By NATE MORABITO
Published: January 25, 2011
Tia Gentry cried several times in court as she recalled the night she found her mother’s lifeless body inside a bathtub at the family’s Johnson City home on November 18, 2003.
“I shook her and she didn’t move,” Gentry said of her mother Teri Larkin.
Gentry was the first witness called by prosecutors to testify against Dale Larkin Tuesday. Larkin is charged with first-degree murder and two counts of insurance fraud in connection to the death of his wife. Johnson City police arrested him in 2009 after exhuming Teri Larkin’s body and moving forward with a second autopsy that revealed a possible homicide.
“(The medical examiner) has found that this woman suffocated to death basically (with some blunt force trauma),” Assistant District Attorney Dennis Brooks told jurors during opening arguments. “There’s injuries to the front side of this woman, the right side of this woman, the back side of this woman, and the left side of her. Every side you look at there’s injuries. There’s only one explanation that covers that entire chart and it’s homicide.”
Larkin's attorney argued there is an explanation for each one of those injuries. For one, Mark Slagle said Larkin performed CPR on the woman after his stepdaughter found her.
"Dale pulled her out of the tub and he was rough with her," Slagle told jurors. “He drops one arm, she falls, hits her head.”
According to Slagle, the woman's past medical conditions could have led to her death. He also reminded the jury that Gentry, now 18, has changed her story three times in the last seven years.
Still, Gentry told the jury what she says she remembers today.
“He didn’t come running like I would assume somebody would,” Gentry said of Larkin after she told him her mother was unresponsive. “He just walked up there…I went into his room one night (several days later) and asked him if he thought maybe somebody poisoned mom or something and he got very defensive about it. He kept asking me who put that in my head.”
Although family members of the victim were in court today, there were twice as many people sitting behind the defendant. If convicted of first-degree murder, Larkin could face a sentence of up to life in prison. According to his attorneys, Larkin plans on testifying in his own defense during this tria
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Bethany, OK: Bethany man charged in wife’s slaying
Reginald Scott Bartlett, 58, was charged Tuesday in connection with the Jan. 9 stabbing death of his wife, Cathy Bartlett, 57. Law enforcement divers recovered a bag of evidence from Lake Overholser on Tuesday afternoon.
BY MATT DINGER
Published: January 26, 2011
BETHANY — A Bethany man who confessed to stabbing his wife to death after she confronted him about looking at pornography has been charged in connection with her death, and a bag of evidence has been recovered from Lake Overholser.
Reginald Scott Bartlett, 58, was being held Tuesday in the Oklahoma County jail without bail. He was charged Tuesday with first-degree murder.
Bartlett is accused of stabbing Cathy Bartlett, 57, on Jan. 9 after an argument. He told police she slapped him and he “snapped,” grabbed a knife from the kitchen and stabbed her, according to the arrest affidavit.
He also told police he shopped for golf equipment and attended a basketball tournament before returning home to call 911. He first claimed a robber had raped and killed his wife, the affidavit states.
After about three hours of questioning, Bartlett confessed, Bethany Police Chief Phil Cole said.
Bartlett told investigators he put the knife, a computer and his clothes in a duffel bag and threw it into Lake Overholser.
Divers with Bethany police and the Oklahoma Highway Patrol recovered a bag from the lake Tuesday, police said.
BY MATT DINGER
Published: January 26, 2011
BETHANY — A Bethany man who confessed to stabbing his wife to death after she confronted him about looking at pornography has been charged in connection with her death, and a bag of evidence has been recovered from Lake Overholser.
Reginald Scott Bartlett, 58, was being held Tuesday in the Oklahoma County jail without bail. He was charged Tuesday with first-degree murder.
Bartlett is accused of stabbing Cathy Bartlett, 57, on Jan. 9 after an argument. He told police she slapped him and he “snapped,” grabbed a knife from the kitchen and stabbed her, according to the arrest affidavit.
He also told police he shopped for golf equipment and attended a basketball tournament before returning home to call 911. He first claimed a robber had raped and killed his wife, the affidavit states.
After about three hours of questioning, Bartlett confessed, Bethany Police Chief Phil Cole said.
Bartlett told investigators he put the knife, a computer and his clothes in a duffel bag and threw it into Lake Overholser.
Divers with Bethany police and the Oklahoma Highway Patrol recovered a bag from the lake Tuesday, police said.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Mesquite, NV: Mesquite councilwoman, husband dead in apparent murder-suicide
By Jackie Valley
Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2011 12:39 p.m.
Donna Fairchild
A Mesquite councilwoman and her husband were found dead inside their home this morning in what appears to be a murder-suicide, city officials said.
Mesquite Police responded at 4:30 a.m. to a call from their home on Arguello Drive and found Donna Fairchild and her husband, Bill Fairchild, dead inside with single gunshot wounds, officials said. It's unclear who fired the shots, investigators said.
The Clark County Coroner's Office will perform autopsies, a process that could take four to six weeks for the investigation to be complete, officials said.
"Mesquite has lost two citizens that have devoted their life to public service," the city said in a statement from Mayor Susan Holecheck and the city council office. "On behalf of myself and the City Council, this is a tremendous loss to our community and we express our deepest sympathies to the Fairchilds' family, loved ones and friends."
Donna Fairchild was re-elected to the Mesquite City Council in 2009 after having served from 2001 through 2007. She and her husband moved to Mesquite in 1999 after they retired from the Denver Police Department.
Donna Fairchild was born in Munich, Germany, and had lived in Delaware and Turkey in addition to Denver, officials said. Her career path included being a paramedic, a news reporter for a radio station in Denver, a police officer, and technician and sergeant with the Denver Police Department.
After moving to Mesquite, Bill Fairchild worked at the recreation center and was a member of the Virgin Valley Honor Guard and VFW.
The St. George Spectrum reported that Donna Fairchild faced the possibility of sanctions at today's city council meeting after she submitted a travel voucher for a trip she didn't take, and made negative public comments about the Nevada Development Authority. She was the city's representative on the NDA, according to the Spectrum.
The couple was married for 21 years.
Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2011 12:39 p.m.
Donna Fairchild
A Mesquite councilwoman and her husband were found dead inside their home this morning in what appears to be a murder-suicide, city officials said.
Mesquite Police responded at 4:30 a.m. to a call from their home on Arguello Drive and found Donna Fairchild and her husband, Bill Fairchild, dead inside with single gunshot wounds, officials said. It's unclear who fired the shots, investigators said.
The Clark County Coroner's Office will perform autopsies, a process that could take four to six weeks for the investigation to be complete, officials said.
"Mesquite has lost two citizens that have devoted their life to public service," the city said in a statement from Mayor Susan Holecheck and the city council office. "On behalf of myself and the City Council, this is a tremendous loss to our community and we express our deepest sympathies to the Fairchilds' family, loved ones and friends."
Donna Fairchild was re-elected to the Mesquite City Council in 2009 after having served from 2001 through 2007. She and her husband moved to Mesquite in 1999 after they retired from the Denver Police Department.
Donna Fairchild was born in Munich, Germany, and had lived in Delaware and Turkey in addition to Denver, officials said. Her career path included being a paramedic, a news reporter for a radio station in Denver, a police officer, and technician and sergeant with the Denver Police Department.
After moving to Mesquite, Bill Fairchild worked at the recreation center and was a member of the Virgin Valley Honor Guard and VFW.
The St. George Spectrum reported that Donna Fairchild faced the possibility of sanctions at today's city council meeting after she submitted a travel voucher for a trip she didn't take, and made negative public comments about the Nevada Development Authority. She was the city's representative on the NDA, according to the Spectrum.
The couple was married for 21 years.
Columbia, SC: 2 found dead at gas station likely murder-suicide
The Associated Press
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Richland County deputies say two people found dead in a car outside a Columbia gas station appear to be part of a murder-suicide.
Investigators say witnesses called police Friday night after seeing a woman shoot a man in the car, then turn the gun on herself.
The coroner's office identified the victims as 31-year-old Alysha Violkowski and 33-year-old Oppie Lee Jackson.
Authorities say a witness told investigators the couple were involved in a romantic relationship.
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Richland County deputies say two people found dead in a car outside a Columbia gas station appear to be part of a murder-suicide.
Investigators say witnesses called police Friday night after seeing a woman shoot a man in the car, then turn the gun on herself.
The coroner's office identified the victims as 31-year-old Alysha Violkowski and 33-year-old Oppie Lee Jackson.
Authorities say a witness told investigators the couple were involved in a romantic relationship.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Port Orchard, WA: Suspect in South Salt Lake kidnapping killed in Washington shootout
By Lindsay Whitehurst
The Salt Lake Tribune
Published: January 24, 2011 08:00PM
Updated: January 24, 2011 08:01PM
Authorities believe a Roy man killed after wounding two sheriff’s deputies in a Washington state shootout Sunday is the same man suspected of running away with a 13-year-old girl who disappeared from foster care in South Salt Lake last week.
Both Anthony Allen Martinez, 30, and a young female who was with him were killed in the shootout, according to Trooper Krista Hedstrom of the Washington State Patrol. She has not been identified.
South Salt Lake police released Martinez’s description and photo on Thursday as part of their search for Astrid Valdivia, who ran away from a residential foster care facility Jan. 18, said Sgt. Gary Keller.
Detectives have not confirmed that Valdivia was with Martinez, but are searching for him because the girl ran away from her family’s Clearfield home with him about four months ago, Keller said.
The two “apparently considered themselves boyfriend and girlfriend,” said Clearfield Assistant Police Chief Mike Stenquist. Martinez was a friend of the girl’s mother and had been living with the Valdivia family at the time, he said.
Other family members did not tell police about the girl’s connection to Martinez until a week after she went missing, he said. They were found in Sacramento on Oct. 5.
“When we interviewed her after, she wouldn’t disclose any information. She wouldn’t talk to us,” Stenquist said. Martinez was charged with child kidnapping. He has entered a not guilty plea. “We had a good case even though she was not going to testify or cooperate,” he said.
When Valdivia disappeared again last week, she was living in a foster care facility in South Salt Lake and wearing an ankle monitor, which she disabled and removed, Keller said.
Police in Washington state did not know about Valdivia’s missing person report when two deputies tried to talk to Martinez in a Walmart parking lot in Port Orchard, Wash., on Sunday, Hedstrom said.
Martinez started running and the deputies gave chase.
“For reasons not yet known, the suspect turned and fired multiple shots,” Kitsap County sheriff’s spokesman Scott Wilson said.
Both officers were hit and unable to return fire, but a female officer arriving on the scene shot and killed the gunman, Wilson said. It’s not yet clear who shot the female, believed to be in her teens, who died later at a Tacoma hospital. Ballistics tests on the bullets could show whether it was the deputy or Martinez, the state patrol said.
“We believe that she and the deceased gunman knew each other, that they were together,” Wilson told the Associated Press. He said investigators don’t know yet the relationship between the two.
Destany Droge, 22, of Bremerton, Wash., said the two people killed appeared to be a couple.
“As soon as she saw him get shot, she ran for him,” she told The News Tribune of Tacoma. “She put herself in the line of fire.”
Tacoma police said the deputies were both shot in the torso and were in satisfactory condition. They are expected to survive
“I’ve seen just the one deputy, he’s in one of the rooms talking with family and co-workers,” said Mark Fulghum of the Tacoma police. “Both of the deputies are going to be fine. They’re going to be kept overnight for observation.”
Autopsies were scheduled Monday for the two people killed.
A blue minivan that apparently belonged to the suspect has been impounded and will be searched for possible evidence, Hedstrom said.
The female deputy involved in the shooting has been placed on administrative assignment until the investigation is completed, which is standard practice.
Shoppers raced to take cover as the incident unfolded.
The officers were about 30 to 40 feet behind the suspect when he started firing, Ray Bourge told KOMO-TV. “Five or six shots were fired. ... I just went and took cover,” he said.
Victor Meyers told the station that he heard the first shot, then six more in rapid succession.
“I heard one shot, which I thought was a car backfiring, and then several more reported back, which I knew to be gunfire,” Meyers said.
He said he saw a female deputy running toward a victim on the ground before he and other witnesses were hustled from the scene.
The store was immediately locked down. Customers in the store were allowed to leave after investigators questioned them. The store reopened Sunday night, Hedstrom said, and the shooting scene was cleared.
Port Orchard is the county seat and has about 8,250 residents. The last time a Kitsap County sheriff’s deputy was shot in the line of duty was in April 1978, according to The Tacoma News Tribune. Deputy Dennis Allred stopped to help what he believed to be a stranded driver towing another vehicle. The vehicle turned out to be stolen, and Allred was shot and killed by the suspects.
Martinez, a former Utah County resident, has a criminal record dating back to 1999, according to state court records.
Except for a felony drug possession charge that in 2006 landed him in prison for 16 months, his convictions are all misdemeanors.
In 1999, when Martinez was 18, he was charged in Provo’s 4th District Court with second-degree felony theft by receiving. He entered a no contest plea in abeyance and the case was dismissed two years later.
In 2000, Martinez was charged in 4th District Court with damaging/interrupting a communication device, a class B misdemeanor. He resolved the case with a diversion agreement that included a $50 court fee and 15 hours of community service.
In 2001, he was convicted during a 4th District Court bench trial of class B misdemeanor retail theft. He was sentenced to 10 days in jail, which included eight days of work diversion, and fined $300. The same year, he was fined $100 after pleading guilty to a class B misdemeanor count of being in a park after curfew.
In 2002, Martinez pleaded no contest to class B misdemeanor criminal trespass in Springville’s justice court and was fined $555.
Also in 2002, he was charged with third-degree felony aggravated assault for an incident in Orem. He pleaded no contest to a lesser count of class A misdemeanor assault and was sentenced to 90 days in jail, fined $580 and ordered to complete an anger management class. Two years alter, Martinez was accused of violating his probation and eventually was ordered to serve a year in jail.
Last year in Ogden’s justice court, Martinez, who was then a resident of Roy, was charged with class B misdemeanor counts of disorderly conduct and domestic violence in the presence of a child. He resolved the case in December by pleading no contest to disorderly conduct, an infraction, and the other charged was dismissed. His sentence was a fine of $150.
Martinez, who was charged in October child kidnapping, was to appear in Farmington’s 2nd District Court on Wednesday for a pre-trial conference. No trial dates had been set.
The Salt Lake Tribune
Published: January 24, 2011 08:00PM
Updated: January 24, 2011 08:01PM
Authorities believe a Roy man killed after wounding two sheriff’s deputies in a Washington state shootout Sunday is the same man suspected of running away with a 13-year-old girl who disappeared from foster care in South Salt Lake last week.
Both Anthony Allen Martinez, 30, and a young female who was with him were killed in the shootout, according to Trooper Krista Hedstrom of the Washington State Patrol. She has not been identified.
South Salt Lake police released Martinez’s description and photo on Thursday as part of their search for Astrid Valdivia, who ran away from a residential foster care facility Jan. 18, said Sgt. Gary Keller.
Detectives have not confirmed that Valdivia was with Martinez, but are searching for him because the girl ran away from her family’s Clearfield home with him about four months ago, Keller said.
The two “apparently considered themselves boyfriend and girlfriend,” said Clearfield Assistant Police Chief Mike Stenquist. Martinez was a friend of the girl’s mother and had been living with the Valdivia family at the time, he said.
Other family members did not tell police about the girl’s connection to Martinez until a week after she went missing, he said. They were found in Sacramento on Oct. 5.
“When we interviewed her after, she wouldn’t disclose any information. She wouldn’t talk to us,” Stenquist said. Martinez was charged with child kidnapping. He has entered a not guilty plea. “We had a good case even though she was not going to testify or cooperate,” he said.
When Valdivia disappeared again last week, she was living in a foster care facility in South Salt Lake and wearing an ankle monitor, which she disabled and removed, Keller said.
Police in Washington state did not know about Valdivia’s missing person report when two deputies tried to talk to Martinez in a Walmart parking lot in Port Orchard, Wash., on Sunday, Hedstrom said.
Martinez started running and the deputies gave chase.
“For reasons not yet known, the suspect turned and fired multiple shots,” Kitsap County sheriff’s spokesman Scott Wilson said.
Both officers were hit and unable to return fire, but a female officer arriving on the scene shot and killed the gunman, Wilson said. It’s not yet clear who shot the female, believed to be in her teens, who died later at a Tacoma hospital. Ballistics tests on the bullets could show whether it was the deputy or Martinez, the state patrol said.
“We believe that she and the deceased gunman knew each other, that they were together,” Wilson told the Associated Press. He said investigators don’t know yet the relationship between the two.
Destany Droge, 22, of Bremerton, Wash., said the two people killed appeared to be a couple.
“As soon as she saw him get shot, she ran for him,” she told The News Tribune of Tacoma. “She put herself in the line of fire.”
Tacoma police said the deputies were both shot in the torso and were in satisfactory condition. They are expected to survive
“I’ve seen just the one deputy, he’s in one of the rooms talking with family and co-workers,” said Mark Fulghum of the Tacoma police. “Both of the deputies are going to be fine. They’re going to be kept overnight for observation.”
Autopsies were scheduled Monday for the two people killed.
A blue minivan that apparently belonged to the suspect has been impounded and will be searched for possible evidence, Hedstrom said.
The female deputy involved in the shooting has been placed on administrative assignment until the investigation is completed, which is standard practice.
Shoppers raced to take cover as the incident unfolded.
The officers were about 30 to 40 feet behind the suspect when he started firing, Ray Bourge told KOMO-TV. “Five or six shots were fired. ... I just went and took cover,” he said.
Victor Meyers told the station that he heard the first shot, then six more in rapid succession.
“I heard one shot, which I thought was a car backfiring, and then several more reported back, which I knew to be gunfire,” Meyers said.
He said he saw a female deputy running toward a victim on the ground before he and other witnesses were hustled from the scene.
The store was immediately locked down. Customers in the store were allowed to leave after investigators questioned them. The store reopened Sunday night, Hedstrom said, and the shooting scene was cleared.
Port Orchard is the county seat and has about 8,250 residents. The last time a Kitsap County sheriff’s deputy was shot in the line of duty was in April 1978, according to The Tacoma News Tribune. Deputy Dennis Allred stopped to help what he believed to be a stranded driver towing another vehicle. The vehicle turned out to be stolen, and Allred was shot and killed by the suspects.
Martinez, a former Utah County resident, has a criminal record dating back to 1999, according to state court records.
Except for a felony drug possession charge that in 2006 landed him in prison for 16 months, his convictions are all misdemeanors.
In 1999, when Martinez was 18, he was charged in Provo’s 4th District Court with second-degree felony theft by receiving. He entered a no contest plea in abeyance and the case was dismissed two years later.
In 2000, Martinez was charged in 4th District Court with damaging/interrupting a communication device, a class B misdemeanor. He resolved the case with a diversion agreement that included a $50 court fee and 15 hours of community service.
In 2001, he was convicted during a 4th District Court bench trial of class B misdemeanor retail theft. He was sentenced to 10 days in jail, which included eight days of work diversion, and fined $300. The same year, he was fined $100 after pleading guilty to a class B misdemeanor count of being in a park after curfew.
In 2002, Martinez pleaded no contest to class B misdemeanor criminal trespass in Springville’s justice court and was fined $555.
Also in 2002, he was charged with third-degree felony aggravated assault for an incident in Orem. He pleaded no contest to a lesser count of class A misdemeanor assault and was sentenced to 90 days in jail, fined $580 and ordered to complete an anger management class. Two years alter, Martinez was accused of violating his probation and eventually was ordered to serve a year in jail.
Last year in Ogden’s justice court, Martinez, who was then a resident of Roy, was charged with class B misdemeanor counts of disorderly conduct and domestic violence in the presence of a child. He resolved the case in December by pleading no contest to disorderly conduct, an infraction, and the other charged was dismissed. His sentence was a fine of $150.
Martinez, who was charged in October child kidnapping, was to appear in Farmington’s 2nd District Court on Wednesday for a pre-trial conference. No trial dates had been set.
Tarboro, NC: Couple seen arguing before woman's disappearance
Posted: 6:13 p.m. today
Updated: 7:19 p.m. today
A 22-year-old woman found dead inside a Tarboro home last week was seen arguing with her boyfriend the day before she was reported missing, according to a man who says he saw the confrontation.
Ashley Robinson is an active member of the church next door to the house Aimee Lynn Pitt shared with her boyfriend, Ben Harrelson, at 1209 Newsome St.
“Him and her were under the car port arguing when we came out of church that Sunday night,” Robinson said Monday. “They were just going at it, and it was heated.”
Tarboro police found Pitt’s body at the home last Wednesday. Her father reported her missing Jan. 3.
According to search warrants, investigators interviewed Harrelson twice after Pitt disappeared. He told them that he last saw her on Dec. 30 after the two had a fight.
Harrelson told police that he went to bed, but Pitt stayed up, and she wasn't at home when he woke up the next morning.
Investigators searched the couple’s home at least once before discovering Pitt. It still isn’t exactly clear where she was found or how she died.
“It’s kind of a big shock,” said Robinson, who said he had gotten to know Pitt and her boyfriend from his work at the church. “I would hate to think she was in the house the whole time.”
Police haven’t filed charges in the case, and on Monday, they issued a statement saying "no further investigative details are being released in order to protect the integrity of further investigation."
They are also being very guarded about where Harrelson is. According to search warrants, he was hospitalized after a high-speed wreck in Halifax County on Jan. 8, the day after his second interview with police.
Investigators seized several items from the couple’s home, including two handwritten notes, a closet rod and two red stains from the kitchen floor, according to search warrants.
Reporter: Mike Charbonneau
Web Editor: Kelly Gardner
Updated: 7:19 p.m. today
A 22-year-old woman found dead inside a Tarboro home last week was seen arguing with her boyfriend the day before she was reported missing, according to a man who says he saw the confrontation.
Ashley Robinson is an active member of the church next door to the house Aimee Lynn Pitt shared with her boyfriend, Ben Harrelson, at 1209 Newsome St.
“Him and her were under the car port arguing when we came out of church that Sunday night,” Robinson said Monday. “They were just going at it, and it was heated.”
Tarboro police found Pitt’s body at the home last Wednesday. Her father reported her missing Jan. 3.
According to search warrants, investigators interviewed Harrelson twice after Pitt disappeared. He told them that he last saw her on Dec. 30 after the two had a fight.
Harrelson told police that he went to bed, but Pitt stayed up, and she wasn't at home when he woke up the next morning.
Investigators searched the couple’s home at least once before discovering Pitt. It still isn’t exactly clear where she was found or how she died.
“It’s kind of a big shock,” said Robinson, who said he had gotten to know Pitt and her boyfriend from his work at the church. “I would hate to think she was in the house the whole time.”
Police haven’t filed charges in the case, and on Monday, they issued a statement saying "no further investigative details are being released in order to protect the integrity of further investigation."
They are also being very guarded about where Harrelson is. According to search warrants, he was hospitalized after a high-speed wreck in Halifax County on Jan. 8, the day after his second interview with police.
Investigators seized several items from the couple’s home, including two handwritten notes, a closet rod and two red stains from the kitchen floor, according to search warrants.
Reporter: Mike Charbonneau
Web Editor: Kelly Gardner
Calistoga, CA: Murder trial starts Tuesday in Calistoga shooting death
KERANA TODOROV | Posted: Monday, January 24, 2011
The man accused of shooting his ex-girlfriend’s boyfriend to death in Calistoga in 2009 is scheduled to go on trial for murder Tuesday in Napa County Superior Court.
Rodolfo Uribe, 25, is charged with murder and kidnapping with special allegations and five other felonies in the death of Luis Octavio Carrillo in the early morning hours of June 29, 2009. If convicted, he faces life without parole.
Napa County Deputy District Attorney Michelle Rollins told Napa Superior Court Judge Rodney Stone at a hearing this week that her office would not seek the death penalty.
Uribe is suspected of lying in wait to shoot Carrillo on the 1400 block of North Oak Street in Calistoga as his ex-girlfriend screamed “No Rudy,” according to court records. Authorities say Uribe fired shots through the passenger window of the woman’s silver BMW, killing Carrillo.
Uribe then pulled Carrillo out the car and ordered the woman to follow him toward Santa Rosa, the prosecutor alleges. The BMW was later found abandoned on a vacant property on Calistoga Road near Santa Rosa.
On the drive back to Napa, his ex-girlfriend, the mother of his two children, testified in the preliminary hearing that Uribe punched her and pulled her hair several times.
They spent the night in Napa before Uribe ordered her to shower and go to work, according to court filings. Uribe was apprehended in southern California in early July.
He has been held without bail in the Napa County jail since his arrest.
This week, attorneys involved in the case came before Stone to discuss a host of pre-trial issues, including which photographs and text messages from Carrillo’s cell phone could be introduced into evidence. The trial is expected to last three weeks.
Defense Attorney Jim McEntee objected Friday to the inclusion of the text messages and some of the photographs, saying they were gruesome and prejudicial to his client. More discussions are scheduled Monday in front of Stone.
Jury selection is scheduled to start Tuesday. Twelve jurors and three alternates are expected to be selected.
The man accused of shooting his ex-girlfriend’s boyfriend to death in Calistoga in 2009 is scheduled to go on trial for murder Tuesday in Napa County Superior Court.
Rodolfo Uribe, 25, is charged with murder and kidnapping with special allegations and five other felonies in the death of Luis Octavio Carrillo in the early morning hours of June 29, 2009. If convicted, he faces life without parole.
Napa County Deputy District Attorney Michelle Rollins told Napa Superior Court Judge Rodney Stone at a hearing this week that her office would not seek the death penalty.
Uribe is suspected of lying in wait to shoot Carrillo on the 1400 block of North Oak Street in Calistoga as his ex-girlfriend screamed “No Rudy,” according to court records. Authorities say Uribe fired shots through the passenger window of the woman’s silver BMW, killing Carrillo.
Uribe then pulled Carrillo out the car and ordered the woman to follow him toward Santa Rosa, the prosecutor alleges. The BMW was later found abandoned on a vacant property on Calistoga Road near Santa Rosa.
On the drive back to Napa, his ex-girlfriend, the mother of his two children, testified in the preliminary hearing that Uribe punched her and pulled her hair several times.
They spent the night in Napa before Uribe ordered her to shower and go to work, according to court filings. Uribe was apprehended in southern California in early July.
He has been held without bail in the Napa County jail since his arrest.
This week, attorneys involved in the case came before Stone to discuss a host of pre-trial issues, including which photographs and text messages from Carrillo’s cell phone could be introduced into evidence. The trial is expected to last three weeks.
Defense Attorney Jim McEntee objected Friday to the inclusion of the text messages and some of the photographs, saying they were gruesome and prejudicial to his client. More discussions are scheduled Monday in front of Stone.
Jury selection is scheduled to start Tuesday. Twelve jurors and three alternates are expected to be selected.
Cypress TX: Convicted killer held in death of girlfriend
Woman was found shot dead in Cypress garage
By PAIGE HEWITT
HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Jan. 24, 2011, 12:50AM
A convicted killer charged with a murder in Cypress last week was taken into custody on Saturday, a few days after his girlfriend was discovered in a pool of blood in her garage.
The woman's sister found Rhonda Scott shot dead on Jan. 14. An ankle monitor lay on the living room floor — apparently the victim's parolee boyfriend had cut off the device, according to court records. Scott's vehicle was gone.
Homicide investigators had been pursuing 53-year-old Joe Amos Shaw since the killing in Cypress. He is in the Harris County Jail with no bail and is due in court on today.
Shaw was charged with killing Scott on Jan. 17. He was on parole through 2026 for a capital murder conviction in Bell County in the summer of 1982 for which he was sentenced to 35 years in a Texas prison.
He is accused of shooting Scott in the head with a .25-caliber handgun before fleeing the scene, records show. Shaw told his ex-wife he believed Scott was romantically involved with another man, according to statements she made to investigators.
Family became concerned about Scott when she failed to make her routine bedtime call to her mother on Jan. 14.
Shaw's ex-wife told investigators that Shaw called her the night of Jan. 14 and showed up drunk and perhaps suicidal and driving the victim's vehicle, records show. She noticed his ankle monitor was missing.
The next day Shaw called his ex-wife again, saying "something really bad happened" to his girlfriend. Shaw called his ex-wife again on Jan. 16, asking whether police were at her home. She explained they were.
He asked her to tell his children he was sorry.
paige.hewitt@chron.com
By PAIGE HEWITT
HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Jan. 24, 2011, 12:50AM
A convicted killer charged with a murder in Cypress last week was taken into custody on Saturday, a few days after his girlfriend was discovered in a pool of blood in her garage.
The woman's sister found Rhonda Scott shot dead on Jan. 14. An ankle monitor lay on the living room floor — apparently the victim's parolee boyfriend had cut off the device, according to court records. Scott's vehicle was gone.
Homicide investigators had been pursuing 53-year-old Joe Amos Shaw since the killing in Cypress. He is in the Harris County Jail with no bail and is due in court on today.
Shaw was charged with killing Scott on Jan. 17. He was on parole through 2026 for a capital murder conviction in Bell County in the summer of 1982 for which he was sentenced to 35 years in a Texas prison.
He is accused of shooting Scott in the head with a .25-caliber handgun before fleeing the scene, records show. Shaw told his ex-wife he believed Scott was romantically involved with another man, according to statements she made to investigators.
Family became concerned about Scott when she failed to make her routine bedtime call to her mother on Jan. 14.
Shaw's ex-wife told investigators that Shaw called her the night of Jan. 14 and showed up drunk and perhaps suicidal and driving the victim's vehicle, records show. She noticed his ankle monitor was missing.
The next day Shaw called his ex-wife again, saying "something really bad happened" to his girlfriend. Shaw called his ex-wife again on Jan. 16, asking whether police were at her home. She explained they were.
He asked her to tell his children he was sorry.
paige.hewitt@chron.com
New York City, NY: 'Mom-killer' was ID'd by tot in '93
By LORENA MONGELLI and JAMIE SCHRAM
Last Updated: 6:09 AM, January 24, 2011
Posted: 2:10 AM, January 24, 2011
She apparently was right all along.
A pigtailed 4-year-old girl identified her mom's alleged killer 18 years ago, but he was never brought to justice for the heinous crime -- until now.
DeJohn Hoffman, then 29 -- already serving 25 years to life for an unrelated slaying -- was finally charged Thursday in the point-blank fatal shooting of 22-year-old Jessica Smith, his girlfriend and the child's mother.
"Daddy shot Mommy in the head," then-4-year-old Christina Smith -- the oldest of the victim's three kids -- blurted out to cops probing the April 6, 1993, disappearance of her mom.
Hoffman was living with Jessica Smith and the children at the time in the Mount Eden section of The Bronx. Christina was not his biological child.
But prosecutors were troubled about using someone so young as their main witness in the case, and the Bronx District Attorney's Office declined to prosecute Hoffman.
Cold-case cops, however, refused to give up.
In 2006, detectives paid a visit to Hoffman at the Eastern Correctional Facility in Napanoch, NY, where the thug has been locked up for his later conviction in 1993 in the fatal shooting of an innocent bystander during a botched robbery at a Brooklyn bodega two years earlier.
Investigators grilled Hoffman about some of his bloodstained clothing, which had been recovered after Smith's murder.
He claimed that it was his own blood on the clothes -- but a forensic analysis proved it was actually Smith's.
In 2008, investigators then questioned one of Hoffman's former associates in a federal pen. The associate admitted to the cops that he had helped in the removal and disposal of Smith's body, sources said. The body had been found in a Bronx vacant lot six days after the murder.
The snitch testified before a Bronx grand jury last month, sealing Hoffman's fate. He was indicted on two counts of murder Dec. 30.
Still, for Christina, there is no happy ending. She has been diagnosed with schizophrenia, her family said, and now lives in a New Jersey group home for the mentally challenged.
"It messed her up," her uncle, Andre Smith, 41, told The Post yesterday.
"I don't think she understood what happened -- that her mother was dead," said aunt Kim Smith-Tippens, 49. "After that, she just shut down."
Additional reporting by Zoey Russo and Rebecca Harshbarger
lorena.mongelli@nypost.com
Last Updated: 6:09 AM, January 24, 2011
Posted: 2:10 AM, January 24, 2011
She apparently was right all along.
A pigtailed 4-year-old girl identified her mom's alleged killer 18 years ago, but he was never brought to justice for the heinous crime -- until now.
DeJohn Hoffman, then 29 -- already serving 25 years to life for an unrelated slaying -- was finally charged Thursday in the point-blank fatal shooting of 22-year-old Jessica Smith, his girlfriend and the child's mother.
"Daddy shot Mommy in the head," then-4-year-old Christina Smith -- the oldest of the victim's three kids -- blurted out to cops probing the April 6, 1993, disappearance of her mom.
Hoffman was living with Jessica Smith and the children at the time in the Mount Eden section of The Bronx. Christina was not his biological child.
But prosecutors were troubled about using someone so young as their main witness in the case, and the Bronx District Attorney's Office declined to prosecute Hoffman.
Cold-case cops, however, refused to give up.
In 2006, detectives paid a visit to Hoffman at the Eastern Correctional Facility in Napanoch, NY, where the thug has been locked up for his later conviction in 1993 in the fatal shooting of an innocent bystander during a botched robbery at a Brooklyn bodega two years earlier.
Investigators grilled Hoffman about some of his bloodstained clothing, which had been recovered after Smith's murder.
He claimed that it was his own blood on the clothes -- but a forensic analysis proved it was actually Smith's.
In 2008, investigators then questioned one of Hoffman's former associates in a federal pen. The associate admitted to the cops that he had helped in the removal and disposal of Smith's body, sources said. The body had been found in a Bronx vacant lot six days after the murder.
The snitch testified before a Bronx grand jury last month, sealing Hoffman's fate. He was indicted on two counts of murder Dec. 30.
Still, for Christina, there is no happy ending. She has been diagnosed with schizophrenia, her family said, and now lives in a New Jersey group home for the mentally challenged.
"It messed her up," her uncle, Andre Smith, 41, told The Post yesterday.
"I don't think she understood what happened -- that her mother was dead," said aunt Kim Smith-Tippens, 49. "After that, she just shut down."
Additional reporting by Zoey Russo and Rebecca Harshbarger
lorena.mongelli@nypost.com
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Cody, WY: Man killed in attempted murder-suicide
By BRENNA BRAATEN
One man was killed in an attempted murder-suicide Friday in Cody.
At about 11 p.m. Friday, police say John Tully, 62, shot and wounded Larry Jansma, 53, then shot himself inside the home of Kathy Stahl, 52.
Police were dispatched to the 3220 Sheridan Ave. residence when Stahl called to report Tully breaking in.
According to police, Tully, an ex-boyfriend of Stahl, shot Jansma from outside through a window, then entered the residence where he shot himself in the head with a revolver.
Police said they found Tully dead at the scene and Jansma still conscious. Stahl was unhurt.
As of Sunday, neither a motive nor Jansma's condition was known. Police are still investigating.
One man was killed in an attempted murder-suicide Friday in Cody.
At about 11 p.m. Friday, police say John Tully, 62, shot and wounded Larry Jansma, 53, then shot himself inside the home of Kathy Stahl, 52.
Police were dispatched to the 3220 Sheridan Ave. residence when Stahl called to report Tully breaking in.
According to police, Tully, an ex-boyfriend of Stahl, shot Jansma from outside through a window, then entered the residence where he shot himself in the head with a revolver.
Police said they found Tully dead at the scene and Jansma still conscious. Stahl was unhurt.
As of Sunday, neither a motive nor Jansma's condition was known. Police are still investigating.
Pascagoula, MS: Jury convicts George County man in girlfriend’s 2009 stabbing death
By MARGARET BAKER - mbbaker@sunherald.com
PASCAGOULA -- Jonathan Havard’s mother leaned over, put her hands over her face and softly cried after she learned a jury had convicted her son in the May 28, 2009, stabbing death of Cassidy Joy Hodges.
Relatives of the slain girl sat quietly, wiping away tears as well as they learned the fate of the 35-year-old George County man a jury convicted Thursday of murder by deliberate design after an hour of deliberations.
Circuit Court Judge Dale Harkey sentenced Havard to life in prison without the possibility of parole until he’s 65 years old. “I believe the evidence ... overwhelming supports this verdict...” Harkey said.
TIM ISBELL/SUN HERALD Jonathan Havard listens to testimony at his murder trial in Jackson County.
GALLERY:Jury convicts George County man in girlfriend’s 2009 stabbing death
Havard earlier in the day took the stand in his own defense, saying he did not slash his girlfriend’s throat, severing her vocal cords and rendering her unable to speak before she slowly died. Her throat had been cut at least five times.
George County deputies found Havard and his girlfriend with stab wounds to their necks at the home the two shared with Hodges’ grandmother, Alice Huffman, on Sally Park Road in George County. Huffman had wanted the pair to move out of her home after catching Havard bringing marijuana there.
District Attorney Tony Lawrence maintained in his closing that Havard killed Hodges and then cut himself to cover up the fact that he’d committed the murder.
After the verdict was in, a member of the Hodges family said: “We’re happy with the verdict. The DA’s office did a great job.”
Lawrence said he, too, was pleased a jury was able to go through the testimony and determine that Havard, an admitted drug user, was guilty despite him testifying earlier that another man with netting over his face had committed the stabbings.
“This is another example of what drugs are doing to our society and the horrible and violent results that come from that,” Lawrence said. “Joy (Hodges) had a huge family that loved her. While we realize this doesn’t bring Joy back, it does give us some satisfaction.”
Several people, including George County sheriff’s investigators, relatives and an Alabama nurse, testified that Havard admitted after the incident that he’d cut himself after he’d slashed Hodges’ throat.
Huffman was at the home when she saw Havard and Hodges come in, go into their bedroom and shut the door. A short time later, she said she heard a thump and then saw Havard come out of the room with blood on him and head to the kitchen, where he grabbed a butcher knife. She reportedly heard Hodges crying at first and said she begged Havard not to harm her.
PASCAGOULA -- Jonathan Havard’s mother leaned over, put her hands over her face and softly cried after she learned a jury had convicted her son in the May 28, 2009, stabbing death of Cassidy Joy Hodges.
Relatives of the slain girl sat quietly, wiping away tears as well as they learned the fate of the 35-year-old George County man a jury convicted Thursday of murder by deliberate design after an hour of deliberations.
Circuit Court Judge Dale Harkey sentenced Havard to life in prison without the possibility of parole until he’s 65 years old. “I believe the evidence ... overwhelming supports this verdict...” Harkey said.
TIM ISBELL/SUN HERALD Jonathan Havard listens to testimony at his murder trial in Jackson County.
GALLERY:Jury convicts George County man in girlfriend’s 2009 stabbing death
Havard earlier in the day took the stand in his own defense, saying he did not slash his girlfriend’s throat, severing her vocal cords and rendering her unable to speak before she slowly died. Her throat had been cut at least five times.
George County deputies found Havard and his girlfriend with stab wounds to their necks at the home the two shared with Hodges’ grandmother, Alice Huffman, on Sally Park Road in George County. Huffman had wanted the pair to move out of her home after catching Havard bringing marijuana there.
District Attorney Tony Lawrence maintained in his closing that Havard killed Hodges and then cut himself to cover up the fact that he’d committed the murder.
After the verdict was in, a member of the Hodges family said: “We’re happy with the verdict. The DA’s office did a great job.”
Lawrence said he, too, was pleased a jury was able to go through the testimony and determine that Havard, an admitted drug user, was guilty despite him testifying earlier that another man with netting over his face had committed the stabbings.
“This is another example of what drugs are doing to our society and the horrible and violent results that come from that,” Lawrence said. “Joy (Hodges) had a huge family that loved her. While we realize this doesn’t bring Joy back, it does give us some satisfaction.”
Several people, including George County sheriff’s investigators, relatives and an Alabama nurse, testified that Havard admitted after the incident that he’d cut himself after he’d slashed Hodges’ throat.
Huffman was at the home when she saw Havard and Hodges come in, go into their bedroom and shut the door. A short time later, she said she heard a thump and then saw Havard come out of the room with blood on him and head to the kitchen, where he grabbed a butcher knife. She reportedly heard Hodges crying at first and said she begged Havard not to harm her.
Loma Linda, CA: Man ordered to face murder charges in death of girlfriend
By Mike Cruz Staff Writer
Posted: 01/13/2011 07:09:33 PM PST
SAN BERNARDINO - A man accused of gunning down his estranged girlfriend in front of their 4-year-old son on Valentines Day 1993 in a hospital parking lot in Loma Linda was ordered held to face murder charges at trial.
After being extradited from Mexico last January, Juan Manuel Navarro appeared Thursday for a preliminary hearing in San Bernardino Superior Court in the death of 29-year-old Ignacia Manriquez.
After listening to the testimony of several witnesses - including the pair's now 22-year-old son - Judge Howard Wilson ruled that sufficient evidence existed to hold Navarro on charges of murder and kidnapping.
Navarro, 46, returns to court Jan. 26 to enter a formal plea on the charges.
Manriquez had taken her three children to visit a friend at a Base Line apartment in Highland on the weekend of the shooting. On Feb. 14, 1993, Navarro showed up at the residence, and Manriquez pulled a restraining order from her purse.
"She showed it to him, and he said that wasn't going to keep him away from her," said the woman's sister, Maria Murillo. The pair argued and when she tried to call police, Navarro forcefully took the phone from her.
"He didn't leave. He just stuck around," Murillo said.
When the sisters and kids decided to visit a swap meet, Navarro followed them everywhere they went. Later that day, Manriquez took her son, Juan "Juanito" Manriquez, to Loma Linda University Medical Center when he got the flu.
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Again, Navarro followed Manriquez, meeting her at the hospital. As they left, an ambulance tech saw and heard the couple arguing near Manriquez's truck in the parking lot.
Juan Manriquez, just 4 years old at the time, told authorities that he got in the passenger side of their truck, but then got back out and walked over to his parents just as the gunshots were fired.
"I saw my dad shoot my mom," Juan Manriquez testified Thursday. A silver handgun was used, he said. Navarro then grabbed his son's hand and fled.
Coroner's pathologists later determined Ignacia Manriquez died of multiple gunshots to the head and chest, according to testimony.
Juan Manriquez said he remembers Navarro driving to a nearby restaurant after the shooting, where he made a phone call and another car met them. Juan Manriquez was then driven to a ranch, where he didn't know anyone, he said.
"There was just parties every day," the son recalled. Adults at the ranch drank and sang songs around a fire, and he was treated meanly, he said. On March 3 of that year, the boy was taken to the Coachella home of Navarro's mother before being turned over to authorities.
Gerardo Martinez, a friend of Navarro, said he had been waiting for Navarro to arrive at his home early on Feb. 14, 1993 for a Valentines Day party. But Navarro called him that afternoon and appeared to be saying his goodbyes, he said.
"The party's over," Martinez recalled Navarro saying, he testified.
The victim's father, Antonio Manriquez, testified that he and his wife raised his daughter's three children, which included the boy and two daughters, then 7 and 11.
Navarro's sister, Maria Hernandez, testified that a month before the shooting, she heard her brother say: "If I can't have her, nobody will."
Navarro's lawyer, Palm Springs-based Mark J. Sullivan, said he will present evidence at trial "which will shed a whole new light on everything."
"This was just a preliminary hearing," Sullivan said. "The defense wasn't heard in the hearing."
Posted: 01/13/2011 07:09:33 PM PST
SAN BERNARDINO - A man accused of gunning down his estranged girlfriend in front of their 4-year-old son on Valentines Day 1993 in a hospital parking lot in Loma Linda was ordered held to face murder charges at trial.
After being extradited from Mexico last January, Juan Manuel Navarro appeared Thursday for a preliminary hearing in San Bernardino Superior Court in the death of 29-year-old Ignacia Manriquez.
After listening to the testimony of several witnesses - including the pair's now 22-year-old son - Judge Howard Wilson ruled that sufficient evidence existed to hold Navarro on charges of murder and kidnapping.
Navarro, 46, returns to court Jan. 26 to enter a formal plea on the charges.
Manriquez had taken her three children to visit a friend at a Base Line apartment in Highland on the weekend of the shooting. On Feb. 14, 1993, Navarro showed up at the residence, and Manriquez pulled a restraining order from her purse.
"She showed it to him, and he said that wasn't going to keep him away from her," said the woman's sister, Maria Murillo. The pair argued and when she tried to call police, Navarro forcefully took the phone from her.
"He didn't leave. He just stuck around," Murillo said.
When the sisters and kids decided to visit a swap meet, Navarro followed them everywhere they went. Later that day, Manriquez took her son, Juan "Juanito" Manriquez, to Loma Linda University Medical Center when he got the flu.
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Again, Navarro followed Manriquez, meeting her at the hospital. As they left, an ambulance tech saw and heard the couple arguing near Manriquez's truck in the parking lot.
Juan Manriquez, just 4 years old at the time, told authorities that he got in the passenger side of their truck, but then got back out and walked over to his parents just as the gunshots were fired.
"I saw my dad shoot my mom," Juan Manriquez testified Thursday. A silver handgun was used, he said. Navarro then grabbed his son's hand and fled.
Coroner's pathologists later determined Ignacia Manriquez died of multiple gunshots to the head and chest, according to testimony.
Juan Manriquez said he remembers Navarro driving to a nearby restaurant after the shooting, where he made a phone call and another car met them. Juan Manriquez was then driven to a ranch, where he didn't know anyone, he said.
"There was just parties every day," the son recalled. Adults at the ranch drank and sang songs around a fire, and he was treated meanly, he said. On March 3 of that year, the boy was taken to the Coachella home of Navarro's mother before being turned over to authorities.
Gerardo Martinez, a friend of Navarro, said he had been waiting for Navarro to arrive at his home early on Feb. 14, 1993 for a Valentines Day party. But Navarro called him that afternoon and appeared to be saying his goodbyes, he said.
"The party's over," Martinez recalled Navarro saying, he testified.
The victim's father, Antonio Manriquez, testified that he and his wife raised his daughter's three children, which included the boy and two daughters, then 7 and 11.
Navarro's sister, Maria Hernandez, testified that a month before the shooting, she heard her brother say: "If I can't have her, nobody will."
Navarro's lawyer, Palm Springs-based Mark J. Sullivan, said he will present evidence at trial "which will shed a whole new light on everything."
"This was just a preliminary hearing," Sullivan said. "The defense wasn't heard in the hearing."
Zephyrhills, FL: Police: Zephyrhills man arrested in stabbing death of girlfriend
ZEPHYRHILLS A 31-year-old man has been arrested by Zephyrhills detectives in the stabbing death of his girlfriend.
L.C. Anthony Floyd Jr. is being booked into the Land O' Lakes Jail on a murder charge.
Shortly before 10:30 Sunday night, city police were called to the area of Pretty Pond and Wire roads where they found Jennifer Felicia Parker, 35, dead from multiple stab wounds. She had last been seen there with Floyd, whom she lived with, shortly before police arrived, according to Capt. Rob McKinney.
Police are being assisted by the Pasco Sheriff's forensic investigators and the Pasco-Pinellas State Attorney's Office in the case. The investigation continues and a motive for the slaying has not yet been released.
L.C. Anthony Floyd Jr. is being booked into the Land O' Lakes Jail on a murder charge.
Shortly before 10:30 Sunday night, city police were called to the area of Pretty Pond and Wire roads where they found Jennifer Felicia Parker, 35, dead from multiple stab wounds. She had last been seen there with Floyd, whom she lived with, shortly before police arrived, according to Capt. Rob McKinney.
Police are being assisted by the Pasco Sheriff's forensic investigators and the Pasco-Pinellas State Attorney's Office in the case. The investigation continues and a motive for the slaying has not yet been released.
Jackson, MS: Jackson teen's Monday murder trial postponed
Youth allegedly killed stepdad after mom hurt
Jimmie E. Gates
jgates@clarionledger.com
The murder trial of a Jackson teenager who was an honor roll student before being charged in the fatal shooting of his stepfather has been postponed.
Chauncey Harrison was scheduled to be tried in Hinds County Circuit Court before Circuit Judge Bill Gowan on Monday.
But Harrison's attorney, Dennis Sweet, has another trial scheduled at the same time.
Harrison was about to graduate from Forest Hill High School when police say he shot David Purrie on April 10, 2009. The 18-year-old now faces life in prison, if convicted.
Harrison allegedly killed Purrie, 38, about 24 hours after his stepfather was charged with domestic violence in an attack on Harrison's mother.
Harrison drove his mother, LaTonya Purrie, to the hospital and stayed with her after the assault.
Sweet has said it had to be traumatizing for Harrison to see his mother beaten and then the man charged with it let out of jail.
David Purrie was booked into the Hinds County Detention Center the night before he was killed on a domestic violence charge but was released the next day and ordered to attend counseling.
Records indicate he had no prior abuse-related convictions.
David Purrie was shot once in the abdomen at his Mobile Avenue residence.
"I don't think they will be able to prove murder," Sweet said.
But District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith has said that Harrison is charged with deliberate design murder, meaning he planned to kill Purrie. The charge means "preparation of an act, a design to commit a crime," Smith said.
Then-Jackson police Detective Amos Clinton said Harrison's motive in the shooting was that he was upset because of his mother being assaulted.
Harrison confessed to the shooting and a dying Purrie told authorities his stepson shot him.
Harrison remains free on a $25,000 bond.
Jimmie E. Gates
jgates@clarionledger.com
The murder trial of a Jackson teenager who was an honor roll student before being charged in the fatal shooting of his stepfather has been postponed.
Chauncey Harrison was scheduled to be tried in Hinds County Circuit Court before Circuit Judge Bill Gowan on Monday.
But Harrison's attorney, Dennis Sweet, has another trial scheduled at the same time.
Harrison was about to graduate from Forest Hill High School when police say he shot David Purrie on April 10, 2009. The 18-year-old now faces life in prison, if convicted.
Harrison allegedly killed Purrie, 38, about 24 hours after his stepfather was charged with domestic violence in an attack on Harrison's mother.
Harrison drove his mother, LaTonya Purrie, to the hospital and stayed with her after the assault.
Sweet has said it had to be traumatizing for Harrison to see his mother beaten and then the man charged with it let out of jail.
David Purrie was booked into the Hinds County Detention Center the night before he was killed on a domestic violence charge but was released the next day and ordered to attend counseling.
Records indicate he had no prior abuse-related convictions.
David Purrie was shot once in the abdomen at his Mobile Avenue residence.
"I don't think they will be able to prove murder," Sweet said.
But District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith has said that Harrison is charged with deliberate design murder, meaning he planned to kill Purrie. The charge means "preparation of an act, a design to commit a crime," Smith said.
Then-Jackson police Detective Amos Clinton said Harrison's motive in the shooting was that he was upset because of his mother being assaulted.
Harrison confessed to the shooting and a dying Purrie told authorities his stepson shot him.
Harrison remains free on a $25,000 bond.
Article: 2010 year of murder-suicides in county
All of the killings committed ended with attackers dead
By John Branton
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Last year’s attacks that ended the lives of seven Clark County residents and two others didn’t make their ugly appearances in robberies, rape attempts or gang clashes.
For reasons including money problems, deteriorating relationships, depression, a disabling injury and a terminal illness, they were sad killings involving four couples, and each ended in suicide.
In additional to last year’s homicides, there were also a number of attempted ones, by would-be killers who committed stabbings, shootings and more, and whose victims happened to survive.
One tragedy, the fatal shootings of Vancouver residents Monty and Susan Multanen in Gig Harbor, was highly publicized in the Puget Sound and Tacoma areas because the killer was the couple’s son-in-law and also a Pierce County sheriff’s deputy, officials said.
The gunman, who shot himself to death afterward, had been a church member and, at times, a missionary with his wife, Sara Myron.
Deputy Allen Myron was a respected citizen of Gig Harbor — as were the Multanens in Vancouver and elsewhere.
Monty Multanen, 70, and Susan Multanen, 68 — he an accomplished former educator, she a family-oriented retired nurse — were highly regarded by those who knew them in Vancouver, for such things as raising several foster children along with their son, Eric, and daughter, Sara. And also for little things such as bringing flowers to a neighbor when they left town, and leaving emergency contact numbers.
When snow fell on his long driveway, their neighbor Kenneth Creek said later, “I’d go out and start working on the snow and here comes Monty with his snow shovel.”
“You couldn’t imagine a nicer, calmer, almost pastoral person being involved in such a violent situation,” said Jim McLaughlin, president of Lower Columbia College in Longview, where Monty Multanen worked from 1996 to 2002.
In May, the Multanens headed for Gig Harbor to visit their daughter and her husband.
The Myrons, who both worked and lived in a half-million dollar home in the scenic area, had been having emotional problems in their marriage, as news reports said later.
The Multanens had been helping their daughter and husband with money woes.
Myron, 49, a well-regarded police officer, had suffered a serious on-the-job back injury, disabling and painful, and was working full patrol after 18 months of light medical leave.
“From what I knew of Allen, he was a stand-up citizen,” Debra Lane, a friend of Sara Myron, told the Seattle Times.
She said Allen Myron was depressed about his own health problems, and also the killing of four Lakewood Police Department officers and Pierce County Deputy Kent Mundell Jr.
Still, “there was no indication that anything like this would happen,” Lane added. “I think it was a case of depression that got out of hand.”
Officials said Monty Multanen and Allen Myron argued on the evening of May 14. Allen Myron shot his stepfather twice, killing him, and shot his stepmother once, in the chest.
She crawled through some woods to a neighbor’s home and calmly told a 911 dispatcher what had happened, and later died in a hospital.
After barricading himself in his home for hours, Allen Myron shot and killed himself, according to the Associated Press.
During negotiations with police in the standoff, the deputy’s main focus had been that his marriage was falling apart, and he felt his in-laws had influenced his wife against him, said the Seattle Times.
But many who knew Allen Myron said later that those problems didn’t seem enough to explain what happened.
“He stepped over the line and he became a criminal,” said Pierce County Sheriff Paul Pastor, according to Fox News Seattle online. “He worked with us and then he stepped over a line and worked against us.”
“The rest of us will carry his actions by the fact we all wear the badge,” said Lt. Cyndie Fajardo, president of the Pierce County Deputy Sheriff’s Independent Guild. “How do you explain that to the community? We’re expected to be the ultimate protectors of the law, and he turns himself into a murderer.”
Other 2010 homicides
• La Center residents Leron and Evelyn Carroll had been married more than 50 years when their lives ended on Dec. 15 near Port Townsend.
Evelyn Carroll, 70, had called 911 that night to say she’d killed her husband and planned to shoot herself, Jefferson County Sheriff Tony Hernandez said later, according to the Peninsula Daily News.
Eight minutes later, deputies knocked, then kicked in the door of a time-share condo the couple had been staying in. They found Leron Carroll, 74, lying on a bed with a gunshot wound. Evelyn Carroll had shot herself too and was on the floor, and a .38-caliber revolver was found in the room.
Both were alive and speaking, Hernandez said, but they died while being rushed to hospitals. Their deaths were considered a murder-suicide, officials said.
Leron Carroll had been diagnosed as terminally ill before he was shot, according to a sheriff’s bulletin.
• On Oct. 18, Brent M. Niedermark, 47, and his girlfriend, 50-year-old Bonnie L. Eakins, were found dead in Niedermark’s rented duplex in Hazel Dell.
He shot her in the head and shot himself in the head, in a murder-suicide, officials said.
Neighbors and court records said the couple had a history of domestic violence, and she had an active no-contact order to protect herself from him.
• The bodies of Francis “Frank” Masure, 60, of Vancouver and his girlfriend, Stefanie Curtis, 42, were found in her North Portland apartment on Sept. 10.
Portland police said she’d recently reported domestic violence involving him, and she appeared to be ending the relationship.
Police said he shot and killed her, then himself.
About 10 attempted homicides involving Clark County residents were reported in 2010, including shootings, stabbings, at least one hatchet attack — and a man who allegedly doused his ex-girlfriend with gasoline, set her home on fire and was severely burned himself. He has entered a not-guilty plea.
By John Branton
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Last year’s attacks that ended the lives of seven Clark County residents and two others didn’t make their ugly appearances in robberies, rape attempts or gang clashes.
For reasons including money problems, deteriorating relationships, depression, a disabling injury and a terminal illness, they were sad killings involving four couples, and each ended in suicide.
In additional to last year’s homicides, there were also a number of attempted ones, by would-be killers who committed stabbings, shootings and more, and whose victims happened to survive.
One tragedy, the fatal shootings of Vancouver residents Monty and Susan Multanen in Gig Harbor, was highly publicized in the Puget Sound and Tacoma areas because the killer was the couple’s son-in-law and also a Pierce County sheriff’s deputy, officials said.
The gunman, who shot himself to death afterward, had been a church member and, at times, a missionary with his wife, Sara Myron.
Deputy Allen Myron was a respected citizen of Gig Harbor — as were the Multanens in Vancouver and elsewhere.
Monty Multanen, 70, and Susan Multanen, 68 — he an accomplished former educator, she a family-oriented retired nurse — were highly regarded by those who knew them in Vancouver, for such things as raising several foster children along with their son, Eric, and daughter, Sara. And also for little things such as bringing flowers to a neighbor when they left town, and leaving emergency contact numbers.
When snow fell on his long driveway, their neighbor Kenneth Creek said later, “I’d go out and start working on the snow and here comes Monty with his snow shovel.”
“You couldn’t imagine a nicer, calmer, almost pastoral person being involved in such a violent situation,” said Jim McLaughlin, president of Lower Columbia College in Longview, where Monty Multanen worked from 1996 to 2002.
In May, the Multanens headed for Gig Harbor to visit their daughter and her husband.
The Myrons, who both worked and lived in a half-million dollar home in the scenic area, had been having emotional problems in their marriage, as news reports said later.
The Multanens had been helping their daughter and husband with money woes.
Myron, 49, a well-regarded police officer, had suffered a serious on-the-job back injury, disabling and painful, and was working full patrol after 18 months of light medical leave.
“From what I knew of Allen, he was a stand-up citizen,” Debra Lane, a friend of Sara Myron, told the Seattle Times.
She said Allen Myron was depressed about his own health problems, and also the killing of four Lakewood Police Department officers and Pierce County Deputy Kent Mundell Jr.
Still, “there was no indication that anything like this would happen,” Lane added. “I think it was a case of depression that got out of hand.”
Officials said Monty Multanen and Allen Myron argued on the evening of May 14. Allen Myron shot his stepfather twice, killing him, and shot his stepmother once, in the chest.
She crawled through some woods to a neighbor’s home and calmly told a 911 dispatcher what had happened, and later died in a hospital.
After barricading himself in his home for hours, Allen Myron shot and killed himself, according to the Associated Press.
During negotiations with police in the standoff, the deputy’s main focus had been that his marriage was falling apart, and he felt his in-laws had influenced his wife against him, said the Seattle Times.
But many who knew Allen Myron said later that those problems didn’t seem enough to explain what happened.
“He stepped over the line and he became a criminal,” said Pierce County Sheriff Paul Pastor, according to Fox News Seattle online. “He worked with us and then he stepped over a line and worked against us.”
“The rest of us will carry his actions by the fact we all wear the badge,” said Lt. Cyndie Fajardo, president of the Pierce County Deputy Sheriff’s Independent Guild. “How do you explain that to the community? We’re expected to be the ultimate protectors of the law, and he turns himself into a murderer.”
Other 2010 homicides
• La Center residents Leron and Evelyn Carroll had been married more than 50 years when their lives ended on Dec. 15 near Port Townsend.
Evelyn Carroll, 70, had called 911 that night to say she’d killed her husband and planned to shoot herself, Jefferson County Sheriff Tony Hernandez said later, according to the Peninsula Daily News.
Eight minutes later, deputies knocked, then kicked in the door of a time-share condo the couple had been staying in. They found Leron Carroll, 74, lying on a bed with a gunshot wound. Evelyn Carroll had shot herself too and was on the floor, and a .38-caliber revolver was found in the room.
Both were alive and speaking, Hernandez said, but they died while being rushed to hospitals. Their deaths were considered a murder-suicide, officials said.
Leron Carroll had been diagnosed as terminally ill before he was shot, according to a sheriff’s bulletin.
• On Oct. 18, Brent M. Niedermark, 47, and his girlfriend, 50-year-old Bonnie L. Eakins, were found dead in Niedermark’s rented duplex in Hazel Dell.
He shot her in the head and shot himself in the head, in a murder-suicide, officials said.
Neighbors and court records said the couple had a history of domestic violence, and she had an active no-contact order to protect herself from him.
• The bodies of Francis “Frank” Masure, 60, of Vancouver and his girlfriend, Stefanie Curtis, 42, were found in her North Portland apartment on Sept. 10.
Portland police said she’d recently reported domestic violence involving him, and she appeared to be ending the relationship.
Police said he shot and killed her, then himself.
About 10 attempted homicides involving Clark County residents were reported in 2010, including shootings, stabbings, at least one hatchet attack — and a man who allegedly doused his ex-girlfriend with gasoline, set her home on fire and was severely burned himself. He has entered a not-guilty plea.
Spokane, WA: Police officers in fatal shooting identified
Meghann M. Cuniff
The Spokesman-Review
Tags: Chris McMurtrey Dave Overhoff. Kenneth Dennis officer-involved shootings police shootings Spokane Police Department
Sgt. Dave Overhoff and Officer Chris McMurtrey
A donation account has been created at Wells Fargo to raise money for Kenneth Dennis’ burial. Donations can be made at any Wells Fargo branch under the account “Kenneth Dennis.”
The police officers involved in the fatal shooting of a domestic violence suspect Sunday have been identified as Officer Chris McMurtrey and Sgt. Dave Overhoff.
McMurtrey, 31, has been with the Spokane Police Department for two years; Overhoff, 48, is an 18-year veteran. Investigators have not said who fired the shots that killed Kenneth R. Dennis, who police say was shot after he “almost stabbed one of the officers,” according to a search warrant filed in Spokane County District Court.
That officer was interviewed this morning, said Trooper Troy Briggs, spokesman for the Washington State Patrol, which is leading the multi-agency investigation.
“It’ll probably be Monday until we release (his name),” Briggs said.
Dennis’ family said the officers burst into the home and did not identify themselves. They have declined further interviews.
Investigators believe Dennis, who had no substantial criminal record, fought with his girlfriend, Crystal A. Barrett, 24, before police arrived at 5726 N. Elgin St. in northwest Spokane.
According to the warrant, which was used to search the home after the shooting, Cassandra L. Shear, Barrett’s friend, called police to say that Barrett “was locked inside the house and was being pushed by her intoxicated boyfriend.” Shear called again to say she wasn’t being allowed in the home.
Investigators say officers were dispatched to the home at 3:52 a.m. An officer arrived on the scene at 3:57 a.m. At 3:59 a.m., a second officer arrived. Shots were fired three minutes later, at 4:02 a.m. At 4:08 a.m. the Spokane Fire Department arrived, followed by an ambulance at 4:13 a.m.
A 13-inch knife was found near Dennis’ body, WSP said. Shell casings from police gunfire also were recovered.
Overhoff used to supervise the police department’s K-9 puppy program but now works patrol without a dog, said Officer Jennifer DeRuwe, department spokeswoman.
Overhoff received a police lifesaving medal in 2004 after he pulled over a speeding car and saved a 10-month old child who was turning blue and was not responsive, according to news archives.
Overhoff also was one of two sergeants and longtime friends who notified supervisors about alleged threats made by Detective Jay Mehring regarding Mehring’s now ex-wife. A jury acquitted Mehring following a two-week trial that included testimony from Overhoff.
McMurtrey is a former standout baseball pitcher for University High School and the Spokane Bandits American Legion team. His publicized police work includes the discovery of a meth lab in a man’s backpack last May. He and another officer also crashed a police car in November 2009 while responding to a distress call from a sheriff’s deputy.
The Spokesman-Review
Tags: Chris McMurtrey Dave Overhoff. Kenneth Dennis officer-involved shootings police shootings Spokane Police Department
Sgt. Dave Overhoff and Officer Chris McMurtrey
A donation account has been created at Wells Fargo to raise money for Kenneth Dennis’ burial. Donations can be made at any Wells Fargo branch under the account “Kenneth Dennis.”
The police officers involved in the fatal shooting of a domestic violence suspect Sunday have been identified as Officer Chris McMurtrey and Sgt. Dave Overhoff.
McMurtrey, 31, has been with the Spokane Police Department for two years; Overhoff, 48, is an 18-year veteran. Investigators have not said who fired the shots that killed Kenneth R. Dennis, who police say was shot after he “almost stabbed one of the officers,” according to a search warrant filed in Spokane County District Court.
That officer was interviewed this morning, said Trooper Troy Briggs, spokesman for the Washington State Patrol, which is leading the multi-agency investigation.
“It’ll probably be Monday until we release (his name),” Briggs said.
Dennis’ family said the officers burst into the home and did not identify themselves. They have declined further interviews.
Investigators believe Dennis, who had no substantial criminal record, fought with his girlfriend, Crystal A. Barrett, 24, before police arrived at 5726 N. Elgin St. in northwest Spokane.
According to the warrant, which was used to search the home after the shooting, Cassandra L. Shear, Barrett’s friend, called police to say that Barrett “was locked inside the house and was being pushed by her intoxicated boyfriend.” Shear called again to say she wasn’t being allowed in the home.
Investigators say officers were dispatched to the home at 3:52 a.m. An officer arrived on the scene at 3:57 a.m. At 3:59 a.m., a second officer arrived. Shots were fired three minutes later, at 4:02 a.m. At 4:08 a.m. the Spokane Fire Department arrived, followed by an ambulance at 4:13 a.m.
A 13-inch knife was found near Dennis’ body, WSP said. Shell casings from police gunfire also were recovered.
Overhoff used to supervise the police department’s K-9 puppy program but now works patrol without a dog, said Officer Jennifer DeRuwe, department spokeswoman.
Overhoff received a police lifesaving medal in 2004 after he pulled over a speeding car and saved a 10-month old child who was turning blue and was not responsive, according to news archives.
Overhoff also was one of two sergeants and longtime friends who notified supervisors about alleged threats made by Detective Jay Mehring regarding Mehring’s now ex-wife. A jury acquitted Mehring following a two-week trial that included testimony from Overhoff.
McMurtrey is a former standout baseball pitcher for University High School and the Spokane Bandits American Legion team. His publicized police work includes the discovery of a meth lab in a man’s backpack last May. He and another officer also crashed a police car in November 2009 while responding to a distress call from a sheriff’s deputy.
Article: Austin homicides up in 2010, especially those linked to domestic violence
Quarrels, revenge cited most in 37 slayings last year, four of which remain unsolved.
By Isadora Vail
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Updated: 10:04 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 15, 2011
Published: 9:53 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 15, 2011
A spike in domestic-violence killings in 2010 helped push Austin to its highest number of homicides in 13 years, police said.
Of the 37 slayings last year, 11 were committed by a family member, roommate, significant other or ex-spouse, according to police statistics. Only one such homicide occurred in 2009, when there were 22 slayings.
The last time there were more killings in Austin was 1997, when there were 40.
The most common motive for homicides in 2010 was random quarrels or revenge-motivated killings, police said. Police Cmdr. Julie O'Brien said such homicides include bar fights and drug deals.
Perhaps the most notable random killing in Austin last year was when Vernon Hunter
was killed when Joseph Stack III flew his plane into the Internal Revenue Service office building in Northwest Austin where Hunter worked.
In 2010, the race of the victims were almost evenly split among Hispanic, white and black, a drastic difference from 2009, when half of the victims were Hispanic.
Homicide victims' ages ranged from 2, for Carlos De La Rosa, to 68, for Hunter. Police say Carlos was killed in November when his uncle beat the boy, who was upset at not being allowed to play outside.
In 2009, no one 10 or younger was killed in Austin.
The clearance rate of Austin's homicides is higher than the national average, and detectives report having solved 33 of the 37 slayings.
Police consider a case solved if the suspect was arrested or charged, or if the case was turned over to the courts for prosecution.
By Isadora Vail
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Updated: 10:04 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 15, 2011
Published: 9:53 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 15, 2011
A spike in domestic-violence killings in 2010 helped push Austin to its highest number of homicides in 13 years, police said.
Of the 37 slayings last year, 11 were committed by a family member, roommate, significant other or ex-spouse, according to police statistics. Only one such homicide occurred in 2009, when there were 22 slayings.
The last time there were more killings in Austin was 1997, when there were 40.
The most common motive for homicides in 2010 was random quarrels or revenge-motivated killings, police said. Police Cmdr. Julie O'Brien said such homicides include bar fights and drug deals.
Perhaps the most notable random killing in Austin last year was when Vernon Hunter
was killed when Joseph Stack III flew his plane into the Internal Revenue Service office building in Northwest Austin where Hunter worked.
In 2010, the race of the victims were almost evenly split among Hispanic, white and black, a drastic difference from 2009, when half of the victims were Hispanic.
Homicide victims' ages ranged from 2, for Carlos De La Rosa, to 68, for Hunter. Police say Carlos was killed in November when his uncle beat the boy, who was upset at not being allowed to play outside.
In 2009, no one 10 or younger was killed in Austin.
The clearance rate of Austin's homicides is higher than the national average, and detectives report having solved 33 of the 37 slayings.
Police consider a case solved if the suspect was arrested or charged, or if the case was turned over to the courts for prosecution.
Article: Sharp spike seen in Oregon domestic violence deaths
EUGENE, Ore. - Allyson Archibald was found dead on a sidewalk in Springfield last November.
Her boyfriend has been accused of beating her to death. If true, that would make the 18-year-old mother one of 55 women and children in Oregon who died as a direct result of domestic violence in 2010.
"Almost all of those homicides that happened this year happened when the women ended their relationships or were looking to end their relationships," said Womenspace Domestic Violence Executive Director Peggy Whalen.
From 2009 to 2010, the number of domestic violence deaths in Oregon rose by 21. Whalen said while it's a sad statistic, it's not surprising.
Most of the victims were female, and 80 percent were killed by a current husband or boyfriend.
"Domestic violence is all about power and control, and he's got power and control over her," said Whalen. "And if she's leaving, he doesn't have power and control anymore, so he has lost control."
The sharp rise in deaths linked to domestic violence may be a direct result of the economic climate.
"What we're seeing is that women right now, because of the economic situation, are staying in relationships longer then they ever have," said Whalen.
Many don't have money or jobs to leave and support themselves.
One reflection of this problem is the increase of calls on crisis lines, not just at Womenspace, but all over the state.
"We've received roughly 1,700 more calls this year than we did in 2009," Whalen said.
With more calls coming in, and more women seeking services, Whalen said it's become increasingly harder on her staff to keep up.
"It doesn't matter what the demand is, we can only house so many people," she said. "We're having to turn people away more and that's really hard."
Whalen said it's not just low-income women who are suffering; victims come from all walks of life.
"This isn't something that just happens to people who are on the lower end of the economic spectrum," she said. "Domestic violence happens in all types of relationships."
Her boyfriend has been accused of beating her to death. If true, that would make the 18-year-old mother one of 55 women and children in Oregon who died as a direct result of domestic violence in 2010.
"Almost all of those homicides that happened this year happened when the women ended their relationships or were looking to end their relationships," said Womenspace Domestic Violence Executive Director Peggy Whalen.
From 2009 to 2010, the number of domestic violence deaths in Oregon rose by 21. Whalen said while it's a sad statistic, it's not surprising.
Most of the victims were female, and 80 percent were killed by a current husband or boyfriend.
"Domestic violence is all about power and control, and he's got power and control over her," said Whalen. "And if she's leaving, he doesn't have power and control anymore, so he has lost control."
The sharp rise in deaths linked to domestic violence may be a direct result of the economic climate.
"What we're seeing is that women right now, because of the economic situation, are staying in relationships longer then they ever have," said Whalen.
Many don't have money or jobs to leave and support themselves.
One reflection of this problem is the increase of calls on crisis lines, not just at Womenspace, but all over the state.
"We've received roughly 1,700 more calls this year than we did in 2009," Whalen said.
With more calls coming in, and more women seeking services, Whalen said it's become increasingly harder on her staff to keep up.
"It doesn't matter what the demand is, we can only house so many people," she said. "We're having to turn people away more and that's really hard."
Whalen said it's not just low-income women who are suffering; victims come from all walks of life.
"This isn't something that just happens to people who are on the lower end of the economic spectrum," she said. "Domestic violence happens in all types of relationships."
Tampa, FL: Hillsborough deputies shoot and fatally wound suspect they say held his wife at gunpoint
TAMPA — Hillsborough County deputies shot and killed a man who had been holding his wife at gunpoint late Saturday, authorities said.
The suspect, Osmar Sebasco, 39, died from his injuries Sunday morning at St. Joseph's Hospital.
Under standard Sheriff's Office policy, the three deputies involved in the shooting are on paid administrative leave while the incident is investigated.
It began around 11:30 p.m. when emergency medical services got a call to the Waters Edge apartments at 8211 Royal Sand Circle in Town 'N Country.
While his wife was on the phone with emergency crews, Sebasco got on the line and began making threats, the Sheriff's Office said. They learned he was holding her at gunpoint.
Deputies arrived at the apartment complex and saw the woman run out with her hands up. The man then began firing shots, deputies said.
The deputies returned fire, striking Sebasco, the Sheriff's Office said.
The deputies and the suspect's wife were not injured.
The Sheriff's Office identified the deputies involved as Jason Santiago, 25, Savana Kelly, 24, and David Kennedy, 45.
Investigators say the suspect had stopped taking his required medication. The couple has a 2-year-old daughter who deputies say was asleep in the apartment at the time of the shooting.
The suspect, Osmar Sebasco, 39, died from his injuries Sunday morning at St. Joseph's Hospital.
Under standard Sheriff's Office policy, the three deputies involved in the shooting are on paid administrative leave while the incident is investigated.
It began around 11:30 p.m. when emergency medical services got a call to the Waters Edge apartments at 8211 Royal Sand Circle in Town 'N Country.
While his wife was on the phone with emergency crews, Sebasco got on the line and began making threats, the Sheriff's Office said. They learned he was holding her at gunpoint.
Deputies arrived at the apartment complex and saw the woman run out with her hands up. The man then began firing shots, deputies said.
The deputies returned fire, striking Sebasco, the Sheriff's Office said.
The deputies and the suspect's wife were not injured.
The Sheriff's Office identified the deputies involved as Jason Santiago, 25, Savana Kelly, 24, and David Kennedy, 45.
Investigators say the suspect had stopped taking his required medication. The couple has a 2-year-old daughter who deputies say was asleep in the apartment at the time of the shooting.
Mariemont, OH: Cincinnati police take over investigation after standoff, rare shooting death in nearby suburb
8:49 AM EST, January 18, 2011
MARIEMONT, Ohio (AP) — Cincinnati police homicide investigators are taking over investigation of a rare fatal shooting in the suburban village of Mariemont (MEHR'-ee-mahnt).
Mariemont police Capt. Tim Messer says it has been many years since the village just east of Cincinnati had a homicide.
Fifty-six-year-old Dennis Reynolds was in jail Tuesday pending a court appearance to face a murder charge. No attorney was listed for him.
He's charged with killing 50-year-old Camille Reynolds in their home. The Cincinnati Enquirer reports the couple had separated last year.
Police say Reynolds barricaded himself in the home with a gun Sunday for more than four hours. Tear gas was used, and police say he gave up after shooting himself in the face. He was hospitalized and then jailed Monday.
MARIEMONT, Ohio (AP) — Cincinnati police homicide investigators are taking over investigation of a rare fatal shooting in the suburban village of Mariemont (MEHR'-ee-mahnt).
Mariemont police Capt. Tim Messer says it has been many years since the village just east of Cincinnati had a homicide.
Fifty-six-year-old Dennis Reynolds was in jail Tuesday pending a court appearance to face a murder charge. No attorney was listed for him.
He's charged with killing 50-year-old Camille Reynolds in their home. The Cincinnati Enquirer reports the couple had separated last year.
Police say Reynolds barricaded himself in the home with a gun Sunday for more than four hours. Tear gas was used, and police say he gave up after shooting himself in the face. He was hospitalized and then jailed Monday.
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