Authorities ask for public's help in Ethan Couch search

Jiggyfly

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Authorities ask for public's help in Ethan Couch search
Lauren Zakalik, WFAA 5:56 p.m. CST December 21, 2015

FORT WORTH — In one week's time, Ethan Couch has gone from a young man on probation to a fugitive, wanted by U.S. Marshals. Authorities say he and his mother, Tonya, are nowhere to be found.


"We have literally over the past few days run down hundreds and hundreds of leads," said Tarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson.

Investigators worked all weekend sifting through those tips, but Anderson said so far, nothing has panned out.


The infamous "affluenza" teen and his mother remain missing after he skipped out on a meeting with his probation officer.

On Monday authorities released information about Tonya Couch's missing 2011 black Harley-Davidson edition Ford F-150 in hopes people might see it. It bears Texas plates BC5 0945.

"There's a possibility she or he may be in that truck... we don't know that for a fact," the sheriff said.


Couch is serving 10 years' probation for killing four people in a drunken-driving wreck in Burleson when he was 16.

Earlier this month, a video surfaced, allegedly showing Ethan Couch, now 18, at a beer pong party. The sheriff believes that video might have been what sent Couch and his mom running. Couch failed to appear for a scheduled meeting with his parole officer, and the family's home on Eagle Mountain Lake is empty.

"If we can find out [Tonya Couch] helped him at all, I can assure you we will file criminal cases against her," Anderson said.


As for Ethan, District Attorney Sharen Wilson wants his case moved out of juvenile court. She already filed the paperwork to do so.

"He's looking at possible penitentiary time if he is transferred to adult court," Wilson said.

Authorities said they are scouring phone, financial, and flight records. They're also focusing on the beer pong party video.

On Monday, a parent of one of the people in the video said their child was contacted by a criminal investigator with the DA's office.

"I personally do not believe a 10-year probated sentence as a juvenile was sufficient punishment for killing four people," Wilson said.

But before they can address that, they need to find Ethan Couch and his mother.
 

boozeman

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Rage at the rich white punk, I guess.
 

Jiggyfly

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What?

I thought it was funny that his parents were still enabling him and seem ready to go to jail for him.

But after seeing this about the father he probably never stood a chance.
"Couch’s father, Frederick Couch, is scheduled to appear in court Friday for a charge accusing him of falsely identifying himself as a police officer.

On July 28, 2014, North Richland Hills police were called to a disturbance in the 4400 block of Mackey Drive, police spokesman Keith Bauman said.

Couch, 50, allegedly told the officers he was a reserve officer for the town of Lakeside and showed them a police badge and ID.

Police later determined Couch had been lying and arrested him on Aug. 19, Bauman said."
 

boozeman

28 Years And Counting...
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Like I said, rage at the rich white punk. Or his parents.
 

Cotton

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I hope they find him and fry him. His story infuriated me the first time he made the news when that dumbass judge coined the fucking term to begin with.
 

Jiggyfly

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Sheriff: Texas 'affluenza' teen had 'going away' party before fleeing country, mother to be charged
San Antonio Express-News
San Antonio Express-News
By Joshua Fechter, San Antonio Express-News
2 hrs ago



Texas "affluenza" teen Ethan Couch and his mother Tonya Couch staged a "going away" party before they fled to Mexico, authorities in North Texas said Tuesday.

Ethan Couch, on probation for killing four people in a drunken driving crash in 2013, and his mother were detained in the Pacific Coast resort city of Puerto Vallarta on Monday. Both are in the custody of Mexican authorities but are expected to return to the U.S. Tuesday.

The 18-year-old and his mother appeared to have planned their disappearance and even had a "going away" party prior to driving their truck to Mexico, Tarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson told reporters during a Tuesday morning press conference in Fort Worth.


Tonya Couch, 48, will be charged with hindering apprehension, a third-degree felony punishable by a maximum 10 year sentence, Tarrant County District Attorney Sharen Wilson said at the press conference. A warrant has been issued for her arrest.

"Her entire focus has been on protecting Ethan, her entire focus has been on making sure he didn't see any justice done, making sure he was not accountable," Anderson said.

Ethan Couch was sentenced to 10 years probation in 2014 provided he abstain from driving, drinking and doing drugs. He was convicted in 2013 on four counts of intoxication manslaughter after drunkenly crashing into six people, killing four and injuring two.

The teenager's lawyers claimed he suffered from "affluenza," arguing that his parents had allowed him too much money and didn't discipline him.

A video surfaced on Dec. 2 of Ethan Couch apparently playing beer pong with a group of people, raising questions about whether his punishment should be changed.

Anderson said investigators believe the man in the video is Ethan Couch, but they have no definitive proof.


Ricardo Ariel Vera, the representative of Mexico's immigration institute in Jalisco, told The Associated Press that Ethan Couch and Tonya Couch will return to Texas on a commercial flight to Houston on Tuesday.

Ethan Couch will go before a juvenile judge for a detention hearing on Jan. 19, Wilson told reporters.

At that time, Tarrant County prosecutors will seek to move his probation to adult court, Wilson said.

If Ethan Couch remains in the juvenile system, he will be incarcerated in a juvenile facility until his 19th birthday in April.

If the juvenile judge elects to move the 18-year-old's case to the adult system, his 10-year probation sentence would restart, Wilson said.

However, a state district judge could sentence Ethan Couch to 120 days in an adult detention facility as a condition of his probation.

"We are bound by the sentence he received by the juvenile judge in 2014," Wilson said.




Anderson and Wilson both criticized the sentence handed down by State District Judge Jean Hudson Boyd, who oversaw Ethan Couch's case.

"I believe she did what she thought was right at the time," Wilson said.

Boyd resigned in December 2014. State District Judge Timothy A. Menikos now resides over the 323rd District Court, where Ethan Couch's trial took place.
 

Cotton

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The mother should go to jail for a long time, too.
 
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