CRIME UPDATES AND TIP LINES

Thanks to everyone who drops by. Crime seems to happen so fast that I can't keep up with the news.

I have been searching for updates on many of the stories: Tinley Park Lane Bryant, the Boca Raton Mall, Florida, killing of Nancy Bochicchio and her 7-year-old daughter, and Randi Gorenberg, and many more.

Can we forget that Brianna Denison's killer is still out there?

And where is Jodi Huisentruit, KIMT-TV news anchor, who disappeared in June 27, 1995?

And who took the life of Jakeob McKnight, age 10, in Denver, July 21, 1991. This happened while I lived in Denver. I used to take my dog to the park where they found Jakeob. "Jakeob’s father, Gary, said 17 years later, it still hurts."

If you want to read about these stories, or if you have information about these crimes, please, read the links below.

Remember, you can always call America's Most Wanted Hot Line if you have information about any crime.
1 - 800 -CRIME - TV

TINLEY PARK LANE BRYANT
http://www.amw.com/fugitives/brief.cfm?id=52877

"We continue to investigate a large number of leads in this case. We continue to request the public to call the Tip Hotline at 708-444-5394 with any possible information they may have, regardless of how trivial it may at first seem.

Have you seen this suspect?














BRIANNA DENISON
http://bringbriback.blogspot.com/












JODI HUISENTRUIT
http://www.findjodi.com/

http://www.findjodi.com/case.htm

JAKEOB MCNIGHT
http://blogs.denverpost.com/coldcases/2008/01/15/new-profile-boy-stabbed-repeatedly-in-park/#comment-27

If you have information about this case, call the Lakewood Police Department’s Major Crime section at 303-987-7200. Staff writer Kirk Mitchell can be reached at 303-954-1206.












BOCA RATON MALL KILLINGS
http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2008Mar22/0,4670,MurderAtTheMall,00.html

http://www.myspace.com/brpsd (Nancy Bochicchio Family's search for killer)

MEGAN TOUMA: MYSTERY LETTER CLAIMS TO BE HER KILLER

Note: 'I'm killer' of Spc. Touma
By Nancy McCleary / Fayetteville Observer Staff writer
Published on Saturday, June 28, 2008

A person claiming to be the killer of the pregnant soldier found dead in a motel has written an anonymous letter calling the murder a “master piece” and threatening to kill again.

On Friday, sources requesting anonymity told The Fayetteville Observer that a symbol used in the letter is identical to one found written in lipstick on a mirror in the Fairfield Inn room where Spc. Megan Lynn Touma’s body was discovered June 21.

The letter, which was received by the Observer on Wednesday and immediately turned over to the police, was signed with a symbol resembling the one connected with the Zodiac killer, a notorious serial killer in the late 1960s.

(snip)

The letter, which appears to have been composed on a typewriter, is dated June 17, four days before Touma’s decomposed body was found in the bathtub of Room 143.

The letter was postmarked June 24, the day before it arrived at the paper, and carried a local postmark. The envelope was smeared and blackened with an unknown substance.

READ MORE ON THIS IMPORTANT UPDATE...
http://www.fayobserver.com/article?id=297965

FT. BRAGG: PREGNANT MEGAN TOUMA DEAD IN HOTEL TUB

Photo of Megan Touma posted on LOCAL12.COM
Army Specialist Megan Lynn Touma, 23, grew up as Megan Heine in Cold Spring, Ky. She was was found in tub at the Fairfield Inn on Morganton Road, Room 143. Touma, a dental specialist recently arrived in the United States after spending three years in Bamberg, Germany at an Army dental clinic. She was staying in the motel until proper military housing was found for her for her assignment with the 19th Replacement Company at Fort Bragg, N.C.

Officials say the 24-year-old was dead when they found her Sunday at the Fairfield Inn on Morganton Road.

The Fairfield Inn is close to Ft. Bragg/Pope AFB, and located inside the Fayetteville shopping and restaurant district. Relax with a splash in their refreshing swimming pool. At Fairfield Inn, you can always count on a friendly welcome at an affordable price.

Ex-Husband: Army Said Pregnant Soldier Found Dead in Hotel Was AWOL
AP / Thursday, June 26, 2008

A pregnant soldier was declared AWOL after failing to report back to the Army because she was dead, her ex-husband said on Wednesday.

The body of Spc. Megan Lynn Touma, 23, was identified Tuesday, three days after being found decomposing in a bathtub at the Fairfield Inn in Fayetteville, N.C., over the weekend. Police called the death suspicious but released few other details.

• Click here to read Jonathan Serrie's on-the-scene blog.

Touma's ex-husband, El Sayed Touma, who lives in Charleston, S.C., told FOX affiliate WRAL that the Army failed to check on her before considering her absent without leave.

"She was left in the room for two days, and the Army said she was AWOL. They didn't even bother to go check on her in the motel where she stayed. I mean the Army knows that she stayed in that hotel," El Sayed Touma said.

The two met at Fort Drum, N.Y., when both were stationed there. They were married for three years but divorced when the stress of living in separate countries became too much for them, WRAL reported.

Meanwhile, Fort Bragg officials said Wednesday they were investigating why Megan Lynn Touma wasn't reported missing after she was absent from a formation.

(snip)

Touma is the second pregnant service member to die under suspicious circumstances in North Carolina in recent months. Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach was reported missing and later found dead near Camp Lejeune in January. A fellow Marine, Cpl. Cesar Laurean, has been charged in her death and is awaiting extradition from Mexico.

WHAT ARE THE ODDS OF THIS HAPPENING TWICE?
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,371945,00.html

CHOMP LOOKS AT SOME CRIME SCENE DETAILS. LOOKS LIKE INVESTIGATORS HAVE FOUND IMPORTANT CLUES!

The bed in Touma’s room had been pushed slightly away from the wall, and both the lamp and nightstand were out of place.

No hotel employees had entered the room since June 17 because there was a “Do Not Disturb” sign on the door.

According to check-in information Touma was supposed to check out by 11:25 a.m. June 21.

Hotel assistant maintenance supervisor Jim Cameron found the body.

The search warrant showed that authorities found a set of keys with an Enterprise Rent-A-Car key ring on the dresser in the room. A 2008 Chevrolet Trailblazer registered to Enterprise was parked outside the hotel room.

El Sayed Touma, Megan's ex-husband, says he is not the father of Megan's baby. Touma is an Egyptian native who served in the U.S military, and now lives in Charleston, N.C.

SHEILA LeBARRE: PEOPLE WHO KNEW HER TELL BIZZARE STORY

Louise and Daniel Harvey sold their farm to chiropractor Wilfred LaBarre several years ago, and remained friends with him until his death. (Michele McDonald/ Globe Staff)

A woman, her men, and a mystery
Inside the strange world of Sheila LaBarre, where charges of murder are only part of the story
By Sally Jacobs, Globe Staff
BOSTON GLOBE/ July 2, 2006

EPPING, N.H. -- The snow had just stopped falling when the young man came stumbling forlornly down the dirt road.

Bruce Allen, a dairy farmer, had been approached by other young men in need of help over the years, but this one was in the worst shape he'd ever seen. His name was Michael and his face was gashed and dripping blood into the snow. His ear was ripped and his skin was a mottled olive.

As he passed Allen's place that winter morning two years ago, the slight man whispered a single hoarse word, the farmer recalled. "Sheila," he said, glancing anxiously back up the road. "Sheila."

(snip)

Police got to know her well. In Hampton alone, LaBarre has been involved in more than a dozen complaints over the past 15 years. In 1995, she was granted a restraining order against Ennis, saying that he had attacked her and threatened to ``cut off my fingers and shoot me in the face." She got another order against him in 1997. The year after that, LaBarre and Brackett were both charged with second-degree assault in a lovers' quarrel involving a knife and a pair of scissors. The charges were dismissed.

READ MORE ABOUT THIS STRANGE WOMAN...
http://www.boston.com/news/local/new_hampshire/articles/2006/07/02/a_woman_her_men_and_a_mystery/

SHEILA LeBARRE CONVICTED: KILLED 2 BOYFRIENDS

AP /2008
Sheila LaBarre enters court today before the judge met briefly with the jurors to start the day of her insanity trial at Rockingham County Superior Court in Brentwood, N.H.

Kenneth Countie: Victim of Sheila LeBarre

Jurors take a walk around the outside of what was Sheila LaBarre's horse farm in Epping. Police would not allow them to view the inside of the house because it has been vandalized and is unsafe.
Ken Yuszkus / Staff photo



Carolynn Lodge, mother of Kenneth Countie, walks up the road to Sheila LaBarre�s farm in Epping. Lodge visits the farm daily to bring flowers to the site where her son's alleged murder took place.
Photo by Jackie Ricciardi


N.H. woman who killed 2 boyfriends sane, jury says
By CLARE TRAPASSO,
AP/ Posted: 2008-06-21

BRENTWOOD, N.H. (AP) — A woman who claimed she was an angel sent from God to punish pedophiles was convicted Friday of murdering two boyfriends by a jury that rejected her insanity defense.

Sheila LaBarre, 49, was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

In 2006, police found her burning trash that contained the bones of one of her victims, Kenneth Countie. The remains of Michael Deloge, killed in 2005, also were found on LaBarre's horse farm in Epping, about 50 miles north of Boston.

As the jury filed out after the verdict, relatives of the victims burst into applause.
"This is for my son," said Countie's mother, Carolynn Lodge. "(For) two years, my son could not rest. Now he can rest."

During the five-week trial, defense lawyers argued that LaBarre, 59, was a delusional woman who believed every man in her life was a pedophile and who saw herself as an avenging angel. The prosecution countered that she was a "crude, manipulative, cruel and vindictive" woman who violently lashed out at the men she dated.

READ UPDATE...
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gqzRNVrA3B-ruKgkMUth9bXSlvSgD91E2AD00

MACCLESFIELD, NC: McMILLANS TIE SON TO TREE, CHARGED WITH MURDER

Brice and Sandra McMillan tied their son to this tree until he died!


This undated police handout, shows 36-year-old Sandra Elizabeth McMillan, who along with Brice Brian McMillan, have been charged with murder and felony child abuse Friday, June 13, 2008, after the Macclesfield N.C., couple, allegedly tied their 13-year-old son to a tree for two nights as a punishment for disobedience.
AP Photo

WATCH NEWS VIDEO OF THIS CASE


Couple Charged With Tying Son To Tree
N.C. Parents Charged With Murder For Leaving Son, 13, On Tree For 2 Nights
TARBORO, N.C., June 16, 2008

(AP) A couple accused of killing their 13-year-old son by tying him to a tree for two nights for punishment appeared in a North Carolina courtroom Monday to face charges of murder and felony child abuse.

Attorneys appeared Monday with Brice Brian McMillan, 41, and his wife Sandra Elizabeth McMillan, 36, of Macclesfield.

"It's a sad case," defense attorney Allen Powell, who represents Brice McMillian, said after the hearing. He declined any further comment, and the two did not enter a plea.

The county sheriff's office has said Brice McMillan told a deputy the teen was being disobedient and was forced to sleep outside last Tuesday while tied to a tree. The teen was released Wednesday morning, but again tied up that night for bad behavior.

Sheriff James Knight has said the boy was left tied to the tree until the following afternoon, when his stepmother found him unresponsive. Authorities believe the boy was bound to the tree with plastic ties and possibly other kinds of material.

WHERE DID THE McMILLAN'S LEARN THEIR PARENTING SKILL?
KEEP READING...
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/06/16/national/main4184323.shtml

CHARLOTTE, NC: DID BETTY NEUMAR KILL 5 HUSBANDS?

Betty Johnson Neumar is shown at her booking. She is charged with hiring a hit man to kill her husband.

Police investigate wife for five dead husbands

CNN.com / July 16. 2008

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (AP) -- Police may have ignored a warning years ago that a woman with five dead spouses was trying to hire a hit man to kill one of the men, investigators in North Carolina said Monday.

Authorities charged 76-year-old Betty Neumar last month with one count of solicitation of murder in the July 1986 death of Harold Gentry. Gentry's brother had begged investigators for two decades to take another look at the case.

Stanly County sheriff's investigators believe Neumar tried to hire several people to kill Gentry. Lead detective Scott Williams said Monday his office is looking into the possibility that one of those would-be hit men went to authorities before Gentry's death, but no one took him seriously.

"That's another aspect we're looking into," Williams said, declining to elaborate.

Former Stanly County sheriff Ralph McSwain, who was in office when Gentry was killed, is recovering from a stroke and said he doesn't remember much about the case. He said the sheriff's detective who handled the investigation of the case is dead.

"This was a long time ago," McSwain said. "Could someone have come forward with information before it happened? Sure. I just don't know."

Neumar has been married five times since the 1950s, but each union ended with the death of her husband. Investigators want authorities elsewhere to look into the deaths. Williams said investigators have uncovered a common link among the victims: They all had military experience.

DID BETTY NEUMAR ONLY KILL HUSBANDS? READ ON...

http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/06/16/cold.cases.ap/index.html

WELEETKA, OK: PERSON-OF-INTEREST SKETCH IN TWO GIRLS' MURDER

AP
June 10, 2008: A memorial to Taylor Paschal-Placker and Skyla Whitaker at the spot along a rural road where they were found dead.

Police release witness sketch in girls' shootings

By Emanuella Grinberg/CNN/ June 13, 2008

(CNN) -- Authorities released a sketch Friday of a "person of interest" in the shooting deaths of two Oklahoma schoolgirls.

Several witnesses reported seeing a suspicious man on the same dirt road where Taylor Dawn Paschal-Placker, 13, and Skyla Jade Whitaker Taylor, 11, were shot Sunday, a spokeswoman for the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation said.

Jessica Brown said authorities believed that the man, "who didn't look like he should have been there," was on the road before the girls were shot multiple times in the head and chest and left in a ditch.

Witnesses described the man as an American Indian or possibly half-Caucasian with a black ponytail, about 6 feet tall and 35 years old. They said he was standing in front of a white single-cab pickup with chrome striping, possibly a Chevy or Ford model, with Oklahoma tags, Brown said in a press conference.

(snip)

Earlier Friday, members of the community mourned the two girls at separate funerals.

Watch the funeral »

Earlier in the week, Ofuskee Sheriff Jack Choate urged parents to keep a close eye on their children while authorities pursued the likelihood that a killer or killers were in their midst.

Since then, authorities have held daily press conferences in an effort to solicit leads from the public with reward money that had reached $40,000 by Friday.

SOMEONE KNOWS THIS "PERSON OF INTEREST"...

http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/06/13/okla.girls.shootings/index.html

NAVEED HAQ: TRU TV IN SEATTLE TO COVER TRIAL

Dan DeLong / P-I
Naveed Haq is led from the courtroom during a break in his trial at the King County Courthouse in Seattle on Wednesday. Haq is accused of entering the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle and opening fire, killing one woman, on July 28, 2006.

THOMAS JAMES HURST / THE SEATTLE TIMES
As Haq jurors deliberate, truTV producer Grace Wong monitors e-mails and news via her laptop and cellphone.

"In Session" TV crew puts Haq trial on national stage
By Natalie Singer
Seattle Times staff reporter

For six weeks they've been here every day. Starting at sunrise, leaving only to grab a soda or take a hurried bathroom break. Settling onto hard courtroom benches, they've heard every word of testimony and witnessed every objection and motion in Naveed Haq's trial.

They're not jurors. They're covering them.

They're allowed where local TV stations are not. The crew of television's "In Session," previously known as Court TV, has seen more than the jury. And because of them, the rest of the country has a front-row seat at one of King County's most high-profile criminal cases in years.

As the jury deliberates the fate of Haq, accused of the 2006 shootings at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle, the people behind the "In Session" program — a cameraman on his feet six hours a day, the producer and the "booker" of interviews often glued to their cellphones, the expertly coifed and legally savvy correspondent — wait to bring the end of the story to their fans.

It's one of the few times the phenomenon, which boasts the slogan "Not Reality. Actuality," has broadcast a Seattle trial. It was most recently in Seattle to film the 2003 sentencing of Green River killer Gary L. Ridgway.

(snip)

The effort it takes to travel to courtrooms around the country — all with different systems, bureaucracy, facilities and attitudes toward television crews — is phenomenal, Sullivan said.

The program, which airs 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Eastern time, has five field producers, five researchers or "trial trackers," four anchors, three correspondents, two satellite trucks, an assignment desk in Washington, D.C., and a slew of associate producers — including three working on the Haq case.

READ MORE OF NATALIE SINGER'S PROFILE OF COURTROOM TELEVISION...

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004452039_trutv02m.html

WELEETKA, OK: TWO GIRLS SHOT WITH 2 DIFFERENT GUNS

Weleetka is a amall town in Okfuskee County, Oklahoma. The name is derived from Creek Indians term for "running water." The latitude of Weleetka is 35.335N. The longitude is -96.136W. It is in the Central Standard time zone. Elevation is 725 feet. Estimated population in July 2006: approximately 947.

Taylor Dawn Paschal-Placker, 13, left, and Skyla Jade Whitaker, 11, were killed Sunday.

Police look for multiple suspects in girls' shootings
By Emanuella Grinberg/ CNN

June 10, 2008

(CNN) -- Two Oklahoma schoolgirls were killed with two guns, leading investigators to believe that more than one person was involved in their deaths, authorities said Wednesday.

Taylor Dawn Paschal-Placker, 13, of Weleetka and Skyla Jade Whitaker, 11, of Henryetta, were shot multiple times Sunday on a rural road about a quarter-mile from Taylor's home.

Investigators don't have any suspects or motives, but a forensic examination of the bodies indicated that two guns had been used, Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigations Agent Ben Rosser said Wednesday.

"This leads us to believe that we're probably looking for two shooters," Rosser said at a news conference Wednesday, where he also announced that authorities had raised the reward to $25,000.

Watch what officials are doing to solve the case »

With two shooters, Rosser said he was hopeful that one would turn on the other and come forward.

Rosser said investigators were considering a variety of motives as they searched for suspects, including the possibility of a "random thrill kill."

Because of the girls' ages, Rosser said investigators were looking at computer evidence and questioning young people in the area to develop possible leads.

Authorities said Tuesday that they believed the shooters were most likely from the area, considering the remote location where the bodies were found.

The two girls had planned a sleepover at Taylor's house the night they were killed. They left the house about 5 p.m.

Less than 30 minutes later, Taylor's grandfather discovered the girls' bodies in a ditch on the side of a road, near a bridge that is a popular gathering spot in the area.

CAN YOU HELP FIND THIS CHILD-KILLER...OR KILLERS?

Police are asking members of the public with more information about the case

to call (800) 522-8017.

________________________________________________

To make a donation to a burial fund for the victims' families,

the public can contact the Bank of Commerce in Weleetka, Rosser said.

SEATTLE: NAVEED HAQ TRIAL, SHOOTER AT JEWISH CENTER

Naveed Haq pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity in the Jewish Federation shootings.

COURTNEY BLETHEN / THE SEATTLE TIMES
Naveed Haq, 32, is escorted out of his trial at King County Courthouse for a lunch break Thursday.

MIKE KANE / AP
Nahida Haq, mother of Naveed Haq, sits with defense attorney C. Wesley Richards.

KEN LAMBERT / THE SEATTLE TIMES
Shooting victim Dayna Klein breaks down while testifying in King County Courthouse at the trial of Naveed Haq, Monday, April 21, 2008 in Seattle.

DAN DELONG / AP
Layla Bush, 24, describes how she says Naveed Haq displayed a handgun upon approaching the receptionist at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle, while testifying at the King County Courthouse in Seattle on Wednesday. Haq is accused of entering the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle and opening fire, killing one woman and wounding five on July 28, 2006. Bush was shot twice and needs a cane to aid in walking.

Thursday, May 22, 2008
Closing arguments begin in Naveed Haq murder trial
P-I STAFF

Closing arguments have begun in the trial of the man accused of killing a woman and wounding five others at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle's downtown office.

Attorneys started addressing the King County Superior Court jury Thursday morning, after five weeks of testimony.

Naveed Haq, a 32-year-old Tri-Cities man, has pleaded innocent by reason of insanity.
King County Superior Court jurors will have to decide whether the July 2006 shooting rampage was premeditated or whether Haq was unable to tell right from wrong.

Jurors heard conflicting testimony from mental health experts.

Testifying for the prosecution, psychologist Robert Wheeler said Wednesday that Haq planned the shooting and even adapted his actions to overcome anything that might get in his way.

Haq lied to his mental-health counselor when asked if he had access to guns and, on his way to Seattle, stopped to test-fire the weapons to learn which was easier to shoot with one hand, Wheeler said.

THIS TRIAL IS NOT OVER...

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/364186_jewishfed23.html

DREW PETERSON: COURT TAKES SUSPECTED WIFE-KILLER'S GUNS

Stacy and Drew with children Lacy, Kris, Tom and Anthony in a Christmas portrait.

Bolingbrook police Sgt. Drew Peterson holds Thomas Peterson, his oldest child with ex-wife Kathleen Savio.

(Courtesy of the Peterson family)

Drew Peterson Charged With Felony Weapons Offense After Surrendering to Police
FOX NEWS/ Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Prosecutors have charged the prime suspect in Stacy Peterson's disappearance with a felony weapons offense.

Drew Peterson, 54, turned himself in to Illinois State Police Wednesday, after a judge issued a warrant for his arrest.

The former Bolingbrook, Ill., police sergeant was processed and then released later in the afternoon after one of his son's posted bail.

Peterson walked into the police station shortly before 1 p.m. CDT, accompanied by his attorney, Joel Brodsky. He was taken shortly afterward to the Will County jail.

The weapons charge, a class three felony, stems from the fact that one of the 11 guns authorities seized Nov. 1 in their investigation into Peterson's fourth wife Stacy's disappearance is shorter than allowed by Illinois law, according to Brodsky. Specifically, the rifle's barrel doesn't meet the 16-inch length requirement.

Brodsky said the weapon in question is an AR-15 semiautomatic assault rifle that Peterson used while he was a police sergeant.

Peterson claimed he legally owned the rifle as an officer, and the law only pertains to civilians.

If convicted of unlawful use of a weapon, Peterson faces up to five years in prison. A court date hasn't yet been scheduled.

His son posted $7,5000, or 10 percent of a $75,000 bond, to secure his release pending trial.

THIS STORY KEEPS ROLLING ALONG...
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,356926,00.html

TRENT BENSON: "IDEAL FATHER," DANGEROUS ARIZONA KILLER

The Lindsay Water and Ice store is closed one day after Mesa police arrested the owner, Trent Benson, in a series of killings and sexual assaults.
Tim Hacker, Tribune

'Ideal father' held in rape-murder string
By Katie McDevitt, Gary Grado and Nick R. Martin
EAST VALLEY TRIBUNE
Tucson, Arizona Published: 05.16.2008

MESA — Sometimes he bought a hot dog from her deli, and other times she bought ice from his store.

They were two business owners in the same Mesa strip mall — both single and both trying to make a living.

But on Thursday morning deli-owner Hgourtlande Just found out her "nice and friendly" neighbor, 36-year-old Trent Benson, was arrested in one of Mesa's biggest crimes in more than a decade.

A DNA match linked Benson to a string of rapes and slayings dating to November 2004, according to police.

(snip)

Outside Benson's six-week-old business — called Lindsay Water and Ice and located near Lindsay Road and University Drive — a woman sat on a table Thursday waiting for the store to reopen. A "Closed" sign was prominent in the front window.

Lucia Barry's eyes opened wide when she learned of his arrest.

"He looks so nice, so handsome ... very gentle," said Barry, a regular customer at the tidy store that sold ice cream, snow cones and candy as well as water and ice.

The manhunt for the accused serial predator intensified last December after police linked two homicides through DNA. It expanded about two weeks ago when more rape victims were identified.

Both homicide victims were strangled and raped, and one of the rape victims was beaten nearly to death and left in a Phoenix street.

A fourth victim, who survived, was kidnapped in daylight at a busy intersection.

BE GLAD THAT DNA WAS INVENTED...

http://www.azstarnet.com/metro/239258

FOR A PERSONAL INSIGHT INTO TRENT BENSON, READ THIS BLOG...

http://thefreelanceobserver.blogspot.com/2008/05/arizona-serial-strangler-rapist-ran-my.html

GRANADA HILLS, CA: FERNANDO DIAZ SHOOTS 3 AT CHURCH FESTIVAL

Emergency services respond to a shooting Saturday at St. John Baptist de la Salle Parish.

Gene Blevins / Associated Press

Los Angeles police officers examine the scene where a man shot three people at a church festival in the Granada Hills, May 17, 2008.

Rifleman opens fire before festival at Granada Hills church

By Andrew Blankstein and David Pierson, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

7:51 PM PDT, May 17, 2008

A rifleman angered by a custody dispute with his ex-girlfriend opened fire at a parish school festival in Granada Hills this morning, wounding the woman and two other fairgoers before being tackled by bystanders and arrested by an off-duty police officer, authorities said.

Witnesses described scenes of terror and panic as the rifleman nonchalantly brandished a 0.22-caliber rifle made to look like an M-16 assault rifle and fired into booths at the fair.

The shooting took place shortly before the 11 a.m. start of the festival on a baseball field at St. John Baptist de la Salle Parish at Chatsworth Street and Hayvenhurst Avenue, authorities said.

Los Angeles Police Department Capt. Steven Ruiz said Fernando Diaz Jr., 33, arrived at the scene and sought out his 9-year-old son, who attends the school, and his estranged live-in girlfriend, who were both near a booth in center field.

Diaz "walks up carrying a tennis bag on his shoulder, puts it down, embraces his child, and then removes the rifle from the bag and aims it" at his ex-girlfriend, Ruiz said. "He fires multiple rounds, hitting her and two others. People were screaming, running and ducking for cover.

"He is being held on $1.5-million bail at the LAPD Van Nuys station on suspicion of three counts of attempted murder.

The ex-girlfriend, 29, was shot in the arm and listed in stable condition. A 45-year-old man who was shot in the leg and a 43-year-old man who was shot in the chest also were in stable condition. The victims were not identified, Ruiz said.

Diaz was subdued by half a dozen bystanders after he appeared to have difficulty firing his weapon, he said.

IT'S A MIRACLE NO ONE DIED...

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-shoot18-2008may18,0,2906491.story

ARIZONA: DNA TIES TRENT BENSON TO MURDER AND RAPE

Trent Benson picture on MySpace.com

Alisa Marie Beck, 25, was found partially clothed in an alleyway on Nov. 1, 2004. Karen Jane Campbell, 44, was found naked on a roadway on Oct. 24, 2007. Both had been raped and murdered. Authorities today identified and charged Trent Benson, 38, with first-degree murder in their deaths. DNA tied Benson to their deaths, as well as two more sexual assaults. (Courtesy Mesa Police/ABC15.com)

Mesa police officers stand outside one of the units in an apartment complex east of Brown Road and Country Club Drive where a search warrant was being served Wednesday in connection with a serial strangling and rape case. (Ralph Freso, Tribune)

May 16, 2008 - 1:34AM
Suspect in serial slayings, rapes identified
Gary Grado, Nick R. Martin, Tribune

Sometimes he bought a hot dog from her deli, and other times she bought ice from his store. They were two business owners in the same Mesa strip mall - both single and both trying to make a living.

Secrecy in serial killings arrest draws fire

Police arrest serial strangler suspect

VIDEO: Mesa Police Chief George Gascon talks about the arrest

But on Thursday morning, delicatessen owner Hgourtlande Just found out her "nice and friendly" neighbor, 36-year-old Trent Benson, was arrested in connection with one of Mesa's biggest crimes in more than a decade.

A DNA match linked Benson to a string of rapes and slayings dating to November 2004, according to police.

"I was shaking," said Just, a native of Haiti, while gripping the counter top and lowering herself in shock. "I couldn't believe it."

The man accused in the stranglings and rapes appeared in court Thursday and will be jailed without the chance to post bail.

(snip)

On Thursday, Benson's neighbors gathered in small groups at the apartment complex where he lived at 222 W. Brown Road. They shook their heads in disbelief and chatted about how their longtime neighbor was a "family guy" and "the ideal father."

"He's kind of the go-to guy for the neighborhood," said Heather Miller. "We were hoping that it was someone else."

WHO IS THIS "MISTER-NICE-GUY" ...YOU KNOW, THE ONE WHO KILLS WOMEN...
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/116389

IRINA YARMOLENKO: POLICE RELEASE CLUE IN SEARCH FOR KILLER

Police release one new detail in slaying
Irina Yarmolenko went to a Goodwill store on day her body was found
Staff Reports / Posted on Thu, May. 15, 2008

In the two-hour period before her body was found on May 5, Irina Yarmolenko made a stop at a Goodwill store.

The detail -- released Wednesday by police -- is an additional piece in the puzzle of Yarmolenko's killing.

The 20-year-old UNC Charlotte student was found in the Water's Edge community, near the Stowe Family YMCA in Mount Holly, authorities said. Police said she died from asphyxiation, but wouldn't say whether she was strangled or smothered.

Police haven't released a suspect's name or a motive, but Mount Holly Police Chief David Belk said both front doors of Yarmolenko's blue Saturn sedan were open when her body was spotted by a woman riding a personal watercraft.

http://www.charlotte.com/local/story/624830.html
WCNC contributed

CHOMP: I'LL HAVE MORE ON THIS STORY THIS WEEKEND. CAN YOU HELP CATCH IRINA'S KILLER?

IRINA YARMOLENKO: NORTH CAROLINA STUDENT ASPHYXIATED

IRINA YARMOLENKO, 20

UNC Charlotte sophomore Irina Yarmolenko was found dead Monday next to her car on the banks of the Catawba River.

A jet skier on the Catawba River spotted Ira Yarmolenko's body around 1:15 p.m. Monday.

Student Dead at Crash Scene Was Murdered
Cops Say Young Woman Found Dead Monday Along River Embankment Was Asphyxiated
By DAVID SCHOETZ / ABCNews /May 9, 2008

A 20-year-old North Carolina college student found dead next to her car at the edge of a wooded river embankment was murdered, authorities announced Thursday.

Preliminary autopsy results found that Irina "Ira" Yarmolenko, a sophomore at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, died of asphyxiation, David Belk, police chief in Mount Holly, N.C., said at a press conference.

A jet skier on the Catawba River spotted Yarmolenko's body around 1:15 p.m. Monday. She was in the grass next to the open door of her 1998 Saturn, which had crashed into a tree stump at the water's edge.

"There's a car that's run off the embankment and a body laying there," a frightened caller told a 911 dispatcher. "I don't know if they're alive or not."

WHAT HAPPENED TO IRINA? DO YOU KNOW ANYTHING?
http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=4818800&page=1

Anyone with information about her activities Monday is asked to call the Mount Holly Police Department at 704-827-4343.

HOUSTON: BODIES OF 2 ADULTS, 3 KIDS FOUND

5 Bodies Found At Northeast Houston Home

A family of five is found dead at a northeast Houston home, KPRC Local 2 reports.

Five bodies, including 3 children, found in Houston
AP Texas News / May 10, 2008, 8:31PM
By JUAN A. LOZANO
Associated Press Writer © 2008 The Associated Press

HOUSTON — Police were still trying to determine what happened to five people, including three young children, whose bodies were found Saturday afternoon in a home in rural northeast Houston.

Although a .22 caliber rifle was found in the lap of an adult male, whose body was found on the porch, police declined to speculate on whether this might have been a murder-suicide, saying it was still early in their investigation. Besides the gun, shell casings were found around his body, police said.

Houston police Sgt. John Chomiak said investigators believed all five people lived in the home. Neighbors said the five people were a husband, wife and their three children.

Police did not immediately release the identities of the victims.

The bodies of a woman between 20 and 30 years old and a boy thought to be about 10 were found in one part of the home, Chomiak said.

The bodies of a boy thought to be between 3 and 5 and a girl believed to be between 4 and 6 were found in another part of the home, described by authorities as a simple wooden structure that was divided in the middle by the porch. A wooden fence and large trees in the front block a view of the home from the street.

WHAT'S GOING ON? WHO KILLED THIS FAMILY...AND WHY?
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/5770189.html

MYANMAR REFUSES AID: CYCLONE KILLS 22,000+, 41,000 MISSING

MYANMAR, formerly called BURMA

Pedestrians walk past debris on a street after tropical cyclone Nargis passed through Yangon, May 4, 2008. Source: Democratic Voice of Burma via Bloomberg News

Myanmar Buddhist Monk makes his way past a fallen tree following a devastating cyclone, Sunday, May 4, 2008, in Yangon. The death toll from the cyclone has risen to almost 4,000, a Myanmar state radio station has said. The radio station broadcasting from the country's capital Naypyitaw said Monday that almost 3,000 more people are unaccounted for in a single town in the country's low-lying Irrawaddy River delta area. (AP Photo/Barry Broman)

The cyclone wrecked boats in Yangon Harbor.

Buddhist monks move branches from an uprooted tree blocking a street in Yangon.

Myanmar cyclone death toll exceeds 22,000

A news broadcast on the state-run station said Tuesday that 22,464 people had been confirmed dead from Cyclone Nargis. The broadcast added that 41,000 more were missing.
The U.N. estimated up to a million could be homeless.

China's state-run Xinhua news agency, quoting officials, reported a death toll of 10,000 alone in the township of Bogalay.

CNN's Dan Rivers, the only western journalist in Bogalay, said he had seen nothing but destroyed homes for 30 kilometers and people were now sheltering under canvas covers. They had little food bar a small amount of eggs and rice.

Watch family huddle in ruined home »

Rivers said he had seen the army and Red Cross in the area, but the weather remained awful and conditions were miserable.

The aftermath has pushed Myanmar's normally secretive ruling military junta to ask for aid and release details of the devastation. However, the U.N. said its aid workers were still waiting for visas to enter the country. It, the Red Cross and other aid organizations have been gathering supplies to ship to the country.

(snip)

"No food. No water," an exasperated man told him. "So you have to find everything."

See photos of the destruction »

WHY DOES MYANMAR REFUSE HELP?

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/05/06/myanmar.cyclone/index.html

WENDELL LOY NIELSEN: POLYGAMIST HAS 21 WIVES, 36 KIDS

At the age of 18, Carolyn Jessop was forced to marry a 50-year old man who already had three wives.

Polygamy roll shows 21 wives for one member

By Susan Roesgen (CNN)/ Mon May 5, 2008

(CNN) -- In the secretive, illegal world of American polygamy, life has been good to 67-year-old Wendell Loy Nielsen of Eldorado, Texas.

By his own account, Nielsen has 21 wives -- and 36 children.

His oldest wife is 13 years older than he is, and his youngest wife is 43 years younger -- she's just 24.

His oldest child is 21 years old, and his youngest is a 6-month-old baby.

That's one of the longer, single-family genealogies uncovered in a CNN review of the "Bishop's List" -- a series of documents listing the age, marital status, children and address of the members of the Yearning for Zion polygamist ranch in Eldorado, Texas.

The ranch is owned by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a Mormon offshoot that practices polygamy.

The Bishop's List was found among nearly 1,000 boxes of paperwork taken from the ranch by investigators who are considering child-abuse charges against some of the sect members.

Investigators don't believe there is a "bishop" on the ranch. Instead, they believe sect members take orders from the man they call their "prophet"-- convicted polygamist Warren Jeffs. Jeffs is in prison for forcing a 13-year-old girl to marry her 17-year-old cousin.

Investigators say Jeffs still exerts control from prison through one of the men on the ranch, Merle Jessop. One of Jessop's wives is a former sect member, Carolyn Jessop, who left a polygamist compound and later wrote a book about her experience, called "Escape."

THIS STORY IS GOING TO TAKE A LONG, LONG TIME...

http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/05/05/polygamist.families/index.html