Crime Newswire

PHOENIX -- A woman was killed and three other people wounded Friday in a drive-by shooting in a south Phoenix neighborhood, police said. Authorities were... AP http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andy-campbell/

Spain's Rajoy denies wrongdoing in kickbacks scandal
Reuters
MADRID (Reuters) - Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy on Saturday denied wrongdoing in a growing corruption scandal that threatens his credibility just as he makes headway against economic crisis. The ruling People's Party (PP) has been buffeted all ...

New Orleans crime briefs: Man shot in face for refusing to sell discounted ...
NOLA.com
After refusing to sell marijuana at a discounted price in the Pontchartrain Park neighborhood early Saturday, a man was shot in the face, according to the New Orleans Police Department. The incident happened about 2:15 a.m. at the corner of Providence ...

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2 more suspects in Songkhla mayor murder surrender
Bangkok Post
Two more suspects wanted for the murder last year of Songkhla mayor Peera Tantiseranee have surrendered to police. Sudkheed Jankiew, 31, a suspected gunman, surrendered in his hometown of Nakhon Si Thammarat yesterday while Athip Duangmak, 58 ...

CBS Local
As Adam Zachs' Lawyer Seeks To Overturn Conviction, Murder Weapon Can't ...
Hartford Courant
Romano is seeking to overturn Zachs' 1988 conviction for murder. He is claiming that Zachs did not get the lawyer of his choice and that the trial attorney he ended up with was ineffective because, among other things, he failed to have the murder ...
Convict In 1987 West Hartford Murder Seeking Weapon For AppealCBS Local

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Turkey's state-run news agency says a missing New York City woman has been found dead in Istanbul. Sarai Sierra, a 33-year-old mother of two, went missing while vacationing alone in Istanbul. She was last heard from on Jan. 21, the day she was due back home. The Anadolu Agency says...

Talk about your anticlimactic fugitive hunts: A convicted murder who walked out of jail scot-free because of a bureaucratic mistake ended up at a buddy's house watching TV. Now Steven Robbins is back in custody after two days on the lam and a recapture that was "without incident," reports the...

HARRIS COUNTY, Texas -- A fight between a couple in north Harris County turned deadly late Tuesday after a neighbor stepped in with a handgun, deputies said.A spokesman for the Harris County Sheriff’s Office said deputies were called to Wood River Drive near Berry Pine Drive around 9 p.m. They found a man shot dead in the roadway.Investigators said it all started when a married couple got into a fight outside their home. Neighbors concerned about the domestic dispute came outside, and one person approached with a licensed handgun, according to deputies.Witnesses told deputies the husband turned his attention to the neighbor with the gun, throwing bricks and other things from his front yard, injuring the neighbor. The neighbor fired his gun three times, killing the husband.Other neighbors who witnessed the incident said this isn’t the first time the couple has fought in front of their home.“I didn’t think it would come down to this,” said neighbor Herbie Ponce. “We had incidents with them before, and I have called the cops on them.”Ponce said he didn’t know what the couple was fighting over.“I really don’t know. I know they’ve probably been drinking and stuff—it’s kind of hard to say.”The man who fired the shots was injured by the flying bricks and was sent to the hospital overnight. He was released a few hours later.Deputies have not said if any charges would be filed in the case.Deputies later identified the shooting victim as, 44-year-old Victor Daniel. Records showed he has a long history of violence with his wife and an ex-wife.

NORTH UNION TOWNSHIP (KDKA) — Neighbors in a Fayette County community were frightened when they heard shattering glass and screams for help.State police say it is a case of domestic violence turned deadly. The victim, attacked in her trailer in North Union Township, was pronounced dead at UPMC Presbyterian Hospital.“It must have been pretty gruesome because there was blood all over the cruiser after they put him in there,” said Robert Conklin, a neighbor.According to police, 49-year-old Lisa Tupta was attacked in her mobile home on Monday afternoon.Investigators say it started when the suspect, identified at 56-year-old Henry Crawford, showed up at the trailer, was not let in and then kicked in the door.“There was a confrontation once he was inside,” said Trooper Thomas Broadwater, of State Police. “At some point, a knife became involved and Mr. Crawford appeared to have stabbed Ms. Tupta.”Tupta suffered multiple stab wounds. Police say she was also apparently beaten.Terrified neighbors called state police who got to the scene quickly.“He tried to flee the scene. He was holding a knife,” said Trooper Broadwater. “He ran back inside. Troopers chased after him and found him hiding in a closet.”Tupta was taken to UPMC Presbyterian Hospital where she died.On Facebook, a memorial page is now set up. Her friends remembering a woman whose “smile lit up a room” and was truly “an Angel walking this Earth.”Others expressed shock and horror over what happened.Crawford has a long criminal history that includes, drug and DUI arrests, aggravated assault, simple assault, disorderly conduct, fighting, as well as terroristic threats.He is now facing criminal homicide charges.

BOSSIER CITY, LA (KSLA) -
Bossier City Police have released the names of the husband and wife involved in an apparent murder-suicide Monday at their Bossier residence.Police say Roy Mitchell, 86, and Margaret Mitchell, 84, were found just before 10 a.m. by a family member who arrived at the home and found them unresponsive inside. The incident occurred in the 2400 block of Belmont Boulevard.Based on information and evidence collected at the scene, detectives with the BCPD Violent Crimes Unit say the incident appears to be a case of murder-suicide.Detectives say Roy Mitchell shot and killed his wife with a handgun before shooting himself. Detectives recovered a weapon at the scene.Bossier City Police are continuing their investigation into the shootings.

ITHACA, N.Y. — A 41-year-old upstate New York man has admitted stabbing his estranged wife's boyfriend to death during a domestic dispute.The Ithaca Journal reports (http://ithacajr.nl/14q9Xbd ) that Dana Houghtling pleaded guilty Monday to first-degree manslaughter in a deal with prosecutors who agreed to drop a murder charge.Houghtling told a Tompkins County judge he killed 31-year-old Jeff West in a rage last April because he believed West and his wife had taken his daughter from his Groton home without permission.Prosecutors said they agreed to a deal that will send Houghtling to prison for five to 25 years because of evidence he acted under extreme emotional disturbance.Sentencing is set for March 15.

A man who was killed by Seattle police after he allegedly shot two people at a popular Central District nightclub on Sunday night had been involved in a tumultuous relationship with one of the victims, a 24-year-old woman, according to relatives and court documents.“They shouldn’t have been allowed to see each other,” said a relative of the wounded woman, who asked not to be named.The dead man was not formally identified Monday, but a relative said his name was James D. Anderson, 32, of Seattle.Anderson had been arrested near the same nightclub, the Twilight Exit, two months ago after he allegedly left the couple’s 7-month-old son unattended in a car that was parked nearby, according to court documents. Anderson was charged with reckless endangerment and leaving the child unrestrained and alone in a car while he walked up to the Twilight Exit on East Cherry Street, according to Seattle Municipal Court documents.Also last year, a no-contact order preventing his girlfriend from contacting him was issued, according to court records.In Sunday’s incident, Anderson had been ejected from the Twilight Exit after an argument with his girlfriend only to return about 20 minutes later with a gun, witnesses and the bar’s owner said. He entered through the club’s alley entrance, where he allegedly shot a doorman in the leg, then made his way across the bar and shot his girlfriend several times.Officers responded quickly to the 911 calls and were at the door as the gunman was leaving, Nick Metz, deputy chief of Seattle police, said Sunday night. The officers identified themselves, but the gunman fired a single shot and one officer returned fire, Metz said.Anderson was pronounced dead at the scene.The doorman, a man in his 30s, was shot once in the leg; he underwent surgery at Harborview Medical Center and remained in the intensive-care unit Monday night. Anderson’s girlfriend, who is also in intensive care, was shot three times in the legs. Both are expected to recover.Seattle police did not release additional details Monday.According to court documents and people who knew the couple, Anderson and his girlfriend had a tumultuous relationship.“Basically, they were one of those couples that fought all the time,” said Twilight Exit owner Stephan Mollman.A no-contact order was issued against Anderson’s girlfriend last year after the two fought and police were called, court documents show. The woman was charged with assault and property destruction, but the assault charge was dismissed after Anderson refused to cooperate in her prosecution, court records show.Anderson’s girlfriend entered into a dispositional continuance on the property- destruction charge, which called for her to undergo treatment for chemical dependency and abstain from drugs and alcohol, according to court documents.Anderson’s court records showed minor drug violations from about a decade ago.More recently, though, he was charged with endangering the couple’s child.According to the documents filed in municipal court, Anderson placed their 7-month-old son in the front passenger seat of his 2004 Ford Mustang as he drove from his home on 27th Avenue to the Twilight Exit.“There was no child restraint used, nor was there any restraint of any kind used, and the child was lying free in the seat,” according to the police report.The temperature was in the low 40s and the child “was not dressed for cold weather, wearing only one thin layer of clothing,” police wrote.The girlfriend’s relative said that Anderson had been looking for his girlfriend at the bar, but was not planning to go into the bar and drink.Mollman said that Anderson, after his arrest, had asked about obtaining video surveillance from the bar, which Anderson was hoping to use to show the court that he “hadn’t actually left the baby alone.”The relative of Anderson’s girlfriend said that Anderson and the woman had been together, off and on, for a couple of years. The girlfriend had been studying nursing and Anderson was a union carpenter who most recently had been working on a job at the University of Washington.“He was actually a really nice guy,” the relative said. “I think most of their troubles were from the booze.”Twilight Exit is a dark, cozy joint that attracts a wide-cross section of the neighborhood, including college students, construction workers, young professionals, retirees and parents, who often bring their toddlers and school-age kids on weekends before 8 p.m. On Sundays, the bar hosts a karaoke night.Dozens of people, many of them regulars, posted comments of support on the Twilight Exit’s Facebook page on Monday, with several suggesting a “take back the bar” night when it reopens to counter the violence that erupted there. Others suggested a fundraiser to cover the victims’ medical bills.One man wrote: “As soon as you can open again, please have a benefit night for the victims. I know the entire community will pack in to show support and help raise money for any medical costs they’ve incurred. I’d be there tonight if you were open. Hoping for speedy recovery for both, and looking forward to coming in when you are open again.”Christine Clarridge: 206-464-2073 or cclarridge@seattletimes.com.

A St. Paul man was allegedly run down by his girlfriend Wednesday as he was on the phone with 911 calling for help.In the recording, Mark L. Urang, 50, is heard describing the suspect as Arlene P. Garcia and her car as a white Mercury Sable. Then an argument, a scuffle and the sound of Urang apparently being run over ends the call, according to court documents.Garcia, 53, was charged with two counts of criminal vehicular homicide Friday in Ramsey County District Court.Urang was struck about 10:45 p.m. Wednesday in the 600 block of Wells Street near Payne Avenue. He suffered a skull fracture and massive hemorrhaging. He died about 8 p.m. Thursday.

ENGLEWOOD, N.J. - Prosecutors say a northern New Jersey man fatally stabbed his girlfriend then used a plastic bag to smother her five-year-old daughter because she saw her mother's slaying.Thirty-four-year-old Michael Brady of Teaneck was charged Wednesday with murder, hindering apprehension and weapons charges. His arrest came one day after the bodies of Tam Marie "Tammy" Pitts-Gaddy and her daughter, Natasia Gaddy, were found in their apartment in Englewood, just outside New York City.Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli says Brady and Pitts-Gaddy had dated for the last three years and lived together at times during their relationship. He says the slayings occurred after the couple apparently had a violent argument.Brady was being held Wednesday on $2 million bail. It's not known if he has a lawyer.

A 25-year-old Lusby man is being held by police in connection with the suspected murder of a 27-year-old Lusby woman, who police say was his girlfriend.John Warren Gibson Jr. led police Friday morning to a wooded area south of Leonardtown in St. Mary’s County, where police said in a press release they found the body of Amanda Lynn Foster in a trash can in the woods. Gibson allegedly told police the couple had been involved in a fight Jan. 12 at the home they shared on San Jose Lane in Lusby. During the fight, Gibson allegedly stabbed Foster in the chest, then placed her body in a trash can, loaded it into her truck and drove to St. Mary’s County where he hid the trash can in the woods near Breton Bay.Police said in a press release they began the investigation after receiving a call from a concerned family member Jan. 31 at 8:11 p.m. Foster’s family had not heard from the victim in several weeks and attempts to reach her by phone were unsuccessful. Troopers from the Maryland State Police Prince Frederick Barrack went to her home to try and talk to her. No one was at the San Jose Lane home, but troopers learned her truck had been seen parked at a home on H.G. Trueman Road in Lusby. Troopers went to the H.G. Trueman residence and spoke with Gibson, who told troopers he had dropped Foster off at a convenience store in California, Md., and had not heard from her since.Det. Rich of the Calvert Investigative Team was called in to assist in the investigation. Police said Gibson gave them conflicting information in his account of recent events and he was taken to CIT offices for questioning. Additional CIT personnel, Sgt. Jones, Sgt. Naughton, Tfc. Hunt and Det. Mudd, were called to assist in conducting the investigation.Police said during Gibson’s interview, he told police about the argument and the alleged homicide. He allegedly then took investigators this morning to the location of the body in the woods south of Leonardtown. CIT investigators met with troopers and deputies from the St. Mary’s County Bureau of Criminal Investigations at the scene. Foster’s body was recovered and taken to the Maryland Medical Examiner’s Office in Baltimore for an autopsy.Rich with the Calvert County Sheriff’s Office and Sgt. Jones with MSP are continuing the investigation. Anyone with additional information can contact them at 410-535-1600, ext. 2765 or ext. 2455.

Oprah dispenses much advice on striking the right life-work balance, but a former employee at her network thinks the real-world application falls a little short. Carolyn Hommel has sued OWN on charges of sex discrimination, reports the Hollywood Reporter . Hommel says she was on track to become a VP until...

MILWAUKEE (WITI) — 28-year-old Keith Brooks is now charged with one count of first-degree intentional homicide and misdemeanor battery in connection with the death of his wife, Anita.Anita Brooks was shot and killed in an apartment near 35th and Highland on Milwaukee’s west side early on Sunday, January 27th. Police say the incident was a result of domestic violence.The criminal complaint against Brooks says on the morning of the alleged offense, he and his wife, Anita were having an argument. When he tried to leave the apartment, Keith Brooks told police Anita tried to stop him. He told police he “slapped her once to the face with an open hand and then pushed her down to the floor.”The complaint indicates when Brooks then tried to leave the room again, he heard the sound of a click. Keith Brooks told police “he observed his wife holding her .380 caliber pistol in her right hand and that she was holding the firearm in front of her and looking down at it.” Brooks claims Anita then shot herself.However, the medical examiner states in the criminal complaint that “the victim died as a result of this gunshot wound and that she did not die as a result of a suicide.” The doctor said this was based on the “location of the wound and the fact that there was no indication of any soot, stippling or tattooing that would be associated with a suicide.”FOX6 News has learned Anita Brooks was a poet, using the stage name Anita Bee.On Thursday, Homer Blow listened to his last radio interview with Bee. “I don’t see anyone that would want to cause harm to her. (Keith Brooks) did a horrific thing and he has to own up to it and stop making excuses. I think it’s an insult to the family and her friends to even make (suicide) accusations,” Blow said.If convicted, Brooks faces up to life in prison.Visitation and funeral services for Anita Brooks are set for Wednesday, February 6th at All Saints Catholic Church. Visitation is from 10:00 a.m. until noon, and the funeral service starts at noon.A fund for the couple’s three-year-old daughter has been set up at Educator’s Credit Union under the name “Anita Brooks.” 

A California chef who got busted nearly three years ago on charges of selling illegal whale meat is facing a much more serious sentence than originally thought. Kiyoshiro Yamamoto could get 67 years in prison if convicted of smuggling and selling meat from endangered Sei whales at the now-defunct Hump...