Hard Boiled News

True Crime and News of the Weird from around the Globe

Creepy

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

By HardBoiledNews Staff Leave a Comment

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.”

Woman Finds Naked Burglar Gobbling Canned Pineapple in Florida Home

By HardBoiledNews Staff Leave a Comment

Mary Hamilton said the door was open for her to steal pineapple — while naked

ST. AUGUSTINE, Florida — She was a truly uninhibited, uninvited guest.

A Florida substitute teacher was stunned to come home and discover a naked 63-year-old stranger standing in front of an open refrigerator, gorging on canned pineapple, police said.

The teacher, Gloria Day, says when she discovered Mary Hamilton in her house after returning from work and demanded to know what she was doing there. Hamilton started walking towards Day, who beat a hasty retreat out to her guy and called police.

As officers arrived, Hamilton came out wearing a t-shirt that belonged to Day’s son. When they asked her why she went into the house, Hamilton told them: “the door was open for me to come inside.”

Day told cops she had never seen Hamilton before in her life.

Hamilton, who was listed in the police report as “retired,” was charged with unoccupied burglary and theft.

Rehab Center Head Busted for Selling Dope to Clients

By HardBoiledNews Staff Leave a Comment

PITTSBURGH — That’s a pretty awful way to make sure you’ve got repeat customers.

The head of a Pennsylvania drug rehab center has been arrested for selling heroin and fentanyl to the people who had come to him for help, authorities said.

DEA agents accuse David Francis, 66, of using the Next Step Foundation in Mckees Rocks outside of Pittsburgh, as cover to sell drugs to both the center’s clients and others from the community.

When he appeared in court on Friday, Francis told the judge he was going through withdrawal from drugs himself, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported.

Francis

During raids of the center and of Francis’ home, agents located at least three clients who said they had been getting high off of fentanyl he had supplied. Several drug baggies and needles were also found at the rehab center and at Francis’ home.

Investigators say a person who bought drugs from Francis in May died of a fentanyl overdose. The overdose and others in the area triggered the investigation that led to Francis’ arrest.

According to DEA statistics, more than 50% of all overdose deaths in Pennsylvania last year were caused by fentanyl abuse.

Teen Reaches Deal to Avoid Jail Time in Terrifying Slender Man Stabbing

By HardBoiledNews Staff Leave a Comment

WAUKESHA, Wisconsin  — A teen who stabbed a classmate 19 times in a chilling bid to impress a fictional online character known as the Slender Man, has reached a deal with prosecutors  to send her to a psychiatric hospital instead of jail.

Morgan Geyser, 15, was one of two girls who attempted to kill their classmate in the woods in 2014 in a terrifying outburst of violence when they were just 12-years-old.

They said they did it because they  believed that it would keep the Slender Man, a shadowy, horror figure that exists mainly online, from harming their families.

The victim, Payton Leutner, who was also 12 at the time of the attack, survived and managed to crawl out of the woods and get help from a passing cyclist.

Geyser’s co-defendant, Anissa Weier, pleaded guilty last month to reduced charges and a jury found her mentally ill so she will serve at least three years in a psychiatric hospital.

Morgan Geyser, (l) and Anissa Weier

The girls were charged as adults because of the severity of the crime, but during mental health evaluations, Geyser was diagnosed with early-onset schizophrenia. Weier was also diagnosed as being delusional.

The Slender Man myth emerged online about a decade ago, with the fictional character, often described as exceedingly tall and with very long arms,  terrorizing children and threatening danger against their families.

 

Ex-New York Cop Jailed For 5 1/2 Years For Running Hooker Ring

By HardBoiledNews Staff Leave a Comment

 

Eduardo Cornejo, an 11-year NYPD veteran, pleaded guilty to selling an underage girl for sex

NEW YORK — A former New York City cop has been sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison for his involvement in a hooker ring that involved trafficking of underage girls.

Eduardo Cornejo, 35, will serve 66 months in a federal lockup after pleading guilty last month to driving a 16-year-old girl around to meet men for hotel trysts while he was off duty.

An 11-year NYPD veteran, Cornejo lost his job in early 2016 after testing positive for marijuana not long before the FBI busted him for running the sex trafficking ring.

Federal investigators had begun following Cornejo around after getting a tip that a cop was involved in running a sex ring in Staten Island. The FBI spotted him moving at least 10 different women from hotel to hotel and phone taps picked up on him talking about selling sex for cash.

Prosecutor say Cornejo began his illicit side-hustle in late 2015. He was busted after the feds spotted him transporting a girl who looked younger than 18. When they interviewed her, she showed them an ID that said she had just turned 18, but admitted she had been hooking for Cornejo even before her birthday.

Cornejo had his bail revoked late last year after prosecutors submitted evidence that showed he had continued to make the rounds of several “hot sheet” motels around Staten Island and had poste sex ads online even after his arrest.

“The subject in this case used information he knew from being a sworn member of law enforcement to elude officers who would know he was doing something illegal,” said FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge William Sweeney.  “He was aware of the laws, and continued to break them even after being arrested.”

‘Angel of Death’ Nurse Convicted in Numerous Patient Deaths, Dies in Prison

By HardBoiledNews Staff Leave a Comment

 

Orville Majors during his trial in 1999

MICHIGAN CITY, Indiana — A diabolical Indiana hospital worker who became known as “the angel of death” for intentionally killing as many as 150 mostly elderly patients, has died while serving a 360-year sentence, officials said.

Orville Majors, 56, was convicted in 1999 in the death of six patients at Vermillion County Hospital who had been administered heart stopping drugs. But he had long been eyed in dozens more suspicious deaths during a 22 month period between 1993 and 1995.

Indiana prison officials said Majors had collapsed in his cell on Sunday at Indiana State Prison and later died at a nearby hospital. An autopsy determined he had died of natural causes, WANE-TV reported.

Majors’ reign of terror was relatively short after hospital officials soon detected an alarming spike in unexplained deaths. In total, the hospital had typically recorded an average of 26 deaths annually in the years before his arrival. But the number shot up over 100 ater Majors began working there as a nurse.

During his sentencing, the judge called Majors “a paragon of evil.”

His earliest projected release date had been July 1, 2177.

Dad Chasing Daughter While Wearing Clown Mask Sparks Neighborhood Panic

By HardBoiledNews Staff Leave a Comment

BOARDMAN, Ohio — A man trying to discipline his 6-year-old daughter by chasing her around while wearing a clown mask, sparked a panic is his town, leading a neighbor to fire a shot into the ground, cops said.

Vernon Barrett Jr., donned the mask to chase his 6-year-old daughter around the neighborhood in Boardman, but she grew so terrified that she hopped into a stranger’s car and ran into a stranger’s house, shouting “A clown is trying to get me,” cops said.

The led Dion Santiago to run out of the apartment with a gun and fire a single shot into the ground the frighten the clown away, WKBN-TV reported.

Barrett was hit with child endangerment and inducing panic charges while Santiago was charged with using weapons while drunk, cops said.

He told cops the girl’s mother is in jail for child endangerment after being convicted of breaking four of the child’s ribs.

N.J. Woman Walking Dog Narrowly Escapes Terrifying Coyote Standoff

By HardBoiledNews Staff Leave a Comment

SADDLE RIVER, New Jersey — Cops are on the hunt for a pack of wild-eyed, killer coyotes that surrounded a woman and nearly tore apart her dog in a sinister suburban standoff.

Police in Saddle River, New Jersey have warned residents to let small children and pets outside alone following Thursday’s terrifying episode.

Cops say the woman had been walking her dog down a suburban street when a pack of about five snarling coyotes began circling around them. They eventually came within six feet of the woman and her pooch.

They only gave up their pursuit when a passing motorist began honking his horn, scaring the beasts away.

Animal control officials have suggested residents consider carrying a compressed air horn or a walking stick to fend off any similar encounters.

Man Calls Cops After Finding Nude Woman Sleeping in His Bed

By HardBoiledNews Staff Leave a Comment

Michelle Watkins turned out to be an unhappy finish to a California man’s day

ANDERSON, California — In most instances, coming home to find a naked woman in bed would be considered a good thing, but not this time.

A California man called cops when he came from to work and found a completely nude woman that he had never seen before sleeping in his bed, police said.

When the man arrived at home, he first discovered a package that had been delivered for him had been opened. Then he spotted a half-eaten sandwich on the kitchen counter next to an open can of beer, the Anderson police said.

He went upstairs and saw signs that someone had taken a shower. Then he spotted a pile of women’s clothes and a wet towel next to the bed, where Michelle Irene Watkins, 33, of Junction City, was curled up asleep.

Watkins woke up and tried to leave the house, but the homeowner followed her out as he called police.

When officers arrived, they found she had stolen a pack of the man’s smokes. They then returned her clothes and took her to jail on burglary charges. She was held on $50,000 bond.

Seven Live Sharks Rescued From Tiny Pool in New York Basement

By HardBoiledNews Staff Leave a Comment

LAGRANGEVILLE, New York — We’re going to need a bigger boat.

New York state officials seized seven live sharks found swimming in a 15-foot, above-ground pool in a basement of a home nearly 100 miles from the ocean.

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation said they got a tip someone was harboring illegal wildlife in the home in Lagrangeville. When they raided the home on Aug. 23, they found seven live sandbar sharks, as well as two dead leopard sharks and a dead hammerhead shark.

Officials said the sharks all measured between two- and four-feet long and were kept in the 15-foot diameter pool.

It is believed the sharks were being raised to be sold as exotic pets which is illegal in New York.

Wildlife experts from aquariums in New York City and on Long Island,  assessed the sharks’ conditions, took their blood and transferred them to a specially outfitted transport truck. They were then driven to an aquarium in Riverhead, New York where they will be held until the case is closed. They are expected to survive.

No arrests have been made, but authorities are still investigating.