Jackson Jambalaya

Not quite the picture painted by Ms. Bell's defenders, is it?

Gee Kingfish. Sure doesn't sound like Mother Bell was hammered by sleeping pills nor had been tied up.

Also that crap about gee, Jim Hood can't do anything. I posted the applicable statute above and that more than meets the criteria to prosecute Bell on that charge and send it to a jury.

the law was passed in 2006 so there is actually very little case law on the subject. Mississippi Supreme Court would probably love the chance to use this case as a chance to flesh it out a little bit.

All you've got to do is prosecute it, send it to a jury, establish Robbie was home prior to 3 AM and during the kidnapping, never called the cops and didn't do anything to help Ms. Hall, let the jury see the crime scene photos, you got a conviction and the MSC probably won't overturn it under that law.

We need to get you in there as the lawyer. Maybe something would actually start happening!

KF I was reading through your linked documents and came across this from one of the statements:

"Upon arriving at George's mother's house (4652 Trawick Drive), Hall related that she noticed that Robbie's black in color Infinity was parked in the driveway, and George's father's van was parked next to it (the Infinity) with a trailer connected to it."

Then I went through your archive links and looked at every crime scene photo available including from the televised reports. In other words the photos from when JPD, the Coroner, etc were at the Trawick house while it was still taped off.

Here is a Clarion-Ledger photo. Here is a WLBT still. Here is the Google Street View to confirm that the driveway isn't three-wide.

Nowhere do you see the van and trailer in the driveway. Which means that someone drove the vehicle off that morning prior to JPD's arrival at the murder scene.

So who was that 3rd party, what did they know and when exactly did they retrieve the van/trailer?

It would be very interesting to ask Judge Bell if the van and trailer were there when he came to the house. Did JPD even exam the phone records of all involved?

Timeline:

Approximately 7:30 am George shows up at Ms. Hall's residence. No indication when they arrrived at Trawick but upon arrival Hall recognizes Mr. Bell's van + trailer in driveway.

Per Judge James Bell between 10-10:30 am Robbie Bell calls James Bell to come over to Trawick "urgently". (No indication where Bell was when he received the call. Considering what has been reported as having transpired when Judge Bell was at Trawick + the time it had to have taken him to dispatch to Trawick following Robbie's call I don't believe James Bell's timeline of call receipt is accurate.)

Per JPD Sgt Wall Judge James Bell (with Ms. Hall in vehicle) flags him down at Ridgewood/Northside at 10:30 am.

11:17 am JPD Sgt Eric Smith arrives at Trawick.

Hinds County Coroner arrives Trawick at 12:31 pm.

The Fondren Bugle thinks this is an open and shut case. When it comes time to pimp the next Chick Ball or Heather's Tree event then LaddCo will get around to updating her readers on these recent court actions.

Kudos to Kingfish for going where the other media are too lazy to go!

So, did the murderer get his gatorade or not?

2:07 Brings up an interesting point. The police report from that morning specifically says Judge Bell "advised that the residence could be identified by a George Bell Carpet truck being parked in the driveway". This important and suspicious fact is mentioned more than once in the reports. Why was the truck at the residence? Does this mean even more family members (as reported)/judges/attorneys were at the crime scene before the police? Who brought a carpet cleaning truck to a bloody murder scene and who drove it away? The crime scene photos do not show the truck in the driveway. Was it removed prior to the police arrival? The report makes reference to at least one neighbor in the vicinity as the police arrived. Were statements of Robbie's neighbors ever taken?

With regard to the cell phone calls George made to Robbie around 7:30 am, while en-route back to Robbie's house the JFP reported:

"In fact, her cell phone records for the night show no calls between 7:32 p.m., Sept. 10 until 9:19 a.m"

This says a lot about Hood's "investigation"... In the response and exhibits filed last Friday, 3 calls apparently were made while George traveled back to Robbie's house. One call mentioned his return to Robbie's house (presumably to Robbie?). Two calls were made to Robbie prior to her coming out of the house when the roommate arrived.

There certainly is a lot of missing facts. Not to mention accepting a plea for an inaccurate
cause of death...

6:06, Read the police reports, George got his gatorade and some cigs during the stand off, prior to surrendering.

Hard to believe that if the truck was in the driveway when JPD arrived at the murder scene that it wouldn't be held behind the police tape until the investigation was completed.

And don't forget, Kingfish had to go to great lengths to obtain (via the FOIA) a copy of the original police reports. The city of Jackson, initially refused to release the documents. As I recall, Kingfish requested a formal hearing with the State's Ethics Commission (ironically headed by Jim Hood's brother), which ruled that the city must comply by the law and release the reports. As a result, the city produced a partial and overly redacted copy of the reports. This was after all after George plead and Robbie's charges were dropped.

Check the archives on this site. The names of George, the judge, Robbie, the suspect(s), the majority of the events and even some of the victim's names were generously blacked out. Makes you wonder whom, what and why the city was covering for... KF, who do you think spent all that time redacting the reports you requested? Why would the city go to such lengths? At whose direction?

Anyone care to comment on the Det. Daniels transfer (at Melton's request) after Heather was beaten the first time? Sure seems a little odd to me. But then again, look at the way everything else in this case went down.

At least some of the residents of Mississippi can realize the carpet is getting yanked out from under them. There are way too many strange things that went on behind the scenes. Truly a disgrace to the many victims of domestic abuse. I guess this is how things are done in our bold new city.

To the time line comment, re-read the reports. Judge Bell was in his 2006 Jeep. The carpet truck had to have been there prior and after his 10:30 arrival. George was just fresh out of treatment, doubtfully working for his father and I understand Robbie has long been divorced from the George Bell senior.

This creates even more suspicion about presence of the truck and trailer, especially since Ms. Hall noticed it at around 7:30 and sometime after 10:30, Judge Bell was using it to identify the exact location of the house while speaking with the police after leaving the crime scene with Ms Hall. There is no mention of the truck in any of the police reports. How strange.

I wonder...

Did it cross anyone's mind Robbie and George ditched the cellphones?

Would be interesting to see how many lines they have had in the last 3 years.

He told his mom he was going out for Gatorade. Incredible. Please, please tell me that Robbie didn't know that she was right in the middle of a gruesome crime scene.

Shoot, when I was in college Zoology I got to where I was dissecting the cat with one hand and eating and drinking with the other hand. You do this stuff enough times, you get used to it to the point where eating comes natural to you.

Judge Bell waived down the JPD Sergeant at Ridgewood and Northside at 10:30 am so he had to have arrived, had his talk with George and left w/ Hall before then.

In either event someone drove that van away between the Judge's departure shortly before 10:30 and when JPD arrived on the scene no more than 45 minutes later.

Kingfish have you seen the Colonel Hanson statement?

Someone should ask Colonel Hanson if he recalls seeing the George Bell Carpet van in the middle of the night when he saw Heather walking the two dogs.

I assume this is not the same John Hansen that drove the infiniti away from the BP station.

Ms Hall saw the van at 730
Judge Bell referenced the van after 1030

The police reports mention no van...

What industry is the company in?

What are you talking about drove the Infiniti away?

KF, read the reports. - p24

"After the 2006 black Infiniti was processed on the scene by the mobile crime lab it was released
to a John Henson"

Oh, mercy...it just keeps getting worse...

There's no way in a 2000sq ft house you'll miss a body four hours dead and no way to miss the blood splatters.

Robbie's IQ is above 50..." go to get Gatorade"? What is this thinking? The III can't drink water from the spigot if he's thirsty...poor baby has to have his preference?

She can't say, " I'll go get it son or was she worried about not being dressed up enough?"

He pulls up with a new potential victim and she's worried about broken promises?

When did Robbie do her hair and put on makeup?

I'm surprised we haven't seen someone from the JFP on here defending or retracting statements.

For a no nothing like me, what happens next? We've had a suit filed, a motion to dismiss and a response to that motion . . . when do we hear from a judge?

Did George Bell's father clean away evidence before the police arrived? (rug cleaner) Is that why the van was there?

From what I understand George III had borrowed the van from his dad upon arriving back from Narconon. Apparently he needed it to move something. Sometime after that he got into the drugs and the rest is history. George Sr. was called to the standoff at the BP and apparently had the presence of mind to go have the van removed after hearing all the details of the event and before the media frenzy started on Trawick. The van was definitely removed but I seriously doubt that Sr. had any other motive but to keep his business out of the middle of such a firestorm.

Re: van, that makes sense. No need to have the business name all over the nightly news.

'Close to the case', are you close enough to answer any of the questions from comment Oct 20 @ 9:39 for example? Those are things that baffle us.

Do you have any insight as to WHAT happened in that house for all those hours? Or what Robbie's thinking was/is?

The answer to the carpet van makes sense. If there's anything else you can tell us or possibly try to straighten out, please do. It's just mind blowing when one wonders what happened in that house. HOW do you stay in a house with a body, "large" blood puddles, and be like "La di da, ok son, you go get you some Gatorade. I'll be here! (waves)"

Does anyone here actually talk to this woman, see her, etc? How does she act? Just normal? Ashamed even a little?

Un damn real. Imagine if in the OJ case we would have learned there was someone just 'hanging out' in that house with the bodies and blood.. you know, just chillin'. NO different here. Crazy. We want answers.

Stilletto, ditto from me.

I'm not close enough...just close enough to know that Robbie has maintained a low profile. She has friends she sees and who are her defenders. They say she is upset. They encourage others to " call her" or " ask her to do something".

As far as I can tell, they think Robbie always " rescued" III from the consequences of bad behavior and this is merely the awful result of the natural escalation and that the " drugs" made him do it.

Or, that III was always a " bad seed" and Robbie did the best she could to help him.

And, that night, they think that III was on drugs was obvious and was sufficient to produce fear. Or, that she feared the consequences he would face yet again and her programmed reaction was to save him and thought it too late to save Heather.

They can't think what a mother would do faced with turning in her only child for such a heinous crime. They argue for pity.

I can't go along with it either, but there you have it. Those asking for pity don't want the ugly details.

They don't want to believe that someone they have befriended could be so callous and so stupid and so shallow as to worry about appearences or the lack of gatorade in the house.

If not for the suit to get her guns back, I might hope that Robbie has some insight into her role in this tragedy, but that pretty much did it for me. Upset maybe, but I fear it's for the wrong reasons.

I would rather Robbie go to every PTA meeting and be on every tv show warning parents who try to protect their children from consequences or blame others when their little darlings get in trouble that they might end up like her!

"close to the case" wrote October 21, 2009 11:06 AM:

George Sr. was called to the standoff at the BP and apparently had the presence of mind to go have the van removed after hearing all the details of the event and before the media frenzy started on Trawick.

The standoff at the BP began after 10:30 am. JPD had secured the murder scene on Trawick before, and no later than, 11:17 am.

So "close to the case" is saying:

a] that some unidentified person called George Sr. sometime within that small slice of time;

b] that person gave George Sr. a rundown as to what was happening at the BP sufficient for him, George Sr., to be alarmed about his van that was physically parked back at Trawick;

c] the information provided George Sr. was of such specific and serious nature that he, sensing the gravity of the problem, in his mind said to himself 'oh, shit, I can't have a company van smack dab in the middle of murder scene photographs. I better get that van out of the driveway at Trawick before the "media frenzy" begins';

d] George Sr. contacted another readily available and unidentified person to immediately dispatch to the murder scene in order to retrieve the van. Or maybe George Sr. had someone drive him over to Trawick so that he, himself, could leave with the van;

e] that person, or George Sr., traveled to Trawick and left with the van before JPD's arrival on the scene.

Sorry, not buying it. I do not believe that George Sr. could pull all of that off having received a phone call after the BP standoff had begun. Somebody is lying to "close to the case" or that poster is deliberately trying to mislead other readers here.

AND it seems to me that there are only 3 people who could have called George Sr. in that small window and provided him with the sort of information that could cause that sort of alarm: George III, Robbie or Judge James Bell. I seriously doubt Ms. Hall placed the call.

I can assure you I'm not trying to mislead. Obviously I must speculate the same way you all do. The fact that Robbie Bell has never been made to tell her story keeps us all in the dark. I am indeed close to the case...to the victim's side. Until Robbie is put up on the stand we will never really know what happend in those unthinkable hours. Until we see phone records...ALL of them...until we hear testimony from the neighborhood security guy with polygraph...until Robbie is put on the stand....we'll simply be left to speculate. I wish I could shed more light. I'm just as frustrated and left with unanswered questions as you all are. I cannot explain the timing of the removal of the van. I'm only offering another "opinion" which is all we have at best. It was not Ms. Hall than places any call of that nature. It makes sense that the call would have come from either one of the other two. That's not difficult to imagine at all. I will say that the conversations had on this blog will give more momentum to the prosecution than anything else. Thank you all for giving it such intelligent thought and conversation.

also, it was not in the driveway. It was never IN the driveway. It was parked on the street in front of Robbies house. Fact.

"In fact, her cell phone records for the night show no calls between 7:32 p.m., Sept. 10 until 9:19 a.m"

Guess, Hood was dead wrong. Not a surprise, considering his press release that claims George "strangled" Heather to death.

Ed Peters represented Robbie after the murder took place, BUT before she was indicted for the accessory charge. The police reports clearly indicate Judge Bell was acting as the Bell (s) attorney, while at the murder scene and after the standoff.

If the civil case goes to trial, the details and events will be VERY interesting.

Would attorney-client privilege apply to a witness? Considering the Judge arrived at the murder scene before police knew what happened, left with Ms. Hall after George kidnapped her, was a relative, and witness, could he legally act as their attorney during the hours that took place during this ordeal? Just seems a little too close to home (no pun intended).

I do give him a lot of credit and praise for doing the right thing by leaving the house and saving Ms. Hall. He was the only one in that house with common sense.

"In fact, her cell phone records for the night show no calls between 7:32 p.m., Sept. 10 until 9:19 a.m"

Guess, Hood was dead wrong. Not a surprise, considering his press release that claims George "strangled" Heather to death.

Ed Peters represented Robbie after the murder took place, BUT before she was indicted for the accessory charge. The police reports clearly indicate Judge Bell was acting as the Bell (s) attorney, while at the murder scene and after the standoff.

If the civil case goes to trial, the details and events will be VERY interesting.

Would attorney-client privilege apply to a witness? Considering the Judge arrived at the murder scene before police knew what happened, left with Ms. Hall after George kidnapped her, was a relative, and witness, could he legally act as their attorney during the hours that took place during this ordeal? Just seems a little too close to home (no pun intended).

I do give him a lot of credit and praise for doing the right thing by leaving the house and saving Ms. Hall. He was the only one in that house with common sense.

also, it was not in the driveway. It was never IN the driveway. It was parked on the street in front of Robbies house. Fact.

Were you there? Hall says otherwise. We KNOW she was there.

7:44 so was the honorable Judge Bell, read his statements. He sure seemed to believe it was these as well...

Regardless of exactly where the George Bell Carpet van was parked is irrelevant. The fact is at (or around) 7:30 am Ms. Hall was kidnapped by George III and forced to Robbie’s house where Heather’s body laid on the floor. The statement Ms. Hall made references the van‘s presence. Judge Bell, was summoned by Robbie to house around 10:30 am where Heather’s body was - a blood soaked crime scene. At this point, no one still bothered to contact the Police. After speaking with his nephew “confidentially as his attorney”, the Judge left in his Jeep with Ms. Hall and then flagged down authorities.
In the police reports, he specifically said he did not know the exact address of the crime scene but mentioned there was a George Bell Carpet van in the drive way. It is becoming pretty clear, based on not just the police reports, statements and the comments of “close to the case” the van was removed from Robbie’s property prior to the arrival of the police.
Personally, I find it truly disgusting that someone not only had the authority but the audacity to have the van removed for possible fear of loss of future revenues to the family business. On a side note, how much of the family business does the former Judge own?
If this is true, it is truly disgusting. George III beat Heather months earlier, causing 3 rows of staples to be placed in her head. He was obviously was generously helped by others to avoid arrest and seek a highly controversial (and expedited) treatment program. His family even had a welcome home party for the fugitive. The next day, he brutally raped and bludgeoned Heather to death.
The mere fact that the avoidance a negative “media frenzy” to secure future profits of the family business is beyond callous, hopefully just speculation. Did someone really move a carpet cleaning van from a blood soaked murder scene prior to the police, AMR and coroner’s arrival? If true, that says a lot…

So, it was the van in the driveway with a carpet picture on it. What does this really have to do with Robbie's culpability in this case? Mr. Bell Sr. whether he got the van or not, in no way, changes any of the facts that have been presented here. Unless I missed the sucking sound of a vacuum cleaner somewhere, there were "pools" of blood. Don't see any connection between the van and the fact that Robbie appears complicit in aiding her son in his crimes.

Who wouldn't remove the van? Funny, one showed up in my neighborhood for a while. Never really knew who they were until all this showed up here. Haven't seen it here in a while. Yada, yada, yada....

Can we please get back to the facts? This woman was bludgeoned, the mother (read "savior") of her son, against the social contract, did not do a damn thing to help Heather according to the reports. I don't see any report that says she checked on her, I don't see anything that says she remotely gave a shit about this woman, only that she was worried about her son's thirst.

KF there is more to this story. They had to interview her. Is that documentation *poof*???

Don't be fooled by Robbie fans wanting to cast aspersions towards her long time ex husband. Anything to avoid prosecution appears the soup de jur.

Again, my intentions were only to set the record straight. I had a conversation with Ms. Hall yesterday and asked her specifically about the placement of the van. She knows who I am and Kingfish knows who I am so when I say that the van was not in the driveway...it wasn't. Period. It is still apparent that the only way justice will be served is if we serve it....so PLEASE keep looking for clues..explore loopholes...and find a way to get this woman on the stand!! You guys are the only route to justice for this family.

Okay to remove the van someone had to call and let Bell, II know what was going on, to remove the van one of the following had to be done: find an extra key and someone to drive you(or another) over to the house to drive it, go into the home and get the key (police report said front door was unlocked, or someone left the key somewhere outside of the home for someone to pick it up.
If this person was called and removed something from a crime scene is that not interference, or maybe the same charge as Robbie "Accessory After the Fact"

" cell phone calls"...didn't Robbie have a land line as well? Yep...June 2007 phonebook lists Robbie L Bell at 4652 Trawick.

Don't know about the rest of you , but when I'm in my house, I only use my cell for long distance calls covered on my contract. I use my land line for all other calls...no break up and no drops.

Interesting not to see any reference to land line phone records.

Maybe Robbie or III called someone on the line land to remove the truck as soon as Judge Bell left the house.

Surely this is a deliberate use of the words " cell phone calls" and the investigators didn't forget to get land line records!

10-1 odds it was James Bell who tipped off George Sr. to get the van the hell outta there.

With each passing day and each new revelation you understand how badly JPD botched this investigation.

Robbie Bell was either whacked out on sleeping pills or tied up. The Editor of the JFP says so.

And I know the first thing any of us want to do after being "tied up" is run and put on a necklace.

Bitch even had on a NECKLACE at the standoff. What the??? Ughh..

Kingfish have you seen the Col. Hanson statement?

From the police report re: Judge Bell's witness statement:

Mr. Bell advised
that he was unable to give an address for the Trawick Drive home
however he advised that the residence could be identified by a George Bell Carpet truck being parked in the driveway.

From Ms. Halls statement to the AG's office:

Upon arriving at George' mother's house (4652 Trawick Drive), Hall related that she noticed that Robbie's black in color Infinity was parked in the driveway, and George's father's van was parked next to it (the Infinity) with a trailer connected to it.

A witness, relative & attorney for the Bells (prior to the discovery, standoff and arrest)reported the truck was in the driveway. A victim reported the truck was in the driveway.

Who moved the truck and when? How many people were called and visited the crime scene prior to police involvement?

Could Col. John Hanson be the person to which JPD released Robbie's Infinity to after the stand-off was over? The police reports mentioned releasing the vehicle to a John Hansen.

You all are hung up on a van that was removed. While speculation is certainly well founded, the van played what role? Also, any speculation "who" was involved in the vane being moved is extreme speculation. Heck, maybe in between getting make-up on, getting a gatorade, dressing for success, Mrs. Bell simply moved the van down the street out of view. Again I say, beware the Robbie supporters here who are trying to deflect away from Robbie's involvement by focusing on a van that was or was not there. If the van was, were there more in the house? That is a silly question. Don't you think one would roll over on the other in an instant...c'mon...

How many people were called and visited the crime scene prior to police involvement?

That is a very good question. I'm convinced that the number of people 'in the know' before JPD involvement is a larger group than those known so far. It has to include, in my mind at a minimum, George Sr..

Col. Hanson is an employee of the neighborhood security company. I do not believe he is one and the same with the John Hansen to whom the car was released.

Maybe she called Karen??? C'mon, who she called is irrelevant. She did not call the police with a dead body in the house and a murderer on the run.

Is the fact that Jim Hood's investigation missed the phone calls made from George to Robbie made during the kidnapping? Guess that's not relevant either...

The movement of the van is one of the MANY things in this case that is very suspicious. Why did Robbie hire Ed Peters, when all JPD wanted was to get a statement from her? There are many things in this case which does not fall under the standard operating procedure of a crime of this nature. Robbie took the time to change clothes, put on make up and drive her son away from the crime scene. Robbie jumped in the police car with George after the stand-off. Not what a "hostage" would do. She didn't even have the audacity to show up at her son's trial.

Lots of strings were pulled. Robbie was clearly harboring someone with an active warrant before he murdered Heather and kidnapped someone else. Many "assisted" the Bells with special favors. Who paid the Kelly firm to drop the charges?

7:10 you're right but I think what some of us are saying is that the van and absence of a land line call log ( or mention of either)are among the things that raise questions about either the quality of the investigation or an effort by authorities to help Robbie avoid culpability.

Hood et al said there was insufficient evidence to charge Robbie with aiding her son. Some of us think all these little things ...moving a van,tending to personal appearance,calls that were made,Hansen testimony,timelines, the gatorade comment... all have a cumulative effect that SHOULD have led to charges. These things speak clearly to us to Robbie's state of mind and intent and at the very least should have called for further investigation IF anyone was interested in charging her.

We think it should have spoken clearly to prosecutors and would have resonated to a jury.

Some of us suspect that Hood et all feel that the embarrassment of having your son in prison, the associated financial costs, and the loss of social standing is sufficient punishment for VIPS. While they think the rest of us don't have such "terrible losses" so we have to lose our freedom and our jobs as that's all we've got. They don't see justice for the victims. It's about who needs to be put away to learn from the errors of their ways and who doesn't. They have rationalized that a different standard of justice for the prominent and the poor is correct as the prominent don't need the deterrent of prison and won't be of further risk to the community.

Well put, I agree that the most we can conclude is that the investigation certainly was "poor" or "hindered" at best. With the release of the information in this article, it does call into question the unwillingness or "hindered" ability to pursue charges. I'm not a prosecutor, but a grand jury, I believe, could have been convened, should have been convened?

10:08 Your last paragraph says a mouthful, and is probably the most charitable explanation of this inexplicable behavior that I have seen.

11:18am thank you but I didn't mean to be charitable. I think it's an accurate example of how humans rationalize bad,self- serving decisions by themselves and their friends. When those kind of rationalizations succeed, it encourages more bad behavior. The risk and consequences are reduced. Society suffers.

If all you have to do is come up with a good story, or say " I'm sorry but I've found God now"...if no evidence of a real change in behavior is socially required or legal punishment certain, then why NOT risk criminal action or immoral behavior if the rewards outweigh the risks?

I think it's why KF has so many stories to write about on this site.

I just read the Jackson Free Press article. and it makes my blood boil to imagine what a cowardly monster George Bell II was
(is). and how inept our society is to allow the first assualt to go unpunished. I am surprised Robbie Bell doesnt move to Alaska.

She will never be able to move away from the fact that she is the mother of this coward/monster and her actions
leading up and including this horrible murder.

Robbie was whacked out on sleeping pills when she wasn't tied up.