[Bazf]

Just incase you didn't read the artical in the Link.

INVERNESS FL - John Evander Couey was charged Monday with first-degree murder, sexual battery on a child under 12 and kidnapping in the disappearance and suffocation of 9- year-old Jessie Lunsford.



Jessie's dad, Mark, awaits the next step: ``I need everybody's support for pushing the death penalty for this man,'' said Lunsford, 41.

Prosecutors are expected to seek that after taking the case to a grand jury, probably in the next 21 days, said Assistant State Attorney Pete Magrino, a member of the team that will try to put Couey on death row.

Couey, a two-time child sex offender, was living 150 yards from the girl's home when she disappeared.

At the time, he had eluded conventional means for keeping track of registered sex offenders.

Couey, 46, is thought to have entered Jessie's home late Feb. 23 or early Feb. 24 through an unlocked back door.

Authorities say he went into her bedroom, woke her and took her with him, though they would not say how he managed to get the girl out of the house without signs of a struggle or waking her grandparents, who were sleeping in another room.

Couey then sexually assaulted Jessie, killed her and disposed of her body in the back yard of a trailer where he lived at the time, authorities said