March 29, 2009- Today we spoke with an official from Texas Equusearch, the respected and renowned mounted search and recovery organization located in Texas. They have just posted a link on Mary's disappearance. Be sure to view their own site and the great work they are doing for missing persons.
March 18, 2009- Karen Kraemer of the Broken Wings Network from Wisconsin recently appeared on the Tyra Banks Show and spoke about the disappearance and murder of her own daughter, Becky Marie (Kraemer) Marzo, of Milwaukee in 2003. Karen is helping in Mary’s case and is a great advocate for battered woman and the national tragedy of domestic violence. She commented many times on the similarities of her own daughter’s case and the circumstances of Mary’s disappearance. She will appear on a segment of the show on April 2, 2009. Check your own television listings for the exact time and station that will air her story. Don’t miss this great feature.
Battle Creek Enquirer- Letter to Editor, Inmate Christopher Luke Pratt- Prison Transfer- 03/18/09
WOOD-TV8 News- Where is Mary? Five years later? 03/12/09
WWMT Channel3News- Mary Lands, 5th Anniversary Vigil- 03/12/09
Battle Creek Enquirer- 03/13/09
Thursday, March 12, 2009 marked the 5th anniversary of the disappearance of Mary Denise Lands, and the family will hold another vigil at the Brooks Memorial Circle Fountain at Noon in Marshall, Michigan. Each year on March 12th since Mary purportedly walked away from her apartment Cliff & Anita Marshall have held a vigil on this date.
Mary's fiancé, Christopher Luke Pratt claims she went for a walk at 10:00 P.M. on a cold wintry night still wearing her light-weight medical scrubs from her job at Day One Family Healthcare in Battle Creek. He claimed she walked off wearing her favorite brown leather jacket and left her
new Dodge Durango and cell telephone at the apartment. 44 hours later Chris Pratt called the family in California asking if Mary was there? The parents then notified the Marshall Police Department that their daughter was missing. Five months later in the summer of 2004 Chris Pratt was selling Mary's personal property including her brown leather jacket at a flea market in Homer. The jacket was recovered and turned over to the Marshall Police Department.
A new reward was recently reinstated in Mary’s case and the law enforcement community is working aggressively to solve the case. Christopher Luke Pratt is now serving a 5-15 year sentence for a violent assault against a more recent girl-friend. His earliest possible parole eligibility date is February 2012.
http://www.state.mi.us/mdoc/asp/otis2profile.asp?mdocNumber=673261 Chris Pratt has been named a suspect in the open homicide investigation of Mary Lands, but has not yet
been charged. He was incarcerated by MDOC at the Mound Correctional Facility in Detroit.
March 12, 2009- 9:00 A.M.- Well this is not a good sign and obviously came on a sad day for the family, the 5th anniversary of Mary's disappearance. Chris Pratt was just moved from Level II at Mound Correctional Facility in Detroit to Cooper Street Correctional Facility in Jackson. He was reduced to the minimum standard of MDOC and reclassified as Level I. Next we will hear that because of prisons closing and staff reductions he will soon be released. Because his convictions were related to domestic violence he should not be eligible for parole until February 2012. You have to wonder if that criteria enacted by the Michigan legislature will be thrown out and he is looking at a release in the very near future? Norreen Parker, his most recent victim, better be concerned about these new developments.
March 12, 2009- 5:00 P.M.- Thank you to all the good people who today called MDOC, the police and the media about Christopher Luke Pratt being transferred to Cooper Street CF in Jackson and a reduction of his Level II to Level I. It just shows the power of our community. Inmate Pratt will be shuffling off to another prison and his Level II status will be put back in place. Maybe if we are lucky it will be the UP for the rest of the winter.Thank you again to WOOD-TV8 and the viewers for all the calls. It really gave some relief to Mary's parents to know we all will be safer. Kudos to our community to keep this alleged killer in a more secure location. In my opinion, I believe he killed Mary Lands and so does the law enforcement community. Chris Pratt needs to remain in prison for the rest of his life unless he makes a deal and tells the truth. It better be soon because some other perp is going to drop a dime on him first.
March 13, 2009- 7:45 A.M- Within 24 hours of MDOC learning that Christopher Luke Pratt is an inmate who is a suspect in an open homicide investigation his classification was changed back to a Level II. Cooper Street Correctional Facility in Jackson is a Level I facility so we presume he will be transferred to a Level II correctional facility. There is a saying that the wheels of justice turn slow, but grind exceedingly fine. Chris Pratt, you can try to use your sociopathic charm on prison officials, family and friends to believe that all this is going to go away and you will soon be free. In your deluded thinking you feel no remorse or empathy, but that is just another symptom of your mental defects.
People know what you did to Mary Lands and one day you will allocute in a court of law and be held accountable for Mary’s disappearance and death. You have seen our billboards and efforts to find Mary. Your earliest possible parole date is February 24, 2012. Let me assure you that we presently have at least 220 individuals who will be writing the Parole Board to ask that you not be released until your scheduled discharge date in 2022. By the time of your review in 2011 we will have at least 1,000 letters sent to Lansing opposing any release.
We are not going away, and we will bring Mary home.
March 16, 2009- "Top of the morn'in to you all". As we have previously mentioned, there is a saying that the wheels of justice turn slow, but grind exceedingly fine.This morning, Christopher Luke Pratt, Inmate # 673261 is now back at his old digs in Level II, Mound Correctional Facility in Detroit after a brief transfer to Cooper Street Correctional Facility in Jackson that MDOC acknowledges was an error. His minimal status to Level I has also been changed back to Level II.
Happy trails Christopher, & Happy St. Patrick's Day.
Welcome back to the Mound!
Jim Carlin
Help us bring Mary home.
Oh Mary Don't You Weep- 2008 4th Anniversary Vigil
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZdLwAGxu9M&
(Photo-Trace Christiansen, Battle Creek Enquirer)
