Hard Boiled News

True Crime and News of the Weird from around the Globe

Speeding Driver Killed in Collision With Elephant on Thailand Road

By HardBoiledNews Staff

The elephant was unmoved after being hit by the car and then stomped the driver to death

NAKHON RATCHASIMA, Thailand — A speeding driver was killed after he hit an elephant that then stomped his pickup flat, police said.

Officials in northeast Thailand said the vehicle plowed into the wild pachyderm’s hind legs as sun set at the edge of the Khao Yai National Park, police said.

The angry animal then reared up and crushed the vehicle, killing the driver, 58-year-old Nakharin Boonchai, the Bangkok Post reported.

“Elephants don’t come out during the day but they start coming out when it gets dark,” said Lt. Col. Kemchat Paedkaew, of the Thai police. He said up to two people a year are killed by elephants in areas surrounding the park.

The accident happened on Wednesday on a small road with signs telling drivers to be aware of wild animals that sometimes stray from the park. Locals reported that two elephants had been crossing the road at the time and that they tried to warn Boonchai — who was not from the area — to slow down, but he hit the rear animal as darkness fell.

This was all that was left of the truck after the elephant was done with it

Officials tracked the stricken elephant, which was bleeding from one of its legs but still able to walk, and were monitoring its condition.

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Disgraced Judge Kills Ex-Wife He Brutally Beat in Front of Kids in 2014

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Disgraced judge Lance Mason had served nine months for beating his ex-wife in 2014

SHAKER HEIGHTS, Ohio — A disgraced former judge has been arrested for fatally stabbing his ex-wife after serving time for brutally beating her in front of their kids, cops said.

Lance Mason, 51, allegedly stabbed his estranged wife, Aisha Fraser Mason, a sixth-grade school teacher, at his home on Saturday, police said. He then fled the scene in his SUV and rammed a police cruiser, severely injuring a Shaker Heights police officer as he got out of the vehicle.

The officer, Adam Flynt, is expected to live.

Mason was thrown off the bench after the vicious attack on his wife in 2014 that left her with a broken orbital bone that required reconstructive surgery.

Investigators said Mason punched Fraser Mason 20 times and slammed her head against the dashboard of his car five times, while the couple’s children were in the back of the car. Mason, who previously served in the state legislature, was a sitting Cuyahoga County judge when the attack took place.

After his 2014 arrest, police found a large arsenal of weapons and ammunition in his home.

Mason served nine months of a two-year prison sentence and went to work as a minority business development director for the mayor of Cleveland’s office after his release. He was fired after his arrest on Saturday.

Fraser Mason filed for divorce two days after the attack. The divorce case was still pending at the time of her death.  She also won a $150,000 judgement in a civil case against her ex-husband.

As part of his petition for release, Mason penned a letter to Fraser Mason saying he “failed as a husband, father, and a man,” and promised that once he realized he was “broken” he became a better father and man.”

“My responsibility was to love and protect you,” Mason’s letter said. “Instead of loving, protecting and providing for you and our daughters, I have provided a terrible example, and exposed you to rage and violence.”

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Man Who Raped Woman As She Overdosed Gets Less Than 3 Years

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Brian Varela admitted he raped Alyssa Noceda as she lay dying of an overdose and never called for help

LYNWOOD, Washington  —  A man who cruelly raped a woman as she was dying from a drug overdose and then joked about it with his friends by text rather than call for help has been sentenced to less than three years in jail.

Brian Varela, 20, received just  2 years and 10 months in the death of 18-year-old Alyssa Noceda in February who overdosed after he gave her a fatal cocktail of drugs.

Superior Court Judge Linda Krese said it was the most time allowed under state guidelines for second-degree manslaughter, third-degree rape and unlawful disposal of human remains, for someone with no prior record. She admitted she was  “surprised, even outraged,” by the inadequacy of the sentence, having seen auto theft cases with more serious penalties.

“I’m not sure the legislature really contemplated something like this,” Krese said, according to the Daily Herald newspaper in Everett, Washington.

Varela told detectives Noceda came to a party at his mobile home in February and snorted crushed pills in his room and then and then took a dab of concentrated THC. He said she collapsed within a minute of mixing the two.

Varela told cops the pills were Percocet, but tests later showed she’d taken a fatal mix of fentanyl and Xanax. Varela did not call for help. Instead he texted pictures of Noceda’s partly nude body to coworkers, with comments like, “LOL.”

“Bro you killed her,” one friend said.

“But not joking she od bruh,” Varela wrote. He didn’t care, he added, because he was sexually assaulting her “to pass the time.” He never called for help.

Varela then played video games until he fell asleep, and when he woke up the next morning, he told police that Noceda’s lips blue and that she was cold to the touch.

But instead of calling police, he went to work at Dairy Queen. Once he returned home, he stuffed Noceda’s body in a plastic crate where he kept her hidden for days.

At one point, he used Noceda’s thumbprint to get into her iPhone, so he could post on Snapchat suggesting that she ran away. He also washed her body to try to destroy evidence. He told friends he planned to bury her and then flee to Mexico. Eventually, a coworker called police.

When asked if he had anything to say, Varela told the judge: “I’m sorry for my foolish actions. Whatever I get is what I deserve.”

Noceda’s disgusted aunt, Rachelle Palmer, said afterwards: “You might as well let him walk free with that kind of time.”

 

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Cops Apprehend Two Drunk and Disorderly Raccoons in West Virginia

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Turns out the rambunctious raccoons had been hitting the fermented crabapples a bit too hard

MILTON, West Virginia — These critters got drunk as a skunk … well almost.

Police in West Virginia made their strangest drunk and disorderly arrests yet when they picked up two suspected rabid raccoons who turned out just to be drunk.

“Turns out they appear to be drunk on crabapples,” the Milton police department said in a post on its Facebook page.

The masked bandits were apprehended a day apart and in both cases, were later released into the woods unharmed after they’d slept it off. Officers named the second raccoon Dallas.

Cops said residents should exercise caution if their spot wobbly wildlife.

“If you see a staggering and disoriented raccoon please do not approach it. It could be sick so call us and we’ll take care of it,” the department said. “Welcome to Milton Dallas.”

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4 Charged in Stunning Execution of Ohio Family of 8 Over Custody Dispute

By HardBoiledNews Staff

George Wagner III, Angela Wagner, George Wagner IV and Edward Wagner are charged in the  execution slayings of the Rhoden family in Pike County, Ohio in 2016

WAVERLY, Ohio — Nearly three years after eight members of a rural Ohio family were found shot execution-style in their mobile homes, authorities have charged four members of another family long acquainted with the victims.

The brutal, execution-style slayings of two generations of the Rhoden family in Pike County in Appalachia in April 2016, had perplexed authorities who had dedicated thousands of hours of detective work and had interviewed over 550 people in the effort to track down the killers.

“We promised the victims’ families that the day would come when this case would be solved, and today is that day,” said Attorney General Mike DeWine. “These suspects developed a calculated plan to execute the victims in the middle of the night and then carefully cover their tracks. Their alleged plan was sophisticated, but not sophisticated enough.”

George “Billy” Wagner III, 47, Angela Wagner, 48, George Wagner IV, 27, and Edward “Jake” Wagner, 26, were charged with eight counts of aggravated murder and face the death penalty.

DeWine said the killings appeared to have stemmed from a custody dispute over the five-year-old daughter of Jack Wagner and 19-year-old Hanna May Rhoden.

“There was an obsession with custody of the children. There was an obsession of control of the children,” DeWine said. He dismissed a long-standing theory that the murders were connected to a marijuana business relationship between the families that had gone sour.

Additionally, authorities arrested Angela Wagner’s mother, Rita Newcomb, 65, and Billy Wagner’s mother, Fredericka Wagner, 76, on charges of obstructing justice, perjury and forging custody documents.

Suspicion had long been cast on the Wagner family, but DeWine said efforts the clan had made to cover their tracks had slowed the investigation. At one point, members of the Wagner family had moved to Alaska, purportedly to get away from the glare of the investigation, but had since moved back to Ohio.

The case dates backs to April 2016, when authorities found  seven members of the Rhoden family, plus the fiancée of one of the Rhoden victims, each shot numerous times  at four different mobile homes in Pike County.

Among the dead were:: Christopher Rhoden Sr., 40, his ex-wife Dana Manley Rhoden, 37, and their three children, Hanna Rhoden, 19, Christopher Rhoden Jr., 16, and Clarence “Frankie” Rhoden, 20. Frankie Rhoden’s fiancée, Hannah “Hazel” Gilley, 20, was also killed, along with the elder Christopher Rhoden’s brother Kenneth Rhoden, 44, and cousin Gary Rhoden, 38.

 

Most of the victims were killed as they slept. Three young children at home at the time of the murders were left unharmed.

The turning point in the case came last week, when authorities determined that one of the Wagner’s had built a homemade silencer for a gun.

“The Wagners were friends with the Rhodens and had been for years. They knew the layouts of the Rhodens’ homes, and they knew the victims’ routines. It is our belief that the suspects used this knowledge to meticulously plan these horrendous, cold-blooded murders,” DeWine said.

The indictments allege that the suspects purchased ammunition, a magazine clip, bags to catch spent shell casings and a bug detector in preparation for the crimes.

Jake Wagner is also charged with unlawful sexual conduct with a minor for having sex with Hanna Rhoden when she was 15 and he was 20.

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Gambling Feud Shootout Leaves 2 Dead, 4 Wounded in Memphis

By HardBoiledNews Staff

The card table gun fight over a gambling feud left two men dead

MEMPHIS  — The Old West lives on in some places.

Two men were killed and four others wounded in a card table shootout that stemmed from a gambling feud.

Tennessee police say the shooting occurred at at a home Saturday night in Memphis, when a gun battle erupted over a game of cards.

“It’s believed that this incident occurred as a result of a feud while gambling,” the Shelby County Sheriff’s office said in a statement. “Investigators believe that this was an isolated incident and that the victims knew the suspects.”

One of the victims was declared dead at the scene and another died later at a nearby hospital.

Police identified the two dead men as Marcus Conway,18, and Marquese Taylor, 22, both of Memphis. The survivors were taken to area hospitals in conditions ranging from serious to critical.

Cops say one of the victims was 13-years-old, but is expected to live.

No arrests have yet been made.

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Uber Driver Charged in Death of ‘Car Surfing’ Teen Who Fell off Roof of Vehicle

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Ryan Mullen (l) died from head injuries after he fell from the roof of Danyal Cheema’s car

CENTRAL ISLIP, New York  — An Uber driver was charged with manslaughter for letting a teen “car surf” on the roof of his taxi from the boy fell and later died, authorities said.

Danyal Cheema, 24, was behind the wheel on Sept. 23, when 16-year-old Ryan Mullen and two pals — who had been out drinking at several parties — offered to pay him to let two of them ride atop his Toyota Highlander while the third boy filmed, prosecutors said.

Cheema agreed and Mullen and another boy climbed on the roof of the SUV while the third teen videotaped them on Snapchat, Suffolk County District Attorney Timothy Sini said. As Cheema began driving, Mullen fell and struck his head on the pavement.

He sustained a fractured skull, but went home and died in his sleep later that morning.

“The defendant made a reckless decision and engaged in reckless conduct that caused the death of a young boy, and he will be held accountable,” Sini said, according to Newsday.

Under the law, second-degree manslaughter means disregarding an obvious risk and causing a death as a result of reckless conduct. Cheema faces 5 to 15 years in prison if found guilty. He pleaded not guilty.

Ryan’s mother, Janice Mullen, told WABC-TV: “There was an adult present, and the adult should have said, ‘No, that’s a bad decision. You’re not allowed to do that.’ ” Ryan’s father, Matthew, asked: “What if the driver was responsible enough to say no?”

Cheema’s attorney, Christopher Renfroe, said his client has expressed remorse for Mullen’s death and does not have a prior criminal record. A spokeswoman for Uber said the company is cooperating with the investigation.

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4 Hospitalized, Dozens Flee After Pitbull Goes on House Party Rampage

By HardBoiledNews Staff

The prickly pitbull had just been adopted

COLWOOD, Canada — This dog wasn’t in the mood to party.

A Canadian house party ended with four people in the hospital and 13 people having to barricade themselves for safety after a newly-adopted pitbull went berserk, police said.

The pissed off pooch lost its cool after drunken men began rough housing at a British Columbia rager and bumped into the animal, causing it to become aggressive, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said.

Before police could come and restrain the 140-pound beast, 13 people — including children — had to barricade themselves inside a home to get away from the marauding mutt.

Even the dog’s owners sustained serious injuries as they attempted to corral the animal into a bedroom.

Four injured people were taken to hospital for treatment.

One injured and heavily intoxicated man was arrested after removing his shirt and attempting to fight with officers.

Police say the pitbull had been recently adopted by the family as a rescue animal and that a review of the attack and the dog’s history of aggression will be conducted before any decision is made about the animal’s future.

The Ministry of Children and Families were also contacted to review the safety of the children who were at the party but were unharmed in the attack.

 

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Teacher Has Affairs With 2 Students Who Tell Wife, Police After Finding Out

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Corey French resigned after his wife told school officials of the affairs with students

NEPTUNE BEACH, Florida — He was a creep and a cad at the same time.

A Florida high school teacher landed behind bars after two underage students he was having simultaneous affairs with told his wife when they found out he was two-timing them, officials said.

Corey French, 30, was arrested on two counts of unlawful sexual activity for having sex with the students — who were aged 16 and 17 — while he taught at Fletcher High School in Neptune Beach between 2015 and 2017.

But when they found out about each other, they were furious and confronted his wife with pictures as proof of the trysts, WJXT-TV reported. His wife then told him to leave and called school officials.

The former students told police that French confessed his love to them, and even planned a getaway to Colorado or Alaska with one of the teens, although she told authorities she knew it was far-fetched. One of the teens said she even scrapped plans to go to college in hopes that French would leave his wife to be with her.

Both girls are now refusing to press charges.

When confronted by school officials, French resigned. He has pleaded not guilty and is out free after posting bond.

French’s wife, Alexandra French, who worked as a kindergarten teacher at Venetia Elementary School in Jacksonville, was also arrested on a misdemeanor charge of resisting arrest without violence after trying to stop cops from arresting her husband.

 

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NYC Dominatrix Bound, Beaten and Robbed of $4K in Sex Toys

By HardBoiledNews Staff

The thieves made off with the madam’s magic bag of sex toys

NEW YORK — That’s a lot of whips.

A crew of masked robbers bound and beat a dominatrix in a New York hotel room before making off with her cash and bag stuffed full of sex toys.

“They stole $4,000 worth of toys from me — the whole bag, all of the strap-on dildos, nipple clamps and leather harnesses,” 27-year-old madam, Barbara Schreiner, told the New York Post. “I don’t know what I’m going to do now.”

Cops say Schreiner was waiting for a $2,500-an-hour customer at a Ramada Inn in Queens on Monday, when three men wearing masks barged in with guns drawn and ordered her to get down on the ground.

They then bound her hands with duct tape and kicked and punched her, leaving her with two black eyes.

They then pointed a gun at Schreiner— a former prostitute who now performs private sadomasochistic sessions — and demanded she give up the pin code for her debit card.

Then then took off and used her card five times.

Schreiner recently moved to the Big Apple from Niagara Falls, and said she typically meets with two or three clients per day.

“I deal with guys in power— judges, criminal lawyers, and doctors asking me to pee on them, f–k them with dildos all kinds of sick s–t,” she said. “But those a–holes took my toys and now I’m going to have two black eyes. I don’t know what I’m gonna tell my clients.”

She told the Post that she suspects the thugs were hired by her revenge-seeking former co-worker.

 

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