February 13, 2004
Doctors removed chain from inside dogs neck
Full story: The Kinston Free Press
No one can be sure how long the once-fluffy white dog was chained. Weeks? Months? A year or more? It certainly had been there since he was a puppy, digging into his neck as he grew, month by month, until his skin grew over it, in and around the links of his grotesque necklace. Animal workers in Kinston are outraged, calling it the worst case of animal abuse they've ever seen.
SJ School Bus Driver Busted For Child Porn
Full story: kron4.com
Jerome Brian Armstrong, 48, was arrested at his home in San Jose's Willow Glen neighborhood at approximately 10:30 a.m. Thursday after investigators from the county's Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement task force executed a search warrant on the residence. They found magazines, DVDs and VHS tapes containing child pornography, according to sheriff's spokesman Terrance Helm. Armstrong has worked as a bus driver for the San Jose Unified School District for the past 10 years, according to the sheriff's office. Local authorities became aware of his alleged possession of child pornography after a U.S. Postal Service investigation in Florida turned up his name on a child pornography mailing list.
Woman Says Devil Responsible For Stabbing Granddaughter
Full story: NewsNet5.com
Mildred Battles, 74, of Austintown was charged with attempted murder and felonious assault. Zabrina Battles was in stable condition at Children's Hospital Medical Center in Akron. Police say Battles stabbed the girl three times in the chest with a kitchen knife Friday night at the apartment they shared in Austintown, near Youngstown. The knife was found lodged in a stuffed toy horse. According to a police report, Battles told officers that the devil was responsible for the stabbing.
Teen, 15, accused of killing
Full story: Winnipeg Sun
A 15-year-old boy has been charged with second-degree murder in the killing of a pregnant St. Theresa Point teenager last month. The body of the 14-year-old girl was discovered on Jan. 21 on a secluded trail in a wooded area near the reserve, about 460 kilometres north of Winnipeg. She hadn't been seen since the previous Saturday and family members became worried she had fallen victim to foul play.
February 11, 2004
Cheerleading Coach Accused Of Having Sex With Teen
Full story: TheDenverChannel.com
A 30-year-old cheerleading coach at Longmont Christian School is facing charges of sexual assault on a child by a person of trust after the girl's mother discovered their relationship by reading through the girl's journal. James Jeffrey Britton was being held Wednesday at the Boulder County Jail on $25,000 bond. Longmont police said it appears that Britton's relationship with the 14-year-old girl had been going on for a couple of months and was consensual, but because the girl is underage, she cannot legally consent to sexual contact. Police were notified of their relationship by the girl's mother. The girl, who is a member of the cheer squad, cooperated with officers by participating in a monitored call with Britton, asking him to come over her house to have sex, Longmont police Cmdr. Craig Earhart said.
Ukrainian goes on trial in serial killing of 11 women
Full story: Borneo Bulletin
Khamarov was arrested in March 2003 after the disappearance of a 17-year-old girl and admitted at the time to the other disappearances, saying he had disposed of their bodies in a well in his backyard. The 31-year-old said that he wanted to "purge society from lewd women" and claimed to have been inspired by Hollywood films such as "Silence of the Lambs".
Dad Goes To Prison For Daughter's Cocaine Death
Full story: NBC 4
The father of a 3-year-old Wilmington girl who died after ingesting cocaine allegedly left around the house pleaded guilty Tuesday to voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced to nearly nine years in prison. Guillermo Elizarraraz, 34, also pleaded guilty to two counts of felony child endangerment. His sentence of eight years and eight months was the midterm of guidelines, said Deputy District Attorney Allen Fields, who runs the Long Beach branch of the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office. On Aug. 10, 2002, Victoria Elizarraraz found powdered cocaine wrapped in paper and ate some of it. She died nine days later after being taken off life support. Seven other children were removed from the home and taken into protective custody in the aftermath of the tragedy.
Boy's eyes plucked out in withcraft ceremony
Full story: www.theage.com.au
Four Nigerian men were charged with plucking out the eyes of a 13-year-old schoolboy for use in witchcraft, the state news agency reported today. They face charges ranging from criminal conspiracy to grievous bodily harm and permanent disfigurement for the attack on the boy, who was taken to hospital in the north-eastern state of Bauchi. Police suspect the attack was commissioned by one of the defendants to make a charm believed to make people invisible.
Who is killing the animals at Sao Paulo zoo?
Full story: Yahoo! News
The zoo in the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo is facing a murder mystery worthy of an Agatha Christie novel. Since late January, the zoo, one of the most modern in Latin America, has lost 10 animals, including an elephant -- fatally poisoned by what police are calling a "serial animal killer". So far, laboratory tests have shown the animals were killed with sodium fluoroacetate, a banned rat poison. According to the Sao Paulo State University, where autopsies were performed, the poison caused the animals to stop breathing and led to cardiac arrest. What troubles investigators is that tests on the animals' food and water could find no trace of the poison.
Mom arrested for having 10-year-old drive her home
Full story: WBIR-TV
A designated driver is good idea for people who've had too much alcohol. Designating a ten-year-old isn't great plan. A Surgoinsville woman was arraigned yesterday in Hawkins County on child endangerment and DUI charges. Police say they saw a car creeping along early last Tuesday and the driver appeared very small. Police stopped the car when an officer saw it scraping along a wall. They found a ten-year-old girl behind the wheel.
Woman fatally shot in Detroit driveway
Full story: Detroit Free Press
A day after Detroit officials reassured the public that most of the recent slayings in the city were not random, a 28-year-old woman was fatally shot in an ambush that her family and friends believe was random. It was 3 a.m. Monday, and Ethel Faye Ford had just parked her Ford Explorer in her driveway in the 5000 block of Somerset on Detroit's east side. Someone shot her three times in the chest, thigh and leg. She later died at St. John Riverview Hospital in Detroit.
Man tried to have wife, 2 kids killed, police say
Full story: Tennessean.com
A Nashville man has been accused of trying to arrange the murders of his wife and teenage children. Matthew R. Hakoda, 32, was already in Metro Jail on charges of violating orders of protection taken out against him by his estranged wife, police said in a statement. Domestic Violence Unit detectives launched an investigation into allegations of intended hits on Hakoda's wife, 13-year-old son and 15-year-old daughter after receiving information from the Davidson County Sheriff's Department. The attacks were not carried out.
February 09, 2004
Hirte Ordered to Stand Trial for Kopitske Murder
Full story: WBAY
A court commissioner ordered a Weyauwega High School honor student and star athlete to stand trial for murder. Gary Hirte, 18, is accused of killing Glenn Kopitske. Police say Kopitske was dead for several days before he was found in his rural Fremont home last August. Hirte smiled briefly at his relatives as he walked into the courtroom for Monday's preliminary hearing. Sitting right behind them were Kopitske's parents and relatives. Two important items led police to arrest Hirte. They were a recorded telephone conversation between Hirte and an ex-girlfriend in late January, and a set of keys that belonged to Kopitske that were found in Hirte's home. Winnebago County sheriff's detective Cherilynn Eischen testified about the phone conversation, "He had admitted several times he had killed Glenn Kopitske," she testified. "He stated that he had shot Glenn Kopitske in the back of the head with a 12-gauge shotgun, had stabbed him two times in the back and once in the heart." Earlier, detectives had told Action Two News the only person who could have known about Kopitske's fatal wounds was the killer because those details were not made public.
Minister orders inquiry into school's caging of boy
Full story: The Australian
THE West Australian Education Department will investigate the case of a 12-year-old boy who was repeatedly locked in a cage at a Perth school, as experts yesterday denounced the practice as "child abuse". The department's announcement came as the behavioural expert who advised the school distanced himself from the incident, saying he played no role in the design, construction or operation of the enclosure. As revealed in The Australian yesterday, Perth woman Sheila Simons has waged an ongoing battle with the department since discovering her intellectually disabled grandson, Neil, had been locked in the enclosure at Kenwick School. The department recently agreed to remove the enclosure but has refused Ms Simons' requests to stand down the teachers involved and provide an assurance outdoor enclosures will not be used again. State Education Minister Alan Carpenter said he had asked the department director general Paul Albert to undertake a "complete investigation into all aspects of the issue". Assistant director of student services John Brigg said he was not aware of any outdoor facilities of that type being used at other WA government schools but could not rule out that possibility.
Police turn to black magic to solve crime
Full story: Keralanext.com
On Wednesday, police in Udaipur sought the services of a sorcerer who claims to possess supernatural powers. The sorcerer, Haricharan Acharjee, performed some rituals and set out with a "sacred stick" to look for the missing cash. After some hours of wandering the streets of Udaipur with some cops following him, the sorcerer stopped in front of a local bank and announced the money was deposited at the bank and he was not in a position to tell anything beyond that. The farce ended with the police sending the sorcerer back home with a token fee.