In Such An Hour As This

“Murderers“ - Updates

Unnatural Affection ~ Shedding of Innocent Blood

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“Today´s World“

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NORFORK, Ark.

February 04, 2006

Arkansas state police say a teenager wanted in a hatchet-and-gun attack on patrons of a Massachusetts gay bar shot and killed a small-town police officer before being critically wounded in a gun battle with police that left his female companion dead.

The 18-year-old teen, shot the officer twice with a 9 mm handgun during a traffic stop and killed the officer. Moments later, about 25 miles away, the teen engaged in a gun battle with police officers who had set up a roadblock.

He was wanted in a Thursday morning attack at the Puzzles Lounge in New Bedford, Mass., that left three men wounded, one critically. New Bedford police labeled the attack there a hate crime and said Robida would face attempted murder, assault and civil rights charges. In Arkansas, killing a police officer is a capital offense punishable by death.

In New Bedford on Saturday night, District Attorney Paul Walsh Jr. said Robida had been pulled over in Gassville for a traffic violation and, in the later confontration at Norfork, was shot twice in the head and later died.

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Missing Doctor Indicted in Wife's Poisoning Death

February 07, 2006

A missing doctor was indicted in his wife's murder, nearly a year after she was poisoned with cyanide and collapsed behind the wheel of her car, the prosecutor's office said. Her husband disappeared three weeks after his wife's death, Feb. 24, and has been declared a fugitive. His family is from the Palestinian territory and they own property there, authorities said.

The husband, 37, was indicted on one count of aggravated murder with prior calculation and design. He could serve 20 years to life in prison if convicted. Assistant prosecutor said he was having an affair and wanted to get rid of his wife without losing his wealth through a divorce.

The prosecutor said the husband has had no contact with his client since his disappearance and that he is presumed innocent under the law.

The wife, 38, a former nurse, took a capsule containing a high level of cyanide, believing it was a calcium pill, according to the coroner. Afterward, she crashed her Volvo into an oncoming car and was found slumped over inside.

Before she died, she used her cell phone to call her friend, Eva. Gasping for air, she told her friend Eva that her husband made her take pills and she didn't feel well. "It's her statement right before she dies that's the key evidence," he said

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Man Kills Roommate After Fight About Toilet Paper

February 21, 2006

MOSS BLUFF, Fla.

A man accused of fatally beating his roommate with a sledgehammer and a claw hammer. because there was no toilet paper in their home ~ has been arrested.

The man, 56, was charged Monday with homicide in the death of his 58-year-old roommate, according to the Marion County Sheriff's Office.

The Capt. said the 56-year-old man initially denied his involvement, but confessed during questioning.

The 56-year-old man told investigators that the men were fighting about the toilet paper over the weekend, when the other man pulled out a rifle. Then the younger man said he began beating the other man with the sledgehammer and claw hammer, according to an affidavit.

The older man was beaten so badly that he had to be identified through his fingerprints, detectives said.

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ANKARA, Turkey

February 05, 2006

A teenage boy shot and killed the Italian Roman Catholic priest of a church in the Black Sea port city of Trabzon on Sunday, shouting "God is great" as he escaped, according to police and witnesses. Officers were searching for the boy aged around 14 or 15, according to a police official.

The priest, 60-year-old Andrea Santoro, was shot hours after Mass at Santa Maria Church.

A woman who answered the telephone at the church, said the priest was inside when he was attacked. A prosecutor said he was shot twice from behind, with bullets ripping through his heart and liver.

An envoy in Turkey, Monsignor Antonio, said he had spoken by telephone with a witness who said she saw the attacker fleeing and "heard the young man shout 'Allah Akbar' (God is Great)."

Turkey's government denounced the attack. "We condemn with hatred the fact that the murder was committed in a house of worship against a man of religion," said the Justice Minister.

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DIXON, Ill.

A teenage girl was convicted in the killing of a 16-year-old classmate after the two got into a fight over boys and of helping saw the body into pieces and hide the remains.

The victim, 16-year-old, had just moved to East Moline from Texas about two months before the killing. Prosecutors said she was just trying to fit in at a new school but picked the wrong friend.

On Jan. 21, 2005, the 17-year-old girl and her schoolmate (a boy) were riding in the 17-year-old's car and stopped at a fast-food restaurant, then the fight began because the 17-year-old girl was jealous. The 16-year-old was killed and her body was burned, dismembered and hidden in two counties. The older girl wrote in a class journal that she was going to kill the 16-year-old girl, just hours before she was beaten and strangled in the car.

The boy was also charged with murder and concealing a homicide and is scheduled to stand trial May 1st. The 17-year-old teen, faces of up to 60 years in prison. She showed no reaction as the verdict was read.

The Defense attorney told jurors it was boy who killed the younger girl. But prosecutors said the older girl was still accountable because she choked and beat the victim before the boy "finished her off." Prosecutors say the two took the girl's body to older girl's grandparents' farm and burned it, then returned two days later, sawed the body into pieces and dumped the remains on the farm and in a State Park in Rock Island.

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December 02, 2005

BRADENTON, Fla.

A 20-year-old man who has confessed to fatally bludgeoning four members of his family on Thanksgiving said he is severely mentally ill and can't explain why he did it. Manatee County investigators said the 20 -year- old man told them he sneaked up on his parents, younger brother and grandmother one by one and beat them with a 2 1/2-foot metal pipe on Thanksgiving night. The victims were the father, 48; ; the mother, 42; the eleven-year-old son 11, and grandmother, 82. They were found Sunday in separate rooms of their home. The 20-year-old son was arrested walking along a busy road Sunday night. According to a sheriff's office report, the man told investigators he killed his family "because they wouldn't let him leave." He said that he was not angry at his family and that after he had hit his brother, he had to kill everyone.

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December 06, 2005

BOGALUSA, La.

A mother was booked on a charge of first-degree murder for allegedly placing her 3-month-old son in a clothes dryer and turning it on. The infant had third-degree burns over 50 percent of his body and suffered blunt force trauma to the head, the St. Tammany Parish coroner said. Police Sgt. said the 18-year-old, called police to her home on Monday to report that someone had killed her child. When officers arrived, they found Jailand on a sofa. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Police said the woman admitted during questioning to putting the infant in the dryer and turning it on, but did not say why.

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December 14, 2005

FORT WAYNE, Ind.

A man found standing on the front porch of his home was set to face murder charges after police discovered the bodies of a woman and three children inside. The man, 33, was scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday. He was being held without bond in jail on four preliminary counts of murder and two preliminary counts of moving a body. The deaths were believed to be related to a "domestic situation," said police. Officers went to the home early Tuesday to investigate reported suicide threats.

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December 17, 2005

SANTA CLARA, Calif.

A 15-year-old boy allegedly killed his father, then set their home on fire because he was afraid his father would find out he was failing some classes, prosecutors said. The boy was charged with murdering his 50-year-old father, who was initially believed to have died in the fire earlier this week. He was charged as an adult. He was arrested after an autopsy determined that the father died from multiple gunshot wounds and not from the fire, police said. According to court documents, the boy told police he took a .45-caliber handgun from a safe in his father's bedroom and stashed it in his room shortly before the killing. Court documents allege he shot his father in the head at close range then set the body on fire because it was too heavy to carry to the backyard, where he had planned to bury it. The boy hid the gun and went to Taco Bell before calling 911 to report the fire, the documents said.

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FAIRFAX, Va.

Police said Monday that a Virginia man who killed four people, then himself, on Christmas Day had a history of mental problems. "This is obviously a complex investigation with separate crime scenes and five victims. Investigators believe the man shot and killed his mother in the driveway of her home. He then drove 10 miles to a home in Great Falls and fired more than 50 shots that killed three other people, before turning the gun on himself. Court records obtained show that the man was arrested in 2000 for driving on a revoked license and in 2001 for assault on a police officer, escape and carrying a concealed weapon. He spent 10 days in jail in 2002 for possession of cocaine and other drug offenses. Police believe he broke into the second home and systematically went from room to room, fatally shooting a woman, 50, and her son 19, who both lived there, and another man, 20, of Great Falls, who was visiting.

Police said the man was an acquaintance of the people in the second home. The body of one man was found in a bedroom closet. Another victim was found by a bed in a separate bedroom. The woman was found in the master bedroom on the second floor. Each had been shot several times. "It appeared that they probably were still asleep or in their rooms when everything started," Callahan said. The man's body was found in the master bedroom with what police called a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

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December 28, 2005

JEFFERSON, Ohio

A man is accused of shooting his estranged wife and her boyfriend to death in front of two of the married couple's children on Christmas Day, then kidnapping his 4-year-old son, authorities said. The couple's 7-year-old daughter called 911 to report the shooting. The boy was recovered unharmed at his father's home.

The man,, 32, was arraigned Tuesday on two counts of aggravated murder, one count of aggravated burglary and one count of aggravated kidnapping. Bond was set at $2 million. The woman, 30, and her boyfriend, 32, were shot several times. They 12 year-old son was away at the time. Police praised the bravery of the estranged couple's daughter, Katlyn, for making the 911 call. "This 7-year-old girl is not only a brave little girl, but it is remarkable when you hear this," he said, referring to the recording of the call. When the girl called, she expressed alarm that her father was in the house attacking her mother. The dispatcher asked: "What's your dad doing?" The girl replied, "He's killing my mom." The recording includes a comment from the girl refusing to leave with her father. "No, no. I'm not going with you," she said. The call was disconnected, but a short time later the girl called back. "Is there anyone else home with you?" the dispatcher asked. "No. They're all dead," the girl said.

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December 28, 2005

DETROIT

A man killed his mother and a co-worker Wednesday and seriously wounded a teenage niece in an early morning shooting spree that ended when he committed suicide, police said. The man, 22, shot his mother, 56, and his 14-year-old niece multiple times at their home on Detroit northwest side, police spokesman said. He then drove to the United Parcel Service facility where he worked and shot a co-worker in a parking lot about 3 a.m., police said. The man a part-time employee, had been at the UPS facility earlier that night, but had left because there was no work for him. The victim was 23-year-old, and was from Detroit.

The man apparently drove to another co-worker's home nearby in Wayne County's Redford Township, where he took his own life. He was found dead in his vehicle in the co-worker's driveway. After the initial shootings at the family home, the man set fire to a bedroom in an apparent attempt to burn down the house, but the blaze fizzled out before firefighters arrived. The mother was killed and the niece was hospitalized with gunshot wounds, but she was expected to survive.

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SAN FRANCISCO

A woman who was hearing voices tossed her three young children off a pier into San Francisco Bay, authorities said. Rescuers had found one body, and the other two children were feared dead.

The mother, 23, of Oakland, was booked on three counts of murder. Her children were, 6, 3, and 1. She told authorities that voices had told her to throw her children into the water. She had been staying with her children at a Salvation Army shelter in Oakland.

Mary Ann Ramirez, the social services manager of the shelter, told the Chronicle. "I just talked to her yesterday," Ramirez said. "We had our usual how are you doing, how's the kids. I would never have guessed in a million years that today she would do that."