U.S. teenager jailed in India for slitting Mother, Cynthia Iannarelli, 51 throat on holiday - because he was upset at parents' divorce - 4th May 2011

A teenager has been convicted of slitting his mother’s throat while they were on holiday in India after he became upset by his parents’ divorce, a court heard.

The 16-year-old boy, of South Fayette, Pennsylvania, killed his business consultant mother Cynthia Iannarelli, 51, while in Rajasthan last August, prosecutors said.

He has been sentenced to three years in an Indian juvenile detention centre after knifing her, wrapping her body in a sheet and leaving it on a sand dune.

The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was arrested after fleeing from the killing scene and trying to fly back to America.

The knife was never found but police say they recovered the boy’s clothes from the scene at the northern desert resort of Reggies Camel Camp in Osian.

Local reports said he had a heated argument with his mother as he wanted her to get back together with his father, but she was not convinced.

There were no eyewitnesses in the case, but 33 witnesses testified during a lengthy trial and the Juvenile Justice Board also found him guilty of destroying evidence.

The teenager has denied the charges, wrote a letter to the court pleading innocence and false implication, and will appeal against the verdict with his laywer R.D. Mehra. Read More

Brian and Shannon Gore arrested after starved six-year-old is found trying to eat herself in cage - with remains of another child buried in garden

The body of a young child has been discovered buried under a home where a six-year-old girl was kept in a cage and almost starved to death.

Police made the grisly discovery of the child's remains while they questioned a couple about the alleged abuse of their daughter.

Brian and Shannon Gore are accused of keeping the girl in shocking conditions and virtually starving her to death.

The girl, aged between six and seven, was so hungry that when found her she was eating the flaky skin of her forehead.

She was covered in bed sores and her own faeces and is feared to have been kept in a cage for months.

Brian and Shannon Gore face first degree murder charges stemming from the grisly find.

Police made the startling discovery of the remains of a second child when they dug under a trailer home.

They have already been charged with the attempted murder of their daughter who was found barely alive in a darkened room.

The condition of the girl, who was covered from head to toe in her own waste, was so bad that police in Virginia believe it is the worst ever case of child abuse they have investigated. Read More

New witness claims honeymoon murder suspect Shrien Dewani 'arranged bride's killing to find a way out of his marriage' - 3rd May 2011

British businessman Shrien Dewani arranged his wife's murder on honeymoon in South Africa after confessing he needed to 'find a way out' of his marriage, a court heard today.

The South African authorities are seeking to extradite Dewani over the killing of his Swedish bride Anni, who was shot dead in the back of a taxi in Cape Town in November.

An unnamed witness, who is prepared to give evidence if Dewani stands trial, claims the wealthy care home owner revealed to him his true feelings about his marriage more than six months earlier, the court heard.

Hugo Keith QC, representing the South African authorities, said: 'Dewani told [the witness] in April 2010 how he was engaged and had to get married.

'He said although she was a nice, lovely girl who he liked, he could not break out of the engagement because he would be disowned by his family. He went on to say to the witness he needed to find a way out of it.'

Dewani, 31, is accused of arranging for Anni, 28, to be killed in a staged car-jacking in the dangerous Gugulethu township.

He is also wanted for offences of kidnapping, robbery with aggravated circumstances, conspiracy to commit murder, and obstructing the administration of justice, Belmarsh Magistrates' Court in south-east London heard on the first day of his extradition hearing.

As Mr Keith opened his case, Dewani, dressed in a dark tracksuit top, sat slumped in the dock, mumbling to himself with his eyes half-closed. Read More

Barbara Lee stabs group of deaf-mutes after mistaking sign language for gang signals

A group of deaf friends were stabbed at a bar in Florida after a woman mistook their sign language for gang signs.

Alfred Stewart, 31, was partying at the Ocean's Eleven Lounge in Hallendale Beach, Fla., with some friends who were also deaf on Saturday night when the group's signing caught the eye of gang-banger Barbara Lee.

The 45-year-old Lee though the group was throwing gang signs at her, and responded by flashing gang signs back at them, cops said.

The group motioned for her to leave them alone.

Eventually, Lee left the bar but returned with two members of her crew, 19-year-old Marco Ibanez and a 17-year-old who was not identified, cops said.

Ibanez allegedly pulled a knife and began stabbing Stewart and his friends.

Stewart and three of his friends were taken to a hospital and treated for stab wounds.

A bouncer at the bar who had a bottle smashed over his head in the melee was also taken to the hospital. None of the injuries were life-threatening, officials said.

Lee, Ibanez and the 17-year-old were arrested and charged with aggravated battery.

Stewart's mother, Brenda, said there was no way her son was making gang signs.

"Only sign language," she told WSVN television. "That's the only way all of them, they do sign language." (read more)

Mugabe at the Vatican: Dictator beats EU travel ban to be among 1.5m watching Pope beatify his predecessor - 2nd May 2011

Brutal dictator Robert Mugabe sidestepped a European travel ban to attend the beatification of the late Pope John Paul II at the Vatican yesterday.

The Zimbabwean president was able to join the crowd of 1.5million at the ceremony because the Vatican, while located in the Italian capital Rome, is a sovereign state and not part of the EU.

The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Nichols, who attended the ceremony, said Mugabe’s record on human rights was deplorable and ‘it felt uncomfortable to be in his presence’.

It was not the first time Mugabe, 87, who has driven his country to starvation while building up his own riches, has caused controversy by attending a Vatican function.

In 2005 the tyrant sat next to the Prince of Wales at Pope John Paul’s funeral and Charles was caught out having to shake hands with him.

After yesterday’s service, Archbishop Nichols said: ‘The Vatican has not broken off diplomatic relations with Zimbabwe and if [Mugabe] wants to attend and he is invited, then he can do so, but personally I found it uncomfortable.’ Read More

Chelsea Champey leaves three children locked in room, smeared with feces, and with scratch marks of desperate escape on door: She now enjoys own cell

A Bucks County woman has been charged with child endangerment after police said her three children were left alone and filthy inside their squalid home.

Chelsea Champey, 21, of Bristol, remained in the Bucks County prison Thursday on $75,000 bail.

Police said they found her children, ages 4, 2, and 1, in a house with feces smeared across the walls and floors. The 2-year-old was found naked and covered in feces, and locked in a room with scratch marks on the inside of the door where the child had clawed to get out. After the children were discovered in the home in February, they were placed in foster care. Authorities waited until this week to charge Champey because their investigation was continuing. (read more)

Vijendra Kumar, 20, A 'Spurned lover beheads pretty Khushboo Kumari ', 17, outside exam hall - 28th Apr 2011

A 'spurned lover' is accused of beheading a 17-year-old girl in broad daylight in front of horrified students on a college campus.

Vijendra Kumar, 20, waited for pretty Khushboo Kumari outside St Xavier's College in Ranchi, north east India, where she had been sitting exams.

When Miss Kumari emerged from the exam hall, Kumar allegedly dashed up and hacked off her head with a dagger outside the headteacher's office, before being overpowered by other students.

It is believed that Kumari was studying a course at Ranchi Women's College. Kumar was studying engineering in Jamshedpur, 80 miles from Ranchi.

Kumar told police that the pair were in love and had agreed a suicide pact, although police believe the young man had developed a one-sided obsession.

According to local reports, Kumar told police 'Since our parents were not in favour of our marriage, we had decided to die.

'As per our decision, after killing her I was to kill myself. But I was overpowered by others.'

Police spokesman Praveen Singh said: 'We still don't know if she was in love with him. An inquiry is ongoing. Soon we will come to know the truth.' Read More

Eight horses burned to death in barn fire in apparent anti-gay hate crime attack in Ohio

Eight horses - one just a week old and another ready to give birth - died in a raging barn fire in Ohio that lawmen think was set because of hatred for gays.

Brent Whitehouse of McConnelsville said an orange glow outside his home on Easter night drew him to the horror.

"I ran out there, but the doors of my barn wouldn't open and suddenly, flames were shooting up through the roof. That barn was gone in five minutes," he told the Zanesville Times Recorder.

The flames were so hot a tractor inside the barn melted.

Still visible on the remains of the gutted barn's walls Tuesday were spray-painted epithets such as "f-gs are freaks" and "burn in hell," the newspaper reported.

Because Whitehouse is gay and fire marshals determined the blaze was arson, the scrawlings were enough for authorities to launch an investigation into whether a hate crime had been committed.

The value of the horses was said to be in hundreds of thousands of dollars but Whitehouse, who owns an insurance company in the tiny village in southeastern Ohio, was hurt far more by the loss of Elvis, Barney, Love, Bella and Ethel, Floyd and Princess and her week-old foal, Buddy.

"The barn I can rebuild, but the bond I had with those horses can't be replaced," said Whitehouse

"Whoever did this had to walk right by all those horses, including the baby, and didn't care that they were killing a gentle, loving animal," he told the newspaper.

"I just don't understand someone wanting to kill innocent animals. It's like killing a child." (read more)

Steven Etherington, 44, who tied up boy scouts in bizarre punishment rituals found guilty of two sexual assault charges - 26th Apr 2011

A scoutmaster has been found guilty of two counts of sexual assault, tying up young boy scouts in bizarre punishment rituals.

Steven Etherington bound the hands and feet of one teen in a 'hog-tie' and whipped him with a wet tea towel for not wearing a high-vis vest while cycling.

Another boy was staked to the ground by the 44-year-old and tied to tent pegs in a star shape to teach him not to be ticklish.

During the trial, Etherington's barrister Mark Bury said his client had never really 'grown up' and likened him to 'Peter Pan'.

However, a jury at Hull Crown Court took just three hours to find him guilty of two counts of sexual assault.

Prosecutor David Gordon said Etherington did it for his own 'sexual gratification'.

Tonight the father of one of the boys, who was not named for legal reasons, voiced fears that Etherington, a scoutmaster and a cub leader in the East Riding area for 20 years, may have targeted other young boys.

The father said: 'I was very shocked. I have taken it quite badly, it's really disturbed me as we trusted him.

'He liked young boys and tying them up for his own sexual gratification. He either got his kicks afterwards or by just doing it.

'If my son hadn't come forward and said something, it can only have got worse, resulting in either physical sexual abuse or he could have hurt them. Read More

Four women, teenage girl found stripped with throats slashed in Acapulco beauty parlor

Mexico was stunned by a shocking new massacre Monday after four women and a teenage girl who worked in an Acapulco beauty parlor were found stripped and slaughtered.

The 14-year-old and two of the women were found on the second floor of shop Sunday with their hands bound - and their throats cuts.

Two other victims were found elsewhere in the resort city - one dumped on a street behind a church and the other in an abandoned car.

None of the slain women was identified; police said the teen had worked at the salon for just five days.

A favorite stop for American tourists, Acapulco has been convulsed in recent months by violent turf wars between rival drug gangs that have left thousands dead in Mexico.

Still, mass murders of women are not the way traffickers usually settle scores, police said.

In this case, "a massage parlor was found where sexual acts may have been performed, although this is still under investigation," Fernando Monreal Leyva, chief of detectives for the Guerrero state police, told The Associated Press. (read more)

Three arrested over murder of grandparents found 'battered to death' in their bedroom - 25th Apr 2011

Three men have been arrested over the murders of an elderly couple found dead in their home in Wolverhampton.

The bodies of Giuseppe Massaro, 80, and his 77-year-old wife Caterina, were discovered by their granddaughter on Friday evening.

Today police confirmed they made the three arrests in the early hours of this morning.

Two of the men, aged 31 and 32, are from Wolverhampton while the third, aged 30, is from Birmingham. The three are currently being interviewed by detectives at separate stations in the West Midlands.

Post mortem examinations on Mr and Mrs Massaro will be carried out this afternoon.

Police say they are still appealing for witnesses to come forward with information.

Supt Mark Payne of Wolverhampton’s Local Policing Unit, said detectives want to discover what happened to the couple’s black Peugeot 307 car - which has since been recovered in nearby Wednesfield - in the days leading up to their deaths.

‘I am still appealing to anyone who may have seen this car or seen people coming or going from this address at Woden Road on Thursday or Friday,’ he said.

‘We want to hear from anybody who might have been offered a television or the car in Wolverhampton on Friday. Read More

Shanghai Pudong Airport Stabbing, Only A “Laowai” (Foreigner) Helped -- while other chinese filmed: The Real China #7

23-year-old Wang X who had been studying abroad in Japan for 5 years arrived at the arrival terminal of Shanghai’s Pudong International Airport on the night of April 1st and stabbed Gu X, his mother who had come to pick him up, consecutively 9 times, causing her to lose consciousness on the spot. Afterward, Wang X was arrested by police on criminal charges and it wasn’t until the 8th that Gu X was transferred from the intensive care unit to the general ward. As for the reason for the violence, Wang X says his mother had indicated that she would not give him money, “[she said] something like if I continued to ask for money, there would only be one result, and all of a sudden my mind went blank and I charged up to her and stabbed her”. However, Gu X denies that they had quarreled over tuition. (read more)

TSA Screener Thomas Gordon charged in distributing child pornography

A passenger screener at Philadelphia International Airport is facing charges that he distributed more than 100 images of child pornography via Facebook, records show.

Federal agents also allege that Transportation Safety Administration Officer Thomas Gordon Jr. of Philadelphia, who routinely searched airline passengers, uploaded explicit pictures of young girls to an Internet site on which he also posted a photograph of himself in his TSA uniform.

Homeland Security agents arrested the TSA officer March 24, and he is being held without bail.

Although the case was unsealed Thursday, neither the indictment nor the news release mentioned Gordon's job searching airline passengers for TSA. (read more)

Guiseppe Massaro, 80 and Caterina Massaro, 77 Murdered in their Own Home, Found by their 23 Year old Granddaughter on Good Friday

An elderly couple murdered in their home were found by their granddaughter when she came to visit on Good Friday.

The bodies of Guiseppe Massaro, 80, and his wife, Caterina, 77, were discovered by 23-year-old Lindsey Booth who had gone to their house with her mother after an aunt was unable to get in touch with the couple.

The mother and daughter found the terraced house in Wolverhampton ransacked and Mr and Mrs Massaro lying dead in their upstairs bedroom.

Miss Booth told the Sunday Mirror: 'When I got upstairs I opened their bedroom door and saw my granddad lying still on top of the mattress. I screamed to my mum to stay downstairs and walked over to touch the body. It was cold.

'That's when I noticed my gran lying next to him - her body was covered by the duvet. They were in their day clothes and I didn't see any blood or signs of a struggle.

'My grandparents were wonderful and loving people who worked hard all their lives and did not deserve to die like this.' Read More

Mathew Nellessen was shown Mercy by Judge, and given Probation rather than Jail, is Charged with Brutal Murder of his Father Three weeks later

A 19-year-old man who was released from custody and put on probation is facing charges of murdering his father just three weeks after being set free.

Mathew Nellessen is accused of trying to rob his father George Nellessen before repeatedly hitting him with a baseball bat and stabbing him in the neck with a steak knife.

Mr Nellessen's body was discovered two days later.

Mr Nellessen had previously appeared in court on behalf of his son, who has been trouble for several minor offences, and had even posted his bail.

The teenager, from the Arlington Heights suburb of Chicago, Illinois, was released after court hearing on March 25.

He had been in custody for violating his probation.

Prosecutors allege that on April 12, Nellessen and three others - Marlon Green, 20, Armon Braden, 20, and Azari Braden, 19 - waited for Nellesen's father, George Nellessen, 55, to come home from work so they could rob him.

They allegedly duct-taped him to a chair and demanded his banking information.

After getting his father's chequebook, Nellessen allegedly wrote a $100,000 cheque to himself, then freed his father's hand to sign it, authorities said.

After Mr Nellessen Snr told his son he was going to call police, the teenager allegedly struck him repeatedly with a baseball bat. He then allegedly took a steak knife from the kitchen and stabbed his father in the neck. Read More

One way Ticket to Hell, Nicholas William Minerva, 52, Shoots Himself Dead in Church as Police arrive with Search Warrant for Luring young Girl aged 14

A pastor under investigation for inappropriate communications with a teen shot and killed himself inside the church.

Nicholas William Minerva, 52, of Tempe, near Phoenix, Arizona, had been served with a search warrant at the church moments before he ran back inside and pulled the trigger.

Police were probing his internet conversations with a 14-year-old girl.

The chats, that were with a teen and then unknowingly with detectives after police had been alerted, had been going on since last July.

Authorites say he had 'inappropriate conversations' with the 'girl' and once showed his genitalia via a webcam.

Minerva was married with four children and was respected by a loyal group of parishioners.

Detective Frank Mendoza, from the Chandler police department, said Minerva committed suicide on Thursday, shortly after officers arrived at the Trinity Baptist Fellowship Church in Phoenix.

He said: 'After we made contact, he ran away and retreated back into the church.

'A short time later, he shot himself to death.'

Minerva has been a Trinity Baptist pastor since January 2004.

Police say it’s possible there may be other victims in this case. Read More

James Kouzaris and James Cooper were 'forced at gunpoint to go to run-down housing estate'

Police investigating the murder of two British tourists in Florida believe they were ordered at gunpoint into a run-down housing estate where they were robbed before being shot dead.

They are working on a theory that James Cooper and James Kouzaris were confronted by the alleged gunman Shawn Tyson as they tried to find an all-night restaurant.

The 16 year-old is thought to have frogmarched the pair away from a well lit road and into the series of one way streets that make up the “no go” area of the Courts housing project in the Newtown, north Sarasota.

The men were shot multiple times as they ran for their lives after being made to turn out their pockets and hand over their wallets, phones and a camera.

One eye witness has claimed 25-year-old Cooper was shot three times in the chest before tripping over and slumping on the floor where he died.

The witness claimed Kouzaris was shot in the head but managed to stagger over 40 feet from his friend and died by the side of a parked car. (read more)

Raymond Mitchell, who split up fight in McDonald's shot dead -- he was a dad of four

A DAD-of-four who split up a fight in a McDonald’s was shot dead moments after being told he wouldn’t see the morning.

Raymond Mitchell, 34, had only popped into the restaurant to buy a hot chocolate.

But he apparently caused offence after splitting up two men fighting in the queue.

One of them, who had several gold teeth, shouted at Raymond: “You are gonna die tonight, you are not gonna see the morning.”

The thug is then said to have phoned an accomplice to fetch a gun, yelling into his mobile: “Bring me that thing.”

Raymond left the 24-hour McDonald’s but was chased into a cul-de-sac. The gun was then delivered and Mr Mitchell was beaten and pistol-whipped before being shot three times in an alley in Brixton, South London, at 6.50am on Sunday. Raymond, nicknamed Brown, was taken to hospital but died hours later.

One neighbour, who saw the shooting but was too terrified to be named, said: “He was begging, literally begging for his life. I didn’t dare look out my window in case they saw me. I heard them laughing and swearing at him, calling him a ‘b***h’. I heard them laughing afterwards as well.” (read more)

Sonny Pierce, 27, 'battered teen to death and filmed himself having sex with her corpse' may have killed more than three - 22nd Apr 2011

Police fear a man who is accused of killing three teenage women and videotaping himself having sex with the corpse of one of the victims may have killed before.

Sonny Pierce, 27, is accused of luring Kiara Windom and Kimika Coleman, both 18, to his Chicago apartment before strangling them and dumping their bodies in alleys.

Prosecutors say that while they were searching the father of one's Blue Island home on the unrelated rape a 15-year-old girl, they discovered a recording of Pierce having sex with the dead body of Mariah Edwards, 17 - who was beaten to death by a gang of his friends.

Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez, pointed to 'pattern' of behaviour that allegedly stretched for about a year before Pierce's arrest in July last year for the strangulation and sexual assault of the 15-year-old.

Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez said: 'We would like to hear from anyone out there who has had previous contact with Pierce or any other young woman who may have been potential victims, or any families who are missing a loved one.

'It is our obligation to try to identify any other women who may have been victimised.'

Investigators said the body of one of the women Pierce is charged with killing has never been found, and it took nearly a year to identify the remains of a second victim.

This leads those working the case to think there might be additional victims.

According to police the killings once again underline concerns about the safety of young women who use social media websites and chat lines.

Chillingly Pierce apparently met two of his alleged victims on telephone chat lines, speaking to Windom up to 20 times.

Investigators first interviewed Pierce in 2009 in the slaying of Coleman. Read More

Brian Dickson Charged over the murder of Qian 'Nicole' Liu, witnessed by boyfriend over Web Cam 6,000 miles away - 22nd Apr 2011

A former university politician and international aid group worker has been charged with the murder of a college student which was witnessed by her boyfriend on a webcam in China.

Canadian-born Brian Dickson is charged with the first-degree murder of 23-year-old Chinese exchange student Qian ‘Necole’ Liu.

Miss Liu's semi-naked body was found in her flat near York University in northern Toronto after her boyfriend was forced to watch helplessly as she struggled with her attacker 6,000 miles away.

It is alleged Liu was chatting with her partner, Meng Xianchao, over the internet when there was a knock on the door at about one am last Friday.

He saw a man enter the room and ask Miss Liu if he could use her mobile phone and then try to hug her. However, it is reported that he became aggressive when she declined the embrace and a struggle broke out.

Mr Xianchao looked on helplessly from Beijing as the struggle continued before Miss Liu's webcam was turned off.

'At that moment my mind went blank and I was cursing him from my webcam, I was so far away I couldn't reach her.

'I felt so helpless and I couldn't calm down until in the end the guy closed the computer,' he told CTV.

He contacted friends in Toronto who called police who went round to the 'hard working' Miss Liu's basement apartment.

They found her body, naked from the waste down, although there were no obvious signs of sexual assault or trauma severe enough to kill her. Read More