True Crime and News of the Weird from around the Globe

4 Teens Killed by Passing Motorist While Pushing Stalled Car Out of Road

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Nevaeh Law, Brittany Watson and Jenna Helton were pushing a stalled car out of the road when tragedy struck

CORTLAND, Indiana — Four teenagers gathered for a slumber party were killed and four others hurt after being hit by an SUV as they helped push a stalled car off a winding country road.

Police in Jackson County, Indiana say the tragic accident occurred around 11 p.m. Saturday night when Cara Selby’s car broke down a block away from her home where the teens were gathered.

As the teens came out to help Selby push her car back to the house, they were hit from behind by an SUV driven by a 24-year-old woman, the Seymour Tribune reported.

The four teens killed were Nevaeh Law, 14; Jenna A. Helton, 14; Brittany Watson, 15; and Martin Martinez, 16. Four others were hurt, including Selby’s daughter.

The driver of the SUV was not immediately charged, although the case remains under investigation.

Beloved Alpaca Dies After Florida Man Feeds it Bags of Junk Food

By HardBoiledNews Staff

An alpaca met a tragic end after being fed a huge amount of Doritos, Cheese Nips and peanuts

FLEMING ISLAND, Florida — What an animal!

Cops in Florida are hunting for a man who dumped bags of junk food on a field where a young alpaca gorged on it and died from overeating.

The Creekside Animal Hospital in Fleming Island says a man driving a blue car had been leaving food for the animals for weeks and that they had asked him to stop.

But late last week, he left two boxes of animal crackers, a large bag of Doritos, two boxes of Cheese Nips and two bags of whole peanuts.

Hospital officials say the young alpaca gorged himself on the peanuts and developed endotoxemia, or bacterial toxins in its bloodstream. “The little guy just didn’t know any better,” the hospital said.

“We worked on him for 36 hours and just couldn’t bring him back,” the center said.

Officials say they will likely move the remaining animals to a different location because they worry the man in the blue car might return.

 

Ex-Prosecutor Spared Jail Time for Trading Lesser Sentences for Sex

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Ex-District Attorney William Higgins admitted he’d taken sex in exchange for better sentences

BEDFORD, Pennsylvania — A former top prosecutor was spared any time in jail after he pleaded guilty to forcing female drug defendants to give him sexual favors in return for lesser sentences.

William Higgins, Jr., 43, had served as district attorney in the Pennsylvania town of Bedford for 14 years. He was charged earlier this year with with protecting female drug defendants and revealing the identities of confidential informants to them in exchange for sex.

He was disbarred last month.

Instead of serving any time behind bars, Higgins was sentenced to $9,700 in fines, eight years of probation, 1,125 hours of community service and 120 days of house arrest.

“We’re extremely pleased with the results of the sentencing hearing,” his attorney, Steven Passarello, told the Altoona Mirror. “We believe the sentence was fair, and we believed it balanced the sentencing factors appropriately.”

State attorney general Josh Shapiro said now, “Higgins will never again be able to use the tools of a prosecutor’s office to commit these crimes.”

Bedford resident Robert Lewis, whose daughter died of a drug overdose, said he was appalled at the decision because Higgins had allowed pushers to remain on the streets.

“Your everyday citizen is not going to get that kind of consideration,” Lewis said. “Who else is going to get that kind of favoritism? Nobody. Nobody.”

In court, Higgins argued that he had made poor choices during a time when he was abusing alcohol and hand mended his ways.

“I’m deeply sorry,” he told the court room. “I’ve accepted full responsibility for my actions.”

 

Cruel Crook Tells Mom ‘Spare Me the Sob Story’ as He Steals Cash For Baby Shower Cake

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Antonio Ivey wanted coke, not cake

MACON, Georgia — A heartless thief was sentenced to 15 years for a robbery spree in which he told a woman shopping for a baby shower cake to “spare me the sob story” when she begged him to let her keep some cash to buy it.

Prosecutors say Antonio Dewayne Ivey Sr., 33, whipped out a gun as he walked up to Laquesta Mitchell in a Walmart parking lot in Macon, Georgia last July and demanded cash.

Mitchell offered to hand over her bank cards, but Ivey insisted she give up her cash, prosecutors said.

“She told him that the money he was taking was for her daughter’s cake,” prosecutor Nancy Scott Malcor said at Ivey’s sentencing, according to the Macon Telegraph. “The defendant said, ‘Spare me the sob story.’ “

Authorities said Ivey, who was hunting for cash to fuel his cocaine habit, then went on to steal another woman’s purse in a parking lot of a  Kroger. He then stuck up the Advance Auto Parts store.

In court on Monday, Ivey apologized to the victims and said the gun he used was a pellet pistol. He pleaded guilty to the three robberies and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

 

Oklahoma School Shut Amid Threats Against Transgender 7th Grader

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Officials shut the school down because they worried about demonstrators by out-of-towners against a transgender student

ACHILLE, Oklahoma — Officials were forced to shut down a school in a tiny Oklahoma town for two days after people posted violent threats online against a transgender 7th grade girl.

Brandy Rose says the trouble started on the first day at the Achille Public School last week when her 12-year-old daughter, Maddie, used the girl’s bathroom, triggering a flurry of threatening messages on a Facebook page for parents.

“If he wants to be a female, make him a female. A good sharp knife will do the job really quick,” one message read, according to KFOR-TV. Other messages referred to Maddie as “it.”

In one post, a person wrote: “You know we have open hunting seasons on them kind. Ain’t no bag limit either.”

Rose said her daughter has publicly identified as female since before they moved to the town of 500, so no one there had ever known Maddie as a boy.

“She’s been living as female for years– she started at Achille as Maddie,” Rose told KXII-TV. “We had no problems when we first started.”

For the past two years, Maddie had used the teacher’s bathroom after being falsely accused of trying to look under a stall partition at another student. But when she started middle school last week, she didn’t know where the staff bathroom was in the new building, so used the regular toilets.

“She’s an awesome kid. To see any fear in her,I can’t explain how bad that hurts me for them to hurt her,” Rose said.

School officials said they thought the threatening posts were made by people who do not live in the school district and don’t have kids who attend the school. Local police advised them to close the school for the first two days of the week, because they worried about demonstrators coming from out of town.

 

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.

Wife Says She Gunned Down Husband Because He Watched Too Much Porn

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Patricia Hill was infuriated by her husband Frank’s porn habit

WHITE HALL, Arkansas — A 69-year-old Arkansas woman has been charged with capital murder after shooting her husband for watching too much porn, cops said.

The Jefferson County Sheriff’s office said Patricia Hill called 911 Saturday afternoon to report that she had fatally shot her 65-year-old husband, Frank Hill, in a utility shed on their property.

When authorities arrived at the house, they found Frank dead with a gunshot wound to his head and another to his leg. They detained Patricia and took her in for questioning.

There, she admitted that she went out to the shed to confront her husband over pornography he had ordered from their television provider.

“Mrs. Hill stated that she disagreed with her husband’s purchase of video pornography via the television guide, which she cancelled upon discovering the purchase but Mr. Hill managed to place a subsequent order,” Major Lafayette Woods, Jr., of the the Jefferson County Sheriff’s office said.

She said she demanded her husband leave the shed, but when he refused, she went back to the house to get a .22 caliber pistol. She then returned to the shed and shot her husband, cops said.

Patricia Hill went back to the house and then called police. She told investigators that there had never been any physical abuse between her and her husband.

Hill is currently being held without bound in Jefferson County’s detention center on capital murder charges, and will stay there until her court date next week.

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.

Fugitive Child Rapists Caught After Nearly 20 Years on the Run

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Fugitive couple Victoria Michelle Cravitz (l) and Leon Henry Shaw had been on the run since 1999

PORTLAND, Oregon — A fugitive couple wanted in Oregon on numerous child rape charges who had been on the run for nearly 20 years were found in Mississippi after the man died and his common-law wife tried to arrange his funeral, officials said.

Authorities finally zeroed in on the couple after the woman gave an undertaker a known alias used by Leon Henry Shaw, and realized he was on the FBI’s most wanted list.

Federal agents then swooped in and arrested Victoria Michelle Cravitz, the Associated Press reported. She had been living under the name of Jennifer Larsen.

The arrest brings to an end a chilling tale that dates back to 1999 when people who said they had earlier been abused by Shaw and Cravitz as children, went to authorities and said they were worried that three other children still living with the couple would also be molested.

Investigators determined the abuse had gone on for at least a decade.

Shaw and Cravitz were charged with multiple counts of rape and sodomy for forcing two children under the age of 10 to have sex with each other, prosecutors said. One of the children was also raped by an adult, they said.

During the  investigation, prosecutors say another woman came forward to say she had been kidnapped by the couple at a young age and had given birth to a child with Shaw. The young woman later escaped but her son remained in the house, prosecutors said.

The FBI had searched for years for the fugitives, but there were few leads and no  breakthroughs, until now.

“They had been on the run for a long time. They always lived in rural areas,” Klamath County District Attorney Eve Costello said. “They didn’t have a lot of contact with people and they moved constantly.”

The couple apparently had been living south of Greenville, Mississippi, for about 15 years before Shaw, now 72, developed a serious infection and Cravitz took him to a Mississippi hospital, where he died of natural causes.

Cravitz used an alias while making his funeral arrangements, which triggered an FBI flag when the undertaker tried to prepare a death certificate.

Man Charged in Brutal Slaying of ‘Full of Life’ 101-Year-Old Neighbor

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Gregory Jesmer is accused of brutally stabbing his 101-year-old neighbor

ROCHESTER, New York — A 101-year woman with “a lot of life left in her,” was brutally killed when her knife-wielding wacko upstairs neighbor stabbed her repeatedly in her own apartment.

Cops were called to Marcia Morrison’s home Tuesday morning when a senior transportation company came to pick her up, but she did not answer the door.

Inside, they found a gruesome scene, with the centenarian lying in a pool of blood after being stabbed repeatedly in the neck, throat and upper torso, the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle reported.

“This is one of the most egregious crimes that we as a community have ever seen,” said prosecutor Monica O’Brien, head of the Monroe County District Attorney’s elder abuse bureau.

A short time later, cops arrested 54-year-old Gregory Jesmer, who lived above Morrison, after he got off a bus and began following a 13-year-old girl and offered her money to come home with him. A passing motorist intervened.

Investigators say that as they questioned Jesmer, certain evidence emerged that pinned him to the slaying of Morrison.

Jesmer has had previous arrests for grand larceny and driving while intoxicated.

Marcia Morrison

Morrison did not have children and her husband had died decades ago, but she was very active in the community. Neighbors said Morrison was a stalwart in the building where she lived and was a powerhouse despite her age.

“She had a lot of get-up-and-go in her,” neighbor Sandra Fields said. “She was like our grandmother.”

“She had a lot of life left in her, more than some young people,” Fields said.

She said she knew Jesmer and that he drank a lot, but that he didn’t seem violent or threatening. Fields said Jesmer sometimes asked neighbors for money and she thought Morrison had sometimes helped him out.

He has been charged with second-degree murder.

Brazilian Butt Specialist Known as Dr. BumBum on the Run After Patient Dies

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Doctor Bumbum (L) is accused of killing Lilian Calixto in a botched butt enlargement procedure

RIO DE JANIERO, Brazil — A celebrity surgeon known in Brazil as “Dr. BumBum” went on the lam after a patient died during a botched butt enlargement procedure.

A judge issued a warrant for Dr. Denis Furtado’s arrest on homicide charges after 46-year-old Lilian Calixto fell ill and died at a Rio hospital following the procedure at Furtado’s home in the posh district of Barra de Tijuca.

Investigators believe Furtado injected acrylic glass filler into the rear of the married mother of two, the BBC reported.

Furtado vanished after the judge issued a warrant for his arrest. Police detained his girlfriend, Renata Fernandes Cirne, on suspicion of taking part in the procedure.

Furtado is a well known figure on Brazilian TV, and had nearly 650,000 followers on his recently-deleted Instagram account. His Facebook page is filled with before-and-after shots of butt enlargement procedures.

Niveo Steffen, the president of the Brazilian Plastic Surgery Society, said Furtado’s practices suggested he wasn’t a completely legit doctor.

“You cannot perform plastic surgery inside an apartment,” he said. “Many people are selling a dream, a fantasy to patients in an unethical way and people, weakened, are often attracted to low prices, without considering whether or not the conditions are adequate.”

Friends of Calixto, a former HSBC bank manager, told local media she had always had a “dissatisfaction with her butt” and had undergone many other procedures to change her appearance.

“She did not need it, she’s always been beautiful since she was a teenager. I remember her at the age of 16. Everything about her was perfect. … But a woman is never satisfied with her body,” said her friend Lucy Macedo.

Mom Charged With Killing Baby That ODed From Drugs in Her Breast Milk

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Samantha Jones said she had been taking methadone which showed up in her breast milk

NEW BRITAIN TOWNSHIP, Pennsylvania — A drug-addicted mom was charged with killing her 11-week-old baby after it died from drugs it was exposed to through breast feeding, prosecutors said.

Samantha Whitney Jones, 30, was held on $3 million bond in the April 2 death of her infant son at home, the Bucks County District Attorney’s office said.

An autopsy determined the child had died from exposure to a combination of methadone, amphetamine and methamphetamine that had been transmitted through his mother’s milk.

Jones told cops she had been prescribed methadone because of an addiction to painkillers. She said that she had taken it during her pregnancy and that she was taking it at the time of the baby’s death.

While she said she had been primarily breastfeeding the baby, she switched to formula three days before the child’s death, saying the infant wasn’t getting enough milk from her.

Jones admitted to cops that she breastfed the baby at 3 a.m. the morning he died because she was too tired to go downstairs and prepare a bottle of formula.

Her attorney had argued for minimal bail at her arraignment, citing the killing was not intentional.

Prosecutors say Jones could face up to life in prison.

 

Cop and Bystander Fatally Shot After Fleeing Crook Steals Officer’s Gun

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Officer Michael Chesna was killed with his own gun

WEYMOUTH, Massachusetts — A cop and an innocent bystander were killed after a man fleeing a car crash stole the officer’s gun and opened fire, authorities said.

Officer Michael Chesna, of the Weymouth Police Department in Massachusetts, was chasing after  Emanuel Lopes, 20, early Sunday after he ran from the scene of a car wreck.

But as Chesna drew close, Lopes allegedly bashed him on the head with a stone, knocking him to the ground. Lopes then grabbed Chesna’s gun and opened fire, hitting the officer multiple times on the head and chest, the Boston Globe reported.

As other officers gave chase, Lopes allegedly squeezed off three more rounds, fatally striking an unidentified elderly woman who was sitting inside her house.

Chesna, a 42-year-old Army veteran and father of two, later died at South Shore Hospital.

Lopes was caught soon after. He was hospitalized with a gunshot wound to the leg and will be arraigned on two counts of homicide Monday.

Emmanuel Lopes

“This is an awful day for Weymouth and for Massachusetts,” said District Attorney Michael W. Morrissey.. “Our hearts are very much with the surviving families of these victims.”

Lopes has had several prior run-ins with the law. In September last year, he was arrested in Weymouth for vandalizing a dry cleaner. The following month he was arrested in North Weymouth for allegedly selling cocaine to minors. During that arrest, Lopes reportedly attempted to flee from cops before being caught in the woods by a police dog.

 

Jaguar Escapes at New Orleans Zoo, Kills Seven Other Animals

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Valerio the jaguar killed four alpaca, a fox and an emu before being tranquilized

NEW ORLEANS — Animal instinct can’t be caged.

A 3-year-old jaguar escaped its enclosure at a Louisiana Zoo and rampaged through the nearby habitats of several other animals, killing four alpaca, an emu and a fox, before being sedated with a tranquilizer dart.

The male jaguar, named Valerio, got out of its habitat at around 7:20 a.m. Saturday morning, officials at the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans said, and was on the loose for about an hour before zookeepers were able to stop him.

“Our animals are our family. We are devastated by this loss,” the zoo said in a statement. The zoo was closed Saturday while officials conducted an investigation.

The zoo said they believe the wild cat got out of its habitat through a break in its roof. A second jaguar living in the enclosure — a female named  Ix Chel — remained in a separate indoor habitat during the incident.

After Valerio got out, he killed the alpaca named Noel, Micia, Alexandria and Lil Melody, as well as a fox named Maggie May and an emu named Elmo. Another alpaca named Daisy and two foxes named Copper and Rusty, were injured but survived.

The zoo said that veterinarians responded immediately after Valerio broke free, but it took some time to prepare the tranquilizers and to get a good line of sight to dart the cat. Once darted, Valerio was sedated within minutes. The cat was moved to a secure location at the zoo and was in good health.

“Nothing is going to happen to the jaguar itself. Unfortunately, it was doing what jaguars do and we are not going to euthanize the jaguar over this,” said Joel Hamilton, the zoo’s vice president.

Valerio was born in March 2015 at San Diego Zoo and moved to Audubon Zoo in New Orleans last October.

13-Year-Old Beheaded by Drug Dealers After Seeing Grandmother Killed

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Oralia Mendoza (l) was stabbed and 13-year-old Mariah Lopez beheaded in a drug deal gone bad

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama — A 13-year-old girl with special needs was beheaded by drug dealers after witnessing them stab her grandmother to death in an Alabama cemetery, investigators said.

The grisly slayings came at the end of a drug deal gone bad, as the grandmother, Oralia Mendoza, who was associated with the powerful Sinaloa drug cartel, went with three others, including her boyfriend, to pick up a batch of methamphetamine in Georgia.

After one of Mendoza’s drug partners grew suspicious that she was going to set them up, the gang drove her and her granddaughter, Mariah Lopez, to a cemetery in Owens Cross Road.

There they stabbed Mendoza and left her to die. They then marched Lopez into the woods where they beheaded her, Investigator Stacy Rutherford told a Madison County judge, according to AL.com.

Israel Palomino, 34, and 26-year-old Yoni Aguilar — who was Mendoza’s boyfriend — have been charged with two counts each of capital murder. Investigators say Aguilar confessed and also pointed the finger at Palomino.

The cross-state drug trip began on June 2, when Palomino, Aguilar, Mendoza and a woman named Leticia Garcia went to pick up a quarter kilo of meth in Norcross, Georgia. At some point, on the way back, Palomino grew concerned that Mendoza was setting them up, Rutherford testified.

On June 4, Mendoza was told she and Lopez would be taken somewhere safe, but were instead taken to the cemetery where Mendoza was killed.  Because Lopez witnessed the slaying, the suspects took her to a secluded area in the woods to kill her.

Yoni Aguilar (l) and Israel Palomino face capital murder charges

In his statement, Aguilar said Palomino forced him to kill the girl. “He said he was fearful of Israel,” Rutherford testified.

Three days later, Lopez’s body was found. Less than an hour after police released a description of the girl’s clothes to the media, her mother came in and said she believed it was her daughter who had been missing. Mendoza’s body was found a week later after cops zeroed in on Aguilar and Palomino.

 

Bystander Shot on Same Block She Was Hit by Stray Bullet 20 Years Ago

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Fran Williams has twice been the victim of a stray bullet shooting on the very same block

NEW YORK — What are the odds?

A New York woman is clinging to life after being hit in the face in a stray-bullet shooting on the same block where she was shot in a similar stray-bullet shooting 20 years earlier.

Fran Williams, 67, was shot Thursday while waiting for a bus on Jersey Street in Staten Island when a gang member opened fire following a brawl outside a nearby courthouse.

It was on the same block in 1998 were she was shot while doing her laundry, police said.

“What a shame. Here is an innocent lady getting shot 20 years apart,” a law enforcement official told the New York Post. “Even during the crack days, drug dealers didn’t have that bad of luck.”

This week’s shooting came after a scuffle outside the court which led to a group of five gang members stealing a van which they later crashed into a pedestrian, killing him.

About a half hour later, a gang member opened fire in what cops think was an attempt to retaliate for the van strike , but hit Williams instead, as she waited for the bus near her home.

Neighbors said Williams was known as “Ms. Franny,” and was a good-spirited animal lover.

“She’s a great person with a great heart,” a pal said. “She’s always in good spirits. She makes you laugh.”

 

Sad Florida Widow Loses Life Savings in Match.com Catfish Scheme

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Diane Standish thought she’d found the love of her life

ORLANDO — A Florida widow who thought she found the love of her life online was instead duped out of her life savings in a callous catfishing scheme, authorities said.

Diane Amanda Standish, of Orlando, says she fell head over heels for a man named Jerry Michael who she met on Match.com and who said he was a German contractor working in California.

“I never thought I could fall in love with someone on the telephone,” she told WKMG-TV. “But for some reason, he just said the right things to me.”

So she didn’t blink when he asked her to send him money when he fell into financial and legal trouble. Before she knew it, she had sent him $270,000. Then he disappeared.

“I’ve talked to a million people who said they met on eHarmony and Match.com and they’re happily married, so I didn’t have any reason to question it,” she said.

An investigation revealed that the photo Michael had posted was actually that of a married Bosnian diplomat who was unaware his image was being used.

The scammer used this picture of a Bosnian ambassador for his dating profile

Orlando investigators have tracked Michael’s email to South Africa, but they have told Standish there is no chance of getting her money back and that her case is currently inactive.

“I wish to God I could find him,’ Standish said. ‘I loved him and he said he loved me. He could be anybody, anywhere. I just don’t know.”

Faith-Healing Parents Get 7 Years for Letting Newborn Daughter Die

By HardBoiledNews Staff

This couple refused to get medical help for their dying daughter on religious grounds

OREGON CITY, Oregon  — A mom and dad pair of followers of a faith-healing sect have been sentenced to nearly seven years in prison for letting their newborn daughter die without seeking medical help.

Travis Lee Mitchell, 22, and Sarah Elaine Mitchell, 25, both pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide and first-degree criminal mistreatment in the March 2017 death of one of their twin daughters.

The Mitchells were members of the Followers of Christ Church, a pentecostal sect, and others from the congregation were present for the births. The church is estimated to have around 1,500 followers in all.

Authorities say Sarah Mitchell gave birth to the twins at her parents’ home in Oregon City, but one of the babies was suffering from breathing complications and died. Afterwards, a church elder contacted the coroner but no one called 911.

The second baby also needed medical help but managed to survive only after authorities convinced the family to allow the child to be taken to a hospital.

The medical examiner determined that the cause of death was due to complications stemming from premature birth.

The Mitchells were each sentenced to six years and eight months in prison. They agreed to sign a letter stating, “We should have sought adequate medical care for our children and everyone in the church should always seek adequate medical care for our children.” The letter will be posted within church facilities, prosecutors said.

The little girl’s death marked the fourth time in recent years that prosecutors have brought charges against church followers for failing to get medical help for their children.

In 2011, Sarah Mitchell’s sister and her husband, Shannon and Dale Hickman, were convicted of manslaughter and sentences to six years for failing to get help for their severely premature daughter.

Three other families connected to the church have been convicted on similar charges since 2009.

 

Woman, 92, Guns Down Son Who Wanted to Move Her to Nursing Home

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Anna Mae Blessing’s son wanted her to move into an assisted living facility, but she was having none of it

FOUNTAIN HILLS, Arizona — A sweet ol’ granny, she ain’t.

A 92-year-old Arizona woman has been charged with first-degree murder for fatally shooting her son when he tried to move her to an assisted living facility.

Anna Mae Blessing “had been contemplating for several days her son’s intentions to place her in an assisted living facility,” when she went to his room with two handguns in her robe rockets and opened fire, the Maricopa County Sheriff’s office said.

Blessing fired multiple shots at her 72-year-old son, killing him. She then turned the gun on his girlfriend, but she managed to wrestle the gun away before Blessing was able to fire again.

The nonagenarian then pulled out her other gun, but her son’s girlfriend managed to knock it out of her hands before she fired, cops said.

The girlfriend then called police. When officers arrived, they found Blessing sitting in a recliner. She told them she wanted to kill herself but couldn;t as she didn’t have any weapons anymore, cops said.

Blessing was charged with one count of murder in the first degree, one count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and one count of kidnapping.

 

Little Boy Scalded by Thieves in Terrifying Texas Home Invasion

By HardBoiledNews Staff

The crooks used a little boy as a pawn to terrorize the parents in a Texas home invasion

HOUSTON — A little boy was seriously burned in a terrifying home invasion in which three heartless crooks scalded him with hot water to force his father to reveal where money was hidden, cops said.

The Fort Bend County Sheriff said the chilling episode occurred late Monday when three masked, armed men forced their way into a family’s home and started beating the father upon the head with their guns.

When the dad was immediately forthcoming about where the family hid its valuables, cops say the men then grabbed his 7-year-old son and threw him in a tub where they scalded him with hot water until his father talked.

“This is the worst kind of crime against a family,” Sheriff Troy Nehls said. “Three crooks forcing their way into a home in the middle of the night is appalling. To make matters worse, they accosted a 7-year-old child. They’re cowards, to say the least.”

After about a half hour, the men fled with jewelry and electronics. Cops say the boy was treated and released as was the father who suffered bloody gashes to his head.

“To see what took place in that house and to be used as a device to try to extract information from the father is very, very disturbing,” Nehls said.

 

Man Cuts Deal in Fatal Shooting During Heated Game of Dominoes

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Sterling Warren didn’t have a leg to stand on following a fatal shooting over a game of dominoes

DECATUR, Alabama — A one-legged Alabama man cut a deal and pleaded guilty to fatally shooting a pal during a fight over a game of dominoes.

Sterling Gerome Warren, 68, was given a 10-year sentence as part of the deal after pleading guilty to manslaughter in the 2013 shooting of Thomas Jerome Bibb, Jr. during a game at Warren’s house.

“It’s unfortunate, it’s sad,” assistant district attorney Stacy Adams said, according to the Decatur Daily. “Mr. Bibb lost his life over 10 points in a domino game.”

According to cops,  Warren — an amputee who wore a prosthetic leg — shot Bibb because he refused to leave when the game was over. He allegedly punched and threatened Warren when he tried to get Bibb to leave, prompting Warren to pull out a shotgun and open fire.

Warren had faced a murder charged but agreed to the plea deal involving a reduced charge as his trial was about to begin.

New York Cop and Wife Busted in Planned Casino Heist

By HardBoiledNews Staff

The couple planned to knock over this casino in Pennsylvania,

ISLANDIA, New York (June 14, 2018) — A cop and his wife have been busted in a plot to knock over a Long Island casino where she worked, prosecutors said.

Nassau County Police Officer Bruce Moeller and his wife, Christina Moeller, had allegedly been scheming since March to commit an armed robbery at Jake’s 58 Hotel and Casino in Islandia. Christina worked as a cashier at the casino, prosecutors said.

Bruce Moeller was busted as part of an ongoing grand jury investigation in Suffolk County, that has already nabbed two other Nassau cops, Newsday reported. It is not clear how the other arrests connect to the planned casino heist.

The three police officers have been suspended without pay.

The Moellers have pleaded not guilty and Bruce was released on $30,000 bond. Christina Moeller was released on $50,000 bond.

“We plan to strongly defend against these allegations,” said Bruce’s attorney, William Petrillo “[Moeller] served the country in the Marines for four years, including two tours in Afghanistan where he received approximately nine medals for heroic combat.”

Christina Moeller’s lawyer said she began working at Jake’s about a year ago — after her father died — and has a clean record.

“She’s never been arrested,” said attorney Thomas Spreer. “We have to explore what the district attorney’s allegation is. She has never been in trouble.”

Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder called the arrests “disappointing and disheartening” and said the officers will remain suspended while an internal affairs investigation is conducted.

“We hold our members to an exceptionally high standard and these individuals do not represent the professionalism and honesty exhibited by the men and women of the Nassau County Police Department,” he said.

 

Tinder Slay Suspects Bought Tools to Chop Up Body Before Victim Died: Cops

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Sydney Loofe’s dismembered body was found after going on a Tinder date with one of the suspects

ROSE, Oklahoma — The two suspects eyed in the death of an Oklahoma woman who disappeared following a Tinder date, are believed to have bought supplies to dismember her body in the hours before her death, new evidence revealed.

According to newly unsealed court documents, suspects Aubrey Trail and Bailey Boswell  were caught on camera at a Home Depot on Nov. 15 buying tools cops think they later used to dismember 24-year-old Sydney Loofe’s body.

But at the time they were shopping, Loofe was still alive and working a shift as a cashier at Menards in Lincoln. It is believed Loofe met with Trail and Boswell later that night. She was reported missing the next day and her dismembered remains were found in early December, stuffed in garbage bags in a field some 90 miles away.

Prosecutors say that Trail told investigators he strangled Sydney Loofe with an extension cord. Investigators believe Boswell, who lived with Trail, helped him dismember Loofe’s body and dump her remains.

In a series of phone calls to the Omaha World-Herald, Trail admitted killing Loofe but said it was an accident that occurred while they were engaged in a sexual fantasy with him and at least two other woman.

“It wasn’t supposed to go to the extreme it went, of course not,” he said. “It wasn’t meant that she was to die.”

Aubrey Trail (l) and Bailey Boswell

Prosecutors, however, have charged the pair with premeditated murder, not an accidental death.

On Tuesday, Trail, 51, and Boswell, 23, appeared in Saline County Court to face charges of first-degree murder and the improper disposal of human skeletal remains.

The pair, who met Loofe on Tinder in the days before she disappeared, became suspects early on, and were arrested initially in November on unrelated fraud charges.

In an online tribute, Loofe’s parents wrote that their daughter had many friends, but was looking for a soulmate when she was killed.

“She was looking for that one special person with whom she could spend time,” her parents wrote. “She took to Tinder to look for that person and unfortunately, found someone that had nothing but evil plans for her.”

 

Bigot Jailed For Threatening to Burn House Being Bought by Muslim Family

By HardBoiledNews Staff

David Howard (l) threatened to burn his neighbor’s house down rather than have a Muslim move in

TAMPA, Florida  —  A Muslim-hating homeowner was sentenced to eight months in prison for threatening to burn a neighbor’s house to the ground rather than let a Muslim family buy it.

David Howard, 59, was accused of accosting Kaderbhai Ali Asgar and his wife in 2016 as they were doing the final walk through before plunking down $658,000 to buy the house next door on David Islands in Tampa, Florida, prosecutors said.

“This sale will not take place,” Howard said, according to court documents. “I will break all of your f—— windows and I will burn your f—— house down.”

The outburst so unnerved Asgar that he and his wife backed out of the sale and lost their  $30,000 deposit.

Howard pleaded guilty in February to a felony civil rights violation and now has been sentenced to eight months behind bars, two years probation and $30,000 in restitution.

“This Justice Department will not stand by when individuals use violence and intimidation to deny fair housing rights,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General John Gore. “The Civil Rights Division will continue to prosecute crimes like this one that deprive families of a safe place to live.”

Howard testified that his outburst was driven by testosterone supplements he takes because he has AIDS. He claimed he was not racist, although he said he was not fond of Muslims as he had lost a loved one in the September 11 attack.

Prosecutors say Howard later boasted to friends and neighbors about driving the couple out and made derogatory remarks about Muslims.

Asgar said that he was very pleased at the punishment Howard received.

“I’m very happy that the judge did a very fair judgement,” Asgar said after court.

 

Cops Believe Teen’s ‘Suicide’ Was Game of Russian Roulette Gone Bad

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Witnesses claimed the teen had committed suicide but evidence pointed to a game of Russian roulette

BIG SPRING, Texas — A teen who died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound was playing Russian roulette, and Texas police are expecting to make arrests after witnesses claimed the boy had committed suicide.

Police in Big Spring, Texas say they were called to a home on Friday after receiving a report of a gunshot victim. When they arrived, they found the unidentified teen dead with a bullet wound to his head.

“The initial reports from various witnesses at the residence indicated this was a suicide although physical evidence indicated otherwise,” read a statement posted to the department’s Facebook page.

“As a result of this investigation, it is now believed the juvenile was shot as a result of a game of ‘Russian Roulette’ and although this is believed to be an accident, the Big Spring Police Department expects arrests to follow,” the statement continued.

Cops said an investigation had determined that two guns had been recently stolen from vehicles in the area and they asked residents to check the cars to see if anything was missing.