WebProNews

Tag: Crime

  • Casey Anthony: Does She Deserve Life Of Loneliness?

    Casey Anthony has all but disappeared off the face of the planet after her sensational murder trial back in 2011. While photo upon photo of Casey Anthony partying it up while her daughter was missing was shared during her trial, it seems she now lives a life of nervous solitude according her lawyer-turned-friend, Cheney Mason.

    Mason, who just that year had been selected by Florida Monthly magazine as one of Florida’s top lawyers, was brought on board pro-bono. This was after giving extensive advise to Casey Anthony’s then unknown and under-experienced lawyer, Jose Baez.

    Mason said he joined Casey Anthony’s team not only because he believed she was innocent of the murder of her daughter, Caylee, but also because he was upset about the way the media at the time treated Baez.

    “I was offended by it. I was offended by the fact that he wasn’t being treated fairly. I didn’t know Baez. I had never met him,” Mason said.

    He says that Casey Anthony still insists that she is innocent. He says that during the trial Casey Anthony became very upset when a plea deal was brought up.

    “Casey got very angry about that. She got very angry to hear talk about it. She didn’t want to hear it.” Mason said. “Casey would fight it ’til her last breath. She didn’t kill her daughter.”

    Even though Casey Anthony maintains her innocence, she is still guilty in the eyes of many Americans who sat for hours watching the details of her trial as they were released. Therefore, it is nearly impossible for her to live a normal life.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmjlT8hUuc4

    “I think Casey has a lot of world left to have to deal with. She hasn’t been freed from her incarceration yet ’cause she can’t go out. She can’t go to a beauty parlor, she can’t go shopping to a department store, she can’t go to a restaurant, she can’t even go to McDonald’s. She can’t do anything”, Mason said of Casey Anthony’s life of solitude.

    If she is innocent, it’s sad that Casey Anthony’s life has been even more destroyed after the murder of her daughter. If she is guilty, then I suppose a life of rejection and loneliness is the best she should have hoped for and way better than she deserves.

    Image via YouTube

  • Two-Year-Old Held Hostage In Rapid City, SWAT Team Called On Scene

    On Tuesday, a two-year-old boy was held hostage by a burglar in Rapid City. The authorities were alerted of a burglary at 4pm, but the suspect fled to a nearby house where he took the two-year-old boy hostage.

    Reports indicate that several children and adults were able to escape, but Raymond Cuny held the two-year-old boy captive. Police reports say that Cuny has no relation to the boy or to any of the people living in the house where he fled.

    A special response team was immediately called to the scene. SWAT teams and armored vehicles surrounded the home and the streets were blocked off. The authorities also put up fences and they prepared themselves to storm into the home. Officers in an armored car used a loudspeaker to talk to Cuny. They asked the suspect to give himself up, but their negotiations with the suspect were unsuccessful.

    On Rapid City Police Department’s Twitter, a post said, “Suspect refusing to come out, has small child in the residence with him. Police believe suspect is armed.”

    The standoff lasted for six hours, and by 10:30 pm the police went into the home and used distraction techniques in order to grab the two-year-old child. Afterwards, police chief Karl Jegeris announced the successful operation on Twitter. “Baby rescued and safe. Suspect in custody. All officers and deputies are safe,” he tweeted. The standoff ended without a single bullet being fired.

    Reports indicate that the child has been returned to his mother and that he was not harmed during the incident.

    In a statement, Jegeris said, “I am extremely proud of the Special Response Team and their heroic efforts.”

    Cuny was arrested on suspicion of second-degree burglary and second-degree kidnapping. He is currently in the custody of authorities at the Pennington County jail and is being held without bond. As of writing, no trial date has been scheduled.

    Image via YouTube

  • Miami Shooting: 2 Dead In Troubled Neighborhood

    A Miami shooting early on Tuesday left two people dead and several others injured. The shooting took place in Liberty City, a neighborhood in Miami that is known for excessive violence and rampant crime.

    Neighbors were saddened, but not shocked. Resident Jose Hernandez said gun violence is pretty much a daily ritual in the area.

    “I have friends who have been killed,” Hernandez said. “This violence has to change.”

    Local police know that things have to change, but will have to continue to re-evaluate their strategy.

    “We have reached a tipping point in the district where the criminal element has no fear of our police officers and are beginning to act with impunity,” said the release signed by Miami police Sgt. Javier Ortiz. “Folks, people are getting killed in groups three blocks outside of our police station. If this isn’t a wake up call to our stakeholders, I don’t know what is.”

    The street was full of shell casings and onlookers later on Tuesday morning as police continued their investigation.

    Miami City Manager Daniel Alfonso disclosed that those killed include a 20-year-old man and a teenage girl. Police officials say a 17-year-old girl was critically wounded in the shooting and several others were hit also.

    As residents stood around the scene of the Miami shooting, a woman could be heard crying and yelling, “My baby ain’t deserved this. They treated him like a dog.”

    At this pont police still don’t know what happened at the scene and say many area residents are afraid to speak to authorities.

    Police spokeswoman Frederica Burden said of the Miami shooting,”I’m not sure how it occurred. We’re investigating it now. I don’t know if they were all outside standing, some in a car, some not in a car. I don’t know that yet.”

    A sad story. Hopefully, this will indeed be the wake up call that is needed for some changes in local law enforcement.

    Image via YouTube

  • Criminal Mastermind Forgets to Log-out of Facebook at Home He Burgled

    There’s still one Hall of Fame that will accept everybody – it doesn’t matter if you’re a liar, thief, cheat, or whatever. It’s the Facebook Idiots Hall of Fame, and it’s accepting new members all the time.

    Today’s honoree is one Nicholas Wig, a criminal mastermind from Minnesota whose Facebook obsession will likely cost him his freedom.

    WCCO reports that James Wood returned to his home last week to find it a mess. It had clearly been picked over by a burglar, and Woods discovered that all his cash, credit cards, and his watch were all missing. He did find a pile of wet clothes (not his own), but more on that later.

    Woods also found that Facebook was open on his computer – but he wasn’t logged in. Sitting in front of him, like a gift from the investigatory gods, was the logged-in profile of the man who’d apparently made off with his stuff. Cue covert ops:

    From WCCO:

    Wood posted to Facebook using Wig’s profile, saying Wig had burglarized his home. He even shared his phone number to see if someone would call with information. Wig texted him later that day.

    “I replied you left a few things at my house last night, how can I get them back to you,” Wood said.

    Wig agreed to meet with Wood later that night. Wood believes Wig was under the impression he would give him back some of his clothes he had left at his home in exchange for a recycled cell phone Wig had stolen. Wood, at his friend’s house, left for home. On his way back to his house he saw and recognized Wig, from his Facebook profile, walking on the street. He immediately called police.

    He tried to get his wet clothes back? Turns out, leaving Facebook logged in wasn’t the dumbest thing this guy did to bungle this burgle.

    Sadly (and unsurprisingly), this isn’t the first time we’ve heard of criminals forgetting to log-out of Facebook before exiting the scene of their crimes. Remember that duo that forgot to log out of Facebook at an internet cafe they had just robbed?

    Image via WCCO, screenshot

  • Facebook Scam Results in Just the Saddest Story

    Normally, if someone told me that they’d been conned out of thousands of dollars by Nigerian hucksters on Facebook, I’d probably tell them that they’d just given me the single most depressing example of human stupidity imaginable. Sure, I’d be adding insult to injury, but they’re really, really, dumb so it’s ok.

    But this story about a 67-year-old woman who has been left homeless after falling for a Facebook scam makes me feel nothing but overwhelming sadness.

    It’s a classic scam, with a modern-age twist. The Florida woman, who has not been identified, claims that she lost over $4,200 as a result of the scam, which began on Facebook and ended with a Western Union transaction.

    According to WFTV, the woman received a message from a Facebook friend, who told her that she had just won $80,000 herself and had already received the money. Of course, the friend added that the Florida woman had won too – and an even more substantial $150,000 to boot.

    Naturally, all she needed to do was to pay taxes on the winnings in order to collect. A classic scam, carried out through a Facebook hack.

    Once they had the lady hooked, the scammers reeled her in by taking the ruse offline. The Florida woman claims to have received calls and text from someone claiming to work for the IRS, who threatened her with jail time if she failed to pay the taxes on her winnings.

    “She was going to arrest me for money laundering,” the woman said. “I was crying and told her I didn’t want to go to jail.”

    So she complied. She depleted her entire savings account and sent it to Nigeria.

    “I do trust people until they give me a reason not to…I live on a fixed income you know and I’m 67 years old,” she said. “All of this money just seemed like it was saying, ‘Come get me.”

    Man, f*ck people.

    Image via WFTV video, screenshot

  • Andrea Sneiderman Is Out On Parole

    Andrea Sneiderman, the woman who lied about having an affair with her husband’s killer, was released from prison on parole. Gwendolyn Hogan, spokeswoman for the Georgia Department of Corrections, said that Sneiderman was released at 12:22 am on Monday. Family members greeted her.

    Sneiderman’s husband was killed in 2010 outside the Dunwoody preschool, where he had just dropped off their son. Hemy Neuman, Sneiderman’s boss, was convicted of the crime in 2012 and is currently serving a life sentence.

    At one point in the case, Sneiderman herself was charged with murder. However, the judge dismissed the murder charge due to lack of evidence. Instead, Sneiderman went on trial for perjury. Prosecutors stated that Sneiderman lied to the authorities and denied having an affair with Neuman.

    Sneiderman was found guilty on nine of 13 charges in 2013. The charges include false statement and perjury, concealment of material facts, and hindering the apprehension of a criminal. She was sentenced to serve five years, minus a year that she already served.

    Based on a report from the Board of Pardons and Paroles, Sneiderman will be under standard supervision until 2017. She will have to get permission to leave the state, and she is required to meet with her parole office once a month. She is also subject to random searches.

    Manny Arora, a criminal defense attorney who is not associated with Sneiderman’s case, said that the early release of Sneiderman is not surprising. Arora said that perjury convictions are rare, and he was surprised that Sneiderman had to spend as much time in prison as she did.

    “I think they would have let her out. With the overcrowding we have, the actual drug dealers and the guns and the violence we have out there, to have somebody like that is kind of ridiculous,” he said.

    Sneiderman’s attorney said that Sneiderman is happy to be back home and will be pursuing an appeal.

    Andrea Sneiderman lied 

    Image via YouTube

  • Chaining 6-Year-Old Son: Man Accused of of Child Abuse

    A Utah man has been accused of child abuse after it was discovered that he had chained his 6-year-old son to a bed. Police in Logan City arrested 28-year-old Sammie Lee Hodges on four charges of child abuse after the child was found chained.

    Someone called the police and made an anonymous complaint that the 6-year-old son was regularly chained to his bed when his father was at work. When police went out to investigate, they unfortunately found that the accusations were true. The young boy was shackled using what Logan City Police Chief Gary Jensen described as a chain you would use to tow a vehicle or for logging.

    “They found the six-year-old boy in his bedroom,” said Jensen. “He was chained to a kind of metal pedestal, where a box springs and mattress would be put on top of this pedestal, with wheels on it. The chain was around that with a padlock and then chained to his ankle and padlocked.”

    Hodges (mugshot above) reportedly gave his son a chain long enough to allow him to move around. Police haven’t stated exactly how long the chain that was attached to the bed was, but it was long enough for the child to go to a nearby bathroom. The 6-year-old son was also given food and water before his father left for work. The police chief suspects that the boy had been chained to his bed for up to 10 days–since school let out for the summer–but isn’t positive.

    There were other children living in the home, but it isn’t clear whether they were also being abused or if it was just the 6-year-old. According to KUTV, a 10-year-old boy and 8-year-old twin girls were also living in the house. A neighbor told KUTV that the kids would frequently stop by his house and ask for treats and that they didn’t appear to be abused.

    Hodges is in Cache County Jail for the time being. If he is found guilty on at least one of the misdemeanor Class A child abuse charges, he could face up to one year in jail as well as a $2,500 fine.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Hospital Leaked Patient’s Syphilis Diagnosis on Facebook, Claims Lawsuit

    I’d imagine that being told you have an STD isn’t pleasant, but I’m pretty sure that it would be twice as awful if that news was made public – plastered all over Facebook, for instance.

    That’s what one Cincinnati woman is alleging in a new lawsuit.

    She claims that University of Cincinnati Medical Center employees posted a photo of her medical records on Facebook, to a group called “Team No Hoes.”

    Apparently, the photo not only contained her name and other personal information, but also displayed the fact that she had been diagnosed with syphilis.

    Yikes.

    “She was absolutely devastated. That is the most private of private medical information that was posted on Facebook and went out to a group on Facebook that had a huge dissemination,” Allen said. “For an employee of the University of Cincinnati Medical Center to post that information on a social media device that millions of people have access to, it’s above and beyond the law and that’s why we feel that they’re responsible,” the woman’s attorney told WLWT.

    The suit not only name UC Medical center as a defendant, but also a hospital employee, a nurse, and the woman’s ex-boyfriend, who she claims masterminded the leak.

    UC Medical Center would only comment that they haven’t yet received a copy of the suit and even if they had, they can’t comment on pending litigation.

    The victim is seeking more than $25,000 in damages.

    No word on any internal actions taken against the employees named in the suit, but I assume they’ll be canned faster than you can say Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • People Pointing Lasers at Airplanes Is Such a Problem That the FBI Is Offering a $10,000 Reward for Info

    Who knew that so many people were pointing lasers at airplanes?

    Since 2012, pointing lasers at airplanes (or as the Federal Bureau of Investigation calls it “lasing aircraft”) is a federal offense punishable by up to five years in prison.

    And since about four months ago, the FBI has been rewarding people for providing information on any known instances of intentional laser pointing.

    Starting now, the FBI is taking that pilot program nationwide.

    “Aiming a laser pointer at an aircraft is a serious matter and a violation of federal law, said Joe Campbell, assistant director of our Criminal Investigative Division. “The public awareness campaign we launched in February has been effective in reducing the number of incidents, and our hope in expanding the program is that people will think twice about illegally using these devices.”

    How effective? Well, pretty. When the FBI began this pay-to-report program, they offered it in cities where laser strikes against aircraft were particularly prevalent. This included cities like Chicago, Houston, New York City, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia. Now, according to the FBI, there has been a 19 percent decrease in reported “laser strikes” in those areas.

    It might shock you to learn that a laser beam from your little keychain laser pointer can reach more than a mile, and in severe cases can enter a plane’s cockpit and temporarily blind the pilots. In 2013, there were a reported 3,960 laser strikes against aircraft. The FBI says that these laser strikes have been described as “a camera going off in a dark room.” You can see why this is a problem.

    “We want to encourage people to come forward when they see someone committing this crime, which could have terrible consequences for pilots and their passengers,” said federal air marshal George Johnson.

    To claim that reward (which can be as much as $10,000), the info you provide the FBI must lead to an arrest.

    The FBI’s slogan for the campaign says “Here’s a pointer: don’t let a prank lead to prison.”

    Image via FBI, YouTube

  • Uber Driver Allegedly Kidnapped Drunk Woman, Took Her to Motel

    Uber Driver Allegedly Kidnapped Drunk Woman, Took Her to Motel

    One of the big questions facing on-demand car services like Uber is this: Exactly who the hell is driving me around? Really, that’s a question that many people ask themselves during any car ride with a stranger–taxis included. But services like Uber and Lyft are new players in the game and therefore under much more scrutiny, especially since they promise a better experience than your traditional cab.

    A Panorama City Uber driver has been arrested and accused of kidnapping an inebriated club-goer. The driver, 32, picked up the passenger, a 26-year-old woman, at the request of the nightclub. It was an off-the-books ride, but the driver was in fact an Uber driver.

    According to police, the driver “took advantage of the situation, and drove her to a cheap motel, which he had visited before, and carried her into the room. He slept the night in the room, and when she awoke, he let her leave, though he asked her to stay, according to the victim.”

    After first alleging that no sexual assault occurred, police now say that the victim claims the driver “fondled her over her clothes and suggested he wanted to have sex, but didn’t force it.”

    The driver is currently being held on $1 million bond.

    Uber has released a statement on the incident:

    Uber became aware this afternoon of a serious incident in Los Angeles. The facts are unknown at this stage and it’s certainly unclear that this is an Uber-related incident, as the driver in question was not logged in, connected to or operating on the platform at the time. We have reached out to authorities and will work with them to help uncover the facts. It is also our policy to immediately suspend a driver’s account following any serious allegations, which we have done. Nothing is more important to Uber than the safety of our riders.

    As LA Weekly points out, the is not the first time that an Uber driver has been accused of malfeasance. Uber is currently embroiled in a wrongful death suit after the tragic accident that took the life of a six-year-old girl on New Year’s Eve.

    Like the driver accused of this recent kidnapping, the driver involved in that death did in fact work for Uber, but was not providing services for Uber at the time–he was off the clock, basically.

    Oftentimes, we’re at our most vulnerable when calling for a ride. We’re drunk, tired, and can’t drive ourselves. We trust that whoever’s driving the car knows where to go and carries no bad intentions. With any service like Uber, there are going to be people who find a way to take advantage of the system–but these startups are going to have to find a way to battle the bad press and eliminate these very public incidents.

    And I don’t know if a $1 ‘Safe Rides Fee’ is going to do it.

    Image via Uber, Facebook

  • 12-Year-Old Slender Man Devotees Stab Girl 19 Times

    Two twelve-year-old Waukesha, Wisconsin girls have been charged as adults with attempted murder after stabbing a classmate 19 times in an attempt to appease internet folk monster Slenderman.

    For those unfamiliar with Slenderman, he’s a fictional character created in forums five or so years ago. Usually, Slenderman is depicted as a strangely tall, thin man with a blank, white face and a black suit. In his original creation, he was said to stalk and snatch people–especially children. The Slender Man went viral, and began to appear as a character in stories all over the internet–but the largest concentration appears on the online horror fiction site Creepypasta. Since then, Slender Man has popped up in various games and other online collections.

    Basically, Slenderman is an internet legend. But to two clearly troubled pre-teens, he is much more.

    The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel weaves a thoroughly disturbing tale of two young girls, whose devotion to and fear of Slenderman led them to try to kill a friend–after “months” of planning.

    According to the criminal complaint, the two girls originally wanted to kill their victim during a sleepover at one of their houses. That plan eventually morphed into one that involved killing her in a bathroom nearby a skate park. One of the accused said that she “knew there was a drain in the floor for the blood to go down.”

    After than plan didn’t work out (reports indicate one of the girls got cold feet), the two girls lured their victim into the woods for a game of “hide and seek.”

    From the Sentinel:

    W—- then suggested they go for a walk, pointing out a wooded area near Rivera Drive and Big Bend Road. They could play hide and seek, distract the victim, then kill her. G—- was the first “seeker,” and W—- and the victim hid. W—- told the victim where to hide and told her to lie facedown in the dirt. The girl refused. W—- then pushed the victim and sat on her, thinking G—- could stab her. But the victim began to yell and complain that she couldn’t breathe. She was attracting attention, so W—- got off her.

    Geyser gave W—- the knife, but W—- said she told G—- she was too squeamish and gave it back.

    W—- said that once G—- got the knife back, G—- told W—-, “I’m not going to until you tell me to.” W—- said she started walking away from G—- and then told her, “Go ballistic, go crazy.” G—- said she would go ballistic, and W—- said, “Now.”

    W—- said G—- then tackled the victim and started stabbing her. The victim was screaming. W—- said when G—- got off the victim, the victim screamed, “I hate you. I trusted you.”

    Jesus.

    The girls reportedly told police that they wanted to kill their classmate as an offering or sorts to Slenderman, to “prove themselves worthy.” They also said that the thought killing their classmate would protect them and their families from Slenderman, who would then invite him to his mansion in the woods.

    More from The Sentinel:

    G—- said they had to do it or “he would kill our family.” When asked who “he” was, G—- said she didn’t know him. When asked what she was trying to do when she stabbed her friend, G—- said, “I may as well just say it: Kill her.”

    When asked about Slender Man, G—- said she had never met him but said he watches her and he can read minds and teleport. G—- said what she did was “probably wrong.” She asked a detective if it is illegal to stab someone in self-defense. The detective said sometimes, and asked her if that was what happened in this instance.

    No, she said.

    Both girls are facing up to 65 years in prison. Miraculously, the victim was able to walk out of the woods after being stabbed 19 times and was eventually found by a passing bicyclist. She’s currently in stable condition.

    Claiming to have already received calls for “censorship and the shutdown of the wiki,” Creepypasta admin Sloshedtrain has posted a blog entry where they discuss the line between fiction and reality.

    “This is an isolated incident, and does represent or attribute the Creepypasta community as a whole. This wiki does not endorse or advocate for killing, worship, and otherwise replication of rituals of fictional works. There is a line of between fiction and reality, and it is up to you to realize where the line is. We are a literature site, not a satanic cult,” says the post.

    “Of course, only a small minority of people (mostly newcomers) on the wiki (and the Internet) truly believe what they read here. And for most people, they will not attempt replicate atrocities presented in some of the literature on the wiki. Something like this was bound to happen, considering the size of Creepypasta community. All it take is one person to do something insane and radical in the name of someone or something.”

    This was clearly a horrible, screwed up thing that happened in Waukesha. And as this story continues to spread, it’s important that that horrible, screwed up thing cannot be blamed on a website or a video game.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Brooklyn Stabbing: Reward Offered For Six-Year-Old’s Killer

    A young boy is dead and a young girl is in critical condition following what appears to be a random stabbing in Brooklyn, New York. According to a New York Times report, six-year-old Prince Joshua “P.J.” Avitto and seven-year-old Mikayla Capers were stabbed Sunday evening in the elevator of a Shenck Avenue apartment building.

    Avitto suffered stab wounds to his neck and was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital. Capers has been transferred to New York-Presbyterian Hospital for treatment of stab wounds to her hands and torso.

    According to the families of the victims, the children had been friends since they were toddlers. Avitto and Capers were reportedly on their way down to the street get Icees when they were stabbed.

    No arrests have been made yet related to the stabbing. Based on witness reports, police are currently searching for a suspect that is a heavyset black man in his 20s wearing a grey sweatshirt. According to Chief of Brooklyn Detectives Patrick Conry, the man was spotted running away from the crime scene. Police have also recovered a knife they believe may have been used in the attack.

    The stabbings have rocked a community that is now struggling to come to terms with why someone would stab two innocent children. Brooklyn community leaders have come together to offer a reward for information on the crime. Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams today announced a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the stabbing suspect.

    This stabbing came just days after another stabbing occurred nearby in Brooklyn. In that incident 18-year-old Tanaya Grant Copeland was stabbed and left to die at the corner of Linwood Street and Stanley Avenue. A $2,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest of Copeland’s murderer.

    Image via Twitter

  • Robber Caught After Friending Victim on Facebook

    You have to be a real winner to hit someone in the back of the head just to steal their iPod, but it takes quite the criminal mastermind to seek out their victim on Facebook the day after the robbery.

    A Port Orchard, Washington man has been arrested and charged with second-degree robbery after trying to connect, via social media, with his victim the day after attacking her at a ferry terminal.

    28-year-old Riley Mullins allegedly came up behind a woman who was waiting for the ferry, struck her in the back of the head, and then snatched her purse and iPod.

    Although the victim wasn’t facing her attacker and was hit in the head, she was able to notice a unique triangle tattoo on the man’s neck.

    It must have been quite the surprise when she logged onto Facebook the next day to find a friend request from a strange man she didn’t know–one sporting a very similar neck tattoo.

    According to police, the woman “immediately” identified Mullins as her attacker. They think he probably looked her up after he found her ID.

    The alleged worst-purse-snatcher-ever is receiving a nice round of support on his Facebook page.

    “I had to look u up on Facebook and say thank you so much from Canada when I heard this on the news I had to see the face behind someone that could be so stupid you gave us all a good laugh over here thank you never thought anyone could be so f*ckin dumb,” says one supporter.

    “I wonder how many of his facebook friends are people he actually robbed,” ponders another.

    Maybe he should’ve opted for a “missed connections” post on Craigslist instead.

    Kitsap Sun via AP
    Image via Google Maps

  • Teen Murders Parents for ‘Taking Away His iPod and Stuff’

    Here’s a chilling, sad, and ridiculous story out of Norfolk, Virginia.

    And otherwise well-balanced high school sophomore has pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder after he beat and stabbed both of his parents to death. The reason?

    “I just remember getting mad. It’s all from my dad. All this stuff like my dad taking away my iPod and stuff.”

    WTKR reports that 16-year-old Vincent Parker waited for his mother to come out of the bathroom, sprayed her with pepper spray, stabbed her in the eye with a knife, and beat her to death with a baseball bat. It was a particularly brutal killing, as Parker’s mother Carol had at least 25 different “smashes and stabs” to her head and neck region.

    The brutality doesn’t stop there, however, as Parker waited for his dad to come home, hit him with a crowbar, and then stabbed him as well. According to police, Wayne Parker held on long enough to clue them in on what had just happened.

    RT reports that Parker maintained a very active online presence, but never expressed any ill will toward his parents. State psychiatrists who examined the young boy found him to be both intelligent and sane. He’ll be sentenced, as an adult, in September.

  • David Schwimmer: ‘Friends’ Star in Right Place at Right Time

    David Schwimmer of Friends fame was in the right place at the right time this Memorial Day Weekend–or at least his security cameras were. Schwimmer’s New York City residence is replete with several installed security cameras that keep watch on what is going on both inside and outside the actor’s home. When a crime was committed near his home this weekend, he went to local authorities in an effort to help them solve it.

    It seems a fight broke out around 6:00 AM on Monday between a man and a transgender prostitute. Reports say the customer refused to pay for services rendered and the ‘escort’ then tried to steal his computer as payment instead. The fight escalated all the way into a doorway at an apartment building adjacent to David Schwimmer’s. The two actually went crashing through the lobby door.

    A separate report indicates a third party was involved in the fight, too, and came in through the door at the apartment building during the altercation between the first two subjects. The third party reportedly tried to rob the first man involved. There is apparently some speculation that the third party was in cahoots with the transgender prostitute and planned the fight for the sake of the robbery from the start.

    David Schwimmer called local authorities and invited them into his home to view the footage of the altercation. He even made the cops a copy of the footage to take back with them to the police department.

    It’s nice to see David Schwimmer in the news, although fans would likely have preferred it be for a Friends reunion instead. He hasn’t been seem much since the popular series ended, however he did play himself during the sixth season of HBO’s Entourage and has voiced the role of Melman in both Madagascar and Madagascar: Escape to Africa.

    Maybe we’ll soon see him in his own big city crime show now?

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Mom Banned from Facebooking About Kids, Hitler

    If a judge orders, as part of a probation deal, that you must stop ranting about Hitler and your family on Facebook, you should probably take it seriously.

    An appellate court has ruled that banning a woman from posting about her family on Facebook is not an overbroad violation of her free speech rights, upholding a lower court’s decision.

    In 2011 a New Jersey woman, known only as H.L.M., was arrested near the U.S./Canada border attempting to take her two young children across. She had run away with the kids recently following a lost custody battle, according to The Star Ledger. For that crime, H.L.M. made a plea that saw her accept therapy and psychiatric evaluation in order to avoid kidnapping charges.

    But instead of going through with her therapy, H.L.M. decided to take to Facebook for her own sort of “healing process.” A judge learned in December 2011 that she had been posting weird, disturbing messages about her family, as well as Satan, Adolf Hitler, Jeffrey Dahmer, and the Book of Revelation, according to court documents.

    The judge called the Facebook posts “rambling, irrational, disturbing, and bizarre.”

    Prosecutors argued that H.L.M. should be barred from “blogging” about her family, in order to protect the children from stumbling upon the posts either now or later. The judge agreed with the prosecution and the ban was enacted.

    But for the next year or so, the woman continued to post about her ex-husband and children. She did take a small step to camouflage her activity, calling them “Camelot” instead of referencing them by name. However, her probation officer soon caught on and as she was charged again, she appealed the decision claiming a violation of First Amendment rights.

    Her argument has been rejected.

    An interesting ruling indeed–but as the L.A. Times reports, the ruling was unpublished, meaning it will have no influence on other court decisions. The upheld social media ban was seen as narrow enough to serve an important purpose, and does not prevent H.L.M from Facebooking/blogging about any other topic.

    Image via Facebook

  • Atlanta High School Shooting: Possible Suspect Questioned

    On Tuesday, five people were shot near Therrell High School in Atlanta. Authorities say that those who were injured are believed to be students at the high school, but no confirmation was announced. According to reports, the injuries were not life threatening, and the five people are now in a stable condition. Names of the victims were not released.

    U.S. Marshals and the FBI responded to the incident, which happened at the corner of Panther Trail and Childress Drive.

    A few hours after the shooting, the authorities have already started questioning a possible suspect. The statement came from Officer John Chafee, who said in an email that investigators are working on the case and they “are speaking with a possible suspect.”

    The shootings happened at around 4 pm. The victims were immediately brought to Grady Memorial Hospital where they were treated for injuries. Out of the five victims, two are still said to be in the hospital. The authorities left the scene of the shooting at about 8 pm.

    The FBI is still trying to find out if the shooter is a student at Therrell High School, but the investigators are looking into several leads as well. The motive for the shooting has not been determined yet.

    Though the incident did not happen in Therrell High School, the campus was placed on lockdown on the afternoon of the shooting as a precaution for the students who were supposed to be participating in after-school activities.

    One of the students of the high school, Hezekiah Bradford, reported that he and his twin brother witnessed a group of over 20 students running. Afterwards, they heard at least five gunshots. The two immediately ran to a gas station located near the school, and asked a woman to call 911 to report the incident.

    “I’m worried for some of my friends,” Hezekiah said.

    Image via CBS46 ATL, Twitter

  • Jodi Arias Will Face A Death Penalty Hearing For A Second Time

    Jodi Arias, the 33-year-old woman who was convicted of first-degree murder last year for killing her boyfriend in 2008, is slated to appear in court this week.

    Last year, the jurors were not able to a unanimous decision on her case.

    Arizona law states that prosecutors for the case have the option to put a second penalty case forward with a jury in order to secure a death sentence.

    In the event that the second panel still fails to reach a decision, the death penalty will be removed from consideration. The judge will then sentence Arias to life imprisonment, wherein she will be eligible for release after 25 years in jail.

    Arias, a former waitress, admitted to killing Travis Alexander, her then boyfriend. However, she said that she did it in self-defense. Alexander had a slit throat, a shot to the forehead, and almost 30 knife wounds. According to prosecutors, Arias killed Alexander in a fit of rage after Alexander said that he wanted to end their relationship. Medical examiners say that the murder was over in less than 2 minutes.

    Due to failing to reach a unanimous decision on last year’s trial, a retrial has been scheduled for September 8. However, Arias will be appearing in court on Friday, May 16, because of some issues raised by both the prosecution and the defense. They will also be arguing whether mitigation specialist Maria De La Rosa’s investigation will be accepted as evidence for the trial. According to reports, De La Rosa was banned from visiting Arias for a while, as she was said to have  taken one of Arias’ drawings out of the Estrella jail, where Arias is being held.

    Arias’ first trial stirred controversy, as it gained a lot of media attention. This time, however, Judge Sherry Stephens stated that media coverage will be limited in order to control publicity. Cameras and other electronic devices will also be banned from the upcoming trial.

    Image via YouTube

  • Florida Man Facebooks Cop-Adjacent Drug Deal Photos

    Florida Man, the world’s worst superhero, is staying busy, as always.

    A Port St. Lucie man has been arrested after–well, after doing a lot of dumb things. According to the Martin County Sheriff’s office, 21–year-old Taylor Harrison has been arrested and held on $55,000 bond after selling drugs to undercover narcotics agents.

    Oh, and right before that, he apparently took some drug-dealing selfies right next to a Sheriff’s vehicle and posted them to Facebook.

    “These are photos of 21-year old Taylor Harrison of Port St. Lucie bragging on his Facebook page about his life as a drug dealer and how easy it is for him to sell drugs in front of our deputies,”said the Martin County Sheriff’s Office in a Facebook post. “Since Taylor was kind of enough to share photos of us on his Facebook page, we thought we would share these photos of Taylor on our page.”

    This pic-stitch tells a story–a story as old as time itself: Shit ends poorly for braggarts and fools.

    Post by Martin County Sheriff's Office.

    From the Sheriff’s office:

    The first photo Taylor took himself as he pulled alongside one of our deputies. The second photo is a selfie of Taylor with stacks of drug cash and drugs that he says he sells. Notice next to his car, is a patrol car.

    The third shot is a MCSO undercover camera capturing Taylor selling drugs to one of us. He tells us, he is the best around!

    The photo to the right is Taylor’s booking photo at Martin County Jail after being arrested for…you guessed it, selling drugs to our undercover narcotics detectives.

    Schadenflorida.

    Image via Martin County Sheriff’s Office, Facebook

  • Peephole Shooting: Man Killed While Looking Through Peephole

    Peephole Shooting: Man Killed While Looking Through Peephole

    Be careful the next time you check to see who is knocking on your door, as a 29-year-old man was shot through the peephole of his Philadelphia home. The victim, whose name hasn’t been released, died from the injuries he sustained in the peephole shooting.

    The peephole shooting happened on late Saturday night in an East Germantown neighborhood. Witnesses say that the victim heard a knock at the door and that when he went to see who was there, the person on the other side of the door fired a gun.

    “According to family members who were in the house at the time of the shooting, there was a knock on the door,” said Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small. “The 29-year-old victim then looked through a peephole on the side of the door. When he was looking through this peephole at least two shots were fired.”

    Police don’t have any suspects in the peephole shooting so far, nor have they uncovered any reasons for why anyone would have wanted to kill the victim.

    Understandably, the news of the bizarre peephole shooting has many people freaked out. One would think that they most a person would have to worry about when looking through a peephole would be the person on the other side covering it up to try to trick you into opening the door and getting robbed or injured, but apparently just looking through the peephole can be hazardous on its own.

    Some people are wondering whether this type of shooting will remain a one-time event or if it will become a new fad, much like the vicious “knockout game” assaults that have increased in popularity over the past year. In the knockout game, a group of people (typically younger males) run up to an unsuspecting person and hit them until they are unconscious. This “game” has led to many serious injuries and quite a few deaths.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Sober Driver Arrested For Drunk Driving

    Sober Driver Arrested For Drunk Driving

    On February 20th, 2013, Milwaukee County Deputy Joseph Quiles, with the airport division of the Sheriff’s Office, was working night shift by General Mitchell International Aiport. After making his rounds patrolling, he blew through a stop sign on to Howell Avenue, and t-boned a Camry, sending it spinning and crashing into a tree.

    The driver, 25-year-old Tanya Weyker wound up with a broken neck in four places, nearly paralyzing her, and was placed under five separate charges including drunk driving .

    She wasn’t drunk.

    “It was a miracle I wasn’t paralyzed.” Weyker told a Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Deputy.

    Weyker was injured so badly in the accident that she couldn’t even blow into a breathalyzer or perform sobriety tests.  For over a year, the DWI charges lingered over Weyker, despite blood tests proving she was sober.

    As the ambulance was treating her neck injuries, she was questioned by officers.

    “One asked if I had anything to drink that night,” Weyker told WITI, “And I told them a few sips from a friend’s drink.”

    In his official police report, Quilles wrote that he had stopped at the stop sign and checked both ways before proceeding, mentioning to a Milwaukee police officer that he didn’t see any coming headlights, despite Wekyer’s Camry having automatic lights.

    The report is contradictory to the video via a nearby surveillance camera: Quilles’s squad car turned before making a complete stop.

    While at the hospital, blood samples were taken from Weyker by doctors; tests later proved that there was no alcohol in her system. Yet despite this, months passed before the charges against Wyeker were dropped by the district attorney.

    Wekyer has filed a complaint against the deputy, which could lead to a lawsuit against the county; she is still waiting for the state to pay her medical bills since the crash.

    Quilles is waiting on a permanent duty disability claim.

    Images via YouTube