Rialto Couple Convicted Of Murder In Teen's Death

CBS

Mar 30, 2006

RIVERSIDE - A Rialto couple who witnesses testified lured teen girls into drug- and sex-fueled parties was convicted Thursday of murder in the shooting death of a Las Vegas girl, 16.

The Riverside Superior Court jury deliberated over seven hours to find Michael Forrest Thornton, 50, and Janeen Marie Snyder, 26, guilty of murder, rape with a foreign object and burglary.

Snyder broke into tears as the clerk read the verdicts in a packed courtroom while Thornton displayed no emotion, according to Ingrid Wyatt of the District Attorney's Office.

Thornton and Snyder were convicted of killing Michelle Curran on April 17, 2001, after taking her captive and sexually abusing her for nearly three weeks.

During the 3 1/2-month trial, testimony from young women and law enforcement officers showed that Thornton and Snyder preyed on teen girls, cruising Inland Empire streets looking for girls to pick up.

Snyder would befriend the girls and take them to motels or residences to meet Thornton. At least two teen girls were held against their will as Thornton and Snyder fed them a steady diet of methamphetamine and sexually abused them, according to testimony.

The couple would threaten to kill the girls if they complained to anybody or wanted to go home.

Thornton and Snyder were never charged with crimes in connection with the previous abductions due to lack of evidence.

Deputy District Attorney Michael Rushton used the testimony of the other abducted girls to illustrate the ordeal Curran went through before she died and to establish a pattern by the defendants.

Curran's bruised, nude body was discovered April 22, 2001, in a storage shed for horse equipment in Rubidoux. Ligature marks were found on her wrists and ankles.

The victim was shot once in the head by Snyder, according to testimony. Thornton was described as the "brains" behind the team with Snyder the "bait" to get their victims, according to court testimony.

The defense argued that Snyder was under Thornton's control. The defendants face the death penalty.

Detective tells of second victim in rape-murder trial

CBS

March 16, 2006

RIVERSIDE – A detective testified Thursday that a young sexual assault victim told her how a couple – now accused in the death of another teen –held her captive for more than a month and drugged her to prevent her escape.

San Bernardino County sheriff's Sgt. Debra Bauman was a detective when she interviewed a 14-year-old girl who described how she was held captive in a Rialto home and “felt” she was being sexually assaulted while heavily drugged.

Bauman was called as a defense witness in the Riverside Superior Court murder trial of Michael Forrest Thornton, 50, and Janeen Marie Snyder, 26, both of Rialto. They are charged with kidnapping, rape, torture and murder in connection with the April 17, 2001, death of Michelle Curran, 16, of Las Vegas.

The couple are accused of kidnapping Curran on April 4, 2001, and sexually abusing her before leaving her dead in a Rubidoux storage shed.

Bauman was originally a prosecution witness when the trial began in January to establish that Thornton and Snyder had a pattern of luring young teenage girls into a world of sex and drugs.

The Rialto girl, interviewed by Bauman in March 2000, testified at the trial that she feared being killed if she tried to escape from Thornton and Snyder.

Bauman testified under direct examination by defense attorney Pete Scalisi that she interviewed the victim for nearly three hours and had to “drag” details of the captivity from her.

Under cross-examination by Deputy District Attorney Michael Rushton, Bauman answered mostly “yes” or “no” to statements Rushton read from her report.

The sergeant said the victim “asked 60 to 100 times” to go home, but the defendants refused to let her go.

At one point Thornton and Snyder told the girl, “You stay here. If you go, you go dead.”

“They threatened to kill her family in front of her if she said anything,” Bauman said.

The defendants would put drugs in her food over a long period of time before she started taking it voluntarily, the detective said.

The drugs included methamphetamine and hallucinogenic mushrooms.

She attempted to escape once through a bathroom window, but was caught by Thornton, Bauman said.

The girl, who is now 19 years old, acknowledged to the detective that she had opportunities to escape. On one occasion, Thornton took her to a restaurant, but she was “so out of it” on drugs she felt she couldn't flee, Bauman said.

The girl also told Bauman that she was not sure whether she had sex with Thornton and Snyder, but she “felt” she did.

One one occasion, she woke up to find Thornton and Snyder laughing at her because they had sex with her although she didn't remember it, Bauman said.

Detectives seek key details in teen's slaying

How Las Vegas high schooler met suspects unclear

By Ryan Oliver - Las vegas Review-Journal

July 12, 2001

How Michelle Curran met the two suspects charged with raping, torturing and killing her on a California ranch is a mystery that continues to puzzle detectives three months after the Western High School sophomore's body was found.

"I know when they left Las Vegas, and I know where they went later in the evening in California," said Robert Joseph, a homicide investigator with the Riverside County Sheriff's Office. "The one question I can't answer is how my victim came to be with my suspects."

Riverside County authorities, in their first candid interview about the events surrounding Curran's slaying, disclosed new information about the case in hopes of finding fresh leads into what led Curran to her killers. Officials plan to revisit Las Vegas next week as part of their investigation.

Curran's petite body was found inside a horse trailer April 22 on a property in Rubidoux, Calif., just north of Riverside. Police said she was raped and tortured before she was killed with a single gunshot to the head on April 17.

Michael F. Thornton, 45, and his girlfriend, Janeen Snyder, 21, both of Rialto, Calif., have been charged with murder in connection with Curran's slaying. The circumstances of Curran's death could make the pair eligible for the death penalty.

Evidence suggests the suspects had an appetite for sex with third parties, particularly with young, teen-age girls, said Riverside County Deputy District Attorney Mike Rushton.

Snyder had met Thornton, the owner of a chain of eight hair salons in Southern California, as a runaway when she was 13 or 14 years old and he was in his 30s, Rushton said. "She eventually became his lover." She also became a part-time stripper in Las Vegas while maintaining her residence with Thornton in California, Rushton said.

Police released a photograph of Curran and Snyder together shortly before Curran was killed with both seated in a beige GMC Suburban, registered in Thornton's mother's name. The Polaroid shot was discovered by detectives in the room of a Rubidoux hotel where the trio had been staying, Joseph said.

Investigators do not know whether Curran was forcibly abducted as she walked to school on the morning of April 4 or whether she voluntarily went with the suspects.

Curran doesn't appear to be held against her will in the photograph, but guns, handcuffs, rope, bungee cords and a Velcro strap with hair on it were later found by police inside the vehicle, according to a search warrant.

"We're assuming the photo was probably taken by the male suspect," Joseph said. "Whether it was staged or not, we don't know."

Thornton and Snyder declined comment for this story from their jail cells at the Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside.

Curran reportedly was last seen in Las Vegas by her older sister as Curran left her home on Parsifal Place, near Jones Boulevard and Washington Avenue, about 7 a.m., Joseph said. Curran had left in a huff because the elder sibling was being allowed to stay home from school and she wasn't, he said.

Curran told her sister she would get breakfast at McDonald's or another fast food restaurant on her way to school, Joseph said.

Meanwhile, registration records at the Main Street Inn, on Main near Washington Avenue, show the suspects checked in April 2 and left on April 4, he said. On the night of the April 4, the suspects checked into the Lake Arrowhead Lodge in Arrowhead, Calif., about four to five hours from Las Vegas in the San Bernardino National Forest.

A hotel clerk recalled a dark-haired girl with the pair, Joseph said. Curran, a natural blonde, had dyed her hair dark brown about a month before her disappearance, Joseph said.

Joseph said the trio spent much of the afternoon driving to Lake Arrowhead.

"There's only about four hours I can't account for on that day," he said of the crucial morning.

On April 5, Curran's family filed a missing person report with Las Vegas police.

Joseph said that by April 6, the trio had driven to Thornton's mother's house in Mesa, Ariz., and stayed there through April 11.

A note left at the house, alleged to have been signed by Curran, said she was with Mike and Janeen and was being treated well, said Rushton, the prosecutor.

The trio then drove to Fontana, Calif., near the suspects' home in Rialto, and checked into a hotel there on April 12, he said. On the morning of April 17, the day police believe Curran was killed, they checked into a Motel 6 in Rubidoux, Rushton said.

During their time in California, the trio was seen numerous times by Thornton's friends, Joseph said.

A ranger at a Riverside County park also recalled seeing Curran with the two suspects on April 17 and told police Curran did not seem to be under any duress, Joseph said. The park is close to the 2 1/2-acre horse ranch where Curran was killed later that day.

Thornton and Snyder were arrested by deputies as they fled the property when the owner discovered them in a horse shed and reported a burglary in progress, police said. They were held on $1 million bond despite being charged only with breaking and entering, because a large amount of blood was found in the shed, police said.

The property owner discovered Curran's body stuffed in a horse trailer five days later, police said.

The arrest wasn't the first for Thornton or Snyder. A 14-year-old girl in 2000 claimed she was held at the pair's home against her will for 30 days and sexually assaulted, Rushton said. Thornton and Snyder were arrested, but the charges were later dropped by San Bernardino County prosecutors citing a lack of evidence.

Despite the decision to not prosecute, Rushton said, "the facts of that case will come to bear in the prosecution here in Riverside County."

In the latest arrest, Riverside detectives also found maps with addresses to Riverside-area schools inside the GMC Suburban the pair had been driving, Rushton said.

A videotape showing Thornton and Snyder having sex with a third woman also was recovered by police, he said. The woman appears to be older than 18, which is California's age of consent.

"There's nothing of an illegal nature on the tape," he said. "There's also nothing with Michelle on any of the tapes."

Authorities have recovered three computers from the couple's property and are analyzing them for any clues that might reveal how they met Curran, Rushton said. So far, no evidence of an Internet relationship has emerged, he said.

"We are curious to see what method they used," he said. "On its face, it may have appeared friendly at first. But underneath it was more sinister."

Anyone with information about Curran's case is asked to call the Riverside County Sheriff's Office at (909) 341-8817 or the Metropolitan Police Department's Missing Persons Detail at 229-2907.

Michael Thornton and Janeen Marie Synder

Michael Thornton and Janeen Marie Synder are two American killers who murdered two young girls, 14-year-old Jesse Kay Peters and 16-year-old Michelle Curran. Both girls were abducted by the murderous couple, sexually assaulted, and then killed.

They targeted young girls as sexual targets, the objects of Michael's sexual fantasies, and Janeen Synder acted as the bait to get the girls to Michael Thornton. Once she got them to him, he made sure the girls never escaped, abused and exploited them sexually, and then murdered them. For their roles in the murders of the two girls, both Michael Thornton and Janeen Marie Snyder were sentenced to death.

Michael Thornton was born in 1955 in a standard middle class family. His first job was as a grocery bagger and when he was 18, he joined the air force. In the early 1970s, he gets married and begins a family. He and his wife have a son together. However, soon his wife discovers some disturbing things about Thornton. She notices him sexually molest a 6-year-old girl. After this event, she divorces him. A custody battle then ensues over their child, and Michael Thornton wins the custody over their son. Soon after, he meets a new woman, Pamela, and the two marry and have a daughter. Thornton moves in with Pamela in Rialto, California, and begins a new life with her. However, just as the previous marriage, things again turn dark. In the marriage, Thornton physically abuses his wife, strangling her at times. He even put a gun to her head and threatened to kill her. He was also abusive to his two children, his son and daughter.

In 1996, his daughter, then 16, asks if a troubled friend can stay with them in the house, whose name is Janeen Snyder. Michael Thornton allows Janeen to come into the house and the two form the beginning of what would be a a sick sadistic duo. Michael Thornton and Janeen Snyder, both meth users, feed off of drugs and sex. Michael Thornton, a sexual sadist, has fantasies that he wants to fulfill with young girls. He decides that Janeen would be the perfect partner of his to lure young girls to him for his sexual pleasures. The two plot it out and then put the sick plan into reality.

Later that year in 1996, the first gruesome incident occurs. Cheryl Peters works for Michael Thornton in a hair salon that he owned in California. She made her living doing other women's hair and was content working for Michael for a while. However, one day, Cheryl has an argument with her boss, Thornton, and, in rage, quits the job on the spot. The other hair salonists in the shop follow suit and walk out with her. Angered by the event, Michael Thornton scopes out Cheryl's house and goes after her one and only daughter, 14-year-old Jesse Kay Peters. Michael uses Janeen to lure Jesse out of the house. Janeen's charm works as planned and they're able to get her into the car. Once Michael has custody of Jesse, the couple take her to his house. While Snyder watched, Thornton handcuffed Jesse to his bed and raped her. He then took her to his baththub in the bathroom that was half full of water and dunks her head in the bathtub and keeps it down until she is dead. He then dismembers her body and puts the parts into containers and dumps her into the Pacific Ocean.

Michael and Janeen become deadly partners in crime. They continue to feed on drugs and sex. They become filled with sexual passion for each other. But soon tire of the routine. Michael gets bored with Janeen alone and decides they should seek out some other young girls to spicen up the action. They scout out local places, looking for a target.

5 years after the death of Jesse Peters, in 2001, Michael Thornton spots 16-year-old Michelle Curran in Las Vegas, Nevada and decides that she is the one who will be his next chosen target.

Janeen gets out of the car. Being a girl and young just like Michelle Curran, she gains instant rapport with Michelle. The charm and deceit work as Michelle eventually is coaxed and follows Janeen into Michael's vehicle. Once in, there is no escaping for Michelle. Michael tells her he has a gun. From then on, the two have Michelle as theirs. The couple keep Michelle for several weeks, sexually molesting her all the while. After a while, they decide that Michelle knows too much about their inner circle and must die. Michael and Janeen trespass on a horse's ranch in Ribidoux, California, and decide to kill Michelle there. They first torture her in a room on a ranch which was laced with all types of ropes, ties, and other paraphernalia. Michael then gives Janeen a gun and she delivers the fatal blow to the head of Michelle curran.

For their roles in the crime of Michelle Curran, Michael Thornton and Janeen Snyder were given death sentences.

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