60 years of the FBI's Most Wanted list 1
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Woman kills newborn during prison visit 3
By Steve Huff in assault, celebrity crime, unsolved
Tuesday, Oct. 21 2008 @ 1:49PM


CBS News segment about the attack on Anne Pressly.

From the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, September 28, 2008, an article about upcoming movies by Karen and Philip Martin:

"W. Oliver Stone’s take on the life of George W. Bush. With Josh Brolin, Elizabeth Banks, Thandie Newton, Scott Glenn and KATV, Channel 7, reporter Anne Pressly (as Anne [sic] Coulter )."

Anne Pressly's Performer Profile on IMDB.com simply says she played a "Female Commentator." The profile also gives the attractive journalist's particulars: 5'10", 120, hair blond, eyes green. At the top of the profile is Pressly's phone number and GMail address.

Things were going very well for Anne Pressly. There was the brief role in W. Her status as an anchor at KATV was "up and coming." She was popular with the community. And other ambitions may have been hinted at in her IMDB profile -- in small bold letters at the top of the page are the words, "SAG Eligible," meaning that Pressly is eligible for membership in the Screen Actors Guild.

Anne Pressly was found near death early Monday morning. Her mother had come to her home, concerned after some of her usual wake-up calls to her daughter went unanswered. She found the reporter in bed, bleeding from severe wounds to her head and upper body.

Early reports on Pressly's condition said she'd been stabbed. Those reports are now in doubt. Police do believe she was badly beaten. Her condition has been described as "critical but stable."

apressly2.jpgThe reaction to the crime in Little Rock has been pure shock. As far as anyone knew, Anne Pressly had no enemies. She had an active Facebook page with many friends. She lived in a safe neighborhood. Her Sunday night prior to a bloody Monday morning was innocent enough. She had dinner with KARK-TV reporter Mallory Hardin and was home by 9:30 or so. According to a report published online by the staff of the Today Show, Pressly even exchanged "cheery" text messages with Hardin after she made it home.

Police suspect Pressly was robbed. They say her purse and other personal items are missing. Police say the attacker didn't force entry into Pressly's home. They don't know the motive for the nearly-fatal beating, though. That's not typical burglar behavior.

Mallory Hardin told Matt Lauer on Today that she didn't know about her friend having "any type of stalker." Hardin indicated that Pressly had never mentioned any weirdness from fans at all, but Little Rock police are still trying to find out if Pressly did, in fact, have a stalker.

The answer to what happened to Anne Pressly may be simple. A burglar was afraid he'd be caught and decided to eliminate a witness. But it may be more complex. It only makes sense to examine the possibility that the reporter was stalked in some manner. No one has mentioned the possibility of an angry ex-boyfriend, either.

One weird aspect of this story has been the fact that even if Pressly wasn't stalked before, she is being stalked now, in a way. Publications in London have picked up on the story of "The glamourous American TV anchorwoman discovered brutally beaten in her own home." Gossip blogs are following the story. This tall, beautiful journalist's star has risen worldwide overnight for the worst imaginable reason.

The attention has led to some odd theorizing, as well. This Daily Kos diarist, pointing out Pressly's movie role with the title of their post, alludes to what I'm talking about: "It would be inappropriate to connect conspiratorial dots but then again there's something that seems strange about this." A commenter on that Kos post expanded on the idea: "She wasn't just a 'bit part in a random movie.' She played Ann Coulter (and not flatteringly) in the movie 'W.', a movie which is highly offensive to the extreme right wing [...] It's just a big DUH that it might be a hate crime. It's also a big DUH that it might be a random robbery."

There is certainly something strange at the heart of this story. Anne Pressly is an improbable victim -- she lived in a safe area, she was a well-known face about town. Could it be that the attack on her somehow relates back to that September 28 notice in the Arkansas paper naming the character she so briefly played in W? I personally find it difficult to believe such a thing. I'm too skeptical after covering crime for a few years -- the motives of those who try to murder another person are usually a little more straightforward than that. They're trying to eliminate a witness. They're angry, jealous, even suicidal but not afraid to get some homicide in before they're done. But even a site as popular and well-known as Gawker.com isn't afraid to wonder about such a thing, referring to Pressly's role in the Stone film in a post titled "Ann Coulter Doppelganger Mysteriously Attacked." (Thanks to Gawker blogger Hamilton Nolan for linking TCR's first post about this crime.)

Speculation on who might have wanted to kill Anne Pressly -- and why -- is all well and good, but at the moment, it's still fruitless. The sad thing is that if the attack remains unsolved, the speculation will continue, and in other parts of the blogosphere, the Pressly-Coulter connection will be magnified beyond reason -- if that hasn't already happened.

Anne Pressly's family issued a statement today. It's worth ending with some portions of that statement:

"We are appreciative of the outpouring of love we've received - obviously out of your love for Anne. We are overwhelmed by your affection; the care Anne's physicians and nurses have given her, the diligence of the Little Rock Police Department in this investigation and local and national reporters who have respected our privacy. [...] Now our family needs private time. Please respect our wishes and give us time to heal as a family - privately - without visitors. We will issue statements as Anne's condition improves..."

[Today Show, MSNBC.com]