Star-Telegram.com: News

Cuban says he'll fight SEC's insider-trading lawsuit

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 22:40 CST

By TREBOR BANSTETTER

The case against Mark Cuban begins with a seemingly innocuous e-mail sent four years ago with the subject line "Call me pls."

The e-mail, from Canadian search engine Mamma.com, in which Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, was the largest investor, sparked a flurry of angry phone calls over the next few hours that ended with Cuban allegedly committing securities fraud, according to government regulators.

On Monday, the Securities and Exchange Commission accused the outspoken entrepreneur and sports maven of insider trading, saying he illegally sold his investment in Mamma after learning of a planned stock offering that would reduce the value of shares. The commission filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Dallas.

Cuban strongly denies the allegations. He said in a statement that the suit has no merit and is "the product of gross abuse of prosecutorial discretion."

"I am disappointed that the commission chose to bring this case based upon its enforcement staff’s win-at-any-cost ambitions," he said. "The staff’s process was result-oriented, facts be damned. The government’s claims are false and they will be proven to be so."

Cuban, 50, could face civil penalties and restitution that could top $3 million plus interest. The court could also order him to refrain from any violations in the future, a move that would expose him to contempt charges if he were convicted in any additional cases.

Cuban could also face criminal insider-trading charges if federal prosecutors pursued the case. There was no indication Monday that prosecutors are investigating, and a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Texas declined to comment.

SEC officials declined to comment on whether the case could result in criminal charges.

Phil Stern, a lawyer who has worked as an enforcement official for the SEC as well as a special assistant U.S. attorney, said criminal cases are usually pursued "when they’re viewed to be egregious in terms of the number of people affected or if there’s something out of the ordinary."

Stern said Cuban’s high profile "in and of itself wouldn’t cause the U.S. attorney to step in." Many cases are handled by the SEC without criminal charges being filed, he said.

The charges could taint Cuban’s business deals, such as his bid to purchase the Chicago Cubs.

"I would think this does reflect on his integrity, and that’s something the [Major League Baseball] owners might consider when they look at who they want to own a major league franchise," Stern said. "Keep in mind, of course, that these are just allegations at this point."

Cuban said he plans to contest the allegations and "demonstrate that the commission’s claims are infected by the misconduct of the staff of its enforcement division."

'Upset and angry’

Scott Friestad, the SEC’s deputy director of enforcement, said the commission first learned of the potential insider trading last year "through normal investigative channels."

The commission laid out its case in great detail in its court filing. SEC officials said the problems began June 28, 2004, when Guy Faure, chief executive of Mamma, sent Cuban the e-mail. At the time, Cuban held 600,000 shares of Mamma, based in Montreal.

Four minutes later, Cuban called Faure from the American Airlines Center, according to the SEC complaint. During the call, which lasted eight minutes and 35 seconds, Faure told Cuban that he was about to disclose confidential information, and Cuban agreed to keep it secret. Faure then invited him to invest in a new stock offering, for private investors, that the company was planning.

Cuban was told that the new shares were being offered at a discount, which tends to drive down stock prices — a move that would reduce the value of his holdings.

Cuban "became very upset and angry during the conversation," according to the SEC. At the end of the call, he told Faure: "Well, now I’m screwed. I can’t sell."

In an e-mail to Mamma board members that day, Executive Chairman David Goldman wrote that Cuban "flew off the handle" at the news of the private offering.

Auto bailout's chances grow dim

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 22:40 CST

By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER and JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS

WASHINGTON — Prospects dimmed Monday for enactment of a $25 billion bailout for the faltering auto industry before year’s end as congressional Democrats and the Bush administration headed for a stalemate over the plan.

Help for Detroit’s Big Three, which have been battered by the economic meltdown that has choked their sales and frozen credit, is falling victim to a partisan fight over where the money should come from.

Senate Democrats propose denying bonuses to U.S. auto executives making more than $250,000 a year in exchange for giving the companies and their suppliers $25 billion in loans from the $700 billion Wall Street bailout. The companies would first have to give the government a plan for "long-term financial viability," according to a copy of the legislation obtained by The Associated Press.

The loans — which would start at 5 percent interest — would come from the second half of the financial-industry rescue money. The measure would also extend jobless aid to unemployed workers whose benefits have run out.

The White House and congressional Republicans insist that the automaker bailout money instead come from redirecting a $25 billion loan program approved by Congress in September to help the industry develop more fuel-efficient vehicles.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he will hold a test vote this week on a broad economic-aid plan — including spending on public-works projects, aid to cash-strapped states, an extension of jobless aid and the automaker loans — that most now concede has virtually no chance of passing.

If that fails, he will seek a vote as early as Wednesday on the auto-industry bailout and the unemployment benefits, Reid said.

"If we move forward, we can protect and create American jobs, help working families and prevent our economy from falling even further into recession," Reid said as he opened a postelection session. "I ask my colleagues to show the American people that in the face of tremendous economic pain and uncertainty, we will not wait until January."

The White House, meanwhile, took pains to clarify its position on the bailout, saying the administration "does not want U.S. automakers to fail." Press secretary Dana Perino said reporting on the White House’s statements on the issue has involved "attempts to shorthand the administration’s position."

Perino’s statement also made clear, however, that the administration steadfastly opposes drawing funds from the bailout plan to help Detroit. The White House opposes the idea of automakers’ getting an additional $25 billion.

The financial situation of General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler Llc. is growing worse.

"There’s a high degree of urgency" for federal action if GM is going to stave off a financial crisis, Rick Wagoner, GM chairman and chief executive, said Sunday in an appearance with United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger on WDIV-TV in Detroit.

Making a pitch
Arlington Mayor Robert Cluck traveled Monday to Washington, D.C., to join other officials, including mayors and city managers, in making a pitch to their congressional delegations to save the auto industry.

The Main Street Automotive Jobs campaign is aimed at alerting leaders to the impact on local communities if the auto industry were to go under.

Cluck said the General Motors plant in Arlington generates more than $390 million and 4,000 jobs in the area.

"America needs to take action to preserve automotive jobs and the transformation our manufacturing communities are making with new green technologies and innovation," Cluck said in a written statement.

The delegation also included mayors from Shreveport; Toledo, Ohio; and Adrian, Mich. — Star-Telegram

District judge charged with driving while intoxicated

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 23:07 CST

By MARTHA DELLER

Officials are refusing to release the results of a blood test conducted on state District Judge Elizabeth Berry after she was stopped by Alvarado police for speeding on Interstate 35W, but Berry has been charged with driving while intoxicated.

Johnson County Attorney Bill Moore said Monday that he approved the misdemeanor DWI charge late Friday after reviewing lab results from blood taken three hours after Berry was stopped Nov. 8. Authorities say she was driving 92 mph in a 65 mph zone.

Moore said he plans to ask the attorney general whether he has to release the results of the blood test. The Alvarado city attorney has refused to release video footage from the patrol car’s dashboard camera and instead is seeking an attorney general opinion as well.

The case was assigned to Judge Robert Mayfield of Johnson County Court-at-Law No. 1. However, Mayfield has asked that the case be reassigned because he was previously Berry’s supervisor in the Tarrant County district attorney’s office.

The case was then assigned to retired Senior Judge Bob Dohoney of Hill County. No court dates have been set.

Berry’s attorney, Mark Daniel, said the county attorney’s action was not unexpected.

"It doesn’t come as a surprise that he filed the case," Daniel said. "We’re more than prepared to defend against it."

Berry, 43, could face up to 180 days in jail and a $2,000 fine if convicted of the Class B misdemeanor. She is free on $1,000 bail.

Alvarado Police Chief John Allen said last week that officers who stopped Berry for speeding about 4 p.m. noticed beer cans in her car and believed that she was acting intoxicated. After refusing a field sobriety test, she was arrested and taken to the Johnson County Law Enforcement Center in Cleburne. Officers obtained a warrant to take her blood after she refused a breath test, he said.

Even though Berry has now been formally charged, it is unlikely that she would be asked to step down from the bench, according to the Commission on Judicial Conduct.

Seana Willing, the commission’s executive director, said it would probably not investigate Berry until her criminal case is resolved unless someone files a complaint against her. The commission can also initiate its own investigation, but that wouldn’t happen before its meeting in early December, she said.

If the case is dismissed or if Berry is acquitted, the commission probably would take no action against her. However, commissioners could make additional inquiries and, if they determined the judge was impaired to some degree, they could recommend that she participate in a treatment program or order her to do so.

Even if Berry is convicted, Willing said, a misdemeanor conviction would not disqualify her from serving as a judge. She might be disciplined, Willing said, but it’s unlikely that she would be suspended unless she was convicted of official misconduct.

"Judges tend to get in trouble not because of a DWI but what they do during the situation," Willing said. "They throw their weight around and try to get out of it because they’re a judge. That’s why those videos can be helpful — to prove what the judge did or didn’t do."

Lewisville police open homicide investigation in 2001 disappearance of woman from D/FW Airport

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 23:07 CST

By KATE GORMAN

Lewisville police have opened a homicide investigation in the case of an Alzheimer’s patient who disappeared from Dallas/Fort Worth Airport almost seven years ago, officials said Monday.

The Tarrant County medical examiner’s office has confirmed that skeletal remains found last year near Lewisville Lake are those of Margie Dabney and has ruled her death a homicide. Dabney died from head injuries, a spokeswoman for the office said Monday.

Candice Price, Dabney’s daughter, said the news was a shock to the family of the 70-year-old, who vanished during a layover Dec. 5, 2001.

The family held out hope for years that Dabney was being taken care of somewhere, Price said Monday. But last month, authorities asked the family for a DNA sample to compare with skeletal remains found last year near the lake.

"We really had to sit down and say, 'What if this is Mama?’ " said Price, 38, of Indianapolis. She began preparing herself for bad news and imagined that her mother, who was diabetic, might have died peacefully in her sleep.

"Now, to hear that somebody has killed my mother, that’s a blow to my heart," she said.

The medical examiner’s office could not determine when Dabney died or whether she was killed where her remains were found, spokeswoman Linda Anderson said. Police have no leads in the case, said Capt. Kevin Deaver, who oversees criminal investigations in the Lewisville Police Department.

Detectives began reviewing D/FW Airport police files from the disappearance last month, after Army Corps of Engineers workers discovered Dabney’s clothes and business cards near the area where the remains were found, he said.

D/FW Airport police officials could not be reached for comment Monday.

Case background
December 2001: Margie Dabney disappears while traveling with her husband, Joe Dabney, from Indianapolis to Los Angeles. Relatives had asked American Airlines to provide a courtesy escort, and airline officials said the couple were met on the plane by an assistant who handles passengers with special needs. When the couple said they needed to use the restroom during their layover, the attendant accompanied Joe Dabney, who used a wheelchair. Margie Dabney went alone to the women’s restroom and was to meet them at the gate, but she never arrived. Authorities and relatives searched the airport and surrounding area for months to no avail.

March 2003: The Dabney family and American Airlines settle a lawsuit alleging that airline officials misidentified Margie Dabney as an unaccompanied minor instead of an Alzheimer’s patient and gave Joe Dabney an escort who didn’t speak English. The suit also alleged that the escort bullied Joe Dabney — using a racial epithet — to get on the airplane to California against his will when Margie Dabney disappeared. Details of the settlement were not released.

November 2007: Skeletal remains are discovered near Lewisville Lake, about 13 miles north of the airport, after an Army Corps of Engineers burn.

October: Clothing matching the description of what Margie Dabney was wearing when she disappeared and business cards bearing her name are discovered after another burn. Authorities seek DNA testing to identify the remains.

— Star-Telegram archives

Goodbye, west lawn: Kimbell reveals placement of Piano building

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 23:07 CST

By GAILE ROBINSON

FORT WORTH — Kimbell Art Museum officials will unveil their new building plans today. As anticipated, or dreaded, the Renzo Piano-designed facility is going to be built on the west lawn, directly in front of the existing building.

"Because of the great interest in the building and its setting, we feel we should unveil the basic shape and position," said Malcolm Warner, the Kimbell’s acting director.

The new building will be 90,000 square feet, with more than a quarter of it devoted to new gallery space to accommodate temporary exhibitions. There will be an underground parking structure, a 315-seat auditorium and an education wing with offices, studios and a cafe. The price tag for construction is estimated at $70 million, and the Kimbell Art Foundation is picking up the tab.

Warner and Piano will show the working plans for the site, the footprint of the building and its physical components to government officials and the news media at 9 a.m. today at the Kimbell. What it will actually look like is still in flux. Because groundbreaking isn’t expected until 2010, there is ample time for tinkering with surface choices, model-making and fine-tuning.

Piano has said he will use the same building materials as those used by architect Louis Kahn for the original Kimbell — travertine marble, concrete and glass. The front will be almost all glass, so when visitors are channeled up from the underground parking garage into the lobby that stretches the length of the building, they will see the front of the existing Kimbell.

This, Piano says, is the Kimbell’s front door, the entry point Kahn wanted all visitors to experience. Kahn did not understand Texans’ desire to park as closely as possible to a door, so almost all of the Kimbell’s visitors enter by way of the parking lot and through what is ostensibly the garage door of the museum. Piano is going to fix that.

The location of the new edifice has been a topic of speculation. When discussing the two available locations, the west lawn or the Darnell Street lot, it became apparent that using the Darnell Street lot would create two separate buildings, and that would cause problems moving art and people. Putting the structure on the west lawn makes for a more cohesive campus, and although the two buildings will be separate entities, "they will have a dialogue of rhyming forms," Warner said, adding that the new building echoes the Kimbell’s original plans, which extended into the area the new building will occupy.

The chutzpah it took to place his building directly in front of Kahn’s has been ameliorated by Piano’s generosity in manipulating the visitor’s view to the Kimbell’s best side. Piano is nothing if not generous. "He’s one of the least egotistical of all the great architects working today," Warner said.

Choosing Piano to design the new Kimbell structure was a safe call. In the beginning of his career, Piano worked with Kahn, so he is intimately familiar with Kahn’s designs and philosophies. Piano is also a master at art museum design. His company, the Renzo Piano Building Workshop, with offices in Genoa and Paris, has received so many commissions for them in recent years that it is often a surprise when another architectural firm gets a plum assignment. Piano has three art museums in Texas to his credit: the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas and two in Houston, the Menil Collection and Cy Twombly Gallery. He designed the Beyeler Museum in Basel, Switzerland, and the Klee Museum in Bern, Switzerland, and has provided expansions to the Art Institute of Chicago, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the High Museum of Art in Atlanta.

With each new museum comes a new roof. Roofs are Piano’s signature element; their intricate constructions are all about managing natural light. The Nasher in Dallas has a grid of directional white cones that tilt at different degrees to diffuse direct sunshine. The new Kimbell building will be carbon neutral; its roof will support solar panels so the building can generate as much electricity as it uses. An early model of this roof, shown exclusively to the Star-Telegram, indicates long channels running the length of the building from east to west. A cross section of a single channel resembles the "swoosh" of the Nike logo. Between each of these long swoosh-shaped channels will be a vertical glass panel. Light will enter the building through the glass panels, bounce around the curvature of the swoosh and then gracefully spill into the galleries — with no hot spots or direct glare.

A berm sweeping up over the back of the building will help shade the roof from the western sun, insulate the walls and maintain the building’s carbon neutrality.

The only physical connection between the new building and the Kimbell will be an underground service tunnel that staffers will use to move materials and art. It will not be open to the public.

Many design elements are still being tweaked — the configuration and wall surfaces of the new galleries, for example. Piano’s first models showed contemporary white spaces. The Kimbell, though, has needed walls more in keeping with its period paintings. This may be the time and place to utilize a color other than white or a surface other than concrete.

Also open for discussion is terminology. What is the new building going to be called? The term "new building" suggests there is an "old building," and referring to the Kahn building as the "old Kimbell" does not sit well with institution’s administration. The Piano building and the Kahn building removes Kimbell from the equation, and that won’t do, either. The Kimbell campus with east and west wings sounds very junior college-ish. The Kimbell and the Kimbell 2.0? The 20th-century Kimbell and the 21st-century Kimbell?

Although the one thing no longer open for debate is the new building’s location, there is an upside for those who have bemoaned the loss of lawn. In a green-space exchange, Kimbell officials have said the Darnell Street auditorium will eventually be demolished and some of the parking lots removed so the Frisbee players and dog walkers will have an expanse of parklike lawn on which to play. For the architectural purists who wanted nothing to change about the Kimbell, nothing has, except that more people will experience the Kahn-designed building as Kahn intended them to.

As for the collection, it will remain at 350 objects, Warner says. It will not expand to fill the space. "It’s part of our character to be small and choice," he said. "This new building is a way to step up the temporary exhibitions."

Attorney general's report details human trafficking in Texas

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 18:14 CST

By DAVE MONTGOMERY

AUSTIN — Texas has become a major hub for human trafficking, state officials said Monday while proposing a more aggressive response to what a senior lawmaker described as "modern-day slavery."

Nearly 20 percent of human-trafficking victims found nationwide have been in Texas, according to a report released by Attorney General Greg Abbott. The 57-page report, mandated by the Legislature in 2007, also identifies Interstate 10 as a major route through Texas for human-trafficking rings.

Abbott released the report at a news conference with Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, who introduced legislation to combat the problem.

"These human traffickers are like cockroaches," she said.

Her bill, prepared for the 81st Legislature, which convenes in January, would create a task force in the attorney general’s office, start training programs for local law enforcement and implement an awareness campaign for communities. It would also improve programs for assisting victims.

Abbott, Van de Putte and other officials said human trafficking has grown into one of the nation’s top criminal enterprises. Abbott’s report, compiled from federal data, news reports and other research, said traffickers often lure victims into phony moneymaking opportunities, then hold them in slaverylike conditions.

Many are women and children forced into "despicable sex acts," Abbott said. An estimated 14,500 to 17,000 victims are brought into the United States from Asia, Latin America and eastern Europe, but an increasing number are U.S. citizens.

"With its vast international border, large population and immense size, Texas continues to be both a destination point for human trafficking victims and a major route for the transportation of victims nationwide," the report said.

Up to 30 percent of calls to an international hot line for human-trafficking victims came from Texas, said Mandi Sheridan Kimball, a senior analyst for Children at Risk Public Policy and Law Center in Houston.

Bill Bernstein, deputy director of Dallas-based Mosaic Family Services, which helps trafficking victims in North Texas, said public officials "are just now" beginning to get a sense of how extensive the problem is.

"It can be almost any type of occupation," he said. One case in Tulsa, he said, involved men from India who had been enslaved to do welding. Other victims are forced to work in hotels, motels and restaurants, he said.

The attorney general’s report cited a Fort Worth case reported in the Star-Telegram in early 2008 in which teenage gang members forced runaway girls into prostitution. When one girl tried to leave, the report said, the gang threatened to kill her parents.

Mike Barnett, an investigator for the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission in Houston, said he has investigated numerous cases because human-trafficking operations are often run in bars and nightclubs. In one case, businessmen from Central America had gathered extensive "intelligence files" on the families of girls held in captivity to work in a bar, telling them that they would kill their loved ones back home if they tried to escape.

Plano man pleads guilty to misspending his elderly mother’s money

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 18:12 CST

By MARTHA DELLER

FORT WORTH — A Plano man admitted Monday that he improperly spent money entrusted to him by his 74-year-old mother.

But he disputed the state’s allegation that he improperly spent more than $87,000 of his mother’s money over four months in 2004. Next month, a judge will determine how much was spent.

John Michael Hook, 54, was sentenced Monday to 10 years’ probation after he pleaded guilty to misappropriation of property by a fiduciary, someone who acts on another person’s behalf. Because the victim was older than 65, the charge is a second-degree felony with a punishment of two to 20 years in prison.

If Hook successfully completes his probation, he will not have a felony record.

Prosecutors Sabrina Sabin and David Lobingier said Hook’s mother, Phyllis Parish, gave her son her power of attorney in 2002. Two years later, Sabin said, Hook moved his mother into his home and began using money from her bank account to pay bills and buy things for himself.

While using his mother’s money to pay his mortgage, Hook charged her rent, Sabin said. He also paid his credit card bills and bought a variety of items for himself, including a motorcycle, she said.

Hook continued to reassure his mother that her money was safe until June 2005 when it ran out, Lobingier said. That’s when Hook sent his mother to live with his former wife in Las Vegas, he said.

The Tarrant County district attorney’s office’s economic crimes unit began investigating after Parish contacted her bank and learned that her money was gone, Sabin said. The case was handled by Tarrant County because that’s where Parish signed over her power of attorney and that’s where her bank was, she said.

Sabin said it took investigators about 19 months to put together the case through bank, credit card and other records.

A restitution hearing has been set for Dec. 18 to determine how much money Hook must repay his mother.

Power for Fort Worth tree's lights to be offset by wind energy

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 18:12 CST

By MELODY McDONALD

FORT WORTH — It probably won’t be a white Christmas in Cowtown this year.

But it’s going to be green.

On Monday morning, a 54-foot blue spruce from Grand Rapids, Mich., was hoisted into a giant tree stand at the corner of Third and Main streets in Sundance Square, where the tree will be decorated in a traditional nutcracker motif and thousands of lights.

Typically, that much bling (it takes about 18,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity to light the tree) would emit 25,000 pounds of carbon dioxide.

But this year, the emissions will be offset with wind power from Green Mountain Energy, Sundance Square’s energy partner.

"That has the same environmental impact as not driving your car 28,000 miles — that is like from here to the North Pole and back," said Mark Lamping, a spokesman for Green Mountain Energy. "Wind power is 100 percent pollution-free."

Johnny Campbell, president and chief executive of Sundance Square, said the square, which has than 3 million square feet of office, residential and commercial space, is Texas’ largest green power purchaser in the real estate industry. It only made sense that its Christmas tree would go green, too.

"This means that 100 percent of the electricity that the tree uses will be offset by Texas wind power," Campbell said. "We are really excited about that."

Holiday celebration Sundance Square will kick off the holiday season Nov. 28, the day after Thanksgiving, with a full day of fun events, including the lighting of the tree:

2 p.m.: The Holiday Fun Zone, presented by XTO Energy, will feature holiday-themed crafts, food and entertainment for children.

5:30 p.m.: Cowboy Santas walk the parade route to collect unwrapped toys to donate to low-income families.

6 p.m.: Chesapeake Energy Parade of Lights, presented by Chase, will feature floats and marching bands.

7:30 p.m.: Santa Claus will light the tree and then be available for pictures with children.

8 p.m.: Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas will be shown on the big screen.

Arlington declares zero-tolerance on reckless motorcycle riders

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 17:57 CST

By NATHANIEL JONES

It’s all fun and games until somebody gets hurt.

Or even killed.

David Slider, 22, who enjoyed riding his motorcycle faster than 100 mph, got lucky. While racing a car one morning in July 2007, Slider ran into the back of a pickup hauling windshields. He broke several bones and ruptured one of his vocal cords.

Slider was one of more than 130 motorcyclists who crashed their bikes in Arlington last year. Seven of them died; a helmet and a little luck likely saved Slider from being the eighth.

Slider attended the launch of Arlington’s SMART campaign — Safety Equipment, Motorcycle License, Awareness, Responsibility and Traffic Laws — on Monday at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.

Under the zero-tolerance campaign, officers will write more tickets to reckless motorcycle riders.

"We’re out here to let motorcyclists know that we are serious," said Chris Holder, a traffic officer with the Arlington Police Department. "We can go from writing multiple tickets to confiscating bikes if the situation deems necessary."

Motorcycle fatalities in Texas have increased 73 percent, from 229 in 2000 to 397 in 2007.

Arlington’s seven motorcycle fatalities in 2007 more than doubled the city’s total the previous year.

"Whenever I see a motorcyclist cut in and out of traffic, it just sends chills down my back," Slider said. "They aren’t thinking about the consequences."

Remains are those of Alzheimer's patient who disappeared from DFW

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 15:00 CST

Kate Gorman

Authorities have confirmed that skeletal remains found almost a year ago near Lake Lewisville are those of a woman who disappeared from DFW Airport in 2001.

Marjorie Dabney's death was ruled a homicide by the Tarrant County medical examiner's office. The 70-year-old Alzheimer's patient died from head injuries, said Linda Anderson, a spokeswoman for the office.

Dabney wandered away from her husband and an airport escort during a layover at the airport December 5, 2001.

The remains were discovered near Lake Lewisville, about 13 miles north of the airport, on Nov. 26, 2007.

Army Corps workers found Dabney's clothing and business cards near the lake in October, and DNA tests confirmed her identity, Anderson said.

Authorities could not determine when Dabney died or whether she was killed at the location where the remains were found, she said.

The California woman disappeared while she and her husband were changing planes at the airport.