Missing woman's body found 28 years later, behind false wall

(CNN) -- The hidden skeleton of a woman who had been missing for 28 years came to light when a contractor cleaned out a vacant home in the Town of Poughkeepsie, New York.

The gruesome find was uncovered behind a 'false wall' in the basement of the home the woman had shared with her late husband, police said.

Joann Nichols' remains were found inside a large plastic bin, inside a plastic bag and wrapped in a sheet, said Dr. Kari Reiber, the Dutchess County Medical Examiner.

"The body was skeletonized and the hands were tied with rope. ... A large area of the right side of the skull was also missing," Reiber said.

Sealing the body in the plastic bin behind a false wall might have been enough to mask the smell as the body decomposed, she said.

Members of the medical examiner's office removed the body after it was found Friday and were able to identify Nichols through dental records. An autopsy showed the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head, according to Reiber.

Nichols, a 55-year-old former first-grade teacher at Gayhead Elementary School in Hopewell Junction New York, was reported missing on December 21, 1985, by her husband, James Nichols.

Police said he called in the report after his wife didn't show up for a hair appointment at a beauty parlor earlier that day. The next day the couple's vehicle was discovered in the parking lot of a shopping center in the town.

Police Chief Thomas Mauro said an intensive investigation followed, but the woman was never located. The case had remained open since 1985 and was reviewed annually by police, he said.

James Nichols was found dead in the home on December 27 after concerned neighbors called police because they had not seen him in several days. He was 82 and died of natural causes, police said.

Officers said they found the house filled with personal items, debris and garbage.

No one in Nichols' family came forward to claim his body or take control of his estate, so Dutchess County Commissioner of Finance Pamela Barrack was appointed as temporary administrator, according to Barrack's attorney, Kelly Traver.

"We were only able to locate two family members of Mr. Nichols, but they were not able to claim his body," Traver said.

Nichols was buried by the Dutchess County Department of Community and Family Services in an unknown location, Traver said.

The Town of Poughkeepsie Police Department said it has not closed the case and will continue to examine the new forensic evidence.

"It's now safe to say James Nichols is a suspect in this case," said police Capt. Paul LeComte.

The Town of Poughkeepsie surrounds the City of Poughkeepsie in southeastern New York State, about 70 miles north of New York City.

Teen in jail for months over 'sarcastic' Facebook threat

(CNN) -- It was a sarcastic Facebook comment during an argument about a video game. And, according to the father of 19-year-old Justin Carter, it was enough to land his son behind bars for months, facing the possibility of years in prison.

Carter, who is currently on suicide watch in Comal County Jail near San Antonio, Texas, has been locked up since February. He faces a charge of making terroristic threats, a felony that could theoretically bring a sentence of up to eight years.

"He's very depressed. He's very scared and he's very concerned that he's not going to get out," Jack Carter, Justin's father, told CNN on Tuesday. "He's pretty much lost all hope."

In February, Justin, then 18, and a friend were arguing on Facebook with someone else over the online video game "League of Legends."

"Someone had said something to the effect of 'Oh you're insane. You're crazy. You're messed up in the head,'" Jack Carter told CNN affiliate KVUE in Austin. "To which he replied 'Oh yeah, I'm real messed up in the head. I'm going to go shoot up a school full of kids and eat their still-beating hearts.'"

According to court documents, Justin wrote "I'm f---ed in the head alright. I think I'ma (sic) shoot up a kindergarten and watch the blood of the innocent rain down and eat the beating heart of one of them."

Jack Carter said his son followed the claim with "LOL" and "J/K" -- indicating that the comment wasn't serious.

But someone else -- Carter says a woman in Canada -- noticed the comment and reported it to authorities. Coming two months after the deadly shootings at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, the report wasn't taken lightly. According to court documents, Carter lived less than a half-mile from an elementary school in New Braunfels, Texas.

A search warrant was issued on February 13 and, a week later, a judge issued a warrant for his arrest.

"I thought it was a joke," Jack Carter told CNN. "I couldn't believe the person that called me. I kept telling them they have to be kidding. When I realized he wasn't, I literally broke down crying."

A judge set bond for Justin Carter at $500,000, meaning that 10% of that, or $50,000, would have to be posted to get him out of jail while he awaits trial. His lawyer, Donald H. Flanary III, says that's far more than his family can afford.

"It's outrageous," Flanary, who is working the case for free, told CNN Tuesday. "I've represented murderers and their bond was $150,000."

Flanary said he planned to meet with Justin Carter Tuesday afternoon and ask a judge for the bond to be reduced. He said police didn't find any weapons or other items to suggest that Justin's comment was serious, but that, "in the times we're living in, it was kind of a perfect storm."

"The law enforcement, the sheriff's department, the district attorney's office -- nobody wants to be the one that let him go," Flanary said. "They don't think about the person or the crime or the lack of crime ... they don't want to take responsibility for something happening in the future."

A spokeswoman for the police department in Austin, where Justin was originally jailed, referred a request for comment and arrest documents to neighboring New Braunfels Police. A police department spokesman there did not immediately respond to a similar request.

Meanwhile, people have come together online to support the jailed teen.

A Change.org petition titled "Release Justin Carter and Change the Investigative Criteria for Terroristic Threat Laws" had received nearly 35,000 digital signatures as of Tuesday afternoon.

"Too many teenagers are being arrested, jailed and having their lives forever altered because of anti-terrorism laws and investigations that impede their 1st Amendment right to freedom of speech," reads the petition.

Jack Carter says that, as a parent, he understands why authorities are so vigilant about threats of school violence.

"I definitely see the need to investigate such claims. Absolutely," he said. "But at some point during the investigation there has to be some common sense."