Misc. Cases II

[Lady Cop]

re: posts 39 & 40.

i am sure that father is deep in despair and regret, i can't even imagine. and his other kids saw this happen.

but the truth is, he is a professional tree-trimmer/tree service, and should have NEVER let those kids near that machine. i hope the guilt doesn't destroy him and his family.

[Lady Cop]

this is the poor child who died in the woodchipper. :(

Jeffrey Bourgeois

[Jezreel]

What a sweetheart, it makes it that much more tragic that this could have easily been prevented. I hope his siblings are ok as can be, what an awful thing to bear witness too. :(

[Lady Cop]

suck THAT up drew you arrogant prick!


Court overturns hearsay limits in Peterson case

Drew Peterson moved one step closer to facing trial for his third wife’s murder Thursday when an Illinois appellate court ruled that prosecutors can use statements made by the victim and Peterson’s still-missing fourth wife against him.

Peterson’s third wife, Kathleen Savio, was found dead in her bathtub on March 1, 2004 and a coroner’s jury concluded that her cause of death was accidental drowning. The case received new scrutiny after his fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, vanished in October 2007.

Savio’s body was exhumed and new autopsies classified her death as a homicide. In May 2009, Peterson was charged with Savio’s murder. His trial was put on hold the following year after a judge ruled that several statements allegedly made by Savio before her death and by Stacy Peterson before her disappearance were inadmissible as evidence.

The Illinois legislature passed a law in 2008 that allows courts to consider hearsay evidence from unavailable witnesses if prosecutors can prove that the witness was killed to prevent their testimony. Prosecutors had hoped to use 11 statements by Savio and three by Stacy as evidence but the trial judge determined that eight of them did not meet statutory standards of reliability.

In Thursday’s opinion, the Third District Appellate Court overturned that decision and stated that all 14 statements could be admitted, remanding the case to the circuit court for further proceedings. Because the appellate briefs were filed under seal, the opinion does not detail the content of the contested statements.

[Lady Cop]

A 73-year-old Oklahoma grandmother has been busted on charges that she ran a lucrative drug operation that supplied marijuana to drug dealers in four states.

Police said they found about 4 pounds of pot, a semiautomatic pistol and a revolver, and more than $276,000 in cash when they raided Darlene Mayes’ home in rural Craig County.

Investigators say the elderly woman supplied about 40 percent of the pot circulating in the area, including the city of Tulsa and parts of nearby Arkansas, Kansas and Missouri.

more:
http://www.thedaily.com/page/2012/04/13/...ranny-1-3/

[Lady Cop]

Sweeney Todd fans

Sao Paolo, Brazil (CNN) -- Brazilian police have arrested three people suspected of killing at least two women, eating parts of their bodies and using their remains to make stuffed meat pies sold in the northeastern town of Garanhuns.

The three suspects, 51-year-old Jorge Beltrao Negroponte, his wife and his mistress were arrested Wednesday and have confessed to the crimes, police told national television. The female suspects were not identified.

Interviewed behind bars, Negroponte told SBT Television that he followed the instructions of voices in his head.

"I did certain things for purification, to protect people and deliver them to God," he told SBT on Sunday.

He confirmed that he and his two companions ate the flesh of the women "to purify them."

Police said the suspects lured the two young women to their house by offering them a job as a nanny.

Authorities were first alerted to the situation when the suspects tried to use the credit card of a woman who had disappeared.

According to Folha de S. Paulo newspaper, a 5-year-old girl living with the suspects showed the police where they could find the remains of the bodies. The remains of two women were found buried in the backyard of the house, police said.

Police said they believe the girl is the daughter of another woman who disappeared in 2008.

According to the newspaper report, Negroponte's wife was known in the town for her meat pies. During the police deposition, she said she stuffed them with human flesh and sold them to neighbors, schools and hospitals.

[Lady Cop]

Authorities probing the mysterious murder of a 13-year-old California girl took DNA swabs from students at her former school in their hunt for the child's killer.

The body of Jessica Funk-Haslam was found in the dugout of a baseball field at Rosemont Park in Sacramento County on March 6. A coroner ruled that the eighth-grade girl was hit in the head, stabbed and asphyxiated.

Fox affiliate KTXL-TV reported Monday that detectives visited Albert Einstein Middle School to question three or four students and take DNA cheek swabs from them.

"My child's in a room with two detectives being questioned and grilled and I’m sure he was quite frightened, which is very upsetting," Michaela Brown, the mother of one of the students, told the station.

The crime has so far baffled investigators, who say they believe the girl spent several hours in the park with someone she knew before being killed.

more:

http://www.fox40.com/news/headlines/ktxl...murdered-8^th-grader-20120416,0,5478449.story

[Lady Cop]

BOLO/APB

click2Houston

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Texas -
A 3-day old baby was kidnapped and his mother was shot outside a pediatrician's office in Montgomery County, investigators said.

State troopers said the woman was attacked outside Northwoods Pediatric Center on Borough Park near Sawdust about 2:40 p.m. Tuesday.

A witness said she heard up to seven gunshots.

"I saw a lady fall down here in the parking lot. I saw another lady get out and I saw a guy get out of the car that the lady who shot her was driving and get the baby out of the other lady's car that was shot and they just got in the car and drove off," witness Tia Collins said.

Detectives said a black woman wearing a gray sweatshirt and blue jeans took the baby. She was armed with a small-caliber pistol, investigators said.

She got into an ice blue four-door Lexus that was last seen headed northbound on Interstate 45 from Rayford Road.

The baby was last seen wearing a green and white one-piece outfit with the word "handsome" on it.

Officials have not released the mother's condition.

Anyone with information is asked to call their local law enforcement agency immediately.

[Lady Cop]

re: post 48 ^

the mother died.

amber alert for 3 day old boy

Deputies said the woman got out of an ice-blue, four-door Lexus and shot 28-year-old Kala Marie Golden multiple times. She then fled toward Interstate 45 from Rayford Road. The suspect's vehicle has license plate number HSL-325. Witnesses reported that a man was also involved.
suspects are black. i wonder why they grabbed a white newborn. to sell?



Keegan
identified by media as both Keegan Golden and Keegan Schuchardt






Kayla Marie Golden and Keith Schuchardt of Spring, Texas, on their wedding day. Kayla was shot and her baby Keegan abducted.

[Lady Cop]

re post 48 & 49 ^

good news, but do they have the suspects who killed the mother? what a waste. baby will never know his mom.
i hope to get more details tomorrow.

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Authorities say they've found the three-day-old baby who was kidnapped after his mother was fatally shot outside a Montgomery County doctor's office.
The Montgomery County District Attorney did not say where newborn baby boy Keegan Schuchardt was found, only that he is alive.

KPRC Local 2
9 minutes ago
Breaking News: A kidnapped newborn baby has just been found safe. The killer who murdered his mother before the abduction is still on the loose.

SWAT at nearby apt.

[Lady Cop]

posts 48-50.

The child is now in the custody of the CPS. The father, Keith Schuchardt, had not signed the baby’s birth certificate. WEIRD
he isn't even named on it!
he has a felony drug history. does not have baby yet. CPS checking out situation.




VERNA DEANN MCCLAIN
License Type: LICENSED VOCATIONAL NURSE

NOT RN as reported


Overnight Capital Murder charges were filed on Verna Deann McClain, 30. She confessed to the incident. At an earlier date she told her sister she would be adopting a child soon. After the shooting and kidnapping she contacted her sister and told her she now had the child and would need to do the adoption.

McClain has no prior record and is a registered nurse. and mother of 3!

She is being held in the Montgomery County Jail without bond.



WHERE IS AL SHARPTON??

[Lady Cop]

my son's girlfriend is from Southie and knew this nice lady.

how sad.

boston herald

Moments after Timothy Kostka slashed the throat of a beloved South Boston grandmother, he cashed in her winning lottery ticket at the corner store, then used the ill-gotten gains to buy heroin in Roxbury, prosecutors said in court yesterday as they detailed the chilling murder that has Southie’s City Point community reeling.

“It only took a few minutes,” Suffolk Assistant District Attorney Ursula Knight told South Boston District Court Judge Michael Boldan during yesterday’s emotional arraignment. “At 10:03 a.m., he was at Jimmy’s Korner, cashing in the lottery ticket, and at 10:06 a.m., he started making calls for heroin.”

Coyne, who had known Kostka, described her attacker to her son, said Knight. She later died at Boston Medical Center at 10:34 a.m., according to a police report.

Knight said Kostka, 26, of South Boston went to Coyne’s East 7^th Street home to steal some expensive fishing equipment that belonged to Coyne’s son, Richard. “Timothy Kostka called a contact asking where to send high-end fishing equipment,” Knight said.

It was just before 10 a.m. on Marathon Monday, Knight said, and Richard Coyne, who lives on the third floor of the family’s triple decker, was supposed to be running that race. Kostka wound up in Barbara Coyne’s first-floor apartment.

“His fingerprints were found on two jewelry boxes, a cash box and lottery tickets,” Knight said.

Defense attorney William E. Gens said because Kostka knew the family, the fingerprints “could have been there from 10 years ago.”

As Knight recounted the day, Barbara Coyne’s adult children clutched each other and sobbed. They were among 25 Coyne family supporters sitting just a few feet away from eight Kostka family members.

Kostka, who pleaded not guilty to the murder and home invasion charges, is being held without bail.

[Lady Cop]

every time i've seen something like this, it's been drugs. they're usually stealing from grandma to get the money they need.
this kid's life is over now too.


TampaBayonlne
LAKE WALES - A 23-year-old Lake Wales man is being held without bond at the Polk County Jail facing first-degree murder charges in the death of his grandmother.

Christopher Chase Whaley allegedly stabbed Barbara Denmark repeatedly while she bathed.

According to a Polk County Sheriff’s Office report the suspect had gotten into an argument with Denmark, 69, and his aunt, Cassandra Pippin, on Saturday. The suspect was in Daytona Beach at the time and allegedly decided to kill the pair when he returned home.

Detectives say Whaley had been living with Denmark in her Lake Wales mobile home for at least the past five years.

When the suspect arrived home he went into his bedroom and thought about committing the murders. Whaley then went to the kitchen, grabbed two knives and attacked his grandmother in the tub.

The report states he left the bathroom and when he came back she was out of the tub and on the floor. Whaley checked but found her unresponsive and called 9-1-1. The suspect apparently decided not to kill Pippin, who also lives in Polk County.

When deputies arrived Whaley met them and turned himself in. He was arrested on one count of first degree murder and transported to the Polk County Jail.



victim

[Lady Cop]

this betrayal of the public, the oath and the badge made me nauseous. :(

ORLANDO --
Orange County deputies arrested one of their own after they say he was caught stealing a purse at a Disney theme park.

Not only is facing criminal charges, but he's now out of a job.

The sheriff’s office said Deputy Kirk Smurawa was caught stealing a purse out of a car at a parking lot at Disney's Hollywood Studios.

Orange County Sheriff's Office said they got some information recently that caused Deputy Smurawa to come into suspicion, so they set up an undercover surveillance and they were surprised by what they found.

According to the arrest affidavit, Smurawa was caught in the criminal act while on duty, dressed in his full patrol uniform, with his officer issued glock.

During a surveillance operation, Smurawa was observed entering a minivan in the parking lot, taking a silver purse back to his patrol car, and then returning to the minivan a short time later and tossing the purse to the ground, according to officials.

Smurawa then got back in his patrol car and drove away from the scene.

The victim said the deputy stole $55 in cash out of her children's wallets.

When confronted later, officials said Deputy Smurawa admitted to taking the purse and he was booked inside the Orange County jail shortly after midnight.

"It's a sad day whenever we have to arrest a law enforcement officer, but what I can tell you is this, the Orange County Sheriff's Office is no place for a thief or a liar to work and we are going to what we can and he is still entitled to his due process in that case, but we are certainly not going to tolerate that amongst our personnel," said Sheriff Jerry Demings.

Deputy Smurawa is now facing charges of armed burglary of a conveyance and petit theft of $100 or more.

Smurawa, who has spent the past 10 years working for Orange County Sheriff's Office, was released on bond.

The sheriff’s office said it will not release video from the surveillance operation at this time.

[RJs-Ex]

Threw it all away for cash - a rather small amount of cash, at that. What a waste.

[Lady Cop]

he dishonored MY badge.

and all the people he worked with. his brothers and sisters.

honest cops despise dirty cops. we know they exist. it hurts all of us in a big way.

[Lady Cop]

BOLO
manhunt right now. Mass.









MyFoxBoston.com) - An arrest warrant has been issued for Christopher Piantedosi, the man authorities believe is responsible for the stabbing death of a woman right in front of their children.

The arrest warrant was issued early Friday morning for the 39-year-old Piantedosi for one count of murder.

Piantedosi is accused of stabbing 38-year-old Kristen Pulisciano Thursday inside their Forbes Avenue house. Officers are now on the lookout for his 2010 brown Honda Civic with the plate number 581MC8.

Earlier Friday morning, investigators were also on the scene in Leominster, where they found the suspect's cell phone in a dumpster behind the Jenny Craig.

Neighbors say the two children came running out of the house, screaming that their mother had been stabbed.

Piantedosi is no stranger to authorities. He was dubbed the "remorseful robber" when he stole a woman's wallet at a New Hampshire Market Basket and then returned the items with an apology note.

Police say Piantedosi may be armed and suicidal.

[Lady Cop]

re: post 57 ^

GOOD

Boston Herald

A Metheun man who was the subject of a manhunt after police say he stabbed his girlfriend to death last night inside her Burlington home is now under arrest.

Christopher Piantedosi, 39, turned himself in at the Weston state police barracks earlier this afternoon, Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone said at an afternoon press conference.

An arrest warrant had been issued for Piantedosi for one count of murder after police found 38-year-old Kristen Pulisciano dead from multiple stab wounds inside her Forbes Avenue home around 6:45 p.m. yesterday, the DA said.

“We allege that the defendant brutally and fatally stabbed the victim, a loving mother of two, inside her home,” said Leone. “We intend to hold him fully accountable for this unspeakable violence,” Leone said.

The two were not married, but did have an relationship, according to Leone’s office.

[Lady Cop]

i knew this guy pretty well. he's trying to get a new trial, here he is (video) in court yesterday.
he's guilty as hell and was lucky the jury didn't call for death.

video here of him in court, new:

http://www.news4jax.com/news/Man-convict...index.html


Dateline did a program about him called 'Shots in the Dark'.


ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. -
Years after Justin Barber was convicted of killing his wife, he returned to court Friday with new attorneys and took the stand to ask for a new trial

A jury found Barber guilty of murder after his wife, April (pictured below), was shot and killed during a late night walk in Guana State Park in 2002. Barber claimed a robber shot them both, but the prosecution argued his motive was to collect on a $2 million life insurance policy. The jury recommended the death penalty, but the judge sentenced him to life in prison without parole.

In the motion for a new trial, Barber claims his former lawyer, Robert Willis, was inadequate and only took the case for the money. He said his old defense team gave him bad advice and talked him out of a plea deal.

"They prefaced it with, 'We never say this to clients, we shouldn't say this to clients, but we're 90 percent sure you're not going to be convicted,'" Barber said on the stand Friday.

Barber's new lawyers also say Willis should have brought up a serial rapist as an alternate suspect.

At Friday's hearing, Willis waived his attorney/client immunity and testified that while he believes Barber is innocent and deserves a new trial, he doesn't feel his defense was inadequate.

"This case was different in that we believed him from the beginning, actually literally believed him, truly believed in his innocence," Willis testified Friday.

What they disagree on is whether or not there was a conflict of interest.

If Barber were acquitted at trial, he might have stood to gain more than $2 million of insurance money. He claims his old attorneys would have gotten part of that payout, but they say they weren't in it for the money.

"We took $20,000 as a fee, and that's all we ever took," Willis said. "This case was not about the money."

The state attorney's office stands by Barber's conviction.

"We believe that he got a fair trial," State Attorney R.J. Larizza said. "We believe that Mr. Willis and the team that represented him at the trial did an excellent job and we believe that the 3.850 claim should be denied."

Depending on what the judge decides, it's possible Barber could receive a new trial.

[Lady Cop]

what a damn waste. goddamn punkass thugs.

the murdered dad. Victor Quevedo, 40. was trying to protect his family.



HOUSTON Texas - Police are looking for four men who robbed a family and shot and killed a father late Saturday night.

It all went down at 11:45 p.m. in the 13150-block of Bissonnet. A Harris County Sheriff’s Office patrol car responded to a drive-by shooting at the Mira Mar Apartments.

An investigation revealed the victim had gone out with his wife and daughter that night and were returning home. As they exited the vehicle, they were approached by four Hispanic males who demanded their wallets and cell phones. The dad struggled with one of the suspects and was shot and stabbed.

The father was pronounced dead at the scene.

According to deputies, the suspects fled the scene in a small four-dour vehicle with slightly tinted windows. All four men were in their early to late teens.

Anyone with information should contact Crime Stoppers at (713) 222-TIPS (7477) or the Harris County Sheriff's Office Homicide Division at (713) 967-5810.