Murder, Twister Top Stories For 2007
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By -
Other top stories for the year focused on businesses in Kosciusko County, and the departure of local soldiers for the war on terror in Iraq.[[In-content Ad]]In order to determine the top stories of the past year, front-page stories were compiled into a list. The news and sports staff of the Times-Union then voted on which stories were the top 10 from 1 to 10, with 1 being the top story of the year.
The suspect in the top story of 2007 is still at-large.
On May 23, Omar Mora allegedly murdered his wife, Lisa Heather Mora, and Harpal Singh.
Singh was murdered outside of the Phillips 66 gas station on East Center Street, Warsaw, around 5 p.m. Lisa was shot to death at the Mora's residence on Vicky Lane in "The Country" subdivision.
Singh was an acquaintance of Lisa Mora.
Omar Mora's truck was found in July on the north side of Chicago. Chicago Police officers found his 2003 black Chevy Silverado at the 2300 block of West Montana Street near the Kennedy Expressway. According to the Chicago Police Department, the truck had been parked in that area for some time. There was a parking ticket from June on the windshield of the truck.
The second top story of the year occurred in the northern part of Kosciusko County.
On Oct. 18, an EF3 tornado touched down in Nappanee.
Taco Bell, Express Lube, Gulf Stream and more than 400 residential and 100 commercial buildings were destroyed or sustained minor to major damage in the town. Despite the damage, there were no severe injuries reported from the storm.
Two bands of storms came through the county with the first coming around 8:30 p.m. The second band included the tornado that hit Nappanee around 10:30 p.m.
On Thanksgiving, the Federal Emergency Management Agency denied Nappanee's request for disaster assistance. According to FEMA, tornado damage in the area was not severe enough for a federal disaster declaration and assistance.
State and local officials appealed FEMA's decision.
The third top story of 2007 is a continuation of events from previous years, and will continue into years to come.
In January, Warsaw Community Schools unveiled three building options. After many public forums, the school board selected Option A at a cost totaling more than $125 million.
On May 21, the school board approved moving forward with Step 1 of Option A. Step 1, as originally presented, included replacing Leesburg Elementary with a new four-section school for $16 million; expanding and renovating Claypool and Jefferson schools for $10 million each; and replacing Madison with a new four-section school for $16 million. The total bond issue for Step 1 was estimated by architectural firm Kovert Hawkins to be $65 million.
The State Tax Control Board approved Warsaw's building project and forwarded a favorable recommendation to Commission Cheryl Musgrave in August. On Dec. 4, Musgrave approved the project at $59.16 million.
With the reduction from $65 million to $59.16, a million dollars from each of the four school buildings will be cut.
The school corporation is negotiating to buy property surrounding the current Leesburg School for construction of the new school. There are 11 tracts of ground being considered, ranging from 0.08 acres to 5.22 acres.
Madison's new location may be near U.S. 30 and CRs 150W and 200N. Only one tract of ground totaling 42 acres is involved in those negotiations.
The new and renovated schools are expected to be opened in August 2010.
During the 2003-04 school year, the school board had a $30 million building project on the table. Following remonstrance of that project, the board decided to close three elementary schools - Silver Lake, Claypool and Atwood - which contributed to the overcrowding problem the school corporation currently faces.
The other top stories of the year include:
4. Thousands of visitors converged on Claypool Aug. 21 for the grand-opening ceremony of the new Louis Dreyfus facility on Ind. 15.
With several tents, many vendors' booths and children's inflatable play equipment, as well as large speakers playing a variety of music, the Louis Dreyfus construction site looked more like a big party than a soybean-based biodiesel plant.
The plant is the world's largest integrated soybean biodiesel production facility.
Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman, Congressman Mark Souder, Claypool Town Council President Don Miller and Louis Dreyfus Chief Executive Officer Serge Schoen welcomed a large crowd to the event and stressed the importance of agriculture in the economy.
5. Indiana property owners were not happy this year when tax rates for some properties increased as much as 24 percent or more.
Tax bills were mailed to some Kosciusko County residents in July, with a first installment due Sept. 10, except those who pay into the Tippecanoe Valley School system. The TVSC lies partially in Fulton County. It includes Franklin, Harrison and Seward townships and the Burket, Mentone-Franklin and Mentone-Harrison taxing units. These units did not receive their tax statements in July because the state did not initially approve Fulton County's tax rates.
After Fulton County's tax rates were finally approved, statements for TVSC property owners were mailed Oct. 22. Fall installments for Kosciusko County property taxes were due Nov. 13 for all county property owners, including those in Tippecanoe Valley School Corp.
Kosciusko County was just one of Indiana's 92 counties where property owners decried the property tax increase.
Eric Miller, Advance America, brought his "repeal property taxes" campaign to Warsaw Sept. 20 as the state began to look at addressing Indiana's reliance on property taxes. Miller's stop in Warsaw was one of many around the state.
6. Army National Guard soldiers from Alpha Co., 1st Battalion, 293rd Infantry departed from the Warsaw Armory at 7 a.m. Dec. 12.
The buses carrying the soldiers drove through downtown Warsaw in order for the public to wave them on in support.
Alpha Co. spent about 10 days training at Camp Atterbury, Edingburgh, Ind.; spent the holidays with their families; then will depart to Fort Stewart, Ga., from Indianapolis Wednesday for mobilization certification. After 60 to 90 days of active duty training in Georgia, the guardsmen will deploy to Iraq in support of the global war on terrorism as part of the 76th Infantry Brigade.
Alpha Co. includes approximately 100 soldiers from the Warsaw and Peru area, and 50 other soldiers from other parts of the state.
On Dec. 11, the soldiers shared a meal with their families at the Warsaw Armory. The guardsmen also heard local civic leaders and businessmen speak.
7. A private equity group bought Biomet.
In 2006, the private equity group offered $44 per share to buy Biomet. This year, the group increased its offer for the purchase to $46 per share, which equals to about $11.4 billion.
With the revised merger agreement, the group, which includes affiliates of the Blackstone Group, Goldman Sachs Capital Partners, Kohlberg Kravis Roerts & Co., and Texas Pacific Group, along with one of Biomet's founders, Dane A. Miller, bought all the outstanding shares of Biomet's common stock.
The $2 increase in the price per share is a 32.3 percent increase over the closing price of Biomet stock April 3, 2006, the day before the buyout became public speculation.
8. A Pierceton man is accused of murdering a 2-year-old girl in May.
On July 27, Ian James Clark, 34, Pierceton, was read murder charges in Kosciusko County Circuit Court. He entered a plea of not guilty to the charge of murder.
Clark is accused of killing his girlfriend Matara Tell Muchowicz's 2-year-old daughter, Samantha. Clark also is facing a charge of battery, a Class A felony.
On May 25, law enforcement officers responded to a call to the Kosciusko County Dispatch regarding an unresponsive 2-year-old girl. When authorities arrived, Matara Tell Muchowicz was outside her residence on Ridinger Lake with her daughter.
Samantha Muchowicz was pronounced dead at 3:40 p.m. at Kosciusko Community Hospital. The cause of death was ruled "multiple blunt trauma."
According to police reports, Clark told police the girl suffered her injuries from a fall.
Clark could face up to 65 years in jail on the murder charge, and possibly a life sentence or the death penalty. He could face up to 50 years for the battery charge.
Clark's trial starts March 4 at 8:30 a.m.
9. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigated Biomet, Zimmer, Smith & Nephew, Stryker Corp. and Medtronic for potentially violating an anti-corruption statute in sales abroad.
In October, Biomet reported they were being investigated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for potentially violating an anti-corruption statute in sales abroad.
The investigation is for possible violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Among other things, the act forbids corporate bribery overseas.
The focus on the investigation is on "the sale of medical devices in a number of foreign countries by companies in the medical devices industry," according to a Biomet statement. According to Biomet, the SEC probe is not connected with a separate Department of Justice investigation.
That probe into price fixing allegations was settled in September. Biomet will pay $26.9 million of a $281.1 million settlement that also involves Zimmer and DePuy and two other orthopedic firms. No companies admitted guilt in the settlement.
Biomet intends to cooperate with the SEC probe.
Biomet received a letter from the SEC about the informal investigation Sept. 25. That's the same day a private equity consortium officially acquired Biomet for $11.4 billion.
The following day, the other orthopaedic companies reported they, too, were being investigated by the SEC.
10. Massage parlors were closed after police investigation discovered shady practices were occurring at the businesses.
A two-year investigation uncovered illegal activity in at least two establishments in Indiana and other states as well.
The investigation started two years ago when Warsaw police started enforcing an ordinance created to regulate massage parlors in Warsaw.
Through the course of the investigation, Myong Suk Demorales and another woman, Song McCray, allegedly offered bribes to Warsaw Police Detective Tony Faucett as he conducted inspections of VIP-The Office Spa. The women reportedly offered Faucett money to overlook violations of the ordinance.
During the investigation, police discovered that VIP-The Office Spa in Warsaw and VIP Tanning in Fort Wayne had ties to each other. At one time McCray owned both businesses, but she reportedly sold VIP-The Office Spa to Demorales. When McCray owned VIP-The Office Spa, Demorales managed the business.
Demorales previously ran at least two massage parlors at different times in Gwinnett County, Ga.
At any given time, three or four women worked at each of the businesses in Warsaw and Fort Wayne. The women would stay in the town for three to four weeks and earn $8,000 to $10,000, then move on to another location.
Women working in the establishments came from all over the United States. Most of the men who visited the business were from other counties and states.
Myong S. Demorales pleaded guilty to three counts of bribery and one count of prostitution as a part of a plea deal. She received a four-year sentence.
Latest News
E-Editions
Other top stories for the year focused on businesses in Kosciusko County, and the departure of local soldiers for the war on terror in Iraq.[[In-content Ad]]In order to determine the top stories of the past year, front-page stories were compiled into a list. The news and sports staff of the Times-Union then voted on which stories were the top 10 from 1 to 10, with 1 being the top story of the year.
The suspect in the top story of 2007 is still at-large.
On May 23, Omar Mora allegedly murdered his wife, Lisa Heather Mora, and Harpal Singh.
Singh was murdered outside of the Phillips 66 gas station on East Center Street, Warsaw, around 5 p.m. Lisa was shot to death at the Mora's residence on Vicky Lane in "The Country" subdivision.
Singh was an acquaintance of Lisa Mora.
Omar Mora's truck was found in July on the north side of Chicago. Chicago Police officers found his 2003 black Chevy Silverado at the 2300 block of West Montana Street near the Kennedy Expressway. According to the Chicago Police Department, the truck had been parked in that area for some time. There was a parking ticket from June on the windshield of the truck.
The second top story of the year occurred in the northern part of Kosciusko County.
On Oct. 18, an EF3 tornado touched down in Nappanee.
Taco Bell, Express Lube, Gulf Stream and more than 400 residential and 100 commercial buildings were destroyed or sustained minor to major damage in the town. Despite the damage, there were no severe injuries reported from the storm.
Two bands of storms came through the county with the first coming around 8:30 p.m. The second band included the tornado that hit Nappanee around 10:30 p.m.
On Thanksgiving, the Federal Emergency Management Agency denied Nappanee's request for disaster assistance. According to FEMA, tornado damage in the area was not severe enough for a federal disaster declaration and assistance.
State and local officials appealed FEMA's decision.
The third top story of 2007 is a continuation of events from previous years, and will continue into years to come.
In January, Warsaw Community Schools unveiled three building options. After many public forums, the school board selected Option A at a cost totaling more than $125 million.
On May 21, the school board approved moving forward with Step 1 of Option A. Step 1, as originally presented, included replacing Leesburg Elementary with a new four-section school for $16 million; expanding and renovating Claypool and Jefferson schools for $10 million each; and replacing Madison with a new four-section school for $16 million. The total bond issue for Step 1 was estimated by architectural firm Kovert Hawkins to be $65 million.
The State Tax Control Board approved Warsaw's building project and forwarded a favorable recommendation to Commission Cheryl Musgrave in August. On Dec. 4, Musgrave approved the project at $59.16 million.
With the reduction from $65 million to $59.16, a million dollars from each of the four school buildings will be cut.
The school corporation is negotiating to buy property surrounding the current Leesburg School for construction of the new school. There are 11 tracts of ground being considered, ranging from 0.08 acres to 5.22 acres.
Madison's new location may be near U.S. 30 and CRs 150W and 200N. Only one tract of ground totaling 42 acres is involved in those negotiations.
The new and renovated schools are expected to be opened in August 2010.
During the 2003-04 school year, the school board had a $30 million building project on the table. Following remonstrance of that project, the board decided to close three elementary schools - Silver Lake, Claypool and Atwood - which contributed to the overcrowding problem the school corporation currently faces.
The other top stories of the year include:
4. Thousands of visitors converged on Claypool Aug. 21 for the grand-opening ceremony of the new Louis Dreyfus facility on Ind. 15.
With several tents, many vendors' booths and children's inflatable play equipment, as well as large speakers playing a variety of music, the Louis Dreyfus construction site looked more like a big party than a soybean-based biodiesel plant.
The plant is the world's largest integrated soybean biodiesel production facility.
Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman, Congressman Mark Souder, Claypool Town Council President Don Miller and Louis Dreyfus Chief Executive Officer Serge Schoen welcomed a large crowd to the event and stressed the importance of agriculture in the economy.
5. Indiana property owners were not happy this year when tax rates for some properties increased as much as 24 percent or more.
Tax bills were mailed to some Kosciusko County residents in July, with a first installment due Sept. 10, except those who pay into the Tippecanoe Valley School system. The TVSC lies partially in Fulton County. It includes Franklin, Harrison and Seward townships and the Burket, Mentone-Franklin and Mentone-Harrison taxing units. These units did not receive their tax statements in July because the state did not initially approve Fulton County's tax rates.
After Fulton County's tax rates were finally approved, statements for TVSC property owners were mailed Oct. 22. Fall installments for Kosciusko County property taxes were due Nov. 13 for all county property owners, including those in Tippecanoe Valley School Corp.
Kosciusko County was just one of Indiana's 92 counties where property owners decried the property tax increase.
Eric Miller, Advance America, brought his "repeal property taxes" campaign to Warsaw Sept. 20 as the state began to look at addressing Indiana's reliance on property taxes. Miller's stop in Warsaw was one of many around the state.
6. Army National Guard soldiers from Alpha Co., 1st Battalion, 293rd Infantry departed from the Warsaw Armory at 7 a.m. Dec. 12.
The buses carrying the soldiers drove through downtown Warsaw in order for the public to wave them on in support.
Alpha Co. spent about 10 days training at Camp Atterbury, Edingburgh, Ind.; spent the holidays with their families; then will depart to Fort Stewart, Ga., from Indianapolis Wednesday for mobilization certification. After 60 to 90 days of active duty training in Georgia, the guardsmen will deploy to Iraq in support of the global war on terrorism as part of the 76th Infantry Brigade.
Alpha Co. includes approximately 100 soldiers from the Warsaw and Peru area, and 50 other soldiers from other parts of the state.
On Dec. 11, the soldiers shared a meal with their families at the Warsaw Armory. The guardsmen also heard local civic leaders and businessmen speak.
7. A private equity group bought Biomet.
In 2006, the private equity group offered $44 per share to buy Biomet. This year, the group increased its offer for the purchase to $46 per share, which equals to about $11.4 billion.
With the revised merger agreement, the group, which includes affiliates of the Blackstone Group, Goldman Sachs Capital Partners, Kohlberg Kravis Roerts & Co., and Texas Pacific Group, along with one of Biomet's founders, Dane A. Miller, bought all the outstanding shares of Biomet's common stock.
The $2 increase in the price per share is a 32.3 percent increase over the closing price of Biomet stock April 3, 2006, the day before the buyout became public speculation.
8. A Pierceton man is accused of murdering a 2-year-old girl in May.
On July 27, Ian James Clark, 34, Pierceton, was read murder charges in Kosciusko County Circuit Court. He entered a plea of not guilty to the charge of murder.
Clark is accused of killing his girlfriend Matara Tell Muchowicz's 2-year-old daughter, Samantha. Clark also is facing a charge of battery, a Class A felony.
On May 25, law enforcement officers responded to a call to the Kosciusko County Dispatch regarding an unresponsive 2-year-old girl. When authorities arrived, Matara Tell Muchowicz was outside her residence on Ridinger Lake with her daughter.
Samantha Muchowicz was pronounced dead at 3:40 p.m. at Kosciusko Community Hospital. The cause of death was ruled "multiple blunt trauma."
According to police reports, Clark told police the girl suffered her injuries from a fall.
Clark could face up to 65 years in jail on the murder charge, and possibly a life sentence or the death penalty. He could face up to 50 years for the battery charge.
Clark's trial starts March 4 at 8:30 a.m.
9. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigated Biomet, Zimmer, Smith & Nephew, Stryker Corp. and Medtronic for potentially violating an anti-corruption statute in sales abroad.
In October, Biomet reported they were being investigated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for potentially violating an anti-corruption statute in sales abroad.
The investigation is for possible violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Among other things, the act forbids corporate bribery overseas.
The focus on the investigation is on "the sale of medical devices in a number of foreign countries by companies in the medical devices industry," according to a Biomet statement. According to Biomet, the SEC probe is not connected with a separate Department of Justice investigation.
That probe into price fixing allegations was settled in September. Biomet will pay $26.9 million of a $281.1 million settlement that also involves Zimmer and DePuy and two other orthopedic firms. No companies admitted guilt in the settlement.
Biomet intends to cooperate with the SEC probe.
Biomet received a letter from the SEC about the informal investigation Sept. 25. That's the same day a private equity consortium officially acquired Biomet for $11.4 billion.
The following day, the other orthopaedic companies reported they, too, were being investigated by the SEC.
10. Massage parlors were closed after police investigation discovered shady practices were occurring at the businesses.
A two-year investigation uncovered illegal activity in at least two establishments in Indiana and other states as well.
The investigation started two years ago when Warsaw police started enforcing an ordinance created to regulate massage parlors in Warsaw.
Through the course of the investigation, Myong Suk Demorales and another woman, Song McCray, allegedly offered bribes to Warsaw Police Detective Tony Faucett as he conducted inspections of VIP-The Office Spa. The women reportedly offered Faucett money to overlook violations of the ordinance.
During the investigation, police discovered that VIP-The Office Spa in Warsaw and VIP Tanning in Fort Wayne had ties to each other. At one time McCray owned both businesses, but she reportedly sold VIP-The Office Spa to Demorales. When McCray owned VIP-The Office Spa, Demorales managed the business.
Demorales previously ran at least two massage parlors at different times in Gwinnett County, Ga.
At any given time, three or four women worked at each of the businesses in Warsaw and Fort Wayne. The women would stay in the town for three to four weeks and earn $8,000 to $10,000, then move on to another location.
Women working in the establishments came from all over the United States. Most of the men who visited the business were from other counties and states.
Myong S. Demorales pleaded guilty to three counts of bribery and one count of prostitution as a part of a plea deal. She received a four-year sentence.
Have a news tip? Email [email protected] or Call/Text 360-922-3092