Hard Boiled News

True Crime and News of the Weird from around the Globe

Teen Who Killed Mom in Fight Over Pizza Delivery Gets 15 Years

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Arnav Uppalapati (r) strangled his strict mother after she slapped him for ordering a pizza

RALEIGH, North Carolina — A teen who killed his mother after getting into a fight with her over him ordering a pizza has been sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Arnav Uppalapati was 16-years-old when he strangled his strict 51-year-old mother in 2015 after she slapped him for ordering in the food to their home in Cary, North Carolina, authorities said.

“His mother was strict,” Assistant District Attorney Howard Cummings said, according to the Raleigh News Observer. “She wanted him to put his emphasis on his education. It was all just bottled up inside.”

Uppalapati then dragged Nalini Tellaprolu’s body into the garage and placed a plastic bag over her head. The following day, he called police saying he found his mother dead in the garage after he returned home from school.

It took cops a year to charge Uppalapati after they discovered his DNA on the tightly tied knot of the plastic bag.

The arrest shocked North Carolina’s Indian community, in which Tellaprolu, who worked at Duke Medical Center, was well known.

Now 19, Uppalapati will serve between 12 and 15 years in prison, a sentence officials described as “the absolute most lenient” considering his age and immaturity.

78-Year-Old Punches Out Bear in Terrifying Back Yard Attack

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Sonny Pumphrey wasn’t going to take no guff from some bear

WHITE OAK, North Carolina — Really, don’t mess with this guy.

A tough-as-nails 78-year-old punched out a bear that attacked him outside his North Carolina home, suffering only some cuts and bruises before driving the beast off.

Sonny Pumphrey said he was walking down his driveway in White Oak, when the mother beat wandered by with her two cubs. The cubs bolted, but the mother was ready to fight.

“She made a charging dead run at me. That sucker was eyeball-to-eyeball to me,” he told WLOS-TV.

But before it could get to him, Pumphrey says he punched the bear in the nose, casing the creature to duck down and bite his hip.

“She kind of shook me a little bit, and I’m still … I’m hitting her steady on the top of the head just as hard as I could swing, man, for dear life,” he said. “I just continue pounding and pounding and pounding and she’s continuing trying to bite me.

“And like I said, she got a hold of me and then shook me a little bit, then she let go and she took a swat at me. And when she took a swat at me she knocked me about eight feet over on the concrete,” he continued.

Hearing screams, his wife Betty ran outside with their Yorkshire Terrier and was shocked to see her husband trading blows with the angry beast.

“I saw her stand up and rear her paw back and all I seen was a mouthful of teeth,” she said. “And I just knew he was going to be gone.”

But between their dog barking and the two of them yelling, the bear got scared and ran off. Betty then got a shotgun and fired a shot in the woods to make sure the animal didn’t decide to return.

Wildlife officers tracked the bear but were unable to locate it. They say food has been scarce at higher elevations, so bears have been foraging lower.

Pumphrey had to get rabies shots, but was otherwise okay.

“I could have been dead. I could have been really cut up bad,” he said.

“We have a lot to be thankful for because we were both very, very lucky,” Betty said.

Woman Found Not Guilty of Biting Ex’s Testicles During Argument

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Martinne Delavega claimed she only bit her boyfriend’s testicles in self defense

JACKSONVILLE, North Carolina — A woman who admitted chomping down on her boyfriend’s testicles but argued it was self-defense has been found not guilty of malicious castration.

Martinne Delavega, 54, said she only starting biting her boyfriend after he pinned her down and started choking her during an argument that started when she told him to move out. She testified that she thought she was biting his leg.

“I thought, he’s gonna kill me,” Delavaga testified, according to WITN-TV. “I couldn’t get away from him. I just started biting, I thought I bit his leg and then he yelled ‘you bit my balls’!”

But the man had testified that he only punched her to stop her from biting him and that she had taken a chomp out of his chest and arms before ripping open his scrotum.

He required stitches following the 2015 attack but says he still has psychological and physical problems.

“I live in this community. I work in this community. It’s embarrassing,” he told jurors.

Delavega was also cleared of assault charges. Her attorney, Matt Silva, called the verdict “a poor definition of victory,” given that she “endured three years of being vilified.”

Cold-Hearted Teen Sticks Up 9-Year-Old at Lemonade Stand

By HardBoiledNews Staff

The thief made off with about $20 in lemonade money

MONROE, North Carolina — This will leave a sour taste in your mouth.

Cops in North Carolina are hunting for a teen who allegedly held up a lemonade stand, pointing a gun at a 9-year-old boy and demanding his money.

The Union County Sheriff’s office says the stick-up occurred in broad daylight on Saturday, when the teenage boy wearing a camouflage hat and black shirt approached the young boy’s lemonade at a roundabout and pulled out a handgun.

He then stuck the gun into the boy’s stomach and demanded he hand over the proceeds from the day’s business. After the boy handed over around $20, the teen ran off.

Cops later found a camouflage hat and black-colored BB gun plus the stolen metal tin the young boy had kept his money, along a trail in the woods nearby.

Deputies say they believe the teen had stashed a bicycle in the woods before walking over to the lemonade stand to rob it.

Other Man Ordered to Pay $8.8 Million to Jilted Hubby For Stealing Wife

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Keith King (upper left) accused Francisco Huizar (bottom left) of stealing his wife, Danielle

DURHAM, North Carolina — Imagine having to pay the divorce settlement without even having gotten divorced or even having  been married in the first place.

A North Carolina judge ordered a Texas man to pay $8.8 million to the ex-husband of the woman with whom he had an affair.

Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson awarded Keith King the giant sum in compensatory and punitive damages from his wife Danielle’s Texan lover, Francisco Huizar III.

King, who runs a BMX bike stunt show business, had sued last year Huizar for criminal conversation and alienation of affection, accusing him of breaking up his marriage.

As it turns out, North Carolina is one of a handful of states that let jilted spouses sue people when someone has sex with a married person before separation, according to the Durham Herald-Sun. Huizar’s lawyer said his client — who lives in San Antonio and earns $84,000 as a marketing tour manager — will appeal.

Keith and Danielle King married on April 3, 2010 and she went to work for his company, BMX Stunt Shows. They now have a 5-year-old daughter.

Keith King’s attorney argued that the affair cost the company money and that he was forced to fire his wife when he discovered the affair and moved to divorce her. He also had to spend more money on household help, child care, and counseling.

Huizar’s attorney said her client was not responsible, as the King’s marriage was already falling apart when he entered the picture. His attorney argued that Keith King, who is 15 years older than his 33-year-old wife, was manipulative, controlled her access to money, forced her to wear bikinis and stiletto heels and made her watch porn.

Danielle and Huizar ended up meeting at a BMX show in New York in 2015 and began the affair, which continued for nearly a year. She testified that she pursued the affair and that her marriage to King was troubled from the start.

According to testimony, Huizar and Danielle met up for trysts in Durham and regularly talked on the phone. In February 2016, the married woman’s lover even joined her on a spa vacation paid for by her husband.

Keith King’s lawyer argued that Huizar’s ‘relentless behavior’ made it impossible for the Kings to save their troubled marriage.

After several attempts to patch things up, the couple separated in January 2017, according to Keith’s lawyer.

In early January, Danielle moved out of her husband’s house and rented an apartment, with Huizar on the lease. When her estranged husband came by one day and found her lover there, the men came to blows and Huizar put him in a choke-hold, according to court papers. His lawyer argued that Huizar was only trying to protect his terrified girlfriend from her husband.

When Judge Hudson delivered the verdict at the conclusion of the civil trial, he noted that it was a ‘textbook case’ of how not to end a marriage in North Carolina.

Man With Gun Face Tattoo Busted on Illegal Gun Possession Charges

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Michael Vines learned that having a face tattoo means he will never get away from cops for long

GREENVILLE, South Carolina — He must really believe in truth in advertising.

A man with a handgun tattooed on his face has been charged in South Carolina with having an illegal handgun, cops said.

Michael Vines was caught after a recent car accident, when he was spotted tossing a Smith & Wesson .38 caliber handgun into a nearby grassy field as police arrived.

The gun was later recovered and it was determined that because of his past criminal record, Vines is not legally allowed to own a gun.

Vines was charged with driving with a suspended license, driving too fast for conditions and unlawful possession of a firearm, according to the Greenville police.

 

N. Carolina Truck Driver Jailed For Lying About Role in Bosnian Massacre

By HardBoiledNews Staff

A woman weeps at a memorial to those slain in the Srebrenica massacre

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina — A Serbian man who came to the U.S. in the 1990s as a refugee from the bloody Balkan wars, has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for lying about his role in one of the war’s most brutal massacres.

Milan Trisic, 55, admitted that he was a member of the feared Bratunac Brigade during the war in Bosnia and Herzogovina and took part in the bloody Srebrenica massacre in 1995 in which up to 8,000 Muslim men and boys were summarily executed.

The killings are considered the worst war atrocity in Europe since World War II, and late last year, former Serbian general, Ratko Miladic, was found guilty by a U.N. tribunal of genocide and crimes against humanity for commanding the slaughter at Srebrenica and the siege of Sarajevo. He was sentenced to life in prison.

When Trisic applied for refugee status, prosecutors say he claimed to have lived in Serbia during the war, hiding the fact that he was involved in arresting and beating thousands of  Muslim prisoners and transporting them to be killed and buried in mass graves.

Once he moved to the United States, Trisic settled in Charlotte, North Carolina, where he became a truck driver and raised a family. He eventually obtained a green card by similarly lying about his wartime activities on his application.

“Those who wish to live in the United States ought to respect our laws, support our national security, and pursue residency legally and honestly.  Anything less is inexcusable,” said U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

Trisic will be deported back to Serbia upon completion of his sentence. It is unclear if he will face war crimes charges upon his return to his homeland.

Man Breaks Into Pizza Hut, Calls 911, Claims He is Jesus and is Hungry

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Richard Lee Quintero said he was Jesus and needed pizza

HIGH POINT, North Carolina — Jesus, like the pizza dough, has risen.

A North Carolina man was busted after calling 911 and proclaiming that he was Jesus Christ and had broken into a Pizza Hut because he was “starving,” police said.

Richard Lee Quintero, 46, broke into the High Point eatery early Wednesday and made the divine claim, according to audio of the 911 call obtained by WFMY-TV.

“Yes, this is Jesus Christ and I just broke into the Pizza Hut,” Quintero said. “I broke the window. Jesus is here now, he’s back to earth.”

When the operator asked Quintero if he worked for the restaurant, he replied:  “No, I just broke in, had a pizza.”

He then added that he also had a Mountain Dew. “I’m Jesus.”

Quintero also said he was “tired of the Judases here on earth” and that he was starving and “everybody’s been treating me mean.” He also reportedly told dispatchers that he has schizophrenia.

“I broke the window. Jesus is here now, he’s back to earth.”

Quintero was arrested without incident ad was charged with felony breaking and entering and felony larceny.

Inmate Serving Life Finds Death After Wrecking Stolen Vehicle in Escape Bid

By HardBoiledNews Staff

David Woods was serving life but met his end in this ditch after his escape from prison in North Carolina

GASTONIA, North Carolina — All’s well that ends well.

An inmate serving a life sentence for murdering an 89-year-old woman was killed when he stole a truck while trying to escape from a work detail and crashed into a ditch, police said.

David Woods, 46, was on an outside work assignment from the Gaston Correctional Center in North Carolina, when he managed to take off in a city-owned pickup truck, the Department of Public Safety said.

But Woods eventually lost control of the vehicle, driving into a ditch and flipping over multiple times.

“I seen that truck just going in the air and just flipping over, over, and over and going into this ravine right there,” witness Ruth Varney told WSOC-TV. “And then after that I’d seen a bunch of smoke and dirt and everything. It was pretty devastating.”

Woods had been serving a life sentence since 1995 for second-degree murder. He had pleaded guilty to the 1993 beating death of an 89-year-old woman in an alcohol and weed-fueled stupor while trying to burglarize her trailer with another man, Jeffrey Dickens.

After the killing, the pair made their way to a known crack cocaine house to purchase drug.

Dickens, 44, was convicted of first-degree murder and also received a life sentence.

Prison records show that Woods racked up 31 infractions in his 23 years behind bars, for possessing unauthorized funds, weapon possession, provoking assault, profane language and substance possession.

The state division of prisons is investigating the circumstances surrounding Woods’ escape.

 

Parents Who Went on Dr. Phil for Help Finding Daughter Charged With Her Death

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Erica Parsons adoptive parents went on Dr. Phil two years after she disappeared pleading for public help finding her even though she was already dead

SALISBURY, North Carolina — A pair of adoptive parents who went on Dr. Phil pleading for help finding their missing daughter who disappeared in 2011 have been charged with killing her, authorities said.

Casey and Sandy Parsons, who are already in prison for tax fraud, were indicted by a North Carolina grand jury in the slaying of their 13-year-old  daughter, Erica Parsons.

Her dismembered body was found in a shallow grave in September 016 in South Carolina, five years after she vanished. Already in prison, adoptive dad Sandy Parsons had shown investigators where he buried the child shortly before Christmas in 2011.

The teen had lived with her adoptive parents in Rowan County from 2000 until the time of her disappearance, police said.

The couple have been charged with first-degree murder, child abuse, concealment of death and obstruction of justice..

Forensic experts say the girl appeared to have endured numerous beatings, malnourishment and abuse over the years, according to the Charlotte Observer.

She was not even reported missing until 2013, when the couple went on “Dr. Phil” McGraw’s national TV show to plead for help in finding her.

Sandy Parsons admitted he locked Erica in a closet, beat her “with belt buckle” and bent her fingers back and choked her, according to the Observer.

Both continued to collect adoption benefits after Erica’s disappearance and were convicted of tax fraud in 2014.