MISANTHROPIA: November 2010

Johann Konrad Dippel was rumored to create potions, perform electrical therapies, and partake in gruesome experiments involving stolen body parts from the graveyard. Born in the Castle Frankenstein in 1673, it’s disputed whether or not he was the inspiration for Mary Shelley’s mad scientist of the same name, who did some cadaver experiments of his own.

What is sure about Dippel is his colorful career as an alchemist. He attached his name to Dippel’s Animal Oil, which he discovered from the destructive distillation of animal parts and claimed as a universal medicine. The animal oil came at the end of a wave of popularity for Iatrochemistry, which had moved alchemy from the search for creating gold to finding new medicines. The unpleasant taste and smell, as well as the progression of medicine, made Dippel's oil fall into disrepute by the end of the 18th century.

Dippel later helped set up a laboratory in Berlin for making gold and, at one point, he ended up in prison on a Danish island for seven years due to political activities. In 1734, he finally had a stroke and died at the Castle Wittgenstein near Berleburg, although his friends claimed he was poisoned. By his own hand or that of another, it is unclear.

The Castle Frankenstein is now in ruins, with only two towers, a restaurant and a chapel remaining. However, the perhaps mythical connection to Mary Shelley’s novel "Frankenstein" keeps it a popular destination, especially for Halloween. A popular annual party was started there by American soldiers stationed near the castle in World War II.

Until it was deactivated in 2008, the US Army's 233rd Base Support Battalion in Darmstadt conducted an annual Frankenstein Castle run which finished at the tower. The castle was featured in an episode of "Ghost Hunters International" which aired in February of 2008.

From: http://atlasobscura.com/place/castle-frankenstein

Dog gets elaborate church blessing

A Shih Tzu puppy called Sheridan has been "christened" in a lavish church cermony while wearing a specially made silk shawl.

By Robert Mendick 11:00PM GMT 20 Nov 2010

No dog could have a better start to life. For in what must be the most lavish ceremony of its kind, Sheridan, the Shih Tzu puppy, was 'christened' in church, wearing a specially made silk shawl as his six tearful godparents looked on.

The dog was chauffeur-driven to church in a Jaguar and, after the ceremony, taken to a hotel where his health was toasted by 75 guests drinking pink champagne.

For his part, Sheridan ate melon as starter followed by butterfly chicken and a sherry trifle to finish. An official photographer recorded the event for posterity.

The extravagant bash, which cost about £1,000, is likely to be met in equal measure with both howls of derision (from traditionalists) and cries of joy (from dog lovers).

Sheridan's owner Russell Smith, a former wedding planner turned funeral director, wanted the church blessing and naming ceremony to reflect his devotion to his new dog. No expense was subsequently spared.

"It cost me more than £1,000 but it was worth every penny," said Mr Smith, 49. "I rented a chauffeur driven, cream Jaguar. We decked the church in flowers. Sheridan wore a silk shawl I had specially made for him.

"It was a beautiful cold, clear morning. the bells were ringing in the church, which was absolutely full. I cried my heart out. It was a very emotional service. The vicar, who is a big dog lover and has bearded collies of his own, was fantastic."

While vicars have been known to stage unusual blessing ceremonies for pets, farm equipment and even laptop computers, Sheridan's ceremony is believed to be among the most lavish ever staged for a single dog.

Mr Smith picked three godmothers and three godfathers to watch over the puppy, which had enjoyed a special makeover the day so he could look his best.

Mr Smith's other dog Smartie, another Shih Tzu aged 14, was at his side at the church in the village of Lazonby in Cumbria.

The local vicar, the Reverend David Fowler, blessed the dog in church but refused to actually christen the animal there.

Instead the dog, its owner, vicar and guests retreated to a local hotel where the vicar placed his hands on the dog's head and declared the puppy be called Sheridan Smith.

"I just wanted him officially mine," said Mr Smith. "When we got back to the hotel, Sheridan started with melon while Smartie tucked into leek and potato soup. Sheridan likes his food."

From: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/8148567/Dog-gets-elaborate-church-blessing.html

Ugly Betty actor arrested after 'killing his mother with a Samurai sword'

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 5:24 PM on 23rd November 2010

An actor who starred in hit show Ugly Betty has been arrested after allegedly killing his mother with a samurai sword.

Michael L Brea was taken into custody after being tasered by police at an apartment in Brooklyn.

A neighbour claimed the 31-year-old had taken his mother hostage and could be heard shouting passages from the Bible.

He claimed the actor had been shouting 'repent. repent,' before stabbing his mother Yannick, 51, with the sword.

There have been claims that she was found decapitated.

Neighbour Bernard Bren claimed he woke up when he heard screaming.

'It sounded like a lady's voice and after a while I just didn't the woman's voice again,' he said.

Brea, who appeared in one episode of Ugly Betty, is currently at Kings County Hospital.

He will undergo a psychiatric assessment before police decide whether to charge him.

Brea is a Haitian-American actor who was a dancer in film Step Up 3D.

From: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1332375/Ugly-Betty-actor-arrested-killing-mother-Samurai-sword.html

Intruder found dead in Stratford home's bathtub

Intruder found dead in Stratford home's bathtub - Connecticut Post

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Saturday, November 20, 2010

2 accused in cursed money scam extradited to Chicago

October 14, 2010 3:05 PM

A mother and daughter accused of stealing more than $100,000 by leading victims to believe their money was cursed were back in court today after being extradited from Arizona to face theft charges.

Laura Santini, 62, and her daughter, Rosann, 36, were arrested earlier this summer after fleeing to Arizona after allegedly stealing $62,000 from a Park Ridge woman and another $45,000 from a South Holland couple.

The pair worked out of a home on Chicago's Far Northwest Side, billing themselves as fortune tellers and psychic healers, according to a criminal complaint unveiled at a bond hearing for the women this morning. They both face felony theft and theft by deception charges.

Authorities said the South Holland couple began visiting the pair in 2005 after the husband responded to a flier advertising their services that was left on the windshield of his car. Over several years, the Santinis allegedly gleaned detailed information about the couple's financial condition, and convinced them that their money was the source of demonic energy. They claimed they would cleanse the cash and then return it to the couple.

When the victims balked, the Santinis warned "that something bad would happen to them and their children, including the death of their children, if they did not give them the money for cleansing," prosecutors said in court.

Authorities said the couple cashed out their life savings of $45,000 in 2007 and turned it over to the pair, but when they asked for their money back, they were repeatedly told that the cleansing process was not complete. In August 2008, the husband went to visit them again, only to discover that the home was up for rent and that the Santinis had fled the area.

The second victim first met with the Santinis in February 2007 and turned over her life savings of $62,000 in cash after she too was told that her money needed to cleansed at the Indiana shrine to remove demonic energy in her life before she or her children suffered harm, according to the complaint. In January 2009, after the Santini's repeatedly rebuffed her request that the money be returned, the woman discovered that the women had vanished.

The two were indicted earlier this year and warrants were issued for their arrest. They were caught in Scottsdale, Ariz., in July, and were extradited to Chicago last week. This morning, Cook County Judge Dennis J. Porter set bail at $100,000 for each woman.

Chicago Police Det. Milorad Sofrenovic said both victims were hard working, educated people who were caught in a moment of weakness due to personal problems. The crimes often go unreported because the victims are too embarrassed to admit they were duped, he said.

"When people do things like this and keep getting away with it, they become more emboldened," said Sofrenovic, an Area 5 property crimes detective who investigated the Santinis and specializes in probing similar scams.

From: http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010/10/2-accused-in-cursed-money-scam-extradited-to-chicago.html

Grown men writhing on the floor like snakes. Screams so loud the neighbours complain. The Mail investigates the unnerving world of the 21st century exorcists

By Jane Fryer
Last updated at 2:25 AM on 20th November 2010

Peter Lloyd’s entire body is shaking. His eyes roll back, his hands flap about like a couple of trapped birds and he lets out a gentle groaning sound. Two inches from his juddering face, a man in dark woolly jumper and smart corduroys is yelling at him. Or, perhaps more accurately, at something inside him.

‘Get out. Get out evil spirit and go to the pit,’ shouts Pastor Vincent. ‘GO TO THE PIT! Cowardly spirit, I sever you from Peter. Now GET OUT!’

And, with that, he peels back Peter’s right eyelid, glares into his glazed eye, jabs him hard in the stomach, bashes him on the head with a leatherbound copy of the Bible and starts shouting again.

‘Holy spirit, I ask for the full judgment of God to smite that evil spirit. Smite it. SMITE IT. Repeat after me, Peter: “In the name of Jesus, I break every curse before my father in Heaven.”

‘Now face me cowardly spirit and tell me your name. TELL ME YOUR NAME.’
Pastor Vincent is carrying out an exorcism or ‘inner healing and spirit deliverance’, as he likes to call it.

‘This is spirit warfare — exorcism literally means the expelling of evil spirits,’ he had told me three hours earlier, as he daubed Peter’s forehead in extra virgin olive oil, checked we’d turned our phones off and locked the door to a draughty office in St Paul’s Trust community centre in Margate.

‘Most people who come to me have been everywhere, tried everything and nothing has worked, but I get results.’

Until five years ago, Pastor Vincent ten Bouwhuis, who is originally from Holland, ran a small business refurbishing hotels.

But then he was born again, attended a five-week training course at the Spiritual Freedom Church at Phoenix, Arizona, launched his online Vincent Ministries and now conducts more than 100 ‘spirit deliverances’ a year.

He is one of thousands of charismatic modern-day exorcists who conduct exorcisms every day in the UK in return for offerings or donations (‘people are generous but, then again, their lives improve enormously’).

They advertise on the internet and in the Yellow Pages and are on Facebook and Twitter. Many, including Pastor Vincent, even offer online training courses — ‘it’s very good value at £50 a month’ — where aspiring exorcists can learn the ropes.

‘There’s been a massive rise in demand lately, so I’ve been incredibly busy,’ he says.

And it’s not just Pastor Vincent who’s busy.

Demand for exorcisms has shot up over recent decades. Just last week, more than a hundred Roman Catholic bishops and priests gathered in Baltimore, U.S., to discuss the staggering demand — and the shortage of priests properly qualified to carry them out.

As one Catholic priest puts it: ‘More people are dabbling in the occult, but then they get tangled and confused and come to us to unravel it all.’

Because, surprising though it seems, every Church of England and Catholic diocese still has at least one bishop-appointed exorcist upon whom parishioners can call in a paranormal emergency.

They don’t advertise their services — Catholic exorcists are forbidden to talk about their activities — but are busy behind the scenes to address paranormal referrals from parishioners, members of the police, the medical profession and the Samaritans.

Although their work mostly consists of offering reassurance, occasionally, they still conduct formal exorcisms.

They also operate under a strict set of guidelines and must have demonstrated themselves to be an exceptionally holy person.

‘It is a specialism that has always been regarded with an enormous sense of reverence and awe,’ says one priest, who cannot be named. ‘We’re talking about the salvation of a human soul here, not something casual.’

So why on earth did Peter Lloyd (who claims to be possessed by the spirit of his eight-year-old self) opt for someone like Pastor Vincent?

‘They had already prayed for me at church, but nothing really happened,’ says Peter. ‘So I found him on the internet and here I am.’

‘They come to me because I get results,’ says Pastor Vincent. ‘Or at least the Lord does, working through me. We go a lot deeper than the Church and we find every tiny hook that an evil spirit could have looped itself around.

‘Of course, it can get noisy. Some people vomit, some scream in a loud voice and some manifest on the floor like a snake, which can be dramatic — but it works.’

The Reverend Tom Willis is also an exorcist — but a rather more traditional one.

For 50 years, he has worked in the York diocese of the Church of England as a Minister of Deliverance (the church’s preferred term for an exorcist — although he claims he was once mistaken for the chaplain of a maternity hospital) and, until his retirement in 1996, he was the Archbishop of York’s special adviser on the occult.

Today he assists the Church, trains clerics in his art and is still called out at least twice a week to help with some type of paranormal disturbance or other.

‘I’m busier than ever — even the police call up for my help,’ he says. ‘No one wants to know about it, but it’s a fact we have to deal with.’

Reverend Willis has lost count of the number of times he has slipped silently, usually at night, into haunted houses, factories, hotels, DSS offices, doctors’ surgeries and police stations to exercise his duties in ‘the hidden ministry of the Church’.

And he’s seen an awful lot of inexplicable phenomena.

There was the time he was thrown to the floor by a massive bolt of power — ‘my head was whiplashed and my elbows and knees knocked together and every muscle tightened’.

And the flying objects — ‘video recorders, shampoo bottles, ornaments travelling through brick walls and doors opening and slamming shut. And sometimes I get a zig-zaggy feeling around my edges — a bit like an electric current — and lots of people shouting: “It’s behind you! It’s in the corner!”’

But he insists that actual demonic possessions are very, very rare.
‘In 50 years, I’ve only seen it for real three or four times — and, usually, it’s mental illness.

‘Anyone who claims they are possessed very rarely is. You don’t get possessed just walking to the supermarket — you have to have dabbled strongly with the occult and called evil in.’

The process by which the Church proves possession is strictly defined.

Until all criteria — an aversion to religious objects, speaking a language the person has never learned and demonstrating a supernatural power, such as extraordinary strength — are met, an exorcism cannot be approved.

Which begs the question: why does Pastor Vincent perform so many exorcisms? And where do all the demons come from?

‘Drug abuse, rejection, sexual abuse . . . there’s also a spirit behind homosexuality,’ he adds. ‘A good friend of mine was homosexual, he came to the Lord and now he’s married with a family.’

(Peter, the man I watched him exorcise, falls into several categories — he was a regular LSD and cocaine user, was rejected by his father as a child and had witnessed sexual abuse.)

Of course, many people would feel rather startled at homosexuality being mentioned in the same breath as demonic possession, but Trevor Newport — the head of a church called Life Changing Ministries and the man who performed Channel 4’s controversial ‘live’ exorcism in 2005 — has even more extreme views. He includes reading horoscopes, performing yoga, Harry Potter and practising martial arts as demon-inviting activities.

‘I’ve even had to cast things out of my own children,’ he says. ‘They were generational things — you know, if your ancestors have been involved in witchcraft, it can still have effects on you, that sort of thing.’ Trevor is a born-again Christian who jets around the world casting demons out of people, talking at international conferences, giving seminars and raising money.

‘I pray for money all the time. My offerings are good — I get thousands all the time. I got £3,000 just this week from donations. And I only ever fly first or business class.

‘I’m very successful, but it’s tiring. I’ve had people charge at me with knives and women shouting in men’s voices. There’s often a physical manifestation when the spirit leaves — it might be a cough or a scream or an unnatural yawn. It’s an incredibly rewarding and interesting job and I love being able to help people.’

Perhaps not surprisingly, the rise of so-called ‘internet exorcists’ has caused some concern.

‘Some of these people decide to be a pastor, do a quick course in America, set up their own church and they’re off,’ says the unnamed priest.

‘I wouldn’t condemn them out of hand, but the danger is that they have no one they need to account to.

‘And if money’s involved, the whole thing can go quite bad quite quickly. Some of these other churches can jump in rather over-enthusiastically.’

The default position of the Church of England and the Catholic church towards those seeking to be exorcised is a healthy scepticism.

‘If someone comes in and says they’re possessed or they’re having visions of Our Lady, it’s safest to be sceptical and work back from that position,’ says the priest.

So how can you distinguish between p ossession and medical illnesses?

According to Pastor Vincent, he can help with both. ‘A lot of the trouble is disassociated identity,’ he says. ‘It is a fragmentation of the mind and things can only happen if you let God in.’

Trevor Newport is a bit clearer: ‘God shows me if someone needs medical help and if someone needs deliverance.

‘I can see it. I know when something is not demonic and just mental.’

One thing the old and new wave can agree on is how ridiculously busy they are. ‘This is a massive social problem that, due to image, marketing and people’s shyness is not recognised,’ says Rev Willis.

Apparently, it has been building up for half a century. Demonic possession and hauntings exploded in number following the repeal of the Witchcraft Bill in 1951 (for hundreds of years it had been illegal in Britain to consult a fortune-teller).

Such was the Vatican’s concern that, in 2000, it issued a new manual for exorcism rituals (replacing the 1614 version) encouraging priests to work with doctors to distinguish between demonic influence and mental illness.

And, just three years ago, the Pope ordered his bishops to set up ‘exorcism squads’ — priests trained on special courses to tackle the rise of Satanism.

'I pray for money all the time. My offerings are good — I get thousands all the time. I got £3,000 just this week from donations. And I only ever fly first or business class.

Indeed, if you tap the word ‘exorcist’ into the internet, you’ll find pages and pages of people offering ‘deliverance ministry’, ‘spirit release’ and all sorts — but not one mention of the Church.

As the Rev Willis puts it: ‘It’s not something we offer on Sunday mornings with coffee and biscuits, but it has always been part of the healing ministry of the church commanded by Jesus.

‘And it always will be.’

Back in the chilly office in Margate and after nearly three hours of shouting and groaning — and a complaint from the meeting room next door about all the noise — Peter and Pasteur Vincent are reaching a climax.
‘Get out. Get out. GET OUT!’

Finally, a grey-faced Peter collapses into his chair in tears. He looks utterly spent and broken, but insists he feels some sort of relief.
‘I feel like something has shifted. I don’t know what, but it feels better,’ says Peter.

‘Of course he does,’ adds Pasteur Vincent.

‘Praise be to God. Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!’

Peter Lloyd’s name has been changed.

From: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1331405/21st-Century-exorcists-The-Mail-investigates-unnerving-world.html

Woman jailed for attacking friend with Buddha statue

NZPA
November 18, 2010, 3:02 pm

A Manawatu woman has been jailed for 6-1/2 years for attacking a friend and smashing her skull in with a 5kg Buddha statue.

Fiona Jane Jordin, 44, was sentenced in the Palmerston North District Court yesterday for the attack on Otaki nurse Kerry Cumming, the Manawatu Standard reported.

Ms Cumming had gone to Australia to work and had asked Jordin and her partner to mind her house in Otaki.

In November last year Ms Cumming returned unannounced to find her house a "pigsty", her possessions sold and thousands of dollars worth of bills in her name, she said.

Jordin said Ms Cumming had attacked her so she retaliated in self defence, but the jury rejected this claim and found Jordin guilty, in September, of intentionally causing grievous bodily harm.

The attack involved the Buddha statue and a glass vase.

Ms Cumming flew from Australia to read her victim impact statement to the court last week.

"My head had to get put back together like a jigsaw puzzle, along with my face, and multiple other wounds on my body," she said.

Ms Cumming proved wrong doctors, who said she would never be able to function on her own, but her left eyelid does not blink or close, she is deaf in one ear and she cannot sleep on her left side as the metal plates in her head cause piercing pain.

She also has permanent vertigo, which causes her to feel nauseous when she bends down or reaches for something.

She also suffers from fatigue, permanent short-term memory loss and a speech impediment.

Judge Les Atkins did not impose a minimum non-parole period on Jordin, which means she could be out of prison after serving one third of her sentence.

From: http://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/top-stories/8344210/woman-jailed-for-attacking-friend-with-buddha-statue/

Man on drug rampage leaves stabbed lamb, maimed father, burnt farm and severed penis in his wake

A Bulgarian has racked up a lengthy list of drug-induced felonies after being given drugs that were promised to ‘guarantee a good time.’

Christopher Hooton - 15th November, 2010

On a slow day in Bulgaria Angel Atanasov decided to take some drugs with a friend.

What followed was a drug-addled rampage of immense proportions.

The following statement by a police spokesman details a comprehensive list of the man’s crazed trail of destruction:

‘First he cut-off a piece of his penis, and when his father came to help him he sliced off his father's ear.

After penis-severing, ear-slicing man: Top 5 bizarre injuries

‘He then ran into the road partially naked and bleeding, where he jumped into a car owned by a young woman who was unloading the trunk and drove off.

‘He went through a red light and crashed into a motorcycle before leaping out of the car and running to a nearby farm where he tried to batter down the door.

‘When that failed he ran down the back of the house and tried to set fire to a haystack.’

The statement continues:

‘He then stabbed a lamb to death before stripping off his remaining clothes and stealing an axe which he then ran off with completely naked.

‘When police closed in, he climbed up a high-voltage cable and was blasted with several thousand volts.’

It would seem this put an end to Atanasov’s rampage as he was arrested soon after.

Atanasov was said to have been taking drugs with a friend in Pazardzhik, a city in the southeast of the capital Sofia, because they were bored.

He is now fighting for his life in intensive care.

From: http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/847267-man-on-drug-rampage-leaves-stabbed-lamb-maimed-father-burnt-farm-and-severed-penis-in-his-wake

Man jailed for murder of girlfriend's toddler

Gary Alcock attacked 15-month-old child after her crying interrupted his computer game

Helen Carter guardian.co.uk, Thursday 18 November 2010 17.06 GMT

A man was jailed for life today for the murder of his girlfriend's toddler, whom he viciously attacked after her crying interrupted him playing on his Xbox computer game.

Jurors at Manchester crown court were told that Violet Mullen's mother, Claire Flanagan, put her "desperate need for a man in her life" ahead of her 15-month-old daughter's welfare. In the three weeks leading up to her death at the hands of Gary Alcock, Violet was punched, slapped and pinched, before he delivered a fatal blow to her stomach which tore her internal organs.

The judge told Alcock, 28, that he must serve at least 21 years before he would be eligible for parole.

Violet's 22-year-old mother was cleared of murder, but convicted of causing or allowing her daughter's death by ignoring the obvious signs of abuse. She was jailed for five years.

For the first year of her daughter's life, Flanagan ensured her needs were met. But this changed when she met Alcock and he moved in to her house in Oldham. The court was told she ignored the signs of abuse and only confronted him an hour before Violet collapsed and died.

In January, an ambulance was called to their home following the fatal beating. Violet was found to have 38 bruises on her body.

Judge Clement Goldstone QC told Flanagan: "You could have sought medical help, you could have involved social services, you could have asked him to leave, but any of those options would have put at risk your relationship, which you, at the time, priced far more highly than your relationship and love for Violet."

He said she blatantly ignored the significant risk of more violence to Violet. "As a mother you failed her miserably. That is something you will have to live with for the rest of your life."

The judge described Alcock as a manipulative individual who had used violence in relationships to achieve control. "Yours was a truly horrific and cruel crime of murder in which you have shown absolutely no remorse or shame," he said.

Alcock was known to social services and had contacted a family centre for parenting advice. When an outreach worker visited the home, it was noted that Alcock ignored Violet while playing computer games. He has a previous conviction for assaulting a former girlfriend and had been seen to hit children.

A postmortem examination concluded that Violet died from internal bleeding after suffering 35 separate injuries – including multiple bruises, rib fractures and brain damage – that were comparable to injuries sustained in a car crash.

The judge said that in the three weeks before Violet's death, Alcock subjected her to repeated violence. "You fractured two of her ribs either by squeezing or gripping her so tight that they snapped.

"You caused injuries to her brain, face, arms and legs with a combination of punches, slaps and, bordering on the sadistic, pinches.

"This was the way you chose to cope with a demanding little girl who demanded your attention and interrupted your time-consuming hobby of playing computer games."

The judge said the blow to Violet's stomach was delivered with such force that it tore her internal organs. Alcock then put her in her cot and waited for Flanagan to return home.

Flanagan had ignored bloodstains on her daughter's clothing, in her cot and on her bedroom walls. She did nothing, even though the child reacted whenever Alcock entered a room.

A health visitor described Flanagan as a caring mum who desperately wanted to be loved. Her childhood and teenage years had been marred by physical abuse and neglect, turbulent stints in care homes from the age of 10 and street prostitution.

Outside court, the senior investigating officer, Vinny Chadwick, said: "The pathologist's report made some disturbing conclusions about how much Violet suffered before her death. Alcock was supposed to care for her, but he abused his position and caused her death.

"We are pleased that justice has been done for taking away a completely innocent life and our thoughts remain with Violet's family as they continue to come to terms with her death."

From: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/nov/18/man-jailed-murder-girlfriends-toddler

Teenage Love Triangle Turns Deadly

Cyberspace Feud Between Two Girls Culminates in Lethal Confrontation

By MARC DORIAN
Nov. 18, 2010

It's the familiar tale of a love triangle but with contemporary complications: Two teenage girls, each jealous of the other's relationship with the same boy, lash out at one another through cell phones and the Internet -- a feud that, though largely played out in cyberspace, resulted in a deadly face-to-face confrontation.

One of the girls, Sarah Ludemann, grew up in a working class neighborhood in Pinellas Park, Fla. She was considered a late bloomer when it came to boys, until, when at age 17, she walked into a Chick Filet restaurant where Josh Camacho worked.

"He poked his head out the back 'cause he was working in the back and he just kind of winked at her," Ludemann's friend, Amber Lee Ayala, said. "She wanted to know him."

Camacho paid attention to Ludemann and called her pretty, but pictures on her cell phone showed Camacho had a dangerous, edgy side: He could be seen flexing his muscles, waving a gun and boasting his name tattooed across his back.

From the get-go, Ludemann's parents weren't impressed.

"There was always something about him that kept you thinking, was he good, was he bad?" said her mother, Gay Ludemann.

It turns out they had reason to worry. Camacho was dating another girl, Rachel Wade, at the same time.

At 19, Wade, who also grew up Pinellas Park, was more independent than Sarah. She had a job, her own apartment and more experience with boys. But she, too, friends said, was attracted to Camacho for his "bad boy" ways.

Camacho kept his two girlfriends in the dark about each other as the family and friends of both girls began to see them change -- they were acting and dressing differently. Camacho insisted they wear long pants, despite Florida's oppressive heat, to keep other guys from looking at their legs. He even told the girls which friends they could be with and when.

"I would see her, and she didn't look like Sarah. She didn't dress like Sarah," said Danielle Eyermann, another friend of Ludemann's. "Even parts of her didn't act like Sarah anymore."

Ludemann's parents grew even more concerned when they noticed bruises on their daughter. They said she told them the marks just came from "play fighting."

Wade's friend Lindsey Atticks said Wade told her that Camacho had threatened her with a gun.

"He held the gun out and said, 'You will never leave me, you will never leave me,'" Atticks said.

'My Man, Not Yours'

"If he said something to Rachel, that's what she had to do," said Stephanie Pilver, another friend of Wade's. "He is very controlling, and I think to a point she felt like maybe that's what she deserved. ? Maybe she should be with him because maybe he is doing that to her, and it's her fault that he is treating her like that."

It didn't take long before Wade and Ludemann found out about each other. Camacho brushed it off, calling them "friends with benefits."

Both girls' friends urged them to end their relationships with Camacho, but they didn't listen. Ludemann lost 30 pounds and was losing herself in Camacho, friends said.

"She couldn't help it. She wasn't willing to let him go," Ayala said.

The tipping point came when Ludemann posted a picture on the social networking site MySpace. It was of herself and Camacho on a trip to New York. Wade was devastated.

It was "obviously to make sure Rachel saw them," Atticks said. "[Sarah Ludemann] messaged her and said, "Oh, how do you like my new pictures? That's with my man, not yours."

Angry and dejected, Wade used MySpace to lash out at Camacho.

"I deserve so much better," she wrote on her page.

But the message prompted a taunting post from Ludemann, who wrote, "You think you can find better?"

Enraged, Wade dialed Ludemann's cell phone, leaving an angry, profanity-laced message. Listen to the voicemail here.

The taunting went back and forth for months on MySpace, text messages and voice mail. The technology made it all too easy to lash out, but it also made it worse.

It was Ludemann who first took the feud offline and started to harass Wade at work. Pilver said Ludemann and her friends would visit the restaurant Wade worked at so they could trip her while she was carrying beer or complain that she spit in their food.

Camacho seemed to enjoy the two women vying for his affection. He even encouraged them to go to battle for him.

"Josh would say, Well, if you want to be with me, then you'll fight with her for me," Atticks said.

On April 14, 2009, the wheels for a face-off were set in motion. Camacho sent a text message to Wade, asking to see her that night. But soon after, he sent another message, canceling the get-together. Wade suspected Ludemann was the reason.

The Fight

Wade "called me and she was bawling," Atticks said. "She told me, 'I think Josh is with Sarah. I am so upset. He ditched me again for her." Shortly after dark, according to Wade's friends, Ludemann pulled up outside Wade's apartment, honked the horn and drove off.

In fear, Wade called an ex-boyfriend, Javier Laboy, who invited her to seek refuge at his home.

As Wade hurried out of her apartment, she paused in the kitchen for a moment and made a fateful decision: She grabbed a steak knife.

"She was afraid that they were gonna, you know, show up (again) and ... she had no way to defend herself," Laboy said.

On the way to Laboy's, witnesses said Wade took a detour to spy on Camacho. And from her car, she allegedly sent a text to Camacho, saying, "Now I know why you're not talking to me because you have her."

Camacho texted back, 'That's right. I don't like you no more."

Wade left to find comfort at Laboy's house. Ludemann, on a tip, found out where Wade was, and decided to confront her face to face. She raced off in her minivan toward Laboy's.

"We hear a car screeching around the corner. If she would've gone any faster she would've tipped that van," Laboy said. "By the time we realized what was going on, Sarah had already jumped out of the car, grabbed Rachel's hair. She was punching. Rachel's arms were flying everywhere."

After seconds, Wade and Ludemann separated. Ludemann, bleeding from a gaping wound, staggered back toward her minivan and collapsed. Wade calmly walked back toward Laboy's house, tossing the knife onto a neighbor's roof.

Wade had "such a blank look on her face," Laboy said. "It didn't look like she was there with us."

When police arrived, Ludemann was lying on the ground with barely a pulse. When her parents and Camacho arrived at the scene, she was surrounded by paramedics.

Her father, Charlie Ludemann, confronted Wade, whom he said he saw sitting at the scene, smoking a cigarette.

"I said, Rachel, why -- you stupid bitch, you couldn't fight with your hands. And Sarah's layin' there in a puddle of blood," he said.

Wade, he said, didn't answer.

The doctors struggled to save Sarah Ludemann, but her wound was too massive. At 2:29 a.m., the teenager was pronounced dead.

On Trial for Murder

Ludemann's parents went to see their daughter as doctors worked to revive her, but Camacho, they said, stayed in the waiting room.

"I said to Josh, "I gotta go see Sarah. You ought to come," Charlie Ludemann said. "[He said] 'No, I can't see her like that.' And I told him, 'You're the reason she's like that.' And then I left."

Camacho was banned from the funeral.

Police arrested Rachel Wade for the murder of Ludemann soon after her death. This past July, at age 20, Wade went on trial.

Camacho was among 12 witnesses to testify. He conceded that Ludemann and Wade had fought over him but said little else otherwise.

"There was this young ? petite man that would come into court wearing a coat and tie, but he certainly was somebody who wanted to be tough, wanted to be the puppet master and tell these girls what to do and how to do it," said Wade's defense attorney, Jay Hebert.

Wade was the last to testify. The teenager told the court that she was just trying to defend herself.

Prosecutors weren't buying it: They played a threatening voice mail message that Wade had left for Ludemann. Wade said, "Now your ass is mine, and I am guaranteeing you I am going to f--king murder you. I am letting you know that now ... you're a f**king fat bitch, and I am going to f**king kill you, I swear on my life."

Wade told the court that Ludemann had also threatened her.

"Nobody really ever approaches people anymore and just talks to them," Wade said.

"So everybody goes out there and takes a knife and stabs people in the heart," prosecutor Lisset Hanewicz replied. "That is what happens?"

The jury needed only 2½ hours to reach a verdict. They found Wade guilty of second degree murder. She was later sentenced to 27 years in prison, where she remains today.

Wade told "20/20" that she now talks to Ludemann, asking for her forgiveness.

"I wish that we could have sat down and talked," she said, "and that I wish that, you know, both of us could have been smart enough to just walk away and to realize we deserve better."

From: http://abcnews.go.com/2020/teenage-love-triangle-turns-deadly/story?id=12152881&page=1

Friday, November 19, 2010

Quote Unqoute: W.C. Fields

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Then quit. There’s no point in being a damn fool about it.

— wc fields

Man Who Raped St. Martin's Student, Bragged To Her Friends And Family Gets 60+ Years

Posted: 2:17 pm PST November 17, 2010
Updated: 5:57 pm PST November 17, 2010

LACEY, Wash. -- A man who raped a St. Martin's University student and then called her friends and family to brag about the attack was sentenced to at least 60 years in prison on Wednesday.

Richard Bunch, 51, tased the woman to subdue her and then raped her on a trail near the St. Martin's campus in April 2008.

Prosecutors described the attack in arguing for a high sentence for Bunch.

"Not only did he tase her in her face, neck and eyes, but he also punched her in the face repeatedly to get her to shut up and take off her clothes," Thurston County Deputy Prosecutor Dominique Jinhong said.

After raping the woman, Bunch stole her cell phone and used it to call the woman's father and friends to brag to them about the attack and how he left the woman lying in the dirt, prosecutors said.

"His only child, he learns, has just been brutally raped by some stranger who has her phone and he can't do anything about it," Jinhong said. "He can't do anything about it. He can't comfort his daughter; he doesn't know if she's alive or dead."

Judy Prochnau, a victim advocate, also read a letter from the victim's father about the pain that call inflicted.

"Imagine the terror when a stranger tells you he has just raped your daughter," said Prochnau said. "Richard Bunch wanted to spread the misery to as many people as he could."

Before being sentenced, Bunch spoke out about the rape, apologizing for calling the victim's father, but not her friends.

"What happened between (redacted) and I wasn't rape; she says it was," Bunch said. "Being a parent myself, I should have never called him. Calling her friends, I wanted to embarrass the holy hell out of her for what she did to me."

The judge in the case told Bunch she considered his statement in court and his other actions nothing but an attempt to continue inflicting pain on the victim and her family.

She then sentenced him to 60 years to life in prison.

Bunch, who was a truck driver, had previously been convicted of raping a 13 year old girl in Nevada. He will now be moved to Ellensburg, where he is facing additional charges for the rape of a 9-year-old girl.

From: http://www.kirotv.com/news/25830287/detail.html?cxntlid=cmg_cntnt_rss

Nazi spaceship film sparks UFO debate

A new sci-fi film about Nazis has reignited a debate in Germany about Hitler's development of UFOs.

By Allan Hall in Berlin 1:05PM GMT 17 Nov 2010

The Finnish sci-fi comedy 'Iron Sky' centres on real-life SS officer Hans Kammler who was said to have made a significant breakthrough in antigravity experiments towards the end of WW2.

The film relates how, from a secret base built in the Antarctic, the first Nazi spaceships were launched in late 1945 to found the military base Schwarze Sonne – Black Sun – on the dark side of the Moon.

This base was to to be used to build a powerful invasion fleet and return to take over the Earth once the time was right, in this case 2018.

But a new report out this week in Germany in the magazine PM purports that there is "strong evidence" that a Nazi UFO programme was well advanced.

Hitler ordered Luftwaffe chief Hermann Goering to develop the super weapon that would change the war.

The PM report quotes eyewitnesses who believe they saw a flying saucer marked with the Iron Cross of the German military flying low over the Thames in 1944.

At the time the New York Times wrote about a "mysterious flying disc" with photos of the device seen travelling at extremely high speeds over the high-rise buildings.

The best known of the Nazi UFO projects was the Schriever-Habermohl scheme, named for Rudolf Schriever and Otto Habermohl.

Initially a Luftwaffe project, it fell under the auspices of armaments minister Albert Speer before being taken over once again in 1944 by Hans Kammler.

Eyewitnesses captured by the Allies after WW2 claimed to have seen the saucer produced in Prague fly on several occasions in early 1945.

Joseph Andreas Epp, an engineer who served as a consultant to the Schriever-Habermohl project, stated 15 prototypes were built in all.

He described how a central cockpit surrounded by rotating adjustable wing-vanes formed a circle.

The vanes were held together by a band at the outer edge of the wheel-like device. The pitch of the vanes could be adjusted so that during take off more lift was generated by increasing their angle from a more horizontal setting.

In level flight the angle would be adjusted to a smaller angle, similar to the way helicopter rotors operate. The wing-vanes were to be set in rotation by small rockets placed around the rim like a pinwheel.

Once rotational speed was sufficient, lift-off was achieved.

After the craft had risen to some height the horizontal jets or rockets were ignited. "After this the wing-blades would be allowed to rotate freely as the saucer moved forward as in an auto-gyrocopter. In all probability, the wing-blades speed, and so their lifting value, could also be increased by directing the adjustable horizontal jets slightly upwards to engage the blades, thus spinning them faster at the digression of the pilot," he said.

From: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/ufo/8139811/Nazi-spaceship-film-sparks-UFO-debate.html

Panic after ‘Devil attack’ at school

17 Moruga students in hospital
Radhica Sookraj

Published: 11 Nov 2010

Panic broke out at the Moruga Composite School yesterday as 17 female students fell mysteriously ill and began rolling on the ground, hissing and blabbering in a strange tongue, after suffering bouts of nausea and headaches. Two of the students reportedly tried to throw themselves off a railing and had to be physically restrained, triggering fears of a possible demon attack. The drama started during the lunch hour in the Form One block and quickly spread to other areas. Form Five student Kern Mollineau, who attends the Lighthouse Tabernacle Church, said he got worried when the girls’ eyes began rolling up in their heads and they began beating up on the ground.

With the assistance of several other students and teachers, the pupils were taken to the multi-purpose hall where some of them fell into a semi-conscious state. Mollineau recalled: “One girl was blabbering as if in a strange language. I could not understand what she was saying. “It was sounding like ‘shebbaberbebeb shhhhee.’ The girls were unusually strong. We had to hold them down so that they will not hurt themselves. “The teachers were right there. I get a kick in my face when one of the girls started beating up on the floor. Many of them had bruises.” Mollineau claimed he actually communicated with the “devil which had possessed the girl. “I asked the Devil what he wanted with the girls and the voice said he wanted a life. He kept saying to send the girls in the toilet and to leave them alone,” Mollineau claimed.

Roman Catholic priests, as well as pastors from nearby churches, including Josephine Charles, Deborah Charles and Pastor Gordon, visited the school and began showering the children with holy water and prayers. Two more students, Kriston Mollineau and Kishon Bethel, said they too were called by teachers to assist the ill girls. Kriston said the girls complained of headaches and some of them wanted to go to the toilet. Six ambulances arrived at the school accompanied by police teams from the Moruga and St Mary’s Police Post. A party of fire officers from the Princes Town Fire Station, led by acting Assistant Divisional Fire Officer Ramdeo Boodoo visited the school and began conducting several tests on the surroundings to determine the cause of the problem.

Boodoo said there was nothing in the environment to trigger fainting spells, nausea and headaches. A teacher, who requested anonymity, said two weeks ago an Orisha woman came to the school and had a dispute with a member of staff. He said following the dispute, the woman threatened to deal with the school administration. Another teacher said the school was built on a burial site, but neighbours who live around the school denied that was so. A source at the school confirmed that all 17 pupils were taken to the Princes Town Health Facility where they were medically examined. The other students were sent home at 2 pm.

Responding yesterday, Minister in the Ministry of Education Clifton de Coteau said he was aware that pupils had to be taken for medical attention. De Coteau said Student Support Service officials were sent to the school and students were expected to receive counselling. A statement from the Ministry of Education said the Public Transport Service Corporation (PTSC) made maxi taxis available to the school to assist the Office for Disaster Preparedness and Management (ODPM) which provided additional ambulances.

From: http://guardian.co.tt/news/general/2010/11/11/panic-after-devil-attack-school

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Family Says Son Killed Dog Out Of Jealousy

Posted: Nov 15, 2010 2:45 AM
Updated: Nov 15, 2010 2:40 PM

Jon Jordan, News 9

OKLAHOMA CITY -- A couple said they believe their son brutally killed the family's dog because he felt like he was being replaced.

Christopher Poston, 25, was arrested after police said he stabbed the family's 6-year-old Lab, Sammy, to death.

Christopher's mother, Susan Poston, said she was stunned over her son's actions, especially because she said Christopher rescued Sammy after finding him in a trash bag.

Susan said Sammy was a sweet and caring dog who loved everyone. She said they believe Christopher attacked the dog because he had become jealous and felt Sammy had replaced him.

Christopher's family said he has been arrested 18 times since turning 16. In 2003 and 2009 the family even sought protection orders against him. He was given a five year deferred sentence in 2009 for pointing a gun during a road rage incident. Now his parent said they want their son put in jail for good.

"This is psychotic. This is serial killer bad. Someone who can do this to an animal could very well do this to a person, and I don't think he should ever get out. I am sure he will, but I don't ever want to see him," Susan said.

From: http://www.news9.com/Global/story.asp?S=13501182

Tyler man allegedly killed friend over wife's kiss

Associated Press
Posted on November 16, 2010 at 9:19 AM

TYLER, Texas (AP) - A Tyler man is accused of fatally shooting a friend who allegedly was kissed on the cheek by the gunman's wife in a show of comfort.

Smith County Jail records showed 45-year-old Ricky Jay Reynolds was held Tuesday on charges of murder, unlawfully carrying a weapon and evading arrest. Bond was $230,000. Electronic jail records did not list a lawyer for Reynolds, who was captured following Sunday night's attack.

Sheriff's Lt. Tony Dana says the victim was 39-year-old Chad Otis Jones of Arlington.

Dana says the suspect's wife told officers that her brother had died and she was going through her sibling's home when she kissed Jones on the cheek, as a sign of encouragement. Jones allegedly needed a place to live and was staying at the residence.

Dana says Reynolds saw the kiss.

From: http://www.wfaa.com/news/crime/Tyler-man-allegedly-killed-friend-over-wifes-kiss-108423434.html

More than 340 dead fetuses found in Thai temple

AFP November 16, 2010

BANGKOK - The bodies of more than 340 human fetuses, apparently from an illegal abortion clinic, were discovered inside a Buddhist temple in central Bangkok, Thai police said Tuesday.

A total of 348 corpses, wrapped in plastic bags and newspaper, were found by a member of temple staff in a mortuary storage area.

Police Colonel Metee Rakphan said plastic bags were found "with fetal corpses inside hidden in the storehouse of a temple".

"We assume that they were from illegal abortion clinics, and we are now investigating," he told AFP, adding that they were questioning the temple mortician.

One rescue worker with the Poh Teck Tung foundation, a charity that provides emergency rescue and body recovery services, said up to 500 fetuses could eventually be uncovered.

Buddhist temples in Thailand not only perform cremation ceremonies, but also store bodies in specially refrigerated areas.

Abortion is illegal in Thailand except when it is judged that delivery would harm the mother or when the pregnancy is the result of rape.

From: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/More+than+dead+fetuses+found+Thai+temple/3835362/story.html

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Nurse 'has eyes gouged out in horrific sex attack by her own son' after police visit home

By Ryan Kisiel and Sam Greenhill
Last updated at 11:11 PM on 15th November 2010

A man has been arrested for allegedly attempting to rape his mother and gouging out her eyes - moments after police had visited their home.

The 53-year-old victim, who cannot be named, was left blinded by the attack.

Her son, a 22-year-old former grammar school student, was arrested only after he ran naked from his home and started jumping into moving cars.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission has launched an investigation as it emerged that police officers had visited the home two hours previously over a 'domestic incident', but left after 30 minutes.

The man lives with his mother, a nurse, and teenage sister at a detached four-bedroom home in Slough, Berkshire.

Neighbours say trouble started when he began shouting and throwing objects out of a first-floor window.

A computer and television set were hurled on to the front garden before neighbours called the police at 6.44pm on Friday.

Officers arrived at the house and spent half an hour with the pair before leaving. It is understood the daughter was not at home.

Two hours later, the man ran out of his home naked and jumped into the side of a neighbour's car while he was turning out of his drive.

He then stopped another car before jumping on the bonnet and hitting the windscreen.

Witnesses say he jumped off the car and ran into the path of another, which hit him, throwing him up on to the windscreen and hurling him to the side of the road.

Police and an ambulance arrived to treat him and were alerted to the mother in the house.

Officers found that she had severe eye injuries and feared that she may have been sexually assaulted.

A neighbour said: 'It was madness. He must have suddenly flipped as he is generally a quiet person and keeps himself to himself.

'He started shouting from his sister's bedroom and then throwing out huge objects. I saw a television, computer and small table smash on to the ground below.

'I thought he'd really flipped and the police quickly arrived. It all seemed to calm down then as the police left not long after arriving.

'I then went to pick my father up from the train station and the next thing I knew the man came running out of his house naked and jumped into the side of my car.

'I pulled over to call the police and then I saw him stop another car. When the police arrived we suddenly remembered the earlier outbursts and they went in to see if his mother was OK. Apparently the injuries were horrific and she was later rushed to hospital.'

The woman's condition is described as 'non-life threatening'.

A Thames Valley Police spokesman said: 'A 22-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted rape and GBH and has been transferred to a secure unit.'

From: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1329655/Nurse-eyes-gouged-horrific-sex-attack-son.html

Girl, 10, 'dismembered, body parts scattered'

By MSN NZ
Tuesday 16 november 2010 8:00:00

The stepmother of murdered Australian girl Zahra Baker told police the girl was dead, dismembered and that her body parts had been scattered across different sites, court documents show.

The documents ask for a reduction in bail for Elisa Baker, saying she helped investigators by leading them to the remains of 10-year-old Zahra.

Baker has been jailed since last month, accused of trying to throw off investigators by writing a fake ransom note for another child.

The court papers were reported by Charlotte-area TV stations and posted on the website of WCNC-TV on Monday.

Baker told police on October 24 that Zahra "was deceased, that her body had been dismembered and that it would be recovered at different sites", according to the documents.

Police took Baker to the areas she suggested and recovered Zahra's prosthetic leg, which the 10-year-old needed after battling bone cancer five years ago.

A bone later identified as Zahra's was discovered at the same site.

On October 26, police escorted Baker to the Caldwell County landfill where they recovered a mattress that Baker said she had thrown out.

Baker, who remains in custody on obstruction of justice charges, then told investigators where the rest of Zahra's remains could be found, the documents state.

Up until the filing of the documents, it was known Baker was assisting police in their investigation but it was not clear what information she was supplying them with.

The documents come after the release of prison letters allegedly written by Baker which point to Zahra's biological father Adam Baker as being involved in her disappearance.

The letters, which proclaim her innocence, were published on a US website which has a history of communicating with inmates.

"We really didn't kill her but what he did after the fact is kinda horrifying," the letter states.

"Makes me scared of him."

Hickory Police said the handwriting matched Baker's but they did not confirm the letters were authentic.

Adam Baker is currently free on bail after he was charges with offences unrelated to Zahra's disappearance.

From: http://news.msn.co.nz/article/8141667/ten-year-old-girl-was-dismembered-body-parts-scattered

Man 'cut off de-facto's tongue, sliced mouth'

By MSN NZ
tuesday 16 november 2010 9:00:00

An Australian man allegedly cut off his de-facto partner's tongue and sliced her mouth open during a vicious early-morning attack in her home.

Mohammed Tasleem Tahir appeared in Southport Magistrate's Court yesterday, charged with torture, acts intended to maim and disfigure and grievous bodily harm, the Gold Coast Bulletin reports.

Court documents reveal the victim, Catherine Cameron, moved to the Gold Coast from South Australia six months ago after ending her relationship with Tahir.

The 20-year-old changed her name and telephone number, with the intent of starting "afresh".

But police allege Tahir confronted Ms Cameron in her unit around 1.30am on Saturday morning, telling her he wanted to "repair" their relationship.

Instead, he allegedly held her in a headlock while bashing her with an empty alcohol bottle.

He then pulled out a knife and cut her tongue and mouth. Ms Cameron was taken to hospital, suffering from a 4cm gash on the left side of her mouth and a 2cm gash on the right.

She also suffered a fractured eye socket and will need a metal plate to be inserted.

Tahir then allegedly tried to strangle Ms Cameron on her bed and only stopped when she feigned losing consciousness and went limp.

Neighbours called police when they heard commotion in Ms Cameron's apartment.

The case has been adjourned until November 27.

From: http://news.msn.co.nz/article/8141279/man-cut-off-de-factos-tongue-sliced-mouth

Monday, November 15, 2010

East Texas man killed by pet deer

Posted: Nov 12, 2010 7:08 PM
Updated: Nov 15, 2010 3:49 AM

WASKOM, TX (KLTV) - A Harrison County man in his 60's has been killed by his pet deer.

Officials say 67-year-old Gerald Rushton was raising a European Red Stag on his property along with other animals.

As Rushton was entering the stag's pen to feed it, the 550 pound animal became aggressive, charged and pinned Rushton against a fence. Investigators say Rushton was gored several times and trampled.

The red stag was killed so rescuers could get to Rushton, but they say he was already dead.

From: http://www.kltv.com/global/story.asp?s=13492232

Man beat wife over missing ricotta

Spouse later found dead in driveway

By Ira Kantor and Laura Crimaldi
Thursday, November 11, 2010

A Chelsea man beat his wife over a missing ingredient for the lasagna he was making during “Monday Night Football” hours before she was found dead in their driveway, authorities said.

Frederick Wilkes, 54, lashed out at Theresa Kenna Wilkes, 50, after he discovered beans inside a ricotta cheese container in their fridge, said Jake Wark, spokesman for the Suffolk district attorney’s office.

“He threw the container of beans at her and they became involved in an altercation,” Wark said.

Wilkes — a father of two who had been married for 28 years — pleaded not guilty to three counts of assault and battery yesterday and is being held on $15,000 bail. He is not charged with murder.

The fight began around 8 p.m. when the couple and Fred Wilkes’ buddy, Mario Donnarumma, went to the kitchen to prepare dinner before the Steelers-Bengals game, according to court papers. All three had been drinking for hours, and when Wilkes found the leftover beans, the argument began, Donnarumma told cops.

Theresa Wilkes hit her husband several times, and he hit her “three times on the side of her head with either an open or closed fist,” said Donnarumma, a homeless man who had been staying with the couple.

Donnarumma said he offered to go to the store to purchase ricotta cheese but was unsuccessful, and returned only with beer and vodka. Wilkes became upset again, and his wife, who was sitting on a couch, suddenly found herself covered in beans, Donnarumma said.

The couple fought again, prompting Wilkes to say, “You’re done ... get out,” while grabbing his wife and dragging her out of the apartment, Donnarumma told police. He also pushed the bean-splattered couch outside.

Sometime later, Wilkes “engaged in a loud argument” with his wife outside, court papers indicate, before re-entering the apartment and locking the door.

Donnarumma told cops Wilkes opened the door once more to toss his wife’s purse outside, adding he did not see Wilkes leave the apartment again until both were woken by police the next morning.

The lifeless body of Theresa Wilkes was found barefoot in her driveway around 6 a.m. Tuesday, cops said, adding she appeared to have scrape marks and blood on her face.

Wilkes, who initially denied fighting with his wife, eventually “admitted to pouring beans over Theresa, grabbing her by the shirt and forcibly throwing her out of the apartment,” police said.

A cause of death has yet to be determined pending autopsy results.

Messages left for Wilkes’ attorney, Aviva Jeruchim, were not returned.

From: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/20101111cops_man_beat_wife_over_missing_ricotta_spouse_later_found_dead_in_driveway/

More than 50 sheep commit mass suicide by jumping off cliff in Turkey

BY Jaime Uribarri
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Friday, November 12th 2010, 2:34 PM

Maybe they knew what was coming.

More than 50 sheep on their way to slaughter in Turkey beat their executioners to the punch and jumped to their deaths in an unexplained and unprovoked mass suicide.

Herder Mejmet Gana saw his animals, and his money, vanish into thin air when one sheep suddenly leapt off a cliff, only to be followed by the rest of the flock.

A total of 52 carcasses were recovered at the bottom of the mountain range the herd was travelling on, Russian TV station RT reported.

Gana was taking the sheep to a local market, where they were to be sold for the upcoming Eid al-Adha holiday that Muslims around the world celebrate by sacrificing an animal.

Back in 2005, Aksam newspaper reported that some 1,500 sheep jumped off a cliff, also in Turkey. Only the first 450 or so were killed, as the remaining animals' falls were cushioned by the dead bodies below.

From: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2010/11/12/2010-11-12_more_than_50_sheep_commit_mass_suicide_in_turkey.html

Westboro protesters face jeers and slashed tires

By MANNY GAMALLO World Staff Writer

Published: 11/14/2010 2:30 AM
Last Modified: 11/14/2010 8:12 AM

McALESTER - Members of a Kansas church that protests at military funerals may have found themselves in the wrong town Saturday.

Shortly after finishing their protest at the funeral of Army Sgt. Jason James McCluskey of McAlester, a half-dozen protesters from Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., headed to their minivan, only to discover that its front and rear passenger-side tires had been slashed.

To make matters worse, as their minivan slowly hobbled away on two flat tires, with a McAlester police car following behind, the protesters were unable to find anyone in town who would repair their vehicle, according to police.

The minivan finally pulled over several blocks away in a shopping center parking lot, where AAA was called. A flatbed service truck arrived and loaded up the minivan. Assistant Police Chief Darrell Miller said the minivan was taken to Walmart for repairs.

Even before the protesters discovered their damaged tires, they faced off with a massive crowd of jeering and taunting counterprotesters at Third Street and Washington Avenue, two blocks from the First Baptist Church, where the soldier's funeral was held.

Miller estimated that crowd to number nearly 1,000 people, and they not only drowned out the Westboro protesters with jeers, but with raucous chants of "USA, USA."

A few motorcyclists interspersed among the crowd also revved up their engines to muffle the protests.

More than two dozen law-enforcement officers - state troopers, sheriff's deputies and city police - formed a security cordon around the Westboro protesters.

"We're here to protect everyone," Miller said.

Westboro members picket military funerals across the country, spreading their message that "God hates America" because it tolerates homosexuality.

From: http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20101114_11_A12_CUTLIN105145

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Boy, 13, hanged himself after being taunted about painful skin condition by school bullies

By James Tozer
Last updated at 9:34 AM on 13th November 2010

A schoolboy whose life was made a misery by bullies who taunted him for his skin condition was found hanged in his bedroom by his mother.

Sam Riley, 13, had been targeted since he was at nursery as a result of his eczema, and had told a counsellor he had thought about killing himself.

The school was warned he had threatened suicide over his treatment by bullies but tragically staff were unable to prevent him taking his life.

Described by his family as 'handsome and popular', Sam had begun missing lessons but didn't want his parents to complain to the school in case it made it worse, an inquest was told.

Now a coroner has ruled that his distress had been caused by the name-calling and bullying but concluded that he hadn't meant to kill himself.

Sam attended Oulder Hill Community School in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, where he was described as a 'happy-go-lucky' boy and a passionate Liverpool FC fan.

But in the weeks leading up to his death in March last year, his parents, Steve and Deborah, said he was increasingly upset by the taunts prompted by his eczema, for which he required daily treatment.

'I know there was a lot of name calling,' Mrs Riley told the inquest.

'Sometimes he would not tell anyone and would keep it bottled up.

'He did not want me to go in and speak to the school about it because he said it would make it worse.

'I knew he kept being called names. He just used to say that he hated school.'

The inquest heard Mrs Riley discovered a noose in her son's room at the family home in Rochdale three months before the tragedy.

She made an appointment with the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMS) where Sam admitted to a counsellor he had thought about hanging himself.

In a statement to the inquest, the counsellor said: 'Sam said he felt helpless and there were issues to do with bullying at school and this appeared to affect his self-esteem.

'He said he never told teachers about it.'

The school was informed of what he had said, but Myra Burke, pastoral director of Sam's school, told the hearing in Rochdale it was not aware of any serious bullying.

'The school was aware of some name-calling that had taken place, but this was not persistent and was dealt with by the staff when it was reported,' she said.

'He did not express at any time that he was being bullied.'

At the time of his death, Sam's mother described him as the 'sunshine of her life'.

'He was my beautiful boy,' she added. 'So handsome and popular, he had so many friends. I just can’t take it in that he has gone.

'I don't think he realised just how loved he was.'

Coroner Simon Nelson said neither the school nor Pennine Care, which provided the mental health services, could have done any more to avoid Sam's death.

'What I have heard is of a young man who would have been extremely distressed by the conditions that had affected him,' he said.

'I have no doubt this had an effect on his behaviour. I accept that he had been name-called throughout the great part of his life.

'In my view this amounts to bullying.'

Recording a verdict of death by misadventure, Mr Nelson said he didn't believe Sam had intended to kill himself.

'My conclusion is that this was not a deliberate act on Sam's part but a consequence that was unintended,' he added.

However his verdict was met with anger by Mrs Riley, who shouted in court: 'How can a 13-year-old go upstairs and do that without intending it? It is not right, you are wrong.'

A spokeswoman for Pennine Care said: 'Information was passed directly to the school and to the school health practitioner in relation to risks identified in our assessment.'

The school refused to comment.

From: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1329175/Boy-13-hanged-taunted-painful-skin-condition-school-bullies.html

Teenagers jailed for 'ferocious' Mountain Ash murder

12 November 2010 Last updated at 15:53 GMT

Two teenagers who murdered a man at his home in south Wales were caught after boasting to friends, Cardiff Crown Court heard.

Richard Shanahan and Adam Smith, both 18, were jailed for life for a "prolific and ferocious" attack on Richard "Dickie" Dyas.

They admitted murdering the ex-security guard, 47, who was found dead in bed at his home in Mountain Ash in March.

Imprints from Shanahan's trainers were visible on Mr Dyas' face and chest.

Mr Dyas choked on his own blood after the attack.

Shanahan and Smith, both of Mountain Ash, were given life sentences on Friday.

The court heard their 22-stone victim, who was described as "friendly, naive, kind and gentle", asked them to break into his home in Mountain Ash after it was repossessed by a building society.

Prosecutor Jeremy Jenkins said: "Shanahan popped the lock and he and Smith kicked down the door and they all went in.

"Mr Dyas gave them alcohol and electrical equipment to thank them for getting him back into his home - then the pair left."

But the pair returned in the early hours while an unsuspecting Mr Dyas was sleeping.

Mr Jenkins said: "We can't say exactly what happened that night - only three people know and one of them is dead.

"But Shanahan and Smith punched, stabbed and stamped on their victim as well as whipping him with a fishing rod.

'Boasted'

"The next day they boasted to friends about the attack and Shanahan said: "I stabbed him and kicked him and danced on his head."

Judge Mr Justice Lloyd Jones ordered Shanahan to serve a minimum of 18 years and Smith a minimum of 17 years.

The court was told Smith has since shown remorse by saying: "No one deserves what we did to him."

Mr Dyas suffered fractured facial bones and stab wounds to the chest and legs.

At sentencing the judge told the pair: "It was a prolific and ferocious attack by two fit young men on a man who couldn't defend himself.

"You inflicted considerable suffering before he died."

Det Ch Insp Dorian Lloyd said the success of the investigation was due to the "diligence of the investigation team and the considerable support we received from the community of Mountain Ash - particularly from the young people who live there".

"I would like to thank all of those residents of Mountain Ash who came forward with valuable witness statements which, combined with the overwhelming forensic evidence, resulted in the guilty pleas from both Smith and Shanahan," he said.

"Securing guilty pleas in a murder investigation is very unusual and it is as a result of the support and courage of many residents from Mountain Ash that we were able to achieve this result."

Senior District Crown Prosecutor for Cardiff and Merthyr, Catrin Evans, said: "This was a particularly brutal and senseless murder.

"The pain and suffering Richard Dyas had to endure in the course of his death is impossible to comprehend."

She said the community should be consoled that "these dangerous men will be off the streets for a very long time".

From: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-11745576

Grandfather guilty in infant's rape, murder

November 10, 2010 9:45 PM

JOHN C. ENSSLIN
THE GAZETTE

A Widefield man will spend the rest of his life in prison after a jury Wednesday found him guilty of the rape and murder of his 8-month-old grandson.

A jury of nine-men and three women took about 9½ hours over two days to find Willie B. Allmon guilty on all charges, including first and second degree murder and sexual assault on a child by a person in a position of trust.

Allmon, a 52-year-old registered sex offender, will face a mandatory punishment of life in prison without parole when 4th Judicial District Judge Barney Iuppa sentences him on Dec. 2 for killing Isiah Melik Wilson.

While Allmon showed no emotion as Iuppa read the jury’s verdict, the child’s mother Felicia Allmon and her mother both bent over in their front row seats and began to weep.

Brenda Allmon, who had divorced her husband, later hugged her daughter and said, “I may be a hard mom. But I’m a good mom, a mom and a dad.”

They declined to talk after the verdict.

Felicia Allmon’s disagreements with her mother led her to stay at her father’s house in May 2009 after she and her father had been estranged for several years. On the morning of May 18, 2009, she left Isiah in his grandfather’s care. An hour later, he called to say the boy wasn’t breathing.

Doctors later determined that Isiah’s skull had been shattered and that he had been sexually assaulted. The child died the next day.

Jury foreman Zach Blea said the jury agreed to convict Allmon on the murder counts within 2 hours after the trial ended. It took them longer to reach consensus on the sex assault charge.

Blea said the jurors screened out the turmoil and drama of the Allmons family life and focused instead on the medical testimony.

“It really came down to the injuries and how they occurred,” he said.

The verdict came after the jury heard nine days of often graphic and emotional testimony.

They saw Felicia Allmon break down and cry several times on the witness stand, including when she was asked to identify her father in the courtroom.

Allmon’s public defenders suggested that Felicia Allmon could have inflicted the multiple blows that fractured her son’s skull.

They described the stressful, unsettled life she was leading after breaking up with Isiah’s father, an Army sergeant based at Fort Hood in Texas. They also cited her fears about losing Isiah to a custody battle with the father.

But prosecutors reminded the jurors of medical witnesses who testified that the fatal injuries probably occurred within an hour before Isiah was admitted to Memorial Hospital.

Jurors also watched a three-hour video in which Allmon struggled to provide an explanation for boy’s injuries. They also saw him grow angry and speak of himself in the third-person when El Paso County sheriff’s Detective Bill Otto confronted Allmon with the child sex assault allegation.

Allmon, a former Army sergeant, previously was convicted of a 1998 misdemeanor sex offense.

From: http://www.gazette.com/articles/murder-107811-trial-verdict.html