Janeen Snyder

Parties and case overview

Michael Forrest Thornton and Janeen Marie Snyder were convicted of kidnapping, torturing, sexually abusing and killing 16-year-old Michelle Curran on April 17, 2001.

Snyder was a friend of Thornton’s daughter and moved in with him after having problems with her own family.

Two other teenage girls testified at trial about how Snyder lured them to a hotel and Thornton raped them.

Snyder also confessed to killing a 14-year-old girl who had been missing for over five years.

The offence

Michelle Curran was 16 when she was kidnapped from her Las Vegas neighborhood in late March 2001.

She was held captive by Thornton and Snyder during a 14-day period.

During the captivity, she was tied up, sexually assaulted, and given drugs. The judge said the defendants intimidated her with firearms and sexually exploited her.

Her nude body was discovered inside a horse trailer in Rubidoux two weeks later. The judge said ligature marks were found on her wrists and ankles and that she was shot in the head once.

The judge described Curran’s last moments as brutal. He said she was tied to rafters by both her hands and her feet and violated.

The judge said: “It was Miss Snyder who ultimately approached Miss Curran in this very vulnerable position, put the gun to her forehead and pulled the trigger,”.

The judge said the couple used Snyder as the lure or bait for young girls to participate in the sexual sadism that would follow, and that Thornton used Snyder as the lure while Snyder was a willing and voluntary participant.

The judge also said: “It is also clear to the court that Mr. Thornton was the leader, if one wants to characterize it as that, but that Miss Snyder was a willing and voluntary participant,” and: “She was not merely a puppet or a pawn.”

Investigation

Authorities believed there was a long string of attacks, and the judge mentioned other girls whom the couple had been suspected of stalking and assaulting. Evidence related to those suspicions came out during the penalty phase of the trial.

The investigation included testimony about additional victims and a described pattern of luring teenage girls into a world of sex and drugs.

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

Investigators reported that the suspects had an appetite for sex with third parties, particularly with young, teen-age girls.

A prosecutor, Deputy District Attorney Mike Rushton, said: “She eventually became his lover.” He also said: “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 also became a part-time stripper in Las Vegas while maintaining her residence with Thornton in California,”.

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

Authorities recovered three computers from the couple’s property and were analyzing them for clues about how they met Curran. A prosecutor said: “We are curious to see what method they used,” and: “On its face, it may have appeared friendly at first. But underneath it was more sinister.”

A prosecutor also said: “There's nothing of an illegal nature on the tape,” and: “There's also nothing with Michelle on any of the tapes.”

Officials said there was no evidence of an Internet relationship so far, and that they were “curious to see what method they used,”.

Background and meeting the suspects

How Curran met the two suspects charged with raping, torturing and killing her on a California ranch was described as unclear, and detectives continued to investigate the question of how she came to be with them.

Curran reportedly was last seen in Las Vegas by her older sister as she left her home on Parsifal Place, near Jones Boulevard and Washington Avenue, about 7 a.m.

Robert Joseph said Curran left in a huff because her elder sibling was being allowed to stay home from school and she was not. Joseph said Curran told her sister she would get breakfast at McDonald’s or another fast food restaurant on her way to school.

Registration records at the Main Street Inn on Main near Washington Avenue showed the suspects checked in April 2 and left on April 4.

On the night of April 4, the suspects checked into the Lake Arrowhead Lodge in Arrowhead, California, 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, and Joseph said Curran, described as a natural blonde, had dyed her hair dark brown about a month before her disappearance.

Joseph said the trio spent much of the afternoon driving to Lake Arrowhead, and: “There's only about four hours I can't account for on that day,” in reference to the crucial morning.

Investigators planned to revisit Las Vegas next week as part of the investigation.

Missing person report and travel timeline

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, Arizona, 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. Rushton said the note was alleged to have been signed by Curran and that she was being treated well.

The trio drove to Fontana, California, near the suspects’ home in Rialto, and checked into a hotel there on April 12.

On the morning of April 17, the day police believed Curran was killed, they checked into a Motel 6 in Rubidoux. Rushton said this happened on the morning of April 17.

Victim captivity details and alleged threats

A detective, San Bernardino County sheriff’s Sgt. Debra Bauman, testified about a separate sexual assault victim who described captivity in a Rialto home while heavily drugged.

Bauman said the victim described being held captive in a Rialto home for more than a month and “felt” she was being sexually assaulted while heavily drugged.

Bauman testified 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.

Bauman said the victim “asked 60 to 100 times” to go home, but the defendants refused.

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

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

Bauman testified that the defendants put drugs in the girl’s food over a long period of time before she started taking it voluntarily, and that the drugs included methamphetamine and hallucinogenic mushrooms.

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

Bauman said the girl, now 19 years old, acknowledged to her that she had opportunities to escape.

Bauman said 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 testified the girl told her she was not sure whether she had sex with Thornton and Snyder, but she “felt” she did.

Bauman also testified: on one occasion, the girl woke up to find Thornton and Snyder laughing at her because they had sex with her although she did not remember it.

Arrest and evidence

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 the arrest occurred as they fled the property after the owner found them in a horse shed.

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.

Charges, trial, and verdict

The couple were convicted by a Riverside Superior Court jury.

In March 2006 reporting, the 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.

At trial, testimony showed Thornton and Snyder preyed on teen girls, cruising Inland Empire streets looking for girls to pick up.

It was described that Snyder would befriend the girls and take them to motels or residences to meet Thornton.

Testimony stated that 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.

The couple were described as threatening to kill the girls if they complained to anybody or wanted to go home.

Authorities said the couple were never charged with crimes in connection with previous abductions due to lack of evidence.

A prosecutor said: “the facts of that case will come to bear in the prosecution here in Riverside County.” (Rushton)

The CBS March 16, 2006 reporting also described that the couple were charged with kidnapping, rape, torture and murder in connection with the April 17, 2001 death of Michelle Curran, and accused of kidnapping Curran on April 4, 2001.

In that testimony context, the couple were accused of sexually abusing Curran before leaving her dead in a Rubidoux storage shed.

Sentencing

On September 7, 2006, the defendants were sentenced to death by Riverside judge Paul Zellerbach in Riverside County.

Zellerbach listened to statements, then sentenced the girl’s killers to death.

The judge said that after reviewing the evidence and reading the transcripts of the almost six-months trial, he agreed.

In sentencing remarks, Zellerbach said the defendants held Michelle Curran captive during a 14-day period, gave her drugs, intimidated her with firearms and sexually exploited her.

Zellerbach addressed Snyder’s defense attorneys’ argument that their client was dominated by Thornton at a very young age.

Zellerbach said: “It is also clear to the court that Mr.

Zellerbach said: “It was Miss Snyder who ultimately approached Miss Curran in this very vulnerable position, put the gun to her forehead and pulled the trigger,”.

Juror Suzanne Davis of Temecula said she wanted the closure, describing the trial as plucking her from her life into “a life ‘that you want no part of.’ ”

Family members read prepared statements or offered messages to the defendants.

Candy Curran, the victim’s mother, struggled as she tried to speak, and the account said she had waited six years for this moment.

Later outside the courtroom, Curran said that Michelle’s friends and relatives expressed her feelings better than she had herself.

An uncle, Richard Curran, told the judge: “I can't even look at these people. They disgust me.”

Then, to Thornton, Richard Curran blurted: “You low-life scumbag.”

Richard Curran also told the defendants: “You're looking downward,” and: “That's where they'll be going.”

Timeline

• late March 2001 — Michelle Curran was kidnapped from her Las Vegas neighborhood.
• April 2 — The suspects checked in at the Main Street Inn on Main near Washington Avenue.
• April 4 — The suspects left Main Street Inn; they checked into the Lake Arrowhead Lodge in Arrowhead.
• April 5 — Curran’s family filed a missing person report with Las Vegas police.
• April 6 — By this date, the trio drove to Thornton’s mother’s house in Mesa, Arizona, and stayed there through April 11.
• April 12 — The trio checked into a hotel in Fontana.
• April 17 — Police believed Curran was killed; the suspects checked into a Motel 6 in Rubidoux on the morning of April 17.
• April 22 — Curran’s nude body was discovered inside a horse trailer in Rubidoux.
• September 7, 2006 — Thornton and Snyder were sentenced to death.

Other details

The sentencing account described that Snyder broke into tears as the clerk read the verdicts, while Thornton displayed no emotion.

Detectives reported releasing 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.

A Polaroid shot was discovered by detectives in the room of a Rubidoux hotel where the trio had been staying.

Investigators did 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.

It was reported that Curran did not appear to be held against her will in the photograph, but that guns, handcuffs, rope, bungee cords and a Velcro strap with hair on it were later found by police inside the vehicle pursuant to a search warrant.

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

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

Authorities recovered a videotape showing Thornton and Snyder having sex with a third woman, and said there was nothing of an illegal nature on the tape and nothing with Michelle on the tapes.

A park ranger at a Riverside County park recalled seeing Curran with the two suspects on April 17 and told police Curran did not seem to be under any duress.

Rialto Couple Convicted Of Murder In Teen's Death reporting identified Thornton as “a one-time hair salon owner.”

Michelle Curran’s body was described as found in a storage shed for horse equipment in Rubidoux, with bruised, nude body and ligature marks on her wrists and ankles.

A deputy district attorney used testimony to establish a pattern and described Curran’s assault as marking one in what authorities believed to be a long string of attacks.

Anyone with information about Curran’s case was 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.