Douglas County Sheriff Tim Dunning called off the backyard search for the remains of Jessica O'Grady, expressing disappointment that the search didn't turn up the 19-year-old woman's body.
Investigators showed up Wednesday at the home of Bob Edwards with a search warrant and ground-penetrating radar. Edwards' son, Christopher Edwards, was convicted in 2007 of killing O'Grady, his girlfriend at the time of her death.
Investigators spent much of Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning digging behind Edwards' home, 1616 N. 111th St.
Dunning said investigators had received several tips concerning some yard work done at the home about the time of O'Grady's 2006 disappearance. Dunning said there was no permit for a “sizeable project” done in the backyard.
Ground-penetrating radar alerted investigators to a mass buried under a concrete patio at the home of Christopher Edwards' father, Bob Edwards. That mass turned out to be concrete and rocks about 16 or 18 inches beneath the ground.
Dunning said he regrets investigators didn't find O'Grady's remains, but stood behind the decision to dig up the yard.
“We'll go back and lick our wounds and continue investigating,” Dunning said.
Dunning said one item was found, and still needs to be analyzed. He declined to discuss the item.
Edwards has said he was not involved in the slaying O'Grady, a waitress and college student. His father has been a strident supporter.
Under lights powered by a generator, investigators on Wednesday broke up pieces of a 15-by-15-foot patio outside Bob Edwards' home. Officials said they had carefully dug about a foot into the earth before ending the probe for the night.
Dunning said the search was something akin to an archeological dig and involved a geologist.
“We are scraping, sanding, sifting, moving pieces of dirt,” Dunning said Wednesday night at press conference near the home at 1616 N. 111th St.
After obtaining a judge's approval for a search warrant, deputies used a cadaver-sniffing dog to search the grounds of Bob Edwards' yard. The dog did not alert officials to any potential remains, two law enforcement officials with knowledge of the investigation said. Dunning, however, said the dog gave a “positive indication” that something was there.
Later, after the positive radar information, deputies obtained a second search warrant authorizing them to dig on the property.
The search came after comments from a relative of Edwards. That relative may have mentioned that work was being done in Bob Edwards' yard around the time of O'Grady's disappearance, one official said.
Dunning said three tips led investigators to look for evidence under the patio. At least one of the tips came from an Edwards relative.
Dunning said investigators would talk to the tipsters again, and that damage to Edwards' yard would eventually be paid for by county taxpayers.
Neighbors said Wednesday the yard had been sloped, but was leveled out and landscaped at some point.
Bob Edwards was a prominent spectator at his son's trial and was intensely involved in his son's defense.
After authorities found O'Grady's blood on Christopher Edwards' mattress, his father videotaped himself conducting a bizarre experiment with pig blood on a mattress.
In the videotape, he tested his son's claims that O'Grady had had her period while on the mattress and that her blood had spread throughout the mattress when Christopher Edwards tried to clean it up.
Prosecutors refuted that theory based on the amount of blood evidence. O'Grady's blood was found covering an 8-square-foot section of his mattress and splattered across his ceiling, two walls of his room and a television 10 feet away.
O'Grady was killed only hours after Edwards told friends he had made “a mistake” and gotten her pregnant, the second girlfriend he had impregnated.
Late Wednesday, Jessica O'Grady's relatives were hoping her remains would be found.
“We're disappointed but thankful there are leads and the Sheriff's Office is following up on them,” said an aunt, Shauna Stanzel.
Late Wednesday afternoon, a quarter of the backyard was blocked off with pieces of a gray tarpaulin shield that rose nearly as high as a deck. The area investigators were focusing on was just to the west of the deck.
At about 8:15 a law enforcement officials broke for dinner with six boxes of piazza ate on the south side of the house. Dunning said he hoped the search would solve the case's remaining mystery.
“This family's never had the luxury of having any closure,” he said.
A jury found Edwards guilty of second-degree murder in O'Grady's death. O'Grady's slaying came only hours after Edwards told friends he had made “a mistake” and gotten her pregnant, the second girlfriend he had impregnated.
Edwards was sentenced to 100 years to life in prison. He later asked for a new trial, asserting that there wasn't enough evidence to convict him. But the Nebraska Supreme Court upheld his conviction in July 2009.
O'Grady disappeared in May 2006 after going to Edwards' aunt's house near 130th and Blondo Streets, where he had been living. Friends had said O'Grady had mentioned that she was going to talk to Edwards about her concerns that she might be pregnant with his child.
Numerous searches by authorities and volunteers in 2006 turned up no signs of O'Grady's body. Among the areas searched were a drainage pond, the Papillion Creek, the Elkhorn River and areas around Cunningham Lake.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Somerville, MA: Somerville woman pleads guilty to second degree murder of boyfriend
A Somerville woman pleaded guilty today on charges in connection with the stabbing death of her boyfriend, Arnaldo Amado, 42, of Somerville, Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone informed the public.
Kimberly Savini, 33, of Somerville, pleaded guilty today in Middlesex Superior Court to charges of second degree murder and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury. Middlesex Superior Court Judge Garry Inge sentenced the defendant to life in prison with eligibility for parole on the murder count, and fifteen years probation to run concurrent on the assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury count. The Judge also ordered that any contact with the defendant and the victim’s child or with the victim’s family is solely at victim’s family discretion.
“This is another troubling case of domestic violence, where the defendant killed her boyfriend, leaving their young child without a father,” District Attorney Leone said. “This defendant has now admitted to killing Arnaldo Amado and will be held responsible for his death. Domestic violence is not a gender issue, it is about power and control by one person over another. We commend the victim’s family for their continued strength in channeling their grief into focusing on the life of the child of the victim and defendant, by ensuring the child is raised by both the victim’s and the defendant’s loving families and has a continued relationship with the child’s mother.”
According to authorities, at approximately 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, December 27, 2008, Somerville Police responded to a 911 call of a reported stabbing at the address of 11 Greenville Street in Somerville. When police arrived, they discovered the victim unresponsive and suffering from an apparent stab wound.
The victim was transferred to Massachusetts General Hospital where he was pronounced dead at approximately 5 p.m.
Authorities immediately began an investigation into the stabbing. In the beginning stages of the investigation, the defendant told police that the victim had returned home from a bar suffering from a stab wound, but was unable to provide any additional details as to the name of either the bar nor how the victim got home. Based on the defendant’s statements, police began to canvas the neighborhood, but noted the absence of any blood leading to the defendant’s apartment.
Authorities returned to the defendant’s apartment and determined that the defendant had stabbed and killed the victim in an incident of domestic violence. The defendant was arrested that evening and arraigned in Somerville District Court on December 29, 2008 where she was ordered held without bail. The defendant was indicted by a Middlesex grand jury in February 9, 2009 and arraigned on February 24, 2009 where Assistant Clerk Magistrate Matthew Day ordered her held without bail.
The prosecutors assigned to the case are Assistant District Attorney Marian Ryan and Assistant District Attorney Heidi Gosule. The Victim Witness Advocate is Daniela Bianco. This case was investigated by the Somerville Police and Massachusetts State Police assigned to the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office.
Kimberly Savini, 33, of Somerville, pleaded guilty today in Middlesex Superior Court to charges of second degree murder and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury. Middlesex Superior Court Judge Garry Inge sentenced the defendant to life in prison with eligibility for parole on the murder count, and fifteen years probation to run concurrent on the assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury count. The Judge also ordered that any contact with the defendant and the victim’s child or with the victim’s family is solely at victim’s family discretion.
“This is another troubling case of domestic violence, where the defendant killed her boyfriend, leaving their young child without a father,” District Attorney Leone said. “This defendant has now admitted to killing Arnaldo Amado and will be held responsible for his death. Domestic violence is not a gender issue, it is about power and control by one person over another. We commend the victim’s family for their continued strength in channeling their grief into focusing on the life of the child of the victim and defendant, by ensuring the child is raised by both the victim’s and the defendant’s loving families and has a continued relationship with the child’s mother.”
According to authorities, at approximately 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, December 27, 2008, Somerville Police responded to a 911 call of a reported stabbing at the address of 11 Greenville Street in Somerville. When police arrived, they discovered the victim unresponsive and suffering from an apparent stab wound.
The victim was transferred to Massachusetts General Hospital where he was pronounced dead at approximately 5 p.m.
Authorities immediately began an investigation into the stabbing. In the beginning stages of the investigation, the defendant told police that the victim had returned home from a bar suffering from a stab wound, but was unable to provide any additional details as to the name of either the bar nor how the victim got home. Based on the defendant’s statements, police began to canvas the neighborhood, but noted the absence of any blood leading to the defendant’s apartment.
Authorities returned to the defendant’s apartment and determined that the defendant had stabbed and killed the victim in an incident of domestic violence. The defendant was arrested that evening and arraigned in Somerville District Court on December 29, 2008 where she was ordered held without bail. The defendant was indicted by a Middlesex grand jury in February 9, 2009 and arraigned on February 24, 2009 where Assistant Clerk Magistrate Matthew Day ordered her held without bail.
The prosecutors assigned to the case are Assistant District Attorney Marian Ryan and Assistant District Attorney Heidi Gosule. The Victim Witness Advocate is Daniela Bianco. This case was investigated by the Somerville Police and Massachusetts State Police assigned to the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office.
Swainsboro, GA: One dead in Brown Street altercation
Around 6:15 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 5, Swainsboro Police received a call from Emanuel County EMS, which had been dispatched to 230 Brown Street, the residence of Alexander Coppock, Jr., 46, and his girlfriend, Gloria Jackson, 55.
EMS was dispatched for Coppock, who was said to be ill at the scene. Upon arrival, EMS noted something unusual at the scene and alerted SPD. Both residents were at home when officers responded.
"There were marks on the body that appeared to be from an assault," said Chief Randy Ellison. "EMS transported Coppock to Emanuel Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 6:49 p.m."
Officers secured the scene and began gathering evidence, and Jackson was also brought to Emanuel Medical Center. She is currently being held as a suspect in this crime at Emanuel County Jail pending charges.
"We know there is a past history with these two, according to witnesses, with domestic violence related issues. We've been told that there were constant arguments between the two," said Chief Ellison. "We know there was an argument going on prior to EMS being called. We feel it is a domestic violence type situation that went badly."
"It appears from first indications that it is a single stab wound to the chest. The GBI has been called to assist us with the crime scene," said Chief Ellison. "Investigators are currently working with those who witnessed the argument prior to the incident as well as previous incidents. It is unclear what the issue was at this time, but we are clear that there was an argument that led to an altercation between the victim and suspect."
There are prior domestic dispute issues with both Coppock and Jackson, though there have been few involving both.
"Neighbors have said that [arguments between Coppock and Jackson] were a common thing," explained Chief Ellison. "They didn't call [the Police] because it was such a common thing that they didn't think anything about it in this instance."
The case is still under investigation, and officers are working to determine charges. Changes in this case will be posted as they are made available.
EMS was dispatched for Coppock, who was said to be ill at the scene. Upon arrival, EMS noted something unusual at the scene and alerted SPD. Both residents were at home when officers responded.
"There were marks on the body that appeared to be from an assault," said Chief Randy Ellison. "EMS transported Coppock to Emanuel Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 6:49 p.m."
Officers secured the scene and began gathering evidence, and Jackson was also brought to Emanuel Medical Center. She is currently being held as a suspect in this crime at Emanuel County Jail pending charges.
"We know there is a past history with these two, according to witnesses, with domestic violence related issues. We've been told that there were constant arguments between the two," said Chief Ellison. "We know there was an argument going on prior to EMS being called. We feel it is a domestic violence type situation that went badly."
"It appears from first indications that it is a single stab wound to the chest. The GBI has been called to assist us with the crime scene," said Chief Ellison. "Investigators are currently working with those who witnessed the argument prior to the incident as well as previous incidents. It is unclear what the issue was at this time, but we are clear that there was an argument that led to an altercation between the victim and suspect."
There are prior domestic dispute issues with both Coppock and Jackson, though there have been few involving both.
"Neighbors have said that [arguments between Coppock and Jackson] were a common thing," explained Chief Ellison. "They didn't call [the Police] because it was such a common thing that they didn't think anything about it in this instance."
The case is still under investigation, and officers are working to determine charges. Changes in this case will be posted as they are made available.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Article: Intimate Violence Costs Billions
Intimate violence of the sort that allegedly claimed the lives of Laci Peterson and her unborn child costs billions of dollars every year, according to a federal report released today.
The health-related costs of rape, physical assault, stalking and homicide by intimate partners exceed $5.8 billion each year, with nearly $4.1 billion spent on direct medical and mental health services, according to a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
An estimated 5.3 million U.S. women over the age of 17 are victimized every year, leaving nearly 2 million of them injured, with more than 550,000 of them requiring medical attention, according to the study, released in conjunction with a CDC Injury Center national conference called "Safety in Numbers."
In addition, victims of intimate violence lose a total of nearly 8 million days of paid work, or the the equivalent of more than 32,000 full-time jobs, accounting for $1.8 billion in lost productivity, the report said. Also lost are nearly 5.6 million days of household productivity.
"Violence against women harms more than its direct victim," said Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson."It also harms the children, the abuser and the entire health of all our families and communities."
More Than 1,200 Homicides
"Violent acts against women don't end with visits to the emergency room," said CDC Director Dr. Julie Gerberding. "Intimate partner violence costs women and their families a high price financially, physically and emotionally."
Intimate partner violence is defined as violence committed by a spouse, ex-spouse, current or former boyfriend or girlfriend.
CDC researchers, who examined data from the 1995 National Violence Against Women Survey for the study, said the report likely underestimates the costs of intimate violence in the country.
During the same year that was used to collect the data for the report, 1,252 women 18 years old and older were killed by an intimate partner, according to data obtained from the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports Supplementary Homicide Reports.
The report does not estimate costs related to the legal system, police investigations, trials and prison sentences.
The health-related costs of rape, physical assault, stalking and homicide by intimate partners exceed $5.8 billion each year, with nearly $4.1 billion spent on direct medical and mental health services, according to a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
An estimated 5.3 million U.S. women over the age of 17 are victimized every year, leaving nearly 2 million of them injured, with more than 550,000 of them requiring medical attention, according to the study, released in conjunction with a CDC Injury Center national conference called "Safety in Numbers."
In addition, victims of intimate violence lose a total of nearly 8 million days of paid work, or the the equivalent of more than 32,000 full-time jobs, accounting for $1.8 billion in lost productivity, the report said. Also lost are nearly 5.6 million days of household productivity.
"Violence against women harms more than its direct victim," said Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson."It also harms the children, the abuser and the entire health of all our families and communities."
More Than 1,200 Homicides
"Violent acts against women don't end with visits to the emergency room," said CDC Director Dr. Julie Gerberding. "Intimate partner violence costs women and their families a high price financially, physically and emotionally."
Intimate partner violence is defined as violence committed by a spouse, ex-spouse, current or former boyfriend or girlfriend.
CDC researchers, who examined data from the 1995 National Violence Against Women Survey for the study, said the report likely underestimates the costs of intimate violence in the country.
During the same year that was used to collect the data for the report, 1,252 women 18 years old and older were killed by an intimate partner, according to data obtained from the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports Supplementary Homicide Reports.
The report does not estimate costs related to the legal system, police investigations, trials and prison sentences.
Green Cove Springs, FL: Former Orange Park High School wrestling star goes on trial for murder
GREEN COVE SPRINGS — A lawyer for a former Orange Park High School star wrestler is trying to convince jurors the defendant was insane when he killed his girlfriend five years ago.
In August 2006 authorities arrested Joshua Maulsby in the beating death of 19-year-old Alicia Castaneda. Then 21, a grand jury indicted Maulsby on a first-degree murder charge.
Since then he spent time in a state mental hospital, with authorities not finding him competent to stand trial until now. Defense counsel Charlie Truncale said his client admits to the homicide. He's building a case aimed at getting a jury to believe he is not guilty by reason of insanity.
Medical Examiner Valerie Rao testified today about the victim's fatal injuries, including physical evidence that showed Castaneda tried to protect herself from blows from a baseball bat.
Dressed in a dark suit and tie, Maulsby didn't react as graphic evidence photos of Castaneda's injuries went up on courtroom screens for jurors to see.
Forensic psychologist William Meadows testified he believed the defendant was legally insane at the time of the crime.
He said Maulsby was struggling with schizophrenia before the slaying. The witness also said the defendant's family previously sought mental health treatment for him after he became paranoid and threatened them with a knife.
In a cross-exam, Assistant State Attorney Steve Nelson's line of questioning showed the defendant was able to go to work and drive on the day of the homicide. It also showed Maulsby didn't admit guilt in the beginning of what became a three-hour police interview.
The victim was an honors student and student council member who graduated from Orange Park High in 2005. Maulsby won a wrestling state championship before his graduation in 2003.
The trial before Circuit Judge John Skinner continues in Clay County on Wednesday.
In August 2006 authorities arrested Joshua Maulsby in the beating death of 19-year-old Alicia Castaneda. Then 21, a grand jury indicted Maulsby on a first-degree murder charge.
Since then he spent time in a state mental hospital, with authorities not finding him competent to stand trial until now. Defense counsel Charlie Truncale said his client admits to the homicide. He's building a case aimed at getting a jury to believe he is not guilty by reason of insanity.
Medical Examiner Valerie Rao testified today about the victim's fatal injuries, including physical evidence that showed Castaneda tried to protect herself from blows from a baseball bat.
Dressed in a dark suit and tie, Maulsby didn't react as graphic evidence photos of Castaneda's injuries went up on courtroom screens for jurors to see.
Forensic psychologist William Meadows testified he believed the defendant was legally insane at the time of the crime.
He said Maulsby was struggling with schizophrenia before the slaying. The witness also said the defendant's family previously sought mental health treatment for him after he became paranoid and threatened them with a knife.
In a cross-exam, Assistant State Attorney Steve Nelson's line of questioning showed the defendant was able to go to work and drive on the day of the homicide. It also showed Maulsby didn't admit guilt in the beginning of what became a three-hour police interview.
The victim was an honors student and student council member who graduated from Orange Park High in 2005. Maulsby won a wrestling state championship before his graduation in 2003.
The trial before Circuit Judge John Skinner continues in Clay County on Wednesday.
Leesport, PA: Police: Woman killed in struggle with boyfriend over gun
LEESPORT, Pa. -
Police on Wednesday revealed more details about the deadly shooting of a young woman over the weekend.
Ericka Rosa and her boyfriend were involved in a verbal argument inside a home on Canal Street in Leesport, Berks County, late Saturday night, police said. They said the argument led to a struggle over a gun, which went off.
Rosa, 25, was shot in the head. She was rushed to the trauma center at Reading Hospital, but the coroner said she died about 2-1/2 hours later.
The coroner has not issued a ruling in Rosa's death.
Police have not said whose finger was on the trigger at the time the gun went off. Chief Scott Eaken, Northern Berks Regional Police Department, said his investigators anticipate making a ruling of their own in the next few days.
Berks County District Attorney John Adams is assisting with the investigation.
Police on Wednesday revealed more details about the deadly shooting of a young woman over the weekend.
Ericka Rosa and her boyfriend were involved in a verbal argument inside a home on Canal Street in Leesport, Berks County, late Saturday night, police said. They said the argument led to a struggle over a gun, which went off.
Rosa, 25, was shot in the head. She was rushed to the trauma center at Reading Hospital, but the coroner said she died about 2-1/2 hours later.
The coroner has not issued a ruling in Rosa's death.
Police have not said whose finger was on the trigger at the time the gun went off. Chief Scott Eaken, Northern Berks Regional Police Department, said his investigators anticipate making a ruling of their own in the next few days.
Berks County District Attorney John Adams is assisting with the investigation.
Beckley, WV: Fayette man charged in Beckley dancer's stabbing death
BECKLEY — Raleigh County Sheriff’s deputies have tracked down a suspect in the death of a young Beckley dancer who was stabbed multiple times Sunday night.
At about 8:40 p.m. Sunday, the deputies responded to a stabbing in the 600 block of Myers Avenue in Beckley. They found Cyan Elizabeth Maroney, 25, of Beckley stabbed multiple times.
Maroney was pronounced dead after transport to a local hospital.
Raleigh County Sheriff Steve Tanner said Monday that a lieutenant with his department was coming into the office to check paperwork when he received the call of the stabbing. Because the officer had come into work early, he was near the scene and the response time was “seconds,” according to Tanner.
“An ambulance responded and immediately transported her to a local hospital,” Tanner said. “She was pronounced dead there at the hospital. ... Very shortly we determined that Jeremy James Lambert, 30-years-old, from the Oak Hill area was our primary suspect.”
Lambert was a former Beckley City Police officer. He was hired in 2005, but was only employed for a short period of time. Before he could be certified by the West Virginia State Police Academy, he “elected to resign the first day” he went to the academy for training, Tanner said.
The motive behind the stabbing is not yet clear.
“We do not clearly know what happened,” Tanner said. “It appears there was a confrontation by him. He apparently came into the house and confronted her. She tried to get away from him by retreating to her bedroom. He forced himself into the bedroom and the witnesses said they could hear an attack.”
Tanner said they knew Lambert was driving a 1992 green Geo Tracker and that he fled the scene in that vehicle. Within a half-hour, officers had established communication with Lambert via his cellphone.
“I really don’t know why he didn’t stop his vehicle or simply turn himself in to local law enforcement,” Tanner said. “ ... I don’t know if I would call him driving around and not stopping for law enforcement cooperative. ... It was good that we had an open line of communication with him, but I wouldn’t go so far as to say he was cooperative.”
Though they asked him to stop, Lambert continued to drive for about three hours before officers could get him to pull over his vehicle. While staying in contact with officers and updating them on his position, he traveled through Greenbrier, Nicholas, Fayette and Raleigh counties. Sheriff’s departments from each county participated in locating Lambert.
He was finally stopped in the Ansted area in Fayette County and charged with first-degree murder. He is being held in the Southern Regional Jail where he will be held until a circuit court judge is available to set bond.
The house on Myers Avenue where Maroney was stabbed was occupied by four Mountain State University women, Tanner said.
The murder weapon had not been found as of Monday afternoon. Criminal history reports, evidence processing and some other portions of the investigation are still under way, Tanner said.
Maroney was attending Mountain State University, Tanner said. According to a release from the sheriff’s department, it is believed that Maroney and Lambert were in a romantic relationship.
According to a biography on the website of the West Virginia Dance Company, Maroney was a native of Renick and was a member of the Trillium Performing Youth in Lewisburg and West Virginia Dance Company.
She received a bachelor’s degree in dance from Connecticut College.
Though the incident location is bordered by the city, it is being investigated by the Raleigh County Sheriff’s office because it is within one of several “islands” that lie outside of the technical city limits, Tanner said.
Tanner said the area is fortunate to have such “good rapport” between different law enforcement agencies that are working 24 hours a day.
At about 8:40 p.m. Sunday, the deputies responded to a stabbing in the 600 block of Myers Avenue in Beckley. They found Cyan Elizabeth Maroney, 25, of Beckley stabbed multiple times.
Maroney was pronounced dead after transport to a local hospital.
Raleigh County Sheriff Steve Tanner said Monday that a lieutenant with his department was coming into the office to check paperwork when he received the call of the stabbing. Because the officer had come into work early, he was near the scene and the response time was “seconds,” according to Tanner.
“An ambulance responded and immediately transported her to a local hospital,” Tanner said. “She was pronounced dead there at the hospital. ... Very shortly we determined that Jeremy James Lambert, 30-years-old, from the Oak Hill area was our primary suspect.”
Lambert was a former Beckley City Police officer. He was hired in 2005, but was only employed for a short period of time. Before he could be certified by the West Virginia State Police Academy, he “elected to resign the first day” he went to the academy for training, Tanner said.
The motive behind the stabbing is not yet clear.
“We do not clearly know what happened,” Tanner said. “It appears there was a confrontation by him. He apparently came into the house and confronted her. She tried to get away from him by retreating to her bedroom. He forced himself into the bedroom and the witnesses said they could hear an attack.”
Tanner said they knew Lambert was driving a 1992 green Geo Tracker and that he fled the scene in that vehicle. Within a half-hour, officers had established communication with Lambert via his cellphone.
“I really don’t know why he didn’t stop his vehicle or simply turn himself in to local law enforcement,” Tanner said. “ ... I don’t know if I would call him driving around and not stopping for law enforcement cooperative. ... It was good that we had an open line of communication with him, but I wouldn’t go so far as to say he was cooperative.”
Though they asked him to stop, Lambert continued to drive for about three hours before officers could get him to pull over his vehicle. While staying in contact with officers and updating them on his position, he traveled through Greenbrier, Nicholas, Fayette and Raleigh counties. Sheriff’s departments from each county participated in locating Lambert.
He was finally stopped in the Ansted area in Fayette County and charged with first-degree murder. He is being held in the Southern Regional Jail where he will be held until a circuit court judge is available to set bond.
The house on Myers Avenue where Maroney was stabbed was occupied by four Mountain State University women, Tanner said.
The murder weapon had not been found as of Monday afternoon. Criminal history reports, evidence processing and some other portions of the investigation are still under way, Tanner said.
Maroney was attending Mountain State University, Tanner said. According to a release from the sheriff’s department, it is believed that Maroney and Lambert were in a romantic relationship.
According to a biography on the website of the West Virginia Dance Company, Maroney was a native of Renick and was a member of the Trillium Performing Youth in Lewisburg and West Virginia Dance Company.
She received a bachelor’s degree in dance from Connecticut College.
Though the incident location is bordered by the city, it is being investigated by the Raleigh County Sheriff’s office because it is within one of several “islands” that lie outside of the technical city limits, Tanner said.
Tanner said the area is fortunate to have such “good rapport” between different law enforcement agencies that are working 24 hours a day.
Waterbury, CT: Bail $1M in stabbing death
A city woman was stabbed to death on her birthday, and her boyfriend has been charged with murder, police said.
Linda Graveline, who turned 59 on Tuesday, died of multiple stab wounds in her second-floor apartment at 24 Vine St. at 3 a.m. Tuesday, Waterbury Police Capt. Christopher Corbett said.
Charged with the killing was Wilfredo Ramos, 43, of 60 Southview St., 1st floor.
Linda Graveline, who turned 59 on Tuesday, died of multiple stab wounds in her second-floor apartment at 24 Vine St. at 3 a.m. Tuesday, Waterbury Police Capt. Christopher Corbett said.
Charged with the killing was Wilfredo Ramos, 43, of 60 Southview St., 1st floor.
Philadelphia, PA: Philly man gets life term in woman's 2008 murder
A north Philadelphia man has been convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison for the stabbing death of his girlfriend three years ago.
The Philadelphia Inquirer ( http://bit.ly/o8yBpJ) says Common Pleas Court Judge Jeffrey Minehart convicted 31-year-old Solomon Carter of first-degree murder Tuesday in the October 2008 slaying of 32-year-old Karimah Ballard.
Witnesses testified that Carter had been drinking and using PCP and erupted in rage after Ballard ordered him to leave her apartment
Carter told the judge that the conviction didn't "seem right." He apologized to the victim's family, saying he had not intended for anyone to die, but said "it was an accident."
Prosecutors originally sought the death penalty but withdrew it upon learning about the defendant's longstanding mental health and drug and alcohol problems.
The Philadelphia Inquirer ( http://bit.ly/o8yBpJ) says Common Pleas Court Judge Jeffrey Minehart convicted 31-year-old Solomon Carter of first-degree murder Tuesday in the October 2008 slaying of 32-year-old Karimah Ballard.
Witnesses testified that Carter had been drinking and using PCP and erupted in rage after Ballard ordered him to leave her apartment
Carter told the judge that the conviction didn't "seem right." He apologized to the victim's family, saying he had not intended for anyone to die, but said "it was an accident."
Prosecutors originally sought the death penalty but withdrew it upon learning about the defendant's longstanding mental health and drug and alcohol problems.
Teaneck, NJ: Suspect in Teaneck stabbing death pulled off flight to Colombia, police say
Authorities pulled a Teaneck murder suspect off a Colombia-bound flight just minutes before takeoff Tuesday night, Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli said.
Pedro Gutierrez, 24, of New Milford, was on board a plane at the Orlando airport that was headed to Bogota, Colombia Tuesday evening when customs agents took him into custody, Molinelli said Wednesday morning.
“It was minutes away from takeoff,” he said.
Authorities found out Gutierrez was headed out of the country after Port Authority Police found his name on a flight manifest out of John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York and tracked him to Orlando. He bought a ticket for an Orlando-bound Jet Blue flight with cash and checked no bags, Molinelli said.
After Guittierez was taken off the flight, he was charged with murder and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, Molinelli said. Prosecutor’s office detectives are in Orlando Wednesday as authorities await word on whether he will waive extradition back to Bergen County.
Investigators found his car in a JFK parking lot and tracked him to the flight bound to Colombia, where he and the victim, Shaday Betancourt, were from. The couple was estranged when the killing occurred.
Betancourt’s younger brother found her body in her East Forest Avenue home about 12:25 p.m. Tuesday.
“He literally picked her up and put her in his car and drove her to the hospital,” Molinelli said.
The brother brought Betancourt, 23, to Englewood Hospital and Medical Center. She had been stabbed to death.
Neighbors said they were unnerved to learn of the murder.
“They’ve been here forever,” said one neighbor, Jason Green. “I’m stunned like everyone else. They are very good people.”
The prosecutor’s office has not recovered a weapon, but search warrants in New York and New Jersey have been issued, Molinelli said.
Molinelli lauded the work of the Port Authority Police Department in leading to the arrest.
“He has a green card with a Colombian passport,” Molinelli said. “He could have easily left the country.”
Pedro Gutierrez, 24, of New Milford, was on board a plane at the Orlando airport that was headed to Bogota, Colombia Tuesday evening when customs agents took him into custody, Molinelli said Wednesday morning.
“It was minutes away from takeoff,” he said.
Authorities found out Gutierrez was headed out of the country after Port Authority Police found his name on a flight manifest out of John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York and tracked him to Orlando. He bought a ticket for an Orlando-bound Jet Blue flight with cash and checked no bags, Molinelli said.
After Guittierez was taken off the flight, he was charged with murder and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, Molinelli said. Prosecutor’s office detectives are in Orlando Wednesday as authorities await word on whether he will waive extradition back to Bergen County.
Investigators found his car in a JFK parking lot and tracked him to the flight bound to Colombia, where he and the victim, Shaday Betancourt, were from. The couple was estranged when the killing occurred.
Betancourt’s younger brother found her body in her East Forest Avenue home about 12:25 p.m. Tuesday.
“He literally picked her up and put her in his car and drove her to the hospital,” Molinelli said.
The brother brought Betancourt, 23, to Englewood Hospital and Medical Center. She had been stabbed to death.
Neighbors said they were unnerved to learn of the murder.
“They’ve been here forever,” said one neighbor, Jason Green. “I’m stunned like everyone else. They are very good people.”
The prosecutor’s office has not recovered a weapon, but search warrants in New York and New Jersey have been issued, Molinelli said.
Molinelli lauded the work of the Port Authority Police Department in leading to the arrest.
“He has a green card with a Colombian passport,” Molinelli said. “He could have easily left the country.”
Article: “Brides” in white – and in step – march against violence
Rising early in the day, Josie Ashton took care in donning the white wedding dress. Cloaked in her formal attire, she traveled to Fort Washington Presbyterian Church in Washington Heights, where she was greeted by others who had gathered together to mark the special day.
But there was no groom at the altar, or limousine to ferry her to a reception afterwards.
Instead, Ashton was met at the church by a sea of other women, hundreds of them, also dressed in white formal silk and satin white gowns, who turned heads as they marched the seven miles to Saint Cecilia’s Church in The Bronx.
There were also some men who walked beside them, but it was the small army of white-clad women that dominated.
Ashton and the others made the trek from one church in northern Manhattan to another in The Bronx to honor the memory of Gladys Ricart, as well as many of their own loved ones – or themselves – who have suffered with domestic violence.
“Gladys Ricart was an amazing woman,” said Ashton, founder of the annual Gladys Ricart and Victims of Domestic Violence Memorial Walk, also known as the Brides March. Ricart was shot and killed on her wedding day, on September 26th in 1999 by her former boyfriend Agustin Garcia.
Ashton explains she was disturbed at the time by news reports that portrayed Garcia as the victim. Her disquiet led her to create the Brides March, now in its 11th year, to bring attention to domestic violence, which often goes undetected until it is too late.
“It’s become an international movement,” Ashton said. “We have thousands of women walking in different parts of the world and in different states of America.”
Speaking at the invocation before the march, New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said the numbers of people who die from domestic violence each year do not tell the whole story.
“There are countless people who have been beaten, permanently and physically injured, and permanently and emotionally scarred; there are children who have watched this happen and will have to live with that for the rest of their lives,” she said.
The sight of the women marching in wedding dresses would raise awareness about domestic violence, and affirm for those who suffer silently that their lives and their children’s lives matter, Quinn said. She added that the march could also serve as a reminder to call the police when domestic violence occurs.
“[Of the] over 70 percent of the family-related homicides in 2010, those families never called the police,” Quinn said.
The story of Gladys Ricart echoed this tragic pattern.
After Ricart had ended the relationship with Garcia, she declined to press charges against him after he broke into her home. Nor did she get an order of protection after he called her repeatedly, stalked her and left roses on her lawn and a bible on her doorstep.
Ricart came to the U.S. from Tamboril, in the Dominican Republic, with her son. She found work at a travel agency. After getting an accounting degree, she was promoted to accounts payable manager.
She dated Agustin Garcia, a New Jersey resident with businesses in Washington Heights, but their romance was soon marked by his stalking and harassment. Ricart broke off their seven-year relationship, to later meet and became engaged to James Preston, Jr.
On Sept. 26th, 1999, Ricart, dressed in her wedding gown, was handing out bouquets to her bridesmaids when Garcia entered her home at 4 pm, shortly before the wedding.
Her fiancée, James Preston, awaited her at the church in Flushing, Queens.
Garcia walked into Ricart's living room wearing a suit and carrying a briefcase, telling guests he was invited.
He pulled out a .38 caliber handgun and shot five times. Three bullets hit Ricart, killing her instantly.
The murder was captured on videotape and the image of Ricart being gunned down in her wedding gown just before the ceremony was broadcast internationally. Ricart’s body was escorted back to Tamboril by her fiancé and family, where she was buried.
“He doesn't remember the gun going off," said attorney Fernando Oliver in 2001, during the trial of Agustin Garcia, who pleaded innocent to the murder charges. At the time, Oliver argued that Garcia had acted in self-defense. Garcia claimed he couldn’t remember much of the “incident” and that he had been jumped at Ricart’s home by wedding guests.
Garcia was ultimately convicted of Ricart’s murder, and is serving life in prison.
Ricart was waked and buried in the same dress and tiara she intended to be wed in.
“She will be buried in the same gown, and the bridesmaids and groomsmen will be dressed in the clothes they would have worn to the wedding," explained Eva Ricart, a cousin, during the wake, days afterwards in October 1999.
There have been many more victims since then, as was noted by those marching.
As did many of the other “Brides” this past Monday, Emily Quinn had attached laminated news stories about domestic violence to her wedding dress.
"Every year at the beginning of the year, I start to cut out all of these articles. And every year, I have a new group of articles of women who have been killed,” she said. “We have a face out there so…that these women can be remembered.”
Quinn believes that the harm caused by domestic violence transcends the people immediately affected.
"I think it's personally important to every human being on the planet,” she said. “I don't have a personal stake. I think anything that hurts other people hurts us all.”
At the end of the seven mile march, Ashton, Quinn and the other “Brides” were greeted by Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr.
Diaz, who addressed the women in white in both English and Spanish, said that their march was a powerful reminder to the city of New York of what happened on Ricart‘s wedding day and to break the silence of domestic violence.
“It plagues us in our most sacred places—in our homes, and with our most sacred people—our families,” Diaz said.
Ashton said that ten years in, the work of the Brides March is only just beginning. She said that children growing up in violent homes often become victims or abusers.
“We have a lot of men who are being abused, We have same-sex relationships where there’s tons of abuse,” she said, “and we’re just pretending it’s not there because there’s so much shame around it—because we’re still blaming the victim.”
To see the Brides March through northern Manhattan and The Bronx, and to listen to Josie Ashton speak about Gladys Ricart and the fight against domestic violence, please visit http://bit.ly/MTV004.
But there was no groom at the altar, or limousine to ferry her to a reception afterwards.
Instead, Ashton was met at the church by a sea of other women, hundreds of them, also dressed in white formal silk and satin white gowns, who turned heads as they marched the seven miles to Saint Cecilia’s Church in The Bronx.
There were also some men who walked beside them, but it was the small army of white-clad women that dominated.
Ashton and the others made the trek from one church in northern Manhattan to another in The Bronx to honor the memory of Gladys Ricart, as well as many of their own loved ones – or themselves – who have suffered with domestic violence.
“Gladys Ricart was an amazing woman,” said Ashton, founder of the annual Gladys Ricart and Victims of Domestic Violence Memorial Walk, also known as the Brides March. Ricart was shot and killed on her wedding day, on September 26th in 1999 by her former boyfriend Agustin Garcia.
Ashton explains she was disturbed at the time by news reports that portrayed Garcia as the victim. Her disquiet led her to create the Brides March, now in its 11th year, to bring attention to domestic violence, which often goes undetected until it is too late.
“It’s become an international movement,” Ashton said. “We have thousands of women walking in different parts of the world and in different states of America.”
Speaking at the invocation before the march, New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said the numbers of people who die from domestic violence each year do not tell the whole story.
“There are countless people who have been beaten, permanently and physically injured, and permanently and emotionally scarred; there are children who have watched this happen and will have to live with that for the rest of their lives,” she said.
The sight of the women marching in wedding dresses would raise awareness about domestic violence, and affirm for those who suffer silently that their lives and their children’s lives matter, Quinn said. She added that the march could also serve as a reminder to call the police when domestic violence occurs.
“[Of the] over 70 percent of the family-related homicides in 2010, those families never called the police,” Quinn said.
The story of Gladys Ricart echoed this tragic pattern.
After Ricart had ended the relationship with Garcia, she declined to press charges against him after he broke into her home. Nor did she get an order of protection after he called her repeatedly, stalked her and left roses on her lawn and a bible on her doorstep.
Ricart came to the U.S. from Tamboril, in the Dominican Republic, with her son. She found work at a travel agency. After getting an accounting degree, she was promoted to accounts payable manager.
She dated Agustin Garcia, a New Jersey resident with businesses in Washington Heights, but their romance was soon marked by his stalking and harassment. Ricart broke off their seven-year relationship, to later meet and became engaged to James Preston, Jr.
On Sept. 26th, 1999, Ricart, dressed in her wedding gown, was handing out bouquets to her bridesmaids when Garcia entered her home at 4 pm, shortly before the wedding.
Her fiancée, James Preston, awaited her at the church in Flushing, Queens.
Garcia walked into Ricart's living room wearing a suit and carrying a briefcase, telling guests he was invited.
He pulled out a .38 caliber handgun and shot five times. Three bullets hit Ricart, killing her instantly.
The murder was captured on videotape and the image of Ricart being gunned down in her wedding gown just before the ceremony was broadcast internationally. Ricart’s body was escorted back to Tamboril by her fiancé and family, where she was buried.
“He doesn't remember the gun going off," said attorney Fernando Oliver in 2001, during the trial of Agustin Garcia, who pleaded innocent to the murder charges. At the time, Oliver argued that Garcia had acted in self-defense. Garcia claimed he couldn’t remember much of the “incident” and that he had been jumped at Ricart’s home by wedding guests.
Garcia was ultimately convicted of Ricart’s murder, and is serving life in prison.
Ricart was waked and buried in the same dress and tiara she intended to be wed in.
“She will be buried in the same gown, and the bridesmaids and groomsmen will be dressed in the clothes they would have worn to the wedding," explained Eva Ricart, a cousin, during the wake, days afterwards in October 1999.
There have been many more victims since then, as was noted by those marching.
As did many of the other “Brides” this past Monday, Emily Quinn had attached laminated news stories about domestic violence to her wedding dress.
"Every year at the beginning of the year, I start to cut out all of these articles. And every year, I have a new group of articles of women who have been killed,” she said. “We have a face out there so…that these women can be remembered.”
Quinn believes that the harm caused by domestic violence transcends the people immediately affected.
"I think it's personally important to every human being on the planet,” she said. “I don't have a personal stake. I think anything that hurts other people hurts us all.”
At the end of the seven mile march, Ashton, Quinn and the other “Brides” were greeted by Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr.
Diaz, who addressed the women in white in both English and Spanish, said that their march was a powerful reminder to the city of New York of what happened on Ricart‘s wedding day and to break the silence of domestic violence.
“It plagues us in our most sacred places—in our homes, and with our most sacred people—our families,” Diaz said.
Ashton said that ten years in, the work of the Brides March is only just beginning. She said that children growing up in violent homes often become victims or abusers.
“We have a lot of men who are being abused, We have same-sex relationships where there’s tons of abuse,” she said, “and we’re just pretending it’s not there because there’s so much shame around it—because we’re still blaming the victim.”
To see the Brides March through northern Manhattan and The Bronx, and to listen to Josie Ashton speak about Gladys Ricart and the fight against domestic violence, please visit http://bit.ly/MTV004.
Luzerne County, PA: Sweet Valley woman gets 12 to 24 years for killing husband
A woman who shot her husband to death while he slept in their Sweet Valley home four years ago was sentenced to spend 12 to 24 years in prison after being deemed mentally incompetent to stand trial.
Josephine Werkheiser, 56, received her sentence in Luzerne County Court on Monday from Judge William H. Amesbury after she pleaded guilty but mentally ill to the killing of her husband, Charles, on July 23, 2007.
She receives credit for having served four years and 36 days in jail, and her mental status will be evaluated on a continuing basis, the judge said in the sentencing order.
Amesbury said he considered her age, her previously clean criminal record and her mental status when deciding on a sentence.
After shooting her husband with a .22-caliber handgun, Werkheiser also shot herself in the head. She survived with diminished capacities.
She is legally blind, her motor skills have been affected and she probably would require assisted living or help of relatives if she ever is released from prison, her attorneys said in memorandum submitted to the court before her sentencing.
Before passing the sentence, the judge also read statements from five relatives of the victim who described how they were affected by Charles Werkheiser's death.
On Monday, one of his brothers and one sister spoke in court.
His sister, Lynn, said she felt like she failed to keep a promise made to their dying mother that she would look after Charles, the youngest of five children.
Werkheiser's public defenders William Ruzzo and Cheryl Sobeski-Reedy requested a sentence of five years, whereas the prosecution team of Assistant District Attorneys Molly Hanlon Mirabito and Michelle Hardik sought a minimum sentence of 20 years.
Mirabito said Werkheiser's suicide attempt shows she was conscious of her guilt.
Sobeski-Reedy said Werkheiser has no memory of the shooting. From what Werkheiser has read, she accepts guilt, a position she took when apologizing to her husband's family on Monday, Sobeski-Reedy said.
Werkheiser said she loved Charles and never meant to hurt him.
The state Department of Corrections will determine the appropriate place for Werkheiser to serve her sentence.
Since her arrest, she has spent time in the Luzerne County Correctional Facility and the Norristown State Hospital.
The judge required that Werkheiser continue to receive mental evaluations so she will have access to medications and other treatment that she needs.
Josephine Werkheiser, 56, received her sentence in Luzerne County Court on Monday from Judge William H. Amesbury after she pleaded guilty but mentally ill to the killing of her husband, Charles, on July 23, 2007.
She receives credit for having served four years and 36 days in jail, and her mental status will be evaluated on a continuing basis, the judge said in the sentencing order.
Amesbury said he considered her age, her previously clean criminal record and her mental status when deciding on a sentence.
After shooting her husband with a .22-caliber handgun, Werkheiser also shot herself in the head. She survived with diminished capacities.
She is legally blind, her motor skills have been affected and she probably would require assisted living or help of relatives if she ever is released from prison, her attorneys said in memorandum submitted to the court before her sentencing.
Before passing the sentence, the judge also read statements from five relatives of the victim who described how they were affected by Charles Werkheiser's death.
On Monday, one of his brothers and one sister spoke in court.
His sister, Lynn, said she felt like she failed to keep a promise made to their dying mother that she would look after Charles, the youngest of five children.
Werkheiser's public defenders William Ruzzo and Cheryl Sobeski-Reedy requested a sentence of five years, whereas the prosecution team of Assistant District Attorneys Molly Hanlon Mirabito and Michelle Hardik sought a minimum sentence of 20 years.
Mirabito said Werkheiser's suicide attempt shows she was conscious of her guilt.
Sobeski-Reedy said Werkheiser has no memory of the shooting. From what Werkheiser has read, she accepts guilt, a position she took when apologizing to her husband's family on Monday, Sobeski-Reedy said.
Werkheiser said she loved Charles and never meant to hurt him.
The state Department of Corrections will determine the appropriate place for Werkheiser to serve her sentence.
Since her arrest, she has spent time in the Luzerne County Correctional Facility and the Norristown State Hospital.
The judge required that Werkheiser continue to receive mental evaluations so she will have access to medications and other treatment that she needs.
Pine Hills, FL: Cops: Man Confessed To Killing Girlfriend
PINE HILLS, Fla. -- Deputies say a man confessed to killing his girlfriend in their Pine Hills home Tuesday morning.
The Orange Sheriff's Office said Michael Alleyne, 36, admitted to shooting and killing his girlfriend, the mother of his four children, after an argument.
The woman's body was found Tuesday morning inside a home at 5418 Fox Briar Trail.
Alleyne's step mother, Debbie Carter, said Alleyne showed up at her house Tuesday morning and told her that he killed Rosmond McNiel, his girlfriend of 14 years.
"He was upset and crying. I thought he was...I couldn't believe it," Carter said.
Local 6 uncovered court records that show McNeil filed for and was granted a temporary injuction against her live-in boyfriend, just days prior to her death.
It was the second injuction she filed in Orange County court. McNeil voluntarily dropped the first injuction, possibly out of fear.
In her own words, she wrote that on September 16, he called her and "started telling me he as going to kill me if I left him. His sister told me that he said he was going to have someone do it for him. I can't sleep at night. I'm scared of this man and want him away from me."
Deputies spent the day at the couple's home processing the scene.
Alleyn is being held at the Orange County Jail on a first-degree murder charge.
The Orange Sheriff's Office said Michael Alleyne, 36, admitted to shooting and killing his girlfriend, the mother of his four children, after an argument.
The woman's body was found Tuesday morning inside a home at 5418 Fox Briar Trail.
Alleyne's step mother, Debbie Carter, said Alleyne showed up at her house Tuesday morning and told her that he killed Rosmond McNiel, his girlfriend of 14 years.
"He was upset and crying. I thought he was...I couldn't believe it," Carter said.
Local 6 uncovered court records that show McNeil filed for and was granted a temporary injuction against her live-in boyfriend, just days prior to her death.
It was the second injuction she filed in Orange County court. McNeil voluntarily dropped the first injuction, possibly out of fear.
In her own words, she wrote that on September 16, he called her and "started telling me he as going to kill me if I left him. His sister told me that he said he was going to have someone do it for him. I can't sleep at night. I'm scared of this man and want him away from me."
Deputies spent the day at the couple's home processing the scene.
Alleyn is being held at the Orange County Jail on a first-degree murder charge.
Article: Area shelter marks Domestic Violence Awareness Month
SILVER CITY - Domestic violence has no boundaries.
It affects individuals of all races, colors and ethnicities, which is why Rachel Sierra feels it is imperative for the word to be spread during Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
Sierra, the director of shelter and advocacy for El Refugio, Inc., knows the feeling all too well. In 1993, three years into her job, Sierra said someone close to her was caught in an abusive relationship.
"He stalked and threatened to kill her," she said.
Sierra said the woman was able to get out of the relationship, but the after-effects lingered.
"It really affected the family, especially the children," she said. "People forget that it's a cycle and is sometimes kept a secret within families."
Sierra hopes that secret will be let out when a proclamation reading will take place from 9 to 10:30 a.m. Friday at El Refugio, Inc., 800 S. Robert St.
The event is meant for attendees to reflect on the women, men and children who have died and to extend support to those still in the cycle of domestic violence.
"It seems to be a silent issue," Sierra said. "People have told me some of the stories I've read are pretty gory, but that's what they are. Not any of it is good."
Victor Roman, 42, and his girlfriend Trudy Huerta, 35, had a history of domestic violence in their relationship, which ended in a murder-suicide, with Roman killing Huerta, then himself. The June 19 incident left five children, ages 1, 9, 12, 14 and 17 without parents.
"We're
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going to hold a moment of silence for Trudy and Victor," Sierra said. "Unfortunately, both were affected by domestic violence and their children will feel the after-effects."
Former Grant County Commissioner Mary Ann Sedillo, vice president of El Refugio's board of directors, knows how vicious the cycle of domestic violence can be. She lost her sister Patricia Sierra, on April 15, 1974 to domestic violence.
Sierra was just 21 years old when she was killed by her husband, Samuel. Sedillo said her sister's murderer never went to prison for killing Patricia and died two years later from the effects of Agent Orange during the Vietnam War.
"I know it from a very personal standpoint that everyone is effected once it becomes domestic violence," she said. "It's a sensitive issue and hard to talk about but it's definitely a reality."
She and other board members helped organize a fundraiser to help support El Refugio, since it has received a 28 percent cut in funding in the past three years. The fundraiser, a dance with Taos musician Darren Cordova and his band Calor, will be held Oct. 28 at the Flame Convention Center.
"I hope a lot of people come out to support this event because it is very important throughout the community and the world," she said.
El Refugio's executive director Maria Morales-Loebl said the organization's major funding source, the New Mexico Children Youth and Families Department, has cut funding to domestic violence prevention related organizations statewide.
For El Refugio, those cuts have translated into $157,419 less in funding - $154,723 less from CYFD and more than $2,000 in cuts from another state agency.
"It's enormous because we are a 24-hour-a-day operation," Morales-Loebl said.
The cuts have meant less services for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault.
El Refugio was forced to cut a full-time victim advocate position it had for Hidalgo County.
"Now we have a person who goes down once a week or on an as-needed basis," Morales-Loebl said.
But domestic violence incidents don't always occur on the day the advocate goes down there, she added.
"Domestic violence is always a crisis situation and there is always a safety issue that has to be assessed and responded to," she said.
Morales-Loebl said funding cuts also forced El Refugio to turn over operation of the sexual assault cases to another entity because they could no longer afford to train volunteers.
Morales-Loebl said she worked with the New Mexico Coalition against Sexual Assault (a former funding source) and the Grant County Domestic Violence Sexual Assault Task Force in Dec. 2010 to get the services moved under the Gila Regional Medical Center and the Grant County Community Health Council. That transition took place in June 2011.
The other funding crunch El Refugio is dealing with is that other funding sources are receiving "level funding" from other entities.
"Level funding is really always a budget cut because it doesn't address ongoing cost-of-living expenses. Like for our shelter, utilities have gone up, gas has gone up."
And she said, the funding from CYFD is provided on a "draw down" basis based on services provided, meaning the funding can be drawn based on occupancy rates at the shelter and if it isn't full, that drawn-down amount is lowered.
"It's always a challenge for rural shelters because they are always a last resort for people in rural areas," she said. "So if our shelter isn't full, we may not be able to access all the money that CYFD provides - but yet we still have to provide services. Really what's at risk is being able to be fully operational."
Both the city and the county have provided some funding to El Refugio to help offset some of the lost funding, Sierra said. The city contributed $1,000, while the county kicked in $5,000.
El Refugio, Inc. can house up to 32 people in its shelter and provides free advocacy services, including obtaining protection orders and counseling services, Sierra said.
"I want to say people can break the cycle," she said, "but the statistics show that people return. It's a crime that can be prevented, but it can't be stopped because the numbers are so big."
"Domestic violence is the number-one public health issue that requires 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week response," Morales-Loebl said.
Morales-Loebl said despite the funding challenges the organization faces, she is grateful for the support the community has always provided the organization.
"There has always been a good response from the community in terms of donations and volunteers," she said. "Despite our challenges, there has always been a community spirit that embraces El Refugio."
Carlos Silva Jr. can be reached at (575) 538-5893, ext. 5803. Christine Steele can be reached at (575) 538-5893, ext. 5802.
If you go
•What: El Refugio fundraiser, music by Darren Cordova, mayor of Taos, and member of Calor and Mariachi Calor. Cordova and his son and daughter all sing.
•When: 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. Oct. 28
•Where: The Flame Convention Center, 2800 Pinos Altos Road, Silver City
•Cost: $15 per person, $25 per couple
•Information: Door prizes during the event, hot dogs, chili dogs and nachos available for purchase. Tickets will be going on sale this weekend at various businesses throughout the county and will also be available at the door. Call Mary Ann Sedillo at (575) 388-1971
El Refugio, Inc. free services
•Emergency shelter, helping victims stay out of danger for up to 90 days
•Counseling for adults and play therapy for children
•Victim advocacy, helping victims obtain a restraining order
•A 52-week offender group educational class, for men and women, which is court ordered
•For more information, call: (575) 538-2125, or toll free: (888) 538-2125.
By the numbers
•Number of women and children currently at El Refugio, Inc.: 7 women, 4 children
•Maximum amount of people, including children, the shelter can house: 32
•Staff members: 17
•Average number of days a family stays: 30
•Total number of women and children helped from July 2010 through July 2011: 120
•El Refugio, Inc. established: 1983
* Source: El Refugio
El Refugio funding cuts
In its three-year contract with CYFD funding
•FY 2009-2010: $547,445
•FY 2010-2011: $487,226 (11 percent cut)
•FY 2011-2012: $392,722 (28 percent cut)
Domestic violence numbers
Silver City
•Jan. 1, 2011 to Oct. 4, 2011: 414 calls
•Jan. 1, 2010 to Oct. 4, 2010:
464 calls
Source: Silver City Police Department
Grant County
•Jan. 1 2011 to Oct. 4 2011: 99 calls
•Jan. 1 2010 to Dec. 30, 2010:
135 calls
* quarterly numbers were not available
Source: Grant County Sheriff's Office
Bayard
•Jan. 1, 2011 To Oct. 1, 2011:
93 calls (including 17 self-initiated calls)
•Jan. 1, 2010 to Oct. 1, 2010:
96 calls (including 1 self-initiated call)
Hurley
•Jan. 1, 2011 To Oct. 1, 2011:
44 calls (including 5 self-initiated calls)
•Jan. 1, 2010 to Oct. 1, 2010:
26 calls (including 3 self-initiated calls)
Santa Clara
•Jan. 1, 2011 To Oct. 1, 2011:
58 calls (including 3 self-initiated)
•Jan. 1, 2010 to Oct. 1, 2010:
69 calls (including 3 self-initiated calls)
Source: Grant County
Central Dispatch Authority
* Statistics may be skewed or inflated because the incident may show up under both the Sheriff's Department's calls and one of the agencies calls if both responded to the call.
It affects individuals of all races, colors and ethnicities, which is why Rachel Sierra feels it is imperative for the word to be spread during Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
Sierra, the director of shelter and advocacy for El Refugio, Inc., knows the feeling all too well. In 1993, three years into her job, Sierra said someone close to her was caught in an abusive relationship.
"He stalked and threatened to kill her," she said.
Sierra said the woman was able to get out of the relationship, but the after-effects lingered.
"It really affected the family, especially the children," she said. "People forget that it's a cycle and is sometimes kept a secret within families."
Sierra hopes that secret will be let out when a proclamation reading will take place from 9 to 10:30 a.m. Friday at El Refugio, Inc., 800 S. Robert St.
The event is meant for attendees to reflect on the women, men and children who have died and to extend support to those still in the cycle of domestic violence.
"It seems to be a silent issue," Sierra said. "People have told me some of the stories I've read are pretty gory, but that's what they are. Not any of it is good."
Victor Roman, 42, and his girlfriend Trudy Huerta, 35, had a history of domestic violence in their relationship, which ended in a murder-suicide, with Roman killing Huerta, then himself. The June 19 incident left five children, ages 1, 9, 12, 14 and 17 without parents.
"We're
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going to hold a moment of silence for Trudy and Victor," Sierra said. "Unfortunately, both were affected by domestic violence and their children will feel the after-effects."
Former Grant County Commissioner Mary Ann Sedillo, vice president of El Refugio's board of directors, knows how vicious the cycle of domestic violence can be. She lost her sister Patricia Sierra, on April 15, 1974 to domestic violence.
Sierra was just 21 years old when she was killed by her husband, Samuel. Sedillo said her sister's murderer never went to prison for killing Patricia and died two years later from the effects of Agent Orange during the Vietnam War.
"I know it from a very personal standpoint that everyone is effected once it becomes domestic violence," she said. "It's a sensitive issue and hard to talk about but it's definitely a reality."
She and other board members helped organize a fundraiser to help support El Refugio, since it has received a 28 percent cut in funding in the past three years. The fundraiser, a dance with Taos musician Darren Cordova and his band Calor, will be held Oct. 28 at the Flame Convention Center.
"I hope a lot of people come out to support this event because it is very important throughout the community and the world," she said.
El Refugio's executive director Maria Morales-Loebl said the organization's major funding source, the New Mexico Children Youth and Families Department, has cut funding to domestic violence prevention related organizations statewide.
For El Refugio, those cuts have translated into $157,419 less in funding - $154,723 less from CYFD and more than $2,000 in cuts from another state agency.
"It's enormous because we are a 24-hour-a-day operation," Morales-Loebl said.
The cuts have meant less services for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault.
El Refugio was forced to cut a full-time victim advocate position it had for Hidalgo County.
"Now we have a person who goes down once a week or on an as-needed basis," Morales-Loebl said.
But domestic violence incidents don't always occur on the day the advocate goes down there, she added.
"Domestic violence is always a crisis situation and there is always a safety issue that has to be assessed and responded to," she said.
Morales-Loebl said funding cuts also forced El Refugio to turn over operation of the sexual assault cases to another entity because they could no longer afford to train volunteers.
Morales-Loebl said she worked with the New Mexico Coalition against Sexual Assault (a former funding source) and the Grant County Domestic Violence Sexual Assault Task Force in Dec. 2010 to get the services moved under the Gila Regional Medical Center and the Grant County Community Health Council. That transition took place in June 2011.
The other funding crunch El Refugio is dealing with is that other funding sources are receiving "level funding" from other entities.
"Level funding is really always a budget cut because it doesn't address ongoing cost-of-living expenses. Like for our shelter, utilities have gone up, gas has gone up."
And she said, the funding from CYFD is provided on a "draw down" basis based on services provided, meaning the funding can be drawn based on occupancy rates at the shelter and if it isn't full, that drawn-down amount is lowered.
"It's always a challenge for rural shelters because they are always a last resort for people in rural areas," she said. "So if our shelter isn't full, we may not be able to access all the money that CYFD provides - but yet we still have to provide services. Really what's at risk is being able to be fully operational."
Both the city and the county have provided some funding to El Refugio to help offset some of the lost funding, Sierra said. The city contributed $1,000, while the county kicked in $5,000.
El Refugio, Inc. can house up to 32 people in its shelter and provides free advocacy services, including obtaining protection orders and counseling services, Sierra said.
"I want to say people can break the cycle," she said, "but the statistics show that people return. It's a crime that can be prevented, but it can't be stopped because the numbers are so big."
"Domestic violence is the number-one public health issue that requires 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week response," Morales-Loebl said.
Morales-Loebl said despite the funding challenges the organization faces, she is grateful for the support the community has always provided the organization.
"There has always been a good response from the community in terms of donations and volunteers," she said. "Despite our challenges, there has always been a community spirit that embraces El Refugio."
Carlos Silva Jr. can be reached at (575) 538-5893, ext. 5803. Christine Steele can be reached at (575) 538-5893, ext. 5802.
If you go
•What: El Refugio fundraiser, music by Darren Cordova, mayor of Taos, and member of Calor and Mariachi Calor. Cordova and his son and daughter all sing.
•When: 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. Oct. 28
•Where: The Flame Convention Center, 2800 Pinos Altos Road, Silver City
•Cost: $15 per person, $25 per couple
•Information: Door prizes during the event, hot dogs, chili dogs and nachos available for purchase. Tickets will be going on sale this weekend at various businesses throughout the county and will also be available at the door. Call Mary Ann Sedillo at (575) 388-1971
El Refugio, Inc. free services
•Emergency shelter, helping victims stay out of danger for up to 90 days
•Counseling for adults and play therapy for children
•Victim advocacy, helping victims obtain a restraining order
•A 52-week offender group educational class, for men and women, which is court ordered
•For more information, call: (575) 538-2125, or toll free: (888) 538-2125.
By the numbers
•Number of women and children currently at El Refugio, Inc.: 7 women, 4 children
•Maximum amount of people, including children, the shelter can house: 32
•Staff members: 17
•Average number of days a family stays: 30
•Total number of women and children helped from July 2010 through July 2011: 120
•El Refugio, Inc. established: 1983
* Source: El Refugio
El Refugio funding cuts
In its three-year contract with CYFD funding
•FY 2009-2010: $547,445
•FY 2010-2011: $487,226 (11 percent cut)
•FY 2011-2012: $392,722 (28 percent cut)
Domestic violence numbers
Silver City
•Jan. 1, 2011 to Oct. 4, 2011: 414 calls
•Jan. 1, 2010 to Oct. 4, 2010:
464 calls
Source: Silver City Police Department
Grant County
•Jan. 1 2011 to Oct. 4 2011: 99 calls
•Jan. 1 2010 to Dec. 30, 2010:
135 calls
* quarterly numbers were not available
Source: Grant County Sheriff's Office
Bayard
•Jan. 1, 2011 To Oct. 1, 2011:
93 calls (including 17 self-initiated calls)
•Jan. 1, 2010 to Oct. 1, 2010:
96 calls (including 1 self-initiated call)
Hurley
•Jan. 1, 2011 To Oct. 1, 2011:
44 calls (including 5 self-initiated calls)
•Jan. 1, 2010 to Oct. 1, 2010:
26 calls (including 3 self-initiated calls)
Santa Clara
•Jan. 1, 2011 To Oct. 1, 2011:
58 calls (including 3 self-initiated)
•Jan. 1, 2010 to Oct. 1, 2010:
69 calls (including 3 self-initiated calls)
Source: Grant County
Central Dispatch Authority
* Statistics may be skewed or inflated because the incident may show up under both the Sheriff's Department's calls and one of the agencies calls if both responded to the call.
Article: Domestic violence - get help before it is too late
This is a week in a named month that should not be necessary.
Men should know better than to beat up - or worse - wives and girlfriends and children.
But in a South Carolina that is seventh-worst in America for domestic violence - almost always against women and kids - this week is important.
This week, the spotlight is on all those victims. Victims that need to get help before it is too late. Before they are seriously hurt - or killed.
In Columbia on Tuesday, a ceremony honored the 44 people who died in domestic violence crimes in 2010 - 34 of them were women who died at the hands of men.
In May, police say a Rock Hill man with a criminal history of domestic violence and pointing guns shot his girlfriend to death - then took off on a drunken ride through South Carolina with his 2-year-old son in the vehicle before he was caught.
The woman who died was not a statistic; she was a person.
A woman named Shrece Charlete Robinson, a 25-year-old nursing student. She was the daughter of a great lady named Estelle Robinson and the sister of Ladrena Robinson.
And she died from bullets in domestic violence.
Heroic people such as Estelle Robinson face life without a daughter. Estelle Robinson now is raising her grandson, Zaylen. The father accused of the worst domestic violence imaginable remains in jail pending trial on murder charges.
"We have to deal with that act of domestic violence every day," Estelle Robinson said.
In August, a Rock Hill man suspected of killing his girlfriend hours earlier just across the state line in North Carolina was shot and killed by police in Lesslie after he pulled a gun when officers tried to arrest him.
In September, a man with a history of domestic violence broke into two businesses in York, then shot at police before being killed by officers after a chase through city streets that terrified the public.
Some abusers cannot be helped. The only answer for them is prison bars.
To combat the crisis and try to deter repeat domestic violence through intervention and treatment of first-time offenders, the 16th Circuit Solicitor's Office has set up a domestic violence court that meets twice a month.
First-time domestic violence offenders in cases that do not involve more violent crimes are brought before a judge and assessed to see if the problem is anger, drugs or alcohol - and offered treatment if the case warrants alternative prosecution.
"Domestic violence is a crime; we take it seriously and are working to try to reduce it," said Deanene Thornwell, the prosecutor in charge of the domestic violence program. "The problem can only be handled if victims report it. They need to seek help. They can't let it go on.
"A slap is a crime. A threat of violence is a crime."
Research shows that children who grow up in homes with domestic violence are more likely to be involved in domestic violence in their adult lives, said Ben Motley, who runs the Three Trees Center for Change, a treatment center in Rock Hill for domestic violence offenders.
Motley is holding a seminar on Friday at the Baxter Hood Center that puts a spotlight on the domestic violence abuser. Several past offenders will share stories of how their abuse ruined lives.
"Stopping domestic violence can literally be the saving of a life - that day or down the road," Motley said. "The abuser must be stopped, and the victims have to report it."
Rock Hill has a shelter, Safe Passage, that exists solely to help victims of domestic abuse. Yet domestic violence that goes on, unreported, can be disastrous. Victims can get seriously hurt or killed.
An analysis by the Washington, D.C.-based Violence Policy Center shows that women killed by men are almost always acquaintances of the man who kills them.
"Typically, when you see a violent, very serious crime like this, there was some pattern of abuse or some red flag," said Lt. Mike Baker of the York County Sheriff's Office.
Motley chose to have the training session this week because of Tuesday's ceremony in Columbia honoring the victims of domestic violence and because October is national Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
Thornwell, the domestic violence prosecutor, and others will talk Friday at the event sponsored by several local social services and law enforcement agencies.
"This is the right time for people to look at this problem and figure out how the community can deal with it," Motley said.
Until then, heroic people such as Estelle Robinson will have to face life without a daughter who was killed in domestic violence.
Next year someone will invite the strong Estelle Robinson to Columbia for a ceremony to honor the victims of 2011 domestic violence that should have never happened in the first place.
No ceremony will bring Shrece Robinson back to her mother - or give 2-year-old Zaylen a mother himself.
Tuesday's ceremony - and the ceremony next year - will have faceless cardboard cutouts, as many cutouts as victims.
But victims are not faceless. Shrece Robinson had a beautiful face.
Domestic violence and bullets took that beauty away.
Want to go?
What: "Inside the Criminal Mind: The Domestic Violence Offender"
When: 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday
Where: Baxter Hood Center, York Technical College in Rock Hill
How much: $89.99, which includes lunch and materials
Why: The class counts toward required continuing education units for professionals involved in law, medicine and social services.
Information: 803-981-7194
Men should know better than to beat up - or worse - wives and girlfriends and children.
But in a South Carolina that is seventh-worst in America for domestic violence - almost always against women and kids - this week is important.
This week, the spotlight is on all those victims. Victims that need to get help before it is too late. Before they are seriously hurt - or killed.
In Columbia on Tuesday, a ceremony honored the 44 people who died in domestic violence crimes in 2010 - 34 of them were women who died at the hands of men.
In May, police say a Rock Hill man with a criminal history of domestic violence and pointing guns shot his girlfriend to death - then took off on a drunken ride through South Carolina with his 2-year-old son in the vehicle before he was caught.
The woman who died was not a statistic; she was a person.
A woman named Shrece Charlete Robinson, a 25-year-old nursing student. She was the daughter of a great lady named Estelle Robinson and the sister of Ladrena Robinson.
And she died from bullets in domestic violence.
Heroic people such as Estelle Robinson face life without a daughter. Estelle Robinson now is raising her grandson, Zaylen. The father accused of the worst domestic violence imaginable remains in jail pending trial on murder charges.
"We have to deal with that act of domestic violence every day," Estelle Robinson said.
In August, a Rock Hill man suspected of killing his girlfriend hours earlier just across the state line in North Carolina was shot and killed by police in Lesslie after he pulled a gun when officers tried to arrest him.
In September, a man with a history of domestic violence broke into two businesses in York, then shot at police before being killed by officers after a chase through city streets that terrified the public.
Some abusers cannot be helped. The only answer for them is prison bars.
To combat the crisis and try to deter repeat domestic violence through intervention and treatment of first-time offenders, the 16th Circuit Solicitor's Office has set up a domestic violence court that meets twice a month.
First-time domestic violence offenders in cases that do not involve more violent crimes are brought before a judge and assessed to see if the problem is anger, drugs or alcohol - and offered treatment if the case warrants alternative prosecution.
"Domestic violence is a crime; we take it seriously and are working to try to reduce it," said Deanene Thornwell, the prosecutor in charge of the domestic violence program. "The problem can only be handled if victims report it. They need to seek help. They can't let it go on.
"A slap is a crime. A threat of violence is a crime."
Research shows that children who grow up in homes with domestic violence are more likely to be involved in domestic violence in their adult lives, said Ben Motley, who runs the Three Trees Center for Change, a treatment center in Rock Hill for domestic violence offenders.
Motley is holding a seminar on Friday at the Baxter Hood Center that puts a spotlight on the domestic violence abuser. Several past offenders will share stories of how their abuse ruined lives.
"Stopping domestic violence can literally be the saving of a life - that day or down the road," Motley said. "The abuser must be stopped, and the victims have to report it."
Rock Hill has a shelter, Safe Passage, that exists solely to help victims of domestic abuse. Yet domestic violence that goes on, unreported, can be disastrous. Victims can get seriously hurt or killed.
An analysis by the Washington, D.C.-based Violence Policy Center shows that women killed by men are almost always acquaintances of the man who kills them.
"Typically, when you see a violent, very serious crime like this, there was some pattern of abuse or some red flag," said Lt. Mike Baker of the York County Sheriff's Office.
Motley chose to have the training session this week because of Tuesday's ceremony in Columbia honoring the victims of domestic violence and because October is national Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
Thornwell, the domestic violence prosecutor, and others will talk Friday at the event sponsored by several local social services and law enforcement agencies.
"This is the right time for people to look at this problem and figure out how the community can deal with it," Motley said.
Until then, heroic people such as Estelle Robinson will have to face life without a daughter who was killed in domestic violence.
Next year someone will invite the strong Estelle Robinson to Columbia for a ceremony to honor the victims of 2011 domestic violence that should have never happened in the first place.
No ceremony will bring Shrece Robinson back to her mother - or give 2-year-old Zaylen a mother himself.
Tuesday's ceremony - and the ceremony next year - will have faceless cardboard cutouts, as many cutouts as victims.
But victims are not faceless. Shrece Robinson had a beautiful face.
Domestic violence and bullets took that beauty away.
Want to go?
What: "Inside the Criminal Mind: The Domestic Violence Offender"
When: 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday
Where: Baxter Hood Center, York Technical College in Rock Hill
How much: $89.99, which includes lunch and materials
Why: The class counts toward required continuing education units for professionals involved in law, medicine and social services.
Information: 803-981-7194
Nashville, AR: Ark. man convicted in wife's death wants new trial
NASHVILLE, Ark. (AP) — A Stamps man who was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for hiring a man to kill his estranged wife is asking for a new trial.
In a petition filed in Howard County Circuit Court, David Camp, 66, claims his trial attorney made errors that deprived him of effective legal counsel. Camp's attorney, Paul Hoover of Texarkana, has died since the 2009 trial. Camp is representing himself.
A jury convicted Camp in 2009 on a charge of accessory to first-degree murder in the May 2008 shooting death of Robin Camp, 42, inside a Nashville department store where she worked.
Prosecutors alleged David Camp hired Harry Surber, of Ashdown, to kill Robin Camp because he thought she was having an affair.
According to trial testimony, Surber shot Robin Camp twice in the head with a pistol at the checkout counter. He pleaded guilty in June 2009 to first-degree murder and is serving a 40-year prison term.
Authorities said Camp asked his sister, JoAnn Hicks, 77, to hire Surber to murder Robin Camp. She pleaded guilty in June 2009 to conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
The Arkansas Parole Board released Hicks on May 31, and she will be on supervised parole until July 7, 2018.
If Camp's motion is denied, he can appeal to the Arkansas Court of Appeals or the Arkansas Supreme Court, the Texarkana Gazette reports (http://bit.ly/qL2ato ).
A hearing on David Camp's motion is set for Nov. 18 in Nashville.
In a petition filed in Howard County Circuit Court, David Camp, 66, claims his trial attorney made errors that deprived him of effective legal counsel. Camp's attorney, Paul Hoover of Texarkana, has died since the 2009 trial. Camp is representing himself.
A jury convicted Camp in 2009 on a charge of accessory to first-degree murder in the May 2008 shooting death of Robin Camp, 42, inside a Nashville department store where she worked.
Prosecutors alleged David Camp hired Harry Surber, of Ashdown, to kill Robin Camp because he thought she was having an affair.
According to trial testimony, Surber shot Robin Camp twice in the head with a pistol at the checkout counter. He pleaded guilty in June 2009 to first-degree murder and is serving a 40-year prison term.
Authorities said Camp asked his sister, JoAnn Hicks, 77, to hire Surber to murder Robin Camp. She pleaded guilty in June 2009 to conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
The Arkansas Parole Board released Hicks on May 31, and she will be on supervised parole until July 7, 2018.
If Camp's motion is denied, he can appeal to the Arkansas Court of Appeals or the Arkansas Supreme Court, the Texarkana Gazette reports (http://bit.ly/qL2ato ).
A hearing on David Camp's motion is set for Nov. 18 in Nashville.
Bluffton, IN: Bluffton husband guilty of murder
BLUFFTON – For nearly two years, Mike Meyer dreamed of the day when the man who killed his daughter would be convicted of murder.
Inside a packed Wells County courtroom bathed in the faint light of a setting sun Monday evening, he got his wish.
A jury of six men and six women found 29-year-old Tyler A. White guilty of murder in the killing of his estranged wife, 28-year-old Amy Meyer White, a verdict that caused her friends and family to hug one another in relief while Tyler White’s family sat in stunned silence.
“We finally got what we wanted,” Meyer said. “We wanted the truth to be told and heard, and I think that’s what we got.”
There was never a question whether Tyler White shot his estranged wife when she came by the garage of his parents’ Bluffton home Oct. 27, 2009, to pick up their 1-year-old son for shared custody. White admitted he shot her twice with a 9 mm Glock handgun.
But he disputed how it happened. White claimed he shot Amy White from his knees in self-defense when she pulled a handgun of her own from a pocket in her windbreaker with their son playing a few feet away.
During his closing arguments Monday, Wells County Prosecutor Michael Lautzenheiser painted a picture for the jury of White as a desperate man. White called his wife vulgar names, had recently lost his job and did not have a lawyer for an upcoming custody hearing, Lautzenheiser said.
Lautzenheiser also focused a series of improbabilities that had to fall into place for White’s version of events to be true.
Amy White, who never showed an interest in guns, all of a sudden had one. Not only that, but the gun she had was stolen from Tyler White’s best friend, a gun she had little opportunity to steal. Her gun wasn’t primed or ready to shoot, while Tyler’s gun was loaded, ready to fire, tucked in the back of his pants and hidden by a suit coat.
White’s story would essentially contradict a forensic pathologist who performed an autopsy on Amy White and said he was 99 percent certain the bullets that killed her did not come from someone on their knees.
Then there were White’s inexplicable actions after the shooting: He took the time to shoot her cellphone – which witnesses said she used to record their meetings – and then washed his hands before checking on his son and calling 911.
“That would’ve been wonderful for the defendant, that would’ve exonerated him,” Lautzenheiser said of the phone, from which no recordings could be recovered.
“The defendant’s claim of self-defense is absolutely ridiculous, ladies and gentlemen,” Lautzenheiser told the jurors later in his arguments.
James Voyles, White’s Indianapolis-based defense attorney, focused on another pathologist’s claim that his client’s story was possible within the realm of 60 percent reliability, as well as a less-than-stellar police investigation.
Police found a gun box in the back of Amy White’s truck that matched the gun Tyler White said she pulled on him. But officers did not find the box until a day after the shooting when a civillian who retrieved the truck from an impound lot found it.
The lead crime-scene investigator drew Voyles’ wrath for not cataloging everything in the truck at the scene.
“I think he was tripping all over himself that day, quite frankly,” Voyles said of the investigator, who claimed during testimony he did a “cursory” inspection of the truck.
“It’s the most ludicrous thing I’ve ever heard from a crime-scene investigator in all my years of practice,” Voyles asserted.
Lautzenheiser countered that, ultimately, it didn’t matter when someone found the gun box.
Voyles also hammered the point that one of Amy White’s hairs was found inside the gun box, while no hairs or forensic evidence belonging to Tyler White were found there.
Prosecutors, who contend White planted the gun box in the truck, could present no evidence on how the hair got there save for a pathologist saying that there are nearly infinite ways a hair can travel and it’s nearly impossible to pinpoint one hair’s movement.
“Maybe she really handled it,” Voyles told the jury. “Maybe she really handled the gun.”
With the verdict for murder read Monday, the jurors are expected to be back in court today to decide whether White will be convicted of an enhanced charge of feticide because his wife was pregnant at the time of her death.
Meanwhile, Mike Meyer will start a new fight – getting custody of Amy’s son, who was placed in the care of Tyler White’s brother and sister-in-law after the shooting.
Inside a packed Wells County courtroom bathed in the faint light of a setting sun Monday evening, he got his wish.
A jury of six men and six women found 29-year-old Tyler A. White guilty of murder in the killing of his estranged wife, 28-year-old Amy Meyer White, a verdict that caused her friends and family to hug one another in relief while Tyler White’s family sat in stunned silence.
“We finally got what we wanted,” Meyer said. “We wanted the truth to be told and heard, and I think that’s what we got.”
There was never a question whether Tyler White shot his estranged wife when she came by the garage of his parents’ Bluffton home Oct. 27, 2009, to pick up their 1-year-old son for shared custody. White admitted he shot her twice with a 9 mm Glock handgun.
But he disputed how it happened. White claimed he shot Amy White from his knees in self-defense when she pulled a handgun of her own from a pocket in her windbreaker with their son playing a few feet away.
During his closing arguments Monday, Wells County Prosecutor Michael Lautzenheiser painted a picture for the jury of White as a desperate man. White called his wife vulgar names, had recently lost his job and did not have a lawyer for an upcoming custody hearing, Lautzenheiser said.
Lautzenheiser also focused a series of improbabilities that had to fall into place for White’s version of events to be true.
Amy White, who never showed an interest in guns, all of a sudden had one. Not only that, but the gun she had was stolen from Tyler White’s best friend, a gun she had little opportunity to steal. Her gun wasn’t primed or ready to shoot, while Tyler’s gun was loaded, ready to fire, tucked in the back of his pants and hidden by a suit coat.
White’s story would essentially contradict a forensic pathologist who performed an autopsy on Amy White and said he was 99 percent certain the bullets that killed her did not come from someone on their knees.
Then there were White’s inexplicable actions after the shooting: He took the time to shoot her cellphone – which witnesses said she used to record their meetings – and then washed his hands before checking on his son and calling 911.
“That would’ve been wonderful for the defendant, that would’ve exonerated him,” Lautzenheiser said of the phone, from which no recordings could be recovered.
“The defendant’s claim of self-defense is absolutely ridiculous, ladies and gentlemen,” Lautzenheiser told the jurors later in his arguments.
James Voyles, White’s Indianapolis-based defense attorney, focused on another pathologist’s claim that his client’s story was possible within the realm of 60 percent reliability, as well as a less-than-stellar police investigation.
Police found a gun box in the back of Amy White’s truck that matched the gun Tyler White said she pulled on him. But officers did not find the box until a day after the shooting when a civillian who retrieved the truck from an impound lot found it.
The lead crime-scene investigator drew Voyles’ wrath for not cataloging everything in the truck at the scene.
“I think he was tripping all over himself that day, quite frankly,” Voyles said of the investigator, who claimed during testimony he did a “cursory” inspection of the truck.
“It’s the most ludicrous thing I’ve ever heard from a crime-scene investigator in all my years of practice,” Voyles asserted.
Lautzenheiser countered that, ultimately, it didn’t matter when someone found the gun box.
Voyles also hammered the point that one of Amy White’s hairs was found inside the gun box, while no hairs or forensic evidence belonging to Tyler White were found there.
Prosecutors, who contend White planted the gun box in the truck, could present no evidence on how the hair got there save for a pathologist saying that there are nearly infinite ways a hair can travel and it’s nearly impossible to pinpoint one hair’s movement.
“Maybe she really handled it,” Voyles told the jury. “Maybe she really handled the gun.”
With the verdict for murder read Monday, the jurors are expected to be back in court today to decide whether White will be convicted of an enhanced charge of feticide because his wife was pregnant at the time of her death.
Meanwhile, Mike Meyer will start a new fight – getting custody of Amy’s son, who was placed in the care of Tyler White’s brother and sister-in-law after the shooting.
Cowchilla, CA: Wife Who Killed, Cooked Husband Seeking Parole
A California woman who killed her newlywed husband and chopped and cooked his body parts over Thanksgiving weekend in 1991 is seeking release from prison.
Former nanny Omaima Nelson is scheduled to appear before parole commissioners Wednesday at the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla where she has been serving a life sentence.
Nelson was convicted of murdering her 56-year-old husband William Nelson in a grisly killing that authorities compared to the fictional slayings of Hannibal Lecter.
Prosecutors said Nelson killed her husband and likely plotted to steal from him as she had done with other middle-aged men. Nelson said she stabbed her husband to fend off an assault.
A psychiatrist testified during Nelson's trial that she told him she ate her husband's ribs but later denied it.
Nelson was denied parole in 2006 because commissioners found her unpredictable and a serious threat to public safety.
Former nanny Omaima Nelson is scheduled to appear before parole commissioners Wednesday at the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla where she has been serving a life sentence.
Nelson was convicted of murdering her 56-year-old husband William Nelson in a grisly killing that authorities compared to the fictional slayings of Hannibal Lecter.
Prosecutors said Nelson killed her husband and likely plotted to steal from him as she had done with other middle-aged men. Nelson said she stabbed her husband to fend off an assault.
A psychiatrist testified during Nelson's trial that she told him she ate her husband's ribs but later denied it.
Nelson was denied parole in 2006 because commissioners found her unpredictable and a serious threat to public safety.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Bridgeport, CT: 22 years after Bridgeport shooting, man charged with murder
BRIDGEPORT -- Twenty-two years after Aida Ramos was shot in the head and seven years after she died, police arrested her former boyfriend and charged him with murder.
Joseph Santiago, 40, was arrested Friday. He is being held in lieu of $250,000 bond pending presentment in Superior Court on Tuesday. It wasn't clear Monday night what new information led police to arrest Santiago.
Ramos, formerly of Pembroke Street, was shot on May 7, 1989. She died in a Massachusetts hospital in December 2004 after being on life support.
According to Santiago's arrest warrant affidavit, police received a report that Ramos had been brought to Bridgeport Hospital suffering from a gunshot wound to the base of her skull.
Witnesses told police they were in a Pembroke Street apartment with Ramos and Santiago, when they heard the sound of a gunshot, the affidavit states. They said Santiago then came running into the room where the witnesses were and exclaimed he had just killed Ramos.
The affidavit continues that Santiago and a witness dropped Ramos off at the hospital. On the way back, Santiago stopped at a gas station to wash his hands in some gasoline and he warned the witness not to talk about what had happened to Ramos, the affidavit states.
But Ramos did not die at that time. In fact, the affidavit recounts that while she was at the hospital she was able to pen a letter to a Superior Court judge relating how Santiago had shot her.
"He said to me, `Do you want to know what a gun could do?'" Ramos wrote in the letter, according to the affidavit. "I never looked back when I felt something hot in my neck and I fell on my right side on the couch."
Ramos subsequently lapsed into a coma and died Dec. 23, 2004, at Bay State Medical Center in Springfield.
The affidavit states that a subsequent autopsy determined her cause of death was complications from the gunshot wound.
Joseph Santiago, 40, was arrested Friday. He is being held in lieu of $250,000 bond pending presentment in Superior Court on Tuesday. It wasn't clear Monday night what new information led police to arrest Santiago.
Ramos, formerly of Pembroke Street, was shot on May 7, 1989. She died in a Massachusetts hospital in December 2004 after being on life support.
According to Santiago's arrest warrant affidavit, police received a report that Ramos had been brought to Bridgeport Hospital suffering from a gunshot wound to the base of her skull.
Witnesses told police they were in a Pembroke Street apartment with Ramos and Santiago, when they heard the sound of a gunshot, the affidavit states. They said Santiago then came running into the room where the witnesses were and exclaimed he had just killed Ramos.
The affidavit continues that Santiago and a witness dropped Ramos off at the hospital. On the way back, Santiago stopped at a gas station to wash his hands in some gasoline and he warned the witness not to talk about what had happened to Ramos, the affidavit states.
But Ramos did not die at that time. In fact, the affidavit recounts that while she was at the hospital she was able to pen a letter to a Superior Court judge relating how Santiago had shot her.
"He said to me, `Do you want to know what a gun could do?'" Ramos wrote in the letter, according to the affidavit. "I never looked back when I felt something hot in my neck and I fell on my right side on the couch."
Ramos subsequently lapsed into a coma and died Dec. 23, 2004, at Bay State Medical Center in Springfield.
The affidavit states that a subsequent autopsy determined her cause of death was complications from the gunshot wound.
Charleston, WV: Granddaughter of former state Democratic chief stabbed to death
CHARLESTON, W.Va. - A Fayette County man is behind bars after allegedly stabbing a woman to death in the Beckley home she shared with three other female students at Mountain State University.
Raleigh Sheriff's deputies found Cyan Elizabeth Maroney, 25, in a Myers Avenue home about 8:40 p.m. Sunday with multiple stab wounds.
She was taken to Beckley Area Regional Hospital, where she died from her injuries, according to a statement from the Raleigh County Sheriff's Department.
Jeremy James Lambert, 30, of Oak Hill, was identified as a suspect based in part on witness statements. Fayette County deputies arrested Lambert in Fayetteville Sunday night after a short pursuit.
Police believe Lambert and Maroney were involved in a romantic relationship.
Maroney, a Renick native and granddaughter of former state Democratic Chairman Pat Maroney of Charleston, was a former instructor and performer with River City Youth Ballet Ensemble.
According to River City's website, Maroney began dancing at age 6 in Lewisburg and was a member of the Trillium Performing Youth and Alderson Dance Ensemble while she was in high school. She received a bachelor's degree in dance from Connecticut College.
She began performing with Theatre West Virginia in 2004 and continued with the group for three summers. She participated in performances of "Honey in the Rock," "Hatfields and McCoys," "Annie," "Wizard of Oz" and "High School Musical."
She also performed with the West Virginia Dance Co.
Michelle Raider, founder and artistic director of River City Youth Ballet, learned of the young woman's death Monday morning.
"The dance world is such a small community so everybody knows everybody," Raider said. "This is just a terrible blow."
Raider said Maroney taught modern dance once a week for two years for River City but was not teaching this year because of the commute from Beckley. She called her a "wonderful instructor."
"She was phenomenal with the students," Raider said. "She was great, a wonderful instructor. She was dependable and reliable and took time with the students, just a wonderful person."
Raider said she first saw Maroney dance with the West Virginia Dance Co. and remarked about her talent. She said Maroney danced in April at the West Virginia Dance Festival.
"She was extremely bright and had such a vibrant personality," Raider said. "She was incredibly talented and the kids were lucky to have her."
Raleigh Sheriff Steve Tanner told the Beckley Register-Herald Monday that Lambert was hired by Beckley police in 2005 but elected to resign on his first day at the West Virginia State Police Academy.
The sheriff said the motive behind the stabbing was unclear Monday, but it appeared the suspect confronted Maroney in the home.
"She tried to get away from him by retreating to her bedroom," Tanner told the paper. "He forced himself into the bedroom, and the witnesses said they could hear an attack."
Tanner said deputies knew Lambert was driving a green 1992 Geo Tracker when he fled the scene and they were able to contact him on his cellphone. Lambert drove around for three hours before pulling over in Fayette County. The sheriff said the man drove through Greenbrier, Nicholas, Raleigh and Fayette counties during that time.
Lambert has been charged with first-degree murder and is being held without bond at Southern Regional Jail.
"This has saddened all of us," W.Va. Democratic Party Chairman Larry Puccio said of the incident. "I'm calling on our Democratic family across the state to say a special prayer for the family."
Raleigh Sheriff's deputies found Cyan Elizabeth Maroney, 25, in a Myers Avenue home about 8:40 p.m. Sunday with multiple stab wounds.
She was taken to Beckley Area Regional Hospital, where she died from her injuries, according to a statement from the Raleigh County Sheriff's Department.
Jeremy James Lambert, 30, of Oak Hill, was identified as a suspect based in part on witness statements. Fayette County deputies arrested Lambert in Fayetteville Sunday night after a short pursuit.
Police believe Lambert and Maroney were involved in a romantic relationship.
Maroney, a Renick native and granddaughter of former state Democratic Chairman Pat Maroney of Charleston, was a former instructor and performer with River City Youth Ballet Ensemble.
According to River City's website, Maroney began dancing at age 6 in Lewisburg and was a member of the Trillium Performing Youth and Alderson Dance Ensemble while she was in high school. She received a bachelor's degree in dance from Connecticut College.
She began performing with Theatre West Virginia in 2004 and continued with the group for three summers. She participated in performances of "Honey in the Rock," "Hatfields and McCoys," "Annie," "Wizard of Oz" and "High School Musical."
She also performed with the West Virginia Dance Co.
Michelle Raider, founder and artistic director of River City Youth Ballet, learned of the young woman's death Monday morning.
"The dance world is such a small community so everybody knows everybody," Raider said. "This is just a terrible blow."
Raider said Maroney taught modern dance once a week for two years for River City but was not teaching this year because of the commute from Beckley. She called her a "wonderful instructor."
"She was phenomenal with the students," Raider said. "She was great, a wonderful instructor. She was dependable and reliable and took time with the students, just a wonderful person."
Raider said she first saw Maroney dance with the West Virginia Dance Co. and remarked about her talent. She said Maroney danced in April at the West Virginia Dance Festival.
"She was extremely bright and had such a vibrant personality," Raider said. "She was incredibly talented and the kids were lucky to have her."
Raleigh Sheriff Steve Tanner told the Beckley Register-Herald Monday that Lambert was hired by Beckley police in 2005 but elected to resign on his first day at the West Virginia State Police Academy.
The sheriff said the motive behind the stabbing was unclear Monday, but it appeared the suspect confronted Maroney in the home.
"She tried to get away from him by retreating to her bedroom," Tanner told the paper. "He forced himself into the bedroom, and the witnesses said they could hear an attack."
Tanner said deputies knew Lambert was driving a green 1992 Geo Tracker when he fled the scene and they were able to contact him on his cellphone. Lambert drove around for three hours before pulling over in Fayette County. The sheriff said the man drove through Greenbrier, Nicholas, Raleigh and Fayette counties during that time.
Lambert has been charged with first-degree murder and is being held without bond at Southern Regional Jail.
"This has saddened all of us," W.Va. Democratic Party Chairman Larry Puccio said of the incident. "I'm calling on our Democratic family across the state to say a special prayer for the family."
Columbus, OH: Woman charged in boyfriend's stabbing death
A North Side woman is in jail this morning, charged with the stabbing death of her boyfriend last night, Columbus police said.
Alesia Sheppard, 40, admitted that she stabbed Larry Edwards, 62, at her home at 2315 Argyle Dr., police said.
Sheppard called 911 at 11:09 p.m. and said Edwards had stabbed himself. Medics took Edwards to Grant Medical Center, where he died at 11:38 p.m.
Sheppard later told police that she had stabbed him.
Police said Edwards’ death is the city's 71st homicide this year.
Alesia Sheppard, 40, admitted that she stabbed Larry Edwards, 62, at her home at 2315 Argyle Dr., police said.
Sheppard called 911 at 11:09 p.m. and said Edwards had stabbed himself. Medics took Edwards to Grant Medical Center, where he died at 11:38 p.m.
Sheppard later told police that she had stabbed him.
Police said Edwards’ death is the city's 71st homicide this year.
Monday, October 3, 2011
Richmond, TX: Richmond Murder Suspect Turns Self In
RICHMOND, Texas - A 26-year-old Richmond man is in custody after police say he shot and killed another man during an argument about his ex-girlfriend.
According to the Richmond Police Department, Omar Ramos shot 23-year-old Jeremy Ramirez several times on Saturday night.
They say after the shooting, Ramos called 9-1-1 and confessed to the killing.
As of Monday morning, Master Sgt. Neinast with RPD said the case had not yet been filed with the D.A.’s office.
Still, however, Ramos is in the Fort Bend County Jail with a pending murder charge.
From RPD Press release:
At 8:45 PM, Saturday night, 10/01/2011, officers from the Richmond Police Department responded to the Brazos Bend Villa Apartments located at 2020 Rocky Falls in regards to gun shots being fired. Corporal Robert Oliver arrived at the complex to discover that a man had just been shot multiple times, inside one of the apartments. At 9:20 PM, while officers were conducting the investigation, the suspect involved in the shooting called 911 to turn himself in.
The suspect in the case was identified as 26 year old Omar Jorge Ramos of Richmond. Ramos and the victim were involved in a disturbance earlier in the evening at a business located at 140 Collins Road, also located in Richmond. The Richmond Police responded to that incident and separated Ramos and the victim as no crime had been committed at that time. The two individuals were apparently arguing over an ex-girlfriend.
After the incident at 140 Collins Road, The victim, identified as 23 year old Jeremy Aaron Ramirez of Richmond, went to the Brazos Bend Villa Apartments.
Shortly after 8:30 pm, Ramos showed up at the apartment Ramirez was visiting, forced his way past the female resident of the apartment, and shot Ramirez multiple times.
Ramos then went back to his residence located in the 200 block of Collins Road and called 911 to turn himself in for the shooting.
Ramos was arrested without incident and charged with Murder, a First Degree Felony. He was transported to the Fort Bend County Jail where he is being held on bond.
According to the Richmond Police Department, Omar Ramos shot 23-year-old Jeremy Ramirez several times on Saturday night.
They say after the shooting, Ramos called 9-1-1 and confessed to the killing.
As of Monday morning, Master Sgt. Neinast with RPD said the case had not yet been filed with the D.A.’s office.
Still, however, Ramos is in the Fort Bend County Jail with a pending murder charge.
From RPD Press release:
At 8:45 PM, Saturday night, 10/01/2011, officers from the Richmond Police Department responded to the Brazos Bend Villa Apartments located at 2020 Rocky Falls in regards to gun shots being fired. Corporal Robert Oliver arrived at the complex to discover that a man had just been shot multiple times, inside one of the apartments. At 9:20 PM, while officers were conducting the investigation, the suspect involved in the shooting called 911 to turn himself in.
The suspect in the case was identified as 26 year old Omar Jorge Ramos of Richmond. Ramos and the victim were involved in a disturbance earlier in the evening at a business located at 140 Collins Road, also located in Richmond. The Richmond Police responded to that incident and separated Ramos and the victim as no crime had been committed at that time. The two individuals were apparently arguing over an ex-girlfriend.
After the incident at 140 Collins Road, The victim, identified as 23 year old Jeremy Aaron Ramirez of Richmond, went to the Brazos Bend Villa Apartments.
Shortly after 8:30 pm, Ramos showed up at the apartment Ramirez was visiting, forced his way past the female resident of the apartment, and shot Ramirez multiple times.
Ramos then went back to his residence located in the 200 block of Collins Road and called 911 to turn himself in for the shooting.
Ramos was arrested without incident and charged with Murder, a First Degree Felony. He was transported to the Fort Bend County Jail where he is being held on bond.
Miami, FL: Police: Husband and wife killed in possible murder-suicide
A married couple was found shot dead Sunday in a Country Walk home in what appeared to be a murder-suicide, according to Miami-Dade police.
Police got a call about 6:30 p.m. of shots fired at a home at 14502 SW 139th Ave. Circle East., police spokeswoman Rosanna Cordero-Stutz said. Emergency units arrived and found a husband and wife inside, both with gunshot wounds.
“Apparently, he shot her and then turned the gun on himself,” Cordero-Stutz said.
Members of the couple’s family were in the home at the time and heard the gunfire, she said; however, they did not see what happened because the husband and wife were alone in the bedroom when the shots were fired.
It was the family members who discovered the bodies.
Police identified the couple as Luis and Mireya Irigoyen. He was 69. She was 65.
Cordero-Stutz said it was too early to know the motive behind the shootings.
Police got a call about 6:30 p.m. of shots fired at a home at 14502 SW 139th Ave. Circle East., police spokeswoman Rosanna Cordero-Stutz said. Emergency units arrived and found a husband and wife inside, both with gunshot wounds.
“Apparently, he shot her and then turned the gun on himself,” Cordero-Stutz said.
Members of the couple’s family were in the home at the time and heard the gunfire, she said; however, they did not see what happened because the husband and wife were alone in the bedroom when the shots were fired.
It was the family members who discovered the bodies.
Police identified the couple as Luis and Mireya Irigoyen. He was 69. She was 65.
Cordero-Stutz said it was too early to know the motive behind the shootings.
Perinton, NY: Woman found dead in her Perinton home is identified
The Monroe County Medical Examiner has released the name of a woman found dead in a Perinton home Friday.
Patricia Irish, 37, died from asphyxiation and multiple stab wounds, according to the medical examiner’s office.
The woman’s husband, Douglas A. Irish, 56, of 4 Rosscommon Crescent, has been charged with second-degree murder in the case. He has pleaded not-guilty to the charges.
The woman was found dead in the couple’s home Friday evening after two of the woman’s children could not get into the house after school. Deputies were alerted to a suspicious condition at the address, just off Macedon Center Road, by a neighbor about 5:45 p.m. When deputies entered the house, they found the dead woman and Irish, who also had stab wounds.
Neighbors said the couple married about a year ago.
Patricia Irish, 37, died from asphyxiation and multiple stab wounds, according to the medical examiner’s office.
The woman’s husband, Douglas A. Irish, 56, of 4 Rosscommon Crescent, has been charged with second-degree murder in the case. He has pleaded not-guilty to the charges.
The woman was found dead in the couple’s home Friday evening after two of the woman’s children could not get into the house after school. Deputies were alerted to a suspicious condition at the address, just off Macedon Center Road, by a neighbor about 5:45 p.m. When deputies entered the house, they found the dead woman and Irish, who also had stab wounds.
Neighbors said the couple married about a year ago.
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Article: Domestic violence victim to speak at Will County Take Back the Night
JOLIET — Could you forgive your father if he slaughtered your family, slashed your throat and left you for dead in a garbage dump?
Carmina Salcido, author of the 2009 book “Not Lost Forever: My Story of Survival,” did and she will share her story of hope and forgiveness on Thursday at Will County’s 15th annual Take Back the Night.
Once the event’s coordinator, Katrina Crone, assistant to chief deputy state’s attorney Ken Grey, heard Salcido speak on a news program, Crone knew Salcido just had to speak at Take Back the Night.
“She had such a horrible childhood, and yet she had the opportunity to see her father in prison and forgive him,” Crone said. “It’s a story of resilience and strength, of letting people know there is life after abuse.”
Healing through sharing
Salcido feels sharing her story, including its gruesome details, has been crucial to her healing. The first step to eliminating domestic violence and moving past one’s own experiences, she believes, is talking about it.
“I look at how the neighbors treated the situation,” Salcido said. “There were always arguments and fights in the house and a lot of domestic violence against my mom, but the neighbors stayed out of it. No one wanted to get involved unless gunshots were going off.”
Unfortunately for Salcido, she experienced more abuse as a foster child. Although she has forgiven her perpetrators, she still battles post-traumatic stress disorder and has trouble trusting others.
“When I was finally ready to rejoin the world, I trusted everybody,” Salcido said. “I treated everybody the way I wanted to be treated. I had to learn to be more careful with certain people. I’m very outgoing, so it was hard to rein that back.”
Her message to victims? Let your only fear be fear itself. Know you are a wonderful person. Look for the positive in life and move toward that.
“Continue to be strong,” Salcido said. “Look at what you’ve survived.”
15th annual event
For 15 years, Will County has brought together survivors, supporters, activists and community leaders to protest violence against women. This year, the steering committee is reaching out to the community to help raise $15,000, in honor of the 15th anniversary.
That money will assist nonprofit agencies that work directly with those woman and children domestic violence affects. Last year, Will County’s Take Back the Night raised and distributed $8,000.
Although vigils like Take Back the Night have not eradicated domestic violence, it has progressed in educating the community and providing resources for assistance.
“Domestic violence often exists behind closed doors,” Crone said. “People will see a co-worker with a black eye and look away. By bring it into the light, we make people aware and empower the victims. We let them know it is OK to ask for help.”
In addition to the speaker, there will be a candlelight memorial vigil. This will honor survivors of domestic abuse and the women and children that have been murdered in Will County in the past 10 years.
The Will Grundy-Medical Center will provide a sign language interpreter.
Take Back the Night will also include a march down Larkin Avenue to Jefferson Street and then back to the school.
Coordinators are asking participants to bring canned goods and grocery store and gas station gift cards to the event. The cards will be donated to area domestic violence abuse shelters.
Information on ways to become locally involved will also be available.
Carmina Salcido, author of the 2009 book “Not Lost Forever: My Story of Survival,” did and she will share her story of hope and forgiveness on Thursday at Will County’s 15th annual Take Back the Night.
Once the event’s coordinator, Katrina Crone, assistant to chief deputy state’s attorney Ken Grey, heard Salcido speak on a news program, Crone knew Salcido just had to speak at Take Back the Night.
“She had such a horrible childhood, and yet she had the opportunity to see her father in prison and forgive him,” Crone said. “It’s a story of resilience and strength, of letting people know there is life after abuse.”
Healing through sharing
Salcido feels sharing her story, including its gruesome details, has been crucial to her healing. The first step to eliminating domestic violence and moving past one’s own experiences, she believes, is talking about it.
“I look at how the neighbors treated the situation,” Salcido said. “There were always arguments and fights in the house and a lot of domestic violence against my mom, but the neighbors stayed out of it. No one wanted to get involved unless gunshots were going off.”
Unfortunately for Salcido, she experienced more abuse as a foster child. Although she has forgiven her perpetrators, she still battles post-traumatic stress disorder and has trouble trusting others.
“When I was finally ready to rejoin the world, I trusted everybody,” Salcido said. “I treated everybody the way I wanted to be treated. I had to learn to be more careful with certain people. I’m very outgoing, so it was hard to rein that back.”
Her message to victims? Let your only fear be fear itself. Know you are a wonderful person. Look for the positive in life and move toward that.
“Continue to be strong,” Salcido said. “Look at what you’ve survived.”
15th annual event
For 15 years, Will County has brought together survivors, supporters, activists and community leaders to protest violence against women. This year, the steering committee is reaching out to the community to help raise $15,000, in honor of the 15th anniversary.
That money will assist nonprofit agencies that work directly with those woman and children domestic violence affects. Last year, Will County’s Take Back the Night raised and distributed $8,000.
Although vigils like Take Back the Night have not eradicated domestic violence, it has progressed in educating the community and providing resources for assistance.
“Domestic violence often exists behind closed doors,” Crone said. “People will see a co-worker with a black eye and look away. By bring it into the light, we make people aware and empower the victims. We let them know it is OK to ask for help.”
In addition to the speaker, there will be a candlelight memorial vigil. This will honor survivors of domestic abuse and the women and children that have been murdered in Will County in the past 10 years.
The Will Grundy-Medical Center will provide a sign language interpreter.
Take Back the Night will also include a march down Larkin Avenue to Jefferson Street and then back to the school.
Coordinators are asking participants to bring canned goods and grocery store and gas station gift cards to the event. The cards will be donated to area domestic violence abuse shelters.
Information on ways to become locally involved will also be available.
Port Richmond, PA: Boyfriend arrested in Port Richmond strangulation
PORT RICHMOND - September 30, 2011 (WPVI) -- A man is in custody after allegedly strangling his girlfriend inside a Port Richmond home.
Police in the 24th District responded just after 11:00 a.m. Friday to the 1900 block of East Tioga Street. There, they discovered the 30-year-old female victim after having been strangled.
The victim was transported to Aria-Frankford Hospital where she was pronounced dead at 11:40 a.m..
The Boyfriend is now in police custody.
Police are not yet releasing the names of the victim or suspect.
Police in the 24th District responded just after 11:00 a.m. Friday to the 1900 block of East Tioga Street. There, they discovered the 30-year-old female victim after having been strangled.
The victim was transported to Aria-Frankford Hospital where she was pronounced dead at 11:40 a.m..
The Boyfriend is now in police custody.
Police are not yet releasing the names of the victim or suspect.
Dodge City, KS: Former cop gets new trial in fatal shooting of ex-girlfriend
DODGE CITY, Kansas (KSN) -- A former Dodge City police officer will receive a new trial on charges that he shot and killed his ex-girlfriend.
Christopher Tahah was convicted of felony murder, for the May 4, 2007 shooting death of Erin Jones.
Tahah admitted he went to her home to kill her in a jealous rage but claims he reconsidered at the last minute before his rifle went off accidentally.
The Kansas Supreme Court ruled Friday that the jury should have been told to consider lesser offenses including second degree murder and involuntary manslaughter.
They based their decision off of a July Kansas Supreme Court ruling that now forces prosecutors in felony murder cases to allow the jury to consider lesser offenses in deliberations.
"That means even though the theory is felony murder, if there's evidence to suggest a lesser degree of homicide than the jury must consider that lesser crime," said KSN legal analyst Dan Monnat.
The case now goes back to the Ford County Attorney. No word yet from his office on when they will schedule a new trial for Tahah.
Christopher Tahah was convicted of felony murder, for the May 4, 2007 shooting death of Erin Jones.
Tahah admitted he went to her home to kill her in a jealous rage but claims he reconsidered at the last minute before his rifle went off accidentally.
The Kansas Supreme Court ruled Friday that the jury should have been told to consider lesser offenses including second degree murder and involuntary manslaughter.
They based their decision off of a July Kansas Supreme Court ruling that now forces prosecutors in felony murder cases to allow the jury to consider lesser offenses in deliberations.
"That means even though the theory is felony murder, if there's evidence to suggest a lesser degree of homicide than the jury must consider that lesser crime," said KSN legal analyst Dan Monnat.
The case now goes back to the Ford County Attorney. No word yet from his office on when they will schedule a new trial for Tahah.
Juneau, AK: Montana man faces cold case in Alaska
Twelve years and more than 1,200 miles apart, Robert Kowalski shot and killed two women. One died on vacation in Alaska, the other in her Montana home.
Both were romantically involved with Kowalski. Both were shot in the face. And both deaths, Kowal-ski claimed, were accidents.
Kowalski pleaded guilty in 2009 to the Montana killing. On Friday, 15 years after he shot his girlfriend in Southeast Alaska, a Juneau grand jury indicted Kowalski for her murder too, according to Alaska State Troopers.
The Alaska shooting came in the summer of 1996.
Troopers said Kowalski, 35 at the time, was vacationing in Yakutat with Sandra Perry, a 38-year-old mother of three. The pair lived together in Washington state and were staying in a room at the Glacier Bear Lodge, troopers said.
Kowalski told investigators he grabbed a shotgun when the couple heard what they thought was a bear outside their room, troopers said. Kowalski said he tripped on the bed, fell on top of Perry, and the gun went off as he stood up, troopers said.
Although a man staying in the next room said he heard the pair arguing before the gunshot, no charges were filed, court records show.
Investigators ruled the shooting an accident, but opinions changed in 2008 when Kowalski was charged with causing another woman's death.
According to an account in the Daily Inter Lake News in Northwest Montana, prosecutors told a judge that Kowalski and girlfriend Lorraine Kay Morin, 45, were in the midst of an alcohol-fueled fight when Morin tried to throw Kowalski out of her house. A small-caliber handgun changed hands at least once and, as the fight continued, Kowalski shot Morin from about a foot away, hitting her in the face, the newspaper reported. Morin was a mother of six.
Kowalski told a roommate about the shooting, the roommate told police, and Kowalski holed up in his home, according to the Daily Inter Lake. He surrendered after a 31-hour standoff that involved three SWAT teams and irritant gas launched into his home, the paper said.
Once again, Kowalski claimed the shooting was an accident, but this time he was charged, pleaded guilty and was convicted for the killing, troopers said. The Montana Department of Corrections website shows he is serving a 40-year sentence.
The similarities between the two shootings prompted investigators in Alaska to reopen the Yakutat cold case, troopers said.
Still, it's unclear what new information detectives discovered, if any. An investigator familiar with the case declined to comment on specific details about why Kowalski is now facing murder charges in Alaska.
Revisiting a suspicious death is "pretty much standard procedure for the Cold Case Unit" when a person of interest in the case turns up as a suspect in another, similar case, troopers spokeswoman Beth Ipsen wrote in an email.
"Another pair of fresh eyes sometimes can turn up new leads or more information," Ipsen said. "Plus, they aren't distracted by newer cases and can invest the time and focus specifically on these older, unresolved cases."
Kowalski, now 50, remains behind bars in Montana pending extradition to Alaska, troopers said. A Juneau judge set his bail at $1 million, troopers said.
Sandra Perry's son, Jeremy Padgett, said Saturday he was "excited" to hear Kowalski had been indicted for his mother's death but declined to comment further.
Both were romantically involved with Kowalski. Both were shot in the face. And both deaths, Kowal-ski claimed, were accidents.
Kowalski pleaded guilty in 2009 to the Montana killing. On Friday, 15 years after he shot his girlfriend in Southeast Alaska, a Juneau grand jury indicted Kowalski for her murder too, according to Alaska State Troopers.
The Alaska shooting came in the summer of 1996.
Troopers said Kowalski, 35 at the time, was vacationing in Yakutat with Sandra Perry, a 38-year-old mother of three. The pair lived together in Washington state and were staying in a room at the Glacier Bear Lodge, troopers said.
Kowalski told investigators he grabbed a shotgun when the couple heard what they thought was a bear outside their room, troopers said. Kowalski said he tripped on the bed, fell on top of Perry, and the gun went off as he stood up, troopers said.
Although a man staying in the next room said he heard the pair arguing before the gunshot, no charges were filed, court records show.
Investigators ruled the shooting an accident, but opinions changed in 2008 when Kowalski was charged with causing another woman's death.
According to an account in the Daily Inter Lake News in Northwest Montana, prosecutors told a judge that Kowalski and girlfriend Lorraine Kay Morin, 45, were in the midst of an alcohol-fueled fight when Morin tried to throw Kowalski out of her house. A small-caliber handgun changed hands at least once and, as the fight continued, Kowalski shot Morin from about a foot away, hitting her in the face, the newspaper reported. Morin was a mother of six.
Kowalski told a roommate about the shooting, the roommate told police, and Kowalski holed up in his home, according to the Daily Inter Lake. He surrendered after a 31-hour standoff that involved three SWAT teams and irritant gas launched into his home, the paper said.
Once again, Kowalski claimed the shooting was an accident, but this time he was charged, pleaded guilty and was convicted for the killing, troopers said. The Montana Department of Corrections website shows he is serving a 40-year sentence.
The similarities between the two shootings prompted investigators in Alaska to reopen the Yakutat cold case, troopers said.
Still, it's unclear what new information detectives discovered, if any. An investigator familiar with the case declined to comment on specific details about why Kowalski is now facing murder charges in Alaska.
Revisiting a suspicious death is "pretty much standard procedure for the Cold Case Unit" when a person of interest in the case turns up as a suspect in another, similar case, troopers spokeswoman Beth Ipsen wrote in an email.
"Another pair of fresh eyes sometimes can turn up new leads or more information," Ipsen said. "Plus, they aren't distracted by newer cases and can invest the time and focus specifically on these older, unresolved cases."
Kowalski, now 50, remains behind bars in Montana pending extradition to Alaska, troopers said. A Juneau judge set his bail at $1 million, troopers said.
Sandra Perry's son, Jeremy Padgett, said Saturday he was "excited" to hear Kowalski had been indicted for his mother's death but declined to comment further.
Bolingbrook, IL: Bolingbrook man gets 20 years for stabbing death after 2009 Christmas party
A Bolingbrook man was sentenced to 20 years in prison Friday after he admitted he stabbed and killed another man in the neck after a Christmas party in 2009.
Marco Rodriguez, 33, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder after prosecutors said he attacked Roberto Cortez with a kitchen knife in the 100 block of Campbell Drive on the morning of Dec. 26, 2009.
A neighbor driving down Campbell called police after seeing Cortez lying near his vehicle, which was still running.
Prosecutors said Cortez, of Romeoville, made a pass at Rodriguez’s wife, and Rodriguez felt disrespected by Cortez’ advances and wanted to uphold his family’s honor.
Rodriguez and his wife had one child at the time, prosecutors said, and another was on the way. The attack happened after a night of drinking, and Cortez’s blood alcohol content after his death was 0.186.
After Rodriguez stabbed Cortez, prosecutors said, he and his wife gathered their belongings and fled. Police eventually found them at a hotel in Des Plaines, and found a knife in a vehicle parked nearby.
Judge Daniel Rozak sentenced Rodriguez after he pleaded guilty Friday in Will County Court.
Marco Rodriguez, 33, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder after prosecutors said he attacked Roberto Cortez with a kitchen knife in the 100 block of Campbell Drive on the morning of Dec. 26, 2009.
A neighbor driving down Campbell called police after seeing Cortez lying near his vehicle, which was still running.
Prosecutors said Cortez, of Romeoville, made a pass at Rodriguez’s wife, and Rodriguez felt disrespected by Cortez’ advances and wanted to uphold his family’s honor.
Rodriguez and his wife had one child at the time, prosecutors said, and another was on the way. The attack happened after a night of drinking, and Cortez’s blood alcohol content after his death was 0.186.
After Rodriguez stabbed Cortez, prosecutors said, he and his wife gathered their belongings and fled. Police eventually found them at a hotel in Des Plaines, and found a knife in a vehicle parked nearby.
Judge Daniel Rozak sentenced Rodriguez after he pleaded guilty Friday in Will County Court.
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Lakewood, NJ: Lakewood man gets life in girlfriend's murder
TOMS RIVER — A 40-year-old Lakewood
man faced the grieving relatives of his
girlfriend Friday, refusing to accept blame
for her death even as he was about to be
sentenced to life in prison for her murder.
“Justice has failed me, and I ask that you
spare my life,” William McMillan, also
known as Khaleel Allah, said to state
Superior Court Judge James Den Uyl,
minutes before the judge handed down a
life prison term for the murder of Shakita
Crudup.
McMillan turned to the victim’s aunt, Jackie
Crudup, who has adopted Shakita Crudup’
s four children – two of whom are McMillan’
s.
“Jackie, thank you for doing what you’re
doing for my kids,’’ McMillan said. “I’m
sorry to all of you. Please take care of my
kids, please.”
Crudup’s relatives had just explained how
her murder has shattered her children, w
ho were ages 10, 5, 2 and 1,
respectively, at the time of her death.
“In one moment of anger, you brutally took
Shakita’s life away from me and her
siblings – but most of all, her four children,
who needed her very much,” said a tearful
Deborah Crudup, the victim’s mother.
McMillan was convicted in June of Crudup’s
murder. The victim had lived with him, her
children and McMillan’s teenage son in his
Claire Drive home, but testimony at the trial
indicated she was planning to leave him
shortly before she was killed.
The 26-year-old victim was fatally shot in
a bedroom in their home in what McMillan
claimed was an accident during a struggle
for a .357-Magnum. McMillan told police
afterward that an argument about another
woman preceded the shooting.
Assistant Ocean County prosecutors Bridget
Coughlin and Steven N. Cucci argued at the
trial that the shooting was no accident.
They called a blood pattern analyst to
testify that blood stains on the wall
scientifically proved McMillan stood over
Crudup and shot her. Crudup had her left
hand up to her head in a defensive move
when the bullet pierced her hand and
head, they argued.
man faced the grieving relatives of his
girlfriend Friday, refusing to accept blame
for her death even as he was about to be
sentenced to life in prison for her murder.
“Justice has failed me, and I ask that you
spare my life,” William McMillan, also
known as Khaleel Allah, said to state
Superior Court Judge James Den Uyl,
minutes before the judge handed down a
life prison term for the murder of Shakita
Crudup.
McMillan turned to the victim’s aunt, Jackie
Crudup, who has adopted Shakita Crudup’
s four children – two of whom are McMillan’
s.
“Jackie, thank you for doing what you’re
doing for my kids,’’ McMillan said. “I’m
sorry to all of you. Please take care of my
kids, please.”
Crudup’s relatives had just explained how
her murder has shattered her children, w
ho were ages 10, 5, 2 and 1,
respectively, at the time of her death.
“In one moment of anger, you brutally took
Shakita’s life away from me and her
siblings – but most of all, her four children,
who needed her very much,” said a tearful
Deborah Crudup, the victim’s mother.
McMillan was convicted in June of Crudup’s
murder. The victim had lived with him, her
children and McMillan’s teenage son in his
Claire Drive home, but testimony at the trial
indicated she was planning to leave him
shortly before she was killed.
The 26-year-old victim was fatally shot in
a bedroom in their home in what McMillan
claimed was an accident during a struggle
for a .357-Magnum. McMillan told police
afterward that an argument about another
woman preceded the shooting.
Assistant Ocean County prosecutors Bridget
Coughlin and Steven N. Cucci argued at the
trial that the shooting was no accident.
They called a blood pattern analyst to
testify that blood stains on the wall
scientifically proved McMillan stood over
Crudup and shot her. Crudup had her left
hand up to her head in a defensive move
when the bullet pierced her hand and
head, they argued.
Lewiston, ID: Idaho judge sets bail for man in ex-wife's death
LEWISTON, Idaho (AP) — A judge has set bail at $1 million for a former sheriff's deputy accused of strangling his ex-wife.
The Lewiston Tribune reports (http://bit.ly/onPIHH ) 37-year-old Joseph Thomas Jr. is charged with first-degree murder in the death of 28-year-old Beth Irby-Thomas, who was found May 1 in her Lewiston home with a belt cinched around her neck.
Judge Michael J. Griffin rejected a motion Friday seeking for Thomas to be released on his own recognizance and allowed to stay with family.
Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty against Thomas, who previously worked for the Nez Perce Sheriff's Office but had left his job and was living in Washington state before his ex-wife's death. Police say the couple's two young sons were in the house when her body was found.
The Lewiston Tribune reports (http://bit.ly/onPIHH ) 37-year-old Joseph Thomas Jr. is charged with first-degree murder in the death of 28-year-old Beth Irby-Thomas, who was found May 1 in her Lewiston home with a belt cinched around her neck.
Judge Michael J. Griffin rejected a motion Friday seeking for Thomas to be released on his own recognizance and allowed to stay with family.
Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty against Thomas, who previously worked for the Nez Perce Sheriff's Office but had left his job and was living in Washington state before his ex-wife's death. Police say the couple's two young sons were in the house when her body was found.
El Reno, OK: Wife charged with murder in fire chief's death
Updated 04:29 p.m., Friday, September 30, 2011
EL RENO, Okla. (AP) — The wife of a suburban Oklahoma City fire department chief shot in the head pleaded not guilty Friday to first-degree murder in his death.
Clad in an orange-and-white jail uniform and shackled, Becky Bryan slowly walked through the courtroom and mouthed, "I love you," to one of her sons, The Oklahoman (http://bit.ly/nQaoXz) reported. Bryan, 52, was arrested a week ago in the death of her husband, Keith Bryan.
Keith Bryan, chief of the Nichols Hills Fire Department, was found dead Sept. 20 in his home in Mustang.
Bryan told police an intruder shot her 52-year-old husband and fled in a pickup truck, authorities said.
She was arrested after investigators found a gun and other items in a clothes dryer in her house and a handgun box between the mattress and box spring on what investigators said appeared to be her side of the bed.
Prosecutor Paul Hesse asked that Bryan be held in the Canadian County jail without bond.
Her attorney, Gary James, said a bond request would be filed at a later date. Bryan's next court date was set for Nov. 4.
"They've got to prove we did it," James told reporters after the hearing. "You've probably seen 2 percent of the evidence in this case. Reserve judgment."
Bryan waved to one of her sons as she left the courtroom. Her family has been supportive and has visited her, James said.
Hesse declined to comment on the case.
___
EL RENO, Okla. (AP) — The wife of a suburban Oklahoma City fire department chief shot in the head pleaded not guilty Friday to first-degree murder in his death.
Clad in an orange-and-white jail uniform and shackled, Becky Bryan slowly walked through the courtroom and mouthed, "I love you," to one of her sons, The Oklahoman (http://bit.ly/nQaoXz) reported. Bryan, 52, was arrested a week ago in the death of her husband, Keith Bryan.
Keith Bryan, chief of the Nichols Hills Fire Department, was found dead Sept. 20 in his home in Mustang.
Bryan told police an intruder shot her 52-year-old husband and fled in a pickup truck, authorities said.
She was arrested after investigators found a gun and other items in a clothes dryer in her house and a handgun box between the mattress and box spring on what investigators said appeared to be her side of the bed.
Prosecutor Paul Hesse asked that Bryan be held in the Canadian County jail without bond.
Her attorney, Gary James, said a bond request would be filed at a later date. Bryan's next court date was set for Nov. 4.
"They've got to prove we did it," James told reporters after the hearing. "You've probably seen 2 percent of the evidence in this case. Reserve judgment."
Bryan waved to one of her sons as she left the courtroom. Her family has been supportive and has visited her, James said.
Hesse declined to comment on the case.
___
Milford, PA: Milford man dead, woman injured after domestic dispute
October 01, 2011
A 60-year-old Milford-area man id dead and a 45-year-old woman is hospitalized with chemical burns over a large part of her body following a violent domestic argument Saturday morning in Delaware Township.
State police in Blooming Grove report that James Patrick Siggia died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at the Side Street Tavern on Dingmans Court off Route 739.
The unidentified woman was flown a hospital and her condition is unknown.
According to police, Siggia and the woman were involved in a domestic argument that turned violent. The woman received chemical burns, and Siggia shot himself. Police were called in at 8:45 a.m., which sources with knowledge of the incident say was soon after it occurred.
Police have not disclosed the chemical involved, how she was burned or the circumstances of the argument.
A 60-year-old Milford-area man id dead and a 45-year-old woman is hospitalized with chemical burns over a large part of her body following a violent domestic argument Saturday morning in Delaware Township.
State police in Blooming Grove report that James Patrick Siggia died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at the Side Street Tavern on Dingmans Court off Route 739.
The unidentified woman was flown a hospital and her condition is unknown.
According to police, Siggia and the woman were involved in a domestic argument that turned violent. The woman received chemical burns, and Siggia shot himself. Police were called in at 8:45 a.m., which sources with knowledge of the incident say was soon after it occurred.
Police have not disclosed the chemical involved, how she was burned or the circumstances of the argument.
Beeville, TX: Three Left Dead In Bee County Shooting
BEEVILLE (Kiii News) - A domestic dispute turns deadly in Bee County after a husband shoots his wife and her parents, then turns the gun on himself. It happened Friday morning in Tuleta, about 12 miles North of Beeville.
The shooter, and his in-laws are now dead, his wife was taken to the hospital. A 15-month old girl was at the home during the shooting rampage, but was not injured. Bee County Sheriff Carlos Carrizales Junior was taken aback by this shooting, saying things like this don't happen in Bee County.
The Sheriff also says in his 25-year old Reshay Rodgers is lucky to be alive. 3 news was there as Reshay arrived at Christus Spohn Memorial Hospital in Corpus Christi after being taken by Halo Flight. The Sheriff says his office received a phone call just after 8:45 AM on Friday. Reshay had gone to a neighbor's house, covered in blood, asking for help. Sheriff's deputies arrived on scene minutes later.
"A short time later they made entry and discovered one deceased male, one deceased female, and one wounded male subject," said Sheriff Carrizales.
The wounded man was identified as 52-year old Kenny Rodgers. Rodgers was taken to Christus Spohn Beeville where he later died. Kenny's wife, 49-year old Retha Rodgers was found dead at the family's home on FM 1465 in Tuleta.
It's unclear whether their 25-year old daughter Reshay was visiting her parents, or lived at the residence. The Sheriff says Reshay's 15-month old baby girl was at the home Friday morning while the shootings took place, but was not injured. The Sheriff also says Reshay was separated from her husband, the suspected shooter. The Sheriff says Reshay and her husband were on and off, but were separated and planning on getting a divorce.
The Sheriff says the shooter is 30 year old Billy Coy Lowe from the Three Rivers area. Sheriff Carrizales also says he believes while deputies were securing the residence, Lowe shot himself in the head.
The shooter, and his in-laws are now dead, his wife was taken to the hospital. A 15-month old girl was at the home during the shooting rampage, but was not injured. Bee County Sheriff Carlos Carrizales Junior was taken aback by this shooting, saying things like this don't happen in Bee County.
The Sheriff also says in his 25-year old Reshay Rodgers is lucky to be alive. 3 news was there as Reshay arrived at Christus Spohn Memorial Hospital in Corpus Christi after being taken by Halo Flight. The Sheriff says his office received a phone call just after 8:45 AM on Friday. Reshay had gone to a neighbor's house, covered in blood, asking for help. Sheriff's deputies arrived on scene minutes later.
"A short time later they made entry and discovered one deceased male, one deceased female, and one wounded male subject," said Sheriff Carrizales.
The wounded man was identified as 52-year old Kenny Rodgers. Rodgers was taken to Christus Spohn Beeville where he later died. Kenny's wife, 49-year old Retha Rodgers was found dead at the family's home on FM 1465 in Tuleta.
It's unclear whether their 25-year old daughter Reshay was visiting her parents, or lived at the residence. The Sheriff says Reshay's 15-month old baby girl was at the home Friday morning while the shootings took place, but was not injured. The Sheriff also says Reshay was separated from her husband, the suspected shooter. The Sheriff says Reshay and her husband were on and off, but were separated and planning on getting a divorce.
The Sheriff says the shooter is 30 year old Billy Coy Lowe from the Three Rivers area. Sheriff Carrizales also says he believes while deputies were securing the residence, Lowe shot himself in the head.
Hillsboro, TX: One dead, one injured in violent domestic case
Posted: Sep 30, 2011 12:00 AM EDT
HILLSBORO - A Hillsboro man is dead and a woman is severely injured after a violent domestic dispute Tuesday morning.
Sheriff's Deputies rescued the female victim and her 2-year-old son at their house on Farm to Market Road 2559, as the suspect, 30-year-old Stanley Bazaar Mathes, locked himself in a bedroom.
Police negotiators talked with Mathes on his cell phone for an hour and a half before he shot himself in the head.
The woman was airlifted to the hospital. Her condition has not been released
Child protective services released the boy to his grandmother.
HILLSBORO - A Hillsboro man is dead and a woman is severely injured after a violent domestic dispute Tuesday morning.
Sheriff's Deputies rescued the female victim and her 2-year-old son at their house on Farm to Market Road 2559, as the suspect, 30-year-old Stanley Bazaar Mathes, locked himself in a bedroom.
Police negotiators talked with Mathes on his cell phone for an hour and a half before he shot himself in the head.
The woman was airlifted to the hospital. Her condition has not been released
Child protective services released the boy to his grandmother.
Plainfield, NJ: Authorities suspect Plainfield stabbing was a result of a domestic dispute
PLAINFIELD — A domestic dispute inside a Plainfield residence ended Wednesday when a man repeatedly stabbed his live-in girlfriend, killing the 48-year-old woman, authorities said today.
Police found Audrey Tanksley’s body, riddled with multiple knife wounds, around 5 p.m. Wednesday at a residence on the 300-block of East Seventh Street, said Albert Cernadas Jr, Union County’s first assistant prosecutor. She was dead when officers arrived, the prosecutor’s office said.
Her 50-year-old live-in boyfriend, Anthony James, was arrested at the scene on charges of murder and weapons offenses, Cernadas said. The couple had been living in the home for about three years, authorities said.
The prosecutor’s office would not say how many times the woman was stabbed or what type of knife was used. The results of an autopsy haven’t been released.
James is being held at the Union County jail on $1 million bail, Cernadas said.
Police found Audrey Tanksley’s body, riddled with multiple knife wounds, around 5 p.m. Wednesday at a residence on the 300-block of East Seventh Street, said Albert Cernadas Jr, Union County’s first assistant prosecutor. She was dead when officers arrived, the prosecutor’s office said.
Her 50-year-old live-in boyfriend, Anthony James, was arrested at the scene on charges of murder and weapons offenses, Cernadas said. The couple had been living in the home for about three years, authorities said.
The prosecutor’s office would not say how many times the woman was stabbed or what type of knife was used. The results of an autopsy haven’t been released.
James is being held at the Union County jail on $1 million bail, Cernadas said.
Los Angeles, CA: High school student jailed in ex-girlfriend's on-campus stabbing death
Daily News Wire Services
Posted: 10/01/2011 10:03:12 AM PDT
Updated: 10/01/2011 10:03:40 AM PDT
LOS ANGELES - A high school senior was behind bars today on suspicion of fatally stabbing his ex-girlfriend on a Los Angeles Unified School District campus in South Gate.
Abraham Lopez, 18, allegedly stabbed Cindi Santana, 17, during a lunchtime fight at South East High School before being subdued.
An 11th-grade and varsity football player, Jorge Garcia, and a female dean were stabbed or cut while trying to stop the attack, according to school police.
Lopez, who was first taken to a hospital to be checked out, was to be booked on suspicion of murder, Los Angeles Unified School District Police Chief Steven K. Zipperman told KCAL9.
Witnesses described Lopez grabbing Santana and putting her in a headlock, as several people tried to intervene in a courtyard away from classrooms. It was unclear what kind of knife Lopez used or how he got it on campus.
It took about 15 stitches to close a cut on Garcia's arm, according to published reports.
Cindi died at St. Francis Medical Center during surgery about 7:45 p.m. She reportedly suffered wounds to her back and side.
The stabbing also triggered a bomb scare at the hospital last night.
" ... investigators came across some information that the suspect (Lopez) may have placed an explosive device in one of the family member's vehicles (which had since been driven to the hospital) or possibly around the residence of one of
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the victim's family members,'' Zipperman said. "So we contacted the sheriff's bomb squad and they responded to the areas and cleared both locations.''
The hospital parking structure at 3630 E. Imperial Highway was cleared about 10:30 p.m.
A school district spokeswoman said the student and the dean who were stabbed should be OK. A school police officer complained of a back injury.
Zipperman said crisis counselors would be made available to Santana's family and, on Monday, to students and staffers at the school at 2700 Tweedy Boulevard on Monday. Sheriff's detectives will be handling the investigation.
South East High School, about 7 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles, is home to about 3,000 students.
The stabbing death was the first on a LAUSD campus in recent memory. On June 5, 2006, a Venice High School student was fatally shot in a faculty parking lot.
Posted: 10/01/2011 10:03:12 AM PDT
Updated: 10/01/2011 10:03:40 AM PDT
LOS ANGELES - A high school senior was behind bars today on suspicion of fatally stabbing his ex-girlfriend on a Los Angeles Unified School District campus in South Gate.
Abraham Lopez, 18, allegedly stabbed Cindi Santana, 17, during a lunchtime fight at South East High School before being subdued.
An 11th-grade and varsity football player, Jorge Garcia, and a female dean were stabbed or cut while trying to stop the attack, according to school police.
Lopez, who was first taken to a hospital to be checked out, was to be booked on suspicion of murder, Los Angeles Unified School District Police Chief Steven K. Zipperman told KCAL9.
Witnesses described Lopez grabbing Santana and putting her in a headlock, as several people tried to intervene in a courtyard away from classrooms. It was unclear what kind of knife Lopez used or how he got it on campus.
It took about 15 stitches to close a cut on Garcia's arm, according to published reports.
Cindi died at St. Francis Medical Center during surgery about 7:45 p.m. She reportedly suffered wounds to her back and side.
The stabbing also triggered a bomb scare at the hospital last night.
" ... investigators came across some information that the suspect (Lopez) may have placed an explosive device in one of the family member's vehicles (which had since been driven to the hospital) or possibly around the residence of one of
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the victim's family members,'' Zipperman said. "So we contacted the sheriff's bomb squad and they responded to the areas and cleared both locations.''
The hospital parking structure at 3630 E. Imperial Highway was cleared about 10:30 p.m.
A school district spokeswoman said the student and the dean who were stabbed should be OK. A school police officer complained of a back injury.
Zipperman said crisis counselors would be made available to Santana's family and, on Monday, to students and staffers at the school at 2700 Tweedy Boulevard on Monday. Sheriff's detectives will be handling the investigation.
South East High School, about 7 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles, is home to about 3,000 students.
The stabbing death was the first on a LAUSD campus in recent memory. On June 5, 2006, a Venice High School student was fatally shot in a faculty parking lot.
Travis County, TX: Former Pedernales firefighter indicted in death of girlfriend
TRAVIS COUNTY -- A Travis County grand jury returned a murder indictment against a former local firefighter accused in the death of his girlfriend.
Joe Carr, 27, who worked for the Pedernales Fire Department is accused of the murder of 22-year-old Veronica Navarro of Spicewood.
Her body was found floating in Lake Travis on July 6 on the east shoreline of Pace Bend Park. The body had been wrapped in a tent weighed down with a paint can.
Carr was arrested a short time later trying to leave the country by entering Canada.
Bond for the murder indictment was set at $500,000. Carr is in custody from the previous charge of tampering with physical evidence, which also has a $500,000 bond.
Joe Carr, 27, who worked for the Pedernales Fire Department is accused of the murder of 22-year-old Veronica Navarro of Spicewood.
Her body was found floating in Lake Travis on July 6 on the east shoreline of Pace Bend Park. The body had been wrapped in a tent weighed down with a paint can.
Carr was arrested a short time later trying to leave the country by entering Canada.
Bond for the murder indictment was set at $500,000. Carr is in custody from the previous charge of tampering with physical evidence, which also has a $500,000 bond.
Covington, OH: Family blames girlfriend in gruesome death
COVINGTON - Moments after learning that Donnell Brown had been killed inside a Greenup Street apartment, the 56-year-old’s family said they knew who was to blame.
Hours later, Covington Police agreed.
Early Friday police arrested three people and charged them with killing, decapitating and dismembering Brown inside the green brick apartment at Greenup and Pleasant streets.
About 2:45 p.m. Thursday a man doing work on an apartment inside a green brick house at Greenup and Pleasant streets found the body and called police, said Lt. Col. Spike Jones, Covington Police spokesman.
Tiffany Herrera, 27, and Austin Eash, 21, were being held in the Kenton County Detention Center on Friday without bail.
A 17-year-old boy was also arrested and is being held in the Campbell County Juvenile Detention Center, said Lt. Col. Spike Jones, Covington Police spokesman.
All three are charged with murder, abuse of corpse, tampering with evidence and theft.
An autopsy was performed Friday but police did not release the cause of death. Brown’s estranged wife Sharon Brown said her husband’s head was cut off and that this legs were severed. Jones would only say that the body had been mutilated.
It’s possible that the suspects were in the process of trying to conceal the body, but detectives are still investigating what took place in the apartment, Jones said.
Brown’s body was discovered about 2:45 p.m. Thursday afternoon when a man came to work on the front apartment in the Greenup Street house.
When police arrived, Herrera and Eash were inside their apartment in same building.
They were taken into custody less than an hour later and charged just after midnight.
Brown’s family members said Thursday that they suspected that the woman named Tiffany that Brown had been seeing and her boyfriend had something to do with his death.
Donnell Brown had been living in Covington since August when he and Sharon Brown became estranged, Sharon Brown said.
Brown lived with his son Denny and his wife. But detectives say he had been spending time in the apartment where his body was found, said Commonwealth’s Attorney Rob Sanders.
“He was seen at that location a good deal,” Sanders said.
Eash and Herrera lived in an apartment around the side of the house.
Denny Brown said his father had been seeing Herrera for a about a year. He and his siblings did not approve of their father’s relationship with Herrera and warned him to stay away from her.
Donnell Brown left his son’s house early Monday without taking his cell phone charger or heart medication.
On Wednesday, the same day that Sharon Brown reported him missing, Denny Brown’s wife Melissa went to the Greenup Street apartment with another of Brown’s son looking for him.
Herrera answered the door but would not let them in, Melissa Brown said Thursday afternoon.
“She said ‘I don’t know I haven’t talked to him,’” Melissa Brown said. Herrera then changed her story and told Melissa Brown that she had talked to Brown.
According to Melissa Brown, Herrera said that Donnell Brown told her to tell his sons he loved them and the he wanted to be with his mother who is dead.
Denny Brown said he now believes Herrera wanted the family to think that Brown killed himself.
Neighbors in the area said they recalled Eash walking around with a large knife in recent days.
Eash has been convicted of possession of marijuana three times in the last three years, court records show. His only other arrests were for traffic violations.
Herrera has been convicted of theft three times. In June, she served four days in the Kenton County jail on a theft charge, according to court records. In 2008, she was ordered to stay out of Walmart for two years after being convicted of shoplifting.
Donnell Brown also had a criminal record; in August 2006, Brown was convicted of first-degree trafficking a controlled substance in Boone County, according to the Kentucky Department of Corrections.
He was sentenced to five years in prison but was released after less than six months on shock probation, a program under which first-time offenders can gain release because a judge believes that the shock of incarceration will prevent them from committing another crime.
Herrera and Eash are scheduled to appear in Kenton District Court on Tuesday.
Sanders said he plans to try the juvenile in adult court.
The teen is the fourth juvenile charged with murder this year in Covington.
Hours later, Covington Police agreed.
Early Friday police arrested three people and charged them with killing, decapitating and dismembering Brown inside the green brick apartment at Greenup and Pleasant streets.
About 2:45 p.m. Thursday a man doing work on an apartment inside a green brick house at Greenup and Pleasant streets found the body and called police, said Lt. Col. Spike Jones, Covington Police spokesman.
Tiffany Herrera, 27, and Austin Eash, 21, were being held in the Kenton County Detention Center on Friday without bail.
A 17-year-old boy was also arrested and is being held in the Campbell County Juvenile Detention Center, said Lt. Col. Spike Jones, Covington Police spokesman.
All three are charged with murder, abuse of corpse, tampering with evidence and theft.
An autopsy was performed Friday but police did not release the cause of death. Brown’s estranged wife Sharon Brown said her husband’s head was cut off and that this legs were severed. Jones would only say that the body had been mutilated.
It’s possible that the suspects were in the process of trying to conceal the body, but detectives are still investigating what took place in the apartment, Jones said.
Brown’s body was discovered about 2:45 p.m. Thursday afternoon when a man came to work on the front apartment in the Greenup Street house.
When police arrived, Herrera and Eash were inside their apartment in same building.
They were taken into custody less than an hour later and charged just after midnight.
Brown’s family members said Thursday that they suspected that the woman named Tiffany that Brown had been seeing and her boyfriend had something to do with his death.
Donnell Brown had been living in Covington since August when he and Sharon Brown became estranged, Sharon Brown said.
Brown lived with his son Denny and his wife. But detectives say he had been spending time in the apartment where his body was found, said Commonwealth’s Attorney Rob Sanders.
“He was seen at that location a good deal,” Sanders said.
Eash and Herrera lived in an apartment around the side of the house.
Denny Brown said his father had been seeing Herrera for a about a year. He and his siblings did not approve of their father’s relationship with Herrera and warned him to stay away from her.
Donnell Brown left his son’s house early Monday without taking his cell phone charger or heart medication.
On Wednesday, the same day that Sharon Brown reported him missing, Denny Brown’s wife Melissa went to the Greenup Street apartment with another of Brown’s son looking for him.
Herrera answered the door but would not let them in, Melissa Brown said Thursday afternoon.
“She said ‘I don’t know I haven’t talked to him,’” Melissa Brown said. Herrera then changed her story and told Melissa Brown that she had talked to Brown.
According to Melissa Brown, Herrera said that Donnell Brown told her to tell his sons he loved them and the he wanted to be with his mother who is dead.
Denny Brown said he now believes Herrera wanted the family to think that Brown killed himself.
Neighbors in the area said they recalled Eash walking around with a large knife in recent days.
Eash has been convicted of possession of marijuana three times in the last three years, court records show. His only other arrests were for traffic violations.
Herrera has been convicted of theft three times. In June, she served four days in the Kenton County jail on a theft charge, according to court records. In 2008, she was ordered to stay out of Walmart for two years after being convicted of shoplifting.
Donnell Brown also had a criminal record; in August 2006, Brown was convicted of first-degree trafficking a controlled substance in Boone County, according to the Kentucky Department of Corrections.
He was sentenced to five years in prison but was released after less than six months on shock probation, a program under which first-time offenders can gain release because a judge believes that the shock of incarceration will prevent them from committing another crime.
Herrera and Eash are scheduled to appear in Kenton District Court on Tuesday.
Sanders said he plans to try the juvenile in adult court.
The teen is the fourth juvenile charged with murder this year in Covington.
Cleveland, TN: UPDATE 6: 3 dead in Bradley Co. murder-suicide; 1 critical
CLEVELAND, BRADLEY COUNTY (WRCB) – Deputies searched the home where three people were fatally shot and a fourth was seriously wounded Friday.
Bradley County Sheriff's spokesman Bob Gault says Charles Boling Sr., 67, Gail Boling, 65, and their son, Charles Boling Jr., 47, were shot and killed inside Boling Jr's home. Gault said Boling Sr. shot and killed his wife and son before turning the gun on himself Friday morning.
Gault says Boling's wife had traveled from their Etowah home Thursday night to stay with their son and his friend.
The son's friend, who neighbors have identified as Kenneth Kilgore, 33, and also lived in the home, was flown to Erlanger with multiple gunshot wounds. Gault says he was in intensive care at last check.
Deputies were called to the home at 325 Baker Bridge Road shortly before 7:00 a.m. They discovered the bodies when they arrived at the home.
Neighbors tell Channel 3 Eyewitness News the property is owned by Charles Boling Jr., a man they describe as a "nice guy".
Investigators say a number of weapons were found inside the home and have been sent to a lab as forensic evidence. The victims' bodies have been taken to the UT Forensic Center for autopsies.
Investigators remain at the scene, they don't believe anyone else was involved in the shooting.
Bradley County Sheriff's spokesman Bob Gault says Charles Boling Sr., 67, Gail Boling, 65, and their son, Charles Boling Jr., 47, were shot and killed inside Boling Jr's home. Gault said Boling Sr. shot and killed his wife and son before turning the gun on himself Friday morning.
Gault says Boling's wife had traveled from their Etowah home Thursday night to stay with their son and his friend.
The son's friend, who neighbors have identified as Kenneth Kilgore, 33, and also lived in the home, was flown to Erlanger with multiple gunshot wounds. Gault says he was in intensive care at last check.
Deputies were called to the home at 325 Baker Bridge Road shortly before 7:00 a.m. They discovered the bodies when they arrived at the home.
Neighbors tell Channel 3 Eyewitness News the property is owned by Charles Boling Jr., a man they describe as a "nice guy".
Investigators say a number of weapons were found inside the home and have been sent to a lab as forensic evidence. The victims' bodies have been taken to the UT Forensic Center for autopsies.
Investigators remain at the scene, they don't believe anyone else was involved in the shooting.
Jurupa Valley, CA: Victims of murder-suicide at high school identified
JURUPA VALLEY — A man and woman killed in an apparent murder-suicide in the parking lot of a Jurupa Valley high school were identified Thursday.
Donaciano Aguirre, 54, of Riverside allegedly shot his wife, 61-year-old Maria Celia Aguirre, and then turned the gun on himself around 10:40 a.m. Wednesday in front of Patriot High School, according to the Riverside County Coroner's Office.
Donaciano Aguirre was pronounced dead at the scene. His wife was rushed to Riverside Community Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 11:28 a.m., coroner's officials said.
The circumstances behind the shootings were not immediately known.
A sheriff's deputy working a security detail at the high school heard gunshots from the parking lot and directed administrators to lock down the campus while he investigated, according to the sheriff's department.
When the deputy reached the parking lot, he discovered the woman and man, a handgun lying next to the latter.
No students were involved.
Maria Aguirre was a volunteer teacher's aide at the school, according to published reports.
The campus remained on lockdown, with students restricted to classrooms, while deputies searched the grounds to confirm there were no other threats.
The campus was declared secure at 11:50 a.m., and school officials were cleared to resume normal operations.
However, administrators continued to hold students, releasing them at intervals between 1 and 3 p.m.
Donaciano Aguirre, 54, of Riverside allegedly shot his wife, 61-year-old Maria Celia Aguirre, and then turned the gun on himself around 10:40 a.m. Wednesday in front of Patriot High School, according to the Riverside County Coroner's Office.
Donaciano Aguirre was pronounced dead at the scene. His wife was rushed to Riverside Community Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 11:28 a.m., coroner's officials said.
The circumstances behind the shootings were not immediately known.
A sheriff's deputy working a security detail at the high school heard gunshots from the parking lot and directed administrators to lock down the campus while he investigated, according to the sheriff's department.
When the deputy reached the parking lot, he discovered the woman and man, a handgun lying next to the latter.
No students were involved.
Maria Aguirre was a volunteer teacher's aide at the school, according to published reports.
The campus remained on lockdown, with students restricted to classrooms, while deputies searched the grounds to confirm there were no other threats.
The campus was declared secure at 11:50 a.m., and school officials were cleared to resume normal operations.
However, administrators continued to hold students, releasing them at intervals between 1 and 3 p.m.
Edinburgh, IN: Man gets prison for shooting ex-girlfriend
Joseph Simpson (Provided photo).
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Updated: Friday, 30 Sep 2011, 8:44 AM EDT
Published : Friday, 30 Sep 2011, 8:36 AM EDT
EDINBURGH, Ind. (Daily Journal) - A Shelby County man was sentenced to 45 years in prison after he said he shot his ex-girlfriend out of jealousy, 24-Hour News 8’s news partner, the Daily Journal, reports.
The fatal shooting happened in February in Edinburgh. Kaye Ellis, 46, was found shot to death in her home.
Joseph Simpson, 44, of Fairland , pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and a firearms charge. He told the court he shot Ellis in the neck after discovering she was seeing someone else.
The shooting happened after an argument in her home, Simpson said. Their relationship had ended months before.
Regular Photo Size
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These people were arrested in Ind. in Sept. 2011. They are …
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Advertisement
Updated: Friday, 30 Sep 2011, 8:44 AM EDT
Published : Friday, 30 Sep 2011, 8:36 AM EDT
EDINBURGH, Ind. (Daily Journal) - A Shelby County man was sentenced to 45 years in prison after he said he shot his ex-girlfriend out of jealousy, 24-Hour News 8’s news partner, the Daily Journal, reports.
The fatal shooting happened in February in Edinburgh. Kaye Ellis, 46, was found shot to death in her home.
Joseph Simpson, 44, of Fairland , pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and a firearms charge. He told the court he shot Ellis in the neck after discovering she was seeing someone else.
The shooting happened after an argument in her home, Simpson said. Their relationship had ended months before.
Plymouth, MA: Plymouth man charged with shooting girlfriend’s dog
E-mail| Print | Comments () 09/29/2011 11:39 AM
By Amanda Cedrone, Globe Correspondent
A Plymouth man is facing charges that he shot and killed his girlfriend’s dog, police said.
William J. Pomroy, 64, was arraigned Wednesday in Plymouth District Court, said Plymouth Police Captain John Rogers.
Pomroy faces several charges, including malicious killing of a domestic animal, and was released on his own recognizance.
Police received a call from Pomroy shortly after 9 p.m. Tuesday, claiming that his girlfriend’s dog, a 1 1/2-year-old chocolate Lab, had come at him and that he shot the dog, Rogers said.
“It was a single gunshot wound,” Rogers said. “Based on our investigation, we feel that it was a malicious and unwarranted act.”
The circumstances indicate Pomroy had been drinking, Rogers said. Pomroy’s license to carry and his weapons have been seized. He will return to court Oct. 8.
By Amanda Cedrone, Globe Correspondent
A Plymouth man is facing charges that he shot and killed his girlfriend’s dog, police said.
William J. Pomroy, 64, was arraigned Wednesday in Plymouth District Court, said Plymouth Police Captain John Rogers.
Pomroy faces several charges, including malicious killing of a domestic animal, and was released on his own recognizance.
Police received a call from Pomroy shortly after 9 p.m. Tuesday, claiming that his girlfriend’s dog, a 1 1/2-year-old chocolate Lab, had come at him and that he shot the dog, Rogers said.
“It was a single gunshot wound,” Rogers said. “Based on our investigation, we feel that it was a malicious and unwarranted act.”
The circumstances indicate Pomroy had been drinking, Rogers said. Pomroy’s license to carry and his weapons have been seized. He will return to court Oct. 8.
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