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.

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Four Dead in Small Plane Crash After Pilot Suffers Heart Attack

By HardBoiledNews Staff

No one survived the plane crash after the pilot had a heart attack

GUTHRIE CENTER, Iowa — Four people were killed in a small plane crash when the pilot apparently suffered a heart attack leaving it to a student pilot to attempt to land safely, authorities said.

The plane, a 1979 single-engine Piper, disappeared from radar Friday night after the student pilot alerted Iowa air traffic controllers that the instructor had fallen ill.

Authorities were prepared for an emergency landing at Guthrie Center airport, but the plane never made it to the airport. The remnants of the plane were found in a cow pasture about four miles from the airport, KCCI-TV reported.

All four passengers — who had been flying from Le Mars to Osceola for a hunting trip — were declared dead at the scene.

Police identified the victims as Edward Ralph Anderson, 49, who was the pilot, Patrick Kellen, 36, Tyler Douvia, 28, and 15-year-old Samantha Clark.

The crash is being investigated by the Federal Aviation Administration.

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15-Year-Old Florida Boy Admits Killing Mom After Fight Over Bad Grade

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Gregory Ramos admitted killing his mom, Gail Cleavenger, over a bad grade he got at school

DeBARY, Florida — A 15-year-old Florida boy admitted strangling his mother and burying her body behind a church after arguing with her over a bad grade at school.

Gregory Logan Ramos had tried to cover up for the crime by staging a burglary at his family’s home and reporting his mother missing, but his story quickly unravelled, police said.

“He went to school, left school early, which is where his story began to fall apart,” Volusia County Sheriff Michael Chitwood said.

Ramos told police that he and his mother, Gail Clevenger, 46, got into an argument late Thursday over a D he got in school. His father was away on business in Seattle at the time, cops said.

After his mother went to sleep, cops say he went into her room and strangled her to death. He then put her body in a wheelbarrow, loaded her into her van and drove her to the nearby River City Church and buried her body beneath a fire pit.

He then enlisted the help of two high school pals, Dylan Ceglarek and Brian Porras, both 17, to ransack his home to make it look like a robbery had occurred.

“He then made what he described as ‘Grammy-winning’ phone call to 911 to report an incident which did not occur,” Chitwood said.

Ceglarek and Porras were both arrested and face criminal charges.

Ramos told cops that he had come from school to find the house a wreck, with computer, a Playstation 4 and rifle having been stolen. He also said his mother was missing and her van was left running in the driveway.

But under questioning, Ramos confessed to murdering his mother. Investigators later recovered the supposedly stolen property, as well as a shovel and broom Ramos used to bury Cleavenger and straighten up the scene around the fire pit.

Her body was later dug up from beneath the pit. Ramos faces first-degree murder charges, Chitwood said.

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Doc Diagnoses Patient With Dementia to Avoid Paying Back $300K Loan

By HardBoiledNews Staff

The doc took $300,000 from a patient to save her practice, then declared that the lender had lost her marbles

COLUMBIA, Tennessee — A crooked doctor borrowed $300,000 from an elderly patient and then declared that she had dementia when she tried to recoup the cash, authorities said.

Suellen Lee, 79, has given up her medical license after officials discovered that she took the sizable loan from a longtime patient and then diagnosed her with the dementia when she asked for the money back, state health records show.

Lee, an internal medicine specialist, insisted she had been “set up” by her patient and only retired because she thought she couldn’t win her case.

“It was all lies and I was told that if I fought it would be extremely costly to me,” Lee told the Tennessean newspaper. “And there would still be no benefit. There was no chance of reversal.”

Officials said Lee borrowed the money after her medical clinic fell into financial straits.

The patient had been treated by Lee for 25 years and had once been a personal friend and a co-worker. State records say Lee sent a letter about the woman’s diagnosis to her daughter, who in turn forwarded the letter to the patient’s bank, which then blocked her access to her accounts..

When questioned by investigators, Lee admitted that she had made the diagnosis based off of “observation” alone, and did not use any testing method or seek a second opinion from a mental health professional.

A psychologist who later assessed the patient, found “no indication of dementia,” the records say.

Lee  said the case wasn’t as it appeared, and that she had borrowed the money 20 years ago and had regularly paid it back in installments. She also stood by her diagnosis, which occurred about two years ago, saying the patient’s behavior had grown erratic behavior and she showed signs of memory loss. Lee insisted her former patient later misled the psychologist.

“She wanted to hurt me because she was so angry with me, because I had said that she was demented,” Lee said.

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Teen Charged in Road Rage Killing of 73-Year-Old Baltimore Grandad

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Mikayal Hendricks, 17, allegedly shot 73-year-old Lawrence Price for looking at him the wrong way

BALTIMORE — A trigger-happy teen has been arrested in the road rage shooting of a 73-year-old motorist he thought had looked at him funny.

Baltimore police said they had taken 17-year-old Mikayal Hendricks into custody and charged him with first-degree murder in Oct, 4 shooting death of Lawrence “Tony” Price.

Investigators say Price had been sitting a car waiting at a red light just two miles from his home, when another car pulled up and Hendricks began jawing with the elder man, accusing him of staring.

Police say Hendricks then pulled a gun and opened fire, hitting Price in the chest. He died a short time later at a nearby hospital.

“They said it was some young people,” Tony’s wife Cheryl told WBFF-TV. “I don’t understand why the young generation feels like they’ve just got to shoot up everything. It just makes no sense.”

She said Price, a retired mason, had just picked up her daughter’s boyfriend from work and was driving home when he stopped at a red light.

“Another car drove up next to them and asked them what they were looking at,” she said. “My husband, being my husband, said, ‘We weren’t talking to you.'”

Hendricks’ mother said her son had been arrested for carjacking last year and she had been trying to get his probation revoked for violating his court-ordered curfew, but that police hadn’t responded.

 

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Medieval Re-Enactor Killed in Freak Lance Mishap at Kentucky Fair

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Peter Barclay, also known as Master Terafan Greydragon, died after his lance flipped backwards and impaled him

WILLIAMSTOWN, Kentucky (Oct. 12, 2018) — An avid Medieval knight re-enactor was killed in a tragic mishap at a fair in which he impaled himself with his own lance, officials and relatives said.

Peter Barclay, 52, of Virginia, was killed while performing as “Master Terafan Greydragon” at a Society for Creative Anachronism event in Williamstown, Kentucky, on Saturday, according to WLWT-TV.

Barclay’s brother, John, said in a post on Facebook that the accident happened “when his metal-tipped lance, used for catching rings (not jousting), hit the ground and flipped.”

The lance then hit Barclay in the sternum and impaled him. He died while being airlifted to a nearby hospital. The death was considered an accident, authorities said.

Barclay was a retired lieutenant colonel in the army and left behind a wife and two kids, his brother said.

“He died doing what he loved, but will still be missed,” John Barclay said.

In a statement, the Society for Creative Anachronism, which organizes Medieval re-enactments said it was investigating what exactly happened to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

“A brother in arms to many of us lost his life in the pursuit of our game.The Society’s Equestrian Marshal, Master Terafan Greydragon, died while competing in an equestrian game at an SCA event in Kentucky,” the statement said. “We have reached out to Terafan’s family to express our support for them at this moment of loss. We ask that Terafan and his family be held in your hearts.”

 

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Balcony Sniper Charged With Cruelly Gunning Down 8-Year-Old’s Pet Pup

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Johansen Concepcion De La Ros is charged with opening fire on Princess from a balcony

DAVIE, Florida  — A heartless Florida teen has been charged with gunning down an 8-year-old girl’s pet chihuahua with a pellet gun from a balcony as her mother took the dog for a walk.

Cops say Johansen Concepcion De La Ros, 19,  took a knee on his pal’s second floor balcony in Davie, Florida on Saturday evening, and opened fire at the 6-pound pooch with a high-powered pellet rifle equipped with a scope.

The pellet passed through Princess’ chest, dealing a fatal wound. The little girl’s mother and her boyfriend heard the dog yelp and noticed blood coming out of its mouth, but didn’t immediately know Princess had been shot.

“We heard the pop, but it didn’t register that someone had shot the dog,” Roshelle Pearson, who bought the Chihuahua pup for her 8-year-old daughter in April, told the Sun-Sentinel.

The woman had just moved with her daughter to Florida from Wisconsin the day before, police said.

As chance would have it, an off-duty cop from Pembroke Pines happened to be walking nearby and saw a man armed with a rifle on the balcony and made the connection. He called 911 and was able to direct officers to the apartment from which De La Ros fired.

Offices found the gun, but De La Ros insisted he had simply been aiming at the water of a nearby lake and had accidentally shot the dog as it walked into his line of fire. His pal, Daniel Alvarez, told a different story.

He said he was on the balcony when De La Ros got down on one knee, looked through the scope and said, “I’m going to shoot the dog,” according to the police report.

Sadly, the dog died within minutes and when officers arrived, they found Pearson covered in blood and holding a small, limp body of a brown and white dog.

At first, Pearson said she didn’t have the heart to tell her daughter that her puppy was gone.

“I told her someone shot her dog and they were trying to save it,” she said. “I wanted her to sleep last night. Today I will tell her that her dog didn’t make it.”

De La Ros was charged with felony cruelty to animals.

 

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Fight Between Straight-A Students Over Boy Ends in Fatal Classroom Stabbing

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Straight-A student Danyna Gibson, 16, was killed in front of a classroom filled with terrified students

WARREN, Michigan — A dispute over a boy between two straight-A high school students ended in bloodshed when one stabbed the other in a shocking classroom attack, authorities said.

Danyna Gibson, 16, died less than an hour after being stabbed twice in the chest with a steak knife in front of as many as 30 classmates and teachers during first period on Wednesday at Fitzgerald High School in Warren, Michigan.

“I froze. I didn’t know what to do. I just saw one of my friends just dying,” 16-year-old Victoria Oraczko told the Detroit Free Press.

Warren Police Commissioner William Dwyer declined to identify the suspect, a 17-year-old Warren girl, who he described as a straight A student who was once friends with the victim. He said she would likely be charged with murder.

“It’s truly a tragedy. Two lives are ruined,” Dwyer said, noting that both girls, who are seniors, were good students and had not been in trouble before. “This is truly a tragedy on both sides.”

Dwyer said the violence appeared to have been sparked after the suspect grew angry with Gibson after thinking she told the suspect’s 17-year-old boyfriend that she was cheating on him.

Police say they had reviewed text messages between the suspect and her boyfriend, but declined to comment on what they said.  Investigators said they believe the suspect and her boyfriend had driven to school together that morning ahead of the attack.

In addition to be a top student, Gibson was involved in numerous extracurricular activities, including cross-country, robotics, color guard, marching band, student council and Generation of Promise, a youth leadership program.

“You took something that was so valuable to me that I would rather be laying there than her,” her father, Preston Gilbert, told WJBK-TV. “I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy.”

 

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Mom Guns Down Estranged Hubby in Front of Their 3 Kids at Walmart

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Kayla Coutee shot her estranged husband when they met to exchange their kids

ALEXANDRIA, Louisiana — A mother of three gunned down her estranged husband in front of their kids at a Walmart parking lot, cops said.

Kayla Coutee, 31, had gone to meet her ex, Thomas Coutee, 30, to exchange the children on Saturday morning, when she shot him once in the chest, the Alexandria police department said.

She then remained at the scene with the three children, ages 7, 5 and 2, until police arrived to find Thomas laying on his back in a pool of blood at an outer area of the parking lot. Paramedics tried to save Thomas, but he was declared dead at the scene.

Kayla was taken into custody at the scene and later charged with second-degree murder. The children were not injured and were taken to police headquarters before being released to a relative.

Thomas Coutee had filed for divorce from Kayla earlier this year, court records show.

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Woman Killed After Boyfriend Cuts Brake Line to Make Crack Pipe

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Tammy Fox lost control and crashed into a tree after her brake lines had been cut

SCRANTON, Pennsylvania — A 38-year-old mother of five was killed in a terrifying car crash after her brake lines had been cut by her boyfriend as he searched for something to forge into a makeshift crack pipe.

Tammy Fox was driving through Scranton, Pennsylvania on August 22 when “her vehicle began to accelerate,” police said.

The out-of-control car then tore through an intersection before slamming into a tree. Fox died a short time later at a nearby hospital.

Her boyfriend, John Jenkins,  told cops he had cut into the brake lines in an attempt to obtain a metal pipe that could be used to smoke crack cocaine,” Pennsylvania state police said.

Jenkins told investigators that Fox had been “driving him crazy” the evening before the crash because she wanted a pipe to smoke crack. So he “cut anything from underneath the vehicle that could be used to smoke crack.”

The following day, she drove off from her home and quickly lost control.

“We saw the car going through and she hit the two parked cars to there and she hit the tree,” said Richard Hein. “Everybody was there … and they were trying to get the door open.”

John Jenkins

Fox’s family was skeptical of Jenkins’ story, staying Fox had been drug-free for months and suggesting the couple’s relationship had taken a bad turn and that he had become abusive, according to the Scranton Times-Tribune.

Earlier this year, Fox had been a witness in a court case against a corrections officer accused of corruption and sexually assaulting female inmates.

 

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