By: By Ashley Martin, Forum Communications Co., The Jamestown Sun
Dirk J. Huber is believed to have used a pillow to kill his former girlfriend after allegedly arguing over the paternity of her daughter, officials said during his pretrial conference in Dickinson on Monday.
The 41-year-old pleaded not guilty Monday to murdering Nicole Lynn Radebaugh, 39, by suffocating her in her Belfield, N.D., apartment in August.
Special Agent Pat Helfrich with the Bureau of Criminal Investigations said Huber picked up Radebaugh’s junior high-aged daughter, Logan Huber, after he allegedly killed Radebaugh.
“Dirk had made the comment that he had hurt her mom and Logan … had asked, ‘Is she hurt bad?’ and Dirk had told her ‘I don’t know,’” Helfrich said. “And then Logan had asked, ‘Is she alive?’ and Dirk had said, ‘I don’t know.’”
Radebaugh was pronounced dead in her bedroom, Helfrich said.
Justin Mead, a friend of Huber’s who Helfrich said called 911, allegedly told authorities Dirk Huber confessed to him.
“He said ‘I killed Nikki,’” Helfrich said. “Justin stated he got a little emotional and said ‘Why the F did you do that?’ and he said Dirk said ‘I don’t know. I snapped.’”
Mead allegedly told officers Radebaugh told Dirk Huber a few months prior that Logan was not his daughter, which was a surprise to him, Helfrich said.
“He said that Logan was Dirk’s life,” Helfrich said. “He doted on Logan. Everything he did was for Logan.”
Mead also allegedly said Dirk Huber “had done everything for Logan,” and had “money set aside” for Logan, which allegedly was missing as well, Helfrich said.
Dirk Huber’s criminal complaint calls him Logan’s parent, but the girl’s paternity is unclear.
He was allegedly arguing with Radebaugh on Aug. 30, when Logan left the apartment for a school function, Helfrich said.
“She said she had obtained several texts from her dad, Dirk, saying ‘where are you,’ or ‘call me,’” Helfrich said. “She said she had gotten back to the apartment and couldn’t get in and had knocked on the door and tried calling and she said her mom didn’t answer.”
Dirk Huber allegedly called Logan and told her he was picking her up.
“He took her to her grandparents’ house, Nicole’s mom and dad’s,” Helfrich said.
Dirk Huber then evaded police until Sept. 2, when he was arrested in the Badlands, according to authorities. He was allegedly apprehended, on foot, 20 miles north of Medora and west of the Little Missouri River.
Helfrich said when Dirk Huber was arrested, officers heard him say, “I just want to die.”
Judge Zane Anderson found enough evidence was presented at the hearing to bind him over for further court proceedings.
Dirk Huber, his attorney Jay Greenwood and Stark County State’s Attorney Tom Henning declined comment after the hearing.
Dirk Huber is being held at the Stark County Multi County Correction Center on a $1 million bond.
He is charged with murder, a Class AA felony which has a maximum penalty of life in prison without parole.
Mead does not have a published phone number, so he could not be reached for comment.
Ashley Martin is a reporter
at the Dickinson Press,
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Long Beach, CA: Man charged in 2001 Hawthorne slaying of pregnant girlfriend
By Larry Altman Staff Writer
Posted: 11/08/2011 06:27:24 PM PST
Updated: 11/09/2011 06:34:01 AM PST
The pregnant mother of a 10-year-old boy was shot to death in an ambush in the parking area of an apartment building in the 12700 block of Kornblum Avenue. (Google Map)
Related
Nov 9:
Juarez takes Hawthorne mayoral race; Michelin, Valentine win council seats
Nov 2:
Still no ID on man killed by hit-run driver in Hawthorne last month
Oct 31:
Former Hawthorne councilwoman Ginny Lambert dies at 79
Oct 28:
Wanted ex-con arrested after 100 mph chase through South Bay
Oct 27:
Hawthorne chief offers thanks for help
Oct 25:
Police probe double Hawthorne shooting
Supervisors delay vote on Del Aire development on Wild Goose site
| POLICE NEWS | BLOG: SOUTH BAY CRIME, COURT NEWS | FACEBOOK
A Long Beach man has been charged with the execution-style killing of his pregnant girlfriend in Hawthorne more than 10 years ago, reportedly to get rid of his financial obligation for the child.
Derek Paul Smyer, 31, allegedly solicited Skyler Jefferson Moore, 30, to kill his girlfriend, Crystal Dejuanna Taylor on Sept. 25, 2001, a complaint filed at the Airport Courthouse alleges.
Sheriff's homicide detectives arrested Smyer on Thursday. Moore is in prison, already serving the rest of his life sentence for a gang-related murder in Carson less than two months before Taylor was killed.
Taylor, the pregnant mother of a 10-year-old boy, was shot to death in an ambush at 7:30 a.m. in the parking area of an apartment building in the 12700 block of Kornblum Avenue, deputies said at the time.
Detectives released little information about the crime when it happened, but recently developed information that resulted in charges filed Oct. 26.
"During the course of the investigation, detectives learned that Derek Smyer, 31, Taylor's boyfriend and father of her unborn child, was involved in the murders," the Sheriff's
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Department said in a statement.
According to the criminal complaint, Smyer allegedly solicited Moore to shoot Taylor. The charges allege Moore laid in wait for Taylor and shot her with a .38-caliber revolver.
The crime occurred on Moore's 20th birthday.
The complaint says Taylor had named her unborn son Jeremiah Johnson Taylor. She was five months pregnant, detectives said.
"The burden of the child was possibly the reason," sheriff's Lt. Wes Sutton said.
Prosecutors filed charges against both men that could possibly result in the death penalty.
Smyer is charged with murder, murder of a human fetus, conspiracy to commit a crime and solicitation of murder. The charges carry an allegation that the slayings were committed for financial gain, which was the baby.
Investigators believe there could be more victims of Smyer because he has a "history of manipulating and victimizing women."
Moore is charged with two counts of murder and conspiracy to commit a crime.
A Compton jury convicted Moore in 2003 of the Aug. 4, 2001, gang-related slaying of 23-year-old Joseph Hernandez in Carson's Victoria Park, court records show.
Moore, a Victoria Park Crips gang member, argued with Hernandez, a Victoria Park Locos gang member, and shot him six times from 2 1/2 feet away, an appellate court ruling said.
Jurors, who heard a recording of Moore admitting to killing Hernandez during police questioning some time later, convicted him of first-degree murder with the allegation that the murder was committed for the benefit of the gang. Moore was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, plus 25 years to life for using a gun.
According to the state appellate court record, Moore denied killing a woman in another homicide case under investigation by other detectives. It was unclear if the woman was Taylor.
The court upheld Moore's conviction.
Smyer is set to appear in court for arraignment Nov. 18 at the Airport Courthouse. He is being held in county jail without bail.
larry.altman@dailybreeze.com
Follow Larry Altman on Twitter at http://twitter.com/larryaltman
Posted: 11/08/2011 06:27:24 PM PST
Updated: 11/09/2011 06:34:01 AM PST
The pregnant mother of a 10-year-old boy was shot to death in an ambush in the parking area of an apartment building in the 12700 block of Kornblum Avenue. (Google Map)
Related
Nov 9:
Juarez takes Hawthorne mayoral race; Michelin, Valentine win council seats
Nov 2:
Still no ID on man killed by hit-run driver in Hawthorne last month
Oct 31:
Former Hawthorne councilwoman Ginny Lambert dies at 79
Oct 28:
Wanted ex-con arrested after 100 mph chase through South Bay
Oct 27:
Hawthorne chief offers thanks for help
Oct 25:
Police probe double Hawthorne shooting
Supervisors delay vote on Del Aire development on Wild Goose site
| POLICE NEWS | BLOG: SOUTH BAY CRIME, COURT NEWS | FACEBOOK
A Long Beach man has been charged with the execution-style killing of his pregnant girlfriend in Hawthorne more than 10 years ago, reportedly to get rid of his financial obligation for the child.
Derek Paul Smyer, 31, allegedly solicited Skyler Jefferson Moore, 30, to kill his girlfriend, Crystal Dejuanna Taylor on Sept. 25, 2001, a complaint filed at the Airport Courthouse alleges.
Sheriff's homicide detectives arrested Smyer on Thursday. Moore is in prison, already serving the rest of his life sentence for a gang-related murder in Carson less than two months before Taylor was killed.
Taylor, the pregnant mother of a 10-year-old boy, was shot to death in an ambush at 7:30 a.m. in the parking area of an apartment building in the 12700 block of Kornblum Avenue, deputies said at the time.
Detectives released little information about the crime when it happened, but recently developed information that resulted in charges filed Oct. 26.
"During the course of the investigation, detectives learned that Derek Smyer, 31, Taylor's boyfriend and father of her unborn child, was involved in the murders," the Sheriff's
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Department said in a statement.
According to the criminal complaint, Smyer allegedly solicited Moore to shoot Taylor. The charges allege Moore laid in wait for Taylor and shot her with a .38-caliber revolver.
The crime occurred on Moore's 20th birthday.
The complaint says Taylor had named her unborn son Jeremiah Johnson Taylor. She was five months pregnant, detectives said.
"The burden of the child was possibly the reason," sheriff's Lt. Wes Sutton said.
Prosecutors filed charges against both men that could possibly result in the death penalty.
Smyer is charged with murder, murder of a human fetus, conspiracy to commit a crime and solicitation of murder. The charges carry an allegation that the slayings were committed for financial gain, which was the baby.
Investigators believe there could be more victims of Smyer because he has a "history of manipulating and victimizing women."
Moore is charged with two counts of murder and conspiracy to commit a crime.
A Compton jury convicted Moore in 2003 of the Aug. 4, 2001, gang-related slaying of 23-year-old Joseph Hernandez in Carson's Victoria Park, court records show.
Moore, a Victoria Park Crips gang member, argued with Hernandez, a Victoria Park Locos gang member, and shot him six times from 2 1/2 feet away, an appellate court ruling said.
Jurors, who heard a recording of Moore admitting to killing Hernandez during police questioning some time later, convicted him of first-degree murder with the allegation that the murder was committed for the benefit of the gang. Moore was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, plus 25 years to life for using a gun.
According to the state appellate court record, Moore denied killing a woman in another homicide case under investigation by other detectives. It was unclear if the woman was Taylor.
The court upheld Moore's conviction.
Smyer is set to appear in court for arraignment Nov. 18 at the Airport Courthouse. He is being held in county jail without bail.
larry.altman@dailybreeze.com
Follow Larry Altman on Twitter at http://twitter.com/larryaltman
Woonsocket, RI: Leite cops plea, gets life in prison for Perry murder
November 9, 2011
BY RUSS OLIVO
WOONSOCKET — A Superior Court judge sentenced David P. Leite to life in prison yesterday for the grisly stabbing death of his live-in girlfriend in their Park Square apartment in 2009.
Leite, 35, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder before Judge Susan McGuirl just hours before he was to stand trial in the death of Mellisa “Missy” Perry. He must serve at least 20 years before he’s eligible for parole.
Prosecutor John E. Corrigan told the court that if Leite had gone to trial the state would have proven that he stabbed and slashed Perry 79 times with a utility knife.
Her injuries also included a broken neck and broken ribs that were caused by blunt force trauma, said Amy Kempe, spokeswoman for the attorney general.
Perry’s mother, Jo-Anne Boyer of Pawtucket, said she and about a dozen other family members attended the hearing, wearing T-shirts featuring a photograph of her daughter. A few reacted with audible gasps when they heard Corrigan describe Missy’s wounds for the first time, she said.
It was a tough day for all of them, but at least there was the consolation of seeing Leite get some justice for what he did, said Boyer.
“You never really get over it,” she said. “In my mind even if they had the death penalty it’s too humane for what he did to my daughter. I'm glad this phase of it is over, but it still leaves a huge sadness because I still don’t have my daughter, and my grandchildren don’t have their mother, and they suffer the most.”
At one point yesterday, Leite addressed the court, apologizing for his actions and professing that, in spite of them, he actually loved Perry.
“Please,” Boyer says with a tone of flat disbelief.
Leite claims the murder was the result of an argument that got out of hand when Missy called him “a baby” for complaining after she accidentally cut him with a knife, says Boyer, but she doesn’t believe that, either.
Woonsocket police found Perry’s ravaged body in the Ormond Street apartment she shared with Leite on March 14, 2009, after Leite crashed his car in Lincoln.
Yesterday, Corrigan told the court that the body was found some two days after the murder actually occurred.
Corrigan said that after the killing, the first thing Leite did was clean himself up. Then he went to a nearby restaurant and relaxed for a while over an iced coffee.
For the next day and a half, Leite acted as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Hours after the killing, he drove to work. At 2 in the morning, he clocked out and drove to Foxwoods to gamble.
Later, he checked into a nearby hotel to rest, then returned to Rhode Island the following day and rented a hotel room in Pawtucket. After sleeping through the night, he showered and drove to Twin River in Lincoln, where he gambled some more.
On Saturday, March 14, Lincoln police responded to a single-car crash on Old Louisquisset Pike, where they found Leite in a silver Nissan Sentra lodged against a tree. Rescue personnel found a note in Leite’s wallet, in which he admitted that he killed Perry and indicated where her body could be found.
It was later determined he had purposely driven into the tree, Kempe said, but she declined to characterize his actions as an attempted suicide.
Though they were not living with her when she was killed, Perry had three children, two boys and a girl who are now 17, 13 and 10 years old, respectively. Boyer says they didn’t attend the sentencing hearing and still don’t know the particulars of how their mother died.
“We don’t even want them to read the newspapers,” she says.
Perry and Leite had both been living in Pawtucket until a few weeks before her death, says Boyer. They met on the social networking site myspace.com in November 2008.
Leite was working as a district manager for the Amazing Superstore, a national distributor of pornographic videos, while Missy was looking for a job as a nursing assistant.
For much of the time they dated, Boyer said, Leite was living with his parents, while Missy was living with her in an apartment on Broadway.
“He was here all day and every weekend,” recalls Boyer. “The only thing he did at his parents’ house was sleep.”
The pattern continued when Missy moved in with her sister, Tina Ndiaye, in Woonsocket. Finally, about a month before the murder, they moved into the second-story apartment at 33 Ormond St. Missy liked the location because she didn’t have a car and she could walk to her new job at Mt. St. Francis Health Center.
Family members were never really comfortable with Leite’s invasive style, but they didn’t object to his relationship with Missy because he seemed caring and responsible.
As time went on, however, Boyer says Missy complained that Leite was too controlling — a common refrain among victims of domestic violence.
“This was a brutal, senseless act upon someone who the defendant claimed he loved with all his heart,” said Attorney General Peter Kilmartin. “There was nothing about the defendant’s actions that could ever be perceived as love. Domestic violence is not love. Domestic violence is about power and control and is a serious crime that too often leads to tragedy.”
BY RUSS OLIVO
WOONSOCKET — A Superior Court judge sentenced David P. Leite to life in prison yesterday for the grisly stabbing death of his live-in girlfriend in their Park Square apartment in 2009.
Leite, 35, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder before Judge Susan McGuirl just hours before he was to stand trial in the death of Mellisa “Missy” Perry. He must serve at least 20 years before he’s eligible for parole.
Prosecutor John E. Corrigan told the court that if Leite had gone to trial the state would have proven that he stabbed and slashed Perry 79 times with a utility knife.
Her injuries also included a broken neck and broken ribs that were caused by blunt force trauma, said Amy Kempe, spokeswoman for the attorney general.
Perry’s mother, Jo-Anne Boyer of Pawtucket, said she and about a dozen other family members attended the hearing, wearing T-shirts featuring a photograph of her daughter. A few reacted with audible gasps when they heard Corrigan describe Missy’s wounds for the first time, she said.
It was a tough day for all of them, but at least there was the consolation of seeing Leite get some justice for what he did, said Boyer.
“You never really get over it,” she said. “In my mind even if they had the death penalty it’s too humane for what he did to my daughter. I'm glad this phase of it is over, but it still leaves a huge sadness because I still don’t have my daughter, and my grandchildren don’t have their mother, and they suffer the most.”
At one point yesterday, Leite addressed the court, apologizing for his actions and professing that, in spite of them, he actually loved Perry.
“Please,” Boyer says with a tone of flat disbelief.
Leite claims the murder was the result of an argument that got out of hand when Missy called him “a baby” for complaining after she accidentally cut him with a knife, says Boyer, but she doesn’t believe that, either.
Woonsocket police found Perry’s ravaged body in the Ormond Street apartment she shared with Leite on March 14, 2009, after Leite crashed his car in Lincoln.
Yesterday, Corrigan told the court that the body was found some two days after the murder actually occurred.
Corrigan said that after the killing, the first thing Leite did was clean himself up. Then he went to a nearby restaurant and relaxed for a while over an iced coffee.
For the next day and a half, Leite acted as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Hours after the killing, he drove to work. At 2 in the morning, he clocked out and drove to Foxwoods to gamble.
Later, he checked into a nearby hotel to rest, then returned to Rhode Island the following day and rented a hotel room in Pawtucket. After sleeping through the night, he showered and drove to Twin River in Lincoln, where he gambled some more.
On Saturday, March 14, Lincoln police responded to a single-car crash on Old Louisquisset Pike, where they found Leite in a silver Nissan Sentra lodged against a tree. Rescue personnel found a note in Leite’s wallet, in which he admitted that he killed Perry and indicated where her body could be found.
It was later determined he had purposely driven into the tree, Kempe said, but she declined to characterize his actions as an attempted suicide.
Though they were not living with her when she was killed, Perry had three children, two boys and a girl who are now 17, 13 and 10 years old, respectively. Boyer says they didn’t attend the sentencing hearing and still don’t know the particulars of how their mother died.
“We don’t even want them to read the newspapers,” she says.
Perry and Leite had both been living in Pawtucket until a few weeks before her death, says Boyer. They met on the social networking site myspace.com in November 2008.
Leite was working as a district manager for the Amazing Superstore, a national distributor of pornographic videos, while Missy was looking for a job as a nursing assistant.
For much of the time they dated, Boyer said, Leite was living with his parents, while Missy was living with her in an apartment on Broadway.
“He was here all day and every weekend,” recalls Boyer. “The only thing he did at his parents’ house was sleep.”
The pattern continued when Missy moved in with her sister, Tina Ndiaye, in Woonsocket. Finally, about a month before the murder, they moved into the second-story apartment at 33 Ormond St. Missy liked the location because she didn’t have a car and she could walk to her new job at Mt. St. Francis Health Center.
Family members were never really comfortable with Leite’s invasive style, but they didn’t object to his relationship with Missy because he seemed caring and responsible.
As time went on, however, Boyer says Missy complained that Leite was too controlling — a common refrain among victims of domestic violence.
“This was a brutal, senseless act upon someone who the defendant claimed he loved with all his heart,” said Attorney General Peter Kilmartin. “There was nothing about the defendant’s actions that could ever be perceived as love. Domestic violence is not love. Domestic violence is about power and control and is a serious crime that too often leads to tragedy.”
Worcester, MA: Hiser sentenced to life for stabbing ex-girlfriend
By Gary V. Murray TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
gmurray@telegram.com
WORCESTER — A 34-year-old city man was sentenced to life imprisonment with a possibility of parole in 15 years after pleading guilty today to second-degree murder in the 2007 fatal stabbing of his ex-girlfriend.
Justin Hiser, 34, formerly of 44 Gage St., was charged with first-degree murder in the Nov. 27, 2007, stabbing death of 28-year-old Ronda Healy, with whom he had two children, but pleaded guilty in Worcester Superior Court to a reduced charge of second-degree murder.
Judge James R. Lemire accepted the plea and imposed the statutory sentence for second-degree murder, life imprisonment with the possibility of parole in 15 years. A conviction for first-degree murder carries a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment without parole.
Mr. Hiser was charged with stabbing Ms. Healy in the upper left chest about 3:15 p.m. Nov. 27, 2007, in the parking lot of T.G.I. Friday's restaurant at The Shoppes at Blackstone Valley in Millbury, where she worked. Authorities said he then dropped the knife and drove off, later leading police on a motor vehicle chase through Grafton, Westboro and Southboro.
Assistant District Attorney Joseph A. Quinlan said Mr. Hiser was involved in a hit-and-run accident in Grafton about an hour and 45 minutes after the fatal stabbing. Police began their pursuit at that point and Mr. Hiser was eventually stopped and taken into custody by Westboro police, according to the prosecutor.
Westboro police contacted state police detectives after Mr. Hiser made a comment to them about having killed someone, Mr. Quinlan told the court.
Ms. Healy was taken by ambulance from Millbury to St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester, where she was pronounced dead at 3:45 p.m.
Mr. Hiser's lawyer, Edward P. Ryan Jr., notified prosecutors last year of his intent to raise a psychiatric defense on Mr. Hiser's behalf. The motice was filed after Mr. Ryan had Mr. Hiser evaluated by a psychiatrist and psychologist.
Mr. Quinlan told Judge Lemire today that one of the reasons his office agreed to let Mr. Hiser plead guilty to the reduced charge of second-degree murder was that Mr. Hiser was undergoing treatment for an illness at the time of the killing and was taking Interferon, a drug with side effects that can include suicidal and homicidal ideations.
While a mental health expert hired by the prosecution to evaluate Mr. Hiser found that he was criminally responsible at the time of the fatal stabbing, the expert would have had to concede on the witness stand at trial that Interferon can cause suicidal or homicidal thoughts, Mr. Quinlan said.
More than a dozen members of Ms. Healy's family were in court for the plea hearing.
“My life truly ended on Nov. 27, 2007,” Ms. Healy's daughter, Natasha Healy, said in a prepared impact statement she read in court.
“This man I called my father took away everything from me,” she said.
“You took their mother from them and by doing so, you took their father, also,” said Ms. Healy's sister, Amanda Thompson.
“You left countless people with holes in their hearts filled with pain and sorrow,” she said.
Mr. Hiser was also charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, failure to stop for police and resisting arrest. Those charges were dismissed at Mr. Quinlan's request under the plea agreement.
Mr. Hiser was given credit for 553 days he spent in custody awaiting trial.
“This is a tragic outcome in a tragic case,” Mr. Ryan said after the plea hearing. “Justin Hiser was a good father. He had custody of his children through court orders because he was a good father.
“This was truly a tragedy for everybody,” he said.
gmurray@telegram.com
WORCESTER — A 34-year-old city man was sentenced to life imprisonment with a possibility of parole in 15 years after pleading guilty today to second-degree murder in the 2007 fatal stabbing of his ex-girlfriend.
Justin Hiser, 34, formerly of 44 Gage St., was charged with first-degree murder in the Nov. 27, 2007, stabbing death of 28-year-old Ronda Healy, with whom he had two children, but pleaded guilty in Worcester Superior Court to a reduced charge of second-degree murder.
Judge James R. Lemire accepted the plea and imposed the statutory sentence for second-degree murder, life imprisonment with the possibility of parole in 15 years. A conviction for first-degree murder carries a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment without parole.
Mr. Hiser was charged with stabbing Ms. Healy in the upper left chest about 3:15 p.m. Nov. 27, 2007, in the parking lot of T.G.I. Friday's restaurant at The Shoppes at Blackstone Valley in Millbury, where she worked. Authorities said he then dropped the knife and drove off, later leading police on a motor vehicle chase through Grafton, Westboro and Southboro.
Assistant District Attorney Joseph A. Quinlan said Mr. Hiser was involved in a hit-and-run accident in Grafton about an hour and 45 minutes after the fatal stabbing. Police began their pursuit at that point and Mr. Hiser was eventually stopped and taken into custody by Westboro police, according to the prosecutor.
Westboro police contacted state police detectives after Mr. Hiser made a comment to them about having killed someone, Mr. Quinlan told the court.
Ms. Healy was taken by ambulance from Millbury to St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester, where she was pronounced dead at 3:45 p.m.
Mr. Hiser's lawyer, Edward P. Ryan Jr., notified prosecutors last year of his intent to raise a psychiatric defense on Mr. Hiser's behalf. The motice was filed after Mr. Ryan had Mr. Hiser evaluated by a psychiatrist and psychologist.
Mr. Quinlan told Judge Lemire today that one of the reasons his office agreed to let Mr. Hiser plead guilty to the reduced charge of second-degree murder was that Mr. Hiser was undergoing treatment for an illness at the time of the killing and was taking Interferon, a drug with side effects that can include suicidal and homicidal ideations.
While a mental health expert hired by the prosecution to evaluate Mr. Hiser found that he was criminally responsible at the time of the fatal stabbing, the expert would have had to concede on the witness stand at trial that Interferon can cause suicidal or homicidal thoughts, Mr. Quinlan said.
More than a dozen members of Ms. Healy's family were in court for the plea hearing.
“My life truly ended on Nov. 27, 2007,” Ms. Healy's daughter, Natasha Healy, said in a prepared impact statement she read in court.
“This man I called my father took away everything from me,” she said.
“You took their mother from them and by doing so, you took their father, also,” said Ms. Healy's sister, Amanda Thompson.
“You left countless people with holes in their hearts filled with pain and sorrow,” she said.
Mr. Hiser was also charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, failure to stop for police and resisting arrest. Those charges were dismissed at Mr. Quinlan's request under the plea agreement.
Mr. Hiser was given credit for 553 days he spent in custody awaiting trial.
“This is a tragic outcome in a tragic case,” Mr. Ryan said after the plea hearing. “Justin Hiser was a good father. He had custody of his children through court orders because he was a good father.
“This was truly a tragedy for everybody,” he said.
Clearwater, FL: Former Jabil exec guilty in slaying of wife, boyfriend
By MARK DOUGLAS | News Channel 8
Published: November 09, 2011
Updated: November 09, 2011 - 1:11 PM
CLEARWATER --
A jury today convicted Patrick Evans of first-degree murder in the deaths of his estranged wife, Elizabeth, and her boyfriend, Jerry Taylor, both found naked and shot in the neck in the bedroom of her Gulfport townhome.
The jury deliberated about an hour and 20 minutes this morning before reaching its verdict.
The panel will return Thursday morning to consider whether to recommend death or life in prison for Evans. Judge Richard Luce will decide the sentence.
Friends and family of the victims were in the courtroom, some of them sobbing, as the verdict was read.
"My brother and Beth got to say what happened, and the jury heard it," said J.P. Taylor, Jerry Taylor's brother, speaking of a 911 call from the murder scene that was played during the trial.
"I'm just happy justice has been served," said Molly Rhoades, Elizabeth Evans' daughter, who had testified that a woman's voice on the 911 call was her mother's.
Added Julian Weingarten, Elizabeth Evans' father, "The system works."
Patrick Evans, 44, was a vice president for Jabil, the global electronics company based in St. Petersburg, and lived a lavish lifestyle at the time of the killings in December 2008.
The case has attracted the attention of two TV news magazines, CBS' 48 Hours and ABC's 20/20.
The jury didn't buy an alibi offered by Rodney Evans, Patrick Evans' brother, who testified that the two of them were cooking burgers miles away at the time of the slayings.
The fatal shots came from a .40-caliber Glock handgun gun owned by Patrick Evans, investigators said, basing their conclusion on shells recovered at the scene of the crime.
The murder weapon was never found.
Two gunshots and the voices of a woman and a man can be heard on the 911 call.
The woman is heard making reference to "Rick," the name Evans went by. The man's voice is heard saying, "sit on the bed."
mdouglas@wfla.com
(727) 815-1054
Published: November 09, 2011
Updated: November 09, 2011 - 1:11 PM
CLEARWATER --
A jury today convicted Patrick Evans of first-degree murder in the deaths of his estranged wife, Elizabeth, and her boyfriend, Jerry Taylor, both found naked and shot in the neck in the bedroom of her Gulfport townhome.
The jury deliberated about an hour and 20 minutes this morning before reaching its verdict.
The panel will return Thursday morning to consider whether to recommend death or life in prison for Evans. Judge Richard Luce will decide the sentence.
Friends and family of the victims were in the courtroom, some of them sobbing, as the verdict was read.
"My brother and Beth got to say what happened, and the jury heard it," said J.P. Taylor, Jerry Taylor's brother, speaking of a 911 call from the murder scene that was played during the trial.
"I'm just happy justice has been served," said Molly Rhoades, Elizabeth Evans' daughter, who had testified that a woman's voice on the 911 call was her mother's.
Added Julian Weingarten, Elizabeth Evans' father, "The system works."
Patrick Evans, 44, was a vice president for Jabil, the global electronics company based in St. Petersburg, and lived a lavish lifestyle at the time of the killings in December 2008.
The case has attracted the attention of two TV news magazines, CBS' 48 Hours and ABC's 20/20.
The jury didn't buy an alibi offered by Rodney Evans, Patrick Evans' brother, who testified that the two of them were cooking burgers miles away at the time of the slayings.
The fatal shots came from a .40-caliber Glock handgun gun owned by Patrick Evans, investigators said, basing their conclusion on shells recovered at the scene of the crime.
The murder weapon was never found.
Two gunshots and the voices of a woman and a man can be heard on the 911 call.
The woman is heard making reference to "Rick," the name Evans went by. The man's voice is heard saying, "sit on the bed."
mdouglas@wfla.com
(727) 815-1054
Mishawaka, IN: Man sentenced for Mishawaka woman's murder
ST. JOESEPH COUNTY – A man who admits to killing his girlfriend earlier this year will spend up to 40 years in prison.
A St. Joseph County judge sentenced Jorge Huerta Cardenas to 40 years Wednesday morning.
He pleaded guilty last month to killing his live-in girlfriend, Kim White-Stout.
Her body was found strangled to death in a Cass County field.
A friend told police the two got into an argument on March 23rd when White-Stout told Cardenas to move out.
She was missing for several days before her body was found.
A St. Joseph County judge sentenced Jorge Huerta Cardenas to 40 years Wednesday morning.
He pleaded guilty last month to killing his live-in girlfriend, Kim White-Stout.
Her body was found strangled to death in a Cass County field.
A friend told police the two got into an argument on March 23rd when White-Stout told Cardenas to move out.
She was missing for several days before her body was found.
Fond du Lac, WI: Fond du Lac woman murdered; husband arrested in Alabama
FOND DU LAC - Police have arrested a 35-
year-old Fond du Lac man accused of
shooting his wife in the head.
The search for Jason E. Anderson began
after police found his wife, Nicole L.
Anderson, 33, dead of a single gunshot
wound about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in the
couple’s home at 312 Winnebago Drive.
He was arrested in Birmingham, Ala., said
Fond du Lac Police Department Capt. Steve
Klein. Detectives were booking a flight to
interview him, Klein said Wednesday
afternoon.
Jason Anderson was tracked to Alabama
when he used his credit card at 6:41 p.m.
Tuesday in Birmingham, according to the
criminal complaint obtained by The
Reporter of Fond du Lac. Birmingham is
where Anderson’s mother, Barbara
Williams, resides.
At 5:28 p.m. Tuesday, Grove Cannon,
father of Nicole Anderson, told police that
his daughter was not responding to phone
calls and had not been heard from for two
days. Cannon was at the home of his
daughter when he called police, according
to the complaint.
Police found Nicole Anderson in the master
bedroom on the second floor of the home
with a gunshot wound to the left temple. An
empty handgun holster and spent handgun
shell casing were found on the floor next to
the bed. A live handgun bullet was found in
the closet, according to the complaint.
Cannon told Detective Steve Kaufman that
the Andersons were married for at least
eight years and that he was not aware of
any marital problems or history of violence.
Klein told The Reporter that a gun was not
found in the home.
Cannon told a detective that he attempted
to call Nicole Anderson on Saturday after
he forgot to call her on her birthday the
day prior.
Lynn Schubert, Nicole’s ex-husband and
the father of her 11-year-old daughter,
reported that Nicole Anderson did not
show up to pick up the girl for a scheduled
dentist appointment, according to the
complaint.
year-old Fond du Lac man accused of
shooting his wife in the head.
The search for Jason E. Anderson began
after police found his wife, Nicole L.
Anderson, 33, dead of a single gunshot
wound about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in the
couple’s home at 312 Winnebago Drive.
He was arrested in Birmingham, Ala., said
Fond du Lac Police Department Capt. Steve
Klein. Detectives were booking a flight to
interview him, Klein said Wednesday
afternoon.
Jason Anderson was tracked to Alabama
when he used his credit card at 6:41 p.m.
Tuesday in Birmingham, according to the
criminal complaint obtained by The
Reporter of Fond du Lac. Birmingham is
where Anderson’s mother, Barbara
Williams, resides.
At 5:28 p.m. Tuesday, Grove Cannon,
father of Nicole Anderson, told police that
his daughter was not responding to phone
calls and had not been heard from for two
days. Cannon was at the home of his
daughter when he called police, according
to the complaint.
Police found Nicole Anderson in the master
bedroom on the second floor of the home
with a gunshot wound to the left temple. An
empty handgun holster and spent handgun
shell casing were found on the floor next to
the bed. A live handgun bullet was found in
the closet, according to the complaint.
Cannon told Detective Steve Kaufman that
the Andersons were married for at least
eight years and that he was not aware of
any marital problems or history of violence.
Klein told The Reporter that a gun was not
found in the home.
Cannon told a detective that he attempted
to call Nicole Anderson on Saturday after
he forgot to call her on her birthday the
day prior.
Lynn Schubert, Nicole’s ex-husband and
the father of her 11-year-old daughter,
reported that Nicole Anderson did not
show up to pick up the girl for a scheduled
dentist appointment, according to the
complaint.
Shelby, NC: Guilty on first degree murder
Wednesday, Nov 9 2011, 7:43 am
Diane Turbyfill
Jurors took less than four hours to convict Danny Hembree of first-degree murder Tuesday.
The jury decided that 49-year-old Hembree suffocated Heather Catterton in October 2009.
Catterton spent much of her life as a foster child in Cleveland County.
Catterton’s family cheered when the verdict was read, but were quickly quieted by Superior Court Judge Beverly Beal.
Hembree showed little reaction to the decision that will either land him in prison for life or sentence him to death.
Catterton’s mother, Stella Holland, hopes jurors see fit to execute the man who dated one of her daughters and killed the other.
“I hope he gets the death penalty, and I hope they kill him,” she said.
The capital murder trial began about six weeks ago.
For nearly a month jurors saw gruesome pictures of two slain women – Catterton, 17, and 30-year-old Randi Saldana. They watched as attorneys pulled out clothes that Catterton wore the night she was killed. They gazed at blood-stained pillows and boots.
Hembree confessed to the killings to police in December 2009. His attorneys tried to convince the jury that Hembree was an opportunist who manipulated the judicial system.
Attorneys Rick Beam and Brent Ratchford told jurors that their client often confessed to crimes he didn’t commit. He used the tactic to confuse authorities and lessen sentencing on other convictions.
But the three videotaped confessions proved too damming for Hembree, and the five-woman, seven-man jury handed down the first-degree murder charge. Jurors could have found Hembree innocent or convicted him of second-degree murder or manslaughter.
A second phase of the trial will begin Wednesday morning in which the jury will hear more testimony and decide if Hembree lives or dies.
Hembree has not yet been tried for the killing of Saldana or Deborah Ratchford, a woman found dead in Gastonia in 1992.
During the police interrogation recordings Hembree also confessed to killing Ratchford. Evidence in her death was not introduced in the Catterton trial, but jurors did hear a lot about the brutal slaying of Saldana.
Saldana’s burned body was found in York County, S.C. less than three weeks after Catterton was discovered lying dead in a culvert about six miles away.
Hembree was smoking crack and having sex with both women the nights they died.
He was dating Catterton’s older sister, Nicole Catterton, when the teen was killed.
Nicole Catterton wept while talking to reporters Tuesday about her sister. She referred to her sister as an angel watching over her, and she said she never had a clue that Hembree would devastate her family forever.
The two years since Heather Catterton’s death have been painful, family members said.
They hope the conclusion of the trial will bring closure.
“It’ll never be over, but it’s peace,” said Holland.
Diane Turbyfill
Jurors took less than four hours to convict Danny Hembree of first-degree murder Tuesday.
The jury decided that 49-year-old Hembree suffocated Heather Catterton in October 2009.
Catterton spent much of her life as a foster child in Cleveland County.
Catterton’s family cheered when the verdict was read, but were quickly quieted by Superior Court Judge Beverly Beal.
Hembree showed little reaction to the decision that will either land him in prison for life or sentence him to death.
Catterton’s mother, Stella Holland, hopes jurors see fit to execute the man who dated one of her daughters and killed the other.
“I hope he gets the death penalty, and I hope they kill him,” she said.
The capital murder trial began about six weeks ago.
For nearly a month jurors saw gruesome pictures of two slain women – Catterton, 17, and 30-year-old Randi Saldana. They watched as attorneys pulled out clothes that Catterton wore the night she was killed. They gazed at blood-stained pillows and boots.
Hembree confessed to the killings to police in December 2009. His attorneys tried to convince the jury that Hembree was an opportunist who manipulated the judicial system.
Attorneys Rick Beam and Brent Ratchford told jurors that their client often confessed to crimes he didn’t commit. He used the tactic to confuse authorities and lessen sentencing on other convictions.
But the three videotaped confessions proved too damming for Hembree, and the five-woman, seven-man jury handed down the first-degree murder charge. Jurors could have found Hembree innocent or convicted him of second-degree murder or manslaughter.
A second phase of the trial will begin Wednesday morning in which the jury will hear more testimony and decide if Hembree lives or dies.
Hembree has not yet been tried for the killing of Saldana or Deborah Ratchford, a woman found dead in Gastonia in 1992.
During the police interrogation recordings Hembree also confessed to killing Ratchford. Evidence in her death was not introduced in the Catterton trial, but jurors did hear a lot about the brutal slaying of Saldana.
Saldana’s burned body was found in York County, S.C. less than three weeks after Catterton was discovered lying dead in a culvert about six miles away.
Hembree was smoking crack and having sex with both women the nights they died.
He was dating Catterton’s older sister, Nicole Catterton, when the teen was killed.
Nicole Catterton wept while talking to reporters Tuesday about her sister. She referred to her sister as an angel watching over her, and she said she never had a clue that Hembree would devastate her family forever.
The two years since Heather Catterton’s death have been painful, family members said.
They hope the conclusion of the trial will bring closure.
“It’ll never be over, but it’s peace,” said Holland.
Suffolk, VA: Police in Suffolk investigate apparent murder-suicide
SUFFOLK—
Police in Suffolk are investigating what appears to be a domestic murder-suicide involving an estranged husband violating a protective order.
Deborah Marlow Wigg, 39, was shot to death in her home in the 100 block of Grove Avenue in the Oak Ridge subdivision. Her estranged husband, Robert Lyndon Wigg, 43, of Virginia Beach, was found dead in another location. Diana Klink, spokeswoman for the city, said investigators believe Robert Wigg's gunshot wound was self-inflicted.
Klink said Deborah Wigg called dispatchers at 11 p.m. to report that her husband was trying to gain entrance to her home in violation of a protective order. Before officers could arrive, she told the dispatcher that her husband had forced his way in, and then she lost phone contact.
Text NEWS to 71593 to receive breaking news. Click here for other text alert options.
Two children, ages 4 and 10, were in the home at the time. They are now in the custody of relatives.
Klink said investigators believe Robert Wigg shot his wife and then drove to her parents' home in the 1600 block of Ronald Drive where he shot himself.
The case remains under investigation.
Police in Suffolk are investigating what appears to be a domestic murder-suicide involving an estranged husband violating a protective order.
Deborah Marlow Wigg, 39, was shot to death in her home in the 100 block of Grove Avenue in the Oak Ridge subdivision. Her estranged husband, Robert Lyndon Wigg, 43, of Virginia Beach, was found dead in another location. Diana Klink, spokeswoman for the city, said investigators believe Robert Wigg's gunshot wound was self-inflicted.
Klink said Deborah Wigg called dispatchers at 11 p.m. to report that her husband was trying to gain entrance to her home in violation of a protective order. Before officers could arrive, she told the dispatcher that her husband had forced his way in, and then she lost phone contact.
Text NEWS to 71593 to receive breaking news. Click here for other text alert options.
Two children, ages 4 and 10, were in the home at the time. They are now in the custody of relatives.
Klink said investigators believe Robert Wigg shot his wife and then drove to her parents' home in the 1600 block of Ronald Drive where he shot himself.
The case remains under investigation.
Cuthbert, GA: G.B.I is helping with murder, suicide investigation
GBI aids police in Murder Suicide case
The G.B.I has come in to aid the Cuthbert police in investigating a murder, suicide case. (more)
A murder, suicide investigation proved too much to handle for a small Randolph County police department.
At first glance, Court Street in Cuthbert looks like a quiet road running through a small Georgia town; however the town has found itself in the middle of a state murder investigation.
Police were dispatched to a home on Court Street in Cuthbert in Randolph County to investigate a shooting. However they soon discovered that they needed some help.
Upon arrival at the scene, Cuthbert police along with the Georgia Bureau of Investigations discovered the body of Sabrina Bellamy who according to police was suffering from multiple gunshot wounds and pronounce dead on scene. Police say witnesses told them that Dextrell Williams killed Bellamy and fled the house on a bicycle.
Williams then called Chief Wiggins to say that he was in a cemetery and would only come to the station with him.
That conversation lead Chief Wiggins to greenwood cemetery where Wiggins says Williams was waiting to turn himself in to police. However things did not go according to plan
According to Chief Wiggins it is not unusual to contact the GBI in murder cases like this.
Wiggins says GBI will continue to investigate and he hopes will determine a possible motive soon.
Chief Wiggins adds he knew Williams from previous arrests. He also says it was no secret Williams and Bellamy likely had been in an abusive relationship.
The G.B.I has come in to aid the Cuthbert police in investigating a murder, suicide case. (more)
A murder, suicide investigation proved too much to handle for a small Randolph County police department.
At first glance, Court Street in Cuthbert looks like a quiet road running through a small Georgia town; however the town has found itself in the middle of a state murder investigation.
Police were dispatched to a home on Court Street in Cuthbert in Randolph County to investigate a shooting. However they soon discovered that they needed some help.
Upon arrival at the scene, Cuthbert police along with the Georgia Bureau of Investigations discovered the body of Sabrina Bellamy who according to police was suffering from multiple gunshot wounds and pronounce dead on scene. Police say witnesses told them that Dextrell Williams killed Bellamy and fled the house on a bicycle.
Williams then called Chief Wiggins to say that he was in a cemetery and would only come to the station with him.
That conversation lead Chief Wiggins to greenwood cemetery where Wiggins says Williams was waiting to turn himself in to police. However things did not go according to plan
According to Chief Wiggins it is not unusual to contact the GBI in murder cases like this.
Wiggins says GBI will continue to investigate and he hopes will determine a possible motive soon.
Chief Wiggins adds he knew Williams from previous arrests. He also says it was no secret Williams and Bellamy likely had been in an abusive relationship.
Providence, KY: Western Ky. man accused of murder in deaths of ex-girlfriend, man
PROVIDENCE, Ky. — A western Kentucky man has been charged with two counts of murder after allegedly shooting his ex-girlfriend and stabbing her male friend.
Kentucky State Police said 43-year-old Michael A. Musarra of Providence in Webster County called authorities to turn himself in late Monday and was arrested at his mother's home in Robards.
Musarra is accused of entering the woman's home, shooting her and stabbing the man.
Police said 43-year-old Erika L. Hutchason of Providence died at St. Mary's Medical Center in Evansville, Ind. The other victim, 39-year-old Anthony H. Culp of Clay, Ky., died at the Regional Medical Center in Madisonville.
Musarra, who was also charged with first-degree burglary, was being held in the Webster County Detention Center on $1 million bond. The jail had no record of an attorney for him.
Kentucky State Police said 43-year-old Michael A. Musarra of Providence in Webster County called authorities to turn himself in late Monday and was arrested at his mother's home in Robards.
Musarra is accused of entering the woman's home, shooting her and stabbing the man.
Police said 43-year-old Erika L. Hutchason of Providence died at St. Mary's Medical Center in Evansville, Ind. The other victim, 39-year-old Anthony H. Culp of Clay, Ky., died at the Regional Medical Center in Madisonville.
Musarra, who was also charged with first-degree burglary, was being held in the Webster County Detention Center on $1 million bond. The jail had no record of an attorney for him.
Battle Creek, MI: Updated: Battle Creek woman beaten to death with baseball bat
BATTLE CREEK, Mich. (NEWSCHANNEL 3) – Police in Battle Creek have arrested a man they say beat his mother-in-law to death with a baseball bat.
The attack happened Tuesday morning at the victim's daughter's house on Cliff Street.
Officers say Howard McDonald hit Joan Roush in the head with a bat. She died while being airlifted to the hospital.
McDonald is now behind bars, facing several charges including open murder.
Newschannel 3 has been digging into McDonald's past and found out his wife has a personal protection order against him. In that order, his wife says she was frightened for her life and the lives of her children.
“He was strange,” said neighbor Rachel Campbell. “He was different, he never looked at you when he talked to you.”
Campbell says McDonald was always asking to borrow money and she says she often heard him arguing with his wife, Sheila.
“They fought a lot,” said Campbell, “and if you ever walked down there, you could hear them yelling and stuff.”
But Campbell says she never guessed that McDonald might pull his wife's mother into things.
“I always thought he would do something like that, so that doesn't surprise me,” said Campbell, “the person he did it to really surprised me, I really thought it would be his wife.”
The PPO states that Sheila had started the process of divorce and that McDonald had threatened her on several occasions. She told the court he had a crack cocaine habit, was bi-polar and said things to her like “I'll burn the house down with you in it,” and “you had better watch it, I'll take you out *****. No one survives this divorce except Jon, (the couple's child).”
“It's kind of terrifying when you see the police coming and going and coming and going before this, at least a week and a half now,” said Campbell.
Police say in order to help their daughter through her ordeal, Joan and Robert Roush had come to check on and secure the house. Detectives say that's when McDonald surprised them with a bat.
“The husband came inside and found her laying on the ground,” said Sgt. Austin Simons, Battle Creek Police Department.
“She's a smaller woman, she was little and against him I don't think she could have fought back,” said Campbell. “She was just the nicest woman, I don't know why anyone would do such a thing to her.”
McDonald is currently being held at the Calhoun County Jail on charges of open murder and assault with intent to murder.
The attack happened Tuesday morning at the victim's daughter's house on Cliff Street.
Officers say Howard McDonald hit Joan Roush in the head with a bat. She died while being airlifted to the hospital.
McDonald is now behind bars, facing several charges including open murder.
Newschannel 3 has been digging into McDonald's past and found out his wife has a personal protection order against him. In that order, his wife says she was frightened for her life and the lives of her children.
“He was strange,” said neighbor Rachel Campbell. “He was different, he never looked at you when he talked to you.”
Campbell says McDonald was always asking to borrow money and she says she often heard him arguing with his wife, Sheila.
“They fought a lot,” said Campbell, “and if you ever walked down there, you could hear them yelling and stuff.”
But Campbell says she never guessed that McDonald might pull his wife's mother into things.
“I always thought he would do something like that, so that doesn't surprise me,” said Campbell, “the person he did it to really surprised me, I really thought it would be his wife.”
The PPO states that Sheila had started the process of divorce and that McDonald had threatened her on several occasions. She told the court he had a crack cocaine habit, was bi-polar and said things to her like “I'll burn the house down with you in it,” and “you had better watch it, I'll take you out *****. No one survives this divorce except Jon, (the couple's child).”
“It's kind of terrifying when you see the police coming and going and coming and going before this, at least a week and a half now,” said Campbell.
Police say in order to help their daughter through her ordeal, Joan and Robert Roush had come to check on and secure the house. Detectives say that's when McDonald surprised them with a bat.
“The husband came inside and found her laying on the ground,” said Sgt. Austin Simons, Battle Creek Police Department.
“She's a smaller woman, she was little and against him I don't think she could have fought back,” said Campbell. “She was just the nicest woman, I don't know why anyone would do such a thing to her.”
McDonald is currently being held at the Calhoun County Jail on charges of open murder and assault with intent to murder.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Romine, AL: Authorities: Woman killed by former boyfriend
By Tom Smith Senior Staff Writer
ROMINE -- A woman was shot and later died late Sunday following a dispute with her former boyfriend, officials said today.
Huntsville Hospital officials said Trinity Sledge, 11562 Lauderdale 92, died from injuries suffered in the shooting. The shooting took place at her house, which is between Rogersville and Anderson in the Romine community of eastern Lauderdale County, sheriff’s investigators said.
Sheriff Ronnie Willis said Sledge and her ex-boyfriend Chris Fincher were flown from the scene by helicopter to Huntsville Hospital.
Fincher, according to hospital officials, is in critical condition in the facility’s neurological intensive care unit.
Investigators said the shooting was reported around 8 p.m.
Emergency personnel at the scene said Sledge and Fincher were both shot once.
Authorities said Sledge and her 10-year-old daughter had just returned from church when she was apparently confronted by Fincher.
Willis said the child reportedly witnessed the shooting.
“That’s what is so sad,” Willis said. “It’s a pitiful situation.”
He said investigators are talking to family members to see if they can determine what led to the shooting.
ROMINE -- A woman was shot and later died late Sunday following a dispute with her former boyfriend, officials said today.
Huntsville Hospital officials said Trinity Sledge, 11562 Lauderdale 92, died from injuries suffered in the shooting. The shooting took place at her house, which is between Rogersville and Anderson in the Romine community of eastern Lauderdale County, sheriff’s investigators said.
Sheriff Ronnie Willis said Sledge and her ex-boyfriend Chris Fincher were flown from the scene by helicopter to Huntsville Hospital.
Fincher, according to hospital officials, is in critical condition in the facility’s neurological intensive care unit.
Investigators said the shooting was reported around 8 p.m.
Emergency personnel at the scene said Sledge and Fincher were both shot once.
Authorities said Sledge and her 10-year-old daughter had just returned from church when she was apparently confronted by Fincher.
Willis said the child reportedly witnessed the shooting.
“That’s what is so sad,” Willis said. “It’s a pitiful situation.”
He said investigators are talking to family members to see if they can determine what led to the shooting.
Bonners Ferry, ID: Woman murdered in Nalples
BONNERS FERRY — A Boundary County woman is dead and her boyfriend is in jail in connection with a fatal shooting Friday afternoon.
Anna Old, 43, was shot and killed in her home on Deep Creek Loop on Friday, according to a press release issued by the Boundary County Sheriff’s Office.
The death is under investigation by Idaho State Police and the BCSO and investigators were still on scene late Friday night.
According to a BCSO spokesperson, John August Funkhouser, 61, of Oregon called 911 at 1:45 p.m. to report the shooting.
Funkhouser was arrested at the scene and is in custody at Boundary County jail pending investigation.
Anna Old, 43, was shot and killed in her home on Deep Creek Loop on Friday, according to a press release issued by the Boundary County Sheriff’s Office.
The death is under investigation by Idaho State Police and the BCSO and investigators were still on scene late Friday night.
According to a BCSO spokesperson, John August Funkhouser, 61, of Oregon called 911 at 1:45 p.m. to report the shooting.
Funkhouser was arrested at the scene and is in custody at Boundary County jail pending investigation.
Chicago, IL: Woman dies after Halloween stabbing over candy
Updated: November 7, 2011 2:09AM
A man was so enraged over a missing bag of candy he fatally plunged a knife into a woman multiple times on Halloween, police alleged.
Ledell Peoples, 55, of 7100 block of South Winchester, is accused of stabbing his acquaintance Maria Adams, 49, of the 8200 block of S. May, at his home, officials said. He was arrested last week and charged with attempted murder and aggravated domestic battery. Charges are expected to be upgraded because the woman died Saturday night. Sun-Times Media
A man was so enraged over a missing bag of candy he fatally plunged a knife into a woman multiple times on Halloween, police alleged.
Ledell Peoples, 55, of 7100 block of South Winchester, is accused of stabbing his acquaintance Maria Adams, 49, of the 8200 block of S. May, at his home, officials said. He was arrested last week and charged with attempted murder and aggravated domestic battery. Charges are expected to be upgraded because the woman died Saturday night. Sun-Times Media
Tarrant, AL: Police: Love triangle led to murder/suicide
TARRANT, AL (WBRC) -
There's new information about a murder-suicide case in Tarrant. Sunday's violence all stemmed from a love triangle.
Friends and family of the suspect and victim told investigators that 20-year-old William Keith of Pinson was quite vocal about how he was going to kill 25-year-old Preston Floyd. So much so that he walked from Pinson to Tarrant, a 10-mile walk, to carry out the murder.
The men were fighting over one pregnant girl. Which one's the father? And who she's dating? Was it Floyd or Keith? Investigators say she was seeing them both. Now both men are dead.
"It's difficult. It's hard," said Floyd's sister, Jessy Freeze.
Freeze still can't believe her brother is gone. Sunday night, Tarrant police say Keith entered the home with one thing on his mind, to kill Floyd.
As for the girlfriend, "She was behind the door," said Tarrant Police Chief Dennis Reno. "Mr. Floyd had told her to get behind the door and hide because they knew Mr. Keith was coming into the house with a gun."
Police say Keith shot Floyd several times then fled in a car. But he didn't get far.
As police approached the car, they heard a single gunshot. Officers fired back. It's now believed the single shot was Keith taking his life. "It's very frustrating to think they would ruin their entire lives," said Chief Reno.
Floyd's friend, Dwight Thornton said, "Preston [Floyd] was there because he loved somebody and wanted to take care of her and her child."
Freeze said, "He would do anything to protect her and that baby. Just knowing the thought it was his, it was his baby in his mind."
Keith was recently released from jail on domestic violence charges. Those charges stem from an incident involving the woman at the center of this love triangle.
There's new information about a murder-suicide case in Tarrant. Sunday's violence all stemmed from a love triangle.
Friends and family of the suspect and victim told investigators that 20-year-old William Keith of Pinson was quite vocal about how he was going to kill 25-year-old Preston Floyd. So much so that he walked from Pinson to Tarrant, a 10-mile walk, to carry out the murder.
The men were fighting over one pregnant girl. Which one's the father? And who she's dating? Was it Floyd or Keith? Investigators say she was seeing them both. Now both men are dead.
"It's difficult. It's hard," said Floyd's sister, Jessy Freeze.
Freeze still can't believe her brother is gone. Sunday night, Tarrant police say Keith entered the home with one thing on his mind, to kill Floyd.
As for the girlfriend, "She was behind the door," said Tarrant Police Chief Dennis Reno. "Mr. Floyd had told her to get behind the door and hide because they knew Mr. Keith was coming into the house with a gun."
Police say Keith shot Floyd several times then fled in a car. But he didn't get far.
As police approached the car, they heard a single gunshot. Officers fired back. It's now believed the single shot was Keith taking his life. "It's very frustrating to think they would ruin their entire lives," said Chief Reno.
Floyd's friend, Dwight Thornton said, "Preston [Floyd] was there because he loved somebody and wanted to take care of her and her child."
Freeze said, "He would do anything to protect her and that baby. Just knowing the thought it was his, it was his baby in his mind."
Keith was recently released from jail on domestic violence charges. Those charges stem from an incident involving the woman at the center of this love triangle.
Uniontown, PA: Trial set to begin for western Pa. man accused of killing wife by running over her with car
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
First Posted: November 07, 2011 - 9:42 pm
Last Updated: November 07, 2011 - 9:42 pm
Uniontown, Pa. — Opening statements are slated Tuesday afternoon in the trial of a southwestern Pennsylvania man accused of having killed his wife by running her down with his car.
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (http://bit.ly/rFljL1 ) says a jury was seated Monday in Fayette County to hear the criminal homicide case against 47-year-old Ronald Higinbotham of Brownsville.
State police allege that he ran over 30-year-old Carmen Higinbotham on Route 40 in June 2009. Prosecutors say the two were having marital problems and friends said she planned to leave him.
Police said the defendant told them that he ran over his wife accidentally after she jumped from the moving car during an argument and he didn't stop to help her because he was afraid.
First Posted: November 07, 2011 - 9:42 pm
Last Updated: November 07, 2011 - 9:42 pm
Uniontown, Pa. — Opening statements are slated Tuesday afternoon in the trial of a southwestern Pennsylvania man accused of having killed his wife by running her down with his car.
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (http://bit.ly/rFljL1 ) says a jury was seated Monday in Fayette County to hear the criminal homicide case against 47-year-old Ronald Higinbotham of Brownsville.
State police allege that he ran over 30-year-old Carmen Higinbotham on Route 40 in June 2009. Prosecutors say the two were having marital problems and friends said she planned to leave him.
Police said the defendant told them that he ran over his wife accidentally after she jumped from the moving car during an argument and he didn't stop to help her because he was afraid.
Mt. Pleasant, MI: Mount Pleasant man pleads guilty to 2nd-degree murder in shooting death of wife
Published: Monday, November 07, 2011, 2:28 PM
By Andy Hoag | The Saginaw News
MOUNT PLEASANT — Gary J. Reen faces up to life in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree murder in the April shooting death of his wife.
Reen, 56, accepted prosecutors’ plea agreement on Monday, in which prosecutors will drop the initial open count of murder that Reen faced.
Reen shot and killed his wife, 51-year-old Cheryl Reen, on April 1 in the couple’s pole barn at East River near South Leaton in Chippewa Township. Gary Reen’s son, Gary Reen II, testified at Reen’s preliminary hearing that the father confessed to the son regarding the shooting. Reen turned himself in to police the night of the shooting.
If Reed had been convicted of first-degree premeditated murder, he would have faced a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. Reen also pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm during the commission of a felony, which carries a mandatory two-year consecutive sentence.
Isabella County Trial Judge Mark Duthie is scheduled to sentence Reen on Dec. 8.
By Andy Hoag | The Saginaw News
MOUNT PLEASANT — Gary J. Reen faces up to life in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree murder in the April shooting death of his wife.
Reen, 56, accepted prosecutors’ plea agreement on Monday, in which prosecutors will drop the initial open count of murder that Reen faced.
Reen shot and killed his wife, 51-year-old Cheryl Reen, on April 1 in the couple’s pole barn at East River near South Leaton in Chippewa Township. Gary Reen’s son, Gary Reen II, testified at Reen’s preliminary hearing that the father confessed to the son regarding the shooting. Reen turned himself in to police the night of the shooting.
If Reed had been convicted of first-degree premeditated murder, he would have faced a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. Reen also pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm during the commission of a felony, which carries a mandatory two-year consecutive sentence.
Isabella County Trial Judge Mark Duthie is scheduled to sentence Reen on Dec. 8.
Jacksonville, NC: Jury selection underway for NC man accused of strangling wife
JACKSONVILLE, N.C. - Jury selection is still underway this afternoon for an Onslow County man accused of strangling his wife and burying her in a shallow grave behind their home.
The first degree murder trial for 21-year-old Soyer Moll started Monday in Jacksonville.
Investigators say Moll led them to the location where his wife, 21-year-old Virginia Moll's body, was buried. She was killed two years ago.
An autopsy found a red cloth was still tightly wrapped around her neck when her body was found.
The first degree murder trial for 21-year-old Soyer Moll started Monday in Jacksonville.
Investigators say Moll led them to the location where his wife, 21-year-old Virginia Moll's body, was buried. She was killed two years ago.
An autopsy found a red cloth was still tightly wrapped around her neck when her body was found.
San Benito, TX: Apparent murder-suicide investigated
November 07, 2011 9:35 PM
By ALLEN ESSEX/Valley Morning Star
SAN BENITO — The bodies of a man and a woman were found outside their home south of here, in what investigators are calling a murder-suicide.
Cameron County Sheriff Omar Lucio said the bodies of Leticia Jimenez Trejo and Martin Calderon, both 43, were found at 22156 Del Valle Ave., near Sam Houston Boulevard and FM 800, an area known as Tecosville.
Trejo’s son, Luis Medina, 21, who Lucio said often visited his mother, went to the house between 5 and 6 a.m., Lucio said.
Medina saw Calderon outside the house. When the son asked about his mother, Calderon told him she was in inside.
Calderon then told Medina that he needed to call law enforcement, Lucio said.
That statement by Calderon alarmed Medina, who called 9-1-1 as he drove away, Lucio said. Medina told deputies he heard a gunshot as he drove away.
When deputies arrived, they found Calderon’s body first behind the house, and then found Trejo’s body in Calderon’s car, the sheriff said.
Calderon had left a note saying the deaths were a murder-suicide and that he was sorry, Lucio said.
Investigators recovered a 9 mm handgun, the sheriff said.
The time of Trejo’s killing has not been determined and her son did not notice that she was in Calderon’s car as he sat in his vehicle, the sheriff said.
Deputies at first identified Calderon as his brother, Roberto Calderon, because he was carrying the other man’s identification, but it is not yet known why, Lucio said.
By ALLEN ESSEX/Valley Morning Star
SAN BENITO — The bodies of a man and a woman were found outside their home south of here, in what investigators are calling a murder-suicide.
Cameron County Sheriff Omar Lucio said the bodies of Leticia Jimenez Trejo and Martin Calderon, both 43, were found at 22156 Del Valle Ave., near Sam Houston Boulevard and FM 800, an area known as Tecosville.
Trejo’s son, Luis Medina, 21, who Lucio said often visited his mother, went to the house between 5 and 6 a.m., Lucio said.
Medina saw Calderon outside the house. When the son asked about his mother, Calderon told him she was in inside.
Calderon then told Medina that he needed to call law enforcement, Lucio said.
That statement by Calderon alarmed Medina, who called 9-1-1 as he drove away, Lucio said. Medina told deputies he heard a gunshot as he drove away.
When deputies arrived, they found Calderon’s body first behind the house, and then found Trejo’s body in Calderon’s car, the sheriff said.
Calderon had left a note saying the deaths were a murder-suicide and that he was sorry, Lucio said.
Investigators recovered a 9 mm handgun, the sheriff said.
The time of Trejo’s killing has not been determined and her son did not notice that she was in Calderon’s car as he sat in his vehicle, the sheriff said.
Deputies at first identified Calderon as his brother, Roberto Calderon, because he was carrying the other man’s identification, but it is not yet known why, Lucio said.
Monday, November 7, 2011
Houston, TX: Man wanted for murder steals Key Largo boat, heads for Cuba, commits suicide at sea
By MIKE CLARY
Sun Sentinel
KEY LARGO — The residents of Travel Trailer Town first met Noel Sosa-Ruiz about four years ago, when he swam ashore after jumping off a boat that had smuggled him into the U.S. from Cuba.
Five days ago, when Magaly Rivas saw him again, “He looked dazed, stressed,” she said. “He said he had some problems with his wife in Houston.”
Just how serious those problems were did not become clear until Friday, when, with the Coast Guard closing in, the 41-year-old Sosa-Ruiz shot and killed himself in a stolen boat that was out of gas and drifting just 20 miles off Cuba’s north coast.
Back in Key Largo, Rivas, 39, and her boyfriend Juan Carlos Leyva, 42, the boat’s owner, found a note in a van Sosa-Ruiz had been driving.
“I am condemned to die because I killed my wife and I have to leave,” read the note, written in Spanish, according to Rivas. “Forgive me.”
In Houston, Sosa-Ruiz was indeed wanted in connection with the fatal shooting of 29-year-old Yodanis Cruz-Rojas, his common-law wife and mother of their two children, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office soon learned.
Cruz-Rojas was at work at a dental office on Oct. 27 when Sosa-Ruiz walked in, fatally shot her and fled, according to Houston police.
After the shooting, Sosa-Ruiz, a licensed security guard, apparently made his way from Texas to his sister’s house in Kissimmee. There he picked up the van he drove to Key Largo.
When Sosa-Ruiz arrived from Cuba, the residents of the trailer park — some of them Cuban immigrants themselves — assisted in his resettlement. Leyva even made a call to a cousin in Houston, who helped him find a job, according to Rivas.
But when he showed up unexpectedly last week, things were different, said Rivas.
"He seemed anxious,” she said. “He said he came here just to get away for a while. He wanted to stay busy.”
Given a room in a neighbor’s house, Sosa-Ruiz helped Leyva work on a small boat, while incessantly asking to go out on a fishing trip. Rivas said she and Leyva told him the seas were too rough for fishing.
On Thursday, Leyva was scheduled to go into the hospital for medical tests. He would stay overnight. And that is when Sosa-Ruiz apparently saw his chance, said Rivas.
Neighbors heard the engine on Leyva’s 21-foot Mako center console roar to life between 1 and 2 a.m. Friday. When Leyva returned from the hospital Friday morning, he found the boat gone and the note in the van.
After the boat theft was reported to the Sheriff’s Office, the Coast Guard was alerted, according to Deputy Becky Herrin.
At 10:30 a.m. on Friday, the Coast Guard in Sector Key West got word from the crew of a Customs and Border Protection Dash-8 aircraft: Two red flares had been fired from a center console vessel that appeared to be dead in the water and in need of assistance.
The crew of the cutter Nantucket was diverted to the vessel's position, and an Ocean Sentry fixed-wing aircraft crew from Air Station Miami flew over to drop a radio, raft, food and a pump to the vessel.
Sosa-Ruiz retrieved only the radio and the pump. He used gasoline from the pump to get his engine started and took off toward Cuba, the Coast Guard reported.
But that fuel did not last long. Drifting again, the stolen vessel was spotted by crew aboard the cargo ship Four Nabucco about 11 miles southwest of Cay Sal Island in the Bahamas. They reported the boat’s position to the Coast Guard.
Four Nabucco crew members took down the vessel's registration numbers. The numbers matched Leyva’s boat.
The Nantucket found Sosa-Ruiz and the Mako about 6 p.m. Friday. As the 110-foot patrol boat neared, Sosa-Ruiz fired one shot directly into his chest. The boarding team approached the vessel by smallboat, went aboard and confirmed that he was dead.
A .40 caliber Berretta, believed to be the gun Sosa-Ruiz used on himself, was found in the boat, said Herrin.
The Nantucket brought the vessel and Sosa-Ruiz's body back to the Florida Keys on Saturday. His remains are currently in the custody of the Monroe County Medical Examiner's Office.
In a statement, Coast Guard commander Capt. Pat DeQuattro said, “Through close coordination with our partner agencies, we were able to apprehend and keep an extremely dangerous fugitive from fleeing the country.”
But as they drove to Key West on Sunday to recover their boat, Rivas and Leyva had a much more personal take on their close call with the accused killer.
“This was just a freaky situation,” said Rivas. “I get even more stressed when I start thinking about it now. Who knows what might have happened, to me, Juan Carlos, or my two kids?
“I’m just thankful.”
Sun Sentinel
KEY LARGO — The residents of Travel Trailer Town first met Noel Sosa-Ruiz about four years ago, when he swam ashore after jumping off a boat that had smuggled him into the U.S. from Cuba.
Five days ago, when Magaly Rivas saw him again, “He looked dazed, stressed,” she said. “He said he had some problems with his wife in Houston.”
Just how serious those problems were did not become clear until Friday, when, with the Coast Guard closing in, the 41-year-old Sosa-Ruiz shot and killed himself in a stolen boat that was out of gas and drifting just 20 miles off Cuba’s north coast.
Back in Key Largo, Rivas, 39, and her boyfriend Juan Carlos Leyva, 42, the boat’s owner, found a note in a van Sosa-Ruiz had been driving.
“I am condemned to die because I killed my wife and I have to leave,” read the note, written in Spanish, according to Rivas. “Forgive me.”
In Houston, Sosa-Ruiz was indeed wanted in connection with the fatal shooting of 29-year-old Yodanis Cruz-Rojas, his common-law wife and mother of their two children, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office soon learned.
Cruz-Rojas was at work at a dental office on Oct. 27 when Sosa-Ruiz walked in, fatally shot her and fled, according to Houston police.
After the shooting, Sosa-Ruiz, a licensed security guard, apparently made his way from Texas to his sister’s house in Kissimmee. There he picked up the van he drove to Key Largo.
When Sosa-Ruiz arrived from Cuba, the residents of the trailer park — some of them Cuban immigrants themselves — assisted in his resettlement. Leyva even made a call to a cousin in Houston, who helped him find a job, according to Rivas.
But when he showed up unexpectedly last week, things were different, said Rivas.
"He seemed anxious,” she said. “He said he came here just to get away for a while. He wanted to stay busy.”
Given a room in a neighbor’s house, Sosa-Ruiz helped Leyva work on a small boat, while incessantly asking to go out on a fishing trip. Rivas said she and Leyva told him the seas were too rough for fishing.
On Thursday, Leyva was scheduled to go into the hospital for medical tests. He would stay overnight. And that is when Sosa-Ruiz apparently saw his chance, said Rivas.
Neighbors heard the engine on Leyva’s 21-foot Mako center console roar to life between 1 and 2 a.m. Friday. When Leyva returned from the hospital Friday morning, he found the boat gone and the note in the van.
After the boat theft was reported to the Sheriff’s Office, the Coast Guard was alerted, according to Deputy Becky Herrin.
At 10:30 a.m. on Friday, the Coast Guard in Sector Key West got word from the crew of a Customs and Border Protection Dash-8 aircraft: Two red flares had been fired from a center console vessel that appeared to be dead in the water and in need of assistance.
The crew of the cutter Nantucket was diverted to the vessel's position, and an Ocean Sentry fixed-wing aircraft crew from Air Station Miami flew over to drop a radio, raft, food and a pump to the vessel.
Sosa-Ruiz retrieved only the radio and the pump. He used gasoline from the pump to get his engine started and took off toward Cuba, the Coast Guard reported.
But that fuel did not last long. Drifting again, the stolen vessel was spotted by crew aboard the cargo ship Four Nabucco about 11 miles southwest of Cay Sal Island in the Bahamas. They reported the boat’s position to the Coast Guard.
Four Nabucco crew members took down the vessel's registration numbers. The numbers matched Leyva’s boat.
The Nantucket found Sosa-Ruiz and the Mako about 6 p.m. Friday. As the 110-foot patrol boat neared, Sosa-Ruiz fired one shot directly into his chest. The boarding team approached the vessel by smallboat, went aboard and confirmed that he was dead.
A .40 caliber Berretta, believed to be the gun Sosa-Ruiz used on himself, was found in the boat, said Herrin.
The Nantucket brought the vessel and Sosa-Ruiz's body back to the Florida Keys on Saturday. His remains are currently in the custody of the Monroe County Medical Examiner's Office.
In a statement, Coast Guard commander Capt. Pat DeQuattro said, “Through close coordination with our partner agencies, we were able to apprehend and keep an extremely dangerous fugitive from fleeing the country.”
But as they drove to Key West on Sunday to recover their boat, Rivas and Leyva had a much more personal take on their close call with the accused killer.
“This was just a freaky situation,” said Rivas. “I get even more stressed when I start thinking about it now. Who knows what might have happened, to me, Juan Carlos, or my two kids?
“I’m just thankful.”
Article: Murder, suicide exceed medical deaths in pregnancy
Wed Oct 26, 2011 9:18pm EDT
Oct 27 (Reuters) - Expectant mothers are more likely to die from murder or suicide than from several of the most common pregnancy-related medical problems, a U.S. study said.
Roughly half of those women who died violently had had some kind of conflict with their current or former partners, according to findings published in the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology, causing experts to call for more thorough screening for domestic problems during pregnancy check-ups.
"We've seen improvements in the more traditional causes of death, likely due to advances in medical care and public health practices," said Christie Palladino, an obstetrician-gynecologist at Georgia Health Sciences University in Augusta and lead author of the study.
This finding is especially troubling because violent deaths can be stopped, she added.
The study, which used data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Violent Death Reporting System, examined the years from 2003 to 2007.
About three out of every 100,000 women who are pregnant or have a child less than a year old are murdered, and two out of every 100,000 kill themselves -- numbers that remained fairly constant in the years the researchers looked at.
But fewer than two out of every 100,000 women died from either pregnancy-related bleeding, improper development of the placenta, or preeclampsia, a complication of high blood pressure that can occur during pregnancy, according to a different set of data.
Women who died by suicide were more likely to be white or Native American, unmarried and over 40. Older women and those under 24 were at greater risk of being murdered, as were African Americans and unmarried women.
"I think that there's still an under-appreciation of the risk and probably less screening than should be done," said Linda Chambliss, director of maternal fetal medicine at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix, who did not participate in the study.
"Even if the numbers are relatively small, you're talking about something that's preventable."
The National Violent Death Reporting System includes all records of violent deaths in the participating U.S. states, but in some case the pregnancy status of the victim was not known. Palladino and her colleagues excluded those records from the study.
Pregnancy is a prime opportunity for working to prevent suicides and murders, particularly those related to domestic violence, because women regularly see health care providers, Palladino said.
"We want to make sure we intervene before we get to these really disastrous consequences," she added. SOURCE: bit.ly/u2Dgjy (Reporting from New York by Kerry Grens at Reuters Health; Editing by Elaine Lies and Robert Birsel)
Oct 27 (Reuters) - Expectant mothers are more likely to die from murder or suicide than from several of the most common pregnancy-related medical problems, a U.S. study said.
Roughly half of those women who died violently had had some kind of conflict with their current or former partners, according to findings published in the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology, causing experts to call for more thorough screening for domestic problems during pregnancy check-ups.
"We've seen improvements in the more traditional causes of death, likely due to advances in medical care and public health practices," said Christie Palladino, an obstetrician-gynecologist at Georgia Health Sciences University in Augusta and lead author of the study.
This finding is especially troubling because violent deaths can be stopped, she added.
The study, which used data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Violent Death Reporting System, examined the years from 2003 to 2007.
About three out of every 100,000 women who are pregnant or have a child less than a year old are murdered, and two out of every 100,000 kill themselves -- numbers that remained fairly constant in the years the researchers looked at.
But fewer than two out of every 100,000 women died from either pregnancy-related bleeding, improper development of the placenta, or preeclampsia, a complication of high blood pressure that can occur during pregnancy, according to a different set of data.
Women who died by suicide were more likely to be white or Native American, unmarried and over 40. Older women and those under 24 were at greater risk of being murdered, as were African Americans and unmarried women.
"I think that there's still an under-appreciation of the risk and probably less screening than should be done," said Linda Chambliss, director of maternal fetal medicine at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix, who did not participate in the study.
"Even if the numbers are relatively small, you're talking about something that's preventable."
The National Violent Death Reporting System includes all records of violent deaths in the participating U.S. states, but in some case the pregnancy status of the victim was not known. Palladino and her colleagues excluded those records from the study.
Pregnancy is a prime opportunity for working to prevent suicides and murders, particularly those related to domestic violence, because women regularly see health care providers, Palladino said.
"We want to make sure we intervene before we get to these really disastrous consequences," she added. SOURCE: bit.ly/u2Dgjy (Reporting from New York by Kerry Grens at Reuters Health; Editing by Elaine Lies and Robert Birsel)
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Midvale, UT: Utah Couple Dead in Apparent Murder-Suicide
Updated: Saturday, 05 Nov 2011, 3:59 PM CDT
Published : Saturday, 05 Nov 2011, 3:59 PM CDT
(NewsCore) - Police in Utah were investigating Saturday after a couple was found dead in an apparent murder-suicide, the Salt Lake Tribune reported.
The bodies of 46-year-old Katherine Elizabeth Head and her 56-year-old husband Robert Milton Head were found Friday night at their apartment in Midvale, Utah -- about 13 miles south of Salt Lake City -- Unified Police Department Lt. Justin Hoyal said.
A maintenance man had been asked to check on the couple by Katherine Head's mother, who had not heard from her daughter recently, and saw the bodies through a window in their apartment.
Police arrived on the scene and found a notice on the apartment door that the couple had been ordered to vacate the premises within three days.
Officers forced entry into the apartment and "both Katherine and Richard were found inside the apartment in the bedroom area," Hoyal said. "They both appeared to have suffered from apparent gunshot wounds."
Detectives are investigating their deaths as a murder-suicide. "It appears as though this was a murder-suicide, [but] the investigation is ongoing," Hoyal said.
An official cause of death has not yet been announced. Autopsy and forensic test results are pending.
Published : Saturday, 05 Nov 2011, 3:59 PM CDT
(NewsCore) - Police in Utah were investigating Saturday after a couple was found dead in an apparent murder-suicide, the Salt Lake Tribune reported.
The bodies of 46-year-old Katherine Elizabeth Head and her 56-year-old husband Robert Milton Head were found Friday night at their apartment in Midvale, Utah -- about 13 miles south of Salt Lake City -- Unified Police Department Lt. Justin Hoyal said.
A maintenance man had been asked to check on the couple by Katherine Head's mother, who had not heard from her daughter recently, and saw the bodies through a window in their apartment.
Police arrived on the scene and found a notice on the apartment door that the couple had been ordered to vacate the premises within three days.
Officers forced entry into the apartment and "both Katherine and Richard were found inside the apartment in the bedroom area," Hoyal said. "They both appeared to have suffered from apparent gunshot wounds."
Detectives are investigating their deaths as a murder-suicide. "It appears as though this was a murder-suicide, [but] the investigation is ongoing," Hoyal said.
An official cause of death has not yet been announced. Autopsy and forensic test results are pending.
Thibodaux, LA: Thibodaux man kills self after police chase
Police in Thibodaux say a man fired gunshots at a car where his ex-girlfriend was sitting with a friend in a store parking lot, then killed himself after leading police on a chase that ended with a car crash.
It all began around 1:30 a.m. Saturday.
According to the police account, the man confronted the woman and a man as they sat in a car in a Walmart parking lot.
One of the bullets fired grazed the man's shin.
The gunman drove away but was later spotted by police, who chased him until his car crashed into a ditch.
The man then pulled a gun and shot himself in the head.
He was identified as 23-year-old Brody Williams of Thibodaux.
It all began around 1:30 a.m. Saturday.
According to the police account, the man confronted the woman and a man as they sat in a car in a Walmart parking lot.
One of the bullets fired grazed the man's shin.
The gunman drove away but was later spotted by police, who chased him until his car crashed into a ditch.
The man then pulled a gun and shot himself in the head.
He was identified as 23-year-old Brody Williams of Thibodaux.
Saturday, November 5, 2011
West Harford, CT: UConn Graduate Stabbed to Death in West Hartford Home
Suzete Berrincha graduated from the Storrs campus in 2010. She was allegedly killed by her former boyfriend, David Grant, according to West Hartford police.
By John Howell Email the author 4:20am
As three paramedics and a West Hartford police officer tried to revive Suzete Berrincha inside an ambulance that was speeding to Hartford Hospital, her alleged attacker was crouching inside a garage trying to hide.
Berrincha, 22, a 2010 University of Connecticut graduate and West Hartford native, had been stabbed 12 times and died in an operating room at 5:08 p.m. Thursday, according to West Hartford police.
David Grant, 25, apparently upset because of a recent breakup with Berrincha, was taken into custody about an hour later and charged with murder.
On Friday, Grant, who was described in court papers as an unemployed financial adviser, appeared in Hartford Superior Court and was ordered held on bail set at $2 million. A probable cause hearing was scheduled Dec. 6 after Berrincha’s family objected to Dec. 1 – the victim’s birthday.
According to police, a doctor who treated Berrincha said she was stabbed at least 12 times, including four times in the chest and once beneath her neck. She was discovered in the basement of her home at 60 Westphal St. shortly after 4:15 p.m., lying on her back. She was not breathing, police said.
Berrincha was apparently surprised at her home by Grant, who was described as an on-and-off boyfriend for about eight years.
Grant’s father, Rupert, 54, told investigators his son appeared “infatuated” with Berrincha. Grant’s mother, Donna, 52, said Grant was struggling “to deal with being without her” after the couple's breakup in April.
Investigators spoke with Berrincha’s parents, Jose, 65, and Maria, 58, and a brother, Daniel, 24, at the hospital. Daniel indicated that his sister, a Hall graduate, considered seeking a restraining order against Grant a couple of months ago.
Police said Grant, who lives with his family at 173 Simsbury Rd., acknowledged going to the home to retrieve a debit card. He told police there was an argument and Berrincha reached for a knife in the kitchen. After a struggle, he told police they fell down the stairs into the basement.
Police said Grant admitted that he pulled his personal stainless steel folding knife and stabbed Berrincha as she screamed, first in the chest and then in the neck.
Police were alerted at 4:15 p.m. by a female neighbor who told investigators she saw Grant and Berrincha struggle outside the home, located between Prospect and Oakwood Avenues. The woman said Berrincha screamed for her to call 911.
According to a 33-page arrest report, the first officers to arrive initially believed Grant was inside the home. His white Nissan Altima was in the driveway. Officers entered with their guns drawn and found Berrincha near a washing machine with a wooden board, apparently from a shelf, covering her face.
All available police flooded the area, sealing off possible escape routes. Grant was last seen heading north through a yard toward Caya Avenue, where he apparently chose a detached garage at 116 Caya Ave. as a hiding place, police said.
Grant, also a Hall graduate who briefly attended Manchester Community College, did not resist arrest and police said his clothes were covered with blood.
By John Howell Email the author 4:20am
As three paramedics and a West Hartford police officer tried to revive Suzete Berrincha inside an ambulance that was speeding to Hartford Hospital, her alleged attacker was crouching inside a garage trying to hide.
Berrincha, 22, a 2010 University of Connecticut graduate and West Hartford native, had been stabbed 12 times and died in an operating room at 5:08 p.m. Thursday, according to West Hartford police.
David Grant, 25, apparently upset because of a recent breakup with Berrincha, was taken into custody about an hour later and charged with murder.
On Friday, Grant, who was described in court papers as an unemployed financial adviser, appeared in Hartford Superior Court and was ordered held on bail set at $2 million. A probable cause hearing was scheduled Dec. 6 after Berrincha’s family objected to Dec. 1 – the victim’s birthday.
According to police, a doctor who treated Berrincha said she was stabbed at least 12 times, including four times in the chest and once beneath her neck. She was discovered in the basement of her home at 60 Westphal St. shortly after 4:15 p.m., lying on her back. She was not breathing, police said.
Berrincha was apparently surprised at her home by Grant, who was described as an on-and-off boyfriend for about eight years.
Grant’s father, Rupert, 54, told investigators his son appeared “infatuated” with Berrincha. Grant’s mother, Donna, 52, said Grant was struggling “to deal with being without her” after the couple's breakup in April.
Investigators spoke with Berrincha’s parents, Jose, 65, and Maria, 58, and a brother, Daniel, 24, at the hospital. Daniel indicated that his sister, a Hall graduate, considered seeking a restraining order against Grant a couple of months ago.
Police said Grant, who lives with his family at 173 Simsbury Rd., acknowledged going to the home to retrieve a debit card. He told police there was an argument and Berrincha reached for a knife in the kitchen. After a struggle, he told police they fell down the stairs into the basement.
Police said Grant admitted that he pulled his personal stainless steel folding knife and stabbed Berrincha as she screamed, first in the chest and then in the neck.
Police were alerted at 4:15 p.m. by a female neighbor who told investigators she saw Grant and Berrincha struggle outside the home, located between Prospect and Oakwood Avenues. The woman said Berrincha screamed for her to call 911.
According to a 33-page arrest report, the first officers to arrive initially believed Grant was inside the home. His white Nissan Altima was in the driveway. Officers entered with their guns drawn and found Berrincha near a washing machine with a wooden board, apparently from a shelf, covering her face.
All available police flooded the area, sealing off possible escape routes. Grant was last seen heading north through a yard toward Caya Avenue, where he apparently chose a detached garage at 116 Caya Ave. as a hiding place, police said.
Grant, also a Hall graduate who briefly attended Manchester Community College, did not resist arrest and police said his clothes were covered with blood.
Sauk Rapids, SD: Cold Spring woman accused of killing ex, then boyfriend
Article by: PAUL WALSH , Star Tribune Updated: November 4, 2011 - 9:17 PM
The bodies were found in Sauk Rapids, Minn., and Ashland, Wis.
A central Minnesota woman fatally shot her ex-husband in the forehead and then killed her boyfriend in a northern Wisconsin motel room in much the same manner a few days later and more than 200 miles away, authorities said Friday.
Angelina Mae O'Mara, 38, of Cold Spring, was arrested in Sioux Falls early Thursday, her SUV found abandoned in the South Dakota city the night before, according to the second-degree murder charge filed against her in the death of ex-husband James K. Omara, 43, in his Sauk Rapids apartment.
The body of Angelina Omara's boyfriend, 36-year-old Michael Pies, was found Wednesday night in a motel room in Ashland, Wis., according to the complaint.
The bodies of Pies, whose hometown was not immediately known, and James Omara were both found with pillows over their heads and had gunshot wounds to their heads, the charging document read.
No charges have been filed in Pies' killing, and Ashland police have put a gag order in place about the case until next week. Even so, Angelina Omara is suspected of killing Pies, said Jill Oliveira, spokeswoman for the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.
Authorities have yet to reveal a motive in either killing.
According to the criminal complaint filed in Benton County, Minn:
On Tuesday, a strange odor brought an apartment manager to James Omara's home, where he found his tenant's body on the couch. The victim's head was covered with a pillow. Underneath, a bullet wound was visible on his forehead.
James Omara was last seen at various times the previous Friday, including with friend James Styles, who said the two of them were at a bar.
Styles told police that Angelina Omara had been staying with her ex-husband for the past month and that Pies had been threatening James Omara.
On Tuesday, police in Ashland told officers in Sauk Rapids that they had contact with Angelina Omara and Pies because hotel personnel were suspicious after the woman wanted to pay for several days' lodging in advance with cash.
That same day, relatives reported Pies as missing, saying they hadn't seen him since he left last Saturday following a phone call.
Officers checked the hotel room Wednesday and found Pies with a fatal gunshot wound to his head, which was covered with a pillow.
Omara's daughter told police that her mother called the daughter's grandmother on Tuesday and said: "Mike is dead."
Angelina Omara's SUV was found abandoned -- more than 450 miles from Ashland -- Wednesday night in Sioux Falls. She was arrested about five hours later by Sioux Falls police, and remained jailed there late Friday.
Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482
The bodies were found in Sauk Rapids, Minn., and Ashland, Wis.
A central Minnesota woman fatally shot her ex-husband in the forehead and then killed her boyfriend in a northern Wisconsin motel room in much the same manner a few days later and more than 200 miles away, authorities said Friday.
Angelina Mae O'Mara, 38, of Cold Spring, was arrested in Sioux Falls early Thursday, her SUV found abandoned in the South Dakota city the night before, according to the second-degree murder charge filed against her in the death of ex-husband James K. Omara, 43, in his Sauk Rapids apartment.
The body of Angelina Omara's boyfriend, 36-year-old Michael Pies, was found Wednesday night in a motel room in Ashland, Wis., according to the complaint.
The bodies of Pies, whose hometown was not immediately known, and James Omara were both found with pillows over their heads and had gunshot wounds to their heads, the charging document read.
No charges have been filed in Pies' killing, and Ashland police have put a gag order in place about the case until next week. Even so, Angelina Omara is suspected of killing Pies, said Jill Oliveira, spokeswoman for the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.
Authorities have yet to reveal a motive in either killing.
According to the criminal complaint filed in Benton County, Minn:
On Tuesday, a strange odor brought an apartment manager to James Omara's home, where he found his tenant's body on the couch. The victim's head was covered with a pillow. Underneath, a bullet wound was visible on his forehead.
James Omara was last seen at various times the previous Friday, including with friend James Styles, who said the two of them were at a bar.
Styles told police that Angelina Omara had been staying with her ex-husband for the past month and that Pies had been threatening James Omara.
On Tuesday, police in Ashland told officers in Sauk Rapids that they had contact with Angelina Omara and Pies because hotel personnel were suspicious after the woman wanted to pay for several days' lodging in advance with cash.
That same day, relatives reported Pies as missing, saying they hadn't seen him since he left last Saturday following a phone call.
Officers checked the hotel room Wednesday and found Pies with a fatal gunshot wound to his head, which was covered with a pillow.
Omara's daughter told police that her mother called the daughter's grandmother on Tuesday and said: "Mike is dead."
Angelina Omara's SUV was found abandoned -- more than 450 miles from Ashland -- Wednesday night in Sioux Falls. She was arrested about five hours later by Sioux Falls police, and remained jailed there late Friday.
Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482
Charlotte, NC: Man who shot girlfriend: 'I loved her'
By Cleve R. Wootson Jr.
cwootson@charlotteobserver.com
Posted: Friday, Nov. 04, 2011
Members of Pamela Garmon's family - clad in white T-shirts memorializing her - wept in court Thursday as Jamarr Springs told a judge he loved the woman he shot to death with an AK-47.
Springs, 29, was sentenced in Mecklenburg County Superior Court to a maximum of 48 years in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree murder. The sentence includes punishments for several crimes he committed while trying to elude police - robbery, assault with a dangerous weapon and kidnapping.
Prosecutors say Garmon was planning to end her relationship with Springs last December. Upstairs in the house they shared in west Charlotte, she told him she was planning to move to California.
During the argument that ensued, Springs grabbed an AK-47 rifle he kept in the house and started shooting, according to Assistant District Attorney Clayton Jones. In all, Springs fired 20 rounds as Garmon ran down the stairs trying to escape. She collapsed in the kitchen and died there, struck by seven bullets.
As Springs tried to flee, he attempted to stop a car with two people inside, Jones said. When they drove around him, he fired a shot into the driver's side door.
Later, Springs forced a driver out of a car at Northlake Mall and made the vehicle's passenger ride with him as he drove to a relative's house. That's where the police dragnet closed in.
On Thursday, Cynthia Garmon, Pamela's mother, called Springs' actions "a real cruel and cowardly act."
In court just before his sentencing, Springs said he was sorry for a crime he described as "heinous and brutal." He said he was "under the influence" at the time, and didn't even realize he was shooting at Garmon.
Then he said a few words to her family:
"I really loved her. Anyone that knows me, that really knows me, knows I really loved her. When I was shooting her, I didn't even know it was her because I was so under the influence.
There's not a day that goes by that I don't think about her. I miss her just as much as her family. And I pray and hope they will find a way to forgive me."
Wootson: 704-358-5046
Read more: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/11/04/2746281/man-who-shot-girlfriend-i-loved.html#ixzz1cpuXP26w
cwootson@charlotteobserver.com
Posted: Friday, Nov. 04, 2011
Members of Pamela Garmon's family - clad in white T-shirts memorializing her - wept in court Thursday as Jamarr Springs told a judge he loved the woman he shot to death with an AK-47.
Springs, 29, was sentenced in Mecklenburg County Superior Court to a maximum of 48 years in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree murder. The sentence includes punishments for several crimes he committed while trying to elude police - robbery, assault with a dangerous weapon and kidnapping.
Prosecutors say Garmon was planning to end her relationship with Springs last December. Upstairs in the house they shared in west Charlotte, she told him she was planning to move to California.
During the argument that ensued, Springs grabbed an AK-47 rifle he kept in the house and started shooting, according to Assistant District Attorney Clayton Jones. In all, Springs fired 20 rounds as Garmon ran down the stairs trying to escape. She collapsed in the kitchen and died there, struck by seven bullets.
As Springs tried to flee, he attempted to stop a car with two people inside, Jones said. When they drove around him, he fired a shot into the driver's side door.
Later, Springs forced a driver out of a car at Northlake Mall and made the vehicle's passenger ride with him as he drove to a relative's house. That's where the police dragnet closed in.
On Thursday, Cynthia Garmon, Pamela's mother, called Springs' actions "a real cruel and cowardly act."
In court just before his sentencing, Springs said he was sorry for a crime he described as "heinous and brutal." He said he was "under the influence" at the time, and didn't even realize he was shooting at Garmon.
Then he said a few words to her family:
"I really loved her. Anyone that knows me, that really knows me, knows I really loved her. When I was shooting her, I didn't even know it was her because I was so under the influence.
There's not a day that goes by that I don't think about her. I miss her just as much as her family. And I pray and hope they will find a way to forgive me."
Wootson: 704-358-5046
Read more: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/11/04/2746281/man-who-shot-girlfriend-i-loved.html#ixzz1cpuXP26w
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Saginaw, MI: 'He said he killed his girlfriend:' Friends, police testify that Saginaw man confessed to killing Francine Conversa-Redburn
Published: Thursday, November 03, 2011, 4:45 PM Updated: Thursday, November 03, 2011, 4:51 PM
By Andy Hoag | The Saginaw News
SAGINAW — Mark A. Abraitis confessed to killing Francine Conversa-Redburn in a suicide note and to his childhood friend and his wife, witnesses said today.
With the confessions and evidence that the bullet that killed the 48-year-old Conversa-Redburn was fired from a gun that Abraitis told his friend he hid, Saginaw County District Judge A.T. Frank ruled that probable cause exists for prosecutors to take Abraitis to trial in Circuit Court.
Abraitis, 25, is charged with first-degree premeditated murder and nine other felonies in the April 25 death of Conversa-Redburn.
Frank presided over Abraitis’ preliminary hearing, listening to testimony from nine witnesses, and reviewing photographs before making his decision.
County sheriff’s detectives David Kerns, John Butcher, and Miguel Gomez testified that their investigation led them to connect Abraitis as the suspect in an April 23 robbery at Jerry’s Gunsmithing Shop, 13500 Amman in St. Charles Township, and a report that Conversa-Redburn was missing.
Detectives, along with the county Emergency Services Team, executed a search warrant at Abraitis’ home at 1808 Cooper on the evening of April 25, Butcher said. The emergency team ordered Abraitis out of a bedroom in the house, but he didn’t come out, Butcher said. When team members entered the bedroom, they found Abraitis laying on the closet floor “in the fetal position,” Butcher said.
Saginaw Police Detective Oscar Lopez, a member of the emergency team, located a handwritten note on a couch in the house, Butcher testified. The note was an apparent suicide note written by Abraitis, Butcher said.
The note states that Abraitis “did the unthinkable” and “killed someone.” Later, the note states he killed “Francine” because he “caught her cheating with her ex.” The end of the note states where her body could be found.
Police also found a black bag, in a barn outside the house, that contained a .45-caliber semi-automatic handgun.
Francine Conversa-Redburn
Sheriff’s Lt. Robert Phelps testified that he found Conversa-Redburn’s body in the spot that the note mentioned, on just off Swan Creek Road in Swan Creek Township. Phelps said he found her body in a ditch and saw blood spattering on the road, which appeared to be from Conversa-Redburn being carried across the road.
He followed the blood trail to the other side of the road, where he saw a hole in the ground with “human tissue” and blood near and inside it. Phelps said he found a .45-caliber shell casing near the hole.
State police crime scene investigator Ronald Crichton examined the scene with other state police investigators. He testified that he found a .45-caliber bullet six inches into the ground. The hole that the bullet caused, the same hole that Phelps saw, had blood inside it, Crichton said.
Crichton testified that the bullet and casing both were fired by the gun seized outside Abraitis’ home.
Kerns, the lead detective on the case, testified that he attended Conversa-Redburn’s autopsy. Kerns said that she had a “contact wound,” caused by a gun firing very close, within inches, to the body, on the right side of her ear.
The detective said his theory is that Conversa-Redburn was laying face down but had her face turned away from the gun, with her left side of her face on the ground.
Abraitis’ friend, Adam Kinville, and Kinville’s wife, Angela Kinville, testified that Abraitis called Angela Kinville’s cellphone late in the morning April 25. Abraitis asked Angela Kinville to wake up her husband to allow Abraitis to talk to him because it was a “dire emergency.”
Both Kinvilles listened as Abraitis spoke.
“He said he killed his girlfriend,” Angela Kinville testified, adding that she heard Abraitis say that they had an “altercation” and that he couldn’t believe she was dead.
Both Kinvilles thought Abraitis was joking but became concerned about his welfare as he continued to say, both on the phone and through text messages, that he was going to kill himself.
They went to Abraitis’ home twice, the second time finding the bag, with the gun inside, that Abraitis told Adam Kinville about and asked him to “take care of.” They didn’t move the bag, and Angela Kinville called the police, she said.
Adam Kinville testified while wearing a blue state Department of Corrections jumpsuit. He’s imprisoned for two to five years for larceny and conspiracy in a Jan. 24 incident in Saginaw. Kinville and Abraitis were co-defendants in a 2005 larceny case in which they broke into a woman’s home on State Street and used her credit cards.
One of the charges that Abraitis faces in the Conversa-Redburn case is receiving and concealing a stolen firearm. Sheriff’s Deputy Toby Sewell testified that he found a .22-caliber semi-automatic handgun in the trunk of Abraitis’ 1993 Buick vehicle.
Gerald Richmond, the owner of Jerry’s Gunsmithing Shop, testified that the firearm was his.
If convicted of first-degree murder, Abraitis would face a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. He remained jailed today without bond.
Follow Andy Hoag on Twitter @SNAndyHoag
By Andy Hoag | The Saginaw News
SAGINAW — Mark A. Abraitis confessed to killing Francine Conversa-Redburn in a suicide note and to his childhood friend and his wife, witnesses said today.
With the confessions and evidence that the bullet that killed the 48-year-old Conversa-Redburn was fired from a gun that Abraitis told his friend he hid, Saginaw County District Judge A.T. Frank ruled that probable cause exists for prosecutors to take Abraitis to trial in Circuit Court.
Abraitis, 25, is charged with first-degree premeditated murder and nine other felonies in the April 25 death of Conversa-Redburn.
Frank presided over Abraitis’ preliminary hearing, listening to testimony from nine witnesses, and reviewing photographs before making his decision.
County sheriff’s detectives David Kerns, John Butcher, and Miguel Gomez testified that their investigation led them to connect Abraitis as the suspect in an April 23 robbery at Jerry’s Gunsmithing Shop, 13500 Amman in St. Charles Township, and a report that Conversa-Redburn was missing.
Detectives, along with the county Emergency Services Team, executed a search warrant at Abraitis’ home at 1808 Cooper on the evening of April 25, Butcher said. The emergency team ordered Abraitis out of a bedroom in the house, but he didn’t come out, Butcher said. When team members entered the bedroom, they found Abraitis laying on the closet floor “in the fetal position,” Butcher said.
Saginaw Police Detective Oscar Lopez, a member of the emergency team, located a handwritten note on a couch in the house, Butcher testified. The note was an apparent suicide note written by Abraitis, Butcher said.
The note states that Abraitis “did the unthinkable” and “killed someone.” Later, the note states he killed “Francine” because he “caught her cheating with her ex.” The end of the note states where her body could be found.
Police also found a black bag, in a barn outside the house, that contained a .45-caliber semi-automatic handgun.
Francine Conversa-Redburn
Sheriff’s Lt. Robert Phelps testified that he found Conversa-Redburn’s body in the spot that the note mentioned, on just off Swan Creek Road in Swan Creek Township. Phelps said he found her body in a ditch and saw blood spattering on the road, which appeared to be from Conversa-Redburn being carried across the road.
He followed the blood trail to the other side of the road, where he saw a hole in the ground with “human tissue” and blood near and inside it. Phelps said he found a .45-caliber shell casing near the hole.
State police crime scene investigator Ronald Crichton examined the scene with other state police investigators. He testified that he found a .45-caliber bullet six inches into the ground. The hole that the bullet caused, the same hole that Phelps saw, had blood inside it, Crichton said.
Crichton testified that the bullet and casing both were fired by the gun seized outside Abraitis’ home.
Kerns, the lead detective on the case, testified that he attended Conversa-Redburn’s autopsy. Kerns said that she had a “contact wound,” caused by a gun firing very close, within inches, to the body, on the right side of her ear.
The detective said his theory is that Conversa-Redburn was laying face down but had her face turned away from the gun, with her left side of her face on the ground.
Abraitis’ friend, Adam Kinville, and Kinville’s wife, Angela Kinville, testified that Abraitis called Angela Kinville’s cellphone late in the morning April 25. Abraitis asked Angela Kinville to wake up her husband to allow Abraitis to talk to him because it was a “dire emergency.”
Both Kinvilles listened as Abraitis spoke.
“He said he killed his girlfriend,” Angela Kinville testified, adding that she heard Abraitis say that they had an “altercation” and that he couldn’t believe she was dead.
Both Kinvilles thought Abraitis was joking but became concerned about his welfare as he continued to say, both on the phone and through text messages, that he was going to kill himself.
They went to Abraitis’ home twice, the second time finding the bag, with the gun inside, that Abraitis told Adam Kinville about and asked him to “take care of.” They didn’t move the bag, and Angela Kinville called the police, she said.
Adam Kinville testified while wearing a blue state Department of Corrections jumpsuit. He’s imprisoned for two to five years for larceny and conspiracy in a Jan. 24 incident in Saginaw. Kinville and Abraitis were co-defendants in a 2005 larceny case in which they broke into a woman’s home on State Street and used her credit cards.
One of the charges that Abraitis faces in the Conversa-Redburn case is receiving and concealing a stolen firearm. Sheriff’s Deputy Toby Sewell testified that he found a .22-caliber semi-automatic handgun in the trunk of Abraitis’ 1993 Buick vehicle.
Gerald Richmond, the owner of Jerry’s Gunsmithing Shop, testified that the firearm was his.
If convicted of first-degree murder, Abraitis would face a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. He remained jailed today without bond.
Follow Andy Hoag on Twitter @SNAndyHoag
Dolton, IL: Man, Woman Arrested for Boyfriend's Murder
Updated: Wednesday, 02 Nov 2011, 6:15 PM CDT
Published : Wednesday, 02 Nov 2011, 6:11 PM CDT
Dolton, Ill. - Albert Allen of Iowa and his northwest Indiana girlfriend have been charged with murder for the fatal shooting of a northwest Indiana man -- another one of her boyfriends -- in south suburban Dolton last month.
After the death of Eric Denim of East Chicago, Faye P. Brown of Hobart allegedly told authorities that he was only supposed to get beaten up, not killed, prosecutors said in court in Markham.
Arrest warrants were issued for Brown and Allen, 26, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for the fatal shooing Oct. 23 in the 400 block of Jefferson Street in Dolton, a village spokeswoman said.
Allen, 26, was pulled over by police on Oct. 27 near I-380 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Cedar Rapids Police Sgt. Cristy Hamblin said. He was extradited to Illinois and ordered held on $2 million bond, according to the Cook County Sheriff’s office.
Brown, 27, of 1081 Csokasy Ct. in Hobart, Ind., appeared in bond court Monday and was ordered held on $1 million bond, according to the sheriff’s office.
A Dolton spokeswoman said witnesses led authorities to Allen and Brown for the slaying of Denim, 35, who was pronounced dead at 10:39 p.m. on Oct. 23 at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office.
Denim, of 4862 Baring Ave. in East Chicago, was found with multiple traumatic injuries, according to the medical examiner’s office. A source said he had “holes all over.” An autopsy found he died of multiple gunshot wounds and his death was ruled a homicide.
Prosecutors said Denim and Brown began to fight outside a Dolton bar and after the fight, he drove off in her car. That’s when she broke the window of his car, then went inside and got her other boyfriend, Allen. They went outside and Brown began to yell at Allen, asking him “What are you going to do about it?”, prosecutors allege.
Denim returned with Brown’s car, and Allen and Brown went to the home of a man now considered a witness in the case. Allen called Denim and told him to come over to the home, court records said.
Denim picked up a friend and brought him to the home. Once there, Brown and Denim began to argue, when Allen came from across the street, pulled a gun from his hoodie and shot Denim multiple times, court records said.
The friend Denim had brought over then ran away, while Brown and Allen fled in her car. She later told witnesses that she hadn’t meant for it to happen that way, and Denim was just supposed to get beat up, prosecutors said.
Both Allen and Brown will appear for preliminary hearings on Thursday at the Markham courthouse.
Published : Wednesday, 02 Nov 2011, 6:11 PM CDT
Dolton, Ill. - Albert Allen of Iowa and his northwest Indiana girlfriend have been charged with murder for the fatal shooting of a northwest Indiana man -- another one of her boyfriends -- in south suburban Dolton last month.
After the death of Eric Denim of East Chicago, Faye P. Brown of Hobart allegedly told authorities that he was only supposed to get beaten up, not killed, prosecutors said in court in Markham.
Arrest warrants were issued for Brown and Allen, 26, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for the fatal shooing Oct. 23 in the 400 block of Jefferson Street in Dolton, a village spokeswoman said.
Allen, 26, was pulled over by police on Oct. 27 near I-380 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Cedar Rapids Police Sgt. Cristy Hamblin said. He was extradited to Illinois and ordered held on $2 million bond, according to the Cook County Sheriff’s office.
Brown, 27, of 1081 Csokasy Ct. in Hobart, Ind., appeared in bond court Monday and was ordered held on $1 million bond, according to the sheriff’s office.
A Dolton spokeswoman said witnesses led authorities to Allen and Brown for the slaying of Denim, 35, who was pronounced dead at 10:39 p.m. on Oct. 23 at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office.
Denim, of 4862 Baring Ave. in East Chicago, was found with multiple traumatic injuries, according to the medical examiner’s office. A source said he had “holes all over.” An autopsy found he died of multiple gunshot wounds and his death was ruled a homicide.
Prosecutors said Denim and Brown began to fight outside a Dolton bar and after the fight, he drove off in her car. That’s when she broke the window of his car, then went inside and got her other boyfriend, Allen. They went outside and Brown began to yell at Allen, asking him “What are you going to do about it?”, prosecutors allege.
Denim returned with Brown’s car, and Allen and Brown went to the home of a man now considered a witness in the case. Allen called Denim and told him to come over to the home, court records said.
Denim picked up a friend and brought him to the home. Once there, Brown and Denim began to argue, when Allen came from across the street, pulled a gun from his hoodie and shot Denim multiple times, court records said.
The friend Denim had brought over then ran away, while Brown and Allen fled in her car. She later told witnesses that she hadn’t meant for it to happen that way, and Denim was just supposed to get beat up, prosecutors said.
Both Allen and Brown will appear for preliminary hearings on Thursday at the Markham courthouse.
Thurston County, WA: Man dead, his wife injured after 'murder with attempted suicide'
Woman is in critical condition
Sheriff’s deputies in Thurston County are investigating an attempted murder-suicide after a man was found dead and his wife was critically injured Wednesday morning.
Deputies responded to a home in the 9100 block of Steilacoom Road SE after a security alarm was tripped.
Inside the home, deputies found a dead man and a woman with a gunshot wound to the head, Thurston County Sheriff’s Department spokesperson Greg Elwin said.
Investigators believe gunshots, rather than an intruder, triggered the alarm.
The unresponsive 51-year-old woman was rushed to St Josephs Hospital where she remains in critical condition.
Investigators said it appears the woman shot her husband to death and then attempted to kill herself.
"Our preliminary investigation indicates this was a murder with an attempted suicide," Elwin said. "We are not looking for a suspect. There is no indication that this was any kind of a burglary or a robbery."
Sheriff’s deputies in Thurston County are investigating an attempted murder-suicide after a man was found dead and his wife was critically injured Wednesday morning.
Deputies responded to a home in the 9100 block of Steilacoom Road SE after a security alarm was tripped.
Inside the home, deputies found a dead man and a woman with a gunshot wound to the head, Thurston County Sheriff’s Department spokesperson Greg Elwin said.
Investigators believe gunshots, rather than an intruder, triggered the alarm.
The unresponsive 51-year-old woman was rushed to St Josephs Hospital where she remains in critical condition.
Investigators said it appears the woman shot her husband to death and then attempted to kill herself.
"Our preliminary investigation indicates this was a murder with an attempted suicide," Elwin said. "We are not looking for a suspect. There is no indication that this was any kind of a burglary or a robbery."
Grand Rapids, MI: Grand Rapids police seek motive for why man murdered ex-wife, killed himself
Published: Thursday, November 03, 2011, 6:42 AM Updated: Thursday, November 03, 2011, 7:39 AM
By John Agar | The Grand Rapids Press
A southwest side family watches police investigate a home across the street from them Wednesday after man shot and killed his girlfriend in the street and then took his own life around 8:40 a.m. after a standoff that lasted a couple hours. (Emily Zoladz | The Grand Rapids Press)
Homicide in southwest Grand Rapids gallery (10 photos)
GRAND RAPIDS – Police are trying to determine what led Danyiel Jammar Davis to kill his ex-wife, then himself, while her young children were in the house.
Davis shot Amy Diane Cosgrove, 26, outside of her home at 650 Oakland Ave. SW.
Witnesses said she ran barefoot trying escape the gunman before she collapsed in the road just down the street.
She suffered multiple gunshot wounds.
Police said that a 911 caller reported an argument around 6 a.m. A second call said the woman had been shot.
Police believed that the gunman was inside the house, and called in the Special Response Team and hostage negotiators. But police responded cautiously once officers spotted a child, about 3 years old, wandering inside.
Police were also told by the victim's family that an infant was inside, too. A couple hours after the shooting, police entered the house to rescue the children.
The older child told police that Davis was in the basement.
Police found him on the stairs, dead of a self-inflicted gunshot to the head. Police recovered a pistol near his body, and think it was used to kill Cosgrove.
Protective services workers responded, and worked with Cosgrove's family to care for them. The family took them to the hospital to be checked, but no injuries were found. They are staying with family members, police said.
Her family declined comment later that afternoon.
Neighbors said that Cosgrove and Davis lived in the house for less than a month. They were divorced in 2007 after a brief marriage. They had no children during the course of the marriage, Kent County records showed.
Danielli Munoz, who lives next door, said she did not know much about the couple. She didn't know anything happened until police approached as she left her house that morning.
“I was shocked, this happening with my neighbors,” she said.
Munoz moved into the neighborhood in June.
“We liked this area because it really was quiet.”
The shooting, near Southwest Community Campus School, forced Grand Rapids Public Schools to close for the day. Police suggested nearby neighbors evacuate early on.
“We’ve had a tremendous tragedy here this morning that’s going to affect a lot of people,” police Chief Kevin Belk said, near the scene.
He said Davis was known to police, but he did not have a significant criminal record. Records showed he pleaded guilty in 2005 to possession of marijuana, as well as minor traffic offenses.
Capt. Jeff Hertel said detectives would try to determine what might have sparked the killing by talking to family and friends of the two.
“Maybe he said something to somebody,” Hertel said.
He said that the victim's family was very helpful in taking care of the children, and worked closely with police.
Police asked anyone with information to call 456-3604 or Silent Observer at 774-2345.
Press reporter Garret Ellison contributed to this story.
E-mail John Agar: jagar@grpress.com
By John Agar | The Grand Rapids Press
A southwest side family watches police investigate a home across the street from them Wednesday after man shot and killed his girlfriend in the street and then took his own life around 8:40 a.m. after a standoff that lasted a couple hours. (Emily Zoladz | The Grand Rapids Press)
Homicide in southwest Grand Rapids gallery (10 photos)
GRAND RAPIDS – Police are trying to determine what led Danyiel Jammar Davis to kill his ex-wife, then himself, while her young children were in the house.
Davis shot Amy Diane Cosgrove, 26, outside of her home at 650 Oakland Ave. SW.
Witnesses said she ran barefoot trying escape the gunman before she collapsed in the road just down the street.
She suffered multiple gunshot wounds.
Police said that a 911 caller reported an argument around 6 a.m. A second call said the woman had been shot.
Police believed that the gunman was inside the house, and called in the Special Response Team and hostage negotiators. But police responded cautiously once officers spotted a child, about 3 years old, wandering inside.
Police were also told by the victim's family that an infant was inside, too. A couple hours after the shooting, police entered the house to rescue the children.
The older child told police that Davis was in the basement.
Police found him on the stairs, dead of a self-inflicted gunshot to the head. Police recovered a pistol near his body, and think it was used to kill Cosgrove.
Protective services workers responded, and worked with Cosgrove's family to care for them. The family took them to the hospital to be checked, but no injuries were found. They are staying with family members, police said.
Her family declined comment later that afternoon.
Neighbors said that Cosgrove and Davis lived in the house for less than a month. They were divorced in 2007 after a brief marriage. They had no children during the course of the marriage, Kent County records showed.
Danielli Munoz, who lives next door, said she did not know much about the couple. She didn't know anything happened until police approached as she left her house that morning.
“I was shocked, this happening with my neighbors,” she said.
Munoz moved into the neighborhood in June.
“We liked this area because it really was quiet.”
The shooting, near Southwest Community Campus School, forced Grand Rapids Public Schools to close for the day. Police suggested nearby neighbors evacuate early on.
“We’ve had a tremendous tragedy here this morning that’s going to affect a lot of people,” police Chief Kevin Belk said, near the scene.
He said Davis was known to police, but he did not have a significant criminal record. Records showed he pleaded guilty in 2005 to possession of marijuana, as well as minor traffic offenses.
Capt. Jeff Hertel said detectives would try to determine what might have sparked the killing by talking to family and friends of the two.
“Maybe he said something to somebody,” Hertel said.
He said that the victim's family was very helpful in taking care of the children, and worked closely with police.
Police asked anyone with information to call 456-3604 or Silent Observer at 774-2345.
Press reporter Garret Ellison contributed to this story.
E-mail John Agar: jagar@grpress.com
Sikeston, MO: Man gets seven-, eight-year sentences in Sikeston shooting
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Standard Democrat
NEW MADRID, Mo. -- A Sikeston, Mo., man will serve 15 years in prison for the shooting death of his girlfriend in April 2009.
Brandon Lane entered a guilty plea Tuesday in New Madrid County Circuit Court before Judge William L. Syler Jr. The judge sentenced Lane to seven years in prison on an amended charge of involuntary manslaughter and eight years on a charge of armed criminal action. The sentences are to run consecutively.
Before his plea, Lane was slated to begin a jury trial in connection with the shooting death of Nikia Latrice Williams, 28, of Sikeston.
The Sikeston Department of Public Safety was called to Williams' apartment on Montgomery Street at 1 a.m. April 11, 2009. At the scene they found Williams with a gunshot wound in her upper torso.
Lane was in the apartment with Williams, and officers found a handgun on the floor near the couple.
Neighbors and Williams' 4-year-old daughter told officers the couple had argued before the shooting.
Lane told officers the couple had argued and struggled with a gun, which went off.
Pertinent address:
Montgomery Street, Sikeston, MO
New Madrid, MO
Standard Democrat
NEW MADRID, Mo. -- A Sikeston, Mo., man will serve 15 years in prison for the shooting death of his girlfriend in April 2009.
Brandon Lane entered a guilty plea Tuesday in New Madrid County Circuit Court before Judge William L. Syler Jr. The judge sentenced Lane to seven years in prison on an amended charge of involuntary manslaughter and eight years on a charge of armed criminal action. The sentences are to run consecutively.
Before his plea, Lane was slated to begin a jury trial in connection with the shooting death of Nikia Latrice Williams, 28, of Sikeston.
The Sikeston Department of Public Safety was called to Williams' apartment on Montgomery Street at 1 a.m. April 11, 2009. At the scene they found Williams with a gunshot wound in her upper torso.
Lane was in the apartment with Williams, and officers found a handgun on the floor near the couple.
Neighbors and Williams' 4-year-old daughter told officers the couple had argued before the shooting.
Lane told officers the couple had argued and struggled with a gun, which went off.
Pertinent address:
Montgomery Street, Sikeston, MO
New Madrid, MO
Opelousas, LA: Woodworth man charged in wife's death
OPELOUSAS — A former Opelousas police officer and St. Landry Parish sheriff's deputy who now lives in Woodworth in Rapides Parish area has been arrested and charged with killing his wife.
The Rapides Parish Sheriff's Office arrested Donald Pickney this weekend and charged him with second-degree murder in connection with the death of Chanda White Pickney, 33, of Woodworth.
The alleged crime came to light early Saturday when Pickney brought his wife to Christus St. Frances Cabrini Hospital in Alexandria, where she was pronounced dead on arrival.
"Based on the physical evidence, it appeared her death was of a suspicious nature," Maj. Jasper Bay with the Rapides Parish Sheriff's Office said. "We felt we had enough probable cause to arrest him."
Donald Pickney has also been charged with second-degree battery and false imprisonment and is being held in the parish jail on a $265,250 bond.
Opelousas Police Chief Perry Gallow declined to comment on the matter because it is an ongoing investigation.
Paul N. Gennuso, who is retired from the Opelousas Police Department, said he knew both Pickneys well and served as Donald Pickney's supervisor during his time on the force in the 1990s.
"It is always a surprise when anyone takes a life," Gennuso said. "This is such a tragedy."
He called Pickney "a fair officer" and had praise for the victim, who was the niece of Dr. Calvin White, a family practice physician in Opelousas.
"She went to school with my daughter. She had a inner beauty that was unbelievable," Gennuso said of Chanda, who worked as a physician's assistant at the Alexandria Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Pineville.
Laura Balthazar, who was chief deputy for then-St. Landry Parish Sheriff Howard Zerangue, was less surprised by the news.
She said Donald Pickney had been dismissed from the Sheriff's Office after repeated complaints of stalking were filed against him by his first wife.
"We had a lot of family issues with him when he worked for us," Balthazar said.
The Rapides Parish Sheriff's Office declined to comment on the matter Tuesday, but confirmed the cause of Chanda Pickney's death has not been determined.
Both Pickneys worked at the VA Medical Center, where Donald was employed as a security officer.
"She was an asset to this medical center and will be missed by our staff and her patients," the center said in a news release. "Our condolences go out to her family and friends."
In 2006, Donald Pickney was awarded the U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs' Valor Award.
That award, the highest the VA gives to an employee, honored Pickney's actions in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, when he helped evacuate the VA Medical Center in New Orleans, then flooded and without power.
Pickney was cited for personally carrying 20 to 30 patients down eight flights of stairs and loading them onto National Guard trucks so they could be taken to other facilities.
Before joining the VA staff, Pickney had served in the U.S. Marine Corps and the Louisiana National Guard before joining the St. Landry Parish Sheriff's Office and then the Opelousas Police Department.
The Rapides Parish Sheriff's Office arrested Donald Pickney this weekend and charged him with second-degree murder in connection with the death of Chanda White Pickney, 33, of Woodworth.
The alleged crime came to light early Saturday when Pickney brought his wife to Christus St. Frances Cabrini Hospital in Alexandria, where she was pronounced dead on arrival.
"Based on the physical evidence, it appeared her death was of a suspicious nature," Maj. Jasper Bay with the Rapides Parish Sheriff's Office said. "We felt we had enough probable cause to arrest him."
Donald Pickney has also been charged with second-degree battery and false imprisonment and is being held in the parish jail on a $265,250 bond.
Opelousas Police Chief Perry Gallow declined to comment on the matter because it is an ongoing investigation.
Paul N. Gennuso, who is retired from the Opelousas Police Department, said he knew both Pickneys well and served as Donald Pickney's supervisor during his time on the force in the 1990s.
"It is always a surprise when anyone takes a life," Gennuso said. "This is such a tragedy."
He called Pickney "a fair officer" and had praise for the victim, who was the niece of Dr. Calvin White, a family practice physician in Opelousas.
"She went to school with my daughter. She had a inner beauty that was unbelievable," Gennuso said of Chanda, who worked as a physician's assistant at the Alexandria Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Pineville.
Laura Balthazar, who was chief deputy for then-St. Landry Parish Sheriff Howard Zerangue, was less surprised by the news.
She said Donald Pickney had been dismissed from the Sheriff's Office after repeated complaints of stalking were filed against him by his first wife.
"We had a lot of family issues with him when he worked for us," Balthazar said.
The Rapides Parish Sheriff's Office declined to comment on the matter Tuesday, but confirmed the cause of Chanda Pickney's death has not been determined.
Both Pickneys worked at the VA Medical Center, where Donald was employed as a security officer.
"She was an asset to this medical center and will be missed by our staff and her patients," the center said in a news release. "Our condolences go out to her family and friends."
In 2006, Donald Pickney was awarded the U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs' Valor Award.
That award, the highest the VA gives to an employee, honored Pickney's actions in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, when he helped evacuate the VA Medical Center in New Orleans, then flooded and without power.
Pickney was cited for personally carrying 20 to 30 patients down eight flights of stairs and loading them onto National Guard trucks so they could be taken to other facilities.
Before joining the VA staff, Pickney had served in the U.S. Marine Corps and the Louisiana National Guard before joining the St. Landry Parish Sheriff's Office and then the Opelousas Police Department.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Gonzales, CA: Suspected Gonzales shooter found dead
By KEVIN HOWE
Herald Staff Writer
Posted: 11/01/2011 11:40:13 AM PDT
Updated: 11/01/2011 11:40:13 AM PDT
A Gonzales woman is hospitalized in critical condition at a San Francisco Bay Area trauma center and the man police believed shot her was found dead of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound early Tuesday morning.
The incident took place shortly before 11 p.m. Monday after a verbal domestic dispute turned violent when the man produced a handgun and shot her once in the chest at a house in the 300 block of Ninth Street, according to police Sgt. Fred Lombardi.
Officers and paramedics responded after neighbors reported the shooting, he said, and the woman was flown by helicopter ambulance to the trauma center, where she was in critical condition Tuesday.
Gonzales police, aided by sheriff's deputies and officers from other South County departments searched through the night for the gunman, Lombardi said, until shortly after 7 a.m., when a resident in the 800 block of Bay Street called police to report finding a man lying in some bushes behind a wall.
Police found the man dead of a single gunshot wound, apparently self-inflicted, Lombardi said, and he was positively identified as the man who lived with the victim.
The two had a child who is being cared for by relatives, Lombardi said, and who was not present at the house when the shooting took place.
An autopsy on the man is scheduled today, Lombardi said, adding that his name and the name of the victim are being withheld until it is complete.
The shooting "was not gang-related," he said, "but
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a domestic dispute that slipped into violence."
Herald Staff Writer
Posted: 11/01/2011 11:40:13 AM PDT
Updated: 11/01/2011 11:40:13 AM PDT
A Gonzales woman is hospitalized in critical condition at a San Francisco Bay Area trauma center and the man police believed shot her was found dead of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound early Tuesday morning.
The incident took place shortly before 11 p.m. Monday after a verbal domestic dispute turned violent when the man produced a handgun and shot her once in the chest at a house in the 300 block of Ninth Street, according to police Sgt. Fred Lombardi.
Officers and paramedics responded after neighbors reported the shooting, he said, and the woman was flown by helicopter ambulance to the trauma center, where she was in critical condition Tuesday.
Gonzales police, aided by sheriff's deputies and officers from other South County departments searched through the night for the gunman, Lombardi said, until shortly after 7 a.m., when a resident in the 800 block of Bay Street called police to report finding a man lying in some bushes behind a wall.
Police found the man dead of a single gunshot wound, apparently self-inflicted, Lombardi said, and he was positively identified as the man who lived with the victim.
The two had a child who is being cared for by relatives, Lombardi said, and who was not present at the house when the shooting took place.
An autopsy on the man is scheduled today, Lombardi said, adding that his name and the name of the victim are being withheld until it is complete.
The shooting "was not gang-related," he said, "but
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a domestic dispute that slipped into violence."
Lithia, FL: Deputies: Woman shot, killed boyfriend
Updated: Wednesday, 02 Nov 2011, 6:36 AM EDT
Published : Wednesday, 02 Nov 2011, 6:36 AM EDT
LITHIA - Detectives in Hillsborough County arrested a Lithia woman for allegedly shooting her boyfriend in the back of the head with a shotgun, the sheriff’s office said Wednesday.
Sarah Ann Wilson, 22, of 10216 Dry Bridge Road is charged with second degree murder with a firearm after being accused of killing her boyfriend Sunday evening.
According to detectives, deputies found the body of 50-year-old Timothy Miller in the living room of their home after getting a report from police about a possible homicide.
Detectives say the couple got into an argument about Wilson taking Miller’s truck without asking to go smoke crack cocaine this weekend.
On Sunday night around 9 p.m., detectives say Wilson shot him in the back of the head with a shotgun while he slept in the living room.
Then Wilson told people she had shot her boyfriend, detectives say, and one even saw his body.
After finding Miller’s body, Tampa police recovered his truck in the area of 50th and Broadway where it had been abandoned. Wilson was arrested at the Tampa 8 motel at 4350 East Old Columbus Drive.
Published : Wednesday, 02 Nov 2011, 6:36 AM EDT
LITHIA - Detectives in Hillsborough County arrested a Lithia woman for allegedly shooting her boyfriend in the back of the head with a shotgun, the sheriff’s office said Wednesday.
Sarah Ann Wilson, 22, of 10216 Dry Bridge Road is charged with second degree murder with a firearm after being accused of killing her boyfriend Sunday evening.
According to detectives, deputies found the body of 50-year-old Timothy Miller in the living room of their home after getting a report from police about a possible homicide.
Detectives say the couple got into an argument about Wilson taking Miller’s truck without asking to go smoke crack cocaine this weekend.
On Sunday night around 9 p.m., detectives say Wilson shot him in the back of the head with a shotgun while he slept in the living room.
Then Wilson told people she had shot her boyfriend, detectives say, and one even saw his body.
After finding Miller’s body, Tampa police recovered his truck in the area of 50th and Broadway where it had been abandoned. Wilson was arrested at the Tampa 8 motel at 4350 East Old Columbus Drive.
East Providence, RI: Murder-Suicide Confirmed On Hazard Ave.
City’s first homicide since last Christmas
EAST PROVIDENCE — The cause of death for two individuals believed to have been involved in a murder-suicide last Tuesday has been confirmed by the Rhode Island Department of Health (DOH).
#According to DOH spokeswoman Annemarie Beardsworth, Amber Arruda, 28, died from gunshot wounds to the trunk. Jeffrey Arruda, 30, died from a gunshot wound to the trunk. Both were discovered by police last week inside their Hazard Avenue home after a report had come in earlier that morning from a family member not living at the residence.
#At the time, police said the matter was being investigated as a murder-suicide. Earlier this week, Police Chief Joseph Tavares said that further investigation into the incident has confirmed this initial belief.
#Chief Tavares said that in dealing with a domestic homicide, police always look at a household’s history, to see if police had ever previously been called to the residence. In this case, Chief Tavares said there was no history of police being called to the Hazard Avenue home. He also said the police department has a domestic advocate to work specifically with domestic violence issues.
#In response to the event, Executive Director of the Women’s Center of Rhode Island Kristin Lyons and Executive Director of the Rhode Island Coalition Against Domestic Violence Deborah DeBare issued a joint statement on Wednesday, Oct. 26.
#“Our hearts go out to the children, family, friends and community of Amber and Jeffrey Arruda. We are horrified and saddened by this apparent act of domestic violence. Their tragic deaths are a harsh reminder that we still have a long way to go to achieve a society free of domestic violence in Rhode Island. Our hearts break for the sons of the Arruda family, who will be forever impacted by losing both of their parents to domestic violence at such a young age,” reads the release.
#“Though not much has yet been released about the deaths of the Arrudas, the laws in Rhode Island are clear. Any act of violence between intimate partners in our state is classified as domestic violence under law. This tragedy reminds us that while not all domestic violence is reported, there is always a history. Victims often experience months or years of emotional, physical or sexual abuse at the hands of their intimate partner without ever having called the police.
#“It is not surprising to us when neighbors or co-workers are shocked that such a horrible thing could happen in their community. However, we know that domestic violence does not discriminate. It happens in all 39 cities and towns in Rhode Island and crosses every race, ethnicity, income bracket, age-range and education level. Furthermore, abusers often show a very different face to the outside world than they do to their victims.
#The release continues that this recent incident is a reminder of the “extreme dangers” that stem from having a gun in the home. Since 1980, the release states 50 percent of all domestic violence deaths in Rhode Island have been caused by firearms.
#“We know that one of the most dangerous times for domestic violence victims is when they decide to leave the relationship. However, help is available in our state for all victims, and with services we hope that lives can be saved. There are six local domestic violence agencies in our state that provide a wide array of services, including 24 hour hotline support, emergency shelter, support groups and assistance with the legal system. If you or someone you know needs support, call the statewide Helpline at 800-494-8100.”
#Prior to last week, the most recent homicide in East Providence came last Christmas day when 35-year-old Staria Silva was found dead in her Fifth Street home. Raymond Grundy, 35, father of two infant twins with Ms. Silva, was arrested that same day. To date, Chief Tavares said no homicide charges have been filed in connection with the event as the state crime lab continues to examine evidence relating to the case. At this time, however, Chief Tavares said Mr. Grundy remains the only suspect.
EAST PROVIDENCE — The cause of death for two individuals believed to have been involved in a murder-suicide last Tuesday has been confirmed by the Rhode Island Department of Health (DOH).
#According to DOH spokeswoman Annemarie Beardsworth, Amber Arruda, 28, died from gunshot wounds to the trunk. Jeffrey Arruda, 30, died from a gunshot wound to the trunk. Both were discovered by police last week inside their Hazard Avenue home after a report had come in earlier that morning from a family member not living at the residence.
#At the time, police said the matter was being investigated as a murder-suicide. Earlier this week, Police Chief Joseph Tavares said that further investigation into the incident has confirmed this initial belief.
#Chief Tavares said that in dealing with a domestic homicide, police always look at a household’s history, to see if police had ever previously been called to the residence. In this case, Chief Tavares said there was no history of police being called to the Hazard Avenue home. He also said the police department has a domestic advocate to work specifically with domestic violence issues.
#In response to the event, Executive Director of the Women’s Center of Rhode Island Kristin Lyons and Executive Director of the Rhode Island Coalition Against Domestic Violence Deborah DeBare issued a joint statement on Wednesday, Oct. 26.
#“Our hearts go out to the children, family, friends and community of Amber and Jeffrey Arruda. We are horrified and saddened by this apparent act of domestic violence. Their tragic deaths are a harsh reminder that we still have a long way to go to achieve a society free of domestic violence in Rhode Island. Our hearts break for the sons of the Arruda family, who will be forever impacted by losing both of their parents to domestic violence at such a young age,” reads the release.
#“Though not much has yet been released about the deaths of the Arrudas, the laws in Rhode Island are clear. Any act of violence between intimate partners in our state is classified as domestic violence under law. This tragedy reminds us that while not all domestic violence is reported, there is always a history. Victims often experience months or years of emotional, physical or sexual abuse at the hands of their intimate partner without ever having called the police.
#“It is not surprising to us when neighbors or co-workers are shocked that such a horrible thing could happen in their community. However, we know that domestic violence does not discriminate. It happens in all 39 cities and towns in Rhode Island and crosses every race, ethnicity, income bracket, age-range and education level. Furthermore, abusers often show a very different face to the outside world than they do to their victims.
#The release continues that this recent incident is a reminder of the “extreme dangers” that stem from having a gun in the home. Since 1980, the release states 50 percent of all domestic violence deaths in Rhode Island have been caused by firearms.
#“We know that one of the most dangerous times for domestic violence victims is when they decide to leave the relationship. However, help is available in our state for all victims, and with services we hope that lives can be saved. There are six local domestic violence agencies in our state that provide a wide array of services, including 24 hour hotline support, emergency shelter, support groups and assistance with the legal system. If you or someone you know needs support, call the statewide Helpline at 800-494-8100.”
#Prior to last week, the most recent homicide in East Providence came last Christmas day when 35-year-old Staria Silva was found dead in her Fifth Street home. Raymond Grundy, 35, father of two infant twins with Ms. Silva, was arrested that same day. To date, Chief Tavares said no homicide charges have been filed in connection with the event as the state crime lab continues to examine evidence relating to the case. At this time, however, Chief Tavares said Mr. Grundy remains the only suspect.
Oklahoma City, OK: Names of Oklahoma City murder-suicide victims released
The names of two Oklahoma City people found dead have been released by police. Their bodies
were found Monday in a house on NW 11.
FROM STAFF REPORTS
PXblished: NoYember 2, 2011
An Oklahoma City man shot his wife at close range before putting the gun in his mouth
and pulling the trigger, the state medical examiner ruled Tuesday.
Thongdy Chansombath, 48, and Phonephet Chansombath, 52, both of Oklahoma City,
died in a murder-suicide, police said Tuesday.
Their bodies were found Monday afternoon.
The medical examiner's ruling confirmed police suspicions that Phonephet Chansombath
shot his wife at their home at 1841 NW 11 and then shot himself.
Bouavongkham Phanthala, a pastor at Trinity Baptist Church at NW 23 and Douglas
Avenue, went to the scene Monday night. He said a neighbor called him and told him
police were outside the home.
Phanthala said Phonephet Chansombath was a deacon in the church, and he has
attended church with the family for more than 30 years.
³The husband is a good man. Everybody loves him in the church. He has a lot of
friends,´ Phanthala said. He said the couple have two adult daughters.
were found Monday in a house on NW 11.
FROM STAFF REPORTS
PXblished: NoYember 2, 2011
An Oklahoma City man shot his wife at close range before putting the gun in his mouth
and pulling the trigger, the state medical examiner ruled Tuesday.
Thongdy Chansombath, 48, and Phonephet Chansombath, 52, both of Oklahoma City,
died in a murder-suicide, police said Tuesday.
Their bodies were found Monday afternoon.
The medical examiner's ruling confirmed police suspicions that Phonephet Chansombath
shot his wife at their home at 1841 NW 11 and then shot himself.
Bouavongkham Phanthala, a pastor at Trinity Baptist Church at NW 23 and Douglas
Avenue, went to the scene Monday night. He said a neighbor called him and told him
police were outside the home.
Phanthala said Phonephet Chansombath was a deacon in the church, and he has
attended church with the family for more than 30 years.
³The husband is a good man. Everybody loves him in the church. He has a lot of
friends,´ Phanthala said. He said the couple have two adult daughters.
Georgetown, TX: Police ID suspect, victim in officer-involved shooting
Two people are dead after an officer-involved shooting Monday night in Georgetown. It happened shortly before 10 p.m. when police responded to a domestic disturbance call on Tamara Drive near the Susana Drive intersection.
Police say inside the home, 52-year-old Anthony Ray Blackmon shot and killed his girlfriend, 38-year-old Terry Lynn Pittman, right in front of officers. Then, he turned his gun on police.
Officers fired back, fatally shooting Blackmon.
"You have no idea what's going on inside the home when you arrive," Capt. Kevin Stoffel with the Georgetown Police Department said. "You hear the loud argument going on, and then it's literally you open the door and walk in and it unfolds in front of you, and you start reacting to what you see and what you hear."
When they first entered the home, officers encountered one of Pittman’s four sons holding a knife. The son told police his mother was in trouble.
Three Georgetown police officers have been placed on administrative leave which is standard procedure after any officer-involved shooting.
Police say inside the home, 52-year-old Anthony Ray Blackmon shot and killed his girlfriend, 38-year-old Terry Lynn Pittman, right in front of officers. Then, he turned his gun on police.
Officers fired back, fatally shooting Blackmon.
"You have no idea what's going on inside the home when you arrive," Capt. Kevin Stoffel with the Georgetown Police Department said. "You hear the loud argument going on, and then it's literally you open the door and walk in and it unfolds in front of you, and you start reacting to what you see and what you hear."
When they first entered the home, officers encountered one of Pittman’s four sons holding a knife. The son told police his mother was in trouble.
Three Georgetown police officers have been placed on administrative leave which is standard procedure after any officer-involved shooting.
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Hendersonville, NC: Ex-Girlfriend Of Man Accused In Baseball Bat Murder Testifies
By: Hendersonville Times-News
Published: October 31, 2011
HENDERSONVILLE, NC --
The former girlfriend of a man on trial for murder testified Monday morning about the defendant's actions the night before the assault, according to our news coverage partners at the Hendersonville Times-News.
Forty-two year old Charles Anthony Ball is charged with first-degree murder in the beating death of Paul Chanin and first-degree burglary and assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill to Chanin's wife, Carol.
According to the Times-News, Ball's former girlfriend, Angela Edens, said she meet him in 2008 through personal ads on the internet, Prosecutors asked Edens about Ball's actions the night before the assault on the Chanins.
"It seems like I went to bed earlier in the evening and I don't sleep well, so I was up and down," she told the jury, according to the Times-News. "I remember seeing Charles during the night. His plans were to go get a job in Tennessee. Sometime before daylight he left the house."
The Times-News reports that Edens testified that on April 20, 2009, neighbors told her that Ball was involved in an assault. She also said that she spoke with police and arranged for Ball to meet her for dinner so police could arrest him, but he was arrested before they could meet.
Carol Chanin told investigators that she and Ball were lovers, but she had ended the relationship about six months before he allegedly attacked her and her husband with a baseball bat. Defense attorneys claim that Ball was mentally ill at the time of the assault.
To read the story from the Hendersonville Times-News, click here: http://www.blueridgenow.com/article/20111031/ARTICLES/111039962/1151?Title=Former-girlfriend-testifies-in-Charles-Ball-murder-trial
Published: October 31, 2011
HENDERSONVILLE, NC --
The former girlfriend of a man on trial for murder testified Monday morning about the defendant's actions the night before the assault, according to our news coverage partners at the Hendersonville Times-News.
Forty-two year old Charles Anthony Ball is charged with first-degree murder in the beating death of Paul Chanin and first-degree burglary and assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill to Chanin's wife, Carol.
According to the Times-News, Ball's former girlfriend, Angela Edens, said she meet him in 2008 through personal ads on the internet, Prosecutors asked Edens about Ball's actions the night before the assault on the Chanins.
"It seems like I went to bed earlier in the evening and I don't sleep well, so I was up and down," she told the jury, according to the Times-News. "I remember seeing Charles during the night. His plans were to go get a job in Tennessee. Sometime before daylight he left the house."
The Times-News reports that Edens testified that on April 20, 2009, neighbors told her that Ball was involved in an assault. She also said that she spoke with police and arranged for Ball to meet her for dinner so police could arrest him, but he was arrested before they could meet.
Carol Chanin told investigators that she and Ball were lovers, but she had ended the relationship about six months before he allegedly attacked her and her husband with a baseball bat. Defense attorneys claim that Ball was mentally ill at the time of the assault.
To read the story from the Hendersonville Times-News, click here: http://www.blueridgenow.com/article/20111031/ARTICLES/111039962/1151?Title=Former-girlfriend-testifies-in-Charles-Ball-murder-trial
Steele, AL: Steele man charged in woman's death
By Lisa Rogers
Times Staff Writer
Published: Monday, October 31, 2011 at 2:49 p.m.
Last Modified: Monday, October 31, 2011 at 2:49 p.m.
ST. CLAIR COUNTY
A Steele man has been charged with murder in the shooting death of his girlfriend, St. Clair County Sheriff Chief Deputy Gary Cone said.
Rodney Gladney, 39, is charged with murder in the death of Betty Jean Cannon, 43.
Cannon was shot in the head following a domestic dispute late Thursday or early Friday at the home where the couple lived on Chandler Mountain Road, Cone said.
Gladney was taken into custody that night and later charged with murder, Cone said.
Times Staff Writer
Published: Monday, October 31, 2011 at 2:49 p.m.
Last Modified: Monday, October 31, 2011 at 2:49 p.m.
ST. CLAIR COUNTY
A Steele man has been charged with murder in the shooting death of his girlfriend, St. Clair County Sheriff Chief Deputy Gary Cone said.
Rodney Gladney, 39, is charged with murder in the death of Betty Jean Cannon, 43.
Cannon was shot in the head following a domestic dispute late Thursday or early Friday at the home where the couple lived on Chandler Mountain Road, Cone said.
Gladney was taken into custody that night and later charged with murder, Cone said.
Austin, TX: Police say jealousy fueled killing
Teen was talking to his baby's mother
Updated: Monday, 31 Oct 2011, 5:52 PM CDT
Published : Monday, 31 Oct 2011, 4:51 PM CDT
Kate Weidaw
AUSTIN (KXAN) - Police have arrested 22-year-old Timothy Phillips in the pre-dawn Friday shooting death of a teenager in East Austin.
Gerrell Earls, 18, was shot to death at the Walnut Creek Apartments complex off Springdale Road in what appears to be a jealous domestic dispute.
According to police, the shooting happened around 1:40 a.m. in the parking lot. Witnesses told police they saw several people running from the scene.
According to Phillips' arrest warrant, Dameetrya Easley had a baby with Phillips.
Easley was at her apartment complex with Earls that night when Phillips came to her apartent and knocked on her door. When Easley didn't answer the door, Phillips got into the apartment by crawling through the window.
Once inside her apartment, Easley claims Phillips started assaulting her pushed her into a closet.
Phillips wanted to fight Earls so they moved the confrontation out into the apartment parking lot.
Easley told police that Phillips "is very controlling and does not like her to talk to other men."
As the two men were fighting in the parking lot, Easley called 911. A few minutes later, she heard a gun shot.
Ausitn-Travis County Emergency Medical Services crews tried to save Earls' life, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Phillps has been charged with murder and his bond set at $100,000.
Updated: Monday, 31 Oct 2011, 5:52 PM CDT
Published : Monday, 31 Oct 2011, 4:51 PM CDT
Kate Weidaw
AUSTIN (KXAN) - Police have arrested 22-year-old Timothy Phillips in the pre-dawn Friday shooting death of a teenager in East Austin.
Gerrell Earls, 18, was shot to death at the Walnut Creek Apartments complex off Springdale Road in what appears to be a jealous domestic dispute.
According to police, the shooting happened around 1:40 a.m. in the parking lot. Witnesses told police they saw several people running from the scene.
According to Phillips' arrest warrant, Dameetrya Easley had a baby with Phillips.
Easley was at her apartment complex with Earls that night when Phillips came to her apartent and knocked on her door. When Easley didn't answer the door, Phillips got into the apartment by crawling through the window.
Once inside her apartment, Easley claims Phillips started assaulting her pushed her into a closet.
Phillips wanted to fight Earls so they moved the confrontation out into the apartment parking lot.
Easley told police that Phillips "is very controlling and does not like her to talk to other men."
As the two men were fighting in the parking lot, Easley called 911. A few minutes later, she heard a gun shot.
Ausitn-Travis County Emergency Medical Services crews tried to save Earls' life, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Phillps has been charged with murder and his bond set at $100,000.
Lenoir, NC: Attorneys agree man’s low blood sugar led to killing wife
Man's bond set at $35,000 in killing of wife
Posted: 5:15 pm EDT October 31, 2011
Updated: 10:35 pm EDT October 31, 2011
LENOIR, N.C. -- Both prosecutors and his attorney agree that Herbert Peck did shoot and kill his wife, but was it his low blood sugar that led to that fatal shooting.
Peck said he does not remember anything about the night he shot and killed his wife Glenda. But he believes he knows what led to the shooting inside the couple’s home.
"(It’s) because I'm a diabetic," he said.
Deputies said they found Peck in a closet after he shot his wife several times.
"We have four experts to say that Mr. Peck's blood sugar was so low when he woke up in the middle of the night that he probably was never fully conscious," said his defense attorney, Victoria Jayne.
Glenda Peck's son was in the courtroom Monday, and told the judge he did not believe Herbert should be released on bond.
"You guys are literally letting an individual back onto the streets that has taken a life," Scott Hardin said.
But the judge set bond at $35,000 after both prosecutors and his attorney agreed on the bail. Peck will also be allowed to travel to Rochester, N.Y., to live with his son until the trial date.
"For this to be something prosecutors agreed to a $35,000 bond can't be good for any community," Hardin said.
Peck's family plans on returning to New York with their father Monday. Peck said he still loves the woman he's accused of killing even if he doesn't remember how she died.
"Of course I (loved her). Now I’m by myself."
The judge also ordered Peck not to leave his son’s home in New York without him. The family must also get in-home care while they are at work.
No trial date has been set in the case.
Posted: 5:15 pm EDT October 31, 2011
Updated: 10:35 pm EDT October 31, 2011
LENOIR, N.C. -- Both prosecutors and his attorney agree that Herbert Peck did shoot and kill his wife, but was it his low blood sugar that led to that fatal shooting.
Peck said he does not remember anything about the night he shot and killed his wife Glenda. But he believes he knows what led to the shooting inside the couple’s home.
"(It’s) because I'm a diabetic," he said.
Deputies said they found Peck in a closet after he shot his wife several times.
"We have four experts to say that Mr. Peck's blood sugar was so low when he woke up in the middle of the night that he probably was never fully conscious," said his defense attorney, Victoria Jayne.
Glenda Peck's son was in the courtroom Monday, and told the judge he did not believe Herbert should be released on bond.
"You guys are literally letting an individual back onto the streets that has taken a life," Scott Hardin said.
But the judge set bond at $35,000 after both prosecutors and his attorney agreed on the bail. Peck will also be allowed to travel to Rochester, N.Y., to live with his son until the trial date.
"For this to be something prosecutors agreed to a $35,000 bond can't be good for any community," Hardin said.
Peck's family plans on returning to New York with their father Monday. Peck said he still loves the woman he's accused of killing even if he doesn't remember how she died.
"Of course I (loved her). Now I’m by myself."
The judge also ordered Peck not to leave his son’s home in New York without him. The family must also get in-home care while they are at work.
No trial date has been set in the case.
University Place, WA: Washington state mom killed, Amber Alert for baby
UNIVERSITY PLACE, Wash.—Authorities say a pregnant woman was found fatally stabbed in a Tacoma suburb and an Amber Alert was issued for her missing 9-month-old daughter.
The Pierce County, Wash., sheriff's department said late Monday night that officers were searching for 23-year-old Joseph Lester, the slain woman's ex-boyfriend.
The News Tribune reports neighbors say a man dropped the 21-year-old victim off Monday evening at a duplex. They say she yelled, "He's killing me" as she got out of the vehicle.
The woman, whom authorities did not immediately identify, died in the kitchen of the home.
The woman's says a 2-year-old son inside the home was not hurt. He has been placed in protective custody.
The newspaper says court records indicate Lester has been convicted of first-degree robbery and first-degree theft.
The Pierce County, Wash., sheriff's department said late Monday night that officers were searching for 23-year-old Joseph Lester, the slain woman's ex-boyfriend.
The News Tribune reports neighbors say a man dropped the 21-year-old victim off Monday evening at a duplex. They say she yelled, "He's killing me" as she got out of the vehicle.
The woman, whom authorities did not immediately identify, died in the kitchen of the home.
The woman's says a 2-year-old son inside the home was not hurt. He has been placed in protective custody.
The newspaper says court records indicate Lester has been convicted of first-degree robbery and first-degree theft.
Chicago, IL: Man fatally shoots woman before killing himself in Chicago Lawn barbershop
By Carlos Sadovi
Tribune reporter
7:44 p.m. CDT, October 31, 2011
A 36-year-old man apparently shot himself to death after he walked into a Chicago Lawn barbershop and opened fire on a female barber as she was giving a man a hair cut, killing her, officials said.
The shooting happened at 11:18 a.m. at Lupe's barbershop, 3153 W. 59th St., police said.
The man was identified as Juan Martinez, of the 2100 block of West Ohio St., according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.
Officials were not releasing the woman's name pending notification of her family. The woman, who is in her 30s, was pronounced dead at 11:55 a.m. at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, officials said.
Police said Martinez walked into the barbershop where the woman was working as a barber and shot her once before turning the gun on himself and firing, police said.
According to a man who answered the telephone at the barbershop, the woman was with a client cutting his hair when the woman's boyfriend walked in and shot her before shooting himself. The male client was not injured.
The man, who did not give his name, said the boyfriend was jealous of the woman and they had previously had a quarrel. He said the woman had three children, a boy and two girls.
Later in the evening the shop closed up and inside someone had left behind three lit religious candles.
Tribune reporter
7:44 p.m. CDT, October 31, 2011
A 36-year-old man apparently shot himself to death after he walked into a Chicago Lawn barbershop and opened fire on a female barber as she was giving a man a hair cut, killing her, officials said.
The shooting happened at 11:18 a.m. at Lupe's barbershop, 3153 W. 59th St., police said.
The man was identified as Juan Martinez, of the 2100 block of West Ohio St., according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.
Officials were not releasing the woman's name pending notification of her family. The woman, who is in her 30s, was pronounced dead at 11:55 a.m. at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, officials said.
Police said Martinez walked into the barbershop where the woman was working as a barber and shot her once before turning the gun on himself and firing, police said.
According to a man who answered the telephone at the barbershop, the woman was with a client cutting his hair when the woman's boyfriend walked in and shot her before shooting himself. The male client was not injured.
The man, who did not give his name, said the boyfriend was jealous of the woman and they had previously had a quarrel. He said the woman had three children, a boy and two girls.
Later in the evening the shop closed up and inside someone had left behind three lit religious candles.
Evansville, IN: Police: Deaths murder-suicide
Autopsies of North Side couple scheduled for today
By Jared Council
Posted November 1, 2011 at 3 a.m., updated October 31, 2011 at 11:55 p.m.
Evansville police suspect a murder-suicide sometime last weekend led to the deaths of a married couple in their North Side home.
"Both subjects showed signs of trauma," said Evansville police Lt. Dan DeYoung. "It is believed they died of gunshot wounds."
Vanderburgh County Coroner's officials said John Buell, 46, and Mildred Buell, 56, were found dead at their 507 Herndon Drive residence.
Murder-suicide is a preliminary ruling, DeYoung said, and the deaths are still under investigation. Coroner Annie Groves said autopsies are scheduled for this afternoon.
Police arrived at the residence at 9:08 a.m. Monday after a neighbor called 911 concerned that he had not seen the couple, according to Central Dispatch officials.
DeYoung said officers entered the home and found the two, who had appeared to have been dead for possibly 36 hours.
DeYoung said officers don't believe the entry was forced, but there were signs of a struggle. He said officers recovered a firearm, but he wouldn't disclose the type.
DeYoung said detectives talked to several neighbors and look forward to speaking to anyone else who may have any information. He said police are uncertain if anyone else lives at the Buell residence.
"Nothing of significance that we believe were involving these individuals," DeYoung said about previous police runs to the address.
The news of the reported incident came as a shock to the Buells' neighbors.
"I didn't want to believe it," said Virginia Ryan, 44, who knew John Buell since elementary school.
She said John Buell was a nice, God-fearing man who loved his wife, and the two enjoyed activities such as participating in 4-H fairs.
"I gave him stuff to make necklaces," she said about Buell, "and he'd come by a couple days later and said, 'Oh yeah, we made the necklaces.'"
Buell also loved the outdoors and recently told Ryan's 13-year-old son he would take him hunting soon.
Ryan said she didn't know Mildred Buell too well. She said she doesn't know what led to the deaths, but said the two were at odds lately primarily because of finances.
Dorris Dixon, 47, who lives in the 500 block of Herndon Drive, said the couple were nice to their neighbors, and she can't recall them having any problems with anyone.
She recalled John Buell once ran over a stray cat that she later took to the veterinarian.
"He gave me money to help with the vet bill," she said.
Dixon said her husband often talked with John Buell, both of whom are Army veterans.
"I never expected anything like this," Dixon said. "He never led that he would do anything like that — if he did it."
By Jared Council
Posted November 1, 2011 at 3 a.m., updated October 31, 2011 at 11:55 p.m.
Evansville police suspect a murder-suicide sometime last weekend led to the deaths of a married couple in their North Side home.
"Both subjects showed signs of trauma," said Evansville police Lt. Dan DeYoung. "It is believed they died of gunshot wounds."
Vanderburgh County Coroner's officials said John Buell, 46, and Mildred Buell, 56, were found dead at their 507 Herndon Drive residence.
Murder-suicide is a preliminary ruling, DeYoung said, and the deaths are still under investigation. Coroner Annie Groves said autopsies are scheduled for this afternoon.
Police arrived at the residence at 9:08 a.m. Monday after a neighbor called 911 concerned that he had not seen the couple, according to Central Dispatch officials.
DeYoung said officers entered the home and found the two, who had appeared to have been dead for possibly 36 hours.
DeYoung said officers don't believe the entry was forced, but there were signs of a struggle. He said officers recovered a firearm, but he wouldn't disclose the type.
DeYoung said detectives talked to several neighbors and look forward to speaking to anyone else who may have any information. He said police are uncertain if anyone else lives at the Buell residence.
"Nothing of significance that we believe were involving these individuals," DeYoung said about previous police runs to the address.
The news of the reported incident came as a shock to the Buells' neighbors.
"I didn't want to believe it," said Virginia Ryan, 44, who knew John Buell since elementary school.
She said John Buell was a nice, God-fearing man who loved his wife, and the two enjoyed activities such as participating in 4-H fairs.
"I gave him stuff to make necklaces," she said about Buell, "and he'd come by a couple days later and said, 'Oh yeah, we made the necklaces.'"
Buell also loved the outdoors and recently told Ryan's 13-year-old son he would take him hunting soon.
Ryan said she didn't know Mildred Buell too well. She said she doesn't know what led to the deaths, but said the two were at odds lately primarily because of finances.
Dorris Dixon, 47, who lives in the 500 block of Herndon Drive, said the couple were nice to their neighbors, and she can't recall them having any problems with anyone.
She recalled John Buell once ran over a stray cat that she later took to the veterinarian.
"He gave me money to help with the vet bill," she said.
Dixon said her husband often talked with John Buell, both of whom are Army veterans.
"I never expected anything like this," Dixon said. "He never led that he would do anything like that — if he did it."
Honolulu, HI: Trial begins for man accused in deadly shooting of ex-girlfriend in Ewa
By Minna Sugimoto - bio | email
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - Trial began Monday for a man accused of gunning down his ex-girlfriend in the middle of a street in Ewa two years ago. Toi Nofoa is charged with multiple felonies, including the state's most serious offense of first-degree murder.
The March 2009 slaying of Royal Kaukani was classified as first-degree murder because she was a material witness in a pending criminal case against the defendant.
Attorneys delivered their opening statements Monday morning. The defense told jurors there was a "rush to judgment" on the part of police, and that none of the physical evidence links Nofoa to the deadly shooting.
But prosecutors say the defendant got into his ex-girlfriend's black Hummer in the middle of a street in broad daylight, and shot the 25-year-old multiple times in the head at point-blank range.
Gary Matsumura, a paramedic who lives near the crime scene, says he heard popping noises and later rushed out to check on the victim. He says he saw a lot of blood and checked for a pulse, but couldn't find one.
Kaukani was supposed to testify in a prior kidnapping and terroristic threatening case against Nofoa.
The defense told jurors some witnesses described the killer as being much shorter and slimmer. But prosecutors say Nofoa called his brother and confessed to the shooting.
The trial continues Wednesday.
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - Trial began Monday for a man accused of gunning down his ex-girlfriend in the middle of a street in Ewa two years ago. Toi Nofoa is charged with multiple felonies, including the state's most serious offense of first-degree murder.
The March 2009 slaying of Royal Kaukani was classified as first-degree murder because she was a material witness in a pending criminal case against the defendant.
Attorneys delivered their opening statements Monday morning. The defense told jurors there was a "rush to judgment" on the part of police, and that none of the physical evidence links Nofoa to the deadly shooting.
But prosecutors say the defendant got into his ex-girlfriend's black Hummer in the middle of a street in broad daylight, and shot the 25-year-old multiple times in the head at point-blank range.
Gary Matsumura, a paramedic who lives near the crime scene, says he heard popping noises and later rushed out to check on the victim. He says he saw a lot of blood and checked for a pulse, but couldn't find one.
Kaukani was supposed to testify in a prior kidnapping and terroristic threatening case against Nofoa.
The defense told jurors some witnesses described the killer as being much shorter and slimmer. But prosecutors say Nofoa called his brother and confessed to the shooting.
The trial continues Wednesday.
Alexandria, VA: Alexandria VA police officer arrested in connection with wife's death
A Veterans Affairs police officer has been
arrested in connection with his wife's death,
VA officials confirmed today, Oct. 31.
Donald Pickney of Woodworth is charged
with second-degree murder in connection
with the killing of his wife, Chanda White
Pickney, 33, according to the Rapides
Parish Sheriff's Office. He also faces
charges of second-degree battery and
false imprisonment.
Chanda Pickney worked as a physician's
assistant in the mental health department
of the Alexandria VA Medical Center in
Pineville, spokesman Gerald DeWorth said
in a statement issued by the hospital. She
was not identified in the statement, but the
Sheriff's Office later identified her.
"She was an asset to this medical center
and will be missed by our staff and her
patients," the statement said. "Our
condolences go out to her family and
friends."
arrested in connection with his wife's death,
VA officials confirmed today, Oct. 31.
Donald Pickney of Woodworth is charged
with second-degree murder in connection
with the killing of his wife, Chanda White
Pickney, 33, according to the Rapides
Parish Sheriff's Office. He also faces
charges of second-degree battery and
false imprisonment.
Chanda Pickney worked as a physician's
assistant in the mental health department
of the Alexandria VA Medical Center in
Pineville, spokesman Gerald DeWorth said
in a statement issued by the hospital. She
was not identified in the statement, but the
Sheriff's Office later identified her.
"She was an asset to this medical center
and will be missed by our staff and her
patients," the statement said. "Our
condolences go out to her family and
friends."
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