Las Vegas Police Arrest 2 In iPad Robbery Death www.privateofficer.com

 

 

LAS VEGAS NV May 20 2013 – Metro Police officers have arrested two suspects accused of killing a teen while trying to steal his iPad. 15-year-old Marcos Arenas was run over by a sports utility vehicle Thursday near Charleston Boulevard and Torrey Pines Drive.

Police arrested Jacob Dismont, 18, and Michael Solid, 21, on charges of open murder, robbery and conspiracy to commit robbery, according to Clark County booking records.

Police say it started when two men pulled over and tried to rip the device out of his hands. Arenas did not let go and was dragged and then hit by the fleeing vehicle.

Hofstra University student klled in home invasion www.privateofficer.com

 Long Island NY May 18 2013 A Hofstra University student was killed early this morning in a botched robbery while her twin sister was in the house, cops said.
Andrea Rebello and the armed suspect were shot dead after cops responded to the Uniondale scene, sources and officials said.
Her twin, Jessica, was in the house, where both sisters are believed to have lived.
The masked man busted into the home at California Ave. and Braxton St. at 2:20 a.m., surprising the sisters, one of their boyfriends, and another woman, officials and a law-enforcement source said.

But he wasn’t satisfied with just what was in the house, another source said.
“He said he needed money,” the source said.
So he sent out the third woman, who belongs to a sorority, to get cash from an ATM, sources said.
Instead she called cops.
She told the dispatcher that a man was holding a silver handgun to her friend’s head in a bedroom on the second floor and that there was more than one hostage, NBC said, citing police radio traffic.
Details are still murky, investigators believe the gunman killed Rebello and the cops killed the gunman, a law-enforcement source told The Post.
“We are doing a forensic analysis at the time. We are going to get to the bottom of what happened,” said Nassau County Chief of Detectives Rick Capece, who said a gun was recovered at the home.
Rebello, a public relations major originally from Westchester, blogged about recipes for holiday desserts.
“I’m 100% Portuguese and have an identical twin sister so I guess that makes me kind of unique?” she wrote on her blog’s bio.

Her grief-stricken parents walked into the Nassau County Medical Examiner’s office around 1 p.m. escorted by cops.
The man who dropped them off in a car said: “they’re in shock. … She was a beautiful girl.”
A ring of distraught Hofstra students formed near the shooting scene – and friends of the slain beauty mourned on Twitter.
“Rip Andrea Rebello … god bless her family during these hard times. Rip “ wrote Sheridan Campiglia.
Neighbors said they heard several shots after cops arrived.
“We just heard a girl screaming. It sounded like someone was being murdered,” said neighbor Victoria Dehel. “She was screaming ‘No! No! No!’ over and over again.”
Dehel, a student at SUNY Westbury, said she heard four or five shots after cops swarmed the home.
“It was like a movie — it was 100% like a horror movie…Where is the protection?”
Local resident Velma Sangster, who lives two houses away from the shooting, described the victims as “quiet.”

“They were very nice girls. It is so sad.”
The home, located about half a block from Hofstra, is also near an elementary school. Cops closed the elementary school today because of the ongoing investigation. Today is the last day of classes for the university.
“The police investigation is ongoing, and we do not yet know all of the relevant details,” Hofstra University President Stuart Rabinowitz said in a statement. “What we do know is that a young member of the Hofstra family has been taken from us in a senseless act of violence”.
Today was the last day of the spring semester. The commencement is taking place this weekend and will not be rescheduled.

Source- NY Post

Arrest made in Reno NV murders www.privateofficer.com

RENO, Nev. May 15 2013 AP–

UPDATE:
A 25-year-old person of interest has been arrested after five people were found dead in one morning in northern Nevada.
Lyon County officials say Jeremiah Bean was arrested on suspicion of burglary after he was found with items from one of the crime scenes. Detectives believe all the killings are connected, including one at the exit for the Mustang Ranch brothel.

Detectives investigating a string of five homicides in two northern Nevada counties have made one arrest and believe all the killings are connected, including one at the interstate exit for the Mustang Ranch brothel.
A married couple was found dead Monday in a Fernley home about 30 miles east of Reno and another dead man and woman were discovered in a house a few blocks away. Police determined those deaths apparently are tied to a fifth victim who was found in a ditch along the Interstate 80 exit for the infamous brothel just east of Reno.
“We do believe that from talking to all of our detectives that they are connected,” Lyon County Undersheriff Albert Torres told KRNV-TV.
KOLO-TV reported Tuesday one suspect had been arrested in connection with the case, but he has not been identified.
The first dead couple was discovered after firefighters were called to a house on fire in Fernley about 6 a.m. Monday. About two hours later, Washoe County sheriff’s deputies were called to the Mustang exit with the report of a dead man. A short time later, deputies responding to a call for a welfare check found the other two victims in a Fernley home within 100 yards of the house where the first two dead were found.
“This is the most horrific thing I’ve ever seen,” said Stacee Dickey, a neighbor of the Fernley victims. She said she was acquainted with the husband of one of couples killed and he was friendly and “always helping kids.”
“Just an all-around nice man,” she said.
The arrest was made two doors down from the site of the initial house fire after a homeowner called police about a man hiding in his garage.
Officers surrounded the man, who initially ran out the back door but confronted police and tried to run back out the front of the garage, Torres said.
“We caught him right outside the garage,” he said.
Police were looking for a white pickup truck they believe the man found dead near Mustang was driving – a 1998 GMC Silverado with Nevada plates, 336-UNB. KRNV-TV reported that victim was a 52-year-old man from Spanish Springs, a Reno suburb.

Georgia man, girlfriend kill grandfather, 78, steal his truck www.privateofficer.com

Cobb County GA May 9 2013 For several days, Edward Smith’s family had no idea where he was. But they had a feeling something was wrong.
And it was.
By the time the 78-year-old’s family reported him missing to police Sunday, Smith had been dead for four days, according to Cobb County police. And the last two to see Smith alive, his grandson and the grandson’s girlfriend, are now the two charged with his death.
 Smith’s grandson, Casey Ryan Collins, 30, and Collins’ girlfriend, Sarah Elizabeth Cook, 23, both of Mableton, allegedly stabbed and strangled Smith to death inside the older man’s truck, according to arrest warrants obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Then after killing him, Collins and Cook allegedly drove around town in the dead man’s white Ford pickup truck with his body still inside, the warrants state.
The duo later abandoned the truck, which was found Tuesday with Smith still inside, police said. On Wednesday, as Collins and Cook remained in the Cobb County jail facing homicide charges, family members struggled to make sense of a seemingly senseless crime.
“This is a nightmare. It’s a complete nightmare,” Smith’s daughter, Lisa Stitley, told The AJC by phone Wednesday night. “I can’t even begin to imagine. I keep thinking I’m going to wake up.”
Stitley said even though her father lived in Gwinnett County, he made the trip daily from his Lilburn home to see her and other family members in Cobb County. From there, Smith would sometimes make the trip to Villa Rica to see his 39-year-old girlfriend, Stitley said.
“He was very young at heart,” Stitley said. “And was in extremely good health for his age.”
Stitley last saw her father last Thursday morning, she said. From there, Smith planned to visit his grandson before driving to Villa Rica. But Smith never made it out of Cobb County. He had a cell phone, but it wasn’t working Thursday, possibly from a late payment, Stitley said.
Outside the Mableton home where Collins and Cook lived, the two allegedly assaulted Smith as he sat inside of his parked truck, warrants state.
“Cook stabbed Smith twice in the chest with a knife while Collins used a belt to choke Smith,” the warrants state. “After Smith was dead, Collins removed Smith’s wallet from Smith’s pocket.”
Then, investigators believe Collins and Cook drove around metro Atlanta and went shopping — all while Smith’s body was concealed in his truck, according to police.
For several days, Smith’s family worried endlessly about him. Collins and Cook played along, Collins’ mother told The AJC.
“They were upset,” Tammy Smith Connor said. “They acted just like they were worried just like we were.”
On Sunday, Stitley reported to Cobb police that her father was missing. Two days later, police made the gruesome discovery of the man’s body inside his truck left in south Cobb.
Cook has allegedly confessed to police what she and her boyfriend did, arrest warrants state. But Smith’s daughters said that other than stealing the older man’s money, they can’t imagine what motive the two would have had.
“My dad had been good to both of them,” Tammy Smith Connor said. “He always went the extra mile with family.”
Funeral arrangements for Smith have not yet been finalized.

source-ajc

Jackson Police Probes Private Party Shooting that Killed 2, Injured 2 www.privateofficer.com

 

Jackson TN May 8 2013 police are investigating a shooting early Sunday that killed two and injured another two at a graduation party in Downtown Jackson.
Investigators allege that the shooting occurred in a parking lot of a building that had been hired for a private party in honor of a woman who is graduating from Lane College.
Jackson Police Department Capt. Mike Holt said that an argument might have begun elsewhere, which was carried on to the parking lot.
Brian Jontez Banes and Delandis Cortez Clark, both 31-year-olds were declared dead at the hospital, while Dartalin Pharmer,32, and Tashonda Davis, 22, were taken to a local hospital for treatment.
Jackson police responded to a call around 3:00 a.m. about a shooting in the parking lot of Wolfe Enterprises.
When the police arrived at the building, they found Banes and Clark with gunshot wounds.
Investigators claim that there are many possible witnesses who were present when the shooting occurred. But, most of them left the area before the arrival of the police.
Any potential witnesses are asked to call the Violent Crimes Unit at 425-8676 or Crime Stoppers at 424-8477 or on the web at http://www.424TIPS.org. Anonymous tips can be submitted either way.
James E. Wolfe, owner of Wolfe Enterprises, said this is the first shooting or murder that’s ever happened on the building’s property.
“It’s just so nerve-wracking and I still can’t believe this has happened,” Wolfe said.
He said that the building features security cameras outside but due to the bad storms over the week-end, the cameras were knocked out and, therefore, no footage was recorded.
Downtown Jackson residents are now raising concerns regarding the safety of the community after experiencing two bloody shooting in two years.
Jackson Mayor Jerry Gist said that the city will now keep a close watch on buildings that are rented out for private parties.
Last year February, one person was killed and 19 were injured in a shooting at Karma Ultra Lounge during a Lane College and LeMoyne-Owen College after-game party.

Las Vegas officer kills wife, son and then himself in burning home www.privateofficer.com

Boulder City NV May 2 2013 CNN Even for stone-faced, seen-it-all-before officers, the act that took place at a police lieutenant’s Las Vegas-area home Monday was deeply distressing.

The 52-year-old lawman, police said, killed his wife and child, called 911 to say he was burning his house down and warned he would take the life of anyone who tried to stop him.

Then he waited.

When a SWAT team arrived at the lieutenant’s Boulder City home, they found Hans Pieter Walters outside with what looked like a handgun.

Officers asked him to drop the weapon — commands the lieutenant must have screamed many times before in his 20-year career. He ignored them and ducked back into the blazing home.

It was then, police believe, that he killed himself.

Once firefighters put out the blaze that tore through the home, they found Walters’s body, his 46-year-old wife’s, and their five-year-old son’s.

The lieutenant worked for the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, where he supervised patrol officers, CNN affiliate KVVU reported.

The station had interviewed him before about other crimes.

The wife, Kathryn, worked for some time as a Las Vegas police officer, the Las Vegas Review-Journal said.

She won a community service award and a lifesaving award before leaving the department in 2004.

“Anyone involved with law enforcement for any amount of time is usually prepared for any scenario, but nobody can prepare for something like this,” Las Vegas Metro Sheriff Doug Gillespie told reporters.

Last year, 126 police officers killed themselves, according to the National Study of Police Suicides by the nonprofit The Badge of Life.

It’s a steep drop from the other two years the survey was conducted: 143 in 2009 and 141 in 2008.

Yet, it’s cause for concern.

“In spite of this encouraging news, the fact is that police suicides continue at a rate much higher than the number of police officers killed by felons,” the group said.

Folks who knew Walters were also trying to make sense of it. The soul-searching was agonizing for some.

Retired Las Vegas lieutenant Randy Sutton told KVVU he had worked alongside Walters for years.

“There’s no rhyme or reason,” Sutton said, saying the lieutenant was hard-working and seemed well-adjusted.

This is “the most unconscionable, dishonorable thing to do I can ever imagine,” he added.

“The memories I have of him, they mean nothing to me anymore.”

Albuquerque church choir members stabbed while singing hymns www.privateofficer.com

 

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. April 30 2013 (AP) — Just as the St. Jude Thaddeus Catholic Church choir began its final hymn, a man vaulted over pews and lashed out at the singers, sending several churchgoers to the hospital with stab wounds, authorities said.
Worshippers screamed as the shocking and chaotic scene unfolded Sunday with the attacker continuing the onslaught until he was tackled and held by church members for officers, who raced to the scene, police said.

Four parishioners were injured, including church choir director Adam Alvarez and flutist Gerald Madrid, police spokesman Robert Gibbs said. All four were treated at hospitals and listed in stable condition.

Three other church members also were evaluated by Albuquerque Fire Department on scene and didn’t go to the hospital, investigators said.

Police identified the suspect as Lawrence Capener, 24. He was charged late Sunday on three counts with aggravated battery and ordered held on $75,000 bail.
Court records do not list an attorney for Capener.
It was not immediately known what sparked the bizarre attack at the 11 a.m. Sunday Mass on the city’s west side.

St. Jude Thaddeus’ pastor, the Rev. John Daniel, said Capener’s mother was “very active” in the parish and serves as a Eucharistic minister there.
“He was here occasionally but not very often,” Daniel said.
Daniel said that Capener had just graduated from a community college and appeared to be doing well after getting a job.
An off-duty firefighter and others at the church held Capener down until police arrived.
Madrid told KOB-TV that he tried to stop Capener by wrapping his arms around him but was stabbed in the neck and back.
“I bear-hugged him. We were chest on chest. I was wrapping about to take him down to ground, but I didn’t have his arms. I had just my arms around his chest, so his arms were free. So that’s when he started stabbing me,” he said.
Madrid said he thought the suspect was punching him. It wasn’t until other parishioners rushed the man that Madrid realized he had been stabbed five times.

The choir’s pianist, Brenda Baca King, told KRQE-TV that the attacker was looking at the lead soloist. “I just remember seeing him hurdle over the pews, hurdle over people and run (toward) us and I thought, ‘Oh my God, this is not good,’” Baca King said.
Daniel said he didn’t see the attack because he had turned his back away from the congregation in order to return the sacrament in the tabernacle.
Archbishop of Santa Fe Michael Sheehan released a statement Sunday afternoon saying he was saddened by the attack.
“This is the first time in my 30 years serving as archbishop in the Archdiocese of Santa Fe and as bishop of Lubbock, that anything like this has occurred,” Sheehan said. “I pray for all who have been harmed, their families, the parishioners and that nothing like this will ever happen again,” Sheehan said.
Daniel said Mass schedule has resumed at the church. A 6 p.m. Monday Mass is scheduled at the 3,000 member church, he said.

Northern California police hunt killer of an 8-year-old girl www.privateofficer.com

SAN FRANCISCO CA April 29 2013 (AP) — Residents of a rural Northern California county were being told Sunday to keep their doors locked and report anyone considered suspicious as authorities continued the search for the killer of an 8-year-old girl.

Calaveras County deputies and law enforcement officials from neighboring counties, as well as California Highway Patrol officers and members of the California Department of Justice, were looking for a suspect after Leila Fowler was found stabbed in her Valley Springs home around noon Saturday.
The girl was found by her brother — reported by local media to be 12-years-old — after he encountered a male intruder in the home. When the intruder ran away, the boy found his sister stabbed. She was pronounced dead at a local hospital, officials said.
Initially Leila was reported as being 9-years-old, but Coroner Kevin Raggio said Sunday that she would have turned 9 in June.
Authorities spent Saturday night and into Sunday conducting a door-to-door sweep of homes scattered across hilly terrain, checking storage sheds and horse stables, and even searching attics.
“It is a difficult area to search, it’s rural, remote,” sheriff’s Capt. Jim Macedo said.
Reverse 911 calls and Nixle mass notifications alerted area residents about the incident and the search for the suspect, officials said.
“I was working on my tractor and a CHP copter kept flying over my house,” area resident Roger Ballew, 35, told The Associated Press on Sunday.
A SWAT team showed up at his house Saturday night and told him to stay inside, Ballew said.
“It was nerve-wracking, I didn’t sleep well,” he said.
Investigators on Sunday were interviewing several people, but no suspects had been named by late afternoon. Investigators were checking out tips that had come in to the sheriff’s office, including leads and tips that came from outside Calaveras County, officials said.
“It’s just terrible,” area resident Paul Gschweng told Sacramento television station KCRA. “What can I say about it, it’s just a tragedy.”
The station reported that a neighbor told police that a man was running from the girl’s home after the incident.
The suspect was seen wearing a black shirt and blue pants. Authorities considered him armed and dangerous.
Investigators were asking area residents to call authorities if they had any information, or knew of anyone who may have unexplained injuries, or may have left the area unexpectedly after the girl was killed.
Valley Springs is a community of about 2,500 people in an unincorporated area of Calaveras County, known as “Gold Country,” in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains, about 60 miles southeast of Sacramento.
The county became world-famous in 1865 with Mark Twain’s short story, “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,” according to the Calaveras County Chamber of Commerce website.

4 Adults Shot in Heads Found Dead in Ohio Basement

 

Akron OH April 20 2013 Four adults who had been shot in their heads were found dead Thursday in the basement of a townhome.
Someone discovered the bodies at a complex on Akron’s northeast side, according to Akron Metropolitan Housing Authority executive director Tony O’Leary. He said police told his office no weapons were found in the home.
Police said that two men and two women who appeared to be in their 20s had been shot in their heads, but they didn’t release any other details. It was unclear whether police were looking for any suspects.
At the housing complex, about 35 miles south of Cleveland, crime scene tape cordoned off one area as officers canvassed for information about what happened.
The units, in an older, small complex near a mall, are normally quiet and don’t have a history of crime, O’Leary said.
“It’s certainly not what some people see as a typical public housing unit,” he said.

Pennsylvania man’s apparent suicide leaves 3 others dead www.privateofficer.com

QUAKERTOWN, Pa. April 19 2013 – Friends and neighbors were stunned and saddened by the deaths of four family members who appear to have died of carbon monoxide fumes that resulted from the husband’s apparent suicide.
Bucks County District Attorney David Heckler said Tuesday night that a state police investigation indicates that Gary Reitnauer went to the garage of an adjacent home on the family’s property on Monday and started the car following a disagreement with his wife, Michelle.
He said it is believed that Michelle Reitnauer and the family’s two daughters tried to rescue him and were overcome by the fumes. Fire department rescue crews were unable to revive the family.
“Good man,” a nephew, Rob Zern, told reporters as he left the home. “The family was trying to save each other and it didn’t work out … don’t know what all went wrong, but it’s a tragedy all around.”
A neighbor described them as “just the sweetest family.”
State police were called to the home in Milford Township in rural Bucks County, about 45 miles northwest of Philadelphia, at 11:20 p.m. Monday. They found the structure filled with high levels of carbon monoxide from a running vehicle, Lt. Vincent D’Angelo said in a news release.
Investigators “believe the husband committed suicide and each … of the family members succumbed to carbon monoxide when they went to check on him and tried to rescue him,” Heckler said.
The cause and manner of death must still be confirmed by the county coroner’s office, he said. Autopsies will be performed Wednesday on the family, according to WFMZ-TV.
State police have found no note but the garage door handle had been knocked off “which suggested that the husband went in there and did not intend to be disturbed or rescued,” Heckler said.
He said the circumstances also indicate that the wife went to the garage and broke the window of another door in an attempt to rescue him, but was apparently overcome by the deadly fumes and was found inside.
The family’s 16-year-old daughter, Kimberly, then is believed to have gone to a kitchen adjacent to the garage. She was found on the floor there, Heckler said. Ten-year-old daughter Jamie is thought to have done the same and was barely alive when rescuers arrived. She later died.
The Quakertown Community School District announced the deaths on its website and said counselors would be made available to help grieving students and teachers.
The site said Kimberly, a junior, was a gifted student, receiving the highest possible score on the advanced placement calculus exam at the end of her sophomore year. She also sang in the chorus and played in the jazz band, and was set to compete at a band festival in Erie.
Her sister was a fifth grader and took part in her school’s Reading Olympics Team. Like her sister, she played in the school band and sang in the chorus. She wanted to become a veterinarian, the site said.
The children were adopted from China, according to Maggie Chambers, a neighbor. She said they were “just the sweetest family.”
Like other neighbors and friends, the deaths stunned her.
“It’s not that kind of family,” she said. “For me to even think for a minute that this was a deliberate thing, it’s just not them. It’s not.”
Six of Kimberly’s high school classmates placed flowers on the family’s mailbox Tuesday afternoon, then formed a circle, clasped hands and prayed. Afterward, they remembered their friend as a highly intelligent student near the top of her class, and as a talented musician who played piano and trumpet. She was happy, kind and humble, they said.
“Everyone here loved her. She always had a smile on her face. Her whole family did. They were just the happiest people, and they made everyone else feel the same way,” said Aislinn Strohecker, 17, a close friend and neighbor.
Neighbors said there was no inkling of trouble in the Reitnauer home.
Michelle Reitnauer, 58, gave Christmas cookies every year to a well-drilling company down the gravel road, and would fetch the company’s mail when she got her own, according to Gloria Mayberry, a secretary at the firm. Reitnauer’s 59-year-old husband, known as “Ozzy,” would use the bucket on his John Deere tractor to take his trash can to the end of the drive, a cigar usually hanging from his mouth, she recalled.

source- http://www.foxnews.com/

U.S. Army recruiter kills Rockville High School student before committing suicide www.privateofficer.com

 

Montgomery County MD April 10 2013 Police say that the deaths of a 17-year-old Rockville High School student and a  recruiter with the U.S. Army have been  ruled a murder-suicide.

Montgomery County police said Monday that the recruiter, 31-year-old Adam Anthony  Arndt, and the high school senior, Michelle Lynne Miller, were found dead  inside Mr. Arndt’s Germantown home  Monday morning.

Police believe Mr.  Arndt shot Ms. Miller and then  turned the gun on himself. A missing person’s report was filed for Ms.  Miller close to midnight Sunday after she didn’t return home at 10 p.m.,  according to Montgomery  County police.

Police went to Mr.  Arndt’s home, in the 12900 block of Pinnacle Drive in Germantown, on Monday  morning after it was reported that Ms.  Miller might be found there.

The pair was found dead. The circumstances of the shooting were unclear, but police said the two knew  each other. Mr. Arndt was a staff  sergeant with the U.S. Army who worked  as a recruiter and was assigned to help Ms. Miller, who planned to join the U.S. Army Reserves after she graduated  from high school.

Police are still investigating the extent of their relationship.

Candlelit vigil walk honors slain AmeriCorps volunteer www.privateofficer.com

 

New Orleans LA April 9 2013 Heather McCutcheon’s candle lit up her face Sunday night as she spoke about her experiences in the same AmeriCorps program that slain 18-year-old Joseph Massenburg had recently joined.

“It’s a big, close-knit family,” she said of the National Civilian Community Corps. “You’re entering a group of like-minded people who want to serve.” McCutcheon, along with dozens of community members and AmeriCorps volunteers, paid tribute to the young volunteer during a Community March Against Violence, a silent candlelit vigil walk.

Massenburg was gunned down around 11 p.m. on April 1 near the corner of Eagle and Birch streets in the Leonidas neighborhood. A recent high school graduate from Chicago, he was shot multiple times as he reportedly talked on the phone.

He had moved to the neighborhood on March 12 to work at Green Light New Orleans, a local nonprofit that installs energy-efficient lighting. Massenburg was the first AmeriCorps member to be murdered in the national public-service organization’s 20-year history, officials said.

The members are required to live in the neighborhoods they serve, which often have high crime rates. After his death, “everyone wanted to help,” McCutcheon said. “There was an immediate call to do something positive,” resulting in Sunday’s walk, which began at the corner of Jeanette and Dublin streets and lasted about an hour. Organizers said the event was meant both to demonstrate the community’s strength and to support those who dedicate their lives to service. Andreas Hoffmann, executive director of Green Light New Orleans, said the vigil honored all victims of violence. “As there has been more violence, we gather together to show we have to do something about it,” Hoffman said.

“As we march, we will keep our thoughts and prayers with the Massenburg family.” Jim Stratton, who is on the board of Green Light New Orleans, said that crime in the Leonidas neighborhood has remained constant for several years and that he does not feel unsafe living there.

“The violence has been slowly improving, but there are still those [instances] where things happen,” Stratton said. Martin Huber, interim president of the Carrolton-Riverbend Neighborhood Association, said this incident should not discourage future AmeriCorps volunteers from coming to New Orleans.

Huber also began the AmeriCorps City Year program in Louisiana. “What happened to Joseph was a random act,” Huber said. “AmeriCorps members are safe to serve in New Orleans.”
Source-nola.com

Texas district attorney, wife found dead www.privateofficer.com

KAUFMAN, Texas March 31 2013 (AP) — A sheriff’s deputy says authorities are investigating the deaths of a North Texas county district attorney and his wife who were found dead in a home.

Kaufman County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Lt. Justin Lewis said Saturday that the county District Attorney, Mike McLelland, and his wife, Cynthia, were found dead in a home in an unincorporated part of the county. Authorities have blocked off the street where the couple’s last known address is located.

Lewis said he couldn’t discuss the investigation in further detail, including how the couple died and whether investigators believe their deaths are linked to the Jan. 31 slaying of an assistant Kaufman County district attorney, Mark Hasse.

The Dallas Morning News reports that Kaufman Police Chief Chris Albaugh confirmed the couple was shot at their home.

W.Va. school bus argument leads to fatal shooting www.privateofficer.com

BLUEFIELD, W.Va. March 31 2013 (AP) — West Virginia State Police say a Bluefield woman has been charged in the fatal shooting of another woman after their children had argued on a school bus.

State Police spokesman Sgt. Michael Baylous says 42-year-old Judith Kowaleski is accused of shooting 42-year-old Elizabeth Slagle of Bluefield with a handgun on Thursday night. Slagle’s body was found along a road in Brush Fork.

Baylous says the women’s children had been involved in an argument earlier on a school bus.

A Mercer County Circuit Court clerk says Kowaleski was arraigned on a first-degree murder charge Friday morning. The clerk had no immediate information on what jail Kowaleski was taken to or whether the defendant had an attorney.

Former Pa. trooper kills wife-self at supermarket www.privateofficer.com

PHILIPSBURG, Pa. March 30 2013 AP —

A former state trooper killed his estranged wife with a shotgun inside a central Pennsylvania supermarket Thursday and then killed himself, days after she filed for divorce and two months after he was accused of beating her, police said.

Mark A. Miscavish, who retired from the state police in 2011 after 15 years, killed Tracie Miscavish at the County Market in Philipsburg where she worked, authorities said.

He was arrested Jan. 23 after Tracie Miscavish, who had recently left him, returned to the home to retrieve some belongings, said Centre County District Attorney Stacy Parks Miller.

Tracie Miscavish believed her husband had been abusing prescription drugs and when she went to take them away, he wrestled her to the ground, pinned her arms behind her and attempted to bind her with duct tape, said Parks Miller, whose office was prosecuting him.

He pointed a gun at her and threatened to kill her, but a passerby saw him trying to drag her back into the home and stopped to help, Parks Miller said. He was charged with simple assault, terroristic threats and harassment and spent a week in jail before being bailed out.

Parks Miller said Tracie Miscavish lived in fear of her 51-year-old estranged husband and told prosecutors she believed he would harm her further.

“She said, ‘The next time I see him is going to be at the end of a gun,’” Parks Miller told the AP. “We were very concerned when he got out and we’re just devastated now.”

Tracie Miscavish filed for divorce within the past week

Woman arrested in murder of U.S. Coast Guard tech www.privateofficer.com

MOBILE, Alabama March 30 2013  – A 25-year-old woman is awaiting extradition in Georgia after members of the U.S. Marshals Service arrested her in the fatal shooting of a 31-year-old U.S. Coast Guard member stationed in Mobile.

Shaniah Michele Woods, 25, was arrested in the Atlanta area, according to Ashley Rains, public information officer for the Mobile Police Department. She will face one count of murder in the shooting death of Robert “Andrew” A. Roberts.

According to booking records, Woods is being held in the Clayton County, Ga., Detention Facility. She was booked into jail at 1:48 p.m. CDT.

Her home address is listed as an apartment in Jonesboro, Ga., nearly 300 miles from the fatal shooting. She is from Georgia, but was visiting Mobile at the time of the shooting, Rains said.

The connection between Woods and Roberts is unclear, although Rains said the two knew each other.

Roberts was found shot near his clavicle in the parking lot of the Baymont Inn and Suites on West I-65 Service Road South on March 20.

Roberts was pronounced dead on the scene around 9:50 p.m. Officials believe Roberts got into a “physical altercation” with people he knew before the shooting.

He was laid to rest in New York on Wednesday.

Homicide detectives are still investigating the case. Anyone with information is asked to call the Mobile Police Department at 251-208-7211.

Source: AL. com

73 Year Old Tennessee Man Charged With Murder of Wife www.privateofficer.com

Lewis County TN March 29 2013 The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation charged a Lewis County man with murdering his 69-year-old wife by running over her in a van this week.

On Tuesday, James Hobbs, 73, ran over his wife Janice Hobbs, 69, with a large passenger van on Highway 99 West in Lewis County, according to a TBI news release.

The murder was the culmination of a fight that started at the couple’s 702 Gaither-Hinson Road home in Waynesboro, the release said.

The Hobbs own Buffalo River Canoe Rental in Lewis County. Janice Hobbs died as a result of her injuries.

James Hobbs was charged with first degree murder Thursday. TBI is investigating at the request of District Attorney General Kim Helper.
Source: The Tennessean

Three men found shot to death at Louisville KY apartments www.privateofficer.com

Louisville KY March 26 2013

Police were searching for answers Sunday after three men were found shot to death outside a southern Louisville apartment complex in Louisville’s deadliest shootings of the year. Called to the 3500 block of Georgetown Place off Berry Boulevard shortly before 3 p.m., police found three males who appeared to be in their 20s dead in the parking lot — two inside a Ford Explorer, its window shattered, and the third on the ground just outside the vehicle.

Police did not identify the victims Sunday, but homicide detectives were canvassing the area in hopes of determining a motive and whether the men shot each other or were killed by other assailants. No arrests had been made by late Sunday.

Specifically what occurred to lead up to this incident, we’re still trying to determine,” Louisville Metro Police spokeswoman Alicia Smiley said. Homicide detectives declined to address whether any weapons were found at the scene of the city’s first triple homicide of 2013 or how the shootings may have transpired. Authorities said none of the men were residents of the apartment complex, a collection of brick buildings on a side street near Classic Liquors and the Foxy Lady gentlemen’s club on Berry Boulevard.

All were from Louisville, however, and one often spent time there as a visitor, police said. At the apartment building Sunday, evidence technicians could be seen working under a tent in the rain. Several people who said they are relatives of one of the deceased men gathered in the liquor store parking lot near police tape. Speaking only briefly as the cold rain fell, Denise Person said one of the men was her nephew and she was baffled and saddened. “I found out from my son that my nephew had got shot,” she said.

“He was a giving person, a good person, and he loved his family.” Speaking later by phone, Person said she spoke to people who lived around the complex who told her that her nephew was inside an apartment — likely that of his girlfriend, she said — and was called out by a horn. No one is sure what happened after, she said.

The guys blew the horn to come out, and after that I don’t know who shot who or what,” she said. William Tandy, who said the same victim was his cousin, speculated that a robbery might have led to the shooting but also was searching for explanations.

The Jefferson County coroner’s office said Sunday night it also had not yet released the names of the deceased. The first triple fatal shooting of 2013 follows a year that included the high-profile shootings last May when, in less than two hours, six people were shot, three fatally, near 32nd Street in the Parkland neighborhood. There was at least one other triple shooting homicide last year. That prompted the city to appoint a Violence Prevention Work Group to examine the causes of violence and issue recommendations that have included changes by metro police, including the formation of a crime information center where police departments can share information as well as a VIPER unit, which targets the city’s most violent offenders. On Sunday, some members said that the latest killings should highlight the need to continue to look for solutions and interventions.

“People think of west Louisville when they think of violence, but there is also a violent crime problem in southwestern and south-central Louisville,” said community activist Christopher 2X, a member of the working group. “If anyone’s looking for an easy solution, it’s a real uphill climb.” Anthony Smith, Louisville’s first director of safe neighborhoods who Mayor Greg Fischer appointed in February to help reduce violence, said Sunday night that he’s working to enact the working group recommendations and wants to gather the group again to consider additional steps. “I think anytime we have a tragedy like this, it highlights the need for the work to keep moving,” he said.

“This isn’t an overnight kind of change, but we’ve got to keep at it.” Raoul Cunningham, president of the Louisville NAACP who also is on the working group, said he thinks the shootings are also a reminder that gun control measures should continue to be a priority. Homicides in Jefferson County soared 28 percent in 2012, claiming 69 victims, the first increase since 2007 and a grim reflection of a violent span that saw the high-profile triple shooting in May and three deaths around the Christmas holiday.

Christopher 2X said Sunday’s shooting took place in an area that has seen other violence. He said University Hospital, where he counsels gun violence survivors, has treated 22 people hit by gunfire citywide this year, 10 of whom have died. He said he spoke to the mother of one of Sunday’s victims who was “totally devastated” and had no indication that any trouble was brewing. Smiley said residents with information about Sunday’s shootings are asked to call police at at the anonymous tip line, 574-LMPD.
Source: Courier-Journal.com

Pennsylvania father shot and killed 2-year-old son -wounds estranged wife before committing sucicde www.privateofficer.com

PETERSBURG, Pa. March 25 2013 (AP) —

Authorities say a central Pennsylvania father shot and killed his young son and injured his estranged wife before killing himself.

State police in Huntingdon County were called to a home in a rural area near Petersburg at about 9 a.m. Saturday after reports of gunfire.

District Attorney George Zanic said Kenneth Ayers, 52, had gone to his mother’s home to exchange custody with his estranged wife. He was under a protection from abuse order barring contact with her but was allowed to go to his mother’s Barree Township home on Saturdays to visit his son.

But at the home, he got into a “physical altercation” with his estranged wife and shot her in the legs and right arm, then grabbed 2-year-old Michael Ayers and shot him to death, police said.

Kenneth Ayers then placed the child’s body in the back of his vehicle, but the wounded woman retrieved the body from the vehicle, and he then shot her again in the face, police said. She was taken to Altoona Regional Hospital, where officials said she was expected to survive.

Ayers then fired a shot at his mother but missed and fled the scene, police said. The suspect’s body was found several hours later in his parked truck in a wooded area off Route 550 in Warriors Mark Township. Investigators said he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

“Words can’t describe the scene … heartbreaking,” Zanic told The (Altoona) Mirror outside the home.

Cpl. Daniel Sneath said the investigation will continue, and police will try to determine why the crime occurred and also why Ayers was carrying a gun despite the protection order. Police will also seek an autopsy by the county coroner to determine whether he was under the influence drugs or alcohol. AP

FACTS & FIGURES

On March 21, police responding to a 911 call in southeastern Georgia found a baby boy shot dead and a mother with a leg wound. CNN

Earlier this month, a 6-month-old girl in Chicago died from injuries suffered while being shot five times as her father changed her diaper. Raw Story

The slaughter of children by gunfire in the United States is 25 times the rate of the 20 next largest industrial countries in the world combined. The Telegraph

180 children, 11 years of age or younger, were killed by a firearm in 2010, according to the most recent report on violent deaths from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. USA Today

In 2011, guns were used to murder 8,583 people living in the U.S., according to the most recent FBI data available. Among those murdered by guns, there were 565 young people under the age of 18, and 119 children ages 12 or younger. The Huffington Post

The true number of small children who died by gunfire in 2012 won’t be known for a couple of years, when official reports are collected and dumped into a database and analyzed. The Huffington Post

In the deadliest rampage at an elementary school in U.S. history, 20 first-grade students and six staff members were killed on Dec. 14, 2012, in Newtown, Connecticut. Democracy Now.

Former Washington DC police officer sentenced to life in prison for homicide www.privateofficer.com

Washington DC March 24 2013 Wyvette Wright said a heavy burden was lifted Friday morning when the convicted killer of Wright’s daughter and granddaughter was sentenced to two counts of life in prison without the possibility of parole. “I waited for this day for two years,” she said. “He is the devil himself. There’s just no other way to put it.”

Richmond Phillips, 41, of Hillcrest Heights, was convicted in January of two counts of first degree murder for shooting and killing his mistress, Wynetta Wright, 20, of Suitland outside of a Hillcrest Heights community center, and leaving their baby, 11-month-old Jaylin Wright, in a hot car to “roast,” according to prosecutors.

Authorities said the incident took place May 31, 2011 outside a Hillcrest Heights community center where Phillips, a former Washington, D.C., police officer, shot Wynetta Wright and dragged her body into a wooded area. He is said to have then driven off with Jaylin Wright in the backseat of Wynetta Wright’s vehicle then parked and abandoned her to “cook” inside the vehicle, which was said to have been more than 125 degrees inside.

Their bodies were found days after the incident, police said. “Now you can go kill yourself,” Wyvette Wright said as she was escorted out of the courtroom by a number of sheriff deputies. “Give him some rope.” She later said outside the courtroom that while she’s grateful Phillips will spend the rest of his life in prison, he “doesn’t deserve to live” and should have received the death penalty. During sentencing, defense attorney Brian Denton said that while Phillips said he spoke with Wynetta Wright the night of the incident, he contests that he was not the killer. “Mr. Phillips is a father and a husband.

I spoke with Mrs. Phillips last night and she said for her to believe he did this crime of murder was beyond her,” he said. “There are so many people who believe he didn’t do it.” Phillips shook his head when asked if he wanted to address the court before the sentence was handed down.

In trial, prosecutors presented phone records, DNA evidence from Wynetta Wright’s vehicle, video footage from the community center and video recordings from an interview between Phillips and county police investigators that led to the jury’s guilty verdict.

Prosecutors have said he committed the acts as an attempt to not pay child support since he and Wynetta Wright had been set to appear for a child support hearing the day after the incident. A Lanham man, who served as a foreman on the jury, sat in on the sentence hearing to see it through, he said. “We had to look at autopsy reports and pictures and your life changes after that,” said Eric Mason, who said he has children and grandchildren. State’s Attorney Angela Alsobrooks prosecuted the case and said the nature of the incident touched thousands of area residents including herself, who has a 7-year-old daughter. Circuit Court Judge Sheila Tillerson Adams said the evidence in the case was “abundantly clear.” She said Phillips has 30 days to appeal the sentence. “[Phillips] didn’t care.

His disregard was just breathtaking,” said Alsobrooks. “I’m very proud to say he will never walk this in this community ever again.”
Source-gazette.net

 

Police have suspect in murder of Colorado prison chief www.privateofficer.com

DECATUR, Texas March 22 2013  (AP) – A paroled Colorado inmate who may be linked to the slaying of the state’s prison chief led Texas deputies on a 100 mph car chase that ended Thursday after he crashed into a semi and then opened fire before being shot down by his pursuers.

Evan Spencer Ebel, 28, was driving a Cadillac in Texas that matched the description of the vehicle seen leaving the neighborhood where prisons chief Tom Clements was shot.

Ebel was hooked up to equipment for organ harvesting and authorities say he is not expected to survive. Colorado investigators immediately headed to Texas to determine whether Ebel was linked to Clements’ slaying and the killing Sunday of Nathan Leon, a Denver pizza delivery man.

Police in Colorado would only say the connection to the Leon case is strong but would not elaborate or say if they believe Ebel killed Clements and Leon. The Denver Post first reported Ebel’s name, and that he was in a white supremacist prison gang called the 211s.

A federal law enforcement official confirmed his identity and gang affiliation to The Associated Press. The official was not authorized to speak publicly about the case and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity. The killing of Clements, 58, shocked his quiet neighborhood in Monument, a town of rolling hills north of Colorado Springs, for its brutality: He answered the door of his home Tuesday evening and was gunned down.

Authorities wouldn’t say if they thought the attack was related to his job, and all Clements’ recent public activities and cases were scrutinized. The Texas car chase started when a sheriff’s deputy in Montague County, James Boyd, tried to pull over the Cadillac around 11 a.m. Thursday, authorities there said.

They wouldn’t say exactly why he was stopped, but called it routine. The driver opened fire on Boyd, wounding him, Wise County Sheriff David Walker said at an afternoon news conference in Decatur. He then fled south before crashing into a semi as he tried to elude his pursuers. After the crash, he got out of the vehicle, shooting at deputies and troopers who had joined the chase. He shot at Decatur Police Chief Rex Hoskins four times as the chief tried to set up a roadblock.

“He wasn’t planning on being taken alive,” Hoskins said. Boyd, the deputy who was shot, was wearing a bulletproof vest and was at a Fort Worth hospital, authorities said. Officials had said he wasn’t seriously injured but later said his condition was unknown. The car is so far the main link authorities have given between the Colorado case and the Texas shootout. El Paso County sheriff’s investigators have been looking for a dark, late-model car, possibly a Lincoln or a Cadillac, that a neighbor spotted near Clements’ home around the time of the shooting. “We don’t know yet exactly whether this is the guy,” Gov. John Hickenlooper told reporters Thursday afternoon.

“There’s some indication. I hope it is.” El Paso County sheriff’s officials did not return repeated messages Thursday.

In a statement, Lt. Jeff Kramer said investigators will inspect evidence in Texas and would need crime lab analysis before they’re able to determine whether the suspect is linked to Clements’ shooting. “These efforts take time,” Kramer said. Other links between Ebel and the Colorado killings aren’t clear. Legal records show he was convicted of several crimes in Colorado dating back to 2003, including assaulting a prison guard in 2008. He apparently was paroled, but Colorado Department of Corrections spokeswoman Alison Morgan said she could not release information on prisoners because of the ongoing investigation into Clements’ death. Scott Robinson, a criminal defense attorney and media legal analyst, represented Ebel in 2003 and 2004. He said Ebel had been sentenced to a halfway house for a robbery charge in 2003 before he was accused in two additional robbery cases the following year that garnered prison sentences of three and eight years.

“I thought he was a young man who was redeemable, otherwise I wouldn’t have taken the case,” Robinson said, saying he didn’t recall the details of the case. Robinson said he knew Ebel before he got in trouble. He said Ebel was raised by a single father and had a younger sister who died in a car accident years ago. Clements came to Colorado in 2011 after working three decades in the Missouri prison system. Missouri Department of Corrections spokeswoman Mandi Steele said Thursday the department was ready to help in the probe if asked. “Tom regularly commented that corrections is inherently a dangerous business, and that’s all that I’ll say,” Morgan, who worked closely with Clements, said earlier. Officials in positions like Clements’ get a deluge of threats, according to people who monitor their safety. But it can be hard sorting out which ones could lead to violence.

A U.S. Department of Justice study found that federal prosecutors and judges received 5,250 threats between 2003 and 2008, but there were only three attacks during that time period. The last public official killed in Colorado in the past 10 years was Sean May, a prosecutor in suburban Denver. An assailant killed May as he arrived home from work.

Investigators examined May’s court cases, but the case remains unsolved.

Florida woman nearly bit off man’s genitals www.privateofficer.com

Orange County Fla March 22 2013 An alleged escort is charged with attempted murder for nearly biting off a man’s genitals in a Florida hotel room, according to video from WESH.
Orange County authorities were called to the Crestwood Suites by callers who reported hearing screaming and growling from a room on the second floor.
“I literally thought there was a beast inside this place,” said hotel guest Evette Mays.
Responding deputies found the victim naked, covered in blood on the floor. He was going in and out of consciousness as he tried to describe what happened, officials said.
According to the authorities, the victim had bite marks on his hands and stomach and was bleeding from significant lacerations on his genitals.

He also had eye-gouging injuries and injuries that indicated he had been hit in the head and face. Priscilla Vaughn, 29, was arrested after being found naked and bloody, according to WESH.

SC jewelry store robber also wanted for murder in Atlanta www.privateofficer.com

COLUMBIA, SC March 21 2013   The man who was chased by a witness after he and an accomplice allegedly robbed a southeast Columbia jewelry store Tuesday morning is wanted for murder in Atlanta, police say.

Armond Gibson, 23, is being held in the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center on no bond. Police charged him with two counts of armed robbery, four counts of kidnapping, criminal conspiracy, possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime and possession of a stolen motor vehicle.

Police say Gibson is wanted in connection with a murder in Atlanta. A criminal record search in South Carolina turned up no charges prior to Tuesday’s incident. Investigators are still looking for another man they say accompanied Gibson when he robbed Mim’s Fine Jewelry on Garners Ferry Road.

According to police, both were wearing masks and dark clothing during the alleged crime. Police say Gibson was armed with a handgun when he entered the store and ordered four people to the ground. The second suspect then smashed a glass countertop and grabbed some jewelry, police said.

Then the men took off in a gold Toyota that was reported stolen from Dekalb County, Georgia, investigators said. A witness chased the duo from the store onto Garners Ferry Road to a nearby subdivision where they crashed. Both got out and ran. An officer spotted Gibson running near Interstate 77.

The other man was able to get away. A better description of him was not available. A Columbia Police spokesperson said investigators believe they have recovered most of the stolen items. Investigators believe the pair planned the armed robbery and drove from Georgia to commit the crime.

Police do not plan on charging the witness who chased the suspects. If you know anything about this incident or who may have been with Gibson on Tuesday, you are urged to call Crimestoppers at 1-888-CRIME-SC.
Source:WIS

Woman killed, child raped in NY mall carjacking www.privateofficer.com

ALBANY, N.Y. — March 20 2013

A man previously charged with having child pornography cut an electronic monitoring device off his ankle before carjacking a woman, fatally stabbing her and raping her 10-year-old daughter, authorities said.

David J. Renz abducted the school librarian and her daughter as they left a gymnastics class at a mall in the Syracuse suburb of Clay, about 150 miles west of Albany, on Thursday night, state police said Friday.

Renz bound both victims, raped the girl and drove a short distance to a spot where the girl escaped and was found by a passing motorist, troopers said. The motorist told 911 dispatchers he saw a man running away from the scene, allowing police to quickly send in officers on the ground and a sheriff’s helicopter in the air. Renz was caught a short time later near a wooded area.

It was unclear how the girl escaped or when her mother was killed, authorities said. “We’re still trying to piece the timeline together,” Trooper Jack Keller said. The girl was being treated at a hospital Friday. Her mother died from multiple stab wounds. Renz, 29, had been charged in January with possession of child pornography and allowed to remain free under terms that included staying off the Internet and away from places including schools, parks and arcades. He lost his job at a supermarket, moved in with his mother and hadn’t been able to find other work after his arrest, according to court documents.

Federal authorities said he cut his electronic monitoring device off his ankle shortly before Thursday’s attacks. Renz was arraigned Friday on murder, rape and kidnapping charges and was held without bail. The lawyer assigned to his case, Ken Moynihan, didn’t return a call seeking comment.

The Associated Press generally doesn’t publish information that could identify potential sex crime victims and isn’t naming the woman to protect the girl’s identity.

According to an FBI criminal complaint, agents who went to the North Syracuse apartment where Renz was living in June found in his bedroom four computers that he told them he used to view adult pornography. Agent Alix Skelton said Renz eventually admitted using the Internet for the past six years to download child porn to a drive on one of the machines, which he turned over to the agents. Technicians determined in November that it had an encrypted hard drive, and Skelton said Renz provided the encryption key. Agents reviewing the drive in December found about 100 gigabytes of child porn comprising more than 500 videos and more than 3,000 images, according to the complaint.

Among the images were two showing sex acts involving prepubescent girls, said Skelton, a member of a unit that targets people involved in online exploitation of children. Renz was charged on Jan. 9 in federal court with possession of child pornography.

On Jan. 29, a judge granted a prosecutor’s request for an extension of the time required for grand jury action so investigators could continue going over “numerous items of electric media” for additional evidence. Renz, who authorities said had no prior police record, was released after agreeing to stay at home at night with an electronic monitor and away from any place he might encounter children. But Renz removed the monitor, Executive Assistant U.S. Attorney John Duncan said. Federal probation officials were investigating what happened, including whether Renz was able to get around an alert that is supposed to go off if the ankle bracelet is removed, he said.

Late Friday afternoon, state police turned Renz over to federal authorities, who will hold him for violating the terms of his release, court documents said. Duncan said the cases against him will continue in federal and state courts. The federal public defenders lawyer assigned to Renz in the child porn case, James Greenwald, did not return a call seeking comment Friday.

Pa. Pastor Gets Life Sentence for Killing 2nd Wife www.privateofficer.com

Monroe County PA March 20 2013 A former Pennsylvania pastor was sentenced Monday to life in prison without parole in the fatal bludgeoning of his second wife in 2008.

Arthur “A.B.” Schirmer, 64, was sentenced in Monroe County Court nearly two months after a jury convicted him of first-degree murder in the death of Betty Schirmer. The conviction brought an automatic life sentence.

“My mom is finally able to rest in peace,” Betty Schirmer’s son, Nate Novack, said after the sentencing. “We do have some closure and it’s a great day overall, even though the life conviction isn’t going to bring my mom back.” Schirmer is charged separately with killing his first wife, Jewel Schirmer, in 1999. He awaits trial in that case. Prosecutors said he clubbed Betty Schirmer on the head with a crowbar, then loaded her into their car and staged a low-speed accident in an effort to conceal the crime. The former Methodist clergyman took the stand in his own defense and testified that he was driving her to the emergency room for treatment of jaw pain when he swerved to avoid a deer and hit a guard rail.

A jury deliberated about 90 minutes before returning its verdict. Local police initially believed Betty Schirmer’s July 2008 death was the result of a car crash. State police began a more thorough investigation months later, when a man committed suicide in Schirmer’s office after learning the pastor was in a relationship with his wife, the church secretary. Authorities ultimately concluded the fender-bender could not have caused Betty Schirmer’s extensive head and brain injuries.

Police also found her blood on the garage floor, along with evidence that someone had tried to clean it up. Schirmer’s girlfriend and his two daughters with Jewel Schirmer said outside court Monday that they continued to believe in his innocence. “I just didn’t hear evidence that led me to believe that he committed a crime,” said Julie Campbell, one of the daughters. The investigation into Betty Schirmer’s death led police and prosecutors to take another look at Jewel Schirmer’s case. Arthur Schirmer has long claimed he was out for a run on April 23, 1999, when he returned home to find Jewel Schirmer’s body in a pool of blood at the bottom of the basement steps. He was charged last September with killing her.

He has maintained his innocence in both cases.

NC Man charged with murder, incest charges after bodies of woman, son found www.privateofficer.com

NORTH WILKESBORO, NC March 17 2013   A Wilkes County man has been arrested and charged with murder and incest after investigators found a woman and her young son murdered in their home.

According to the Wilkes County Sheriff’s Office, 33-year-old Kelly Marie Pruitt and her 8-year-old son, Kevin Hurley, were reported missing on Thursday.

Deputies learned that neither had been seen since last Friday, March 8. During the investigation, deputies, along with the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, went to Pruitt’s home along the 2600 of Statesville Road in North Wilkesboro.

It was during that early Friday morning search that investigators found the bodies of Pruitt and her son. Early indications show that Pruitt’s cause of death was the result of multiple stab wounds.
According to investigators, evidence suggests the 8-year-old was suffocated. An exact cause of death will be determined by autopsy. Pruitt’s live-in boyfriend, 33-year-old Jason Ryan Pardue, has been charged with two counts of Murder, two counts of 1^st Degree Sex Offense with a Minor under 13, and one count of Incest.

Sheriff’s Office officials told WBTV the sex crimes were committed against a daughter of Pruitt and Pardue. According to Sheriff’s officials, Pardue was found in the parking lot of a convenience store in North Wilkesboro bwtween 2 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. Friday afternoon.  He was arrested without incident.
Source:WSBTV

Seattle man kills wife-asks TV station to post it to Facebook www.privateofficer.com

SEATTLE WA March 15 2013  AP— A man who told a TV newsroom that he had killed his wife and asked the station to post that message on Facebook was arrested Thursday after a high-speed chase, authorities said.

Sara Barrett, 42, was found dead from “homicidal violence” about 6 a.m. Thursday at a Tacoma motel, Pierce County sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer said.

The discovery came just hours after Tony Barrett, 41, of Puyallup was arrested in the chase that reached 100 mph from Tacoma to Gig Harbor, where police and state troopers stopped his car with spike strips.

“He got out swinging a crowbar” at officers who used a police dog to take him down, Troyer said. He was treated at a hospital for dog bites on the way to jail and held for investigation of murder.

It could not be immediately determined if Tony Barrett has a lawyer.

On Wednesday night, the caller told KOMO, “I just killed my wife … I want you to put it on your Facebook,” the station reported (http://bit.ly/Z1GYVJ ).

Barrett had called the station because he didn’t have a Facebook page and wanted the station to post the message, Troyer said. The caller did not say where the woman could be found.

The assignment desk asked if there was someone they could notify, and the caller said, “No, I’m not going to be here much longer.”

He said he and his wife had been together 28 years.

“It was supposed to be ‘til death do us part, but she wouldn’t,” he said.

The man ended the call when the assignment desk mentioned police.

“Very odd,” Troyer said. “That was a full-blown confession to place on Facebook.”

Concerned for the wife, the station worked with the sheriff’s office. Investigators were able to identify the man, his wife and their cars.

KOMO News Director Holly Gauntt said nothing was posted on Facebook.

“Some of his relatives and friends called us and said they got a message from him to just check out our Facebook page,” Gauntt said. “We hoped to do the right thing … It was more about helping police trying to find her and trying to find him.”

Authorities said Barrett’s car was spotted in Tacoma and he sped away over Tacoma Narrows Bridge, with police and troopers in pursuit until his tires were flattened and he was arrested. He wouldn’t talk to officers about his wife.

The investigation led detectives to the body at the motel, where the couple had checked in Wednesday evening, Troyer said.

“We were hoping to find her” alive, Troyer said. “But obviously it didn’t work that way.”

The couple was estranged and investigators did not know what led to the killing, Troyer said.

Court records show Barrett had attacked his wife in 2007, holding a pillow over her face until she nearly suffocated, the station reported.

The couple’s grown son broke down the bedroom door and stopped the attack. Barrett pleaded guilty to third-degree assault and served a day in jail and two years under supervision by the Department of Corrections.

He was ordered not to have any hostile contact with Sara Barrett for five years. That order expired on Feb. 25.

Gauntt said the incident was spooky and no doubt shocking for the assignment editor who took the call.

“We tend to get a lot of odd calls. She realized this guy was very articulate and serious,” Gauntt said.

The Pierce County sheriff’s office was called right away, she said.

“We didn’t want to do anything to help his cause,” Gauntt said.

Multiple bodies found in Indiana creek near Ky. border www.privateofficer.com

NEW ALBANY, IN March 14 2013 – A homicide investigation was launched Wednesday afternoon after the bodies of a woman and two children were discovered in a creek that runs through New Albany’s Binford Park.

According to Major Keith Whitlow with the New Albany Police Department, one of the children was below the age of two. The other child was an adolescent.

Their genders were not released. Whitlow said a person walking through Binford Park discovered the bodies in Falling Run Creek around 5:15 p.m. Wednesday and called police. Binford Park is off Graybrook Lane north of downtown New Albany.

Whitlow said it had been nine years since there had been a murder investigation in the park.

No vehicles were found near the bodies, ruling out the possibility of a crash having occurred prior to the grisly discovery. The victims had not been identified and the cause or causes of death had not been determined as of Wednesday night. Anyone with information about the case should call the New Albany Police Department’s anonymous tip line at 812-948-NAPD.
Source:WAVE

Man kills TV host; Sportsman Channel host killed before gun turned www.privateofficer.com

WHITEFISH, Mont. March 9 2013 — Whitefish Police say the host of an outdoor television program is dead, and the man who shot him has taken his own life.

Detectives say 43-year-old Gregory Rodriguez of Sugar Land, Texas was shot and killed as he was visiting a Whitefish woman during a business trip to Northwest Montana late Thursday night.

The case is still being investigated, but police know that Rodriguez, known as a television personality and host of outdoor programs, was visiting a local woman staying at her mother’s house at River Lakes Parkway in Whitefish.

Police say that at around 10:30 p.m. the woman’s husband, Wayne C. Bengston, came to the house and shot Rodriguez and brutally beat his wife.

Police say Bengston then took off with his 2-year-old son who had been sleeping in the house and drove away. He left the boy unharmed with a relative and then drove to his house in West Glacier.

That’s where Flathead County deputies and a SWAT team found his truck. Authorities say they attempted to contact Bengston with no success, and when they entered his house they found Bengston dead of a gunshot wound to the head.

Source: KPAX.com

Bowling Green man dies after being shot by off-duty court security officer www.privateofficer.com

BOWLING GREEN, KY March 3 2013 -A man shot multiple times by an-off duty court security officer in bowling Green KY has died. Brandon Bradshaw, was pronounced dead at 10:10 central time at Vanderbilt University Hospital.

The shooting happened around 3:10 p.m. Tuesday in a Bowling Green parking lot where he and Thomas Brown, a Warren County Security Officer, became involved in a verbal confrontation and shot Bradshaw several times while Bradshaw was sitting in his pick-up truck.

The Kentucky State Police is handling the investigation and are searching for a motive in the shooting.

An autopsy is scheduled.