In Horsham, Pennsylvania, a mother is accused of murdering her 11-year-old son.
Ruth DiRienzo-Whitehead, 50, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Matthew Whitehead, according to the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office.
Police were called to the boy’s home shortly after 7 a.m. Tuesday after his father discovered him dead.
An autopsy confirmed Whitehead had been strangled, according to the D.A.’s office.
DiRienzo-Whitehead allegedly killed her son after he fell asleep around 9:30 p.m. Monday, then drove the family’s SUV to Cape May, New Jersey.
According to investigators, she drove the vehicle into the ocean and then walked to Wildwood Crest, New Jersey, once the vehicle could no longer be driven.
That is where DiRienzo-Whitehead was apprehended. Montgomery County detectives and Horsham, Pennsylvania police then questioned her.
According to the D.A.’s office, a black men’s dress belt was discovered on the driver’s side floor of the SUV during a search.
There was no immediate word on why this person was killed.
DiRienzo-Whitehead is being held in Cape May County and will be extradited to Montgomery County.
An American college student was discovered dead in Mexico while on spring break, despite State Department warnings to avoid the country due to violence.
According to reports, Henry Meacock was an Ohio State University student who went to Mexico for spring break earlier this week.
The university confirmed his death, but no specifics about when, where, or how Meacock died have been released.
“The Ohio State community has suffered a tragic loss, and we extend our deepest condolences to the family and friends of Henry Meacock,” OSU said in a statement. The university also refers students to the counseling center for assistance.
Thousands of students continue to travel to Mexico for spring break.
Another student, who was airlifted out of Mexico, is on life support in a Florida hospital.
Liza Burke, a senior at the University of Georgia, went to Cabo San Lucas for spring break with her friends earlier this month.
According to her friends, Burke had a headache, lay down, and was unable to wake up. She was flown back to the United States for treatment after her family raised $142,000 in days through a GoFundMe campaign.
Burke, according to sources, has a genetic condition that causes her brain to hemorrhage, which she had prior to her trip to Mexico.
The FBI is still searching for three Americans who went missing last month and investigating the murders of two more.
The State Department issued a Level 4 “do not travel” advisory for much of Mexico last month. Many of those warnings were still in effect as of March 9. This includes Guerrero because of crime, as well as five other states because of crime and kidnapping: Colima, Michoacan, Sinaloa, Tamaulipas (where two Americans were killed earlier this month), and Zacatecas.
The State Department has issued a Level 3 warning to tourists in seven more states: Baja California, Chihuahua, Durango, Guanajuato, Jalisco, Morelos, and Sonora. If you are planning a trip to popular tourist destinations such as Cancun or the Riviera Maya (both of which have been named top destinations by AAA for 2023), the government advises you to “exercise increased caution.”
Spring breakers in Florida have also been victims of violence.
What you need to know about Mexico’s ‘do not travel’ advisories for spring break. Following two fatal shootings and rowdy, chaotic crowds that police have struggled to control, Miami Beach officials imposed a curfew beginning Sunday night during spring break.
According to a city news release, the curfew will be in effect from 11:59 p.m. Sunday to 6 a.m. Monday, with an additional curfew likely to be imposed Thursday through next Monday, March 27. The curfew primarily affects South Beach, the most popular spring break party destination.
The decision was prompted by two separate shootings Friday night and early Sunday that left two people dead, as well as “excessively large and unruly crowds,” according to the release. The city commission will meet on Monday to discuss potential additional restrictions for the following week.
Following two shootings on Ocean Drive last year, the city imposed a midnight curfew. The previous year, there were approximately 1,000 arrests and dozens of guns confiscated during a rowdy spring break, prompting Miami Beach officials to take steps to calm the situation.
This story was contributed to by the Associated Press.
According to court documents, two Illinois paramedics are facing murder charges after a patient died of positional asphyxiation shortly after being taken to a hospital in December.
Peggy Finley, 44, and Peter Cadigan, 50, were dispatched to a home in Springfield on December 18 after police requested medical assistance for a 911 caller who “was suffering hallucinations due to alcohol withdrawal,” according to a Springfield Police Department news release.
Police body camera footage shows Finley entering the home’s back bedroom while one of the officers briefs her on the patient, Earl L. Moore, Jr.
Moore is heard yelling at Finley to get up and walk to the ambulance. “You’re gonna have to walk ’cause we ain’t carrying you!” she exclaims. “I am seriously not in the mood for this dumb sh*t.”
Two officers are seen assisting Moore outside and onto the gurney. Cadigan assists Moore’s positioning, and both paramedics strap him into a prone position on the stretcher.
“The Springfield Police Department was later notified the patient had passed after arriving at the hospital,” according to a news release from the department.
Moore died of “compressional and positional asphyxia due to prone facedown restraint on a paramedic transportation cot/stretcher by tightened straps across back and lower body in the setting of lethargy and underlying chronic alcoholism.” according to the coroner’s autopsy report.
According to court documents, Finley and Cadigan were arrested on January 9 and charged with first-degree murder.
They are each being held on a $1 million bond at the Sangamon County Detention Facility.
Both are scheduled to appear in court again on January 19.
CNN has reached out to Finley and Cadigan’s attorneys for comment, but has yet to receive a response.
According to the National Institutes of Health, alcohol withdrawal is a medical condition that occurs when a person who is accustomed to regular alcohol consumption reduces or discontinues their consumption entirely.
The symptoms of alcohol withdrawal can range from insomnia, anxiety, or agitation in mild cases to delirium tremens, seizures, or hallucinations in severe cases, according to the agency.
The paramedics’ employer, Lifestar Ambulance Service, declined to comment on the case, citing the ongoing investigation.
CNN has also contacted the county’s executive chairperson for the Office of Emergency Management about its ambulance service contracts, but has yet to hear back.
A man has been charged with murder and imprisoned in connection with the death of a woman whose decapitated torso was discovered at a Missouri rest stop along Interstate 70 nearly two decades ago.
Mike A. Clardy, 63, of Maryland Heights, Missouri, was charged with second-degree murder and abandoning a corpse in the death of Deanna Denise Howland on Wednesday. His bail was set at one million dollars.
According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, DNA evidence linked Clardy to the crime, and he confessed after his arrest.
The remains discovered on June 26, 2004, down a hill near a picnic area at a Warren County rest stop remained unidentified for 12 years. DNA evidence established that the victim was Howland of Alton, Illinois, in 2016.
DNA evidence also aided in the identification of the suspect. According to charging documents, police matched Clardy’s DNA to DNA fragments found on Howland’s body and a knife found in a sewer near the rest stop.
Clardy admitted killing Howland at his home before dismembering her and abandoning parts of her body in St. Louis and Warren counties, according to officers who interviewed him on Tuesday. According to online court records, Clardy has no criminal record in Missouri.
According to her daughter, Ashley Kinnear, Howland was a 35-year-old mother of four who struggled with drug addiction.
A Bolingbrook man has been arrested and charged with the murder of a young mother found shot to death in her car in Joliet, with her unharmed daughter in the backseat.
Maya Smith, 24, passed away early Sunday morning. She was discovered in her vehicle, shot multiple times, in an alley near the 1200-block of Clement Street shortly after midnight, according to police.
Smith’s 2-year-old daughter was discovered unharmed in the backseat. According to ABC7 Chicago, the child is being cared for by family.
Jermaine Mandley, 48, was arrested and charged with three counts of first-degree murder, according to Joliet police. His bond was set at $5 million by a Will County judge.
Mandley was apprehended on the southeast side of Chicago around 6 p.m. Tuesday. He is being held in the Adult Detention Facility of Will County.
Smith was described by her friends and family as a vibrant person, kind and generous, and a loving mother who was a rock to the people in her life.
“She never failed to come through for me… For me, it was the loss of a sister. Maya was like a sister to me more than anything else “Tasia Waters, a close friend, stated.
“She was extremely picky about who could care for her daughter. That was something I adored about her. It was as if she was always concerned with keeping her safe,” Waters stated. “She was an honest person. She was very sweet. So sweet. “
Waters stated that Smith worked at a bank but was returning to school to take business courses in the hopes of one day starting her own business.
“She wanted to own her own business,” Waters explained. “She was going to be successful any kind of way she could.”
Waters stated that she intended to work food delivery that night, which could explain why she was in her car.
According to a statement issued by the Joliet police chief, “This is one of the most heinous acts I’ve seen in my 28 years of law enforcement. I am extremely proud of our detectives, who have worked tirelessly to bring this coward to justice. I hope that this quick arrest brings some solace to Ms. Smith’s family during this difficult time.”
In excess of six years ago, a teen called 911 to report hearing gunshots coming from his parents’ bedroom. AJ Armstrong was arrested hours later and later charged with murdering Antonio and Dawn Armstrong.
AJ Armstrong, who is now 23 years old, has maintained his innocence but remains a suspect after two criminal trials ended in hung juries.
“There is no possibility. “I couldn’t even conceive of murdering my parents,” AJ Armstrong told “20/20.”
An episode of “20/20” airing on Jan. 6 at 9 p.m. ET and available on Hulu the following day examines the 2016 homicide in Houston and the lingering questions surrounding the deaths.
Antonio Armstrong, a former NFL player and later owner of multiple personal gyms, and his wife Dawn shared their southeast Houston home with AJ and his sister Kayla.
On July 29, 2016, AJ Armstrong, then 16 years old, called the police to report hearing gunshots coming from his parents’ room upstairs. When first responders arrived, they discovered the couple in bed with gunshot wounds to the head.
Dawn Armstrong was pronounced dead, while her husband passed away in the hospital a few hours later.
The police immediately questioned AJ Armstrong, who claimed to have seen a masked intruder in the residence.
“Yeah like I saw him running. Like I saw him running, “AJ Armstrong stated during the interview with investigators.
According to audio from the interview, investigators questioned this account because they found no evidence of an intruder and the home’s alarm was not activated and armed when first responders arrived. According to court documents, AJ Armstrong was the one who disarmed the alarm to allow the officers entry.
The officers also had questions regarding the peculiar evidence discovered at the residence.
There was a bullet hole in the ceiling of his parents’ room that originated in AJ’s third-floor bedroom.
The teen initially denied touching his father’s gun, which was later determined to have been the weapon that killed Dawn and Antonio. However, when pressed by law enforcement, who informed him that they had seen the bullet hole, he admitted that he accidentally fired the gun while showing it off to a friend in his room weeks earlier.
In addition, investigators observed a burn mark on the carpet at the top of the stairs leading to the second floor. When detectives questioned AJ Armstrong about this, he stated that he had been playing with matches and dropped one a few weeks prior to the murders.
Armstrong continued by stating that he initially lied to his father about the cause of the burn mark, but eventually confessed and they discussed it.
According to an audio recording of the interrogation, detectives make it clear to AJ Armstrong that his account of how his parents were murdered in their bed “isn’t adding up” and that he knows more than he is revealing. Armstrong maintains his innocence, insisting he had nothing to do with the murders of his parents.
After the interview, AJ Armstrong was charged with capital murder as a juvenile, much to the surprise of the rest of his family. Armstrong entered a plea of not guilty.
He was permitted to attend the funeral of his parents in handcuffs.
“I thought someone had lost their mind when my grandson was accused of murdering his parents. No way,” AJ Armstrong’s grandfather Keith Whitely told “20/20.””
Attorney Rick DeToto was retained to represent AJ Armstrong. DeToto stated on “20/20” that investigators found no physical evidence linking his client to the Armstrongs’ murders, such as gunshot residue on AJ or fingerprints on the gun found at the crime scene.
According to Detoto, Armstrong’s fingerprints were not discovered on a handwritten note found in the home that read “I have been watching for a long time”
“They didn’t find any gloves with any evidence that he had worn them,” he stated. “No bloody clothes were found in the washer or dryer. In this case, there is absolutely no evidence linking him to any physical evidence.”
However, prosecutors argued that the absence of physical evidence does not necessarily indicate that AJ Armstrong did not commit this crime.
A break-in at one of Antonio Armstrong’s gyms just days after the murders, according to AJ Armstrong’s attorneys, was another incident that police allegedly overlooked that could have shed light on the homicides.
The investigation into the burglary revealed that it was unrelated to the murders of the Armstrongs.
During AJ Armstrong’s initial trial in 2019, his attorneys alleged that AJ Armstrong’s half-brother Josh could be the real killer, a major bombshell accusation.
The attorneys argued that Josh Armstrong’s mental health issues made it possible for him to enter the house that night.
“AJ and Josh both had access to that house. Josh arrived at the scene on the night this occurred. In less than one minute, you can run from Josh’s apartment to the Armstrongs’ “DeToto argued before a judge.
Josh was examined by police, who ultimately ruled him out as a suspect.
The prosecution never called Josh Armstrong to the stand and insisted he was not a suspect in this case.
Instead, prosecutors argued that AJ Armstrong had drug problems and a strained relationship with his parents due to his poor academic performance. They argued that this and the lies he was caught in led him to murder his parents.
The jury ultimately reached a deadlock and a mistrial was declared.
“Honestly the first thing to my head was just like disappointment, but I always try and find the good somewhere in the situation,” AJ Armstrong said. “It’s obviously a lot better than being in jail for the rest of your life.”
Since the 2019 trial, he has not seen much of his half-brother, he said.
“Josh is Josh; there is not much else to say about him. He performs his duties “AJ Armstrong said.
Josh Armstrong declined to comment about the investigation and DeToto’s allegations when contacted by “20/20”
In October of 2022, a second trial began after years of delays. This time, prosecutors presented jurors with new evidence from AJ Armstrong’s cell phone on the night of the murders. In addition to knowing who Armstrong was texting, prosecutors could now determine when his phone was plugged in, unplugged, and the home screen was active.
According to court records, Armstrong’s cell phone was removed from the charger at 1:08 a.m., a time when prosecutors believe Armstrong was preparing to murder his parents.
Prosecutor John Jordan told the jury, “But there’s more because during that time his phone is still locked, but the display is going on and off,” “There are two potential outcomes. First, some push notifications may be arriving. Or two, you’re walking through a dark house and relying on the ambient lighting to navigate “Jordan said.
DeToto and his team argued once more that Josh Armstrong was a more credible suspect due to his mental health issues. DeToto read direct quotations from Josh Armstong’s medical records in court.
“Extremely psychotic, [he] hears voices ordering him to harm himself and others. Police transport a patient with psychotic symptoms to the hospital. In 2016, the patient witnessed the murder of both parents “DeToto read for the jury.
Josh Armstrong was neither called as a witness by the prosecution nor the defense once more. Prosecutors maintained that there is no evidence that he was involved in the murders of his parents and noted that all of his medical records admitted into evidence were created after the murders.
They do not deny that Josh told doctors he was present when his parents were murdered, but claim he was referring to his arrival at his parents’ home minutes after the murders and seeing them carried out on stretchers and wheeled away in ambulances.
The jury was deadlocked for the second time, with eight members voting to acquit and four members voting to convict. Judge Kelli Johnson declared a mistrial to have occurred.
After the trial, DeToto expressed optimism that his client, who is now the father of a son named Hendricks Antonio, will one day be vindicated.
DeToto stated, “We’re not going to stop fighting for AJ and the evidence is not going to get any better for them,” “It’s been probably millions of dollars of expenses by the district attorney’s office, but it’s time to let this man go.”
The District Attorney’s Office of Harris County issued a statement announcing its intention to retry AJ Armstrong for a third time.
The statement read, “Two people were murdered in the night, each shot in the head as they slept in their own bed; we will continue our fight for justice, and we look forward to presenting all the evidence to jurors,”
On this day 30 years ago, seven people were gunned down during a robbery at Brown’s Chicken in Palatine on a cold January night.
On January 8, 1993, their bodies were discovered piled in a freezer.
All of the victims were employees of the restaurant, including the owners, Richard and Lynn Ehlenfeldt.
Juan Luna and James Degorski were later identified as the assassins.
According to police, they waited until the restaurant was about to close before committing the deadly robbery for less than $2,000.
The men remained at large for years after the murders while a task force comprised of multiple police agencies pursued thousands of leads. Finally, nine years after the murders, a former girlfriend of Degorski came forward in 2002.
Luna was identified by DNA evidence found in a saliva sample from a chicken wing collected by a technician. DNA tracking was in its infancy at the time of the murders.
Luna and Degorski are both sentenced to life in prison. Though it took nine long years to bring them to justice, some believe that time allowed DNA evidence to advance to the point where they could be definitively linked to the crime.
In what is believed to be the first execution of a transgender woman in the United States, a Missouri inmate was executed on Tuesday for a 2003 murder.
Amber McLaughlin, 49, was found guilty of stalking and killing a former girlfriend before disposing of her body near the Mississippi River in St. Louis. McLaughlin’s fate was sealed earlier Tuesday when Republican Gov. Mike Parson denied his request for clemency.
As the fatal dose of pentobarbital was injected, McLaughlin spoke quietly with a spiritual adviser by her side. McLaughlin took a few deep breaths before closing her eyes. A few minutes later, she was pronounced dead.
“I am sorry for what I did,” McLaughlin said in a final written statement. “I am a loving and caring person.”
According to a database maintained by the anti-execution Death Penalty Information Center, 1,558 people have been executed since the death penalty was reinstated in the mid-1970s. Except for 17, all of those executed were men. According to the center, there have been no previous cases of an openly transgender inmate being executed. McLaughlin began transitioning at Potosi State Prison about three years ago.
McLaughlin’s traumatic childhood and mental health issues were mentioned in the clemency petition, but the jury never heard about them during her trial. According to the petition, when she was a toddler, a foster parent rubbed feces in her face and her adoptive father used a stun gun on her. It mentioned severe depression, which led to multiple suicide attempts as a child and as an adult.
The petition also included reports of people being diagnosed with gender dysphoria, a condition that causes anguish and other symptoms due to a mismatch between a person’s gender identity and their assigned sex at birth. However, McLaughlin’s sexual orientation was “not the main focus” of her clemency request, according to her attorney, Larry Komp.
McLaughlin was in a relationship with Beverly Guenther in 2003, long before transitioning. According to court records, after they broke up, McLaughlin would show up at the suburban St. Louis office where the 45-year-old Guenther worked, sometimes hiding inside the building. Guenther obtained a restraining order, and she was occasionally escorted to her car after work by police officers.
When Guenther did not return home the night of November 20, 2003, her neighbors called the police. Officers went to the office building and discovered a blood trail and a broken knife handle near her car. McLaughlin led police to a location near the Mississippi River in St. Louis a day later, where the body had been dumped. Authorities claimed she was raped and repeatedly stabbed with a steak knife.
In 2006, McLaughlin was found guilty of first-degree murder. McLaughlin was sentenced to death by a judge after a jury deadlocked on the verdict. According to Komp, Missouri and Indiana are the only states where a judge can sentence someone to death.
In 2016, a court ordered a new sentencing hearing, but in 2021, a federal appeals court panel reinstated the death penalty.
“McLaughlin terrorized Ms. Guenther in the final years of her life, but we hope her family and loved ones may finally have some peace,” Parson said in a written statement following the execution.
According to Jessica Hicklin, who spent 26 years in prison for a drug-related killing before being released a year ago, McLaughlin began transitioning about three years ago. Hicklin, now 43, filed a lawsuit against the Missouri Department of Corrections, challenging a policy that prohibited hormone therapy for inmates who had not previously received it. In 2018, she won the lawsuit and became a mentor to other transgender inmates, including McLaughlin. McLaughlin, on the other hand, did not receive hormone treatments, according to Komp.
McLaughlin was described by Hicklin as a painfully shy person who came out of her shell after deciding to transition.
“She always had a smile and a dad joke,” Hicklin said. “If you ever talked to her, it was always with the dad jokes.”
According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, there are approximately 3,200 transgender inmates in the country’s prisons and jails. Chelsea Manning, the former Army intelligence analyst who served seven years in federal prison for leaking government documents to Wikileaks until President Barack Obama commuted the sentence in 2017, is perhaps the most well-known case of a transgender prisoner seeking treatment. In 2015, the Army agreed to pay for Manning’s hormone treatments.
In a court filing in 2015, the United States Department of Justice stated that state prison officials must treat an inmate’s gender identity condition the same way they would treat other medical or mental health conditions, regardless of when the diagnosis occurred.
Bonnie B. Heady was the only woman executed in Missouri, on December 18, 1953, for kidnapping and killing a 6-year-old boy. Heady died in the gas chamber alongside the other kidnapper and murderer, Carl Austin Hall.
In 2022, 18 people were executed across the country, including two in Missouri. Kevin Johnson was executed in November for the murder of a Kirkwood, Missouri, police officer in an ambush. Carman Deck was executed in May for the robbery death of James and Zelma Long at their home in De Soto, Missouri.
Leonard Taylor, another Missouri inmate, is scheduled to be executed on February 7 for the murder of his girlfriend and her three young children.
In Chicago, there are dozens of unsolved murders of black and brown women.
Victims’ voices were silenced when they fell victim to someone who cared nothing about their lives, or when their families were left to suffer the unimaginable loss.
One West Side faith leader is relentlessly pursuing justice for victims like Angela Ford, whose now-grown daughter has still not received answers two decades later.
“We would get together on Sundays after church and go to my great aunt’s house for dinner. Those are some of my favorite memories of her “Keyana Brickell, Angela Ford’s daughter, stated.
Brickell recalls one of her mother’s few fond memories, Angela Ford, and the rest is a blur.
“I remember me and my brother asking to come with her to the school to pick up our report cards, and she said no, she loved us, and she would be right back and that it wouldn’t take long,” Brickell recalled. “That was pretty much the last time I saw her.”
Her mother, however, did not return. She went missing for several days before being discovered in an abandoned building less than two miles from her home.
She was raped, beaten, strangled, and left for dead. That was back in 1999.
Angela was in a coma for a year and a half before she died. The DNA evidence did not match her assailant, and Keyana’s questions about “why” and “who” were never answered.
“I just couldn’t believe like someone would do that to her,” Brickell exclaimed.
Angela Ford is one of dozens of unsolved murders of women in Chicago. The parallels are undeniable. The majority of the victims are black women who were discovered in vacant homes, lots, or dumpsters. Some were burned, some were dismembered, but all were strangled.
“In places like Chicago, the police department advises people not to say things like “serial killer” because they might scare someone. But we should want to frighten someone “said Robin Hood.
Reverend Robin Hood of the West Side is on a mission to find answers for the victims’ families.
Rev. Hood works tirelessly to elicit information from an overburdened Chicago Police Department.
“Every day, law enforcement decides what to work on. Every day, as you are aware, there is gun violence in Chicago “Hood stated.
Some of the cases date back nearly three decades, and the questions are typically the same, according to him.
“Inquiring if they were an alcoholic? Were they addicted to drugs or prostitutes? When a loved one goes missing, it is the most hurtful and painful experience anyone can have “Hood stated.
According to Brickell, the longer families wait for justice, the more likely they will believe their loved ones are unimportant.
“Because of where these ladies come from—the neighborhoods—not much is being done about it. They believe that black women have no worth “said Brickell.
According to Chicago police, these cases are still open, but there is no link between them.
“To not answer those crimes and to not put the resources in there is really a situation I would call not getting cooperation from all the resources and people don’t trust you when you don’t solve the crimes,” Hood explained.
Although some police sources claim that some of these cases are undoubtedly linked. The Washington, D.C.-based Murder Accountability Project agrees that there is clearly a link between some of the cases.
According to ABC News, police in Moscow, Idaho, are looking for more information on the movements of University of Idaho students Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin, who were at the Sigma Chi fraternity house in the hours before they were killed alongside two other Idaho students last month.
Kaylee Goncalves posted a photo of University of Idaho students Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen, and Kaylee Goncalves a few days before their deaths.
According to police, the couple, both 20 years old, was at Chapin’s frat house from 9 p.m. on Nov. 12 to 1:45 a.m. on Nov. 13.
Idaho State Police spokesman Aaron Snell told ABC News that Chapin and Kernodle’s timeline “seems to be one of the larger areas that we don’t have a lot of information in,” “So, being able to locate what they did that night, and maybe who they contacted, maybe any routes that they took home, that would be important for the investigation.”
Police are also looking for any details that could be relevant in the overall case, according to a statement issued Monday: “We believe someone has information that will help investigators build a picture of what happened. Whether you believe your information is important or not, it could be one of the puzzle pieces that helps solve these murders.”
On Nov. 13, Chapin, Kernodle, and two of Kernodle’s roommates, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, and Madison Mogen, 21, were all stabbed to death in the girls’ off-campus house. Officials believe the attacks took place between 3 and 4 a.m.
According to authorities, two surviving roommates – who police say are not suspects – were at home at the time and most likely slept through the attacks. They were on the first floor, while the four students who died were on the second and third.
Lewis-Clark State College students pay their respects to the four University of Idaho students who were killed in Moscow, Idaho, on November 30, 2022, at a vigil held on their campus in Lewiston, Idaho.
Police also addressed concerns about Goncalves’ dog’s whereabouts during the killings.
“We have not determined if the dog was inside the residence during the murders or not,” Snell said. “What we do know is that when officers arrived, the dog was inside. The dog did not appear to be carrying any evidence.”
“We don’t believe that there was any appearance of forced entering into the home,” Snell added.
Authorities also stated on Monday that they are “looking into information about Kaylee having a stalker.”
The house where four University if Idaho students were found dead on Nov. 13, 2022.
Police said they spoke with two men who they believe are the “stalker” Goncalves mentioned to friends and family. According to police, the men were seen at a local business in October, and one of them appeared to follow Goncalves into the store and then follow her as she walked to her car. According to police, the man never made contact with the college student.
According to police, these men told them they were trying to meet women at the business.
According to the authorities, there is no evidence that these men were involved in the murders.
“information about a potential stalker or unusual occurrences should go through the Tip Line.” police said.
Anyone with information is encouraged to upload it to fbi.gov/moscowidaho or contact the tip line at tipline@ci.moscow.id.us or 208-883-7180.
Buffalo Grove police are still investigating after five people were discovered dead in a residence on Wednesday, including two children.
The bodies of five people were discovered inside a residence in Buffalo Grove, Illinois, on Wednesday morning.
The fatalities were named as Lilia Kisliak, 67, Andre Kisliak, 39, Vera Kisliak, 36, Vivian Kisliak, 6, and Amelia Kisliak, 4.
According to Banek, examinations on four of the five victims have been conducted, and all of the deaths appear to be the result of sharp force injuries.
Officers were dispatched to a home in the 2800 block of Acacia Terrace at 11 a.m. for a welfare check.
Many things remain unanswered after the five family members were discovered inside a home in this tranquil Buffalo Grove area.
Officers responded to a two-story residence in the 2800 block of Acadia Terrace at 11 a.m. Wednesday after receiving a report for a woman’s well-being check.
When no one answered the door, police said they forced entry and discovered five persons dead inside.
Neighbors told local media that the house has two ‘elementary aged children.’
Baron Harmon has resided in this neighborhood for 40 years and has stopped to bring flowers to put outside his house. Every morning, he looked forward to seeing the youngsters outside.
“I knew there was something up when I didn’t see them out in the morning and I thought well, you know, maybe I thought it was colder, they got a ride to school or something,” Harmon explained. “It’s really sad.”
Five people were found dead Wednesday morning in the 2800 block of Acacia Terrace in Buffalo Grove as a result of a “domestic-related incident,” according to investigators.
Neighbors stated they’d never seen anything like it.
“Eighteen years, my kids grew up here… you never see it, never seen anything like this ever,” says Buffalo Grove homeowner Falguni Patel.
“It’s a shock,” remarked Michelle, a local. “Good location, quiet location. Everyone keeps to themselves, yet everyone knows everyone else, so it’s really sad.”
According to a tweet, authorities do not believe there is any ‘danger to the public.’
Police said their investigation is ongoing, but they did confirm the deaths were the result of a domestic-related event, that no suspects are being sought, and that there is no danger to the public.
The Lake County Coroner stated that the identities of those who perished will not be released until their autopsies are completed.
“It’s really sad,” Harmon added. “It was difficult to sleep last night. It’s unfortunate that you ask yourself, “Did I miss something?” Should I have noticed anything?'”
The inquiry is being assisted by the Lake County Major Crimes Task Force.
Buffalo Grove police are still investigating after five people were discovered dead in a residence on Wednesday, including two children.
Neighbors stated they’d never seen anything like it. The identities of those found dead in the peaceful community have not yet been published by authorities.
“18 years, my kids grew up here, so it’s.. you never see it, never seen anything like this ever,” says Buffalo Grove homeowner Falguni Patel.
Officers responded to a two-story residence in the 2800 block of Acadia Terrace at 11 a.m. Wednesday after receiving a report for a woman’s well-being check.
When no one answered the door, police said they forced entry and discovered five persons dead inside.
“It’s a shock,” remarked Michelle, a local. “Good location, quiet location. Everyone keeps to themselves, yet everyone knows everyone else, so it’s really sad.”
Police have stated little, other than that the deaths were the result of a domestic altercation, that no suspects are being sought, and that there is no danger to the public.
The Lake County Coroner identified the victims as three adults and two children late Wednesday, but said their names, ages, and genders would not be disclosed until autopsies were finished.
“Just my thoughts and prayers to the family and just the neighbors,” Patel said.
“Be with your family,” Michelle said. “Bring someone closer to you. You never know what to anticipate.”
The inquiry is being assisted by the Lake County Major Crimes Task Force.
According to investigators, the killings of a husband and wife and their daughter in Riverside were supposedly the result of a catfishing episode involving one of the victims’ teenage daughter.
According to a Riverside Police Department update provided on Sunday, Mark Winek, his wife Sharie Winek, and their 38-year-old daughter Brooke Winek were killed by a guy who was allegedly involved in an internet relationship with Brooke’s adolescent daughter.
Everything happened the day after Thanksgiving.
Officers were dispatched about 11:08 a.m. to do a welfare check on “a young female who appeared distressed” as she got into a Red Kia Soul with a man.
While cops were responding, calls began to come in about a fire a few homes down from where the welfare check originated.
Riverside Fire Department firefighters tried to extinguish the fire and discovered the deaths of all three Winek family members laying on the ground in the front entry way.
“Their bodies were pulled outside where it was determined they were victims of an apparent homicide,” police said in a statement.
A preliminary investigation indicated that the young female identified in the initial welfare check call was an adolescent who resided at the home where the fire broke out, according to police. She was with a man named Austin Lee Edwards, 28, of North Chesterfield, Virginia.
According to detectives, Edwards met the underage girl online “through the common form of online deception known as catfishing.”
According to police, Edwards drove to Riverside from Virginia, where he parked his car in a neighbor’s driveway and strolled to the teen’s house. According to investigators, Edwards enticed the adolescent into an online romance.
“We had a grandmother, grandfather and a mother of this teen murdered by this suspect who traveled from across the country for, most likely, the sexual exploitation of this teenager,” RPD Ofc. Ryan Railsback said on Sunday during an interview with our Los Angeles sister station, ABC7 Eyewitness News. “What happened here in terms of the ‘catfishing’ as they call it … that common practice of, you know, online deception where you’re pretending to be someone else.”
Later that day, Edwards was discovered driving with the teen through San Bernardino County by the county sheriff’s department in the unincorporated town of Kelso.
Deputies shot and killed Edwards after he fired rounds at them, according to police. According to officials, the teen was not wounded and is safe.
According to investigators, Edwards previously worked for the Virginia State Police before joining the Washington County Sheriff’s Office.
“Our hearts go out to the Winek family and their loved ones during this time of tremendous grief, as this is a tragedy for all Riversiders,” Riverside Police Chief Larry Gonzalez said. “This is simply another horrifying reminder of the cyber predators who prey on our children. If you haven’t previously discussed online and social media safety with your children, do it now. If you haven’t already, start now to better protect them.”
The precise reason of death for the Winek family is unknown.
The cause of the house fire is still being investigated, while police stated that “it appears at this point to have been intentionally ignited.”
Neighbors told Eyewitness News at a vigil on Saturday that the Winek family was always neighborly and went out of their way to aid the community. The victims’ families were present but refused to speak with the reporters.
Some have expressed their grief.
“I simply want everyone to know how wonderful they were. They do not deserve it. I’m not eating anything. I’m not going to sleep. It just hit me like a ton of bricks “Bonnie Davis, who has lived next door to the Wineks for two decades, agreed. “They were just that type people that you would just never wake up to think that you would hear this of them.”
The vigil was arranged by a woman who only wanted to be identified as Joi, who told Eyewitness News she was new to the Riverside community before hearing the news.
“When I heard that news, I just dropped to my stomach like, ‘What do you mean they didn’t make it?'” she added.
Joi recalls Mark Winek stepping up to assist her after learning she was a single mother. He coached young athletes at Arlington High School, according to a GoFundMe page set up for the family.
“He said right away, ‘I’m going to mow your lawn, I’m going to help you out when you’re not here,'” Joi explained.
Though the victims’ families did not speak directly to Eyewitness News, they did issue a public statement to those who attended the vigil, saying, “Thank you for being here honoring my family and respecting our privacy at this time.”
The family stated that they may issue another statement on Monday.
Anyone with information should contact Detective Josh Ontko at (951) 353-7135 or JOntko@RiversideCA.gov, or Detective Bryan Galbreath at (951) 353-7105 or BGalbreath@RiversideCA.gov.
Almost two weeks after the stabbing murders of four University of Idaho students, authorities are still looking for leads and appealing to the public for assistance, according to CNN.
The Moscow Police Department stated Friday night that investigators are evaluating more than 260 digital submissions – including videos and images – made by the public via an FBI link.
Detectives are requesting all available footage, whether or not there appears to be motion and content, according to a police press release issued late Friday.
Ethan Chapin, 20, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Madison Mogen, 21, were found stabbed to death in a Moscow home on November 13, and authorities have yet to find a suspect or the murder weapon, which is thought to be a fixed-blade knife.
The night of the murders, Goncalves and Mogen were at a sports bar, while Chapin and Kernodle were at a fraternity party. When the four bodies were discovered, two roommates were present. Police believe the roommates were not engaged in the deaths.
“Detectives are also seeking additional tips and surveillance video of any unusual behavior on the night of November 12th into the early hours of November 13th while Kaylee and Madison were in downtown Moscow and while Ethan and Xana were at the Sigma Chi house,” according to the announcement. “Anyone who observed unusual behavior near these areas or has video surveillance is asked to submit their tips.”
According to a Friday update from Moscow police, investigators have forwarded 113 pieces of physical evidence they collected to the Idaho State Police crime lab for processing.
Police stated earlier this week that they had reviewed over 1,000 tips and interrogated over 150 people.
Idaho Gov. Brad Little has committed up to $1 million in expenses for the ongoing investigation, Idaho State Police Col. Kedrick Wills stated earlier this week during a press conference.
“Like all Idahoans, Governor Little is deeply saddened by the loss of these four bright and promising young lives,” Wills stated. “And he’s making sure the State of Idaho provides all of the resources possible to ensure that the person or persons responsible for this are brought to justice.”
The FBI, state police, and Moscow police are all involved in the murder investigation.
Authorities have stated that they have not ruled out the possibility that more than one person was involved in the deaths. The police believe the attack was premeditated.
The murders, the first in Moscow since 2015, have shook the city and the university campus, which has 9,300 students. Last week, some teachers canceled classes. One person said on social media that he “can’t in good conscience hold class” until police provide more information or name a suspect.
While students were on fall break this week, university President Scott Green sent a statement regarding learning alternatives to students and employees on Tuesday. There will be two weeks left in the semester before courses resume.
He stated, “Faculty have been asked to prepare in-person teaching and remote learning options so that each student can choose their method of engagement,” “Moving courses fully online is not preferred but may be necessary in limited situations.”
While speculations about the murders circulate in the hamlet of approximately 25,000 people, authorities have stated that they will only share verified information that does not jeopardize the investigation.
“There is speculation without factual backing, stoking community fears and spreading false facts” the announcement stated on Friday. The public is encouraged to consult to “official releases for accurate information and updated progress” on the investigation.
Just three miles away from where the four University of Idaho students were brutally slaughtered in their home, a couple’s dog was killed and skinned, prompting locals to suspect a link between the two attacks.
Buddy, a 12-year-old mini Australian shepherd owned by Pam and Jim Colbert, was left with only fur on his legs and face when he was killed on Oct. 21 after they let him out of their Moscow home, according to the Daily Mail.
“It was like someone had hunted a deer,” Pam, 78, told the news outlet. “They skinned him after cutting him around the neck. “His little legs and face had fur, but the rest of him was just skinned,” she explained.
“The other side of him looked as if they had filleted him and were about to eat him.” Pam told the Daily Mail, “It was terrible, unbelievable.” “They filet him like a fish.” We discovered his collar but not his pelt.”
According to the report, a Latah County sheriff’s deputy who photographed the dog’s remains confirmed that the killer was human.
Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Ethan Chapin, 20, and Xana Kernodle, 20, were stabbed to death in their off-campus home about three miles away 23 days before.
On Sunday, police said they still believe the attack was planned, but they don’t know where the killer or killers are. The murder weapon has yet to be discovered.
Authorities have not linked Buddy’s death to the shocking murders, but locals believe there may be a link, according to the Daily Mail.
“Everyone is nervous and scared. Pam told the newspaper, “This is something awful and evil.” “We let Buddy out, and someone had to be waiting out there.” Bud never leaves the yard, but this person took him.”
Jim, 73, discovered the remains of a rabbit with its scalp and ears slashed off near the couple’s home shortly before the dog died.
“The head was sliced open, and you could see the brain,” he told the news outlet.
When Buddy was discovered dead, the Colberts’ next-door neighbor, Clinton Hughes, posted a message on Facebook.
“MOSCOW PUBLIC ALERT: This may appear to be clickbait, but it is not. “Our neighbors’ sweet little dog was skinned like a deer last night after 2 a.m.,” he wrote on Oct. 22.
“This was done by no animal. Our dog is bigger, and he was so anxious around the same time that he ripped his bed to shreds. Also, our cat has been missing for a few days,” Hughes wrote.
“I’m not sure if it’s related to Halloween, and I don’t really care,” he added. “I’ll be chambering all my firearms, and I would recommend everyone else in North Moscow do the same.”
To solve the students’ murders, Moscow Police Chief James Fry said investigators sifted through hundreds of tips and interviewed dozens of people.
Many students have gone home for Thanksgiving break and do not want to return, according to University of Idaho President Scott Green, who spoke at a press conference on Sunday.
After the crime was discovered, police initially stated that there was no threat to the community, but later reversed their position and urged residents to be cautious.
We contacted Moscow police for comment on the animal killings.
At the end of a contentious, hour-long hearing Thursday, a Cook County judge ordered Heather Mack’s 7-year-old daughter into the temporary care of Mack’s maternal cousin from Colorado, despite Mack’s request from jail to choose the girl’s grandmother instead.
Lisa Hellmann will be the third person to care for Estelle Schaefer, also known as Stella, since the child’s arrival in the United States with her mother from Indonesia in November 2021. Mack was arrested at O’Hare Airport and has been in US custody since, charged with conspiring to murder her own mother, Sheila von Wiese-Mack, in 2014.
Tommy Schaefer, Stella’s father, is also serving an Indonesian prison sentence for von Wiese-heinous Mack’s murder in Bali. Stella’s future was thus uncertain. In the past year, she’s been the subject of a contentious custody battle before Cook County Judge Stephanie Miller.
Stella’s placement with Hellmann, according to Miller, was “not the most ideal situation.” As part of the ongoing custody battle, the couple has only had a few virtual visits. The judge did, however, express concern that Stella’s first caretaker in the United States, attorney Vanessa Favia, relinquished custody of Stella after only seven months. Oshar Suartama, Stella’s previous caregiver in Indonesia, came to Illinois in June to take custody of the girl.
Suartama’s lawyer now says her client must leave the country by Friday.
“The fact that Stella is doing as well as she is is a credit to her,” Miller said. “Dare I say, not to the adults.”
Hellmann’s mother is von Wiese-sister, Mack’s and animosity within the family surfaced during Zoom’s hearing on Thursday. Mack, speaking from the Metropolitan Correctional Center, said Stella should go to Schaefer’s mother, Kia Walker, rather than Hellmann.
Hellmann, Mack told the judge, “hasn’t said one word to any of us for years.” Later, after the judge ordered Stella into Hellmann’s care, Mack requested an additional order allowing her to virtually visit her daughter.
“I’m sure that I would be denied access from Ms. Hellmann,” Mack said.
Clarke Mac Gillespie, Hellmann’s attorney, said his client would “absolutely” facilitate those visits if Stella’s therapist approved. Miller also ordered weekly visits between Mack and Stella, which the therapist did not object to.
In an ongoing bench trial before Miller, Hellmann, Walker, and Suartama are seeking Stella’s custody. Diana Roque Ellis, a former friend of von Wiese- Mack’s, is also there.
Despite the fact that a final custody decision has yet to be made, Miller’s decision on Thursday seemed particularly significant. Concerns about Stella’s move from home to home have been raised repeatedly in the case. According to the judge, calling Stella’s next transition “difficult” is “about as big of an understatement that has been made in this court.”
Due to the high-profile and sensational nature of von Wiese-death, Mack’s allegations of book and TV deals are swirling around the custody case. Her body was discovered inside a suitcase outside the St. Regis Bali Resort on August 12, 2014, and her death has been dubbed the “Bali Suitcase Murder.” by some news outlets.
Stella was born in 2015, during the Indonesian trial of Mack and Schaefer. She was in prison with Mack until she was two years old. Suartama then took care of her until November 20, 2021. Mack was sentenced to seven years in prison in Indonesia for her role in her mother’s murder before being deported to the United States.
She will now stand trial in federal court in Chicago on July 31.
Miller earlier this week denied bids to return Stella to Favia or Ellis, citing Favia’s withdrawal from the custody case and Ellis’s failure to establish a relationship with Stella.
Hellmann and Walker were the only survivors. Walker has fought passionately for Stella’s custody since the girl’s arrival in the United States, but she has also frequently sparred with the judge. And, in her decision on Thursday, Miller cited several accusations made by Walker without evidence, as well as her claims of a vendetta against her.
“The reality is, this has nothing to do with Ms. Walker,” Miller explained. “It has everything to do with Stella.”
Lauren Wegner, of Skokie, was killed on November 8 in a wrong-way crash on I-55 near Springfield; her parents said she was on her way to see friends.
Wegner had returned to Skokie from North Carolina earlier this year, living with her parents since March. Last week, her father, Bill Wegner, tried to persuade his daughter to postpone a trip to see friends in St. Louis.
“‘It’ll be dark in a couple hours,’ I say. ‘Why don’t you just stay at home and we’ll go get something to eat?'” He stated.
Wegner, however, reminded him, as she often did, that she was 35, and promised a raincheck.
“‘How about when I get back?’ she says. I have some days off, so we’ll go on one of them. ‘I swear!'” He stated.
Wegner intended to follow through on her promise, but she never made it to St. Louis. Instead, an Illinois State Trooper knocked on her parents’ door.
“She comes back in and said she had a collision and didn’t survive,” Evelyn Wegner, her mother, said through tears.
Shane Jason Woods of Auburn, according to the Sangamon County State’s Attorney’s office, was driving north in the southbound lanes of Interstate 55 in Springfield when his pickup truck collided head on with Wegner’s car.
Woods, who previously pled guilty to assaulting a police officer and a cameraman during the January 6 insurgency at the United States Capitol, now faces up to 60 years in prison in Illinois for first-degree murder.
“When we got the call yesterday that it was murder one we were crying happy tears,” Evelyn Wegner said.
The Wegners say Woods’ detention without bond and facing a first-degree murder charge for their daughter’s death helps to ease the pain of loss, but only slightly because it doesn’t bring her back.
At the end of a two-month racketeering trial at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse, a federal jury convicted the head of the relentlessly violent Wicked Town street gang and held him responsible for six murders.
Jurors found that many murders committed during Wicked Town’s reign of violence on the West Side were “committed in a cold, calculated, and premeditated manner.”
The jury also found Torance “Blackie” Benson, a gang “shooter” guilty. It charged him with one murder and three attempted murders.
Following the announcement of the verdict, U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin thanked the jurors and described their service as “incredible.” He did not schedule a hearing for Lee or Benson, both of whom face mandatory life sentences.
When the verdict was read in court, neither of the two men showed any obvious emotion.
Lee and Benson’s trial lasted more than nine weeks and repeatedly exposed jurors to evidence of brutal violence.
The jury also heard from a slew of other Wicked Town conspirators. They were charged with Lee and Benson last year, but they pleaded guilty and admitted to their own crimes, including murder, on the witness stand.
One, Deshawn Morgan, admitted to killing a longtime friend on the mistaken belief that the friend had snitched on him to authorities.
Donald Holmes Jr. and Diane Taylor were shot to death in a Jeep Cherokee on Jan. 31, 2018, in the 4700 block of Arthington Street. Darius “Skudder” Murphy was later caught on tape bragging about shooting Holmes and Taylor in the head. The Jeep was parked outside Murphy’s house at the time of the murders. He later confessed to their murders.
Jurors were shown images from the bloody aftermath of the shooting early last month. Morgan testified that Lee later told him that having the pair killed right in front of Murphy’s house was “it was a dumb idea”
Defense attorneys for Lee and Benson urged the jury not to believe such witnesses, claiming they were simply attempting to shorten the lengthy prison sentences they are also likely to serve by lying to assist prosecutors. Lee’s lawyer, Lisa Wood, insisted the feds’ case was a “house of cards” that would “crumble with just the slightest touch.”
She also stressed that the trial was not a “town hall meeting” and that the verdict would “say nothing” about Chicago’s scourge of street gang violence.
According to Assistant U.S. Attorney John Mitchell, if the defense attorneys’ claim about lying witnesses was true, the witnesses “would have told better lies.”
From July 2000 to August 2020, the Wicked Town conspiracy lasted two decades. The feds claimed that the gang, which was a faction of the Traveling Vice Lords, was governed by three rules. Members of Wicked Town were never to lose a gun or speak to law enforcement. They were also expected to use violence to achieve their objectives.
According to the evidence, Lee told a fellow gang member in an April 2019 phone call, “You don’t ever sell one of the guns that can save one of the guys’ life,”
Last year, Wicked Town was charged with 19 murders. Prosecutors claimed Lee rose through the ranks of Wicked Town by murdering three people in three years. Wood pointed out that her client had no direct involvement in several of the murders under investigation, but Mitchell said it didn’t matter.
What mattered was whether Lee and Benson agreed those or other crimes should be committed in the midst of the gang’s behavior.
The Wicked Town conspiracy was discovered by jurors to include the murders of Lamont Ware in July 2000, Ernest Moore in December 2002, John Johnson in June 2003, Charlie Weathers in May 2015, Malcolm Wille in July 2015, Kishaun Mobley in December 2017 and Martel Howard in January 2016.
A 19-year-old man is charged with murder after allegedly shooting his girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend to death in the parking lot of a busy Bridgeport grocery store last year.
Adrian Soto and his girlfriend drove to a Mariano’s in the 3100 block of South Ashland Avenue on Nov. 7, 2021, so she could pick up her two children from the ex-boyfriend, according to Cook County prosecutors in court Friday.
Prosecutors said Nicholas John Narolewski, 22, parked in the lot with the couple’s children and his mother for the exchange. Prosecutors claim that when Soto’s girlfriend returned to her car with the children, he got out and walked over to Narolewski, where he began arguing with him.
Prosecutors said Soto pulled out a 9mm handgun and fired repeatedly at Narolewski, striking him six times. Narolewski, who was unarmed, died of his injuries shortly after.
Soto fled and was seen throwing away a gun and a hooded sweatshirt as he fled, both of which were recovered by detectives. Several witnesses to the shooting identified Soto as the shooter, according to prosecutors. At least one surveillance camera captured the shooting.
Prosecutors said that eleven shell casings found at the scene all matched the handgun, and evidence collected from the gun and hoodie matched Soto’s DNA.
According to court records, Soto, then 18, was arrested in January in a separate murder case.
Soto allegedly opened fire from the street on Jan. 26 at a home in the 2500 block of West 45th Place where a woman he used to date was hosting a party. Officials said Hector Flores, 33, who was inside the house, was killed in the hail of bullets.
In that case, Soto pleaded not guilty to murder and attempted murder charges, which are still pending. Soto was being held without bail when he was charged with Narolewski’s murder this week, according to court records.
According to an assistant public defender, Soto previously worked in construction and was studying for his GED while incarcerated. According to the defense attorney, Soto was bullied in high school and “encountered some troubling moments” that could later become relevant in the case.
On the most recent charge, Judge Mary Marubio ordered him held without bail. He was scheduled to appear in court again on November 23.
