Barbara Jean Horn - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

mercy1825 · 07-13-2005, 11:46 PM

This thought just came to my mind. The man who was convicted of this offense (the little 4 year old Philly girl stuffed into a box down the street from her home) is believed by many to be innocent of the crime. I recall reading a very in depth article that I am unable to locate now, that states that he had a hung jury before his conviction with an 11-1 favoring aquittal. I do not want to comment on any more facts because my recollection is vague, but I think his name may be Osgood. Some commented that his picture did not resemble the disturbing composite that was shown on UM. It was a special alert segment I believe. Any comments? Anyone that is interested in this brutal crime and possible miscarriage of justice should look into it if inclined to do so. Let me know what you can find. I am having some technical issues here or I would seek out further info myself.

Thanks.

DarkDante · 07-14-2005, 12:40 AM

That was his name and yeah this was a very early case that was actually done as a "Special Alert" by the Philly police to find this guy okay...The segment itself being a "Special Alert" really didn't go into much detail but the composite looks nothing like Ogrod for those who have seen it.

I was gonna post on this in a few days - Ogrod is mentally challenged, he had no prior run ins with the law and was the Horn's next door neighbor at the time of the murder which took place in the summer of 1988. Police allege that Ogrod lured Barbara Jean Horn into his home with the promise of candy and proceeded to sexually assault her when she screamed he beat her to death with a dumbell.

Curiously there has never been any physical evidence to link Ogrod to the crime. The witnesses who saw the man with the telltale HITACHI TV box that Horn's body was stuffed into described a man very different from Ogrod.

There is also the manner of the way the police captured Ogrod. The police readily admit that before Ogrod CONFESSED to the murder they had no leads in this case at all. Ogrod confessed to the murder in 1992 but for one reason or another the police thought this wouldn't be a enough to spin a guilty verdict so they got a man in prison by the name of John Hall to apparently intice a confession out of Ogrod (or so say Ogrod's defenders) - This would be highly illegal I believe and should result in Walt's death sentence being set aside. There are a lot of people convinced that Walt did murder Horn and a lot who think he is going to die for a crime he did not commit.

None of this was covered on UM because at the time the "Special Alert" aired the police had no leads besides the Hitachi tv box evidence. The thing that always struck me about this case was that the officer who was interviewed on UM could not pronounce the name "Barbara Jean" - He called her "Bobber Jean" or "Bobby Jean" which is obviously incorrect - Still sticks will me and is another one like "Judy Hymes" that is swimming around in my head.

Here are some links pertaining to Mr. Ogrod

http://citypaper.net/articles/2004-06-17/cover.shtml
http://www.amnestyusa.org/abolish/li...ing.do&e=10053

You can also find information on Ogrod and Horn by googling it.

Kane · 07-14-2005, 05:07 PM

I found a link on a June 2005 article on the case. It says that Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell has signed Walter Ogrod's death warrant. Ogrod is scheduled to be executed on August 2.

http://ap.lancasteronline.com/4/pa_execution_warrant

DarkDante · 07-14-2005, 05:52 PM

Ogrod was going to eventually die for this crime sooner than later - his stay of execution expired I think on 8-5-05. I still say though that the guy in UM sketch looks nothing like Walt - the guy in the sketch looks older and fatter than Ogrod.

Later.

george ramos · 08-10-2005, 10:26 AM

Walter Ogrod's execution has been stayed. A judge decided to give him more time for appeals. I hate it when that happens. We've given this guy more than enough time to win an appeal. We did the same thing to Kevin Cooper. Kevin says he was framed when the DNA puts him at the crime scene.

Tap Dancer · 02-03-2006, 05:54 PM

Here's what I found: August 2005 Executions

Some people think that Walter Ogrod is innocent. Apparently he's mentally unstable? I saw a case on UM today about another man who was "slow" and the police forced him to confess to a crime he didn't commit. He was in jail for 8 years before he was released. Sorry, but I can't remember that person's name right now. Does anyone think this could have happened to Walter Ogrod? There was never any evidence found against him...

fivecats · 02-03-2006, 08:22 PM

Considering how many mistakes are made on death row by imprisoning innocent people (later shown to be innocent with the help of DNA) I wouldn't be suprised if they have the wrong guy. Other poster are right; the police sketch doesn't look like the the guy (but then again, police artists seem to be required to go through an art class to distort the human face). It should all come down to the DNA. If none is available, I certainly hope they don't execute an innocent man.

kadrmas15 · 08-27-2006, 09:10 PM

Well after researching this case and looking at the different links provided I am doubtful that Walter Ogrod actually killed Barbara Jean Horn. Supposedly the guy that saw the man with the television box said it wasnt Ogrod that he saw holding it and Ogrod looks nothing like the composite. Ogrod actually wasnt even considered a suspect in this case until nearly 4 years after the crime. Supposedly the police used controversial tacticts. Like when they interviewed Ogrod he had supposedly been up for over 30 straight hours and was tired and sick. They kept telling him that he had did it. Ogrod was tested by a psychatrist and while the shrink said that Ogrod wasnt mentally ******** he did say Ogrod tested on the lower end of normal in terms of intelligence. Ogrod was nearly acquitted in his first trial in 1993. The jury actually had at first agreed to acquitt him and the foreman was in the middle of reading the verdict when a juror suddenly stood up and said he didnt agree with the verdict. The jury voted 11 to 1 in favor of acquittal and a mistrial was declared. The prosecution never had the evidence. However Ogrod had the misfortune of coming across one of these professional snitches in jail that lies about stuff to get his charges reduced. The informant even later basically admitted that he made some stuff up about Ogrod. In his 2nd trial in 1996 Ogrod was convicted based on the new evidence from the professional snitch and was sentenced to death. Ogrod originally had his execution date set for August 2nd, 2005. However he had an indefinite stay of execution. Originally the police had actually looked at a man named Raymond Sheehan who was 22 years old at the time Barbara Jean Horn was killed. He had also been a suspect in the 1987 murder of another Philadelphia girl. However they didnt have enough evidence to charge him. In 2003 his DNA was found to be the DNA in the 1987 murder and he was arrested and he pled guilty and was sentenced to life. I think Sheehan very well could have been the one that killed Barbara Jean Horn. I am doubtful it was Walter Ogrod.

johnnyf · 08-10-2012, 09:13 PM

Walter Ogrod arrested 1992, mistrial 1993, convicted 1996. Walter confessed to this crime to two Phila. Homcide Detectives. He was not beaten or threatened, nor was he tricked or harrassed. Walter was asked to go back in his mind and think about the day Barbara Jen was murdered. Then he was asked if he had seen her that day. He answered that he had seen her, that she had come to his house seeking a little boy that lived there with his parents and sister. He told the detectives that he had let her in and that she went looking for the little boy Charlie who lived there. Then he said he didn't see her again. They asked him some more questions but about what he did that day and such and then they left the room. When they came back, they confronted Ogrod with his initial statemet the day of the murder when he told anaother detective thet he didn't know or see Barbara Jan that day. You see when Walter told them that he saw her and let her in the house he was the first person to say that she had come to someones house that day, others had seen her playing in her front yard. When they asked Ogrod why he changed his statement from 4 years earlier he broke down crying and proceeded to confess to what he had done. That is why he was arrested.
In 1993 the first trial was a mistrial. After the trial some, not all, o the jurors were being interviewed by the media. They all said that they had a hard time believing that the man that they heard testify could not have made that confession because he seemed too dimwitted to give that detailed of a confession. What they didn't know at that time that Ogrod was heavily medicated during that trial, which is why he seemed so dim witted. Tha is why there was a mistrial.
Second trial 1996. Walter Ogrod is found guilty. Found guilty because he confessed to other inmates and went into deeper details about the whys.
So now John Hall one of the inmates wants to say he lied and made things up. You think Hall wants to clear his conscience o what e wanted was the DA to get him out of some trouble he got himself into and they refused so now all the cases he supposedly dimed people out on e was lying it's called payback for the DA for not helping him out.
Walter Ogrod is in prison on death row in Pa. because he is guilty of murdering Barbara Jean Horn a 4 1/2 year old little girl. There was no DNA evidence found in the case and no physical evidence found in the house. The house that Ogrod abandoned less than a year after the murder, the same house that the city of Philadelphia had cleaned out because it had become a haven for kids to hang out in, start fires break windows etc. 2 years prior to Ogrods arrest. Tom Lowenstein and the folks at the innocence project are about saving people from the death penalty, guilt or innocence mean nothing to them as long as no one is executed.

Hambone2421 · 04-20-2015, 02:36 PM

Does anyone know if Walter Ogrod was ever executed for the murder of Barbara Jean Horn? He was sentenced to death and scheduled to be executed on 8/2/05 but it was stayed.

LooksLikeCRicci · 04-20-2015, 02:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hambone2421

Does anyone know if Walter Ogrod was ever executed for the murder of Barbara Jean Horn? He was sentenced to death and scheduled to be executed on 8/2/05 but it was stayed.

As of August 4, 2012, he was alive and the subject of an article written about him.

EDIT: Still alive. Here's his page on the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections page.

Hambone2421 · 04-20-2015, 03:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LooksLikeCRicci

As of August 4, 2012, he was alive and the subject of an article written about him.

EDIT: Still alive. Here's his page on the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections page.

Thanks!!

Cori aka ChrisSCrush · 04-21-2015, 04:16 AM

Thanks, thought about this the other day and would by far rather see a guilty man go free than an innocent one wrongly convicted!

Hambone2421 · 04-21-2015, 08:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cori aka ChrisSCrush

Thanks, thought about this the other day and would by far rather see a guilty man go free than an innocent one wrongly convicted!

Well, that's interesting. I'd hate to see anyone be wrongly convicted but I'd despise setting a child killer/rapist free.

WilliamHBonney · 04-08-2017, 12:45 PM

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/a...r-justice.html

Article about him in this paper last week,seems like an innocent mentally ill man will be spending the rest of his life behind bars.

07-13-2005, 11:46 PM	#1
mercy1825 Member Frequent Poster Join Date: May 04, 2004 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Posts: 176	Barbara Jean Horn This thought just came to my mind. The man who was convicted of this offense (the little 4 year old Philly girl stuffed into a box down the street from her home) is believed by many to be innocent of the crime. I recall reading a very in depth article that I am unable to locate now, that states that he had a hung jury before his conviction with an 11-1 favoring aquittal. I do not want to comment on any more facts because my recollection is vague, but I think his name may be Osgood. Some commented that his picture did not resemble the disturbing composite that was shown on UM. It was a special alert segment I believe. Any comments? Anyone that is interested in this brutal crime and possible miscarriage of justice should look into it if inclined to do so. Let me know what you can find. I am having some technical issues here or I would seek out further info myself. Thanks.

07-14-2005, 12:40 AM	#2
DarkDante Member Senior Member Join Date: Jul 27, 2002 Posts: 1,569	Walter Ogrod That was his name and yeah this was a very early case that was actually done as a "Special Alert" by the Philly police to find this guy okay...The segment itself being a "Special Alert" really didn't go into much detail but the composite looks nothing like Ogrod for those who have seen it. I was gonna post on this in a few days - Ogrod is mentally challenged, he had no prior run ins with the law and was the Horn's next door neighbor at the time of the murder which took place in the summer of 1988. Police allege that Ogrod lured Barbara Jean Horn into his home with the promise of candy and proceeded to sexually assault her when she screamed he beat her to death with a dumbell. Curiously there has never been any physical evidence to link Ogrod to the crime. The witnesses who saw the man with the telltale HITACHI TV box that Horn's body was stuffed into described a man very different from Ogrod. There is also the manner of the way the police captured Ogrod. The police readily admit that before Ogrod CONFESSED to the murder they had no leads in this case at all. Ogrod confessed to the murder in 1992 but for one reason or another the police thought this wouldn't be a enough to spin a guilty verdict so they got a man in prison by the name of John Hall to apparently intice a confession out of Ogrod (or so say Ogrod's defenders) - This would be highly illegal I believe and should result in Walt's death sentence being set aside. There are a lot of people convinced that Walt did murder Horn and a lot who think he is going to die for a crime he did not commit. None of this was covered on UM because at the time the "Special Alert" aired the police had no leads besides the Hitachi tv box evidence. The thing that always struck me about this case was that the officer who was interviewed on UM could not pronounce the name "Barbara Jean" - He called her "Bobber Jean" or "Bobby Jean" which is obviously incorrect - Still sticks will me and is another one like "Judy Hymes" that is swimming around in my head. Here are some links pertaining to Mr. Ogrod http://citypaper.net/articles/2004-06-17/cover.shtml http://www.amnestyusa.org/abolish/li...ing.do&e=10053 You can also find information on Ogrod and Horn by googling it.

07-14-2005, 05:52 PM	#4
DarkDante Member Senior Member Join Date: Jul 27, 2002 Posts: 1,569	I figured Ogrod was going to eventually die for this crime sooner than later - his stay of execution expired I think on 8-5-05. I still say though that the guy in UM sketch looks nothing like Walt - the guy in the sketch looks older and fatter than Ogrod. Later.

08-10-2005, 10:26 AM	#5
george ramos Member Frequent Poster Join Date: May 28, 2005 Posts: 148	Walter Ogrod's execution has been stayed. A judge decided to give him more time for appeals. I hate it when that happens. We've given this guy more than enough time to win an appeal. We did the same thing to Kevin Cooper. Kevin says he was framed when the DNA puts him at the crime scene.
	Last edited by george ramos; 08-11-2005 at 09:03 AM.

02-03-2006, 08:22 PM	#7
fivecats Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Feb 03, 2006 Location: Waukegan, IL Posts: 29	DNA match? Considering how many mistakes are made on death row by imprisoning innocent people (later shown to be innocent with the help of DNA) I wouldn't be suprised if they have the wrong guy. Other poster are right; the police sketch doesn't look like the the guy (but then again, police artists seem to be required to go through an art class to distort the human face). It should all come down to the DNA. If none is available, I certainly hope they don't execute an innocent man.

07-14-2005, 05:07 PM	#3
Kane Member Forum 3000 Club Member Join Date: Mar 07, 2001 Location: MA, United States Posts: 3,367	I found a link on a June 2005 article on the case. It says that Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell has signed Walter Ogrod's death warrant. Ogrod is scheduled to be executed on August 2. http://ap.lancasteronline.com/4/pa_execution_warrant

02-03-2006, 05:54 PM	#6
Tap Dancer Member Forum Regular Join Date: Mar 20, 2005 Location: Virginia Posts: 754	Here's what I found: August 2005 Executions Some people think that Walter Ogrod is innocent. Apparently he's mentally unstable? I saw a case on UM today about another man who was "slow" and the police forced him to confess to a crime he didn't commit. He was in jail for 8 years before he was released. Sorry, but I can't remember that person's name right now. Does anyone think this could have happened to Walter Ogrod? There was never any evidence found against him...

08-27-2006, 09:10 PM	#8
kadrmas15 Retired from Board 03/03/11 Senior Member Join Date: Mar 11, 2006 Location: Minnesota Posts: 1,910	Well after researching this case and looking at the different links provided I am doubtful that Walter Ogrod actually killed Barbara Jean Horn. Supposedly the guy that saw the man with the television box said it wasnt Ogrod that he saw holding it and Ogrod looks nothing like the composite. Ogrod actually wasnt even considered a suspect in this case until nearly 4 years after the crime. Supposedly the police used controversial tacticts. Like when they interviewed Ogrod he had supposedly been up for over 30 straight hours and was tired and sick. They kept telling him that he had did it. Ogrod was tested by a psychatrist and while the shrink said that Ogrod wasnt mentally ******** he did say Ogrod tested on the lower end of normal in terms of intelligence. Ogrod was nearly acquitted in his first trial in 1993. The jury actually had at first agreed to acquitt him and the foreman was in the middle of reading the verdict when a juror suddenly stood up and said he didnt agree with the verdict. The jury voted 11 to 1 in favor of acquittal and a mistrial was declared. The prosecution never had the evidence. However Ogrod had the misfortune of coming across one of these professional snitches in jail that lies about stuff to get his charges reduced. The informant even later basically admitted that he made some stuff up about Ogrod. In his 2nd trial in 1996 Ogrod was convicted based on the new evidence from the professional snitch and was sentenced to death. Ogrod originally had his execution date set for August 2nd, 2005. However he had an indefinite stay of execution. Originally the police had actually looked at a man named Raymond Sheehan who was 22 years old at the time Barbara Jean Horn was killed. He had also been a suspect in the 1987 murder of another Philadelphia girl. However they didnt have enough evidence to charge him. In 2003 his DNA was found to be the DNA in the 1987 murder and he was arrested and he pled guilty and was sentenced to life. I think Sheehan very well could have been the one that killed Barbara Jean Horn. I am doubtful it was Walter Ogrod.

08-10-2012, 09:13 PM	#9
johnnyf Member First Time Poster Join Date: Aug 10, 2012 Posts: 1	Here's the truth Walter Ogrod arrested 1992, mistrial 1993, convicted 1996. Walter confessed to this crime to two Phila. Homcide Detectives. He was not beaten or threatened, nor was he tricked or harrassed. Walter was asked to go back in his mind and think about the day Barbara Jen was murdered. Then he was asked if he had seen her that day. He answered that he had seen her, that she had come to his house seeking a little boy that lived there with his parents and sister. He told the detectives that he had let her in and that she went looking for the little boy Charlie who lived there. Then he said he didn't see her again. They asked him some more questions but about what he did that day and such and then they left the room. When they came back, they confronted Ogrod with his initial statemet the day of the murder when he told anaother detective thet he didn't know or see Barbara Jan that day. You see when Walter told them that he saw her and let her in the house he was the first person to say that she had come to someones house that day, others had seen her playing in her front yard. When they asked Ogrod why he changed his statement from 4 years earlier he broke down crying and proceeded to confess to what he had done. That is why he was arrested. In 1993 the first trial was a mistrial. After the trial some, not all, o the jurors were being interviewed by the media. They all said that they had a hard time believing that the man that they heard testify could not have made that confession because he seemed too dimwitted to give that detailed of a confession. What they didn't know at that time that Ogrod was heavily medicated during that trial, which is why he seemed so dim witted. Tha is why there was a mistrial. Second trial 1996. Walter Ogrod is found guilty. Found guilty because he confessed to other inmates and went into deeper details about the whys. So now John Hall one of the inmates wants to say he lied and made things up. You think Hall wants to clear his conscience o what e wanted was the DA to get him out of some trouble he got himself into and they refused so now all the cases he supposedly dimed people out on e was lying it's called payback for the DA for not helping him out. Walter Ogrod is in prison on death row in Pa. because he is guilty of murdering Barbara Jean Horn a 4 1/2 year old little girl. There was no DNA evidence found in the case and no physical evidence found in the house. The house that Ogrod abandoned less than a year after the murder, the same house that the city of Philadelphia had cleaned out because it had become a haven for kids to hang out in, start fires break windows etc. 2 years prior to Ogrods arrest. Tom Lowenstein and the folks at the innocence project are about saving people from the death penalty, guilt or innocence mean nothing to them as long as no one is executed.

04-20-2015, 02:36 PM	#10
Hambone2421 Member Senior Member Join Date: Dec 08, 2009 Location: Texas Posts: 2,066	Does anyone know if Walter Ogrod was ever executed for the murder of Barbara Jean Horn? He was sentenced to death and scheduled to be executed on 8/2/05 but it was stayed.

04-21-2015, 04:16 AM	#13
Cori aka ChrisSCrush Member Senior Member Join Date: Dec 30, 2001 Location: USA and still trying to be proud of it! Posts: 2,068	Thanks, thought about this the other day and would by far rather see a guilty man go free than an innocent one wrongly convicted!

04-08-2017, 12:45 PM	#15
WilliamHBonney Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Apr 07, 2017 Location: Inland Empire Posts: 129	http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/a...r-justice.html Article about him in this paper last week,seems like an innocent mentally ill man will be spending the rest of his life behind bars.