Christopher Hignite A few days after my most recent article, Politicians, prostitutes, priest and pedophiles: The Lexington Connection was published on Examiner.com it was referenced on another news site. A reader on that site pointed out an interesting fact. Googling Deborah Wardlaw only pulls up the articles that I have written about her. She does not appear on newspaper sites, cold case files for the Lexington police, Fayette County Attorney or the Kentucky State Police websites.
“Very engrossing article. I have a couple questions: was this written by your brother and, if so, can I please be linked to a newspaper article or something similar that chronicles the death of Deborah Wardlaw? I can only find articles involving the accused connection of corrupt cops and, ironically, a website for a shooting range owned by one Deborah Wardlaw. I would like to independently verify that she was indeed murdered.”
My investigations of the case rely on files, recordings and other evidence that I have in my possession. Because of that I had not thought to Google her name in recent years. I decided to click on the contact link for the Lexington Police Cold Case website and inquire about this:
From:calanphoto@aol.com [mailto:calanphoto@aol.com]
Sent: Wednesday, March 23, 2011 3:06 AM
To: Detective
Subject: Unsolved murders
I am curious as to why the Deborah Wardlaw murder does not appear on this or the Commonwealth Attorney’s cold case or unsolved files. If she is listed somewhere, could you please provide me a link to this information.
Sincerely,
Christopher Hignite
Lexington Courts Examiner
Examiner.com
The contact link was connected to Lieutenant James Curless. This was his response:
RE: Unsolved murdersFrom:James Curless <jcurless@lexingtonky.gov>To:calanphoto <calanphoto@aol.com>Date:Wed, Mar 23, 2011 10:15 am
Mr. Hignite,
We have just over 50 unsolved homicides from the past 35 years in Lexington. We do not post all of the unsolved homicide cases on our website; however, we do periodically rotate the unsolved homicide cases on our website. Most of our unsolved homicides, including the homicide of Ms. Deborah Wardlaw, are highlighted on our Cold Case Playing Cards which have been distributed to our local jail and state correctional facilities. Presently, there is no “link” to this case.
Unfortunately I can not answer your question as it pertains to the Commonwealth Attorney’s website. However, you may contact Mr. Ray Larson, Fayette County Commonwealth Attorney at telephone number 859-246-2060 for inquiry.
Sincerely,
Lieutenant James Curless
Lexington Police Department
150 East Main Street
Lexington, KY 40507
Office: 859.258.3743
FAX: 859.258.3781
E-Mail: jcurless@lexingtonky.gov
After I received Lt. Curless’ response I decided I may as well ask a few more questions while we have the conversation started:
From:calanphoto@aol.com [mailto:calanphoto@aol.com]
Sent: Thursday, March 24, 2011 4:33 AM
To: James Curless
Subject: RE: Unsolved murders
Officer Curless,
Thank you for your quick reply. You mention that Deborah is on the unsolved crimes deck of cards. I checked the website, http://www.kentuckystatepolice.org/unsolved_cases.htm, and couldn’t find her on the cards. Is there any where that I might obtain a copy of these cards, preferably the issue with her case? If they’re not available to public would I be able to obtain one with an open records request?
My interest in her case is explained in my most recent article for the Examiner:
The video attached to the article has a recording of Deborah Wardlaw naming six Lexington officers as threatening her life just days before her murder. Even with the victim’s personal accusation, I have not been able to get the guns of these officers compared to the ballistics of the bullet found during the murder. The officers she mentioned were placed on the case to investigate it. Should her accusation be correct, the perpetrators of the murder were trusted to investigate the murder. In this case, it would be no wonder that the case has never made any progress.
I have been in contact with several current and former officers that have given me information in confidence that this particular group has a reputation for organized crime. (Section re-dacted due to the confidential nature and ongoing investigation) I have recorded admissions from three escort agency owners from the 90s, again fingering the same crew for taking payoffs from prostitutes.
My recording has been promoted and on YouTube since 2000 and I’ve written letters since 1997 making these claims prior to Deborah’s murder and continuing until now. I made the recording an issue during the 2010 city council race and the local media mentioned it. Despite the recording not even a ballistics tests of the officers guns’ who were mentioned has been done.
All of that considered. I have one question. Why haven’t these officers been investigated for the murder of Deborah Wardlaw?
Sincerely,
Christopher Hignite
Lexington Courts Examiner
PS: You have been very helpful and my investigations in no way should be taken as an opinion on yourself or the department.
Lt. Curless was, again, quick to respond:
Unsolved murdersFrom:James Curless <jcurless@lexingtonky.gov>To:calanphoto <calanphoto@aol.com>Date:Fri, Mar 25, 2011 9:10 pm
Mr. Hignite,
I certainly appreciate your concern for this investigation. Typically we only discuss open homicide investigations with the public or media in very general and broad terms. As such, I will afford the same courtesy to you and respond to your points and questions from your email.
1: The Lexington Police Department produced and distributed cold case playing cards in 2009 which featured Ms. Wardlaw. On January 15, 2010 we held a press conference with our local media outlets and distributed cards to them. Although you may not have been at this event, if you provide an address I will mail a deck to you. With the assistance of the Department of Criminal Justice and the Lexington Police Department, the KY State Police were able to produce and distribute their cold case playing cards in December 2010. Their deck featured some of our cases; however, Ms. Wardlaw was not one of them.
2: In May 2010, we thoroughly reviewed the information you brought forward concerning the Deborah Wardlaw homicide investigation. As you know, these facts or the investigative follow-up information are not a matter for public disclosure. All the information you brought forward has appropriately been reviewed and investigated. Furthermore, this information has been incorporated into the Deborah Wardlaw Homicide Case File.
I assure you that our primary goal in this investigation is to place criminal charges against the culprit of this crime and provide some type of resolution to the Wardlaw family.
Lieutenant James Curless
Lexington Police Department
150 East Main Street
Lexington, KY 40507
Office: 859.258.3743
FAX: 859.258.3781
E-Mail: jcurless@lexingtonky.gov
You will note that even though I have been bringing these accusations since December 1999, the police department did not review my information or add it to the file until May of 2010. This was after the city council race that I entered specifically to force this issue into the public minds and media outlets.
The Lexington Herald-Leader dismissed my accusations during the campaign even though they knew full well that the very same people were involved in a Federal court case involving pedophilia, sexual trafficking and the cover-up of this activity. This court case, the Micro-City Government case, started around the time of Deborah’s murder and was in appeals when the Herald-Leader made their claim that my accusation belonged in a fiction novel.
Additionally, just months after the Wardlaw murder some of the officers in question had similar problems of corruption as reported by the Herald-Leader. Yet, in 2010 they question my public claim of corruption against these officers?
10-26-00 Lexington Herald-Leader reported that a Mr. Barnett wins a ruling against two policemen in Lexington for knowingly withholding evidence that would exonerate him in a murder trial. The officers are Craig Sorrell and David Lyons.
Why would two officers hide evidence and purposely convict an innocent man of murder?
11-11-00 Fayette County officials hint that another county may be tapping my phones for them both during a hearing with the Fayette County Attorney’s office. This was a meeting about the case I later proved to be a set-up. Two of the officers on the case were Craig Sorrell and David Lyons.
02-10-01 Lexington Herald-Leader reports that some Lexington officers integrity has been questioned during another lawsuit naming Det. David Lyons, and Det. Craig Sorrell. [See 10-26-00; I believe, November 6, 2007, that Det. David Lyons and Det. Craig Sorrell are still on the force.]
I have written letters to all offices of the city government, contacted the Ky Attorney General’s office, the FBI several times and different branches, the Ky State Police several times and different locations and won court cases proving criminal intent to falsify charges and evidence against me by these same officers. Repeatedly for a period of over ten years I continued to contact, write letters and beat false charges. Yet, the accusations weren’t acted upon or taken seriously until I took the accusations to the political scene.
How many people are involved? How far up the ladder does the conspiracy and the cover-up go? Why would the police, the city government, the Lexington Herald-Leader, politicians and even state government agencies ignore the information and turn a blind eye?
I will evaluate this information and show why the Big Blue Nation is the home of the Big Blue Mafia in Part 2 of this series on human trafficking, politicians and police departments.
Follow along and I’ll explain in Part 3 how misplaced male misogyny, especially among the male elite, fuels this industry.
Copyright Christopher Hignite 2011 All Rights Reserved
