True Crime and News of the Weird from around the Globe

Oklahoma Legislator Proposes Bill to Establish Bigfoot Hunting Season

By HardBoiledNews Staff

OKLAHOMA CITY, Oklahoma — It’s Bigfoot hunting season.

An Oklahoma state legislator has filed legislation to establish an official Bigfoot hunting season as a way to draw tourists.

The bill proposes to have the Oklahoma Wildlife Conservation Division establish annual dates of the season and set specific hunting licenses and fees.

“Tourism is one of the biggest attractions we have in my House district,” said State Rep. Justin Humphrey, a Republican from Lane, in southeast Oklahoma. “Establishing an actual hunting season and issuing licenses for people who want to hunt Bigfoot will just draw more people to our already beautiful part of the state. It will be a great way for people to enjoy our area and to have some fun.”

Humphrey said he doesn’t want people to actually kill Bigfoot, so he will be working with the state wildlife and tourism departments to craft final language for his bill that specifies only the trapping of Bigfoot. He also hopes to secure at least $25,000 that can be used as a bounty for the first person to trap the creature.

“A lot of people don’t believe in Bigfoot, but a lot of people do,” Humphrey said. “Just like some people like to go deer hunting, while some don’t.”

Humphrey said the town of Honobia, Oklahoma, already has an annual Bigfoot festival each October, so the hunting season ideally would coincide with that.

“Having a license and a tag would give people a way to prove they participated in the hunt,” Humphrey said. “Again, the overall goal is to get people to our area to enjoy the natural beauty and to have a great time, and if they find Bigfoot while they’re at it, well hey, that’s just an even bigger prize.”

Son of Texas ‘Honor Killer’ Dad Admits Helping Him Hide for 12 Years

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Yaser Said was on the run for 12 years for the honor killings of his daughters

DALLAS — The son of a Texas cab driver who allegedly committed “honor killings” of his two daughters, has pleaded guilty to helping his father elude capture for more than 12 years, prosecutors said.

Islam Yaser-Abdel Said, 32, admitted he and his uncle had helped his father Yaser Said, who had once been on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted list, move from house to house for years to avoid being arrested.

“Islam Said prioritized the whims of his father, an alleged killer, over justice for his own sisters. Thanks to the dogged work of the FBI and its law enforcement partners, however, Mr. Said’s efforts were ultimately in vain,” said U.S. Attorney Prerak Shah. “We are grateful to the many agents and officers who worked to apprehend Mr. Said, along with his father and uncle. Sarah and Amina deserve justice.” 

The elder Mr. Said had been a fugitive from justice since New Year’s Day 2008, when he allegedly murdered his teenage daughters, Amina and Sarah. According to law enforcement, he shot the girls to death inside his taxicab and abandoned their bodies inside the vehicle. 

The deaths have widely been believed the have been “honor killings” because Yaser Said disapproved of his daughter’s less stringent adherence to Islam. He was captured by the FBI in August 2020, and is currently in state custody.

Islam Said

Prosecutors say the younger Said and his uncle, Yassein Said, harbored his father, in an apartment in Bedford, Texas for nearly a decade. But after a maintenance worker spotted Yaser in 2017 and reported it to the FBI, Islam scrambled to further evade the authorities. 

When an agent was dispatched to interview him,Islam refused to cooperate, and later called his uncle to say, “we have problem,” prosecutors said.  

Investigators say he later harbored his father inside a home in Justin, Texas that belonged to his cousin. 

Islam Said pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to conceal a person from arrest, one count of concealing a person from arrest, and one count of conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding.  He faces up to 30 years in federal prison. 

Islam’s uncle, Yassein Said, is set for trial on Feb. 1, 2021.

Railway Spike Killer Gets Life in Murder Spree That Targeted the Homeless

By HardBoiledNews Staff

SAN DIEGO — A Southern California man who killed four people and attacked more than a dozen by setting them on fire or impaling them with railroad spikes, has been sentenced to life in prison.

Jon David Guerrero, 43, pleaded guilty last year to murder, attempted murder and arson in more than a dozen attacks in 2016 of mostly homeless men he targetted as they slept on the street

Some were set on fire with gasoline and others had railroad spikes driven through their heads or chests. One survivor of a spike attack was blinded in one eye, prosecutors said.

Three murder victims were homeless: Angelo DeNardo, 53; Shawn Longley, 41; and Dionicio Vahidy, 23. Another victim, 83-year-old Molly Simmons, wasn’t homeless. Authorities said she was fatally struck in the head from behind while walking to a bus stop on her way to volunteer at a YMCA.

Although a motive wasn’t disclosed, trial testimony indicated that he told one survivor, “because you’re a bum.”

Guerrero, who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, had a history of arrests and mental competency hearings. He was initially declared mentally incompetent to stand trial in 2017 and sent to Patton State Hospital but later was ruled able to stand trial.

He was  sentenced in San Diego Superior Court to life without possibility of parole with an additional 143 years to life in prison. 

Sicko Son Kills Dad, Stepmom With Machete For Trying to Stop Sex Assault

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Jesus Medrano III

KENOSHA, Wisconsin — A deranged sicko has been charged with killing his father and stepmother with a machete after they tried to stop him sexually assaulting a young relative, police said,

Investigators in Wisconsin say Jesus Medrano III, 24, had brought the weapon into the bedroom where he planned his assault with the intention of using it if anyone tried to stop him.

“This is as violent, assaultive and tragic a set of crimes that one can commit against their own family members,” said Kenosha County District Attorney Michael Graveley, according to the Kenosha News. 

Police called to the house encountered a horrific scene with “blood all over the floor and along the walls.” According to the criminal complaint, Jesus Medrano Jr., 49, was lying in front of the door with his arm nearly severed and a stab wound to his stomach. His wife, Latrice Meyers-Medrano, 36 was lying face-down on a mattress. The scene was soaked with blood.

Cops say Medrano III confessed to having sexual thoughts about one of his young relatives, and went into her bedroom that night planning to sexually assault her, bringing a sock to gag her and a machete he planned to use in case his father tried to stop him.

According to the complaint, when he woke the sleeping girl she struggled, waking up another sibling that shared the room and alerting Medrano Jr., who came to find out what was wrong.

Graveley said that as soon as Medrano III realized his father did not believe him when he said nothing was wrong, so he stabbed his father in the stomach, then struck him in the shoulder. When his stepmother came into the room, he stabbed her as well.

Jesus Medrano Jr. and Latrice Meyers-Medrano

Medrano III said he fled when he heard his father saying they would call police, running to the home of a relative who lived a few blocks away. Other kids ran from the house to a neighbor who called 911.

Cops later found Medrano III, covered with blood and with a machete in his right hand. “Just kill me,” Medrano said, according to police who took  him into custody without incident.

Medrano III has been charged wiith two counts of first-degree intentional homicide, attempted first-degree sexual assault and child abuse. He was held on $2.5 million bond.

Sick Border Agent Charged With Pouring Urine on Boss’ Desk on Last Day on Job

By HardBoiledNews Staff

TONAWANDA, New York — He crossed some serious borders here.

A former Border Patrol agent has been hit with federal charges after allegedly spraying urine on his supervisor’s desk on his last day on the job at a station on the Canadian border.

Prosecutors say Eduardo Flores Jr. was caught on camera splashing urine all over Supervisory Border Patrol Agent Brandon Steele’s desk, chair, keyboard, clothing, books and personal items, including picture frames, in the cubicle at the station in Tonawanda on Aug. 24.

Flores retired from the Border Patrol four days later and the day of the alleged vandalism was  Flores’ last day in the office.   

Steele, upon returning to work after three days off, “noticed an unpleasant scent” at the cubicle, according to the criminal complaint.

Video surveillance footage showed that Flores “began to spray/pour a substance throughout the cubicle” and over the supervisory agent’s belongings and “continued this action for about one minute,” the complaint states.   

Authorities said it cost $458 for a cleaning company to sanitize the cubicle.

Flores was charged with destruction of property. He faces up to a year in jail and a $100,000 fine.

Granddaughter Fatally Stabs Grandfather in Fight Over Lock

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Eric Chamber bled to death after Kimberly Roberts stabbed him in the chest

NEW YORK — A Bronx grandfather was fatally stabbed by his transgender step-granddaughter after they got into a fight over her removing the lock to the family apartment, police said.

Eric Chambers, 53, bled to death after Kimberly Roberts allegedly stabbed him in the chest and left arm in their Bronx apartment as the fight raged on. 

“It’s a nightmare,” Christina Chambers, who is the victim’s wife and the grandmother of the suspect, told the Daily News. “Why should my husband be 53 in his grave? What’s the sense of that?” 

Chambers said she and her husband took the 26-year-old Roberts in after she got kicked out of her home. She said she believes Roberts had been using drugs recently. 

“We usually all get along,” Chambers said. “I don’t know what was wrong with Kim. Kim for the last few months would come here screaming, hollering.”

Late Sunday, Christina Chambers discovered that the top lock to their apartment door had been removed. Roberts only had a key to the bottom lock so when she came home at odd hours she would have to knock to be let in waking the family’s dogs, said Chambers, who still refers to Roberts as he even though she is a transgender woman.

“I told him to bring the lock back so we could put it back on,” she said. “I wasn’t gonna do nothing to him — he is my first grandson.”

Roberts returned to the apartment angry.

“Eric asked him where’s our lock, so we can put it back on,” Chambers said. 

Chambers said Roberts responded, “Yeah, motherf—er, I took it off, what you gonna do?”

“Next thing you know, they were scuffling in the living room,” Chambers said. “I was coming down the hallway, I banged on my son’s door so he could break up the fight. He came out the room, he broke up the fight, and Kim left. My husband came to me, back to my room, and showed me the gashes on his arm and on his chest.”

Paramedics came and tried to stabilize her husband but by the time he got to Lincoln Hospital, he was dead.

“He lost a lot of blood in my room and all over the house,” she said. “I can’t believe my husband is just dead. It happened so quick.”

Roberts ran but came back after police arrived and Chambers called her.

“Kim answered the phone,” Chambers said. “I put him on speaker and I said, ‘You know something? You murdered your grandfather when you stabbed him.’ He started crying. And he said, ‘I’m on my way back to the house.’ And they arrested him.”

Police said they were questioning Roberts.

“I didn’t think he was coming to kill my husband and fight. Why, why would you do that?” Chamber said. “I don’t know what the hell happened.”

“I didn’t know he had a knife,” she added. “I mean really, you gonna do that to your grandfather, after we done raised you?”

Tomb Raiders Busted Stealing Skulls from Florida Cemetery for Religious Rituals

By HardBoiledNews Staff

MOUNT DORA, Florida — Cops nabbed a pair of ghoulish grave robbers who had been stealing skulls from a Florida cemetery for use in religious rituals.

Investigators with the Lake County Sheriff’s office managed to track the suspects down with the help of DNA evidence recovered from cigars found around the busted open crypts at the Edgewood Cemetery in Mount Dora.

The reprehensible robberies date back to Dec. 6, when cemetery workers found four tombs broken open and the bodies within mutilated, cops said.

When crime scene investigators found the cigar butts, they sent them off to the lab as possible evidence. In early January, analysis of the DNA retrieved from the cigars came back with a hit: 43-year-old Brian Montalvo Tolentino, of Davenport.

On Jan. 6, detectives obtained a search warrant for mouth swabs from Tolentino for a direct DNA comparison. When detectives interviewed Tolentino, they say he confessed to going to the cemetery with his pal, 39-year-old Juan Burgos Lopez, of Lake Wales, and committing the crimes. 

Tolentino stated that Lopez used a crowbar to open the vaults and then removed the skulls that were taken to be used for religious practices.

Detectives then obtained a search warrant for Lopez’s residence where they say they recovered the human remains from what appeared to be some sort of religious shrine. 

Both men were charged with four counts of disturbing the contents of a grave and four counts of abuse of a dead human body. They were each held on $40,000 bond.

Treasure Hunter Pleads Guilty to Digging in Yellowstone Cemetery

By HardBoiledNews Staff

CASPER, Wyoming — A fanciful fortune hunter has pleaded guilty after being caught digging in a cemetery in Yellowstone National Park in search of a fabled hidden treasure.

Rodrick Dow Craythorn, 52, of Syracuse, Utah, was searching for a treasure chest containing coins, gold and other valuables left somewhere in the Rocky Mountains a decade ago by Santa Fe, New Mexico, art and antiquities dealer Forrest Fenn, who published a book with a poem containing clues to where the treasure could be found.

The Fenn legend  has led dozens to search for the treasure — estimated to be worth as much as $1 million — but has resulted in several rescues of people who got stuck in dangerous situations. Six deaths have been attributed to the hunt. 

“The hunt for the Forrest Fenn treasure was often viewed as a harmless diversion, but in this case it led to substantial damage to important public resources,” Wyoming U.S. Attorney Mark Klaassen said Tuesday.

Craythorn admitted digging within the Fort Yellowstone Cemetery in Yellowstone National Park on two separate occasions in Oct. 2019 and May 2020. Prosecutors say he caused more tham $1,000 in damage.

He pleaded guilty in federal court in Casper, Wyoming to illegally excavating or trafficking in archaeological resources and to damaging federal property. He faces up to 12 years in prison 

Fenn died at age 90 in September, three months after announcing the treasure had been found. A grandson of Fenn confirmed in December the finder was Jonathan “Jack” Stuef, 32, a medical student from Michigan.

Fenn said before his death the treasure was in Wyoming but neither Stuef nor Fenn’s relatives have said where exactly

Fenn for years hinted the treasure was north of Santa Fe in the Rocky Mountains of either New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming or Montana. 

Conspiracy Theorists Mistake Guitar Pedal Design for Proof of ‘5G Covid-19 Microchip’

By HardBoiledNews Staff

The only thing getting injected into anyone’s veins here is the ability to shred!

Guitarists have been getting an amped-up laugh after spotting a diagram being passed around online that purports to be for a microchip being secretly injected into people with the Covid-19 vaccine that is actually the schematic for the Boss Metal Zone guitar pedal.

A staple of hair metal bands since the early 1990s, its ability to make guitars scream has caught the attention of conspiracy theorists in Italy who claim its for a 5G chip secretly being implanted into people to track their motions, Guitar World magazine reported.

“It features a section labelled “5G frequency” – clearly the source of many a theorist’s eureka moment – as well as terms guitarists will find familiar: “MT-2 Gain”, “Footswitch” among the most recognizable,” the magazine reported.

Mario Fusco, an engineer at Redhat Inc. who spotted the dubious design, quipped: “In reality it is the electric circuit of a guitar pedal and I believe that putting it in the covid vaccine has been an excellent idea.”

Others online similarly riffed on the joke.

“Excellent. Reassured to know that 5G relies on op-amps and some 1n4148 diodes. Proper old school. None of that digital and microprocessor nonsense. I’ll take one in each arm,” posted one user.

Another replied, “This is a Boss MT-2 Metal Zone, and trust me, that ain’t curing anybody of anything, except maybe good tone.”

Man Kicks In Ex-Boss’ Door Over Slow Reply to Facebook Friend Request

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Caleb Burczyk just wants to be friends

WILLISTON, North Dakota — There’s a reason this guy doesn’t have many friends.

A North Dakota man has been charged with terrorizing his ex-boss by kicking in his door after the man didn’t respond to his Facebook friend request quickly enough, authorities said.

Police say Caleb Burczyk, 29, started sending aggressive Facebook friend requests to his former employer starting the day before Christmas, some which included threats.

“Accept my friend request or I’m going to murder you,’” investigators quoted Burczyk as writing in an affidavit filed in court, according to the Williston Herald.

On Dec. 26, Burczyk said there would be trouble for his former boss if Burczyk had to fire up his pickup and come find him, the document said. That message included a photo of his truck.

Later that day, the victim’s door was kicked in.

Burczyk layer posted a photo of himself on Snapchat with a message about his boss’ family needing a new door. That photo showed him in a black cap, black vest and red and black plaid long-sleeve shirt, court documents state.

Security footage from Dec. 26 showed the man who kicked in the door of the home on Creekside Drive wearing the same outfit.

Burczyk has been charged with counts of burglary and terrorizing. He was held on $25,000 bond and  is due back in court Jan. 27.

Inmate Who Survived Botched Execution Dies on Death Row of Covid-19

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Romell Broom

COLUMBUS, Ohio — An Ohio death row inmate who survived a botched execution in 2009 has died of possible complications of COVID-19 while waiting on death row, the state prisons system said.

Ohio unsuccessfully tried to put Romell Broom to death by lethal injection on Sept. 15, 2009. The execution was called off after two hours when technicians could not find a suitable vein, and Broom cried in pain while receiving 18 needle sticks.

Broom returned to death row, where he fought unsuccessfully to avoid a second execution, but his most recent execution date, set for June, was postponed until March 2022 after Republican Gov. Mike DeWine issued a reprieve.

At the time of the 2009 procedure, Broom was only the second inmate in the U.S. to survive an execution.

The 64-year-old Broom is suspected to have died of COVID-19, but an official ruling will come when the coroner issues a death certificate.

Broom’s attorneys had filed arguments with the U.S. Supreme Court that he should be spared a second execution attempt.

Broom survived the 2009 execution “only to live with the ever-increasing fear and distress that the same process would be used on him at his next execution date,” attorneys Timothy Sweeney and Adele Shank said in a statement.

“Let his passing in this way, and not in the execution chamber, be the final word on whether a second attempt should ever have been considered,” they said.

Broom was sentenced to die for raping and killing 14-year-old Tryna Middleton after abducting her in Cleveland in 1984 as she walked home from a football game with two friends.

Hungry Thieves Make Off With Brooklyn Restaurant’s Pasta

By HardBoiledNews Staff

NEW YORK —  Pasta la vista, baby.

A bolognese-loving burglar broke into a Brooklyn restaurant and made off with all its homemade pasta while leaving behind its pricey booze and kitchen equipment.

Workers at Borsalia — a recently opened eatery in Williamsburg — say the thief got inside the night of Christmas Eve by breaking the lock on a hatch on the sidewalk and then drilling a hole into the wall that separated the entrance from the kitchen.

Once inside, the thieves cleared out all 15 pounds of the restaurant’s pasta, which had been made the day before by the kitchen staff. The purloined pasta included ravioli, cappelletti, tagliatelle and gnocchi.

The haul was so unusual, that staffers didn’t even notice the pasta was gone until the cops arrived and were taking a close look around.

“We went downstairs and found this big hole in the wall…but everything in the restaurant was perfect,” Manager Cristiano Rossi told Patch. “When the police came we went into the kitchen and we opened the pasta storage — it was empty.”

He said that aside from the carbo-haul, the only other thing missing was about $40 from a tip jar

Rossi said cops fingerprinted the kitchen and collected camera footage from nearby businesses, but have not had any updates in the case since. He said Borsalia had not yet set up its own camera system since it opened only a month ago.

The heist left Borsalia’s kitchen crew working all day and night on Christmas to replace the pasta supply.

Rossi said the only reason he could imagine why someone would go to the trouble is because their pasta is so good.

“Our pasta is in high demand and is of the highest value,” he said.

Gunman Wearing Trump Mask, Santa Hat Shoots Brother-in-Law

By HardBoiledNews Staff

ROHNERT PARK, California — A man donning a Santa Claus beard and hat and rubber Donald Trump mask walked up and shot his estranged 77-year-old brother-in-law right in front of his house, cops said.

The victim was hospitalized with two gunshot wounds which were considered serious but not  life-threatening, the Rohnert Park police said. Gerald Jacinth, 75, of Las Vegas, was caught soon after and charged with attempted murder.

The bizarre encounter unfolded Saturday morning when Jacinth drove up to his brother-in-law’s home in Sonoma County north of San Francisco wearing the goofy get-up while carrying a .380 handgun. He then walked up to the victim and tried to hand him a present.

“He had parked his black Dodge car across the street from the victim’s house wearing an over the head mask resembling Donald Trump, white long curly beard and a Santa hat as he made his way up the driveway,” the Rohnert Park authorities said.

The 77-year-old victim, whose name was not released by police, met Jacinth outside but did not recognize him, police said. He would not take the package, which the suspect said was a “special delivery.” Jacinth then raised a duffle bag he was carrying and opened fire, cops said.

“Even though the victim was suffering from two gunshot wounds,” police said, “he was still able to take a photo of Jacinth getting into his vehicle as he was fleeing.”

The victim’s wife dialed 911, and officers were in the area almost immediately and caught up to Jacinth driving nearby. He was quickly cornered and surrendered, police said.

“While searching the vehicle, the officers found a .380 handgun in a duffle bag,” the department said. They also found the mask, beard and hat police said.

A box found in the victim’s driveway was deemed suspicious and the bomb squad was called, but its contents were later determined to be a towel.

Man in Covid Ward Bludgeoned 82-Year-Old Patient to Death For Praying: Cops

By HardBoiledNews Staff

LANCASTER, California — A crazed Covid patient in a California hospital allegedly bludgeoned his 82-year-old ward mate to death with an oxygen tank because the man started to pray, police said.

Jesse Martinez, 37, was receiving treatment at the Antelope Valley Hospital in Lancaster on Dec. 17, when he blew his top after the man he shared a room with knelt down to pray, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s office said.

“The suspect became upset when the victim started to pray. He then struck the victim,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.

The victim– who was described by police only as Hispanic — died the next day. Investigators say the men didn’t know each other.

Martinez has been charged with murder as a hate crime and elder abuse and was held on $1 million bond.

Police said they are continuing to investigate.

Serial Killer Charged in Cold Case Murder of 9-Year-old Girl in California

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Michaela Joy Garecht and David Misch

OAKLAND, California — A jailed serial killer has been charged with the kidnapping and murder of a 9-year-old girl who disappeared without a trace from a store parking lot 32 years ago, authorities said.

David Misch, 59, was connected to the unsolved disappearance of Michaela Joy Garecht in Hayward, California on November 19, 1988, through a partial palm print and two eyewitnesses who picked his photo out of a lineup.

The brazen kidnapping occurred in broad daylight outside the Rainbow Market after she and a friend had taken their scooters there to buy snacks. Her body has never been found. 

“The kidnap and murder of a child is horrific. The pain to the family and friends is indescribable, especially when their child is not found. This crime shocked not just the local community, but the entire Bay Area and the nation,” said Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley. 

After Garecht and her friend came out of the shop, they found that one of their scooters had been moved behind a car parked in a nearby space. When Garecht went to retrieve it, the driver of the car grabbed her as she walked past his door. He forced her screaming into the front seat of the car and sped away, authorities said.

All detectives had to work with was a partial palmprint found on the scooter.

Prosecutors say that around the 30th anniversary of the kidnapping, they took another look at the evidence and had a fingerprint examiner review a list of names of persons of interest, one being Misch’s.The print was a match.

Authorities say their ability now to compare prints has been significantly advanced through software and technology.

Misch, who is currently incarcerated for a 1989 murder of a woman. He has also been charged with two other notorious cold case killings — the 1986 slayings of Michelle Xavier, 18, and Jennifer Duey, 20, who were brutally raped and murdered on their way back from a birthday party.

When police tried to interview Misch about Garecht’s disappearance, he refused. He also refused to comply with a warrant for his fingerprints and DNA, even after being told it could exonerate him from the crime, police say.

His attorney, Ernie Castillo, described his client as a “loving father, a caring son and a good brother.”

“He is not someone who would hurt or kill a child. David denies the allegations against him and will fight these charges,” Castillo said in a statement to this the East Bay Times.

Father and Son Gun Each Other Down in Fight Over Family Dog

By HardBoiledNews Staff

The Cokers were described as a ‘very dysfunctional’ family

WAGARVILLE, Alabama — An Alabama man and his son shot each other dead after getting in a fight over a family dog, which the younger man had killed for trying to attack a child. 

When Kelvin James Coker, 60, discovered his dog had been shot on Saturday, he drove to the home of his 32-year-old son, Kelvin Nicholas Coker, who admitted killing the animal, cops said.

As the argument grew heated, James opened first, striking his son in the torso, cop said.

Nicholas returned fire with a shotgun, hitting his father in the neck. Both men died from their wounds.

The sheriff called the family ‘very dysfunctional.’ 

Chief investigator Blake Richardson of the Washington County Sheriff’s office, told WALA-TV  that the dispute began when Nicholas opened fire on four of the family’s dogs, after one of the animals started attacking his girlfriend’s young daughter.

Moments later, James arrived at his son’s home in his truck and an argument erupted. During the confrontation, Nicholas pointed his shotgun at his father who drew a handgun and shot his son, cops said..

A mortally wounded Nicholas then returned fire and killed his father.

‘It’s unfortunate that they would not value human life not any more than that,’ Richardson said. 

Nicholas’ girlfriend, Ariel Anderson, has disputed the official version of events, claiming that her boyfriend did not kill his father, but rather that James took his own life after killing his son in a fit of anger. 

‘Nic Coker did not kill his daddy and they did not have an argument!!’ she wrote on Facebook. ‘Nic was protecting my daughter from his and his dads pitbulls that were hurting her and his dad just showed up and shot him because he was mad that Nic killed his dog then he shot himself!’

However, investigators have defended their initial findings, saying that the coroner’s unofficial report shows James could not have committed suicide. 

‘I’m very confident that’s how the events unfolded, we try and let the evidence speak for everything and make sure everything is considering with our witness statements and right now we believe that’s the case.’ Richardson told WKRG-TV. 

Sheriff’s officials said they have responded to multiple violent incidents involving the Cokers over the years. In 2012, James was charged with first-degree assault for shooting his other son three times.   

Ship Seeking Better Cell Signal Runs Aground in Tropical Paradise, Causing Oil Spill

By HardBoiledNews Staff

MAURITIUS — A Japanese cargo ship that caused an ecological disaster in a tropical paradise, ran aground and created an oil spill because its crew steered closer to land to get better cell phone signal, its owner said. 

The MV Wakashio ran aground on July 25 and began leaking oil on Aug. 6, eventually spilling 1,000 tons of fuel oil into the pristine waters around the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius. Four sailors were later killed when a tugboat sank during efforts to clean up the spill.

Japan’s Nagashiki Shipping, which owns the ship, a 1000-foot bulk carrier used for transporting iron ore, said the crew changed direction to sail close enough to Mauritius to get cell phone coverage.

The company blamed the disaster on a lack of safety awareness by the crew and a failure to follow rules. The firm promised better training and oversight.

“There was a lack of awareness of the dangers of navigating close to the coast … and insufficient implementation of regulations that must be observed in order to safely execute voyages,” the company said.

The company says it will ban private use of cell phones during working hours on bridges and install high-speed communications systems on all its ships, as well as beef up training.

The clean-up, which includes returning about 20 miles of mangrove coastline to its former state, will likely be mostly completed by January, Nagashiki said last month.

Killer Mom Drives For Hours in Utah With Body of Slain 2-Year-Old Son

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Valerie PEck

VERNAL, Utah — A woman drove for hours through the Utah countryside with her dead 2-year-old son’s body sitting next to her after fatally shooting him and then turning the gun on herself but surviving, cops said. 

Valerie Peck, 40, has been charged with aggravated murder and child abuse in connection with the shooting death of her son, Zack.

The Uintah County Sheriff’s office said they received a report of a shooting in the area of Fantasy Canyon in northeast Utah. The initial report was that a woman and a boy had been shot.

Deputies eventually found Peck and her son in a car driving along a back country road. The boy was dead when deputies arrived. Peck was transported to a local hospital, where she was treated for her injuries, cops said..

During the investigation, deputies learned that Peck had taken her son on a drive to the Dry Fork Canyon area earlier in the day. She then stopped at a camping area where she put her son back in the vehicle and shot him with a .22-caliber rifle. Peck then shot herself, but survived.

Cops say she then drove around Uintah County for several hours with her son’s body in the vehicle before officers caught up with her. 

Upon Peck’s release from the hospital, she was taken into custody and transported to the Uintah County Jail, where she is currently being held.

Food Fight: British Lifer Stabs Fellow Prison Inmate With Screwdriver For Tossing His Meal

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Steven Branscombe was hangry after a fellow inmate tossed his leftovers

FULL SUTTON, United Kingdom — A felon serving life for stabbing a chef in front of a group of terrified school kids and their moms, has been convicted of stabbing another inmate with a screwdriver for throwing away his food. 

Steven Branscombe, 51, waited until he and the victim were in a workshop at Full Sutton prison in Yorkshire before, going ape withe a screwdriver because the man had earlier tossed some of his uneaten chow in the trash. 

Authorities say an “ill feeling” had developed between the prisoners, according to Hull Live.

Both were reportedly assembling bicycles to be gifted to charity when suddenly Branscombe came up from behind the other unidentified inmate and jabbed him in the neck multiple times. The victim was left with a half-centimeter gash in his neck. 

Branscombe was serving a life sentence for slaying 42-year-old chef, Marc Clarke back on Jan. 27, 2012, after similarly harboring a long-simmering grudge. 

In that case, Branscombe, a father of two, claimed to have “snapped” over a beef with the chef over the questionable quality of cocaine Clarke allegedly had sold him a decade before. 

As they were driving by a school at around 3 p.m., Branscombe weaved his Peugeot in front of Clarke’s Mercedes, forcing him to a halt. 

Branscombe then grabbed his 6-inch kitchen knife he kept in the car and stabbed Clarke twice before gasping school children and their carpooling parents. 

At the conclusion of his trial at Liverpool Crown Court, Branscombe claimed he went into a fit of rage only momentarily. “I lost it for a split second. I just lost control of myself. I can’t explain my reasons for my actions, I don’t know why I did it.”

Judge Clement Goldstone then warned Branscombe to be leery of his temper and potential foes. 

“You are a man quite capable of making other enemies,” he said. 

15-Year-Old Charged in Carjack Murder of Retired Chicago Firefighter

By HardBoiledNews Staff

These carjackers fatally shot retired firefighter Dwain Williams

CHICAGO — A 15-year-old boy has been charged with murder in the carjacking slaying of a retired Chicago firefighter earlier this month outside a Chicago popcorn shop.

Prosecutors say the teen, who is not being identified because he is charged as a juvenile, was part of a carjacking crew that had been working the area. On Dec. 3, the gang set their sites on 65-year-old Dwain Williams, following him in a stolen car to Let’s Get Poppin’.

“The time it took to follow and lay in wait for the victim shows a calculated plan,” said Assistant State’s Attorney Sophia David.

Surveillance camera video showed Williams walking toward his Jeep with a bag of popcorn in his hand, when is approached by two people with guns, authorities said.

Williams then retreats behind his car as one suspect rushes toward him with a gun. Williams pulls out his own gun and fires. The suspect falls to the ground, fires off a shot and jumps back in the car and flees.

In the altercation, Williams was shot in the stomach. He later died at a local hospital.

Authorities say the teen was unarmed at the time of the shooting and doesn’t appear to be the gunman who killed Williams. Police, however, have recovered a weapon and are testing it to see if it was used in the shooting.

The judge ordered him held in custody.

The gang’s stolen vehicle was found abandoned two days later. Prosecutors said DNA and fingerprints recovered from the car, as well as witnesses who identified him in still photos taken from surveillance footage, eventually led to the teen’s arrest.

He faces multiple counts of first-degree murder, as well as a count of armed robbery, officials said. No charges against any other suspects have been announced.

Cops say detectives are interviewing an adult, allegedly involved in the murder, and were still searching for two other adults.

Williams was a Chicago Fire Department lieutenant and retired about two years ago, officials said. He was about to return to work as a civilian employee at the Office of Emergency Management and Communications.

Male Escort Admits Screwing Uncle Sam Out of Nearly $300K in Taxes

By HardBoiledNews Staff

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida — You’ll never get away with trying to screw Uncle Sam.

A Florida man has pleaded guilty to stiffing the feds out of hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes from earnings he made working as a high-priced male escort, federal prosecutors said.

Authorities say Jami Kopacz, of Fort Lauderdale, admitted using his company, JK Training, through which he booked many of his trysts, as a vehicle to hide his real income and avoid paying tax.

Federal prosecutors say Kopacz ran the scam from 2015 through 2018, filing false corporate and personal tax returns that “substantially underreported” his income.

The fraud ultimately cost Uncle Sam more than $278,000 in lost tax revenue, prosecutors said

He faces a minimum of three years in prison and will be required to pay the money back.

Ex-Cop Charged With Menacing Repairman Over Crazed Election Conspiracy Theory

By HardBoiledNews Staff

HOUSTON — A  former Texas police captain has been charged with holding an innocent air conditioner repairman at gunpoint in the mistaken belief he was involved in a fantasy voter fraud conspiracy, prosecutors said.

The Harris County District Attorney’s office says former Houston police captain Mark Anthony Aguirre, 63, had gone to authorities before the presidential election claiming knowledge of a massive voter fraud scheme in Houston.

Soon after, Aguirre was accused of running a man off the road and pointing a gun at his head in an attempt to prove his claims, prosecutors said.

“He crossed the line from dirty politics to commission of a violent crime and we are lucky no one was killed,” Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said. “His alleged investigation was backward from the start – first alleging a crime had occurred and then trying to prove it happened.”

According to court documents, Aguirre told police shortly after the Oct. 19 incident, “that he was part of a group of private citizens called, ‘Liberty Center,’ who were conducting a civilian investigation into the alleged ballot scheme.”

According to court documents, Aguirre said he had been reviewing surveillance on the repairman for four days, accusing the victim of being the mastermind of a giant fraud, saying 750,000 fraudulent ballots were inside a truck the repairman was driving.

Prosecutors said the accused victim was actually “an innocent and ordinary air conditioner repairman.”

According to court documents, Aguirre ran his SUV into the back of the truck, trying to get the repairman to stop. When the repairman got out of the truck, Aguirre pointed a handgun at the man, forced him to the ground and put his knee on the man’s back.

Investigators found that there were no ballots in the truck and instead, it was filled with air conditioning parts and tools.

According to court documents, Aguirre had been paid a total of $266,400 by the Houston-based Liberty Center for God and Country, with $211,400 of that amount being deposited into his account the day after the incident.

Aguirre’s claims of election fraud were found to be false, according to court documents.

Attorney Jared Woodfill of the Liberty Center, said they had hired Mr. Aguirre’s private investigation firm and that he had a team of approximately 20 investigators on the case.

Woodfill adds, “[We] didn’t know what he was doing. We find it hard to believe that Captain Aguirre would go stop a car, pull someone out and put a gun to his head.”

Aguirre has been charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. If found guilty, he could face up to 20 years in prison.

Santa and His Elves Go Undercover, Bust Several Thieves at California Mall

By HardBoiledNews Staff

RIVERSIDE, California — This gives a whole new meaning to SantaCon.

Undercover cops dressed as Santa and his elves made several busts of shoplifters and suspected car thieves at a shopping mall in California.

The Riverside police say they had assigned officers from their property crimes unit to work with store detectives at the Target store in the busy Canyon Springs shopping center last week. 

Dubbing the operation, “Santa’s intervention,” in a matter of hours, the cops made several arrests, including one where Santa tackled a suspect to the ground.

“As the suspects exited the store with merchandise they just stole, Santa and his elf were waiting to take them into custody for the theft,” the department wrote on its Facebook page.

In one bust, the officers nabbed a woman walking out of the store with a shopping cart full of stolen items. They also found illegal narcotics in her pockets.

A second arrest involved a local transient who cops say is a habitual thief at this particular store. Store detectives recognized him as he entered the store but stopped him before he could steal again. He was subsequently arrested for trespassing and being in possession of illegal narcotics.

The third arrest involved 55-year-old Patrick Seilsopour who allegedly stole expensive Lego toy sets totaling $1,000. He was arrested outside the store by Santa and his elf for grand theft. Cops say Seilsopour is believed to have committed similar retail thefts at several Target stores in the region.

Toward the conclusion of the operation, detectives received information about three suspicious men casing vehicles in the shopping center parking lot.  One of the undercover detectives spotted the men in the act of stealing an older white Honda CR-V. 

Two of the suspects saw the detective and ran off but were quickly apprehended by the other officers.  One suspect resisted arrest but was taken into custody with the help of the undercover Santa, who tackled him to the ground. 

Another suspect was detained by the undercover elf, who held him at gunpoint. The third suspect who actually stole the Honda, managed to get away but the vehicle was found abandoned nearby. Cops say they know who the man is.

Bad First Date Ends With Man Fatally Shooting Woman and Her Father

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Jamal Harris’ date said she thought he had a ‘pumpkin head’

NEW ORLEANS — An aggrieved ex-con gunned down a Louisiana woman and her father after a lousy first date in which she tried to beat a hasty retreat after texting a friend that the man had a “pumpkin head,” investigators said.

Jamal Harris, 36, of New Orleans, faces two counts of first-degree murder in the Oct. 3 shooting deaths of Jessica Troulliet, 35, and her 56-year-old father, Robert Templet Jr., whose bodies were found in her Mercury Mountaineer which was abandoned in Marrero, NOLA.com reported.

Both had been shot in the back in the head. Detectives suspect Harris — who was convicted of armed robbery in 2007 — killed the pair following an internet meetup that had gone south, Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s homicide Det. Steven Keller testified in court.

Keller cited text messages sent by Trouillet to a friend — as well as Harris’ statements to investigators — that showed the pair has gotten into a fight at her home during the date, which they set up on a dating app called Tagged.

“She said he did not look like his profile pic, and she [said] he looked like a pumpkin head,” the detective said of the woman’s texts. “She told him she had another date, and he had to leave.”

Keller said Harris admitted feeling insulted.

“He admitted being upset with her because she was speaking to another individual on the phone,” the detective testified.

Harris claimed he left Trouillet’s home at 9:30 p.m. and headed to his father’s house in Marrero, where his cousin, Jamal Gabriel, 34, picked him up, Keller testified.

But phone records showed that Trouillet picked up Harris in her SUV some 45 minutes later, and then texted a friend for help to “come to the house” to make Harris leave, Keller said.

The friend balked at the request and detectives believe Trouillet agreed to take Harris back to where she was picked up while her father went along for the ride, NOLA.com reported.

Investigators think Trouillet and Templet were fatally shot sometime after 1:10 a.m., based on surveillance video.

Harris was later arrested at Gabriel’s home in Avondale on Oct. 21. Gabriel was also charged with being an accessory after the fact to first-degree murder, NOLA.com reported.

An attorney for Harris argued that no direct evidence linked him to the slayings.

“This is a completely circumstantial case,” defense attorney Richard Bourke said. “All of it is based on GPS records … He could have left before the shooting. Someone else could have been the shooter. There’s a lot of things that can happen.”

A judge on Tuesday found probable cause to hold Harris, who was ordered back in custody without bail, NOLA.com reported.

NY Doctor Pleads Guilty to Writing Opioid Prescriptions in Exchange for Sex

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Joseph Santiamo faces up to 20 years in the clink

TRENTON, New Jersey — A sicko New York doctor has pleaded guilty to writing prescriptions for addicts for powerful painkillers in exchange for sexual favors.

Joseph Santiamo, 65, a geriatric medicine specialist in Staten Island, admitted he handed out scripts for thousands of pills of oxycodone to young clients who were obviously struggling with addiction, federal prosecutors in New Jersey said.

“This defendant knowingly prescribed for his patients dangerous quantities of oxycodone, and even more egregiously, solicited sexual favors from certain patients who were struggling with substance abuse in exchange for writing them additional opioid prescriptions,” U.S. Attorney Carpenito said.

 “Many of these patients were dealing with pain and addiction, and instead of getting help from their doctor, they were drawn deeper into the cycle of drug abuse. His admission of guilt today ensures that he will be appropriately punished for this behavior,” Carpenito added.

Santiamo admitted in court that from 2012 until 2018 he prescribed large quantities of oxycodone to patients without legitimate medical purpose. 

Prosecutors said that for a number of his patients, there was no medical necessity for Santiamo to treat them with oxycodone, nor to prescribe the large quantities that he did. Santiamo also solicited sexual favors from certain of his younger patients in exchange for oxycodone prescriptions. 

In some instances, Santiamo did this despite evidence that certain patients were abusing opioids, prosecutors said.

“The only difference between him and a person who deals drugs on the street is the white lab coat he wears,” said Susan Gibson, special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s New Jersey Division.

Santiamo faces up  to 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine when he is sentenced in April.