There’s been a tiny bit of news in the case of murdered bookstore owner Sherry Black: police have released pictures of a belt that may belong to her murderer. So if you live in Salt Lake City and know someone with criminal tendencies who has worn a belt with the initials “AX” on the buckle (which evidently stands for “Armani Exchange”; fashion is not my beat), police would like a word with you.
A commenter here has suggested that transient Paul David Vara, who has been arrested on aggravated murder and multiple rape charges in the same area, may be involved. There’s certainly no question that (assuming police statements are true) Vara is (to use a legal term) a violent scumbag:
When police found Gabel’s body, they noted that her breasts had been mutilated, according to court documents. An autopsy by the Utah State Medical Examiner’s Office found most of Gabel’s internal organs had been torn out.
The 6-foot-1 and 260-pound Vara told police that he “pulled her internal organs out of her body,” court documents state.
The cause of death was determined to be “multiple factors, including strangulation and extensive loss of blood,” according to court documents.
Vara told police that he “used green string to strangle the female because she was struggling with him.”
Vara hails from San Antonio, and seems to have quite a record of violent offenses:
His adult charges in Texas date from 2007 back to 1998, when he would have been 18. His charges in Texas include aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in 2004, assault in 2001, two separate incidents of assault causing bodily injury in 2000 and another one in 1999. He had several charges of burglary and vehicle burglary in 1998.
And pace our commentator, his record of gang activity (such as it is) seems to be non-Insane Clown Posse related:
Medina said Vara told him that he had come to Utah to escape the Latin Kings gang in San Antonio. Medina, 40, said he left MS-13, a gang he had joined at age 11 and the two men bonded over their mutual hope to leave gangs behind.
(A little background on the Latin Kings can be found here. )
While Vara certainly seems violent and scummy enough to have killed Black, I’m just not seeing any real link to her (or, that matter, ICP). And sadly, the world suffers from no shortage of violent scumbags…