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.”

Investigators Hunt Animal Who Carved ‘Trump’ On Manatee’s Back

By HardBoiledNews Staff

HOMOSASSA, Florida — Federal wildlife authorities are looking for the animal who carved the word “Trump” into the back of a manatee along Florida’s Gulf Coast.

The injured sea beast was discovered Sunday in the headwaters of the Homosassa River, according to the Citru County Chronicle.

Craig Cavanna, senior officer with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service confirmed that federal officials were investigating who was behind harassing the manatee.

https://youtu.be/5SgRoOf7kJw

He said harassment of a manatee, a sea creature protected by the endangered species act, is a class A, federal criminal offense punishable by a $50,000 fine and up to a year in federal prison.

The West Indian manatee is a slow-moving, warm-blooded mammal, frequently spotted in Florida’s coastal waters. They often seek sanctuary in the spring-fed waters along Citrus County’s coastline where they regularly interact with swimmers and boaters. 

Cavanna said it is uncommon for locals to harass the manatee.

“It’s been my experience that this is very out of character for this community,” Cavanna said. “Wildlife conservation is a core value in Citrus County. That’s why it’s called the Nature Coast.”

Investigators encourage anyone with information to call the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission at 888-404-FWCC (3922). 

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.”

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.

Cops Reopen Bizarre Cold Case of Inmate Killed by Gunman From Outside Jail

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Michael Duayne Wallace was scheduled to be released a month after he was killed

MOUNTAIN VIEW, California — Talk about a jailhouse whodunnit.

Detectives are reopening a bizarre 20-year-old cold case investigation into the killing of  a California inmate who was shot and killed while behind bars by someone from outside the jail. 

Officials say the April 27, 2000 slaying of 20-year-old Michael Duayne Wallace is the only instance anyone can remember of such an incident. Now detectives in Mountain View say they are reopening the case after some new information has come in.

Investigators say Wallace was shot and killed while at a minimum-security work furlough center in Mountain View less than a month before he was set to be released. 

That night, Wallace was standing in a hallway shortly after 10 p.m. and had turned to face the entrance of the building when he was shot in the chest. He was on clean-up duty at the time, mopping the hallway and talking with another inmate when the incident unfolded, police said.

At the center, Wallace was both an inmate and an employee, serving as a crew chief who made sure other inmates checked in and out while working as they entered or left the facility. He had been scheduled for release in May 2000 when he was shot. 

Despite an intense investigation at the time, detectives were unable to find a motive for the shooting, or a viable suspect. For years, the case remained open, but unsolved. 

FBI Seeks Hulking ‘Too Tall Bandit’ Behind 16 Bank Robberies

By HardBoiledNews Staff

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina — The FBI is on the hunt again for a serial bank robber they’ve dubbed the “Too Tall Bandit,” who has eluded law enforcement for at least 11 years.

The menacing criminal has been described by victims as standing up to 6-feet-8-inches tall and weighing 250 pounds. He has held up 16 banks dating back to 2009, in South Carolina, Tennessee and, most recently, western North Carolina, federal investigators said.

He has always struck armed with a handgun and disguised with a variety of terrifying Halloween masks.

After a two-year hiatus, the man struck twice in November, most recently last Friday at the United Community Bank in Etowah, North Carolina, authorities said.

Like in other robberies, the man, who authorities believe to be white and in his 40s, entered the bank holding a dark handgun and aggressively vaulted the teller counter.

Authorities say he speaks with a very deep voice and walks with a noticeable limp on his right side

He also struck the First Bank in Brevard, North Carolina, about 11 miles southwest of Etowah, on Nov. 6.

Before that heist, the robber’s last known stick up was back on Jan. 4, 2019, at a SunTrust Bank in Franklin, Tennessee. He is believed to have robbed the same bank in 2012, officials said.

The FBI is probing why the bandit apparently took a nearly two-year break, looking at the possibility the  robber was in jail during that time.

Following a string of robberies in 2018, the FBI issued a $15,000 reward for information leading to the man’s arrest, but nothing came of it.

The FBI believes the bandit’s first robbery occurred on Nov. 27, 2009, at the Volunteer State Bank in White House, Tennessee.

The only time he’s deviated from his pattern of targeting banks was when he allegedly robbed the Farragut Pharmacy in Farragut, Tennessee, on Dec. 18, 2014, FBI officials said. But in that case, he apparently wasn’t looking for cash.

“The suspect walked behind the pharmacy counter and instructed employees to place prescription opioids into a bag the robber brought with him, similar to the bank robberies,” read a statement the FBI released at the time.

Ex-Indiana Cop Charged in Bizarre Oxygen Tank Theft Insurance Scam

By HardBoiledNews Staff

VERSAILLES, Indiana — It was all a bunch of hot air.

Police in Indiana say a former sheriff’s deputy has been charged with an elaborate insurance fraud scheme in which he repeatedly claimed tanks of oxygen had been stolen from his home.

James Gholson, 35, managed to rake in over $250,000 in the scam in which he allegedly used forged police report forms to make claims about the purported robberies, detectives said.

During the time of the scam, Gholson served as a reserve deputy with the Jennings County Sheriff’s Office, and later a full-time deputy. He resigned in June 2020 when the investigation began. He was arrested after a six-month probe.

The Indiana State Police say Gholson had a side business operating an oxygen supply company from his home in Elizabethtown. In 2018 and 2019 he made several claims with his business and homeowner’s insurance companies claiming thousands of dollars of equipment had been stolen.

James Gholson

In one claim, he was paid over $100,000 by one company and over $87,000 by another. In another claim, he received a $56,000 payout from one company and $10,000 from another, cops said.

Investigators later determined that he used false invoices showing that he possessed the equipment he claimed had been stolen, and a false police report showing that he had reported the theft to the Jennings County Sheriff’s Office.

The scam began to unravel in November 2019, when he tried to file a claim that he had a trailer with two mowers stolen from his property, providing a false invoice showing he had purchased the equipment and a fraudulent police report from the Jennings County Sheriff’s Office.  

The insurance company grew suspicious and began investigating, ultimately denying the claim. They then passed the info on to Indiana authorities.

He was arrested on Monday and charged with  insurance fraud, official misconduct and forgery.

Thieves Steal Tire, Replace it With Turkey Just in Time for Thanksgiving

By HardBoiledNews Staff

MILWAUKEE — It’s a crime even the Butterball hotline couldn’t solve.

A Milwaukee man says he was dumbfounded to find a tire had been stolen from his car just before Thanksgiving and replaced with a turkey.

The man told WITI-TV that he came out to head to work when he noticed the stunning switcheroo.

“I’ve never seen anything like this before,” the man said. “I heard of people putting bricks, but I’ve never heard of a turkey underneath. I hope you enjoy that tire because you could have given that turkey to somebody who really needed it.”  

The man said he filed a police report, and added it will cost him $600 to get it fixed.

Scientists Counting Sheep Discover Unexplained Monolith in Rugged Utah Wilderness

By HardBoiledNews Staff

IN REMOTE SOUTHERN UTAH — Researchers surveying bighorn sheep in the rugged wilderness of southern Utah discovered a mysterious metal monolith erected amid the barren rocky landscape.

Members of Utah’s division of wildlife were riding aboard a department of public safety chopper when they spotted the shining structure among the arid red-rock landscape. 

The structure, which stands about 12 feet tall, appeared to be planted in the ground, officials said. 

“During the counts we came across this, in the middle of nowhere, buried deep in the rock. Inquiring minds want to know, what the heck is it? Anyone?” the public safety department posted on Instagram.

The helicopter pilot, Bret Hutchings, told local news channel KSL-TV: “That’s been about the strangest thing that I’ve come across out there in all my years of flying.”

Hutchings was helping wildlife resource officers count bighorn sheep in the south of the state.

“One of the biologists is the one who spotted it and we just happened to fly directly over the top of it,” Hutchings said. “He was like, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa, turn around, turn around!’ And I was like, ‘What?’ And he’s like, ‘There’s this thing back there – we’ve got to go look at it!’”

Hutchings said the object looked manmade and appeared to have been firmly planted in the ground, not dropped from the sky.

“I’m assuming it’s some new wave artist or something or, you know, somebody that was a big 2001: A Space Odyssey fan,” Hutchings said.

The monolith and its setting resembled a famous scene from Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 film, in which a group of apes encounter a giant slab.

Bighorn sheep live in some of Utah’s most rugged and remote areas and survive in hostile climate conditions. Fearing amateur explorers might get stuck in the wilderness while seeking out the monolith, the flight crew have not revealed its exact location.

Cops Stumped by Rare Tree Theft from U. of Wisconsin Arboretum

By HardBoiledNews Staff

This was all that remained of the targeted tree

MADISON, Wisconsin — Cops are on the lookout for a conifer crook who took off with a giant, rare tree from the University of Wisconsin Arboretum.

The UW-Madison Police Department say that sometime between Nov. 5 and Nov. 9, a rare 25-foot tall Algonquin Pillar Swiss Mountain Pine Tree was cut down and stolen from the UW Arboretum property. 

The tree was located about 30 yards from the arboretum’s main drive. The very rare tree was planted in 1988. Its twin, which had been planted right next to it, was left unharmed. 

The curator of the Arboretum’s Longenecker Horticultural Gardens, David Stevens, told the Wisconsin State Journal that he believes the tree was “most likely taken for a large Christmas tree display.”

“Somebody’s trying to make a buck,” he said. 

“We’re just devastated,” he added. “It feels like somebody broke into your house and stole something precious to you.”

The tree’s twin, on the left, was unharmed

Another large tree nearby – a Compact White Fir which was planted in 1981 – had a 12 foot section cut from the top of the tree. That cut section, however, was left behind, cops said.

The arboretum estimates the cost of the damaged tree and the stolen tree is at least $13,000.

Staffers think the thieves must have used a flatbed truck to get the tree out of the facility so the theft probably occurred late at night.

Police are urging anyone who “witnessed a large tree being transported from this area – or notices a large tree that’s now part of someone’s holiday display,” to call them.

Indian Conmen Dupe Doctor Out of $90K in Magic Lamp Scam

By HardBoiledNews Staff

The scamsters even conjured a fake genie out of this lamp

MEERUT, India — His money disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

An Indian doctor lost $90,000 when he was duped into buying “Aladdin’s lamp” from a pair of conmen who even conjured up a fake genie to convince him of its magical powers, police said.

Dr. Laeek Khan went to police in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh after he discovered no genie appeared when he rubbed the lamp.

“The cheats had struck a deal for much more but the doctor had paid about seven million rupees ($90,000),” said senior officer Amit Rai. He said the men had been arrested and charges were pending.

In his complaint, Dr. Khan said one of the men had pretended to be an occultist and made a “jinn,” or supernatural figure, appear from the lamp, local media reported. But when Khan asked if he could touch the genie or take the lamp home, they refused, saying it might cause him harm.

Eventually they sold the lamp to him, promising it would bring health, wealth and good fortune. Khan said he later realised the “genie” was actually just one of the men in disguise.

“The men have also cheated other families using the same modus operandi. The total amount of money involved runs into several million rupees,” Rai said.

Man Dies in Freak Fall Sliding Down Banister While Helping Pal Move

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Kyle Wolf slipped while sliding down a banister

GRAPEVINE, Texas — A man helping a pal move met a freak end when he decided to slide down a banister but slipped and fell to his death, police said.

Kyle Wolf, 26, had been helping his friend move into a third floor apartment the Marquis at Silver Oaks complex in Grapevine, Texas on Friday when he tried to slide down the banister to the second floor, cops said.

On his way down, he lost his balance and landed hard on the concrete floor. He was rushed to a nearby hospital where he was declared dead.

Authorities ruled that Wolf died from multiple blunt force injuries from the fall and determined that his death was an accident with no foul play suspected.

Wolf was engaged to be married, according to a GoFundMe page set up for his fiancee.

 

 

 

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.”

Sweet-Toothed Thief Steals $1,600 Worth of Cookies From Girl Scouts

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Noel Hines refused to pay for all the cookies she took

NORTH COLLEGE HILL, Ohio — What a cookie monster!

A heartless Ohio woman with a sweet tooth is behind bars for stealing $1,600 worth of cookies from a Girl Scout troop, police say.

Noel Hines has been charged with taking a large delivery of Girl Scout cookies to sell for a local troop back in March, but then never handed over any of the cash from selling them, the North College Hill police said.

For six months, the organization tried to get hold of Hines to pay up, but she never responded. Even when cops got involved, Hines refused to discuss paying for the sweets or giving them back.

So cops charged her with theft and arrested her last week while she was in court on unrelated charges.

“That’s the way the cookie crumbles,” the department said in a Facebook post.

 

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

By HardBoiledNews Staff

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Woman Gets 20 Years for Feeding Hubby’s Slain Gal Pal to Gators in Texas

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Amanda Hayes was convicted of dumping the victim’s remains into a creek for alligators to eat them

RICHMOND, Texas  — A cold-blooded killer was sentenced to 20 years in a Texas prison for chopping up  her husband’s ex-girlfriend’s body and trying to feed it to alligators.

The sentence comes on top of the 13-to-16-years Amanda Hayes is already serving in North Carolina for the grisly 2011 slaying.

Prosecutors say cops in Fort Bend County discovered the dismembered remains of Laura Ackerson, a 27-year-old mother of two from North Carolina in Oyster Creek in Richmond, Texas, on July 24, 2011.

Ackerson had disappeared a week earlier when she headed over to Grant and Amanda Hayes’ home to pick up the children she shared with Grant Hayes.

The couple was later charged and convicted for Ackerson’s murder, with evidence showing that had killed Ackerson in their Raleigh, North Carolina apartment, cut up her body, and then transported it in coolers to the home of the 46-year-old Amanda Hayes’ sister in Richmond, Texas.

Laura Ackerson

Once in Richmond, the couple first tried to dissolved Ackerson’s body using muriatic acid, but it didn’t work. So they then took a boat onto Oyster Creek and dumped Laura’s body parts into the water with the hope that alligators would eat her remains.

At trial, Hayes testified that she didn’t kill Ackerson and only helped get rid of her body in Texas because her husband threatened her if she didn’t help.  She was convicted in just an hour and a half.

Grant Hayes is already serving a life sentence in North Carolina for Ackerman’s murder of Ackerman. Amanda Hayes will now serve a combined 36 years for Ackerman’s slaying.

“The jury verdict was swift and the Court’s sentence was appropriately harsh,” said lead prosecutor Amanda Bolin.  “Laura Ackerson’s family can be assured that Amanda Hayes will be punished for all of her barbaric behavior – whether it was in North Carolina or the great state of Texas.”

 

Headless Body Found in Fish Tank in San Francisco Home

By HardBoiledNews Staff

 

Brian Egg had been missing for weeks before cops found the headless torso in a fish tank in his home

SAN FRANCISCO — Cops made a grisly discovery when they found a headless torso stuffed into a fish tank in the home of a man whose relatives had reported him missing.

Brian Egg, 65, was reported missing by friends and neighbors in late July and again in early August, but officers left without going into his home after finding no immediate sign of anything suspicious.

But on August 14, frantic neighbors called cops once again to report a suspicious man outside Egg’s home with a crime scene cleaning truck parked outside, the San Francisco police department said.

Officers arriving at the scene, detained the man and then called in homicide detectives after detecting a suspicious smell inside Egg’s house and spotting an excessive amount of powerful cleaning products in the home.

The next day, investigators found a headless torso inside a fish tank. The medical examiner’s office is working to determine the identity of the body and the cause of death.

Following an investigations, cops arrested two men, identified as Lance Silva, 39, and Robert McCaffrey, 52, both of San Francisco. They were charged with homicide, fraud, theft, identity theft and elder abus

Police say Silva had used Egg’s debit card to purchase a used BMW and hire the hazmat crew to clean his home.

Handcuff Key in Cop’s Pocket Saves His Life in Police Shooting

By HardBoiledNews Staff

The bullet struck an officer’s handcuff keys, redirecting them into his bulletproof vest

VAN BUREN, Arkansas — It was the key to life.

An Arkansas police officer narrowly escaped death when a bullet fired at him struck his handcuff keys in his shirt pocket, deflecting the slug into his bulletproof vest, authorities said.

The chilling episode unfolded during a domestic dispute call in Van Buren between a husband and wife.

Two Van Buren Police officers arrived at the house and began speaking to the husband,  Johnny Fisher, 68, and asked him to step outside, but he refused, the Arkansas State Police said.

Fisher, who was standing with one of the officers, then pulled out two guns. When the second officer entered the room. Fisher pointed the guns at him and fired, prompting both cops to return fire, killing Fisher.

One of the bullets Fisher fired struck one of the officers in the chest, but the handcuff key in his pocket miraculously save his life, according to KHBS-TV.

The officer was taken to a local hospital and was later released with bruising to his chest. The second officer was unhurt.

Both officers have been put on administrative leave as the state police investigates the fatal shooting.

 

Teen Psycho Tears Out Relative’s Eyes, Teeth in Disturbing Attack

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Police thought the elderly victim wouldn’t pull through without his eyes

ROCHESTER, Minnesota — A deranged teenager flew into a fit of rage, tearing an elderly relative’s eyes out before knocking out many of his teeth, police said.

Police arrived at the man’s home after receiving reports from neighbors of loud fighting coming from inside the apartment.

Once inside, they found 18-year-old Mahad Aziz on top of a 74-year-old man who had been beaten to a bloody pulp and whose eyes were missing. He also had lost many of his teeth, the Rochester Post Bulletin reported.

According to cops, Aziz was combative and non-verbal and fought with officers trying to handcuff him. Police said at first they believed the victim had suffered life-threatening injuries and was rushed to the famed Mayo Clinic, but he managed to pull through and was able to give cops a basic statement

Investigators say they do not believe Aziz used a weapon in the assault, but tore the relative’s eyes out with his own hands. The eyes were not recovered.

Aziz was initially booked on felony first-degree assault charges, but prosecutors later signalled they may not charge him by seeking to have him committed to a mental hospital.

“It was pretty clear that based on the nature of the assault and based on information from family members and our own officers’ observations that there was a significant mental health aspect,” prosecutor Geoff Hjerleid said.

Police said they had had no prior contact with Aziz.

Polish Charity Gets Giant Phone Bill Due to Migrating Stork

By HardBoiledNews Staff

A SIM card taken from the GPS tracker on the stork was used to make thousands of dollars in calls

WARSAW, Poland — No good deed goes unpunished.

A Polish ecological charity got hit with a gigantic phone bill when a GPS tracker it had placed on a migrating stork was stolen and the SIM card used to make thousands of dollars in calls.

The environmental organization, EcoLogic Group, had tracked the white stork some 3,700 miles from Poland to the Sudan last year, when it lost the signal somewhere in the Blue Nile Valley.

The group assumed that the GPS device had fallen off the bird, but it appears someone found the device and pulled the SIM card out of it, placing it into a phone and then running up 20 hours worth of long distance calls, the BBC reported.

Next thing the charity knew, it had received a bill for 10,000 Polish zloty (approximately $2,700).

Tagging migrating birds has played a big role in scientists’ understanding of how better to protect endangered animals.

While the white stork is not currently at risk, it had been pushed to near-extinction in Europe in the middle of last century due to industrialization and habitat loss.

Air Force Captain Who Disappeared With Top Secrets Found After 35 Years

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Air Force Capt. William Hughes deserted in 1983 and had been feared to have defected to Russia

FAIRFIELD, California — An Air Force captain with top secret clearance whose disappearance 35 years ago raised the specter he had given sensitive missile secrets to the Russians, has been found, authorities said.

Capt. William Howard Hughes, 66, was declared missing in 1983 after failing to return to Kirtland Air Force base in Albuquerque, New Mexico following  a temporary assignment at NATO headquarters in the Netherlands.

A probe revealed that Hughes had withdrawn $28,500 from his accounts at 19 different bank locations in Albuquerque before he disappeared. His car was found at the Albuquerque airport.

He was finally located on June 5, when investigators conducting a passport fraud probe in California interviewed a man who claimed to be Barry O’Beirne. But after questioning him about inconsistencies in his story, he admitted he was Hughes.

He told investigators that at the time of his disappearance, he had been depressed about being in the Air Force and decided to leave. He said he moved to California and had lived there since as Barry O’Beirne.

 

At the time of his disappearance, Hughes had top secret security about matters relating to NATO. His family told reporters at the time that they thought he had been abducted.

In 1984, a report in the Los Angeles Times speculated that Hughes had possibly defected to the Soviet Union and given them sensitive information about NATO defense systems.

Authorities say they have no reason to believe at this point that Hughes had given information to the Russians but were continuing to investigate.

He is being held at Travis Air Force Base in California.

Teen Loses Hand in Sword Fight, Is Then Slapped With Severed Limb

By HardBoiledNews Staff

What started as a road rage incident quickly escalated into a full-on sword fight

SHARJAH, United Arab Emirates — Well, that certainly got out of hand.

A teenage motorist lost his hand after a road rage incident in the United Arab Emirates sparked an out-of-control sword fight, authorities said.

To add insult to injury, the man who chopped the teen’s hand off, picked up the severed extremity and used it to slap the victim across the face, Gulf News reported.

A criminal court heard this week how the road rage incident in January led to the sprawling, bloody sword fight in a park in the UAE’s third largest city of Sharjah.

The rumble involved two groups of teens, a dozen in all and all of them under the age of 16, prosecutors said.

The victim who had his hand chopped off had been trying to protect himself from a sword blow and had put his hands up in front of his face, his lawyer, Abdullah Salman, told the court.

After his hand hit the group, his attacker allegedly picked it up and began beating him with it, the court heard.

The victim’s pals were able to rush him and his severed hand to a local hospital where doctors were able to reattach it.

Drunk Narrowly Avoids Being Squashed After Passing Out on Texas Road

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Cops fortunately spotted this woman passed out drunk on the road before she was run over

FULSHEAR, Texas  — Drunk and stupid is no way to live, and for this woman it was almost the way she died.

Texas police were shocked to discover a drunken woman passed out in the middle of a country road in the dark, forcing motorists to swerve unexpectedly to avoid running her over.

“We all make mistakes, however, this mistake almost cost this young woman her life,” the Fulshear, Texas police department wrote on its Facebook page.

Cops say the woman appeared to have “bedded down” on the road after driving into a ditch about 200 yards from where she was found.

Dashboard video shows the stunning moment when officer on patrol happened upon her prone body after noticing a motorist swerve to avoid hitting her.

“Sergeant Scott immediately realized that ‘the object’ in the road was a person and quickly stopped to render aid,” the department said.

The woman was charged with public intoxication and given a lift to jail.

“However, this unfortunate mistake could have ended tragically and the ride could have been to the morgue,” police said.

Guitar Heist Leads to Wild Machete Melee on Seattle Street

By HardBoiledNews Staff

What began with the theft of an axe quickly turned into a standoff between a machete and gun

SEATTLE — Well, that escalated quickly.

The theft of a guitar from a Seattle shop led to a wild chase and multi-car pileup that ended in a standoff between two of the suspects, with one wielding a machete and the other brandishing a gun, cops said.

Police say a group of three men and a woman snatched a $1,600 axe from a Guitar Center in downtown Seattle.

The suspects then fled in two separate cars but allegedly began chasing each other, getting into a wreck and causing a pile up that ground rush hour traffic to a halt. No one was hurt.

But the situation grew even more tense when one of the suspects pulled out a machete and confronted another of the suspects who then whipped out a gun.

Cops soon arrived and arrested the two men and a woman who had been with them. A four male suspect managed to get away, cops said.

The guitar was later returned to the shop.

Man Who Dropped Pants in Court to Prove Innocence in Rape Case Found Not Guilty

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Desmond James had the evidence in his pants all along

NEW HAVEN, Connecticut — Call it a case of junk justice.

A Connecticut rape suspect was acquitted after dropping his pants and exposing himself to the jury to prove that his member didn’t match the description given by the victim.

Desmond James, 26, was cleared of three counts of sexual assault  showing that his equipment didn’t fit the accuser’s description of her attacker being a black man whose penis is lighter than the rest of his skin.

“If it’s not the light one, it’s not the right one,” his lawyer, Todd Bussert, told the New York Post.

James became a suspect after the victim picked him out of a photo lineup in 2012. At the time she said she had been raped by a “dark-skinned black male with big lips and black-people hair,” Bussert said.

“There were a number of troubling aspects in terms of the allegation. It evoked negative racial stereotypes,” he said. “We felt in general that it didn’t describe our client.”

In the end, the only evidence Bussert presented was to have James stand in the middle of the courtroom and drop his pants.

Bussert said the whole thing was very “embarrassing” for James, because court workers had filled the room to watch his testimony.

“If your liberty is at stake, he was willing to do that,” Bussert said.

While he was exonerated in this case, James is already serving a 65 years for breaking into a house and raping a 10-year-old girl.