Saturday, July 31, 2010
Tom Waits - God's away On Business
I'd sell your heart to the junkman baby
For a buck, for a buck
If you're looking for someone
To pull you out of that ditch
You're out of luck, you're out of luck
The ship is sinking
The ship is sinking
The ship is sinking
There's leak, there's leak,
In the boiler room
The poor, the lame, the blind
Who are the ones that we kept in charge?
Killers, thieves, and lawyers
God's away, God's away,
God's away on Business. Business.
God's away, God's away,
God's away on Business. Business.
Digging up the dead with
A shovel and a pick
It's a job, it's a job
Bloody moon rising with
A plague and a flood
Jain the mob, jain the mob
It's all over, it's all over, it's all over
There's a lick, there's a lick,
In the boiler room
The poor, the lame, the blind
Who are the ones that we kept in charge?
Killers, thieves, and lawyers
God's away, God's away, God's away
On Business. Business.
God's away, God's away,
On Business. Business.
[Instrumental Break]
Goddamn ther's always such
A big temptation
To be good, To be good
Tere's always free cheddar in
A mousetrap, baby
It's a deal, it's a deal
God's away, God's away, God's away
On Business. Business.
God's away, God's away, God's away
On Business. Business.
I narrow my eyes like a coin slot baby,
Let her ring, let her ring
God's away, God's away,
God's away on Business.
Business...
Burglar dies after breaking into house
Posted on Sat, Jul. 31, 2010
BY ROY WENZL
The Wichita Eagle
A burglar in north Wichita apparently caused his death today by slitting his wrist on a windowpane as he broke into the house, police said.
The 38-year-old man was apparently trying to break into a house in the 2100 block of North Park Place, said Lt. Ken Landwehr.
The homeowner was not home at the time. Police found blood on a door and on a side window. The dead man was found three blocks away, he said. Landwehr declined to release the man's name. He said police are classifying the death, for now, as a public accident.
Police dispatchers received an initial report at 6:12 a.m. today of a "cutting" involving a male victim.
"We are basically checking to see if we can find out who might have been with this guy," Landwehr said. "There was a loss, some property is missing, but I don't want to say what yet."
The man had a police record. "He's had some arrests, we have some history with this guy, although nothing about burglary," Landwehr said.
Police are awaiting the results of an autopsy, but they are certain of the cause of death. "Everything we've seen is consistent with the cut wound to the left wrist and that he bled out afterward. We don't know whether he was cut trying to get in the window or door. There is blood on both."
From: http://www.kansas.com/2010/07/30/1426095/burglar-dies-after-breaking-into.html#storylink=omni_popular
BY ROY WENZL
The Wichita Eagle
A burglar in north Wichita apparently caused his death today by slitting his wrist on a windowpane as he broke into the house, police said.
The 38-year-old man was apparently trying to break into a house in the 2100 block of North Park Place, said Lt. Ken Landwehr.
The homeowner was not home at the time. Police found blood on a door and on a side window. The dead man was found three blocks away, he said. Landwehr declined to release the man's name. He said police are classifying the death, for now, as a public accident.
Police dispatchers received an initial report at 6:12 a.m. today of a "cutting" involving a male victim.
"We are basically checking to see if we can find out who might have been with this guy," Landwehr said. "There was a loss, some property is missing, but I don't want to say what yet."
The man had a police record. "He's had some arrests, we have some history with this guy, although nothing about burglary," Landwehr said.
Police are awaiting the results of an autopsy, but they are certain of the cause of death. "Everything we've seen is consistent with the cut wound to the left wrist and that he bled out afterward. We don't know whether he was cut trying to get in the window or door. There is blood on both."
From: http://www.kansas.com/2010/07/30/1426095/burglar-dies-after-breaking-into.html#storylink=omni_popular
Two brothers aged 12 and 10 'in suicide pact using father's gun'
By Paul Thompson
Last updated at 8:01 AM on 30th July 2010
Two brothers aged 12 and 10 are feared to have killed themselves in a suicide pact using their father's gun.
Investigators believe the boys sneaked away from their home to a ravine before taking it in turns to shoot themselves in the head.
They found no sign of a struggle and the handgun used in the shootings alongside the bodies of 12 year old Bryan Gonzalez and his ten year old brother Christian.
Christian Gonzalez (left), 10, and his brother Bryan (right), 12, are believed to taken their own lives using their father's handgun
With police ruling out foul play they are working on the theory that the boys entered some sort of pact to take their own lives. The only other theory is that of murder-suicide.
'Whether it was murder-suicide, or suicide pact, unfortunately we’ll never know for sure,' said San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department Sgt. Frank Bell Bell. 'It’s hard to believe, to wrap your head around.'
The boys were found by their parents Francisco and Maria after they heard gunshots near their home in Chino Hills, California, and went looking for the boys.
After discovering the bodies paramedics were called but the brothers were pronounced dead at the scene.
Police said the boys had been told off by their father the day before the shooting for not doing their chores.
But police spokesman Sgt Bell said it was nothing out of the ordinary and both boys had been well cared for.
'The kids were well taken care of, and the house was in order,' Bell said. 'In everything we've learned in speaking to the family we can't find any reason that would cause these boys to be despondent to this level.
'We know they'd been punished for not doing their chores.'
Friends of the boys were struggling to come to terms with the deaths.
'I just can't believe what happened. It's just a tragedy because these two boys were amazing,' said Cassidy Rogers, a classmate of Bryan Gonzalez. 'They were amazing kids and they're going to be missed.'
From: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1298743/Two-Californian-brothers-aged-12-10-suicide-pact-using-fathers-gun.html
Last updated at 8:01 AM on 30th July 2010
Two brothers aged 12 and 10 are feared to have killed themselves in a suicide pact using their father's gun.
Investigators believe the boys sneaked away from their home to a ravine before taking it in turns to shoot themselves in the head.
They found no sign of a struggle and the handgun used in the shootings alongside the bodies of 12 year old Bryan Gonzalez and his ten year old brother Christian.
With police ruling out foul play they are working on the theory that the boys entered some sort of pact to take their own lives. The only other theory is that of murder-suicide.
'Whether it was murder-suicide, or suicide pact, unfortunately we’ll never know for sure,' said San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department Sgt. Frank Bell Bell. 'It’s hard to believe, to wrap your head around.'
The boys were found by their parents Francisco and Maria after they heard gunshots near their home in Chino Hills, California, and went looking for the boys.
After discovering the bodies paramedics were called but the brothers were pronounced dead at the scene.
Police said the boys had been told off by their father the day before the shooting for not doing their chores.
But police spokesman Sgt Bell said it was nothing out of the ordinary and both boys had been well cared for.
'The kids were well taken care of, and the house was in order,' Bell said. 'In everything we've learned in speaking to the family we can't find any reason that would cause these boys to be despondent to this level.
'We know they'd been punished for not doing their chores.'
Friends of the boys were struggling to come to terms with the deaths.
'I just can't believe what happened. It's just a tragedy because these two boys were amazing,' said Cassidy Rogers, a classmate of Bryan Gonzalez. 'They were amazing kids and they're going to be missed.'
From: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1298743/Two-Californian-brothers-aged-12-10-suicide-pact-using-fathers-gun.html
Mother arrested in child's shooting death
Updated: Jul 30, 2010 10:21 PM
Indianapolis - The mother of a three-year-old shot and killed is under suicide watch in the Marion County Jail facing child neglect and drug possession charges.
Aunesti Lee died Thursday at Riley Hospital for Children after she was shot in the head. Police now say the shot was fired by a four-year-old. It happened in the 200 block of North Sheffield Avenue on the city's west side.
"Narcotics, guns, kids, never mix," said Lt. Jeff Duhamell, IMPD.
But that's just what Indianapolis Metro Police say they found behind the doors at 203 North Sheffield Avenue. It was a deadly combination for three-year-old Aunesti Lee, who was shot and killed by another child in the home Thursday afternoon.
"Apparently there was a gun, a hand gun lying on basically a counter in the kitchen. That would be easily accessible to the kids and the mother even mentioned that she had walked by it several times," said Lt. Duhamell.
That mother, 26-year-old Fiona Lee, told police she'd gone upstairs to take a shower Thursday afternoon, leaving her three children and her boyfriend's four-year-old son together downstairs. The young boy found the loaded .45 caliber gun.
"The four-year-old basically pointed the gun at the three-year-old and fired the shot," said Lt. Duhamell. "A very tragic situation."
The girl died a few hours later at Riley Hospital for Children.
Police say Lee and her boyfriend Curtis White were at the hospital, but White left with his son and hasn't been seen since. Police want to talk to White and Child Protective Services wants to talk to the little boy who pulled the trigger.
"He definitely needs to be talked to and see how he's doing mentally," said Lt. Duhamell.
While Lee remains on suicide watch, the memorial to her little girl continues to grow outside the home where she died.
"What was she thinking? If there were drugs in that house they weren't thinking, obviously, so it's just a tragedy," said Barb Getty, a landlord in the area.
Getty says people should have spoken up if they thought drugs were being sold at the home.
"We need the involvement of the neighborhoods. They need to partner with law enforcement," she said.
But any kind of involvement comes too late for Aunesti Lee.
Police say Curtis White, the boy's father, was not home when the shooting happened, but they have questions for him about what was found inside the home.
From: http://www.wthr.com/Global/story.asp?S=12899065
Teenage girl and the 'feral friend' who tortured her for 18 hours after finding out she slept with ex
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 10:24 AM on 30th July 2010
This is the first picture of a teenage girl tied, beaten, burned and tortured during an 18-hour ordeal... seen with the woman who would initiate the attack.
Georgia Fenn, 19, was locked in a flat and repeatedly knocked unconscious by Lucy Viner-Mood, 22, and Lois Gibson, 18 - who were described by police as 'feral' and 'sadistic'.
Terrified Georgia was burned all over her body with cigarettes, stamped on until she passed out and doused in boiling water.
Maidstone Crown Court heard that her attackers hacked off her ponytail and tried to set her on fire by spraying her with air freshener and trying to ignite it.
Victim and her attacker: Georgia Fenn, 19 (left), was kept in a flat for 18 hours and beaten and tortured by Lucy Viner-Mood, 22 (right). Viner-Mood and her accomplice Lois Gibson, 18, were jailed on Wednesday
Judge Martin Joy, who described the assault as ‘evil’, sentenced Viner-Mood to five years in jail and Gibson to three years in a young offender institution.
They had admitted false imprisonment and assault causing actual bodily harm.
Maidstone Crown Court was told the pair lured Georgia back to a studio flat in Langton Green, Kent - where all three were staying - on the evening of March 28 after learning she had slept with Viner-Mood’s ex-boyfriend.
Viner-Mood started the attack by kicking Georgia, who fell and cracked her head on a table. Viner-Mood and Gibson then stubbed cigarettes out on her back as she screamed out in pain, cut her hair and whipped her over the head with a metal necklace.
Gibson punched Georgia, from Tonbridge, Kent, more than a dozen times, breaking her nose and one of her front teeth in half.
Viner-Mood and Lois Gibson were described as 'evil' by the judge
Viner-Mood also called Georgia a ‘scabby whore’ and made her scream out ‘I’m a whore with Aids’ for more than 20 minutes.
The attackers were then twice alleged to have tried to throw boiling water and sugar - a concoction used by prisoners known as ‘homemade napalm’ - at their victim.
The second attempt is believed to have coated the back of Georgia’s head in the scalding, sticky mixture, leaving her badly burnt.
Georgia was hit with high heels and sprayed with hairspray, which her tormentors also tried to set alight, as the attack continued through the night.
Eventually, at 2pm the next day, she was thrown out, shoeless and wearing just a dressing gown. She had a broken nose, second degree burns to her chin, two black eyes and was covered in blood.
Police arrested Viner-Mood and Gibson on March 30.
Detective Constable Adrian Grew said: 'The behaviour of Lucy Viner-Mood and Lois Gibson can only be described as feral.
'The level of violence shown during their sadistic attack was made all the more shocking by the length of time it went on for.
In a statement read out in court, Georgia said the attack had left her suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and needing to take anti-depressants. She said: ‘It’s been a really dreadful time and I have been really badly affected. I’m not sure I will ever be right.’
From: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1298849/Teenager-Georgia-Fenn-tortured-18-hours-pictured-sadistic-attacker.html
Last updated at 10:24 AM on 30th July 2010
This is the first picture of a teenage girl tied, beaten, burned and tortured during an 18-hour ordeal... seen with the woman who would initiate the attack.
Georgia Fenn, 19, was locked in a flat and repeatedly knocked unconscious by Lucy Viner-Mood, 22, and Lois Gibson, 18 - who were described by police as 'feral' and 'sadistic'.
Terrified Georgia was burned all over her body with cigarettes, stamped on until she passed out and doused in boiling water.
Maidstone Crown Court heard that her attackers hacked off her ponytail and tried to set her on fire by spraying her with air freshener and trying to ignite it.
Judge Martin Joy, who described the assault as ‘evil’, sentenced Viner-Mood to five years in jail and Gibson to three years in a young offender institution.
They had admitted false imprisonment and assault causing actual bodily harm.
Maidstone Crown Court was told the pair lured Georgia back to a studio flat in Langton Green, Kent - where all three were staying - on the evening of March 28 after learning she had slept with Viner-Mood’s ex-boyfriend.
Viner-Mood started the attack by kicking Georgia, who fell and cracked her head on a table. Viner-Mood and Gibson then stubbed cigarettes out on her back as she screamed out in pain, cut her hair and whipped her over the head with a metal necklace.
Gibson punched Georgia, from Tonbridge, Kent, more than a dozen times, breaking her nose and one of her front teeth in half.
Viner-Mood also called Georgia a ‘scabby whore’ and made her scream out ‘I’m a whore with Aids’ for more than 20 minutes.
The attackers were then twice alleged to have tried to throw boiling water and sugar - a concoction used by prisoners known as ‘homemade napalm’ - at their victim.
The second attempt is believed to have coated the back of Georgia’s head in the scalding, sticky mixture, leaving her badly burnt.
Georgia was hit with high heels and sprayed with hairspray, which her tormentors also tried to set alight, as the attack continued through the night.
Eventually, at 2pm the next day, she was thrown out, shoeless and wearing just a dressing gown. She had a broken nose, second degree burns to her chin, two black eyes and was covered in blood.
Police arrested Viner-Mood and Gibson on March 30.
Detective Constable Adrian Grew said: 'The behaviour of Lucy Viner-Mood and Lois Gibson can only be described as feral.
'The level of violence shown during their sadistic attack was made all the more shocking by the length of time it went on for.
In a statement read out in court, Georgia said the attack had left her suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and needing to take anti-depressants. She said: ‘It’s been a really dreadful time and I have been really badly affected. I’m not sure I will ever be right.’
From: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1298849/Teenager-Georgia-Fenn-tortured-18-hours-pictured-sadistic-attacker.html
Teen Girl Arrested For Execution-Style Slayings
Posted: 9:01 pm PDT July 29, 2010
Updated: 7:09 am PDT July 30, 2010
HAYWARD, Calif. -- A 17-year-old girl was arrested Thursday afternoon as the second suspect in connection with the robbery and execution-style shooting deaths of two teenage boys in Hayward in May, according to Hayward police.
Rafael Avila and Carlos Buenrostro, both 18-year-old Hayward boys, were shot in the 21600 block of Westpark Street in Hayward at about 1 a.m. on May 9, which was Mother's Day, police Capt. Darryl McAllister said.
He said the first suspect, 21-year-old Isaiah Washington of Oakland, had already been in custody for an unrelated parole violation since shortly after the fatal shootings.
McAllister said the 17-year-old girl, who is from Fremont, was arrested at about 12:30 p.m. Thursday when she went for a job interview at a Hayward job placement organization.
The girl, whose name wasn't released because she's a juvenile, had originally been arrested along with Washington shortly after the May 9 fatal shootings but was released from custody because police didn't yet have enough evidence to charge either of the suspects, McAllister said.
The girl is now being held at the Alameda County Juvenile Hall in San Leandro and is expected to appear in juvenile court in that city next week, he said.
According to McAllister, investigators believe the shooting occurred when Washington and the girl happened upon Avila and Buenrostro when the victims were getting out of their car.
He said police believe Washington and the 17-year-old targeted the two victims to rob their valuables, "blitzed" them, and ordered them to the ground at gunpoint.
McAllister said police believe the two suspects went through the victims' pockets and car before firing multiple shots at them for no apparent reason.
Washington and the 17-year-old girl fled the shooting scene in their car at a high rate of speed but were eventually arrested in Oakland following a foot chase, according to McAllister.
The weapon used in the crime has yet to be recovered.
“We believe both of them handled the gun. We can put the gun in both of their hands,” said McAllister. “We believe that the evidence is fairly strong that at least the young lady did, if not both of them.”
Washington and the teenage girl were each charged Thursday with two counts of murder, armed robbery and other charges for May incident, according to Hayward police.
Washington will be arraigned on an amended complaint that includes the two murder charges when he returns to Alameda County Superior Court in Hayward on Wednesday.
The two young men killed have been buried in graves next to each other. Police said Washington could face the death penalty.
From: http://www.ktvu.com/news/24446752/detail.html?cxntlid=cmg_cntnt_rss
Updated: 7:09 am PDT July 30, 2010
HAYWARD, Calif. -- A 17-year-old girl was arrested Thursday afternoon as the second suspect in connection with the robbery and execution-style shooting deaths of two teenage boys in Hayward in May, according to Hayward police.
Rafael Avila and Carlos Buenrostro, both 18-year-old Hayward boys, were shot in the 21600 block of Westpark Street in Hayward at about 1 a.m. on May 9, which was Mother's Day, police Capt. Darryl McAllister said.
He said the first suspect, 21-year-old Isaiah Washington of Oakland, had already been in custody for an unrelated parole violation since shortly after the fatal shootings.
McAllister said the 17-year-old girl, who is from Fremont, was arrested at about 12:30 p.m. Thursday when she went for a job interview at a Hayward job placement organization.
The girl, whose name wasn't released because she's a juvenile, had originally been arrested along with Washington shortly after the May 9 fatal shootings but was released from custody because police didn't yet have enough evidence to charge either of the suspects, McAllister said.
The girl is now being held at the Alameda County Juvenile Hall in San Leandro and is expected to appear in juvenile court in that city next week, he said.
According to McAllister, investigators believe the shooting occurred when Washington and the girl happened upon Avila and Buenrostro when the victims were getting out of their car.
He said police believe Washington and the 17-year-old targeted the two victims to rob their valuables, "blitzed" them, and ordered them to the ground at gunpoint.
McAllister said police believe the two suspects went through the victims' pockets and car before firing multiple shots at them for no apparent reason.
Washington and the 17-year-old girl fled the shooting scene in their car at a high rate of speed but were eventually arrested in Oakland following a foot chase, according to McAllister.
The weapon used in the crime has yet to be recovered.
“We believe both of them handled the gun. We can put the gun in both of their hands,” said McAllister. “We believe that the evidence is fairly strong that at least the young lady did, if not both of them.”
Washington and the teenage girl were each charged Thursday with two counts of murder, armed robbery and other charges for May incident, according to Hayward police.
Washington will be arraigned on an amended complaint that includes the two murder charges when he returns to Alameda County Superior Court in Hayward on Wednesday.
The two young men killed have been buried in graves next to each other. Police said Washington could face the death penalty.
From: http://www.ktvu.com/news/24446752/detail.html?cxntlid=cmg_cntnt_rss
Texas Man Convicted of Beheading 3 Children
3:20 PM PDT, July 26, 2010
EDINBURG, Texas -- A jury has found a south Texas man guilty of capital murder for beheading his common-law wife's three children in 2003.
The Hidalgo County jury deliberated for about three hours Monday before returning its verdict.
It was the second trial for 29-year-old John Allen Rubio of Brownsville.
A state appeals court overturned his previous conviction and death sentence in 2007, saying the children's mother had wrongly been allowed to testify.
Bodies of the three children, all younger than 4, were found on March 11, 2003, in a squalid Brownsville apartment.
Rubio initially said he killed them because they were possessed.
From: http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-texas-beheaded-children,0,1235257.story
Pregnant Cow Gets Loose at Fair, Shot By Cops
Associated Press
5:38 PM PDT, July 27, 2010
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- A pregnant cow that got loose at the California State Fair has been shot and killed.
State Fair general manager Brian May says the animal broke free of its enclosure Tuesday morning and stampeded through the fairgrounds where exhibitioners and concessionaire were setting up.
The incident occurred before the gates had officially opened for the day. No one was injured.
Police and veterinarians at the scene tried to corral and tranquilize the animal, but May said the tranquilizer gun didn't fire properly.
Police ultimately shot and killed the cow, whose calf did not survive.
Fair operations were not affected.
From: http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-cow-shot-at-fair,0,6892947.story
5:38 PM PDT, July 27, 2010
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- A pregnant cow that got loose at the California State Fair has been shot and killed.
State Fair general manager Brian May says the animal broke free of its enclosure Tuesday morning and stampeded through the fairgrounds where exhibitioners and concessionaire were setting up.
The incident occurred before the gates had officially opened for the day. No one was injured.
Police and veterinarians at the scene tried to corral and tranquilize the animal, but May said the tranquilizer gun didn't fire properly.
Police ultimately shot and killed the cow, whose calf did not survive.
Fair operations were not affected.
From: http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-cow-shot-at-fair,0,6892947.story
Parents sentenced for daughter's shooting death
Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer
Saturday, July 31, 2010
(07-30) 14:56 PDT VACAVILLE -- The parents of a 2-year-old Vacaville girl who was accidentally shot to death by her 8-year-old brother were sentenced Friday to less than a year in jail and probation.
Michael Shanahan, 28, and Daniela Shanahan, 26, were given credit for 185 days served, so they each must spend 90 additional days in jail to complete their 275-day sentences in connection with the Sept. 23 death of Ayana Shanahan.
At a hearing in Fairfield, Judge Wendy Getty also ordered the couple to attend a yearlong parenting class and perform 200 hours of community service apiece. The judge placed Michael Shanahan on probation for four years; his wife will be on probation for three years.
Ayana was shot once in the head at the family's home on the 1000 block of Syracuse Circle as her brother was playing with the handgun.
The boy did not think the gun was real, police said. The parents were home at the time.
Michael Shanahan pleaded no contest in March in Solano County Superior Court to one count of unsafe storage of a firearm. Daniela Shanahan pleaded guilty to one count of child endangerment.
Michael Shanahan was an active Army reservist at the time of the shooting, and the gun that killed Ayana was one of numerous weapons in the home, authorities said.
Daniela Shanahan's attorney, Monte Hansen, said the judge had "exercised excellent wisdom" in pronouncing sentence.
"She has already been sentenced to life with the tragic loss of her daughter," Hansen said of his client. "Her daughter was the love of her life."
Prosecutors had sought two-year prison terms for the couple.
From: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/07/31/BAFS1EMJCE.DTL
Saturday, July 31, 2010
(07-30) 14:56 PDT VACAVILLE -- The parents of a 2-year-old Vacaville girl who was accidentally shot to death by her 8-year-old brother were sentenced Friday to less than a year in jail and probation.
Michael Shanahan, 28, and Daniela Shanahan, 26, were given credit for 185 days served, so they each must spend 90 additional days in jail to complete their 275-day sentences in connection with the Sept. 23 death of Ayana Shanahan.
At a hearing in Fairfield, Judge Wendy Getty also ordered the couple to attend a yearlong parenting class and perform 200 hours of community service apiece. The judge placed Michael Shanahan on probation for four years; his wife will be on probation for three years.
Ayana was shot once in the head at the family's home on the 1000 block of Syracuse Circle as her brother was playing with the handgun.
The boy did not think the gun was real, police said. The parents were home at the time.
Michael Shanahan pleaded no contest in March in Solano County Superior Court to one count of unsafe storage of a firearm. Daniela Shanahan pleaded guilty to one count of child endangerment.
Michael Shanahan was an active Army reservist at the time of the shooting, and the gun that killed Ayana was one of numerous weapons in the home, authorities said.
Daniela Shanahan's attorney, Monte Hansen, said the judge had "exercised excellent wisdom" in pronouncing sentence.
"She has already been sentenced to life with the tragic loss of her daughter," Hansen said of his client. "Her daughter was the love of her life."
Prosecutors had sought two-year prison terms for the couple.
From: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/07/31/BAFS1EMJCE.DTL
Genome Surprise: Guinea Pigs Have Ebola!
The ebola virus is one of the nastiest pathogens known to man. It corrodes blood vessels and stops clotting, leaving most of its human victims bleeding to death through their pores. And guinea pigs — along with opossums, wallabies and insect-eating bats — have it in their genes.
A genomic hunt for virus genes traced sequences to Ebola and the closely related Marburg virus in no fewer than six vertebrate species. Echoes of the less-gruesome borna virus family appeared in 13 species, including humans. The genes appear to have been mixed in about 40 million years ago, and have stuck around ever since.
“Some of these sequences have been conserved,” and that’s almost certainly not a coincidence, said cell biologist Ann Marie Skalka of the Fox Chase Cancer Center. “We speculate that some of these must have provided an evolutionary advantage.”
Skalka specializes in RNA viruses, which unlike most common viruses are made from single strands of primitive genetic material, rather than DNA.
Common viruses, better known as retroviruses, insert their DNA into the genomes of infected cells. They hijack its function and, should the cell survive, leave pieces of themselves behind. Retroviral leftovers have accumulated for hundreds of millions of years in animal genomes; they account for about 8 percent of the human.
RNA viruses, however, were long thought to leave no leftovers. They float outside a cell’s chromosomes, hijacking its machinery from afar and ostensibly leaving genomes intact. But that assumption proved wrong.
In 2007, Israeli scientists studying a bee-infecting RNA virus noticed that some colonies were unusually resistant. When they analyzed the bees’ genomes, they found fragmented gene sequences resembling those from the virus. The match wasn’t exact; instead, the fragments seemed to date from some ancestral infection.
The findings spurred Skalka to compare more animal genomes to other RNA virus sequences. She wasn’t alone: While writing the latest paper, published July 29 in Public Library of Science Pathogens, researchers from the University of Texas published a landmark finding of ancient borna virus genes in the human genome.
While those findings stole the thunder from the latest study, Skalka’s work has now expanded the evidence for genomic RNA viral fossils across the animal kingdom. “We were amazed at how many we found,” she said.
In addition to the aforementioned guinea pigs, insect-eating bats, opossums and wallabies, shrews and palm-sized primates called tarsiers contained filovirus fragments. Among the species joining humans in carrying borna virus fragments are cows, lemurs and mice.
How these gene fragments jumped from viruses to vertebrates is a matter of speculation. Skalka suspects that malfunctioning machinery in sperm or egg cells could have copied RNA virus genes, then slipped them into chromosomes later duplicated during reproduction.
Also speculative is what these viral fragments did — or still do, given their conspicuous lack of random mutations that gather in unused genes — for their unwitting recipients.
In the Israeli bees, the RNA virus genes appear to be protective; they may act like a vaccine, or jam invading viruses with almost-but-not-quite-alike proteins. That could also be the case with humans, who are generally resistant to borna virus infection, and other animals flagged by the study.
“You could imagine that the proteins made by these genes would look like the virus proteins, but they’re not exactly the same. And if these funny proteins are there, maybe they muck up the works,” said Skalka, who plans to focus her research on fragments in the human genome. “There would be a real advantage to that.”
According to Ian Lipkin, a genetic epidemiologist at Columbia University, Skalka’s “elegant study” underscores the complicated, species-spanning nature of our bodies.
“The more we delve into genomics the more we become uncertain as to who and what we are,” said Lipkin. “Fragments of retroviruses represent up to 10 percent of the human genome. The number of bacteria on and in our bodies outnumber human cells by 10 to 1. These are not silent passengers.”
Images: 1) An ebola virus particle./University of Waterloo. 2) A phylogenetic tree of vertebrates with approximate dates of borna (circle) and ebola (triangle) virus insertions./PLoS Pathogens.
From: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/07/ebola-in-genomes/
Sisters detained over north Manchester stab death
Two sisters have been detained after one stabbed her boyfriend and the other let him bleed to death.
Samantha Brown stabbed Dean Darvill, 23, in the groin after he accused her of having a lesbian affair. Her sister Toni refused to call an ambulance.
The pair pleaded guilty to manslaughter at an earlier hearing.
Samantha, 19, was sentenced to five years in a Young Offenders Institution and Toni, 25, was jailed for four years at Manchester Crown Court.
Samantha had previously been charged with murder but it was reduced to manslaughter.
Mr Darvill would more than likely have survived if medical attention had been sought, the court heard.
Samantha, of Greyswood Avenue, Cheetham Hill, had been in a "volatile" relationship with Mr Darvill for six months when the incident happened 9 January.
Ambulance plea
The couple went to Toni's house, in Wroxham Road, Higher Blackley, with a friend.
Samantha went upstairs with the friend for several hours, and Mr Darvill discovered them in "a compromising position", police said.
A furious row erupted during which he accused them of having an affair, and Samantha picked up a carving knife from the kitchen.
She stabbed him in the thigh, severing several arteries, before running away, the court heard.
As Mr Darvill stumbled and fell to the floor, he pleaded "get me an ambulance".
The other woman tried to call 999 later but Toni slapped her and the call was abandoned.
She later called his family who begged her to ring an ambulance.
She refused to give them her address. She tried to reassure them by saying she had also recently stabbed her boyfriend and he had only needed five stitches.
Toni finally called the emergency services at 0310 GMT, and said he had arrived injured at her door.
Mr Darvill was later pronounced dead at North Manchester General Hospital.
Judge Clement Goldstone QC said: "How anyone can be so callous and selfish is beyond me.
"He [Mr Darvill] was a young man who had battled through difficulties with his own health only to be cut down in the prime of his life."
Speaking outside court, the victim's uncle Chris Mitchell, 44, said the sentence was "an absolute joke" and "a travesty".
He said: "No one deserves to die the way Dean did."
From: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-10823092
Friday, July 30, 2010
Baltimore County mother throws baby out of bathroom window
Infant survives fall into bushes, at hospital in 'good condition'
By Jessica Anderson, The Baltimore Sun
9:31 p.m. EDT, July 27, 2010
A 21-year-old Reisterstown woman threw her newborn baby out of a window last week, a Baltimore County police spokesman said.
Rebecca Himes of the 100 block of Virginia Ave. gave birth to a baby in the bathroom of her home Thursday, placed the baby into a plastic bag and threw the bag out the window into some bushes, said Lt. Robert McCullough.
A family member heard a noise and found the baby outside, McCullough said. The girl's mother and the other family member then called the police, he said.
When officers arrived at the house, McCullough said, they found blood all over the bathroom. Himes and her baby were taken to Greater Baltimore Medical Center. The baby remains at the hospital and is in good condition and in the custody of the Department of Social Services, McCullough said.
The mother was released, he said. Himes was not arrested and has not been charged in the incident, McCullough said.
The incident remains under investigation by the Police Department and the Department of Social Services, he said, but prosecutors will decide if Himes will be charged.
From: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-county/bs-md-co-baby-thrown-out-window-20100727,0,5515075.story
By Jessica Anderson, The Baltimore Sun
9:31 p.m. EDT, July 27, 2010
A 21-year-old Reisterstown woman threw her newborn baby out of a window last week, a Baltimore County police spokesman said.
Rebecca Himes of the 100 block of Virginia Ave. gave birth to a baby in the bathroom of her home Thursday, placed the baby into a plastic bag and threw the bag out the window into some bushes, said Lt. Robert McCullough.
A family member heard a noise and found the baby outside, McCullough said. The girl's mother and the other family member then called the police, he said.
When officers arrived at the house, McCullough said, they found blood all over the bathroom. Himes and her baby were taken to Greater Baltimore Medical Center. The baby remains at the hospital and is in good condition and in the custody of the Department of Social Services, McCullough said.
The mother was released, he said. Himes was not arrested and has not been charged in the incident, McCullough said.
The incident remains under investigation by the Police Department and the Department of Social Services, he said, but prosecutors will decide if Himes will be charged.
From: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-county/bs-md-co-baby-thrown-out-window-20100727,0,5515075.story
Texas man, Alfred Santiago, sentenced to 99 years in jail for starving kids in hotel
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Wednesday, July 28th 2010, 10:39 AM
Put him away.
A Texas man was sentenced to 99 years behind bars on Tuesday after he was convicted of starving three children that he locked in a filthy hotel bathroom for approximately nine months.
Alfred Santiago, 38, told jurors this week that he gave the children — two boys ages 5 and 10 and an 11-year-old girl — two meals every day. But when the children were found, their ribs and spines poked through their skin. The youngest boy weighed less than 30 pounds, about the weight of a normal 2-year-old.
"I know I fed them," Santiago said. "Whether they ate or not, I couldn't force them."
Prosecutors argued that Santiago turned the Dallas bathroom into his own torture chamber last summer. They said the sicko beat the children with broomsticks and belts, denied them food and sexually assaulted the girl.
They were rescued last July by an uncle and police.
The girl, who wore glasses with her hair in pigtails, testified that Santiago forced her to put her brother's feces in her mouth and continuously raped her and beat her brothers, according to CBS. One child testified he was suicidal.
"He's done so many bad things — worse than anyone can imagine. He's horrible," the girl said of Santiago.
"These kids thought they were going to die in that bathroom," prosecutor Eren Price told the jurors.
Santiago's defense attorney, Richard Carrizales, blamed the children's mother, Abernis Santiago, for starving the children and put forward the suggestion that the kids' testimony was unreliable.
The parents share a last name but are not married, and each child involved in the horrendous incident has a different father. The Santiagos have a daughter, who was 1 year old and unharmed when the parents were arrested.
The mother's trial begins Wednesday.
Santiago maintained his innocence and said he would appeal the jury's decision.
"God knows I am not guilty of these charges," he said.
From: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2010/07/28/2010-07-28_texas_man_alfred_santiago_sentenced_to_99_years_in_jail_for_starving_kids_in_hot.html#community
Sicilian wedding photographer accidentally shot, killed by couple after he had them pose with guns
By Corky Siemaszko
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Tuesday, July 27th 2010, 10:52 AM
Maybe he should have just told the happy couple to say, "Cheese?"
A wedding photographer in Sicily was accidentally killed when he asked the prospective bride and groom to pose for a picture using hunting rifles as props - and one of them went off.
The blast hit 45-year-old Calogero Scimea in the head, and he died while the wedding party looked on in horror.
High school sweethearts Valentina Anitra, 22, and Ignazio Licodia, 25, immediately put their wedding on hold while police investigated.
In another sad twist, Scimea was filling in for another wedding photographer.
"He was only there as a favor for the wedding photographer who had originally been booked but had to pull out as he was ill," Col. Teo Luzi, a spokesman for the Palermo Police, said in published reports Tuesday.
Rifles are legal on the scenic Italian island that's known for - among other things - spawning the Mafia. It's also a tradition for guns to be fired off at family events and not unheard of for partygoers to get hurt.
But investigators are having a hard time getting the whole story out of Licodia's parents. They face possible criminal charges because the shooting happened at their house in Altofonte, just before the kids were to set off for a local church.
"What we are trying to establish is if the gun went off as it was being handled by the photographer, or if it went off as it was handed to him," said Luzi. "But no one is being very talkative."
From: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2010/07/27/2010-07-27_sicilian_wedding_photographer_accidentally_shot_killed_by_couple_after_he_had_th.html
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Tuesday, July 27th 2010, 10:52 AM
Maybe he should have just told the happy couple to say, "Cheese?"
A wedding photographer in Sicily was accidentally killed when he asked the prospective bride and groom to pose for a picture using hunting rifles as props - and one of them went off.
The blast hit 45-year-old Calogero Scimea in the head, and he died while the wedding party looked on in horror.
High school sweethearts Valentina Anitra, 22, and Ignazio Licodia, 25, immediately put their wedding on hold while police investigated.
In another sad twist, Scimea was filling in for another wedding photographer.
"He was only there as a favor for the wedding photographer who had originally been booked but had to pull out as he was ill," Col. Teo Luzi, a spokesman for the Palermo Police, said in published reports Tuesday.
Rifles are legal on the scenic Italian island that's known for - among other things - spawning the Mafia. It's also a tradition for guns to be fired off at family events and not unheard of for partygoers to get hurt.
But investigators are having a hard time getting the whole story out of Licodia's parents. They face possible criminal charges because the shooting happened at their house in Altofonte, just before the kids were to set off for a local church.
"What we are trying to establish is if the gun went off as it was being handled by the photographer, or if it went off as it was handed to him," said Luzi. "But no one is being very talkative."
From: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2010/07/27/2010-07-27_sicilian_wedding_photographer_accidentally_shot_killed_by_couple_after_he_had_th.html
Priest in Moldova, Father Valentin, allegedly drowns baby during the child's baptism
BY Aliyah Shahid
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Wednesday, July 28th 2010, 11:54 AM
It all went so very wrong.
A priest in Moldova has been accused of accidentally drowning a 6-week-old baby during the boy's baptism, according to London's Daily Mail.
The baby's relatives said he died Friday after the priest, who is referred to only as Father Valentin, did not cover the tot's mouth and nose when he immersed the child in water three times.
The priest said he isn't to blame for the child's death in the Eastern European country. But the child's family thinks otherwise.
"We couldn't believe it but we thought the priest must know what he's doing, but he didn't. When we got him back there was nothing that could be done anymore," the baby's godmother, Aliona Vacarciuc, 32, told London's Sun.
"We all saw it. The priest didn't put his hand over the baby's mouth to stop water going in as he should have done and as they do at every other baptism," said the child's father, Dumitru Gaidau, 36.
The baby died on the way to the hospital, Gaidau told a local television station. Dr. Sergiu Raileanu said the cause of death was drowning.
Police have launched a manslaughter investigation. If the priest is found guilty, he could spend up to three years behind bars.
From: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2010/07/28/2010-07-28_priest_in_moldova_father_valentin_allegedly_drowns_baby_during_the_childs_baptis.html
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Wednesday, July 28th 2010, 11:54 AM
It all went so very wrong.
A priest in Moldova has been accused of accidentally drowning a 6-week-old baby during the boy's baptism, according to London's Daily Mail.
The baby's relatives said he died Friday after the priest, who is referred to only as Father Valentin, did not cover the tot's mouth and nose when he immersed the child in water three times.
The priest said he isn't to blame for the child's death in the Eastern European country. But the child's family thinks otherwise.
"We couldn't believe it but we thought the priest must know what he's doing, but he didn't. When we got him back there was nothing that could be done anymore," the baby's godmother, Aliona Vacarciuc, 32, told London's Sun.
"We all saw it. The priest didn't put his hand over the baby's mouth to stop water going in as he should have done and as they do at every other baptism," said the child's father, Dumitru Gaidau, 36.
The baby died on the way to the hospital, Gaidau told a local television station. Dr. Sergiu Raileanu said the cause of death was drowning.
Police have launched a manslaughter investigation. If the priest is found guilty, he could spend up to three years behind bars.
From: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2010/07/28/2010-07-28_priest_in_moldova_father_valentin_allegedly_drowns_baby_during_the_childs_baptis.html
Gruesome charges detailed against suspected Nazi
By KIRSTEN GRIESHABER, Associated Press Writer Kirsten Grieshaber, Associated Press Writer – Thu Jul 29, 12:56 pm ET
BERLIN – The world's third most wanted Nazi suspect was involved in the entire process of killing Jews at the Belzec death camp: from taking victims from trains to pushing them into gas chambers to throwing corpses into mass graves, a German court said Thursday.
Samuel Kunz, an 88-year-old who has lived undisturbed for decades, was indicted last week on charges of involvement in the killing of 430,000 Jews — after a career as an employee in a government ministry and obscurity in a quiet village just outside the former West German capital of Bonn.
On Thursday the court in Bonn that indicted him revealed more details of the charges against him, describing in gruesome detail some of the crimes the suspected former death camp guard allegedly committed in occupied Poland from January 1942 to July 1943.
"The accused was deployed in all areas of the camp," Bonn court spokesman Matthias Nordmeyer told The Associated Press.
Kunz's case only came to the attention recently of prosecutors and the world's major Nazi-hunting organization, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, when prosecutors were poring through World War II-era documents as they built their case against retired autoworker John Demjanjuk, now being tried in a high-profile case in Munich.
The discovery prompted the Wiesenthal center to list Kunz in April as the world's No. 3 most wanted Nazi due to the fact that he was allegedly involved personally in the killings and to the "enormous scope" of the killings, said the center's chief Nazi hunter, Efraim Zuroff.
The court also announced Thursday that Kunz has been charged in a German youth court because he was a minor at the time — meaning he could be brought to trial as an adolescent and face a more lenient sentence.
Kunz was 20 years old when he allegedly started working as a guard at Belzec in January 1942. According to German law, people between 18 and 21 can be brought to trial either as minors or adults.
"It will be up to the judge to decide whether he will be sentenced as an adolescent or an adult," Nordmeyer said.
In its statement, the court described the deadly routine at Belzec, claiming that Kunz supposedly participated as a camp guard in all areas of the Nazis' organized mass murder of Poland's Jewry.
After the victims arrived by train at the death camp, they were told that before they could start working they had to be deloused and take a shower, the statement said, describing the terrifying killing process that by now is well known.
"Threatening them with pistols, whips and wooden clubs, the victims were told to hurry up. ... They had to undress ... the women had their hair cut off, and then first the men, then women and children were pushed into the gas chambers," the statement said.
After the victims were killed, "the corpses were searched for gold and valuables and then thrown into prepared graves."
In addition to being charged with participating in the execution of the Holocaust, Kunz is also accused of "personal excesses" in the alleged shooting of 10 Jews.
"In July 1943, the defendant is accused of having shot two persons who had escaped from a train going to the death camp and had been captured by guards," the statement said.
Between May and June 1943, he reportedly killed eight others who had been wounded but not killed by another guard at Belzec.
"The defendant then took the weapon from the other guard to shoot the wounded victims to death," according to the statement.
Kunz had long been ignored by the German justice system, with authorities in the past showing little interest in going after relatively low-ranking camp guards. But in the past 10 years, a younger generation of German prosecutors has emerged that wants to bring all surviving Nazi suspects to justice.
While Kunz ranked fairly low in the Nazi hierarchy, he is among the top most wanted due to the large number of Jews he is accused of having a role in killing — which the prosecutor's office in Dortmund puts at 430,000 — and the fact that he was personally involved, Zuroff said.
The highest-profile guard on trial now is Demjanjuk, the 90-year-old retired autoworker being tried as an accessory to the murder of 28,060 Jews as a guard at the Sobibor death camp in occupied Poland. He denies he was ever a camp guard.
Authorities stumbled over Kunz's case when they studied old documents from German postwar trials about the SS training camp Trawniki.
That discovery made the Wiesenthal center aware of his case and prompted it to include him on their wanted list in April, Zuroff said.
Prosecutors allege that both Kunz and the Ukrainian-born Demjanjuk, who was deported to Germany from the U.S. last year, trained as guards at the Trawniki SS camp.
From: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100729/ap_on_re_eu/eu_germany_nazi_suspect
BERLIN – The world's third most wanted Nazi suspect was involved in the entire process of killing Jews at the Belzec death camp: from taking victims from trains to pushing them into gas chambers to throwing corpses into mass graves, a German court said Thursday.
Samuel Kunz, an 88-year-old who has lived undisturbed for decades, was indicted last week on charges of involvement in the killing of 430,000 Jews — after a career as an employee in a government ministry and obscurity in a quiet village just outside the former West German capital of Bonn.
On Thursday the court in Bonn that indicted him revealed more details of the charges against him, describing in gruesome detail some of the crimes the suspected former death camp guard allegedly committed in occupied Poland from January 1942 to July 1943.
"The accused was deployed in all areas of the camp," Bonn court spokesman Matthias Nordmeyer told The Associated Press.
Kunz's case only came to the attention recently of prosecutors and the world's major Nazi-hunting organization, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, when prosecutors were poring through World War II-era documents as they built their case against retired autoworker John Demjanjuk, now being tried in a high-profile case in Munich.
The discovery prompted the Wiesenthal center to list Kunz in April as the world's No. 3 most wanted Nazi due to the fact that he was allegedly involved personally in the killings and to the "enormous scope" of the killings, said the center's chief Nazi hunter, Efraim Zuroff.
The court also announced Thursday that Kunz has been charged in a German youth court because he was a minor at the time — meaning he could be brought to trial as an adolescent and face a more lenient sentence.
Kunz was 20 years old when he allegedly started working as a guard at Belzec in January 1942. According to German law, people between 18 and 21 can be brought to trial either as minors or adults.
"It will be up to the judge to decide whether he will be sentenced as an adolescent or an adult," Nordmeyer said.
In its statement, the court described the deadly routine at Belzec, claiming that Kunz supposedly participated as a camp guard in all areas of the Nazis' organized mass murder of Poland's Jewry.
After the victims arrived by train at the death camp, they were told that before they could start working they had to be deloused and take a shower, the statement said, describing the terrifying killing process that by now is well known.
"Threatening them with pistols, whips and wooden clubs, the victims were told to hurry up. ... They had to undress ... the women had their hair cut off, and then first the men, then women and children were pushed into the gas chambers," the statement said.
After the victims were killed, "the corpses were searched for gold and valuables and then thrown into prepared graves."
In addition to being charged with participating in the execution of the Holocaust, Kunz is also accused of "personal excesses" in the alleged shooting of 10 Jews.
"In July 1943, the defendant is accused of having shot two persons who had escaped from a train going to the death camp and had been captured by guards," the statement said.
Between May and June 1943, he reportedly killed eight others who had been wounded but not killed by another guard at Belzec.
"The defendant then took the weapon from the other guard to shoot the wounded victims to death," according to the statement.
Kunz had long been ignored by the German justice system, with authorities in the past showing little interest in going after relatively low-ranking camp guards. But in the past 10 years, a younger generation of German prosecutors has emerged that wants to bring all surviving Nazi suspects to justice.
While Kunz ranked fairly low in the Nazi hierarchy, he is among the top most wanted due to the large number of Jews he is accused of having a role in killing — which the prosecutor's office in Dortmund puts at 430,000 — and the fact that he was personally involved, Zuroff said.
The highest-profile guard on trial now is Demjanjuk, the 90-year-old retired autoworker being tried as an accessory to the murder of 28,060 Jews as a guard at the Sobibor death camp in occupied Poland. He denies he was ever a camp guard.
Authorities stumbled over Kunz's case when they studied old documents from German postwar trials about the SS training camp Trawniki.
That discovery made the Wiesenthal center aware of his case and prompted it to include him on their wanted list in April, Zuroff said.
Prosecutors allege that both Kunz and the Ukrainian-born Demjanjuk, who was deported to Germany from the U.S. last year, trained as guards at the Trawniki SS camp.
From: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100729/ap_on_re_eu/eu_germany_nazi_suspect
Victim To Gunman: 'Jesus Has Something Way Better For You'
POSTED: Thursday, July 29, 2010
UPDATED: 6:15 pm EDT July 29, 2010
POMPANO BEACH, Fla. -- A cell phone store employee talked a man out of robbing the store Friday by talking to him about Jesus, according to the Broward Sheriff's Office.
BSO said a man went into the MetroPCS store at 1543 S. Cypress Road at 10 a.m. Friday, pretending he wanted to buy a cell phone.
The man talked pleasantly to 20-year-old Nayara Goncalves, the only employee in the store, before pulling a gun and demanding cash from the register, police said.
Goncalves remained calm and started talking to the man about what he was doing. BSO released the surveillance video, which captured the conversation.
"I'm Christian," Goncalves said.
"So am I, and I actually really hate doing this," the gunman said. "I'm embarrassed to have to do this, and I have no choice."
"You don't have to do this," Goncalves said.
"Talk about making it harder," the gunman said.
"Jesus has got something way better for you, for everyone that's out there. I'm not blaming you. I'm not judging. I don't know what you're going through, but all of us are going through a hard time right now, a very hard time right now," Goncalves said.
"That's why I refuse to do anything to anybody else," the gunman said. "I've never done this before."
Goncalves spoke to the gunman for about five minutes, even offering to help him get a job so he would not have to steal.
"I have a job," the gunman said.
"You do? Then why are you doing this?" Goncalves said.
"Because I'm going to be evicted if I don't come up with $300," the gunman said.
After Goncalves talked to the man, he left without harming her or taking anything, police said.
"I'm sorry. I understand if you still have to call the police," the gunman said as he left.
Goncalves did call police a few minutes after the man left. She told Local 10 that her faith helped prevent the robbery.
"I'm very Christian and I go to church a lot, so I just feel like I want to tell everybody about Jesus," Goncalves said.
She said she does not believe the man was a bad person, just desperate.
BSO said the would-be robber was a white man with a mustache in his late 30s to mid-40s who was about 5 feet 9 inches tall.
From: http://www.justnews.com/news/24438749/detail.html#
Sydney mother forced Thai women into prostitution
By court reporter Jamelle Wells
Posted 07/30/2010
A Sydney mother who forced 11 Thai women to work as prostitutes to help pay off her mortgage has been jailed for at least 13 months.
In March the 48-year-old pleaded guilty to bringing 11 women to Australia from Thailand for the purpose of sexual servitude between August 2005 and April 2008.
She also pleaded guilty to immigration offences.
The NSW District Court heard the women were forced to work off a debt they owed the woman for bringing them to Australia. She sent them to brothels in Sydney, Newcastle, Wollongong, Adelaide and Perth.
It heard the woman paid an agency in Thailand $20,000 to supply the women who knew what sort of work they would be doing.
In imposing a minimum jail sentence of at least 13 months, Judge Helen Murrell said the woman was unlikely to reoffend.
She gave her a maximum sentence of two years and three months.
The court heard the offender was born in Thailand and became an Australian citizen in 1994.
She had worked in Thai restaurants and as a receptionist and sex worker in brothels since moving to Australia.
During her sentencing submissions yesterday, the woman said she used the money from the prostitutes to support her teenage daughter and pay the mortgage on a unit she brought at Lakemba in Sydney's south-west in 1994.
The woman sobbed in the dock where she sat with an interpreter.
With time already served, she will be eligible for parole in August 2011.
From: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/07/30/2969262.htm
Posted 07/30/2010
A Sydney mother who forced 11 Thai women to work as prostitutes to help pay off her mortgage has been jailed for at least 13 months.
In March the 48-year-old pleaded guilty to bringing 11 women to Australia from Thailand for the purpose of sexual servitude between August 2005 and April 2008.
She also pleaded guilty to immigration offences.
The NSW District Court heard the women were forced to work off a debt they owed the woman for bringing them to Australia. She sent them to brothels in Sydney, Newcastle, Wollongong, Adelaide and Perth.
It heard the woman paid an agency in Thailand $20,000 to supply the women who knew what sort of work they would be doing.
In imposing a minimum jail sentence of at least 13 months, Judge Helen Murrell said the woman was unlikely to reoffend.
She gave her a maximum sentence of two years and three months.
The court heard the offender was born in Thailand and became an Australian citizen in 1994.
She had worked in Thai restaurants and as a receptionist and sex worker in brothels since moving to Australia.
During her sentencing submissions yesterday, the woman said she used the money from the prostitutes to support her teenage daughter and pay the mortgage on a unit she brought at Lakemba in Sydney's south-west in 1994.
The woman sobbed in the dock where she sat with an interpreter.
With time already served, she will be eligible for parole in August 2011.
From: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/07/30/2969262.htm
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Ont. woman survives U.S. bear attack
Reuters July 29, 2010 5:15 AM
CODY, Wyo. - Frantic seconds into an attack by a bear, Deb Freele did something that went against all her instincts but probably saved her life — she totally relaxed.
"I thought I would be dinner," said Freele, 58, a visitor to the Montana backcountry from Canada, who recalled awakening from a deep sleep in her tent near Yellowstone National Park to find she was being chewed on by a bear.
"Within hundredths of seconds, I felt the teeth in my arm, heard bones breaking. I screamed and that seemed to aggravate him. He sunk his teeth into me again," she said in a telephone interview from her hospital room in Cody, Wyoming.
"So I decided to play dead and mean it," she said. "Every muscle in my body went limp, like a rag doll . . . I thought I could play dead or be dead."
Her determination to stay calm and fight panic proved critical to her survival.
Freele said she quickly felt the bear's jaws relax and, within several seconds, "he just dropped me and walked away."
Freele, from London, Ontario, was one of three people attacked separately by a bear before dawn on Wednesday at the Soda Butte campground in Montana's Gallatin National Forest.
One man was killed and another injured in the attacks, which wildlife officials said seemed to have been unprovoked.
Freele, who suffered multiple bites to her left arm, which was broken, said her ordeal lasted about 35 or 40 seconds and that her husband, who was asleep in a nearby tent, did not awaken until after it was over.
She said she believes the bear was a grizzly but wildlife officials were still trying to determine whether the animal was a grizzly bear or a black bear.
A spokesman for the Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks Department said a preliminary investigation found no evidence of food at the campsites or in tents — a magnet for bears.
Freele, an experienced camper who was making her first visit to grizzly country, said: "I'm not afraid of bears, I respect them."
From: http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/woman+survives+bear+attack/3336445/story.html
CODY, Wyo. - Frantic seconds into an attack by a bear, Deb Freele did something that went against all her instincts but probably saved her life — she totally relaxed.
"I thought I would be dinner," said Freele, 58, a visitor to the Montana backcountry from Canada, who recalled awakening from a deep sleep in her tent near Yellowstone National Park to find she was being chewed on by a bear.
"Within hundredths of seconds, I felt the teeth in my arm, heard bones breaking. I screamed and that seemed to aggravate him. He sunk his teeth into me again," she said in a telephone interview from her hospital room in Cody, Wyoming.
"So I decided to play dead and mean it," she said. "Every muscle in my body went limp, like a rag doll . . . I thought I could play dead or be dead."
Her determination to stay calm and fight panic proved critical to her survival.
Freele said she quickly felt the bear's jaws relax and, within several seconds, "he just dropped me and walked away."
Freele, from London, Ontario, was one of three people attacked separately by a bear before dawn on Wednesday at the Soda Butte campground in Montana's Gallatin National Forest.
One man was killed and another injured in the attacks, which wildlife officials said seemed to have been unprovoked.
Freele, who suffered multiple bites to her left arm, which was broken, said her ordeal lasted about 35 or 40 seconds and that her husband, who was asleep in a nearby tent, did not awaken until after it was over.
She said she believes the bear was a grizzly but wildlife officials were still trying to determine whether the animal was a grizzly bear or a black bear.
A spokesman for the Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks Department said a preliminary investigation found no evidence of food at the campsites or in tents — a magnet for bears.
Freele, an experienced camper who was making her first visit to grizzly country, said: "I'm not afraid of bears, I respect them."
From: http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/woman+survives+bear+attack/3336445/story.html
Paralysed man eaten to death by maggots while his partner slept beside him
July 29, 2010 - 4:42AM
A paralysed Austrian man was eaten to death by maggots in his bed while his partner slept beside him, police said on Wednesday.
The 61-year-old retiree died in an ambulance on his way to hospital in Vienna on Tuesday with the maggots having partly devoured his back.
Paramedics notified police after discovering the shocking state of hygiene in the man's home, and his 34-year-old partner was questioned over his condition.
"The man had not wanted to be washed for a long time," a police spokesman said.
According to police, the couple had been together for about a decade, and the victim's partner had slept in the same bed right up until his death.
The dead man had been paralysed for several years following a stroke.
From: http://www.watoday.com.au/world/paralysed-man-eaten-to-death-by-maggots-while-his-partner-slept-beside-him-20100729-10wtu.html
A paralysed Austrian man was eaten to death by maggots in his bed while his partner slept beside him, police said on Wednesday.
The 61-year-old retiree died in an ambulance on his way to hospital in Vienna on Tuesday with the maggots having partly devoured his back.
Paramedics notified police after discovering the shocking state of hygiene in the man's home, and his 34-year-old partner was questioned over his condition.
"The man had not wanted to be washed for a long time," a police spokesman said.
According to police, the couple had been together for about a decade, and the victim's partner had slept in the same bed right up until his death.
The dead man had been paralysed for several years following a stroke.
From: http://www.watoday.com.au/world/paralysed-man-eaten-to-death-by-maggots-while-his-partner-slept-beside-him-20100729-10wtu.html
Father gets 14 years for sex with donkey
July 29, 2010 - 4:42AM
A Kenyan court sentenced a 30-year-old man on Wednesday to 14 years in jail for having sex with a donkey.
Stephen Kipkemoi Rono was convicted after pleading guilty before a court in the southern town of Narok.
The father of two was charged with having "carnal knowledge of an animal, namely a donkey, which is against the order of nature".
Rono pleaded for leniency claiming that he had been deceived by the devil. He has two weeks to appeal the sentence.
"I am sorry. I plead for leniency because it's the devil who sent me. I have been living alone since my wife left me to marry another man," he told the court.
From: http://www.watoday.com.au/world/strangebuttrue/father-gets-14-years-for-sex-with-donkey-20100729-10wef.html
A Kenyan court sentenced a 30-year-old man on Wednesday to 14 years in jail for having sex with a donkey.
Stephen Kipkemoi Rono was convicted after pleading guilty before a court in the southern town of Narok.
The father of two was charged with having "carnal knowledge of an animal, namely a donkey, which is against the order of nature".
Rono pleaded for leniency claiming that he had been deceived by the devil. He has two weeks to appeal the sentence.
"I am sorry. I plead for leniency because it's the devil who sent me. I have been living alone since my wife left me to marry another man," he told the court.
From: http://www.watoday.com.au/world/strangebuttrue/father-gets-14-years-for-sex-with-donkey-20100729-10wef.html
French mother charged with murder of eight newborn babies
Lizzy Davies in Villers-au-Tertre guardian.co.uk, Thursday 29 July 2010 11.17 BST
A mother-of-two who worked as a nursing auxiliary in the north-eastern French city of Douai has been charged with the murder of eight of her newborn babies, sources said, as police pushed forward with their investigations into France's apparently worst ever infanticide.
The woman, who has been named locally as Dominique Cottrez, a lifelong inhabitant of the nearby village of Villers-au-Tertre, appeared before a judge this morning along with her husband, Pierre-Marie Cottrez, a pillar of the local community and municipal councillor.
Eric Vaillant, the prosecutor of Douai, said he had requested Mr Cottrez be charged with the failure to report a crime and the concealment of a body. According to multiple sources, his wife has admitted to killing her babies but told police her husband had no idea of what she was doing.
Vaillant, who has refused to confirm these details, is to hold a press conference this afternoon to shed new light on the affair for the hundreds of journalists who have descended on the region from all corners of Europe.
For the inhabitants of Villers-au-Tertre, the small village where the Cottrez couple have lived for decades, the discovery of the eight corpses has caused shock and disbelief. Ever since Tuesday, when the pair were arrested after police found the bodies of six babies in plastic bags in their house, neighbours have been struggling to understand how the family could have hidden such a secret.
"Pierre-Marie is a very nice guy. I am just overwhelmed and I'm finding it impossible to understand," said one villager, who did not want his name to be published. "He's a mate of mine. We used to have a drink, talk about work … He is very generous. He wears his heart on his sleeve," he said, adding: "I see no reason why he would have known anything about this."
The alleged murders came to the attention of local police on Saturday, when the owners of a house that had formerly been the property of Dominique Cottrez's parents, now deceased, stumbled upon the tiny bones of two newborns in the garden.
The investigation led quickly to the couple's current home, a kilometre away, where police discovered six other bodies. Even today, teams of investigators and forensic experts from Douai, Paris and Lille are combing the sites to make sure no other bodies are there.
Village mayor Patrick Mercier said a third house in which the couple had briefly lived was also being explored.
Speaking to local media, he described Pierre-Marie Cottrez as a third-term municipal councillor who was "respectable and respected". He added: "On the pregnancies, no one had any idea of anything. The mother would go out rarely; she has significant weight problems. She's a pleasant person even if she was withdrawn."
Other villagers portrayed Dominique Cottrez as a "devoted" daughter who cared for her father until his death. She was "deserving", said one, and "a very good mother" who spent a lot of time with her two grownup daughters, Emeline and Virginie, and their two sons.
On her Facebook page, Mrs Cottrez states her employers as the Douai branch of the SSIAD, an association which provides home care for the elderly or disabled. A spokesperson for the SSIAD refused to speak to the Guardian when asked to confirm this.
From: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/29/french-mother-murder-eight-babies
New exhibition exposes Nazi eugenics program
By MIKE ISAACS misaacs@pioneerlocal.com
Among the many words, the recorded testimony, the videos, the maps and charts, the photographs and the artifacts is an old empty crib.
It comes along well into the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center's new traveling exhibition, "Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race." But in its own way, this lonely crib seen against sterile white tiles is as chilling as any of the other exhibition displays -- a resonant reminder of the youngest victims of Nazi Germany's ghastly pediatric eugenics program.
The museum's new dense and comprehensive exhibition, designed by David Layman, takes visitors on a chronological journey from the origins of the "eugenics movement" to how that theory was used to foster racism and discrimination and eventually torture and murder.
Layman also designed the museum's permanent exhibition on the floor above, and it's easy to see the similarities. Like upstairs, the exhibition features a narrow and winding walkway leading visitors on an informative journey, the details becoming more horrifying and gut-wrenching as time passes by.
Produced by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, the new traveling exhibition offers much to digest. It's not surprising that it will be here for five months, longer than any of the traveling exhibitions that the museum has previously hosted.
"This is such a powerful content-rich and thought-provoking exhibition and an ideal one to have here one year into the museum," said Executive Director Rick Hirschhaut. "Our docents have had the benefit of a year of learning and leading visitors through the permanent exhibition, and now they are prepared to lead them through a very provocative and disturbing exhibit."
Exhibition curator Susan Bachrach trained docents the day before "Deadly Medicine's" opening, fielding a series of challenging questions likely to be echoed by visitors through the end of the year. This worthwhile museum addition is certain to spark all kinds of discussion -- not only in terms of history but also about current-day medical ethics and other difficult and thorny issues.
"Our special exhibits try to cover areas that we don't go into in the permanent exhibit," Bachrach said, explaining its origins at the Washington D.C. museum.
Once she began her meticulous research, Bachrach learned that the theory of eugenics -- the selective breeding applied to humans to improve the species -- was widely embraced and well before Nazi Germany came along.
"It was very surprising to me to see how much widespread support there was for this idea of eugenics," she said. "Today, we'd like to say eugenics was some kind of pseudo-science but we shouldn't say that when looking at it in the context of time. It's very important to realize that this wasn't just something on (the fringes). It was taken seriously."
In fact, Bachrach said, she found some American institutions such as the Museum of Natural History in New York and the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota to be uncooperative during her research. These institutions signed onto eugenics theory at one time and would rather forget their history, she said.
"When it comes to eugenics, there's a huge whitewash that continues to go on," she said. "The United States was very strong in the eugenics movement and that can be seen in state sterilization laws."
"Deadly Science" covers much of this ground and a lot more. As long ago as 1927 and as far away from Germany as Virginia, Carrie Buck was sterilized after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a Virginia law allowing sterilization of persons judged to be "feebleminded."
In Germany, Karl Binding and Alfred Hoche seven years earlier wrote "Authorization of the Destruction of Life Unworthy of Life," a book defending the principles of eugenics.
"If one ... imagines a battlefield covered with thousands of dead youths ... and then our institutions for idiots and their care ... one is most appalled by ... the sacrifice of the best of humanity while the best care is lavished on life of negative worth," they wrote.
The exhibition is peppered with these kinds of bone-chilling quotes and not simply from the most heinous of Nazi leaders but also from doctors, researchers and healers -- those charged with protecting the public good. In many cases, the "legitimacy" of science enabled the Nazis to persecute, murder and, ultimately, commit genocide.
"Our starting point is not the individual, and we do not subscribe to the view that one should feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty or clothe the naked," said Joseph Goebbels in 1938. "Our objectives are entirely different. We must have a healthy people in order to prevail in the world."
Germany's chronology with eugenics begins after World War I when ideas known as "racial hygiene" began to inform population policy, public health education and government-funded research. The Nazis from 1933 to 1939 touted the "Nordic race" as ideal and enacted laws and policies that carried this discrimination further than ever before.
In 1939 to 1945, World War II provided a pretext and cover to new programs for killing "undesirables" regarded as burdens on national resources, according to "Deadly Medicine." It is during this time when the children's euthanasia program began -- and with the collaboration of asylum directors, pediatricians, psychiatrists, family doctors and nurses.
The exhibition exposes viewers to the victims of this devastating period; photos of the faces of children who were killed or experimented on seem to cry out from the walls. One survivor in recorded testimony relates how she survived a children's institution that put young "patients" to death by having them walk into showers that soon filled with lethal gas.
"Deadly Medicine" never loses sight of how such actions could occur and of the contributions of "legitimate science" to make them happen.
"Many of those who had earlier rejected euthanasia as a eugenics measure came to support murder 'for the good of the Fatherland,'" the exhibition material reads.
Perhaps this is the most incomprehensible component of the history of eugenics in Nazi Germany. And the component that museum planners want visitors never to forget.
"This exhibit further reinforces that even the most highly-educated, well-trained engaged citizens of society can be co-opted for evil and tragic purposes and consequences," Hirschhaut said. "It's another reminder of the sanctity of individual choice and that the decisions we make in life can have an impact for good or for evil."
From: http://www.pioneerlocal.com/holocaustmuseum/news/2529600,skokie-exhibit-072910-s1.article
Man on heroin crashes stroller carrying infant son
July 29, 2010
BY ROSEMARY SOBOL Staff Reporter
A Lake Station, Ind. man was arrested after he was seen crashing a stroller carrying his infant son into the side of a building in the Loop after allegedly shooting up with heroin Wednesday afternoon, police said.
David Sonn, 33, of the 2800 block of Hamilton Street in Lake Station, Ind., was charged with misdemeanor endangering the life and health of a child, according to police.
Sonn was arrested at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday at 193 N. Dearborn Street after police allegedly saw him pushing his 10-month-old son in a stroller, which he then crashed alongside the wall of a building and pushed into newspaper boxes, according to a police report.
When officers stopped him he had a dazed look on his face and appeared to be unaware of his surroundings. Sonn, who had blood trickling down his right arm, allegedly said he had just done heroin and officers placed him into custody.
The baby was transported to Children’s Memorial Hospital where he was checked out and released, according to the report, which said the child was taken into the custody of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.
Sonn has 11 prior arrests in the area, four of them for narcotics, according to police.
From: http://www.suntimes.com/news/24-7/2546750,man-on-heroin-crashes-stroller0729.article
BY ROSEMARY SOBOL Staff Reporter
A Lake Station, Ind. man was arrested after he was seen crashing a stroller carrying his infant son into the side of a building in the Loop after allegedly shooting up with heroin Wednesday afternoon, police said.
David Sonn, 33, of the 2800 block of Hamilton Street in Lake Station, Ind., was charged with misdemeanor endangering the life and health of a child, according to police.
Sonn was arrested at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday at 193 N. Dearborn Street after police allegedly saw him pushing his 10-month-old son in a stroller, which he then crashed alongside the wall of a building and pushed into newspaper boxes, according to a police report.
When officers stopped him he had a dazed look on his face and appeared to be unaware of his surroundings. Sonn, who had blood trickling down his right arm, allegedly said he had just done heroin and officers placed him into custody.
The baby was transported to Children’s Memorial Hospital where he was checked out and released, according to the report, which said the child was taken into the custody of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.
Sonn has 11 prior arrests in the area, four of them for narcotics, according to police.
From: http://www.suntimes.com/news/24-7/2546750,man-on-heroin-crashes-stroller0729.article
Man bludgeoned wife to death, left body at front door for 10 days
July 27, 2010
Sun-Times Media Wire
A man apparently bludgeoned his wife to death with a hammer, then kept her body behind his front door for 10 days in their home in southwest suburban Romeoville, police said.
John Sadler, 67, of the 1600 block of Benzie Circle, is charged with one count of first-degree murder in the death of his 66-year-old wife Carol, Romeoville Police Assistant Chief Steven Lucchesi said.
Police initially went to the home on Saturday, after a friend of the family told them she had not heard from Carol, Lucchesi said. When police arrived, Salder told them she was in Michigan and would be back on Sunday.
But police were called to the home once again after the couple's daughter, who lives in Texas, called to say she had not heard from her mother since July 13.
Police again went to the home and talked to Sadler, who again said his wife was in Michigan and would be back at 3 p.m, Lucchesi said. Police relayed the message to the daughter, who called back at 5 p.m. to say she was worried and still hadn't heard from her.
It wasn't until police came back for a third time that officers smelled an odor of decay and Sadler refused to let the officers search the home, Lucchesi said.
The case was reviewed and a search warrant was obtained and a cadaver dog from the DuPage County Sheriff's office arrived at the home and gave a positive response to human remains being in the home, Lucchesi said.
Officer’s found the woman's body behind an interior front door, which was not visible from the front porch where officers had spoken to Sadler, Lucchesi said.
Sadler then admitted that he had an argument with his wife 10 days ago and struck her in the head with a hammer, Lucchesi. The argument happened at the front door and Sadler did not move his wife's body for those 10 days.
Although a motive to the slaying was not clear, the couple's daughter told police Sadler may have suffered from a medical condition, Lucchesi said. That, however, remained under investigation.
Sadler is a registered CPA in Romeoville and had no prior arrests, Lucchesi said.
He was being held at the Will County Adult Detention Center in Joliet, pending a bond hearing.
From: http://www.suntimes.com/news/24-7/2538990,wife-beaten-death-left-at-door-072710.article
Sun-Times Media Wire
A man apparently bludgeoned his wife to death with a hammer, then kept her body behind his front door for 10 days in their home in southwest suburban Romeoville, police said.
John Sadler, 67, of the 1600 block of Benzie Circle, is charged with one count of first-degree murder in the death of his 66-year-old wife Carol, Romeoville Police Assistant Chief Steven Lucchesi said.
Police initially went to the home on Saturday, after a friend of the family told them she had not heard from Carol, Lucchesi said. When police arrived, Salder told them she was in Michigan and would be back on Sunday.
But police were called to the home once again after the couple's daughter, who lives in Texas, called to say she had not heard from her mother since July 13.
Police again went to the home and talked to Sadler, who again said his wife was in Michigan and would be back at 3 p.m, Lucchesi said. Police relayed the message to the daughter, who called back at 5 p.m. to say she was worried and still hadn't heard from her.
It wasn't until police came back for a third time that officers smelled an odor of decay and Sadler refused to let the officers search the home, Lucchesi said.
The case was reviewed and a search warrant was obtained and a cadaver dog from the DuPage County Sheriff's office arrived at the home and gave a positive response to human remains being in the home, Lucchesi said.
Officer’s found the woman's body behind an interior front door, which was not visible from the front porch where officers had spoken to Sadler, Lucchesi said.
Sadler then admitted that he had an argument with his wife 10 days ago and struck her in the head with a hammer, Lucchesi. The argument happened at the front door and Sadler did not move his wife's body for those 10 days.
Although a motive to the slaying was not clear, the couple's daughter told police Sadler may have suffered from a medical condition, Lucchesi said. That, however, remained under investigation.
Sadler is a registered CPA in Romeoville and had no prior arrests, Lucchesi said.
He was being held at the Will County Adult Detention Center in Joliet, pending a bond hearing.
From: http://www.suntimes.com/news/24-7/2538990,wife-beaten-death-left-at-door-072710.article
Grant County woman broadcast sex abuse of children online
McKay Allen | KXLY4 Reporter
Posted: 5:12 pm PDT July 26, 2010
Updated: 6:39 pm PDT July 26, 2010
SPOKANE -- A Grant County woman has been arrested and stands accused of abusing her children and a neighbor's two-week-old baby and allegedly broadcasting it all live on webcams.
Court documents detail the charges leveled against Warden resident Pamela Ortega which one veteran Grant County investigator called “pure evil.”
Authorities say that Ortega has admitted to sexually abusing her eight-year-old daughter, six-year-old son and a two-week-old infant she was babysitting.
Grant County law enforcement agencies became aware of the abuse in April when a source in Europe contacted the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children saying Ortega had offered her daughter to him for sex.
During an interview Ortega admitted to police that she video chats with men online. One of the men, via webcam, would “show her how he has sex with his daughters ... ages 8 and 11” and then “[Ortega] would demonstrate on [her daughter] in return.”
This and other sexual abuse occurred, investigators believe, over a dozen times.
According to court documents Ortega also performed sexual acts upon her son for men via webcam. Ortega says she was “peer pressured into doing it” by men watching online and each event lasted “between 5 and 15 minutes.”
Ortega also forced her children to sexually stimulate her and said that those acts were watched by “two or three other guys … on the internet at the time.” She also sexually abused a two-week-old infant at the behest of a man watching on a webcam but stopped when the baby began crying.
Ortega admitted that she set up sexual liaisons for her children with men she met online but claims the actual meetings never happened.
Investigators say the men involved in these sexual shows live everywhere from the Tri-Cities and Spokane to countries all over the world.
Pamela Ortega has no previous criminal record. She is currently being held in the Grant County Jail on $200,000 bail; she has been isolated from other inmates for her own protection.
According to law enforcement officials her children are now safe.
A federal investigation into Ortega is ongoing.
From: http://www.kxly.com/news/24401320/detail.html
Posted: 5:12 pm PDT July 26, 2010
Updated: 6:39 pm PDT July 26, 2010
Court documents detail the charges leveled against Warden resident Pamela Ortega which one veteran Grant County investigator called “pure evil.”
Authorities say that Ortega has admitted to sexually abusing her eight-year-old daughter, six-year-old son and a two-week-old infant she was babysitting.
Grant County law enforcement agencies became aware of the abuse in April when a source in Europe contacted the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children saying Ortega had offered her daughter to him for sex.
During an interview Ortega admitted to police that she video chats with men online. One of the men, via webcam, would “show her how he has sex with his daughters ... ages 8 and 11” and then “[Ortega] would demonstrate on [her daughter] in return.”
This and other sexual abuse occurred, investigators believe, over a dozen times.
According to court documents Ortega also performed sexual acts upon her son for men via webcam. Ortega says she was “peer pressured into doing it” by men watching online and each event lasted “between 5 and 15 minutes.”
Ortega also forced her children to sexually stimulate her and said that those acts were watched by “two or three other guys … on the internet at the time.” She also sexually abused a two-week-old infant at the behest of a man watching on a webcam but stopped when the baby began crying.
Ortega admitted that she set up sexual liaisons for her children with men she met online but claims the actual meetings never happened.
Investigators say the men involved in these sexual shows live everywhere from the Tri-Cities and Spokane to countries all over the world.
Pamela Ortega has no previous criminal record. She is currently being held in the Grant County Jail on $200,000 bail; she has been isolated from other inmates for her own protection.
According to law enforcement officials her children are now safe.
A federal investigation into Ortega is ongoing.
From: http://www.kxly.com/news/24401320/detail.html
Canadian priest sorry for giving dog Holy Communion
27 July 2010 Last updated at 10:57 GMT
A priest in Canada has apologised after giving Holy Communion to a dog.
Reverend Marguerite Rea of St Peter's Anglican Church, in Toronto, received complaints from Christians all over Canada after she fed communion bread to a German Shepherd cross named Trapper.
Area Bishop Patrick Yu said the priest had contravened church policy with her "strange and shocking" actions.
Ms Rea said it had been a "simple church act of reaching out" to a new congregation member and his pet.
"If I have hurt, upset or embarrassed anyone, I apologise," she told her congregation on Sunday morning, the Toronto Star reports.
Bone of contention
The canine controversy began last month when four-year-old Trapper and his owner, Donald Keith, 56, attended the church in Toronto's downtown area for the first time.
"The minister welcomed me and said come up and take communion, and Trapper came up with me and the minister gave him communion as well," Mr Keith told the Toronto Star.
"I thought it was a nice way to welcome me into the church. I thought it was acceptable. There was an old lady in the front just beaming when she saw this."
But not all parishioners at the service were quite so charmed by the sight of the priest leaning down and placing a wafer on the wagging tongue of Trapper, a German Shepherd-Rhodesian ridgeback cross.
Communion bread is considered by Anglicans to represent the body of Jesus Christ.
One onlooker filed a complaint with the Anglican Diocese of Toronto about the incident and has since left the church.
When news spread of the canine communion, St Peter's Church began receiving e-mails from angry Christians all over the country.
"Communion is a symbol of the sacrifice of Jesus' body; he died for all of us. But I don't recall anything from the scripture about Jesus dying for the salvation of our pets," said Cheryl Chang, director of the Anglican Network in Canada, the National Post newspaper reports.
"I can see why people would be offended," said Bishop Yu.
"I have never heard of it happening before. I think the reverend was overcome by what I consider a misguided gesture of welcoming."
'Innocent'
Mr Keith has since been told that he and his dog are most welcome at the church, but Trapper can no longer receive communion.
"This has blown me away. The church is even getting e-mails from Catholics," said the truck driver.
"Ninety-nine-point-nine per cent of the people in the church love Trapper and the kids play with him. It was just one person who got his nose out of joint.
"Holy smokes. We are living in the downtown core. This is small stuff. I thought it was innocent and it made me think of the Blessing of the Animals."
From: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-10774706
A priest in Canada has apologised after giving Holy Communion to a dog.
Reverend Marguerite Rea of St Peter's Anglican Church, in Toronto, received complaints from Christians all over Canada after she fed communion bread to a German Shepherd cross named Trapper.
Area Bishop Patrick Yu said the priest had contravened church policy with her "strange and shocking" actions.
Ms Rea said it had been a "simple church act of reaching out" to a new congregation member and his pet.
"If I have hurt, upset or embarrassed anyone, I apologise," she told her congregation on Sunday morning, the Toronto Star reports.
Bone of contention
The canine controversy began last month when four-year-old Trapper and his owner, Donald Keith, 56, attended the church in Toronto's downtown area for the first time.
"The minister welcomed me and said come up and take communion, and Trapper came up with me and the minister gave him communion as well," Mr Keith told the Toronto Star.
"I thought it was a nice way to welcome me into the church. I thought it was acceptable. There was an old lady in the front just beaming when she saw this."
But not all parishioners at the service were quite so charmed by the sight of the priest leaning down and placing a wafer on the wagging tongue of Trapper, a German Shepherd-Rhodesian ridgeback cross.
Communion bread is considered by Anglicans to represent the body of Jesus Christ.
One onlooker filed a complaint with the Anglican Diocese of Toronto about the incident and has since left the church.
When news spread of the canine communion, St Peter's Church began receiving e-mails from angry Christians all over the country.
"Communion is a symbol of the sacrifice of Jesus' body; he died for all of us. But I don't recall anything from the scripture about Jesus dying for the salvation of our pets," said Cheryl Chang, director of the Anglican Network in Canada, the National Post newspaper reports.
"I can see why people would be offended," said Bishop Yu.
"I have never heard of it happening before. I think the reverend was overcome by what I consider a misguided gesture of welcoming."
'Innocent'
Mr Keith has since been told that he and his dog are most welcome at the church, but Trapper can no longer receive communion.
"This has blown me away. The church is even getting e-mails from Catholics," said the truck driver.
"Ninety-nine-point-nine per cent of the people in the church love Trapper and the kids play with him. It was just one person who got his nose out of joint.
"Holy smokes. We are living in the downtown core. This is small stuff. I thought it was innocent and it made me think of the Blessing of the Animals."
From: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-10774706
Florida great-grandma takes a bite out of crime
Wed Jul 28, 4:09 pm ET
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – A great-grandmother in Daytona Beach bit an assailant and was dragged several feet hanging on to the getaway car of a couple who snatched her purse. Patricia Robertson doesn't know how she summoned the strength, but the commotion she created helped get her belongings back.
Police said the 73-year-old was accosted at a gas station over the weekend by a man and woman who grabbed her purse and tried to speed off. On instinct, Robertson said she bit the man hard enough to draw blood and hung on to their truck when that failed.
A bystander who saw the attack called 911 and followed the assailants, updating police until they could apprehend the couple.
Robertson said she's sore and almost lost a tooth, but thankful for the good Samaritan's help.
From: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100728/ap_on_fe_st/us_odd_great_grandma_fights_back
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – A great-grandmother in Daytona Beach bit an assailant and was dragged several feet hanging on to the getaway car of a couple who snatched her purse. Patricia Robertson doesn't know how she summoned the strength, but the commotion she created helped get her belongings back.
Police said the 73-year-old was accosted at a gas station over the weekend by a man and woman who grabbed her purse and tried to speed off. On instinct, Robertson said she bit the man hard enough to draw blood and hung on to their truck when that failed.
A bystander who saw the attack called 911 and followed the assailants, updating police until they could apprehend the couple.
Robertson said she's sore and almost lost a tooth, but thankful for the good Samaritan's help.
From: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100728/ap_on_fe_st/us_odd_great_grandma_fights_back
Babysitting couple jailed over boy's murder
A babysitting couple who left a three-year-old boy with more than 70 injuries have been sentenced to life in prison.
Ryan Lovell-Hancox died in hospital on 24 December 2008 after suffering a brain injury at the home of Christopher Taylor and Kayley Boleyn.
Taylor, 25, and Boleyn, 19, of Bilston, West Midlands, were told they would serve a minimum of 15 and 13 years respectively.
The defendants blamed each other for Ryan's injuries,
Ryan's mother, Amy Hancox, 21, who knew nothing of the abuse, had told the court she had given Ryan to the pair to look after as she "was not coping".
Boleyn and Taylor were convicted of murder and child cruelty at Wolverhampton Crown Court in March.
The couple had been looking after Ryan for almost a month at their flat in Slim Avenue, Bilston, West Midlands.
The four-week criminal trial heard Miss Hancox paid the pair about £20 a week to look after Ryan while she decorated her home.
From: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-black-country-10798487
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
NC toddler survives potentially devastating injury
Monday, July 26, 2010
CHAPEL HILL (WTVD) -- Jessiah Jackson is a typical bright eyed and alert toddler.
But a week ago, his childlike curiosity nearly cost him his life.
"He was just sitting in the chair just laughing and playing," the boy's uncle Carlton Redd said. "The next thing I know he stood up in it and before I could react, his chair was going backward."
When 17-month-old fell on top of a pressure washer, an L-shaped hook lodged two to three inches inside his brain.
Jessiah's wound was near the largest blood vessel in the brain.
It was one of the worst impalements his surgeon had ever seen and UNC Neurosurgeon Dr. Anand Germanwala credits the medical care Jessiah received before he arrived at UNC Hospitals.
Redd and his wife have EMT training and were able to react quickly after the incident happened. Their neighbor, who is a rescue squad volunteer, happened to have a saw capable of cutting the power washer.
"Everyone worked together," said the boy's grandfather, Joseph Jones. "No one gave up hope that's God working for you.
Despite the circumstances, Jessiah still faced a risky surgery. Even Dr. Germanwala admitted there was a chance the boy would not survive.
"Losing one or two ounces of blood in an adult is often no problem," Dr. Germanwala said. "In a 17-month-old, that makes a huge difference."
However a week later, Jessiah will go home on Tuesday.
"A lot of people say it's a miracle," Jones said. "Yes he is, but I like to say he's a blessed baby."
From: http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/local&id=7576026
CHAPEL HILL (WTVD) -- Jessiah Jackson is a typical bright eyed and alert toddler.
But a week ago, his childlike curiosity nearly cost him his life.
"He was just sitting in the chair just laughing and playing," the boy's uncle Carlton Redd said. "The next thing I know he stood up in it and before I could react, his chair was going backward."
When 17-month-old fell on top of a pressure washer, an L-shaped hook lodged two to three inches inside his brain.
Jessiah's wound was near the largest blood vessel in the brain.
It was one of the worst impalements his surgeon had ever seen and UNC Neurosurgeon Dr. Anand Germanwala credits the medical care Jessiah received before he arrived at UNC Hospitals.
Redd and his wife have EMT training and were able to react quickly after the incident happened. Their neighbor, who is a rescue squad volunteer, happened to have a saw capable of cutting the power washer.
"Everyone worked together," said the boy's grandfather, Joseph Jones. "No one gave up hope that's God working for you.
Despite the circumstances, Jessiah still faced a risky surgery. Even Dr. Germanwala admitted there was a chance the boy would not survive.
"Losing one or two ounces of blood in an adult is often no problem," Dr. Germanwala said. "In a 17-month-old, that makes a huge difference."
However a week later, Jessiah will go home on Tuesday.
"A lot of people say it's a miracle," Jones said. "Yes he is, but I like to say he's a blessed baby."
From: http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/local&id=7576026
Oregon faith-healing parents fight to get baby back, face criminal charges
OREGON CITY -- A Beavercreek couple who left their infant daughter's fate to God rather than seek medical treatment for a mass that grew over her left eye will face charges of first-degree criminal mistreatment.
Prosecutors revealed Thursday during a custody hearing that a grand jury has indicted Timothy and Rebecca Wyland, members of Oregon City's Followers of Christ church.
The Wylands' 7-month-old daughter, Alayna, was placed in state custody earlier this month after child-welfare workers received a tip about the untreated and ballooning growth. Doctors said that the condition could cause permanent damage or loss of vision.
The Wylands were indicted within the past few days and probably will be arraigned next week, said Colleen Gilmartin, the deputy district attorney handling the custody case in juvenile court.
Under Oregon law, it is a crime for parents to intentionally and knowingly withhold necessary and adequate medical attention from their children. First-degree criminal mistreatment is a Class C felony punishable by up to five years in prison.
The Wylands and their church reject medical care in favor of faith-healing -- anointing with oil, laying on of hands, prayer and fasting. The parents testified at a juvenile court hearing last week that they never considered getting medical attention for Alayna.
According to court documents, Rebecca Wyland anointed Alayna with oil each time she changed the girl's diaper and wiped away the yellow discharge that seeped daily from the baby's left eye.
Thursday's hearing was procedural and reached no resolution.
The Wylands' attorneys, John Neidig and Thurl Stalnaker Jr., offered a plan they said would guarantee the child would receive medical care recommended by doctors, with options such as regular visits from state workers, having a trusted individual occupy the Wyland home and monitoring the family with Skype, an Internet program used for video conferencing.
Attorney Michael Clancy, who represents Alayna, also urged that the girl be sent home.
Clancy, however, was skeptical that prosecutors or child-protection authorities would accept any plan to quickly reunite the family.
"There is no plan, even if we came up with 100 pages of stuff ... that is going to be satisfactory," he said.
Clackamas County Circuit Judge Douglas Van Dyk noted that doctors treating Alayna haven't reviewed the Wylands' plan and said he wouldn't approve the proposal without hearing from the physicians.
But Van Dyk also said Alayna should be returned home once a plan is in place "that makes the community feel secure about the care."
He told all the attorneys to submit their proposals to him next week and said he would work out a suitable agreement at a July 30 hearing.
"That's where this case is going as far as this judge is concerned," Van Dyk said.
Prosecutors said that a child usually is not returned to parents accused of criminal mistreatment. It is not clear whether the district attorney's office will seek a no-contact order or if one would be granted.
Gilmartin, doctors and DHS workers want assurances that Alayna will get treatment that will minimize damage to her eye and address any complications that arise.
Alayna had a small mark over her left eye at birth.
The area started swelling, and the fast-growing mass of blood vessels, known as a hemangioma, eventually caused her eye to swell shut and pushed the eyeball down and outward and started eroding the eye socket bone around the eye.
It's rare to see a child with an advanced hemangioma because the condition typically is treated as soon as it's detected, said a doctor who testified at a hearing before Van Dyk last week.
"They never get this large," said Dr. Thomas Valvano, a pediatrician at Doernbecher Children's Hospital. "This was medical neglect."
Investigators who interviewed the Wylands noted the grotesque swelling that led DHS to act.
"Alayna's left eyeball was completely obstructed, and you could not see any of it. The growth was multiple shades of red and maroon and appeared to me to be between the size of a golf ball and a tennis ball," said Clackamas County Detective Christie Fryett in a search warrant affidavit that included pictures of the growth on Alayna's face.
Alayna is the Wylands' only child.
Timothy Wyland was a widower when he married Rebecca Wyland two years ago.
Wyland's first wife, Monique, died of breast cancer in 2006. She had not sought or received medical treatment for the condition, said Dr. Christopher Young, a deputy state medical examiner who signed the death certificate.
From: http://www.oregonlive.com/oregon-city/index.ssf/2010/07/post_2.html
'All my babies are dead' - grandmother finds family dead in home
By John Bingham, Caroline Gammell, Andy Bloxham
Published: 7:30AM BST 27 Jul 2010
Two-year-old Phoebe Case and her one-year-old sister Nereya were found lying side-by-side in bed where they had been stabbed to death with their father father, Andrew, hanging next to them.
His wife, Victoria, 31, was found in the dining room with her throat slit.
Detectives are investigating whether Mr Case, murdered his wife and children before taking his own life at the family home in Fordingbridge in the New Forest, Hampshire.
Neighbours and friends described the couple, who had been together for 15 years and married for 10, as appearing deeply in love and like the “perfect family”.
They had just returned from a week’s holiday in Weymouth with the children.
Only eight days ago Mr Case posted an exuberant message on his page on Facebook quoting the Cliff Richard song Summer Holiday, speaking of how much he was looking forward to the break.
Earlier he posted photographs online of him opening Easter eggs with his "two beautiful daughters".
But there were claims that the 33 year-old delivery driver had been struggling with financial problems.
Friends at the nursery Mrs Case ran at the local church, St Aldhelm's, became alarmed when she did not arrive.
She had been due to bring Nereya along for the first time for her own induction.
Meanwhile the girls grandmother, who often babysits on a Monday, had also become concerned because she had not been able to get through by phone and went to investigate.
"I heard The childrens' grandmother screaming in the street,” Alayna Brooks, 53, a neighbour, said last night.
“She was sobbing 'My babies are dead, my babies are dead.'
"I said 'Don't be silly.' She was in a state of shock."
But Mrs Brooks followed her into the house and found the four occupants dead.
“There were childrens' toys scattered on the floor but it didn't look like there had been a struggle,” she said.
"There was no blood on the walls or anything like that. It was a peaceful scene.
"Then I turned and looked into the dining room and I saw the mum's body lying on the floor. She had a bag over her face.
"It was absolutely shocking. I wanted to find the babies so I went straight upstairs to the bedrooms.
"That's when I saw Andy hanging in a bedroom. I didn't look him straight in the face - I couldn't.
“I just shook his leg and said 'Wake up - you've got a family.'
"The girls were behind him on the bed, side by side. They look beautiful like they were asleep …I went downstairs and cradled the grandmother in my arms.”
She added: They seemed like the happiest couple on earth. So loved up. If I had a marriage I would have wanted their marriage.
"They were lovely neighbours and they seemed like the perfect family.”
The couple who had recently moved to town saying they felt isolated after living in a larger house in the countryside which Mr Case had renovated himself.
“They never argued and seemed very happy,” said Geoff Scott, 62, their former neighbour.
“I would see her out playing with her kids and she seemed like a very pleasant woman.
“I cannot understand how this could have happened.”
From: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/7911452/All-my-babies-are-dead-grandmother-finds-family-dead-in-home.html