The Face of America in Year 2016

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Woman dies after trying to save grandchildren from sex offender

The Columbus Dispatch  /  August 4, 2016

The man told Candy Arthurs and her two grandchildren that he was looking for a lost drone, and the trio was happy to help him look for it.

But shortly after they began searching their Hilltop neighborhood June 23, Jeremy Mullins, 7, and Kourtnee Mullins, 8, started walking into an alley with the man, who turned out to be a convicted sex offender.

Though it's unclear what happened next, Arthurs — who always said she'd sacrifice her life for her grandchildren — confronted the man. He stabbed her in the heart with a large knife and also stabbed Jeremy in the shoulder, Columbus police say.

Wednesday morning, Arthurs, 45, died at Mount Carmel West hospital from the wound she suffered six weeks ago.

The attacker, Kristopher T. Amos, 29, has been charged with murder and was in the Franklin County jail Wednesday night.

Amos, who lives in the 200 block of North Wayne Avenue, just down the street from Gibson's house, is a registered sex offender and twice was found guilty of child enticement with a sexual motivation, in 2010 and 2011.

During the first incident, Amos tried to lure children into the shower area of a YMCA.

He'd been charged with two counts of felonious assault after the June 23 stabbing, but he wasn't arrested until 10 a.m. Wednesday, after he was charged with murder. He was picked up at his employer on Worthington Road.

After her mother and son were stabbed, Gibson's neighbors on the Hilltop told her that Amos also had solicited their children for help, claiming he lost a drone. He was carrying a remote control with him.

Arthurs' death is the city's 58th homicide this year.

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Twin girls die after being left in hot car; drunk father charged with manslaughter

Associated Press  /  August 5, 2016

A father was charged with manslaughter Friday in the deaths of his 15-month-old twin girls, who were left in a hot car in their west Georgia town.

Witnesses heard screams and saw Asa North running from the parking lot in front of his home, carrying the toddlers to an inflatable kiddie pool out back. He and his neighbors tried to revive them with water and ice packs, but they were too far gone.

Outside temperatures were in the 90s shortly before police were called at about 6:30 p.m. Thursday.

North, 24, is charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter and two counts of reckless conduct.

"I think possibly alcohol was a factor in some of his decisions that day, and maybe played a factor in this," said Carrollton police Capt. Chris Dobbs, who identified the girls as Ariel North and Alaynah North.

A man with North had been drinking heavily, and "we believe the father had been drinking that day also," Dobbs said. Police tested North's blood-alcohol level and were awaiting results from a lab, he said.

The girl's mother was at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta at the time, visiting her sister, who had been in a serious car crash Wednesday, Dobbs said.

"I guess he forgot about the kids and left them in the car," said Donnie Holland, the twins' uncle. "He should have took care of them kids better than that, what he did. He should have never been in the house asleep. He should have got the kids out of the car the time he got out of the car, you know."

It wasn't immediately clear who discovered that the twins were unresponsive in their child seats in the back of the SUV.

"The neighbors heard some screaming — I guess coming from the father — and saw him running around back with the two children," Dobbs said.

Arriving officers performed CPR after finding people trying to cool the girls off in the baby pool.

"One of the neighbors got some ice packs out of the freezer and carried it out there," Dobbs said.

The twins were pronounced dead at a hospital. Autopsies were being done at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation crime lab.

The twins died as prosecutors in another metro Atlanta county prepare for the murder trial of Justin Ross Harris, 35, who is accused of intentionally leaving his toddler son to die in a hot SUV for about seven hours in 2014.

Harris' trial was moved to the coastal Georgia city of Brunswick after a judge agreed with defense lawyers that an impartial jury could not be found in the Atlanta area. The trial is expected to begin in September.

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Parent murders 3 children, wife, commits suicide

CBS News  /  August 7, 2016

A family of five, including three small children, was found dead in their Berks County, Pennsylvania, home on Saturday along with what authorities described as a murder-suicide note.

Police in Sinking Spring, just outside Reading, responded to the family's home on the unit block of Winding Brook Drive about 2 p.m. Saturday after a concerned relative asked them to check on the family.

Inside the home, police found 40-year-old Mark Jason Short Sr., his wife, Megan L. Short, 33, and the couple's three children, 8-year-old Lianna, 5-year-old Mark Jr. and 2-year-old Willow, along with the family's dog, all dead of gunshot wounds.

Mark Jason Short Sr. shot his wife, three children and dog to death after learning that his spouse planned to leave him after 16 years of abuse.

Responding officers discovered a murder-suicide note in the home, as well as a handgun near one of the deceased adults.

An investigation revealed there had been "domestic issues" between Mark and Megan Short.

Articles in The Reading Eagle in 2014 and The New York Times in 2015 profiled the family after Willow, the youngest of their three children, underwent a heart transplant as an infant. The news stories detailed the family's difficulties obtaining anti-rejection medication for Willow.

A blog post Megan Short wrote in April about her family's ordeal treating Willow's heart condition, "Learning to Heal: My Experience with PTSD" on the Philly at Heart blog,, sheds some light on the struggles they faced.

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Woman raped, murdered and set on fire while jogging in Massachusetts

Associated Press  /  August 8, 2016

A Google employee from New York City who disappeared on an afternoon jog while visiting her mother in Massachusetts has been found murdered in the woods.

Worcester District Attorney Joseph Early Jr. said Monday that 27-year-old Vanessa Marcotte was reported missing after failing to return from a run between 1pm and 4pm in Princeton.

Her body was discovered at around 8.20pm Sunday by a state police K9 unit near Brooks Station Road, about a half-mile from her mother's home.

Investigators are examining the possibility that Marcotte was sexually assaulted and set on fire, with burns to her hands, head and feet.

Authorities say her death is a homicide.

'We have a horrible set of facts, horrible circumstance,' said Early.

He added that it was unclear whether Marcotte's killing was a random act of violence and urged local residents to remain vigilant and exercise caution.

'People should be concerned,' Early said. 

Five days before Marcotte's death, 30-year-old New York City resident Karina Vetrano was murdered while on an evening jog in the city’s borough of Queens. No arrests have been made in Vetrano's death.

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Georgia baby’s parents charged with murder

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution  /  August 9, 2016

Alcovy Judicial Circuit District Attorney Layla Zon has filed murder charges against the parents who brutally beat their infant daughter.

The baby girl was taken off life support Monday, three months after she was hospitalized with injuries she suffered when her father beat the then 2-month-old infant.

Murder warrants were secured today for both parents, Jamie Cason Whited and Justin Lee Whited, both age 23, for the death of 5-month-old Dinah Paige Whited.

Both parent have said they did not abuse their child.

Dinah had been on life support for three months because her father would not agree to have her taken off the machines keeping her alive.

But in an emotional hearing before a juvenile court judge in Walton County on Wednesday and after speaking with his wife, Justin Whited agreed to let the child go.

Dinah was admitted to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston with bleeding on the brain, two broken collar bones and breaks in all but three of her ribs.

Dinah was pronounced dead at 3:31 p.m. Monday.

Her father, 23-year-old Justin Lee Whited, of 311 Mobley Circle, was arrested April 24 at the hospital and charged with aggravated battery and cruelty to children.

Her mother, 23-year-old Jamie Cason Whited, of 723 Masters Drive, was arrested April 30 at the hospital and charged with cruelty to children.

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Ohio man arrested for rape of 3-year-old

ABC News  /  August 9, 2016

An Ohio man has been arrested on sexual assault charges after a woman caught him raping a 3-year-old girl inside an abandoned garage.

Charles Sadler, 34, of Columbus, was taken into custody Friday in connection to the alleged assault.

According to police, a woman was driving in west Columbus when she heard a scream and saw a man, later identified as Sadler, raping a little girl in the 300 block of South Richardson Avenue.

The Good Samaritan, who has children of her own, called 911 and followed Sadler for several blocks until officers responded to the scene and arrested him.

Sadler's family told WSYX they thought the 34-year-old was 'passed out drunk somewhere' at the time of the incident.

He is currently being held in the Franklin County Jail on $200,000 bond.

The child provided testimony to investigators after being examined in the hospital.

The victim’s mother expressed her frustration with the judge's decision to set bond for his release.

Sadler has been released, and is due back in court August 15. 

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Wisconsin mother strangles 2-year-old son to death

The Associated Press  /  August 9, 2016

A Wisconsin mother was arrested after police responded her Sheboygan Falls home last week to find the body of her 2-year-old son stuffed in a cardboard box.

According to WITI,  police said an initial investigation revealed 27-year-old Katlyn Kinateder may have strangled her son. A criminal complaint says she suffocated him with a plastic bag.

The criminal complaint states that Sheboygan Falls police responded to the woman’s home on Woodiew Avenue last Thursday afternoon after receiving a 911 call that the child had been strangled and killed.

When police arrived, they were confronted by Kinateder who was armed with a knife. Officers drew their weapons and ordered the woman to drop the knife. She allegedly ignored the command and began to approach the officers with the knife for a short distance before she finally put down the weapon.

Kinateder was tased and taken into custody.

Officers searched the apartment and inside a hallway closet found 2-year-old Dexter Kinateder, stuffed into cardboard box that had been stacked beneath two other cardboard boxes.

The child was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Kinateder was interviewed by police, and admitted to killing Dexter by placing a plastic bag over his head — suffocating him. 

She told police she had “lost my mind” and wanted to die, adding she had stopped taking her anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medication.

The 911 call, which was placed by Kinateder, was later released:

911 Operator: “You what?”

Mother: “I killed my son.”

911 Operator: “How did you kill your son?”

Mother: “I strangled him.”

The woman says her child had been dead inside her home for a half hour.

911 Operator: “Can you tell me what led up to this?”

Mother: “I have no idea. I feel like I have lost my mind.”

After several minutes passed, the caller was suddenly quiet.

911 Operator: “Are you still here?”

Mother: “I have a knife.”

In the background, police shout, “drop the knife, drop the knife.”

Kinateder has been charged with one count of first degree intentional homicide, and one count of moving, hiding, burying the corpse of a child.

She was placed under a $750,000 bond.

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'Truly a piece of evil': 'Grim Sleeper' sent to death row

Associated Press  /  August 11, 2016

A serial killer known as the "Grim Sleeper" was sentenced to death Wednesday for the murders of nine women and a teenage girl that went unsolved for years as the body count grew in a poor section of Los Angeles haunted by the scourge of crack cocaine.

The moment of reckoning for Lonnie Franklin Jr. came after those whose lives were altered by his violence questioned how he could have been so cruel and shown so little remorse.

"You are truly a piece of evil," said Enietra Washington, who managed to survive after being shot and testified against him at trial. "You're right up there with Manson."

The killings occurred over more than two decades.

Prosecutors presented evidence at trial linking Franklin to 14 slayings, including four women he wasn't charged with killing. They have said he may have had as many as 25 victims.

Franklin, 63, avoided suspicion for decades, working as a city trash collector and onetime garage attendant for Los Angeles police.

He denied any role in the killings to investigators but didn't utter a word in his defense during his lengthy trial or address the judge at sentencing.

Judge Kathleen Kennedy, a 28-year veteran of the court, said she concluded Franklin preyed on defenseless women because of deep-seated hatred toward them.

"I can't think of anyone I've encountered in all my years in the criminal justice system that has committed the monstrous crimes that you have," she said.

The judge didn't buy the defense argument that California's death penalty was unconstitutional and should be set aside. She also rejected a motion for a new trial.

Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman said Franklin was irredeemable.

"He is a psychopathic, sadistic serial killer who takes joy in inflicting pain on women and killing them," she wrote in her sentencing brief.

Franklin showed no emotion throughout trial and six years of court hearings.

Franklin was connected to the crimes after a task force that re-examined the old cases discovered that DNA from Franklin's son, which was in a database because of an arrest, showed similarities to genetic evidence found on some of the "Grim Sleeper" victims.

A detective posing as a busboy at a pizza parlor collected utensils and crusts while Franklin was attending a birthday party. Lab results connected him to some of the bodies and led to his arrest.

Investigators found a gun used in one of the killings and Polaroid photos of victims — including one of Washington, partly nude and bleeding in Franklin's garage after his arrest.

Nearly three decades after the attack, she pointed him out in court, saying, "That's the person who shot me."

Franklin killed seven women between 1985 and 1988 and a 15-year-old girl and two women between 2002 and 2007. Most were fatally shot at close range, though two were strangled and two were shot and choked.

The killing of Thomas was later found to have occurred during that gap and police now say they don't think Franklin stopped killing until his arrest in 2010.

Franklin's conviction will be automatically appealed. The likelihood he'll be executed is slim because of challenges over the state's lethal injection procedure.

No one has been put to death in San Quentin State Prison since 2006 and there are nearly 746 inmates on death row.

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7-year-old Ohio boy tried to sell toy for food

Associated Press  /  August 13, 2016

A 7-year-old boy in Ohio tried to sell his toy dog to get money for food.

"We heard about the boy from a concerned man who came into the police station and said there was a small child carrying a stuffed animal in a busy section of Franklin," Franklin Police Officer Steve Dunham said of the incident August 7.

When officers went to the area, Dunham spotted the boy in front of a pharmacy and got out of his car to speak with him. The boy was really nervous at first, Dunham said.

"I think he thought he would get in trouble," Dunham said. "He told me he was hungry and was trying to get money for food."

“It broke my heart,” Dunham told WLWT. “He told me he was trying to sell his stuffed animal to get money for food because he hadn't eaten in several days.” Dunham then took the boy to a nearby Subway restaurant, where they each got a sandwich, Franklin Police Chief Russ Whitman said. Then they headed to the police station, where they said a prayer together and ate their dinner.

The officers who went to investigate the boy's home reported it "was in deplorable condition and there were other children there. They found garbage and liquor bottles everywhere, and there was a strong smell of cat urine.

Four other boys -- ages 11, 12, 15 and 17 -- also lived in the house.

The parents, who were home at the time, were each charged with five counts of child neglect. They pleaded not guilty in court August 9 and have a pretrial conference scheduled for September.

"I'm very proud of my officers for what they did, but officers across the nation go above and beyond every single day," Whitman said. "We just happened to be put in the limelight. You can find stories like this everywhere with police officers every day. That's why we get into this business, to help people."

Child Protective Services contacted another family member to pick up the boys.

The boys' parents were not jailed. The children remain in the care of relatives.

Franklin is north of Cincinnati, in southwestern Ohio.

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7-month-old boy dies after being left in hot car

The Houston Chronicle  /  August 13, 2016

A seven-month-old boy died after being left all day in a hot sport utility vehicle in a San Antonio-area Walmart parking lot.

The baby's father, who works at the store in the suburb of Helotes, told officers that he forgot to drop his son off at day care before going to work about 6.15am Friday, said Helotes police Captain Anthony Burges. 

The father found his child dead after finishing work and returning to the SUV about 3pm.

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Houston mother drowns children

Associated Press  /  August 14, 2016

Two children were found dead under a neighbor's house Sunday after their mother told someone helping her move that she had drowned them in a bathtub.

The 30-year-old mother was in custody and not yet charged with murdering her 7-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter, Houston police spokesman Kese Smith said. 

The woman said she drowned the children Friday.

She was turned into police by an acquaintance who came upon her throwing away trash in a field, where she allegedly told him she needed help moving right away.

When the man asked about her kids, she calmly said she had killed them.

“She was so matter of fact about it he didn't think she was serious. He thought she was joking,” Smith said. “He continued to help her pack.”

Smith said the man eventually realized something was wrong when he asked again and got the same answer. 

He then drove the woman toward a nearby police precinct and flagged down an officer.

The mother tried burying the children at first but put them under a neighbor's house when that proved too difficult.

Smith said police had been to the home before but for 'nothing major.'

Child Protective Services said they had also visited the home in the past, but would not elaborate why.  

The woman has a 12-year-old son who was not at the home at the time of the incident. He is safe and staying with his father.

Police say the mother has a minor criminal record, but refused to go into detail, citing privacy laws.

In 2001, Houston mother Andrea Yates drowned her five children ranging in age from 7 years to 6 months in the bathtub of her family's home. 

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Chicago Tribune  /  August 21, 2016

At least 25 people were shot over 14 hours in attacks across Chicago beginning Saturday afternoon into early Sunday, police said, equivalent to someone being shot every 33 minutes.

Four of the shootings were fatal, including an attack in Marquette Park at about 2:50 a.m. Sunday.

Darius Brownlee, 25, was on a porch in the 7000 block of South Artesian Avenue when someone walked up and asked if he had any marijuana, according to family. When he said he didn't, the person shot him in the head. He was pronounced dead at the scene. 

"He had a heart. He was respectful," said his sister, Iesha Brownlee, at the scene. "A very respectful young man. He would help anybody."

Five minutes after midnight, a 24-year-old man was shot dead in the Homan Square neighborhood. Police responded to a call of a person shot in the 3700 block of West Grenshaw Street and found him on his porch with a gunshot wound to the chest. He said he had been shot in another location and walked back to his home to tell his family he had been wounded, police said. From there, he was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital and pronounced dead.

At 8:10 p.m. Saturday, a 20-year-old man was on the sidewalk in the 2700 block of North Harding Avenue in Logan Square when someone shot him in the head. He was pronounced dead on the scene.

Nonfatal shootings:

About 6:45 a.m. Sunday, a male whose age was not available was shot in the Homan Square neighborhood. He was in the 3600 block of West Lexington Street when he was shot in the head. He was being treated at Mount Sinai Hospital; information about his condition was not immediately available.

Just after 4 a.m., a 14-year-old boy was fatally shot the Austin neighborhood during a gang-related attack. He was in the 5500 block of West North Avenue on a sidewalk when an occupant inside a vehicle that pulled up opened fire hitting him in the head, according to Officer Bari Lemmon, a spokeswoman for the Chicago police.

The boy was taken to Loyola University Medical Center in critical condition but he was pronounced dead there, according to police.

Just after 4 a.m., two people were shot in University Village. A 21-year-old woman and a 23-year-old man were in the 1200 block of West Washburne Avenue when someone fired shots from the rear seat of a passing vehicle. Both went to Stroger Hospital. The woman was shot in the stomach and listed in serious condition. The man was shot in the leg and his condition was stabilized.

Just before 3:15 a.m., a 37-year-old man was shot in Rogers Park. He was in the 1700 block of West Greenleaf Avenue when he was shot in the left hand. He went to Evanston's Saint Francis Hospital in good condition.

About 2:30 a.m., two 26-year-old men were shot in West Pullman. They were standing outside in the 11600 block of South Morgan Street when someone driving a black Taurus pulled up and fired shots. Both men were shot in the leg and went to Roseland Hospital. Their conditions were stabilized.

Just before 2:20 a.m., a 25-year-old man was shot multiple times in Lawndale. He was stopped at a stop sign in the 4100 block of West 21st Street when someone walked up and opened fire in his direction. The 25-year-old man went to Mount Sinai Hospital in critical condition.

Just before 1:30 a.m., two men were shot in Englewood. The men, 19 and 23, got themselves to Holy Cross Hospital after being shot in the 6800 block of South Bishop Street. The younger man was shot multiple times and later transferred to Mount Sinai Hospital in critical condition. The older man was shot in the right leg and his condition was stabilized.

Just after 12:30 a.m., a 21-year-old man was shot in Ravenswood. He was in the 4800 block of North Damen Avenue when he was shot in the back of the head. He went to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center and his condition was stabilized.

At 11:45 p.m. Saturday, a 27-year-old woman was shot after a dispute with her boyfriend in Rogers Park. They were in the 1500 block of West Jonquil Terrace when he pulled out a gun and shot her in the left arm. She went to Saint Francis Hospital in Evanston and her condition was stabilized.

Just after 11:30 p.m., a 47-year-old man was shot in the South Loop. He was in the passenger seat of a car in the 500 block of West Taylor Street when someone approached firing shots. He was shot in the leg. Information about where he was being treated was not immediately available.

At 10:30 p.m., an 18-year-old man was wounded in a shootout in Lawndale. He and another person were shooting at each other in the 2100 block of South Kildare Avenue, police said; the 18-year-old man was shot in the back and taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in serious condition. Police have recovered his weapon. As of midnight, police did not know whether anyone else was wounded in the shootout. 

At about the same time, a 16-year-old boy was shot and critically wounded in Edgewater. He was in the 6200 block of North Hermitage Avenue when two people approached him on the sidewalk and opened fire, shooting him multiple times. He was taken to Saint Francis Hospital in critical condition.

About 10:10 p.m., a 18-year-old man was shot in the Stony Island Park neighborhood. He was on the sidewalk in the 8500 block of South Cregier Avenue when someone got out of a nearby Dodge Caravan and fired shots. He was shot in the foot and went to Advocate Trinity Hospital in good condition.

At 9:35 p.m., a 21-year-old man was shot in Longwood Manor. He was in a vehicle leaving a gas station in the 9900 block of South Vincennes Avenue when someone fired shots, hitting him in the back. He was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in serious condition.

At about 7:45 p.m., a 17-year-old boy in the 1000 block of West 79th Street in the Gresham neighborhood was wounded when two vehicles approached and someone inside fired shots. He was grazed in the upper back and went to Stroger Hospital. His condition was stabilized.

Three teen boys were shot in North Austin just before 7 p.m., police said. They were in the 1200 block of North Parkside Avenue when they were shot. A 17-year-old boy suffered a wound to the upper chest and was taken in serious condition to Stroger Hospital. Another boy, 15, was shot in the buttocks and abdomen. He was taken in serious condition to Mount Sinai Hospital. The third boy, also 15, was shot in the leg. He was taken to Loyola University Hospital in Maywood where his condition was stabilized, said Officer Michelle Tannehill, a police spokeswoman.

Earlier Saturday, a 37-year-old man was critically wounded in the same neighborhood. About 4:45 p.m., he was inside a vacant building in the 5300 block of West Division Street when two men damaged the door and came inside. The two men pulled out a handgun and shot the man in his stomach area when he tried to flee. He was taken in critical condition to Stroger Hospital.

 

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Associated Press  /  August 21, 2016

Derrick Ryan Dearman, 27, is charged with murdering five adults and an unborn baby in Citronelle, Alabama.

Arrested in his home state of Mississippi, he will be charged with six counts of murder in Mobile County district court.

Lester had been in hiding out at her sister’s home since August 19 “in an attempt to leave an abusive relationship” with Dearman.

Someone at the home called police about 1am Saturday to report Dearman on the property, but Dearman vanished before police arrived.

He returned sometime between 1.15am and daybreak and slaughtered the five people as they slept using both a gun and an ax.

Dearman entered the home where his girlfriend was staying with relatives and attacked the people sleeping inside using "firearms and several other weapons," according to the Mobile County Sheriff's Office.

A 3-month-old baby of one of the victims survived the attack.

"In... a 20-year career as a prosecutor, I have never seen a scene where there were five people brutally and viciously murdered. That's what we have here," said Mobile County District Attorney Ashley Rich.

"There was some type of instrument other than a firearm used on them," said Mobile County sheriff's Capt. Paul Burch.

After the killings, police say Dearman kidnapped his girlfriend, Laneta Lester, and the surviving baby.

He drove them across the Mississippi state line to his father's home, where Lester and the child were freed.

Dearman and his father then went to the Greene County Sheriff's Office in Mississippi where Dearman surrendered Saturday afternoon.

Police named the victims as Robert Lee Brown, Chelsea Marie Reed, Justin Kaleb Reed, Joseph Adam Turner and Shannon Melissa Randall and Chelsea Marie Reed, who was five months pregnant.

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4-year-old found beaten and abused thought her name was ‘Idiot’

The Washington Post  /  August 17, 2016

The 4-year-old girl had deep purple bruises, a black eye, a swollen cheek and a mark on her forehead.

She also had healing scars across her back, dried blood in the corner of her mouth and ligature marks on her wrist, authorities said.

When a police officer asked her what her name was, she had a startling response: “Idiot.”

Her mother’s live-in boyfriend, police said, regularly called the child “Idiot” instead of using her actual name.

He also zip-tied the girl to her bed as a form of punishment, according to a police report.

Clarence Reed, 47, and the child’s mother, Jennifer Denen, 30, both of Hot Springs, Arkansas, are now charged with domestic battery, permitting abuse of a minor and endangering welfare of a minor.

Police received a call Friday from the Cooper-Anthony Mercy Child Advocacy Center, where a staff member told an officer that a malnourished 4-year-old had been abused in her home.

Reed and Denen, who were at the center when police arrived, were later arrested.

Denen told police that she had seen her boyfriend strike her daughter with a plastic bat and said she’d heard Reed frequently call the child “Idiot.”

She admitted not seeking medical care for her daughter, the police report said.

Reed told authorities that he hit the child. But instead of a plastic bat, he told police, he had used a half-inch-thick wooden paddle.

He also admitted zip-tying the child to punish her for climbing the kitchen cabinets.

And although he said he had called the child “Idiot,” Reed told police he meant it as a joke.

Hot Springs Police Department spokesman Cpl. Kirk Zaner said a total of six children lived in the house, all of whom are Denen’s. One, an 11-month-old, is her only child with Reed.

Zaner said the 4-year-old girl and the 11-month-old are now in the custody of the Department of Human Services. The four older siblings are with their biological father.

In 2012, state and local child protective services received about 3.4 million reports of children being abused or neglected, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The majority of them, 78 percent, were victims of neglect; 18 percent suffered physical abuse, according to the CDC

About 80 percent of perpetrators were parents, the CDC said, while six percent were relatives other than parents. Four percent of perpetrators were the parents’ unmarried partners.

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Toddler who died a ‘painful, horrible death’ was placed in a freezer

The Washington Post  / August 7, 2016

A New York mother is facing a first-degree manslaughter charge in the death of her baby girl whose body was “extremely cold.”

Officials suspect the 15-month-old was placed in a freezer.

Police received a 911 call at about 5:30 a.m. Friday from an apartment in Mount Vernon, New York.

Officials said 15-month-old Samia Yusef may have been dead for several hours when police found her. She was pronounced dead a half-hour later.

“It was a gruesome discovery that shocked even our most senior officers on the job,” Mount Vernon Police Commissioner Ronald Fatigate said.

A felony complaint states that Samia’s mother, Dasia Bartee, 26, struck the child in the back “six to seven times” with a closed fist to stop her from crying.

She suffered significant injuries to her face, a lumbar fracture and internal bleeding.

The crime happened just after 10 p.m. Thursday.

“This child clearly died a painful, horrible death,” said Westchester Assistant District Attorney Karen Herbert.

Prosecutors recommended that Bartee be held on $1 million bail, but a Mount Vernon city court judge set her bail at $50,000. Her defense attorney told the judge she had no criminal record.

Westchester Assistant District Attorney Karen Herbert said Bartee had an “extensive” history with Child Protective Services.

Two other children who were in the apartment when the incident happened were not harmed. Authorities said they have been placed in the custody of Child Protective Services.

“No child, no infant, no toddler should be subjected to that type of violence,” said Mayor Richard Thomas.

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A 19-pound 5-year-old died of an overdose

The Washington Post  /  August 13, 2016

At the time of his death in May, the 5-year-old weighed just 19 pounds — less than half the weight of an average boy his age.

The cause of death was a drug overdose.

Specifically, officials said this week, the sickly boy died after his parents medicated him with OxyContin.

Charles Burks, 45, and Jennifer Burks, 40, of Endicott, N.Y., are facing second-degree manslaughter charges for their son’s death. 

Investigators say the couple gave the boy crushed OxyContin, a highly addictive prescription opioid painkiller that ultimately killed him.

Broome County District Attorney Steve Cornwell said the boy was in need of specialized care and had developmental and medical problems. His parents, Cornwell said, “took it upon themselves to self-medicate the child.”

“The parents failed to get the proper treatment for the child in a timely manner,” Cornwell said. The prosecutor declined to elaborate on what kind of medical problems the child had, other than saying he was severely underweight.

Police responded to the couple’s house on May 7 after receiving a medical call. The boy was then taken to the hospital.

The couple abruptly left New York within a month of their son’s death, traveling to North Carolina, where they lived at a campsite.

Investigators received a tip from a police officer at the New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington, North Carolina, that Charles and Jennifer Burks visited someone at the hospital. The Burks later drove back to New York for an unrelated matter, and were arrested and arraigned Thursday.

Officials did not say whether the boy was still alive when he was taken to the hospital in May. It also remains unclear whether his parents were at home when police were called, or whether one or both of them had prescriptions for OxyContin.

As is customary in Broome County, the case will be heard by a grand jury, which will then decide on the appropriate charges. The charges may be different or the same as the original manslaughter charges, the prosecutor said.

A second-degree manslaughter charge is punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

Cornwell said the couple has other children, though all of them are adults. He refused to say whether they have a history with Child Protective Services.

Records, however, show that Charles Burks is registered as a sex offender in New York and North Carolina. He was convicted of third-degree rape of a 15-year-old girl in 1998 in Broome County.

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[kscarbel2]

Florida schools issuing “Pledge of Allegiance” waivers

WCTV  /  August 23, 2016

“This is a response to a Florida law voted on by the Florida Legislature and signed by Governor Rick Scott,” said Chris Petley, the spokesman for Leon County Schools (www.leonschools.net) in Tallahassee, Florida.

Specifically, he is referring to Florida Statue 1003.44.

That law dictates “to all school districts in Florida that, ‘each student shall be informed by a written notice published in the student handbook or a similar publication pursuant to s. 1006.07(2) that the student has the right not to participate in reciting the pledge.”

“We are required to comply with the law,” he replied.

The Pledge of Allegiance waiver states:

“I understand my rights as a parent and I request that my child, noted above, be excused from reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. This request includes standing and placing his/her right hand over his/her heart.”

Tuesday, the school district issued a statement saying:

“Leon County Schools values patriotism, civic responsibility, and the pledge of allegiance. A change to Florida law this year requires all school districts to publish in the student code of conduct booklet the students’ right to not participate in reciting the pledge of allegiance. In complying with the change in law, our staff developed a form for parents to use to exercise that right.”

The opt-out has been available in Florida since 2000.

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[kscarbel2]

Associated Press  /  August 24, 2016

A 14-year-old Pennsylvania boy is charged with fatally shooting his grandmother because he didn't want to go to school. 

Hunter R. Reeser, of Harborcreek Township, is being charged as an adult with first-degree murder.

Authorities say he shot 60-year-old Sandra Orton with a .22-caliber rifle on Tuesday. 

He then called her husband and claimed he found her wounded.

But he later called 911 and confessed to killing her.

Police found Orton dead in her vehicle, shot in the head.  

Reeser later told police that he didn't want to go to a school meeting.

In Pennsylvania, children must be charged as adults in murder or homicide cases. Defense attorneys can later try to move the charges to juvenile court. Erie County prosecutors say they plan to oppose that.

Reeser is being held without bond.

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[1965]

Sad world we live in today 

kids & people weren't raised right!!

or people raising not raising right

[kscarbel2]

10-year old drugged, sexually assaulted, killed

The Washington Post  /  August 25, 2016

When police were called early Wednesday to an apartment complex in Albuquerque, they thought they were responding to a battery call.

When police entered the apartment, it was filled with smoke and they discovered the body of Victoria Martens partially wrapped in a burning blanket, inside a bath tub.

 

The child had no pulse, her left leg was almost completely cut off and both arms were missing.

 

She was pronounced dead at the scene.

She had been killed hours before her 10th-birthday party, her body injected with methamphetamine, sexually assaulted, strangled and stabbed before being dismembered. 

The girl’s mother, Michelle Martens, 35; Martens’s boyfriend, Fabian Gonzales, 31; and Gonzales’s cousin, Jessica Kelley, 31, have been charged in connection with her death.

Martens told police her boyfriend drugged her daughter 'to calm her down' so that he and Kelley could have sex with her.

Martens told police that Gonzales choked her daughter to death after having sex with her.

Gonzales claims that Kelley, who he identified as his cousin, stabbed and dismembered the 10-year-old girl.

“This homicide is the most gruesome act of evil I have ever seen in my career,” says Albuquerque Police Chief Gorden Eden Jr. “A complete disregard of human life and betrayal by a mother.”

Police said the girl had been drugged with methamphetamine, sexually assaulted and stabbed.

Police were called to the Arroyo Villas Apartments in northwest Albuquerque about 4:30 a.m. Wednesday. The call was about an aggravated battery.

A woman, later identified as Martens, told police after they arrived that “someone killed her daughter” and the woman was still inside the second-floor apartment.

Gonzales, who was wearing bloodstained shorts, told police that he was cleaning himself up before officers got there.

When the officers tried to get inside the apartment, another woman, later identified as Kelley, slammed the door shut and locked it with a chain. She then jumped from the apartment’s balcony, but was later arrested.

Meanwhile, the fire alarm inside the apartment went off. Officers went inside the smoke-filled unit to try to look for the child, and found her body in the bathroom. They also found bloodstains on the carpet of the girl’s bedroom.

The the mother, who also has a younger son, told police that Gonzales and Kelley dismembered Victoria.

One of the police officers who arrived at the apartment found the girl's body in a bathroom, rolled up in a blanket that had been set on fire. The officer put it out.

Some of her remains were found in a plastic bag in a hamper near the kitchen.  

Martens, Gonzales and Kelley are facing several charges, including child abuse resulting in death, kidnapping, tampering with evidence and conspiracy.

Gonzales also is charged with criminal sexual penetration of a minor.

Gonzales denied any involvement in the child’s death and pinned the alleged crimes on Kelley.

“Jessica Kelley did it,” he said during his arrest Thursday morning.

Tanner Tixier, spokesman for the Albuquerque Police Department, says what Gonzales said isn’t a lie.

“Not the whole truth,” Tixier said, “but it’s not a lie.”

Tixier said that Martens, who has a cut between her eyes, showed no remorse when talking to detectives, the Albuquerque Journal reported.

Kelley remained at a hospital Wednesday night.

“This is a horrific tragedy for our community. When something like this happens to our community, it has an effect on each and every one of us,” Eden, the police chief, said at a news conference Wednesday afternoon. “I want to assure the public that we will pursue justice, and we will make sure that we exhaust every resource into this investigation.”

He said there are no other suspects in the case.

Methamphetamine, much of it provided by Mexican drug-trafficking organizations, is the foremost drug threat in New Mexico, according to a 2011 report by the Justice Department.

Methamphetamine represented about 25 percent of all drug reports in Albuquerque during the first half of 2013, according to a 2014 report by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. That’s a higher number than for drug reports involving cocaine and heroin and a bit lower than marijuana reports.

Victoria Martens’s death has rattled the northwest Albuquerque community where she lived.

Laura Bobbs, a minister and close friend of the family, was sobbing and yelling when she arrived at the Arroyo Villas Apartments, which had been cordoned off with crime-scene tape, the Albuquerque Journal reported.

“No, no, no, say it ain’t so,” Bobbs said, according to the paper. “Who does this to a little child? What is happening to this world, that they would kill a little child?”

She had planned a birthday party for the girl, who wanted manicures and pedicures instead of toys, Bobbs told the paper. She also bought her lip gloss and a necklace with the words “From Aunti Laura” engraved on the back, Bobbs said.

A neighbor, Paulina Quintana, said that the day before Victoria was killed, she seemed excited about her upcoming party.

“My stomach has been hurting. I’m crying off and on,” Quintana told the paper. “I think we’re all freaking out.”

By Thursday morning, a memorial of flowers, teddy bears, candles, butterflies and balloons had been set up outside the apartment.

A bouquet of yellow flowers sat by a tree outside Petroglyph Elementary School, where Victoria was a student.

“We cherish and protect our students and, like the rest of Albuquerque, are having a hard time wrapping our heads around the fact that someone could treat one of them so horrifically,” said a brief message on the school’s website.

In a statement, New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez (R) called the manner in which Victoria was killed “atrocious.”

“What happened to this little girl is unspeakable,” she said, according to media reports, “and justice should come down like a hammer on the monster who committed this murder.” [but it will never happen]

Kelley was recently released from prison and was staying with Martens at the time of the slaying. Both Kelley and Gonzales have extensive criminal records.

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[kscarbel2]

Man beats 7-month-old girl to death

The Washington Post  /  August 24, 2016

The 7-month-old girl had two burst blood vessels in her eye when she was dropped off at a day-care center in March.

The center’s staff noticed more injuries when she was dropped off over the next few days at the center in the Minneapolis suburbs: bruises and scratches on the baby’s cheek the next day, and more on her back the following day.

When the staff asked the baby’s caretaker, the live-in boyfriend of the girl’s mother, about the injuries, he said the child was injured at home.

The next morning, on March 24, the man, Chris McMorris, didn’t bring the child to day care.

Instead, he called 911.

When emergency responders arrived at a home in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, they saw McMorris sitting on a bed as he talked on the phone.

The 7-month-old was lying on the floor, motionless.

She was pronounced dead less than two hours later.

Details indicate that the infant died a painful death. She had 11 rib fractures, plus bruises on her scalp, abdomen, back and buttocks. Her lacerated liver bled into her abdominal cavity, the document says.

Based on her injuries, authorities said she was struck in the abdomen multiple times. They ruled her death a homicide.

Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman says McMorris killed the child after finding out he wasn’t her biological father. A paternity test confirmed as much just three days before the child was killed.

McMorris, 24, was charged last week with two counts of second-degree murder, punishable by up to 30 years in prison.

“I’ve been in this business for 18 years as a prosecutor,” Freeman said. “If you don’t get upset by cases like this, you should get out of the business.”

When police arrived at the home in March, McMorris was unable to explain why the baby had bruises or why she suddenly stopped breathing. He only said that the child was vomiting a white substance.

The child’s mother told investigators that she didn’t notice the bruises and scratches that the day-care workers had spotted. The mother was unable to explain why her daughter had several injuries.

Oddly, the mother is not named in the charging documents.

The mother was living with McMorris and another child, a 12-year-old relative.

McMorris is in custody in the Hennepin County Jail and is scheduled for a court hearing on Sept. 22. His total bail has been set at $1.5 million.

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[kscarbel2]

Father punches infant daughter to death

The Washington Post  /  August 18, 2016

Cory Morris was home with the baby over the weekend, he told investigators.

His girlfriend had gone to work and Morris was watching television.

Then, the 4-month-old child, a girl named Emersyn, started to make some noises. Morris described it as baby talk in his interview with authorities.

The Minneapolis father said he took Emersyn out of her swing, carried her into her room and placed her on a changing table.

But Emersyn kept making noises, Morris later told authorities.

So to quiet her down, Morris began to punch the baby.

 “He admitted he punched her approximately fifteen times in the face with a closed fist,” the documents state. “He stated he punched her approximately seven times in the chest with a closed fist. Defendant admitted squeezing her chest with both hands.”

Emersyn was later pronounced dead.

Morris, 21, has been charged with second-degree murder in the death of his baby daughter.

“None of us can comprehend what this is all about,” said Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman. “And I’m a proud father of five and a grandfather of two. There’s nothing more important in my life than my children and my grandchildren. What is this? Why? Frankly, right now, we don’t know.”

Freeman said there were “suggestions” of mental health issues, which would be evaluated.

“But right now, we have charged him with second-degree intentional murder,” said Freeman

Authorities responded to a Minneapolis home after a man called 911 and said he had killed his baby. 

Emersyn was unconscious when police arrived, and covered in blood.

“The firefighters were the first to arrive to the residence and they found the baby on the changing station, lying in a pool of blood.”

“Officers observed the blood spatter all over the wall and floor near the changing station in the baby’s room.”

Morris was taken into custody and said he had repeatedly hit the baby.

“His clothing, hands and arms were covered in dried blood and officers observed swelling to his right hand,” the police complaint notes.

Emersyn was rushed to a hospital but died from blunt force trauma.

Morris’s girlfriend told investigators that he watched the child about three to four times a week, while she is at work. She “stated Defendant can go from happy to mad easily” and had thrown things in the past.

After police arrived and spoke with Morris, he expressed no remorse.

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[kscarbel2]

Teens beat good samaritan to death

The Washington Post  /  August 17, 2016

Authorities in South Carolina say two teenagers have been arrested on murder charges after one of them shot and killed a man who had just helped them pull their SUV from a roadside ditch.

Michael Odell Anthony Dupree-Tyler, 19, and Deon Antonio Frasier, 17, were denied bond on Tuesday in the shooting incident, which occurred Monday night in North Charleston.

A witness asked the victim, Chadwick Garrett, to help the teens pull a 2016 Dodge Durango from a ditch along a narrow road.

Witnesses said he agreed to help, for a $20 fee, according to court documents cited by CBS affiliate WCSC.

After Garrett, 45, helped pull the SUV to the road, he asked the teens for his money. Frasier then drew a gun and shot Garrett in the chest.

Frasier got into the vehicle with Dupree-Tyler and drove away.

Police arrived at the scene about 11 p.m. Monday and found the victim lying on the roadway.

Garrett was pronounced dead at the scene.

After the shooting, a woman from the apartment where the suspects live called police and said the two teens had stolen her SUV. She gave a description of the vehicle as well as of Dupree-Tyler and Frasier, according to documents cited by the Charleston Post and Courier.

Once the woman got the vehicle back, however, she tried — unsuccessfully — to call off the police response.

Officers found the suspects at the apartment. After a brief standoff, police took the teens into custody.

Dupree-Tyler admitted to police that he had been at the scene and Frasier admitted that he had shot the victim.

In addition to the two murder charges, Frasier faces a charge of possession of a firearm during a violent crime, according to online booking records.

At the bond hearing on Tuesday, Moses Garrett, the victim’s father, called the teens “cowards.”

“It’s so sad; these young babies here, they’re getting more and more terrible out there on the streets,” he said in court. “You guys killed a man. Only cowards carry guns.”

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[kscarbel2]

Cultural decay and declining standards of behavior in the United States

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Colorado man tries to murder 2-year-old son

Associated Press  /  August 30, 2016

A Colorado man has admitted to willfully crashing his car in an effort to kill his 2-year-old son.

The toddler, Isaiah Lopez, who was unrestrained in the vehicle, suffered a concussion and broken leg but is expected to recover.

Nathan Weitzel, 29, was charged with attempted murder and is being jailed on $500,000 bail in connection with the August 21 wreck in Centennial, Colorado.

Weitzel told investigators he took his son to play in a park before the crash and thought of ways he could kill him. He drove around looking for a good location to end his son's life.

When he believed he found one, Weitzel put his own seat belt on but refrained from putting his son into the child seat. Then he intentionally drove into several cars at 75 miles per hour.

After the accident, witnesses say the child was fading in and out of consciousness.

According to court documents, witness Cindy Rosa called 911. She saw Weitzel, “hitting the child … it looked like an elbow. It was horrifying.”

People in the area came to Isaiah's aid.

Weitzel also admitted to using cocaine that day.

"He used to be a really good climber," said mother Nancy Lopez of the child. "He loves to play and run around. He can’t walk now; he’s not going to be walking for another two months."

The mother said she takes care of Isaiah full-time, but the toddler spends weekends with his father.

Weitzel was arrested and taken to the Arapahoe County Jail. He’s been charged with attempted first-degree murder, child abuse, assault, criminal mischief, possession of a controlled substance and vehicular assault.

.

[BillyT]

The ones in Phoenix need to spend some time in Sheriff Joe Arapia's "tent jail" don't think they play Pokemon there! The local papers from Tampa Bay have garbage like this every day!