Ex-boyfriend admits nurse murder at Blackpool hospital

7 October 2010 Last updated at 14:38 GMT

A man has admitted stabbing his nurse ex-girlfriend to death in a hospital car park in Lancashire, to evade charges of raping her.

Jane Clough, 26, was found with multiple stab wounds outside Blackpool Victoria Hospital on 25 July.

Former ambulance worker and father of her baby, Jonathan Vass, 30, admitted murder at Preston Crown Court.

Ms Clough, of Barrowford, was walking to her car after a shift at the A&E department when she was attacked.

Dennis Watson QC, prosecuting, said: "This was a murder that was intended to obstruct the course of justice, being on bail for the offences of rape two months prior to that trial date."

He told the court this assertion was not contested by the defence.

Vass, of Conway Drive in Preston, had been due to stand trial at Burnley Crown Court accused of raping Ms Clough.

Mr Watson said the crown had decided it was in the public interest that the rape charges should lie on file.

'Integrity undermined'

The prosecutor told the court Ms Clough's parents, John and Penny, had been told of the decision but did not agree with it as they felt their daughter's "integrity had been undermined".

Judge Anthony Russell QC said he agreed with the prosecution's decision.

"In comparison with the murder, anything else pales into insignificance," he said.

Vass, who was suspended and then eventually dismissed from his job as an ambulance technician, will be sentenced on 14 October.

Judge Russell told him: "There is only one sentence the court can impose for a crime as horrific as this and that is a life sentence.

"All I have is determine is how long it will be before you are eligible for release."

Ms Clough had worked at Blackpool Victoria Hospital's A&E department for four years, where colleagues had described her as "very caring, compassionate and highly competent".

Her colleagues battled desperately to save her on the night of 25 July but she died of multiple stab wounds shortly afterwards.

Speaking after the court hearing, Det Supt Neil Esseen, who led the police investigation, said: "Jane's family remain devastated by their loss, they are a close knit family and our thoughts remain with them at this difficult time."

From: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-11493020

Grandmother, 62, stabbed to death by partner 'after nagging him for 30 years'

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 1:39 AM on 6th October 2010

A long-suffering man stabbed his partner of 30 years to death because of her nagging, a court heard.

Grandmother Judith Scott, 62, was found with a knife sticking out of her chest at her home after a 999 call by Dennis Long.

Long, who denies a charge of murder, told police in the emergency call that he had killed her, saying: 'I just lost it. She gave me grief so I knifed her.'

Prosecutors claim Long, 59, murdered Mrs Scott in North Shields in March this year.

Newcastle Crown Court heard Long had returned home from watching Newcastle play Bristol City at a pub, and was upset at receiving abuse from a man on his way home.

Later that night, an argument flared between the pair and Long stabbed her to death before dialling 999.

Former plumber Long does not dispute inflicting the fatal injuries, but claims he was provoked by Mrs Scott being abusive towards him and repeatedly nagging him.

Long said Miss Scott would lash out at him during frequent rows, hitting him with her fists, hurling ornaments at him and regularly attacking him with a heavy poker.

Asked how many times he had been hit with the poker, he said: 'Over 30 years, dozens of times'.

Long said: 'She started calling me weak, she said I was weak, it was constant, I would go out and come back in and it would start again.

'She said I was weak, a pansy, a poof, she said she should wear the trousers and I should wear a dress, she kept going on saying I was weak.

'I snapped. I remember looking at the knife, I remember seeing the knife but between that and standing in front of her I don't know. It was peaceful. There was no sound, it was just quiet.

'I do remember thrusting the knife.'

Mrs Scott's daughter, Kerry Scott, told jurors she had seen her mother being nasty to Long but said she couldn't believe her stepfather, who 'hated violence', had killed her.

Miss Scott, 37, who said her children regarded Long as their grandfather, added: 'When police said my mum was dead I was shocked, even more so when they said Dennis had been arrested for it.'
The trial continues,

From: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1318000/Grandmother-62-stabbed-death-partner-nagging-30-years.html

Attacker carves ‘Hoe’ into woman’s chest

By CHRISTINE VENDEL
The Kansas City Star

Kansas City police are investigating an attack on a 22-year-old woman at a motel over the weekend that left her with the word “Hoe” cut into her chest.

The woman told police she met a man on a phone chat line Saturday and he took her to the Crown Lodge motel at 8500 Blue Parkway. They drank alcohol and she performed oral sex on the man but he wanted intercourse, according to police reports. She refused, they argued and the man left about 7 p.m. with the room key.

The woman continued to drink the rest of the bottle and passed out about 3 a.m. Sunday. She told police she remembered seeing a box cutter in the room.

Sometime after 4 a.m., she woke up, groggy, and saw a man in the room, pacing and calling her a “hoe,” a slang term for whore. She said she didn’t recognize the man and didn’t think it was the man who had brought her to the motel.

She fell back asleep and awoke at 9 a.m., feeling pain to her face and chest. She had a large bump on her forehead and cheek and a large scratch on the other side of her face. The word “hoe” had been etched into her chest near her sternum. The box cutter was gone, she told police.

The victim’s leggings and shirt were also torn. The victim was not sure if she had been raped. Police were waiting for lab results.

From: http://www.kansascity.com/2010/10/04/2274943/attacker-carves-hoe-into-womans.html

Chimp Charlie dies at 52 despite smoking habit

6 October 2010 Last updated at 11:27 GMT

A chimpanzee famous for smoking cigarettes has died at a South African zoo, aged 52.

Charlie the chimp started smoking when some visitors to Mangaung zoo, in Bloemfontein, threw him lit cigarettes.

Zoo spokesman Qondile Khedama said Charlie had become an institution, entertaining thousands of visitors every year with his antics.

An autopsy is being conducted to determine the cause of death.

For years, zookeepers had been trying to get the chimp to kick the habit, and they discouraged visitors from giving him cigarettes.

"We realise it will be almost impossible to replace a character like Charlie”

But Mr Khedama said he did not believe the addiction had ended Charlie's life prematurely, as he had lived around 10 years longer than the average chimp.

"He was on serious medications and in and out of the vet," he said.

"Even though he has been receiving special care, and a special diet including protein shakes, vitamin and mineral supplements, he succumbed to old age."

Charlie is not the only chimp to have picked up human bad habits.

In February, it was reported a Russian chimpanzee was being sent to rehab after he started pestering visitors for alcohol and cigarettes.

Mr Khedama said the zoo hopes to find a new companion for its female chimp, Judy.

But he said: "We realise it will be almost impossible to replace a character like Charlie."

From: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/11484057

Photos Of The Sailor That An I-Banker Found Inside A Shark

Sep. 17, 2010, 1:41 PM

A couple of weeks ago, Humphrey Simmons, an i-banker with Xanthos Investment, caught a shark and found a man's body inside - when the shark unexpectedly burped up a foot.

Simmons, who had been fishing with friends Keith Ferguson and Stanley Bernard on Saturday, suddenly caught an "unusually heavy" Tiger shark on his line.

Assuming that yes, of course you want to hear this awesome story again, here's a summary.

As soon as the shark reached the surface, Simmons' friend, Bernard, shot him several times in the head. And then something gross happened.

From the Tribune:

“We tied the rope around his tail fin, and pulled him towards the boat. We were going to cut the hook out of his mouth and let him go when he regurgitated a human foot — intact from the knee down. It was now about 10am.”

As soon as they saw the foot, Simmons says, and smelled the "stink" coming from inside the shark's "huge" belly, they knew they had to bring the shark to shore.

"We thought that there might be more bodies inside."

There weren't. There was just one - a body without a head. The body was unidentified, UNTIL NOW.

Now, the body has been identified (it's the body of a missing sailor). And there are pictures. See below, at your own risk.

From: http://www.businessinsider.com/i-banker-found-body-inside-a-shark-2010-9

Weird park in Finland

Woman killed by ex-lover after he 'found out she was having affair with policeman called in to protect her'

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 2:29 PM on 5th October 2010

A domestic violence victim was stabbed to death by her jealous ex-lover after he discovered her affair with a police officer tasked with protecting her, a court heard.

Kat Ryba was knifed in front of her three-year-old daughter Michelle who screamed at her father to not to 'hit mummy' after he flew into a rage over the relationship, a jury heard.

Ms Ryba, 26, struck up the illicit affair with PC Richard Allan who had been assigned to her case after she alleged she had been assaulted by partner Piotr Zasada, 33.

She took out an harassment order against the bus driver and moved into a flat with their daughter.

On the night she died last October, PC Allan visited Ms Ryba and the pair had sex. Ninety minutes after the policemen left the property Zasada, who had found out his former partner was seeing another man, forced his way into the flat, it is alleged.

In a jealous rage he knifed Ms Ryba six times to the body while their daughter screamed at him to stop, the jury at Winchester Crown Court was told.

After the attack Zasada is said to have thrown Ms Ryba's body from a window of the second-floor flat in Bournemouth, Dorset. She was rushed to hospital but died during the night.

Ms Ryba, a waitress, had been stabbed in the heart and lungs during the attack.

Zasada, a Polish national from Bournemouth, has pleaded not guilty to murder on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

Anthony Donne QC, prosecuting, said she came into contact with PC Allan last September after she alleged she had been assaulted by the defendant.

She took out a non-molestation order against her ex which prevented him from contacting her.

Mr Donne said Ms Ryba's continued contact with the policeman over the case led her to make 'suggestive approaches' towards him, including a kiss.

The officer initially rejected the advances but eventually succumbed and the pair began their affair.

Mr Donne said: 'There can be no excuses for the behaviour of PC Allan who had a duty to remain scrupulously detached.

'The police are there to provide vulnerable people with comfort and support. The line is extremely obvious and PC Allan overstepped that line.

'He (Zasada) was angry at her for leaving him and was jealous that she had started an association with another man. He stabbed and slashed her repeatedly with a knife.

'Michelle begged him not to hit mummy but he took no notice of her screams.'
Ms Ryba worked as a waitress at the Sorridi restaurant at the Compton Acres attraction in Poole.

PC Allan serves with Dorset police and the Independent Police Complaints Commission has launched an investigation into his contact with Ms Ryba before her death.

The trial continues.

From: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1317854/Woman-killed-ex-lover-affair-policeman-called-protect-her.html

Uncle, 38, murdered niece, 12, while acting out a fantasy from his collection of violent porn

By James Tozer
Last updated at 9:33 AM on 5th October 2010

A schoolgirl was lured into a trap by her pornography-obsessed uncle to fulfil his sick obsession with murdering a child.

John Maden, 38, who had downloaded a collection of sadistic 'snuff' movies from the internet, enticed his 12-year-old niece Tia Rigg to his home on the pretext of getting her to look after his daughter.

Instead he drugged the unsuspecting youngster before torturing and abusing her, then stabbing her in the stomach and strangling her with a guitar string.

Minutes later, Maden made a chilling 999 call in which he confessed to the horrific murder which he said he'd committed 'because I felt like it'.

Today he was ordered to serve the rest of his life behind bars for what a judge branded his 'unspeakable' crime, joining the ranks of Britain's most notorious murderers including Ian Brady and Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe.

The tragic case once again highlights the depraved material available for anyone to access on the internet.

It will also raise new concerns about Salford social services which had been monitoring Tia and last year came under fire over the killing of a vulnerable toddler.

Jobless Maden had become fascinated with sadistic 'snuff' movies - films showing a murder being committed - while downloading a sick library of violent pornography and explicit images of children, a court heard today.

Tia, the daughter of Maden's sister, Lynne, frequently came round to his home in Cheetham Hill, Manchester, to babysit for his ten-year-old daughter, and he secretly began plotting to act out his dreadful fantasy on her.

Searches of a laptop computer found he had done extensive research into killing, including downloading texts with a variety of violent titles.

The divorced father-of-one also downloaded more than 2,000 explicit images from the internet including the most extreme level five categories of child porn - police sources said he had obtained most of such photographs that are in existence.

On April 3 Maden called his sister and asked if Tia could come round to babysit, before drugging the youngster with tablets he had been given to combat his psychotic episodes.

Just 45 minutes after she arrived, Maden dialled 999 and made a 'chillingly calm' call to report what he had done.

Police officers found Tia's naked body with her hands tied behind her back and surrounded by two knives and a sex toy.

She had been tortured and raped before being stabbed in the stomach and finally strangled with a guitar string.

After his arrest, Maden claimed he had been listening to a 'bad voice' in his head 'controlling him and telling him what to do'.

Today at Manchester Crown Court he admitted rape, torture and murder and was jailed for life.

He was told the 'exceptional' nature of his crime meant he would never be eligible for parole, making him the 40th inmate in British custody with no prospect of being released.

Mr Justice Keith said: 'It is inescapable that Tia Rigg died because you decided to realise your fantasies about torturing and killing a young child.

'The fact that you chose your 12-year-old niece who had put her trust in you made what you did all the more unspeakable.'

He told Maden he had inflicted 'unimaginable pain' upon the schoolgirl and evidently hadn't cared what happened to himself thereafter.

'This was a horrific murder in which a young girl who had everything to live for and who placed her trust in you was inveigled into your lair.'

Maden's 'whole life tariff' contrasts with Soham murderer Ian Huntley and Sarah Payne's killer Roy Whiting, both of whom were ordered to serve a minimum of 40 years.

Afterwards Tia's devastated mother paid tribute to her 'baby girl'.

'When this nightmare happened, it killed me inside,' she said. 'My heart has been broken and will never mend. All that is left is a big empty hole.

'Tia was my whole world. I miss her big smile every morning and her beautiful freckly face.'

Tia was known to Salford social services, who were last year criticised in a report for failing to protect two-year-old Demi-Leigh Mahon, murdered by a teenage babysitter.

An independent review is examining Tia's involvement with the department, which was this year still branded 'inadequate' by inspectors.

TRANSCRIPT OF THE CHILLINGLY CALM 999 CALL MADE BY MADEN

John Maden: 'Hi, I would like to report a murder.'

He is asked where it happened and gives his address and name, 'John Nigel Maden'.

Operator: 'Well what's happened there?'

Maden: 'My niece has been murdered by me.'

Operator: 'When has this happened?'

Maden: 'I have just finished killing her now.'

Operator: 'Why have you done that?'

Maden: 'Because I felt like it.'

He then gives her name as Tia Rigg and wrongly reports her age as 11. The call is cut off before being reconnected, with the operator asking for more details.

Maden: 'I am quite sure the officers that come to the house will be able to take all the details you need.'

Operator: 'How's it happened?'

Maden: 'I have used... with a knife and strangulation and that's it, bye.'
Officers arrived two minutes after the call was made and Maden was arrested.

From: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1317626/John-Maden-raped-murdered-niece-Tia-Rigg-acting-internet-porn-fantasy.html

Fla. gunman terrorizes Gainesville neighborhood, killing one & wounding five before taking own life

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Tuesday, October 5th 2010, 4:00 AM

GAINESVILLE, Fla. - A gunman killed himself Monday after he fatally shot one man then drove through his Gainesville neighborhood and wounded five others, police said.

The gunman shot himself in his red pickup truck, Gainesville police Cpl. Tscharna Senn said at a news conference. Authorities reported that all those shot were men but refused to confirm the identity of the shooter, victims or give a motive.

The shooter was targeting specific people at each location and shot the men he was looking for, Maynard said. Multiple rounds were fired at each spot, and one gun was found with the shooter.

"We don't know the reasons he went to the houses, but we know he went to specific locations," said Alachua County Sheriff's Office spokesman Lt. Steve Maynard. "He had opportunities to go someplace to be a random shooter. He could have gone to the mall, or a number of different locations. He did not do that."

The first 911 call was at 4:03 p.m., followed by several others. The last call was to the Alachua County Sheriff's Office at 4:16 p.m. That turned out to be the gunman, who had shot himself in the truck. One additional shooting location was found an hour later, but officials reported that it occurred within the 13-minute time frame in the three-mile area.

The wounded were being treated at Gainesville area hospitals, Senn said. They had minor to critical injuries, but authorities wouldn't give details.

Gainesville, in the north-central part of the state, is home to the University of Florida. There was no immediate link between the school and the shooting.

Authorities have scheduled a news conference for 10 a.m. Tuesday.

From: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2010/10/05/2010-10-05_fla_gunman_terrorizes_gainesville_neighborhood_killing_one__wounding_five_before.html

Mother, 2 Teens Found Dead In Colorado Springs

Husband/Father Makes Discovery

POSTED: 6:51 pm MDT October 4, 2010
UPDATED: 9:43 pm MDT October 4, 2010

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- A woman and two teenagers were found dead in Colorado Springs on Monday afternoon.

The grim discovery was made in a home in the 1900 block of Essex Lane at about 3:20 p.m.

"When officers arrived on scene, they checked the home and located the body of the adult female and they discovered the bodies of two deceased teenage children in the home as well," Sgt. Steve Noblitt said. "Based on the obvious trauma to the bodies, the homicide unit is investigating this case as suspected homicides."

Police said the husband and father of the victims called police after finding the bodies.

They were each found in different areas of the home, police said.

"The names of the three victims will not be released at this time," Noblitt said.

Crime scene tape covered a perimeter around the front of the house and neighbors stood outside in shock. Neighbors said the two teenage victims are a brother and sister.

The home in northeast Colorado Springs is about a mile east of Wassen High School.

From: http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/25279556/detail.html

Channel surfing leads to stabbing between brothers

Posted: Oct 04, 2010 10:14 PM
Updated: Oct 05, 2010 5:16 PM

Posted by Lindsey Connell

GEORGETOWN, GA (WTVM) - A Quitman County man is recovering from stab wounds, after sheriff's officials say he was attacked by his younger brother during an argument over the TV channel.

Quitman County Sheriff Steve Newton says 25-year-old Robert Cobb was stabbed by his brother, 24-year-old Reginald Cobb, around 6 PM Sunday night.

According to the sheriff, the stabbing happened when Robert came into the family's living room and began changing the channels on their TV set.

The two brothers, who reside on High Street in Georgetown, started arguing and got into a tussle over the channel selection.

Reginald Cobb tells authorities he got angry, grabbed a butcher knife from the coffee table and stabbed his brother once in the shoulder and once in the forearm.

Robert Cobb drove himself to Medical Center Barbour where he was treated and released.

"I am surprised that an argument over TV channels could result in such a dangerous act, but I am glad the injuries were not more serious," commented Quitman County Sheriff's Deputy Jamie Ming.

Reginald Cobb was charged with Aggravated Assault after which was booked and released on $5000 bond.

From: http://www.wtvm.com/Global/story.asp?S=13265609

Pastor and young passengers killed in church van crash

Posted: Oct 04, 2010 3:49 AM
Updated: Oct 04, 2010 11:24 PM

EARLY COUNTY, GA (WALB) – Four people are dead and 15 are struggling to stay alive in the hospital after a church van crashed near Blakely, GA Sunday night.

The Columbus, GA church group from Tabernacle of Prayer and Deliverance was traveling to Quincy, Florida for a church revival when a back tire blew out, overturning the vehicle and ejecting most of its passengers on Highway 27 near Cuba Road.

Troopers say the young pastor of the church 35-year-old Apostle Ron Williams was one of the four people killed in the horrendous crash that sent more than a dozen people flying to the pavement.

Authorities say the passengers killed included 13-year-old Jasmine Shelly, 19-year-old Cameron Freeman and 20-year-old Jennifer Walton.

We are told the 15 survivors were initially taken to Miller and Early county hospitals for treatment, but several have been airlifted to hospitals in Tallahassee and Dothan.

Kids, parents, and even elderly church members from Tabernacle of Prayer and Deliverance church in Columbus were on board a 1987 Dodge Ram Wagon van headed to Florida for a revival when a tire blew out.

The scene on Highway 27 near Cuba Road (just outside of Blakely, GA) Sunday night shook even veteran state patrol troopers.

"Apparently the right rear tire failed, causing the driver to lose control, cross a median, and overturn," said Trooper Jeromy Roberts, Georgia State Patrol.

Papers, clothes and shoes littered the scene as investigators tried to piece together the moment that changed so many lives.

"We had small children to senior adults inside," said Trooper Roberts.

Monday morning, Pastor William's church remained empty, but we found his picture on a sign in the church front window.

A stark reminder to us all how much can change in just an instant.

According to Apostle Williams Facebook page he attended Albany State University but we have not confirmed that with his family or the school. We tried calling the church but no one answered.

The crash remains under investigation by the Colquitt Post of the Georgia State Patrol and the Specialized Collision Reconstruction Team.

News Leader 9 and WALB are following this developing story. We'll have the latest information as soon as it becomes available.

From: http://www.wtvm.com/Global/story.asp?S=13260792

Teen charged with murder

Charles Oliver
The Dalton Daily Citizen Sun Oct 03, 2010, 12:49 AM EDT

DALTON — A 15-year-old boy from Dalton has been charged with the murder of his grandmother by the Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office.

Joshua Jaran Johnson, 4026 Mary Elizabeth Drive, was charged Friday with the crime.

Lt. Nancy Chadwick says the body of Lorraine Frazier was found in her Dalton home Wednesday and after an investigation Johnson was charged with the crime.

Whitfield County Coroner Bobbie Dixon said the cause of death was ligature strangulation.

Ligature refers to tying or binding something tightly.

Conasauga Circuit District Attorney Kermit McManus said Johnson has been charged as an adult in accordance with Georgia law, which gives jurisdiction of minors 13 and older charged with certain serious felonies to Superior Court, not juvenile court.

“He was arrested as a adult and processed in the adult booking process, but he is being housed in the (Regional Youth Detention Center),” off Underwood Road, McManus said.

McManus said he could not comment Saturday of the details of the case.

“That wouldn’t be proper. I can only say that he has been charged with murder, that the cause of death was strangulation, and that he will be in (Superior Court), I believe, on Tuesday,” McManus said.

From: http://daltondailycitizen.com/local/x996176106/Teen-charged-with-murder

The dumbest burglar in Britain? Crook steals next-door neighbour's curtains... then hangs them in his window

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 3:45 PM on 4th October 2010

Criminal, 38, behind 'not very sophisticated' crime has 28 convictions
A burglar who stole his next-door neighbour’s net curtains was caught when he put them up in his own window, a court was told.

Jason Williams was jailed for two years and five months after admitting his fourth burglary.

The 38-year-old was rumbled when the neighbours went to his home and asked him why he had got their net curtains.

The crime was described as 'not very sophisticated' by the defendant’s own barrister.

Elizabeth Lowe, prosecuting, told the court the neighbour had moved out of the property and left only a few items inside.

Williams broke down boarding on the home in Slough, Berkshire, and stole the net curtains, tools, two glass ashtrays and some lamb steaks from the freezer.

'The person at the address had moved out because of an earlier burglary which was nothing to do with this defendant at all,' Miss Lowe said.

'They had boards up as a result of having left some items inside of not very much value.

'They had last checked on May 6 and on May 8 a neighbour had said it looked to him that the boards had been disturbed.

'In the next door flat they noticed that their net curtains were hanging there.'

However, the defendant denied that it was anything to do with him - but could not say how he got the net curtains, a judge at Reading Crown Court was told.

He later confessed to the crime in police interviews and admitted burglary when he appeared before magistrates court.

Alastair Smith, defending, said that it had merely been an 'opportunistic' crime.

'The fact that this defendant went on to place the curtains in his own window shows a lack of sophistication and realisation of the seriousness of the offence,' he said.

'If he realised it could lead to three years in custody he might have taken more time to consider his actions.'

The defendant, who has battled alcoholism and drug addiction, has 28 previous convictions for 76 offences dating back to 1985, the court was told.

Judge Gordon Risius jailed Williams for two years and five months under the 'three strikes' rule because it was his fourth burglary of a dwelling.

He told Williams: 'You knew what had been going on there and took advantage of the situation.

'Your guilty plea means you have been convicted for the fourth time of a domestic burglary and, in the circumstances, the law requires a sentence of at least three years imprisonment unless it would be unjust.

'While I have taken into account that the last of your burglaries was in 2004, some six years ago, you have offended in a number of ways since 2004.

'There are no circumstances in your case which would take the normal minimum sentence unjust. The fact that it would have been opportunistic in nature does not justify a different view.'

He gave Williams credit for his guilty plea and took into account the time he had spent in custody on remand.

From: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1317573/The-dumbest-burglar-Britain-Crook-caught-stealing-neighbours-net-curtains--hanging-window.html

Speeding teen drives minivan into Brooklyn house, killing 13-year-old female passenger

BY Barry Paddock, Simone Weichselbaum and Oren Yaniv
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

Originally Published:Sunday, October 3rd 2010, 10:45 PM
Updated: Monday, October 4th 2010, 9:57 AM

A 13-year-old girl was killed Sunday when a teenager driving her and her brother home barreled into a Brooklyn house at high speed, cops said.

Sarah Erdan of Brooklyn was taken to Kings County Hospital, where she died of major head injuries shortly after the horrific 1:45 p.m. crash in Midwood.

"I can't believe this is happening!" Sarah's heartbroken mother screamed when she arrived at the hospital. "This is a dream."

Cops said the driver of the minivan, 16-year-old Eric Hakimisefat of Brooklyn, only had a state-issued junior driver's permit, which requires a parent or guardian to be with him when he drives. Such a permit also forbids the driver from having more than one passenger younger than 21 in the car.

Police estimated that the minivan was going at least 63 mph on E. 23rd St. - twice the speed limit on the one-way, single-lane strip - when Hakimisefat lost control just around the corner from Sarah's Quentin Road house.

"It was this huge, colossal crash," said one neighbor, who didn't want to give her name. "You couldn't fathom exactly what happened."

The minivan crashed into the rear of a parked car, sideswiped a tree and plowed through a fence before slamming into the porch of a house at 1620 E. 23rd St.

"I heard a big bang. The car was in the porch," said neighbor Nina Einhorn, 24, who called 911.

Einhorn said the driver and Sarah's 16-year-old brother staggered from the crushed van. They tried desperately to pull Sarah from the van, but she was trapped in the rear seat.

"They were screaming, 'Help her! Help her!'" said Einhorn. "She [Sarah] was crying in the car, but then we couldn't hear her anymore."

Firefighters pulled the girl from the van.

"She's a beautiful, charming, creative girl," said Rachel Bonayan, a neighbor of Sarah's Orthodox Jewish family.

Bonayan said Sarah was the youngest of four Erdan children.

"Everybody loved her," Bonayan said.

Mayer Berger of the group Chesed Shel Emes, which prepares members of the Jewish community for burial, said he tried to console Sarah's family at the hospital.

"They were devastated," Berger said. "They can't believe what happened. The mom was screaming, 'I can't believe this is happening! This is a dream.'"

Sarah's brother, whose name was not immediately released, and Hakimisefat were treated for minor injuries at Kings County Hospital and released. Hakimisefat was being held at the 61st Precinct stationhouse early this morning.

Hakimisefat was charged with criminally negligent homicide, reckless driving, speeding and operating a motor vehicle out of class. He passed a Breathalyzer test, police said.

Sarah's family was planning Sunday night to hold her funeral Monday at 1 p.m. in Borough Park.

From: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/10/03/2010-10-03_speeding_teen_drives_minivan_into_brooklyn_house_killing_13yearold_female_passen.html

Woman shot and killed in front of six children, police say

Posted: Oct 03, 2010 2:32 PM
Updated: Oct 04, 2010 3:34 PM

By Kay Johnson



CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV) - The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department is investigating after they say a north Charlotte woman was killed in front of six children, before her shooter turned the gun on himself.

Officers were called to a home on the 2400 block of Anna Garrison Road around 1:04 a.m. Sunday morning to a report of two people shot.

Police said 39-year-old Barry Lynndell Leake shot and killed 31-year-old Rebecca Ann Robertson before turning the gun on himself. Robertson's three children and her sister's three children, all under the age of 12, were inside the home during the shooting, police say. Robertson's sister and another person were also there.

A neighbor told WBTV that she heard gunshots and screams and ran over to help. Her first thought was for the children.

"We really didn't know what was going on. We didn't know if he was going to come back out and start shooting," neighbor Lethia Thomas said.

Thomas took the children, all under the age of 12, inside her home and listened as they graphically described what they witnessed.

"It just goes to show you never know what's going on behind closed doors," said neighbor Natasha Richards.

Richards says the couple and children were always friendly.

Police records show that Leake and Robertson had been the subject of previous domestic violence investigations, although no charges were filed.

Investigators say after that previous call, Robertson said she would seek a warrant, but later advised officers that she'd moved out and wasn't going to seek a warrant.

"Domestic violence is not worth it. The kids are the ones who suffer. You are hurting two families," Thomas said.

Leake has a previous arrest on record with CMPD for gun and drug charges.

From: http://www.wafb.com/Global/story.asp?S=13258992

Putney suicide woman had warned police about stalker

A woman who gassed herself in a suspected chemical double suicide had repeatedly warned police and officials that she was being harassed by an ex-boyfriend for two years.

By By Andy Bloxham and Richard Edwards
Published: 8:00PM BST 01 Oct 2010

The Independent Police Complaints Commission yesterday launched an inquiry after it emerged police and other agencies had many calls and complaints from the young woman, who neighbours said appeared “frightened”, before she is thought to have taken her own life.

The investigation will determine whether she was given proper support by officers before she locked herself in her flat in Putney with a friend, and inhaled toxic gases she is thought to have sourced on the internet.

Meanwhile, Sky News reported that the two women were sex workers, citing unidentified sources.

It is understood the woman, who has not been identified and is described as a black Somali aged about 28, first contacted police up to two years ago to complain of harrasment. She moved to a flat run by a women's charity in Putney, south west London, but was believed to have been in "recent" contact with police again speaking of her fears.

Catherine McGrath, a retired typist whose flat overlooks the property, which is run by a charity for single women, said the victim had moved in within the last few months.

"She was a very quiet and private girl. She always seemed very scared and had her windows shut and curtains closed,” she said.

"I thought I should try and talk to her, but she was always very scared, almost frightened of something."

"She looked like she had something to be afraid of. She didn't look very well.”

Another neighbour said she had fixed fabric over the windows which would permanently shield the flat from passers-by on the first day she moved in.

The bodies of the two women were found at the Putney flat on Thursday.

The other woman who died in the suspected pact is said to be a white woman of a similar age.

Investigators believe they gassed themselves after sealing doors and windows with tape.

Noises described as "like somebody doing DIY, drilling and banging" were reported coming from the flat the night before the deaths were discovered.

The block where the women died is owned by Women's Pioneer Housing, a not-for-profit organisation that provides affordable one-bedroom and bedsit properties for single women..

One neighbour said the two women were regularly seen together.

Jordan McGrath, 17, who lives opposite the flat, said the visitor seemed to be the Somalian woman's only friend.

He said: "She was very quiet.

"The one friend she was always with, that's who she died with. They were always together, and I think they have known each other for a while.

"I did hear some banging on the night that they died but I didn't think much of it because the neighbour beneath me is always making noise.

"She was very timid and shy. She never came out.

"She wasn't working that I know of because I would have seen her coming and going."

Senior police officers are also concerned that chemical suicides could become a trend.

Suicides using gas are rare in the UK but have become much more common in Japan and the US.

Internet sites on which troubled individuals can discuss and even encourage suicide have become prominent in recent months and widely criticised.

It emerged yesterday that London Ambulance Service staff have been given leaflets informing them of chemical suicide cases.

The document says the method originated in Japan and victims "have often sought information on how to do this from the internet".

The note, dated in early September advises paramedics on the signs of such an incident and gives instructions on how to manage the situation.

The number of suicides by the chemical poisoning totalled more than 1,000 last year in Japan, which has one of the world’s worst suicide rates. There have also been a wave of around 500 suicides in America in recent years

Last week the bodies of Joanne Lee, 34, of Essex, and Stephen Lumb, 35, of West Yorkshire, were found in a car in Braintree, Essex.

Police feared the incident could be one of the first chemical suicides of its type after they released a deadly gas and left warning posters.

The pair met on a suicide chatroom, sparking condemnation of sites that often encourage vulnerable people to take their lives and advise on how to do so.

News of the Putney deaths was posted on one suicide site yesterday, provoking a user to comment: "Good for them."

The bodies were removed at around 4pm yesterday after specialist fire and police teams neutralised the chemicals and made the area safe.

From: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/8037643/Putney-suicide-woman-had-warned-police-about-stalker.html

Shooting game angers victims' relatives

By Michelle Martin Michelle Martin – Thu Sep 30, 1:22 pm ET

BERLIN (Reuters) – A German student has created a computer game giving players a taste of life as an East German border guard shooting political fugitives fleeing to the West, to the outrage of victims' relatives.

The game "1378" -- the length in kilometers of the border between East and West Germany in the Cold War -- awards border guards who shoot an exceptional number of escapees a medal. They then find themselves in the year 2000, on trial for the shootings they carried out in the name of the East German Communist regime.

Players can also take on the role of East German fugitives trying to escape over the Berlin Wall. If caught, they are either shot or arrested and taken to prison.

Jens Stober, the 23-year-old who created the game as part of his university degree, said it had an educational aspect.

"Becoming an East German escapee or border guard enables players to identify with these figures," he said. "It's a novel way of encouraging young people to take an interest in coming to terms with recent German history."

But the Federal Foundation for the Reconciliation of the Communist Dictatorship said that while it welcomed different ways to come to terms with the 1949-1989 regime, it doubted young people would learn anything by shooting dissidents.

"Ultimately it's just an ego-shooter game, which is unacceptable given the historical context," said Dietrich Wolf, spokesman for the foundation.

Theodor Mettrup of the Association for Victims of Communist Tyranny said the game "makes a mockery of the victims."

"The shootings at the wall were no game -- they destroyed people's lives and families. But people playing this game won't get a sense of that," he told Reuters.

The game is due to be released on Sunday, the 20th anniversary of German reunification.

An estimated 1,000 East German citizens were killed trying to escape after the Wall was built in 1961. East German border guards were under instruction to shoot anyone trying to flee. The last East German to be shot crossing the border was Chris Gueffroy in February 1989.

From: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100930/od_nm/us_wall_game

Priests

Oakland Officer Shoots Family Dog Dead, Leaves Note

Posted: 8:51 pm PDT September 30, 2010
Updated: 8:29 am PDT October 1, 2010

OAKLAND, Calif. -- An Oakland family was still waiting to get their dog's remains back from police Thursday night, two days after an officer shot the animal in their own back yard and left behind only a note.

When Mary Kate Hallock arrived home on Tuesday, she immediately sensed something was wrong.

Her front gate was open and at the front door, instead of the family dog, she found a note from an Oakland police officer.

'The officer wrote ‘OPD responded to your residence to investigate a burglary alarm,’” explained Hallock.

The Hallock's burglary alarm went off around 11:30 Tuesday morning. The officer said when he went to check the back yard he saw an open door and the dog -- a yellow lab named Gloria -- charged at him.

“’While checking rear perimeter, lab advanced on officer in threatening manner before being shot and killed," read Hallock from the note the officer left.

Hallock said her family was stunned by the news.

'I'm just really upset and sad,” said her daughter Isabel Hallock. “And it really didn't need to happen, I think, but it did."

Isabel and her brother Matthew Hallock said Gloria had been part of the family since she was a puppy. They said she was not an aggressive dog.

"I'm a preschool teacher. This dog goes to school with me. It's around kids all the time,” said Mary Kate Hallock. “It's just a gentle giant and is eleven and a half years old also."

The incident wasn't the first issue Oakland police have had with animals this year. Back in May, there was widespread outcry after officers cornered a small deer in the backyard of a home in a quiet residential neighborhood and shot it to death before animal control personnel could arrive on the scene.

An Oakland police spokeswoman said the officer followed proper protocol. The officer had thought it might be a burglary in progress and said he feared for his safety when the dog ran toward him.

He left the note to alert the owners before taking the dog's body to animal control.

That response offered little solace to the Hallock family, who said police protocol should be reconsidered.

“We just keep going back to why shoot the dog?” said Mary Kate Hallock. “Shoot and kill the dog? We would just love for some other family not to go through what we're going through, ‘cause it's heartbreaking."

The Hallocks hope police in the future will consider using pepper spray or a Taser on dogs instead of a gun.

From: http://www.ktvu.com/news/25234528/detail.html

Girl 'killed man she accused of sex attack'

By Shenai Raif and John-Paul Ford Rojas, PA

Tuesday, 28 September 2010

A 14-year-old girl killed a "dirty paedophile" who she said had abused her, the Old Bailey heard.

She and a 14-year-old boy stabbed suspect Robert Daley, 45, after the Crown Prosecution Service decided to drop the case, jurors were told.

The girl had complained to police, along with her 16-year-old sister and a woman, saying Mr Daley had sexually assaulted them.

But she had not made a statement. Prosecutors then decided that no charges should be brought in relation to any of the allegations.

After her arrest, the girl said she had first been abused by Daley at the age of 12 but it had been a year since he last sexually assaulted her.

"She called Robert Daley a dirty paedophile," said Jonathan Rees, QC, prosecuting.

She told police that she and the boy had gone to the man's house to "hustle" him for some money.

When she was in the kitchen, he had "started to grope her".

The boy came in, picked up a knife, and stabbed him a few times but Mr Daley would not let go and tried to reach for a weapon himself so the boy stabbed him again, the girl claimed.

She said she was "scared and frightened" and covered in blood and later threw the blade into bushes and burnt her clothes.

The girl had allegedly told a friend: "He tried to touch me again and I stabbed him."

She told a family friend that the man "tried to rape her so she stabbed him", said Mr Rees.

He said Mr Daley was told the accusations had been dropped on the day he died. He had denied all the claims.

Mr Rees said: "This phone call acted as a catalyst in his death."

Mr Daley had telephoned the 16-year-old and received a text back saying: "Stop calling and texting me. I really don't want anything to do with you. You are a perverted man and I can never forgive you."

It is alleged that the teenager rang the two defendants and they made their way to Mr Daley's home in Stockwell, south London.

Mr Rees said that five minutes after they arrived, Mr Daley had been stabbed five times in the side - two of them piercing his heart.

The boy and girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons and who are now both 15, deny murder on April 23.

Mr Rees said the boy was understood to be claiming that he used the knife while trying to defend himself and the girl.

Mr Rees said that despite their complaints to police, all three females continued to have contact with Mr Daley.

"In the months leading up to the death, relationships were far from straightforward," said Mr Rees.

"Although both girls made sexual allegations, it did not prevent them asking for assistance.

"It may be that relationships were relatively cordial in the weeks before the murder."

Mr Daley's friend said they all had dinner together and were getting on well, the jury heard.

The trial was adjourned to tomorrow.

From: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/14yearold-girl-killed-man-accused-of-sex-assault-2091592.html

Girl, 9, has lip torn off by dog

9:09am Tuesday 28th September 2010

A NINE-YEAR-OLD girl had her top lip bitten off when she was mauled by a dog which flew into a rage after hearing barks from a computer game.

Little Megan Walker was dragged off a sofa by a Bull Mastiff named Saracen while she was playing on the Nintendogs game while staying at a friend’s house in Westland Avenue, Farnworth.

The dog then went for Megan’s face, biting her in several places and tearing off her top lip.

Megan was taken by ambulance to Manchester Children’s Hospital where doctors managed to re-attach the lip after it was rushed to the hospital by police officers who had put it on ice.

Saracen, a Bull Mastiff and Boxer cross breed, has since been put down after its owner, Deborah Melville, signed the dog over to police for destruction.

Megan was in the care of her grandmother, Jean Taylor, while her mother, Leanne Walker, aged 34, was on holiday in Jamaica for her birthday.

Mrs Taylor, aged 58, had allowed her granddaughter to stay at Ms Melville’s house, as she is friends with her daughters.

Megan had woken up and was switching on the game at 10am on Sunday, September 19, while Saracen was asleep on a mattress in the living room.

Megan, a St James’ Primary School pupil, said: “When I woke up I turned on the Nintendo. It barked and Saracen dragged me off the couch by my foot. I was scared.”

When she realised Megan was being attacked, Ms Melville started kicking him and her second pet dog, Zena, also attacked Saracen in a bid to save the child, it is claimed.

Mrs Taylor, of Greenhill Avenue, said one of Ms Melville’s daughters ran to get her as she lives nearby, and then she and Megan’s 14-year-old sister, Sophie, ran to help.

Mrs Taylor said: “When I saw her, I was hysterical.

She just had a dirty rag over her face. I just said ‘where’s her lip?’ It was the worst thing I have ever seen.

“The police went in the house and found the lip and brought it up to the hospital on ice.”

Megan was in surgery for two hours and spent five days in hospital. It is hoped that her lip will heal, although doctors will have a better idea when they take her bandage off tomorrow.

Mrs Taylor said: “Hopefully the surgery has worked or she could have to have more plastic surgery down the line. She’s been so brave.

She didn’t cry once.”

She said that her daughter, who is still on holiday, knew about the incident but didn’t realise how bad it had been.

Insp Phil Spurgeon said: “The dog in question was not a banned breed and the incident happened in a private address, not in public. The owner signed the dog over for destruction and it has now been put down by a vet.”

Ms Melville was unavailable for comment, but it is understood that she told police that Megan may have kicked Saracen and that is why he attacked her.

From: http://www.thisislancashire.co.uk/news/8417624.Girl__9__has_lip_torn_off_by_dog/

Teen gets maximum murder penalty

Judge jails suspect 20-40 years

Intelligencer Journal
Lancaster New Era
Sep 29, 2010 22:08 EST
Lancaster

By JANET KELLEY, Staff Writer

A judge on Wednesday sentenced a Lancaster city man to 20 to 40 years in prison for third-degree murder, telling him, "life is not a video game."

Tyler Johns, 18, of Hebrank Street, was convicted by a jury in May of killing Kenyon Wright-Carter in January 2009 on Green Street.

As Johns stood for sentencing, Lancaster County Judge Margaret C. Miller said, "There is nothing I can do to change what you have done."

But, Miller continued, "If I could do anything, it would be to impress upon you and your generation that life is not a video game. There is no replay, no redo.

"When you take an action, it is real, it has consequences."

Miller imposed the maximum penalty, which was met with loud, anguished cries from Johns' family in the rear of the courtroom.

Before the sentence was imposed, Johns apologized to the victim's family members, who filled the first row of the spectator section of the courtroom.

"Forgive me for what I've done," Johns said, looking back at the spectators. "I really do apologize … and I hope God helps you with your struggle."

During the trial, defense attorneys suggested that Wright-Carter was a member of a violent Bloods gang and had beaten Johns and shot at him weeks before.

But there was no evidence of any shooting or prior problems, other than a fistfight, Assistant District Attorney Christopher Lechner told Miller — a fight that Johns lost.

If Johns was so afraid, Lechner added, "he should've called the police."

Lechner described the stabbing as "the act of a coward."

Prosecutors said Johns ambushed Wright-Carter on the afternoon of Jan. 24, 2009, knowing that the victim was unarmed.

That day, Wright-Carter was sitting in a car parked in the 500 block of Green Street when Johns approached.

The car door opened. Johns said he thought Wright-Carter was reaching for a gun.

The two young men started to struggle, the jury was told, and Wright-Carter was stabbed once in the chest.

Wright-Carter staggered to the porch of a nearby home, telling police his name and the name of his assailant before he died.

Johns fled, but turned himself in to police three days later.

Several members of the victim's family spoke during Wednesday's hearing, asking the judge to impose the maximum sentence.

Wright-Carter, 18, was not perfect, his mother said, but he had graduated from high school and was working full time and had aspirations of going to trade school.

He loved his family, they said, and was loved by them.

"No way I am ever going to forgive you," Wright-Carter's father told Johns.

The death of his only son, Kenneth Wright told Johns, "tore me apart."

The victim's parents both told Johns that they wished he would have come to them if he had a problem with their son, rather than resort to violence.

"You didn't have to do that," the victim's mother, Melissa Coleman, told Johns, "and he didn't deserve to die."

"I do forgive you," she added, "because I've got to go on."

Defense attorney Samuel Encarnacion described Johns as a "very bright individual" who had a difficult childhood, essentially left alone to raise himself.

Johns is a different person from the 16-year-old he met after the stabbing, Encarnacion said, and he'll be a different person when he gets out of prison.

Encarnacion said the defendant is in need of education, training and counseling to cope with the events in his life.

Johns' parents both spoke on behalf of their son and apologized to the victim's family.

"I wouldn't wish this on anybody," the defendant's mother said, weeping. "I just want to say I'm sorry. … Forgive my son."

From: http://articles.lancasteronline.com/local/4/295203

Mother 'drugged healthy son, 12, and shaved his head to convince him he was dying of cancer - to get money from well-wishers'

By Mail Foreign Service
Last updated at 2:15 AM on 1st October 2010

A mother convinced her 12-year-old son he was dying from cancer in an attempt to get donations from well-wishers.

Carol Lynn Schnuphase drugged her son Christopher to make him look ill and even shaved his head and eyebrows in an effort to convince people the youngster was dying from leukaemia.

The 47-year-old spiked her son's meals with drugs to make him appear ill before contacting local businesses and church groups to raise funds for his treatment.

Investigators said Schnuphase was so convincing that she received more than $7,000 before her scam was discovered by her sister.

One her Facebook page, Schnuphase wrote: 'Christopher now knows he's dying.'

She later told relatives that he had succumbed to the illness.
But police in Roseville, Michigan, said the 12-year-boy is in perfect health.

Detectives who interviewed members of Schnuphase's own family said they genuinely thought the boy had cancer.

They only became suspicious when Schnuphase said her son had died and she had decided against a holding a funeral.

James Berlin, deputy chief of the Roseville Police, said Schnuphase maintained the deception over a period of several months.

Church groups held fundraising activities and Schnuphase canvassed local businesses for donations, which she said would pay for life-saving treatment.

'They were duped,' Deputy Berlin said. 'They felt they were helping out a mother and her son. People want to think the best of other people.'

Deputy Berlin said the boy did not know he was being used as part of a scam. He said his mother drugged him by putting opiates in his applesauce and other food.

By shaving his eyebrows and hair she was able to tell people that it had fallen out from chemotherapy treatment.

Schnuphase has been charged with child abuse and two counts of accepting money under false pretences and faces up to 14 years in jail.

Her son has been placed with foster parents.

From: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1316650/Mother-faces-jail-telling-son-12-cancer-bid-make-money-donations.html

Hit-and-run driver drags birthday girl, 20, to her death for a mile then flees

By Charlotte Gill and Tamara Cohen
Last updated at 8:18 AM on 1st October 2010

A student died after being mown down and dragged for a mile by a hit-and-run driver.

The 20-year-old, who has not yet been named, was hit outside a hospital in an upmarket part of north London.

She was found suffering serious injuries a mile away at around 2am, outside the home of former French rugby international Thomas Castaignede.

Paramedics were unable to save her. It is believed she died on her birthday.

Police say it is possible that the driver is not aware he or she hit the victim, who is believed to be Singaporean. Her handbag – containing a wallet, mobile phone and student ID – was found in the road 150 metres from the body, alongside a clump of dark hair, outside Belsize Park Tube station.

It is thought that the woman was dragged there from the Royal Free Hospital which is about a mile away in Hampstead, where police found her shoes.

One resident said: ‘There were two white plimsolls in the road, a few metres away from the hospital.

‘That must have been where the girl was hit.

‘The police had put white crime scene circles around them this morning when they cordoned off the road.

‘They got moved pretty quickly though. It sounds horrific.’

Police cordoned off a section of road stretching more than a mile as they searched for clues.

Two night buses also remained at the scene and police helicopters hovered overhead.

Detectives were last night trawling CCTV to find out what vehicle was involved. Another person who lives near the Royal Free, who also did not wish to be named, said: ‘My friend spoke to the police officer and he said it was a young girl.

‘They thought that she might have been hit by a truck.

‘The policeman said that they checked her ID and they realised that it was her birthday today. It’s a tragedy.’

Police examined CCTV footage from a shop near the station which showed a black saloon car braking suddenly outside at around the time of the incident.

Shop owner Raja Rehman said: ‘The car was just beyond the Tube. It was an empty road but the car braked suddenly and stopped before carrying on again.

‘It was a black saloon car but you can’t see if there was a person on the car.

‘The police watched it and they said that they needed to have a copy. They thought it was quite important.

‘I woke up at seven this morning and the whole road was cordoned off.

‘I asked the police what had happened and why the road was closed for so far and they said that they thought the incident took place over a long distance.

‘They said that there was a shoe in the road outside the hospital and there is a handbag near my shop with a clump of hair attached to it.’

Resident Rosalind Turner-Wellman said: ‘There is obviously more to this than a normal hit and run because they have cordoned off so much of the road.

‘I have lived here for a long time and it’s terrible to think that someone has died here. It’s so sad.’

Another neighbour in Belsize Park added: ‘The body was found right outside my house.

‘We didn’t hear anything. We had the window open last night and my son wakes up at the slightest noise, so if there had been some kind of crash we would have heard it. It’s very strange.’

Mr Castaignede, 35, said he had not heard anything either, adding that he had been asleep at the time.

From: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1316492/Hit-run-driver-drags-birthday-girl-mile-death-flees.html

Facebook User Posing As Columbine Killer ‘Friends’ Former Students

Christin Ayers, 7NEWS Reporter

POSTED: 9:26 pm MDT September 30, 2010
UPDATED: 11:20 pm MDT September 30, 2010

LITTLETON, Colo. -- A Facebook user, posing as Columbine killer Eric Harris attempted to “friend” several former Columbine students who attended the school when the tragic shooting happened.

The mother of one student, who wanted to remain anonymous, notified 7News that her son, along with other former Columbine students, had been contacted on Facebook by a user purporting to be Harris.

The user’s profile features disturbing images of Harris wielding guns. Under personal information, the user claims to be from Wichita, Kan., and to be a manager at Blackjack Pizza, like the real Harris was.

“When someone like this posts these things and then tries to contact former students of Columbine, I think that's clearly harassment,” said Brian Rohrbough, whose son Daniel was killed in the shootings.

Rohrbough called on Facebook to more closely monitor fraudulent profiles.

“Facebook, in my opinion, is actually an accomplice to what I consider a crime here,” said Rohrbough.

7News contacted Facebook’s press office. In a statement, Facebook spokesman Simon Axten said:

“Facebook has always been based on a real name culture. This leads to greater accountability and a safer and more trusted environment for the people who use our service. It’s a violation of our policies to use a fake name or operate under a false identity, and we encourage people to report anyone they think is doing this.”

The Columbine parent who contacted 7News said when her son received the friend request, he reported the page to Facebook, but the page remained. It was not until 7News informed Facebook about the page that it was disabled.

But 7News discovered more pages of users purporting to be Harris or Columbine shooter Dylan Klebold. Some pages contained disturbing status updates, including one that read, “Me and Dylan Klebold are shooting up the school.”

Rohrbough said not only should Facebook remove those pages as well, and harassment charges should be brought against the users.

“Facebook has got a real obligation here to stop this from happening, to stop allowing these posts,” said Rohrbough.

Harris and Klebold shot 12 students and a teacher to death during the Columbine massacre on April 20, 1999. A total of 23 others were injured. Harris and Klebold later turned the guns on themselves.

From: http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/25234369/detail.html

Baader-Meinhof member in court over 1977 murder

A Baader-Meinhof gang member has appeared in court to face charges she helped plan one of the German left-wing guerrilla outfit's most cold-blooded assassinations in 1977.

Published: 7:00AM BST 01 Oct 2010

With her eyes hidden behind large black sunglasses, Verena Becker, 58, refused to comment on accusations that she played a part in shooting West Germany's top prosecutor 33 years ago.

Siegfried Buback and his chauffeur died immediately when a motorbike pulled up next to their Mercedes as it waited at traffic lights and the pillion passenger opened fire with an automatic weapon in the southwestern city of Karlsruhe.

The attack, in which a third person in the limousine died from his injuries a few days later, marked the start of the "German Autumn," the peak of the gang's reign of terror which was to shake the country to its core.

Other members of the murderous "anti-imperialist" outfit have been convicted for the killings, but the person with the gun has never been identified.

The case was closed in 1980 but was reopened in 2008 when Becker's DNA was found on a letter from the gang, better known to Germans as the Red Army Faction (RAF), claiming responsibility for Buback's death.

The unmarried, childless Becker was re-arrested in August 2009, released on bail in December and charged in April with conspiracy to murder. She continued to live freely in Berlin with her sister.

Becker is not accused of being the one who pulled the trigger, however, only that she helped plan and prepare the attack.

But Buback's son is "99 per cent" sure that she was the one who killed his father.

"Around 20 witnesses saw a woman on the motorbike," Michael Buback, who is a co-plaintiff in the trial, told reporters.

According to press reports, she has denied involvement and even told investigators another militant, Stefan Wisniewski, fired the shots.

The gang took up arms against what they considered an oppressive capitalist state still riddled with former Nazis, killing 34 people in attacks on West Germany's elite and US military bases before disbanding in 1998.

From: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/8036054/Baader-Meinhof-member-in-court-over-1977-murder.html

Two young women die in suspected 'suicide pact'

Two young women have allegedly gassed themselves to death in a suspected copycat “chemical” suicide pact.

By Richard Edwards and Murray Wardrop
Published: 10:08PM BST 30 Sep 2010

The pair, believed to be in their 20s, were found in a flat in Putney, south west London. The windows had been taped up and police believe toxic vapours were released which they inhaled.

Detectives are investigating whether the couple had met in a online suicide forum, or if they were already known to each other, and whether they found the ingredients for the lethal substance on the internet.

One neighbour said that an African woman, who was in her 20s, had moved into the flat five months ago and lived there alone. She had apparently told a friend she had suicidal thoughts and had been “collecting” chemicals at the home.

The case comes a week after Joanne Lee and Stephen Lumb arranged a pact online and then died together in a car filled with a gas used in the First World War. It was said to be Britain’s first “chemical” suicide, and police fear the latest tragedy was a copycat case.

Suicides attributed to the chemical’s use have been reported in Japan and America in the past two years.

Ms Lee and Mr Lumb were strangers and left notes on the outside of the car warning police of the toxic vapours inside.

It is unclear whether any notes were left by the women in Putney and police are studying the women’s movements and internet contacts.

Hundreds of neighbours were evacuated from the Putney area as specialist fire crews were scrambled to the scene.

The Metropolitan Police’s counter-terrorism command was alerted but a chemical attack was ruled out following the discovery of the bodies by police and firefighters wearing gas masks and protective “nuclear” suits.

Suzanne Viggers, 53, who lives opposite the flat where the bodies were found, said an African woman in her late 20s had lived there for the past few months.

She said: “She was a solitary sort of person and rarely seemed to leave her flat. She came across as an anxious girl and I was worried about her because she didn’t seem terribly happy ever since she moved in and she wasn’t working.

“I have been told by someone who knew her quite well that a friend called police when she failed to turn up to a meeting, and she told them she feared she might have tried to take her own life.

“The friend said the girl had been having suicidal thoughts and had been collecting chemicals to kill herself with.

“It’s terribly sad. The first we knew of it was when all the emergency services arrived. It was terrifying because they said it was a chemical poisoning and wouldn’t let us leave our flats all day.”

Another neighbour, who overlooks the property, said he was told the women were young and had taped the windows of their flat closed.

Earlier this month, Miss Lee had formed a suicide pact with Mr Lumb, a lorry driver from Yorkshire who she found on the internet.

Using the name Heaven’s Little Girl, she wrote on a suicide forum page: “I’m desperately seeking a pact in the UK. I’m 34, female, and live in the Essex area.” Mr Lumb, with the username Endthis, responded.

It is believed the 35-year-old drove 200 miles to meet her. Their bodies were found on an industrial estate in Braintree, Essex, near Ms Lee’s home.

From: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/8035852/Two-young-women-die-in-suspected-suicde-pact.html

Teen beat man to death with tree branch

By DEAN PRITCHARD, QMI Agency
September 30, 2010

WINNIPEG — A 19-year-old Garden Hill First Nation man has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder after beating another man to death with a tree branch.

Peter Ronnie Taylor, 22, died following a confrontation on the reserve on Sept. 12, 2008.

The accused cannot be named because he was still a youth at the time of the killing.

Prosecutor Wendy Friesen told court Wednesday the Crown will not be seeking an adult sentence for the accused. Under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, the maximum sentence for second-degree murder is seven years, three of which must be served under community supervision.

The accused pleaded guilty to the killing despite advice he had a viable defence, said his lawyer Greg Brodsky.

"I told him he has an arguable case," Brodsky said.

The accused was a member of a local gang called the Krazies and Taylor was a member of a rival gang called the Renegades. A month prior to Taylor's death, another Renegade gang member killed a gang rival related to the accused.

Taylor taunted the accused about the killing when they were both intoxicated, Brodsky said.

The accused grabbed a thick tree branch and beat Taylor repeatedly about the head and body. Taylor died from his injuries after being taken to the local nursing station.

From: http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Crime/2010/09/29/15524006.html

Killer mom slept with daughters' bodies

By TRACY McLAUGHLIN, Special to Toronto Sun

Last Updated: October 1, 2010 1:19am

After Elaine Campione drowned her two girls, she dried them, put on their PJs, tucked them in her bed with their teddy bears, then crawled in beside them and spent the night, a jury heard Thursday.

Elaine Campione, 35, has admitted that she killed her children, Serena, 3, and Sophia, 1, Oct. 2, 2006, but her lawyer claims she was not sane at the time and therefore not criminally responsible.

The mother was arrested after she called police two days after the children died.

When police met her at her apartment she was calm but alert, even as her children lay decomposing in her bed with a fan blowing on them at high speed.

When police asked where her children were, she answered, “they’re dead in my bed.”

Police arrested her on the spot, but first they took her to hospital because she claimed she had taken an overdose.

On the witness stand, Simone English, a psychiatric nurse who interviewed Campione at a hospital that morning, said the mother seemed “sad” but otherwise normal.

“She said that when she got into bed she thought something was wrong,” English said. “She said the children weren’t moving and when she got into bed they didn’t stir.”

“Did she say how the children were when she put them to bed?” Crown attorney Enno Meijers asked.

“She said they had a family evening and when she put them to bed they were fine,” answered the nurse, who at the time would have had no way of knowing that the children were dead when the mother crawled in with them.

“She said the children slept with her,” English said.

“She said she called police in the morning because she thought something was wrong with the children.”

After asking her routine questions the nurse discovered Campione was on welfare and living with her children after she left an abusive marriage, and that she was in both group and individual counseling for depression following an overdose four months earlier.

“I didn’t see any signs of mental illness at the time.”

From: http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2010/09/30/15540086.html

Dead bear dumped outside California grocery store

Sept. 29, 2010 06:51 AM
Associated Press

SAN LEANDRO, Calif. - Black bears sightings are not uncommon in California's backcountry or even around trash bins in Lake Tahoe. But in a strip mall along a busy San Francisco Bay area freeway?

That's the strange situation the Alameda County Sheriff's Office is investigating after someone dumped a dead 300-pound bear outside a small San Leandro grocery store.

Sgt. J.D. Nelson tells the Oakland Tribune that a white pickup truck was seen depositing the bear's body Sunday night and speeding away. The animal had been shot in the shoulder.

But why it was left where it was remains a mystery.

California Department of Fish and Game spokesman Kyle Orr says bear-hunting season opened last month in some parts of the state.

From: http://www.azcentral.com/offbeat/articles/2010/09/29/20100929california-dead-bear-dumped-store.html

Police kill NJ man who shoots 3 sons, 2 fatally

By GEOFF MULVIHILL, Associated Press Writer Geoff Mulvihill, Associated Press Writer – 10/01/2010

PENNSAUKEN, N.J. – A man shot his three teenage sons, fatally wounding two, at their southern New Jersey home, which was set ablaze, before police shot him dead, authorities said Friday.

Police started receiving calls shortly after 10:30 p.m. Thursday when two teens were found on streets near the home in Pennsauken, said Jason Laughlin, a spokesman for the Camden County Prosecutor's Office. A house fire was reported a short time later.

Authorities initially didn't know whether the fire was connected to the shootings, Laughlin said. When police arrived at the two-story brick home, a man in a sun room who was holding a lighter, a can of gaslone and a handgun, charged at three officers, he said.

The man was shot and killed. Laughlin said it wasn't clear how many officers fired at the gunman, who was identified as 54-year-old Alfred Moton.

The body of Moton's 14-year-old son was found in the house, while his 16- and 18-year-old sons were found on the street, Laughlin said. The 18-year-old was later pronounced dead, while the 16-year-old was in critical but stable condition at Cooper University Hosptial in Camden.

The sons' names and a possible motive for the shootings were not immediately released.

Authorities also discovered an elderly man in the badly burned home, but Laughlin said he was not seriously injured.

Pennsauken is a town of about 35,000 people, just across the Delaware River from Philadelphia.

From: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101001/ap_on_re_us/us_fatal_nj_shooting