SHOCKING NEWS: Ohio Woman Finds Out Husband Was Her Father

Spruill



Valerie Spruill from Doylestown, Ohio, discovered that her husband, Percy, was also her father, the Akron Beacon Journal reports. The 60-year-old woman learned the truth six years after Percy's death.

Here is what happened, according to Beacon Journal columnist Bob Dyer:

Spruill was sent to live with her grandparents when she was just 3 months old. She was told that her grandfather was her father and that her mother was a "family friend." Her biological mother was a "night lady" who was jailed on sex charges in 1980. Her biological father was Percy Spruill, who was 15 when he met Valerie's mother.

Valerie and Percy later married. Throughout their marriage, Valerie said she heard rumors that Percy was her father, according to the Akron Beacon Journal. In April 1998, Percy died at the age of 60. In 2004, an uncle told Valerie the rumors were true, and a DNA test confirmed it.



Valerie certainly isn't the first person to make a shocking discovery about a partner.

James and Maura, whose real names have been concealed, grew up 100 miles apart and met during a night out in Ireland in a town neither was from, the BBC reported in 2010. They began dating; she got pregnant, and they moved in together.

After some time, Maura convinced James to contact his estranged mother, according to the BBC. When James visited his mother, and told her about Maura, pieces of the story led his mom to discovering Maura is actually his half sister. A DNA test confirmed the truth.

In another case, it took Indian bride Minati Khatua of Rourkela six months to discover that she had married a woman and not a man, Telegraph India reported in 2010.

After suspicions arose, Khatua forced open the door as her "husband" took a bath only to discover he was a woman. She eventually called the police. NDTV reported that the fraudulent woman fled with a car and a jeep purchased with money from Khatua's bank account.
Culled from HUFF POST

34-yr-old woman bags life sentence for stealing fetus from pregnant woman

Rodriguez


A Milwaukee woman who confessed to trying to steal a baby by attacking a pregnant woman and slicing out her full-term fetus was convicted Thursday of killing them both.

Jurors deliberated for less than two hours before finding Annette Morales-Rodriguez guilty of two counts of first-degree intentional homicide in the October 2011 deaths of the mother and fetus. Morales-Rodriguez, 34, faces a mandatory life sentence when she's sentenced Dec. 14, though a judge could allow for the possibility of parole. Wisconsin does not have the death penalty.

A key piece of evidence during the trial was a videotaped police interview in which Morales-Rodriguez described her attack on 23-year-old Maritza Ramirez-Cruz. She admitted luring Ramirez-Cruz to her home, bludgeoning and choking her into unconsciousness and using a small blade to carve out the fetus. She told investigators she was desperate to have a son, that she had faked a pregnancy and that she devised a plan to steal an unborn baby as her supposed due date approached.

Ramirez-Cruz died due to a combination of blood loss, blunt trauma and asphyxiation, and the male fetus died as a result of her death, a medical examiner testified.

Morales-Rodriguez did not testify, and her attorneys did not call any witnesses. They also did not deny that she attacked Ramirez-Cruz, instead arguing that the deaths were reckless but not intentional. They urged jurors to convict her of the lesser charge of first-degree reckless homicide, which carries a maximum penalty of 40 years in prison.

"We never said she didn't do it. She told the cops she did," public defender Reyna Morales told the jury of six men and six women during closing statements. "But the evidence ... from the very beginning all the way to the last minutes, reckless, reckless, reckless."

Morales argued that if her client meant for the victim to die, she would have had a plan for disposing of the body instead of stashing it in the basement. She also said Morales-Rodriguez wanted the baby to live so she could raise him as her own.

In the police interview, Morales-Rodriguez explained that she was desperate to give her boyfriend a son but that she couldn't "stay pregnant." She said she twice pretended to be pregnant, only to claim each time that she miscarried. The third time she considered another scenario: stealing the fetus from a pregnant Hispanic woman, she said.

She described how she went to a Latino community center and found Ramirez-Cruz, a mother of three in her 40th week of pregnancy.

Morales-Rodriguez told police she offered Ramirez-Cruz a ride and brought her to Morales-Rodriguez's home. There, she bashed Ramirez-Cruz in the head with a baseball bat and choked her until she passed out. She said she then put duct tape over the younger woman's mouth and nose and wrapped a plastic bag around her head. She then used a small blade to slice the victim open from hip to hip and pulled out a stillborn boy.

In a 911 call played for jurors, she told a dispatcher that she had just given birth to a baby who wasn't breathing.

In the ensuing investigation and autopsy, a medical examiner found evidence that the baby wasn't the product of a natural birth. A subsequent examination verified Morales-Rodriguez hadn't given birth.

Police later found Ramirez-Cruz's disemboweled body in Morales-Rodriguez's basement.

Prosecutor Mark Williams told jurors that every detail in the case pointed to deliberate intent. Morales-Rodriguez had plenty of opportunities to stop short of killing Ramirez-Cruz, he said, but at every turn she made the decision to press on.

Williams emphasized that Ramirez-Cruz must have gasped for air and pleaded for mercy as she was choked, with her killer likely looking her in the eye. He also discussed how Morales-Rodriguez admitted taping the victim's mouth and nose and cinching a plastic bag over her head.

"Now what did she think was going to happen when she did that?" he asked.

Morales-Rodriguez told investigators she thought Ramirez-Cruz was dead before she began slicing out the fetus. But a medical examiner testified that blood found in Ramirez-Cruz's abdomen suggested her heart was still beating.

Morales-Rodriguez sat in silence throughout the three days of testimony. She kept her head down and eyes open as she listened through headphones to an interpreter translating English into Spanish.

The victim's husband, Christian Mercado, brought his family to Wisconsin from Arecibo, Puerto Rico, about two years ago. After the trial, he said little to reporters. A family friend, Penelope Solis, said the trial had been challenging for Mercado, because of graphic autopsy photos as well as surveillance video that showed his wife and Morales-Rodriguez shopping at a drugstore hours before the slaying.

"It's been up and down for him. It's been hard," she said. "Some of the videos, the pictures, he's never seen before. There's no words to describe it."
Culled from HUFF POST

___

15-yr old boy arrested for killing mum with sledgehammer

Davis


A juvenile judge decided Tuesday that a 15-year-old who allegedly killed his mom with a sledgehammer and left his brother to die in a burning house will be tried as an adult.

The details in Zachary Davis' murder case were so gruesome that the Sumner County Juvenile Court Judge decided there was nothing that the juvenile system could do for the boy, WTFV reported.

"It was a horrific murder and the judge made the observation that it was a savage murder and that Zachary Davis could not be handled in the juvenile court," said county District Attorney, Ray Whitley.

An arrest affidavit obtained by WKRN states that on the night of Aug. 10, Davis bludgeoned his mother, Melanie, to death as she slept in her bed. He then allegedly went upstairs and started a fire in the family's game room, leaving his sleeping older brother to burn inside. His brother made it out alive.

Davis was arrested a short distance from his Hendersonville, Tenn. home, reportedly with a notebook containing a confession to the crime.

He was charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, and aggravated assault after a mental health evaluation found he was fit to stand trial.

His attorney, Randy Lucas, called his client the real victim in a statement released on Tuesday.

"As devastating as is the senseless loss of a life, this case is even more tragic for the simple fact that Zack is also a victim here," Lucas wrote. "After Zack Davis' father died, in his presence, of a degenerative illness, being moved and isolated from extended family, Zack sent up every possible red flag a nine-year-old is able to articulate that he was depressed, disturbed, and sliding into a chasm of despair and frustration. And yet, he was failed at every turn by the school system, the child welfare system, the family and society.

"Zack Davis is truly lost in the system," he added.
Culled from HUFF POSTS

Man ducked for stealing, raping neighbour's goat to death

Thompson



A West Virginia man will not be held criminally responsible for allegedly stealing, raping and killing his neighbor's goat while high on bath salts because the judge declared him not competent to stand trial.

Mark Lucas Thompson, 20, pleaded not guilty to the alleged crime by reason of mental illness, according to The Associated Press. Kanawha Circuit Judge James Stucky accepted the plea and sent Thompson to William Sharpe Mental Hospital for six and a half years of treatment.

On May 2, 2011, Thompson was found by his neighbor in his bedroom with the dead pygmy goat, wearing women's underwear, the Charleston Daily Mail reported at the time. The goat was bought as a present for the neighbor's grandson. When the goat went missing, she went looking for it.

Neighbors had suspected Thompson, who reportedly exhibited erratic behavior in the past, had taken the goat, the Charleston Gazette reports. When police apprehended Thompson, he told them he had been high on bath salts, a synthetic cocaine, for three days. When police later searched the home, they allegedly found a pornographic magazine lying near the goat's dead body. Thompson is believed to have sodomized the animal.

Thompson was indicted by a grand jury on two charges of animal cruelty and petit larceny, according to the Charleston Daily Mail. His mental health had been debated in court previously. On Monday, assistant prosecutor Fred Giggenbach said: "I'm convinced the defendant committed these crimes, but I'm convinced he suffers from serious mental disease or defect. He needs mental health treatment, and in fairness a regional jail is not the place for him."

Since January 2011, the West Virginia Poison Control Center in Charleston has received 171 calls regarding bath salts, according to The Charleston Gazette. Most of the calls came from healthcare professionals requiring assistance in treating an individual who ingested the drug.

Bath salts made international headlines in July when "Miami Cannibal" Rudy Eugene, who was originally believed to have been high on bath salts, attacked homeless man Ronald Poppo. Toxicology reports revealed, however, that Eugene did not have bath salts in his body.
Culled from HUFF POSTS

Nigerian becomes first black VC in American varsity

Adesida



A United States of America-based Nigerian lecturer, Prof. Ilesanmi Adesida, has become the first black man to be appointed the Provost/Vice-Chancellor for Academic Affairs at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, United States of America.

Born in 1949 at Ifon, a town in Ondo State, Adesida, a professor of Electronic Engineering with outstanding works in nanotechnology, was appointed by the search committee of the institution on May 31, this year.

His appointment, according to a statement placed on the website of the institution, took effect from August 15 this year.

Before his appointment, Adesida was the Dean, College of Engineering of the institution.

According to the university’s Vice-President and Chancellor, Dr. Phyllis Wise, Adesida succeeds Linda P.B. Katehi-Tseregounis, who last served the role on a permanent basis.

Senior campus administrators who served in the position on an interim basis after Dr. Katehi-Tseregounis’ departure were Robert Easter and Richard Wheeler.

Adesida, a former Head of Department, Electrical Engineering, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, Bauchi State, will oversee the institution’s academic programmes, policies and priorities, which have been designed to ensure the quality of the educational experience for students and to sustain an environment that encourages and supports academic excellence. He was at ABTU between 1985 and 1987.

But now as the chief academic officer of UI, Adesida will work closely with the Chancellor, other vice-chancellors, the deans of academic colleges and other units, academic staff, the Faculty Senate, and various committees in setting overall academic priorities for the university.

The university has a budget of $1.5b with more than $400m in research expenditures. There are 42,000 students and 3,000 faculty members. The university is renowned for its interdisciplinary collaborations, advances in human understanding, community outreach, global partnerships, and life-changing scientific developments.

By his appointment, Adesida, who graduated with a Bachelors of Science, Master’s and PhD in electrical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley in 1974, 1975 and 1979 respectively, will become one of the highest paid academics in the US.

According to UI’s Vice-President and the Chancellor, Dr. Phyllis Wise, the cerebral don will earn $430,000 per annum, about N67.51m. With this amount, Adesida’s annual salary is $30,000 higher than President Barrack Obama, who earns $400,000 per year.

Commenting on his appointment, Adesida, who is now a naturalised American, was quoted by a news agency as expressing happiness at the university’s gesture.

Adesida said, “I’m honoured and humbled to be selected as vice-chancellor/provost of this great campus (university). This is something I take very seriously. I know how to work very hard and I’m ready to roll up my sleeves and get the job done.”

According to the website of the university, Adesida is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Vacuum Society, and the Optical Society of America. He is also the past-president of IEEE Electron Devices Society.

His outstanding work in the field of Nanotechnology has received much acclaim in the scientific community. He has developed a body of work in the processing of semiconductors and other materials at the nanometer-scale level.

After his studies, he worked in various capacities at what is now known as the Cornell Nanofabrication Facility and the School of Electrical Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York.

In June 2005, Adesida became the 13th dean since the inception of the College of Engineering in 1870.

He joined UI as a faculty member in 1988 and he is currently the Donald Biggar Willett Professor of Engineering, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, and Director of the Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology.

Adesida has previously served as the Director of the Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory and the Associate Director for education of the NSF Engineering Research Centre for Compound Semiconductor Microelectronics.

According to the university’s website, Adesida’s research interests include nanofabrication processes and ultra-high-speed optoelectronics.

He also has extensive experience in development of novel processes for wide band gap materials such as silicon carbide and gallium nitride. He has also worked on ultra-high-speed photo detectors and photo receivers in various materials systems.

Adesida has chaired many international conferences, including serving as the Programme and General Chair of the Electronic Materials Conference, 2000-2003. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Vacuum Society and Optical Society of America. He is past-president of IEEE Electron Devices Society, and a member of the National Academy of Engineering.

According to an appointment notice on the institution’s website, Adesida will also continue as Donald Biggar Willett Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, non-tenured, on an academic year service basis, on zero per cent time, with an increment of $5,000, effective August 16, 2012, for a total annual salary of $430,000.

“In addition, Adesida will continue to hold the following appointments on terms which were effective August 16, 2011: Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, College of Engineering, on indefinite tenure, on an academic year service basis, on zero per cent time, non-salaried; Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, College of Engineering, non-tenured, on an academic year service basis, on zero per cent time, non-salaried; Professor, Coordinated Science Laboratory, College of Engineering, non-tenured, on an academic year service basis, on zero per cent time, non-salaried; Research Professor, Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory, College of Engineering, non-tenured, on an academic year service basis, on zero per cent time, non-salaried; Institute Affiliate, Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, office of the VC for Research, non-tenured, on an academic year service basis, on zero per cent time, non-salaried; and Institute Affiliate, Institute of Genomic Biology.”
Culled from PUNCH

Abuja Police yet to identify dead toddler found in suitcase

The police in Abuja, Nigeria said they are yet to identify the male child, whose corpse was found stuffed in a suitcase.

The incident happened last Saturday and the police have arrested one Usman Inuwa, who was caught with the suitcase.

The suspect, said to be from Bwari, an Abuja satellite town, was arrested at Maitama when he attempted to travel with the suitcase.

Sources, however, said the incident happened at the Tipper garage, near Gwarimpa.

Passengers in the bus with the suspect raised suspicions when he vehemently refused to let go of the suitcase, following the bus conductor's insistence that the bag stay in the booth.

The passengers forcefully seized the suitcase and opened it and were shocked to find the lifeless body of a toddler in the suitcase.

The case was subsequently reported to the police.

Doris England, spokesperson for the Federal Capital Territory Police Command, confirmed the incident.

“He (Inuwa) has not mentioned any accomplices and other issues surrounding the dead child; the case is being investigated,” England said.
Culled from Dailytimes

129 inmates still on the run after escape from Mexican border prison

Officials have found three inmates thought to have escaped through a tunnel at a northern Mexico border prison on Monday. The number of still-escaped prisoners now stands at 129.

The public safety secretary of the northern border state of Coahuila says three female inmates were found hiding in a prison visiting area.

Authorities in Coahuila state said the 132 inmates fled the prison in Piedras Negras, a city across the border from Eagle Pass, Texas, through a tunnel that was 21 feet long and 4 feet in diameter, then cut their way through a chain link barrier and escaped onto a neighboring property.

Coahuila Attorney General Homero Ramos Gloria said the director and two other employees of the state prison have been detained for an investigation into the escape and are being questioned about possible involvement by authorities at the penitentiary. The prison houses about 730 inmates and the escape represented almost a fifth of its population.

The tunnel "was not made today. It had been there for months," Ramos told the Milenio TV station. "The prison was not overcrowded, none of our prisons are. We have 132 inmates escaping through a tunnel, and it doesn't make sense."

Authorities say they also found ropes and electric cables they believe were used in the break.

Federal police units and Mexican troops were deployed to search for the inmates and authorities in Coahuila state offered rewards of up to $15,000 for information leading to the arrests of each prisoner.

Ramos said 70 members of an elite military special forces unit had been sent to search for the prison along with federal police.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection said it was aware of the prison break and officials are in communication with Mexican law enforcement, according to an e-mailed statement.

Ramos said in a press conference that police are investigating a shootout 160 miles south of Piedras Negras after the prison break to determine if any of the four people killed were fugitives.

He said that 86 of the escaped inmates were serving sentences or pending trials for federal crimes, such as drug trafficking, and the rest faced state charges.

Other Mexican states have said in the past that they are not prepared to handle highly dangerous federal prisoners.

It was one of the larger prison breaks to hit Mexico's troubled penitentiary system in recent years.

In December 2010, 153 inmates escaped from a prison in the northern city of Nuevo Laredo, right across Laredo, Texas. Authorities charged 41 guards with aiding the inmates in that escape. Mexico's drug gangs frequently try to break their members out of prison.

Coahuila, where Monday's prison break took place, has seen a wave of violence tied to the brutal Zetas cartel's battles with the Sinaloa cartel, allies of the now weakened Gulf Cartel.

Authorities in Coahuila did not say which gang was believed to be behind the escape.

Last week, Gulf cartel leader Jorge Eduardo Costilla Sanchez was arrested, leading experts to anticipate an increase in violence in parts of northern Mexico as the Zetas Cartel attempted to take over turf.

In Piedras Negras, family members had gathered outside the prison to hear word of their loved ones.

Culled from FOXNEWS

Nigerian woman delivers horse inside church

The horse delivered by the woman in an Edo State church on Tuesday. Photo: Osagie Otabor

Worshipers at the World Liberation Ministry located along old Sapele-Benin express road in Nigeria on Tuesday took to their heels during a prophesy programme when a female member delivered a horse.

The horse was however dead by the time Journalists visited the church.

It was gathered that the woman whose identity was not yet known started screaming during the prayer session and began to bleed from the vagina before the horse came out.

The General Overseer of the church, Evangelist Silva Wealth, said he was still amazed at what came out of the woman.

He told Journalists that during prayers a revelation came that there was a woman with an issue and that something was blocking her womb.

Silva said as prayers intensified, the woman started screaming and bleeding started when the object came out.

The cleric said he couldn’t confirm whether the horse was dead or alive because he didn’t go near it.

“I can’t describe the object. We have seen people that vomited several things during our service but not this type of thing. God has been blessing our ministry with prophesies and miracles, “he said.

People rushed to the church to catch a glimpse of the horse when news of the delivery filtered into town.



Culled from THE NATION NEWSPAPERS

23-yr-old Woman Charged In Alleged Breast-Biting Attack

Alston


A South Carolina woman admitted that she bit another woman on the breast in a bizarre attack that left the victim hospitalized on Monday night.

Alleged breast biter Hakina Tinakwa Alston, 23, of Myrtle Beach, told cops that the victim randomly got out a car and "bum rushed" her, according to The Sun News.

But when cops visited the victim in the hospital, she had suffered several cuts to her face, neck, chest and arms from an unknown sharp object.

Alston said she bit the unidentified woman's breast at about 11 p.m, after the victim attacked her and sat on top of her. The women reportedly have an ongoing feud stemming from an incident two years ago, though police didn't give the paper details of the disagreement.

Alston was arrested and charged with second-degree assault and battery.

Her Myspace page notes that she's a mother of two who "don't give no f--k."

"Kiina is who bitches die to be," she wrote.
Culled from HUFF POST

52-yr-old Man arrested for killing Woman With Botched Butt Injection

Morris Garner, who also goes by the name Tracey Lynn Garner, is escorted into a Hinds County courtroom by bailiff Tony Queen in Jackson, Miss., Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2012, for a bond hearing.




Mississippi authorities say they have charged a Jackson man with depraved heart murder after a Georgia woman died from an injection received as part of an illegal buttocks implant.

Attorney General Jim Hood said Tuesday that Morris Garner, who dresses as a woman and goes by the name of Tracey Lynn Garner, performed the procedure at his house last March.

Hood said Morris, 52, is charged in the death of Karima Gordon. She died a few days later in Atlanta.

The charge of depraved-heart murder demonstrates a "callous disregard for human life" and results in death. It carries a life sentence.

Deaths from illegal cosmetic procedures happen sporadically around the country. A New Jersey woman is currently charged with giving a fatal dose of silicone during a penile enhancement.
Culled from HUFF POST

Woman Enters Plea In Deadly Penis Injection case

Rivera


A New Jersey woman pleaded not guilty Tuesday to causing a man's death with an injection of silicone he hoped would enlarge his penis – a procedure experts cautioned doesn't work.

Kasia Rivera, 35, could face up to ten years in prison if convicted of reckless manslaughter in the death of 22-year-old Justin Street.

Street, a father of two, had gone to Rivera on May 5 seeking a penile enlargement procedure, which prosecutors say Rivera advertised for in fliers posted at local businesses. Rivera, who performed the procedures in her apartment, allegedly with no medical license or training, administered a silicone shot to Street's penis, according to prosecutors.

Street died the next day. His death was ruled a homicide following an investigation and a medical examiner's determination that he died of a silicone embolism. Rivera was indicted by a grand jury last month.

Investigators believe Rivera may have conducted similar unauthorized procedures out of her East Orange apartment, but prosecutors said a search for witnesses, and a public plea for people to step forward, had not yielded any other clients to date.

Rivera, who remains free on $75,000 bail, declined to comment through her court-appointed attorney Tuesday. Both Rivera and Street were from East Orange, and the case is being heard in Superior Court in neighboring Newark.

Dr. Daniel S. Elliott, an associate professor of urology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., said it was the first case he'd heard of involving a silicone injection to the penis, but he's dealt with similar cases where patients had attempted to enlarge their penises with injections of fat or other substances.

None of it works, Elliott emphasized, adding that there is no medical justification for the procedure.

"If there were a legitimate method for penile lengthening, Johnson & Johnson or Pfizer would have bought it up and made billions and billions of dollars worldwide," Elliott said. "The fact that they don't means it does not exist."

Enhancement procedures performed by unlicensed practitioners or people with no medical training are more commonly seen among women, Elliott said.

Liquid silicone is sought on the black market by women seeking to enhance their figures, even though it is not approved for cosmetic injections. Besides liquid silicone, injections of substances including paraffin, petroleum jelly and hydrogel have been illegally used to enlarge women's breasts, hips and buttocks.

In February 2011, a woman from London died after receiving cosmetic injections to enlarge her buttocks at a hotel near Philadelphia International Airport. Philadelphia police said 20-year-old Claudia Aderotimi died after she and a friend arranged online to receive injections. Aderotimi died after complaining of chest pain and difficulty breathing following the procedure.

Although Elliott emphasized that he wasn't familiar with the details of the New Jersey case, he said someone believing the substances used to enlarge lips or buttocks might have the same effect on the penis would be making a serious mistake. The penis is an extremely vascular organ, Elliott said, and anything injected into it goes directly into the blood stream and can result in a painful death.

"It's a tragic, preventable mistake of vanity," he said.

___Culled from HUFF POST

Man Tries To Throw Rescued Daughter Back Into Fire

Armin Wand III

A southwestern Wisconsin man set his house on fire in hopes of killing his family because his wife was always complaining about money and he wanted a fresh start, according to a criminal complaint filed Tuesday charging him and his brother with killing his three sons.

Armin Wand III was apparently so desperate to wipe out his family he nearly put his 2-year-old daughter back in the fire after his wife rescued her, the complaint said.
The fire broke out early Friday in the house Armin Wand III rented with his wife, Sharon Wand, their three sons and their daughter in Argyle, a village of about 850 people 45 miles southwest of Madison, the state capital.

Seven-year-old Allen Wand, 5-year-old Jeffrey Wand and 3-year-old Joseph Wand died in the blaze. Two-year-old Jessica Wand survived with no serious injuries after her mother rescued her.According to the complaint, Armin Wand III and Jeremy Wand told state agents they started talking about burning down the house as early as Sept. 4.

Armin Wand III told the agents he wanted to collect the life insurance policies on his wife and children. He was tired of his family living from check to check and listening to his wife complain about wanting more money, the complaint said.

He added that his wife was contemplating divorce and he wanted a fresh start, according to the complaint.

Jeremy Wand told agents his brother offered to pay him $300 from the insurance payout if he helped set the fire, the complaint said.

Jeremy Wand went to his brother's house just before midnight Thursday. Sharon Wand and her children were sleeping. She and Joseph were in the living room, Jessica was in a bedroom and Allen and Jeffrey in another bedroom.

Armin Wand III and his brother set fire to crumpled up sheets of paper and placed them under the futon that Sharon Wand was sleeping on. They also placed the papers near a TV and computer in the living room, hoping the fire would appear electrical, the complaint said.

Jeremy Wand then used a lighter to set fire to the couch Joseph was on, Armin Wand III told the agents. The father told his brother to lock Allen and Jeffrey in their room from the outside, the complaint said.

The boys' bodies were later found together on the bedroom floor.

Sharon Wand woke up to discover she was on fire. Armin Wand III told agents he tried to throw a glass of water on her and then ran outside to join Jeremy Wand.

The woman emerged from the home with Jessica in her arms. She told Armin Wand III to hold the girl and that Joseph was inside the house on fire.

Armin Wand III responded by telling his wife to move the family's mini-van away from the house. While she was moving the van, Armin Wand III took Jessica to a broken bedroom window, held her up with both hands and was about to put her back in the house before a woman stopped him, the complaint said.

It's unclear from the complaint who the woman was.Attorneys with the state Justice Department charged Armin Wand III, 32, and his brother, Jeremy Wand, 18, each with three counts of first-degree intentional homicide and one count of arson with intent to defraud.

They also charged Armin Wand III with three counts of attempted first-degree intentional homicide, accusing him of trying to kill his wife and trying to kill his daughter twice. Jeremy Wand faces two counts of attempted first-degree intentional homicide in connection with the wife and daughter.

The men were set to make initial appearances Wednesday in LaFayette County Circuit Court. Online court records didn't list defense attorneys for them Tuesday evening.
Culled from HUFF POST

Eric McGowan, Rape Suspect, Captured By US Marshals

McGowen


A man who fled his trial a day before being convicted and sentenced in the repeated group sexual assault of an 11-year-old Southeast Texas girl was captured Tuesday after being a fugitive for nearly two weeks, authorities said.

Eric McGowen, 20, was arrested after being found in an apartment in northeast Houston, said Alfredo Perez, a spokesman for the Marshals Service. Information provided to the Gulf Coast Violent Offenders Task Force led officials to McGowen, said Perez.

The fugitive was apparently caught by surprise, as he was sitting on a toilet when authorities entered the apartment and arrested him, said Capt. Steve Greene, a spokesman for the Liberty County Sheriff's Office.

Task force members turned McGowen over to Texas Rangers, who took him back to Liberty County, where he was convicted, Perez said. By Tuesday afternoon, McGowen was in the Liberty County jail, Greene said. Six law enforcement agencies coordinated the search for McGowen.

Both Greene and Perez declined to release further details about what led authorities to the apartment or who McGowen had been staying with. The Liberty County District Attorney's Office and McGowen's attorney did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment.


The investigation regarding individuals who might have helped McGowen elude authorities continues, Greene said.

Authorities had been searching for McGowen since he fled his trial Aug. 29, the same day the girl tearfully testified about the attacks in her hometown of Cleveland, about 45 miles northeast of Houston. McGowen had been free on bail at the time and never came back to court after a break in testimony.

The trial in the nearby county seat of Liberty went on without him, and McGowen was convicted the next day of aggravated sexual assault of a child and sentenced to 99 years in prison.

McGowen was set to be formally sentenced in a Liberty courtroom Thursday before being transferred to the Texas prison system, Greene said.

McGowen was one of 20 men and boys who authorities say repeatedly sexually assaulted the girl on at least five occasions from mid-September through early December of 2010. He was the first defendant to stand trial in the case.

Before his trial, all six juveniles and two of the 14 adults charged had pleaded guilty. Since McGowen's conviction, four other adults have pleaded guilty and are set to be sentenced Sept. 21.

His disappearance was the latest twist in a case that divided the small town of Cleveland, both because of the horrific allegations and suggestions from some residents that the girl was partly responsible because of her appearance. Police began investigating after one of the girl's classmates told a teacher he saw video of her being sexually assaulted in an abandoned trailer.

Prosecutors' case against McGowen included a videotaped confession and testimony from nearly a dozen witnesses, including the girl, who is now 13. A defense attorney did not present any witnesses or evidence.
Culled from HUFF POST

Couple Accused Of Filming Sex Acts With Own Children

Michelle Lee Freeman and her husband Michael Serapis Freeman


A nationwide search for child pornographers culminated in the arrest of an Oregon couple who performed sexual acts with minors and taped them on video.

Michelle Lee Freeman, 40, and her husband Michael Serapis Freeman, 39, surrendered to local police in their hometown of Salem, Ore., after someone they know threatened to turn them in, ABC News reports.

The Freemans are accused of videotaping themselves performing sex acts with children, KTVB reports. A complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Oregon alleges that at least one of the minors in the videos is the couple's 9-year-old daughter.

According to the complaint, Michael Freeman said he traded photos and videos of the sex acts for other child porn on the Internet, saying that he initiated the practice and that "somehow" his wife became involved.

Investigators launched a nationwide search last month after videos in which a woman has sexual contact with two girls under the age of 10 were found on a computer that was obtained by the FBI in Colorado, according to ABC News.

This built on an ongoing investigation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Los Angeles, who had been pursuing the case since 2011, when a computer allegedly containing photos of the abused girls was seized, WTTG reported.

Since the woman in the videos was unidentified, ICE turned to the public for information. In a press conference, Homeland Security Investigation spokesperson Brad Bench said that tips began to flow in after a photo of the then-unidentified woman spread across social media, including Facebook. This information allowed law enforcement to narrow their search to the Pacific Northwest, he said.

"The general public and the media was instrumental in bringing these people to justice," ICE spokesperson Ross Feinstein told CNN.

If convicted, the couple could each face 15 to 30 years in prison.
Culled from HUFF POST

Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi sentenced to death

Tariq al-Hashemi


Iraq's fugitive vice-president Tariq al-Hashemi has been sentenced to death in absentia after a court found him guilty of running death squads.

The court ruling came as at least 45 people were killed in a wave of about 24 attacks across Iraq.

Hashemi was the most senior Sunni Muslim in the predominantly Shia Iraqi government until he was charged last December and went on the run.

The charges against him sparked a political crisis in Iraq.

Other Sunni politicians denounced Shia Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki - who issued the warrant for Mr Hashemi - as a dictator, accusing him of deliberate provocation that risked plunging the country back into sectarian conflict.

Correspondents say the fragile government coalition between Sunnis, secularists and Shia has seemed in danger of collapse ever since.

Sunni insurgents linked to al-Qaeda have been blamed for much of the recent violence in Iraq.The Iraqi government issued the warrant for Hashemi's arrest on 19 December 2011, the day after the last US troops left the country.
He fled first to the largely autonomous Kurdish north of the country, and from there to Qatar and on to Turkey.

Prosecutors said Hashemi was involved in 150 killings. During his trial in absentia in Baghdad, some of his former bodyguards said Mr Hashemi had ordered murders.

He says the charges against him are politically motivated and has accused PM Maliki of fuelling sectarianism.

On Sunday, an Iraqi court found Hashemi and his son-in-law guilty of two murders and sentenced him to death by hanging. The judge dismissed a third charge for lack of evidence.

Although violence has decreased since its peak in 2006 and 2007, attacks have escalated again after the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq at the end of last year, amid increasing political and sectarian tensions.

The Iraqi government has been hampered by divisions between Sunni, Shia and Kurdish political groups.

The Iraqi government said July 2012 was the deadliest month in nearly two years, with 325 people killed.

Former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was a Sunni, and many Sunnis believe they are being penalised by Shias, who have grown in influence since the US invasion.

Sunnis have accused Mr Maliki of taking an authoritarian approach to government.
Culled from BBC

From death row back to pulpit: How Iranian Pastor became a 21st century martyr

Iranian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, who was originally sentenced to death in his native country for his Christian faith, was acquitted of apostasy charges and released from custody today.
Nadarkhani, 32, was imprisoned for three years and waiting execution for refusing to renounce his Christian faith. His charges were lowered to evangelizing to Muslims, which carried a three-year sentence. He was released with time served, according to the American Center for Law and Justice, a Washington-based watchdog group that had been campaigning for the pastor's release.
Afterlanguishing in prison for almost three years, he has been reunited with his family.
Pastor Youcef’s story is an example of how the world can join together to ensure that justice is served and freedom preserved."
Nadarkhani was originally called to Saturday's hearing to answer to "charges brought against him," leading to speculation that the new charges from the Iranian Supreme Court could be for a security-based crime, a charge often handed down to cover-up prisoners being held and sentenced on faith-based charges.
"While we praise the release of Pastor Youcef, we must recognize that Iran felt obligated to save face among its people and continue its pattern of suppressing religious freedom with intimidation tactics," Tiffany Barrans, a legal director for ACLJ said to FoxNews.com.
"International attention to this matter saved this man's life, but we must not forget the human right of freedom of religion includes the right to freedom of expression."
Nadarkhani's attorney, who also has been jailed, maintained that the married father of two faced execution because he refused to renounce his religion. An Iranian diplomat told a United Nations panel earlier this year that Nadarkhani would not be executed.
According to Sharia law, an apostate has three days to recant. The pastor refused to do so and sources close to the matter say executions in Iran can happen at any time, often without notice. The court is reportedly seeking the opinion of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Islamic republic's spiritual leader and highest authority, according to AFP.
The ACLJ worked with the State Department to try to win Nadarkhani's freedom, and the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution earlier this year condemning his imprisonment and calling for his immediate release. Nearly 3 million people have voiced support for Nadarkhani on Twitter through the "Tweet for Youcef" campaign.
Culled from FOXNEWS

Turkish woman awaits trial after beheading her alleged rapist

Nevin Yildirim


A woman in Turkey is awaiting trial after beheading a man who she says raped her repeatedly for months and is the father of her unborn child. Her lawyer says the woman killed the man to protect her honor.

Nevin Yildirim, a 26-year-old mother of two, lives in a small village in southwestern Turkey. She said the man, Nurettin Gider, began the attacks a few days after her husband left in January for a seasonal job in another town, according to a source close to the case.

Yildirim said Gider threatened her with a gun and said he would kill her children, ages 2 and 6, if she made any noise, according to the source. That was the first of repeated rapes over the next eight months, the source said.

Gider


At one point, Yildirim said, Gider sneaked into her house while she was asleep and took pictures of her, the source said. One of the pictures shows her pregnant body. Gider threatened to publish the pictures if she didn't obey him, the source said.

In small villages like hers, honor is held above all else, and women carry the burden of honor for their families. Pictures like those would have been devastating for Yildirim and her family and could have posed a danger.

Pakistan: 'Honor' murderer boasts of triple killing

On August 28, at least five months pregnant by a man who she said continued to rape her, Yildirim said she decided she had had enough. Gider was climbing up the back wall of her house. "I knew he was going to rape me again," she said at her preliminary hearing August 30.

She said she grabbed her father-in-law's rifle that was hanging on the wall and she shot him. He tried to draw his gun and she fired again.

"I chased him," she said. "He fell on the ground. He started cussing. I shot his sexual organ this time. He became quiet. I knew he was dead. I then cut his head off."

Witnesses described Yildirim walking into the village square, carrying the man's head by his hair, blood dripping on the ground.

"Don't talk behind my back, don't play with my honor," Yildirim said to the men sitting in the coffee house on the square. "Here is the head of the man who played with my honor."

She threw Gider's head to the ground, the witnesses said. Video from Turkish broadcaster DHA, which arrived on the scene before the authorities, showed Gider's head on the ground.

Witnesses called authorities and Yildirim was arrested.

Gider was 35 and the father of two children, 15 and 9. He was married to an aunt of Yildirim's husband.

Yildirim told her legal representative she regrets what happened, the source said.

"I thought of reporting him to military police and to the district attorney, but this was going to mark me as a scorned woman," Yildirim said, according to the source. "Since I was going to get a bad reputation I decided to clean my honor and acted on killing him. I thought of suicide a lot but couldn't do it."



Yildirim said she was worried people would judge her children because of what happened, the source said.

"Now no one can call my children bastards," she said, according to the source. "I cleaned my honor. Everyone will call them the children of the woman who cleaned her honor."


The source said Yildirim went to a health clinic a while ago seeking an abortion, but health workers told her she was 14 weeks pregnant and abortion was not an option.

In Turkey, abortion is allowed during the first 10 weeks of pregnancy, after which it is permitted only to save the life or health of the mother or in cases of fetal impairment, Human Rights Watch said.

At her hearing, Yildirim said she doesn't want to keep the baby and that she is ready to die, the source said. The public prosecutor's office has ordered a medical examination to decide whether Yildirim may have an abortion and to assess her mental stability, the source said.

Yildirim's father, Zekeriya Yildiz, told DHA his daughter did not report the alleged abuse to anyone in the family.

"If she would have told us, we would have taken other precautions," he said.

Yildirim is in the local jail while she awaits trial.

In a report last year, Human Rights Watch decried gaps in Turkish law that it said leave women and girls unprotected from domestic abuse. Some 42% of women older than 15 in Turkey and 47% of rural women have experienced physical or sexual violence at the hands of a husband or partner at some point in their lives, the group said.

"She has lived through a terrible trauma. She must be charged with self-defense," said Gursel Oztunali Kayir, a sociologist at Akdeniz University and a member of Antalya Women Support Organization.

Culled from CNN

Woman Cuts Off boyfriend's Penis and Flushed It Down The Toilet

Julia Muñoz Huaman


A Peruvian woman allegedly cut off her sleeping boyfriend's penis, then tossed it into the toilet.

Julia Muñoz Huaman, 41, reportedly used a kitchen knife to cut off the penis of 46-year-old Ramon Arias Apaico before flushing the severed appendage, according to the Digital Journal. The two were staying at a hostel in Brena, Peru at the time.

Huaman attempted to leave the hostel, but was stopped by staff members, who contacted authorities after allegedly hearing Apaico's cries of pain, La FM reports.Police claim Muñoz (pictured at right) confessed to the crime, saying she made the slice after learning Apaico had cheated on her, according to MSN.

Apaico was transported to a hospital in Lima, according to Peru 21. Arias remains partially intact, urologist Zarela Solis told the station, and is expected to remain in the hospital 10 days.

He will likely need psychological treatment for several months.
Culled from HUFF POST

Trial begins for a 26-yr old mother who mudered her 8-month old baby and bragged about it

Elizabeth Johnson & the 8-month baby


Jury selection began Wednesday in the case of Elizabeth Johnson, the Arizona mother accused of kidnapping her 8-month-old son, Gabriel, then bragging to the boy's father about his murder.

"I suffocated him. I suffocated him, and he turned blue, and I put him in his diaper bag and put him in the trash can," Johnson allegedly said in a 2009 telephone conversation with the baby's father, Logan McQueary. The recording was released to the public by police.

Johnson, 26, is being tried on charges of kidnapping and conspiracy to commit custodial interference. The Tempe woman has been behind bars since January 2010, after she was found mentally unfit to stand trial. The court has since found her to be competent, according to Phoenix court officials.

Police said the telephone conversation between Johnson and McQueary was Dec. 27, 2009, the day after Gabriel was last seen alive. In it, Johnson allegedly told McQueary, her ex-boyfriend, that she killed their child out of revenge because she believed he was involved with other women.

"You want to talk to girls, that's the price you pay," Johnson said, according to police.

Johnson and McQueary had joint custody of Gabriel, but on the day McQueary was supposed to pick up his son, he told police, he received an ominous text message from Johnson telling him their baby was dead.

"You will never see Gabriel again," the text allegedly read. "I made sure of that. And you can spend the rest of your pathetic life wondering about him. You will never find me. I'm already boarding a plane out of the country. When I'm safe, I'll e-mail you the exact location of dead Gabriel's little blue body, if the garbage don't come first. This is what liars like you deserve."The phone call between the couple occurred later that same day. In addition to accusing McQueary of being unfaithful, Johnson told him he destroyed her life, according to an audio recording.

McQueary responded, "I haven't destroyed anything."

Johnson, according to police, replied, "Yes, you have, Logan. You made me kill my baby boy ... So find some new girl to make your new baby."

The message and phone recording prompted a massive search of local landfills by police, but they were unable to find the child.

In the days following her arrest, Johnson changed her story, telling police she gave Gabriel away to strangers in San Antonio, where her car was later found. Witnesses have placed Johnson and the baby in the San Antonia area between Dec. 20 and 27, 2009, but she was alone when she was found and taken into custody in Florida on Dec. 27.

Gabriel's mother also implicated an Arizona woman named Tammi Smith, claiming she helped set up the meeting with the San Antonio couple.

Smith, 38, allegedly wanted to adopt Gabriel herself, according to media reports. Smith was later arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit custodial interference after authorities said she offered money to Johnson and forged court documents, police said.

In May, Smith was found guilty of forgery and conspiracy to interfere with Gabriel's custody. Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Joseph Kreamer sentenced her to probation and 30 days in jail. During her July sentencing hearing, Smith apologized for any "pain and suffering" that helping Johnson may have caused.

"I never intended to hurt anybody ... I pray every day that Gabriel is alive and that he is found," Smith said.

Gabriel's whereabouts are still unknown. Jury selection is expected to take two weeks; opening statements are scheduled to begin Sept. 19.
Culled from HUFF POST

Govt ban on smoking provokes protests in Lebanon

A ban on smoking in enclosed public places has come into effect in Lebanon, prompting sit-in protests by some restaurant and cafe owners.

The ban covers bars, restaurants and cafes where traditional shisha, or hookah, water pipes are ubiquitous.

The law was passed last year and already affects airports, schools and hospitals.

Anyone who breaks the ban faces a $90 (£57) fine. Cafe owners who turn a blind eye could be fined up to $2,700.

Smoking, which is banned in public in much of Europe and the United States, is very popular in Lebanon.

Daily smoking is more prevalent among adults in Lebanon than in any other country in the Middle East, according to World Health Organization (WHO) figures from 2009.

More than 45% of men and 30% of women are estimated to be regular smokers.

Neighbouring Syria became the first Arab state to enforce a smoking ban in April 2010.
'European concept'

Under the law, advertising and sponsorship by tobacco companies is also banned, while 40% of the surface area of a cigarette packet will have to be covered with health warnings.

In Beirut, one shisha smoker told the AFP news agency the ban was a "European concept".

"Shishas are a way of life in eastern Lebanon and they want to deprive us of that," said Saad Fiefel, smoking outside a cafe.

Some retailers have said the ban will force many cafes to close down because so many rely on shisha smokers for business, and customers will not always be able to sit outside.

One coffee shop owner in Beirut's Hamra district told AFP: "Nearly 80% of our customers come here for the hookah. How will we do in winter when there won't be any terraces?"
Culled from BBC