Hard Boiled News

True Crime and News of the Weird from around the Globe

Florida Sisters Nabbed in Dad’s 2015 Slay After Blabbing to Shared Lover

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Sisters Mary-Beth Tomaselli and Linda Roberts almost got away with killing their 85-year-old father four years ago

PALM HARBOR, Florida — A pair of sisters nearly got away with the “perfect murder,” but ended up blowing the lid off their secret when they blabbed about killing their 85-year-old father to a man they both were having an affair with, cops said.

Mary-Beth Tomaselli, 63, and her sister, Linda Roberts, 61, have been charged with first-degree murder for the 2015 slaying of their terminally ill father, Anthony Tomaselli, in his Florida home.

The Pinellas County Sheriff’s office says its deputies first investigated the elder Tomaselli’s death after his daughters reported finding him dead early in the morning on March 6, 2015. They told cops that he had fallen asleep on the couch the night before and that he wasn’t breathing when they checked on him in the morning.

At the time, there were no signs of foul play and as Tomaselli had been suffering dementia, heart disease and cancer, investigators ruled that he had died of natural causes.

But in mid-February, detectives received a call from man who was involved in a sexual relationship with both the women, who told them that Linda Roberts had confessed to him that she and her sister had killed their father.

The man, whose name was not released, had made a recording of the confession and then made further recordings of the women discussing their father’s death after he contacted police.

“If they didn’t run their mouth and confess to this guy she met in a bar, they would have gotten away with it,” said Sheriff Bob Gualtieri. ‘It would’ve been the perfect murder.”

The recordings revealed that the women had planned to “euthanize” their father as he only had a few months to live and refused to go into an assisted living facility.

To kill him, the woman had crushed up sleeping pills and mixed them with alcohol, but diluted the mixture too much, so he didn’t die, police said. They then attempted to suffocate him by placing a pillow over his face, but that didn’t work either.

In the end, they managed to kill their father by stuffing a rag down his throat and holding his nose closed until he died. The women expressed amazement that he appeared to continue to have a pulse even though he was dead, but then realized it was because his pacemaker continued to operate after he expired, Gualtieri said.

Mary-Beth Tomaselli’s adult daughter was in the home that night, so the sister’s gave her sleeping pills so she wouldn’t wake up and witness the death of her grandfather.

The following morning, cops say the sisters staged giving their father CPR before calling 911.

After his death, the women sold their father’s home and split the $120,000 profit between them and a brother, who was not involved in the murder. Cops say they don’t think the motive was financial.

Upon being arrested, the woman admitted to what had happened, cops said.

Sicko Graphic Novelist Ordered to Pay $41.6M in Scalping Slay of Fiancee

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Blake Leibel modeled the slaying of gal pal Iana Kasian after a graphic novel he wrote

LOS ANGELES — A sicko graphic novelist heir to a powerful Canadian clan has been ordered to pay $41.6 million to the family of his fiancee who he brutally tortured and scalped just weeks after she gave birth to their daughter.

Blake Leibel, who is serving life in prison in the 2016 slaying he modeled after a graphic novel he’d written, was found liable in a wrongful death suit brought by Iana Kasian’s family.

“This murder didn’t just kill one person, it really did kill the family, it shattered the family. And the family has had a hard time crawling back from this,” said Jake Finkel, an attorney representing Kasian’s family told the Los Angeles Times.

Leibel, whose family built their fortune in Canadian real estate and chemicals manufacturing, once had a fledgling Hollywood career as a writer and illustrator.

But in 2016, cops found him barricaded in his West Hollywood apartment with Kasian’s mutilated body.

Prosecutors said during Leibel’s trial that he had cut off  Kasian’s scalp, letting all of her blood drain from her body, killing her.

Experts testified that Kasian was alive during much of the torture and died “a very slow, excruciating, painful death.” Prosecutors said the grisly slaying was modeled after the story of “Syndrome,” a graphic novel that Leibel helped create years earlier. I

Leibel moved to California in 2004, married and had a son, living off an allowance from his parents — payouts that totaled $1.8 million over about seven years.

He worked on the animated series “Spaceballs,” based on the 1987 film by Mel Brooks, and collaborated with a team of writers and an illustrator to develop “Syndrome.”

In 2015. he filed for divorce and met Kasian who became pregnant. Prosecutors argued at trial that Leibel had been driven by jealousy over the attention Kasian gave to their newborn, Diana, when he committed the gruesome slaying.

Kasian hailed from Ukraine, where she worked as an attorney prosecuting tax crimes and moved to the U.S. in 2014. The $41.6 million will go to Kasian’s mother, Olga, who is raising the now-3-year-old girl in Ukraine.

“The most precious thing to take away from a little girl, from a woman, is her mother. [Diana’s] mother was taken away from her before she even got a real chance to learn about her, get to know her,” Finkel said. “At one point, she’s going to learn about the reality of her mother, and what happened to her, and her biological father and what he did to her mother.”

 

Family Charged in Woman’s Slay They Blamed on Phony Homeless Man

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Keith Smith has now been charged in the stabbing of his wife Jacquelyn Smith in Baltimore

BALTIMORE — The slaying of woman whose family claimed she had been stabbed by an aggressive panhandler, took a shocking turn when police arrested her relatives who they say made up the story to cover up their role in her death.

Jacquelyn Smith’s murder in December in Baltimore, purportedly by a man asking for change, drew national attention about the plight and dangers of the homeless in the United States.

Just days after the stabbing, Jacquelyn’s husband, Keith, and stepdaughter, Valeria, held a tearful press conference in which they blamed her death on a man who approached their car after she gave money to a woman begging in the rain with a baby. They said the man came up to the car under the guise of thanking Jacquelyn, then reached into the car and snatched her necklace and pocketbook, stabbing her in the process.

But now police say their story was bogus and are charging Keith and Valeria with first-degree murder. The paid were picked up at the U.S.-Mexico border while trying to flee the country, the Baltimore police said.

“The information and evidence points it wasn’t a panhandler,” acting Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison said. “People take advantage of Baltimore. We want to make sure the truth comes out and justice is done.”

Other family members told the Baltimore Sun that they doubted Keith and Valeria’s story from the start and had eyed him as being responsible.

The case drew national attention, causing some — including Oprah Winfrey — to express concern about giving money to panhandlers.

Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby said the Smiths exploited the city and its violence. Smith’s death was one of more than 300 in Baltimore in 2018.

News Orleans Prostitute Charged in Mardi Gras Slaying of Businessman

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Mardi Gras slay suspect Megan Hall has a history of prostitution busts

NEW ORLEANS — A woman with a history of prostitution arrests has been charged in the hotel stabbing death of a Pennsylvania businessman who was in News Orleans for Mardi Gras, police said.

Megan Hall, 25, turned herself in to New Orleans cops  Sunday morning after being sought for questioning in the bloody slaying of Pennsylvania jewelry store chain owner, Patrick Murphy, on Thursday. She has been charged with second-degree murder.

Investigators have not yet said what they believe the motive was in Murphy’s slaying, but said Hall was seen on surveillance footage checking in with Murphy at the Empress Hotel early Thursday, and leaving alone two hours later.

Police were called around noon the next day after hotel staff found Murphy lying dead in bed in a pool of blood. An autopsy determined that Murphy had been stabbed to death.

Murphy, 62, had been in town with his wife for Mardi Gras. He owns Murphy Jewelers with stores in Pottsville, Tilden Township and Center Valley in Pennsylvania.

Patrick Murphy

Hall, of Munford, Tennessee, had several prior prostitution busts in Nashville, Tennessee; New Orleans; and Houston. If convicted, she faces life imprisonment.

Cop Charged With Making Illegal Guns for Outlaw Biker Gangs

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Gregg Marinelli is charged with making guns to sell to biker gangs

PLATTEKILL, New York — A New York police officer has been charged with manufacturing dozens of illegal handguns and assault rifles and selling them to outlaw motorcycle gang members, authorities said.

Gregg Marinelli, 38, who is a sergeant with the New York City Department of Environmental Protection Police, is accused of making the guns — including at least one fully automatic assault rifle — in his Plattekill home.

He then allegedly sold them to people who are legally barred from possessing weapons because they had felony convictions, such as members of outlaw motorcycle groups.

Marinelli is accused of using his marked police car to sometimes deliver the guns, which had no serial numbers, making them hard to trace.

Authorities say the investigation into Marinelli arose out of a recent drug trafficking case, dubbed “Operation Bread, White and Blues,” which looked as cocaine and pain pill trafficking by members and associates of self-professed “outlaw” motorcycle clubs. During that probe, investigators learned that Marinelli alerted a suspect that he was a target.

Investigators recovered numerous guns, gun parts and tools used to manufacture weapons at Marinelli’s home. State Police have also recovered 13 handguns and assault rifles from others which were manufactured and sold by Marinelli.

He faces a slew of charges including criminal sale and criminal possession of a firearm and hindering prosecution. He is being held on $600,000 bond.

Two People Arrested In Alabama Crab Leg Buffet Brawl

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Chequita Jenkins (l) and John Chapman were busted in the crab-driven clash

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama — The claws really came out in this one.

Two people were arrested after an argument over crab legs at a Chinese all-you-can-eat buffet boiled over into a full-scale rumble, police said.

“There’s a woman who’s beating a man. People are moving around, plates are shattering everywhere,” Huntsville police officer Gerald Johnson who was eating at the restaurant at the time told WHNT-TV.

He said people had been waiting for up to 20 minutes for more crab legs to be brought out at the Meteor Buffet and that all hell broke out once they arrived, with people accusing each other of cutting the line.

“Everyone was saying, ‘They cut me in line. She cut me in line. He cut me in line. I was here first,'” Johnson said.

He added that people began sparring using the buffet table tongs.

“It’s not something you typically hear, if you can imagine a fencing match,” Johnson said.

Police arrested John Chapman and Chequita Jenkins who was eating at the buffet with her kids.

“They’d been waiting there for the crab legs for a good 10, 20 minutes. When they finally came out, it’s very heated. Especially if someone is taking more than their fair share,” Johnson recounted.

Chapman is facing disorderly conduct, Jenkins is charged with third-degree assault. Both people could end up paying a few hundred dollars in fines, well above the $10.58 per plate charge at Meteor Buffet.

 

Florida Woman Pulls Knife on Man Who Complained of Her Loud Fart in Store

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Shanetta Wilson’s loud fart led to an ugly standoff

DANIA BEACH, Florida — He smelled it and she dealt it.

A Florida woman was busted for pulling a knife on a man and threatening to “gut him” after he complained about her loudly farting while on line a store.

Police in Dania Beach say Shanetta Wilson, 37, was on line at a Dollar General when she let one rip. When the man standing behind her, John Walker, complained, things got ugly.

According to the police report, Wilson allegedly pulled a small “lock back knife” from her purse, “opened the knife and told the victim she was going to ‘gut’ him.”

Cops say that while Wilson mad the threat, she pulled back her right hand with the knife as if she was going to attack the victim with it.

Walker told officers he  was “in fear that he was going to be stabbed by the defendant,” the affidavit read.

When cops arrived at the scene, they managed to track Wilson down a few blocks after Walker identified her.

Wilson was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill and held on $2,500 bail.

Speeding Driver Killed in Collision With Elephant on Thailand Road

By HardBoiledNews Staff

The elephant was unmoved after being hit by the car and then stomped the driver to death

NAKHON RATCHASIMA, Thailand — A speeding driver was killed after he hit an elephant that then stomped his pickup flat, police said.

Officials in northeast Thailand said the vehicle plowed into the wild pachyderm’s hind legs as sun set at the edge of the Khao Yai National Park, police said.

The angry animal then reared up and crushed the vehicle, killing the driver, 58-year-old Nakharin Boonchai, the Bangkok Post reported.

“Elephants don’t come out during the day but they start coming out when it gets dark,” said Lt. Col. Kemchat Paedkaew, of the Thai police. He said up to two people a year are killed by elephants in areas surrounding the park.

The accident happened on Wednesday on a small road with signs telling drivers to be aware of wild animals that sometimes stray from the park. Locals reported that two elephants had been crossing the road at the time and that they tried to warn Boonchai — who was not from the area — to slow down, but he hit the rear animal as darkness fell.

This was all that was left of the truck after the elephant was done with it

Officials tracked the stricken elephant, which was bleeding from one of its legs but still able to walk, and were monitoring its condition.

Rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine Faces Life For Alleged Role in Violent Street Gang

By HardBoiledNews Staff

The 22-year-old rapper has openly boasted in his songs about his gang connections

NEW YORK — Platinum-selling rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine has been charged with being part of a vicious street gang that pushed drugs and shot numerous people, including an innocent bystander at the Barclays Center earlier this year.

The 22-year-old rapper, whose real name is Daniel Hernandez, was one of five alleged members of the Nine Trey Gangsta Bloods, a brutal Brooklyn street gang, charged in a federal racketeering indictment. He faces up to life in prison if convicted.

At 6ix9ine’s arraignment, the judge deemed him a danger to the community and a flight risk and ordered him held without bail.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Henry B. Pitman noted that there was “troubling” evidence offered by prosecutors that showed that 6ix9ine directed or participated in multiple acts of violence over the last eight months.

“The defendant is quite violent,” prosecutor Michael Longyear said.

Longyear said 6ix9ine was captured on surveillance video sitting in a car and filming his co-defendants carry out a violent robbery against a rival gang member in Times Square.

6ix9ine also was caught on video boasting about shots recently fired by a co-defendant inside the Barclays Center, home of the Brooklyn Nets, Longyear said.

The rapper’s lawyer, Lance Lazzaro, said his client had fired some of his co-defendants as part of his management and security team last week and was offered protection by federal agents on Saturday after some of them were overheard on wiretaps threatening his life. 6ix9ine refused the offer, Lazzaro said.

6ix9ine’s album “Day69: Graduation Day” was among the top records on iTunes following its February release. He is known for the multiplatinum hit “Fefe” with Nicki Minaj, which peaked at No. 3 on the pop charts, and “Stoopid,” featuring the incarcerated rapper Bobby Shmurda.

But 6ix9ine also has had a series of run-ins with law enforcement and has publicly identified himself as a member of the violent Bloods gang.

Prosecutors said the gang carried out acts of murder, robbery and narcotics trafficking in Manhattan, the Bronx and Brooklyn since at least 2013.

6ix9ine recently pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in Brooklyn in connection with a May traffic stop.

In a 2015 case in New York, 6ix9ine was sentenced to probation for his involvement in a sexually explicit video of a 13-year-old girl.

The video, posted on social media, showed the girl performing a sex act on another man while 6ix9ine “stands behind the child making a thrusting motion with his pelvis and smacking her on her buttocks,” according to court documents.

 

Nude Man in Home Invasion Sends Fruit Basket to Apologize to Victims

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Desmond Drakes thought the fruit basket was a nice touch after wrecking his neighbor’s home

TEMPE, Arizona — What a considerate criminal.

An Arizona man who allegedly forced his way into his neighbor’s home while naked and then attacked the people living there, later sent the family a fruit basket to apologize.

Problem for Desmond Michael Drakes, 28, is that by sending the basket, he violated the restraining order the family had gotten against him after the initial assault,

Police in Tempe say Drakes broke into his neighbor’s home on Oct. 23 while naked and allegedly fought with the residents inside, KNXV-TV reported.

Drakes is accused of punching and kicking a teenager in the home and attacking an adult woman, before kicking holes through a large section of drywall.

When cops arrived, they found Drakes at his home next door where he resisted arrest until officers used a Taser to subdue him.

While in custody, Drakes was given a restraining order barring him from harassing the family next door. Drakes violated the order by sending the fruit basket, authorities said.

Drakes later told police he sent the basket as a way to apologize. He has been charged with indecent exposure and criminal trespassing.