Hard Boiled News

True Crime and News of the Weird from around the Globe

Defiant Death Row Inmate Flips the Bird, Curses Alabama, Just Before Execution

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Torrey McNabb was angry until his last breath

ATMORE, Alabama — An unrepentant cop killer callously flipped witnesses the bird and cursed the state of Alabama just moments before being put to death for the 1997 murder of a police officer.

Torrey McNabb, 40, defiantly raised both middle fingers toward witnesses while strapped to a gurney as the execution began.

“Mom, sis, look at my eyes,” he said. “I’ve got no tears in my eyes. I’m unafraid . . . to the state of Alabama, I hate you m—–f—–s. I hate you,” he said, according to the Montgomery Advertiser.

McNabb had been convicted of fatally shooting Montgomery Police Officer Anderson Gordon as he sat behind the wheel of his patrol car in 1997.

Gordon had pulled up just moments after the then 20-year-old McNabb had wrecked his car while fleeing a bail bondsman.

McNabb’s execution had been delayed as the Supreme Court reviewed his appeal but then ruled it could continue.

His lawyers had sought to stop the execution as he and other death row inmates in an have legally challenged the humaneness of the state’s lethal injection procedure.

Some have argued that the drug cocktail used to put convicts to death does not effectively knock a person out before other drugs are used to stop the heart and lungs from functioning.

Gordon’s family thanked prosecutors for seeing the execution through.

“Over twenty years ago, we lost a companion, a father, a brother, and a friend who only wanted to make a difference in his community,” the family said in a statement. “‘Brother,’ as he was affectionately called, worked to make a difference in his community until his life was taken on September 24, 1997.”

Man Charged After Mother’s Corpse Found Stuffed in Oil Drum Under Porch

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Nathanial Sebastian is charged with killing his mother

WILMER, Alabama — A man obsessed with serial killer John Wayne Gacy has been charged in the murder of his missing mother after a woman’s body was found in an oil drum stashed under his front porch, Alabama police said.

Nathaniel Sebastian, 32, allegedly told cops, ‘OK my mama’s under the front porch. Y’all got me,’ just as officers were about to execute a search warrant to dig up the ground underneath the house.

Susan Mayo, 60, was reported missing on June 17, a week after she was last seen alive. Her body was found stuffed inside a 55-gallon oil drum buried under the porch.

Sebastian’s grandmother, Doris Clark, 81, also was charged with obstruction of justice, the Mobile County Sheriff’s office said.

Police said they believe Sebastian may have got the idea to bury his mother’s body body under the house from John Wayne Gacy, who was famed for stashing his victim’s under his home. The bodies of 26 young men were found there in 1978.

“One thing is that he claims to be a big fan of John Gacy, who was a serial killer and he in fact kept bodies of his victims underneath his house,” Capt. Paul Burch told Al.com.

Man Charged With Beating Twin With Bat Over Taco Bell Meal

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Tyler Dukes wasn’t going to let family stand in the way of his Taco Bell

ATHENS, Alabama  — Blood may be thicker than water, but it’s got nothing on Taco Bell.

An Alabama man has been charged with slugging his twin brother on the head with a baseball bat after getting in a fight over having to share his Taco Bell meal.

Tyler Tarell Dukes, 19, allegedly blew his top after his brother and grandmother came home on Thursday with bagful of Taco Bell takeout.

Dukes “became irate over having to share tacos and because his brother didn’t get him a soft drink,” the Athens News Courier reported, citing a police report. “Tyler produced a baseball bat and struck his brother in the back and across the head, causing a deep cut.”

Seems like the bad blood may have been brewing for some time. When asked why he did it, Dukes told cops that his brother was “always disrespecting me.”

The victim was taken to a local hospital, where he was treated and released.

Dukes was charged with assault and held on $10,000 bond.

Phony Cancer Victim Charged With Fraud for Using Fake Illness to Raise Cash

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Jennifer Cataldo raised over $100,000 from friends and relatives

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama — This is sick.

A woman who falsely claimed she was battling with cancer in order to bilk her friends and family out of cash has been hit with federal fraud charges.

Jennifer Flynn Cataldo, 37, of Sterrett, Alabama, pretended she was terminally ill and convinced pals to give her $1000,000, all of which she put in her pocket, prosecutors said.

“Sadly, crimes like this make good people think twice before they are willing to be charitable,” FBI Special Agent Roger Stanton said. “It is hard to comprehend how anyone could sink so low as to claim to have cancer just to fuel their greed.”

Federal authorities say that between 2014 and 2017, Cataldo told her friends and family that she was dying from cancer and allegedly solicited contributions from people she knew to fund her lifestyle.

For example, in January 2016, Cataldo allegedly launched a GoFundMe campaign dubbed “Mom had Terminal Cancer Disney Trip,” with the goal of raising $4,000 to take her daughter to Disney World before she died.

The campaign ended up raising more than $10,000, prosecutors said.

Then in September 2016, a friend who believed Cataldo was dying created a second GoFundMe page titled, “Jenny Flynn Cataldo Medical Care,” to raise $20,000. It ultimately took in $25,000.

In both cases, prosecutors say Cataldo transferred the cash from the GoFundMe accounts into her personal bank account.

Cataldo, who was hit with state charges in Alabama earlier this month, faces up to 20 years on each of several counts of wire fraud she now faces in federal court and up to 30 years on bank fraud charges.

GoFundMe officials have said they are working to recover the cash and return it to anyone who donated to Cataldo.

Girl, 9, Narrowly Escapes Vicious Kangaroo Attack at Alabama Animal Park

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HUNTSVILLE, Alabama — A 9-year-old girl had the fright of her life when she was viciously attacked by a jumpy kangaroo at an Alabama petting zoo.

Jennifer White was filming her daughter. Cheyenne, as she approached the enclosure housing a kangaroo named Erwin on Saturday and captured the beast as it reached through the fence, grabbed the screaming little girl by the hair and bit into her ear, Huntsville’s WAFF-TV reported.

Cheyenne ended up needing 14 stitches in her head but was otherwise not seriously injured, her mother said.

“I’m just glad I was there,” she told the station. “I don’t want it to happen to someone else’s kid because they might not be as lucky as she was.”

Erwin has lived at the park for nine years

Operators of the Harmony Park Safari outside of Huntsville told AL.com that Erwin had been there for nine years and had always been well behaved. Still, his enclosure featured two signs warning that the animal does bite.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees such animal parks, said that a complaint had been filed following the incident and that it was investigating.

A park operator, who gave his name only as Lewis, told AL.com, that the park receives “tens of thousands” of visitors a year and that they do not keep any dangerous animals.

“We’re just so happy the little girl’s OK,” Lewis said.

Woman Filmed Stomping Boyfriend’s Car Says She ‘Prayed About it and Stuff’

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CULLMAN, Alabama — A woman caught on video angrily smashing in the windshield of her ex-boyfriend’s car says a night of prayer convinced her not to launch the wild attack but that she changed her mind when she saw a shovel lying near the vehicle.

Barbara Emily Lowery, 24, landed behind bars on a disorderly conduct charge for the Monday episode in which she stomped in the windshield and sunroof of the car in the parking lot of a furniture store. She also scrawled on the hood in permanent marker: “You’re so pretty, fucker.”

The furious fracas was filmed by several stunned passersby and the video spread online.

“I prayed about it first, and I slept on it, and I decided it wasn’t a good idea. Then I saw a shovel,” Lowery told WBMA-TV.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obwHFRG42i8

The station reported that the eruption of violence stemmed from a love triangle that took an ugly turn, but Lowery declined to kiss and tell.

“Well I’m not trying to give his personal business out like that,” she said.

The owner of the car, Nick Myrick, said on his Facebook page that Lowery was not his ex, but was simply, “an angry person.”

But Lowery said she had no regrets.

“I already knew going into it that I would have to face some consequences, and you know it kind of sucks, but like I said I prayed about it and stuff, and I did it anyway,” Lowery said to the station.

Feds Indict Alabama Widow For Stealing Social Security for Husband She Murdered

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Opal Elaine Tillman killed her husband in 1987

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama — A woman who was convicted of murdering her husband 30 years ago has been charged with illegally collecting his social security benefits for nearly a decade after her release from prison.

Opal Elaine Tillman, 71, of Morris, Alabama, came under investigation following her arrest in 2015 for stealing over $60,000 from an elderly couple she worked for as a housekeeper. She pleaded guilty in that case last month.

Tillman was imprisoned from 1988 until 1996 for killing her husband, Walter Tillman, federal prosecutors said. The month after he died in 1987, prosecutors say Opal Tillman applied to receive his social security benefits.

Shortly after she was convicted, she was informed by the social security administration that she was no longer eligible to receive the payments as “a person who has been convicted of the felonious and intentional homicide of a wage earner cannot be entitled to monthly benefits.”

But in 2009, prosecutors say Tillman applied once again to receive the payments and was inadvertently approved. She continued to receive the payments until 2016 — a total of $168,000, prosecutors said.

Tillman is currently incarcerated for stealing money from the elderly couple she worked for from 2011 until 2015. Local authorities say Tillman started helping the couple with their finances as the 87-year-old wife’s health declined, but began helping herself to their savings.

The scam continued until relatives noticed several suspicious transactions from the couple’s bank account.

“I think there is a special place for people that take advantage of our senior citizens, most especially those placed in a position of trust,” Jefferson County sheriff’s Chief Deputy Randy Christian said at the time.

Alabama Jail Booking Turns Bizarre When Gun Falls From Prisoner’s Anal Cavity

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Jesse O’Neal Roberts chose a pretty odd place to keep his heat

ELKMONT, Alabama — This gives whole new meaning to the term “gun butt.”

Alabama police were nearly blown away when a suspect who “appeared to be walking strangely” when he was brought into a county jail, stumbled and a handgun dropped out from his anal cavity.

“I immediately considered that he defecated on himself before noticing a familiar shape in the form of a pistol in his boxers,” a corrections officer processing the arrest of Jesse O’Neal Roberts said in a police report.

Limestone County Sheriff Mike Blakely was unimpressed. “It happens,” he said, leaving one to wonder just how crazy things must get in Alabama’s jails.

Police say the 23-year-old Roberts was brought in early Tuesday after a local resident reported a prowler on his property. The caller spotted Roberts near his garage and held him at gunpoint until cops arrived.

Cops say Roberts appeared drunk and they spotted his pickup truck stuck in a ditch nearby. He was arrested for public intoxication and hauled off to the county jail where officers found his rather uncomfortable piece of contraband.

Investigators determined the weapon, a .380 Jimenez, had been reported stolen from a home in Florence, Alabama. It seems unlikely the owner will want it back now.

Alabama Schools Employee Caught With Fighting Dogs, $500K of Heroin

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Cops found 22 fighting dogs in Charles Walker’s house

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama — A Birmingham City schools employee was busted with half a million dollars worth of heroin and is believed to run a dog fighting ring, police said.

Charles Walker, 45, who works in technical services and computer services for the school system, was busted last week as part of drug investigation.

Police had postal inspectors deliver a suspected drug package to Walker’s home that had been delivered through the mail. After Walker took custody of the package, agents swooped in and arrested him after a brief foot pursuit.

Authorities executing a search warrant say they found 1,700 grams of heroin and Fetanyl and about $9,000 worth of crack cocaine as well as a handgun and $55,000 in cash at Walker’s home.

But they also discovered 22 pit bulls at the home — 17 adults and five puppies — that were kept in unhealthy conditions and appeared to have been used as fighting dogs.

Walker has been charged with trafficking in cocaine, heroin and a synthetic controlled substance and that he faces additional animal cruelty charges. He was released on $15,000 bond.

The dogs have been taken to a local animal sanctuary and will remain there until a judge decides their fate.

Alabama Biker Stages Fake Arrest as Part of Marriage Proposal

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MOBILE, Alabama — That’s a novel way of convincing a woman you’re a keeper.

An Alabama biker enlisted the aid of the Mobile police to stage his arrest as part of an elaborate way of asking his girlfriend to marry him.

Daiwon McPherson, 33, wanted to surprise his girlfriend of five years, Shawna Blackmon, but knew he had to pull out all the stops.

“She knows my every move –I can never surprise her,” he told the Alabama Media Group.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o028z401YEM

As part of the ruse, he made plans to meet her for dinner in downtown Mobile on Friday night, but then didn’t show up and didn’t answer his phone. He then had friends in the Mobile biker community tell Blackmon he was on the run from police and that he had a gun.

“Friday is bike night…it was believable,” Blackmon said.

When she approached a nearby gas station she saw McPherson surrounded by police cruisers with lights flashing and officers ordering him to the ground.

“I thought he was going to jail!” she said.

The officers then asked her to retrieve the gun McPherson was supposedly carrying, but when she approached, he pulled a ring out of his pocket. The surprise worked.

“It never crossed my mind… I had no idea,” she said.

“I really wanted to bring the bike life and the police together,” McPherson said. “I can’t believe I actually pulled this off.”