Posts Tagged ‘fbi’

Parents of Slain Metallica Fan Thankful for Band’s Continued Support

Kevin Winter, Getty Images In 2009, Virginia Tech college student Morgan Harrington was murdered shortly after disappearing from a Metallica concert in Charlottesville. Three-plus years later, the band is still involved with the search for the 20-year-old student’s killer and her parents are thankful for the continued support. Noisecreep reports that the band’s latest venture, allowing the title of ‘Enter Sandman’ to be used on a line of Virginia Tech t-shirts , has resulted in another $40,000 being raised this past fall for the Morgan Harrington medical scholarship fund. That comes after the band chipped in $50,000 of their own money when the fund was initially launched and they also donated $50,000 to the reward in seeking information that would lead to the capture of Harrington’s killer. Plus, just last year, the band filmed yet another PSA seeking information in the case. Morgan’s mother, Gil Harrington, said of the band’s involvement, “It has been very humbling from the very beginning. Two days after Morgan was abducted, they could have distanced themselves from an ugly occurrence. But James Hetfield called this house to speak to Dan [Harrington], as a father, and asked, ‘What can we do?’ Three years out, and they are still doing things.” Harrington says Hetfield spoke to the FBI and also generated the first “missing person” poster that went up on their website in hopes of locating her daughter. “It’s a visceral response as fathers. They were not liability driven or self-protecting,” she adds of their involvement. At present, between the Harrington family and Metallica, there is $150,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Morgan’s murderer. For more information on the case and reward, visit this  location . To read more of Noisecreep’s interview with Gil Harrington’s exclusive interview, click  here . [button href=”http://loudwire.com/james-hetfield-films-new-psa-to-help-bring-justice-for-murdered-metallica-fan/” title=”Next: Watch James Hetfield’s PSA Seeking Morgan Harrington’s Killer” align=”center”]

Former Bury Your Dead Guitarist Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison for Gang Activity

Former Bury Your Dead guitarist Eric Ellis has just been sentenced to 20 years in prison for an insane list of charges. As an “associate” of Florida gang ‘The Guardians,’ the 28-year-old Ellis was one of five men found guilty of violating the ‘Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. Ellis played guitar on Bury Your Dead’s breakout album ‘Cover Your Tracks’ in 2004, along with their 2006 album, ‘Beauty and the Breakdown,’ and the metalcore band’s 2008 self-titled record. The crimes committed by The Guardians are detailed in an  official FBI press release : ? The gang committed a series of violent felonies and crimes, including an extortion that left one man nearly dead; the choking of a young woman until she passed out; armed bank robberies; armed home invasions; daily cocaine and opiate sales; and theft of thousands of dollars’ worth of merchandise from local stores. Arrests were made in November 2010 when an investigation revealed that the gang was preparing to commit additional home invasion robberies. The robberies committed by the Guardians resulted in the loss of almost $2 million to their victims. According to a Noisecreep interview from 2009, Ellis himself was a victim of a seemingly random gang assault, which he claimed was a initiation for the attackers. “I was beaten with a hammer and a bat,” Ellis described. “I had 56 contusions down the side of my body. I look back and am glad that didn’t happen to a kid at the show, or a girl coming out of the show. I am almost glad it was me.” Bury Your Dead have released two albums, ‘It’s Nothing Personal’ and ‘Mosh n’ Roll,’ since Ellis left the band in 2008. [button href=”http://loudwire.com/shocking-rock-stories-of-2012/” title=”See the Most Shocking Rock Stories of 2012″ align=”center”]