Remaro Smith's Gun Felony Warrant STILL ACTIVE, And Johnny Northside Answers "Witch Hunt" Allegations...Plus How YOU Can Check For Active Warrants!

Stock photo, John Hoff looking at paperwork, blog post by John Hoff

To refresh everybody's memory: the mother of Annshalike Hamilton, who is named June Leikas, thinks Remaro C. Smith murdered her daughter. Click here for details. A family friend thinks so, too. Click here. And then another family friend also thinks so, click here. And this blog has been telling the story. This blog is the ONLY media entity which appears to be telling the story right now, and there's something wrong with that picture, but more on that later.

I don't know who killed Annshalike Hamilton. I am just printing information which appears to be relevant and substantive. I am committed to printing information which would tend to cast doubt on information I have already received. My mind is not made up about who did it.

So I called my high ranking police source a moment ago--because seeds of doubt had been planted in my mind by somebody who called and talked to me for almost a freaking hour about Remaro Smith, how innocent he was or MIGHT BE, that kind of thing--no telling if this is a credible, connected source or not, so nothing to publish yet, but let the record show the conversation took place and it planted dark, slippery seeds of doubt in my mind, just a bit.

For a moment. Just a moment.

But nope. Nope. Right away I called my high ranking police source--the same one who told me about the active warrants a while back, click here--and I checked.

The source confirms the MNCIS system shows Remaro C. Smith wanted on an active warrant. So the source checked things another way, just to make sure, because the MNCIS system had been down recently. So it was checked another way. Wanted. Wanted on three warrants. The felony gun thing and two misdemeanors. In regard to the felony gun thing, specifically it is "possession of a weapon--prohibited person--felony." (In one of the systems, the felony charge "trumps" the less serious charges, thus only the most serious charge shows up in one of the systems)

(An aside directed to one particular person, not to all the readers at large: So he's still wanted on three warrants. You say I should check with my sources? I should do that? Well, I did. REMARO SMITH IS STILL WANTED ON A FELONY GUN WARRANT, "Brenda." You want to tell me things? Convince me of things? Convince me something is TRUE? Make me afraid to say something on my blog? Prove you even KNOW Remaro? Well, you'll have to do much better than that. "Brenda." I'm just saying) 

Now let's talk about accusations and insinuations this blog is on a "witch hunt" and Remaro Smith is getting, oh I don't know, defamed.

First of all, that's not true because...

...he's not getting "defamed," in fact he's getting FAMOUS, therefore "famed." Ha ha.

But seriously, folks. And let's be dead serious for a moment.

Turn on your television to shows like Nancy Grace and so forth, and you will see friends and family members articulating, in detail, why they suspect so-and-so of murder. There is nothing wrong with the media printing these substantive, detailed suspicions by people close to a murder victim, who wish to reveal details about what happened that night, what they saw, what they suspect. IT HAPPENS ALL THE TIME, FOLKS. It's the media doing its job, playing its role in a free society. Society cares when there is a murderer loose. And who is most likely to have valuable clues? People close to the murder. If the police wanted me to stop publishing stuff, and told me to stop, such a request would weigh very, very heavily with me. But they have NOT.

Yes, there's a police investigation. And yet this murder is as cold as Annshalike's grave. Does Fox9, KSTP, WCCO, the Star Tribune or other media sources fill the internet, the air waves, kill trees on her behalf? Do they cry out, "Who did it? We don't know, but let us tell you--let us tell the whole world--what her mother thinks. What her friend thinks. What her OTHER friend thinks."

But here's the problem. Annshalike Hamilton is not a prominent person. She's was a poor, pregnant, 15-year-old girl of color, who disappeared off the face of the earth--and who even knew that? A few people close to her. Her murdered body turned up in the garage of a slumlord, and who cares? The family has approached the media or, at most relevant times, made themselves available to the media. By which I mean the BIG media, like local television stations.

But it seems like the biggie media doesn't care. A 15-year-old girl is dead on the Northside? Well, that's sad, but it doesn't even seem to merit a follow up story. In fact, only the most high profile, shocking, interesting cases merit the "let's talk to everybody live on television" treatment. Otherwise, the media doesn't seem to care much.

Well, I happen to care. And I have, well, not many resources. A blog. A slightly hot blog. But it might do the trick to keep the story alive and fresh in a number of minds. 

Like Tom Cruise said in A Few Good Men, "I'm the only friend you've got." The family and friends of Annshalike Hamilton may not like it--in fact, I know for a fact they don't--but the other media isn't responding to their situation. And so the story rolls down the media food chain, until it lands in my lap down near the bottom of the food chain.

I wish to God it weren't in my lap. I wish Nancy Grace was broadcasting from the roof of a skyscraper, telling the world "Annshalike Hamilton is dead and people should care, very much, about solving her murder. Let us look, let us examine, let us all think and roll it around in our minds. What does the mother say? What does the friend say?"

But grassroots blogger media changes the formula. Because, you see, we don't need people in New Jersey to care about this murder or know its details. We need people RIGHT HERE IN MINNEAPOLIS to know and care. And if there's one thing this blog can do, it can reach Minneapolis...especially North Minneapolis. So, as far as I'm concerned, I'll put on a blond wig and be Nancy Grace. It's not very good or very pretty, but it may get the job done.

So I'll dig up info and ask the tough questions though, at some level, I absolutely hate this story: the grit of it, the sadness of it, and Remaro Smith who is clearly FURIOUS for the story being told and he's got, what? An active gun warrant? But I'm not going to let go of this story.

If Remaro has something to say--from Chicago or wherever he might be--my email is available. The comments function is there. If he has something more to say than Johnny Northside is a bored, no-life-having bitch and everything is bullsh*** and hearsay, he can say it. And I'll add this: WHAT HAPPENED IN THAT FAMILY IS VERY COMPLICATED. And when whoever is at the other end of that cell phone used by Remaro's brother Jonathon texts me and says June Leikas bailed Remaro from jail repeatedly...I don't necessarily NOT believe it.

There is a complex story here, and only by getting info from both sides can the story be fleshed out. But what am I supposed to do when one side talks to me in detail--opens up their heart, provides informative documents--and the other side says "bullsh**" and "talk to my lawyer" and that is supposed to be some kind of ANSWER?

But somehow I suspect--and my long phone call with the unknown, unverified, perhaps not even creditable source still fits with what I strongly suspect anyway--Remaro doesn't want to "feed the fire" by providing more information, whether that information is by phone call, email, or text message. He doesn't even want to put his excuses out there and have those excuses examined.

Remaro doesn't want to be famous. He wants the information coming to this blog from friends and family to stop, stop, stop.

Well, it won't stop. Just today more information arrived in my hands. And that info will be hitting the internet soon. In fact, probably the only thing which MIGHT shut off the flow of info--I'm saying "might," here--is Remaro turning himself in upon his three warrants.

Which are still active, according to my high ranking police source.

No, I'm not on a witch hunt. I'm on a hunt for the truth. Both a witch hunt and a hunt for the truth have some common elements, though: they are ugly, messy, and emotional. People grow furious, people cry out, and from a distance you might ask, "OH, my god, that looks horrible!"

But all I want is the truth. And if Remaro wants to articulate his story in detail--all about why he is innocent, how things may look bad because of what some people are saying, but he's innocent of the murder of Annshalike Hamilton--I'm absolutely committed to publishing his side and, furthermore, I AM SURE WHATEVER HAPPENED IS VERY COMPLICATED. I believe that. So tell me. Tell me your side, Remaro C. Smith, because the other side is telling me PLENTY and you have my word that information will continue to pour into the internet as fast as I can get it out there.

Oh, wait. I promised readers information about how to check for warrants, didn't I?

My high ranking police source says to call 612-348-2000. Another source says to call 1-888-988-TIPS (8477)

So cool! Put it in your speed dial, folks! Oh, but I'm told they need a case number. You can't just call with a name, or even a name and birthday.

They seem willing to TAKE info about the whereabouts of wanted individuals, though. They won't GIVE the info.