Michael Belongz to Anotha
"There's a small hole that you [can] squeeze your way through in the [Osceola County Jail's] C-section with a butter knife," said a caller to an inmate in the Florida jail. The January call was recorded. The caller went on: "It looks like it's about three hours worth of work. If you do a half hour a day ... [for] six days and then you can push your way through because a rat already started making the hole."
The caller was allegedly speaking to inmate Michael Rigby, who was in jail pending trial for attempted murder in a July 11, 2009, gang shooting. On February 16, Rigby escaped the jail. He is still at large, and thought to have left the state.
The case has some fascinating details and evidence, thanks to Rigby's teen girlfriend, "Karma", who kept a diary. Sample entries:
"Michael said he love me.""->Shot Kim." (This was followed by a drawing of a happy face.)
"->Michael kissed me with blood all over my face."
Rigby impressed Karma "by taking her to eat at Denny's instead of at McDonald's," the Orlando Sentinel reported.
"I want Michael, I kno its kinda wrong, but he be running thru my mind, all da tyme, yo," Vazquez wrote in her diary before the shooting. "Michael belongz to Anotha, nd so do I!"
Yeah, that could be fairly helpful to prosecutors. No wonder Rigby wanted out of jail. Karma's real name is Kayla Vazquez; police found the diary in her Betty Boop handbag.
(Betty Boop, right, is an animated character who has been popular since her 1932 film debut. Miss Boop is not considered a suspect in the shooting or subsequent escape, and was not available for comment. But really: doesn't she just simply look innocent?!)
"Kim" is Kimberly Rivera, 20, who was shot at her birthday party, which was thrown by the Bloods. Kim was apparently a rival of Karma.
Karma -- er, Vazquez -- allegedly pulled the trigger on Rivera herself. Rigby was charged with trying to shoot Rivera and two other women as they fled the party when the shooting started.
After the shooting, Rigby allegedly pistol-whipped Vazquez:
"Michael put a gun in my mouth. Why??? IDK Why? He lovez me. He hurtz me!!!" she wrote in her diary.
Vazquez remains in the Osceola County Jail, and is being held without bail. Rigby is being sought by the U.S. Marshals Service. He's considered armed and dangerous.
You know, karma (and Karma) can really be a bitch.
Sources: Orlando Sentinel, WFTV-TV
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Most Recent Comments
Posted by Bob, Southampton, UK on March 16, 2010:
Hold on, this County Jail seems familiar. Is it not the same Jail as in the previous story. The hole in the wall gang were hooching and after escaping were smooching wid da Betty Boop, innit!!
Posted by Susan, Tallahassee on March 17, 2010:
They recorded the phone call, but didn't do anything about it and let the inmate escape?
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"Recorded" isn't the same as "listened to while it was happening." -rc
Posted by Mike from Dallas on March 20, 2010:
Yeah, I was wondering about that, too. Recording conversations that they don't bother listening to? Then what's the point of recording them? It's like putting metal detectors in the schools, and then wondering how guns still keep getting in. When you point out that the detectors have to be in working order, they acknowledge that they knew the devices were broken, but there was no money in the budget for repairs.
Like the blonde who didn't understand how she got pregnant, even though she had birth control pills. Um, sweetheart, you have to actually TAKE them. Sure, I might be picking on blondes, but just how blonde do you have to be to run jails or schools?
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Um, they did listen to the recording. That's how they got the evidence they needed, and how this story exists at all. -rc