James Renner Posting / March 18, 2009

Big Willie, Big Trouble

One-man Crime Spree May Now Be

Linked To High-profile Disappearances

Eric Wilson, known on the streets of Cleveland as "Big" or "Big Willie," is best known for starting the gunfight that killed 12-year-old Asteve'e "Cookie" Thomas in September 2007. But by the time Cookie was murdered, Wilson already had a long history of kidnapping young women from the West Side and transporting them to the East Side, where they were raped and held captive.

Victims came forward when they saw his picture on the news after Cookie's murder, and last fall he was convicted of four counts of rape and two counts of kidnapping.

He's currently behind bars awaiting yet another rape trial.

As the search for mis-sing 15-year-old Ashley Summers continues, police and FBI have begun to wonder if Wilson was somehow involved in her disappearance. She left an apartment on Holmden Avenue on July 6, 2007, and has not been seen by her family since.

At that time, Wilson often crashed at a house on Holmden, just a few doors down from where Ashley was staying.

Ashley's disappearance was first treated as a runaway but is now assumed to have been an abduction, possibly connected to the more well-known West Side kidnappings of Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus, according to investigators. In a surreal twist that speaks to the progress of cheap technology, Ashley's story was "tweeted" by Ashton Kutcher and M.C. Hammer last week. Anyone with real information on Ashley's whereabouts can contact the feds at 216.522.1400. - James Renner

Have You Seen Ashley Summers?

by David Lay

03/26/2009

If you’ve been reading the Observation Deck lately, you’ve probably noticed concerned grandparent Linda Summers’ posts about her missing granddaughter, Ashley Summers. Ashley disappeared July 6, 2007, and hasn’t returned home.

The media has, for the most part, ignored the story, since Ashley isn’t from an affluent suburb, according to local crime writer/Scene contributor James Renner, known for his investigative work on the Amy Mihaljevic case. “If she’d been a cute young little girl from a rich suburb, you’d know her name. She’d be all over the news. Maybe even on Nancy Grace. But 15-year-old Ashley Summers was from the near-West side of Cleveland, from a ramshackle house on Holmden Avenue where the lawn has been overrun by little kids and dogs.” The local media put out the family’s press release, but hasn’t bothered to speak with the family, nor have any of the outlets broadcasted any follow-up stories.

According to the latest information posted on Renner’s blog, The Coldest Cases, Ashley was living with a great-uncle on Holmden Avenue, in a dangerous neighborhood, at the time of her disappearance. Eric “Big Willie” Wilson was a known frequenter of the area at the time. Wilson has been in the news as the man who shot 12-year-old Cookie Thomas, who got caught up in the gunfire from a botched drug deal. Wilson went on the lam and was captured in Montana. He was found guilty last year of kidnapping and raping a woman, who escaped, in 2004.

Ashley has multiple MySpace profiles with last logins within 2 weeks of her disappearance, but here’s where the power of the Internet still comes in: After Ashley’s story was posted to social networking site Twitter, the news spread like wildfire, thanks to celebrity couple Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore and Craigslist founder Craig Newmark. All 3 posted a link to Mrs. Summers’ post on the Observation Deck, setting a surge of traffic that logged over 10,000 views on the discussion thread. Mr. Kutcher took it a step further and posted the information on Ashley from the FBI’s Cleveland Field Office website.

Renner also brings up another twist: Ashley was known to frequent the McDonald’s on Lorain and the area where Georgina DeJesus and Amanda Berry went missing. Also, Berry’s family got a call after Amanda disappeared, from a man who said she was alive and safe. Ashley’s family received a similar call after she disappeared. Could all three disappearances be linked?

If you have any information on Ashley’s whereabouts, please contact the Cleveland Fugitive Task Force at 216-522-1400, the Cleveland Police Department’s First District at 216-623-5118, the FBI Cleveland Field Office at 216-522-1400, or the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 800-THE-LOST. A reward is available.

March 25, 2010

Until today I did not realize there was a 'connection' between me and Ashley Summers, and to be honest, I'm not sure why I even posted her story on my web site -- except that she is another missing kid from my state. I notice I did not link this page over to my Symbolic or Duplication page, so I did not see the connection, or I would have linked it immediately.

Here is the page that you will have to visit {and read} if you want to understand the 'connection' that I am talking about: Explanation of the connection

And here is a link over to my Symbolic page: Symbolic Cases

It is my understanding that the FBI and Cleveland area law enforcement are now [just beginning] to consider the possibility that there is a link between the disappearances of Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Ashley Summers.

All I can say is ... it's about time! I said there was a 'link' between the cases years ago, and I haven't changed my mind! His name is Bill and he lives in the Marietta, Ohio area! He's you 'missing link.'

Sincerely,

Bonnie M. Wells

3/25/10

PS: Here's some more links to Cleveland cases: Yes, I believe they are all connected:

Gina DeJesus

Amy Mihaljevic

Map Page For Amy, Amanda & Gina

Dumped In Cleveland / 3-30-06

Starlight Inner-Prizes

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