Compiled by Bethany Kohoutek bethany@dmcityview.com

Dispatcher: 911...

Caller: [unintelligible] ...a threat with a knife...
D: ...is that person there?
C: Yes.
D: Who is it?
C: My brother....
D: Does he have the knife on him?
C: Yes, it's in his pocket. It's the third time.
D: ...whose house is it? Both of yours?
C: It's my mother's house...
D: What kind of knife does he have? Pocket knife?
C: ...kitchen knife or a cutlery knife. ... He's stabbed me before. ... Hello? He stabbed me before...
C: He's 23. ... I mean, what am I supposed to do about these threats? Is there anything I can do really about being threatened three times in a row... and then you know, trying to get a restraining order?
D: Yep, what you need to is make sure you let the deputy know that so he can get -
C: - I did that before and he just starts again later on...
D: Can you go outside?
C: I was asleep... broke in through my door... for some reason he thinks the house is his or something. He's crazy; the house is my parents'. You can look it up on Polk County Assessors. ... He doesn't own a house. He's been living at home his entire life, I haven't.
D: Those things happen. What you need to do is let the deputy know about the threats. I'm sure you will. ... O.K. I have a couple deputies outside. You want to go meet with them?
C: [yelling in the background]
D: Is that your mom?
C: Yeah.

Officer's Report: [The victim] advised he had been sleeping in a bedroom at his mother's house... when he was awakened by his brother [who] asked why he wasn't going to work today, and [the victim] replied he had already called his boss to let them know he wasn't coming in to work. [His brother] did not want to accept that as an answer and started to push [the victim] to wake him up. ... [His brother] told him to get out of his house. [The victim] told [his brother] that it wasn't [his brother's] house, and [his brother] grabbed a kitchen knife from the kitchen. [His brother] then pulled the knife out of his right pants pocket, held it blade up pointing toward [the victim], and stated, "You know what has happened before." [The victim] believed [his brother] was referring to six years earlier when [his brother] did stab [the victim] in the chest. ... [When police arrived, the mother] was advised on eviction procedures and urged to resolve future problems by not allowing anyone to be present in her home if they are going to start trouble. [The brother] was arrested and charged with assault with a weapon. He was transported to Polk County Jail.

Docket diving

Shirley Buenaventura knew something was wrong when she found her sister's purse in their apartment on the morning of March 9, 2001, and her sister, Sally Malacas, was nowhere to be found.

When a few hours had passed, Shirley called some friends to help look for her sister. Shirley and Malacas shared the apartment with Shirley's husband, John Buenaventura. Friends thought it odd when John Buenaventura didn't offer to assist in their efforts to locate his sister-in-law, but instead rented a carpet cleaner and began meticulously cleansing the floors of the apartment. Some of Malacas' friends knew that Malacas and John Buenaventura had argued in the past, mostly over her choice of religion and choice in men. Buenaventura, a Philippine national, reportedly wanted Malacas to date a friend of his, back in the Philippines, but she was never interested.

Two days after she disappeared, Malacas' body was found stuffed in a utility closet in the apartment that the three shared. An autopsy report revealed that she'd died of severe head injuries. John Buenaventura was immediately called in for questioning.

During their first interview with Buenaventura, police read him his Miranda rights, but neglected to inform him that he had a right to contact the Philippine consulate under the conditions of the Vienna Convention. Buenaventura did not request an attorney. He denied killing his sister-in-law, but failed a polygraph test. At that point, Buenaventura clammed up and requested an attorney, so police allowed him to go home.

During the next couple of days, police searched the apartment. They found Malacas' blood in the carpet, and in the family's vacuum cleaner. Furthermore, neighbors told police they heard a woman screaming and a man yelling in the early hours of March 9.

The next time police saw Buenaventura was at Malacas' funeral. When Buenaventura asked them what they were doing at the service, detectives informed him that they could not speak with him unless he agreed to waive his right to an attorney.
Buenaventura signed the waiver, and police interviewed him for the second time.

This time, Buenaventura confessed to killing Malacas by hitting her in the head with his fists and a baseball bat. Immediately after he uttered his confession, however, he recanted it and denied murdering her. Again, he refused the services of an attorney.

Later that night, he signed a written statement. In it, he offered yet another story about the events of March 8: He said he invited some strange men into the apartment to smoke pot. Malacas, he wrote, was upset about the men being in the residence and left. Buenaventura got high, then went to bed. When he awoke, he found the blood and tried to clean it up, because he felt "responsible" for Malacas, though he maintained that he did not murder her.

When detectives read Buenaventura's statement back to him, he was so upset he vomited in the interrogation room, but he signed it. Police promptly arrested him and charged him with first-degree murder. A Linn County jury convicted Buenaventura. He recently filed an appeal, arguing, among other complaints, that his rights were violated when police failed to inform him that he could contact the Philippine consulate prior to his interrogation.

The Iowa Court of Appeals ruled that Buenaventura was repeatedly informed of his right to counsel and twice read his Miranda rights, and that his lawyer did not err in failing to argue the Vienna Convention angle. The judges called Buenaventura's claim "meritless." Buenaventura remains in the Anamosa State Penitentiary, where he is serving a life sentence for murder.

Sucks to be you

Name: Roger Schmiedeskamp
Location: Manning, Iowa
Attracting unwanted attention because: Roger Schmiedeskamp said he was only trying to raise some money for Rotary Club when he agreed to pose as "Mr. August" in a local charity calendar. Schmiedeskamp happens to be superintendent of the Manning school district, and some parents didn't find the image of Schmiedeskamp, partially nude and standing behind a desk and a chalkboard, very funny. While the school board is sticking by its calendar boy, one parent told the Associated Press that the August entry was "sickening."

A no-brainer

In 1979, Michael Millsap sexually abused a paperboy. In 1981, he abused a boy in a school restroom. While he was on parole for that one, he tried to abuse another boy. In 1988, he initiated indecent contact with his 4-year-old cousin. In 1992, he pled guilty to abusing a 15-year-old boy at a church. Millsap contends he should not be classified as a "sexually violent predator" - the state's strictest sex-offender category. Last week, however, the Iowa Court of Appeals checked out this guy's rap sheet and decided (and we paraphrase) hell, yes, he deserves the title. Millsap was committed, and is now under supervision.

On the clock

Des Moines Police - Sept. 4

1:01 a.m.
Violation of sex offender registry in the 4800 block of Fleur Drive. A victim's parents saw their daughter emerge from a hotel room with a registered sex offender. According to police reports, the suspect ran on foot when he realized the police had been called. Police located the suspect and arrested him for violation of sex offender registry. The 24-year-old suspect had been convicted in 1999 of assault with intent to commit sexual abuse upon a juvenile.

3:01 a.m.
Fire investigation in the 4400 block of S.W. 9th St. Police arrived at the scene to find a vehicle fully engulfed in flames. It was parked near a closed-down business. The 2004 Lexus was found to be registered to an Omaha woman, and it had not been reported as stolen. There are no known suspects.

4:40 a.m.
Assault in the 1800 block of E. Army Post Road. A victim told police that his girlfriend had kicked him in the head while the two were out together. Police reports characterized the man as "very intoxicated," "uncooperative" and "very belligerent." The victim stated that he did not want his girlfriend to go to jail; he wanted a no-contact order. He said his girlfriend had attacked him in the past.

5:45 a.m.
Assault at the corner of E. 14th Street. and Euclid. A female victim reported that she was on her way to purchase cigarettes when she saw a male "shuffling" toward her, according to police reports. The victim thought the man was ill, so she went to help him. When she approached, the suspect punched her in the face, causing a possible broken nose, and fled on foot. Police had a difficult time getting a detailed description of the suspect, as the victim told police she could not remember specifics about the man.

5:40 p.m.
Assault in the 200 block of College Avenue. A male victim told police he was visiting a friend. He was walking to a vehicle to retrieve cigarettes when a red Chevy Blazer, driven by an adult female and containing several teenagers, drove past. The victim said he looked at the vehicle, and the driver shouted at him, "Why you look at my daughter?" When the victim walked back to his friend's house, the woman confronted him in the driveway, and a dispute ensued. The woman allegedly pushed him in the chest, causing him to fall backwards. Several witnesses saw the incident. The victim did not sustain any marks or bruises. Police arrested the woman for simple assault.

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