Category Archives: US crime

‘You can’t forget it’: FBI agent recounts decaying bodies at Colorado funeral home

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New details emerge about 200 bodies found in October, including fluids, maggots and incriminating texts between owners

Investigators who entered a Colorado funeral home where nearly 200 abandoned bodies were found encountered stacks of partially covered human remains, bodily fluids several inches deep on the floor, and flies and maggots throughout the building, an FBI agent testified on Thursday.

Prosecutors also revealed text messages sent between the funeral home’s owners showing they were under growing financial pressures and had fears that they would be caught for mishandling the bodies. As the bodies accumulated, one of the co-owners even suggested getting rid of them by digging a big hole and treating them with lye or setting them on fire, according to the texts.

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Man who attacked Las Vegas judge has schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, says lawyer

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Deobra Redden’s foster mother says his mental health was not taken into consideration in his court sentence

The family of a man who was filmed attacking a Las Vegas judge has come forward to say that, while they don’t condone Deobra Redden’s actions, his mental health had not been taken into consideration before the court appearance.

“Oh my god, I went into a state of shock,” Karen Springer, Redden’s foster mother, told local CBS affiliate 8NewsNow. “I mean it was heartbreaking really to see him and, like I said, at the end of the day it’s about his mental state.”

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Release of Epstein documents crashes court website but details are less scandalous

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The majority of those whose names appear in the documents are not accused of wrongdoing and have been mentioned previously

When legal documents related to the case of convicted sex offender and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein were made public on Wednesday night, it caused an online frenzy that crashed the court website hosting the files in minutes.

More than 900 pages of papers were unsealed late in the day, identifying numerous Epstein associates and public figures as mentioned in proceedings of the case Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre filed against Ghislaine Maxwell in 2015.

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Courtroom video shows defendant attacking judge in Nevada

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Mary Kay Holthus and court officials injured in incident which has led to new charges against Deobra Delone Redden

A defendant has attacked a judge during a felony battery case, dragging her to the floor and sparking a brawl involving court officials and attorneys, officials and witnesses have said.

In a violent scene captured on courtroom video on Wednesday, Deobra Delone Redden jumped over a defence table and the judge’s bench, knocking the Clark county district judge Mary Kay Holthus from her seat and against a wall then pulled her to the floor. She sustained some injuries but was not sent to hospital, courthouse officials said.

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Bob Menendez faces fresh corruption allegations involving Qatar

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Democratic senator offered gifts in return for making positive comments about Gulf state, superseding indictment says

Bob Menendez, already the subject of sensational charges concerning the acceptance of illicit cash, gold bars and a Mercedes Benz car, faces new corruption allegations, outlined in a superseding indictment made public on Tuesday.

The New Jersey Democratic senator has already pleaded not guilty on charges involving interests linked to Egypt. He is now accused of corruption involving Qatar, although he does not face new charges.

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Police arrest man they say held guard at gunpoint at Colorado supreme court

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Man reportedly shot at the building and fired additional rounds while inside, but no one was injured by the gunfire

Police have arrested a Colorado man who they say broke into the state’s supreme court building and held a security guard at gunpoint.

Authorities have said the break-in is not connected to previous threats received by Colorado supreme court justices after their decision last month to remove Donald Trump from the state’s 2024 Republican primary ballot. Rather, they said it resulted from a nearby car crash in which one motorist pulled a gun on another.

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New York upstate car crash that left two dead investigated as terrorism – report

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Suicide note and journal reportedly discovered after crash outside music venue in Rochester kills two and injures five people

The FBI and local police are investigating the cause of a fiery car crash that killed two people and injured several others outside of an upstate New York concert venue.

Two people were killed and five were injured early Monday after a vehicle filled with gasoline canisters crashed into a crowd of people leaving a concert in Rochester, upstate New York.

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New York sergeant, wife and two sons found dead in murder-suicide, police say

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Man fatally shot his wife and their sons before dying by suicide in a suburban New York home, according to police

A police sergeant, his wife and their two sons – ages 10 and 12 – were found dead in a suburban home in New York in what police said was a triple murder-suicide.

Watson Morgan, 49, a sergeant with the Bronxville police department, fatally shot his wife, Ornela Morgan, 43, and their sons before dying by suicide, police said. They were discovered just past midnight Saturday at the family’s home in Clarkstown – 18 miles north of Manhattan – after Morgan failed to show up for work at the police department in nearby Bronxville.

The Associated Press contributed reporting

In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org

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New law designates special counsels to prosecute sex crimes in US military

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Military sexual assaults and harassment have increased almost every year since 2006, prompting Congress to pass new legislation

Incidents of sexual harassment and assault have been on the rise across the US military for roughly the last 15 years. Now, a new law has been passed that will change how they are dealt with, putting independent lawyers in charge of decisions and sidelining commanders.

“It’s the most important reform to our military justice system since the creation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice in 1950,” the US defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, said in a statement.

Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organisations. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 500 2222. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html

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Texas police release surveillance video after pregnant teen and boyfriend killed

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Police release footage in investigation of deaths of Savannah Soto, 18, and Matthew Guerra, 22, whose bodies were found on Tuesday

Texas police have released surveillance footage they hope will lead to answers in the killings of an 18-year-old pregnant woman and her boyfriend. The couple were found shot in the head in a car and may have been dead for days.

Police on Friday had not named a possible motive or suspects as family and friends mourned the deaths of Savanah Soto, 18, and Matthew Guerra, 22. Soto went missing before Christmas just before she had been scheduled to have an induced labor.

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Florida senator Rick Scott’s house ‘swatted’ by police

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Prank call to police claimed a shooting occurred at Scott’s Naples home, prompting a Swat team to deploy before standing down

The Republican Florida senator Rick Scott has said that his home was “swatted” on Wednesday night.

While he was dining with his wife, Ann, local Naples authorities responded to what was revealed to be a prank call intentionally made to lure resources like a Swat team to a location to respond to a false threat of danger, otherwise known as a “swatting call”.

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Idaho house where university students were murdered in 2022 is demolished

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Owner of property donated it to the University of Idaho, which said that its demolition was a key step towards finding closure

Demolition began on Thursday of the house where four University of Idaho students were killed last year, marking an emotional step for the victims’ families and a close-knit community that was shocked and devastated by the brutal stabbings.

The sounds of construction equipment pierced the early morning air as an excavator started tearing down the front part of the house. The former walls formed a large pile of crushed and smashed wood on the ground as debris was picked up and loaded into a dump truck.

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Florida teen allegedly shoots and kills sister over Christmas gift spat

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The 14-year-old was then allegedly shot and wounded by his 15-year-old brother in retaliation; both are now in custody

A Florida woman holding her 11-month-old son in a baby carrier was fatally shot by her 14-year-old brother while trying to defuse an argument over Christmas gifts he was having with a 15-year-old brother who also was armed, authorities said.

The 15-year-old brother then shot his 14-year-old brother, though not fatally, for killing their sister on Sunday in Largo, Florida, which is located in the Tampa metro area, the Pinellas county sheriff’s office said in a news release.

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One person killed, another injured in shooting at Florida shopping mall

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Police say the victim was likely ‘targeted’ in the attack at the Paddock mall in Ocala, about 80 miles north-west of Orlando

A man has died in a shooting at a shopping mall in central Florida two days before Christmas in which the victim was apparently “targeted” for the attack, police said.

Ocala police chief Mike Balken told reporters on Saturday evening that the man was killed after he was shot multiple times in a common area at Paddock Mall in Ocala, located about 80 miles north-west of Orlando. A woman was shot in the leg, police said.

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Elijah McClain: two Colorado paramedics convicted of criminally negligent homicide in 2019 killing

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EMTs Peter Cichuniec and Jeremy Cooper injected 23-year-old with high dose of ketamine in a case that sparked mass protests

Two Colorado paramedics have been convicted of criminally negligent homicide in the death of Elijah McClain after he was stopped by police in 2019.

The jury’s guilty verdicts on Friday for Aurora EMTs Peter Cichuniec and Jeremy Cooper mark an extraordinarily rare case of paramedics being found criminally liable for a civilian’s death in police custody and follow years of protests. Cichuniec was also found guilty of second-degree assault. Cooper was acquitted on the assault charges.

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White South Carolina couple ‘harassed Black neighbors with burning cross’

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Worden Butler and Alexis Hartnett charged after FBI search house in Horry county following alleged racially motivated campaign

The FBI has searched a house in South Carolina after a white couple allegedly put up a cross that faced their Black neighbors and set it on fire.

On Wednesday morning, federal agents searched the house of 28-year-old Worden Butler and 27-year-old Alexis Hartnett in Horry county for a “civil rights investigation involving allegations of racial discrimination”, WBTW reports the agency saying.

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US man formerly on death row freed after murder charges dismissed

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Noel Montalvo was in Pennsylvania prison for 20 years for murders that he blamed on his brother who died in prison

A man formerly on death row has been released from prison following dismissal of murder charges in a double slaying a quarter-century ago that he blamed on his brother, who died in prison while appealing his own death sentence in the case.

Noel Montalvo, who turned 59 on Tuesday, was freed on Monday night after York county, Pennsylvania, prosecutors dismissed charges of first-degree murder, conspiracy and burglary shortly before a retrial was to begin. He pleaded guilty to an evidence tampering charge for which the judge sentenced him to a year of probation.

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US archbishop secretly backed bid to free priest convicted of raping child

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‘I join you in the prayer to guide those regarding your appeal,’ Gregory Aymond of New Orleans wrote to priest given life sentence

As he reached the end of his 41-year life, Kevin Portier had endured child rape at the hands of a southern Louisiana Catholic priest for whom he had served as an altar boy; a highly publicized trial that sent the clergyman to prison for the rest of his days; and the trauma associated with those experiences.

But one of Portier’s harshest ordeals came within his final two years alive. Representatives of the church that he had been raised to believe in approached him at his home, at his job and at a relative’s funeral to ask him to lend his support to efforts to secure an early release for his rapist, Robert Melancon.

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US man charged in four murders lured victims with promise of buried gold

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Victims fell for alleged serial killer’s tale that he needed help finding gold in area of his Washington state farm, authorities say

An alleged serial killer in Washington state has been hit with new murder charges after authorities revealed that he may have used the same scheme to kill all four of his victims by telling them he needed their help finding buried treasure.

Richard Bradley Jr, 40, who has been awaiting trial of murder charges in the death of 44-year-old Brandi Blake since his arrest in 2021, has now been charged in the deaths of three more people, one identified from ribs buried on Bradley’s 160-acre Game Farm Park in Auburn and matched to his mother using DNA.

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Former Pennsylvania mayor imprisoned for shooting at Pokémon Go players

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Ida Reams served as mayor of Osceola Mills from 2013 to 2021 and was intoxicated when she confronted the two men

The former two-term mayor of a Pennsylvania town has been ordered to serve up to a year in jail for shooting a gun at – and threatening to kill – two players of the popular mobile game Pokémon Go.

Ida Reams, who served as mayor of Osceola Mills from 2013 to 2021, was intoxicated when she confronted the two male players of the augmented reality game in the parking lot of a food bank in the town in March last year.

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