).pdf

http://www.albany.edu/counselingcenter/report.php

http://www.albany.edu/counseling_center/sexualviolence/report.shtml

"That would not be reported to me."- Director of Conflict Resolution and Civic Responsibility Clarence L. McNeill, "RE: retaliation?" December 9, 2011 12:44:30 PM EST. E-mail from Clarence L. McNeill to Chris K. Philippo

On June 4, 2012 9:13 AM I submitted a FOIL request to UAlbany Records Access Officer Lisa A. Taylor, in relevant part:

"Please email the following records if possible: […] the written University at Albany policy that reports of retaliation should NOT be made to the Director of Conflict Resolution and Civic Responsibility but to some other office"

Ms. Taylor acknowledged the request, but in her June 28, 2012 10:29 AM response she did not provide a written University at Albany policy that reports of retaliation should NOT be made to the Director of Conflict Resolution and Civic Responsibility but to some other office. Presumably she did not include one because there is no such policy and because Clarence L. McNeill had lied when he had written that retaliation would not be reported to him.

Clarence L. McNeill makes threats of retaliation.

Clarence L. McNeill makes other attempts to prevent the reporting of sexual misconduct.

Clarence L. McNeill will not assist in filing a complaint for university disciplinary action, in my experience at least.

Clarence L. McNeill obstructs access to the university judicial system (which is not much of a judicial system).

Albany Times Union's strange relationship w/Freedom of Information, sexual harassment, intimidation & threats

“Jones graduated from the University at Albany with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and a master's in mathematics education."

Waldman, Scott. “Albany principal put on leave; District officials don’t disclose reason for suspending New Scotland Elementary's Jones." Albany Times Union. February 26, 2013. http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Principal-put-on-leave-4307095.php

“An elementary school principal who was removed from his post in a deal with the Albany school board has been accused of intimidating and sexually harassing teachers who worked for him. […] Jones would threaten to transfer their jobs if they challenged him, according to state reports, and investigators obtained 'witness corroboration of a severe and pervasive sexually hostile work environment.’ [...] Investigators further state that 'several witnesses confirm... Jones has frightened and intimidated female staff members' and therefore 'failure to report [Jones] may have been reasonable.'"

Santo, Alysia. “Former Albany Principal Gregory Jones accused in bias claim; Board makes deal for his resignation after teachers allege sexual harassment.” Albany Times Union. March 26, 2014. http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Former-Albany-Principal-Gregory-Jones-accused-in-5349177.php

A UAlbany graduate who went into education administration allegedly having engaged in sexual harassment, intimidation and threats: how is it I'm not in the least bit surprised?

"Jones had been on paid administrative leave from his $127,397-per-year job since February 2013. After the lawsuit was filed this year, Jones agreed to resign by Jan. 31, 2015. Until then, he'll work on special assignment for the superintendent and continue to collect his salary.

"The arrangement, obtained by the Times Union through the Freedom of Information Law, was approved by the Albany school board on March 6. It appears to allow Jones, who began his career with the district in 1994, a chance to acquire 20 years in the teacher pension system."

The Albany Times Union, published by George Randolph Hearst III is able to use FOIL to obtain documents relating to sexual harassment, intimidation, and threats in a public school in Albany County, while the State University of New York at Albany, whose Foundation's Board of Directors is headed by George Randolph Hearst III, obstructs FOIL requests for documents relating to sexual harassment, intimidation, and threats at that public university in Albany County.

King George sez: it's good to be the king.

"Strengthening Cold Case Probes"

Crofut, Jaired. "Vt. Looks At Strengthening Cold Case Probes." WAMC. February 18, 2014. http://www.wamc.org/post/vt-looks-strengthening-cold-case-probes

New York could really use such an effort as well.

"You give me that 'juris-my-dick-tion' crap..."

The Student Conduct System is administrative in nature and, as such, is not a federal, state or local court of law where formal rules of process, procedure or technical rules of evidence apply.

"Double Jurisdiction: What does it mean and what are the implications?" http://www.albany.edu/studentconduct/double_jurisdiction.php

Can a university be properly considered a "jurisdiction" when it lacks a "court of law where formal rules of process, procedure or technical rules of evidence apply"? Are there no rules of process, no rules of procedure, no technical rules of evidence, no rules at all?

John Murphy, assistant vice president for student affairs and director of judicial affairs at the State University of New York at Albany, said the majority of cases that come through his office are relatively minor offenses. Cases are referred to city courts, Murphy said, when there exists a 'nexus of community and university interests . usually in cases of drug-dealing, rape or other serious offense.'

"Students often complain that that's a case of 'double jeopardy,' when it's in fact double jurisdiction," said Murphy.

Purdy, Kevin. "When UB Steps In." The Spectrum. March 18, 2002. http://www.ubspectrum.com/life/when-ub-steps-in-1.1393711?pagereq=2

How does the sham "jurisdiction" at the University at Albany operate? Nothing like a real one is supposed to do:

"Lee Kindlon, practicing attorney of Kindlon, Shanks & Associates represents Terra, and has represented many students in the past. […] Kindlon fired off about the methods UAlbany employs during their hearing processes. "Some of his issues are that during the hearing process, the officers who testify against students are not cross-examined, and the officers are also instructed not to comment on questions asked to them by the students.

“'[The officers] come in and give their version of events,' Kindlon said. 'And then when the cops are expected to answer questions from the accused, or the students, the cops are instructed not to answer any questions by the city. So it’s a very, very, very one sided set piece of testimony.’

"Kindlon continued, 'And then instead of the school doing what it should do, following basic standards of due process…basically, if you can’t cross-examine your accuser, since the time Sir Walter Raleigh, that accusers testimony needs to be discarded. However, in SUNY Albany the accuser, the cop, can say whatever he or she wants, and then you’re not allowed to cross-examine that cop.’ […]

“McNeill believes the university deals with these situations fairly” (bold emphasis added).

Mineau, Lauren. "Bruised, arrested student alleges police brutality." Albany Student Press Blog. December 12, 2012. http://blog.timesunion.com/asp/2706/bruised-arrested-students-alleges-police-brutality/

University police exhibiting partiality for their employer’s influence by refusing to tell the truth by refusing to answer questions from the public in a hearing would appear to violate several sections of the SUNY Police Manual, e.g.:

§ 50.11 “Members shall be courteous and orderly in their dealings with the public.”

§ 50.12 “Exhibiting partiality for or against a person because of […] influence is conduct unbecoming an officer.”

§ 55.03 “Members appearing before a superior commission, hearing board or any other competent investigating body whose sole purpose is to determine the performance of the member’s official duty that refuses to answer questions directly related to the performance of his official duties, shall be subject to disciplinary action.”

§ 55.05 “Members are required to be truthful at all times whether under oath or not."

SUNY Police Manual https://www.suny.edu/sunypp/docs/364.doc

"Double jurisdiction" seems to be a rare phrase. While it shows up on the UAlbany website about thirteen times, a search for it on Google Scholar in New York Courts turns up no instances of it being used: http://scholar.google.com/scholar?as_sdt=4,33&q=%22double+jurisdiction%22&hl=en A Google Web search turns up about 8,670 results: https://www.google.com/search?rls=en&q=%22double+jurisdiction%22&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8#q=%22double+jurisdiction%22&rls=en&safe=off&start=290

I'll venture a guess that "Double Jurisdiction: What does it mean and what are the implications?" was published without running it by any lawyers with any appreciable legal acumen.