June 20, 2013
Remains Found at Former Mobster Home
An FBI excavation has turned up possible human remains at a home once occupied by a famed gangster who inspired Robert De Niro's character in the movie "Goodfellas," authorities said. Federal agents armed with jackhammers and shovels had started digging Monday as part of an undisclosed investigation. An FBI spokesman confirmed that agents found organic material that they want to test, but he declined to comment further. Read more...
Trial Date Set for Ariel Castro
A man accused of kidnapping three women and holding them in his home and raping them over a decade was given a late summer trial date. Ariel Castro, 52, appeared in court for a brief hearing as Cuyahoga County Judge Michael Russo said he was aiming to begin the trial by Aug. 4, meeting a 90-day speedy trial requirement. Castro was arrested May 6, and the speedy trial requirement could be waived to allow more preparation time. Castro faces another pretrial hearing June 26. Read more...
Woman Killed on Walk of Fame
Police in Los Angeles say they've arrested three panhandlers in the fatal stabbing of a young woman who was taking photographs on Hollywood's star-lined "Walk of Fame." Police say they found the 23-year-old woman bleeding from multiple stab wounds near busy Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue. Patrols were beefed up and witnesses reported seeing armed officers on rooftops in the area. Read more...
Phoenix's 'Serial Shooter' Dies in Prison
An Arizona death row inmate convicted of killing six people in Phoenix's "serial shooter" attacks has died in prison. Prison officials say 40-year-old Dale Hausner was found unresponsive in his cell in Florence. He was pronounced dead at a hospital about an hour later. Authorities say the cause of death is under investigation. Read more...
Maine Man Charged in Teen Death
A man accused of using a phony Facebook profile to lure a 15-year-old girl to her death pleaded not guilty Wednesday to murder and kidnapping charges. Kyle Dube, 20, of Orono, entered the pleas during his arraignment at the Penobscot Judicial Center. Defense lawyer Stephen Smith requested a psychological evaluation for Dube, who was returned to jail after the brief court appearance. Dube is accused of creating a fake Facebook profile and using it to set up a meeting with Nichole Cable, of Glenburn, before killing her and hiding her body on May 12. Read more...
June 19, 2013
Police Search for Missing Tempe Teen
Tempe, Arizona police are searching for a 19-year-old college student who mysteriously disappeared after a night of partying. Police were using sonar to search Tempe Town Lake for Andrienne Salinas who has been missing since early Saturday morning. Investigators said they had no particular reason to search the lake. Read more...
Zimmerman Jury Narrowed Down
Forty potential jurors in George Zimmerman's murder trial were asked Tuesday to return for further questioning, clearing the first round of interviews for a case that involves issues of race, equal justice and gun control. Prosecutors and defense attorneys whittled down the pool from hundreds of prospects on the seventh day of jury selection. The attorneys had been questioning jurors about their exposure to media coverage of Zimmerman's fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin in February 2012. Starting Wednesday, they will be able to ask those invited to the next round more detailed questions about how they feel about the case. Read more...
Baby Kidnappers Guilty of Murder
A California couple is facing prison time after juries convicted them of luring an acquaintance to their home and strangling her to kidnap her 2-month-old boy. Two juries deliberated the murder case against 34-year-old Maria Robles and 38-year-old Augustine Velarde. Velarde's jury convicted him of second-degree murder in the December 2010 slaying of 26-year-old Ana DeCeja. Read more...
Man Beaten, Robbed by Date
A north Florida man says he needs surgery on his right eye after he was beaten and robbed during his first date with a woman he met at a convenience store. He's hoping the next time he sees her will be in court. A Flagler County Sheriff's report says 34-year-old Shaun Williams met the woman he knew as "Tree" two weeks ago. The woman allegedly picked up Williams with two other men in her vehicle in Daytona Beach to go on a date. Read more...
NY Woman Indicted for Pot Growing
A woman from a ritzy New York suburb has been indicted on charges that she grew thousands of marijuana plants in a city warehouse. The U.S. attorney in Brooklyn says Andrea Sanderlin of Scarsdale had a sophisticated pot-raising operation in the Maspeth section of Queens. Sanderlin, mother of two daughters, pleaded not guilty in May when she was arrested on a federal complaint. She has since been held without bail. Read more...
Fatal Drunk Driver Fails Test
A problem has arisen for a 21-year-old University of Miami student who turned herself in to begin a prison sentence for a deadly drunk driving accident. Ivanna Villanueva, along with her attorney and family members, arrived at the Miami-Dade courthouse on Tuesday morning for a final hearing before she would officially surrender. As part of the process, she was required to take a drug test. Villanueva was unable to complete the first test. During a second test, the result tested positive for a banned substance. Read more...
June 18, 2013
Cancer Killed 'The Night Stalker'
Cancer Killed 'The Night Stalker'
Coroner's officials say a form of cancer killed the serial killer known as the Night Stalker who terrorized Southern California in the mid-1980s. Richard Ramirez died June 7 at age 53 at a hospital where he had been taken for treatment of liver failure. The Marin County coroner's office said that Ramirez died of complications from B-cell lymphoma, a cancer of the lymphatic system. It listed other "significant conditions" including chronic substance abuse and hepatitis C, which is often spread by the use of intravenous drugs. Read more...
Hit Man Testifies at Bulger Trial
A former hitman who admitted killing 20 people says he decided to testify against James "Whitey" Bulger after learning Bulger and his partner were FBI informants. John Martorano served 12 years in prison after striking a cooperation deal with prosecutors. He was released in 2007. Martorano, 72, took the witness stand against Bulger. He described Bulger and his partner, Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi, as his "partners in crime," his best friends and the godfathers of his children. Read more...
Field Searched for Jimmy Hoffa
Federal agents revived the hunt for the remains of Teamsters leader Jimmy Hoffa as they searched a field in suburban Detroit. Robert Foley, special agent in charge of the FBI's Detroit division, said the agency and its partners executed a search warrant in Oakland Township, about 25 miles north of Detroit. Officials are "here to execute a search warrant, based on information that we have involving the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa," Foley said. Read more...
Joseph Naso: 'I'm Not the Monster'
An elderly California photographer charged with the slayings of four prostitutes dating back to the 1970s opened his own defense at his serial-murder trial, declaring to jurors, "I'm not the monster that killed these women." Joseph Naso, 79, who has admitted a penchant for taking erotic pictures of women and displayed dozens of such photos in court on Monday, stood stoop-shouldered in a blue suit and tie, his hands crossed behind his back, as he politely greeted the 12 men and women who will decide his fate. Read more...
Daycare Worker Drugged Snacks
A central Ohio day care worker has been accused of sprinkling drugs on snacks to get children to go to sleep. Tammy Eppley was charged in Columbus with six counts of child endangering after police in nearby Westerville said they obtained text messages in which she admitted giving children the allergy medicine Benadryl and the hormone and sleep aid melatonin. Police say Eppley jokes in one text that a child almost discovered her action after saying sprinkles on some cupcakes tasted funny. Read more...
Missouri Linebacker Dismissed From Team
A backup Missouri linebacker arrested during the 2012 season on drug charges has been dismissed from the team. Team spokesman Chad Moller says redshirt freshman linebacker Torey Boozer is no longer a member of the Tigers. He declined further comment. Boozer was arrested in October on marijuana possession charges along with classmates Dorial Green-Beckham and Levi Copelin after the three teammates were reportedly smoking pot in a campus parking lot near Memorial Stadium. Read more...
June 17, 2013
Bible Teacher's Killer to Go Free
A one-time death row inmate who was convicted of stabbing a 78-year-old Indiana Bible teacher 33 times to rob her of $10, is now scheduled to walk free today. Paula Cooper was 15 when she entered the home of Ruth Pelke on May 14, 1985 under the pretense that she wanted to learn more about the Bible. Cooper's death sentence was set aside by the Indiana Supreme Court in 1988, and she was given a 60-year sentence. Read more...
Shooting Suspect Turns Himself In
A man accused of shooting his girlfriend and her three teenage daughters in a neighborhood near Nashville has surrendered to officials in Memphis, authorities said. Shelby County Sheriff's Office spokesman Earnest Moore said that Earnest Moore, who also goes by Earnest Woodley, turned himself in. Nashville police were expected to travel to Memphis and bring him back. Read more...
Suspect Sought In Shooting of 4
Nashville police were searching for a man they said shot his girlfriend and her three teenage daughters at an apartment complex and then fled the scene barefoot. Police said that 39-year-old Earnest Woodley, who also goes by Earnest Moore, is wanted in the shooting of his girlfriend, 34-year-old Nicole Luke, and her 14-year-old twin daughters inside an apartment. Police said he then shot Luke's 15-year-old daughter as she sat outside in an SUV. All four victims were transported to Vanderbilt University Medical Center and were in stable condition. Read more...
Sister Publishes Death Row Diary
Not much is written in the way of obituaries for people who are put to death. They are convicted criminals; many are guilty of unspeakable cruelty. We hear of death row cases when controversy swirls about a prisoner's guilt, as was the case of Troy Davis, the Georgia man executed in 2011 despite the recanting of numerous witnesses whose testimony helped convict him. Or when a crime is so heinous that it gains notoriety for the perpetrator, such as serial killer Ted Bundy, who confessed to 30 murders. William Van Poyck's story was known for another reason. Read more...
Former Bookie Testifies Against Bulger
In many respects it was like a meeting of old friends: James "Whitey" Bulger listening carefully -- laughing heartily at one point -- to colorful recollections of former Boston bookie Richard O'Brien, who ran a successful bookmaking operation that he inherited from his father. But this was no remember-when reunion between two elderly men. The 84-year-old O'Brien, who lives in Florida and uses a wheel chair, testified as a prosecution witness at the federal trial of Bulger, who is charged in the deaths of 19 people during the nearly two decades that prosecutors say he was the head of the Irish mob in Boston. Read more...
Woman Arrested for Throwing Acid
A Largo, Fla., woman has been arrested after police say she poured a bottle of muriatic acid onto a person's face. Largo police said surveillance video shows 39-year-old Melissa Diane Egbert throw acid onto the unidentified victim's face, then jump into a car and drive off. Egbert was charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and is being held on $100,000 bond. Read more...
Man Shot in Utah Church
A Utah man was critically injured Sunday after he was shot in the back of the head while attending Mass. Police in Ogden, Utah, about 40 miles north of Salt Lake City, say Charles Richard Jennings, 35, entered St. James Catholic Church and confronted the victim before shooting him. Authorities believe Jennings then pulled out a gun in the church and fired at the man. The victim was transported to a nearby hospital where he remained in critical condition Sunday evening. Read more...
Man Gets DUI on Shopping Cart
Police arrested an Alaska man who they say was driving a motorized shopping cart while drunk and in possession of stolen cookies and cake mix. Merrill K. Moses, 63, was arraigned this week in Fairbanks on charges of drunken driving, shoplifting and refusing to take an official sobriety test. A preliminary hearing has been scheduled for Aug. 5. A grocery store employee called police after seeing Moses drive into parking lot traffic. The employee was worried that Moses would collide with a car. Read more...
June 14, 2013
Zimmerman Jury to Be Sequestered
The six jurors and four alternates eventually picked to hear the second-degree murder case of neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman will be sequestered for the two to four weeks the trial will last, the judge presiding over the case said for the first time. Circuit Judge Debra Nelson told a potential juror on the fourth day of selection that all panelists will be kept isolated. During the first four days of jury selection, attorneys have asked potential jurors about the hardships they would face if they were kept away from their families during the trial. Defense attorney Don West explained to one candidate that if picked she would have limited contact with her family, would be monitored by court security outside the courtroom and would have to live in a hotel for the duration. Read more...
Jurors in Bulger Trial See Weapons
Jurors in James "Whitey" Bulger's racketeering trial were shown machine guns and other weapons from a massive arsenal that investigators say he and his gang owned, as prosecutors attempted to show that Bulger ran a criminal enterprise through violence, intimidation and fear. Retired state police Col. Thomas Foley identified weapons hidden in several locations during a 2000 investigation, including in a shed behind a South Boston home owned by the mother of Bulger's partner, Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi. When investigators searched the shed, they found just one handgun, but later, Flemmi's son led them to a house in Somerville and a storage facility in Florida where the guns had been moved. Read more...
Holmes Could Withdraw Insanity Plea
Lawyers for Colorado theater shooting suspect James Holmes say they might withdraw his plea of not guilty by reason of insanity after they see the results of his mental evaluation. The defense made the statement in a motion. The motion didn't say what plea Holmes would enter if he changes. Nor did the motion indicate what kind of a result would cause the defense to drop the insanity plea, but presumably it would be a finding that he was sane. Read more...
Sen. Mary Landrieu's Son Arrested on DWI
Frank Connor Snellings, 21, the son of U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., was arrested on charges of driving while intoxicated, hit-and-run driving, and driving the wrong way on a one-way street in the French Quarter, according to the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office. The car Snellings was driving hit a pedestrian, who was not seriously injured, according to the sheriff's report. Snellings and a passenger in his car were not hurt. Police said Snellings failed a field sobriety test. A breathalyzer test result measured .211. Read more...
Lindsay Lohan Transfers to Cliffside
Lindsay Lohan transferred from Betty Ford Center to Cliffside Rehabilitation Center in Malibu. Lohan completed a 30-day program at the Betty Ford Center, located in Rancho Mirage, Calif., before transferring to Cliffside. Lohan was sentenced to serve 90 days "in a lockdown rehabilitation center, 30 days of community service, and 18 months of mandated psychotherapy" after pleading no contest to misdemeanor charges after a June 2012 car accident, according to Fox News. The transfer to Cliffside Malibu was approved by all parties, including Lohan's lawyer, Shawn Holley, the prosecutors and the judge. Read more...
June 13, 2013
'Whitey' Bulger Trial Begins
Prosecutors called James "Whitey" Bulger a hands-on killer whose Winter Hill Gang "ran amok" in Boston for almost 30 years, as opening statements were made in his federal racketeering trial. Bulger is accused of 19 murders, extorting money from other criminals and corrupting law enforcement officers. The 83-year-old Bulger avoided prosecution for years as a Most Wanted fugitive from 1994 until his capture in 2011. Read more...
Ariel Castro Pleads Not Guilty
A man accused of holding three women captive in his home for about a decade pleaded not guilty to hundreds of rape and kidnapping charges, and the defense hinted at avoiding a trial with a plea deal if the death penalty were ruled out. The death penalty is in play because among the accusations facing Ariel Castro, 52, is that he forced a miscarriage by one of the women, which is considered a killing under Ohio law. That charge doesn't include a possible death penalty, but a prosecutor has said that's under review. Read more...
Prosecutors to Pursue Death for Arias
Authorities plan to try again to secure the death penalty for convicted murderer Jodi Arias after jurors in her trial deadlocked last month on a sentence. Arias was convicted of murder May 8 in the 2008 killing of boyfriend Travis Alexander at his suburban Phoenix home. Read more...
Escapee Guilty of Barbershop Slaying
A man was convicted of killing a barbershop customer, wounding the barber, and then injuring two officers during a shootout with police, all just days after escaping from prison. Tamik Kirkland of Springfield, who turned 27 during his trial, was found guilty in Hampden Superior Court of first-degree murder and a variety of other charges for the shooting death of Sheldon Innocent, 24, of Wilbraham, a customer at Bill Brown's House of Beauty in April 2011. The murder conviction carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the chance of parole. Read more...
Texas Executes Killer of 5
A Texas man who confessed to killing five people during a six-month crime spree in 1998 has been executed. Elroy Chester received lethal injection in Huntsville for the fatal shooting of Port Arthur firefighter Willie Ryman III. The 38-year-old Ryman interrupted Chester as he sexually assaulted Ryman's two teenage nieces during a break-in at their home 15 years ago. Chester was on probation at the time, was arrested soon after and subsequently pleaded guilty to Ryman's slaying. Read more...
Florida Man Executed for Guard's Murder
A man who orchestrated a prison van ambush in 1987 in an attempt to free a prisoner has been executed. William Van Poyck died by injection at the Florida State Prison. The 58-year-old was convicted of murdering prison guard Fred Griffis. His case garnered international attention because Van Poyck published three books and maintained a blog while on death row. Read more...
Kentucky Police Department Gets Threat
The Kentucky police department still mourning the ambush slaying of one of its officers has received a threat warning that more officers will be killed. Bardstown Police Chief Rick McCubbin said his department received a recent letter threatening that "there are more to come." McCubbin says that was a reference to the ambush of Bardstown Officer Jason Ellis last month. Read more...
Michael Turner Gets Probation for DUI
Former Atlanta Falcons running back Michael Turner has finally received his punishment dating back to a DUI charge last September. A judge handed Turner 12 months probation, a $1,000 fine and 30 days of community service. According to John Manasso, Turner also agreed to "risk reduction (DUI school), alcohol and drug evaluation, no alcohol consumption and random screens." Read more...
Mom Injects 5-Year-Old With Drugs
A Phoenix woman is in custody on allegations that she injected her 5-year-old daughter with methamphetamine and amphetamine. Police say 30-year-old Jacqueline Trousdale is being held on suspicion of child abuse and endangering the life and health of a minor. A family member called authorities in October, saying Trousdale was doing drugs in front of her two daughters, ages 5 and 6. Authorities say the girls told police their mother had injected them with drugs, and state Child Protective Services took custody of the children. Read more...
