Hard Boiled News

True Crime and News of the Weird from around the Globe

Flying Fish: Man Arrested for Beating Boyfriend With Novelty Singing Bass

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The novelty singing fish caused a man to lose it and attack his boyfriend

SEBASTIAN, Florida — A man has been charged with battery for hurling a Big Mouth Billy Bass novelty singing fish at his boyfriend’s head, police said.

Cops say they responded to a domestic incident at a Florida home on Sunday to find Larry Timmerman with a cut on his head, which he said happened when his long-time boyfriend, Gregory Carney, flung the singing fish at him.

The two men, who have been domestic partners for 17 years, had been arguing earlier tin the day, and the 54-year-old Carney began playing the novelty fish over and over again “just to aggravate” Timmerman, according to cops.

At some point, Timmerman, 52, snatched the fish and threw it in the trash. When Carney discovered the fish had been tossed, he retrieved it from the garbage and flung it violently at his boyfriend, hitting him in the head, cops said.

Carney, admitted to cops that he had thrown the fish, but had not been aiming for his boyfriend and that hitting him was an accident.

Carney was charged with domestic battery and released on $500 bond.Timmerman declined medical treatment for his injury.

11 Arrested in Bizarre Animal Sacrifice Ritual in Texas

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Cops say they found 11 people in a Texas garage engaged in the ritual sacrifice of animals

SAN ANTONIO — Police were stunned to discover nearly a dozen people gathered in a packed Texas garage involved in the ritual sacrifice of several chickens, goats and other animals.

Deputies with the Bexar County Sheriff’s office arrived at the home late Friday after getting receiving an animal cruelty complaint, and found 11 people huddled around a table, dismembering the animals with knives.

“It appears that they were having some sort of unknown ritual,” Sheriff’s Sgt. Elizabeth Gonzalez told the San Antonio Express. “One of the other persons was holding up a chicken and draining blood into a container. There was containers there. There was heads of what looked like goats and animals dead and alive inside.”

She said the responding officer speaks fluent English and Spanish, but the group was “speaking a different language the officer did not recognize.”

Multiple dead and mutilated animals were found inside the home, including goat heads, Gonzalez said.

Eleven men and women — ranging in age from 23 to 65 — were charged with cruelty to livestock animals.

They were identified as Alexander Gene Campos, 23; Ivan Felipe Gonzalez, 24; Carmen Maria Gonzalez-Trujillo, 41; Cynthia Gabriell Martinez, 29; Liza Mercado, 46; Marie Galan Murcia, 65; Ramon Patino Jr., 65; Luiz Rodriguez Ortiz, 41; Robert Talamantez, 55; Irma Garza Talamantez, 64; and Arteaga Ariel Torres, 39.

 

Florida Woman Shoots Fiance’s Dog After He Refused to Crack Her Back

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Giselle Taylor thought she would just scare her boyfriend by shooting his dog – cops

TARPON SPRINGS, Florida — He might want to consider calling off the wedding.

A Florida woman has been charged with fatally shooting her fiance’s dog after he refused to crack her back, police said.

Giselle Taylor, 27, got into a heated argument with her boyfriend, and ultimately walked out to her car in the garage and got a gun out of the glove compartment, police said.

She told cops that her intention was to scare her fiance in order to trigger a certain response, but when he didn’t respond as expected, she pointed the gun at his 2-year-old boxer and shot her in the chest, killing her.

Taylor then hopped into her car and drove off but was stopped by police soon after. She has been charged with aggravated animal cruelty and has pleaded not guilty.

In the Battle of Elk Vs. Chopper, No One Wins

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This helicopter did not survive its run in with a wily elk

HEBER CITY, UTAH — If I’m going down, you’re coming with me.

A defiant elk took down a research helicopter trying to capture it in a remote corner of Utah, when the animal jumped into the chopper’s tail rotor, destroying the aircraft.

The helicopter and its crew were working for the state Division of Wildlife Resources trying to sedate, capture and tag the elk in a mountainous region in the eastern part of the state when the crash occurred Monday, police said.

As the chopper hovered about 10 feet off the ground, the crew attempted to throw a net over the elk, which reared back, striking the helicopter’s tail rotor and nearly snapping it off.

The chopper landed hard on the ground, but the two crew members were not hurt. The poor elk, however, did not survive, authorities said.

Wildlife officials use tracking collars to help monitor elk migration paths and survival rates. In all, the state tags about 1,300 animals each winter. While almost all are captured using helicopters, the fluke crash was the first of its kind officials could recall.

Six Slain and 14 Wounded in Mexico Cockfight Shootout

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A cockfight in Mexico will often draw members of gangs and drug cartels

CHIHUAHUA, Mexico — Masked gunmen stormed into a clandestine cockfight in northern Mexico, killing six people and wounding 14 when they opened fire on the crowd, authorities said.

Police in Chihuahua say the gunmen forced their way into the Santa Maria cockfight club on the southern edge of the city on Saturday and began shooting.

Four people were killed at the scene and two others later died at a local hospital. Two children, ages 7 and 10, were among the wounded, police said.

No arrests have been made and it is not entirely clear what triggered the bloodshed.

Two children ages 7 and 10 were among the wounded. There were no immediate arrests.

Cockfighting is popular in agricultural areas of Mexico and gambling plays a big role in the events, with wagers on a single bout frequently reaching into the tens of thousands of dollars.

But the events also draw members of organized drug cartels.

 

Horrified Officials Find 2 Headless Chickens in Connecticut Courtroom

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Officials believe the headless chickens may have been part of a Santeria ritual to ward off a guilty verdict

BRIDGEPORT, Connecticut — That is just creepy.

Officials in a Connecticut courthouse made a grisly discovery when they found the bodies of two decapitated chickens hidden away inside a courtroom.

The marshals and maintenance staff in the state courthouse in Bridgeport made the horrifying discovery on Wednesday in the public seating area of a courtroom after detecting a putrid smell, the Connecticut Post reported.

Officials say the carcasses were covered in silver, green and gold glitter.

It’s not clear how the chickens got there and an investigation is underway.

State court officials told the paper that headless chickens had been found in the past outside of courtroom buildings but never inside.

Decapitated chickens are sometimes used in Santeria, an Afro-Caribbean religion, to protect a person from being found guilty of a crime, the paper reported.

 

Top Banker’s Assistant Charged With Pillaging Boss’ Fancy Wine Selection

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NEW YORK — He had the taste buds of a connoisseur and the bank account of a crook.

The personal assistant to a high-flying Goldman Sachs banker has been charged with stealing more than $1 million of rare wine from his boss’s collection and selling it, prosecutors say.

“Rare wines have a very specific market, but even given the narrow chance of making money illegally, thieves will find a way to break the law,” said William F. Sweeney Jr., the head of the F.B.I.’s New York office.

Nicholas De-Meyer, 40, had been charged with taking delivery of the ultra-high end bottles of wine his boss, David Solomon, had bought, and then transporting them from the victim’s Manhattan home to his wine cellar in the Hamptons.

But hundreds of bottles never made it, and were later sold by De-Meyer to a wine dealer in North Carolina for more than $1.2 million, prosecutors said.

Among the purloined grog were several bottles of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti which are among the rarest and most expensive in the world. Those sold for over $130,000.

The lesson here is:  don’t mess with a man’s hooch.

 

Beloved Family Horse Found Dismembered in Colorado Barn

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Nickel had been with the Maez family for 22 years

AVONDALE, Colorado — A Colorado family was devastated when they found a beloved pet horse they’d had for more than two decades had been killed in their barn overnight and dismembered, police said.

Rancher Orlando Maez told the Pueblo Chieftain that he made the grisly discovery early Friday when he came to the barn and discovered the butchered remains of 22-year-old Nickel, with the meat neatly stripped from the bones.

He said he believed the horse had been killed for its meat. Also missing was the horse’s heart and liver.

“Nickel was special to me. This is heartbreaking and it’s taken a real toll on me,” said Maez’s daughter, Brittany Gutierrez, 28. “I’ve never heard of something like this. I mean, who would do this to someone’s pet?”

It appeared the culprits got onto the Maez property by cutting a front-gate lock. A lock on a semi-trailer on the property had also been cut, and a section of a fence had been knocked down.

As the property is large and isolated, no one heard anything out of the ordinary, Orlando Maez said.

He said he believes Nickel was targeted because she “doesn’t easily move around,” as she suffers from selenium poisoning.

“That’s probably why they chose her,” he said.

 

The Pueblo County Sheriff’s office said it is investigating.

Woman Brutally Slain by Stray Dog Pack in Northern California

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The encounter with a pack of strays in Modesto proved deadly

MODESTO, California — A woman was savagely mauled to death by a pack of stray dogs in an area of this Central Valley town that residents say is plagued by vicious animals.

Police say they found the torn-apart body of the woman, 56-year-old Deborah Onsurez, on Dec. 28 lying in a driveway on a residential block on the south side of Modesto.

Investigators said they believed the woman had been killed by stray dogs, although they were unable to locate any around the homes and businesses in the area. Authorities continued searching the area over the New Year’s weekend, but didn’t find any strays.

Residents the area is overrun by packs of dogs run wild.

“Stray dogs everywhere, that’s Stanislaus County for you, that’s all that’s all around here,” Armando, who works in the area, told KOVR-TV. “A bunch of mutts really, you know?”

Tai Bogan, an area attorney who has worked dog attack cases, says attacks are not uncommon, but “being killed by a dog is extremely unusual.” He questioned whether the dogs were actually strays after deputies and animal control officers were unable to find any sign of them in the are.

 

Wild Hog Runs On Texas Road Causing Fiery Wreck That Kills Three

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This was all that remained after the encounter with the hog

EAGLE PASS, Texas — Three people were killed and two injured in a fiery wreck on Christmas night after an SUV struck a wild hog on a country road and then slammed into an oncoming car, police said.

The Texas Department of Public Safety says Ruby Garza, 51, was driving with several passengers in a Ford Expedition on Farm-to-Market Road 481, when the hog scampered out into the road.

The Expedition struck the animal and then veered into the oncoming lane where it collided head-on with a Mercedes SUV driven by 27-year-old, off-duty border patrol agent, Antonio Cordova, the Eagle Pass Texas News reported.

Both vehicles burst into flames, killing Garza, Cordova and Julia Vasquez, 51, who was a passenger in Garza’s car. Two other passengers in her car, Mayra Vasquez and Naomi Acuna, survived but were seriously hurt.

It was not clear what happened to the hog.