Two dead in ritual killing

SIOUX CITY -- "Two girls found dead in a smoke-filled house Sunday were the victims of a ritual slaying, police said Monday.

Their stepfather, Lawrence Douglas Harris Sr., 25, has been arrested and charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Kendra Suing, 10, and Alysha Suing, 8.

Police Lt. Marti Reilly said Harris had been performing "some strange ritual." Harris told investigators he was casting a spell that "had gone bad" and the spell "could have had severe consequences," according to Sioux City Police Chief Joe Frisbie.

Harris is being held at the Woodbury County Jail in lieu of $2 million bond and is set to appear in court Jan. 17.

At a news conference Monday afternoon, Frisbie said Kendra and Alysha Suing were were dead before the fire and appear to have died of strangulation and stab wounds. Frisbie said an official cause of death will not be released for several days.

Sioux City Police and Fire departments responded Sunday afternoon to an anonymous report of a fire at 1420 Nebraska St. When officers arrived at the scene, Frisbie said, Harris indicated that the victims were dead in their bedrooms. Frisbie said Harris told authorities he was the only adult present at the scene. The girls' mother, Marla Harris, also lives at the house.

"You're talking about people casting spells, spells gone bad," Frisbie said. "Obviously, there is a lot more going on here than a straightforward homicide."

Gee. Ya think?

I lived approximately a mile from where the girls were killed; a reclamation project area where they turned open fields into low income housing in the blink of an eye. As I recall, Chief Frisbee...the poster boy for anti-gunners the Midwest over...was for the project before he was against it, and then was finally for it once and for all after coming to the conclusion he'd know where to send the fella's if they had an urge to catch some criminals. This is the same man who'd glance at the FBI stats for crime in Sioux City, shrug, explain that he didn't have any funds for additional police, and told anyone who expressed criticism that he'd love to deputize them if they worked for free, brought along their own gear, and an extra squad car or two.

Sioux City, Iowa is the methamphetamine capital of the Midwest, and as most of the local top-cops in that neck of the woods Frisbie could care less for the middle and low income neighborhoods but spit on the sidewalk in a well to do area and SWAT teams are on the way. Nebraska Street was once a quaint and marvelous little section of town before the crack heads took over, and the rest of the city breathed a sigh of relief that it didn't happen in THEIR neighborhood.