True Crime and News of the Weird from around the Globe

Man Commits Suicide Hours Before Conviction in 50-Year-Old Cold-Case Slaying

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Terrence Miller had evaded justice for nearly 50 years

EVERETT, Washington — A man on trial for a nearly 50-year-old cold-case killing committed suicide just hours before being convicted of a murder he had been tied to through DNA collected from a discarded coffee cup, authorities said.

Terrence Miller had been on trial for the rape and shooting of 20-year-old Jody Loomis in Everett, Washington in 1972. He had finally been connected to the slaying by DNA evidence retrieved from sperm found on Loomis’ boot.

After the 78-year-old Miller was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in his home, the jury convicted him of first-degree murder.

Loomis was found by passersby with a gunshot wound to her head on a dirt road 48 years ago. She was alive but unable to speak and died later that day. 

The case went unsolved for nearly 47 years when detectives with the Snohomish County Sheriff’s office connected Miller to the killing through a genetic profile uploaded to a public ancestry database. 

Judy Loomis had been on her bike to visit her horse when she was killed

A genealogist identified Miller as a person of interest and detectives quietly put him under surveillance until they could get a sample of his DNA from a discarded coffee cup at a casino. It came back as an apparent match to the semen. Miller, who was a retired equipment operator and lifelong resident of the area, was arrested in April 2019.

Miller posted a $1 million bond and was under house arrest for over a year. It was unclear how he acquired the gun he used to kill himself as the court had required him to surrender any weapons.

According to trial testimony, Miller told his wife and a friend that the DNA evidence was too strong to overcome and that he would most likely end up in prison.

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.”

 

Cops Hunt Heartless Teens Who Robbed Store After Clerk Has Heart Attack

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Cops are hunting for theses two teens they say left a gas station clerk to die

AUBURN, Washington — Cops are hunting for a pair of cold-hearted teens and an adult pal who stepped over the slumped body of a convenience store clerk having a medical emergency to empty the cash register and steal food and other items.

Police in Auburn, Washington say they have identified the trio, who never bothered to call for help for the clerk after he collapsed to the floor of a Shell gas station on Saturday.

The ugly episode began when the teens snatched pepperoni sticks and began eating them. When their adult man tries to pay for other items, the clerk demands he pay for the food the teens took as well and an argument erupted, cops said.

One of the teens then hands over a $1 bill, angering the clerk. As he begins walking back to the register area, surveillance footage shows him appearing “to have a major medical issue and collapse to the floor,” cops say.

*** Please see update posted on 09/11. All suspects have been identified ***

 

Instead of trying to help, one of the teens reaches down and takes back the dollar bill from the clerk while he is on the ground. The adult then exits the store.

“While the clerk is on the ground unconscious, the two teenage males exit and enter the store a couple of times stealing merchandise and taking all the money from the cash register.” cops say.
“While the clerk was on the ground dying, neither of the three subjects who saw him fall to the ground called for help.”

Fortunately for the clerk, another shopper arrived minutes later and called for help. Cops say the clerk is alive, but in critical condition.

Cops Find Fleeing Suspect Hiding in Dryer in Washington State

By HardBoiledNews Staff

This dryer wasn’t the hottest idea for a hiding spot

SPOKANE, Washington — This getaway was a total washout.

A Washington State man trying to evade cops failed miserably when a police dog sniffed him out of his hiding place in the dryer of a stackable washer-dryer unit.

“The adult version of hide and seek never turns out well for anyone. What is depicted in this body camera footage frame is the lengths that some suspects will go through to avoid police,” the Spokane police wrote on Facebook.

Cops encountered the man while working on a tip that he might show up at a victim’s house who had an order of protection against him. Sure enough, they spotted him, so he ran inside and refused to come out.

That’s when cops let K9 Murphy loose in the house, who located the man hiding in the dryer. No one was hurt.

The man was charged with violating an order of protection.

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.

Killer Cougar Kills Washington Cyclist, Seriously Injures Pal

By HardBoiledNews Staff

This wild cat had a taste for human flesh, killing one man and wounding another on a cycling trail

NORTH BEND, Washington — A bloodthirsty cougar stalked and killed a cyclist and seriously injured his friend in a terrifying attack on a bike trail in Washington State, police said.

Authorities say the animal, which is also known as a mountain lion, began following the two men as they cycled in the woods northeast of Snoqualmie.

“They were riding when they saw a cougar, kind of stalking them. They did what they were supposed to, which is make noise and distract the cougar. The cougar ran away,” Sgt. Ryan Abbott, of the King County Sheriff’s Office, told the Seattle Times.

But as the men paused for a rest and began discussing how scary it was that the big cat had followed them, the ferocious feline struck, attacking one of the men, and closing its vice-like jaws around his head.

“He said he had his entire head in the jaws of the animal,” Capt. Alan Myers of the Washington State Fish and Wildlife unit told KIRO-TV.

The man’s friend began to run away, which caught the beast’s attention, prompting it to give chase and take the man down to the ground, and eventually kill him.

The first man, 31, rode off to get help, but by the time officers arrived at the scene, they spotted the cougar standing over the body of the dead man.

Eventually, police dogs were able to corner the animal and it was killed. A necropsy will be performed to see if there was any clue as to why it would at this way.

“The fact that it stayed in close proximity to these folks and attacked and stayed with them is highly, highly unusual,” Myers said.

The animals usually go to great pains to avoid human contact, and it was the first fatal mountain lion attack Washington State in nearly a century, authorities said.

 

Motorist With “Dirt Bag” License Plate Busted in Road Rage Incident

By HardBoiledNews Staff

A motorist sporting this license plate not surprisingly was involved in a road rage incident

BELLEVUE, Washington — Takes one to know one.

A man sporting a “Dirt Bag” vanity plate on his red Camaro, was arrested after rear-ending another motorist in a road rage incident and then punching out a cop, police said.

The 40-year-old man, whose name was not immediately released, was driving into a car wash driveway in Bellevue, Washington on Sunday when he got into a fight with the driver of the car in front of him.

The Camaro driver then rear-ended the other car, and when the other driver got out to take pictures of the damage, the sports car owner allegedly pulled out a gun and made threats, police said.

Cops say that when they arrived, the hopping mad Camaro driver had gotten back in his car and refused to obey police commands to get out. When officer tried to physically remove him, he began fighting with them and punched one officer in the face.

He then threatened to kill the officers and made slurs and the other driver’s perceived ethnicity, cops said.

Ultimately, cops were forced to use a taser to subdue the man. He was charged with assault with a firearm, assault on a police officer, malicious harassment, obstructing police, and resisting arrest.

Washington Man Torches Parents House to Avenge Decade-Old Fart Prank

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Joel Cruz’s simmering anger over a childhood fart prank led him to burn his folks’ house down

YAKIMA, Washington — The smell of vengeance is sweet.

A grudge-holding Washington man has been busted for allegedly torching his parents house in an act of revenge for a 10-year-old prank in which his brother farted in his face, cops say.

Joel Cruz, 29, told the Yakima police that he was in the house alone when he remembered the decade-old prank and grew angry, so he decided to burn the place to the ground.

Police say Cruz filled a pot with vegetable oil, turned the burner on high and then left. The oil eventually caught fire and spread, badly damaging his parents’ home, KIMA-TV reported.

He later told cops he had been hearing voices in his head, so authorities took him to a hospital for a psychiatric evaluation.

Suspicious Fruitcake Shuts Down Seattle Ferry Terminal

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Many people consider fruitcake suspicious

SEATTLE — It may be a gut bomb, but it didn’t turn out to be explosive.

Police in Seattle were forced to shut down a major ferry terminal after someone mysteriously placed a wrapped present under a Christmas tree in a waiting area

Prior to the gift’s appearance on the morning after Christmas, there had been no presents under the tree at the Colman Dock Ferry Terminal, police said. The present had no label which made it even more suspect so the bomb squad was called.

“Troopers and state ferry employees worked to evacuate the terminal out of an abundance of caution. All inbound ferries were held away from the terminal until the package could be deemed safe,” the Washington State Patrol said in a statement.

In the end, it turned out the box contained a fruitcake and the terminal reopened after about an hour

Drunk Naked Couple Having Sex in Moving Car With Infant in Back Charged After Crash

By HardBoiledNews Staff

ELBE, Washington — It’s a perfect storm  of stupidity.

A drunken couple were busted for driving naked and having sex with an infant in the back seat and then wrecking the car when they came round a sharp turn, cops said.

The crash happened around 6 p.m. Wednesday when the car the couple were driving missed a curve and slammed into a tree, KOMO-TV reported.

Witnesses told cops the couple emerged from the vehicle stark naked. When cops arrived, they discovered the couple was dead drunk.

The woman wasn’t wearing a seatbelt and was hospitalized with broken bones. The 3-month-old child and the man were not hurt.

The man, who was three prior DUI convictions, was hit with another drunk driving charge as well as vehicular assault and endangering a child.

Prostitute Charged With Shooting John For Being Bad at Oral Sex

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Marissa Wallen knows how she likes it

EVERETT, Washington  — A 21-year-old escort has been charged with shooting a customer in the head because he was lousy at performing oral sex and she didn’t know how to tell him, police said.

Marissa Elizabeth Wallen allegedly shot the 36-year-old victim twice in the head at his home in Everett, Washington on Oct. 21, and then making off with his credit cards and going on a $12,000 spending spree, police said.

Cops arrived at the man’s house three days later when his employer and mother called 911 after not hearing from him, and found him alive, but unable to speak. Doctors later found two bullets lodged in his head.

A check of his credit card records revealed 82 charges at stores in nearby towns and surveillance footage at several locations showed Wallen using the cards.

When cops brought her in for questioning, they say she admitted she had shot the man.

“[She was] emotionless and showed that she was cold and calculating. In the end she said that she shot (the victim) two times in the head because he was performing oral sex wrong and she did not know how to tell him that,” according to the police complaint, MyEverettNews.com reported.

She admitted that the victim had been paying her for sex and that she took his credit cards after shooting him and leaving him for dead.

Wallen, who has an 11-month-old son, has been a defendant in 20 court cases over the past three years and had 13 active warrants when she was arrested, court records showed. The judge ordered her held on $1 million bail. Wallen asked cops to call one of her clients to help cover the bail.

 

Filmmaker Pimp Duped Women into Sex Trade With Promise of On-Screen Fame

By HardBoiledNews Staff

SEATTLE — It was the casting couch from hell.

A Seattle man has been convicted of duping women into becoming prostitutes by convincing them he was a documentarian who would make them rich if they took part in a bogus film on streetwalking he claimed he was making for HBO.

It took a jury just 90 minutes to find David Delay, 51, guilty of 17 federal counts of sex trafficking and producing child pornography after targeting vulnerable young women — some who were underage — online.

Delay, working with a partner, Marysa Comer, 22, talked the girls into moving to Seattle with “false promises of fame and fortune,” that they had landed a starring role in the documentary film, prosecutors said.

In 2014, the pair convinced the girls that in order to make an authentic film on prostitution, they needed to live the life and any money they earned would be used to finance the film. The called their phony production company, Grandpa’s RV Productions.

But the girls were instead forced onto a cross-country treadmill of seedy motel room visits with Johns recruited through online sex ads for as little as $120 a pop, prosecutors said. Delay and Comer then kept all the cash and began emotionally abusing the girls and manipulating them.

Comer (l) and Delay

Delay would entice the girls — including at least two minors — to pose for sexually explicit photos which he would then threaten to publish online if they stepped out of line. In one case, when one woman fled, he posted images of her online along with comments about her being a prostitute.

At trial, seven victims testified, which prosecutors credited with securing Delay’s conviction. He faces up to life in prison when he is sentenced on Feb. 2  Comer pleaded guilty in 2015 and also faces up to life in jail when she is sentenced.

Incredible Hulk Accused of Attempted Auto Theft

By HardBoiledNews Staff

PASCO, Washington — You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.

A car thief left behind an incredible clue when he abandoned a pair of green, rubber Hulk gloves attached to the steering wheel of a vehicle he had attempted to boost, police said.

The wannabe thief was chased off when the car’s owner spotted and confronted him early Monday morning, the Pasco police department said.

Cops caught up with the thief a little more than an hour later when an officer spotted a man matching the description given by the car owner from the earlier incident.

Ariel Contreras, 33, was arrested when the officer found the vehicle paperwork from the car that he had been chased away from in his backpack. Contreras also had an outstanding warrant, cops said.

The Pasco police suspect the Hulk hands were likely stolen and posted a message on the department Facebook page to the possible owner: “If you are missing your Hulk hands, the Pasco Police may have them.”

Two Charged in Prosthetic Leg Heist

By HardBoiledNews Staff

SPOKANE, Washington  — Now they don’t have a leg to stand on.

Two Washington men have been arrested for allegedly beating a disabled man and stealing one of his prosthetic legs.

Keoni Canton, 28, and Dale Johnson, 34, allegedly barged into the apartment of the victim, whom they knew, roughed him up and stole a number of its, including one his legs, the Spokane police said.

Investigators were soon able to track the men back to an apartment nearby, where they arrested Canton and Johnson without incident. Unfortunately, cops were unable to locate any of the stolen items, including the leg.

Both men have been charged with first degree robbery and burglary.

Sicko Pinned to 2001 Rape Through DNA Found on Dentures Left at Scene

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Thomas Maupin

MEMPHIS — A deranged sicko pleaded guilty to a 2001 rape after investigators were able to link him to it through DNA collected from a set of dentures left behind at the scene.

Thomas Maupin, 67, pleaded guilty to raping the 31-year-old woman 16 years ago in Memphis and was sentenced to eight years in prison.

“The victim, who remains emotionally traumatized by the case, did not want to testify in a trial, and approved the settlement,” said the Shelby County district attorney.

Maupin came to Memphis after serving 12 years in Washington State for the murder of a 6-year-old girl. He had been convicted twice of murder in that case and sentenced to 40 years but had his convictions overturned on appeal. He then pleaded guilty in exchange for 12 year sentence. The dentures he left behind were made for him in prison, prosecutors said.

In August, 2001, police say Maupin hopped out of his car and chased down the victim, forcing her into an alley and stabbing her “with a metal object under her chin with such force that it struck the roof of her mouth,” the district attorney said.

“He also used the object to sexually assault her after forcing her to perform oral sex.and then raping her,” the DA added.

Investigators later turned up a pair of dentures and collected them as part of the sexual assault kit.

But the dentures remained untested until 2016 as part of a huge backlog of evidence waiting to be tested. Not only did investigators obtain a partial match to Maupin’s DNA, they found his name inscribed on the inside of the denture set.

Woman Jailed For Extorting Men She Met on Tinder to the Tune of $300K

By HardBoiledNews Staff

SEATTLE — A shakedown artist who bilked a string of men she met online out of $300,000 by demanding cash for phony abortions and threatening to expose the married men with whom she had affairs has been sentenced to a month behind bars.

Seul Ki Yum, 26, of Olympia, Washington pleaded guilty to five counts of extortion last month, admitting that she hunted down at least seven men over three years through online dating sites like Tinder, Seeking Arrangements and OkCupid and then shook them down for cash to finance her lifestyle.

“I am very ashamed and very embarrassed of my behavior,” she told the judge, according to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. “I would give anything back to have a normal life.”

Yum often would contact the men after they had called the relationship off and falsely claim to be pregnant and demand money for an abortion. For those who were married, she threatened to expose the affair to their wives.

But even after they paid her, Yum, would often return for more, sometimes saying she had a roommate who knew about the affair and would also need cash to stay silent.

One man, a high-end California wine dealer who is under investigation by the FBI for embezzlement, paid Yum nearly $240,000 over about two years after she threatened to tell his wife if she did not receive $10,000 per month.

Yum was arrested in October 2016 after one of her victims wore a wire and recorded talking about extorting him.

Given that it was Yum’s first offense, and prosecutors felt she had shown legitimate remorse for her behavior, they agreed to a sentence of just 30 days in jail or work release, and an additional 60 days of home detention.

80 Ducks Killed by Parasite at Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool

By HardBoiledNews Staff

 

WASHINGTON — When Trump talked about “Draining the Swamp,” this  probably wasn’t what he meant.

A lethal water-borne parasite in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has left 80 ducks dead, authorities said.

The National Park Service said it would drain the pool after detecting the toxic condition.

The service said that on May 20 and 21, rangers discovered dozens of dead ducks and ducklings in and around the poll. An investigation yielded that a high level of a parasite that grows in snails that live in the pond was the likely cause.

Officials say the situation cannot be treated chemically and requires that the pool be completely emptied of water and cleaned.

Humans who come in contact with the parasite are at low risk for any trouble but could develop “swimmer’s itch,” an allergic reaction in the form of a skin rash. The condition is not contagious and rarely requires medical treatment.

The park service say the risk of contracting it at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool is extremely low, as it is only contracted by sustained contact with affected water, such as by swimming or wading.

Meanwhile, officials say it will take approximately eight days to drain, clean and refill the pond. They say they will aggressively monitor the water for the parasite afterwards.

Car Thief in Gun Shop Parking Lot Faces Business End of Staffs’ Sidearms

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Tiffany Causer says Lynnwood Gun is the not the best place for auto theft

LYNNWOOD, Washington — Police say a dopey thief chose the wrong business to mess with when he tried to make off with a car from outside a Washington gun shop, prompting two alert employees to run out and hold him at gunpoint until cops arrived.

The incident unfolded late Sunday when the employees of Lynnwood Gun spotted a suspicious man nosing around a car parked out front that belonged to the owner’s husband, police said.

“Gentleman was walking in front of the store and had some odd behavior,” store owner Tiffany Causer told KOMO-TV.

When the 33-year-old man tried to get into the Ford truck, the two employees sprang into action.

“We had some employees that opened up the vehicle to try and ask the person to get out, that was not working,” Causer said, so they drew their weapons and ordered the man to the ground.

Police said it was fortunate that “the suspect complied and was taken into custody without further incident.”

He was charged with attempted vehicle theft.

“The guy decided he was going to steal a vehicle from in front of a gun shop, where everyone is armed. It probably was probably not the smartest thing to do,” Causer said.

Kidnapping Victim Slain Despite Ransom Being Paid

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Sandra Harris was found dead two days after she was abducted

Sandra Harris was found dead two days after she was abducted

KENNEWICK, Washington — A woman has been charged with kidnapping a 69-year-old woman she knew who was found dead after a $250,000 ransom had been paid for her safe return.

Theresa Wiltse, 49, was arrested as she picked up a bag containing the ransom cash at a gourmet grocery store in Washington state, a day after Sandra Harris had been abducted from her home in Kennewick.

Harris’ body was discovered a day later along a rural road south of Kennewick. She appeared to have suffered a gunshot wound, police said.

“Theresa confessed to being part of the kidnapping,” along with two men she identified only as “Jose” and “Jesus,” according to a police report obtained by The Associated Press.

Investigators said Wiltse’s “role appears to be much bigger than she claims,” and that blood was found in the backseat of her car which was being analyzed.

Wiltse has been charged with first-degree murder and kidnapping and is being held on $1 million bail.

“This was not a random act,” Kennewick police said in a statement. “The suspect we have in custody, Theresa Wiltse, was known to Sandra Harris and her husband Randy Harris. The exact nature of how they are known to each other is still a part of this investigation.”

Theresa Wiltse has been charged with 1st degree murder and kidnapping

Theresa Wiltse has been charged with 1st degree murder and kidnapping

Investigators said “there could be another person or persons involved but we do not have any specific persons that we are looking for.”

Randy Harris owns a small pawn shop in Kennewick and Wiltse lives in the small town of Connell about 40 miles away. She worked as a state prison guard in Walla Walla from 2008 to 2010, when she quit, the Corrections Department said.

Cops caught up to Wiltse after Sandra Harris called her husband from her cell phone and said her abductors were demanding cash. With the help of authorities, an exchange was set up and Wiltse was arrested after driving off in a rental car with California plates.