Hard Boiled News

True Crime and News of the Weird from around the Globe

Woman Arrested for Beheading Beau, Asks Cops to ‘Let Me Get My Heads’

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Roena Cheryl Mills is undergoing a mental health evaluation in the slaying of her boyfriend

LERONA, West Virginia — A woman who allegedly chopped her boyfriend’s head off, chillingly told cops, “You have to take me back and let me get my heads,” as they put her in the back of a squad car, police said.

Roena Cheryl Mills, 41, was found covered in blood and wearing a glove on her left hand when cops arrived at her Lerona, West Virginia home on April 1, cops said.

Using a fake name, Mills claimed she had been bloodied after being pushed through a glass door, officers said.

But she the grew combative and officers arrested her. Once inside a police cruiser, Mills said: “You have to take me back and let me get my heads,” said, according to WVNS-TV.

Later that day, cops found the decapitated body of a man, who was later identified as 29-year-old Bo Allen White, was  found on another block in town.

A judge ordered that Mills undergo a thorough mental status evaluation to determine if she is capable of standing trial in White’s brutal death.

Mills, of Rural Retreat, Virginia, remains in custody on $210,000 cash-only bail, jail records show.

Twin Sisters Who Received Pioneering Surgery Dead in Apparent Suicide Pact

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Twin sisters Sara and Amanda Eldritch suffered debilitating OCD

CANON CITY, Colorado — A pair of twin sisters who had undergone a pioneering surgery three years ago to cure their extreme obsessive-compulsive disorder, have been found dead in what appears to have been a suicide pact.

The Fremont County Sheriff’s office in Colorado, said Sara and Amanda Eldritch, both 33, had been found dead of gunshot wounds in a car parked near Royal Gorge Bridge and Park.

Police said the deaths appeared to be self-inflicted, the Canon City Daily Record reported.

The sisters were the first people to receive deep brain stimulation — a procedure often used for patients with Parkinson’s disease — to treat their debilitating OCD.

Before the spring 2015  surgery, a story in a publication put out by the Littleton Adventist Hospital, described the sisters as feelin “at war with their own existence. And in a desperate cry for help as adolescents, they tried taking their own lives.”

The deep brain stimulation was intended to inhibit overactive parts of the brain, halting anxiety and making therapy more effective.

A year after the surgery, the twins said they had begun to feel at peace with themselves.

“I feel like I can identify my anxiety. I can actually see where it’s coming from. And I feel like I can deal with it,” Sarah Eldritch said.

A year later,  the sisters were featured on an episode of the TV show, “The Doctors,” where they were taken for spa treatments separately from each other to “help them break through their codependency.”

They also spent the night in two separate hotels as part of the show.

“I did kind of like the contrast of, this is what it’s like to be alone, and this is what it’s like to be back with my sister and friends,” Amanda Eldritch said at the time. “I like having two things to compare.”

 

Newlywed Sentenced to Death in Life Insurance Scalping Slay of Husband

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Annie Abdulla was charged with plotting the scalping death of her husband just months after they married in order to collect his life insurance

NEW AMSTERDAM, Guyana — A newlywed and her cousin have been sentenced to death for the brutal scalping slaying of the woman’s husband on a South American beach as part of a twisted plot to collect his life insurance.

Hemwattie Abdulla, 41, who is known as Annie, and her cousin, Seerojnie Permaul, were convicted earlier this month of plotting to kill Abdulla’s husband, a New York City cab driver, on a trip back to their native country of Guyana back in 2012.

Abdulla fainted after receiving her sentence and had to be revived before she was led away to spend the rest of her days in prison awaiting execution, the Stabroek News reported.

Her newlywed husband Abdool Shakeel Majid’s blood-splattered body was found dead on a beach with his scalp missing in April after he and his wife, whom he had married just four months earlier, had traveled home for a two week holiday.

After he had gone missing, Abdulla returned to New York where she told relatives that her husband had remained in South America for a few days longer while she came back to the U.S. to tend to her daughter who had broken her arm.

But while she was back in the U.S., investigators discovered blood in the trunk of the car the couple had rented as well as Abdulla’s driver’s license. They called her back to Guyana to identify Majid’s body, but arrested her when she arrived at the police station.

Authorities said that after getting married, Majid had taken out a sizeable life insurance policy.

Abdulla admitted to police that she had paid Permaul $5,000 to help her kill her husband, but said it was because he regularly beat her and she was desperate to get out of the marriage.

 

 

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

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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.

Ex-MLB Pitcher Awarded $2.3M in Career-Ending Fist Fight With Man High on LSD

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Greg Reynolds claimed his career was cut short when he broke his pitching hand in a fight with an intruder

SAN MATEO, California — A one-time top major league pitching prospect whose career was derailed when he broke his hand punching a drugged-up intruder has been awarded $2.3 million in damages by a California jury.

Greg Reynolds, 32, who was drafted second overall by the Colorado Rockies in the 2006 draft ahead of stars like Clayton Kershaw, Tim Lincecum and Max Scherzer, broke knuckles in his pitching hand after getting in a scrape with a naked man high on LSD.

Dominic Pintarelli, 19, had been partying at the home of Reynolds’ neighbor, Connor Pope, in January 2016, when he wandered out naked and began trashing Reynold’s mail box. When Reynolds confronted him, Pintarelli began swinging, leading Reynolds to punch back.

“I only hit him one time, and it was bad enough to where I knew immediately it was broken,” Reynolds told the San Jose Mercury News. “The biggest problem was that I broke my index finger knuckle, the most important finger for throwing the ball. It affected all my pitches.”

Reynolds said he was never able to regain the ability to make his fastball move through the strike zone after the injury, effectively ending his career.

The San Mateo jury found both Pintarelli and Pope liable for Reynold’s injury, and ordered they pay him and his wife $2.3 million in damages.

Reynolds made his major league debut with the Rockies in 2008 and bounced back and forth between the big leagues and the minors with a stint in Japan until his career ended in 2016. He finished with a record of 6-and-11 and an ERA of 7.01 in 33 big league games.

NYC Man Celebrating Legal Win, Loses $96K Settlement in Romp With Prostitutes

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Cops say these three working girls were partying with the victim just before robbers stole his legal settlement cash

NEW YORK  — A man celebrating a $96,000 windfall from a legal settlement by frolicking with three prostitutes in a Bronx motel, lost it all when two armed, masked men barged in and stole the cash, police said.

Saul Mata Vellegas, 30, had the money with him in a suitcase at the Van Cortlandt Motel on Sunday night, when he called an escort service for some female companionship, cops said.

After partying with the women for a few hours, one of them suggested she call a friend to bring over some beer and cigarettes. But instead, two masked men brandishing guns showed up and snatched the cash.

“I am haunted by this,” Vellegas told the New York Post. “I keep playing it over in my mind. I was surprised they pulled a gun. I said ‘What is going on. I yelled help,help. I was depending on that money to move my family. I am nervous all the time now. I keep replaying it over and over. I see the weapon they used clearly over and over. I needed that money badly.”

Cops are hunting for both the suspected gunmen and the three women, who are wanted for questioning.

Police said Vellegas had received the cash as part of a settlement of a lawsuit involving a car accident.

 

Lotto Winner-Turned Junkie Pleads Guilty to Bank Robbery Spree

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James Allen Hayes’ life took a dark turn after his big lotto win

LOS ANGELES — Winning the lotto was a life-changing event for James Allen Hayes in more ways than one.

The man who took home a $19 million lotto jackpot back in 1998, faces up to 20 years behind bars for a string of bank robberies he committed after he blew his fortune on a soul-crushing heroin habit.

Hayes, 55, pleaded guilty to committing multiple bank heists between April and September in southern California last year in which he handed over threatening notes to tellers and walking out with thousands in cash, prosecutors said.

Authorities dubbed him the PT Cruiser Bandit, for the car he drove to his heists, or the Seasoned Bandit, for his salt and pepper hair.

Hayes was working as a Ventura security guard supervisor on the graveyard shift in January of 1998 when he won a $19 million SuperLotto jackpot.

“I’m not going to blow the money,” Hayes told the Los Angeles Times back in 1998. “I know I’ll change. But only for the better. … Mainly what I want to do is help out my family and friends in need.”

While it seemed a godsend, things went downhill quickly for Hayes.

His ex-wife took half the jackpot and left, with Hayes ending up with a $6 million lump sum. He then developed a $1,000-a-week heroin habit.

When h was arrested by the FBI in October, he was living in an abandoned garage, the FBI said.

 

He is scheduled to be sentenced in June.

Rancher Busted for Illegally Killing More Than 130 Protected Birds of Prey

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Officials found more than 130 dead birds on Richard Parker’s home.

STANDISH, California — Wildlife officials have uncovered a serial killer who they say is responsible for the shooting deaths of more than 130 hawks and other protected birds of prey.

The California Department of Fish & Wildlife says it received an anonymous tip from a someone who had witnessed a man shooting a hawk out of the sky near Standish, a small town o the Nevada border.

A survey of the area turned up the carcasses of nine dead raptors on the grounds of a ranch. Investigators then got a search warrant for the property where they found an additional 126 bird carcassess.

Property owner Richard Parker, 67, was placed under arrest and charged with multiple crimes against wildlife and protected species charges.

Officials say the birds were mostly red tail hawks, but there were also owls and an uncommon, migratory ferruginous hawk. They also found a taxidermied mountain lion and other migratory birds that they believe were illegally taken.

“Poaching crimes of this egregious nature against raptors is unprecedented in California,” said David Bess, deputy director of the Department of Fish & Wildlife. “The local raptor population may take years to recover from these killings.”

Parker faces up to six months in jail if convicted and fines that could amount to $5,000 per dead bird.

 

Lightning Strikes African Church, Killing 15 and Injuring 140

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The lightning hit a Seventh Day Adventist church in a mountainous part of Rwanda

NYARUGURU, Rwanda —  A bolt of lightning that struck a church in Africa left 15 people dead and 140 injured, authorities said.

The traumatic weather event at the Gihembe Seventh-day Adventist Church in southern Rwanda struck during a crowded mass on Saturday where hundreds had gathered to listen to a visiting choir.

“Suddenly, there was a big bang, I saw a thunderbolt strike worshippers. We all fell down for minutes,” church elder Emmanuel Ruremesha told Rwanda’s the New Times.

People who rushed to help were struck by the unnerving sight of hundreds of people lying motionless on the ground.

“It was very terrifying to see. I started moving back with my legs shaking. I realized I had to go home for my phone to call local authorities,” said Marceline Mukamana.

Church officials were devastated by news of the event.

“On behalf of the world family of Seventh-day Adventists circling the globe, we have offered our deep sympathy and Christian love to all our members in the Rwanda Union … especially to the families who have lost loved ones and to those who were injured from this traumatic event,” said Pastor Ted. Wilson, president of the General Conference of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church.

Fifteen members of the church were killed

Serious lightning strikes are not uncommon in that area of Rwanda, which is located in a mountainous region on the border of Burundi. An framer was also killed by lightning at a different location during the same rainstorm, officials said.

Rwandan authorities have urged residents in the region to install lightning rods on all buildings.

 

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.