The More We Study This Case, the More it Looks Like a Set Up

[Bryan]

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Louisville cops and the Jefferson County prosecutors are just as much victims of this case as is Trey Zwicker and Josh Young. In the vast majority of cases I have researched, I have come to the conclusion that institutional resistence can lengthen the amount of time it takes to exonerate a wrongfully-charged person. It is the same in this case. When a system has convinced themselves of guilt, it takes a miraculous act on part of both sides of the case to finally free the innocent party. It also takes a miracle to get these same mistaken people to go after the right party.

We all know by now that Josh Young was set up by his father. His mother's suicide the year before Trey's death is the trigger point. We know that Gouker was in prison that day Ms. Young died. We know that he surfaced back into his son's life that fall after he was set free. If he had planned to frame his son, it was either a spur-of-the-moment thing to cover up the crime or a carefully planned murder that waited for an opening in the two months after Gouker got back his son.

To be a spur-of-the-moment thing, Gouker must have thought to frame his son in Alabama. He must have had solid proof that he could prove that his boy killed Trey in cold blood over a month ago. Gouker may have had knowledge that he was not going to face kidnapping charges for taking his son, for the state did not petition the court to teminate the custody rights once Amanda filed the protection order against Gouker. Suspecion in a death of a another child would have been an opening for CPS to reverse the custody order back to the state. The state would then instantly file non-custodian kidnapping charges against Gouker and whoever he was with. (Kidnapping is a Federal Offense! Since Gouker crossed state lines the FBI would also get involved, so if the state boys would not file charges, chances are the Feds would not hesitate, not for an convicted ex-con like Gouker.) If indeed Gouker had that hanging over him, anything he would have said about his son would be seen as spouting off by a madman. "That's what they all say." Louisville police would have had enough time to further investigate Gouker, leading to murder charges being filesd against Gouker. Josh Young would be back home with his foster mother, safe from these senseless accusations, not rotting in some jail cell.

Neverless this did not happen, either by sheer oversight or sheer stupidity that matched the original custody order that put Josh in harm's way. If Dolly had only ruled against Gouker, Trey would still be alive today. If he planned to frame Little Josh for killing Trey, it would have still been done, but Gouker would try to frame someone else for the crime. Or we could have seen a more vicious crime inside that suburban home in the terms of a stereotypical murder-suicide.

IMHO, this was no spur of the moment fling to frame his son. Gouker planned this ever since he got out of jail. Josh was not the only target as I pointed out a while back. He planned this not only to get back at Amanda for aborting those two babies over a decade ago, but to get back at the system for putting his fat behind into prison and taking away his son (who I think he did not give a rat's ass to ITFP)

Josh Young is the biggest victim in this whole mess. Even if this does go back to juvenile court, I am highly confident that a trial would find the kid not guilty 100%. The State is making the biggest mistake of their whole lives and does not even care that they are screwing themselves at the behest of a cold-hearted, thirty-two year-old convicted felon named Josh Gouker, a man who should be as vilified in Louisville as the dorky wife-beater and murderer Shawn Windsor.

Indeed Windsor's own boy when he viciously killed him and his mother up in late 2003 was only eight years old. The boy was only a year older than Josh! Windsor ran after he did it. He even took pictures of his wife's battered body! This guy was eventually caught in rural North Carolina without incident, as if he knew the feds were coming for him eventually. He was tried and convicted. He was sentenced to Death Row, one of 37 currently there.

Even though he just killed one boy, Gouker is facing the same fate once the law finally realizes they were barking up the wrong tree. After they free Little Josh, he should prepare for a longer stint in the pokey, maybe a transfer to Edyville (I thought the capital, but if Gouker is there it would be a minor costume change.) to await the day with his appeals are exausted, the Governor will not intervene and the Supreme Court declines his case. Then they strap him into the chair or the gurney and put the tubes in. Finally they ask if he has any last requests. Gouker then curses the system one more time and cusses out his own son. Then the chemicals will slowly come in. Oh come on sweet death!

I really do not like the death penalty, but in extreme cases where every last avenue has been exhausted by the system, it may be the only way out for some people. With only one in every thirty death sentences being actually carried out, chances are very good that Gouker will spend the rest of his natural life in prison. Life or death, Gouker will have no chance in hell to ever get out to hurt anybody again.

Mr. Gouker can make easier for himself and for his son by just admitting the truth of what happened that night, not just lying so hard that a lie detector would not pick it up. If you think about it, the Court may be merciful about giving Gouker the death card. He may face life without parole, which is what he wants to give his boy.

We will not rest, Mr. Gouker until you face capital murder charges for killing a innocent boy of fourteen back in May of last year. We will also not rest until your son is forever free from this burden you put on him. We will not rest until the system is purged of the vile scumbags who helped you frame this innocent child.

The first step to collapse this house of cards is to free Josh from his chains and fetters. Why be afraid of an innocent person?

Chances are there is no DNA that links Little Josh, but there would be ample DNA or circumstances that would stick to Gouker. If the shoe fits, wear it. It may be the only way to get innocence unless someone else can prove Josh was somewhere else when Trey was murdered. Just that alone, along with DNA could cement more suspecion to where it should go. Why isn't forensics not saving this lad?

[Melissa]

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Chances are there is no DNA that links Little Josh, but there would be ample DNA or circumstances that would stick to Gouker. If the shoe fits, wear it. It may be the only way to get innocence unless someone else can prove Josh was somewhere else when Trey was murdered. Just that alone, along with DNA could cement more suspecion to where it should go. Why isn't forensics not saving this lad?

Forensic testing cannot be done on the alleged baseball bat used or the clothing that was said to be disposed of. Forensic testing would need to come from alternate sources (i.e. hair or trace evidence on Trey or items in the immediate location where he was found). Keep in mind, the location where he was found was a place where the kids admittedly went on other occasions so when it comes to material not on Trey it becomes necessary to determine what items were there prior to the murder, etc.

What was done to narrow down a correct time of death? Was anything done from an entomologist standpoint? Liver temp? Rigor? What about lividity? Was there any secondary lividity implying his body was moved after he was dying or already deceased?

Did anyone even check?

Did anyone even care?

Does enough evidence remain to go back and look?

[Bryan]

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That body lay there behind that high school for twelve hours at least if the victim died between eleven thirty to midnight that previous night. The body was not even removed to the morgue until taht evening, which is a little strange. Normally, I would want to process the scene, but no one should leave a stiff in the open for that long, unless the lab people took notes beginning at the crime scene of general appearence, wounds, etc. Then at the crime lab they should observe the various differences. The coroner or medical examiner should have gotten an estimate of the time of death at the scene. Then double-checked with the examination of the body itself. If the parameters match the time that the deceased was last seen, police could start to estimate a timetable of the victim and possible suspects. That have to have oppurtunity for the killer to commit his crime. Paired with possible motive for wanting the boy dead and other circumstances, the cops could catch a suspect unaware what they really got. That slip would lead to an arrest.

We know that Little Josh had no motive to wanting Trey Zwicker dead. If people say they got along wonderfully, I have to take them at that.

The timeline is skewed if the defendant could ever say he was sleeping at the time of the murder. As far as I am concerned a person cannot kill a other person or thing while sleepwalking. So if Josh had only remember when he went to bed. This would screw up the prosecution's case beyond all repair. That is, if the medical examiner did their homework and put in their report the estimated time of death.

In the meantime, Gouker and Amanda were outside most of the night. Maybe they were making out, but that all changed once Gouker realized Trey did sneak past them while they were otherwise engaged. Gouker gets upset at this kid before for sneaking out to hang out with his so-called delinquint pals, smoking weed and committing petty crimes. So he and Amanda were out in the neighborhood in their car, looking for the boy. He sees him. Trey takes off running. Gouker and Amanda goes after him, club or bat in hand. He was going to beat some sense into that kid. Gouker corners the boy at the creek. Words are exchanged as Trey catches a hold of the kid. One big arm holding the kid fast while the other big arm welds the bat. He swings and connects. Once it stops the flailing boy cannot stop. Again and again the big guy bashes the poor child. Amanda pleads for Gouker to stop hurting him. He tells her to shut the [censored] up. He might have thrown the boy down at this point. By this time Trey is unable to escape. He stikes the boy until he stops moving.

Amanda is quite hysterical, but it is around midnight. No one is around in the area to respond to her. Gouker then berates her and uses his free hand to strike her. He threatens to do to her what he did to her son if does not stop. She complies, trying to stay alive. They both leave the woods retrace their steps and make it back to the car. Gouker and Amanda then drive to Cassie and John's house, not wanting to disturb the other kids.

Gouker cousins are concerned. Gouker had been plotting to do in Amanda's child for months, but did not expect this evening to be the night. Gouker privately told them while Amanda was changing clothes that Trey snuck out of the house and deserved the beating he gave him. He just wanted them to help him dispose of their clothes and the murder weapon. The cousins agree to do their dirty work.

After changing, the Goukers went to the Circle K to relax their nerves with cigarettes. The other two people went to the dumpster where Cassie later told people she put the offending materials in. The two met later that night at the same place. Cassie and John told Gouker they did as they were ordered. Amanda and Gouker went home and waited until the news of the body was found. All this time Amanda was scared for herself and for her daughter and stepson.

So Gouker and Amanda were the tired ones all day as they tried to do their usual routines as if nothing happened last night after the cookout other than their lovemaking. (I wonder if they looked in the stomach and digestive system to see what the progression of digestion in that system could give them a clue of what time the boy died.) Josh and the little girl went to school that day oblivious of the events of the previous day.

Alas it was not until they got home they got the bad news that Trey was dead. The events indicated that police did try to talk to all the family members. I have to check, but did the cops suspect Little Josh that day or was their focus on the parents, as it should at first be in case of murder? I think after that day, for a month the cops were not able to piece together a suspect or a crime until Gouker opened his big fat gob shortly after he was arrested in Alabama.

Wonders never cease why Gouker did that. I was thinking Gouker planned to frame Josh long before he gained custody of him. But the sudden way it went down on the tenth of May, 2011 gave him no chance to hatch his real modus operandi. I do not have a clue what the original plan was, but maybe Gouker wanted to turn family annihilator one night, say to the police that survived that his son did it. He would appear wounded but would self-inflict it somehow to make it look like someone else did it to him. Maybe he would do it himself. Maybe he was get one of his relations to help. Other way, he either wanted to blame Little Josh for the heinous crime. The motive was to get back at Amanda for all the bad things she did to him over the course of their relationship.

He depended on the cops buying into the lie, the bigger the lie the better. What bigger lie that to tell a tale about a murder! He spouted this tall tale to the cops in Madison. Madison PD hooked Scott Russ of the Louisville PD to drive all the way down there to take in this man's big lie. Det. Russ believes it. Russ drives back to Louisville and has an arrest warrent issued on Josh Young. He then bases his entire half-hour recorded interview with Little Josh on this tale, using an earlier recording of an interview Josh and the PD did shortly before Gouker took off with his son. Russ then tries to get the boy to confess. The boy refuses to do so, denying he hurt or killed Trey Zwicker. Det. Russ has Josh locked up in prison on capital murder charges. Bail was set at $100,000.

Now the interview was taken with no lawyer present, no guardian present, just the detective and the boy. It is an indication that Det. Russ, made a monkey of for over a month now has bought Gouker's tall tale much as Judge Dolly bought Gouker's big, happy family excuse that gained him Little Josh. There has got to be something wrong here! No one bases a murder charge based on the testimony of people with ulterior motives. Two of whom would rob Amanda just two or so weeks after Josh was arrested.

So if the DNA cannot stop the prosecution, a good defense case will definately take the witnesses to pieces. A good defense counsel got to grill all three of those bozos (Gouker, Cassie and John). They have to get the custody case into the picture. I would call Judge Dolly to the stand to connect that custody case to the murder. The prosecution is going to have to be on the defensive the entire time. That is the only way aquittals are made in court trials, put the prosecution on the defensive all the time. Since they are wimps, like bullies everywhere, the prosecution will crack under pressure. The closing arguement will seal the prosecution's bitter, bitter defeat in the eyes of the jury.

Now Juries are fickle creatures. If an impartial one can be found. Each side will be gunning for the jurors to believe them, but IMHO, no jury in tehir right mind would buy the prosecution's story unless they were all mental patients with low IQ. The moment the jury goes to deliberate, their will be a split down the middle of those 12 men and women. One voting guilty the other innocence. They will be that one person though, who like Henry Fonda in "Twelve Angry Men" who will be seriously against these charges. He will be a lot like me. He or she will say plainly, "I do not buy the prosecution one bit. They are like children who believe their own fantasies. As they grew up and find out this is not true, they go through the same stages of grief as if one of their relatives or friends had just died. Pretty soon, they would have to accept the truth and move on." Then the debate rages over guilt or innocence. Slowly, things are brought in, transcipts read back and things said about all this. Hours pass. Finally one of the guilty party changes his verdict. Then another. And another after he is reminded that episode in court was something a son or daughter did at that age. Then another changes. Suddenly there them and the one or two remaining jurors. Let's say one. He is so convienced of guilt nothing is going make him change. It has to be a guy. This poor sap is thirty with a boy about fifteen, works as an engineer at Fort Knox, nothing can shake off the bad blood about the boy. Then over the conversation, one the other jurors asked, "In our conversations, you said you son was robbed by some kid a while back. Did you not?"
He admits he said that.
"I think you think the defendent is guilty because he is like that kid in your mind."
"I could say so."
"So what if this kid was normal until his daddy took him away from that normal life and out him in his poor, poverty-filled life. What if you had a foster kid you wanted to adopt, only for the father to object, like what happened to the defendent."
"I would fight that guy in court. I will not stop until I won."
"So what makes this kid any different?"
"He killed that boy."
"But the father is the one who said the boy did it. This father, who took the boy from the only stable home he had in years. A daddy who allegedly showed off his sexual exploits. A man who took his son on a wild joyride. Then lied about the murder so he would never go back to that stable home where he was truly loved. He loved the people there. He excelled in his studies. Heck. He even ran for Vice-President of his class. What if it was your boy Gouker did that too?"
"By jove! Oh my Lord God! What have I done? I was hoodwinked like them."

The jury votes "Not Guilty." A hush followed by relief by hugs and cheers from one side. Then there is a commotion, the cops on on Trey's father quicker than a streaker at a soccer game. "He killed my boy!" He shouted out loud, cameras rolling as Josh is rushed out of the court. "He killed my boy."

I do not know if this is going actually happened, but if it did, I say now I would not be shocked if it went down to Trey Zwickers family being warped into thinking Little Josh is guilty. Hostility has been seen at other court hearings. If this is the case. I guess they would not change their minds even when Gouker is then charged with murder. But the not guilty verdict would be the most shocking loss ever witnessed in Jefferson County since Cassius Clay, aka Mohammad Ali, won back his right to fight again thanks to the US Supreme Court.

IMHO, this case will go to a full trial and it will be the prosecution and the victim's family who will be the ones offended. This kid is innocent. There is no denying that. It is the prosecution who needs to be put in their place as the stupid idiots they really are. What kind of fools do you think we are?

[Melissa]

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The weapon and clothing was probably put in a dumpster near Circle K.

[Bryan]

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Finding those items is not as easy as finding a ditched car in a lake. Though if that was the case, then the dumpster was completely different. If only we had a camera that showed Gouker's car stopped near a dumpster with the guy doing something around said dumpster. I wonder if the police made a further survey of cameras along the route that Gouker and Ms. Campbell as they made that ciggy run to the Circle K. Otherwise it would be complete guesswork.

Many mistakes were made by Gouker, Campbell, Zwicker and even Josh Young that night.

Gouker/Campbell: When did they go running around looking for Trey, killing him, dumping him behind Liberty High School, the visit to cousin Cassie and the Circle K Run? In what order did this go?

Zwicker: Why did Trey want to sneak out that night? Either it was the snapping turtle, hanging out with friends, smoking weed, or some unknown thing.

Josh Young: Where was he during the murder? If it was home in bed sleeping, then he is not involved 100%. It only puts the suspecion on Gouker and Trey's mom.

Though she may not have made the blows, speculation is she was present or Gouker left her somewhere else, committed the crime and came back. The money is on Gouker having her with him to prevent her guessing why or where he was leaving for. Remeber she knows Gouker is after Trey for sneaking out. She had no idea he was going beat him to death.

Gouker was planning to do something to get back at her. Then he was going to blame his own son for the crime. The plan all hinged on the deception Gouker made to get his meat hooks on his son. He must have been overjoyed that worked. Then he was to commit the crime against Trey Zwicker. Then he was going to find a way to get Little Josh blamed for the crime and convicted on his and his relative's evidence. He knew that by the time Little Josh is cleared, he would be paroled and the prosecutor would not go after him. He remains a danger to the public as long as the prosecutor does not either have the charges dropped or by some miracle, the trial this fall results in a not guilty verdict.

The question of if Amanda Campbell was present when her son was killed is why is still alive? She could have turned the poor sap in at anytime he was on the road. Maybe the little robbery committed by Cassie and John shook her up. Maybe it is all the further intimidation she has suffered. This is so unlike a person who knows something she is not saying to the cops.

I am so sure this is staying in adult court. Despite Josh getting back with his foster mom on house arrest, this is going to trial. I can only vision how battered both sides after such a event.